уАКRise Of The Worm SovereignуАЛ


 Chapter 1 - Egg?

    Lin Wu was a normal university student that was majoring in biology. He lived his life as average as anyone could. His likes and dislikes were very simr to other people of his age. He liked video games, anime,ics, novels, dramas, and all such things. And of course, he was also a single dog just to add a cherry on top.

    It was the day before his finals and he had been grinding hard and cramming all he could before the morning came.

    "Oh damn, I should have at least started a week earlier. Why do I always torture myself like this?" Lin Wu said to himself.

    One could see disposable cups of coffee and cans of energy drinks lying on his table and also around him. One would think that these were umted over a few days, but it was not so. Lin Wu had been binging on coffee and energy drinks to keep himself awake and his mind running.

    He had already had a way too high a dose of caffeine and his hands were shaking with tremors, yet he did not stop and was still feeling sleepy and drowsy. Lin Wu nced over to the bed that was opposite to his and saw his roommate sleeping soundly.

    Unlike Lin Wu, his roommate was a model student who was free from the ''Influences that gued the youths of today''. He did not y video games, and neither did he spend any time on hobbies. He was at the peak of what one could call a prodigal schr.

    "Bloody Normie. Leaving me alone to study." Lin Wu cursed.

    Lin Wu''s eyes then wandered over to the mini-fridge that was located on the other side of the bed. His eyes lit up with a greedy glint as he kept on staring at the mini-fridge.

    "Hehehe, I''ll just give you a little punishment for leaving me alone to study. If we are roommates, then we should suffer together, my pain is your pain." Lin Wu said with a slightly creepy tone.

    Lin Wu then sneaked to his roommates'' table and picked up a long ruler that was ced on his table. He used the ruler and slid it in the gap between his roommate''s mattress and head board. Skillfully using the ruler without making any noise, Lin Wu pulled out a small key chain that was hidden by his roommate.

    ~Hehehe~

    Lin Wu took the key in his hand and silentlyughed.

    "Now all the contents of your mini-fridge are mine." Lin Wu muttered.

    He then used the key and unlocked the door of the mini-fridge. As soon as he opened the door of the mini-fridge, the shining cans of energy drinks illuminated his eyes.

    "You''ve been hiding the Special Limited Edition ''Ultra boost energy Elixir series'' from me all this time. But no more, I im these as mine now." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    The ''Elixir series'' was a brand of energy drink that was widely popr among people currently and was a favorite of Lin Wu. The can that he was holding in his hand was a special limited edition version that was recently released but was very hard to find. Lin Wu had stood in the line for hours but still could not buy it.

    The energy drink that he had in his hand was imed to be a thousand percent more powerful than any brand on the market and was said to the best to drink while studying and working.

    Lin Wu popped open the can of ''Ultra boost energy Elixir series'' and his mouth started drooling.

    "Finally with this, I shall ovee the tribtion that is the ''Final Exam''." Lin Wu proimed.

    And with this, he took his first sip. Intense joy spread across his body as his mind entered a state of euphoria.

    "Delicious! I can feel the energy coursing through me." Lin Wu eximed.

    He then chugged the entire can and sat down to study. He could feel his mind working faster and faster until when finally the words started toe out of his textbook.

    "Ahhh, such is the power bestowed by the ''Ultra boost energy Elixir series''." Lin Wu uttered with jubtion.

    Lin Wu could see the words forming images in front of him in the air, which would then enter his mind. But every time these entered his brain, he felt a throbbing pain in his body.

    "This is but just the pain of sess." Lin Wu affirmed to himself.

    He kept on reading for an unknown amount of time until when finally; he started to feel incredibly cold.

    "Why is it so cold all of a sudden, this is the middle of Summer?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He was just about to stand up to close the window, when he discovered that he could not move at all. His body felt as if it was frozen.

    ''Wha-what''s happening to me? Did I overdraw on my brain?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He tried to speak but found that he was unable to do that either. Resigning himself to his fate, he let go.

    "Ah, I''ve already studied enough to pass the test in the morning. I should just take a nap till then, I''ll be fine in the morning." Lin Wu spoke to himself in his mind.

    And with these as hisst words that wentpletely unheard, Lin Wu entered his final slumber.

    *****

    "Huh, did the power go out? Why is it so dark here?" Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu looked around, but all he could see was darkness everywhere.

    "But wait, even if the power went out it should not be this dark, it should be morning now." Lin Wu said to himself in a confused tone.

    He then tried to move and discovered that he could barely move. In fact, he could not even feel his limbs, all he could feel was his torso.

    "Did I sleep wrong and block the blood cirction to my limbs?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He thought that waiting for a while should fix it, but even after five minutes he still could not feel his limbs. Getting desperate at this moment, he decided to call for help.

    "HELP! I can''t move. I can''t feel my limbs." Lin Wu shouted, but no words came out.

    Lin Wu then realised that all he had been speaking till now, was only in his mind. No words were actuallying out of his mouth.

    ~Ding~

    Suddenly a ding sound was heard in Lin Wu''s mind as if it was a notification from his smartphone.

    "What''s this?" Lin Wu thought to himself as a window suddenly appeared in front of him.

    SYSTEM ACTIVATED:

    ISSUING QUEST: Error! Quest directory not found.

    ANALYZING: Please wait a few minutes

    "Chickie nuggies! What the hell is this?" Lin Wu eximed.

    ~Ding~

    NEW PARAMETERS IDENTIFIED: Formting new quest directory

    FIRST QUEST ISSUED: Break out of the egg.

    "EGGGGG!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN EGG?"

 Chapter 2 - Worm?

    Lin Wu was in denial of his current situation. He could not believe the voice that he was hearing neither the floating screen that could be seen in front of him.

    "NO,No,No,Noбн This is all a dream. I''m still dreaming, that''s right. I''m just too tired and my brain is not working properly." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    Lin Wu kept on speaking to himself and felt that he was about to go crazy. He tried moving as much as he could but felt as if he was restricted. Unable to do anything at this point, he eventually calmed down.

    "Okay. Even if this is just a dream, I should just y along, shouldn''t I? This isбн this is just extra entertainment, yeah. I''ll just have some fun before the exam." Lin Wu said to himself, still in denial.

    "Hmm, so this thing wants me to break out of an egg. But what egg is that? Waitбн does this mean I''m in an egg?" Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu tried moving around again, but this time tried to pay attention to the feeling he got from his surroundings. He felt as if there was a soft, smooth, and stic surface containing him.

    "If this is an egg, then why is it so soft and stic?" Lin Wu thought.

    He then suddenly had an epiphany, as he remembered what he had studied before. Lin Wu was a biology major, thus he knew a lot about animals and nts.

    "The only animals whose eggs are soft like these are either reptiles, amphibians or fishes. This means that I''m one of those creatures right now." Lin Wu determined.

    Lin Wu then tried to think of a method by which he could break out of the egg.

    "The egg is still soft, then this means that it''s not mature yet. Me not having limbs would also exin that my body has just not developed yet." Lin Wu concluded.

    Havinge to a result, Lin Wu now knew what to do.

    "This is easy. I just have to wait till I''m mature enough and the egg hardens and bes brittle. If I''m lucky, this dream will end before that too. That will be hitting two birds with one stone." Lin Wu decided.

    Having decided his course of action, Lin Wu started to sing to himself to pass the time.

    "Whatever you say boo___

    Okie dokie boo____

    ______________

    _______________

    Hit or miss____

    They got a boy friend____

    ______________

    ______________"

    Lin Wu kept on singing random songs till he got bored and eventually fell asleep.

    An unknown amount of timeter, Lin Wu woke up and felt groggy. He could feel tremors in the surroundings. These tremors kept on getting intense with every moment and eventually felt like an earthquake.

    "Wha-What is happening? Is this an earthquake? Oh no, I''m still in the dream somehow." Lin Wu spoke with shock.

    A few secondster the source of the tremors was right above him. Lin Wu could feel the throbbing waves passing through his body making it shake as well. The tremors had gotten so intense that Lin Wu felt pain due to them.

    It was as if all of his internal organs were being massaged by a very bad masseuse, like one would find in a shady ce. It was as if he refused to pay the masseuse a tip and now she was giving him a ''special service''.

    "On no, I have to escape, or these tremors will kill me by shaking me to death." Lin Wu decided.

    Lin Wu started struggling again and moved his body around. Fortunately, this time he felt as if the surface that was surrounding him had be harder and stiffer. This time he could actually push against it and would not be pushed back.

    "Haaaah...бн Haaaah...бн Haaaah-" Lin Wu heaved and seeded in poking a hole in the shell.

    "YES! Now I just need to make it bigger and escape." Lin Wu eximed.

    He kept on prodding the small hole with his body however he could and expanded it. In the entire process, Lin Wu had somehow forgotten that he still did not have any limbs, and he was breaking the egg. He had proved his previous conjecture wrong. It was not that he did not have limbs because his body was not mature; it was simply because his current body was not supposed to have any limbs at all.

    "Annnd sess, Yay!" Lin Wu shouted to himself.

    He wiggled to orient his body and pushed it out through the hole he had made through the shell. In a surprise to him, he was able to move rather nimbly even without his limbs. It was as if it was an instinct and was intrinsically a part of him.

    It was now that he heard a familiar sound.

    ~Ding~

    FIRST QUEST COMPLETED: Breaking out of the egg.

    REWARD OBTAINED: Freedom

    ISSUING SECOND QUEST: Error! Quest directory not found.

    RECALCULATING PARAMETERS: Please wait patiently.

    "Chickie nuggie? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WAIT PATIENTLY? I''m about to die here." Lin Wu shouted.

    "I''m leaving! You can''t tell me what to do, youбн youбн you? Wait what are you again? Oh yeah, system." He spoke.

    "I''m leaving, you stupid system." He reemphasized.

    Lin Wu then started wiggling and moved through his surroundings, which felt like soft and moldable particles to him.

    "What is all this? This feels likeбн dirt? I''m in the ground?"

    Lin WU kept on wiggling and moving through the dirt that surrounded and moved away from the source of tremors. A few minutester he had moved a sufficient distance away and could no longer feel those tremors.

    "AH, finally! Now I''m safe and it doesn''t feel like I''m getting my guts rearranged."

    It was now that Lin Wu heard the notification sound again.

    ~Ding~

    NEW PARAMETERS CALCULATED: Analysispleted.

    ISSUING SECOND QUEST: Reach the surface

    POTENTIAL REWARD: ???

    Lin Wu was a little dumbfounded upon reading the notification window that had just popped up in front of him. Previously when he got the first notification, he had not paid much attention to it as he was too disoriented by his situation. But now that he had calmed down and had also gotten through an endeavor, he felt much more stable.

    "I don''t think the first notification mentioned a reward. Wait! Why are you even mentioning a reward if you''re just gonna put question marks in front of it. You''re really a stupid system, aren''t you?" Lin Wu stated.

    By now Lin Wu had understood a little about his situation. He grasped that the system was like a video game interface, or perhaps even a system from a ''System novel''.

    "If it is as I think, then I''m pretty unlucky. I just got a dumb and stupid system."

    Pulling his mind to the current situation Lin Wu thought about how to proceed.

    ''It says that I need to reach the surface. So that meant the surface should be the ce the tremors wereing from, I just need to head towards there.'' Lin Wu inferred.

    "If I die due to this, I''ll beat your butt, you stupid system." He cursed before continuing his journey.

    A few minutester, a blinding light filled his vision as he reached the surface.

    "LAND! Oh, wait I was in thend alreadyбн SURFACE!" He eximed

    It was at this moment that Lin Wu looked down and saw his body. An extreme level of shock filled his being as he realized and started to doubt his own existence.

    "I''mбн I''mбн I''M A WORMMMMM!"

    ~DING~

    SECOND QUEST COMPLETED: Reach the surface

    REWARD OBTAINED: Analyzing, please wait a moment.

    Lin Wu stayed there lying as still as a dead worm, wallowing in self-pity and shock.

    ~Ding~

    ANALYSIS COMPLETE:

    REWARD OBTAINED: Self-awareness

 Chapter 3 - Warning?

    Lin Wu was still not over his shock and was still lying on the ground like a dead worm. Well, he was an actual worm now, so it was kinda true.

    "I''m a worm. I''m a worm. I''m a worm...бн" Lin Wu kept on repeating.

    An hour passed by until when Lin Wu was finally able to gather his wits. He turned around and looked up at the sky before looking at the ground below. He also nced at the giant des of grass that were three times as tall as his entire body.

    "I''m not just a worm, I''m a tiny worm. I won''t even fill the stomach of a baby bird." Lin Wu said in self-pity.

    ~Ding~

    NEW ENVIRONMENT DETECTED: Analyzing

    NEW PARAMETERS IDENTIFIED: Expanding variables

    HOST IDENTIFIED: Initiating integration process

    ERROR INTEGRATING: Insufficient resources

    ISSUING NEXT QUEST: Analyzing data

    NEW QUEST: Gather viable energy resources

    The new notification that just popped up made Lin Wu awaken from his spiral of self-pity.

    "Huh, what''s this now? What do you want, stupid system?" Lin Wu said as he looked at the window that was floating in front of him.

    Lin Wu was able to understand the words that were present in front of him, but he was unable to understand what they meant in context here. He was a modern person who usedputers daily, thus these terms were nothing new to him, yet it seemed as if they were iplete and as such were unable to exinpletely.

    "So I have a new quest now, but it doesn''t say what''s the reward again. Hmm, is it rted to the error that it''s showing? What does it mean by viable energy resources?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    It was now that he suddenly heard a loud screeching sound. It came from far and seemed to be approaching his location slowly.

    "What''s that sound? Wait, how can I even hear it, worms don''t have ears." Lin Wu questioned himself.

    He looked around for the source of sound but could not really spot it due to its stature. Lin Wu was very small, his length was about two centimeters and his thickness was of about two millimeters as well. In every aspect, he could only be described as tiny. His color was dark brown and his skin was smooth, yet was not slimy like an earthworm.

    There were two tiny ck spots at its front end, along with a circr mouth that was void of any kind of teeth. The two tiny spots were actually Lin Wu''s eyes. For a normal person, Lin Wu''s current eyes would look like ck dots that had no function, yet still, they actually functioned as the normal human eye. This allowed him to have the same vision he had before, back when he was a human.

    Lin Wu wiggled in resignation as he decided to just do the quest. He didn''t have anything else to do here, anyway.

    "By energy resource, the system should mean food, right? I mean, it did say viable and not just any energy resource." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    Unconsciously Lin Wu had already started to ept his current situation as a worm and also that this was not a dream. He was now trying to remember what did worms eat. He knew that worms could eat a lot of things, but that also depended on the kind of worm they were.

    For example, an earthworm was a detritivore that ate the dead and dposing matter in the soil, while there were other worms such as tape worms that were parasites and lived inside other animals. There were also worms such as the maggots that were thervae of flies and lived in flesh and rotting nts.

    Lin Wu looked at his body and could not determine what kind of worm he was. There were no specific features that matched a specific type, and all that he had were verymon and vague features.

    "Guess, I just gotta try eating everything." Lin Wu thought.

    He then looked at the soil below him and wondered about it, but the idea of eating soil made him feel nauseous.

    "I gotta try anyway, if I don''t like it I''ll just try something else." Lin Wu motivated himself.

    He then took a deep breath through his body. Indeed, Lin Wu''s body had no lungs, his worm physiology allowed him to breathe in the air using its skin. Though there was one thing that stumped him. He knew that worms did not have lungs and breathed through their skin, but the problem was that this only happened because their skin was moist and slimy. This slime allowed them to breathe and facilitated the exchange of gases.

    Lin Wu could only attribute it to some unknown reason, as he had no idea what kind of worm he was. Pushing these thoughts to the back of his mind, he put his mouth to the ground and swallowed a mouthful of dirt. He had no teeth, thus he did not chew and just swallowed it directly. In a surprise to him, the soil that he just ate did not taste of anything.

    "Oh Wait! Now that I''m a worm, I should have different kinds of taste buds, so it shouldn''t bother me as much." Lin Wu realized.

    After understanding this, Lin Wu ate more soil and kept on eating till he felt full. After he became full, not even a minuteter he felt as if he could eat again.

    "Huh, I got hungry pretty fast. Perhaps worms are just always hungry like this." Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Unknown to him, there were small brown pelletsing out of his other end. The more he ate, the more of them were produced. Only when he had eaten enough to make a small hole in the ground did he realize that there was a small mound behind him too.

    "Wha-What? Where did this mound of dirte from?" Lin Wu questioned himself as he looked at it with a shocked expression. Well, as surprised as a worm could appear.

    A sudden bout of realization hit Lin Wu as he understood what the small mound behind him was.

    "NOOOOOOOO! Don''t tell me I''m gonna be pooping everywhere I go. As a former human, I can''t ept that, my self-respect won''t allow that." Lin Wu eximed.

    A few more minutes went past and Lin Wu got bored as he did not get any new notification.

    "I guess eating soil does not qualify as gathering viable resources." Lin Wu thought.

    His gaze then wandered on to the grass that was surrounding him everywhere. It went from the horizon on his left side to the horizon on his right side. Everywhere he could see there was grass, and only in the very far could he see the trees. Perhaps the actual distance between Lin Wu and the trees was only a few meters, yet to his small size, it was already equivalent to a few miles.

    "I''ll just eat the grass. It should at least taste better than the soil." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He then crawled towards a de of grass and started eating it. Eating the grass was a little difficult than the soil as he did not have any teeth to actually cut into it, still, he was eventually able to eat some. The taste of the grass hit him a little different, or rather it was the same as when he was a human before.

    Lin Wu almost spit it out due to how familiar of a taste it was, yet was able to keep it in through sheer willpower.

    "Keep it in. You can do this." Lin Wu encouraged himself.

    Finally, Lin Wu was able to sessfully swallow the bit of grass. He waited for a minute before eating more. He then realized that the more he ate, the more it was easier for him to eat. It was as if the taste of the grass was finally bing normal to him.

    He also felt a little increase in his energy. He felt as if his stamina was restored and his fatigue that had umted due to digging and crawling had vanished.

    ''Hmm, seems like the grass provides me more energy. Guess, I''ll just eat this.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    It was now that Lin Wu spotted something hanging over him. It was a small green ball that was hanging by a small green stalk.

    "Is that a fruit? A grass fruit? What kind of grass has fruit?" Lin Wu spoke with a perplexed expression that was imaginary.

    Wanting to try that fruit, Lin Wu started climbing on the des of the grass. A few minutester he was at the very top and was close to the fruit. The fruit was now hanging below him and the only way he could ess it was by hanging upside down as well.

    Thus he did it. He curled and hung half of his body on the de of the grass and reached out for the fruit. But just when he was about to reach the fruit, darkness covered him. Arge shadow was now standing above him. He looked up and then froze in fear.

    "A b-b-bird! Ahhбн it''s gonna eat me!" Lin Wu shouted, though all that came out from his mouth were some inaudible sounds.

    ~chirp~

    The bird chirped and tilted its head to take a close look at Lin Wu. After spotting him, the bird did its work and pecked. Lin Wu had already given up and had closed his eyes in eptance. He was waiting to be eaten when suddenly the tremors started again and a sticky and warm liquid covered him.

    Lin Wu was too scared to open his eyes and check, but it was now that he heard the notification again.

    ~Ding~

    ENERGY RESOURCE DETECTED: Analyzing

    VIABLE ENERGY RESOURCE IDENTIFIED: Absorbing resource

    RE-INITIATING INTEGRATION PROCESS: Error! Insufficient resources

    RECALCULATING PARAMETERS: Analyzing

    SWITCHING TO ALTERNATE PROTOCOLS: Switched sessfully

    PARTIAL INTEGRATION INITIATED: Please wait patiently

    WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! : Abnormality detected, data corrupted.

    This was thest thing Lin Wu saw before his consciousness faded.

 Chapter 4 - Energy Source?

    "Hngggggбн"

    Lin Wu woke up after an unknown amount of time with a loud grunt. Though the grunt was perhaps only audible to him and even imaginary on a level. He opened his eyes and looked around finding himself lying in a small pit.

    "Huh? What happened?" Lin Wu said to himself wondering the reason for his fainting.

    He turned around and saw something that made him fall back on the ground.

    ~Ahhhhh~

    "Wha-what is that?" He questioned.

    There was a desated corpse of a bird lying in front of him. The corpse was half crushed and looked as if someone had forcefully stomped on it. Though no blood could be seen anywhere near it. The corpse waspletely dry as if it had been drying out in the sun for days.

    "Is this the same bird that attacked me? How is it dead now?" Lin Wu spoke.

    He then moved closer to take a look and found out the reason. Just behind the corpse, he could see a deep hoof print. He climbed up on a grass de and was able to spot a few more hoof prints a small distance away from the corpse of the bird.

    ''Seems like the bird was crushed to death by some animal''s foot. But why is it dry and dessicated?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Suddenly Lin Wu realized the possible reason for that.

    "Don''t tell me I''ve been lying unconscious for many days now." Lin Wu guessed.

    To confirm his guess, he checked the grass around him and noticed that they were the same length as before and even the soil seemed to be the same. The ce where he had eaten the grass was still wet and fresh.

    "Huh, seems like my guess is wrong. If it had been days, then this part should have dried out." Lin Wu answered himself.

    ''But what exactly happened?'' He tried to remember.

    "The notification!" Lin Wu suddenly realized.

    "There was some kind of warning that appeared before I fell unconscious." Lin Wu remembered.

    ''How do I see the notification window again?"

    "Umm, help? Notification?" Lin Wu called out.

    He tried a few words, but they didn''t seem to work and he got frustrated.

    "Ah, goddamn it, you stupid system!" He cursed.

    ~Ding~

    NOTIFICATION: Would you like to view the previous logs?

    The notification window suddenly popped up in front of his eyes.

    "Oh? Is the word stupid or system?" Lin Wu tried calling out again.

    "Oh, so it''s just system. Still, I''ll call you a stupid system like the one you are. Hehe." Lin Wu decided.

    Lin Wu then checked the log that was stored in the system to get an idea of what had happened. Most of it was the same that he had seen before fainting, but there were a few new lines added to it.

    ''These must havee up when I was unconscious.'' Lin Wu thought.

    The new lines read-

    ABNORMAL ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED: Recalibrating

    ANALYZING ENERGY SOURCE: Unknown high-quality energy type found

    PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS COMPLETE: Energy source found to be blood

    PARTIAL INTEGRATION PROCESS: Link established, energy source viable

    PROCEEDING:-

    HOST VITALS: Analyzing

    WARNING!: Non-human host detected

    IDENTIFYING HOST: Unknown species detected

    WARNING!: Energy resources low

    PARTIAL INTEGRATION PROCESS: Halted

    WARNING!: Please gather more energy resources

    Lin Wu kept on reading the logs over and over again as he felt a little lost.

    "So the energy source it found was blood?" Lin Wu guessed.

    He then looked at the dessicated bird corpse and remembered the feeling of something warm and sticky covering him before he fell unconscious.

    "Seems like the bird''s blood was the energy source and was absorbed by the system after it got sttered on me." Lin Wu concluded.

    ''So if I need toplete the quest, I need to get more blood? Is it just the blood from a bird I need or any blood would work?'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu then looked around for any more blood that he could see, but due to his small stature, he couldn''t look much farther.

    "Dammit you stupid system, if you want blood at least tell me where to find it." Lin Wu cursed.

    ~Ding~

    ENVIRONMENT ANALYZED: Preliminary coordinates obtained

    MAP FUNCTION: Activated

    ENERGY RADIATION DETECTED: Calcting co-ordinates

    ENERGY RESOURCE LOCATED: Marking on map

    Lin Wu was dumbfounded by this new revtion that he had just read.

    "You have a maaap!? Why didn''t you tell me before? Well, at least you are notpletely stupid." Lin Wu said.

    "Open map." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    A new screen then appeared in front of Lin Wu. It was the map screen. The map was rather simplistic, in the way that it only showed the position of Lin Wu and the location of the said energy resource. There was nothing else in the maps, except for these two dots.

    Lin Wu checked the distance between the two points and found that they were diagonally at the very opposite sides of the map.

    "How far is this, though? I can''t really tell from just these two points. What''s the distance between the two points?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    Error!: Command cannot be executed

    Warning!: Energy resources low

    ~sign~

    "So it won''t be able to tell me unless I get it more resources, huh." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu then oriented himself ording to the location of the energy source and started crawling towards it. At first, he was fine, he knew that because he was small, it would take him a while to reach the location. But when six hours passed by and the sun had gone down, Lin Wu could not take it anymore.

    "Ah, I give up! How far is this energy source even? The markers have not even moved a little bit." Lin Wu said while looking at the map.

    He had been keeping a watch on the map and was looking to see how much the distance was but found that there seemed to be no sign of the position markers moving at all. He thought that he would see at least a slight change, but to no avail. The distance was still too far from him.

    "Is the map function broken? Is that why it''s telling me that I''m at the same location?" Lin Wu thought with a little helpless expression.

    ~rumble~

    A strange rumbling sound wasing from Lin Wu''s stomach.

    ~Ding~

    WARNING!: Host''s personal energy levels at critical level, please consume nutrients.

    "Wait, why am I suddenly so hungry? Why did it go from like 0 to 100 immediately, shouldn''t it be a gradual increase?" Lin Wu wondered as he struggled from the wave of hunger.

    Lin Wu looked at the nearest de of grass and chomped down on it. A couple of hourster, he had eaten a small radius of grass area.

    "This should be enough. If I get hungry I can eat any timeter. I''m surrounded by grass, anyway." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He then started his journey again and kept on going. He would sleep when he was tired and eat when he was hungry. Days went by and Lin Wu''s mind had be blurred. He could not tell what day it was.

    Finally, one day he saw the change in the map. The distance between the two dots had finallye close.

    "YES! YESSSSSSS!" Lin Wu shouted.

    "Finally, I should be close to the energy source now." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Ten hourster, Lin Wu finally reached the energy source. But when he saw it, he was utterly shocked. There were two corpses in front of him. One was of an oversized boar, which had a sword stabbed in its back. While the other corpse was a man who was dressed in ancient styled robes, he had been gored in his stomach by the boar''s tusks.

    "What the hell? What happened here? Why is the boar so big and the man wearing clothes like this?" Lin Wu wondered.

    It was now that he closely looked at the man''s corpse and the gears in his mind started turning. He realized what may have happened and who that man could be.

    "Let''s not jump to conclusions. I''ll first get the energy source first." Lin Wu decided.

    He then followed the directions of the system and crawled up to the arm of the man. The map was pointing towards the exact ce where the man was holding the sword in a stabbing position. It was covered with blood and one could not tell whose blood it was.

    It took Lin Wu another hour to climb up to the point, but as soon as he did another notification sounded.

    ~Ding~

    ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED: Absorbing

    WARNING!: Extremely high-quality energy source obtained.

    WARNING!: Host''s vitals unstable.

    RECALCULATING PARAMETERS: Analyzing

    ERROR!: Energy source unstable

    WARNING!: Tranquilizing host to stabilize energy source

    "What do you mean? No! Don''t you dare you stupid system." Lin Wu cursed.

    And with this, he fell unconscious again.

 Chapter 5 - Data Node?

    An unknown amount of timeter, Lin Wu woke up and fell down. He could not control his body and felt as if he was in a new body again.

    "Wha-What is this now?"

    The first thing that Lin Wu spotted in front of him was the two desated corpses of the Boar and the Man that was dressed in ancient clothes. Though the shocking thing was, Lin Wu felt as if these corpses had gotten smaller instead.

    He went closer to take a look and discovered that it was not the corpses that had gotten smaller but rather he himself that had gotten bigger.

    "No wonder I can''t seem to control my body well. I somehow grew bigger." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu''s body was now the length of an arm and his thickness was about the same as that of a finger. The eyes that were once small ck dots were now bigger ck dots.

    "Is this the work of the stupid system? What did it do this time?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "System." He called out.

    ~Ding~

    NOTIFICATION: Would you like to view previous logs?

    "Yes."

    HOST STATUS: Unconscious

    REROUTING ENERGY: Beginning pending calctions

    WARNING!: Excessive energy load

    SELF-PRESERVATION PROTOCOLS: Activated

    PENDING CALCULATION: Completed

    ALERT!: Detected data nodes

    ISSUING QUEST: Obtain Data nodes

    QUEST COMPETED: Data nodes obtained

    REWARD OBTAINED: Data nodes (quantity = 2)

    ANALYZING DATA NODE: Unknown parameters found

    WARNING!: Need additionalputing power

    PERMISSION TO ACTIVATE COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Rejected, host integration not found

    REORIENTING SUB-ROUTINES: Host enhancement started

    NOTIFICATION: Please wait for enhancement toplete

    HOST ENHANCEMENT: Completed

    HOST VITALS: Stable

    PARTIAL INTEGRATION PROCESS: Complete

    WARNING!: Host permission required for further tasks.

    Lin Wu was finally able to understand what had happened all this while he was unconscious. The system seems to have been unable to handle the energy and thus had made him unconscious so that it could do it without harming him. The system even enhanced his body and made it grow to his current size.

    "Huh, seems like the system needs me to be stronger in order to work as well. I guess its not that stupid." Li Wu said to himself.

    ''Though it doesn''t help that I''m still a worm.'' He thought with resignation.

    Just as Lin Wu was about to think about what to do next the notification screen appeared in front of him again.

    ~Ding~

    NOTIFICATION: Unanalyzed data nodes avable, please give permission to proceed.

    Lin Wu wondered if he should give the system the permission or not. ording to him, the system seemed to be rather buggy and malfunctioning. He could not tell what it would do next, but in the end, he decided to go ahead with it.

    ''At least it hasn''t caused me any harm yet. Well, except for the fainting.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Permission granted." Lin Wu approved.

    ~Ding~

    PERMISSION TO ACTIVATE COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Granted

    ANALYZING DATA NODE 1: Please wait patiently

    ~sigh~

    "Now how long do I need to wait?" Lin Wu muttered.

    But just as he said this, another notification sounded.

    ~Ding~

    ANALYZING DATA NODE 1: Completed

    UPGRADING DATA BANKS: New data obtained

    UPDATING HOST DATA: Please check the relevant window.

    ANALYZING DATA NODE 2: Please wait patiently

    Lin Wu felt a little surprised at the speed at which the system had finished the process. With the previous record, he was expecting it tost at least a few hours and not just a couple of seconds. He wondered if the next process would bepleted at the same speed. He waited for a minute, but nothing happened.

    "Huh, seems like this one will take more time. Now then, how do I check the new window that its saying." Lin Wu said to himself.

    "Umm, Host data?" Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    A new window then appeared in front of Lin Wu. This one waspletely different from the map and the notification window. This one had way more things written and seemed to be more organized. Lin Wu then started reading the data that was written in the new window.

    бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 25 days

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]

    ????????

    AWAITING ADDITIONAL DATA: Analysis underway

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    Lin Wu felt a little underwhelmed at theck of information in the window. He had expected a more detailed exnation, but it seemed like this was all that was currently avable.

    "Well, it''s better than nothing at least. I now know what I am and also for how long I''ve been in this world." Lin Wu said to himself.

    ''Seems like I need to wait for a little while more to get the data from the second data node. Wait, I understand that the energy source was blood, but where did these data nodese from?'' Lin Wu thought.

    Just as Lin Mu was wondering this, another notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

    DATA NODE 2: Analysispleted

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    HOST DATA: Updated

    ALERT!: Please check the relevant window.

    "Oh, that was not that long. Let''s check what''s new."

    "Host data." He ordered.

    ~Ding~

    The new notification window appeared in front of Lin Wu. But this time the window was much morerge than before.

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 25 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

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    Just as Lin Wu finished reading the window, another notification popped up.

    ~Ding~

    QUEST COMPLETE: Gather Viable energy resource

    REWARD OBTAINED: Body enhancement

    ISSUING QUEST: Reach the Qi refining realm

    REWARD: Increased lifespan

    FAILURE: Death

    Lin Wu waspletely shocked by the new information that he just obtained. He now understood that he was in nomon world, but was rather in a cultivation world.

    ''That exined the ancient styled clothes of the man. But what am I supposed to do now? Will I die in 2 months? If don''t want to die, I need toplete the quest. But for cultivating won''t I need a cultivation technique, what do I do?'' Multiple questions appeared in Lin Wu''s mind as he got dazed.

    ~Ding~

    But just as he was about to lose hope, another notification appeared.

    ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED: Marked on map

    SCANNER FUNCTION: Avable

    QUEST ISSUED: Kill the approaching beast

    "Beast? What beast? Tell me more, you stupid system!" Lin Wu cursed as he heard the rustling of bushes.

 Chapter 6 - Beast?

    Lin Wu waited with bated breath, listening to the rustling bushes. He had already been warned by the stupid system, thus he was scared. He was wondering what kind of beast it was going to be. He had seen the boar and bird, thus knew that even a weak beast can kill him rather easily.

    "Chickie Nuggies! This damned stupid system, couldn''t it warm me earlier? How am I, a Worm supposed to even kill a beast?" Lin Wu cursed.

    The rustling of bushes kept on intensifying until when finally it stopped. Lin Wu hid between the now desated corpses of the Boar and the man. He was waiting for whatever that wasing.

    ''The system didn''t say anything about a failure penalty, so it should be fine if I just hide out here.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu then suddenly realized something.

    "Chickie Nuggies, that damned beast is here because of these corpses, isn''t it? Crap, even my intelligence is affected because of this worm body." Lin Wu cursed again.

    There was no ce Lin Wu could escape to right now, thus he just kept on hiding. He was hoping that he would be lucky enough that the beast would not notice him. He hoped that the beast wouldn''t have interest in a small worm like him when there were two whole corpses in front of it.

    "Oh no, oh no, oh no." Lin Wu chattered with fear.

    Soon a figure appeared in front of him. The figure seemed to havepletely ignored the tworge corpses and had instead chosen to target Lin Wu. He opened his eyes with dread to take a look at the beast. But when he finally saw the beast, he stumbled in aical manner.

    Lin Wu felt speechless at the beast that was currently standing in front of him. The beast was a tiny mouse that was smaller than Lin Wu''s body. It was small enough to fit in a baby''s palm and seemed to be looking around.

    "Tha-That''s it. This is the beast? It''s a tiny mouse, the definition does not evene close to a beast." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    While Lin Wu was thinking this, the mouse was approaching him steadily. Because Lin Wu was stunned, the mouse did not detect any danger and came close to stand directly in front of him. The mouse then extended his nose and smelled Lin Wu for a bit.

    After checking that Lin Wu seemed to be fine, the mouse withdrew a little bit before opening its mouth, revealing its sharp pair of incisors.

    It was just about to bite Lin Wu when,

    "Chickie nuggies, fudge that!" Lin Wu shouted as he dodged to the left.

    "Thisбн tiny mouse wants to challenge the prestige of a former human. NEVER!" Lin Wu eximed before moving forward quickly.

    Upon seeing that his prey had moved, the tiny mouse reoriented itself and prepared to bite again. But Lin Wu was ready this time. He swerved to the right and turned his body at the very end. He then went low, touching the ground as he kept crawling, and then came under the head of the mouse.

    "Hahaha, right where I want you. Take this!" Lin Wu said.

    He then quickly pushed upwards with his body and flipped the tiny mouse onto its side.

    ~Squeek~

    The tiny mouse squeaked in shock as it tried to get up, but it couldn''t.

    "Not so fast. I won''t let you go now." Lin Wu spoke with an evil tone.

    He then crawled up on the body of the mouse and started making turns around it. Due to Lin Wu''s weight, the tiny mouse was not able to move and get up. Even though Lin Wu was currently very light, rtively speaking, he still weighed more than a tiny mouse.

    He kept on curling and then started constricting. Lin Wu had coiled up the body of the tiny mouse and had wrapped it up.

    "See how you like this!" Lin Wu eximed before he started tightening his grip.

    ~Screech~

    The constricting force kept on getting stronger as the tiny mouse kept on screaming in pain and distress. Eventually, as Lin Wu maintained his grip, the cries of the tiny mouse got fainter and fainter.

    ~Crack~

    A cracking sound was heard as Lin Wu finally crushed the ribs and some other bones of the tiny mouse, killing it in the process.

    ~Ding~

    QUEST COMPLETE: Beast killed (Common grass mouse)

    REWARD OBTAINED: Beast corpse

    As soon as the tiny mouse was killed, the confirmatory ding of a notification sounded as the window appeared in front of Lin Wu''s eyes.

    "Finally." He said with relief.

    Lin Wu then uncoiled himself from the tiny mouse''s body and saw the aftermath. The area around its ribs was sunk in and blood could be seen dripping from the mouse''s mouth.

    Lin Wu had certainly not expected that he would be able to kill a beast so fast, although the said beast was nothing but a tiny mouse. He rested for a bit and restored his stamina, which had depleted when he coiled and cruised the mouse.

    ''Huh, now that I did this quest, what am I supposed to do with the corpse? Am I supposed to eat it?'' Lin Wu thought.

    "What do I do now, stupid system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    DETECTED ENERGY RESOURCE: Rmended course of action- consumption

    "Well, that wasбн rather obvious. But it''s gross eating a mouse, even though I''m a worm now." Lin Wu said to himself.

    But then Lin Wu remembered the previous quest that he had. He still needed to reach the qi refining realm within two months or he would die. Gritting his imaginary teeth, he decided to give it a go.

    "Let''s just get this over with." Lin Wu spoke.

    He ced his mouth over the skin of the mouse and tried biting it. While Lin Wu still did not have any teeth in his mouth, the ''lips'' that he had were instead hardened and could be used to bite and consume food. Lin Wu''s circr mouth thus opened and gnawed on the skin of the tiny mouse.

    At first, he had expected the taste to be gross, but in a surprise, to him, it was rather nd. When he finally gnawed out a small piece of flesh he could sense the taste for the first time. He did not chew it much and instead just swallowed it directly, not letting the taste linger in his mouth any longer.

    The taste of the mouse''s flesh was nd at first, but then a metallic sensation eventually reced that. A familiar taste of blood reappeared in his mind as he suddenly felt grossed out.

    "NO! You have to do this, Lin Wu. For your own life." Lin Wu motivated himself.

    Lin Wu steeled his will and kept on eating. It took him over four hours to finish the entire body of the mouse, except for the bones. Another thing that happened was that he got used to the taste of the flesh, the same way he got used to the taste of the dirt and grass. Also, because of his worm physiology, his digestion was fast, thus he could keep on eating.

    All the useful nutrients that were absorbed from his digestive tract were stored in the body, while the waste was continually expelled in the form of pellets from his tail end.

    ~Ding~

    NOTIFICATION: Host Data updated, please check the relevant window

    A notification sounded, surprising Lin Wu.

    "Oh, another update? Let''s see." Lin Wu muttered.

    "Host Data" Lin Wumanded.

    ~Ding~

    ???бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 25 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/400] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 5 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 25 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse

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    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE:-

    1. Map

    2. Scanner

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    Lin Wu nced at the new data that was added to the window. There were four new lines that seemed to have been added to the old data, and an entirely new section was now avable. This new section showed the functions that the system had activated.

    Lin Wu already knew about the ''Map'' function and had used it extensively before, but the second one that was added ''Scanner'' was new to him. He then remembered seeing the notification along with the quest one before. But because of the fear and dismay, he hadpletely forgotten about it.

    ''There seem to be three types of energies apparently, huh? I wonder what''s the difference between them? Also, what''s this new ''scanner'' function.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He then decided to test out the new function that he had activated.

    "Scanner." Hemanded.

    ~Ding~

    SELECT TARGET:

    1. Bones

    2. Boar corpse

    3. Human corpse

    4. Sword

    Upon saying themand, four options popped up in front of him, making him curious.

 Chapter 7 - Corpse?

    Lin Wu was wondering what option he should choose first. While he could guess what the ''scanner'' function could do, he still wanted the first time to be special. He didn''t know if this function had some sort of cool down or not, thus he wanted to be cautious.

    ''I can''t trust this stupid system. What if it tells me that the cool down of using the function is like a year or something? Or what if it requires special resources and I can only do it once? This stupid system is broken I don''t wanna bear the stupidity.'' Lin Wu thought.

    After deliberating over the choice and considering his current condition, Lin Wu determined that he should choose the human''s corpse. After all, the human''s corpse was most likely to have the most information rather than the boar corpse or the sword. The bones were not even considered by him as he already knew, or rather guessed what the system was going to say. He had eaten the creature that those bones belonged to, so of course, he would not want to ask more about it.

    "I choose the human''s corpse." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    The familiar notification chime sounded as a new window appeared in front of Lin Wu. This window was the widest of all the windows he had seen before and took up nearly seventy percent of his entire field of vision. There were separate sections that were clearly demarcated, making it easy for him to distinguish and observe.

    In one section there was the target of the ''Scanner'' function itself. The corpse was clearly disyed in this square section, and Lin Wu could even see the smallbels that were marking the items that were on the body of the man. This included the clothes that he was wearing, the jewelry, the thin armor that he was wearing under his clothes, and a unique te of pale green crystal that was hanging off of the man''s waist band.

    In another section, there was information pertaining to the targeted item itself, like its description of what it was and its features.

    In thest section, there was information that seemed to have been derived and analyzed by the system. This information was not directly obtained and was the result of careful analysis and extraption of already obtained data that was present in the data banks. This data waspared to the targeted items data and theputational A.I. did a deep analysis of the said item. The A.I. would then simte multiple scenarios and objectives, reaching the most optimum result for that specific level of data.

    Lin Wu was rather surprised by the level of detail that was shown in this window and felt that this was somethingpletely out of the world. Well, technically this was ''out of the world'' indeed, in fact, he himself was out of the world if one could say in this scenario.

    Having glossed over the sections, Lin Wu finally started reading it with full focus. The first section he read was the basic description of the target.

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    TARGET: Human corpse

    NAME: Feng Luo

    AGE: 55 years

    CULTIVATION BASE: Late stage of the Qi refining realm

    SPIRIT SENSE: Nil (Target deceased)

    AFFILIATION: Rogue cultivator

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: Mortal Qi refinement technique [Low-grade technique]

    MARTIAL TECHNIQUES: 1. Basic sword arts [Non-ranked]

    2. Peasant fist art [Non-ranked]

    BLOODLINE: None

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    Lin Wu was a little surprised upon seeing that the corpse in front of him was actually a cultivator. Though he also thought that he should have expected this looking at the unique and peculiar attire of the said man and also the age that was mentioned in the section. While the age mentioned that the man was 55 years old, the appearance of the man said something otherwise. The man didn''t look a day over 25 years of age.

    ''Damn, if this man died because of the boar, then how strong is the boar?''

    ''And what is this cultivation base? I can''t understand it just by this, I need an exnation for the basics.''

    ''The cultivation technique seems fine, but does this mean I can use it or not? Also, what''s up with the martial techniques, why do they sound some? Wait, oh yeah, this guy is a rogue cultivator, no wonder.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu then looked at the section that was disying the target itself. The section was a square box in which the image of the target was erged and was movable as if it was a 3D disy. There were even specialbels that marked the items that were on the target.

    бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    TARGET INVENTORY:

    1. Common Cultivator Robes

    2. Silver Jewelry [Bracelet and rings]

    3. Inner Leather Armour

    4. Communication Jade Slip (Data Node extracted)

    (Select the specific item for more detailed information)

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    Lin Wu read thebels and was only interested in one item that was themunication Jade slip. It was the only item that had an additionalbel along with it, and it was something that pulled his interest.

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    LABEL: Communication Jade Slip

    INFO: A basicmunication jade slip used by cultivators for transmission of messages and information. Has the most basic transmission formation engraved on it. It can also store a limited amount of data.

    CURRENT STATUS: Data node extracted

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    ''So this was where this stupid system extracted one of the data nodes from. But if this is the first, then where is the second one?'' Lin Wu wondered upon reading this.

    Lin Wu had read enough cultivation novels to know whatmunication jade slips were. They were rathermon in the cultivation worlds and were widely used the same way as cell phones. Though the thing that was more interesting for him was the data storage feature.

    "Seems like this was the first data node that the system extracted and analyzed, seeing the time that was required for it toplete it. But still what was the second data node?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Having finished with the first two sections, Lin Wu''s attention went to the third and final section, which gave the derived information of the target. But when Lin Wu saw the first line, he was incredibly shocked.

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    TARGET: Feng Luo (Data node extracted)

 Chapter 8 - Questions?

    Lin Wu had never expected for the second data node to have been from the human corpse. He could not imagine how it became a data node, though. Like for themunication jade slip, he knew that it had a data storage function, but how would it work for a human.

    "Wait, don''t tell me this system can extract memories. If it really can, then it''s terrifying." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu even did multiple takes to confirm that the data node was indeed the human corpse itself, and not some other item on its body. After being done with this and having steeled his mind, he started reading the rest of the data.

    бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    TARGET: Feng Luo (Data node extracted)

    INFO: Feng Luo is amon rogue cultivator from Deer Wood city. He came to the Millennium Forest for hunting spirit beasts and died while hunting a Rock trampler Boar.

    NOTIFICATION: Data node from the target has been assimted in the data banks. The host can ask the system questions and receive the most optimum answerer possible for that time period.

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    ''Huh? So now it allows me to ask questions? Did it take all the memories and information from this man''s brain and use it to upgrade itself? That''s rather impressive. So this stupid system can be a not so stupid system.'' Lin Wu thought.

    ''Now then, how do I do this? Do I just ask it normally or is there a specificmand?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, what is the Deer Wood city?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He was expecting to fail on his first try, but in another surprise to him themand he used seemed to be right.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Deer Wood city is located twenty kilometers to the south of the host''s current location. It is one of the five main cities of the Ling Kingdom andes under the authority of the Lu n. It is arge city and has a poption of six million people. It has three aristocratic ns living in it, of which the Lu n holds the administrative authority. Approximately Thirty percent of its poption is of cultivators while the rest aremoners.

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    Lin Wu read the answer provided by the system and only felt more questions arising in his head. He wanted to ask them, but before that, he wanted to know if there was a cost to using the functions of the system. He had read plenty of novels in his past life and knew of scheming and scummy systems that would hide the information from its users.

    "System, is there a limit to using the functions?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Every function has a different operational cost. The cost of using the ''Scanner'' function is 5 units of system energy. Information obtained by the ''scanner'' function is avable forever after its use, for no extra cost after the initial cost. The Map function uses 20 units of energy upon every update.

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    ~Sign~

    Lin Wu sighed with relief after seeing the system''s answer.

    ''At least it''s not excessive, even though it has a one time cost. Though I''m still a little confused about the cost for the map function.'' Lin Wu thought.

    ''Though if I wanna use them, I first gotta know how to get the energy.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, how do I recharge the energy storages?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Host can obtain the different types of energies by cultivating, consuming resources, and killing creatures. Depending on the method used, the quantity of energy would vary.

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    "Okay, that was rather straightforward. I should have expected this." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    Lin Wu now wanted to know the most important thing on which his life was hanging. He wanted to ask how he could reach the Qi refining realm. He had seen the data in the window and knew that he needed Vital energy.

    "System, how do I use vital energy to raise my cultivation?" Lin Wu asked.

    ~DING~

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    ANSWER: After the host consumes resources or kills creatures, the vital energy from that creature would be stored in the vital energy storage. This energy can then be added to the host''s body to increase its strength. The host can also transfer this energy to the system energy storage, but if this is done the energy cannot be returned.

    бкбкбкбкбк???бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    ''So, I need to hunt more beasts now, or perhaps even some humans. Though I doubt it will be easy considering my current strength. That tiny mouse was rather iparable to the other beasts that I may face, I need to n properly.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, what are the cultivation levels? I mean, which stage do I need to reach in order to be a Qi refining realm cultivator?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The system currently has data on four cultivation realms, they are-

    1. Body Tempering realm [13 stages]

    2. Qi Refining Realm [4 stages]

    3. Core Condensation Realm [4 stages]

    4. Nascent Soul Realm [4 stages]

    The detailed data on realms above the Qi Refining realm is currently not avable. Please obtain more data nodes to expand data banks.

    The Host needs to reach the eighth stage of the Body tempering realm at the very minimum in order to enter the Qi refining realm.

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    ''Huh? So I don''t need to reach the thirteenth stage to upgrade to the Qi refining realm, just the eighth stage is enough. But why is this so?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, why is the requirement for entering the Qi refining realm as such. Shouldn''t it need for one to reach the thirteenth stage of the Body Tempering Realm?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    ERROR: Insufficient data, please upgrade data banks.

    "Damn it, you stupid system, just when I was thinking you were getting good." Lin Wu cursed.

    ~Sigh~

    "Anyway, I have to make a n on how to approach this. I''ll should start by hunting small beasts and making traps. I''m a worm, so I should take advantage of it and dig some holes." Lin Wu decided.

    "System, can you show nearby beasts on the map?" Lin Wu asked.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Marking all nearby beasts within a radius of ten kilometers.

    MARKING COMPLETE: Beasts found= 258

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 Chapter 9 - Upgrade?

    "Chickie nuggies! That''s way too many beasts!" Lin Wu eximed.

    He had expected for there to be many beasts in this forest but had never expected that there would so many in such a short area.

    ''I gotta be really careful or I may identally get stepped on and it will not be the good kind of getting stepped on.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu then started formting possible ns that he could use. He knew that he was not fast or strong enough to kill beasts in a straightforward way, thus would have to set up a trap. Though here came the question about what kind of trap he could make, since he did not have hands to make anyplex ones.

    The most obvious trap he could think of was a hole, in which beasts could fall in. But the problem was that he didn''t know what other beasts there existed in the forest. If they were too big, then they would just escape the trap and also damage it, wasting the effort that Lin Wu spent in making it.

    Hence he decided to see which beasts would be suitable for him.

    "System, do you have data on what beasts are there in the area? If so, then can you tell me what small beasts are there that I can kill?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: There is data avable on elevenmon beasts that are found in the area. Of these eleven beasts, two fall into the category that the host has asked for.

    These beasts are-

    1. Leaf Wind Sparrow

    2. Common Grass mouse

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    "Huh, that''s it? I''ve already seen the Common Grass mouse and there''s no way I can kill a bird, it will just fly away. The system is back to being stupid. Do you not have more information?" Lin Wu said.

    ~Ding~

    NOTIFICATION: Please use the scanner function and obtain more data.

    ''It''s useless. It doesn''t have any more information, I guess. I''ll just need to wing it and figure it out on my own.'' Lin Wu thought.

    ''Though if I want to use the scanner function, I need more energy. But I don''t want to use too much on it either or I won''t be able to increase my cultivation.'' Lin Wu thought.

    As Lin Wu was thinking this his gaze wandered over to the corpses that were still lying there.

    "That''s it I can just eat these first, they should be able to provide me some energy at least." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    But just as Lin Wu muttered this, another notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

    NOTIFICATION: The two corpses have been drained of their free energies and have been used for powering the processes of the system. The host is rmended to consume the corpses to obtain their fixed energies.

    "Chickie nuggies! Why are you only telling me now, you stupid system? I could have eaten them before." Lin Wu cursed.

    Now knowing what he needed to do, Lin Wu started his task. He started with the boar as he felt a little disgusted and reluctant to eat the human corpse, as he was a former human. But still, he knew that he would have to change his mindset as he was no longer a human and was in a life-threatening situation.

    Lin Wu wondered how long it would take him to eat them both as they were pretty massive. The corpse of the boar was thousands of times bigger than his, thus he knew that it was gonna be a tough task.

    Lin Wu came close to the boar''s leg and chomped on it. Its skin was tough and covered with thin fur, thus it was difficult for Lin Wu to eat it. It took him a minute to even be able to gnaw through the skin. After the first piece was finally cut off, he swallowed it.

    Forcefully ignoring the taste that was spreading in his mouth, Lin Wu kept on eating. Though once he had gnawed through the skin, it was easier to eat the flesh itself. Having discovered this, Lin Wu exclusively started eating the flesh.

    Even though his size had increased from centimeters to almost thirty centimeters, it still took Lin Wu about twenty hours to finish the leg. By now he was feeling a little tired of eating and also a little disgusted. His body was covered in traces of blood and flesh gunk.

    He crawled out from the leg of the boar, which was basically just skin and bone now, and rxed on the ground. He curled up his body in a half-circle and lounged against the corpse.

    ~Haah~

    Lin Wu let out a breath of tiredness after lounging down. He had gotten used to this body much faster than he had expected and now did not feel any difort as he used to before. Even the absence of his limbs was not bothering him as much.

    ''Is this just me adapting or am I forgetting my human body''s habits?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    After having thought of a few things, he decided to see his data. He wanted to see how much energy he had obtained from the beast until now.

    "Host Data" Lin Wumanded.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 26 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/400] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 115 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse

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    The first thing Lin Wu noticed was the change in the energy storages. The System energy had decreased by 5 units, while the Vital energy had increased by 110 units.

    "Whoa! That''s a lot. I didn''t expect that I''ll be getting so much from just one leg. Nice, at least now I can upgrade to the next stage quicker." Lin Wu spoke with surprise.

    Lin Wu thought about the potential energy that was still in the beast''s corpse. If there were 110 units in one leg, then there should be at least an average of 100 units in each of the legs. Just the legs would be enough for him to progress to the next stage of the body tempering realm, not to mention the entire body.

    '' I guess, I''ll eat all of the legs first and then upgrade, before eating the rest of the body. Though just eating the one leg took me an entire day. This is going to be a little tough.'' Lin Wu thought.

    After a few more minutes of rest, Lin Wu went back to eating the flesh from the other leg of the boar. He used the same method as before. He gnawed a hole in the tough skin and then crawled in to just eat the flesh.

    Three days passed in a sh and Lin Wu had finally finished eating thatst leg. He crawled out of the skin and curled up again. The corpse of the boar looked deted and had also started stinking. It had obviously started rotting and was letting out a foul stench.

    Though surprisingly to Lin Wu, the flesh was not disgusting but rather delicious. Even the taste of the dposing flesh tasted better to him. He was surprised at first but then attributed it to him being a worm now. Worms were detritivorous, so it was obvious that they would like to eat rotting stuff.

    "Host Data" Lin Wumanded.

    He wanted to see how much energy he had obtained in this entire endeavor.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 29 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [juvenile]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Third stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/400] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 442 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse

    бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк??бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    Lin Wu felt happy at seeing the increased vital energy. He had obtained 327 units of vital energy from the remaining three limbs. Each limb had a different amount of every contained within it and it all umted to for the number in front of him.

    ''Finally, now I can upgrade to the next stage.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, use 400 units of vital energy to upgrade my cultivation to the next stage."

    ~DING~

    COMMAND ACCEPTED: Upgrading Host''s cultivation

    NOTIFICATION: The host will experience pain during the upgrade process, would the host prefer to be tranquilized?

    "What? You asking me this time. At least your behavior has improved." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Yes, I give you permission to tranquilize me." Lin Wu replied.

    ~Ding~

    PERMISSION GRANTED: Initiating upgrade process

    The notification window shed in front of Lin Wu''s eyes for a moment before his consciousness started to fade and his vision turned to dark.

 Chapter 10 - Another Upgrade?

    Lin Wu woke up groggily and felt heavy upon waking up. It was as if there was extra weight ced on him.

    "What is this? Why do I feel so heavy?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He looked around and saw darkness everywhere. It seemed as if it was nighttime and the sun had gone down. Lin Wuid on the ground for a few minutes, after which the heavy weight that he was feeling on his body finally went away. It was then that the sound of notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

    NOTIFICATION: Upgrade processplete, please check the relevant window.

    ''What, the update was notplete when I woke up? Did it justplete? But it hasn''t done this before, did the tranquilizing effect perhaps wore off earlier?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Having thought of this Lin Wu called out to the system.

    "Host Data." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 30 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Fourth stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/500] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 42 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED: 1. Common Grass Mouse

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    There were a few changes that Lin Wu noticed right away. First of all, the Cultivation level of Lin Wu had risen to the Fourth stage of the Body tempering Realm, and the energy required to upgrade to the next stage had increased to 500 units from the previous 400 units. The second thing he noticed was the Vital energy storage that had decreased to 42 units.

    Another thing that he noticed was the status of his species, it had changed from Juvenile to Adult.

    "What''s this? I''m an adult now? But I feel no difference." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    Just to make sure, he looked at his body and checked for any difference. But didn''t find any changes, at least not any that were visibly apparent. Not knowing the exact reason, he decided to ask the system.

    "System, why do I not have any changes now that I''m an adult?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host''s body was previously enhanced, thus the host is already bigger than the matured adults of his species. The host''s adult status means that the host can now procreate.

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    Lin Wu was a little dumbfounded upon hearing the system''s answer. He knew what the mending of being an adult entailed, but was still a little taken aback. He also didn''t expect that he was already bigger than others of his species.

    "System, how much of a difference is there between me and others of my species?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Due to the enhancement, the host is ten times as big as an average Common Mud Worm. The host is also able to cultivate unlike the others of his species.

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    This was another surprise to Lin Wu. He knew that he was big but had not expected the difference to be so great. Even the fact that his species could not cultivate normally was a surprise to him. He wanted to know more about his species as he didn''t know if it was the system that made him able to cultivate or something else.

    "System, tell me more about my species and why can''t they cultivate but I can?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк--бкбк???бкбк--бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    ANSWER: The Common Mud Worm is a native species of worms that aremon on the entire. They are a hermaphrodite species that is unranked in the beast categories. They belong to the lower level of the food chain and are the prey of higher ss species.

    The reason why the host can cultivate is due to two factors, one of them being the system itself and the other a natural mutation.

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    Lin Wu read the entire answer a couple of times before he went back to the part that told him that his species is hermaphrodite. That was the part that had stunned him as he copsed back to the ground.

    "I''mбн I''m a Hermaphrodite? No, this can''t be! I refuse! That''s right, I just don''t have to ept this. No one can force me, anyway." Lin Wu muttered to himself in a creepy tone.

    Having given himself a little pep talk, Lin Wu returned to the answer and saw the second part. He had guessed that the system had allowed him to cultivate, but didn''t know that there was something additional involved as well.

    He knew about natural mutations and knew that they would happen every so often. Though more likely than not they would be useless or disadvantageous. It was a rare chance that an advantageous mutation would ur.

    ''Well, I guess I got lucky.'' Lin Wu thought as he stroked his imaginary beard with his imaginary hands.

    He turned to the boar corpse and guessed the amount that was left behind. Lin Wu had already eaten the four legs and estimated that the mass of the body should be a little more than the weight of the four limbsbined.

    "Let''s see how much energy I get from this. Hopefully, it should be enough to upgrade another level." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    He then made another hole in the boar''s skin, this time in the torso, and crawled inside as he started eating. If it was a normal person and they were eating the boar, they would perhaps only eat the meat and leave the organs behind. But for Lin Wu, who was a worm, it didn''t matter, he could just eat it all. It didn''t taste bad to him, anyway.

    Lin Wu experienced a difference in strength now. His speed had increased and he could eat even faster. Even his biting force had increased. Unlike before when it took him 80 hours to eat four legs, it only took him 30 hours to eat the entire corpse, leaving the bones behind.

    If one were to look at the boar corpse now, they would find that it was literally ''skin and bones''. Lin Wu had devoured every single bit of flesh, leaving behind just the tough skin and hard bones. He crawled out and looked at the corpse.

    ''It feels a little wasteful to leave the skin, I''ll eat it too.'' Lin Wu thought for a moment before eating the tough skin.

    It took him another ten hours to finish the skin. By now, a sizable mound of refuse had built up on one side. The product of Lin Wu''s feast. He had been subconsciously been ignoring it, but its size had be too much for him now. Even though there was no unpleasant smell, it was still very ufortable for Lin Wu.

    "Ugh, I need to move soon." Lin Wu muttered.

    ''Now then let''s see the gains.'' Lin Wu thought to himself with hope in his eyes.

    "Host Data." He ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 1 month, 2 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Fourth stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/500] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 602 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    бкбкбкбкбкбк---бкбкбк--бкбкбк???бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    Lin Wu felt satisfied upon seeing the increase in Vital energy storage. He also noticed the extra entry that was added to the bottom about the Rock Trampler Boar.

    ''Hmm, so every time I finish eating aplete beast, it''s added to the list. But whats, the use for this?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, what is the use for raw bloodline data?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Raw bloodline data is obtained from the beasts that arepletely consumed. This data can be used to modify and enhance host''s characteristics. Such changes are only possible after sufficient data is obtained and analyzed. Certain types of bloodline data are ipatible with the host and thus won''t be useful even if they are added.

    The host does not have any bloodline, thus the system can allow them to create one for themselves.

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    Lin Wu was incredibly intrigued by the system''s answer.

    ''Seems like this is an extra advantage I got because of my species being weak and low ss. I wonder up to what level I can modify the bloodline.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, how can I modify my bloodline?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: For unlocking the bloodline creation function, the host needs to reach the Qi refining realm and also collect a sufficient amount of bloodline data. The host will also need a sufficient amount of system energy to actually carry out the process. The amount of energy required will vary depending on the level andplexity of the Bloodline.

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    "I guess, I can''t do much until I reach the Qi refining realm. For now, I just need to upgrade." Lin Wu muttered.

    "System, use 500 units of vital energy to upgrade my cultivation to the next stage."

 Chapter 11 - Explosion?

    ~Ding~

    COMMAND ACCEPTED: Upgrading Host''s cultivation

    Lin Wu''s vision went ck, and he awakened after some time. He was once again feeling heavy and felt as if something extra was ced on him. He had already experienced this before thus knew that it was just the system taking its time. He kept on lying on the ground and waited for the notification to arrive.

    ~Ding~

    NOTIFICATION: Upgrade processplete, please check the relevant window.

    ''Finally.'' Lin Wu inwardly spoke.

    "Host Data." Lin Wumanded.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 1 month, 3 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Fifth stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/600] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 102 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    Lin Wu checked the entire window and saw that everything was as he expected it would be. He had sessfully entered the Fifth stage of the Body tempering Realm.

    "Only three more to go and I can be a cultivator." Lin WU said to himself.

    ''I don''t have much time left anyway, there are only 27 days left before my lifespan would end.'' Lin Wu reminded himself.

    There was a big challenge in front of him now. Lin Wu now needed to eat the corpse of the man in front of him. While the corpse had started decaying and was releasing a foul stench, that smell was actually appetizing to Lin Wu. He hated that he likeed it so much, but knew that he couldn''t do much.

    "It''s just this body''s physiology. I gotta eat it or I may not survive." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    He crawled up to the dead man''s arm and took a bite. He could straight away feel the difference in his strength. His bite force had increased again, and he could even move faster than before. Just one bite and he had already cut through the skin.

    Lin Wu felt the savory taste of human flesh spreading in his mouth. It felt delicious to him on a physical level and revolting mentally. He didn''t know of his psychological state and didn''t want to know either. He just kept eating till he realized that he had eaten the entire arm of the dead man. Right now, only bones were left behind. All the muscles, veins, and tendons had been eaten clean off.

    "Thatбн was ratherбн Delicious!" Lin Wu eximed as he felt the energy stir within his body.

    The flesh of the man seemed to have a different quality than that of the Rock Trampler Boar.

    "Why is there such arge difference in the qualities? Is it because the other was a boar and had a lower cultivation?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    He now wanted to see the difference between the energy obtained from the human''s flesh and the boar''s flesh. He had decided that if he got little energy from the flesh, he would just abandon it and only eat beasts in the future. While the human flesh tasted better to him, it still irked him on the moral level. Being a former human just interfered in his thought process and conflicted with his body''s desires.

    "Host Data." Lin Wumanded.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 1 month, 3 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Fifth stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/600] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation](expand)

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 178 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

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    ''Huh? It''s actually lower than the boar. Then why does it feel like I have more energy within me?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, what''s the difference that I feel right now? Why is the energy increase in Vital energy storage so less, yet I feel as if I have more energy?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The extra energy the host is feeling is Spirit Qi and not Vital energy. The host cannot utilize it yet, thus it is hidden. If the host wants to check it, he can expand the Qi storage section.

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    Lin Wu looked up and saw that he had actually missed something. There was an extra term added at the Qi storage section, it said expand.

    "Expand." Hemanded.

    ~Ding~

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    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    - Reserved Spirit Qi: 156 units [wisps]

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    "Wha-what? I have reserve spirit qi?" Lin Wu spoke out loud with surprise, even though no sound actually came out of his mouth.

    "System, didn''t you say that I can only use spirit qi after bing a cultivator? Why is it here then? And also why is the unit different?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Normally the host would not have been able to absorb the spirit qi, but because of the presence of the system it can still be stored. Though it cannot be utilized by the host or the system until the host reaches the Qi refining realm.

    The specific type of unit used to denote the quantity for spirit qi here is wisp. There are other qualities of spirit qi thus they will have different subunits.

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    Lin Wu felt a little strange after reading the answer but then got over it as it was just advantageous to him, anyway.

    ''Wait, if the man was killed by the Rock Trampler Boar, shouldn''t it have cultivation too? Perhaps I absorbed spirit qi from it too.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, how much spirit qi did I obtain from the Rock Trampler Boar and the human corpse?" Lin WU questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host obtained 23 units [wisps] of spirit qi from the Rock Trampler Boar and 133 units [wisps] from the human corpse till now.

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    "That''s a prettyrge quantity. Eating the entire corpse should give me plenty of spirit qi, even though I can''t use it right now." Lin Wu muttered.

    He then returned to his task and started to eat the corpse. He kept on eating when only the bones were left. In a surprise to him, the most delicious part for him was the brain. He also felt the most amount of energy being absorbed when he ate the brain, thus discovered that it was the best part.

    Lin Wu got over his revulsion of the human corpse pretty fast considering his previous condition. He did not even question it when he actually started to like it and just kept on eating. He was lost in the euphoria of the energy flowing in his body and only regained his focus when there was nothing but bones left to eat.

    "Host Data"

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 1 month, 3 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Fifth stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/600] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    - Reserved Spirit Qi: 953 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 591 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 20 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

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    "Chickie Nuggies! That''s a lot of spirit qi. If it''s this easy getting it then cultivation is simple." Lin Wu eximed.

    If any other cultivator were to see what Lin Wu had just aplished, they would die with envy. The speed at which he had obtained the spirit qi was simply iprehensible. It could only be termed as unnatural. The system''s influence was much stronger than he had thought.

    Lin Wu''s attention was then pulled to the Vital energy and the single word that was added under the raw bloodline data. He had expected for a new entry to be added to the list after eating, but now that he saw the word ''Human'' under it, he just felt strange. It was as if a strange sense of nostalgia had washed over him.

    ~Sigh~

    Lin Wu sighed and pushed those thoughts aside. Now that he had be a worm, getting rid of his thoughts was bing more and more necessary for him. He knew that if he didn''t do that, he would probably get depressed soon. His mind soon returned to the data and his heart jumped in frustration.

    "So close! Damn, I just needed 9 more units and I would have been able to upgrade to the next stage directly." Lin Wu said to himself with a little self-pity.

    ~Kaboom~

    Suddenly Lin Wu heard the sound of a loud explosion.

    "What the hell! Chickie nuggies, what was that?" He Eximed.

    Then at that moment, he got a notification.

    ~Ding~

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    WARNING: Detecting high energy explosions

    ISSUING EMERGENCY QUEST: Escape the radius of the explosion

    REWARD: Survival

    FAILURE: Death

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    Lin Wu only had one thought in his mind right now.

    "F*ck"

    With not even a hint of hesitation, he started crawling as fast as he could. He turned to the direction that was opposite to the location of the explosion and started moving. Due to the fear and urgency of the moment, he was acting clumsily and was tumbling.

    "Chickie nuggies! I''m a worm, why am I crawling on the ground when I can just dig deep." Lin Wu scolded himself.

    He turned his direction of the ground and started digging. His increase in strength showed its effect now. He disappeared in a second and went inside the ground. It was as if the soil had be water, for Lin Wu kept on moving through it while singing a song to keep himself focus.

    "Dig A Tunnel Dig Dig A Tunnel

    Dig A Tunnel Dig Dig A Tunnel

    Dig A Tunnel Dig Dig A Tunnel

    Quick before the explosionses"

 Chapter 12 - No Beasts?

    Lin Wu kept on digging and felt the vibrations traveling through the ground. They were getting stronger by the second and were now actually starting to hurt him. The ground would shake and the small stones and pebbles would rub against his skin, injuring him.

    While this did feel painful to him, he paid it no attention and fully focused on digging. Five minutester the vibrations had stopped and Lin Wu had dug pretty far deep into the ground. He stopped once he could not feel any vibrations.

    "Am I far enough now?" Lin Wu questioned himself while breathing heavily.

    Evidently digging vigorously like this had taken a little out of him, and he was now feeling fatigued. Still, the fatigue was only temporary as a strange warmth reced it soon and he feltfortable. Lin Wu could not tell what it was and only knew that it was good for him.

    "System, what is this warm feeling that I''m having?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк???бкбкбк---бкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s body is producing vital energy, and it is being assimted by the host. This is how a normal beast cultivates. They consume sustenance and then do intense physical activity, this activates their body''s natural ability and produces vital energy.

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    "Oh, so this is how I''m supposed to cultivate normally. But since I have the system, I don''t need to worry and just kill some beasts." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Since Lin Wu had reached a far enough distance from the explosion, he just waited and expanded the area around him. Making a small hole like structure. He was now just waiting for the questpletion notification toe in. Once it appeared, it would tell him that it was safe to go back up.

    In a surprise to him, it took over two hours before the notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

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    QUEST COMPLETED: Escape the radius of the explosion

    REWARD OBTAINED: Survival

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    ''Why did it take so long for the quest notification toe in? What happened up there?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, what happened up there?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host needs to update the map. After the update, the newly changed terrain would be disyed.

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    "Newly changed terrain? What!" Lin Wu eximed.

    "System, update the map, and disy it for me." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    Notification: 5 system energy units will be used, does the host grant the permission?

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    "Yes, permission granted." Lin Wu replied.

    Lin Wu was no longer as worried about the energy points as he now knew how to obtain them. He also had plenty of them for now, so it didn''t matter to him as much.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: The map has been updated, disying now.

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    The first thing Lin Wu saw that the map had improved a lot than before. It only used to show two markers before the position of Lin Wu himself and whatever else he marked. But now it was actually showing the terrain itself. There were trees, ground, rocks, and other things shown.

    Though the most shocking thing to him was that the trees were not where they should be and the ground was charred ck. If he focused a bit, he could even see the contours on the ground making him realize that the ground had moved around due to some kind of force.

    "What kind of explosion was that? The trees are all uprooted, and the ground is as ck as coal." Lin Wu wondered out loud.

    ''I guess, I''ll just need to go up to see it myself.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He was just about to turn back and return when he noticed something on his body. He saw the small wounds that had been formed on his body due to the vibrations and tremors. He didn''t know if the wounds would get aggravated or not if he dug up again.

    Just as he was thinking this, another notification popped up.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Asking for permission to activate host''s regenerative ability.

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    "Regenerative ability? System, do I have a regenerative ability? Is it because of you?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host''s species has a natural regenerative ability. This ability can even help the host regenerate his body up to a total of 40% of the host''s body mass. The system can also utilize energy to elerate this process.

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    "Oh yes! I''m a worm now. Many worms have the ability to regenerate their body." Lin Wu remembered the information from his textbooks of previous life.

    "Yes, regenerate my wounds, system." Lin Wu replied.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Healing host''s injuries. Please wait for a moment.

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    Lin Wu could instantly feel the effects of the system. His wounds and injuries started itching as they then started to heal at a visible rate. A couple of secondster, all the wounds that he had received due to the tremors had healed and his body was as good as new.

    "This is rather amazing. I can even heal from wounds if I''m injured in a fight." Lin Wu spoke in amazement.

    Done with this, Lin Wu started his journey back. Unlike before, it actually took him longer to reach the surface of the ground, as the tunnel he had dug was closed due to the vibrations in the ground. In fact, the soil had actually be a little morepact, which made it a little tougher to dig.

    Still, Lin Wu just used his innate worm instincts of digging and eventually reached the surface of the ground. Once he appeared on the ground, he took a quick look around. All he could see was devastation.

    There had been an upheaval, and everything seemed to be destroyed. Uprooted trees were lying around, having had most of their leaves burned out if not their trunks as well. In fact, some of the trees were still ame and were on the verge of copse.

    Therge rocks around the area were charred ck along with the ground, and cracks had even appeared in them. Making one wonder how strong the explosion was.

    "Chickie nuggies! Thatбн was some strong explosion. If I had not dug in the ground, I would have been reduced to ashes by now." Lin Wu thought out loud.

    While thinking of this, Lin Wu suddenly realized something, his main quest.

    "Wait, if the explosion was this strong thenбн" He spoke.

    "System, Scan the area for beasts." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Scanning the radius of 10 kilometers for beast activity.

    SCAN COMPLETE: No beasts found. Life signs negative.

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    "F*ck"

 Chapter 13 - Safe Course?

    Lin Wu had never expected that his quest would just get even more difficult. The explosion had apparently wiped out all the beasts in the surroundings. Even if he could go further than that, it would just take him a long time to reach and would just reduce his lifespan.

    He now had less than a month left toplete his quest or he would end up dying.

    "What do I do now? With my size, I doubt I can travel much farther in a short amount of time." Lin Wu said with frustration.

    But just as he said this, the sound of notification ringed again.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Extremely high energy resource found, marking on map.

    QUEST ISSUED: Obtain the Extremely high energy resource.

    WARNING: Area surrounding the resource is vtile, please proceed with caution.

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    "Huh? That wasбн rather, at the opportune moment. Just when I was about to give up too." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    ''Let''s see its location.'' He thought.

    "Open map." Lin Wumanded.

    ~Ding~

    The map window appeared in front of Lin Wu and he started observing it. He was locating the position of the extremely high energy resource that was marked by the system. He wanted to see how far it was and if he could reach there in time.

    But when he actually saw it, he was stunned.

    "Chickie nuggies! It''s right where the explosion happened. Wait, it''s not the reason for the explosion, is it?" Lin Wu eximed.

    ''If the system tells that it is dangerous and I have to be careful, then I definitely have to be. It''s not like I can ignore the quest either, I have no other choice. All the other beasts will be too far from my location.'' Lin Wu concluded.

    "AH! Forget it, I''ll just do it. If I die, I die." Lin Wu spoke in a helpless tone.

    The location of the energy resource was not that far from Lin Wu''s position. While it would still take him a day to reach there, it was still better than having to travel outside the radius of the explosion, which would take him weeks if not more.

    This way he could at least get a chance at acquiring the energy resource and not dying. Having made up his mind, Lin Wu started his journey towards the quest location.

    Unlike before, instead of crawling on the ground, Lin Wu crawled through the ground. His speed was actually faster while traveling underground than crawling on the ground. He would asionally pop his head out of the ground to look around on the surface.

    Though wherever he looked, all he could see was devastation. The explosion had evidently destroyed a good part of the area and it was only looking worse the more he got close to the location of the energy resource. At first, only the top surface of the ground looked ckened and charred. But as he got further, he found that even the lower levels of the ground were charred.

    A few hourster he had reached a point where it was getting harder to dig because of the ground hardening due to the heat of the explosion. He actually had to go deeper so that he could keep on digging. The top six inches of soil had be rather hard. While it was not impossible for him to dig through it, it was still faster if he went just a few more inches deeper than that.

    Though the biggest problem urred when he was only a hundred meters from the location of the resource. He found that the soil above him had be extremely hard and he couldn''t dig upwards. He thus went back a little bit until he could find a ce where he could dig up from.

    But then, when he actually found a location such as that, another problem appeared. The surrounding temperature was too hot for him to progress.

    "What the hell is going on up there? Why is it still so hot?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ''Guess I just have to go a little more to the back.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Thus he went back a hundred more meters and finally resurfaced. But when he saw the sight in front of him, his jaw was left hanging.

    "Thisбн Thisбн Not what the hell, this is literally hell!" Lin Wu cursed upon seeing the environment.

    The area in front of him was on fire, with there being someva pools. Evidently, the ground had been heated to a hot enough temperature that the soil, dirt, and rocks had directly melted to form theseva pools.

    ''What kind of explosion can even do something like this? I''ve only heard of nuclear explosions doing something simr before.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "I''ll just have to find some other way." Lin Wu spoke to himself in a helpless tone.

    ''Wait, can the system help me with this? I should try it.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, can you find me a safe path to the quest target?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Yes, the system can plot a course for the host to reach the quest location. This process will require system energy.

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    "That''s fine. System, convert the vital energy into system energy and use it to calcte the route." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    CONVERTING: Vital energy converted to system energy

    PROCESSING: Analyzing parameters to find a suitable route

    ERROR: Energy insufficient

    CONVERTING: More vital energy converted to system energy

    CALCULATING: Please wait patiently.

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    "Huh, I guess I gotta wait a little more while. How much energy did it use though?" Lin Wu thought out loud.

    "Host Data." Lin Wumanded.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 1 month, 4 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Fifth stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/600] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    - Reserved Spirit Qi: 953 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 258 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 38 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

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    "Chickie nuggies! How did it use up more than 300 units of energy?" Lin Wu eximed.

    Just as Lin Wu was shocked by this, another notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Optimum course charted, marking on map.

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 Chapter 14 - Jump?

    After Lin Wu saw the notification, he let out a sigh.

    ~Sigh~

    "At least it was fast this time." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Open Map." Hemanded.

    ~Ding~

    A new map now appeared in front of Lin Wu. The perspective on the map had now changed, and it was functioning as an ovey disy. Lin Wu felt as if he was ying a video game and the map was guiding him to the path he was supposed to go.

    The map was now of two types. A smaller map that had an overhead perspective appeared on the top right corner of his vision, and the rest of the map had now instead changed to a navigational perspective. The map showed an arrow pointer on the path he was supposed to take. Simrly, on the mini-map on the top right corner, a long and winging line showed the route that he was supposed to go.

    "Amazing! This is just like a video game. Huh, it seems like the stupid system is improving." Lin Wu eximed.

    Having understood the route, Lin Wu then began his journey. The path was long and winding, with multiple dangers along the way. There were parts where the area was lit up with zing mes while others that were filled with molten rock and dirt.

    There were cracks that had been formed in the ground along with random pieces of rocks and debris scattered on the way. There were some sharp pieces of the rocks scattered along the way as well, which Lin Wu had to dodge. He noticed another thing, the path that he was taking would actively change and adapt ording to any changes in the environment.

    For example, a piece of rock had broken off and fell into his path. The ovey thus changed and showed him a different route that was safe for him to take. Lin Wu was impressed by the adaptability and was now starting to like it.

    ''Seems like the energy was not wasted at least. If it''s this adaptable, then it should be worth it.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu eventually reached a point where he had to climb an elevated rock. The rock was extended over arge pool ofva, and there did not seem to be any other way than that. The rock was tilted in such a way that, if one reached the very edge of it, the distance was short enough for them to just jump over theva pool.

    While this would be dangerous, it was the only way that the map was showing. Every other time, the map had shown him an alternate route when he was stuck, but this time there didn''t seem to be any other choice.

    "System, is there really no other way?" Lin Wu questioned with a hopeful tone.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Theva pool surrounds the quest targetpletely, thus the host can only take this route.

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    ~Sigh~

    "If you say so." Lin Wu muttered before starting his ascent.

    The rock was about ten meters tall and was irregrly shaped, with there being several sharp edges that jutted out of its sides. Lin Wu had to wind around the rock to find a suitable path upwards. Although he was only ten inches long now, it was still difficult for him to climb up such a steep rock.

    A couple of hourster, Lin Wu finally reached the top of the rock. Once he reached it, he straightened his body and looked around. Due to the elevation, he finally got a clear sight of his surroundings. He could see the devastation and destruction that had happened.

    Lin Wu could also see the far edges of the forest that were still burning and the earth that had gone into aplete upheaval. Since he had traveled underground most of the way and because he couldn''t see far because of his height, he didn''t actually know the scope of destruction.

    Even when he had seen it on the map, it didn''t look as harsh as this. The current view was greatly shocking to him.

    "Chickie nuggies! What kind of explosion was this, really?" Lin Wu eximed as his jaw was left open in shock.

    Lin Wu then turned to the location of the energy source and saw that there was nothing there except for an extremely deep crater which led to god knows where. There was also a faint green glow that was arising from the crater, which looked eerie.

    Lin Wu then began his descent from therge rock. The top of the rock was tilted at a 45-degree angle, thus it was a little tricky for him to proceed. He had to be careful enough to ensure that he didn''t just tumble off the rock and fall into theva below.

    Fortunately, the surface of the rock was rough and uneven, such that he could get a good grip on it and didn''t fall. Eventually, he reached the lower part of the slope and was at the very edge. Now Lin Wu had to figure out how to safely cross this part.

    There was still a short distance between the edge of the rock and the other side of theva pool. If Lin Wu were to make any mistake, he would end up bing ashes.

    ''Whoa! I gotta be dead careful in crossing this or I''ll really be dead.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu carefully looked over the edge of the rock and estimated the distance. He guessed that it was about a foot away from him. His body was just a couple of centimeters short of that, and this meant that he would have to jump over it.

    "How does a worm jump?" Lin Wu wondered and tried to imagine it.

    Figuring out a method, Lin Wu coiled up at the edge of the rock and aimed towards the other end of theva pool. Then he gathered strength in his body like a spring and pushed the lower end of his body hard. This caused him to spring forth and shoot in the air.

    Lin Wu was sent soaring in the air and was flying over theva pool. Hended face first on the other end of the pool and made a low thunking sound. But unfortunately, not all of his body was sessful in crossing over.

    "AHHHHHHHH!" Lin Wu shouted in pain as the lower end of his body touched theva.

 Chapter 15 - Burn?

    "BUUUUURRNS! IT BURRRRNNNS!!!" Lin Wu shouted as he writhed in pain on the ground.

    The lower end of his body was ame as it had touched the surface of theva. While it had notpletely been dipped into it, just the surface heat was enough for his body to ignite spontaneously.

    "AHHHHHHH!!" He shouted as he rolled around.

    A few secondster he was able to stop the mes from burning him, but the part that was affected was already charred and had turned into ck coke. Lin Wu was finally able to stop shouting and crying in pain, as the pain receptors in his body that were in the lower end werepletely burned.

    Due to this, he was no longer able to feel pain and only felt a numb sensation down there.

    "HAAбн HAAбн HAAбн" Lin Wu made imaginary heavy breathing sounds, even though he did not have the same physiology as before.

    Evidently, his human habits and instincts were still rather firm in his mind and woulde out whenever it was the right moment. After a few minutes, Lin Wu was finally able to calm down and was then able to think about his situation.

    "Chickie nuggies! Iбн Iбн I was incinerated! What will I do know? I''ll die in this injured state." Lin Wu spoke to himself in a strange state of confusion.

    While he had physically calmed down, his mind was still not in the right ce, thus he was not able to think straight.

    ~Ding~

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    WARNING!: The host''s mental status is altered due to physical injury.

    NOTIFICATION: Initiating the tranquilizing process

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    Lin Wu was not in the right sense of mind, thus did not notice the notification window that had appeared in front of him. This was the first time that he had ever experienced pain of this level in this life. In his past life, the greatest pain that he had experienced was being kicked in the crotch.

    Whilepared to that pain this was nothing, but for his newly acquired worm body, it was still the greatest pain it had felt. The pain had overwhelmed his senses, which had resulted in his current condition. The system had thus taken a precautionary action and had initiated the tranquilizing process.

    A few secondster, Lin Wu became still, and no longer writhed in pain. Heid there unconscious for an unknown amount of time as the clouds over his head passed by and the sun and moon moved. Eventually, his body twitched again as he opened his eyes.

    "Huh? Whereбн where am I?" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he struggled to move.

    "Why can''t I move? What''s happening to me?" Lin Wu spoke in confusion.

    He tried to move his head around and was able to do so with great difficulty. With what he could turn to see, he observed that he was on the ground just beside theva pool. There was no pain in his body anymore, but he still couldn''t move it and it was as if it had been paralyzed.

    A few minutester the groggy feeling that Lin Wu was feeling finally passed away and the fog in his mind was cleared. His memories came reusing by and the faint feeling of pain and horror returned too. This only made him twitch again but ineffectively since his body was still paralyzed.

    ~AAAAH~

    Lin Wu groaned and wallowed in his previous misfortune.

    ''Why did I not think of a better alternative to just jumping over the edge? What was I thinking? Did the stupid system infect me and make me stupid too?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Just as Lin Wu thought this, the sound of a notification sounded again.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Regeneration processplete

    NOTIFICATION: Lifting tranquilizing effects

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    Lin Wu read the notification and got an idea of what had happened. A few secondster, he was able to move his body once again. This time he took a close look over his body as he remembered what had happened before. The first thing he checked was the lower end of his body that had been burned.

    Thest time Lin Wu had seen it, it waspletely charred and had been reduced to a mass of ck coke. But now that he was looking at it, there was no such thing to be seen. Instead, it looked the same as it was before he had been burned.

    There were no scars, and neither were there any marks that would denote the site of injury. Lin Wu marveled at this sight and wondered about the regeneration ability that his body had.

    "System, what happened before?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host had been severely injured and had third-degree burns on his lower four segments of his body. Over ny percent of the tissues had been incinerated and no viable tissue was left. In addition to this, the host underwent major mental trauma due to the pain of the injury.

    In order to prevent mental damage to the host and to heal the injury, the system took the liberty to put the host in a tranquilized state. During this state, the system used the stored energy to heal and regenerate the host''s injury.

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    Lin Wu read the system''s answer and then understood the entire sequence of events that had happened.

    ''Wait, four of my segments were incinerated and over 90% of tissue was inviable. Then this meansбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself and looked around.

    A short distance from his body he found a charred ck mass of coke lying. It was broken into multiple pieces and looked no different from a piece of charcoal.

    "Whoa! So the system really did regenerate an entire part of my body." Lin Wu eximed to himself.

    ''How much energy did it use, though?'' Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    "System, how much energy was used up in this period?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Please check the host data window for relevant information.

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    "Oh of course, I forgot. Host Data." Lin Wu spoke.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 1 month, 12 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Fifth stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/600] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    - Reserved Spirit Qi: 953 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 12 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

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    Lin Wu was absolutely stunned after seeing the consumption rate.

    "Myбн myбн my energy. It''s goneбн all gone." Lin Wu muttered in shock.

 Chapter 16 - Hole?

    Lin Wu was feeling appalled at seeing the data window. Not only was most of his stored vital energy was depleted, but when he saw his age he was shocked again.

    "Chickie nuggies! Seven days passed by while I was unconscious. Goddammit! This energy source better be worth it or I''ll die before I can finish my quest." Lin Wuined to himself.

    ~Haah~

    ''I better get going and not waste any more time. This is already prettyte.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Having made up his mind, Lin Wu started crawling towards the location of the energy source. The path now was rather straightforward, if not for the upturned ground. Lin Wu had already seen the path from high up, so knew how to proceed. Not to mention, even the system was showing him a straight path when he turned the navigation back on.

    "Let''s get to it." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He began his journey back again and reached the edge of the crater after thirty hours.

    "Now what do I do?" Lin Wu spoke after seeing the deep and dark crater.

    The diameter of the crater was around a hundred meters and its bottom could not be seen as it was hidden in darkness. Though asionally green glowing light woulde from the bottom of it. Even still, it was still difficult for Lin Wu to perceive the depth of the crater.

    "How far deep is the quest objective at, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The quest objective is located at approximately 667.93 meters of depth.

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    Lin Wu was confused upon seeing the system''s answer. He took another look at the crater''s size and the back at the system''s answer.

    "There''s no way the crater is that deep. If it was, then the diameter of it would have been at least thirty times as big as this." Lin Wu spoke after thinking for a bit.

    "System, why is the crater so deep?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The crater itself is about 80 meters deep. It''s the quest objective that''s located deeper.

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    "What? Do you mean the quest objective is buried even deeper than that?" Lin Wu asked.

    Lin Wu had automatically assumed that the quest objective that was the extremely high quality energy source was located at the base of the crater. Never would he have expected that it was actually even deeper and that he had just made a misinformed assumption.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The quest objective was indeed supposed to be at the bottom of the Crater, but the impact seems to have broken through some underground caves and has copsed it further in. This led to the quest objective falling even farther in.

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    After hearing the exnation of the system, Lin Wu finally understood the situation.

    ''There''s nothing I can do, anyway. I just gotta keep on going.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he kept on crawling.

    He had tried seeing if he could dig in the ground as he would be faster that way, but found out that the ground here was much harder and had even been crystallized in some ces due to the intense heat. There was no chance that he would be able to dig through here.

    Having no other choice, Lin Wu continued following the system''s navigation. While the route down the crater was very straight, Lin Wu still had to be careful to not just stumble and fall in directly. He had already seen the depth of the hole thus knew that if he fell that far in, he would not survive.

    But still, since the path was at an incline, Lin Wu reached the bottom of the crater in an hour. Now came the turn for the next challenge. At the very bottom of the crater was a hole that led to the underground caves. The energy source whichnded here punched through the ground and went even far inside.

    Lin Wu checked the edges of the hole and discovered that they were actually made out of a t and hard rock. He tapped on it with his body and determined that it was no different than anymon rock. He checked the navigation and saw that it was pointing him towards the other end of the hole.

    The hole itself was only two meters wide and didn''t take much long for him to cross. He reached the other end of the hole and saw that there was a crack that went all the way down from there. The crack was just wide enough that his body could actually fit throughfortably.

    ''Am I supposed to go through here? I don''t like the feel of this. It''s too ustrophobic.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Nevertheless, he steeled his courage and entered the crack. Lin Wu then started descending through the crack to the bottom part of the hole. An entire day passed and he still had not reached the bottom of the hole. He was still traveling through the crack and could see the eerie green glow illuminating the hole.

    While the light was very faint and hard to spot when he was outside the crater, Lin Wu was now able to see clearly due to its illumination. Another day passed, and he had finally reached the bottom of the hole.

    But another problem presented to him once he was at this point. There was no way for him to proceed any further as the crack ended in a dead drop. The quest objective was still far ording to the map, and even the navigation was pointing him straight down.

    "Chickie nuggies! Am I supposed to jump down from here? Won''t I be stted into a paste if I fall this far down?" Lin Wu spoke out loud.

    "Oi system, are you trying to kill me by making me jump from here?" Lin Wu asked feeling angry.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The space below the host is filled with water, thus the host will have no injuries when falling down. The host''s mass is also not significantlyrge that it will get damaged by the surface tension of the water.

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    Lin Wu read the answer and knew that he didn''t have much of a choice again.

    "Here goes nothing." Lin Wu muttered before jumping down.

    "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

 Chapter 17 - Swim?

    ~Ahhhhhhh~

    Lin Wu kept on shouting as he fell, even though no sound was actuallying out of his mouth. He fell for about a minute and then finally reached the bottom.

    ~Plop~

    A rather disappointing plopping sound was heard as he fell into the water. As soon as he entered the water, he realized that it was cold. Ever sinceing to this world and being reborn as a worm, this was the first time Lin Wu had actually felt cold. All he had felt before this was either normal temperatures or extremely hot temperatures.

    "Chickie nuggies! If I still had my previous body, my jewels would have fallen off from this cold." Lin Wuined.

    ''Now then what do I do?'' Lin Wu thought as he looked at the map.

    The navigation was pointing him to the depths of the water. He wiggled his body and turned his head towards the bottom. He could see the familiar green glowing from the depths. The water was clean and clear, thus it was much brighter this time.

    Lin Wu could see a vague outline at the very bottom from which the eerie green light was emitting. Just as he was looking at it, he suddenly realized something.

    "HOW DO I BREATHE!? Dammit, I''m going to drown." Lin Wu shouted, feeling afraid.

    He wiggled in fear and tried to swim. But to his misfortune, his worm body was unable to efficiently swim, or it could also be because of his disturbed state of mind that he was not able to think clearly.

    "Dammit, you stupid system, you are clearly trying to kill me." Lin Wu yelled.

    Lin Wu kept on struggling to swim and kept on wiggling until eventually, he went still.

    ''Huh, am I finally dead?'' Lin Wu thought.

    He opened his eyes and saw that he was still under the water.

    "What the hell! How am I breathing?" He said in a shocked tone.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host does not have lungs, thus cannot drown in the usual way. The Host''s physiology allows him to breathe through his skin, thus as long as the water has a sufficient concentration of oxygen, the host will be able to breathe in it.

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    Reading the system''s answer made Lin Wu feel dumb. He realized that he hadpletely forgotten about his physiology and that he was no longer a human. He still was not able to adjust to his new body.

    ~Phew~

    "That takes a huge burden off my mind." Lin Wu muttered and took a ''Breath'' of relief.

    Lin Wu did a double-take and realized that he felt nearly the same way as he was breathing back in the air. The only difference he perhaps felt was that the efficiency was slightly less. It was as if he had put a thin sheet over his head and was breathing through it. While it was slightly ufortable, it was still doable and would not bother him as much.

    Putting this situation behind him, Lin Wu''s attention was drawn back to his quest objective. He looked at the glowing figure and wondered how he would get to it. His wiggling was a rather inefficient way of swimming and he did little more than just il around in the same ce.

    "Chickie nuggies! Is there no way for me to proceed now?" Lin Wu spoke in frustration.

    Just as he was doing this, suddenly a thought came to his mind.

    "Wait, can I do thatбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    An idea had appeared in Lin Wu''s mind, and he didn''t know if it would work or not. Still wanting to try it out, he initiated it.

    Lin Wu gulped the water from his surroundings into his mouth. He kept on doing this until his body waspletely filled and could not handle any more volume of water. If one were to look at Lin Wu now, all they would see is arge bloated worm.

    After filling himself up with the water, Lin Wu wiggled with difficulty and oriented his head towards the quest objective and his lower end towards the surface of the water. Once he was in the right position, he forcefully contracted his body.

    ~Pwesh~

    The water that was consumed by him was now shot out of his lower end, and his body was thus propelled forward as a result. Lin Wu traveled about a half a meter distance by this method.

    "Whoa! I did not expect it to work. Guess I''ll just use this method to travel underwater." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    Having found a method, Lin Wu kept on gulping copious amounts of water and then expelling it. Still, the deeper he went, the harder it was getting for him to travel. The exhaustion from constantly drinking and expelling was tiring him out.

    Lin Wu then realized that he had not eaten for more than a week now.

    "Dammit, no wonder I''m getting tired. I need to eat something, but it doesn''t seem like there''s anything here either." Lin Wu said.

    ''Wait, I think it''s better that there''s now creature like fishes here, or the most likely thing to happen would be that I would get eaten. After all, fishes eat worms, right? And even if I''m a big worm, this is still a cultivation world; I probably wouldn''t survive an encounter of that kind.'' Lin Wu thought to himself after a while.

    Not being able to think of anything else, Lin Wu decided to ask the system.

    "System, is there anything I can eat here to restore my stamina?" He questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Theke does not have anything that the host can consume at his current level right away. But if the host only wants to restore his stamina, he can do so by using the stored vital energy.

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    ''Oh, I can do that too? Then let''s do it. I''ll die anyway if I don''t act now.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Okay system, use the stored vital energy to restore my stamina." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Utilizing 2 units of stored vital energy to restore the host''s stamina.

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    "Alrighty! I can tolerate that much loss, no problem. Now then onward to the objective." Lin Wu pumped himself up, both figuratively and literally.

    ~Pwesh~

 Chapter 18 - Dead?

    ~Ding~

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    WARNING: Host''s stored vital energy at critical levels.

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    "Huh? Already." Lin Wu muttered.

    He had been swimming non-stop for a long time now and had been using the stored vital energy to replenish his stamina whenever he became tired. Lin Wu then took a look at the map and estimated the distance.

    ''I''m so close, I should be there soon.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Host Data." He ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 1 month, 18 days

    LIFESPAN: 2 months

    HOST SPECIES: Common Mud Worm (enhanced) [Adult]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Fifth stage of the Body tempering Realm

    -Vital energy required to upgrade = [000/600] units

    QI STORAGE: Unavable [Insufficient cultivation]

    - Reserved Spirit Qi: 953 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: None

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 2 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

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    "Oh damn! I gotta make sure thest two units count." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    ~Pwesh~

    He kept on propelling himself and traveled to the bottom. A few more hours passed by and he was tired again.

    "Now I''m really at the edge. Just a little more distance." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he looked at the quest objective.

    Even now Lin Wu couldn''t clearly see the quest objective due to its green glow. When it didn''t glow, it was hidden due to the darkness, and when it did glow it was a blinding glow that obscured its form.

    ''I guess I''ll just use them. I''ll fail the quest anyway if I don''t and die.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, use the remaining amount of vital energy to replenish my stamina." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Utilizing 2 units of stored vital energy to restore the host''s stamina.

    WARNING!: Vital energy storage depleted.

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    "Now it''s all or nothing." Lin Wu muttered to himself with determination.

    ~Pwesh~

    Lin Wu kept on propelling and was getting closer to the quest objective. Now he was starting to feel a difference as he got closer. The water was getting warmer. If the water was close to ice-cold before, now it was close to room temperature.

    The more Lin Wu got closer, the warmer it got. It eventually reached a point where it was as if he was standing under a summer sun.

    "Chickie nuggies! How hot is it going to get?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Lin Wu rechecked the map and saw that he was only a few meters away from the quest objective. Building up his will and courage, he pushed ahead, but at this time even his stamina was close to depleted. He pushed ahead a few more times and could no longer propel himself.

    Nearly all of Lin Wu''s stamina was now depleted.

    "Dammit! It''s only a meter away." Lin Wu cursed.

    He wondered if there was any other method he could use, but realized that all he could do was just wiggle.

    "I''ll reach it even if it''s thest thing I do." Lin Wu said in an undying passion.

    It was as if there were imaginary mes burning in his eyes. With this passion, he wiggled.

    ~Wiggle~

    ~Wiggle~

    ~Wiggle~

    ~Wiggle~

    ~Wiggle~

    ~Wiggle~

    Lin Mu''s wiggling was not as controlled, so there were times when he would move in the wrong direction. But still, he didn''t lose hope and kept on reorienting himself.

    ~Wiggle~

    ~Wiggle~

    ~Wiggle~

    "Justбн Justбн rightбн thereбн" Lin Wu let out between breaths.

    His energy waspletely depleted and he could no longer move.

    ~Ding~

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    WARNING!: Host vitals critical. Body temperature exceeding normal levels.

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    "Iбн Iбн can''tбн" Lin Wu soundlessly muttered as his eyes closed and he lost consciousness.

    ~Ding~

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    ACTIVATING EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS: The host will be put in a hibernation state.

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    Silence filled the area as Lin Wu thenid there floating in the water for an unknown amount of time. His life or death unknown.

    Suddenly there was a strange tremor that urred deep beneath the ground. The tremor spread all around and was even spread in the water. These tremors created waves that moved the water around. Due to these waves and a stroke of luck, Lin Wu''s still body swayed.

    Another wave hit and he was sent shooting towards the source of the eerie green light. If Lin Wu was awake now and was looking, he would see that the quest objective was arge crystal. It was about two meters tall and half a meter wide.

    It had an irregr shape and there seemed to be something trapped within it. It was this thing that was glowing with the eerie green light.

    Lin Wu''s body kept on getting closer to the crystal and eventually touched it. An invisible wave emanated at that moment and spread around in the underground cave.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Extremely high energy source detected.

    QUEST COMPLETED: Obtain the Extremely high energy resource.

    NOTIFICATION: Absorbing energy source.

    ERROR: Ipatible energy source.

    RECALIBRATING PARAMETERS: Analyzing.

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    A dead silence was present in the cave as Lin Wu''s body was stuck to the crystal. More time passed and then finally another notification sound was heard, but this time it actually sounded in the real world.

    ~Ding~

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    RECALIBRATION COMPLETE: New parameters obtained.

    ACTIVATING COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Initiating.

    ERROR!: Host permission required.

    WARNING: Host vitals unstable.

    OVERRIDING HOST PERMISSION: Activatingputational A.I.

    RECONFIGURING HOST: Modifying host cells.

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    If someone was to see the phenomenon that was happening right now, they would be shocked. Lin Wu''s body was slowly undergoing a strange change. It seemed to be getting tter and tter. Finally, it reached the point where it had turned into a liquid form.

    Lin Wu now looked more like a ck blob and no longer looked like a worm. This ck blob slowly spread over the crystal and formed a thin membrane over it. It was spread so thin that it could no longer be seen and it seemed as if the crystal was transparent.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Host modificationplete.

    NOTIFICATION: Energy source nowpatible.

    INITIATING ABSORPTION: Please wait patiently.

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    The eerie green glow that was emanating from the crystal had now stopped.

 Chapter 19 - Change?

    The crystal was now faintly vibrating. It was almost impossible to see, but if one touched it they would feel it vibrating. Because of these vibrations, the water that was surrounding it was also affected. Waves traveled in the water and spread around in the undergroundke.

    Ripples appeared on the surface of theke and evenly spread around. These ripples were uniform and werepletely symmetrical. Theke which had been still for an unknown amount of time was now rippling. This process went on for days and days, which soon turned to months.

    With each passing day, the crystal would get ever so slightly smaller. Its size would decrease and its uneven shape was also getting changed. An unknown amount of time passed and now the crystal was nothing like before. Its size which was previously over two meters tall had now shrunk to about fifty centimeters.

    Its shape now looked more like a long cylinder instead of an uneven crystal. Its sides had also reduced to less than two inches. If one looked at it now, they would think that it was a long crystal rod. This long crystal rod had segmented patterns on its length that went around its circumference.

    The substance that was once contained inside the crystal was now no longer there. It hadpletely vanished, and in its ce, a small ck pearl was left behind. This ck pearl was located at the very center of the rod and had faint green swirls on it.

    The green glow that was emitted from the crystal had disappeared for a while. Now that it didn''t emit any light, the underground cave andke were shrouded in darkness, save for what little light came from the top of the roof from the opening that Lin Wu had once entered from.

    More time passed, and now the cylindrical crystal rod had changed shape again. It was much more smooth now and had multiple segments appear on it. If one counted the segments, they would find that they numbered fifty. The ck pearl with green swirls on it was now glowing.

    It would glow after every few intervals, and a strange wave of energy would spread from it. This wave would extend from it and spread out, prating through the walls of the cave and arriving on the surface. It would then retreat and increase in its intensity.

    Once it reached the crystal rod again it would be absorbed, making the ck pearl glow again. This cycle would repeat again and again. Finally, it reached a point where the green glow had be blinding. This glow lit up the entirety of the underground cave and theke.

    The light exited from the opening at the top of the cave and pierced the sky. It was night time right now and therge beam of light exiting from the ground was extremely eye-catching. It looked like a massive green pir that could be seen for hundreds of kilometers.

    *****

    A hundred kilometers from the site of the crater there existed a city. It sprawled over the area of five kilometers and was surrounded by walls on all sides. Lights could be seen glowing in the city,ing from the numerous that were lit up. This city was called as the Deer Wood City.

    In the middle of the city, the glow of the lights was the brightest. This was the area where the three aristocratic ns of the city were located. There were three huge courtyards which had more courtyards within them.

    In each of theserge courtyards, there existed arge mansion surrounded by smaller houses and rooms. These were none other than the residences of the three aristocratic ns. Currently, in one of these courtyards a few people were sitting and discussing something.

    They were sitting in arge hall and were having tea while they talked. There were about twenty people currently present in the hall. These twenty people could be considered to be the strongest and the most influential people of the Deer wood city. Among these twenty people were the three n heads of each of the aristocratic ns.

    They were taking jovially, yet one could tell that their eyes said something different. It was evident that while they appeared amicable on the surface, inside they were all scheming over each other. They would tter each other openly while cursing them in their hearts. They seemed to having a certain kind of meeting and were also discussing the matters of the city.

    Suddenly the door of the hall opened with a loud sound, and everyone turned to look at it. Some of the people had irritated expression on their faces, evidently because of being interrupted midway while they were speaking. It was clear that these people were not used to being interrupted.

    From the doors of the hall appeared an old man that was dressed in the attire of a steward. He walked and came to stand in front of the people. He then cupped his hands in salute and bowed his head.

    "Speak! Why have you interrupted us?" The man that was sitting at the very head of the hall spoke.

    "Forgive this lowly servant''s insolence my lords, but I have very important information to deliver to the n head Lu." The steward spoke in a respectful tone.

    The person who was sitting at the back was apparently the n head of the Lu n.

    "Speak what you have brought." Lu n''s head spoke.

    The steward lifted his head and looked at the people in front of him with deference in his eyes. He took a deep breath before speaking.

    "An unusual phenomenon is urring right now as I speak my lords. A sky-piercing pir of green light can be witnessed to the north of the city. It seems to being from the same ce where the explosion had happenedst year." The steward informed.

    "What? Why are we waiting here then, let us proceed to the courtyard. I''ll see this phenomenon myself and see what to make of it." Lu n head spoke with an authoritative tone.

 Chapter 20 - Explanation?

    The entourage of the twenty people thus walked out to the open courtyard, and there it was for them to see. As eye-catching as it could be, a giant green pir of light was piercing into the sky. It was located in the north and from what they could estimate, it was about a hundred kilometers from their location.

    "There is no doubt, it''sing from the site of the explosion." One of the men from the group spoke.

    The steward looked at the Lu n head, who was staring at the pir with a serious expression. Simr expressions could be seen on the faces of the rest of the people as well. Some looked to be intrigued, while some looked to be a little confused.

    "We''ve already sent some people to scout it out, n head. But I need further orders, about what you want to do." The steward spoke.

    One of the men that was wearing dark Grey robes turned to the steward and showed a surprised expression.

    "What?! You sent people to the forbidden area? What is this Lu n head, are your people now defying royal orders?" The gray robed man spoke in an using manner.

    The steward who heard the using words felt sweat appear on his back and felt scared.

    "My-My lords, it''s not as you think. We would never defy a royal order, we only sent them to the border of the forest, so that they could observe better." The steward exined himself.

    A pissed expression appeared on Lu n head''s face after he heard the interaction.

    "Are you done with your inming words, Xiong n head? Don''t try to pull your usual schemes here, this is a serious matter." The Lu n head spoke in a chiding tone.

    "The Lu n head is right, if anything we need to be united right now. Who knows what''s happening in the forbidden area now? Afterst year''s tragedy, we need to be very careful." A man who looked to be younger than all of the people here spoke.

    The man who had spoken seemed to be in histe twenties and had a shaved face with well primmed hair that was bound in a nobleman''s bun. He was wearing yellow robes that had a crane motif embroidered on its back and was holding a polished wooden fan in one of his hands.

    He exuded a calm and reserved aura, which made one think that the man in question was an intellectual gentleman.

    n head Lu''s expression eased upon hearing the young man''s words and spoke.

    "Young master Shirong is right. If a change has happened in the forbidden area, then we need to do a preliminary investigation and inform the royal family of this right away."

    "I am in agreement with n Head Lu''s words. We do not want a repeat of what happenedst year, we''ve lost far too many people in a blind chase." An old man that had a head full of white and wrinkled face spoke.

    The man who was called as Young master Shirong had an interested expression on his face as he heard the old man''s words. He stroked the fan in his hand''s couple of times and thought something.

    "Forgive me, my lords, but I''m interested in what happenedst year. I came here not too long ago and do not know the details, so I request you to exin what happened." Young master Shirong spoke in a respectful tone.

    "Ah, young master Shirong need not be so formal with us. You are our honored guest, you have all rights to ask questions." Xiong n head spoke in a ttering tone.

    "Yes, it is fine. I''ll shall exin it then for young master Shirong and any others that have questions about it." Lu n head spoke.

    Some of the other people in the group of twenty nodded. Evidently, not everyone knew what had happened before.

    "At the start ofst year, as some of you know or would have witnessed, a meteorite had struck the Millennium forest. The impact of the meteorite caused a huge explosion, the force of which caused tremors to spread around for hundreds of kilometers.

    At that time, there were some people out in the forest hunting for beasts and some others just doing their tasks or traveling. All of them were instantly killed due to the explosion. Tens of thousands of people witnessed the event and were shocked by it.

    Later on, we sent teams of people to investigate it. Some of us were sure that the meteorite would contain magical treasures or resources from the outer worlds. Thus we wanted to obtain it at all costs. But we didn''t know that this would be our undoing.

    Not only had that meteorite damaged a huge area of the forest, but that very area had also be a zone of death. ming ground, moltenva pits and toxic fumes, one problem after the other appeared. While the people who were sent to investigate were able to avoid the ming grounds andva pits, they did not know of the toxic fumes as they were invisible and had no smell.

    Of the hundred people that went over fifty died just from the toxic fumes. All of them then retreated, and we waited for the fumes to clear. We had thought that it was because of the meteorite and would clear after a few days, but we were wrong, very wrong.

    Even though the outer edge of the area had be clear of the toxic fumes, the inner areas were still same. We then formted a new strategy and gave antidote pills to the people that were investigating. But even then their nightmares only increased as they went deeper.

    We had known that there are underground caves under the Millennium forest, but we didn''t know the extent of it. Because of the impact, the ground had be too fragile in some ces. One could not tell the solid ground from the fragile, thus many people fell to their deaths.

    Still, we did have some gains. There were shards of the meteorite scattered all over the area, which some of our people brought back. These shards contained the highly prized meteorite bronze, thus we informed the royal ce.

    While we could have sent cultivators of the core condensation realm to fly over there, we were now apprehensive and we had a bad feeling. This turned out to be true, as when the royal ce sent their cultivators to investigate only half of them returned.

    They had sent ten cultivators, of which nine were core condensation realm cultivators and one was a nascent soul realm cultivator. Even the nascent soul realm cultivator died there for some reason, and the others did not tell us why.

    The very next day the royal decree was sent, and the area was designated as a forbidden area."

    The people''s expressions were nowplex. But all of them understood the seriousness of the situation.

    "Hmm, interesting," Shirong muttered under his breath as his eyes lit up with a strange light and a faint smile appeared on his lips that he hid with his fan.

 Chapter 21 - Awakening?

    The green beam of light was sustained for about an hour before it faded away. Back at the undergroundke under the crater, the Crystal had gone another change.

    From its previous transparent color, it had changed to be green in color. If one looked at it now, they would think the crystal rod was made up of emeralds. Even its shape had changed and the segments had be more pronounced.

    Finally, after a long time, a familiar sound of notification was heard in the undergroundke.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: HOST MODIFICATION SUCCESSFUL

    ABSORPTION COMPLETE: Extremely high energy source was absorbed.

    ITEM OBTAINED: Data node (encrypted)

    BLOODLINE OBTAINED: Unknown

    WARNING!: No data is avable on the obtained bloodline

    BLOODLINE RANK: Unknown

    HOST SPECIES CHANGED: Current designation- Unknown

    HOST DATA: Updated

    UPDATING PARAMETERS: Please wait patiently

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    After the notification sounded, silence once again descended in the undergroundke. But now the crystal rod was changing again, the ck pearl in its center started disappearing. From its previously rigid and solid form, it was bing soft and pliable. It slowly started to bend and became more like a rope.

    The crystal rope then curled and rested in the shape of a coil. More time passed, and finally, another notification sound echoed in the undergroundke.

    ~Ding~

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    PARAMETER UPDATE: Complete

    DAMAGE DETECTED: Host''s soul is damaged

    REPAIRING DAMAGE: Repairplete

    COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Shutting down

    REVITALIZING HOST: In 3бн 2бн 1бн

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    "Ugh!" A groan resounded in theke, creating faint ripples in the water.

    Strangely enough, the groan was audible even though it was underwater and sounded the same as it would have in the air. The coiled up crystal rope started twitching and moving. Its surface started rippling as if it was liquid and changed its texture.

    Eventually, two octagonal shaped red lights appeared on one end of the crystal rope. Just below these red lights, a small fissure appeared that then expanded to form an opening that looked like a mouth. The crystal rope uncoiled and moved around.

    The end that had the red lights and the mouth on it changed its texture to look more like a head from the previous smooth form. The crystal didn''t look like a rope anymore and now lookedpletely like a worm. It was as if a master sculptor had crafted a worm statue out of a giant emerald.

    "Huh? What happened? Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing here?" A multitude of questions sounded in the water.

    Suddenly a rush of memories appeared in the crystal worm''s mind.

    "I am Lin Wu. I was reborn here in the body of a worm. I escaped an explosion and was issued a quest by the system. I then reached the quest objective but was unable toplete it, as at thest moment I lost all my energy." The crystal worm spoke.

    "What happened after that?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST REVITALIZATION: Complete

    NOTIFICATION: The host can now check the updated Host data

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    "Ah yes, I do have that." He muttered.

    "Host Data." Lin Wumanded.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 8 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Unknown (not designated)

    HOST CULTIVATION: Early stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [000/1000] units

    QI STORAGE: 3756 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: 1. System Manufactured (non-designated)

    2. Unknown

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption(minor)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great)

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown

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    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE:-

    1. Map

    2. Scanner

    3. Bloodline Creation

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    Lin Mu was overwhelmed after reading all the changes in the Host Data window. There were far too many new things that made him unable toprehend them. He was still a little slow from being woken up, thus read it multiple times before he could even get a basic idea.

    "So whatever that quest objective was, it was strong enough to push me directly to the Qi refining realm. At least Ipleted the quest. That''s a relief." Lin Wu muttered.

    ~Sigh~

    But just as he sighed, another notification sounded in his mind.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: The host can check the previous logs

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    ''Yes, I should check that too. I don''t know what happened in that time frame.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Show notification logs." Hemanded.

    ~Ding~

    With Lin Wu''smand, the previous notification logs appeared in front of him in the form of a new window. He read them and had some shocking revtions. He had understood that he hadpleted the quest but never knew that his soul was damaged.

    "How did my soul get damaged?" Lin Wu muttered in shock.

    Lin Wu could not think of any situation that could have caused that.

    "But wait, if my soul was damaged, why did I not have any effects? I didn''t feel any different." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    "System, how did my soul get damaged and why didn''t I feel its effects?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling confused and perplexed.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host''s soul was damaged during the reincarnation process. When the system was bound with the host, the host already had a damaged soul. The system was able to restrict most of the symptoms of soul damage but because of itcking energy, the system could not heal the host''s soul.

    Still, the host did have the mental symptoms of soul damage such as irrational thoughts, age regression, irregr speech patterns, emotional imbnce, and generalized confusion.

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    After hearing the system''s answer, Lin Wu tried to remember the memories that he had of the past. He then remembered how he had been using strange terms and curses. He didn''t even know that he was using them, and he just felt that those were right.

    He tried to remember further and realized the irrational anger and frustration he felt back then. He cursed at the system, which was not even its fault.

    "Huh, I really was crazy back then, wasn''t I?"

 Chapter 22 - Learning?

    Lin Wu pondered on his own thoughts for a bit and reminisced his past. He realized that he couldn''t remember thest night of his previous life clearly for some reason. It was strange, as he could tell for sure that he remembered it before he fell unconscious.

    "System, are my memories damaged as well?" Lin Mu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: Some of the host''s stressful and traumatic memories may have been suppressed by the host''s subconscious. They should have been a long time ago, but because of the host''s damaged soul, they were not. But now that the host''s soul is healed, the host''s subconscious is working as it should have.

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    "Well, that''sбн Ironic. As I get healed my memories go away, when I was crazy I had my memories." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ~Sigh~

    Lin Wu sighed with frustration and then redirected his attention towards the window again. There were many new things that were present in it. But the first thing that pulled his attention was the age.

    ''So more than two years passed by, just like that.''Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "That was a rather long time to be unconscious, if I can even call it that. It was more close to aa instead." Lin Wu muttered in frustration.

    Although he was now fine and knew that everything was okay, he didn''t know why he was still feeling frustrated. There was something about him being unconscious for more than two years that just didn''t feel right to him.

    ~Ding~

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    WARNING!: The host''s mental status is destabilizing. It is advised that the host desists from thinking about his current thoughts. The host''s soul is newly healed and it will take time for it to stabilize. If the thoughts are not restrained, the Host may damage his soul again.

    SUGGESTION: The system can put a temporary block on such thoughts.

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    "NO! Don''t do that!" Lin Wu shouted out.

    Another notification window stating a warning came up as soon as he shouted. Forcibly calming himself down, Lin Wu took deep breaths. Though he had somehow not realized yet that his body had changed beyond recognition and was not what he was used to before.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Host status stabilized.

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    Lin Mu moved downwards in the host data window and checked the next item in the list, which was none other than his lifespan. Seeing his increased life span was strange to him, as he had not even lived twenty percent of it in his previous life.

    From what he could remember, he was twenty-three years old when he died, so he barely even reached the middle ages of his life. Looking at a life span that no person from his past world had reached just looked surreal to him.

    Others had spent countless years in researching the human body and medicine, trying to find a way to restrict and reverse aging. But now here it was here in front of him and he did not have the slightest of the idea of what to think of it.

    ~Sigh~

    "I can only take it one step at a time. With the surprises I''m getting, it will be a miracle if I can keep my sanity." Lin Mu muttered.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Does the host give permission to suppress his thoughts?

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    An almost imaginary pattern of a bulging vein appeared on Lin Wu''s head, as he suddenly felt rage flowing through him.

    "I SAID NO! YOU STUPID SYSTEM!" Lin Wu shouted again.

    But just a secondter the ring warning of the system appeared in front of him, which made him try to cool himself down again.

    ~Sigh~

    "Seems like the system is telling the truth. That childish part of me wille out unwittingly, I need to control it better. At least till my soul stabilizes." Lin Wu justified to himself.

    Lin Wu contained reading and now saw the part about his species. He understood the part about it being unknown but didn''t understand the next sub part.

    "System, what''s this about it being non-designated?" Lin Mu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host has been greatly modified by the system using the extremely high energy resource that was the crystal as well as some additional resources that were present in it. With the host''s previous physiology, it was not possible to utilize the energy resource. Thus the system analyzed the energy resource and made his bodypatible with it.

    Since the host is the first of his kind, the host can name himself and give a designation to the system. The system also absorbed an unknown bloodline from the energy source that was contained within the crystal.

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    "Oh yeah, I did see the new addition at the end in the Raw bloodline data section. So that''s where it came from. As for the nameбн wait, what do I look like?" Lin Wu uttered feeling perplexed.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: The host can see his own body in the second page of Host data. It has been updated.

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    ''Oh, that''s convenient. At least I don''t have to look at it myself and get a rough guess.'' Lin Wu thought and then switched to the next page.

    There indeed was the option to switch to the second page at the bottom of the window. It was just that Lin Wu had not noticed it in his shock before. But the shock only returned as he looked at the figure of his body in the next window.

    Lin Wu had an emerald green body that was translucent. It was as if it was crafted out of a single piece of a gemstone and looked exquisite, if not for the fact that he was just a worm. In ce of eyes, what he had were two octagonal red colored lights that were on the two small protruding parts on the head, and then there was a mouth below it.

    Simr to before, the mouth upied most of the part of his head. He also realized that he could actually move his eyes around his head wherever he wanted to, and they were not fixed. It was the same with his mouth actually; he tested it and saw that he could actually make a mouth anywhere on his body.

    "What is up with this ridiculous body!?" Lin Wu questioned in shock.

 Chapter 23 - More Learning?

    While Lin Wu was able to freely manipte his new body, it was still a little disorienting for him to move his eyes around like that. At the start, he felt as if he had spun around too hard and then stopped making him feel as if he was still spinning.

    His vision would tilt and turn, making him feel nauseous. It took Lin Wu a few minutes before he was able to fully adjust to his new physiology. It was certainly unique and looked very unusual. His eyes were not exactly material and were mere representation.

    The same thing happened with Lin Wu''s mouth as he was able to move it around his body as well, albeit with more difficulty than the eyes.

    ''I guess it probably more to do with how the eyes are immaterial while the mouth is an actual opening that opens up on my body wherever I want.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Having yed around for a bit, Lin Wu had finally got an idea about his new body.

    "Now then, what should I name myself?" Lin Wu muttered in confusion.

    бн

    бн

    бн

    ...

    бн

    An hour passed by and Lin Wu could still not decide upon his name. There were just too many things to choose from, and he wanted to ensure that he waspletely sure about it. After all, he was to be the first of his kind in this world. He had to have a unique and impressive name.

    "Perhaps'' I should look at the rest of the data and then decide upon it. If I know the abilities of this body, maybe I''ll have an easier time deciding on a name." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    He then looked back at the Host data window and looked at the next section. Lin Wu noticed that he currently had plenty of spirit qi in the storage and would be enough for him to promote to the next stage of the qi refining realm.

    ''I''ll get back to itter.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then saw the three innate skills that were mentioned in the next section. The three skills were easy to understand from the name alone, but Lin Wu didn''t know what their actual application was.

    "System, how do I know what each innate skill does?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host can expand upon each intake skill and it will show the information for it.

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    "Oh, that is simple." He muttered and then returned to the other window.

    Lin Wu focused on the first innate skill which was called as Radiation maniption (minor) and saw that a second window appeared in front of him.

    ~Ding~

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    Innate skill: Radiation Maniption

    Skill grade: Minor

    Proficiency: Basic

    Description: The skill Radiation maniption allows the host to control and manipte small amounts of radiation. The host can control radioactive particles to influence other objects and items. The host can use it to heat up objects, corrode, and make them decay.

    The host can also sense the ambient radiation in the environment and perceive it.

    Note: At the host''s current Skill grade and proficiency, the host can gently heat some items. Please upgrade the skill to gain better effects.

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    Reading the description of the skill, Lin Wu was getting excited until when finally, he saw the note at the end. The note spilled water on all his ns on how to use the skill.

    "So all this skill does for now is make me into a mobile microwave?" Lin Wu spoke, feeling ridiculed.

    "Bahh~ Forget about this, let''s see what the other skills do." Lin Wu muttered with frustration and focused on the next innate skill.

    As soon as he looked at the next skill, a new window presented itself in front of him.

    ~Ding~

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    Innate Skill: Cellr Maniption

    Skill Grade: Lesser

    Proficiency: Basic

    Description: The host has control over its cells and can make them obey itsmands. The host can change them into different parts and organs, allowing him to make them proliferate and replicate them at will. The host can regenerate injuries and heal from wounds.

    Note: At the host''s current skill grade and proficiency, the host can control the position of his eyes and mouth. While the host can still regenerate his wounds using the system''s help, the regeneration done by this skill has no cost, except for the host''s own vital energy.

    In order to use the regeneration ability, please raise the proficiency of the skill.

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    Lin Wu felt a little better after learning about this innate skill. While the skill was not fully activated, it still gave him a good feature. Another difference was that this skill only asked him to raise the proficiency and not the skill grade itself.

    Lin Wu could tell the difference between the two words and could guess that raising the proficiency would be much easier than upgrading the overall grade of the skill. Though another question Lin Wu had was about the different grades. From what he could see, there were at least three in his list.

    ''So this is the skill, which allows me to control my mouth and eyes. While it''s not at its full potential, it''s still better than being a glorified microwave.'' Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    "System, what are the different skill grades and proficiencies?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The skill grades are divided into:

    1.Minor

    2.Lesser

    3.Great

    4.Greater

    5.Grand

    The skill proficiencies can be divided into:

    1.Basic

    2.Novice

    3.Intermediate

    4.Expert

    5.Master

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    It didn''t take much time for Lin Wu to understand this, and he went to the next thing that was how to upgrade the said skill grades and proficiencies.

    "System, how do I upgrade the skill grades and proficiencies?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The skill proficiency can be increased by simply using the said skill. The more the host uses, the more he will progress in the skill.

    The skill grade can be upgraded bypleting the quests issued by the system and also by obtaining certain items or resources. The alternative method to upgrade a skill is to reach the master level proficiency in the skill. By doing this, the host can upgrade the skill with the help of his own understanding.

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    "Alright, I guess I know what I will be doing next after learning about myself." Lin Wu stated to himself.

 Chapter 24 - Even More Learning?

    After having decided his next goal, Lin Wu''s attention went back to thest remaining innate skill in the list.

    ~Ding~

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    Innate skill: Cellr crystallization

    Skill grade: Great

    Proficiency: Basic

    Description: The skill cellr crystallization allows the host to change the structure of the host''s cells into an inorganic crystalline form. The host can also revert his cells back into the organic form if he chooses to do so. The host''s body functions normally in the crystalline form and has increased defense. The host is resistant to external elements such as heat and cold in this form. The host''s crystal form is also naturally radioactive and will turn the environment that he lives in radioactive. Reverting to the organic form will return the host''s previous capabilities of reproduction.

    Note: At host''s current proficiency, it can do everything that is mentioned in the description. Upgrading the skills grade will result in new abilities being added and the skill description will be enhanced.

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    "Ah, finally a skill that actually works as it is described and does not have hidden terms and conditions like some shitty insurance scheme." Lin Wu spoke in praise.

    Lin Wu then looked at the next item in the list that intrigued him, it was the beast core. He had been wondering what that was and had guessed that it was something that would be formed when he reached the qi refining realm.

    But now that he was actually in the qi refining realm, there did not appear to be a beast core in his body. He wondered why.

    "System, what is the beast core for?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The beast core is the organ that can store the spirit qi of a beast that has reached the core condensation realm. Before that, the spirit qi is stored in the beasts meridians and flesh. Usually, a beast can only form a core when it reaches the core condensation realm simr to humans. But there are exceptions where the beast can form the core in the peak stage of the qi refining realm. Such cores are called as pseudo cores and are usually formed by beasts that have bloodlines that are either rare or unique.

    Note: If the host gives the permission the system can simte the formation of a beast core.

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    Lin Wu carefully read the system''s answer and was a little dumbfounded after reading the note a the end. He then realized the situation.

    ''Wait, hasn''t system been storing the spirit qi all this time, anyway?'' Lin Wu thought.

    "What do you mean by simting the beast core, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The system can store spirit qi in itself, thus it can use this to simte a beast core. This core will function the same as a real beast core and can exist in addition to the host''s own core when he forms one. Though the system does not have the restriction like that of the host.

    If the host gives the permission, then the system can form the beast core even while the host is still in the qi refining realm. Though if the host chooses to do so then, the host will only be able to use a fraction of the beast core''s capabilities.

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    After reading the answer Lin Wu felt a little excited. He had not expected to receive an answer like this.

    "What is the cost of the formation of a core, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    The host will require at least a thousand units of spirit qi(liquid) to form the pseudo core.

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    "Huh, that''s not that much?" Lin Wu said with confusion.

    He reread the answer and then saw the additional word that was added to the end of spirit qi, which was liquid. He had seen the status screen before and it only showed the measurements of spirit qi in wisps and not in liquid form. Lin Wu wondered what the difference between the two units was.

    "System, what is the equivalent of liquid spirit qi units in wisps?" Lin Mu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: one unit of liquid spirit qi is equivalent to ten units of spirit qi wisps.

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    "What!? There''s no way I can umte that much spirit qi right now. All the spirit qi I have is only enough to reach the second stage of the qi refining realm, I won''t use it on that right now." Lin Wu eximed to himself.

    ~Sigh~

    "I guess, I''ll just have to wait till then. It''s not a problem though, I guess, I got more than a hundred years to aplish it now." Lin Wu assured himself.

    Lin Wu''s attention finally came to thest item on the list, which was the Raw bloodline data. It had a new addition to it at the end. All that new addition said was unknown and nothing else.

    "System, what is this unknown bloodline in the list?" Lin Wu questioned feeling confused.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The system obtained a bloodline from therge crystal that the host had found. The system modified and altered the host''s body in ordance with thepatibility of the energy source. The host obtained some of his abilities from the green crystal that he had touched.

    Note: The system also obtained a data node (encrypted) from therge crystal. ording to the systems data bank, the data node that the system obtained is the bloodline memories of a unique beast. Due to theplexity of the data andck of information, the system cannot decipher it. If the host gives permission, then the system can activate theputational A.I. to unlock it. The system will also consume energy when this function is in use.

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    "Ah~, it''s just another item that I can''t use for a bit." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ~Phew~

    Lin Wu took a breath of relief once he had ensured that he had read all the terms from the data window.

    "I should now decide on my new name. Let''s seeбн Hmm, I got a crystal body which I can manipte and I also have eyes that float around." Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu pondered for a bit until when he finally reached a decision.

    "That''s it, the name for my species will be бн."

 Chapter 25 - Name?

    "Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm." Lin Wu dered.

    As soon as Lin Wu spoke the notification sound appeared once again.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: The host has given a designation to their species. The Host data will now be updated.

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    Lin Wu was actually unable to think of any impressive sounding name for his species, thus he decided to go along with his physical appearance. He himself had crimson red eyes and an emerald green body, thus it just seemed obvious to name himself that.

    "While it may not be too overbearing, at least it sounds good enough." Lin Wu assured to himself.

    ''Now then, what am I supposed to do now?'' Lin Wu thought and curled back into a thinking posture.

    Now that he hadpleted the main quest, which was to reach the qi refining realm, he wondered if he would get any more quests. But even after waiting for it, he didn''t receive it. The main quest that he had received was rather stressful as it was a question of life and death, thus it seemed to be more urgent.

    But now that his life span had reached a hundred and fifty years, Lin Wu discovered that he felt a little lost. He realized that he had no goal in life now, and he needed one.

    "What was it that I wanted to do in the previous life? I remember wanting to y video games all the time, wanting to eat all the amazing food I saw on the television and on social media. Oh! and how could I forget, I also had an immense love for the ''Elixir'' energy drinks?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''Hmm, I can''t seem to decide on anything. What do the protagonists of cultivation novels do when they arrive there? Be immortal, I guess, oh and get jade beauties. Jade beauties are important, of course.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    But after having these thoughts, Lin Wu looked at himself once again. All he had right now was a worm''s body that looked a little beautiful as it was crystalline.

    ''There''s no way I can get any Jade beauties this way. Neither can I have the delicious food from this world as that would involve going to the human settlements, and I think it will be pretty suspicious if a Green Crystal worm like me swaggered in. I would definitely get captured or worseбн killed.''

    ''As for the ''Elixir'' energy drinks, I definitely don''t think I will find them here. And even if there is something simr here, it would not be the same if it does not have the same amazing taste that gave you a euphoric rush.'' Lin Wu thought with a little obsessive expression.

    Unknown to him, he had actually started drooling as he thought of the ''Elixir'' energy drink series. He then suddenly snapped out of his thoughts and realized what he did.

    "Why am I reacting like this again? Seems like I really need to wait for my soul to stabilize or I''ll return to my previous childish ways." Lin Wu stated to himself.

    "Bah! I''ll just ask the system what I should do." Lin Wu decided.

    "System, what should I do next? Or what is the next quest?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The system only assigns quest when something of importance or beneficial to the host appears. The host can only wait and explore in order to trigger some quests. As for the host''s first inquiry about what to do, the host can increase his cultivation base first.

    ordant to the system''s data banks, the main goal of every cultivator should be to increase their cultivation level. Thus the system rmends that the host should utilize the spirit qi in the storage and upgrade their cultivation base.

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    After looking at the suggestion of the system, Lin Wu found it to be reasonable. After all, even he knew from his experience of the countless cultivation novels that the main goal of every protagonist was to be immortal and strong.

    "Alright system, use the stored spirit qi and upgrade my cultivation base to the next level." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: Upgrading the host''s cultivation base to the next stage.

    ANALYZING VITALS: Host vitals are stable, tranquilization is not needed.

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    Lin Wu felt a little surprised that he did not need to be tranquilized now. Every time he had upgraded his cultivation level before, he had been tranquilized by the system. But now it seemed to be unnecessary.

    "Well, that''s an improvement at least." Lin Wu muttered to himself and then went silent as he felt the change.

    A wave of energy was spreading in his body, and it seemed to glow for a moment. The undergroundke was once again filled with a green glow that spread out from the opening at the top. Though unlike before, the green light was not as strong and faded away after a couple of seconds.

    Lin Wu could now sense another change. He could feel as if there was a strange stream of energy filling his body. The energy seemed to have appeared out of nothing and was filling incorporeal looking veins that he could only think were meridians.

    The energy that was filling him was formless and colorless, yet the feeling offort that apanied it was rather pleasant to him. He felt as if he was taking a soak in a hot spring or as if he was getting an amazing massage by a jade beauty.

    The feeling finally passed away after a few seconds, and Lin Wu opened his eyes. The notification sound finally rang in his mind and the new screen appeared.

    ~Ding~

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    UPGRADE COMPETED: The host had sessfully reached the next cultivation stage. Please check the host data for more information.

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    ''That was pretty quick, I thought it would take much longer than this.'' Lin Wu thought, feeling a bit surprised.

    "System, show me the Host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 8 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/3000] units

    QI STORAGE: 2756 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: 1. System Manufactured (non-designated)

    2. Unknown

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption(minor)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great)

    INVENTORY: Empty

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown

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    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE:-

    1. Map

    2. Scanner

    3. Bloodline Creation

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 Chapter 26 - Getting Out?

    Lin Wu looked at the host data window and read it carefully. He could see that he had reached the mid stage of the qi refining realm now. He also noticed that his size had actually increased by a small amount. While he was around fifty centimeters long before, upon first awaking, now he was an additional ten centimeters longer.

    Lin Wu felt a little intrigued by this and guessed that his size would likely increase with his cultivation base. For now, he would be nearly sixty centimeters long now.

    "Damn, I''m so close to the next stage as well. Just need 246 units more of spirit qi." Lin Wu cursed to himself.

    ''Seems like I need to hunt more beasts, maybe? Or can I cultivate as well?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, can I use a cultivation technique as well?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host can use human cultivation techniques after they have been modified by the system. Though the host does have one of the cultivation techniques, it cannot be used due to ipatibility. In order to make itpatible, the host will have to collect more cultivation techniques so that the system can extrapte and form a suitable cultivation technique for the host.

    Even if the host does not cultivate using a cultivation technique, the Host can still absorb spirit qi from the environment. A small part of spirit qi is always being absorbed passively by the host''s body, but this passive absorption onlysts until it reaches the current maximum limit of the host''s cultivation base.

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    "Huh, at least there is some amount that is being absorbed. Looks like I can only hunt spirit beasts for their spirit qi for now. And perhaps evenбн humans." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''Now then, how do I get back up?'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he looked up at the distant ceiling.

    "System, can you show me a route to the exit of this ce?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    CALCULATING ROUTE: Please wait a moment.

    PLOTTING ROUTE: The new route has been added to the map.

    NAVIGATION: Activated

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    Lin Wu then saw the familiar arrow appear in his vision like a heads up disy. The system was pointing him towards one of the walls to his left.

    "So that''s where I''m supposed to go. But how do I get there? The same as before?" Lin Wu muttered.

    ~Ding~

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    SUGGESTION: The system can use his innate skill Cellr crystallization to change the texture and shape of his body. By changing the shape to a more motile form the host should be able to move more easily.

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    "Ah~ yes, of course. Now then, what kind of form would be better to move in water?" Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    Lin Wu tried to remember his past life''s memories. He was trying to find an animal that could swim in the water that would be close to his body type. The closest animal that he could think of that had a simr shape and size as him would be a Sea snake.

    Imagining the physique of the sea snake, Lin Wu tried to change his body''s shape. His tail end started ttening and eventually became like a t flipper. It looked quite simr to that of a sea snake, if not for the color and texture.

    While a sea snake had a t tail, it also had scales. Lin Wu was extremely different in this regard, as his entire body was crystalline.

    After doing this, Lin Wu took a look at his tail.

    "This should be fine, I guess? Let''s try moving now." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He then oriented himself towards the direction he wanted to go and moved his tail. At first, the tail only made him change his direction, but after a few tries he got a hold of it and was able to move forward.

    "Hahaha! I did it. Now I just have to get to the wall first." Lin Wu spoke out loud with jubtion.

    Lin Wu kept on pping his tail and moved towards the direction marked by the system. Unlike his first time when he had to move by wiggling and propelling water, this was a much more efficient method. His speed was also iparable to before.

    Lin Wu was moving at a rather decent speed and reached the wall after five minutes. Once he was in front of the wall, he saw the system''s navigation pointing him towards a crack in the wall. The crack was nting and had an irregr surface.

    ''Hmm, looks like I have to go up from here. Hopefully, I don''t fall down.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then lifted his head up from the surface of the water and tried to push himself up into the crack. But his efforts failed as he could not push himself high enough and only kept on falling back.

    "Bah~ this won''t work. I need better grip somehow." Lin Wu spoke.

    He then tried to use the innate skill of cellr crystallization again and changed the surface of his head to be a bit more rough. Irregr and rough bumps appeared on his head once he was done. Lin Wu looked at his changed appearance in the Host data window.

    "Let''s see if this works now." Lin Wu muttered.

    ~Phew~

    ~Ssh~

    Lin Wu pped hard with his tail and pushed his head into the air and towards the crack in the wall. It flew ahead and then made contact with the wall.

    ~Chink~

    A small noise was heard as Lin Wu got his head stuck in the wall.

    "Yes, I did it!" Lin Wu praised himself before pulling the rest of his body up.

    After getting into the crack fully, he started to move upwards. The crack would split into multiple smaller parts and Lin Wu would have to follow the system''s navigation to get the right path. There were ces where the climb was at a steep angle but he still managed somehow.

    Eventually, he reached a point where he couldn''t climb at all. The path was nowpletely straight upwards at a ny-degree angle.

    "Now what the hell am I supposed to do?"

 Chapter 27 - What Happened Here?

    Lin Wu looked up at the path and all he could see was a straight and in path. If such a path were horizontal, he would not even have had a single problem and would have sauntered effortlessly. But just with the angle changing by ny degrees, the path had be impossible to traverse.

    Lin Wu looked closer and could see small indentations on the walls going up. This gave him an idea.

    "Seems like I''ll have to find a suitable adaptation to this." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    He then activated the innate skill ''cellr crystallization'' and imagined his body changing. A few momentster, the texture of his body started to change. Small spikes appeared on the surface of his body that jutted outward.

    "Let''s see if this works." Lin Wu muttered before propping his body upwards.

    He pushed his head up and rested it against the wall, then he moved his tail and popped it against the opposite wall. Forcing with his tail, Lin Wu moved his head up again.

    Repeating the same thing except for this time with his tail, Lin Mu moved even farther ahead.

    "Ahaha, seems like this is the way." Lin Wu spoke while taking a look downwards.

    Repeating the same steps alternating between his tail and his head, Lin Wu traveled upwards in a zigzag manner.

    Still, it took him over an hour before he could even reach the next turn. Lin Wu peeked down from the ledge that he had reached and saw theke far below him.

    "Damn, I''m quite far up now." Lin Wu said before looking up. "I''m close enough now, just a little more."

    The system was now pointing him towards a thin ledge that went across the wall all the way up to the opening of the roof. Still, with Lin Wu''s control getting better over his innate skill, he was able to reduce the size of his body, which allowed him to traverse the ledge with rtive ease.

    Lin Wu came to a halt at the point where the opening of the roof was. This ce was rtively dangerous as one wrong move could lead him to fall into theke below, making him waste his entire effort.

    "I gotta make this count." Lin Wu muttered.

    ~Huu~

    Lin Wu hung out his head from the side and then moved it upwards to get it stuck into the wall. He then curled his body and pulled in his tail. Thentching it to the other end, he pulled in his head as well.

    ~phew~

    "Well, that was stressful. Though I''m in now and the way should be easy enough." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    Lin Wu was now in the same fissure that he had jumped down from. While the fissure was a little tight for his current body size, he was still able to adjust it slightly.

    Lin Wu also discovered that the maximum amount by which he could reduce his size was by fifty percent. Anything beyond that and his innate skill would just stop working.

    Half an hourter he was finally out of the hole and could see the night sky above him.

    "Ah~ finally," Lin Wu eximed in joy before getting out of the crater.

    But then his expression changed pretty fast once he took a look at the surroundings.

    "What the hell happened here?" Lin Wu questioned in shock.

    The scene in front of Lin Wu was different from what he had seen back when he was here two years ago. There were more craters than he had seen before. While the moltenva had now cooled and solidified, the ground was more cracked than before.

    Sharp fissures could be seen spreading all around from the smaller craters. It looked as if a battle had happened in the area. Lin Wu went a little ahead and could even see some broken fragments of weapons scattered around.

    Right in front of him, he could see a half-broken spear stuck in the ground. The half of it was also rusted and caked with mud. Looking all around again, Lin Mu could not begin to think about what could have happened there.

    "System, show me the updated map of the area." Lin Mu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    UPDATING MAP: Error!

    NOTIFICATION: System energy storage is depleted, please transfer some energy.

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    "Ah, I forgot about that. Let''s seeбн Umm, I think two hundred units should be enough tost me for a bit at least." Lin Wu talked to himself as he looked at the data window.

    "System, transfer two hundred units of energy from the spirit qi storage to the system energy storage and update the map." Lin Wu ordered again.

    ~Ding~

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    UPDATING MAP: Please wait a moment.

    NOTIFICATION: Map has been updated. Please check it in the relevant window.

    WARNING!: Dangerous environment detected. Toxic gases and radiation has been detected in the area.

    UPDATING PARAMETERS: Please wait a moment.

    PARAMETERS UPDATED: Warning status will be lowered as the host is resistant to the environment.

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    Lin Wu was shocked to see the system''s notifications. Looking at the area, even he could tell that the area was dangerous, but hearing from the system that he was resistant to it made him feel relieved.

    ~Phew~

    "I guess I finally get to experience the benefits of my newly modified physique." Lin Wu said to himself with a slightly joyous tone.

    He then remembered what he was going to do and focused his attention again.

    "System, open the map." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    Another notification sound rang in his mind, and then the newly updated map window appeared in front of him. Back when he was still in the undergroundke, all he could see on the map was the four confines of the cave. It seemed to him that perhaps the map was stuck to that area because it had not been updated, and when he saw the changes, he knew he was right.

    Looking at the map, Lin Wu could see the rest of the craters and cracks in the area that was far from his vision and could not be directly seen from now. The ground had be Grey from the previous ck and the area of devastation had expanded more than before.

    "System, what happened here?" Lin Wu asked with confusion and surprise.

 Chapter 28 - Quest?

    ~Ding~

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    ANALYZING: Please wait a minute.

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    Lin Wu kept on watching the area with a slightly nervous expression as he did not know what kind of situation he was in right now. He was wondering if it could be dangerous for him, or perhaps if this situation would trap him in here.

    Theck of information was only making him slightly fearful, but he didn''t know why. This was a new change he was observing in himself, and from what he could remember from his past life, he certainly did not have this kind of aspect in his personality before.

    ''Is this due to the soul damageбн or something else?'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he waited for the system to respond.

    ~Ding~

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    ANALYSIS: Completed

    UPDATING DATA BANKS: New data obtained.

    OBTAINED NEW PARAMETERS: Recalcting.

    NOTIFICATION: Simrity between current environmentalponents and the host''s physique is 50%

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    Lin Wu was a little astounded at the system''s information as he could not understand what it meant.

    "System, what does this mean? What is the rtion between my physique and this environment?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The crystal that was absorbed by the host and made a part of his bloodline was simr inposition to theponents in this environment. Theseponents include the particte matter suspended in the air, the gases, and also the solidponents scattered across thend.

    The rocks that the host can see in the distance are rted to the crystal that the host absorbed. From the analysis, the system hase to the conclusion that it is likely that all of these havee from amon meteorite.

    While the crystal has radioactive properties, they are contained within and are not spreading. The otherponents of the meteor though spread all around the area when it crashed here and is the cause for the toxic fumes and radioactivity.

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    Lin Wu read the entire window carefully, ensuring that he understood everything. Once he was done, he thought about it for a bit.

    ''Hmm, it makes sense. The explosion that happened was the meteorite crashing and it debris along with it. If that is true, then the crystal was likely to be at the very center of it, if it survived without breaking apart.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having understood more about the current situation he felt a little better, but he was still confused about the broken weapons and the devastation in the area. He had seen the area before he went to the crater, but it was not like this. While it was quite messy, it was still not to this extent. The current scene while not too recent did not look that old either.

    "System, why are there so many broken weapons here and why is the area different?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: ording to the system''s analysis, the area has been affected due to a battle. For more detailed information, the host will need to scan the relevant items.

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    ''Alright, let''s try that. It''s better to be sure, I don''t want to make a mistake just because Icked information.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, scan this broken spear." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    SCANNER FUNCTION: Activated.

    SCANNING: Please wait a moment.

    SCANNING COMPLETED: New Data obtained, please see it in the relevant window.

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    As Lin Wu finished reading the notifications, a new window popped up in front of him. The window showed him the figure of the broken figure and its information.

    ~Ding~

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    TARGET: Broken spear

    INFO: ording to the data banks, the broken spear is a mid-grade spirit weapon. The motif on the spear tip belongs to that of the Royal family of the Ling Kingdom, denoting that it belonged to a person from there.

    CURRENT STATUS: Heavily damaged.

    COMPOSITION: Common spirit steel, Spirit stone dust (low grade), One hundred year old peach wood.

    FORMATION ARRAY: Basic reinforcement formation array. (Partially damaged)

    NOTE: Repair possible

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    Upon reading the notification window, Lin Wu was rather surprised as he had not expected to get so much information and some parts of it particrly interested him.

    "Why would someone from the royal family be here? I mean they should be pretty important if they came here, right? This seems suspicious." Lin Wu muttered to him.

    Just as Lin Wu was thinking more about it, another notification appeared in front of him.

    ~Ding~

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    SUGGESTION: The host should collect more information by scanning more objects. The system has also detected the remains of some cultivators in the range.

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    "Remains?! Wait, so this means that a fight between cultivators happened here. But what could be the reason?" Lin Wu said as he looked around, and then his vision settled on arge rock in the distance.

    ''Could it be because of those rocks, were they here for the meteor itself?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then thought of what he could do and decided to do what the system had said.

    "System, mark all objects of interest on the map." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    MARKING: Performing secondary scan for uracy.

    NOTIFICATION: Eight objects of interest found.

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    The map window appeared in front of Lin Wu and he could see eight new markers ced on it. They were all in different locations and seemed to be irregrly distributed. Three of them were to the north of his direction and were the closest. Two of them were to the west and two were to the east. Finally, one was at the south of his direction and was the farthest out of all the eight.

    But just as Lin Mu finished observing the map window another notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

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    QUEST ISSUED: Scan and obtain the eight marked objects.

    REWARD: Data bank update.

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    "Oh, a quest finally appeared. Looks like what the system said about exploration was true, exploring will give me new quests." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    ''Alright, let''s go to the three markers that are the closest to me. To the north, it is then.'' Lin Wu thought to himself before moving towards it.

 Chapter 29 - High Energy Object?

    "Alright, it says that I need to scan and obtain the objects, soбн How do I carry them then?" Lin Wu thought to himself in confusion.

    Just as Lin Wu was wondering about it a notification sound rang in his head and a window appeared in front of him.

    ~Ding~

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    SUGGESTION: The host can store objects in the systems inventory. The current storage space that is avable is three cubic meters.

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    "Ah, that is convenient. System, store the broken spear in the inventory." Lin Wu ordered.

    Just as Lin Wu said that, the broken spear that was embedded in the ground disappeared. He then saw a new window appear in front of him.

    ~Ding~

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    INVENTORY: 1. Broken spear (heavily damaged)

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    Ensuring that the spear had been sessfully stored, Lin Wu decided to continue on with his quest. He took a look towards the map for a bit before turning towards the North. He looked at the path ahead and found it to be much easier than before.

    Since the main obstacle that was theva pool had cooled down and turned into solid rock, Lin Wu did not have much problem crossing it. Another thing he noticed was that therge rock that he had climbed over to cross theva pool was nowhere to be found.

    Instead, what was left behind in its ce was an empty hole. The hole wasn''t that deep being only a meter deep. He wondered where the rock could have gone but then attributed it to the cultivators.

    ''They probably destroyed the rock or something. If anything, I read in the novels from my previous life is true, then this should be an easy feat for cultivators.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he started crawling.

    With Lin Wu''s new physique, his movement speed had increased by bounds. Even if he didn''t dig into the ground and moved through it, he was still fast. His increased size only entuated it even more. It didn''t take Lin Wu much longer to reach the first marker, and he was there in ten minutes.

    Upon reaching there, he saw the object in question. It was a broken metallic te that seemed to be a part of something much bigger. It had engraved patterns on it that were iprehensible to Lin Wu, yet he could tell that they were special.

    ''So this is the first marker, let''s see what it actually isбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, scan the metal te." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    SCANNER FUNCTION: Activated

    SCANNING: Please wait a moment.

    SCANNING COMPLETED: New data obtained, please view it in the relevant window.

    DATA BANKS: Updated.

    QUEST UPDATE: Objectivespleted 1/8.

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    A string of notifications appeared in front of Lin Wu as the system scanned the metal te. He waited for the new window to appear and then soon saw it appear.

    ~Ding~

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    TARGET: Broken metal te

    INFO: ording to the system''s data banks, the metal piece is a part of a mid grade spirit armor. More urately, it is theponent of the armor which is called as the heart protector. More information cannot be obtained as there is no identifying mark present on it.

    CURRENT STATUS: Heavily damaged.

    COMPOSITION: Alloyed heavy bronze, spirit stone dust( low grade).

    FORMATION ARRAY: Basic reinforcement formation array. (critically damaged).

    NOTE: Repair impossible.

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    After reading the information window, Lin Wu felt a bit disappointed, as he had expected for it to be something better. But looking at its condition, he realized that it was far too damaged to be repaired. Al thought Lin Wu still did not know if he would be able to repair the broken spear either. After all, he was a worm right now, he couldn''t use it, could he?

    ~Sigh~

    ''Let''s just continue and see what else I can find.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, store the broken metal te into the inventory." Lin Wu ordered.

    Then in the next second the metal te in front of him vanished and a notification appeared in front of him, telling him that it had been stored in the inventory. He nodded at this and continued onward to the next marker.

    This marker was a little to the left from the one he was at. The path was straight overall if not for the craters and shards of rock embedded into the ground. These shards were sharp and Lin Wu could not help but imagine him getting hurt by them by mistake.

    But thankfully he was a crystalline worm now and was impervious to things like thisбн at least up to a certain level. He continued crawling and ten minutester he was at the next marker. But when he got close to it he was surprised at what he saw.

    In front of him was the top half of a skeleton. There were only the ribs, spine, arms and skull with the pelvis and legs missing. From the cracks on the bones, Lin Wu could only imagine the force with which it must have been broken. Another eye-catching thing he noticed was a thing that was stuck in the ribs of the skeleton.

    The thing in question looked like a piece of sharp rock that was embedded in the ribs of the skeleton, right where the heart of a person would have been. The ribs between which it was stuck had been shattered.

    "Damn, that looks terrible. Though I wonder if it happened after the person was dead or before." Lin Wu spoke in a slightly scared and curious tone.

    Lin Wu checked his map once again to ensure that this was the next quest marker and he was not mistaken.

    "System, scan the skeletonбн Umm, half-skeleton." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    SCANNER FUNCTION: Activated

    SCANNING: Please wait a moment.

    SCANNING COMPLETED: New data obtained, please view it in the relevant window.

    DATA BANKS: Updated.

    QUEST UPDATE: Objectivespleted 2/8.

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    Lin Wu ignored the first window that showed the same notifications as before and instead switched to the next window, which actually showed the information about the half-skeleton. But just as he was about to read it, he was utterly shocked by a new shing window that showed up.

    ~Ding~

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    ALERT!: High Energy object found.

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 Chapter 30 - Skeleton?

    Looking at the alert, Lin Wu was shocked to say the least. He had seen an alert like this before, and it was back when the system had informed him of the crystal. But this time it seemed to be a little different. The window was actually highlighting the half skeleton in front of him.

    "Huh? Is this the high energy object?" Lin Wu wondered as he looked at it curiously.

    ~Ding~

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    TARGET: Skeleton (partial)

    INFO: The skeleton belongs to a deceased Nascent soul cultivator and has a high amount of energy stored in it. The identity of the Skeleton cannot be confirmed, but ording to the previous data obtained, it is likely that it belongs to a person from the Ling Kingdom. The Skeleton is of a unique quality and has a previously unknownposition.

    NOTE: There is an unknown type of interference present in the skeleton. It is likely that it is a type of data node. The system cannot analyze it, but it is still possible to directly absorb it. Though there is a chance that it may potentially harm the host.

    SUGGESTION: The host should absorb the spirit qi from the skeleton. Consuming the skeleton may also result in beneficial effects.

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    Lin Wu was in a dilemma after reading the information window. He had not expected that he would be finding something like this so fast. He had already found another source of spirit qi, and he was happy for it. Though he was doubting how much spirit qi there may be present in it.

    He was also wondering about the data node that the system called as interference. At first, Lin Wu was straightway going to reject absorbing it as the system was doubting it, but then seeing that there was still a chance that it may not harm him, he wanted to know more about the possibilities.

    "System, what are the chances of it harming me if I choose to absorb that data node?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The probability of it harming the host is 0.89%.

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    Lin Wu was dumbfounded upon seeing the system''s answer and didn''t know whether tough or cry.

    "What theбн it is that small? The chances of me dying from the environment are probably higher than that. I''ve been through worse, I''ll take the chances." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    Lin Wu also wondered about consuming the Skeleton. The system hadn''t said anything about it being harmful to him, thus he thought it must be fine. But he was still thinking on how to go about this. Was he supposed to absorb the spirit qi first? Or was he supposed to directly eat the skeleton? There was also the question about the data node, would it directly be absorbed he didn''t know.

    "System, how should I go about absorbing this? What should be the sequence I mean." Lin Wu questioned.

    Lin Wu had started bing specific about things and felt like he needed to know more details. Thus he wanted to know if it would be any different or whether the order mattered.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The system will first absorb the spirit qi from the skeleton and after that, the host is supposed to consume the Skeleton. Because the data node cannot be analyzed, the only method to obtain it is to directly consume its container that is the skeleton.

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    ''Alright, that seems fine. I guess I can do this now.'' Lin Wu thought, making up his mind.

    "System, absorb the spirit qi then." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    ABSORBING HIGH ENERGY SOURCE: Please wait patiently.

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    Lin Wu didn''t feel anything at first, but then saw faint wisps of sprite qi arising from the Skeleton. The wisps were pale white in color and nearly translucent, almost like dissipating smoke. This was the first time Lin Wu had seen spirit qi with his naked eyes, and was thus amazed by it.

    The wisp of spirit qi floated from the Skeleton and moved through the air, eventually reaching Lin Wu. It then touched the top of his head and was subsequently absorbed. As soon as it entered his body, Lin Wu could feel a strange sense offort.

    It was hard for him to exin, but the closest thing he couldpare it with was back when he went to one of the ''unique'' spas and they cleaned out his ear. The feeling was quite close to that.

    "Ahhh, that feels good." Lin Wu muttered infort.

    He kept on looking at the floating wisps and was now getting curious about it. An idea popped in his mind and he intended his tail towards it. He then touched a spirit qi Wisp that was floating towards him with his tail.

    Lin Wu had expected for something different to happen when he touched the spirit qi wisp, but nothing of that sort happened. Instead, the spirit qi wisp simply disappeared into the tail being absorbedpletely.

    "Well, that wasбн a little disappointing." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Ten minutes had passed and the spirit qi wisps were still being emanated from the skeleton. He wondered if it always took this long. Previously whenever he had absorbed any sort of energy, it had either been instantaneous or he had been tranquilized, making him unable to know how much time passed.

    While he could see the difference in his lifespan, it was still an enigma to him how much time it exactly took.

    "System, does it always take this long to absorb spirit qi?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: It depends on the energy source itself. Some of them may be moreplex, making it harder for the system to extract it. Some types of energies may be fixed into the source being a part of itsposition, thus the system needs to analyze to find the most optimum method of absorbing it.

    In the current case, it is slow because the energy in question that is the spirit qi is highly integrated into the source. Any haste or mistake in its extraction would simply lead it to being dissipated.

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    After reading the system''s answer, Lin Wu felt that it was reasonable. He didn''t know the intricacies of the system and how it operated, thus he was simply satisfied by this.

    Soon the process of absorption wasplete, and the notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

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    ABSORPTION: Complete.

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    "Let''s see how much spirit qi I obtain."

 Chapter 31 - Consumption?

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 9 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/3000] units

    QI STORAGE: 3458 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption(minor)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 176 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown

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    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE:-

    1. Map

    2. Scanner

    3. Bloodline Creation

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    Lin Wu immediately noticed the significant increase in spirit qi and was quite pleased with this. He also noticed that a few more parts had updated. For example, his bloodline now showed his species name and the inventory section showed the things he had stored.

    He also noticed the system energy storage that had been slightly depleted because of his use of functions. He didn''t really mind it as it was intended for a good use and now that he had even more energy he just felt that it was well invested.

    "Yes! This is good, I can upgrade my cultivation right away if I want to." Lin Wu spoke in jubtion, happy at his gains.

    ''Still, should wait till I consume the Skeleton before upgrading or not?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    After a couple of minutes of thinking, Lin Wu decided against upgrading straight away. His judgment was that perhaps he may get something important from the Skeleton, since there was still a data node hidden within it.

    "Alright, I guess I''ll just consume the skeleton, but how do I do that? Do I just eat it, straightway?" Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    After a brief moment of thinking, Lin Wu sensed his body and willed to make a few changes. He opened his mouth wide enough that his entire front part of his head was now a mouth. A momentter sharp teeth appeared in his mouth in a haphazard manner and looked as if it was a blender.

    It was not intentional on Lin Wu''s part, rather with his current skill level, this was all he could aplish. He had in fact imagined somethingpletely different in his mind, and this turned out to be the result.

    Lin Wu then ced his mouth over the half skeleton and started eating it. The teeth in his mouth would move in a spiral manner, pulling in the skeleton with them. Soon the entire skeleton was in his stomach. The bones of the skeleton quickly detached once they were pulled in to his mind, thus he did not have much of a problem.

    Lin Wu had never eaten bones before, thus this was a strange experience for him. In the past, he had been unable to eat the bones as they were far too hard for him to chew on as he had no teeth to speak of. But now that he could create as many teeth as he wanted, the process was rather easy.

    Lin Wu''s body slightly budged from what he had eaten, and crunching and cracking noises came from his body. Almost instantly his body got to work breaking down the meal that was just consumed. Lin Wu was feeling strange hearing the noises that wereing from his stomach.

    "This is strange, I''ve heard stomach grumble but never thought that mine would ever make sounds like this. It''s almost as if there''s a blender in my stomachбн actually that may not be that far from the Truth." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    ''This new body of mine is strange.'' Lin Wu thought as he observed his stomach quickly shrinking to its normal size in the span of a minute.

    Once the entire process ended, his body glowed for a moment before Lin Wu felt pain.

    "Ah, I was expecting something like thisбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before gritting his teeth in pain.

    Still, the pain was bearable for him and he withstood it without much problem. The pain was quite simr to how one would feel after eating a lot of spicy food.

    Once the pain died down, Lin Wu opened his eyes as the sound of notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

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    TARGET SUCCESSFULLY CONSUMED: Absorptionplete.

    OBTAINED DATA NODE: Decrypting, please wait patiently.

    QUEST UPDATE: Objectivespleted 3/8.

    DATA BANKS: Updated.

    HOST DATA: Updated

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    A string of notifications popped up in front of Lin Wu most of which he had expected. He decided to check what the changes in his host data were first.

    "System, show me the host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 9 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/3000] units

    QI STORAGE: 3458 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: None

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption(minor)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Beast carapace (fragment)

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 4000 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 8964 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown

    5. Ash Crowned Buck

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    "What the hell!" Lin Wu eximed in shock.

    The two values that had changed greatly were the Vital energy storage and the system energy storage. The gain was far greater than Lin Wu had gotten until now from any resource and waspletely unexpected to him. Thebined increase in energy was of more than twelve thousand units.

    Finally, at the very bottom, Lin Wu noticed a new addition.

    ''Ash Crowned Buck? What? How did I get this from a human corpse?'' Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    "System, exin yourself." Lin Wu ordered, feeling confused and a little cheated.

 Chapter 32 - Organic Form?

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The system could only assimte the energy present in the skeleton in this manner by storing it into the vital energy storage and the system energy storage. The energy was far tooplexly integrated into the skeleton which would have made its conversion into spirit qi impossible. The most efficient method with the least amount of waste was this, thus the system chose it.

    The system was also able to obtain some raw bloodline data of the Ash Crowned Buck from the skeleton. The cultivator to which the skeleton belonged to was a person bearing its bloodline. Although the entirety of that bloodline could not be obtained for direct assimtion, enough of it was obtained that it could be added to the data bank.

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    ~Sigh~

    After reading the system''s answered there wasn''t much that Lin Wu could do, thus he decided to just leave it be.

    "At least now I have plenty of system energy to use for the functions and the vital energy to replenish my stamina and to regenerate myself if I get injured." Lin Wu consoled himself.

    ''Wait, that''s not all. What is that beast carapace fragment that was added to my inventory? I don''t remember putting it in there.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, what is the beast carapace fragment that was added to my inventory? Did you add it? But where did ite from?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host consumed it in addition to the Skeleton as it was stuck in its ribs. After the analysis, the system determined that it is a type of beast carapace fragment, but the system does not what kind of beast it is. It is rmended that the host upgrades the data Banks bypleting the quest.

    The system may also be able to obtain more data from the data node after it is decrypted, but it is not fully confirmed.

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    "I ate that, huh? Didn''t even feel it, neither did I taste it. Wait, taste?! I can''t taste anythingбн" Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    After reading the system''s answer, Lin Wu was a little dumbfounded and then realized the reason why he had not felt it; his sense of taste was no longer present. To test out his theory again, Lin Wu tried to eat a little bit of the soil that was present everywhere and confirmed that he could indeed not able to taste it.

    ''Seems like I need to switch back to my organic form in order to taste again. This crystalline form seems topletely inhibit my sense of taste.'' Lin Wu surmised.

    To test out his new theory, Lin Wu activated his innate skill Cellr crystallization, and willed for his body to revert to the organic form. A couple of seconds passed, after which the changes finally appeared. It started with Lin Wu''s head.

    His eyes that were just two red lights sank in and the crystal skin morphed to be a smooth, chitin surface. The surface of the chitin then broke and two pupil-less red eyes appeared. They were the size of small coins and looked rather strange and disturbing. If a child or a person that was squeamish were to see them, they would definitely shout out ~Kyaahh~ upon seeing them and would feel disgusted.

    Lin Wu''s crystal mouth then closed and changed to a simr chitin surface. Then a seam appeared, which then split further to reveal a toothless mouth. But if one were to look deeper, they would see many small slots that were hidden within his mouth.

    The crystallization kept on reverting and eventually reached his tail. Unlike Lin Wu''s smooth crystalline tail that tapered evenly at the end, his organic form''s tail was fat at the end and looked unsightly. A slit could also be observed, which was the excretory end of his body.

    Lin Wu''s body had more than fifty segments overall excluding the head. Each segment was around two centimeters in size and went around his body''s circumference. Only his head did not have any segments and instead had a smooth surface of chitin. Overall, his body had not unique patterns or anything of that sort, making him look rather disgusting.

    Lin Wu looked at his body''s surface and had a bad feeling. He quickly summoned the host data window and saw his image there. And upon seeing it, his heart broke.

    "I''mбн I''mбн I''m uglyyy!" Lin Wu shouted in horror.

    "Nope, nope, nope, I''m never showing this form to others. My crystalline form is so pretty and shiny. If Ie in contact with others I''m never showing them this form." Lin Wu dered to himself and just as he did thisбн

    ~Screech~

    ~Shing~

    He had unconsciously opened his mouth when he was speaking to himself, though he usually only did so in his mind. This time an actual sound came out of his mouth that was rather disturbing to one''s ears and would make a person''s skin tingle.

    Another sound came out of his mouth that was different than the screech. This sound was as if something hard was sliding over something hard. Or a metallic object being dragged over a stiff surface.

    Lin Wu looked at the host data window and saw itбн

    "Oh, my god!!! What are those teeth!" Lin Wu eximed.

    What he had seen were none other than countless sharp teeth that had popped up in his mouth. They were arranged in a symmetrical pattern into rows of four and looked eerily dangerous. They were covered in slimy saliva and were gray colored.

    Lin Wu focused on them, and then the teeth retreated into the inside of his mouth. The slits that he had seen previously were actually the pockets where the teeth were hiding in. They would pop up whenever he needed them to be. But he also saw that he actually had no tongue.

    ~Huu~

    Lin Wu took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

    ''I''m no less than a creature from people''s nightmares.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then took another deep breath and remembered what he was originally going to do. Lowering his head to the ground, Lin Wu ate some of the soil and could feel its taste.

    "Hmm, earthy with little hints of metalбн What the hell am I doing?! Nows, not the time to act like a celebrity chef from my previous life. Ahh! I really need to get my soul stabilized, these childish tendencies keep on popping out." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

 Chapter 33 - Underwear?

    After a little bit of time, Lin Wu calmed himself down and figured out the differences in his organic form. His sense of taste was definitely back after he switched to this one, and luckily it didn''t make him feel bad about eating soil. His worm-like taste preferences were still there.

    ''Okay, now that I know this works, I should just go to the next objective. Ugh, let''s switch quickly to the crystal form.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then willed it and the innate skill was triggered, making his body change back into a crystalline form. A minuteter he was back to looking like a beautiful sculpture.

    Lin Wu posed in different styles and looked at his image in the Host data window.

    "Now this is good. I''m beautiful this way." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu brought up the map window and looked at where his next quest objective was and found it to be to the northwest of his current location. He elevated his head and tried to look towards its general direction but could not find anything peculiar.

    ''I need to get closerбн'' Lin Wu thought before starting to move towards it.

    Five minutester, Lin Wu was standing over the quest marker that was being shown by the map. But the thing that was bothering him was that the object in question was a piece of cloth. Or more urately, a piece of female clothing. Lin Wu could tell this because of its peculiar shape.

    "What? Why is modern style clothing here? Is this really a cultivation world? Or has it perhaps developed in a direction that the clothing is simr to modern style?" Lin Wu thought out loud.

    "System, scan the objectбн Ummбн the underwear." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    SCANNER FUNCTION: Activated

    SCANNING: Please wait a moment.

    SCANNING COMPLETED: New data obtained, please view it in the relevant window.

    DATA BANKS: Updated.

    QUEST UPDATE: Objectivespleted 4/8.

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    Soon the quest update notification appeared and then the next window informing Lin Wu of the item''s details appeared.

    ~Ding~

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    TARGET: Pink Women''s underwear

    INFO: The underwear is made from hundred year summer silkworm silk and is quite a precious material. Hundred year summer silkworm silk can be used to make high grade spirit clothing, which can defend from qi techniques. A small amount of hundred year summer silkworm silk is worth about twenty mid grade spirit stones.

    CURRENT STATUS: Used.

    COMPOSITION: Hundred year summer silkworm silk, lc blossom dye.

    FORMATIONS: Basic protective formation and temperature regtion formation present.

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    "Uhhhhбн What?" Lin Wu uttered, feeling dumbfounded.

    Lin Wu could not help but feel bewildered at this finding. It seemed to him that whoever was the owner of this garment was probably rather rich and liked to splurge. Although Lin Wu didn''t know what twenty mid grade spirit stones were worth, he could guess that that was probably a lot.

    ''Making underwear from material that can be used as Armour, really? How opulent are the people hereбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, how much are twenty mid grade spirit stones worth?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: A single mid grade spirit stone is worth a hundred low grade spirit stones, hence twenty mid grade spirit stones are worth two thousand low grade spirit stones. For reference, a single low grade spirit stone is enough to provide the user with ten wisps of spirit qi units.

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    "Huh, so ten wisps of spirit qi units are equal to one low grade spirit stone. Then that meansбн WHAT THE HELL! Twenty thousand spirit qi units! That is more than all I have used until now." Lin Wu eximed upon finding out the reality.

    Suddenly an idea appeared in Lin Wu''s mind, and he wondered if it could be viable.

    "Ummбн System, if I consume the underwear, will I get the spirit qi from it?" Lin Wu questioned in a strange tone.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: No, the underwear itself does not have any spirit qi stored in it. The formations ced on its work by using the spirit qi of the user itself. The Host will have no benefit from consuming the object in question, but the system can analyze the formations ced on it.

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    "Okay, I got excited for nothing." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    "System, store the underwear in inventory." Lin Wu ordered and the underwear lying on the ground disappeared and a new entry was added to the inventory window.

    Lin Wu then looked at the map again and saw that the next objective was in thepletely opposite direction that was to the east. He was currently in the West and needed to go back to the ce he had gotten the skeleton at and go beyond it to reach his next objective.

    ''Alright, let''s get to it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Ten minutes passed and Lin Wu quickly arrived at the next objective. At first, Lin Wu was a little confused as the quest objective could not be seen anywhere as all that was in front of him was arge rock that was about ten meters tall.

    ''Is the quest objective above or below the rock, perhaps?'' Lin Wu to himself beforeparing it with what the navigation was showing him.

    He checked it thrice, but the pointer was directly pointing it towards the rock itself, not up or down. Lin Wu went closer and saw that it was indeed the rock itself that was the objective.

    "System, is this rock the objective?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The quest objective is contained within the rock. The system cannot scan the quest objective clearly as it is being shielded by the rock. The rock''sposition has substances that can block the emission of spirit qi. The system rmends using the host''s innate skills to reach the quest objective.

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    Lin Wu was a bit surprised after seeing this and wondered if there was anything good hidden in the rock. He wanted to get right to it, but decided to check a little bit first. He went around the rock and first found the ce that was the thinnest.

    Lin Wu then triggered the innate skill of cellr crystallization and changed the shape of his tail into one that was sharp like a pickaxe.

    "Alright mining timeбн"

 Chapter 34 - New Skill?

    Lin Wu looked up at the ce which seemed the thinnest to him and struck it with his tail-turned-pickaxe.

    ~Deng~

    A reverberating sound was heard as his crystalline tail vibrated in response to being hit.

    "Whoa, okay, I didn''t expect his. This is certainly ufortable." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He tried hitting the rock a few more times and was finally able to make a small piece of it fall off from it. But in addition to this he was feeling quite ufortable as his tail kept on vibrating from the impacts as if it was a gong being struck.

    After multiple hits, the vibrations got strong enough that they actually traveled to his head, making him feel a little dizzy.

    "Okay, I can''t go on like this. I feel like someone is ringing a bucket that''s put on my head. This is elementary school all over again, I don''t want to experience that feeling again." Lin Wu uttered with frustration.

    Thinking for a solution to this, Lin Wu stopped mining. It was not like he was doing much damage to the rock either. After five minutes of effort, he had barely chipped away a small piece. Thinking over it, he realized that the vibrations were traveling to his head as his body was entirely crystalline.

    ''Hmm, if I make a small part of my body turn to the organic form, will it stop the vibrations?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Wanting to try out his theory, he got to it and triggered the innate skill cellr crystallization. He focused on the part just below the end of his tail from where it was made to look like a pickaxe. A few secondster, under the control of Lin Wu''s mind, the crystalline surface started moping and soon changed to look like a dark grey color.

    The segments that were present in his organic form appeared and it looked like an area of about three segments was turned into the organic form. The part where the crystalline changed to organic and vice a versa looked particrly unique.

    Instead of directly transitioning to a different form, it instead changed eventually and looked like apletely different thing. Lin Wu now had five distinct sections on his body. The major part that was crystalline and emerald green. Then the tiny ring of greenish brown color which progressed to the organic part which was dark Grey and then back to the greenish brown ring. And finally, it ended in the emerald green crystalline tail, which was in the form of a pickaxe.

    "Alright, lets see if there is a difference or not." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    He then braced himself and hit the rock again with his tail.

    ~Clink~

    This time the results were quite obvious. While his tail still vibrated from the impact, the vibrations did not travel to the rest of his body, making it easier for him to keep himself oriented.

    "YES! This is it." Lin Wu eximed in joy.

    He then continued mining the rock, and small pieces of it kept on breaking off every so often. At this point Lin Wu was starting to wonder if he was doing something wrong. He was already in the mid stage of the qi refining realm and felt like he was not doing much damage. At least not as much as he had imagined a cultivator could do.

    "System, what can I do to increase the force or damage?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling confused and a bit lost.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The host can use his spirit qi to amplify his attacks. This is one of the most basic methods of using qi and can be used for both attack and defense. The host does not have any qi skill currently, thus the amplification will be at the very basic level that a cultivator can use.

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    Lin Wu carefully read the answer and then felt a bit stupid.

    "Of course! I haven''t been using the spirit qi at all since now. No wonder I was not doing much." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    He then tried to remember the feeling of qi that he had felt before and tried to see if he couldmand it. Lin Wu could feel nothing at the start, but a few secondster he could sense the faint wisps of spirit qi that were hidden within his body.

    Lin Wu could feel them present in faint tubes that seemed both material and immaterial.

    ''Are these my meridians?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He continued focusing on them and found that they were present all over the body and formed aplex all over it. He then willed one of the wisps of spirit qi to travel from the meridians to the tail, and it slowly started flowing towards there. Soon it reached the tail part and left the meridian, merging into his tail.

    Lin Wu could feel an almost instant difference. Wanting to try this out quickly, he pulled his tail back and then struck the rock with all his strength.

    ~ng~

    ~Crack~

    A louder sound was heard as the surface of the rock visibly cracked. Although these cracks were not big and were only a few centimeters long, it was still more than what Lin Wu had aplished until now.

    "Awesome! The amplification is much more than I thought. Now I just have to keep on doing this again and again." Lin Wu spoke to himself with excitement.

    ~ng~

    ~ng~

    ~ng~

    ~ng~

    ~ng~

    Lin Wu kept on hitting the rock until the cracks started increasing in number and more pieces of the rocks kept on falling.

    ~ng~

    ~ng~

    ~ng~

    ~Crumble~

    Finally, the number of cracks had reached an amount where the structural integrity of the rock got weak. The thin part of the Rock where the cracks were present finally started crumbling, and a lot of pieces fell down at once.

    Now what was left in front of Lin Wu was a small hole that was about three inches deep and four inches wide. And just as he saw this, a notification sounded in his mind.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: New skill learned

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 Chapter 35 - Proficiency Increase?

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: New skill learned

    SKILL ADDED: Qi Amplification

    NOTIFICATION: Please view the skill description in the Qi Skills section.

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    Looking at the new notification, Lin Wu could guess what the function of the skill was and why he had learned it just now. Still, wanting to know more, he looked at the Qi skill window.

    "System, show me the Qi skills section." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    Qi Skill: Qi Amplification

    Skill grade: Minor

    Proficiency: Basic

    Description: The skill Qi amplification allows the host to utilize his own spirit qi to strengthen his body which in turn can be used to increase the power and force of attacks. This skill amplifies the overall abilities of the host by a certain percentage and is one of the most basic abilities of a cultivator.

    Note: At the current proficiency, the amplification provided by the skill is between 10-100%. The minimum amplification will rise by 20% with every increase in proficiency levels. The skill grade will upgrade automatically, depending on the host''s cultivation level.

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    After reading the description, Lin Wu got the general gist of it and also understood the level of amplification provided.

    ''Huh, so the amplification will not always be the same and may vary. At least the minimum amplification will rise as my proficiency rises. That shouldn''t be too hard, as this seems like a skill I''ll be using a lot.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Finished with his thoughts, Lin Wu focused back onto the hole that he had been able to create in the rock. Now he could see that the quest objective pointer had moved to the hole, showing him that he was correct. The quest objective pointer would only point towards the easiest and quickest path, thus this allowed him to confirm.

    "Now then, let''s see if what I thought of before works or notбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before he moved.

    Lin Wu moved his tail forward and inserted it into the hole. He then triggered the cellr maniption skill along with the cellr crystallization skill. ording to his will, his body''s overall thickness started decreasing until he was less than an inch thick in circumference.

    But in exchange, the part of the tail that he had inserted into the hole now expanded topletely fit it. In fact, it didn''t stop there and kept expanding. The tail was now struggling to expand and had reached the maximum limit.

    Cracks started appearing on the edges of the hole and slowly they began to expand. As Lin Wu kept on using the skills, his stamina was being consumed at a rapid rate. In just a minute, he had depleted around half of his entire store of stamina.

    "Come onбн Just a little bit moreбн" Lin Wu uttered with determination.

    And just as he spoke, it happened.

    ~Crack~ ~Crack~ ~Crack~ ~Crack~

    ~Rumble~

    It was as if a dam had broken and the cracks that were slowly spreading suddenly covered the entire rock. In a few more moments Lin Wu''s entire stamina was depleted and so was the rock''s structural integrity.

    ~Copse~

    Arge amount of dust was thrown up into the air asrge chunks of the rock kept on falling from it. Ten secondster the entire rock had broken down, being unable to bear it anymore.

    Lin Wuid there under the debris as he was unable to move with his stamina being depleted. Still, he wasn''t injured in the slightest, even though he had tons of rock weighing down on him.

    "Damn, I didn''t expect it to be this effective. Qi amplification is something else." Lin Wu spoke to himself feeling a bit shocked.

    That''s right, at the end when Lin Wu thought that the skills were not working anymore, he triggered qi amplification in addition, to increase the power of the skills. The effect was quite apparent, as it could be witnessed now.

    As soon as he had used Qi amplification, the cracks in the rock dramatically increased. Another thing Lin Wu had done to help this was to extend thin spikes from the end of his tail, which then expanded themselves, increasing the speed of the cracking.

    "Alright, system replenish my stamina with the stored vital energy." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    NOTIFICATION: 50 units of stored vital energy will be used to replenish the host''s stamina. Proceed?

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    ''Seems like with the increase in my cultivation, the cost of stamina replenishment also increased.'' Lin Wu realized.

    "Yes, proceed as I asked." Lin Wu replied.

    In a few seconds, Lin Wu who was feeling dead tired became energetic. All his stamina that had been depleted soon returned with the help of the system.

    ''Now to get out from these rocksбн'' Lin Wu thought before starting to move.

    It was difficult for him to move directly, but he soon figured out a way to do so.

    Lin Wu first extended a few blunt spikes from his body, which helped lift the rocks a few centimeters above his body. Then he elongated his body from the head and then shrunk it while letting the spikes move backwards along the surface of his skin.

    Lin Wu had taken the inspiration of this idea from his past life when he had seen some documentaries of how firefighters rescued people who were buried under rubble. They would first lift the debris with hydraulic jacks and then affix them while moving the victims.

    While the method that Lin Wu used was not exactly the same, the gist of it was simr.

    Two minutester, Lin Wu was finally able to pull himself out from the rocks that were piled up on him. And just as he got out, another notification sounded in his head.

    ~Ding~

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    SKILL PROFICIENCY: Increased

    SKILL: Cellr maniption increased to novice from basic.

    Skill: Cellr crystallization increased to novice from basic.

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    "Huh, neat. That was quick, I was expecting that it would take me longer than this." Lin Wu spoke to himself feeling a bit surprised.

    Lin Wu basked in the moment for a bit before returning to his target.

    ''Let''s see what was in the rockбн'' Lin Wu thought before following the quest marker.

    He crawled forward and saw that the quest target was also buried under some rock. This time he didn''t even have to use the skill, as the size of the rocks was much smaller and he was able to move using his basic strength.

    As soon as he moved the final rock that was covering the quest marker, he saw it.

    "What theбн"

 Chapter 36 - Crystal?

    Lin Wu was shocked, to say the least after seeing the quest objective that was in front of him.

    "Another crystal?!" Lin Wu eximed.

    The quest objective was none other than the same kind of crystal that Lin Wu had previously absorbed. Although this one was much smaller than the one he had seen before. The previous one was about two meters tall and half a meter wide, while this one was a mere thirty centimeters in height and ten centimeters wide.

    Just as Lin Wu got close, a loud alert sounded in his head.

    ~Ding~

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    ALERT!: Compatible Bloodline source detected.

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    "Huh, so this is indeed part of that crystal. Did it break off from it, perhaps? No, if that was the case, then it would not have been encased in a rock like this. Or maybe I''m missing somethingбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''Let''splete the quest nowбн Wait, should I eat this like I did with the skeleton?'' Lin Wu thought with interest.

    "System, should I consume this too?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: It is rmended that the host consume the crystal after scanning it. The host will not only update the data Banks but will also gain more bloodline source, which may help him progress.

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    "System, scan the crystal." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

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    SCANNER FUNCTION: Activated

    SCANNING: Please wait a moment.

    SCANNING COMPLETED: New data obtained, please view it in the relevant window.

    DATA BANKS: Updated.

    QUEST UPDATE: Objectivespleted 5/8.

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    As soon as the notification appeared, Lin Wu switched to the information window to see what the crystal exactly was.

    ~Ding~

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    TARGET: Unknown Crystal

    INFO: The crystal has theposition as that of the one the host previously absorbed. The crystal contains an unknown bloodline source that may increase the amount that the host has.

    CURRENT STATUS: Dormant

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    Looking at the window that had much less information than he had expected, Lin Wu felt a little disappointed. He had thought that he may be able to obtain more information about who he was, or rather what he was. He knew he was ''Lin Wu'' but not what he was in this world.

    ~Sigh~

    ''Let''s just get this over withбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    He then got close to the crystal and touched it first. Originally he had thought that he would need to consume the Crystal bit by bit, but then discovered something.

    As soon as he touched it, he could feel a familiar feeling rising from it. It was as if it was the most intrinsic part of him and that he needed to gain it back. He thus willed it and the crystal started merging with his body.

    Lin Wu''s body effortlessly entered the crystal and his body started to automatically reshape itself. At first, it was as if Lin Wu had disappeared into the crystal, but soon the crystal started to shrink and morph.

    Fifteen minutes passed during which not a single sound was made, except for the faint green glow that was emanating from the crystal. This glow was much weaker than the glow which was released by therger crystal that Lin Wu had previously absorbed.

    If one were topare it, the glow of therger crystal was like a shlight, while the glow of this crystal was that of smoldering embers. It definitely wasn''t as eye catching as before and seemed to be much more calm.

    Finally, the entire process seemed to have reached a conclusion as the crystal had reformedpletely, bing part of Lin Wu''s body. His body was lying in a coiled posture and his size could not be estimated. His eyes were closed as well, as there were no red lights on his head anymore.

    Soon another notification sounded as the process finalized.

    ~Ding~

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    ASSIMILATION: Completed

    OBTAINED: Additional bloodline source

    NOTIFICATION: Please see the host data window for more detailed information.

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    Lin Wu finally opened his eyes as the red lights appeared on his head again. His body moved and uncoiled, showing its size that had grown. Lin Wu was now more than two meters long and had a thickness of about ten centimeters.

    Compared to his previous size, Lin Wu was much bigger and he even felt more powerful.

    "System, show me the Host data window." Lin Wu ordered in a calm voice.

    ~Ding~

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    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 10 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/3000] units

    QI STORAGE: 9628 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown(+1)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification(Minor)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption(minor)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Beast carapace (fragment), Pink Women''s underwear

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 6100 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 8964 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown(+1)

    5. Ash Crowned Buck

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    Looking at the host data window, Lin Wu could see that a few things had increased, especially his qi storage and vital energy storage. Another thing that had changed and interested him was the unknown bloodline. It now had an additional (+1) next to it.

    "System, what is the additional number next to the unknown bloodline?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

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    ANSWER: The system has obtained more data about the bloodline data and it has been added to the previous data. ording to the system''s analysis, the unknown bloodline that the host obtained is iplete and has more fragments of it.

    The system suggests that the host obtain these bloodline data fragments as they seem to be beneficial to the host. Currently, because it cannot be analyzedpletely, the host cannot utilize it. But once it is done, the host will obtain unprecedented benefits.

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    Reading the answer made Lin Wu more curious about this unknown bloodline.

    ''At least I get more spirit qi and vital energy from this.'' Lin Wu thought.

    While Lin Wu was contemting on his choice, another notification sounded.

    ~Ding~

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    DATA NODE DECRYPTION: Completed

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    As soon as Lin Wu saw the notification, his vision went nk for a moment before he suddenly found himself in a different ce and saw a few people standing in front of him.

    "Who are these people?"

 Chapter 37 - Memories?

    Lin Wu was utterly confused as he saw the people in front of him. In his confusion, he tried moving his head but realized that he couldn''t do it. It was as if his head was affixed and he could only see what was in front of him.

    His body could not move either. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was like a movie was being yed in front of him.

    ''Am I seeing a recording, perhaps? The data node was from the skeleton so it''s probably a memory stored in it, I guess.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    As he thought this, the people in front of him finally started moving. Before they were standing still and were looking towards Lin Wu, or rather at the person whose memory Lin Wu was currently watching.

    Lin Wu focused on the area around them and realized that it was none other than the area he was in. Except it was in the past and everything was burning and smoke was spread around. There were evenva pools that Lin Wu could spot at the edge of his vision.

    Everything seemed to be the same that Lin Wu had seen back when he was traveling to the crater that had the crystal. But now the perspective was vastly different, and Lin Wu could observe much more. There were nine people standing in front of him currently and all of them were wearing the same type of robes.

    The robes were yellow gold in color with blue and grey designs that contrasted with it. Out of the nine people, two were young women while the rest were all men. They all seemed to be rtively young and looked to be in theirte twenties.

    Though Lin Wu''s attention was mostly focused on the two women as they were perhaps the most beautiful women he had seen. Their beauty could easilypare to top actresses and models from his previous life.

    "Jade beauties, Jade beauties, I say. This is exactly the kind of stuff I want." Lin Wu muttered to himself with a strange tone.

    But his monologue was soon interrupted when one of the men spoke.

    "Elder, should we continue on or not? The area seems to be getting more and more dangerous. The invisible fumes and poison in this area are strange, even with all the protective spirit tools were are using it is still able to affect us. I can also feel the formations on the spirit tools weakening." The young man said.

    The other people with him also seemed to have simr troubled looks, and two of them even had expressions that made it seem as if they were sick.

    "That is why we need to get this investigated as fast as possible. If we return empty handed and don''t even have a basic reason behind this, we would be punished. Tell me, you all were promoted to your current positions by your hard work. Do you want to be removed from your positions because of this?" A voice suddenly spoke, which Lin Wu identified as the person whose memories Lin Wu was watching.

    The voice seemed to be of an old person and was slightly rough, yet a strange kind of power could be felt in it.

    Upon hearing the words of the elder, the expressions of the nine people seemed to beplex before it was reced by a determination. The nine people nced at each other for a moment before nodding.

    "We will do as you say, elder." They all said in unison.

    "Goodбн Goodбн you all will go quite far in the future. Hiding from hardships is only for the weak and cowardly. You all are part of the royal court, such a thing would be unbing of your status. Now then, let''s get to it." The elder spoke before a sword came to float in front of him.

    He then jumped onto the sword and flew forward with the others flying behind him on their respective swords. But not even a minute had passed before they all heard a loud sound.

    "What was that!" One of them shouted.

    The sound was as if something was breaking. Like a mountain was cracking and falling apart.

    "Look there, that giant rock." A woman''s voice spoke.

    Lin Wu''s vision then switched to the scene of a giant rock splitting apart, but not exactly. The giant rock was actually not a rock at all and rather seemed like a shell of some kind. Right now the surface of it was cracking and chunks of rock were falling off.

    ~Roar~

    Soon under the surprised looks of everyone, a loud and thunderous roar came from the crumbling rock.

    Lin Wu could see the people visibly shudder and it was as if they had felt something.

    "On your guard, this is likely going to be dangerous. Iбн I can''t sense the cultivation of whatever that thing is." The Old man spoke with slight fear in his voice.

    The nine people were even more shocked after hearing this and they hurriedly drew out their weapons. One of them had pulled out talismans that flew out and started revolving around them. One of the women made a ten meter long ribbon appear out of thin air and wrapped it around her right arm while the rest of it hovered.

    Simrly, all of them acted and a multitude of weapons and spirit tools were now present in the air.

    The crumbling rock cause dust to spread around in the air and the ground also started rumbling. Suddenly the screeching sound came from the dust cloud before something blurry came flying towards Lin Wu''s vision.

    "What the hellбн" Lin Wu inwardly flinched but could not move.

    The blurry object was traveling at a great speed and had a gray color. Lin Wu could now see the scene in front of him slow down and the object that wasing towards him also became clear.

    "The fragment of the beast carapace?" Lin Wu said before his vision went dark.

 Chapter 38 - Dagger?

    When Lin Wu''s vision finally returned, he could see that he was back to where he was before. The rubble from the broken rock was spread around and there was dust in the air. For him, it was as if fifteen minutes had passed, yet now that he looked around it seemed to be much less than that.

    "System, what was that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: What the host saw were the remnant memories of the cultivator to which the half skeleton belonged to. The memories were sealed in what the system now knows was a wisp of Spirit sense. Because the cultivator was a nascent soul realm cultivator, his spirit sense was strong enough to be able to leave a trace of it even after dying.

    This spirit sense could not be absorbed by the host, but could be assimted in the form of a data node. As for the passage of time, there was less than a second that passed in the real world while the host was observing the memories. Whenever a data node is assimted, the transfer to the host''s brain is almost instantaneous, thus having no loss of time in the real world.

    бкбк

    After reading the system''s answer, Lin Wu felt his doubts clear away. If it was as the system told him, then there was a chance he would be able to obtain vast amounts of information in an instant.

    ''This could be amazing. Now if only I can get a data node from someone that is knowledgeable.'' Lin Wu thought to himself with excitement.

    He returned his attention to himself and contemted on what he had seen.

    "So if that thing that flew towards that cultivator was the beast carapace fragment, then he should have died instantly, right? But wait, why does he only have half a skeleton, what happened to the lower half of his body?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    Lin Wu spent a few minutes thinking about it and was able to grasp a few things from this. The first that whatever beast that carapace belonged to was quite strong. Lin Wu ascertained this from the cultivates own words that he was unable to sense the beast''s cultivation and second that the cultivator himself was a nascent soul realm cultivator.

    "Whatever that beast or creature was, it''s definitely strong if it can kill a nascent soul realm cultivator so easily. But wait, if that beast was so powerful, where did it go? There doesn''t seem to be any signs here?" Lin Wu thought out loud.

    "System, do you have any idea what that creature was?" Lin Wu questioned, wanting to try out his luck.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system does not have sufficient data to analyze the cultivation of that beast and thus does not know with a hundred percent surety. But the system can agree with the host''s assumption and can estimate that the beast must be at a higher cultivation realm than the cultivator who was killed.

    бкбк

    Seeing that even the system did not have a clear idea, Lin Wu felt a bit lost but did not mind it as he knew that he should be able to solve itter in the future.

    "Now then, onward to the next objective. I also have another quest I need to do now too." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu took a nce at the map and saw that the next quest objective was even further to the east and was a little farther from his current position. He continued moving onward and reached his destination after fifteen minutes.

    Though this time his quest objective was rather unique, as he had actually found a tree here, albeit a dead one. The tree was nestled between tworge rock simr to the others that were spread all around in the region. The tree was charred and did not have anything left on it except for its main trunk and was about six meters tall.

    ''Hmm, is the quest objective this tree?'' Lin Wu thought to himself before going closer.

    He saw the navigation HUD and saw that the pointer was actually pointing towards the back of the tree. Lin Wu thus went around the side of the tree and spotted what looked like a dagger stuck to the back of the tree.

    The dagger was situated in such a way that the pommel of the dagger pointed towards the tworge rocks while its de was stuck deep in the trunk. The dagger looked to be of a good quality and did not look damaged, unlike the other weapons he had seen till now.

    ''How did it get stuck in such a position?'' Lin Wu wondered and looked opposite to hate dagger at therge rocks.

    There he finally noticed a small opening that was present. He was that the opening was of the same size as that of the dagger and looked to be piercedpletely through.

    "Did the dagger make this opening? Then how sharp is it? And the power behind it must be great too." Lin Wu muttered with surprise.

    Lin Wu looked up at the dagger before speaking, "System, scan the dagger."

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    SCANNER FUNCTION: Activated

    SCANNING: Please wait a moment.

    SCANNING COMPLETED: New data obtained, please view it in the relevant window.

    DATA BANKS: Updated.

    QUEST UPDATE: Objectivespleted 6/8.

    бкбк

    The notification appeared quickly, and Lin Wu opened up the window to read up more about the dagger.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    TARGET: Dagger

    INFO: ording to the system''s analysis, the dagger is a high grade spirit weapon. There are no particr markings on the dagger thus the system cannot ascertain the identity of the dagger with a hundred percent surety. But from the previously gathered data, it is estimated that it probably belongs to one of the cultivators that came from the royal court of the Ling Kingdom.

    CURRENT STATUS: Fully functional

    COMPOSITION: Reinforced Essence Iron, spirit stone dust (High Grade), Spirit beast core (grade unknown).

    FORMATION ARRAYS: None

    NOTE: The dagger is in a perfect condition and can be used directly.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s eyes went wide with shock as he saw the information of the dagger.

 Chapter 39 - A Husk?

    Lin Wu was excited, to say the least upon seeing the dagger. It was the first object or rather weapon that he had obtained that was not broken and was usable. Though it was still questionable whether he would actually be able to use it or not.

    "Alright, about time my luck turned around. Finally, something good." Lin Wu uttered with excitement.

    Lin Wu read the description of the dagger again and found some things to be simr to the previous broken weapons. The mainponent being the spirit stone dust. There were differences between their grades, which Lin Wu noticed.

    ''Hmm, this one is made using high grade spirit stone dust, while the others were made using the low grade. This itself speaks well of its quality.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    After having pondered on it for a while, Lin Wu thought it was enough and decided to continue onward.

    "System, store the dagger in the inventory." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    In the next instant, the dagger that was embedded in the tree disappeared and the inventory window updated to see that it now contained the dagger.

    "Hmm, that''s good. Now let''s head to the next marker." Lin Wu muttered to himself before looking at the map.

    The seventh quest marker was to the Southwest of Lin Wu''s current location and did not seem to be that far from him. Merely five minutester, he had reached his destination and the quest marker was right in front of him.

    This time the quest marker was anotherrge rock. The rock was nearly six meters tall, except that it looked to be rather peculiar in shape. It had a rough surface and spikes were protruding out of it at irregr intervals. Though upon taking a closer look, Lin Wu found it to be slightly familiar to him.

    "Is thisбн? System, scan this rock." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    TARGET: Molted Beast Husk

    INFO: This is the discarded husk of an unknown beast. Theposition of it seems to match the fragment of the beast carapace that the host previously obtained. The system has also detected bloodline traces that are simr to the unknown bloodline that the host has.

    SUGGESTION: The host should consume the Molted Beast Husk in order to obtain more information.

    бкбк

    After reading the information window, Lin Wu was a bit shocked.

    "You mean, this was left by the beast that killed that Nascent soul realm cultivator in one hit?" Lin Wu uttered in shock.

    Lin Wupared its size to himself and found it to be at least a few tens of times bigger than him. He had not able to see the beast before in the memory as it was hidden by the dust, but now that he could actually see its appearance and size he felt overwhelmed.

    ''If this is just the molted husk of the beast, that means the beast should have grown even bigger than this, shouldn''t it? Oh heavens, how big must it be now, not to mention its strength, it must be extremely powerful.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He then went closer and tried to see its form. Even in the information window, the shape of the beast could not be seen, and it only seemed like a lump of rock.

    "System, what is the actual form of the beast, can you show me?" Lin Wu curiously asked.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system cannot show the actual form of the beast due to ack of data. The system has obtained the three dimensional data of the husk and found that it is only the external carapace of the beast. It does not cover its limbs, but rather only its back. Thus the actual form of the beast cannot be deciphered.

    бкбк

    "Damn, if this is just the external part, then just how much more big is it. This is already bigger than any othernd animal from my past life." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    Lin Wu was surprised for a while, but then he started to think of his quest. His quest was to obtain the quest objectives. It did not matter how he obtained it though, he could eat the item as he had done twice before, or he could simply store it in the inventory.

    ''Let''s try eating it first.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He approached the Molted beast Husk and bit on one of the protruding spikes.

    ~Clink~

    "As I expected, it''s much harder than I thought." Lin Wu muttered as he found himself being unable to break the spike of the husk.

    He then thought of using his previous technique and formed a pickaxe with his tail. He then circled around the entire husk while hitting it with all his strength yet could not find any point that was weak or wed. All the ces were of the same hardness as before and seemed to be impossible for him to break.

    ''Hmm, if I can''t find a weak point on the surface, perhaps they are hidden beneath it.'' Lin Wu hypothesized.

    Thinking over this idea, Lin Wu started digging at the edge of the Husk and soon entered the ground. The soil here was molten and had fused together the same as the other ces, but with Lin Wu''s enhanced strength it proved to be rtively easier to break.

    After entering the ground, he crawled under the shell and then dug upwards. He broke the surface of the hardened soil and appeared inside the Husk.

    "It is hollow, as I expected. But this also means there should be some weak points here. The inner surface should be more weaker, perhaps." Lin Wu said in a calm tone.

    Since he was inside the Husk, it waspletely dark here. Still, the darkness posed no hindrance to him, as he could still see rtively clearly due to his unique physiology. Under his close scrutiny, Lin Wu ended up discovering some indentations that spread around the entire surface of the Husk.

    These indentations were only present on its inner side, thus were impossible for him to see it from the outside.

    Lin Wu reformed his tail into a pickaxe and hit these indents with it. He also used qi amplification with it to maximize power.

    ~Clink~

    ~ng~

    ~Clink~

    Lin Wu hit it multiple times, but there seemed to be zero difference from before.

    "Dammit, this won''t work. This beast was able to kill the nascent soul realm cultivator in one hit, just after being born. It is too much for me to be able to break its defense right now. I need to think of a different approach." Lin Wu said in a frustrated tone.

    He tapped the inside of the Husk in multiple ces to see if he could find any difference in it while thinking but could not find anything.

    ''Come on Lin Wu, think. You were a biology student before, think of creatures that molt their skin or shells.'' Lin Wu internally spoke to himself.

    He spent nearly an hour like this and was quite close to ripping out his imaginary hair before he was able to finally think of something that just might work.

    "Here''s goes nothingбн Radiation maniption activate." Lin Wu muttered.

    As soon as he did that, his vision changed and everything turned ck and white.

 Chapter 40 - Crunchy?

    Lin Wu had not expected for such a change to happen once he activated the innate skill Radiation maniption. He looked around and saw that most of the area around him was ck and varied in shades. There were also patches of grey around him with some spots of dark blue.

    "What the hell is this?" Lin Wu muttered as he deactivated the skill.

    As soon as he did, his vision returned to normal, and he could see everything normally. He had not expected for there to be a change in his vision and had thought that the skill would directly work.

    "System, why did my vision change?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The innate skill Radiation maniption also gives the host the ability to perceive radiation, as it cannot be manipted if the host cannot see it. Because of the host''s low proficiency, all he can perceive currently is thermal radiation, thus the ck and white vision.

    As the host''s proficiency rises, the host will be able to perceive other parts of the radioactive spectrum and will also be able to manipte it.

    бкбк

    After reading the system''s answer, Lin Wu finally understood it and felt that it was reasonable.

    "But if I can see thermal radiation, shouldn''t the colors be a bit more different? Doesn''t everything being ck mean it''s very cold? Seems like I need to raise it to the next level of proficiency to even see the thermal radiation more properly." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    He then activated the innate skill again and took another look around, seeing the differences between this and his normal vision. After observing for a little while, he was finally able to rte a few things. He discovered that the indentations that were under the surface of the husk had more of the dark blue spots.

    ''What could this be? Hmmбн if it''s under the surface of the husk then it should perhaps be some kind of, liquid?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    An idea suddenly appeared in Lin Wu''s mind and his expression lit up.

    "If this works, I''ll be set." Lin Wu said in an expectant tone.

    He then focused on the dark blue spots that he observed and willed for them to be hot. He was using the Radiation maniption to heat whatever minute amount of liquid that was left in the husk. He continued using the skill for five minutes, but even after that there seemed to be no effect.

    "Damn, I''ll keep on trying for a bit more." Lin Wu uttered, feeling a bit frustrated.

    He gritted his teeth and continued. Nearly twenty minutes passed and by now he had depleted more than haled of his spirit qi.

    ''Come on, do something.'' He internally muttered.

    Finally, the color of the dark blue spot started to change and became greener. It was now that he heard a faint sound.

    ~Crack~

    "Did it work?" He wondered.

    Lin Wu stopped using the skill, and his vision returned to normal. He then looked at the point he was targeting and saw a faint crack there.

    "It worked! Yes, this is way," Lin Wu eximed before examining his body for a bit. "Damn, this takes a lot of my qi. I''ll need to replenish it again." He said.

    Seeing that his idea had worked, Lin Wu felt satisfied but knew that just this much was not enough and that he would need to repeat this multiple times if he was to break the husk down. And that was exactly what he decided to do.

    "System, replenish my spirit qi." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Spirit qi replenished.

    бкбк

    A few secondster, Lin Wu felt rejuvenated and repeated the same process again. He found another spot that looked dark blue and heated it till it became greenish and a crack appeared.

    Just like this four hours passed by and by now Lin Wu had repeated the process multiple times and had to ask the system to replenish his spirit qi. But his progress was apparent as the hard husk was covered in several fine cracks.

    Lin Wu also realized that the more he used the innate skill Radiation Maniption, the faster he was getting at it. The time it took for a spot to heat up reduced from thirty minutes to less than ten minutes.

    ''I''m getting better at this.'' Lin Wu thought, feeling a bit satisfied.

    After all these attempts, Lin Wu finaly noticed a big change appearing in his radiation perception. He could see that a spot that was once ck had changed to dark blue. This spot was slowly expanding and bing dark blue.

    "Huh? How''s this happening? Was there arger amount of liquid trapped below the surface perhaps and it only became visible because of the cracks?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    Pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind, Lin Wu decided to end this in one go.

    ~Huu~

    Lin Wu took a deep breath and replenished all of his spirit qi before using qi amplification along with Radiation maniption. Suddenly his spirit qi started draining at a rapid speed, and the effect of this was apparent as well.

    The spot that was once dark blue became greener and kept on changing. Eventually, it became yellow and a loud sound was heard.

    ~CRACK~

    ~CRACK~

    ~CRACK~

    Arge crack appeared and started expanding. The other smaller cracks contributed to this, and soon the entire husk was covered in cracks.

    "Hehe, finallyбн" Lin Wu chucked as he then turned his tail into the shape of a pickaxe.

    Then, using qi amplification on it, he mmed it into the husk with all his strength.

    ~DANG~

    A loud sound was heard which echoed in the closed-off husk and hammered Lin Wu''s head.

    "Damn, should have thought of this beforehand." Lin Wu cursed as he saw the husk breaking apart.

    ~Crumble~

    A few secondster the entire husk had broken down into small pieces and spread around Lin Wu. There were a few pieces that had fallen on his body, but he felt nothing and easily shook them off.

    "Now then, time to eat." Lin Wu said as he opened his mouth wide and spikes protruded from the inside.

    ''Ooh, crunchy!''

 Chapter 41 - Food Coma?

    Lin Wu ate his first bite of the pieces of husk and found them to be rather crunchy now. Although he was not able to directly bite off the pieces from the entire husk, now that it was broken into bite sized pieces, eating them was much easier.

    His multiple spike like teeth worked like a grinder, crushing the pieces of the husk into even smaller pieces which were then swallowed with ease.

    Just as he finished swallowing down the first morsel, the sound of a notification rang in Lin Wu''s mind.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    SKILL PROFICIENCY: Increased

    SKILL: Radiation Maniption increased to Novice from Basic.

    бкбк

    "Alright! Finally, it increased. Let''s see what''s the difference in my radiation perception now." Lin Wu said before eating a few more pieces of the husk.

    ~Crunch~

    ~Crunch~

    The crunching sounds continued as Lin Wu''s teeth continued grinding the pieces of husk while he focused on the skill that had just increased in proficiency.

    Lin Wu willed it and the innate skill of Radiation maniption was activated, making his vision change. An array of colors appeared in his vision unlike the previous ck, grey, and blue. This time there were other colors such as red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, violet, and blue visible.

    Lin Wu looked down at the broken pieces of the husk and found them to be green in color, unlike the ck from before.

    ''It looks as if I''m watching one of those thermal cameras from my past life.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He turned his head around and took in the view of his surroundings. The sky above him was dark blue with the white sun being faintly visible behind clouds while they themselves were a shade of Violet. The ground beneath him was green in color and in the distance, some parts of the cooledva were yellow in color.

    Extremely far in the distance to the south, Lin Wu spotted a few red dots that seemed to be stationary and faintly flickered.

    "Are thoseбн mes? They''re still burning?" Lin Wu spoke as he finished his fifth morsel.

    Lin Wu had kept on looking around while eating and had not missed a single bite. He looked back to the pieces of the husk and saw that there were still far too many of them left. He had barely eaten one percent of all fragments till now, and it had taken him five minutes to do too.

    ~Phew~

    "Better increase my pace," Lin Wu said to himself before deactivating the radiation perception.

    ~Crunch~

    ~Crunch~

    ~Crunch~

    ~Crunch~

    ~Crunch~

    ~Crunch~

    ~Crunch~

    The crunching sounds continued as Lin Wu spent nearly eight hours to finish the entirety of the husk. After finishing all of the pieces, he felt bloated for the first time after an incredibly long time.

    "Damn, that was a lot." Lin Wu stated as he stroked his bulging belly with his tail.

    Lin Wu looked rather strange now with a bulging belly, making it seem as if he was a python that had swallowed an entire bull. Just as he was wondering how long it would take him to digest all of these pieces of husk, the system''s notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Initiate hibernation for faster digestion and assimtion? Yes/No?

    бкбк

    ''Oh, it can do this too? Nice, this will save me time. I can''t move much right now eitherбн'' Lin Wu thought before giving his reply.

    "Yes, initiate hibernation system." Lin Wu answered the system.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    HIBERNATION: Initiating in 3бн 2бн 1бн

    бкбк

    And with this Lin Wu''s none existent eyelids became heavy, and he fell into a deep sleep. He had now begun to trust the system a bit more and did not worry that anything would happen to him. The entirety of the area was already a zone of death, thus there was nothing that could threaten him.

    Although there were dangerous and toxic fumes in the air along with radiation, they caused no harm to Lin Wu, instead bing a protective feature for him.

    Time passed by quickly as Lin Wu''s body underwent changes and increased in size. The increase in size this time was ratherrge, and it did not look like it would stop anytime soon.

    An unknown amount of time passed, after which the system''s notification sounded again, signaling the end of the process.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    DIGESTION: Complete

    ASSIMILATION: Complete

    HIBERNATION: Terminating

    бкбк

    Lin Wu opened his eyes and found himself at a rather tall height.

    "Huh, what? Did I move to a higher area or something?" Lin Wu muttered in confusion before his muddle headed state ended.

    He finally realized that he wasn''t actually at a high ce, but rather it was his eyes that had moved. Lin Wu was currently in a coiled posture, and even then the height of his eyes was at nearly four meters. He looked down and saw his body that was tightly coiled.

    "Looks like I grew a lot this timeбн" He stated.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The Host Data has been updated please check it in the relevant window.

    бкбк

    Seeing the notification, Lin Wu immediately opened the Host Data Window.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 20 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/3000] units

    QI STORAGE: 9628 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown(+2)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Minor)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption(minor)(Proficiency: Basic-> Novice)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Novice-> Intermediate)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Novice-> Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Beast carapace (fragment), Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 7350 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7564 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown (+2)

    5. Ash Crowned Buck

    бкбк

    Looking at the updated Host Data window, Lin Wu felt happy. Not only had his unknown bloodline progressed further, but two of his innate skills had also increased in proficiency directly, raising them to the next level that was the Intermediate level.

    "Awesome! Looks like obtaining more of the bloodline samples is good for me. Hopefully, it keeps on enhancing my skills."

 Chapter 42 - Possible Death?

    Lin Wu was feeling happy after knowing that obtaining and absorbing these crystals or bloodline samples would let him progress his skills as well. He was now looking forward to finding more of them and was excited about it. And just as he was reveling in joy about this, a notification sounded in his head.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    QUEST UPDATE: Objectivespleted 7/8

    бкбк

    "Alright, just one more to go." Lin Wu said as he then looked at the map window.

    Here he noticed that the topography of the map had slightly changed. It was as f he was looking at it from slightly above.

    "Huh, why is it a bit different now?" Lin Wu thought out loud and then realized.

    "Wait, is it because of my size? How much did I increase in size now?" Lin Wu wondered as he started moving.

    Lin Wu had been in a coiled posture all this while and even then his eyes were at the height of about four meters, which was rather tall. He uncoiled himself and found that he had be ten meters long now. His thickness had also increased from before, and now he was about six inches thick.

    "Oh boy, I am big now. But this may perhaps be too big. I wonder if I can shrink my size now that my skills have increased in proficiency." Lin Wu stated in an astounded tone.

    "System, show me the changes that are there now that my innate skills have increased in proficiency." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    Innate skill: Radiation Maniption

    Skill grade: Minor

    Proficiency: Novice

    Description: The skill Radiation maniption allows the host to control and manipte small amounts of radiation. The host can control radioactive particles to influence other objects and items. The host can use it to heat up objects, corrode, and make them decay.

    The host can also sense the ambient radiation in the environment and perceive it.

    Note: At the host''s current Skill grade and proficiency, the host can sufficiently heat some items and has thermal perception. Please upgrade the skill to gain better effects.

    Innate Skill: Cellr Maniption

    Skill Grade: Lesser

    Proficiency: Intermediate

    Description: The host has control over its cells and can make them obey itsmands. The host can change them into different parts and organs, allowing him to make them proliferate and replicate them at will. The host can regenerate injuries and heal from wounds.

    Note: At the host''s current skill grade and proficiency, the host can freely control the size of his body by up to a five fold limit; that is, he can shrink his body by five times and simrly elongate it by five times. While the host can still regenerate his wounds using the system''s help, the regeneration done by this skill has no cost, except for the host''s own vital energy.

    Upon reaching the next stage of the proficiency, the regeneration ability will be unlocked.

    Innate skill: Cellr crystallization

    Skill grade: Great

    Proficiency: Intermediate

    Description: The skill cellr crystallization allows the host to change the structure of the host''s cells into an inorganic crystalline form. The host can also revert his cells back into the organic form if he chooses to do so. The host''s body functions normally in the crystalline form and has increased defense. The host is resistant to external elements such as heat and cold in this form. The host''s crystal form is also naturally radioactive and will turn the environment that he lives in radioactive. Reverting to the organic form will return the host''s previous capabilities of reproduction. The host''s ability to channel spirit qi into the crystalline form is enhanced and will have a stronger effect than his organic form.

    Note: At the host''s current proficiency, it can do everything that is mentioned in the description. Upgrading the skills grade will result in new abilities being added, and the skill description will be enhanced.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was even more happy seeing the changes in the skill descriptions and carefully contemted on their uses. A few ideas were already popping up in his mind after reading the changes.

    "Hmm, I can think about this more after Iplete the quest, I''m close to its end, anyway." Lin Wu reckoned.

    Having said this, he decided to continue onward.

    The eighth and final quest objective was to the very south. It was located far beyond the crater which Lin Wu had emerged from and seemed to be at the farthest distance from his location. It was also the ce where he had seen those flicking lights in his thermal vision.

    Lin Wu followed the navigation and saw that the path it was showing was rather long and winded instead of the straightforward one that he could take in front of him.

    "System, why is the path like this? There doesn''t seem to be anything obstructing the way from what I can see." Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There are hidden pools ofva below the surface of the ground. These pools have been hidden because of the cooledyer of theva on the surface. They are unsafe to traverse on, thus the system decided on this route.

    бкбк

    After reading the system''s reply, Lin Wu did not feel satisfied.

    ''Doesn''t my new physique and higher proficiency in the Cellr Crystallization innate skill make me resistant to heat and cold? I should already be able to cross them with no problems. If I do get find myself in some trouble, I''ll simply change the path that I''m taking.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Having determined that he was not gonna follow the given route, he decided to start moving towards it.

    It took Lin Wu nearly an hour before he reached the point where the supposed danger zone started in. It was this location from where the route of the system diverged and took him to a different path circumventing this location.

    Just as Lin Wu was about to take the next step, a warning sounded in his head.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    WARNING!: The host is advised to change his route and not proceed. Doing so may result in bodily injury and possible death.

    бкбк

 Chapter 43 - Final Objective?

    "Oh piped down! My physique should be able to resist it, shouldn''t it?" Lin Wu replied but never expected that he would get a response directly.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    WARNING!: While the host can resist the temperature ofva, this is only if the host is on the surface. If the host were to sink in it, he will be unable to rise back up due to the density of theva. The host will be able to survive temporarily in the bottom of theva pool, but after a while, his body will start to break.

    SUGGESTION: Change the route and follow the system''s navigation.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s jaw was left open after reading the system''s warning, and he was scared, to say the least.

    "Holy! I was potentially close to dying. Good, that I asked the system out loud like this or I may have been sleeping with theva fishes... if they exist." Lin Wu said with a relieved tone.

    He then wisely decided to follow the route given by the system and walked on it. If he would have chosen to cross the dangerous area directly, it would have barely taken him ten minutes to cross it entirely. But now that he was taking the long and winding route suggested by the system, it took Lin Wu two hours instead.

    The route given to him by the system had him crossing arge part of the empty terrain. Although it was long, it was still safe and there was nothing that he encountered that could have put him in mortal danger like before.

    Two hourster, Lin Wu had arrived at the final quest objective, which was none other than another rock.

    "Hmm, is there another one of those crystals in this too?" Lin Wu wondered before getting closer to the rock.

    This rock was merely a meter tall and sixty centimeters wide. It seemed like it had been scorched and had some parts that were chipped off.

    ''Hmm, it does seem like it fell from the sky along with the other meteors, though I wonder how many in total are there.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu looked at the rock for a moment and then at his newly erged body.

    "Let''s see the differenceбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    Lin Wu extended his tail and wrapped it around the rock a couple of times. He then started to squeeze as hard as he could.

    ~Crack~

    No less than two secondster, a cracking sound was heard as the rock broke. Lin Wu released his hold on the rock and saw it split into a few pieces, revealing the small crystal hidden within. This crystal was the smallest one he had seen till now and was about the size of a palm.

    "Oh, it''s much smaller than I expected." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he then pushed the crystal into his mouth.

    But upon eating it, he was surprised. Unlike before when he had absorbed the crystals using his body, he had tried eating it and when the crystal touched the insides of his mouth, it immediately turned into liquid and was absorbed by his body.

    "This is sweetбн why is it sweet though? I don''t have taste buds in this form?" Lin Wu muttered in confusion.

    But soon he forgot about this as his body started assimting the bloodline from the crystal that he had just eaten. Lin Wu was bracing for something to happen like when he absorbed the crystals before, but nothing happened.

    "Huh? That''s it?" Lin Wu said in a surprised tone as he checked his body for any changes.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    QUEST COMPLETED: Scan and obtain the eight marked objects.

    REWARD OBTAINED: Updating Data Banks.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu checked his host data window for anything new but was surprised to see that there were no changes.

    ''What? Should there be at least some changes?'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, why is there no change after absorbing the crystal?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Bloodline traces in the crystal were not sufficient for the host to have any changes, as the bloodline sample that the host previously obtained was a ratherrge one. Such a small sample would not be able to help host much and can only be umted.

    Suggestion: The system suggests that the host can try to find the original beast that the husk came from. ording to the updated data banks, the system can assure the host that he will have massive benefits if he kills the beast and consumes it.

    бкбк

    "What! How am I supposed to hunt the beast when I don''t even know where it is? Not to mention that it''s much stronger than I am. It will take me a while before I can even be qualified to think of that." Lin Wu said, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    QUEST ISSUED: Hunt and consume the original bloodline beast.

    QUEST DURATION: Undetermined.

    QUEST REWARDS: Bloodline progressing, Skill progression, Cultivation progression.

    бкбк

    ''I guess this is better. I can do itter or whenever I have to chance toplete the quest, at least there is nopulsion.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    His attention went back to the host data window, more urately towards the stored spirit qi that he had.

    "Hmm, I guess it is time to upgrade to the next level." Lin Wu uttered with excitement.

    ''But I need to find a safer ce first. This is at the edge of the devastated zone and perhaps others maye here. I was safe in the central area, but this may be risky.'' Lin Wu thought with concern.

    He thought for a bit about what would be a safe ce, before realizing.

    "Oh stupid me, I can just dig down into the ground." Lin Wu muttered in a self-deprecating tone.

    He then lowered his head and started digging down into the ground. With his stronger and bigger body, it was much more easy for him to dig as the once hard ground crumbled under his strength. Lin Wu kept on digging for about ten minutes and only stopped after he thought that the current depth was safe enough.

    ''Now, let''s make this ce a bitfy.''

 Chapter 44 - Late Stage Of The Qi Refining Realm?

    Right now, the tunnel that Lin Wu had dug was barely the size of his body. This led to him only being able to move either up or down with little ce to move sideways.

    "Let''s try pausing around, I dunno how packed the soil is here. If there are some empty or less dense pockets, it should be easy to make enough room without me needed to push out the soil back out." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He thus started to push the soil around with his body and was able to expand it to about three times his body''s thickness. But after that, he could not do anything even if he tried. The soil had be just too packed to be able to move.

    "Guess this is all I can do. Now then, I should try to shrink so that I have even more areaбн" Lin Wu said before triggering the innate skill of Cellr Maniption.

    As soon as he did it though, he felt a feeling that was kind of simr to suffocation. It was as if he was being squeezed into a tight shirt or something like that.

    "Dammit, I didn''t expect it to be like this." Lin Wu cursed but did not stop and continued doing it.

    Lin Wu reduced his size to about fifty percent less than his original size and stopped, as the suffocating feeling was getting beyond what he could handle.

    ~Huu~

    ~Huu~

    ~Huu~

    ~Huu~

    ~Huu~

    Lin Wu tookbored breaths as he took a bit of rest. He moved around a bit and found it to be much more easier than before.

    ''This should be enough for now.'' Lin Wu thought to himself before pulling out the Host Data Window.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 20 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/3000] units

    QI STORAGE: 9628 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown(+2)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Minor)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption(minor)(Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Beast carapace (fragment), Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 7250 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7542 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown (+2)

    5. Ash Crowned Buck

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the Qi storage and saw that he had more than enough spirit qi for the next upgrade, thus he decided to initiate it right away.

    "System, upgrade my cultivation to the next stage." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    UPGRADE: Consuming 3000 units of spirit qi (wisps) to upgrade the host''s cultivation to thete stage of the qi refining realm. Please wait patiently.

    бкбк

    As soon as the notification sounded, Lin Wu could feel the change in his body happening. He could feel spirit qi appearing out of nowhere and entering his meridians. It kept on being absorbed into them and started saturating them.

    Lin Wu started feeling a bit bloated as the process got faster and faster, until when it became a bit painful.

    Lin Wu gritted his teeth and held on, waiting for the process toplete. His waitsted for another ten minutes as the pain only kept on intensifying. At the end, the pain had be as if someone was trying to break his body apart. But this level of painsted only a moment before the notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    UPGRADE COMPLETE: Host''s cultivation raised to thete stage of the qi refining realm sessfully.

    NOTIFICATION: Liquid spirit qi has been unlocked.

    NOTIFICATION: Host Data has been updated.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu could feel the spirit qi course through him, and he felt more powerful than ever. He could also feel something different circting within his meridians. It was like a wisp of spirit qi but more dense.

    "Is that theбн liquid spirit qi that system talked about?" Lin Wu muttered.

    Lin Wu focused within him and could sense the liquid drop of spirit qi respond to his call. But just as he was about to control it, a warning sounded.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Host should not deplete the final drop of liquid spirit qi or the host will regress to the previous cultivation stage.

    SUGGESTION: The host should refine the spirit qi wisps into the liquefied spirit qi as soon as possible. Doing so will reduce the risk of the host''s cultivation regressing.

    бкбк

    "Dang, that was close! Almost made a big mistake," Lin Wu cursed in relief.

    ~Phew~

    ''I better do as the system suggested. Though I should get to know more about the liquid spirit qi first.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, what is liquid spirit qi and how is it different from the wisps?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The liquid spirit qi is a higher refined form of the spirit qi wisps and is about ten times more potent. Liquid spirit qi is the hallmark of ate stage qi refining realm cultivator as it is necessary for a cultivator to refine at least a single drop of it in order to truly enter that stage.

    From thete stage of the qi refining realm, the cultivator can only upgrade his cultivation with liquid spirit qi, but the spirit qi wisps can still be utilized for regr use.

    The conversion ratio of spirit qi for the host is 1:10, i.e. ten wisps of spirit qi can be converted and refined to one drop of liquid spirit qi. The reverse can be done as well.

    бкбк

    After reading the system''s exnation, Lin Wu was a bit astounded. Before he was thinking that he had a lot of spirit qi, but now that the refinement factor hade in, that very spirit qi became much less than before.

    ~Sigh~

    "Well, seems like I just gotta grit my teeth and bear the costs." Lin Wu said in a helpless tone.

    "Alright system, refine and convert all my spirit qi wisps into liquid." Lin Wu ordered with determination.

 Chapter 45 - Alarm!?

    After ordering the system to start the process, Lin Wu felt a strange emptiness filling him. It was hard for him toprehend but it was as if there was a part of him that had disappeared. If he couldpare it to anything, he could tell that it was simr to having your head hair shaved off.

    But this feeling soon started to fade away. In recement of it, there was now a feeling of satisfaction simr to how one felt after a good meal. The feelingsted a few minutes after which it finally ended and Lin Wu could sense the dense spirit qi in his meridians.

    No longer were there any wisps in it, but rather only liquid drops of spirit qi in them. Their quantity was much less than before, but the power they exuded was much stronger. Not only did it feel like a quantitative change, but also a qualitative one.

    "This feels, goodбн" Lin Wu muttered as he stretched his body.

    He took a look at his body but found it to be the same as before. At least no physical changes could be perceived directly. His body size was the same as before too, but Lin Wu couldn''t tell if it was because of him being in a shrunken form.

    ''Let''s take a look at the requirements of the next stage.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, show me the host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 21 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Late stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/1500] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 6628 units [wisps]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+2)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Minor)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Beast carapace (fragment), Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 7250 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7542 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown (+2)

    5. Ash Crowned Buck

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the stored spirit qi and was a bit confused.

    "System, was the spirit qi storage not converted to liquid form?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system converted the host''s own spirit qi that was in the form of wisps into the liquid form. The spirit qi stored in the system''s storage can be freely converted, thus there was no specific need to do it. If the hosts wants, the system can switch the default unit to liquid spirit qi.

    бкбк

    "Yeah, that would be good. Make liquid spirit qi the default since I''ll be needing that now, anyway." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    The default unit for spirit qi has been changed.

    Current spirit qi storage: 662.8 units [Liquid Spirit Qi]

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nodded his head in acknowledgment and took another nce at the requirements for the next stage.

    ''Hmm, I need a bit more than double the amount I have right now. It''ll take a while to get it and the next stage will probably take even longer.'' Lin Wu thought.

    ~Sigh~

    "Looks like I have to go back to hunting beasts again. I don''t have anything I can do in this region, anyway. It''s not like there is anything alive here to hunt." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu started to erge himself back to his normal size so that he could leave the underground safe house that he had just made. Unlike thest time, there was no suffocating feeling that Lin Wu had to go through and it felt more like he was removing some tight fighting clothes, like that one pair of skinny jeans he owned in his past life.

    ~Phew~

    "This is so much morefortable." Lin Wu uttered in pleasure.

    He then turned his head up to the tunnel that led him here and started to climb back up. It didn''t take him much longer to leave it, as he didn''t have to move any dirt. Uponing out of the hole, Lin Wu took a look around and wondered where he should go next.

    ''Hmm, the quest tells me to obtain the bloodline samples, but I don''t know where more of them could be. As for the second quest, that is even more difficult. Hunting a beast that strong is no joke and will probably require a lot of preparation on my end. And that''s IF I find it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Just as he was thinking of his next line of action, an rm sounded.

    ~ALARM!~

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Highly dangerous targets approaching the host. The host is suggested to hide.

    бкбк

    For a second there Lin Wu did not respond as he was frozen in shock. He then started to run while shouting at the system.

    "System, how many are there, what are their cultivation levels, and how quickly will they reach here?" Lin Wu hurriedly questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There are fifteen human targetsing towards the host''s location, their cultivations are varied but the lowest one among them is at the early stage of the core condensation, eighth at the mid stage of the core condensation realm, five at thete stage of the core condensation realm, while the highest is at the peak stage of the core condensation realm.

    As for their time of arrival, they will be reaching the host in 60бн 59бн 57бн

    бкбк

    A window showing a timer was now floating in front of Lin Wu along with the answer that the system had just told him.

    "Oh, I''m doneбн Dammit, not so fast! I gotta think of something, quick. They will definitely capture me or kill me if they see me, I cannot die so fast. I''ve barely lived in this life for a few months, at least the time that I was actually awake." Lin Wu said with frustration.

    Just as Lin Wu was wallowing in fear and desperation, an idea struck his mind. And he gritted his teeth.

    "I got no choice, this will either work or I''ll just die." Lin Wu said with determination.

    And with this idea in his mind, Lin Wu triggered the innate skill of cellr maniption and started to shrink himself.

 Chapter 46 - Spear?

    Lin Wu had originally thought of digging down and hiding that way. But after learning from the system before that the Core condensation realm cultivators can use spirit sense to observe things with ease, even things that are hidden inside ground or rocks, he knew that it would be a bad idea.

    They would definitely see the hole that would be left behind upon digging and he would also take some time to get to a certain depth. Considering his current size, even if he were to shrink before digging down, it would take up time, which he did not have.

    Their speed also seemed to be rather great, and he knew that he had to act quick. There were few reasons why someone like core condensation realm cultivators would being to a dangerous area like this, and Lin Wu already knew one of them from the memories of the Half skeleton that he had eaten.

    Lin Wu started to shrink at a rapid pace and started to use as much spirit qi as he could at once to speed up the process. It had taken him a while to shrink to half of his full size before, and he didn''t have that time right now. The suffocating feeling was still there, and it was even worse than before because of the speed Lin Wu was shrinking at.

    "Dammit! Just a bit more, quick, quick!" Lin Wu gritted his teeth in pain.

    Finally, he had reached the smallest size that was possible for him right now and that too in less than thirty seconds. But Lin Wu was also at the edge of passing out because of pain and was barely hanging on. He looked at the counter and snapped out of the fainting spell.

    25бн 24бн 23бн

    The count was going down quick and Lin Wu could even faintly hear the sound of wind tearing from the distance. It was evident that the fifteen core condensation realm cultivators were flying towards him.

    ''Let''s just hope this works or I''m deadбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then triggered the innate skill of cellr crystallization along with cellr maniption and started to change the shape of his body. Right now, Lin Wu was about two meters long and slightly less than two inches thick in diameter.

    Lin Wu inserted the end of his tail into the ground and was now changing the segments of his body to change to be slightly elongated form from the previous circr one. The segments were created that way so that Lin Wu was able to move around flexibly, but now he was doing something that would result in an opposite action.

    Small protrusions arose from the joints of his segments, and they interlocked with each other. This led to his body bing stiff like a rod. His body became erect, as if it were a gpole that was nted into the ground.

    The timer window was now shing red, and the numbers had reached the final two digits.

    10бн 9бн 8бн

    "Just a bit moreбн" Lin Wu thought with pain.

    Lin Wu had done some extensive modifications to his body, which would have been impossible if it were not for the upgrades to the proficiency levels of the innate skills brought about by the consumption of the bloodline samples.

    Lin Wu now focused on the final part of his body that was the head. He started to elongate it while narrowing its width. He then extended two sharp spikes from the base of his head that were exactly at the opposite sides.

    His head kept on bing narrower until it started to look like a spear de. And just the second that Lin Wu did this, the timer came to an end.

    3бн 2бн 1бн 0

    WARNING!: Dangerous targets in sight.

    The final warning resounded in Lin Wu''s mind as he reeled from the pain. Although he hadpleted the process he had started, the danger was not over yet. His survival now depended on whether his disguise was good enough or not.

    ~Phew~

    The sound of a sharp wind blowing came from behind Lin Wu as he looked in that direction. He could see the fifteen silhouettes that had appeared on the horizon. They were all dressed in robes that looked luxurious and pristine.

    ''They don''t seem to be from the Royal court of the Ling Kingdom, their clothes are different from those in the memory. Who are they then? Some other organization or perhaps just a group of locals?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu saw one of the cultivators pointing towards him and speaking to the man that was in the front. The man seemed to have agreed to whatever he had said and approached him. Finally, the entourage of the fifteen cultivators came tond in front of Lin Wu in his modified form.

    "Young master Shirong look!" The man who had pointed at Lin Wu before spoke.

    "Oh? Bei Wen you were right, seems like a treasure alright." The man who was addressed as Shirong replied.

    The man was about to walk forward when another one of the men suddenly shouted.

    "Young master Shirong wait! It is not safe. We do not know if it is dangerous or not." The man warned.

    Upon listening to the man''s warning, the person called Shirong stopped in his tracks.

    "Hmm, you are right. This is a forbidden area, we should be a bit more cautious who knows what dangers are hiding where." Young master Shirong said, "Ye Dai, you go and check that spear." He ordered.

    "As youmand, young master!" The man named Ye Dai said while tapping his chest with his fist.

    He then went forward and scanned Lin Wu with his spirit sense.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    WARNING!: The host is being probed by a hostile spirit sense... masking spirit qi fluctuation as defensive measures. The host will not be able to utilize spirit qi in this state.

    бкбк

    ''What? There''s a feature like this too?'' Lin Wu said internally.

    "Whoa, cold!" Lin Wu yelped in his mind as he felt the cold fingers of the man suddenly being wrapped around his body.

 Chapter 47 - Heavy?

    Ye Dai was confused upon trying to check the strange spear that they had just found. His spirit sense could not prate it and it was as if there was an imprable wall of steel in front of him. He had never encountered anything like this before, but knew that there were certain things that could do this.

    But the things that could do this were way beyond his capabilities. They were treasures and materials that were intended for higher level cultivators. Ye Dai even had the fortune of observing a peak tier spirit weapon once before. But he was able to scan even that with his spirit sense, which only made this a bigger enigma for him.

    Still, he did not want to say anything to the young master before he knew for sure what it was. Thus he decided to continue onward and touch the unique looking spear. He extended his hand and wrapped his fingers around the shaft of the spear.

    As soon as he touched it, an image appeared in his mind for a moment. The image was blurry and was as if it was hidden behind a fog. He couldn''t tell what kind of creature it was, but knew that it was huge. So huge that he himself seemed to be the size of an ant.

    Crimson red eyes that had a purplish outline gazed from behind that fog and looked at Ye Dai. For a moment there, absolute terror filled his being and cold sweat appeared on his back. But in the very next instant, everything disappeared, and it was as if he had imagined everything, but Ye Dai knew it was not so.

    ''What was that? Thatбн creatureбн it scared my bloodline?'' Ye Dai thought.

    Ye Dai was not ordered to check the spear just randomly by Young Master Shirong, rather it was because of his unique investigational skills that he had. These skills were onlyplemented by the bloodline that he had assimted.

    Ye Dai had assimted the bloodline of a spirit beast called as the truth sniffer shrew. While this beast did not have a strong offensive ability, its bloodline ability was rather useful. The bloodline ability that the truth sniffer shrew had was able to sense and detect threats along with being able to appraise items.

    This was the reason why Young Master Shirong had chosen him. Though this did not mean Ye Dai was weak. No, rather he was one of the stronger cultivators in this group being at thete stage of the Core condensation realm just below Young Master Shirong himself.

    ''This is certainly nomon spear. I cannot tell the origin of its craftsmanshipбн it''s as if it was made from a single piece of emerald gem. This crystalline green body, it ispletely in a single piece there are no additional parts orponents.'' Ye Dai analyzed.

    Ye Dai''s change in expression was noticed by the others and some of them got a little tense. They wondered what he had found out and were expectant. In their gazes, what was in front of him was obviously a treasure, but they did not know if there was danger hiding in it.

    "What''s the problem Ye Dai?" Young Master Shirong asked.

    Ye Dai had aplex expression on his face as he heard Young Master Shoring''s words.

    "I do not know yet, please wait a little bit." Ye Dai replied in a serious tone.

    Young Master Shirong saw the look on Ye Dai''s face and his tone of voice, which made him apprehensive. Shirong knew of Ye Dai''s abilities, and this was the very reason he had included him in the party. It had taken him a long time to get an approval for an expedition like this, and he wanted to be sure that he had the right kind of people with him.

    Shirong did not want to have any unfortunate incidents, thus ensured that the team had people who could handle most if not all situations. He chose hispanions such that his team was bnced in all aspects such as offense, defense, and reconnaissance.

    For expeditions, one of the most important aspects was to have investigational and intelligence abilities. For this very reason, he had chosen Ye Dai and trusted in him.

    Having grasped the shaft of the green crystal spear, Ye Dai tried lifting it only to find it stuck in the ground. He put his other hand on it and pulled it up, but upon doing so there was no result.

    "What?! Is it attached to something in the ground?" Ye Dai wondered as he then scanned the ground with his spirit sense, only to find out that the spear was not attached to anything and was simply stuck there.

    Ye Dai poured spirit qi into his arms and amplified his strength. Then with a grunt, he pulled out the spear.

    "Whoa, thisбн isбн Heavy!" Ye Dai said with shock.

    While Ye Dai said this, Lin Wu was thinking about something else in his mind.

    "No shit sherlock, Ipressed my size to this smaller form. Did you really think I would be light?" Lin Wu said in his mind, but did not dare to utter it out loud.

    Lin Wu himself actually did not know how much he weighed, as there was nothing that mentioned it in the host data.

    "Hmm system, how much do I actually weigh in my full size?" Lin Wu questioned in his mind.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host weighs approximately 2568.21 kilograms.

    бкбк

    "бн"

    "Say what?" Lin Wu stuttered.

    "The host weighs approximately 2568.21 kilograms." The system repeated.

    "бн"

    "What the hell! I''m nearly as heavy as an elephant!" Lin Wu said with shock.

    Lin Wu knew that he was heavy seeing his size, but did not expect for himself to be so heavy. He had thought that he was a few hundred kilograms heavy but had no way to estimate it. Besides, his size had changed multiple times over the past few days and thus his perception was a bit skewed.

 Chapter 48 - Brand?

    Ye Dai lifted the spear and looked at its design closely, trying to link it with any of the Spirit weapon refiners or refinement techniques. He saw the interlocking protrusions that were evenly ced, the two spikes that were below the spear de, and the spear de itself.

    Though the feature that caught his eye the most was the two glowing red lights that were present at the base of the spear de. They were crimson red in color, and he could even see them flicker from time to time.

    Ye Dai was quite intrigued by this, as he had never seen something like this before. Yet, he had indeed heard of certain weapon refiners that could do something like this, although he did not know what function these two lights performed.

    "An exquisite example of a weapon," Ye Dai praised as he then turned around to face Young Master Shirong.

    He went towards him and came to a stop just a short distance from him.

    "Is everything fine now?" Shirong questioned.

    "Yes, Young Master Shirong. Although I cannot appraise this spear nor can I tell its origin, I can tell this for sure that it is a strong weapon. My spirit sense cannot prate it either. The weight of the weapon is very heavy, so much so that I have to use spirit qi to amplify my strength.

    I believe that this spear was perhaps made for someone that walked the path of body refinement. Otherwise, the use of such a heavy weapon would deplete and waste a lot of spirit qi of a normal cultivator. Although it''s not like a normal cultivator cannot use it, just that they would have to be careful with their reserves." Ye Dai answered as he extended the spear in his hand.

    ''The start of the expedition is going great. Just a few kilometers in and we''ve already found a treasure. I was right, those cultivators from the royal court were definitely hiding something and probably obtained a lot of benefits from here.

    If this spear was left behind just like a piece of junk, then what kind of treasure were they able to obtain.'' Shirong thought deeply.

    Shirong was intently looking at the crystal spear and extended his hands to receive it. Although he had already been warned that the spear was heavy, when he actually held it in his hand he found out how exactly heavy it was.

    Unlike Ye Dai though, he was able to hold the spear using only one hand.

    "Young Master Shirong''s strength is impressive!" One of the men spoke in a ttering tone and a few others joined in.

    But Shirong paid no attention to it, rather his focus was on the spear itself.

    Lin Wu meanwhile was sweating bullets in his mind. He didn''t know how long his disguise would work for or whether it was even working. For all he could know, perhaps these people were merely pretending to believe his disguise and were waiting for him to reveal some secrets.

    But then suddenly, Lin Wu felt a surge of spirit qi.

    "What! What''s happening?" Lin Wu eximed in his mind.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Spirit qi channel detected, Absorb?

    бкбк

    "Huh? What do you mean system?" Lin Wu questioned in a confused tone.

    Although he could also feel the spirit qi, he didn''t know where it wasing from. With his control of spirit qi restricted by the system, he couldn''t really perceive it properly. Even with his eyes, he could only see the person called Young Master Shirong holding onto him and staring at him intently.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system has detected a spirit qi channel which seems to have been opened by the person currently holding the host. ording to the systems analysis, the man called Shirong is trying to brand his mark onto the host as he thinks of the host as a spirit weapon.

    бкбк

    "бнSoбн my disguise worked? But what do I do now, I''m not a real weapon. Will he find out if he is not able to brand me?" Lin Wu felt perplexed and trouble.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    SUGGESTION: The system, can establish a two way channel and simte something that would be simr to a spirit weapon brand.

    бкбк

    "What are you waiting for then? Do it!" Lin Wu urged.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Analyzing Scenario.

    SPIRIT QI CHANNEL: Establishing Link

    INTIMATING ABSORPTION: Spirit Qi stores increasing.

    бкбк

    Upon seeing the notifications, Lin Wu was shocked at first and then excited.

    ''Wait, I can obtain spirit qi from this guy? Awesome!'' Lin Wu rejoiced.

    Lin Wu brought up the host data window and watched the changes. His spirit qi stores were going up at a decent pace.

    662.8 units

    663.5 units

    664.9 units

    665.7 units

    .

    .

    .

    802.1 units

    Lin Wu was left staring at the increasing number. The thing that shocked him the most was that this was not even spirit qi wisps that were increasing, but rather liquefied spirit qi, which was ten times as much potent.

    Within these few minutes, Lin Wu had absorbed nearly one hundred and fifty units of liquid spirit qi, before the process slowed down and a notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI CHANNEL: Link established.

    NEW PROGRAM CREATED: Spirit weapon brand simtion.

    COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Shutting down.

    бкбк

    As soon as the notification appeared, Lin Wu could feel something new in his mind. Even since the system had suppressed his spirit qi, he could use it and his perception was also reduced by a lot. But now, after the brand was simted, Lin Wu felt as if a unique link was formed between him and the person called Shirong.

    Lin Wu realized that he was now able to perceive things using Shirong''s spirit sense.

    "This is ratherбн unexpected." Lin Wu stated and in a surprise to him. Shirong said the same thing.

    Lin Wu immediately went silent and was scared, thinking he had been found out.

    "What''s unexpected, Young Master Shirong?" The man named Ye Dai asked.

    "This spearбн it took nearly a Peak Grade spirit stone''s worth of spirit qi in order to be branded." Shirong replied.

    All the people in the group suddenly exploded, "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 49 - Massacre?

    The people surrounding Shirong had never heard of any spirit weapon taking such arge amount of spirit qi just in order to get branded. Branding a spirit weapon was the first step in being able to use it and established the authority of the owner on the tool or the weapon.

    Without a brand, a spirit tool or weapon could not be used... well it could, but that would be a very crude method and would not bring out the true potential of the weapon or the tool. Depending on the grade of a spirit tool or weapon, it needed different amounts of spirit qi to be branded.

    The stronger the weapon, the more amount of spirit qi was needed as theplexity was higher. Most low tier spirit tools and weapons needed about ten wisps of spirit qi to be branded, mid tier took about fifty wisps of spirit qi, high tier took ten drops of liquid spirit qi, and peak tier took about fifty drops of liquid spirit qi.

    The requirement for liquid spirit qi alone divided whether a cultivator would be able to use a spirit tool at the high grade or higher as the ones below thete stage of the qi reefing realm would not have any spirit qi that was refined into liquid form.

    Even then refinement of spirit qi whips into liquid drops was a difficult process and took a long time. Fifty drops was already arge amount of liquid spirit qi which would take an average cultivator a few days to replenish. Most cultivators only utilized spirit qi wisps and did not use the drops unless it was absolutely necessary.

    But this demographic changed greatly once a cultivator stepped into the core condensation realm where they could freely refine liquid spirit qi.

    Though the rarity of spirit weapons and tools did not stop here as the intended cultivation realms for them were different. Even if a cultivator was able to brand a spirit weapon did not mean that they would be able to bring about the full potential of it.

    Just the spirit qi needed to operate and use a spirit tool or weapon would deplete the stores of a cultivator if they did not keep a close eye on it. Thus, even if a peak stage qi refining realm cultivator was able to get his hands on a peak grade weapon, he would barely be able to use it once before depleting all his or her stores of spirit qi.

    The ssification of spirit tools and weapons was roughly this:

    -Low grade were for qi refining realm and core condensation realm cultivators.

    -Mid grade were for core condensation realm and Nascent soul realm cultivators.

    -High grade were for Nascent soul realm and Dao Shell realm cultivators.

    -Peak grade were for Dao Shell realm and Dao Treading realm cultivators.

    This division was not absolute, but was rather a gauge of how efficiently a cultivator would be able to use the spirit tool or weapon. This meant that if a low grade spirit weapon was used by a qi refining realm cultivator, he would be able to use it normally without much strain on his spirit qi stores and dantian. The other grades followed the same pattern.

    This meant that the spirit weapons or tools that were in possession of cultivators which were much higher than their capabilities became a Trump card instead, which they could only use in case of emergencies as they would end up depleting a majority of their spirit qi after that.

    A peak grade spirit stone could provide a cultivator with about two hundred drops of liquid spirit qi, which was four times the amount needed for a peak grade weapon. Thus it was no wonder that the people here were absolutely shocked by this revtion.

    "Young Master Shirongбн then that meansбн" The man named Bei Wen stuttered.

    Everyone was looking at him with bated breaths and were waiting for his reply.

    "Yes, it may be aбн pseudo immortal weapon," Shirong revealed.

    ~Gulp~

    "Ssssssбн"

    The entire entourage of people gulped in unison as they reeled from the shock. They had never expected to find something so precious here. A pseudo immortal weapon was something that was only owned by the top powers in this world, and their numbers could be counted on two hands. Even the cultivation sects only had six of them in their hands.

    Just this single spear was enough to spark another war between the kingdoms and the cultivation sects. Thest time a new pseudo immortal weapon appeared in the world was about two hundred years ago, and since then no new pseudo immortal weapon had been created.

    Ye Dai''s gaze turned serious, and he sent a look to Bei Wen and Young Master Shirong. All three of them nodded in unison before suddenly moving.

    "KILL! Don''t let them leave!" Shirong shouted as he took out arge sword from his spatial storage treasure.

    Bei Wen and Ye Dai did the same, and they took out their respective weapons. In their shock, the rest of the people had not reacted fast enough and four of them had been instantly killed. Among the group, Ye Dai and Bei Wen were among the fivete stage core condensation realm cultivators, and they were the strongest after Young Master Shirong himself.

    Thus it was easy for them to kill four mid stage core condensation realm cultivators on their own. Shirong meanwhile shed with the other threete stage Core condensation realm cultivators as he was the only one here who would be able to handle them.

    The battle that ensued after that was mostly one sided and could be called as a massacre. Under the strength of Young master Shirong, the threete stage core condensation realm cultivators were quickly killed.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen were also able to kill three more mid stage core condensation realm cultivators, which only left the early stage core condensation realm cultivator and a singlete stage core condensation realm cultivator remaining.

 Chapter 50 - Scheme?

    The two remaining men retreated and took a few steps back.

    "Young Master Shirongбн bu-but whyбн?" Thete stage core condensation realm uttered.

    "Young Master Shirong spare me, I will forever be in your debt and will serve you. This information will never be revealed to the othersбн" The early stage core condensation realm cultivator pleaded.

    ~Shing~

    ~Thud~Thud~

    A sh of light appeared for a moment before swiftly disappearing, and upon its disappearance, two heads rolled on the ground.

    The man called Young Master Shirong walked towards the two decapitate heads and looked at them.

    "Humph! As if I don''t know what you all were really here for. There''s no way the ns would happily send their people on an expedition to a forbidden zone." Shirong uttered with spite as he stepped on the head.

    ~Crack~

    ~St~

    The head that was under his foot that belonged to thete Stage core condensation realm cultivator was exploded like a watermelon. Shirong looked at Ye Dai and Bei Wen, and both of them moved at a rapid speed.

    ~Step~Step~

    ~Thud~

    "Young Master was correct. They were indeed here to take advantage of use." Ye Dai said as he kneeled on one knee and cupped his hands.

    "Young master is wise. He already knew they had bad intentions ever since they agreed to follow us." Bei Wen ttered in the same posture.

    Shirong did not speak and simply took a look around, but the two men felt shivers going through their bodies for a second.

    ''Such strong spirit senseбн this isбн almost on the level of a nascent soul realm cultivator.'' Ye Dai thought in his mind with shock.

    ''Is he already close to breaking through, perhaps?'' Bei Wen thought.

    "Hmm, seems like there is no one else here. Looks like the ns were confident in the people they sent and did not bother to send additional people in secret. They would have attacked us by now if they were truly here." Shirong said in a calm tone.

    There was not one bit of anxiousness or guilt on his face, as if all the people that he had just killed were mere bugs meant to be squished.

    "It is good that Young Master decided to hide our identities and directed us to separate beforeing to the Deer Wood city, otherwise our disguise would not have worked." Ye Dai praised.

    "Hmm," Shirong hummed in agreement and then spoke, "clean up the ce, you know how to make it look."

    "As youmand, Young Master." Both Ye Dai and Bei Wen replied before getting to work.

    They started taking the belongings of all the people that had been killed till now and collected their corpses together. They then took out a small gourd from their spatial treasure and opened its cap, pouring out its contents onto the corpses.

    As soon as the liquid touched the corpses, it started to sizzle and pop. Soon the corpses started melting and reducing. About ten minutester, all the corpses were reduced to a puddle of reddish ck g.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was freaking out internally.

    "F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK" He uttered incessantly.

    Lin Wu was feeling both fear and awe of the massacre that had just happened. This was the first time he was seeing the might of a cultivator with his own two eyes and he was impressed to say the least. But on the other hand, he was reminded of how dangerous this world really was and how ruthless its people could be.

    "Dammit, did I make a mistake disguising as a spear, perhaps? What if they find out? They will definitely kill meбн" Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu''s two crimson red eyes were still open and thus had witnessed everything that had urred. Because of the way he had made the disguise, he could only keep his eyes open and make them blink asionally. Otherwise, if he closed his eyes because of fear, his disguise could potentially be discovered.

    ''What kind of a scheme did I get involved in? Hearing this man''s words, it seems like he has been plotting something.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He then saw how the two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen changed their character and became submissive to Shirong. It was apparent that they had been working for him all along and seemed to have been part of the same scheme. He also saw the dreadful liquid which had melted the pile of corpses into unrecognizable g.

    "Wait, a minuteбн Am I now the property of a viin from a cultivation novel?" Lin Wu said to himself with shock.

    Just as he was reeling from the shock, he felt a shadow appear over his headбн or rather the spear de.

    "What?" Lin Wu said dumbly.

    Lin Wu saw that the man named Shirong was now staring at him intently and was touching his body all around. From his head to all the way to the end of his tail. Lin Wu inadvertently felt shivers going through his body, but fortunately, it was in the inorganic crystal form or he would have been discovered.

    "Impable craftsmanshipбн this is definitely not from this world," Shirong said with assurance.

    "Truly Young master? But no traveler that is at the Immortal ascension stage and above hase to the world in recent years. Otherwise, there would have been a great upheaval." Bei Wen asked.

    "It is certainly not manufactured here. All the peak tier weapon smiths and spirit tool refiners are ounted for. If they were going to be manufacturing any pseudo immortal tool or weapon, there would certainly be news.

    If not for the ones that belong to the sects or other powers, at least the independent ones would have advertised it. I''m sure all the powers would have spared no expense in getting their hands on it." Ye Dai said.

    "You two are missing the biggest pointбн this spear was abandoned here. Those cultivators from the Ling Kingdom''s Royal Court definitely passed by here and may have even left it behind after finding it in the center of the area.

    We know that they were scared and injured so it is likely that something had chased them down, which led to them abandoning it here." Shirong stated.

    "This guy really likes to cook up theoriesбн" Lin Wu muttered awkwardly.

 Chapter 51 - Return To The Crater?

    The two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen were astounded at Young Master Shirong''s intelligence, to say the least. A glimmer of admiration appeared in their eyes as they felt proud of having the chance of serving a man such as him.

    ''It was truly our fortune that we met Young Master Shirong and that he chose us back then. If not for him, we would have never been able to reach our current cultivation bases.'' Ye Dai thought.

    ''Young master''s predictions have always been correct till now, there is no doubt this is what must have happened.'' Bei Wen thought.

    While Lin Wu could not read the mind of the two men, he was still able to guess what they were thinking from their expressions and the look in their eyes.

    ''These two are no better either, they are far too deep into being followers.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu could recognize the looks that that these two were giving Shirong. He had seen simr kinds of expression back in his previous life. He had seen plenty of people who were head over heels for other people; whether it be in terms of romantic interest or a more material one.

    Shirong meanwhile was feeling a bit ted seeing the admiring looks of his two followers. He even felt proud of himself for selecting these two and recognizing their talent back in his n.

    "Young Master Shirong, what should we do next? While it won''t be a problem, having these people killed, we still need a valid reason to present to their ns should they question us." Ye Dai questioned.

    "Hmm, that is true. But fear not, we are in a forbidden zone where death is asmon as air. We can simply tell them that they sumbed to the myriad of dangers that exist here, and they would not dare to doubt one bit. After all, even if they try to investigate, they would not have much luck.

    Besides, I may be able to find a better excuse after investigating this area more. If we learn more about it, not only would we have a chance at fortune, but we will also be able to escape the suspicion of the ns much faster." Shirong answered.

    Both Ye Dai and Bei Wen nodded in response, showing that they agreed with his words.

    "Now then, let''s go in further. I have a hunch that there is much more to thisnd than is visible." Shirong stated before he withdrew a spirit sword that was smaller than the one he had previously used to kill the people.

    The spirit sword floated in front of him and he jumped on it. The spirit sword dipped for a moment due to the weight of the spear that was Lin Wu. Shirong had to adjust himself for a moment there before flying towards the depths of the area.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen also took out their respective spirit swords and followed behind Shirong. From time to time they would gaze at the spear in Young Master Shirong''s hands and appreciate it silently. After they had learned of its power and value, they could not even dream of even owning something like that in their entire lives.

    After all, even if they obtained it, there was no way they would be able to use it neither would they be able to keep it hidden from the strong powers of this world.

    Shirong meanwhile kept on using his spirit sense to observe and analyze the green crystal spear in his hand. Although he had guessed that it was a pseudo immortal tool, he knew that he would not be able to use its full capabilities.

    Another thing he was disappointed about was that no matter how much spirit sense he used, he still could not gain any information from the spear. Every spirit weapon had information contained within it that showed its abilities, but for some reason, he could not see it. It was as if an imprable barrier was stopping his spirit sense.

    "Looks like I''ll have to figure it out on the go as I use it. No matter what, a pseudo immortal weapon is still a great trump card." Shirong muttered to himself.

    While the three men were flying over the area, Lin Wu was also looking down. While he had seen the area on the map and also directly with his own two eyes, this sky view waspletely different. He could see the areas that he had visited and was able to identify them rather easily because of the many boulders and rocks that were present thereбн though it might have been more because of the map function.

    Lin Wu was able to see more clearly how everything looked, and they had now reached the crater that was in the very center of the area. While traveling, Lin Wu had seen the zones that were in the form of concentric circles that extended outward from the central crater.

    Each zone seemed to be slightly different, with the closest zone to the crater being made from solidifiedva. This zone was ck and there were jagged points and edges jutting out of its surface, showing that it had not calmed down fully even after two years.

    "Young Master look! That crater, that must be where the meteorite crashed and also where the pir of light originated from." Bei Wen eximed.

    "We should be careful Young Master, our defensive talismans are deteriorating fast and although we have more of them, I still want to have some reserved in case of emergencies." Ye Dai warned.

    "I know. Let''s go check it out and be ready for any danger." Shirong spoke before he flew towards the central crater.

    "I would have never thought that I would be returning to this ce so quick after escaping it and definitely not at this speed. Damn, are the Core Condensation realm cultivators fastбн" Lin Wu muttered in his mind before a chuckle escaped his mouth.

    "Shame that you all are wasting your time here. Everything has already been taken by me, muahaha!"

 Chapter 52 - Reckless Shirong?

    While Lin Wu was having his internal viin monologue, the trio of men had started descending towards the crater. Half way through to reaching the ground though, they had to halt as a yellow glow suddenly appeared on their body.

    "Young Master, the defensive talismans are about to run out, we have to get away and quickly rece them." Ye Dai urged.

    Shirong did not respond and simply flew back up into the sky, away from the proximity of the Crater. Upon reaching there, all three of them took out a rectangr piece of paper from their respective spatial treasures. They then pped them onto their clothes and the paper started burning.

    After the paper was gone, a string of runes appeared in the air and then sank into their bodies, before a yellow barrier appeared close to the surface of their skin.

    ~Phew~

    "That was close, but why did the rate of deterioration of the talismans suddenly increase by so much? The talisman still had almost forty percent of their energy left before we reached the Crater?" Bei Wen wondered.

    "There''s no doubt, it is the strange energy that is present in the area. The closer we get, the stronger it gets. Looks like we won''t be able to stay there for much longer if we don''t use additional talismans." Shirong guessed.

    "It''s better to be safe than taking the risk. Let''s do it!" Ye Dai said before taking out another talisman and applying it onto his clothes.

    The other two did the same before starting to descend on to the ground again. While the three could have gone inside the Crater directly with the help of their spirit swords, it was still better to be cautious. Theynded on the ground and Shirong did a quick sweep of the area.

    In a shock to him, he discovered that his spirit sense was suppressed to half of his usual strength. He could not extend it beyond a certain length and if he tried to do so he could sense it starting to breakdown.

    "Dammit, this strange energy in this area is even affecting my spirit sense!" Shirong cursed.

    The two men looked at Shirong upon hearing his words and verified the im themselves.

    "Young master, I can only exert a quarter of my spirit sense," Ye Dai said with a helpless tone.

    "It is the same for me too," Bei Wen added, feeling a bit fearful.

    "Looks like the cultivators from the Ling Kingdom''s Royal court were scared for more than one reason," Shirong stated.

    He thought for a bit before gritting his teeth and taking out a triangr piece of a Stone from his spatial storage ring. He then poured his spirit qi into the stone and a barrier started forming around him. This barrier was different than the one from the defensive talisman and seemed to be much stronger.

    The Barrier reached a radius of about three meters before stopping.

    "Come here, you two stay within the barrier. We should be protected for a while." Shirong said unwillingly.

    "Thank you, Young Master," Ye Dai and Bei Wen said in unison.

    The three then walked closer to the hole of the Crater and peered down into the darkness. Bei Wen gestured with his hand and a small ball of fire appeared, which he then dropped into the crater. The falling ball of fire illuminated the pitch ck crater and allowed the three to gaze into it.

    They could see the water below that glimmer under the light of the fire. The water was still and there were no ripples on it.

    "Huh, is that an undergroundke?" Bei Wen questioned.

    "We''ll know when we go there. Looks like the meteor crashed and broke through the underground caves. There are a lot of them under the millennium forest." Shirong said.

    The three then started descending into the Crater as Bei Wen created a few more balls of fire to illuminate their path. The three of them had their spirit senses extended but realized that the more they got closer to the water, the stronger the suppression was getting.

    By the time they reached the surface of the water, Shirong''s spirit sense had been reduced to a mere four meters, while the other two''s was at a tiny one meter.

    "We won''t be able to react fast enough if something attacks us with the suppression of the spirit sense." Bei Wen spoke.

    "That''s why I added the secondary barrier, I had a guess that something like this may ur," Shirong spoke.

    The three of them were now at the very surface of the water, and the barrier was just a few centimeters away from touching the water. They still could not see the depths of the water clearly and thus did not know if there was something hidden there.

    "Looks like we have no choice but to continue further," Shirong said before controlling the barrier surrounding them to lower into the water.

    He did not want the water to soak them, hence he solidified the barrier so that it would keep the water out while the three of them stayed dry. Besides, Shirong was also doubtful about the water. His gut was telling him to get away from there, but his desire for the fortune was preventing him from acting on it.

    ~Sizzle~

    As soon as the barrier touched the water, though, it started sizzling.

    "WHAT! What is happing?!" Bei Wen yelped.

    "The barrier is shrinking!" Ye Dai cautioned.

    "This is much worse than I thought. This water is extremely corrosive, it can even harm the barrier made by a mid grade spirit tool." Shirong said with a little fear.

    Ye Dai looked at Young master Shirong as he thought about their situation. If he was fully honest with himself, he did not want to continue downward.

    "Young Master, should we go back?" Bei Wen questioned while slightly trembling.

    "No!" Shirong shouted, "I won''t go without seeing what''s hiding below with my own two eyes."

    "Does this guy think he is a protagonist of a cultivation novel or something?" Lin Wu said as he enjoyed the show,pletely unworried about the water he had been ''Reborn'' in.

 Chapter 53 - Determined Shirong?

    Lin Wu was watching how far the man would go to fulfill his obsession for something that did not even exist there. As for the water itself, Lin Wu could guess what must have happened. He had evolved in the water, and that was perhaps the reason for it.

    Lin Wu''s body was inherently radioactive and would turn any ce that he lived radioactive. Although he was not fully awake in the two years he had stayed unconscious here, he could guess that he had probably caused a change in the crystal after merging with it. Perhaps the radioactivity was sealed in it all that time, and when Lin Wu merged with it, it started leaking out.

    Lin Wu remembered that the first time he dripped into the water, it was just normal water. There was nothing in it, not even any other creatures. At that time he was amon mud worm, so if the water was radioactive, he would have definitely died.

    Even outside when he was moving towards the crater ording to the quest, he had only survived because he was deep underground and had note out. This stopped the toxins and heat from killing himбн well, almost killing him. It was also likely that the other crystal in the area had possibly added to the radiation.

    Then there was that mysterious beast as well, which had killed that nascent soul realm cultivator from the royal court of the Ling Kingdom. Lin Wu was able to obtain a bloodline sample from it as well, which meant that it was a possible culprit too.

    Shirong, Ye Dai and Bei Wen were going deeper and deeper into the water, yet just after twenty meters the diameter of the barrier had shrunk by a third. One could imagine how much of a profound effect was urring on the barrier because of the radiation.

    Although Lin Wu did not know how radiation worked in a cultivation world such as this or how it interacted with spirit qi, he could estimate some things after listening to the talks of the three men. Right now Lin Wu was thinking of a few things.

    It was likely that these three men would possibly die if their barrier was broken, as they were not even one tenth of the way down. Their Spirit sense was suppressed because of which they could not perceive the true depth of the undergroundke, and the darkness was not helping them either. The fire balls that Bei Wen had created, could only illuminate a small area of about five meters before the light faded away.

    Lin Wu could see that it was a bit abnormal as this was clear water and the light should have traveled much farther than that. But then he realized that the reason behind that was perhaps spirit itself.

    ''So if the fire is made with spirit qi, its illumination is also restricted by the radiation? Hmmбн interesting.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu knew the true depth of the water and knew that it was more than four hundred meters deep. If Shirong and the two men continued on for even a hundred meters, it was likely that their barrier will notst even if they stopped and came back from that point.

    "Young Master Shirong, we should head back I don''t think the barrier will hold on for long!" Ye Dai warned with fear in his eyes.

    "I agree too, Young Master. We cane back once we have appropriate measures." Bei Wen spoke.

    "You really think that would be possible?! Now that we''ve killed their people, the ns will definitely send more people to investigate this area. Even if we are free from suspicion, they will not give up that easily. The people thate to investigate the deaths will most likely take a look in the rest of the area as well.

    You do not know the workings of the ns, almost any ns will do everything in its power to gain more benefits. We cannot leave it up to chance and let them find whatever that is hidden here." Shirong replied with a stern voice.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen were taken aback by his scolding and were now cursing their luck. They were now doubting whether it was really a good thing having been chosen by Young Master Shirong. Even if he wanted to die, why was he taking them with him!

    Shirong saw the faint change in their eyes the moment he said that, and knew that perhaps he had said much more than he should have. Living in a n and being the Young Master of all things had allowed him to gain enough experience to gauge the thoughts of a person just from their eyes and subtle changes in their expression.

    Shirong knew that he would have to rectify and cate them quickly as they were in a rather dangerous situation and if they decided to rebel at this point, there was no way he would be able to survive even if he was much stronger than them.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Shirong took a let out a sigh and calmed himself down before showing a much milder expression.

    "I know you two are scared, but know this that you will not have ack of resources if you follow me. The n will amply supply you with whatever you require, whether it be pills or other things. Andбн if the patriarch is particrly satisfied by your performance, he may even allow you two to join the n." Shirong spoke.

    The two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen were now greatly interested in Young Master Shirong''s words. Although the two of them had joined him back when Shirong was still living at the n. They were actually not servants working in the n. They were but measly cultivators who did small time job requests to get money.

    "Besides, I will not be stupid and let myself get killed like this. I have been ordered by the ancestor to investigate this ce and he knows that there is definitely something precious here." Shirong added at the end as an irresistible bait.

 Chapter 54 - Nefarious Plot?

    The eyes of the two men lit up the moment they heard the word ''Ancestor''. They now knew why Young Master Shirong had been so insistent ining to the forbidden zone, even after knowing of the dangers. He even went so far as to spend two years in a small city like the deer wood city preparing and binding for his time.

    He then spent a lot of resources and favors in order to obtain the official permission to enter the forbidden zone. This was strange, as forbidden zones usually did not need a permit for one to go in. If one wanted to go, in theory, were wee to do so at the expense of their life.

    The directives for the forbidden zone were meant to be more of a warning for people so that they would not wander in carelessly. But unlike the other forbidden zones, this one was actually being guarded by the ns of the Deer Wood city, as they had been directed to do so by the King of the Ling Kingdom himself.

    They had even ced formations that would record who passed through it and also those that left it. In the two years, the ns had been able to fully surround the forbidden zone with the formation and isted it from all sides, even the millennium forest, which it was originally a part of.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen knew that if it was the Ancestor who ordered for Young Master Shirong to investigate this, then it meant that there was guaranteed information about treasures here. They had already seen the pseudo immortal weapon that was the green crystal spear and were wondering what else could be there.

    If even a precious weapon like that was abandoned at the edge of the zone, then what more mysteries were hiding in this crater that was at the very center of it. Ye Dai and Bei Wen also realized that if it was the ancestor of the n who had ordered Young Master Shirong, then he had definitely provided him with more trump cards that were not shown by Young Master Shirong.

    This defensive treasure was probably just one of them that he had used, and Shirong was probably just hesitant about using the remaining ones, as one trump card used meant that there was one less opportunity for use in the future.

    ''Young Master Shirong won''t be unprepared, he''ll probably intervene and save us using the methods at his disposal.'' This was the thought that was now in the minds of both Ye Dai and Bei Wen.

    And just like this, Shirong had changed the entire situation to be in his favor again. He had mixed in some lies with truths and weaved a tale that could not be clearly verified without a lot of effort. At least in their current situation, there was no chance that these two would be able to do it.

    Besides, if they actually did find a treasure and went back, the two would not doubt his words and on the off chance that they were actually going to die, Shirong would immediately abandon them. But currently, they were still of use to him and it was better for him to keep them by his side.

    ''Ha ha ha! You two are still too naive. Better to behave like you deserve and be my servants.'' Shirong internally spoke without a change in his expression.

    Lin Wu meanwhile had gotten quite interested in Young Master Shirong''s story and new ideas were forming in his mind. Lin Wu had read enough cultivation novels to know that this ''Ancestor'' was probably an old man who was controlling the n that Shirong belonged to from the shadows and was most likely to be quite powerful.

    ''Hmm, an old ancestor who orders the Young Master of his n to search for something. It does not seem like he would have sent this Young Master Shirong on a death hunt as he does seem quite a bit influential considering their conversations and his mannerism.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "It''s a shame that while his ancestor was correct, that treasure has already moved from its location, and not only that, you are holding it in your own hand. I wonder what his reaction would be if he ever found outбн Hehe." Lin Wu amused himself.

    Lin Wu''s mind then went to the spirit qi that the Young Master Shirong had poured into him to make the brand on him. His disguise as a weapon was going rather well, and they had even overestimated him to be a pseudo immortal weapon.

    While Lin Wu did not how strong a pseudo immortal weapon would be, just from the reactions of the previously massacred cultivators and the two followers Ye Dai and Bei Wen, Lin Wu could gauge it. He then thought how influential Young Master Shirong seemed to be and his promise to provide them with resources.

    "Hmmбн Maybe this can work. Can I somehow leech off this guy and obtain more benefits for myself?" Lin Wu thought out loud.

    By now Lin Wu had realized that no matter how much he spoke, he actually was not speaking in reality and everything was happening in his mind. He did not know the exact cause behind this, but he just attributed it to him being previously brain damaged. He thought that perhaps it had just changed him enough that his monologues became more realistic.

    Lin Wu knew that this was quite strange but came to the conclusion that it didn''t matter in the long term. He was no longer the human that he was before and was now a beast, that too a rather unique beast.

    A myriad of thoughts were going through Lin Wu''s mind, when suddenly a very radical one appeared, which knocked all the other thoughts a mile away.

    "Hehehe, I don''t know if this will work but if really does then I''ll be killing twoбн no threeбн no wait four birds with one stone."

    And with this, Lin Wu started asking the system a few questions and formted his ''Nefarious'' plot.

 Chapter 55 - Shirongs Death?

    Shirong and his two followers Ye Dai and Bei Wen were still descending to the depths of the undergroundke. They had reached a depth of nearly a hundred meters, and the barrier that was surrounding them had now reached fifty percent of its original size.

    The more deeper they went, the more the rate of shrinking increased. While Shirong was keeping a staunch look on his face all throughout the way, it could not be said the same for Ye Dai and Bei Wen.

    Although Young Master Shirong had cated their concerns before, they could not help but get rmed seeing the shrinking barrier.

    They wanted to say something, but the promise of rewards and resources was making them keep their mouth shut. The three men looked like they were traveling in a bubble of some kind, which was nothing but the barrier and it was shrinking at a rapid pace.

    ''Dammit, this speed is not what I expected. Is the cause behind it whatever that''s hiding at the bottom?'' Shirong thought in his mind while keeping a calm face.

    A depth of two hundred meters was reached and now the barrier had shrunk to a third of its original size, making the three men shift closer.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen''s fists were clenched in stress and they were now ready to escape when the danger would present itself. They no longer cared about the resources as long as they lived.

    "Young Master Shirong we need to turn back, I do not think this is worth it!" Bei Wen spoke with caution in his voice.

    While Bei Wen wanted to believe in Young Master Shirong''s previous words, the fear building up in his mind was telling him to escape as soon as possible from the area. Ye Dai was feeling the same, but he did not say anything as he wanted to gauge his response first.

    ''So they couldn''t hold back anymore,'' Shirong thought upon hearing Bei Wen''s words.

    "Just a bit more, I have a hunch that we are very close to the goal. Please hold on for a little bit more." Shirong said in a friendly tone disguising his true intentions.

    Ye Dai could perceive something different about Young Master Shirong and decided to no longer hold back.

    Bei Wen thought the same, and both were about to act when suddenly a wave of spirit qi spread in the area. The spirit qi was rather concentrated, and all three of them were thrown off by it.

    "Huh, Wh-" Bei Wen uttered in surprise.

    Suddenly the three men''s eyes went wide as they saw the barrier start to shrink at a blinding rate.

    "Dammit, what is happening?" Shirong questioned in frustration.

    He had certainly not expected for the speed to increase by such an amount as this did not leave him with much time to use his trump cards either. The two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen were utterly terrified and dropped the idea of protesting. Right now, the only person who could potentially save them was none other than Young Master Shirong.

    "Quick Young Master Shirong, save us!" Both Ye Dai and Bei Wen uttered in an urgent tone.

    Shirong knew that he now had no choice but to return with the two of them. Because if he wanted to save himself, he would have to save them too. If it was a little while ago and the speed of the shirking barrier was slower, he would have had time to activate the trump card secretly and would have been able to escape alone while leaving these two behind.

    But now the time required for it was simply not enough and if he did try it openly, he would no doubt get attacked by the two of them.

    Shirong withdrew a square te from his spatial ring and held it in his hand while activating it. He started pouring his spirit qi in the te, making it light up.

    But s! The barrier had already shrunk to the point where the three men were stuck back to back and cracks started to appear on the barrier itself.

    "OH NO! SAVE US!" Bei Wen pleaded.

    "DAMMIT! There isn''t much time left, the teleportation badge needs longer." Shirong revealed.

    "We''re doomed!" Ye Dai said helplessly.

    The three men looked at the cracking barrier as water started leaking in from the cracks. They were still able to prevent the water from touching them because of the defensive talisman that they had used, but even that was deteriorating at a great pace.

    Just a couple of drops were enough to drain the durability of the talisman by about ten percent.

    "Is this how it endsбн" Shirong muttered with regret.

    He regretted taking the risk and not turning back when he was asked to. He regretted not taking precautions. He regretted that he was blinded by the greed of the Ancestor''s rewards and continued on even while the danger presented itself face first. He regretted not leaving the moment he had obtained a great fortune like the pseudo immortal spear that he had found.

    Shirong regretteding to the forbidden area. He closed his eyes as he gave up. He knew that escaping now was impossible unless some kind of miracle happened.

    Shirong, Ye Dai, and Bei Wen could feel the barrier touching their bodies and they realized that it had reached the very limit. But just as they were about to give up all hope, something happened.

    ~Hum~

    A humming sound was heard as an even stronger wave of spirit qi was spread around in the area. But this time the three of them were able to sense where it wasing from. The three heads turned to the source of the spirit qi wave.

    "The spear? It''s doing something?" Bei Wen said feeling surprised.

    A first Shirong was taken aback by this and was about to let go of the spear, but then he remembered that they were already close to death and he may as well take a chance.

 Chapter 56 - Unlimited Power?

    <em>~HUMM~</em>

    The humming of the spear got louder than it then started to glow. Then suddenly the three of them felt as if a weight was being lifted off of them. The invisible force that was weighing down on them and suppressing their spirit sense was gone.

    They then saw the shrinking of the barrier stop.

    "Huhбн it stopped?" Ye Dai uttered with confusion.

    All three of the men were a bit dumbfounded and didn''t know what exactly was happening by now. At one moment they were close to death and now in the next, they were somehow fine. The terror the three of them were feeling in their guts also dissipated for a bit.

    Then the spear in Shirong''s hand glowed once more, this time releasing a glowing wave of light that spread in a curricr manner.

    "IT''S THE SPEAR! It stopped it!" Bei Wen yelled with excitement.

    "It saved usбн IT SAVED US!" Ye Dai shouted in jubtion.

    Shirong looked at the spear in his hand with aplex expression. He knew how lucky he was that he had found the spear before and even more so, now that he had been saved by it.

    A minute passed, and the three had calmed down now, but then suddenly the spear started humming again and this time violently shaking too.

    "Wha-What''s happening?" Ye Dai and Bei Wen asked with fear in their eyes.

    Shirong could tell exactly what was happening this time though, as the spear itself was telling him through his connection with it. There was only one thing it wanted, "QI," it said.

    "It wants spirit qiбн" Shirong answered.

    He knew that that now was not the time to hesitate and he gave it what it wanted. Shirong started to pour all his qi into the spear and it kept on absorbing it. But after a minute, he was in a dilemma: he had depleted half of his entire store of spirit qi and the spear was still sucking it.

    "No, this is too much," Shirong said with a bit of fear in his eyes.

    "What''s the problem, Young Master Shirong?" Ye Dai asked.

    "You two quickly give it your spirit qi, the spear is sucking all of mine I can''t sustain it for long. I think this is how it is preventing the force from affecting us and also how it stopped the Barrier from cracking." Shirong exined.

    The two men did not even blink before they ced their hands on the spear and started pouring their spirit qi into the spear. The two had thought that perhaps Young Master Shirong had exaggerated it a bit, but once they felt the suction force for themselves they were scared too.

    "How can it be so strong? Even with all our stores, we won''t be able to sustain it!" Bei Wen stated.

    The three of them were scared of having their spirit qi drainedpletely, but their fear of the situation was much worse. They knew that if it went beyond a certain point, their cultivation will regress. Shirong was rtively on the safe side since he was at the peak of the core condensation realm and perhaps even half step into the nascent soul realm.

    But the two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen were still in thete stage of the core condensation realm. They looked into their dantian''s and saw their cores draining rapidly. The thing they were scared about was their cores themselves shrinking asing back from that would be incredibly hard.

    For a core condensation realm cultivator, if they want to increase their cultivation base, they need to double the size of their core. At the start when they newly enter the core condensation realm and are in the early stage they have a very small core that the size of a tiny marble. This marble is condensed from all the liquid spirit that a cultivator umtes in their dantian in the peak stage of the qi refining realm.

    The total quantity of the spirit qi depends on the cultivator''s talent, as the size of their dantian''s can vary. But usually, it is between 1000 to 1500 drops of liquid spirit qi. For more talented cultivators, it can even reach up to about 3000 drops of liquid spirit qi.

    Once a cultivator starts to further refine it into a solid form, that is when he is said to enter the core condensation realm. This stage is also quite dangerous as one small mistake can lead to qi deviation or worst, death.

    After reaching the core condensation ream, if a cultivator wants to progress to the next stage, he or she will need to double the size of the core by refining more liquid spirit qi and then using it to increase the core''s size.

    So an early stage core condensation realm cultivator would have a core made from 1000 drops of liquid spirit qi, a mid stage one will have a core made from 2000 drops of liquid spirit qi, ate stage one will have a core made from 4000 drops of liquid spirit qi and finally, a peak stage core condensation realm cultivator will have a core made from 8000 drops of liquid spirit qi.

    Thus this showed the difference between each stage only gotrger andrger the higher they progressed. And this was only for a cultivator that had low talent and only had a capacity of 1000 drops of liquid spirit qi. For the others that had a higher capacity, their cores would only be that much more massive.

    Shirong was one of those people and the capacity of his dantian was originally two thousand drops of liquid spirit qi which meant that his current core''s size was much bigger than the other twos and was at 16000 drops of liquid spirit qi.

    This was what had made them terrified. As even Shirong himself was unable to sustain the consumption of the green crystal spear. It didn''t take long for Ye Dai and Bei Wen to let out a painful grunt.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was rejoicing in his mind.

    "MUHAHAHA! UNLIMITED POWERRR!"

 Chapter 57 - A Rock?

    The Ye Dai and Bei Wen grunted in pain and spit out blood. Their expression fell and their faces turned white.

    They had just fallen from thete stage of the core condensation realm to the mid stage of the core condensation realm.

    Shirong saw this and was silent, but soon blood started dripping out of his lips as well. He too had fallen from the peak stage of the core condensation realm to thete stage. A bitter taste was left in his mouth not just because of the blood due to the bacsh but because of the great price that he had to pay right now.

    But Shirong did not regret it, no he did not regret it even one bit. He knew what the cost of using a pseudo immortal tool could be and even if it was more than he had expected, he was fine with it. For it was that very thing that had saved his life today.

    "DAMMIT!" Shirong cursed, unable to hold his frustration in.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen were not doing that good either, and they cursed in their mind as well. It was not easy for them to reach their current level, and they were definitely not happy about it happening.

    Finally, the absorption of the spirit qi slowed down and a few minutester stopped.

    "Enough, let''s go back. We''ve already lost far too much." Shirong himself said it this time.

    He was now angry that he had to go back without fullypleting the mission given to him by his ancestor, but he knew that his ancestor will still be happy with what he had achieved. Any n or sect would be incredibly happy with acquiring a pseudo immortal weapon.

    "Yes, Young master. We should return." Bei Wen said with a relieved tone.

    "Hehehe, not so fast! I''m only halfway through my n," Lin Wu said in his mind.

    Suddenly Shirong found himself unable to handle the green crystal spear. It was as if it was moving on its own.

    "Now what!" He shouted in frustration.

    Shirong had already depleted a majority of his spirit qi and had even fallen an entire stage, thus he did not have enough strength to hold the spear back.

    "GAH!" Shirong yelped in pain as his wrist twisted.

    The spear shifted downwards which made his wrist twist forcefully. Due to the pain, he filched and let go of the spear. It fell out of his ground and broke through the barrier.

    At first Shirong''s heart fell and he thought that he had now lost hisst saving grace. Bei Wen and Ye Dai also thought that they may now die as the spear had left Shirong''s hands. But surprisingly, it didn''t happen. Everything was the same, and the invisible pressure didn''t return.

    Shirong then saw the spear actually stop in the water and glow calmly. He then felt something in his mind and knew what it meant.

    "Itбн it wants us to follow it," Shirong said.

    <em>~Gulp~</em>

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen were hesitant about it, but knew that they had no choice in their matter. Their lives hanged in bnce and the thing holding it was none other than the green crystal spear.

    "Alright," They said in unison.

    The three men started to descend down and followed the spear. The spear also started moving and seemed to be changing its directions too.

    "It is leading us to something?" Shirong muttered.

    ''Nice, keep on following me and you shall be rewarded.'' Lin Wu thought in his mind.

    The three men realized that the water seemed to have trained tame and was not corrosive anymore. Whatever was causing the water to be corrosive was no longer there, or was perhaps suppressed by the green crystal spear.

    Suddenly the speed of the spear increased and the three could barely keep up with it. But it was still in the range of their spirit sense. The three men were able to gain control of their spirit sense and could observe an area of about ten meters now.

    Because of this, they were not as apprehensive and their confidence was building. For most cultivators, their spirit sense was an important part of their body. Without it, they would feel as if they were missing one of their organs or a limb, perhaps.

    The speed of the spear got faster and faster until it was no longer within the range of their spirit sense.

    "Quick speed up, we can''t lose it!" Shirong urged.

    Currently, the barrier was collectively maintained by the three of them thus they needed cooperation to do anything otherwise the barrier may copse. The spirit swords they were flying on were also barely holding on as their spirit qi stores were at a low point.

    Eventually, Lin Wu had reached a greater speed and disappeared from their sight.

    "Dammit!" All three of them cursed.

    But they then saw the green glow in the distance and took a breath of relief

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "It''s still calling me," Shirong said as he looked at the glow.

    The three of them reached the spear and saw that they were now at the very bottom of the undergroundke. They saw the spear stuck on the floor and right beside it they saw another object.

    "Young Master look!" Ye Dai said while pointing at the object, "it''s some kind of a rock?"

    "Is that perhaps what we came here for? Is that the precious treasure of the forbidden zone?" Bei Wen wondered in a hopeful tone.

    After all that they had gone through and the losses that they had made, they were finally seeing hope. They wondered if they will finally seed in their mission.

    "What''re you two waiting for? Let''s get it," Shirong ordered.

    The bubble like barrier got closer and engulfed the spear as well as the rock that was lying beside the spear. Shirong picked up the spear first of all and looked at it closely, ensuring that everything was fine. Only then he looked at the object for which they had sacrificed so much for.

    "Huh? It''s really a rock!"

 Chapter 58 - Evil Plan?

    Shirong and the two men curiously looked at the rock like object and wondered what it actually was. They couldn''t imagine Shirong''s ancestor sending them to find a rock, they knew that there must be something special to itбн something like a secret.

    Shirong picked up the rock and probed it with his spirit sense. His brows furrowed as he opened his eyes.

    "What''s the matter, Young Master? Did you find out what it is?" Bei Wen questioned.

    "Noбн it seems like a rock. Although itsposition seems different from amon one of course." Shirong answered.

    "Thisбн Perhaps there''s something else?" Ye Dai added.

    "Hmm, we''ll have to see," Shirong replied.

    The two men nodded, and they started searching the bottom of theke. They went from one corner to the other and then circled back. But even after searching the entire thing, they could not find anything.

    "There is nothing here you dumbos. Now quickly go back so that I can start the next part of my n." Lin Wu said in his mind.

    Everything that had happened till now was caused by Lin Wu. After inquiring about certain things with the system, Lin Wu was able to formte a n that would not only allow him to leave this ce much faster, but would also give him the resources toplete the mission of finding that beast that killed the nascent soul realm cultivator.

    After finding out that this person called Shirong was the Young Master of a n that seemed to have a powerful ancestor, Lin Wu decided to do this. While there were many risks to it, Lin Wu still wanted to do it. The system had ensured him that as long as all of the spirit qi fluctuations are masked and restricted by it, no cultivator would be able to find out what he was.

    And the cultivators that were rtively low leveled like Shirong, Lin Wu could still use a few loopholes to fool him. Shirong still did not have the same experience or skills like that of the cultivators with higher cultivation realm, thus Lin Wu could take a few liberties.

    The start of Lin Wu''s n began with controlling the radiation in the water with his skill Radiation maniption. This would have not been possible if his skill had not reached the novice proficiency level that it was at currently.

    Even with that proficiency level, Lin Wu had to take some extra efforts to make sure that it would work and he would not be found out. The skill was powered with the liquid spirit qi he had obtained from Shirong when he had branded him, and Lin Wu ended up using about half of it.

    This was a big gamble to him, but he still decided to go with it. Because if he seeded, the gains would be multi-fold. But he also had to ensure that the Shirong and his two followers Ye Dai and Bei Wen were not focusing on him at that time. Or there was a chance he would be found out.

    Thus for that very reason, Lin Wu targeted their fear of dying. He used the liquid spirit qi to basically overcharge the skill radiation maniption and sent out a strong wave that caused all the radiation in the water to concentrate around the barrier.

    This caused the barrier to start shrinking as its durability rapidly went down. Because of this, the three men were scared and did not have the chance to focus on Lin Wu, or they would have seen that the source of the wave was none other than the spear Shirong was holding.

    This also worked because of an additional thing- Ye Dai and Bei Wen''s doubts. Shirong was worried about these two men betraying him and thus was focused on them the whole time, which allowed Lin Wu to do this step sessfully.

    Once this was done, the next step was to begin. Now what Lin Wu need to do was give them a bit of hope so that their thinking would get even more dazed. He used a little bit of liquid spirit qi to make a mboyant show of light and mor.

    This made Shirong and the two men think that the spear was actually protecting them, which in reality was the opposite of what Lin Wu was doing. To make them believe that it was true, Lin Wu simply reversed what he had done.

    Instead of concentrating the radiation around the barrier, he made it so there was no radiation around it, which stopped the bubble like barrier from further degrading. Then came the next step, which was to obtain some rewards.

    But this step was twofold, not only was Lin Wu going to obtain some rewards, but he was also going to ensure some safety for him. He did this by inquiring the system about the characteristics of core condensation realm cultivators.

    When he learned that they could regress and be injured if they expended too much of their qi, Lin Wu''s eyes lit up. He knew exactly what to do. He then transmitted some thoughts through the simted connection he had with Shirong and made him think that he wanted Spirit qi to maintain what he was doing.

    As Shirong had the misunderstanding that Lin Wu was a pseudo immortal tool, he did not think one bit before supplying him with his spirit qi. But Lin Wu did not stop there and continued sucking it endlessly. If it were any other beast or cultivator they would have been unable to do this as their bodies would simply explode due to the rapid increase in spirit qi.

    But due to the system, Lin Wu virtually had an infinite storage capacity. This did not mean that he could utilize this spirit qi though, as his cultivation base was simply not that high. But with coordination from the system, Lin Wu could still do some things that were unachievable by beings of his cultivation realm.

    Lin Wu not only drained Shirong, but he also drained the two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen of their spirit qi, making them fall an entire cultivation stage.

    "Hehehe, now that you three are weakened, I have the confidence that I can kill you anytime," Lin Wu said in an evil tone.

 Chapter 59 - Departure?

    Lin Wu truly had the confidence that he could kill the three men. He did so because he had the advantage of surprise, not to mention that with radiation maniption he could kill them anytime as long as they stayed in the forbidden zone.

    His innate skill of Radiation maniption became a trump card which was much more stronger than he had expected.

    ''Who would have thought that radiation and spirit qi doesn''t mix wellбн at least not in this case, there may be other differences in cultivators.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The next step that Lin Wu had nned was to divert the attention of the three men on apletely different thing. For this, he used nothing but the fragment of the beast carapace that he had with him all this time. It was this very fragment that had killed the nascent soul realm cultivator, and Lin Wu was sure that if he incited their curiosity, Shirong would definitely take interest in it.

    Lin Wu already knew that the man was a bit stubborn and did not want to go back empty handed, even going so far as to risk his own life along with two others. Thus he fitted perfectly in Lin Wu''s n and acted just as he had hoped for.

    Since Shirong was the Young Master of a powerful n, Lin Wu reckoned that he could use their resources and connections to search for that beast. Though the biggest benefit was Shirong himself, Lin Wu was sure that he could leech off of himfortably.

    "Hehehe, I got you right where I want you. Your lives are in my control now!" Lin Wu uttered in the same evil tone that he hade to like.

    He now understood why viins liked to monologue so much, it was because it simply made them feel cool. And if they got to shock their enemy, the benefit was just an extra cherry on top.

    Shirong and the two men were now ascending through the water and were returning to the surface. They had given up on finding anything else and hade to terms with the fact that they had truly risked their lives for an unassuming piece of rock.

    Ye Dai used all his experience in investigation and appraisal, and yet he could not find anything special with the rock. But this only made him more interested, as if it were amon rock, he would have gotten at least some results. Unexpectedly, though, all his routes took him to the same dead end.

    "Still can''t find anything?" Shirong questioned with furrowed brows.

    "Unfortunately yes, Young Master Shirong. It seems like I''ll need some additional tools to appraise it, there is only so much I can do right now and with my cultivation base reduced I can''t fully use my skills either." Ye Dai answered with a crestfallen expression.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Leave it for now. I''ll have it looked over at the n." Shirong replied.

    Ye Dai simply nodded in response, and the three men soon reached the top of the crater. After reaching there, they took onest look and then flew away to the direction they hade from. Their original n was to actually check the entire forbidden zone, but now with all the stuff that happened they did not want to take that risk.

    They had already made a lot of losses, and they definitely did not want to add to that. About five minutes had passed and the three men were still flying. Bei Wen looked over at the spear in Shirong''s hand and thought of something.

    "Young Master Shirong, why haven''t you put the spear in your spatial storage ring?" Bei Wen questioned curiously.

    Bei Wen could not think of a reason behind this. The spear was quite heavy and needed to be held on by using spirit qi to reinforce their arms, otherwise they would not be able to lift it. This was a constant use of spirit qi, and considering the condition they were in right now was a waste.

    Lin Wu also became interested in Bei Wen''s words and wondered why Shirong had not done so. He had a spatial storage ring, thus it was the most obvious thing to keep a valuable item in it rather than carrying it out in the open like this. That took an object that was heavy as an elephant.

    "Pseudo immortal tools and weapons cannot be stored into any spatial storage treasures. Their mere presence can destroy most spatial storage treasures and thus most of them can''t even be put if one wants to try it." Shirong answered.

    "But Young Master Shirong isn''t your spatial storage treasure a high grade one? It should technically be able to hold it, shouldn''t it? You may as well try it if it works. I mean, we already know this is a rather unique treasure. Who knows what else is possible with it?" Ye Dai asked.

    Shirong thought over it and reckoned that it was at least worth the try.

    He activated his ring and willed for the spear to enter the ring. Just as he did then, a string of notifications appeared in front of Lin Wu.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    <strong>бкбк</strong>

    DETECTED: New interface channel found.

    IDENTIFIED: Interface channel is ssified as a minor spatial dimension.

    COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Activated.

    ANALYZING PARAMETERS: New variables found.

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: New simted function now avable = Virtual Ring Interface

    COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Shutting down.

    NOTIFICATION: Does the host want to enter the ring? The system has established a simted function and the host can exit and enter at will.

    <strong>бкбк</strong>

    Lin Wu was unimpressed by the System''s ability to do this and he noticed that theputational A.I. had been activated again. Lin Wu was still a bit confused about what that was, but had not asked the system about it. Though Lin Wu did know that there were a lot of functions that were unavable to him due to the ck of resources'' as the system called it and attributed this to it as well.

    "Alright, system I''ll allow it."

 Chapter 60 - Immortal Tool?

    When Shirong willed for the green crystal spear to enter the ring, he had not expected that there would be a shock to his sense. His mind had almost been shaken, and he felt the connection he had with the spear through the brand being strained.

    Even if he knew that a pseudo immortal tool would most likely be unable to enter the ring, he had not expected something like this. He thought that at most he would feel some kind of resistance, but thisбн this was different. He felt as if the spear was doing something to him.

    This instinctively made Shirong want to guard against it, but then he remembered what the implications of that could be. This was no ordinary spirit tool but rather a legendary pseudo immortal tool that was desired by countless people and the strongest of cultivators.

    Even the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators did not have to fortune of owning a pseudo immortal tool, not to mention a measly core condensation realm cultivator. Even if Shirong knew he had a lot of talent, he was not so blind that he would overestimate himself in matters such as these.

    Thus considering all these things, Shirong let the spear do whatever it was doing and discovered something even more surprising. The moment he let go of his guard, the pressure he was feeling was gone, and the spear did something to his spatial storage ring.

    He didn''t know what exactly it was, but he could not see any change in his ring. Guessing that it was simply a reaction to the process of being stored into the ring, Shirong didn''t mind it much. But then in the next instant, the green crystal spear disappeared from his hand.

    "Huh? It actually went in?" Shirong said in a dumbfounded tone.

    .

    .

    .

    "It actually went in!" He then eximed.

    Bei Wen and Ye Dai were also surprised by this, as they had seen the entire series of events that had happened. They had guessed that perhaps Young Master Shirong had failed in storing the spear into the ring, but he had unexpectedly seeded.

    "Congrattion Young Master Shirong!" Ye Dai and Bei Wen praised in unison.

    But Shirong paid no heed to the two men''s words. He was instead now focusing on his spatial storage ring. He peered into the ring using his spirit sense and saw the spear calmly floating around the empty space of the ring. He also saw the other items that were kept in his ring and fording them to be safe.

    ''A pseudo immortal tool that actually adjusted its characteristics ording to my needsбн this isбн simply marvelous. No other power has a pseudo immortal tool that is like this, I''m sure. From what I''ve read, no normal pseudo immortal tool can do something like this, as that would mean it could think for itself.

    No, no, noбн even peak grade spirit tools only have very basic instincts and even pseudo immortal tools are no exception to this. Then that meansбн it is an immortal tool!'' Shirong thought as his pupils went wide.

    As Shirong was looking down at his ring, the two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen were able to see the change in his eyes, thus didn''t know what conclusion Shirong had just reached. If they ever heard it, they would either be extremely afraid or extremely dangerous.

    An immortal tool was not something that could even be found in this realm. Shirong had read some myths about them which told of cultivators who could imbue tools with a spirit. These tools were nothing but spirit tools that were widely known.

    But even this imbuing of spirit did not give the tool sentience, and the tool merely had instincts that it could act on. These instincts were programmed at the creation of that tool and would not change ever again unless of course the tool was further enhanced and refined.

    Then there were some cultivators that could take this a step further and make the spirit tools reach the apex. These tools were called as the pseudo immortal tools, such that one would have to nearly be an immortal in order to be able to obtain one.

    The name pseudo immortal tool had multiple meanings and could be interpreted in many ways, but the mostmon meaning that people followed was a tool that could be worthy for an immortal.

    Then finally there were certain cultivates who had discovered the secrets of the heavens and had found methods to further extend their lifespans, thus bing ''Immortals''. These were the cultivators who broke through the limit of the tools and took a pseudo immortal tool fur therm turning it into an ''Immortal tool.''

    An immortal tool could think for itself and had a level of sentience. These tools could greatly help the cultivator and would help them in battles. They would amodate ording to the cultivator''s needs and fulfill their functions.

    But such a thing was beyond any one of this realm, not to mention this world. Most cultivators only thought of the immortals as mere myths, but Shirong knew that it was not so. He had been secretly shown the forbidden records of his n but the ancestor himself.

    This was one of the rewards that he was given for his past aplishments. At that time he had the choice to choose any material resource, but Shirong instead chose this as he knew that knowledge was perhaps the greatest advantage a cultivator could have.

    If one had the right knowledge, they could change the very direction of fate itself!

    Thus Shirong pleaded with the ancestor to let him read the forbidden records. There he had found out some of the hidden truths of this world. He found out that the ce he lived was merely a single continent on one of thes. This was his so-called ''world''.

    He learned that there were countless of these worlds in a greater ne called as the ''Mortal Realm''.

    An immortal tool was something from above this realm called as the "Immortal Realm''!

 Chapter 61 - Sealed Weapon?

    Lin Wu was currently floating around in a dark space. He was lyingpletely still so as to not arouse any suspicion from Shirong. The system had already told him that Shirong was observing the inside of the ring with his spirit sense and could do so anytime.

    About five minutes passed, after which the system finally gave the green signal to Lin Wu.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    ''Took him a while, I was almost worried that he was suspicions now.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Now then, let''s take a look at my gains, Hehe." Lin Wu said with excitement.

    "System, show me the host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 22 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Late stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/1500] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 12695 units [liquid spirit qi]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+2)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Minor)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 7250 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7542 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown (+2)

    5. Ash Crowned Buck

    бкбк

    "Wahahahha!" Lin Wu could not stopughing with joy upon seeing all the spirit qi that he had obtained.

    He had truly not expected that he would be able to obtain such arge amount when he had originally started the n. He had at most expected about ten percent of the current amount, but this had gone way beyond that. The amount he had right now was enough for him to directly reach the next cultivation realm, and that was exactly what he wanted.

    But of course, he could not do that carelessly. Right now he was in a ratherplex situation. On one hand, he had plenty of spirit qi and had the potential to gain even more, while on the other hand there was always a chance that he could be found out.

    "Hmm, now that I''ve got the resources I need to n further. I need to analyze what approach to take or I can end up in great trouble." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He thought over the possibilities while gently floating in the empty space of the ring. The minor spatial dimension that was continued within the ring was quiterge. From what Lin Wu had heard, this ring was a high grade spatial storage ring.

    "System, what''s the size of this ring?" Lin Wu asked curiously.

    <em>~Ding~ </em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The ring has a storage volume of about fifty cubic meters, though this area is not in any particr shape and is rather fluid.

    бкбк

    "Fifty cubic meters? Damn, this is bigger than the dorm room I used to live in." Lin Wu said with surprise.

    ''Though its strangeбн from the cultivation novels I''ve read the spatial storage rings have much bigger capacities than this. I''ve seen the characters store literal mountains in them. This ring is an antpared to those. Or perhapsбн this is how they''re supposed to be in this world.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    About half an hour passed while Lin Wu was thinking of what to do next. Meanwhile, Shirong and the two other men, Ye Dai and Bei Wen, were flying towards the border of the forbidden zone. Because they had killed the rest of theirpanions, they now had to make sure that it was believable. Originally they were going to make it seem more believable by saying that they had encountered a great danger and had injuries.

    But now they did not need to do that. They had the best excuse which was nothing more than their cultivation bases which had regressed. They even had internal injuries, which made it even more believable to the ns that their deadpanions belonged to.

    In fact, they would be even more sure that they were saying the truth as one would not intentionally dispel their cultivation base just to pretend like that, as the losses would outweigh the gains. But the case with Shirong, Ye Dai and Bei Wen was exceptional.

    They had obtained something which any power of this world would want to obtain. They would not blink even if they had to sacrifice millions of cultivators in order to obtain a pseudo immortal tool. That was just how important and precious it was.

    Though Shirong now knew that it was even beyond that. He had intentionally not told the other two that the spear was not a pseudo immortal tool but rather an immortal tool. But he still had some apprehensions about the spear.

    Even if it was an immortal tool, it did not seem to have the other characteristics that an immortal tool should have. From what he had heard, immortal tools would exude pressure that was unlike anything else, and the fluctuations of qi from them could be felt for thousands of kilometers if they were activated.

    Another thing Shirong was sure of was that the spear had taken far too little of spirit qi to work. If it were amon immortal tool from what Shirong had read, they would take up the spirit qi of tens of spirit stone mines and even then would only exert a fraction of their power.

    This lead Shirong to think of some of the legends that most cultivators knew of. There were many stories that described how lucky people were able to find trash weapons which were nothing but immortal weapons in disguise. They were either sealed or needed resources to activate.

    From seeing the effect and actions of the green Crystal spear, Shirong was not leaning towards thetter. The spear needed to absorb their spirit qi in order to save them; this meant that it was most likelycking spirit qi.

    ''It is more likely to be a sealed immortal weapon. If it was a full-fledged one, I''m sure all the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators of this world would have been here and fighting over it.'' Shirong thought.

 Chapter 62 - Crying?

    Soon the Shirong realized that they had reached the point where they had killed theirpanions. The traces of remains were already cleaned and the signs of the fight were still there.

    "Young master, should we change the scene a bit?" Bei Wen asked.

    "Yes, make it seem like a beast attack," Shirong said after thinking for a bit.

    "A beast attack? But young master, we have not seen even a single beast here." Ye Dai said feeling a bit confused.

    "Exactly, so they can''t track a beast either. Also from what I gathered before, the most likely cause behind the death of the cultivators from the Ling Kingdom''s royal court was none other than a beast or rather multiple beasts." Shirong said.

    "If you say so, young master." Bei Wen replied before getting started on the task.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen spent about twenty minutes changing the area to make it seem like there had been a beast attack. While they were doing it, it didn''t seem like it was something new to them either. In fact, they even had beast parts such as ws, and fangs in their spatial storage treasures.

    From this, one could tell that they had been always prepared. If one looked at the scene now, they would see w marks everywhere and ravaged ground. There were even foot prints that looked like they belonged to a ratherrge beast. The two men even spread around a strange brown powder that had a pungent stench.

    "Damn, these guys are a bunch of professional schemers!" Lin Wu said, feeling shocked.

    Lin Wu had been observing the entire process from the start to the end and was impressed by what they had done. To him, the area lookedpletely different and he was sure that it was enough to throw off the investigators.

    The ring had established the connection which allowed Lin Wu to see what Shirong''s spirit sense was observing. Previously he would have been unable to do this and would have been found out, but because Shirong had poured in arge amount of his spirit qi into him, the system had replicated its qi signature.

    This qi signature allowed him to disguise the transmissions that were taking ce through the connection. But Lin Wu could still not use his own spirit qi as that would lead to Shirong finding him out.

    In fact, back when he moved from Shirong''s hand after absorbing their spirit qi, he had not done it by using spirit qi. Rather he had to use an ingenious method that he was only able to think of after consulting the system. Even the system itself had not considered something like this.

    What Lin Wu had done to make it seem like he was moving was to actually just shift his body weight. Right now, even if Lin Wu was in the form of a spear, his weight was still the same and his weight wasparable to that of an elephant.

    But Lin Wu realized that even if he had shrunk, the weight of different body parts much has been different and his guess was correct. The only reason it was so bnced before was because the system had distributed his weight equally throughout his body when he changed to this form.

    So all Lin Wu needed to do was to actually change the point where the weight was concentrated. Back then to escape Shirong''s hand, he shifted a majority of his weight to his head, which was nothing but the spear de. This lead to it tilting abruptly to the side and twisting Shirong''s wrist.

    After this was done, Shirong flinched and let go of him. Once he was out of the range of their spirit sense, it was easy for him to move by using spirit qi as they could not detect him anymore. Thus Lin Wu guided the three men towards a random point in the bottom of theke and then simply withdrew the beast carapace fragment from his inventory.

    Lin Wu''s n was to make them think that the beast carapace fragment was a treasure. This would make them interested in it and make them think of its value. Lin Wu knew that except for being hard, the beast carapace fragment was inherently useless.

    But the people of Shirong''s n or he himself would not think so and would want to know more about it. Thus this could possibly lead them to find more about the beast which had killed that nascent soul realm elder of the Ling Kingdom''s royal court.

    This was Lin Wu''s n to use the resources and connections of Shirong''s n to find the beast which he needed to kill in order toplete his quest.

    Shirong took onest look at the scene before speaking, "let''s leave."

    The three men then hopped back on to their spirit swords and flew out of the border of the forbidden area.

    "Ooh! Let''s see what the area outside this looks like." Lin Wu muttered with excitement.

    He could see the ground below them rapidly change. It turned from the previous ck to brown and then finally to a grassy green. They had finally reached the point where the millennium forest was at.

    "We should be reaching the first guard post soon, is there anything we need to do before that young master?" Ye Dai asked.

    Shirong held his chin and rubbed it slightly before speaking.

    "Just follow my lead when I talk with them." Shirong said.

    The two men nodded in understanding and they continued onward. About two minutester, they finally reached the guard outpost.

    "HALT! Show us your identities!" A person suddenly shouted.

    The three of them then saw a core condensation flying up to them from the ground.

    As soon as Shirong spotted the man, his expression changed and his posture did too.

    "HELP! HELP US! W-we were attacked!" Shirong suddenly cried in a scared tone.

    The other two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen joined him too and cried out.

    "Booohuuu! They''re deadбн they''re all dead."

 Chapter 63 - Acting?

    The cultivators who had stopped the trio were a bit shocked, to say the least upon seeing their reactions. They had not expected three grown men to act like this. Then they noticed their disheveled appearances and got a better grasp on their identity.

    "You areбн Young Master Shirong!" One of the guards recognized.

    "Yes, yesбн that''s me," Shirong said while stuttering.

    "What happened? You all just went out in the morning and it only been twelve hoursбн" Another guard asked.

    "Deadбн they''re all deadбн" Ye Dai said in a crestfallen tone.

    "WHAT!" The guards collectively eximed.

    When the trio of Shirong, Ye Dai and Bei Wen had arrived, only two of the guards had seen them and had listened to their cries. But even then they had not paid proper attention as they were more focused on whether they were intruders or something.

    But after confirming their identities, they were now shocked. It had already been a rather surprising thing that the ns approved of someone to go into the forbidden zone after such a long time. In the past year since they had established the barrier and the outposts, only three teams had ever gone in.

    Two of them returned after just a few minutes as they had only gone to check if the barrier was working well, but Shirong''s team was the one that had actually entered for a proper expedition. No one had dared to go after knowing about the cultivates of the Ling Kingdom''s royal court, thus they did not expect it.

    But now their fears were fully confirmed as the first proper team that went in for an expedition hade back with only twenty percent of their members.

    "Take them inside and contact the cityбн tell them we have a lot of causalities," One of the guards who seemed to be the head spoke.

    By now almost all of the guards from the outpost had gathered around. Shirong looked around and counted about thirty of them here.

    ''Damn, there are a lot more than we saw on the way in. And this is just on one outpost, there are more than size surrounding the entire zone.'' Shirong thought.

    He then did a quick sweep of the cultivators and saw that except for five people, all of them were at the qi refining realm, while the five were at the core condensation realm.

    ''This does not seem right, did the ns lie to us? There is no way they would assign so many core condensation realm experts here unless there was something important in there. Did they perhaps get even more information than I thought?'' Shirong wondered.

    They brought the trio to the inside of the outpost, which was nothing but a wooden building that was of three stories. The three of them were scanned over with a few formations to make sure that they did not have any of the dangerous fumes and toxins from the forbidden zone on them.

    "They''re all clear, although their defensive talismans are pretty much fully depleted." The cultivator who was operating the formation said.

    The head of the guards nodded and then looked at Shirong.

    "Tell us what happened in detail." The head guard spoke in a serious tone.

    The man knew how severe the situation was right now. Among the people that had died, there were some cultivators with important identities. There were even two heirs of a n with them while the rest of them were all core condensation realm cultivators, which were higher members of the ns.

    In the ns, a nascent soul realm cultivator was already qualified to be its patriarch, and thus the core condensation realm cultivators were enough to be given the position of elders. The loss of even a single elder was a blow to the strength and power of the n.

    The head guard needed to ensure that he got all the facts correctly, or even his life could be on the line.

    "We went in as we had originally nned, but soon after getting about a quarter of the way in we were attacked. It was a beastбн a very strong beast. Iбн I could not even see its cultivation base. It happened rather fast, we tried to run, but the beast was much stronger." Shirong said and took a pause, pretending as if he was tired.

    The head guard did not prod him further and let him take a short rest. Meanwhile, Shirong was actually trying to gauge the reaction of the head guard and his two followers. Ye Dai and Bei Wen were simply hanging their heads low, but he could tell that they were picking up on everything he said and were listening intently. He estimated this should be enough of a break and continued.

    "We were reduced to about ten men after not even five minutes and continued escaping towards the center of hate forbidden zone. We couldn''t turn back as the beast was behind us. The beast didn''t even let us take a clear look before he had already killed ourpanions, it was simply too fast.

    Then when we were running, I was able to get a glimpse at itбн I couldn''t get a grasp on its appearance it was somethingpletely unlike I''ve ever seen or heard of. Its body was hidden in a veil of some kind and prevented us from seeing its true form.

    It kept on taking down ourpanions one by one until eventually only three of us were left. Finally, we had reached close enough to the center that the beast stopped following us. I do not know the reason for it at that time, but soon enough we discovered it.

    Our defensive talismans were deteriorating at a visible speed. The more one went towards the center of the zone, the stronger the toxins and fumes got. This pretty much put us in a dilemma. We could either stay there or go back out the same way we came from.

    Finally, we made our choice. Weбн burned our cultivation bases and used a trump card to escape the area." Shirong exined.

    "This guy is a professional actor, I say!" Lin Wu said feeling impressed.

 Chapter 64 - Escort?

    The guards were appalled by the story that Shirong had said, but they didn''t know whether to believe it or not. If it was really a beast as strong as he had said, it was even they should have died. Even a nascent soul realm cultivator had died back then for heaven''s sake!

    But Shirong''s next sentence convinced them.

    "I used a peak grade teleportation talisman to move us to the edge of the zone," Shirong stated and then immediately withdrew what looked like a triangr te that was cracked from the center.

    As soon as the head guard saw it he was surprised, but he then probed the te with his own spirit sense.

    "It''s trueбн the talisman was used recently, it still has traces of spatial fluctuations on it." He spoke to the rest of the guard.

    <em>~Gasp~</em>

    All of the guards took a collective breath upon hearing the confirmation. A peak grade talisman such as a teleportation formation was an extremely valuable thing that countless cultivators would desire. Even Dao shell realm cultivates would have a hard time obtaining one, not to mention a core condensation realm cultivator like Shirong.

    But the presence of the peak grade teleportation talisman also made the guards aware about the background of Young Master Shirong. While they knew that he was from a big n, they did not know his exact standing there. For all they knew he could be some third rate cultivator that had to fortune to join it.

    But him being in the possession of a peak grade talisman meant that his standing was no less than of the heir itself. As no n would give the possession of an important item like this to any normal member of the n unless they were extremely important.

    In addition to the guards, the two followers of Shirong were shocked too. They had no idea that Young Master Shirong was in possession of something like this. But what they were even more shocked about was the condition of the formation.

    It still had spatial fluctuation on it meant that it was used at least an hour ago and the two knew where they were an hour ago. They had defiantly not seen Shirong use that talisman or they perhaps would have not been in this situation.

    ''Don''t tell meбн did young master Shirong really destroy a peak grade teleportation talisman for this?'' Ye Dai thought.

    Bei Wen''s thoughts were the same, but he was also thinking of the time when they were trapped in the bottom of theke.

    ''So young master was saying the truth when he said that he was going to surely save us. He had this peak grade teleportation talisman as a safety measure.'' In Bei Wen''s mind, the respect for Young Master Shirong rose by another level.

    Meanwhile, Shirong was pissed in his mind.

    ''Dammit, this better be worth it and they don''t question us further. I do not want to fight so many guards together when they have the support of formation arrays.'' Shirong thought with frustration.

    When he was being checked Shirong could see that the formation was not a single one but rather arge circuitposed of multiple formationsbining to form a formation array. The support of a formation array could greatly increase the strength and abilities of a cultivator.

    With the right formations, even a qi refining realm cultivator could kill a nascent soul realm cultivator with ease. Shirong could identify some of the formations and realized that it was a ratherplex array, which could be dangerous for him if he ended up in a conflict with the guards.

    Shirong could also assume from this that this formation array was linked to the rest of the outposts and thus made the structure of the barrier itself. He could imagine the spirit qi supply that was powering it. If the formation array targeted them with the support of even just the head guard, they would not escape it easily.

    But the thing that was troubling Shirong the most was that they even had a formation that could check the contents of a spatial storage treasure. While he knew it was likely that they won''t check his without a proper reason because of his background, he was still not fully sure.

    ''If I had known there were so many guards and this formation array here, I would have never killed those people like that and would have taken a different approach. Or I should have just used the peak grade teleportation talisman to teleport us away from the outpost.

    Everything was messed up because of them. I''ll have to report this to the patriarch. The Ling Kingdom is definitely nning something big. There is no way some measly ns from a secondary city like Deer Wood city could keep up with the costs of running a formation array like this they are being supported by someone big." Shirong determined.

    "The cultivators of the royal court!бн They never told the full story, did they? The spear was also at the outer area, of course they must have tried to take it with them and then failed.'' Shirong suddenly realized.

    Just as this was happening, another guard walked into the room and spoke.

    "I have informed the ns about everything. They have asked us to escort them to the Deer Wood city immediately." The newly entered guard spoke.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    As soon as Shirong heard the guard''s words he knew that the toughest part was over and let out a silent breath in relief.

    The head guard looked at the informant and nodded his head.

    "Do you need a carriage or are you able to fly on your own?" The head guard asked the Trio.

    "We can fly on our own, weбн will manage," Shirong answered for the three of them and the other two also nodded in acknowledgment.

    "Tsk, Tsk, Tskбн this guy is still pretending huh? Talk about a wolf in sheep''s clothing or what is it that they say? Ummбн oh yeah, pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger." Lin Wu said upon witnessing the entire thing.

 Chapter 65 - Whale?

    Six people were currently flying through a forest on swords. They were none other than Shirong, Ye Dai, Bei Wen, the head guard and two additional guards. Shirong and his two followers were flying slower than their normal speed, pretending to show that they were injured, which they actually were, but not as much as they were exaggerating.

    Shirong had been able to hoodwink the guards by paying arge price, which was none other than the destruction of a peak grade teleportation talisman. His heart was aching with regret but he knew that it was necessary and that one thing may have saved him from potential death.

    Even while flying, he was thinking of what to do next. Before leaving the forbidden zone he had a n in his mind, but it was soon messed up because of a few things. The main one being the capabilities of the guard. Their numbers and resources werepletely different than he had been informed of.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was still observing the entire thing from inside the spatial storage ring. He had a connection with Shirong through his spirit sense and was thus able to see everything that was happening outside, at least up to a certain limit.

    Lin Wu could only see and hear the things that were in the range of Shirong''s spirit sense and thus if he intended or contracted it, the sensing range would change for Lin Wu as well.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I''ll need to find a better way to see things on the outside. While the system can help me out for the most part, I still need to learn to do stuff myself." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    They had been flying for about ten minutes now and had gotten quite a distance from the guard outpost. But even now there did not seem to be any city in their sights. Lin Wu wondered how far it exactly was, as thest time he remembered the system had told him that the nearest city, the Deer wood city was a couple of hundred kilometers from his location.

    But that information was quite only, and Lin Wu had changed his position many times from then. From all he knew, he could potentially be even farther from that ce. Lin Wu was now starting to get bored, thus decided to see the items that were in the ring.

    "There should be some good stuff in here that I can steaбн uh, borrow. Yes, borrow." Lin Wu said before floating to the items.

    The system had established a virtual ring interface function, which allowed Lin Wu to leave and enter the ring at will. While this was one of the primary uses of the function, there were additional things that may be possible as the system increased its understanding.

    It being able to make a function like this so quick was already quite enough.

    Lin Wu rxed his body and the interlocking spurs loosened, allowing him to be lithe again. He still kept the shape he had formed as he wanted to be able to return to the form in a jiffy if he was ever summoned outside the ring by Shirong.

    This way he could simply tighten the spurs and they would interlock again in less than a second. The system would tell him when he was going to be summoned anyway and could even dy the process by taking advantage of the fact that Shirong thought he was a pseudo immortal tool.

    Lin Wu moved his body simr to swimming and moved over to the items that were floating around in the ring. There were a ton of them and around half of the ring had been filled. Lin Wu could see mundane and everyday items like clothes, pans, brushes, all the way to precious items like alchemical pills and spirit stones.

    Although Lin Wu had not seen any alchemical pills or spirit stones until now, the system still had the information in its data banks from the data nodes that it had absorbed. Not to mention that Lin Wu could feel the spirit qi fluctuationing off of the items.

    Lin Wu first came to a pouch that was floating near him and looked into it, finding hundreds of fingernail sized translucent white stones kept in them.

    "System, scan them." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNING TARGET: Completed

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Low grade spirit stones, quantity:600

    бкбк

    "Oh, so this is what the spirit stones look like, huh?" Lin Wu muttered as he looked around the ring.

    There were about twenty more simr looking pouches floating around the ring and all of them were exuding spirit qi from them.

    ''Are these all spirit stones? Only one way to find outбн'' Lin Wu thought before ordering the system to scan them all.

    Soon Lin Wu got an estimate of all the spirit stones that were present in the ring. And he was shocked, to say the least after seeing it.

    "Hot damn! Seems like I caught a whale!" Lin Wu eximed, with imaginary money symbols appearing in his eyes.

    ording to the system''s calction, there were-

    Nine thousand low grade spirit stones.

    Two thousand three hundred mid grade spirit stones.

    And finally, Fifty four high grade spirit stones.

    It was an extremelyrge fortune if Lin Wu counted them as liquid spirit qi units. But even then, that was not the end of it. There were far more things that were exuding even stronger spirit qi fluctuations.

    Lin Wu was of course curious and like a nosy gold digger, started to check every single item. At one point he got bored of scanning all the items one by one and wondered if there was a more efficient way to do it.

    "System, can you just scan the entire ring all at once?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Scanning the entire ring is possible.

    NOTIFICATION: Should the system scan the entire ring? Y/N

    бкбк

    "Scan all the items and tell me what is the most precious thing and the most powerful thing here." Lin Wu ordered, feeling excited.

 Chapter 66 - A Wide Assortment Of Items?

    It had been about twenty minutes since Lin Wu had ordered the system to scan the objects and it still had not finished it. This led Lin Wu to believe that there were definitely things here that were currently beyond the system''s capabilities and were straining its Data banks.

    Lin Wu took a quick look outside and saw that Shirong his two followers, the escorting guards were close to the Deer Wood city now. In fact, Lin Wu could hear their conversations and from it, he realized that there was more stuff happening than was being shown right now.

    "There will be the people from the ns waiting for use outside. So make sure that you two are on your best behavior." The head guard spoke to his fellow guards.

    ''Oh? So these two are not from the cityбн Hmm, perhaps I should gather where they came from and maybe then I''ll get some clues as to who''s backing the ns. If they were from the city, then they would have known who the people from the ns were.'' Shirong thought to himself as he listened to their conversation.

    Shirong had only been able to recognize the head guard as he had seen him before when they left for the forbidden zone thus he just thought that all guards from the city. But seeing their numbers and cultivation bases, it was apparent that they could not be from the city, as there would simply not be enough people with that level of cultivation bases.

    "Damn, hopefully the system finishes its scan before we enter the city. I don''t know what will happen if I am summoned midway." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Five more minutes passed, and the six people were now right in front of the city gates. They could not directly fly into the city as that was against the rules and would be punishable by a fine and prison time. This was rathermonw and was applicable to almost all major cities and capitals.

    Still, there were exceptions to this rule and certain people could directly fly in the city. Shirong was one of the cultivators who had the permission to do so, but the other five did not. Also, with the people from the ns meeting them outside, there wasn''t much he could do.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNING: Completed.

    OBJECTS: Identified= 258 | Unidentified= 3

    NOTIFICATION: Please view the detailed description in the relevant window.

    бкбк

    Finally, the system had finished scanning all the objects and the notification popped up with a long list of objects that it had scanned.

    "Right in time!" Lin Wu said and then looked over the list.

    Most of the objects in the list were not that unusual and thus did not incite Lin Wu''s interest. But the most interesting things were none other than the objects that were unidentifiable. This meant that they were the reason behind the system''s long process.

    While Lin Wu could not see the information about these unidentified objects, he could still see their appearance in the window.

    The first object looked like a piece of rubber that had a strange pink color. There was no spirit qiing from it either, thus Lin Wu was wondering if it was just some trash. But then, seeing that it was in Shirong''s spatial storage ring, he thought otherwise.

    The second unidentifiable object was a rolled up sheet of paper that was about half a meter long. Unlike the previous object though, this one had a certain kind of aura on it. It wasn''t spirit qi though; it was different than that.

    ''Hmm, it''s definitely something valuable.'' Lin Wu thought.

    The third and final object was a pendant that was crafted from a blue stone of some kind. It had a rather simple circr shape, if not for the unique character that was imprinted on both of its sides. Lin Wu could tell that they were different from the writing of this world, or at least wasn''t the one that he had seen.

    The system had already learned thenguage of this world, thus Lin Wu didn''t really have any problem with it and it was as if he had known it all along. But this pendant had an additional thing mentioned in the list- Error!: cannot be scanned.

    This was the only object which was unable to be identified because it could not be scanned.

    "System, why could you not scan this pendant?" Lin Wu asked, feeling a bit surprised.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The pendant has a certain kind of a barrier that the system cannot go through. Theplexity of the barrier is higher than any other that the system has seen till now and will require further analysis to deduce the method.

    бкбк

    "Interestingбн" Lin Wu muttered as he looked at the jade pendant.

    He then looked back at the list, reading through the objects that were actually identified. Lin Wu had asked the system to tell him the most valuable and powerful objects out of all of them, thus the system had ordered them ording to that.

    He first set the filter to the most valuable object and was presented with the most obvious choices.

    "Huh, so the spirit stones are the most valuable object here? But wait, aren''t they of different types why are they ssified togetherбн" Lin Wu said as he then saw a small drop down arrow.

    He focused on it and the list expanded even more, showing that the high grade spirit stones were of the highest value.

    ''Ahбн I see now. Simr types of objects will be grouped together and can be sorted further.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then saw that the rest of the valuable objects were just different assortments of alchemical pills. There were about twenty types of pills in the ring and from reading the description, Lin Wu got to know of their uses. There were pills that helped in cultivation, pills that were for healing, and even pills that were for "Special needs".

    "Hehe, men are the same everywhere, whether it be my previous world or a cultivation world like this."

 Chapter 67 - Spirit Sense?

    Lin Wu wanted to continue looking at the list in detail but unfortunately, the events happening in the outside world made it so that he wanted to be ready for any potential danger.

    He looked outside through the connection that he had with Shirong and saw that he, his twopanions, and the guards were currently being taken to the inside of the city. They went through a certain formation array that was set up in the gateway of the city and shone on them while they walked in it.

    Even Lin Wu could feel the probe of the formation and felt strange about it.

    "Humph!" Shirong grunted lightly and then secretly gestured with his fingers.

    A transparent barrier had covered his body the moment the probing of the formation happened and whatever it was trying to do to him was unable to be aplished.

    ''Huh, what was that?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He too had sensed the formation doing something and has also seen Shirong creating a barrier.

    "System what just happened?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The formation array was cing a certain kind of tracing formation on Shirong which was then stopped by his own barrier.

    бкбк

    "Huh, a tracing formation? Seems like the people that run this city are either suspicious of him or maybe they just do it to everyone that enters the city. Either way isn''t this a big privacy vition? Pretty much like a ''modern world tech conglomerate'' like behaviorбн" Lin Wu said.

    Lin Wu saw that while the formation was being ced on Shirong the other people had not reacted, which meant that they were in the blind about it as well.

    "System is the formation hard to detect? Why have the others not sensed it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: For the system, it is very basic to be able to sense the formation but for the cultivators, it may be quite difficult. ording to the system''s estimate, they would need to have a spirit sense that was strong enough to be able to sense the formation and even better skills to actually be able to stop it.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was reminded of the concept called spirit sense. He had of course heard about it and read about it in the countless cultivation novels of his past, but this was his actual first experience with it. He had seen the spirit sense being shown in the systems information windows but had only seen it on the dead cultivators till now.

    He wondered if he could use it too, and what the method for it could be.

    "System, how can I obtain spirit sense of my own?" Lin Wu questioned with interest while taking another look outside in the real world.

    Seeing that nothing special was happening for now and that they were all simply walking, Lin Wu decided to continue inquiring the system.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Spirit sense is one of the most basic skills of a cultivator. ording to the data that the system has analyzed and the one that was directly obtained from the data nodes, spirit sense can be obtained by using the spirit qi to make spirit qi tendrils.

    This process is called as the spirit sense refinement and is usually only possible for the cultivators that are in thete stage of the qi refining realm and above. But from system''s own analysis, this is notpletely true, and it is actually possible to refine spirit sense in the early stage of the qi refining realm as well.

    The reason behind cultivators unable to refine the spirit sense lies in their cultivation technique. The methods to refine spirit sense are mentioned in the cultivation techniques that they practice, and they can differ in effectiveness and difficulty.

    The system can devise a simplified method from the data obtained, and the host can use that method to refine the spirit sense.

    Note: The system cannot refine the spirit sense for the host, as it is a manual process and its control fully depends on the host itself. If the Host wants though, system can refine a secondary spirit sense that can be used by the system. If more data is obtained and data banks are updated, the system can analyze and devise improved methods as well.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu took a while to read and understand the response of the system. It was quite a long one and detailed as well.

    ''Hmm, so it''s like this, huh? Even if I don''t have a cultivation technique, I can still cultivate and so it''s good that I can still refine my own spirit sense.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Alright! System, give me the method to refine spirit sense, I want to learn it myself." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Should the system start the analysis of the data to devise a spirit sense refinement method? Y/N.

    NOTE: This process will require theputational A.I and the system energy will be used.

    бкбк

    "How much energy will it require?" Lin Wu questioned.

    After the past few changes in the system''s different storages, Lin Wu wanted to be sure of how much he used up in each task. He didn''t want to give permission for something that may evidently drain all of his Henry and leave him helpless in the face of the danger.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The system energy will be continually used until the analysis isplete.

    NOTE: The host can also pause the analysis process, and it will not be lost. This will also halt the utilization of the system energy.

    бкбк

    ~Phew~

    After seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu was relieved and felt that this was much better.

    ''If it''s like this, then it shouldn''t be a problem.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Alright, system go ahead and start the analysis process." Lin Wu permitted.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    PERMISSION GRANTED: Starting data analysis for devising Spirit sense refinement technique.

    COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Activated.

    TIME REQUIRED: Not defined.

    бкбк

    "Now to just wait and watch, hopefully it is done soon." Lin Wu said and looked at the Host data.

    "What the fuuuuuuбн"

 Chapter 68 - Great Pretender Shirong?

    Lin Wu nced at the system energy storage in the host data window and saw it falling much faster than he had thought.

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7542 units

    бн7533

    бн7520

    бн7498

    бн7400

    "Damn, I didn''t expect it to fall this fast!" Lin Wu muttered in shock as he kept on looking.

    The reduction continued at the same pace for about a minute, after which it started to slow down and then almost halted.

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7002 units

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    Lin Wu took a breath of relief and guessed that it was consumed so fast as the system needed to at the start to begin the process. He kept on looking and saw the storage decrease again. But this time it happened after an interval of five minutes.

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 6992 units

    "Oh, is it now going to consume it in specific time periods?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He waited again and then confirmed it. Five minutester, ten more units were consumed.

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 6982 units

    "Okay, so that''s confirmed. Hmmбн ten units every five minutes that''s about one twenty units every hour. That''s fine, I guessбн no wait," Lin Wu said.

    "System, the system energy being consumed, what unit is it in? Is equivalent to liquid spirit qi drops or wisps?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling nervous.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The units are equivalent to wisp rather than drops as the host only asked to set it for the spirit qi storage and not for the others.

    бкбк

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "Oh boy, that almost scared me. If it''s in just wisps, then take itбн take as much as you want. I''m gonna leech off this whale anyway, Hehehe." Lin Wu said with a glint in his eyes.

    He took his attention off the Host data window and focused back on the real world. Because the spirit sense of Shirong was currently only spread in an area of five meters, Lin Wu couldn''t see beyond it and thus couldn''t see how the city looked like.

    In the five meter area that he could actually see, there was nothing much except for the paved road and a fewmp posts that passed by at the side.

    "Why are there no more people here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    But a few secondster it hit him.

    "Oh no, wait! They are being escorted by the guards, no wonder there isn''t anyoneing near them." Lin Wu realized.

    Five more minutes passed and the group had walked quite deep into the city. Even if they were simply walking, they were still quite faster than a normal human, and it seemed more like they were running instead. It was a bitical to Lin Wu and he was reminded of one of those speed walkingpetitions he had seen on the Television.

    "If people saw someone walking like this out on the streets back in my past life, they wouldugh like crazy. Only in thepetitions does it seem normalбн" Lin Wu chuckled.

    Finally, Lin Wu saw the scene change and it looked like a building had appeared in front of them. Because the range of spirit sense extended five meters in all directions, Lin Wu could tell that the building was tall and had more than one story as even at the height of five meters it didn''t end.

    The building itself was made from abination of bricks and polished stone tiles. From its quality of work, Lin Wu could tell that this was probably an important building in this city and was probably used by important people.

    "Come on, why is no one talking anymore?" Lin Wuined.

    No one was really talking and there was an eerie silence while the guards escorted Shirong, Ye Dai, and Bei Wen. Finally, they entered what looked like a hall that had a throne like chair at the end and multiple smaller chairs along the right and left side.

    All of the chairs were currently upied, and the people sitting on them had serious expressions on their faces. Lin Wu saw the entourage stop in front of the old man sitting on the throne like chair. The old man had a calm expression on his face unlike the other people and was tapping the armrest of the chair.

    "Young Master Shirong, I''m relieved that you were able toe back safe and sound." The old man spoke in a concerned tone.

    "n Head Lu, I''m extremely sorry that I was not able to save the people who so graciously decided to apany me despite the danger. I had told you that I would bring them back safely but I have failed, Iбн have disgraced my name." Shirong stated and bowed his head.

    The expression of the Lu n head changed upon hearing his apology and he then saw him doing something which made his brow set. The Lu n head shot up from his seat and held on to the shoulders of Shirong.

    "No! Young Master Shirong, you cannot bow your head to meбн please it''s not your fault. The people that apanied you, even if they were from our ns knew exactly what they were getting into. I cannot take the burden of your bow." The Lu n Head said while gulping down his saliva.

    It was evident that Shirong was about to bow to the Lu n head in apology, but the n head stopped it. But while Shirong''s head was slightly bent and his face was hidden from the people, Lin Wu saw the smirk on his face that faded away in an instant.

    "Bravo! Bravo! What expression! What art!" Lin Wu praised upon seeing his acting.

    Unlike the others, Lin Wu could see and hear what Shirong was muttering clearly and knew that he was intentionally doing this to throw off the n''s suspicion if it were to evere.

    Most of the other people that were sitting in the room were also affected by this and they became concerned. Still, there were a handful of people that did not seem pleased by this and were trying to suppress it from being shown on their faces.

    "I got you nowбн" Shirong muttered silently.

 Chapter 69 - Nice?

    Shirong had intentionally presented himself like this and wanted to make himself look vulnerable so that he could find out the people who were truly behind this all.

    The increased security was not something that could be afforded by the ns of the Deer Wood city and there was no way the top 3 ns of the city would ever let someone else assist them as it would mean conceding a certain level of power to them.

    Shirong had a guess that some of the smaller ns and minor powers of the city had disguised some of the men from the Kingdom''s capital and had made it seem like they were providing the resources. This made them look selfless and also elevated their image in the eyes of the top three ns of the Deer Wood city.

    They were also the ones that would suffer from the demise of the men that had died along with Shirong and would have to answer the ones that were secretly backing them. They were the ones that had to send out the more influential and stronger member of their ns so as to make it genuine, and they were the ones that had the biggest losses as well.

    They initially wanted to demandpensation and put the me on top of this Young master Shirong but now with his disy, the n head Lu was already in his favor and the other top three were also likely to follow with him, that meant the smaller powers and ns had no right to interfereбн or rather they could not afford to.

    Right now all they could do was grit their teeth and appear amicable or suffer the potential consequences. Such was the game of politics and if they wanted to continue ying, they had to follow the unspoken rules. Breaking them meant that while they could get some benefits in the short term, they would be out of the entire game after that and would lose the bigger opportunities.

    Shirong saw that out of the twenty people in the hall, who represented the Powers of the city, about four of them were displeased with him. He identified them and realized that out of the four, two were the n heads of the smaller ns, while the other two were the heads of a merchantpany that operated out of the city and had multiple businesses.

    ''Hmm, so there are four of them in the open, but there should be more hidden. Just these four won''t be able to convince the top three ns that the manpower and resources belonged to them, there''s bound to be more that have hidden their true intentions better.

    But even in these four, there are chances that they are not the pawns that I am thinking them to be. If I remember correctly, one of the n heirs that died belonged to one of these smaller ns. But the two merchant heads, they are definitely involved. They are the only ones who would be able to easily provide the resources without much suspicion, as they could simply show as if they were being procured from somewhere else.'' Shirong analyzed quickly.

    Having spent so many years in a powerful n and bing its young master had enhanced his ability to assess politics to a great degree. If he were to im that he was second in this hall, there was no one else that was qualified to be the first.

    Even the experienced n Head Lu was nothing in front of young master Shirong who had seen manyplex and cruel schemes.

    But it still came down to his current situation. While Shirong could depend on his n''s power to suppress all of these people here, it would also mean that he was showing his entire hand. One should not forget that a dragon that is not in his home turf is weaker than the snake that lives there.

    Shirong was still unsure of the goal of the power backing these small ns here, thus he did not want to take the chance.

    Shirong lightly lifted his head and cupped his hands again.

    "n head Lu and all the people currently in this hall, I swear on my honor that I will find a way to properly give an answer and if you still do not find it adequate I shallpensate you." Shirong dered to everyone.

    "Young Master Shirong thisбн" n Head Lu said, feeling shocked.

    "Please n head, this is the least I can do to satisfy them and let the souls of those that perished rest," Shirong said with a humble expression.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    n Head Lu let out a sigh and the other two top n heads also shook their heads.

    "ALRIGHT!" n head Lu shouted while pping his hands. "You''ve heard young master Shirong, go ahead with your inquiries."

    Shirong turned around and looked at all the people in the hall. The guards that had escorted him were now standing at the side of the entrances as they were not qualified to be in the middle while the rest of the people were looking at Shirong intently.

    The ones that had shown their displeasure now had poker faces, while the others were clearly pleased with Shirong because of his words.

    "I fully believe Young master Shirong''s words and have nothing to say," n head Xiong spoke in a ttering tone.

    Xiong n was the number two in the top three ns and its head had long since been trying to bootlick Shirong ever since he got here. There was no way he could let go of this chance to get into his good books, besides the one man that he had sent with Shirong was an external elder of his n that could be sacrificed.

    "I agree with n Head Xiong and believe Young Master Shirong''s words as well," Said the Mu n head.

    The Mu n was the number three of the top three ns and was the most neutral among the ns, yet he did not feel like there was much benefit in questioning Shirong. Either way, he had made no losses as he had never sent anyone from his n.

    "Nice! He got the top three in the bag already. This is fun, it is like I''m watching one of those old period dramas againбн" Lin Wu said, clearly enjoining everything.

 Chapter 70 - Baiting?

    Seeing that the top three were in agreement with Young Master Shirong, some of the other ns started to speak up as well. Out of the seventeen remaining Powers in the hall, seven were clearly in Shirong''s favor and were willing to let go of the sacrifice that was made.

    Of the remaining ten, four were in clear disagreement with Shirong''s words and four were neutral. The final two were in the middle, but it seemed like all they wanted was to getpensated and were not fully displeased with Young master Shirong.

    Shirong cupped his hands again and spoke, "Please, go ahead and ask me whatever you''d like gentlemen."

    "Young Master Shirong, we heard that a beast attacked you. While we heard the ount from the guards, I still want to hear your firsthand experience." Spoke one of the two n heads that were displeased with Shirong.

    He recognized this man to be the n head of the Ping n. Shirong pretended to think for a few seconds before answering.

    "The beast that we encountered was nothing I''ve ever seen or heard of before. I could not sense its cultivation base and neither could see its true appearance as it was hidden behind a veil of some kind that distorted its form. It was about the size of an elephant and was quite fast as well.

    It didn''t even take five minutes to wipe out half of our party. We had to use everything in our reseal to escape it. But even then, our misfortune didn''t end. We all were greatly mistaken about the corrosiveness of the environment of the forbidden zone. In the end, only me, Ye Dai and Bei Wen were left alive.

    The more we got towards the center, the stronger the corrosiveness of the invisible fumes and toxins got. When we were near the crater the deterioration of the defensive talismans was nearly a hundred times as strong as it was at the edge of the forbidden zone. When we were near the crater, the beast stopped chasing us as it seemed like even it did not dare to get closer to the center.

    Our defensive talismans were depleting at an rming rate of one per minute. We knew that we could not escape from the other side of the crater as the beast could very easily circle around and catch up to us, after all the circr area that the beast was reluctant to enter was of only about a hundred meters.

    Seeing that we had no other choice, I used a trump card that my n had given me to use in case of dire emergencies." Shirong exined and took a pause.

    He then withdrew the Peak grade teleporting talisman that he had shown the guards before.

    <em>~Gasp~</em>

    Everyone in the room hissed with shock. While they had heard that Young Master had used a Peak Grade teleportation formation, they thought that there was a chance the guards were mistaken. But now they saw it with their own two eyes and even sensed the faint spatial fluctuations from it, they had no chance but to believe it.

    Seeing this, the parties which were neutral till now were fully convinced and the two ns that merely wantedpensation were now rethinking about their aim. They were assessing whether it was worth to potentially offend the young Master of a n that could give him a peak grade teleportation formation as a trump card.

    A few secondster they shook their heads and gave up on it. They knew that it was a guarantee that they would bepensated by Young Master Shirong, but what will be its after-effects? To them, it was simply more beneficial to have him in their favor.

    "We agree with Young Master Shirong as well now." The two small n heads dered their stance.

    Now the only ones that were remaining were the two merchants and the other two small n heads.

    "Young Master Shirong while your word seem convincing, I still have some doubts about their authenticity." Spoke the n head whose heir had died.

    Shirong recognized him to be the head of Beo n. The heir that belonged to their n was none other than the weakest member of the excursion party, the guy with the early stage core condensation realm cultivation base.

    "And why is that n head Beo?" Shirong asked in an amicable tone.

    "You see," n Head Beo said and withdrew something from his pocket. "This is the soul light bead that belonged to my son. I believe n head Lu can see when its brightness died down."

    Clean Head Lu closed his eyes for a moment and used his spirit sense to check the soul light bead. A momentter he opened his eyes and a frown appeared on his face.

    "Seems like n head Lu understood. The timeline does not match. If it was really as Young Master Shirong said it was then, why did the light of the bead go offter than it should have? This only means that my son died muchter than you are iming." n Head Beo uttered with an using tone.

    Shirong did not show any change in his expression, but inwardly he was surprised as well.

    ''How the hell did a small n like them get a soul light bead?'' Shirong thought.

    Soul light beasts were a type of mid grade spirit tools whose sole function was to know when or if a person who had used the soul light bead died. The soul light bead would glow till the person was alive and would then go out if they died and would also record when they died.

    "n head Beo I''m extremely sorry, but it seems like I lost a great opportunity to save young Master Beo," Shirong said in a sad tone. "Perhaps, young master Beo suffered great injuries but was still able to survive the initial attack."

    The people watched Shirong say this and felt a bit shocked while n Head Beo was gritting his teeth.

    "But fear not, Young master Beo is also the one who will bring everyone justice. You see, during the initial ambush we were able to exchange a few blows with the beast and during this, the beast got a little injury. This was caused by none other than young master Beo who used the armor shearing talisman." Shirong said and then withdrew something from his ring, showing it to everyone.

 Chapter 71 - Flexing The Ancestors Name?

    The Beo n head having a soul light bead waspletely out of the expectations of Shirong, so much so that he had to improvise on the spot. He thought of potential solutions at a lightning speed and came up with his current excuse.

    He gritted his teeth and took out the strange rock that he had obtained from the bottom of the undergroundke. He realized that it could be mistaken as the Armour or shell of some kind and besides, they did not know what the beast looked like in reality anyway.

    He came to this solution as he had seen an armor shearing talisman in the storage ring of the Beo n heir. The Armor shearing talisman''s function was exactly what its name meant. It was a one time use talisman that could weaken and break the armor of a cultivator or a beast. Even if it was a mid grade talisman and it was still quite a bit valuable.

    The expressions of everyone in the room fell after they saw the piece of rock in the hands of Young Master Shirong. They were also surprised upon hearing that the Beo n heir actually had an armor shearing talisman in addition to a soul light bead.

    "Thisбн" the Beo n had uttered with difficulty.

    To be honest, even Beo n head was unsure of whether Young Master Shirong was truly lying or not. He was merely throwing usible exnations and seeing what would stick. Even with the soul light bead, Beo n Head knew that a lot of things could have happened, and the exnation that Young Master Shirong was possibly correct.

    But now that he had said that he saw his son use an armor shearing talisman and the piece of armor that he had in his hand, he couldn''t help but get doubtful.

    "n head Lu, please take a look and give your verdict. Anyone else that wants to test it can do it as well." Young Master Shirong said in a calm voice.

    "Alright, if Young Master Shirong is fine with it then I''ll do it," n head Lu said before taking the beast carapace fragment in his hand.

    He scanned it with his spirit sense and furrowed his brows. Five minutes passed and even now he could not get to a conclusion. Finally, he opened his eyes with a frown on his face.

    "I''m afraid, I cannot even get an inkling of what this thing is. But if the characteristics of the beast that Young Master Shirong told are correct, then it matches up. This fragment of shell or whatever it is definitely belongs to a beast I can tell this much. There are extremely faint traces of a beast''s aura on it too." n head Lu stated.

    <em>~Gasp~</em>

    A cotive gasp was heard in the room as the people in the hall tensed up. With n head Lu''s verdict, they were fully convinced about it now.

    While Young Master Shirong had a calm look on his face, he too was freaking out internally.

    ''What! It truly is a beast''s shell?'' Shirong thought.

    He thought over a bit more and then realized that he had forgotten an important factor.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    ''My cultivation had regressed, no wonder my sensitivity has fallen. Even if it is still equivalent to that of a pseudo nascent soul realm cultivator, the injuries I have are still restricting me. Not to mention n head Lu has the highest cultivation in this room, being at the Nascent soul realm.'' Shirong realized.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was a bit dumbfounded inside the ring.

    "What? How did theye to that conclusion that fast? Is this guy''s Shirong''s ability less than that old n head? But he''s been appearing so submissive to him." Lin Wu said to himself as he kept on watching.

    Lin Wu had only expected that they would at most be mistaken about the origin of that fragment and would just think of it as something mysterious. But things were going even better than he thought, and that too within the confines of his n.

    "No, waitбн is it possible that these ns may take that beast fragment? No! That cannot happen. It may throw a wrench into my n and I don''t know if this guy Shirong will be able to take it back. Looking at his current situation, it already seems like he''s freeballing itбн" Lin Wu thought out loud.

    But just as Lin Wu thought of this, Shirong spoke.

    "n heads and gentlemen, if you so give me the permission, I would like to ask my n''s ancestor to analyze and appraise it himself. Of course, that is if it is fine with you all. If you have doubts about my credibility or the n, you are free to do it yourself." Shirong dered.

    <em>~Gulp~</em>

    The people who had been in displeasure with Young Master Shirong gulped with fear. They knew that now that Young Master Shirong had involved his ancestor in it, they could not do much. While it would be fine and they would not be in any danger if they chose to take that piece of beast shell, they knew that the ancestor of Young Master Shirong''s n was no simple.

    In fact, the ancestor had not even been seen out in the real world in the past five hundred years and some even wondered if he was still alive. They had heard of the rumors that surrounded the n of Young Master Shirong and even more so of their ancestor.

    In this hall, there was no one that was even close to that age and were thus in theplete in the blind about his ancestor. But for a n as powerful as Young Master Shirong''s it was evident that the cultivation of their ancestor must be at the Dao Shell realm at the very least if not the Dao treading realm.

    "Young Master Shirong, what are you even saying, there''s no way in a thousand years we would ever dare to dishonor your n''s ancestor. Please go ahead if the Ji n ancestor cannot appraise it then are we even qualified to have a look?" n Head Lu said in a nervous tone.

    "Hmm, so the n that this Young Master Shirong belongs to is called the Ji n, interestingбн" Lin Wu muttered.

 Chapter 72 - Dao Script?

    Lin Wu had not expected that Young Master Shirong had the same thought as him and decided to take care of any further probabilities that may worsen the situation. By borrowing the name of his n''s ancestor now, there was no one that would dare to question him.

    Even the king of the Ling kingdom would have to call the Ji n''s ancestor senior, not to mention the people here.

    The other people in the hall hurriedly agreed with n head Lu''s words so as to alleviate any potential dishonor. Even a careless mention by Young Master Shirong to his ancestor could spell doom to their entire ns. It would not even take a word before countless other powers would do it themselves to gain the favor of the Ji n.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    Seeing that the situation had stabilized Young Master Shirong took a breath of relief. n head Lu who was standing the nearest to him heard this and suddenly cold sweat appeared on his back.

    "Forgive my insolence, Young Master Shirong! I forgot that you are injured and need to nurse your injuries. Please, take our special courtyard to rest and recover," n Head Lu hurriedly said. "And I don''t think anyone else would disagree to this." He added while looking at the other people in the hall with a killer gaze.

    ''Hahaha, now these fools are in line.'' Shirong inwardlyughed.

    "Yes, yes. Young Master Shirong should go rest now. Also, my n will send some healing pills and elixirs, please use them Young Master Shirong that''s the least we can do." n Head Xiong spoke, finding another moment to boot lick.

    Not wanting to miss out this chance of currying favor the other n heads and the merchant heads did the same giving Shirong some healing pills as well. As for Young Master Shirong''s two followers, they were not forgotten of course.

    They were also given some pills as a friendly gesture, as the ns had to keep up a certain decorum. It would not reflect well on a n''s reputation if they were not even able to afford this much. The two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen would have even gotten more pills but their true identity of being Young Master Shirong''s followers was secret.

    Still, the two men did not mind this and were instead happy at even getting this much.

    "Damn, this guy Shirong is a pro. A few words is all it took him to not only flip the tables in his favor, but also to get rewarded for murdering their people." Lin Wu praised, feeling amazed.

    ''Hehe, get more resources. Potentially they will be mine anywayбн'' Lin Wu thought with a creepy glint in his eyes.

    "That''ll be very amodating of everyone. Thank you for your hospitality." Young Master Shirong thanked and was then personally guided by n head Lu to the special courtyard he had spoken.

    Upon stepping into the room, Shirong could immediately feel the increased concentration of spirit qi in the air. It was evident that the courtyard had some qi gathering formations carved into it. He had to say that this environment would definitely decrease the item he''ll require to recover from the injuries.

    ''Even if this is not as good as the ones in my n, it''s pretty decent for a n like the Lu n.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    "I''ll leave you to it them, Young Master Shirong. If you need anything please, don''t hesitate to contact the servants they will appear at your single word." n head Lu said before leaving the courtyard.

    Shirong waited for the n head Lu to leave the courtyard before he started scanning the entire courtyard with his spirit sense for any spying formation.

    "At least they have the wisdom to not ce a spying formation here," Shirong muttered to himself.

    Suddenly Lin Wu felt the connection he had with the spatial storage ring activate and he became alert.

    "Is he about to summon me? No wait, this feels differentбн" Lin Wu said to himself as he immediately returned to his spear form.

    He then felt a fluctuation in the spatial ring and saw a few things vanish from the ring.

    "Huh, what did he take?" Lin Wu wondered as he then looked outside.

    Shirong was currently in the process of sticking a few talismans around the room. After he was done with it, a bunch of glowing characters appeared in the air which Lin Wu had seen for the first time.

    "This should be enough, now even if someone wants to spy they can''t. This privacy formation shouldst for a few days." Shirong muttered to himself.

    "Ooh! He even has something like this. But then what were those glowing characters that appeared?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "System, what are those characters I just saw?" Lin Mu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Those characters are the runes that are used to make formations. They are written in a specialnguage called as the Dao script.

    бкбк

    "Ah, so that''s what they were. Makes sense, but what is thisnguage Dao script?" Lin Wu spoke further.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system does not have enough information about Dao script and only knows that it is used for various things such as setting up formations, alchemy, weapon forging, spirit tool refinement, and even the Creation of cultivation technique.

    бкбк

    After reading the system''s answer, Lin Wu was quite interested. Seeing how many things the Dao script was used for it seemed obvious to him that he needed to learn.

    "Seems like I need to find a cultivator that had more knowledge about this. No, waitбн wasn''t there something in that list?" Lin Wu muttered before taking another look at the list that the system made.

    "There it is! Data nodeбн and these are even in the form of books. This should be good." Lin Wu said, feeling excited.

    "System, can you scan and obtain these data nodes?" Lin Wu asked.

    To Lin Wu any new knowledge was useful, and he wanted to get every small bit he possibly could.

 Chapter 73 - Ming Dao World?

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: All data nodes can be scanned.

    бкбк

    Seeing the straightforward answer of the system, Lin Wu was happy.

    "System, Scan all the data nodes and update the data banks." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA NODES: 4 found

    ANALYZING DATA NODES: Please Wait patiently

    бкбк

    "Now that this is also being done, I wonder if the process of deriving a method to refine spirit sense will take longer? Looks like I can just wait and see." Lin Wu muttered to himself before taking a look outside.

    He saw that Shirong was muttering something and then started eating some of the pills that were given to him by the n heads. He then sat in a meditative pose and started to heal his injuries using the medical properties of the alchemical pills.

    While he was doing this, his spirit sense was reduced to a small area of one meter around his body, which also restricted Lin Wu''s field of vision.

    "Ah damn, now I can''t see anything outsideбн" Lin Wuined.

    Seeing that it would most likely take Shirong a while to wake up and the same with the system, Lin Wu decided to take a closer look at all the items in the list.

    He read each item one by one and also their descriptions. There were some unique items that were unknown to him, such as a few talismans. Because he could not read it, he couldn''t tell what use they had, but with the system''s exnation, that was solved.

    Another rather strange thing Lin Wu discovered was the clothes in the ring. There were probably around a thousand pairs of clothes in the ring.

    "Oh damn, why does he have so many clothes? They don''t even have different designs most of them look simr." Lin Wu said upon looking through the clothes,

    In the thousand clothes, there were only 10 different designs, which meant that there were a hundred copies of the same type of clothes.

    "Is he obsessive about these particr designs, or does he not like fashion, perhaps?" Lin Wu wondered.

    After thinking over it for a minute, an idea suddenly appeared in his mind. Or rather than an idea, it was a question that he had in his mind for quite a while ever since he started Reading all the cultivation novels.

    The question was: With the number of battles that cultivators have, what do they do with their clothes when they get damaged?

    This question was now answered with a first hand experience.

    "So their solution to that problem is justбн more clothes? Huh, that was ratherбн simple, I guess." Lin Wu said to himself, feeling a bit amazed.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA NODE ANALYZED: 1/4 Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updating

    бкбк

    Just as Lin Wu finished speaking, the notification sound of the system appeared.

    "Oh, just in time, System did you obtain information about the Dao script?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: No, this data node contained information about the geography of this world and its history.

    бкбк

    "Well, that''s not bad. At least I get to read some stuff and get to know more about this ce." Lin Wu spoke.

    "System, show me all that you obtained." Lin Wu ordered.

    A new window appeared in front of Lin Wu and he started reading. He realized that there were a lot of pages, but to his reading speed which was honed over two decades in his past life, this was nothing. It took him about six hours before he finished reading all the things.

    After reading it all thought, Lin Wu felt confused, amazed and scared at the same time.

    Lin Wu leered that the world he was in was called as the Ming Dao world. It seemed like they called thes as worlds by default, but they could be used interchangeably. This was done as mostmoners didn''t even know what this looked like and they would usually not even leave the towns they were born in, not to mention go to another kingdom. It was only the cultivators, that too high leveled ones and great powers that knew about the truth of the world.

    There were about three big continents that were of nearly the same size on the Ming Dao World. They were also located rather closely and were on one side of the, taking up nearly 30% of its entire surface. Still, there was the ocean between the contents which was in the shape of a ''Y''.

    The main ocean of the was simply called as the great ocean, which led Lin Wu to think that the people that named it either didn''t have a naming sense or that they wanted to keep things simple. He also learned the names of the three continents.

    The continent that he was currently on was the one that was in the lower right of the ''Y'' formation and was called as the Eastern Long continent. The one to the left was called as the Western Hu continent and the one at the top was called as the Northern Gui Continent.

    "So a dragon, a tiger, and a turtle? Let me guess these are the guardian beasts, right? Or perhaps the ruling ns have these as their surnames," Lin Wu joked.

    But as he read ahead, he realized that he was spot on. The continents were named after the guardian beasts whose descendants now rule over each of the Continents, thus taking the names as surnames.

    "Huh, at least that will make it easier to remember." Lin Wu muttered.

    He continued reading and found out more about the kingdom that he was in right now, the Ling kingdom. It was a medium sized kingdom and was pretty much average. There were some cultivation sects in the kingdom as well, but none of them were particrly strong.

    Then Lin Wu tried to find more about this ''Ji n'' that Young Master Shirong belonged to. It didn''t take him long to find out about it either, as it turned out they were the big wigs of this continent.

    "Hahaha! Seems like I caught the biggest whale."

 Chapter 74 - Immortal Weapon?

    Getting over his excitement, Lin Wu kept on reading. There was still a lot he needed to learn about this Ji n.

    The thing that caught his attention first was their power. The Ji n was the second most powerful n in the entirety of the Eastern Long Continent, being just below the Long n itself that was the n of the guardian beast.

    He also learned that the Ji n had a few cultivation sects that it ruled over and its members would be those sects Supreme elders. Even if the sect had a Patriarch that was selected from their own people, having the Ji nsmen as the supreme elders meant that even if the sect wanted to do something, they had to go through the supreme elders first.

    Thus in this manner, the Ji n controlled about four of the top ten sects of the Continent. Of course, there were many smaller Sects that were subordinate to these four sects thus the overall number of cultivation sects indirectly under the Ji n''s control was quiterge.

    This knowledge was secret, and the only reason Lin Wu was able to learn about this was because Shirong had borrowed these books from the private records of his n. Most of the Powers of this Continent would not even know that something like this even existed.

    Lin Wu wanted to know more about the cultivators of the Ji n, as he was likely to head there along with Shirong. He wanted to be prepared and know beforehand what he was getting into. But surprisingly, this book barely had any information about that.

    There were some vague mentions in it though, which said that there were as many core condensation realm cultivators in the Ji n as there were leaves in a forest and even the Nascent soul realm cultivators were rathermon.

    "This seems more like an exaggeration, there should be more proper information in something else." Lin Wu said.

    Lin Wu was now curious about the cultivation realms of this world. Till now he had heard of four realms and he wanted to know more about the others that were above it. But sadly there was nothing in this book and even the system didn''t know more above the nascent soul realm.

    Having finished reading this book, Lin Wu took a look outside and checked Shirong''s condition. The man was still sitting in the same position and would eat a few pills in time intervals of an hour. Lin Wu observed his face and its color seemed to have gotten better.

    "He''s not as pale as before, so I guess he''s getting better. Though I don''t know if it''s good to let him recover yetбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    Suddenly an idea appeared in his mind and an evil glint shined in his eyes.

    "Heheheбн"

    Shirong had been able to recoverer about fifty percent of his internal injuries by now. He reckoned that he should be able to recover fully in about one more day. But his cultivation base still made him sigh with helplessness.

    It had taken him the help of his n''s resources and the special cultivation rooms that they had to allow him to reach the pseudo nascent soul realm so fast. He was barely twenty seven years old and had high talent in his n.

    He knew the power struggle of his n and had battled with the other potential heirs before reaching his current position. It had taken him over a decade to get to this point, and there was no way in hell that he would let go of this easily.

    Shirong knew that if he were to return like this to his n, there was no doubt his brothers would take over his position. There were over a hundred children that his father had from all his concubines. Shirong was lucky that his mother was rather high up in the rankings and was thus able to provide him with all the resources they had.

    Another thing was that he was not the only one among his siblings that had a pseudo nascent soul realm cultivation. There were three more of his siblings that had the same cultivation base. Two of them were his elder brothers, and one of them was his eldest sister.

    But thankfully he only had to contend with his two brothers as women were ineligible to be the inheritor of the n ording to the rules set by the founding ancestors of the n. But this didn''t mean that he could fully ignore this sister of his.

    If she decided to support any one from the two elder brothers, there was a hundred percent chance that he would be forced to abdicate his position as the heir.

    Now, this put him in a dilemma, should he go back to the n so that he could recover quicker, or should he bide his time away from the n and recover slower?

    The first option would guarantee that he would recover in less than a month, but it also came with the risk of him losing his position.

    The second option would mean that he would have to spend at least a year outside the n. But this was also the safest option. He could ensure that no news of his regression of cultivation base reached his n. It was simple as the ns of the Deer Wood city were already influenced by him and would listen to something like this without doubting it.

    Shirong was just thinking of what to choose when he suddenly remembered about the spear.

    "NO! I cannot let it be exposed. It would have been fine if it was a pseudo immortal tool, but now that I know it is a true immortal weapon, there is no way I can let the ancestor get it." Shirong uttered with bloodshot eyes.

    Lin Wu who had just thought of doing something to Shirong was startled.

    "What? Immortal weapon? I''m an immortal weapon now, how?" Lin Wu said, feeling shocked.

 Chapter 75 - Price?

    Lin Wu was shocked hearing Shirong say that he was an immortal weapon but then he thought for a bit and understood why it was so.

    ''Seems like my acting was too much for him, and he thinks I''m an immortal weapon now. Still, this is good for me, now I can be even more overbearing and that guy will just think it''s because I''m an immortal weapon.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu kept on observing as he wanted to see what other stuff Shirong would say as the more he knew the more he would learn about his limits. If he knew the maximum limit of the stuff he could do, it meant that he could leech off from Shirong that much.

    ''If the ancestor finds out about this spear, there is no way that I''ll ever get to see it again. There is not a single immortal weapon in this world, as for the pseudo immortal weapon even the ancestor only has one that has not seen the light of the day for the past four hundred years.'' Shirong thought.

    He continued thinking over what to do while his eyes turned bloodshot and his fists became strained. Shirong was under great pressure right now. He had too many things to consider and even more variable to analyze. If he took even a single wrong step, all he had done till now would go to waste.

    "I cannot go back to the nбн At least not until I figure out more about the spear and learn how to use it. If it is truly sealed, then I need to find out how to awaken it and unlock its true potential. If I can make the spear truly mine, then this entire empireбн no this entire world will be mine!" Shirong uttered with fervor.

    Lin Wu was hearing what Shirong was saying and hisst sentence had surprised him a bit.

    "Whoa! Straight to world domination, huh? Spoken like a true viinбн" Lin Wu chuckled.

    ''But this opens up a lot of avenues for me. A sealed weapon, huhбн And he wants to ''awaken'' me?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Seeing that Shirong had gone silent and was still thinking over his n, Lin Wu decided to test something out.

    "Since you want to awaken me, then that''s what you''ll get!" Lin Wu dered.

    He then consulted a few things with the system and formted a new n, one that would match with his ''new'' identity of an Immortal weapon. After asking the system a few questions, Lin Wu checked the viability of the n and then initiated it.

    Shirong was engrossed in his thoughts when he suddenly heard a voice in his mind. He missed what he said due to not focusing on it, but it did break him out of his thoughts.

    "Huh, what was that?" Shirong muttered.

    "Qi" The voice said faintly.

    "What?" Shirong spoke, feeling confused as he could barely hear what it was saying.

    "Qiбн" the voice spoke again, this time a bit louder.

    "Qi?" Shirong could grasp what the voice was saying but was still confused about its intent.

    "Giveбн" The voice added.

    "Give?" Shirong muttered after the voice.

    "GIVE ME QI!" This time the voice thundered.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    <em>~Thunk~</em>

    Shirong was startled by the loud sound and fell back due to being shocked. Blood drained from his face and it became a pale white, simr to how it was before. But this time it was not due to being injured, no it was because he was simply shocked by the power contained in the voice.

    The voice that he heard in his head wasбн inhuman. It did not seem to belong to a beast either, it was simplyбн unnatural. So much so that hearing it again made goosebumps appeared on his body and a chill to go down his spine.

    But due to this, Shirong did realize who the voice belonged toбн or rather what. He closed his eyes and focused on his spatial storage ring, only to find the green crystal spear humming and glowing inside it.

    "The spear! It wants Qi!" Shirong muttered,ing to terms with the situation.

    He actually hesitated for a bit before gritting his teeth and withdrawing the spear from the ring. As soon as he held it in his hand, he felt it.

    "The spearбн it''s hungry?" he said before starting to pour his spirit qi into the spear.

    Shirong felt a sucking force arising from the spear, and soon his spirit qi started to be drained at a great pace.

    One minuteбн

    Two minutesбн

    Five minutesбн

    Ten minutesбн

    Thirty minutesбн

    An entire thirty minutes passed, after which Shirong was utterly drained and was now unwilling to give the spear anymore of his spirit qi. While the speed of its absorption was not as fast as it was back when it first absorbed his, Ye Dai and Bei Wen''s spirit qi, it was still quite a lot.

    Finally, unable to hold on anymore, he let go of the spear and let it fall to the floor.

    <em>~Thunk~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Thankfully, the floor was made up of high quality wood and was able to bear the immense weight of the spear, or a crack would have not been the only thing to happen to it.

    Shirong looked into his dantian and saw the condition of his core. All of the spirit qi that he had recuperated today had been sucked by the spear. His heart ached with regret, but he knew that there wasn''t much he could do.

    He was the one who had chosen to take the spear and now if he wanted to keep it he had to pay the price that woulde with it.

    "Hahaha!" Shirong suddenly startedughing.

    "I knew the price for wielding an immortal weapon would not be less, but thisбн I''ll take it!" He dered.

    "You want Qi, right? Then I''ll give you as much as you want. There are plenty of cultivators here, anyway." Shirong stated before looking at the spear, which glowed for a moment, as if answering him.

 Chapter 76 - Murder?

    In the dark of night, the faint sounds of footsteps echoed in the deste alley.

    A man dressed in a cultivator''s robes was walking on the path. His face was flushed red and the stench of wine could be smelleding from his clothes. It was evident that the man was drunk, yet his steps were firm and did not look like they belonged to a drunk person.

    This showed that the man was a cultivator and had not lost all inhibitions. The drunk man suddenly stopped as he heard something from the side.

    "Who''s there!" The man called out but received no answer.

    Thinking that it must have been some random noise or a stray animal, he forgot about it and continued on his way.

    But then suddenlyбн

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Slick~</em>

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    The man found endless pain coursing through his body as he saw the tip of a spearing out of his chest. He tried to speak but was unable due to a certain force preventing him. He then found all his strength draining from his body.

    His spirit qi and vital energy were rapidly being sapped and in less than ten seconds only a drained husk was left behind.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    The drained corpse of the drunk man fell on the ground, kicking up some dust. But then a secondter the corpse disappeared from the ground, and so did the blood that had been sttered on the ground.

    Nobody would expect that somebody had died in this alley when the morning woulde, as there were no traces of something like that left.

    A figure moved in the darkness and soon disappeared into the depths.

    ***

    Back at the courtyard which had been given to Shirong to rest, the Young Master was sitting on a cushion cross legged. He had a green crystal spear in hisp and was looking at it intently. There were interlocking spurs on each of the sections of the spear and then the sharp spear de at the base of which two spikes extended.

    The most eye catching part of the spear was the two red dots that glowed at the beast of the spear de, just perpendicr to the two spikes.

    "So it doesn''t matter if it''s my qi or someone else. But you want more than that don''t you?" Shirong muttered as he gazed at the spear.

    <em>~Shine~</em>

    As if to answer his question, the spear glowed for a moment.

    "Ahaha! So I''m right and you can understand me tooбн of course, what else could be expected of an immortal weapon." Shirong said.

    Shirong then remembered the moment when he had attacked that drunk man. He felt how easy it was to pierce through the drunk man''s chest. It was as if a ming hot poker was being pierced through a b of butter. It was simply marvelous.

    But that was not the only thing that caught Shirong''s attention. No! Rather what he felt after the spear had started absorbing the drunk man''s spirit qi and vital energy.

    ''It can give me spirit qi that it drains from its victims.'' Shirong understood.

    While the amount that it gave him was not that much, but the man that he had killed was barely at the early stage of the qi refining realm. Still, Shirong knew the implications of what the spear could do. Just by killing that man, Shirong had obtained twenty drops of liquid spirit qi.

    While this amount was quite small to him, the source that it came from was but a mere early stage qi refining realm cultivator that perhaps did not even have five hundred wisps of spirit qi in his dantian. When a cultivator started to refining their spirit qi wisps into liquid drops, the process was quite difficult.

    Even if a single liquid spirit qi drop was only equivalent to ten wisps, when the actual refinement was done, the ratio was much more and could even get up to 1:100. Not all cultivators could actually refine exactly ten wisps of spirit qi into one drop of liquid.

    They would almost always make losses, and it was only after they reached the core condensation realm that they would actually move in that aspect. Thus in the case of an early stage there was no way that one could even refine a single drop of it, even after expending all of their spirit qi.

    Shirong could only imagine how much the spear could give him if he killed stronger cultivators or beasts.

    "Hmm, hunting beasts would be the better choice, killing cultivators randomly would only bring misfortune to me unless I''m able to hide it well. Still, in a small city like this perhaps killing ten cultivators may go unnoticed, but a hundred will deficiently be grounds for investigation." Shirong muttered to himself.

    While Shirong was thinking this, Lin Wu was rejoicing internally. He couldn''t really show anything physically as he was not in the spatial storage ring, but in his mind, he was jumping around.

    "YES! The n worked! Now I got this guy working just as I want." Lin Wu said out loud in his mind.

    All the things that Shirong had done till now were directed by Lin Wu. He was the one who had been speaking in his mind and telling him what he wanted. But it was Shirong who went ahead and murdered a man without a single bit of hesitation.

    Lin Wu was shocked a bit at that time but soon got to absorbing all he could from the dead man. Because Lin Wu could not eat the corpse, he had to use a different method. This was the same method the system had used back when he had newly arrived in the world and had absorbed the Rock trampler boar and the cultivator that was hunting it.

    Lin Wu had inquired the system whether he could use that method and why the system had not used it again after that.

    The answer he received for the question was rather simple, it was inefficient.

 Chapter 77 - Lin Wus Temptation?

    The system had told Lin Wu that using that absorption method was rather inefficient as it only gave the host about thirty percent of all resources from the target it was used was. This ration was from back when Lin Wu was still a smallmon mud worm.

    But the system told him that now that he was in the qi refining realm, the absorption ratio had increased up to fifty percent for vital energy, while the absorption for the spirit qi was a full one hundred percent. This raised Lin Wei''s hopes, as he knew that he could very well use this method.

    Still, there was a problem that needed to be addressed. Even if Shirong listened to what he wanted, he wouldn''t be the same always. There was even a chance that if Lin Wu demanded far too much, Shirong may just get suspicious of him or may even lose all inhibitions to check him.

    Lin Wu also reckoned that while he could be safe by using the system to hide his traces, he didn''t want to take the rare chance of being found out by a strong cultivator that was a few realms higher than he was. Even if the system told him that it could hide him, it was not an absolute and there were always chances that it could still happen.

    Thus Lin Wu had to formte a n that would not only give him the vital energy and spirit qi but also give the man, Shirong some too. Lin Wu asked the system if it was possible to do this and the system said that as long as it was only spirit qi, it would be possible to give some of it to the man using the connection he had with him.

    Finally, the n was made concrete and Lin Wu started. Lin Wu incited Shirong to give him qi and then showed an unstoppable hunger for it. This prompted him to go kill another cultivator to get the spirit qi. Lin Wu had originally expected that the man would try it on a beast to be safe, who in their right sense wouldmit murdered upon listening to the words of a weapon, right?

    But then Lin Wu raised that this was a cultivation world and themon sense of his past world didn''t exactly work here and the people here could even be said to be deranged on a certain level.

    Havinge to terms with that, Lin Wu absorbed all the vital energy and spirit qi that the drunk man which Shirong had killed had. Since the efficiency of absorption was only fifty percent for vital energy, Lin Wu kept all of it. He didn''t want to give this to Shirong anyway, as he knew that most cultivators only wanted spirit qi once they reached the qi refining realm.

    Lin Mu had learned from the system that vital energy was only used by a few cultivators and it was rare for them to continue cultivating it even after reaching the qi refining realm. But Lin Wu still did not know what was the use of vital every beyond the qi refining realm as there was no knowledge about it in the system''s data banks and he would just have to look for it in the future.

    After all, Lin Wu wanted to know all of the avenues of cultivation in this world. He realized that if he was going to stay as a worm, then he may as well be the strongest worm of them all!

    Lin Wu was able to absorb four hundred wisps of spirit qi from the drunk man, which the system converted to the liquid form. This showed Lin Wu that the man was an early stage qi refining realm cultivator and thus did not have much spirit qi, though he did give Lin Wu plenty of vital energy.

    While Lin Wu did not want to give Shirong too much of the spirit qi, he knew that he had to develop a thirst in him. Thus he gave him half of the spirit qi that he had obtained, which came down to twenty drops of liquid spirit qi.

    The man was clearly happy because of this as could be seen how carefully he had ced the spear on hisp and was gazing at him with gentle eyesбн well, not really gentle but more of a creep''s eyes.

    Lin Wu knew that his n had worked, and he had hooked the man. Now all he needed to do was to wait for him to go and kill more beasts or cultivates, it didn''t really matter to him. After all, the person who kills is called the murderer, not the gun that released the bullet, that is merely the tool.

    In this way, Lin Wu directed all of the guilt onto Shirong''s head, effortlessly.

    Now Lin Wu was just waiting for Shirong to put him back into the ring as he wanted to continue looking through the information that the system had obtained from killing the drunk man. He had also obtained a small data node, which had some new information.

    ***

    Shirong was looking at the spear in hisp and had been for a while. During this time he had finallye to the decision that there was no way he was going to return to his n now. The sole biggest reason for him to want to return there was so that he could gain his cultivation back.

    While he had to give a lot of spirit qi to the spear today, which had put him back to where he was at the start when he came here, it was only because he had made a mistake. Shirong now knew the right method was not to give it his own spirit qi but rather to use other beasts or cultivators.

    "Now that I have you to give me spirit qi, what use I have from the n. I can gain my cultivation base back much faster with you helping me and supplying me the spirit qi." Shirong said with a little chuckle.

 Chapter 78 - Cultivation Realms?

    Feeling satisfied Shirong finally put the spear back into the spatial storage ring and he focused on cultivating by himself. He still needed to see if those twenty drops of spirit qi he obtained were different from the normal spirit qi or not. He had not fully assimted them into his core and had actually let them float around in a corner of his dantian.

    Shirong knew a lot of things and was certainly not as careless to directly absorb foreign spirit qi into his core. If there was anything wrong with the spirit qi, he could suffer grave damage. While his initial assessment of the qi was fine, he still wanted to be cautious.

    ''Hmm, there is no difference in these drops of liquid spirit qi. They have not been tampered with and are rather pure, almost no different from the spirit qi obtained from a peak grade spirit stone.'' Shirong thought.

    "Ahaha! The fortune is simply in my favor." Shirongughed out loud.

    He calmed down after a bit and closed his eyes, returning to his cultivation.

    ***

    "Ah, finally! Some privacy," Lin Wu said as he took a breath of relief.

    "System show me the Host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 24 days

    LIFESPAN: 150 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Late stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/1500] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 13195 units [liquid spirit qi]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+2)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Minor)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    BEAST CORE: Not formed

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 8356 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 6710 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown (+2)

    5. Ash Crowned Buck

    бкбк

    Lin Wu felt happy at the amount of spirit qi and vital energy that he had obtained. Lin Wu reckoned that he would be able to reach the core condensation realm in one jump if he wanted to do so. Though he would not do it right now, no he had a special n for that.

    Lin Wu had inquired with the system and knew that breaking through to the core condensation realm would be a rather shy asion and if he did it in the ring, Shirong would definitely know. Thus he knew that if he wanted to do it he would have to grasp the right opportunity.

    With the influx of more spirit qi and vital energy, the consumption of system energy storage seemed almost negligible.

    Lin Wu then looked over at the new information that was obtained from the data node he got from the drunk man. But after reading through it all he was disappointed as it was just some mundane information about the day to day life of that drunk man which was rather useless.

    But just as he wasmenting at this, the notification sounded again.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA NODE ANALYZED: 2/4 Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updating

    бкбк

    "Ah, right in time! Show me the new information." Lin Wu ordered.

    A new window appeared in front of Lin Wu and he started reading it. But not even after the first few lines, Lin Wuughed out loud.

    "Just what I wanted." Lin Wu muttered.

    The new information that Lin Wu had obtained was none other than the information pertaining to the cultivation realms of this world.

    Lin Wu learned that there were about seven widely known cultivation realms in this world and it all started from the body tempering realm.

    The body tempering realm had a total of thirteen stages, all of which required vital energy to progress in. The first to fourth stage tempered the muscles, the fifth to seventh stages tempered the skin, the eighth to tenth stage tempered the blood while the final three stages tempered the bones and the marrows.

    This did not matter to Lin Wu now, as he had pretty much skipped over most of the stages and had directly reached the qi refining realm by consuming the green crystal. He also learned that one needed to reach the eighth stage of the body temping realm in order to reach the qi refining realm.

    It was only at the eighth stage of the body tempering realm that a cultivator was able to contain spirit qi in their bodies. If they tried to use cultivation techniques before this, they would sustain injuries and could even explode.

    Then came the qi refining realm, which had four stages; the early, mid,te and peak stages. In this, a cultivator would absorb spirit qi wisps from the atmosphere and add it to their dantian. When their dantian exceeded half of its capacity, the cultivator was said to have broken through to the mid stage of the qi rending realm.

    When the spirit qi wispspletely filled the dantian of a cultivator, the cultivator was said to have reached the end of the mid stage of the qi refining realm. If he or she wanted to break through to the next stage, they had to refine the spirit qi wisps into a liquid form.

    As soon as even a single drop of spirit qi was refined, the cultivator would break through to thete stage of the qi refining realm. Then, simr to the mid stage of the qi refining realm, in order to reach the peak stage, a cultivator had to fill half of his dantian with liquid spirit qi.

    When the entire Dantian was filled to the brim with liquid spirit qi, the cultivator was said to have reached the absolute peak of the qi refining realm.

    After this came the core condensation realm, which also had four stages simr to the qi refining realm; early, mid,te and peak. In this, the cultivator would further refine the liquid spirit qi they had into a solid core.

    Once this solid core was fully formed, they would have reached the core condensation realm.

 Chapter 79 - More Cultivation Realms?

    Each stage Core condensation involves doubling the size of the core. For example, if the core in the early stage was formed from a thousand drops of liquid spirit qi then the core in the mid stage would have to double its size and reach two thousand drops of liquid spirit qi.

    Subsequently, in thete stage, it would double again to reach four thousand drops and then finally eight thousand in the peak stage of the core condensation realm. The amount of spirit qi drops was not the same for everyone and depended on the size of their dantian.

    The cultivators that were more talented had higher capacity, while those that were less talented had lesser capacity. Any cultivator that reached the core condensation realm could live for a total of three hundred years.

    The next realm after the core condensation realm was called as the nascent soul realm and was the first big demarcation between cultivators. Only after a cultivator reached the nascent soul realm, could he be called an expert.

    Reaching the nascent soul realm was incredibly difficult, as a cultivator had to ovee the heavenly tribtion.

    When a cultivator reached the absolute peak of the core condensation realm, they would start to get an idea of when their heavenly tribtion would being. During this period they were called as pseudo nascent soul realm cultivators as their understanding of the spirit qi had exceeded that of a normal cultivator and were close to that of a nascent soul realm cultivator.

    A cultivator would usually suppress the heavenly tribtion until he or she found a proper opportunity. One needed a lot of preparation if they wanted to reach the nascent soul realm as the heavenly tribtion could very easily kill them if they were not careful and well prepared.

    Once the cultivator became ready to undergo the heavenly tribtion, tribtion clouds would gather and heavenly lightning would strike their body. The goal of the cultivator was to endure this heavenly lightning and use it to hatch their nascent soul.

    Their core would act as the egg, and from it, the nascent soul would be born. Once the nascent soul was sessfully born, the cultivator was said to have sessfully reached the first stage of the nascent soul realm.

    The first stage was called as the infant soul stage as the nascent soul was in the form of an infant. This infant would look the same as the cultivator when they were of that age.

    There were three more stages in the nascent soul realm, which were the child soul, adolescent soul, and adult soul stages, for a total of four stages.

    The cultivator would be able to freely able to wield the spirit qi in the environment and would have to nourish his or her nascent soul in order to make it grow and reach the next stage. It was also this stage during which the appearance of a cultivator was fixed.

    If a cultivator reached the adult stage of the nascent soul realm at the age of twenty, his appearance would be fixed at that age until he reaches the very end of his or her lifespan. At that point, they would rapidly age hundreds of years in the span of a few minutes and then die.

    Reaching the nascent soul realm increased the cultivator''s life span to a thousand years and made them worthy of starting their own cultivation sects.

    Till this point, Lin Wu had known of the cultivation stages and had heard of them before, but the ones that came after this was rather unknown to him.

    "The Dao shell realm and the Dao treading realmбн interesting." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The next stage after the nascent soul realm was the Dao shell realm, in which a cultivator needed to form a container inside their dantian. This container was called as the Dao Shell and it was within this that a Dao embryo would be nourished. Reaching this realm increased the cultivator''s lifespan to two thousand years.

    The sub stages in the Dao Shell realm were the Shell initiation, Shell genesis, Shellpletion and Shell expansion. A cultivator could actually skip the final stage, which was the Shell expansion stage and directly proceed to the Dao treading realm if they wanted to, but there were seldom any cultivators that did it.

    The main aim to form a Dao Shell was for the growth of a Dao embryo. Therger the Dao shell was, the stronger the Dao embryo that could be formed.

    A Dao embryo was nothing but the initial understanding of the Dao of heaven and earth. It could be of anything that the cultivator was able to grasp, and there could even be more than one. But to reach the Dao treading realm, only one shell was required.

    If the cultivator wanted to grow more Dao embryos, they had to grow more Dao shell''s in their dantian. But this was an immensely difficult task, and most cultivators would only grow a single Embryo.

    When the Dao Embryo finally starts to grow, a cultivator would break through to the Dao treading realm and their lifespan would further extend to three thousand years.

    ording to the record that Lin Wu was reading, this was the highest realm a cultivator from this world could reach.

    But there was another realm above this, which was actually familiar to Lin Wu. It was the Immortal Ascension realm. The method to progress to the immortal Ascension realm was not mentioned in the records, and it was stated that each cultivator would have to devise their own method to reach it.

    There was no set method, and everything depended on their ownprehension. There was also no mention of how much the life span of a cultivator was once they reached the immortal Ascension realm and none of the current Immortal Ascension realm experts mentioned this either.

    ''Hmm, this is asplex as I thought it would be, but there are far more uncertainties than I expected.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

 Chapter 80 - Cultivation Techniques?

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Lin Wu let out a long sigh after reading the entirety of the information that was obtained from the Data Node. The details of cultivation realms in the data node were far greater than what most people in this world knew. There were certain nuances which even highly aplished cultivators did not know and were mentioned in the Ji n''s records.

    Lin Wu was impressed by this and knew how lucky he was in being able to gain this. He was also interested in the small mentions about the other cultivation paths that were present. The most researched andmon path in this world was the spirit qi cultivation but in addition to this path, there was also the body refinement and soul cultivation.

    The very first stage of cultivation which was the body tempering realm was actually a part of the body refinement path and it could be continued onward from that. Though the specific cultivation realms of the body refinement path were not mentioned in this record as it was specifically for spirit qi refinement.

    As for the Soul path, it was considered to be long lost and there were no known practitioners of that path.

    "The body refinement path must be what the vital energy is used for. Looks like I should keep on umting as much vital energy as I can. If I get the information on how to practice body refinement cultivation, it would be very helpful." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    About two hours had passed since the second data node had been analyzed and Shirong had been engrossed in his own cultivation, not moving a single bit from his position. He had not even used the pills that had been given to him for some reason and was doing it on his own.

    "This guy is quite dedicated, isn''t he?" Lin Wu stated.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA NODE ANALYZED: 3/4 Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updating

    бкбк

    Another Data node finished analyzing, and the information window appeared in front of Lin Wu.

    "Sky Shaking Immortal Artбн is this a cultivation technique?" Lin Wu wondered as he read the title.

    He continued reading and confirmed that it was indeed a cultivation technique. It was one of the top three cultivation techniques of the Ji n and was also the one that Shirong himself was practicing. Even in the entire Eastern Long Continent, it would be considered as a top quality and perhaps even in the other two continents as well.

    The more Lin Wu read it, the more interested he got. The technique mentioned that its practitioner could be strong enough that each of their movements would shake the sky itself. It allowed a cultivator to gain an understanding of the Dao of the Sky and would allow them to grow the Dao Embryo of Sky in the Dao treading realm.

    This meant that it was aplete cultivation technique that allowed one to cultivate all the way up to the Dao treading realm.

    ording to what Lin Wu had read till now, there were far too few cultivation techniques that even went beyond the nascent soul realm.

    "System, is it possible to adapt this cultivation technique for my use?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Including this cultivation technique, the system currently only has two additional cultivation techniques in its data banks. The system needs a lot more technique samples to be able to adapt them ording to the host''s physique.

    Current List-

    1. Mortal Qi refinement technique [Low-grade technique]

    2. Tiger Vein Qi refinement Scripture [Low-grade technique]

    3. Sky Shaking Immortal Art [Top-grade technique]

    бкбк

    "Dammit, I forgot that I barely had any of them. Even the first one was only obtained because I ate that man at the very start and the second one should be from that drunk man." Lin Wu cursed.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "No use fussing over it, I just need to obtain more of them. I''ll get there eventually." Lin Wu stated.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA NODE ANALYZED: 4/4 Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updating

    OBTAINED: Dao script.

    бкбк

    As soon as Lin Wu saw that the final data node had been analyzed as well, he became Happy. The final data node also contained what he exactly needed, which was none other than the information about the Dao Script.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Should the system inject the information about the Dao script directly into the Host''s brain? Y/N.

    бкбк

    "Perfect, go ahead system." Lin Wu epted.

    Lin Wu''s vision went nk and a splitting headache assaulted him. He had expected that something like this would happen thus did not mind it and simply gritted his teeth while the process waspleted. About five minutester the process was finallypleted and the headache disappeared.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    MEMORY INJECTION: Sessful.

    HOST VITALS: Stable.

    бкбк

    Seeing the notification confirmed it for Lin Wu. He tried to remember the characters he had seen when Shirong set up the formations and realized that he could read them now.

    "Awesome, that''s another thing off the list. If I keep up this pace, then I''ll be a peerless expert soon, no doubt." Lin Wu praised himself.

    Just as Lin Wu was about to continue, he saw that Shirong had woken up from his cultivation session.

    Shirong stood up and walked to the entrance of the courtyard. A couple of servants who were standing there saw him and greeted him with a bow.

    "Do you need anything, Young Master Shirong?" They questioned.

    "No, I just want to go and meet mypanions Ye Dai and Bei Wen. Do you know where they are?" Shirong replied.

    "Please, let us guide you." The two spoke and then gestured for Shirong to follow them.

    The servants took him to the courtyard that was about two hundred meters away from Shirong''s and stopped at its entrance.

    "Young master''spanions have been resting here." They spoke and let Shirong continue from there himself.

    Shirong did a quick sweep with his spirit sense and found the two of them resting in their rooms. Ye Dai and Bei Wen immediately detected Shirong''s spirit sense and came out of the room.

    "Get ready, we''re going hunting for beasts," Shirong ordered.

 Chapter 81 - Hunting?

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen were a bit taken aback after hearing Young Master Shirong''s words, but they did not question it. They had already healed a majority of their injuries that had been caused by the bacsh of regressing in their cultivation in these past two days.

    Looking at Young Master Shirong''s condition, they could tell that it was the same with him and he even seemed to be in high spirits for some reason.

    The three of them were interrupted by the servants while they were leaving as they asked them where they were going. Shirong simply told them that they were going for hunting and the servants quickly moved, letting them pass. If it was just hunting, then there was no reason for them to be worried.

    The three of them rushed to the exit of the city before flying from there.

    "Why the sudden desire to hunt, Young master?" Bei Wen asked, feeling curious.

    "I just have a few things that I needed to test out and the beasts would serve as the perfect subjects," Shirong answered.

    They two didn''t know what to think of this and simply continued flying onward. Soon the three of them reached the Millennium forest and started looking for beasts. This was a different part of the millennium forest and was in the opposite direction from the forbidden area.

    After their previous experience, they definitely did not want to go to that ce again.

    It didn''t take them long to find beasts either, as all it took was a sweep of Shirong''s spirit sense. The beast they had found was amon fierce beast called as the long limbed lizard. As its name said, it had long limbs and that was all there was to it.

    The beast was at the seventh stage of the body tempering realm and was quite easy for any of them to kill, which was why Ye Dai was a bit confused. He was about to speak, but then saw Young Master Shirong withdraw the green crystal spear from his spatial storage ring.

    The beast had still not noticed the three of them as they were flying in the sky and was quickly killed without a noise. The spear pierced through its body swiftly ending its life.

    Shirong furrowed his brows but then saw the body of the best rapidly drying.

    "Young Masterбн this?" Bei Wen questioned with shock.

    But Shirong did not answer and simply pulled out the spear from the body of the beast.

    "Hmm, as I thought. Only the spirit beasts are worth hunting." Shirong muttered to himself.

    He then found the next closest spirit beast and flew towards it, with Ye Dai and Bei Wen filling behind him.

    The beast he found this time was called a purple furred coyote. It was an early stage qi refining realm beast and was simrly killed in a swift manner. The spear pierced the chest of the beast and rapidly started sucking on the spirit qi and vital energy from the beast.

    Ten secondster only a dried out husk of the beast was now left behind.

    "Hmm, Yes this is it," Shirong said as he absorbed the spirit qi the spear gave him.

    The quantity this time was much smaller than when he killed the drunk man, about four drops of liquid spirit qi. But Shirong did not mind it, as he had kind of expected it.

    ''There is quite a difference in the spirit qi obtained from beasts and cultivators.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    The two followers Bei Wen and Ye Dai were left dumbstruck. They had no idea what was happening and why was the corpse of the beast all dried out now.

    "Young Master Shirong, that spearбн what is it doing?" Ye Dai asked, unable to hold back anymore.

    "The spear can absorb the spirit qi from the beasts and give it to me," Shirong answered simply.

    "What!" Both Ye Dai and Bei Wen eximed.

    They could guess what this entailed and knew that the value of the green crystal spear was elevated even more. They had never heard of any spirit weapon that could do the same, even if it was a pseudo immortal too.

    "I want you to go around and capture spirit beasts for me to kill," Shirong ordered.

    "As you wish, young master." The two of them replied together before flying away to do the task that was just given to them.

    "Let''s see how much you can give me todayбн" Shirong muttered and then began to hunt more beasts on his own.

    About thirty minutester, Ye Dai and Bei wen had captured about ten spirit beasts and total and brought them to Young Master Shirong. Shirong himself had hunted about seven of them on his own and was clearly happy with his gains.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Slick~</em>

    The grows and cries of the beasts could be heard melding together as they saw theirpanions being killed one by one. The beasts were loud at first but then seeing what was happening to the beasts that were being killed along with the pressure that excluded from the three men, made them silent in fear.

    Soon Shirong was done killing all the beasts and draining them of the spirit qi.

    "Ahaha! Two hundredбн an entire two hundred drops of spirit qi!" Shirongughed out loud.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen were shocked upon hearing this. They had not expected that the gains of their Young Master would be so good. This was much more than a peak grade spirit stone, and that too at a fraction of its cost.

    After all, peak grade spirit stones were quite rare, but the spirit beasts were countless. The cost could not even bepared.

    ''Seems like a pseudo immortal weapon like this green crystal spear has many more mysteries than we through.'' Ye Dai through to himself.

    Shirong closed his eyes for a couple of minutes as he focused on absorbing all the spirit qi that he had been given.

    ''Hehehe, this time should be right!'' Lin Mu thought to himself.

 Chapter 82 - Multiple Breakthroughs?

    While Shirong had obtained two hundred drops of spirit qi in total from the beasts that he had killed, he did not know that it was a mere fraction of the amount that Lin Wu himself had taken.

    Lin Wu brought out the host data window and saw the spirit qi that he now had.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST CULTIVATION: Late stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/1500] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 15002 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "I reckon ten times as much spirit qi should be enough for me to reach the core condensation realm in one go, Hehe." Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Alright, system you know what to do. Make it as shy as possible, we want to impress the audience."

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADING CULTIVATION BASE: Please wait patiently.

    бкбк

    That''s right, what Lin Wu was intending to do was none other than breakthrough to the core condensation realm. He was doing this not only to increase his cultivation base but also to keep Shirong''s interest.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Suddenly a strong wave of spirit qi was released from the green crystal spear. Shirong was taken aback and almost let go of the spear.

    "Young Master, what''s happening?" Bei Wen questioned with apprehension.

    The three of them had felt something simr back when they were inside the crater and were thus a bit shocked.

    "Iбн I don''t know." Shirong replied as he watched the spear.

    The concentration of spirit qi in the area started rapidly rising, and Shirong found it hard to keep a hold on the spear. It was as if the spear was trying to fly away from his hand.

    "Aargh!" Shirong cried and let go of the spear, which had suddenly turned burning hot.

    The spear flew from his arm and floated up to a short distance in the air. des of wind swirled around the spear, and Shirong could feel the aura of the spear increase through the connection.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Reached peak stage of the qi refining realm.

    HOST CULTIVATION: Peak stage of the Qi Refining Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/3000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 13502 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "What are you waiting for? Continue!" Lin Wu ordered the system.

    The spear started humming with power as the concentration of spirit qi in the environment rose again.

    "The spearбн it''s getting stronger?" Bei Wen uttered with astonishment.

    Shirong looked at the two men, Ye Dai and Bei Wen with a dangerous look in his eyes.

    "You two know what to speak and what not, right?" Shirong asked in a cold tone.

    <em>~Gulp~</em>

    The two followers gulped in fear before responding, "Yes, Young Master!"

    Shirong nodded his head and then focused on the Green Crystal spear, whose aura was growing more and more with each second.

    A blinding green light burst out of the spear as an oppressive might exuded from the spear. Even though it was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was zing at the top of their heads, the light of the spear still drowned out the light of the sun.

    Just from this, one could guess the amount of power contained within the spear.

    But this was merely the start as soon the three men found their skin to be heating up. It was mild at first and was the same as being heated by the sun. But soon the temperature started rising.

    "Wha-what is this!" Ye Dai uttered with fear.

    "The heatбн how?" Bei Wen stuttered.

    "It''s the spear, get back!" Shirong shouted.

    The three of them moved a hundred meters back and finally felt a bit relieved. But even if the heat on their skin was reduced, the pressure that the spear was exuding was not gone.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was rejoicing in his mind. Everything was going exactly as he wanted it to be.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATING BASE UPGRADED: New realm reached - Core condensation realm.

    NOTIFICATION: Initiate condensing beast core?

    бкбк

    "Is that even a question? JUST DO IT!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Hula~</em>

    Rhythmic waves of energy exuded off the spear as it started spinning. The three men were taken aback as they thought that the entire process was close to ending.

    "Young Master, I fear this may go beyond or capabilities. The disturbance in the spirit qi that the spear is causing it is extending." Ye Dai stated.

    A frown appeared on Shirong''s face as he knew what could happen if anyone else came here after noticing the spirit qi fluctuations. He didn''t exactly know what the spear was doing except for the fact that it was increasing in strength, as that was what he could perceive from its aura.

    Shirong gritted his teeth and took out a bunch of things from his spatial storage ring.

    "Here, take these and quickly set up an isting formation array," Shirong ordered the two.

    "Yes, Young Master." Ye Dai and Bei Wen quickly took theponents of a formation array from Shirong and started setting them up.

    They nted eight gs in an octagonal pattern and then ced sixteen talismans in the gaps of the octagon. They gestured with their hands and formed a multitude of mudras. Formation runes appeared in the air as they started to embed themselves into the air.

    Meanwhile, Shirong took out a formation te and poured spirit qi into it,pleting the isting formation array. And just as he did, an explosion happened.

    <em>~Hong~</em>

    Spirit qi converged upon the green crystal spear as it started to rapidly pour into the spear. The heat that they had felt before returned, and this time with an even higher temperature.

    "Go to the very edge of the formation!" Shirong shouted.

    The three of them retreated and held on. They could not leave the formation or it would stop working and expose the phenomena that the spear was going through.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    BEAST CORE: Condensed.

    HOST CULTIVATION: Early stage of the Core Condensation Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/6000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 10502 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the shocked faces of the three men and let out an almost audibleugh.

    Shirong could swear that he heard something, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind as the pressure increased once more.

 Chapter 83 - Anomaly?

    Lin Wu saw that he had more than enough spirit qi to continue upgrading thus that''s exactly what he did.

    "MORE! MORE! MORE! Upgrade again!" Lin Wu ordered the system.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADING CULTIVATION BASE: please wait patiently.

    бкбк

    The heat that was assailing the sense of the three men Shirong, Ye Dai and Bei Wen was increased once again and they could do nothing this time. They were already standing at the very edge of the isting formation array and they definitely could not leave it or that would expose the presence of the spear.

    "Use all your defensive techniques and tools!" Shirong spoke.

    A bell shaped barrier surrounded Shirong as he used his defensive technique. Ye Dai pulled out a long feather from his ring and broke it, this created an armor made out of features on his body. Bei Wen used a different technique and a curtain of wind surrounded him.

    With the defensive techniques activated, the three men were able to take a breath of relief.

    "Reserve your spirit qi and keep the spirit stones handy, we don''t know how long this willst," Shirong said in a serious tone.

    The green crystal spear was still spinning, and the spirit qi the air was gushing at it, rapidly being absorbed. Because of his spirit sense being restricted by the pressure exuded by the spear, Shirong could not estimate the quantity of the spirit qi.

    But from the looks of it, it was quite a massive amount.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADE COMPLETE: Host''s cultivation base has reached the Mid stage of the core condensation realm.

    LIFESPAN: 300 years

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 4502 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    Finally, after ten minutes, Lin Wu had entered the mid stage of the core condensation realm. He looked at the remaining amount of spirit qi and the amount needed to upgrade to the next level.

    "If I''m able to keep up this pace, then I should be able to upgrade to the next level in a few days or weeks." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    But just as he said this, he suddenly felt something happening inside his body.

    "Aargh! Whatбн is this pain?!" Lin Wu wondered.

    For some reason, a pain was assaulting Lin Wu deep within his body.

    "System, what is happening?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s analysis, everything is within the normal parameters, yet the host seems to be under some kind of distress. This could only mean that whatever is happening, it is not recorded in the system''s Data banks and cannot be detected by the system.

    бкбк

    "AH! Dammit!" Lin Wu cursed.

    He started to think what it could be, but could note up with anything. But Lin Wu didn''t know that he was not the only one who was feeling the pain. Shirong and his twopanions were also burning up now.

    For some reason, their defensive techniques were not working anymore and blisters had started appearing on their skin.

    "Young master, we have to retreat farther or I fear we may note out of this unscathed." Ye Dai said with urgency.

    But before Shirong could even answer, he suddenly felt his vision going dark. And along with him, the vision of Ye Dai and Bei Wen went dark as well.

    Unknown to Lin Wu, a strange Aura was being released from his body. The aura had covered the entire isting formation and was still growing.

    <em>~Pop~</em>

    The formation could not hold on anymore and shattered the next second, releasing all the spirit qi that was being restrained. It was as if a dam was broken and Lin Wu''s aura spread in an area of two hundred kilometers. It even reached the Deer Wood city and every cultivator in it felt it. The ones that were stronger felt their vision going dark as well.

    But this was merely the start of the nightmare as soon they started seeing things.

    A pair of eyes appeared in their vision. The eyes were blood red and had purple outlines to them. The size of the eyes was massive through and the people thought as if they were mere antspared to them. Every single inch of their bodies was filled with absolute terror as they froze in ce.

    Shirong and his two followers saw this as well. Thought this was not the first time that Ye Dai had seen these eyes. Back when he had touched the spear for the first time, he had the illusion that he had seen these eyes. But at that time he thought it was due to bloodline suppression.

    Thissted for an entire minute, which to all the people was as if hours had passed by.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ABNORMALITY: Stabilizing

    CHECKING HOST VITALS: Host Vitals stable

    CHECKING FOR ANOMALIES: Anomaly found

    BLOODLINE: Change in host''s bloodline detected.

    HOST VITAL ENERGY: Depleted

    бкбк

    Lin Wu took control of his wits after the pain faded away. But he realized that his form had changed, and he was back to his full sized worm form instead of the spear one.

    "What! Dammit, it must have happened during the pain!" Lin Wu cursed and got ready to defend.

    But to his surprise, Shirong and his two followers were knocked out cold. The three men were the closest to Lin Wu and had thus borne the full brunt of the pressure. Their clothes were torn and burned in multiple ces, and their skin was covered in blisters.

    Lin Wu took a look and was shocked.

    "Seems like the heat from Radiation maniption got quite high." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    In order to make it shy, Lin Wu had asked the system to do some things while he broke through. This was also to mask his breakthrough and hide that he was actually a beast. He knew that radiation did not work well with spirit qi for others, and thus used the radiation maniption skill to suppress the senses of the three men.

    ''I should return to my spear form quick before they wake up and then take a look at what''s changed.'' Lin Wu thought.

 Chapter 84 - Changes?

    Lin Wu triggered the innate skills cellr maniption along with cellr crystallization and shrank his body while morphing to be a spear again. Unlike before though it was not as painful and he finished the process in a minute.

    Seeing that he was back in his spear form, Lin Wu took a breath of relief and looked at his body. Finding no change in it, he wondered what happened.

    "System show me the Host Data." Lin Wu ordered, thinking that there were bound to be a few changes.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 3 months, 24 days

    LIFESPAN: 300 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 12 units [liquid spirit qi]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+3)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Lesser)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    BEAST CORES: 1.Fully Condensed(Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm)

    2. Iplete core

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 4980 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown (+3)

    5. Ash Crowned Buck

    бкбк

    As Lin Wu had expected, a lot of changes had happened to the Host Data and he didn''t know where to begin.

    Nearly all of his spirit qi had been used up for some reason and his vital energy had been totally depleted. His second bloodline seemed to have upgrade somehow and there was even an additional core that seemed to be iplete.

    "System, what happened?." Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: From the system''s analysis, it seems like the host''s second bloodline was activated further and had grown on its own. The host having two bloodlines seemed to be have created an imbnce. This possibly happened due to the host''s cultivation rapidly increasing.

    The host''s innate skill Radiation maniption has also increased in proficiency due to the improvement in his bloodline. The host''s vital energy has been depleted as well, which can be attributed to the upgrade in the bloodline as well.

    An iplete second beast core has also been created in the host''s body which is another effect of the bloodline as well.

    бкбк

    Seeing that nearly everything was caused by the unknown bloodline that he had, Lin Wu was appalled.

    ''Looks like I need to keep both bloodlines in a bnce or something simr may happen again. It also seems like it created another core for the unknown bloodline, that is where all the spirit qi had been absorbed into.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Now Lin Wu was in another dilemma. With the amount of spirit qi that had been depleted along with the vital energy, he didn''t know how long he could maintain the system energy for.

    "Hmm, though I should be able to hold on for a couple of days as long as I don''t spend the system energy on anything extra." Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~Groan~</em>

    Just as he said that, Lin Wu saw Shirong groan. His hands moved around, and he seemed to be getting a gauge of where he was. His eyes were perhaps still blurry, or he was not able to see, but soon he was able to prop himself into a sitting posture.

    Shirong took out a few healing pills from his ring and ate them, starting to heal the injuries that he had. Two minutester, Ye Dai and Bei Wen had woken up as well, and the first thing they did was to try to heal themselves.

    "Huh? Shouldn''t they try to assess whether they are in a safe area first?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ''Maybe they are just too dazed.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Ten minutes passed, after which Shirong seemed to have taken full control of his senses. As soon as he did though, his eyes went open wide and a shocked expression appeared on his face momentarily.

    "What!" He eximed as his expression turned serious.

    Lin Wu then felt the spirit sense of Shirong touching him.

    "Now you realizeбн" Lin Wu muttered in his mind.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    Shirong took a breath of relief seeing that he was safe and then looked at the green crystal spear that was lying a short distance from him. He looked around and saw that the isting formation that they had set up had been utterly destroyed.

    He looked at his twopanions and saw them to be recovering. Even if the blisters on his skin had been healed, the ones on Ye Dai and Bei Wen were still there.

    "What in the world was that?" Shirong said out loud as he remembered the phenomena that he had just gone through.

    He stood up and walked to the spear, staggering a bit. It was evident that some of his internal injuries had red up due to the pressure.

    "Dammit!" Shirong cursed as he felt the pain within his body.

    He then bent down and picked up the spear with difficulty.

    "Didбн did it get heavier?" Shirong questioned.

    Not knowing whether it was true or not, Shirong pushed that thought to the back of his mind for the time being and checked the spear. It still looked the same as it did before, though the power contained within it had certainly increased.

    He probed it with his spirit sense and then the two blood red eyes with purple outline shed in front of his eyes.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    Shirong let go of the spear due to the shock and then remembered what he had seen before passing out. The absolute terror that filled his body, it was not something that he would ever forget.

    "Hahaha!" But then he startedughing.

    "Perfect! The more powerful you are, the better for me. Soon the three guardian ns will be a thing of the past and I''ll be ruling the world." Shirong proimed.

    ''Seems like I went a bit overboard. This guy has be even more unhinged.'' Lin Wu thought as he shook his head in his mind.

 Chapter 85 - Pretending Again?

    Regardless of whether Lin Wu had hurt Shirong or not, all he wanted to do right now was to figure if out there was anything additional that was wrong with him. He wondered if he had been wrong in upgrading his cultivation so fast.

    Even if the system told him that everything seemed to be rtively fine, Lin Wu could not help but doubt it.

    ''There are still things that are beyond the system''s understanding. I can''t be fully dependent on it. Who knows if it''ll be wrong one day and even it won''t know.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then suddenly felt himself being picked up from the ground. Shirong had picked himself up again and was now dusting off the soil that had stuck to him. He then stored him back into the spatial storage ring and went to check up on his twopanions.

    "Get ready, you two. We need to leave, the other cultivators should being here soon!" Shirong ordered.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen opened their eyes and nodded at their Young Master''s words. They knew that waiting here for any longer would be dangerous and could arouse suspicion if they were found. Even if they were currently hurting inside, they did not dare say anything and pulled out their spirit swords.

    The three of them jumped on each of their spirit weapons and flew away.

    But to Shirong''s misjudgment, there was no one that was currently heading in this direction, as they all were currently trying to recover themselves.

    Back at the Deer Wood city all of the city''s cultivators had been knocked out by some kind of a power and this had scared all themoners. They did not know if it was a disease or something, thus were terrified that they would be affected too.

    Thankfully, there were plenty of body tempering realm guards in the city and they were able to control the people and did not let them go overboard with the hysteria. There were also some wise people, who while not cultivators themselves, had the experiences of many years.

    They were able to guide the people and prevent anything bad from happening.

    The people of the city were currently trying to nurse all the cultivators that had been knocked out in the ns, as they were the ones that had the most authority in the city. Even the n heads who had the cultivation base of nascent soul realm had been affected by the power and were currently in meditation.

    By the time Shirong and his followers reached the city, they saw the randomly lying cultivators. They didn''t know what happened here and were a bit overwhelmed as well. But after asking around a few questioned, Shirong realized that everything that happened with them also happened with the other people of the Deer Wood city.

    "Young master, what are we to do now?" Bei Wen questioned.

    "Nothing, we do nothing." Shirong simply stated.

    "But young master, won''t it be inappropriate if we don''t do anything?" Ye Dai asked.

    "No, rather this is the best for us. As long as we don''t interfere, no questions will be asked and our involvement in the entire thing will be hidden. Seeing that all of the cultivators were affected by this and barely any of them are awake, we can im that we don''t know anything." Shirong exined.

    The two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen thought over it for a bit and realized that young master Shirong''s words seemed to be wise and it would be better if they simply followed him. Besides, if anything happened their Young master would be the umbre that would shield them from the rain of problems.

    Thus, Shirong and his two followers silently went back to their assigned courtyards and started recovering their injuries.

    Shirong had thought that someone should being to check up on him soon and it was exactly what happened.

    "Young master Shirong! Are you fine?" A man shouted from the outside.

    Shirong was a bit annoyed by the shouting but did not show it on his face. The man entered the courtyard and saw Shirong sitting in the main room cross legged.

    Shirong gently opened his eyes and made it seem like he had just been awakened. He recognized the man and knew that he was one of the Lu nsmen and was probably sent here to check up on him.

    "What is it?" Shirong asked, pretending not to know much.

    "The fainting spell! Is the young master fine, or does he have any difficulties?" The Lu nsman asked.

    "Thank you for your concern, but I''m fine. Albeit my injuries are still hampering me a bit." Shirong answered.

    The Lu nsmen then started exining to him all that had happened and the condition of the ns. He was told that the n heads all had recovered mostly and would be having a meeting tonight. The nsmen also asked whether Young master Shirong would like toe.

    Shirong was a bit averse to the idea but then realized that he should know what was going on exactly and what the ns'' conclusion would be to this. Anything pertaining to the spear needed to be kept secret and if any suspicion was going towards him or close to him, he needed to deflect it.

    "Alright, I''ll join the meeting tonight as well," Shirong answered and sent the Lu nsmen away.

    "Seems, like I''ll have to be careful with the spear. I do not know if something like this will happen again, but there should be some logic behind it. Hmm, the most likely reason should be that the spear absorbed enough spirit qi and released one of the seals ced on it." Shirong muttered to himself.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was just listening to Shirong speak and was a bit happy.

    "Man, you really are preparing all the excuses for me, aren''t you? Hahaha! Just keep on doing it, it''ll save me a lot of thinking." Lin Wu said.

 Chapter 86 - Enjoying The Setting?

    Shirong was currently heading towards the meeting hall where the meeting of all the ns was to be held. His two followers were currently not with him as the invitation had been to him only. Considering the seriousness of the event it was obvious that the ns did not want many people to know about it.

    After all, if it was found out that this was something caused by another cultivator, all hell would break loose. Such kind of a power that can knock out all cultivators despite their cultivation bases was terrifying. Thankfully, no one died today, though they all could imagine the destruction that can happen if this kind of power fell in the wrong hands.

    Soon Shirong entered the hall and saw about half of the seats filled.

    "Greetings Young Master Shirong. I hope you were fine during the entire ordeal?" The Lu n Head asked.

    "I''m grateful for the concern. I am fine if not for my previous injuries." Shirong answered.

    "That is good then. Please, take a seat others should be here any minutes now." n Head Lu replied and then gestured for him to take a seat.

    <em>~Huu~</em>

    Shirong went and took a random seat and sat down, letting out a breath of fatigue. The other people noticed this but just attributed this to him being injured, which was exactly what Shirong wanted. He knew that a perfect mask was always maintained if one wanted toe out on top while scheming.

    Soon the rest of the people that had been invited appeared and the door of the hall was closed shut.

    "My fellow gentlemen, I believe all of you know and experienced what happened today." n head Lu stated.

    "Yes, yes, of course, we did. It was so terrifying, I never experienced anything like this before today." One of the n heads spoke.

    All of the people started adding to the conversation and said their side of the story. But in the end, all of them reached one conclusion.

    "So it is confirmed that all of us saw the same exact thing, regardless of cultivation base." n head Lu dered.

    No one in the hall denied it and they simply nodded.

    "Hmm, so does anyone have an idea of what it could be?" n Head Lu questioned. "There are no wrong answerers here and we''re trying to figure out what happen, so feel free to speak."

    "n head Lu, I believe it could be an evil cultivator trying out a new technique, perhaps. He or she probably did not know what to expect and thus did not take the chance to attack the city." One of the n heads spoke.

    n head Lu simply nodded and gestured for others to speak.

    "I do not think an evil cultivator would let go of an opportunity like this. I think this is not an evil cultivator but rather the birth of a natural treasure. We already know what happened in the forbidden zone, so who''s to say that it isn''t something from there?" n Head Xiong added.

    "Well, look at that. This guy is pretty urate." Lin Wu muttered in the spatial storage ring.

    "I agree with n head Xiong, but would like to present another possibility that is linked to the forbidden zone." n head Meng Spoke.

    Seeing that everyone was hearing intently n head Meng continued, "as we know that there is a mysterious beast in the forbidden zone. What if those eyes we saw were none other than those beasts? After all, even Young master Shirong was only able to see the figure of the beast and not its true appearance.

    Perhaps what we experienced was none other than a bloodline suppression event." n Head Meng hypothesized.

    "And this man gets the prize! Looks like these oldies are quite smart at deducing things." Lin Wu praised.

    <em>~Cough~Cough~</em>

    Seeing that the conversation was getting dangerously close to the existence of the spear, Shirong coughed to interfere.

    "n head Meng is wise, and that does seem likely. But perhaps we should let others speak their opinions too?" Shirong spoke.

    "Of course, please. We can circle backter," n head Meng acknowledged.

    Soon each of the men in the hall stated something and guessed what could have happened. But in the end, all of them realized that n Head Meng''s hypothesis seemed to be the most likely. There had been no signs of any evil cultivators in the region recently, and even the sensory talismans they had set up for the detection of treasures had not acted up.

    They finally came to the conclusion that the beast was behind the entire thing.

    "Gentlemen but if it truly was a beast that caused this then we need to be extremely careful. Even the people who have not assimted any of the beast bloodlines were able to feel it, which means that the beast that did this is an overlord among beasts.

    But since themoners were fine, that means that only those with spirit qi in their bodies can feel it. This leads me to believe that it is a kind of a bloodline suppression that acts on the spirit qi of the cultivators suppressing it temporarily which made us all faint." n Head Mu spoke.

    Everyone knew that n Head Mu had some aplishments in the medical field and were thus believing in him. Seeing that everyone wanted to listen more, n head Mu spoke again.

    "When I woke up, I noticed the faint irregrities in the cirction of my spirit qi. I believe if all of you follow my instructions, you will be able to see it tooбн" n head Mu then started pointing out the things that they needed to do, and all of the people were soon convinced.

    "n head Mu is simply outstanding. To be able to perceive the truth from something like this is truly marvelous." Shirong praised.

    This conclusion was satisfactory for him, and he could go with it. Thus he decided to support n head Mu.

    "Good, good, I like this show." Lin Wu spoke, enjoying the setting.

 Chapter 87 - Disgusting?

    Shirong looked around the room and everyone seemed to be in agreement with n head Mu''s words.

    "Now that we are close to the conclusion that it was done by a beast, perhaps we should now try to find what kind of a beast it actually was." n head Lu spoke.

    "Of course, that is obvious. But how are we to do that? We cannot enter the forbidden zone to do that." One of the smaller n heads asked.

    "Young Master Shirong, can we please borrow the fragment of the beast shell that you got? I believe you are not leaving the city for a few days, thus we can analyze it more and try to determine which beast it belongs to. If we cannot find it and you are going to leave, we will give it back to you." n head Lu said.

    While Shirong did not want to give them the fragment, he coulde to terms with the current arrangement. First of all, Shirong was sure that they would not able to determine what kind of a beast it was, anyway. He himself had seen a lot of beast encyclopedias, and he could not recognize which kind of a beast it belonged to.

    "That is fine with me," Shirong said before taking out the beast carapace fragment from his spatial storage ring.

    n Head Lu took it and looked at it for a moment before speaking.

    "This will be ced in the town hall, and every person that wants to investigate more can look at it there. But remember this that it is not to leave its confines and not to be taken. You all can use your own sources to find out what kind of beast this was." n head Lu stated.

    "That is fine with me." n head Meng spoke.

    Others also chimed in and agreed with the armament. Shirong nodded his head as well, confirming it. He knew that he was not going to head to the n anytime soon and even when he was going to leave the Deer Wood city it would be after a few days.

    Shirong checked his internal injuries and guessed that it could take up to a week for him to heal them all.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    He let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead.

    Soon the meeting ended and everyone stood up to leave the hall. Shirong did the same and quickly returned to his courtyard to rest. He sat down in a meditative pose and popped a few healing pills in his mouth before starting to nurse his injuries.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was thinking of what to do next and was gazing at the spirit stones with a storage look in his eyes.

    "Let''s try and see if he even remembers if a stone is missingбн" Lin Wu muttered in a creepy tone.

    He then floated over to one of the spirit stone bags and took out a single low grade spirit stone. He touched it and started absorbing the spirit qi from it. A minuteter he had drained it empty and looked at how much he had obtained.

    He felt that it was different absorbing it himself than letting the system absorb it.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [00010/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 12 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    But after looking at the data, he found it to be wrong.

    "Huh? This is strangeбн system what happened here?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Because the Host absorbed the spirit qi himself, the spirit qi was directly taken by the host''s body. Because of this, it is not shown in the qi storage of the system. The spirit qi that was absorbed is now part of the host''s cultivation and is thus shown in the upgrade requirements as well.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu thought it over and understood it.

    ''So cultivating on my own is like this and will result in a direct upgrade to my cultivation base, and the spirit qi that I use for the skills is the one that is directly present in my core now.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu now had two storages of spirit qi. One belonged to the system, and its max capacity was currently unknown. The second one was Lin Wu''s own meridians and beast core. It had a max capacity of 12000 units of liquid qi currently, and when he reached that limit, his cultivation base would automatically upgrade.

    Seeing this, Lin Wu had an idea and he wanted to try something. He used the innate skill of cellr maniption and cellr crystallization to change the shape of his body. He then took a look at the qi storage again.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [00007/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 12 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "Just as I thought it reduced. So the qi that I cultivate can be depleted when I use skills. Seems like I need to keep a close eye on how much spirit qi I have in my core myself." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu looked through the list again and started going through the items that were in the ring. He had not gotten the chance to check it fully and now that he had it, he was interested. Because he was also able to read now, he was having fun.

    "Interestingбн" Lin Wu muttered, looking at some of the information in the scrolls and books that were present in the ring.

    The four that he had obtained as data node were the important ones which were analyzed and made it able for him to read it too. Lin Wu kept on reading and improving his understanding of this world and its contents.

    Just like this, a couple of days passed and Shirong woke up from his session. He opened his eyes and a troubled expression appeared on his face.

    <em>~Cough~</em>

    <em>~Cough~</em>

    <em>~St~</em>

    "That was disgustingбн" Lin Wu said as he looked at the ck blob that Shirong had just spat out.

 Chapter 88 - Task Completed?

    After coughing out that ck blob, Shirong''splexion improved and he seemed to be breathing well as well.

    "Huh, so is that the so-called ''impurities'' that a cultivator expels?" Lin Wu muttered to himself, seeing that.

    Shirong stood up and stretched his body before checking it.

    "Hmm, my injuries should be fully healed in two more days. This was much earlier than I thought." Shirong muttered, feeling a bit happy.

    He then stood up and walked to the exit of the courtyard. There he found the servant that was standing.

    "Clean up the courtyard," Shirong ordered.

    "Yes, Young master," The servant replied with a bowed head and waited for him to leave before lifting his head.

    He then walked to the courtyard and began to do the task he was ordered, meanwhile Shirong was walking towards the courtyard of his twopanions, Ye Dai and Bei Wen. He used his spirit sense to alert the two men and entered the courtyard.

    This courtyard was smaller than the one that he was assigned which was obvious considering his status, but it was still quite high qualitypared to most courtyards. There were servants here as well, and they guided Shirong to the ce where Ye Dai and Bei Wen were resting.

    "Good morning, Young Master!" Ye Dai and Bei Wen greeted.

    Both of them were sitting in the main hall and were talking about something before Shirong walked in.

    "Hmm," Shirong hummed in response before taking a seat.

    "Seems like the young master is better than before." Bei Wen spoke.

    "Yes, though it''ll take me a couple of days more to recover," Shirong replied.

    "How about you two?" He asked.

    "We should be recovered till the end of this week, most likely." Ye Dai answered.

    "That''s good," Shirong nodded.

    "Though young master, have you gone out in these past few days? We heard they had some sess in finding more about the incident." Bei Wen spoke.

    "What?" Shirong asked, feeling shocked.

    He had truly not expected that they would have any progress, and now that he heard they did, he was surprised.

    "Yes, while they were not able to find out what the beast exactly is, they were able to determine its origin." Bei Wen replied.

    "And what did they find?" Shirong questioned with urgency.

    "The fragment of the beast shell had some characteristic that matched a different world. The ns have determined that whatever the beast was, it possibly came here along with the meteor that fell. It is anбн otherworldly beast." Bei Wen answered in a serious tone.

    Shirong was left speechless after hearing this. While the others may not have known the problem behind it being an otherworld beast, Shirong knew the danger. He knew that there were many worlds beyond theirs and that they weres.

    Shirong had learned from his n''s records that any beast that could travel from one nt to another and survive the journey was incredibly strong. A beast like that would have to have a cultivation base that was beyond the immortal Ascension stage.

    "An immortal beastбн" Shirong muttered.

    Bei Wen and Ye Dai were able to hear what he had said and were shocked too now.

    "Wha-whatбн what do you mean, Young master?" Ye Dai asked, feeling apprehensive.

    "You people do not know, but beasts or any cultivators for that matter cannot leave the world they were born in easily," Shirong spoke. "Even if they do leave the world, surviving in the void beyond the''s barrier is incredibly difficult, not to mention surviving a journey to another world."

    The two were now getting closer to understanding the seriousness of the situation.

    "Then that means young masterбн" Bei Wen muttered.

    "Yes, the beast is likely to be the strongest being in this world right now. Iбн I do not know why the other great experts of this world have not found out about this yet, but there is something missing." Shirong replied.

    The three men went silent for a bit and thought over it.

    "Then that spear, young master? Could it be linked to the beast?" Ye Dai questioned.

    "Perhaps yes. Perhaps that was the reason why the spear took us to that fragmentбн it wants us to find it." Shirong hypothesized.

    "But why would it do that, young master?" Bei Wen questioned.

    "That I do not know. But all we can do right now is wait." Shirong replied.

    <em>~Gulp~</em>

    The two followers gulped and thought of the implications behind this. They knew that they could not let this information out or there may be great trouble. Besides, the information that the Young master Shirong had revealed seemed to be secret as well, as they had never heard of something like this before.

    "Keep track of what they find and report to me every day. I want to know everything." Shirong said before standing up.

    He then left the courtyard and returned to his, leaving two dumbfounded men behind.

    Lin Wu had listened to all of their conversations and was getting confused by it as well. He had read the documents and books that Shirong had in the ring and knew about the truth of the world.

    "Wait, a minuteбн if what Shirong said is true, then doesn''t it mean that my mission is to hunt down a beast that is stronger than the immortal ascension realm?" Lin Wu said with shock.

    He didn''t know what to think of the mission now and was even wondering if he should attempt it or not.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "No use overthinking, all I need to do now is get stronger." Lin Wu said to himself with determination.

    And just as he did, the sound of a notification appeared.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    TASK COMPLETED: System has sessfully devised a method to refine spirit sense. Please take a look at the information window for detailed information.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was excited after seeing the system''s notification and could not wait to check it. He opened the information window and started reading it with extreme concentration. He did not want to miss even a single bit and wanted to be fully sure of the method. After all, this was going to be one of his most basic tools in cultivation.

 Chapter 89 - Trance?

    "Alright! Let''s see what''s so special about refining the spirit senseбн" Lin Wu said before engrossing himself into reading the newly devised technique.

    At first, Lin Wu was quite upbeat, but as he read more and more his vibe turned serious. He didn''t even realize it, and a day had passed just like that. He didn''t know what it was, but the technique had created a strange attraction of some kind which he didn''t expect.

    It was the same as when one started reading a good mystery book, one would forget the time and keep on reading it till it was finished or if they were interrupted. But in the case of Lin Wu, there was no one to interrupt him here.

    Well, there was Shirong of course, but that man was engrossed in his own cultivation and was currently healing himself. For cultivators who had been cultivating for a few years, this was nothing unusual, after all, a lot of them would spend years at a time, trying toprehend the ''profundities of heaven and earth.''

    This was Lin Wu''s first time being pulled in like this. In the end, when he woke up from the trance, he couldn''t tell how much time had passed.

    "Huh? Wha-what?" Lin Wu muttered in confusion as he tried to make sense of his situation.

    After shaking his head a few times, he was able to fully orient himself.

    "What the hell was that!" Lin Wu eximed with shock.

    He looked at how much time was passed in the host data and was shocked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AGE: 2 years, 4 months, 5 days

    LIFESPAN: 300 years

    бкбк

    "How the hell did ten days pass by?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu took a look at the technique again and realized that while it was a few tens of pages long, it had a dangerous charm that entranced his mindfully. But then he went over it in his mind and felt that he now understood the technique fully.

    Every small aspect and nuance that had been mentioned in the technique had been fully assimted by him. He now knew the technique like the back of his non existent hand.

    "Wait, what''s up with Shirong? He didn''t check on me either?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He then used his connection to see the current situation outside and saw that he was still in the courtyard.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    Lin Wu took a breath of relief seeing that Shirong was still in the same ce, although it was still unknown if he had moved during this period or not.

    "His clothes are different, so he should have moved at least once during this timeбн" Lin Wu stated.

    ''Thankfully, I didn''t change my form during the entire time.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Shirong was currently sitting on his knees and had his hands in a unique position. His left hand fingers were wrapped around right hand''s ring finger while the rest of them formed a seal of some kind. Lin Wu observed it for a bit and then saw him change the seal to a different one.

    Just like this, he would change it every minute to a different one and along with it, his breathing pattern would change as well. It seemed incrediblyplex, yet simple at the same time.

    "Waitбн aren''t these from the Sky Shaking Immortal Art?" Lin Wu recognized.

    While Lin Wu had the information about the Sky Shaking Immortal Art in the system, he didn''t actually remember itpletely after these few days, thus it took him a while to recognize. Besides, Lin Wu had only seen Shirong meditate all these past days and had thought that was just him cultivating and healing.

    Only now did he realize that he was merely healing himself why the spirit qi he was getting was the passive spirit qi that his body automatically absorbed.

    "Damn, I guess the cultivation technique really is quite powerful. Just its passive recovery is quite a lot." Lin Wu spoke feeling impressed.

    Thirty minutes passed like this and Lin Wu then felt arge amount of spirit qi entering Shirong''s body. The concentration was dense enough that a cloud of it could be seen covering his body. The spirit qi swirled around his body and then entered his body along with his breath and the fine pores on his skin.

    Every breath would send faint tremors across his skin, which would stimte his pores to open and close, creating a suction that pulled in the spirit qi. This was the first time Lin Wu was witnessing the working of a cultivation technique.

    "System, will this help in the analysis of the cultivation techniques?" Lin Wu asked.

    Feeling very interested, Lin Wu wondered if benefit can be gained from this.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system can do a visual analysis of the cultivation techniques effect, but there is a better method to gain a deeper understanding as well.

    The system can send in its own spirit qi and use it to trace the movement of the spirit qi across the meridians. While the spirit qi would be lost this way, the system would still be able to detect and recored arge amount of data.

    бкбк

    Reading about the system''s method made Lin Wu remember several topics from his past. He remembered how in biochemistry certain tracer elements were injected into the molecule of apound and how the radiation from those was observed to analyze the creation and metabolization of enzymes.

    In this mannerplex biological systems could be studied and their secrets could be found out.

    "Alright system, do it!" Lin Wu approved.

    A few wisps of spirit qi were released from the system''s spirit qi storage and flowed along with the connection that was formed between Shirong and Lin Wu. The spirit qi wisps were blocked for a moment in the ring but then were able to move across it reaching the real world.

    Shirong also felt it, and his eyes trembled for a moment. But he didn''t lose focus and continued cultivating, letting the spirit qi enter his body.

    ''What was that?'' Shirong thought.

 Chapter 90 - Controlled?

    Just like this the system would continue to send out spirit qi wisps at regr intervals and would record the data. Thissted for a couple of hours until Shirong continued his cultivation session.

    <em>~Huu~</em>

    Shirong let out a breath of foul qi as his body rxed. The cloud of spirit qi dissipated, and he opened his eyes.

    "Hmm, what was that? There wasбн something different before." Shirong said as he tried to remember the feeling.

    He checked his dantian and sensed for any abnormalities. But even after a few checks, he was unsessful.

    "Was that my imagination?" Shirong wondered.

    Just as he said this, the door of the courtyard was opened. Five people walked in and Shirong instantly recognized them.

    "Young master, we are ready. Everything has been set up." Ye Dai spoke.

    Shirong nodded to him and looked at Bei Wen.

    "My task is underway topletion as well, young master. The men are on it as we speak." Bei Wen replied.

    "Good!" Shirong said with satisfaction. "And these three will be assisting us, I believe?"

    "Yes, Young master. I followed the requirements that you set and these three will be the perfect candidates." Ye Dai answered.

    Lin Wu was confused about what they were talking about and felt like he had missed a lot of things during these few day''s perhaps. He looked at the three men and tried to remember if he had seen them anywhere, but he couldn''t recognize them.

    "Young master, the progress of the ns has also reached near the end. Do you believe they will interfere?" Bei Wen asked in a concerned tone.

    "Hmm, that is a possibility of around fifty percent, I believe. But even if they do, we still have our scapegoats set up." Shirong assured.

    Bei Wen nodded in response before speaking, "Then shall we head off?"

    "Let''s go," Shirong said before waving his hand over his face and creating a tiger face mask.

    "What is this?" Lin Wu uttered with surprise, seeing a new technique.

    Then the two followers Bei Wen and Ye Dai did the same thing, producing simr looking tiger masks on their faces. Only the three additional people that they had brought stayed the same. In fact, they seemed to be rather still.

    "Are they fine?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He then realized that while their expression was calm and seemed rtively normal, their aura was not. He couldn''t really perceive a spirit qi fluctuation from them. At first, Lin Wu thought they were not cultivators, but then when everyone started running he saw their speed.

    "They''re definitely cultivators or they would have not been able to keep up with them like this." Lin Wu said with intrigue.

    Young Master Shirong, Ye Dai and Bei Wen were running at great speed through the city passing from roof to roof, hidden in in sight. It was still day time, yet it was as if no person was able to see them. Eventually, they reached a building that looked like an old temple.

    Lin Wu could see the faded markings on the walls of the temple and even the guardian gods that had been painted onto the doors. But all of these things were of the past, and now only a fragment of their beauty was left.

    The temple was not that big, perhaps of about a hundred square meters. Lin Wu remembered he had seen a much bigger temple back when Shirong and the two men had firste to the Deer Wood city. But that one was still functional unlike this, which seemed to be abandoned.

    Shirong on the rest of the group stopped on the roof of a house that was a few tens of meters away from the temple.

    "We wait here now," Shirong ordered.

    The two followers nodded while the other three men simply kept on looking. Their expression had not changed one bit ever since they had started running behind them.

    "Are they puppets or something?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He then felt like he remembered something and went through the list of items that were present in the ring.

    "Not thisбн not this eitherбн Umm, here it is!" Lin Wu spoke.

    Lin Wu had found a name on the list which belonged to a certain type of pills.

    "Three pces puppet pill." Lin Wu read the name of the pills.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DESCRIPTION: Three pces puppet pills are said to control the three innate pces of a cultivator- the mind ce, the soul pce and the qi pce. Each of the pce refers to an aspect of the cultivator and once they are controlled, the consciousness of the cultivator can be fully controlled by the person who uses theplementary technique on them.

    бкбк

    Looking at the condition of the three men and the effects of the pills, Lin Wu was sure as hell that they were under their effects. He then tried to find the bottle which contained the pills and could not find them.

    "Hmm, there were about eight pills in them, weren''t there? Then that meansбн there are five more of them somewhere." Lin Wu said.

    ''The ones that Bei Wen was referring to must have been the other five men. Seems like Shirong put them to a certain task, but what?'' Lin Wu thought.

    The group waited there for about an hour, during which no moment seemed to have urred between the three controlled men. Lin Wu was focused on them, but then he heard the voice of Ye Dai calling out to Shirong.

    "Young master, they are ready on the other side." Ye Dai spoke while holding a jade slip in his hand.

    "Perfect, now to just wait for the priest." Shirong stated.

    It didn''t take them long as within five minutes Bei Wen also took out a jade slip and said the same thing to Shirong.

    This time Shirong did not react and simply kept his eyes on the temple.

    "This is strange, the priest should have left by now." Ye Dai said with concern.

    Shirong furrowed his brows and clenched his fist.

    "Let''s proceed, anyway. The man has to die today."

 Chapter 91 - Ceremony?

    Lin Wu was surpassed by Shirong''s words and didn''t think that they were here to kill someone. Still, it was not really a concern of his and all he could do right now was to observe.

    As soon as Shirong gave the order, all of them jumped down from the roof and entered the old temple. The doors of the temple were already open and seemed like they were never even closed. But looking at it closer, Lin Wu could tell that the reason was simply because they were broken from the hinge and were simply left like that.

    Shirong looked around and scanned the area with his spirit sense only to find that the priest that he was looking for was right to the corner. Lin Wu also got to take a look at the temple due to this and saw that there were actually three statues ced in the center of the temple.

    There was a circle in the center, and around it, the three statues were erected in a triangr pattern. Although the rest of the temple was rather deteriorated, the statues were still rtively well maintained. The three statues were each of a beast.

    The statue at the top of the triangr formation was that of a turtle, the one to the left of the triangle was a tiger, and finally to the right was the dragon. Looking at them, Lin Wu was reminded of the three guardians of the Ming Dao world.

    "Hmm, I think I read something about this, didn''t I?" Lin Wu muttered and tried to remember.

    A momentter he remembered the importance of the three statues. The temple that Lin Wu was in was called as the temple of the three guardians and was the biggest religion of the Ming Dao world. Each and every n and sect in this world worshiped the three guardians beasts.

    Even if there were other religions in this world they did not really conflict with the religion of the three guardians, so nearly everyone was fine with it. Though there were certain exceptions, such as the unorthodox cultivators and cults that would worship evil gods and deities.

    Lin Wu knew that in a cultivation world like this, while religion seemed a bit strange as there were people that were literally ''gods'' they still had a certain value. At least in terms of the religion of the three guardians, they seemed to provide some actual blessings to people.

    Lin Wu wanted to take a deeper look at the detailed information, but realized that he should focus on what was going on in front of him right now.

    "There he is!" Bei Wen pointed.

    The priest who had been kneeling all this time in the corner opened his eyes. The priest looked like he was in his sixties and had wrinkles on his face. He was wearing some old but clean robes that depicted the three guardian beasts on the back.

    "Ah seems like some fellow Daoists havee to visit this old temple." The priest spoke with a calm voice.

    Shirong did not reply and simply gestured with his eyes. The three men that were under their control moved forwards at a great speed and surrounded the priest. The priest seemed shocked by this and could not really react before the three men made a move.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    Each of them had stabbed a dagger through the body of the priest. One of them entered from his left side of the body into the heart, the second one did the same but from the right side and then the third one from the very center of his chest.

    <em>~Cough~</em>

    "Wha-what did this old priest do to warrant this? We have nothing of value hereбн" The priest uttered with difficulty before falling silent.

    His eyes rolled back into his head and he took hisst breath. In that moment, Lin Wu was able to sense that the three men who were being controlled were actually all core condensation realm cultivators! Even the priest that died was a core condensation realm cultivator.

    "What are they doing? Why would they randomly kill that guy?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Shirong then looked at Bei Wen and Ye Dai.

    "Are they ready?" He asked.

    Both of them held their respectivemunication jade slips and closed their eyes for a moment before answering.

    "The ceremony has not started in the main temple. The men will act when it reaches the correct moment." Both Ye Dai and Bei Wen spoke.

    "Good," Shirong said as he nodded his head.

    He then started making certain mudras and formation runes appeared in the air. Ye Dai and Bei Wen stood to the side and did not dare to interfere in whatever their young master was doing. The three men who were being controlled had been ordered to stand in front of the statues instead.

    Shirong kept on making more and more mudras, controlling the runes that were floating around. The runes would attach to the walls of the temple, while some of them would simply float around in the air. Five minutes passed and by now aplex formation array had been set up.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen were a bit dumbstruck by seeing this, as the entire formation array was set up without the use of any additionalponents.

    "Young master''s attainments in formations are simply outstanding." Ye Dai praised.

    Shirong finally stopped setting up the formation array and wiped the beads of sweat that had appeared on his forehead.

    "Nows the most sensitive time, how''s the ceremony progressing on the other end?" Shirong asked.

    Bei Wen checked and furrowed his brows.

    "They have still not started for some reason." He informed.

    "Did they suspect something?" Ye Dai asked with concern.

    "Doesn''t matter, we already have the scapegoats. Even if they find us, we shouldn''t have much problem." Shirong replied.

    They then waited for about eight minutes, after which Bei Wen suddenly spoke.

    "They''ve started the ceremony!"

    "Get in positions," Shirong ordered, making Bei Wen and Ye Dai move to each of the controlled men.

    Shirong stood in front of one of the controlled men as well and took out a dagger. This was mirrored by the two followers as well.

    They stood still for a moment and then stabbed into the hearts of the three controlled men at the same time.

 Chapter 92 - Truth Of The Guardian Beasts?

    The entire thing seemed extremely creepy to Lin Wu and looked like an evil ritual.

    "Are they cultists? What the hell are they doing?" Lin Wu wondered.

    After the three controlled men were stabbed their blood did not spill out. Instead, it started floating and formed a stream of blood which then started covering the three statues. Soon the three statues were stained blood red.

    Once all of the blood had been drained out of the three men, their bodies fell to the ground. A different formation array appeared in the circr area between the three statues and sent out waves of spirit qi. These waves of spirit qi reached the dead priest and tried to affect him.

    But perhaps because the priest was dead, nothing happened and the waves failed. Then the three statues glowed in a blood red light which slowly increased in intensity.

    Shirong and the rest moved to the back and let everything happened. Bei Wen had a slightly confused expression and seemed to want to ask something, but did not want to disturb. A minute passed during which the blood red light kept on increasing in brightness and was now covering the entire room.

    "Why are we doing this though Young master? I mean what use would be this old and broken temple of the three guardians?" Bei Wen questioned unable to hold back his curiosity.

    Ye Dai looked at Bei Wen and Shirong fully expecting him to be bothered by Bei Wen''s question. He knew that his young master did not like to be disturbed at important moments such as these. But surprisingly Shirong was calm and did not be angry.

    "Most people do not know, but each of the temples of the three guardians are linked together. This is a secret that only a few ns and sects know. Even if this temple had now nearly been abandoned and is not used for worship, it still has the formation array that links it to the other temples. And as long as this formation works, the temples can interact with each other." Shirong spoke.

    While Bei Wen got the answer, he still seemed confused.

    "But what is the use of this Young master?" Ye Dai asked, seeing that his young master seemed to be in a good mood.

    "You know the story about how the three guardians came to be?" Shirong questioned.

    "Yes, the three guardians appeared in a time of strife ten thousand years ago. They stopped the great war that was happening back then, and peace was restored to the world. After that, the people started worshiping the three guardian beasts and the three great ns were established." Ye Dai answered.

    "Correct, but what most people don''t know is the reason behind the great war. The great war was actuallyбн an invasion." Shirong revealed.

    A shocked expression appeared on both Ye Dai and Bei Wen''s faces. Even Lin Wu was very interested in this, as this was not mentioned in any of the documents that he had read in the rings. Even the data nodes that he had obtained from the dead men did not have this kind of information.

    But the story about the establishment of the three guardian beasts that Ye Dai said was something Lin Wu had learned from the data nodes. This was something that nearly every person in the world knew.

    "Hmm, so the full truth behind it was hidden from the masses. Howбн cliche," Lin Wu muttered.

    "Back then this world was quite backward, and there were no immortals that had ever appeared. The invaders were actually cultivators from a different world and were attacking this world to obtain its resources. This is something that was quitemon and is the same thing that happens every day in our world too. The only difference is that we fight for resources amongst ourselves while they were fighting an entirely different world.

    The invaders were clearly much stronger and proficient than the people of that time. Our world''s people were on the losing side until when three powerful ns of that time found ancient relics. They didn''t know where these relics were from, but had just randomly found them one day.

    These relics were none other than the three original statues of the beasts that became guardians of our world. The ns awakened the relics and summoned the three great beasts. The might of the three great beasts was iparable to the invaders, and they were quickly defeated.

    After that, the three great beasts were requested to be the guardians of our world. The beasts agreed, and in exchange, the ns established the religion of the three guardian beasts. The guardian beasts would bless some people when they were happy with them and bestow them with great abilities.

    They would also help in the times of distress and could answer questions. Though a lot of these things reduced and the three ns started controlling the worlds. They erased the information about the things that the temples could do and only let the people know of worshiping them." Shirong exined.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen hadplex expressions after hearing this and knew that this information was something that they never would have been privy to had it not been for Young master Shirong.

    "Then what the ns want to do isбн" Bei Wen uttered with realization.

    "Yesбн somehow they were able to find an old tome which mentioned a ceremony that can be used to seek the guidance of the three guardian beasts. Since they think the bloodline suppression was created by the beast of the forbidden zone, and that it is an otherworld beast, they thought it would be best to seek the guidance of the three guardians.

    I do not know what the three guardians would do, but it is likely that the presence of the green crystal spear could be revealed. These past few days I could feel that the spear had suppressed itself, and now I knew why it was so.

    The guardian beasts stopped the invaders, thus they would definitely know if a beast and weapon of a foreign world appeared in this world. While I want this information too, I cannot let the ns find out about it." Shirong spoke.

    "Damn, this is some big brain y." Lin Wu said, feeling amazed.

 Chapter 93 - Failure?

    After listening to Shirong''s words, the two followers Ye Dai and Bei Wen understood the reasoning behind what they were doing. But just as they did this, they felt a wave of qi emanating from a ce that was away from their current location.

    "Young master, it has started!" Bei Wen said.

    "But thisбн isn''t it too strong. I don''t remember any other ceremony having an effect like this. Even the blessing ceremonies were much more low key than this." Ye Dai said with concern.

    "That''s exactly what I was worried about. The ns were able to find out one of the rituals that had long since disappeared. The rituals that most people now know aren''t that powerful and thus don''t have the same effect.

    The one they are using is certainly quite different, and we have to stop it." Shirong said with a serious expression on his face.

    He then walked out of the temple and gazed outside in the direction of the qi fluctuations. The two men also followed him and soon saw the glow in the distance. They could see a three colored light from the direction of the main temple of the three guardians.

    The light was in the form of a triangle with the top vertex being ck in color, the left one being white in color and the right one being blue in color. The three colors represented the three guardian beasts, with the ck representing the turtle beast, white representing the tiger beast and the blue representing the dragon beast.

    Seeing the Tri colored light presented a few questions to Lin Wu. From all the novels he had learned, there were usually four guardian beasts pertaining to the four cardinal directions. While the three guardians here represented three out of the four directions, the final beast which should have been the vermilion bird was missing.

    Another thing was that the names of the beast weren''t exactly the same from what he knew and even looking at the statues of the beasts he could tell that they were exactly not the same beasts as those from the myths.

    ''Perhaps I''m wrong and they are some other beasts. Could it just be a coincidence?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen were looking at the light withplex expressions. Bei Wen received a message from hismunication jade and looked towards his young master.

    "It has been done, young master." Bei Wen stated.

    "Good, let''s go back in. I want to see if we were sessful or not." Shirong replied.

    The two followers nodded and they entered the old temple only to see that the three colored light was emitting from the three statues as well. But it seemed to be restricted by the blood that covered the three statues.

    The circr formation array that was in the center of the statues glowed with strange characters and the Tri colored lighting from the main temple increased as well.

    "Now!" Shirong shouted.

    Ye Dai and Bei Wen gestured with their hands, forming seals, while Shirong did the same. Tens of seals were formed and new runes started appearing in the air. The runes kept on increasing in number until the entirety of the temple was filled with them.

    "SEAL!" Shirongmanded with bloodshot eyes.

    Bei Wen and Ye Dai flicked their hands and the runes sticked onto the statues of the three beasts. This seemed to have created a chain reaction which could be felt by Shirong. It was being transmitted from the circr formation array in the center of the three statues and transferred over to the main temple as well.

    ***

    Back at the main temple, there were many people standing around in the hall. They had a myriad of expressions on their faces. Some were angry, some were sad, and some were scared. In the side, three people could be seen lying dead.

    The ceremony for which they had been nning for the past week seemed to have taken a wrong turn. All was progressing well until something strange happened and the formations in the Temple became unstable. Even the statues started shaking and the light emitting from them dimmed down.

    Then a wave of spirit qi came from the formation array that was located in the center of the three guardian beast statues and knocked over most of the people. Some of them even sustained injuries, but the most serious ones were none other than the three men that had died.

    Their condition was gruesome, and they had died by bleeding out of their seven apertures. They had all seen something like this before and knew that the bleeding of seven apertures was a ssic sign of extreme qi deviation.

    But qi deviation did not always cause death, besides in this case these men were not cultivating at all but were rather participating in the ceremony.

    "Who were these men?" n Head Lu questioned the people.

    "Senior, they were some of the wandering cultivators of our city and applied to the notice that we had sent out." One of the men there spoke.

    "What do we do now, n head Lu?" Asked n Head Meng with concern.

    A troubled expression appeared on n head Lu''s face as he scratched his beard.

    "What can we even do at this point? What''s done is done, the lives have been lost." n Head Lu spoke.

    "But the ceremonyбн" n Head Xiong interrupted.

    "The ceremony was defective, that''s all. We all knew that we were only trying our luck at performing what n Head Mu Had discovered. Nothing was mentioned in the scriptures that he found about there being a chance of people dying. It''s obvious that either the ceremony was incorrect or we missed some instructions." n head Lu stated with a little anger in his voice.

    <em>~Gulp~</em>

    n head Xiong swallowed his saliva after hearing his words and knew that this would be bad for the reputation of their city. The men who had died were core condensation realm cultivators, and in most of the kingdoms, they would have high enough position.

    If they had any backers they would definitely being to question them and they would be needing to give them sufficientpensation.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    All of the n heads shared A collective sigh in the hall.

 Chapter 94 - Beacon?

    In the old temple, Shirong and his two followers were staring at the three statues. The glow from them had dissipated and the blood covering them was also starting to fade away.

    Not only were they tired after making all the formations and controlling the runes, they knew that they now had to retreat soon. While they had made effort to make sure that they would not be suspected, Shirong still wanted to be cautious.

    But they still had to wait and see if there were any changes to the statues after the process was fullypleted. Thus they waited for about five more minutes and saw that everything returned to how it was before.

    "It should be fine now, collect the corpses and dispose of them at a right time," Shirong ordered.

    Bei Wen nodded and went to collect the corpses of the three men who were controlled and that of the old priest. He stored them in his spatial storage ring. After storing them, he had a slightly displeased expression on his face as his spatial storage ring was now fully filled.

    Bei Wen''s spatial storage ring was a mid grade one and thus did not have much space. Before storing the corpses it was already half filled and now adding the three corpses had fully filled it. If it were up to him, he would have disposed of the corpses right away, but ording to the n he had to wait for the right time.

    Depending on the situation, the corpses could still be used to divert attention and thus they had to keep them. If they disposed of them early on, then it would be a shame.

    "Let''s go now," Shirong ordered.

    The three of them created the tiger masks again on their faces and walked out of the temple. Sometime while making the formations, the tiger masks had dissipated, most likely due to itcking energy. After making the tiger masks though, Ye Dai and Bei Wen''s qi fluctuation became significantly lower. It was evident that the technique used up quite a bit of spirit qi to operate.

    They circled around the path they came from just to be cautious and returned to their respective courtyards. Just a minute after Shirong had returned to his courtyard, a knock was heard on his door.

    "Young Master Shirong, the n heads have called in an emergency meeting." Spoke a voice from outside.

    "That was fastбн seems like they were more worried about this than I expected," Shirong muttered.

    He walked to the door and opened it, only to see one of the Juniors of the Lu n waiting for him there. He had seen the man before and nodded at him.

    "Alright, let''s go. But what is the reason for the emergency meeting?" Shirong probed.

    "Umm, I do not know. The n head simply instructed me to bring you." The junior answered.

    ''Hmm, so they want to keep it hidden for the time being.'' Shirong thought.

    But while following the junior, he realized that they were not heading towards the meeting hall but rather the direction of the main Temple of the three guardians.

    "Are we not going to the meeting hall?" Shirong questioned.

    "No, Young master. The n head asked for the meeting to be held at the temple for some reason." The junior spoke.

    Shirong did not speak anything and simply nodded.

    ''That makes sense considering the speed of this response.'' He reckoned.

    "Why do I feel like something big is going to happen?" Lin Wu said inside the ring.

    ***

    Far beyond the Ming Dao world, there existed a gigantic pce.

    Precious stones and metals had been used in its construction, and an auspicious aura could be felt all around it. Even the qi in the area was dense enough to be condensed into clouds that varied in a myriad of shades. There were purple, blue, pink, green and golden clouds in the sky forming a mystical scene.

    There were countless precious herbs and flowers everywhere in thends around the pces and all of them emanated a thick qi. The fragrance of the Flowers was absolutely tantalizing and if a mortal were toe here, just being in the vicinity of them would push them to the peak of health.

    There were spirit beasts flying in the air that had various forms. The beasts would let out cries and growls while traveling through the clouds, enjoying it very much.

    Inside this giant pce, there was a long hall. This hall was a throne room and at the end of it was a twelve feet tall golden throne.

    A regal looking man was currently sitting on this throne. He himself was over fifteen feet tall and had a long mustache that came all the way down to his chest. He had a blue crown on his head and his hair was tied up in the style of royalty.

    He wore azure blue robes and various designs were present on the robes. But the most eye catching thing about him was the powering from him. Just the qi that he was breathing in and out was dense enough to cause immortal Ascension realm experts to explode.

    One could tell that this was nomon man, if he was a man at all.

    The man was sitting silently on the throne and had his eyes closed in contemtion. The rest of the throne room was empty, yet it did not feel like that. If one looked at it closely, they could see hundreds of ethereal silhouettes sitting on the rest of the seats in the hall.

    All of them were emanating qi, but not just any qi, it was immortal qi!

    Yet in front of all these figures, the qi from the regal looking man was oppressive. One could not even tell what kind of qi was surrounding the Azure robed man.

    A few steps were heard as a nine feet tall man walked into the hall. The man was wearing green robes and had long hair as well. But the attitude he presented was rather servile and could be seen as he kneeled in greeting after reaching the hall.

    "My king, an old beacon was activatedбн"

 Chapter 95 - Machinations?

    The Regal-looking man spared the servant no nce and kept his silence.

    "And why would you bring an issue like this to the king?" One of the illusory figures sitting in the hall questioned.

    With his question, a might spread in the hall and put pressure on the servant. But even then the servant was unfazed and kept his posture.

    "My king, the old beacon was iplete after the activation." The servant added.

    Finally, some sense of response could be seen in the king''s posture. He still didn''t open his eyes, neither did his lips move, but a voice was heard in the hall. The voice was powerful, and it was as if it spoke to their souls themselves.

    "An iplete beacon? Were the avatars summoned?" The king questioned.

    "They were indeed, but it was for an invokement ceremony." The servant answered.

    "An invokement ceremony?" The king asked and opened his eyes.

    "Yes my king, I checked ten times and it was indeed that." The servant hurriedly confirmed.

    "Shouldn''t it be the turn for the vermilion bird n this time? Why were we asked?" The king questioned, feeling a bit confused.

    "My king, for some reason this beaconбн does not have the relic of the vermilion bird n." The servant answered.

    "What? How?" This time it was one of the illusory figures that asked.

    "What junior was assigned to that beacon?" Another one of the illusory figures questioned.

    The servant seemed a bit hesitant to speak after hearing the questions, but he still brought forth courage and spilled it.

    "Itбн it wasn''t one of the Juniors of our n, my lords." The servant answered.

    "Then who was it?" The king questioned this time with furrowed brows.

    "It wasбн one of my great grand descendent''s from the twenty second branch." The servant spoke in an embarrassed tone.

    "What! So it''s not someone with the true bloodline and not even a servant? A mere descendant beast!" shouted one of the illusory figures that had questioned the servant.

    "Ye-yes, my lords." The servant confirmed.

    "Why are we even discussing this? What kind of a backward world was that beacon assigned to? If it''s one of the descendant beasts then it should be a mortal world right?" The king replied.

    "Yes, my king. The reason I believed this to be worth your time was because while the beacon was activated for the invokement ceremony, someone or something suppressed it breaking the connection. If it were a true beacon that was handled by one of the disciples, then this would have been impossible.

    But since this lowly servant''s worthless descendants were involved, I beg for forgiveness. Another thing that bothers me is that the beacon is iplete, it is missing the vermilion bird n''s avatar. I do not know how something like this happened." The servant exined.

    The hall went silent after this, and no one dared to disturb the king while he was thinking. Even if they were given ten thousand guts, they would still not attempt something like this. Their king had reached a level which they had no idea of. All they could do was look up to him.

    It was as if the time itself had slowed down in the hall and the silence had still the minds of the people. The servant was still kneeling on the ground even after ten hours had passed by.

    "What is the name of this world?" The king finally asked after thinking for a long while.

    "ording to the records, this was originally a nameless world till a few millenniums ago, but after the first few immortals ascended from that world it was known as the Ming Dao world. Not that unique for a mortal world. I cross checked the other worlds that have the same names and only found this one to be assigned to my branch.

    The beacon in the world had fully been activated only once, and that was during the inception ceremony. After the awakening of the avatars, and the linking of celestial energy, it was never awakened. There were some blessing ceremonies conducted and invokement ceremonies that were done, but none of them were directed to us.

    But suddenly this has happened." The Servant exined in detail.

    The king went silent for a few hours again, and the servant did not move either.

    Perhaps if this was the court of the mortal world, a scene like this would have already created a huge uproar. But for a celestial world like this, a scene like this was nothing. For the people living here, time was the one thing they had the most.

    "Go ahead then. Since it has been assigned to your descendant, investigate it as you see fit. If the beacon is found to be broken, send another one." The king spoke.

    "Thank you for your guidance, my king." The servant replied with great respect.

    "You are dismissed." The king added.

    The servant stood up and moved out of the hall without facing away from the king. Showing one''s back to the king was doing great disrespect to the king. Once the servant was gone, the king looked towards one of the illusory figures that were sitting to his right.

    "Ao Dian Mo, inform the vermilion bird n about this as well. Ask them to check on their end." The king ordered.

    "As youmand, my lord." The man named Ao Dian Mo spoke.

    Outside the pce, the servant stepped up into the sky and turned into a streak of light. It was as if it passed through countless kilometers before arriving in a sea of stars. There, the light changed and turned into an Azure dragon that was ten kilometers long.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    An earth shattering roar was heard as the azure dragon swam in the sea of stars disappearing into the darkness.

    ***

    Back at the Deer Wood city, the people were a bit startled by the events of today but were still rtively calm.

    Shirong was walking towards the main temple of the three guardians and had no idea that his little act of stopping the ceremony had set into motion a grand chain of events.

    A few minutester, Shirong entered the main temple and saw all of the people standing there. There were the n heads and also the other people they had recruited for the ceremony. Shirong''s gaze wandered around the hall and spotted the three dead bodies.

    A wide berth was given to the dead bodies, and it was as if the people were afraid of gaining bad luck if they were near the dead bodies. Shirong''s eyes flickered for a moment and the calm look returned again. The people were facing away from him and had not seen his face.

    Shirong''s face twitched for a moment before an expression of great worry reced the calm look.

    "And there we go, Drama queen mode on!" Lin Wumented while pulling out his imaginary bag of popcorn.

    "What happened here n heads?" Shirong spoke with a troubled tone that concealed a hint of concern.

    The people trained around to face him and a lot of changes were seen on their faces. Some were of regret, some of fear, and some of indifference.

    <em>~Sigh~ </em>

    "We should have listened to your suggestion, Young master Shirong. We really had a misfortune as you had stated so before." n head Lu spoke answered with a crestfallen expression.

    Shirong looked at the dead bodies with a sad look and nodded at the n head Lu''s words.

    "No n head Lu, this was simply something out of our control. All I said back then was that this could be possible, even I was not a hundred percent sure about it." Shirong replied.

    "Still, perhaps we should have consulted about it more before attempting this. A week was too short, perhaps." n head Lu spoke.

    "I admit the error in my research as well fell n heads." n head Mu added.

    n head Mu was the head of one of the top three ns and was neutral in most of the matters. Him admitting a mistake like this was a great thing, and the smaller ns were surprised. They knew that this was a collective decision and no one would me n head Mu even if something worse had happened.

    ''This is what you get when you do not listen to me.'' Shirong thought in his mind.

    A week ago, the ns had collectively decided to conduct the ceremony and for that, they needed a lot more core condensation realm experts. Shirong of course did not want them to do this and showed his disagreement. He posed that there could be dangerous effects and that the ceremony was most likely not correct.

    The ns were willing to listen to his words but still chose to conduct the ceremony.

    To make sure that this failed, Shirong had set up the entire thing and such was the result. But it was this very thing that had perhaps created an even bigger trouble for not only Shirong, but the entirety of the Ming Dao world.

 Chapter 96 - Shirong Got Folded?

    The n heads looked on towards n Head Lu and Young master Shirong. They were waiting for a conclusion to this as they knew that things had already beplex.

    "Young master Shirong, I believe that it would be better if you take the beast shell fragment back. I think it would be better if you search it with your resources." n Head Lu spoke after thinking for a bit.

    "If you believe that''s the best then I will not reject this n head Lu. But do the other n heads agree with this? I''ll be fine if they are in a disagreement." Shirong spoke diplomatically.

    "I am fine with it, Young master Shirong. And I believe the rest should be too." n Head Xiong replied.

    "Yes, Young master it is all right." n Head Mu added as well.

    The rest of the n heads chimed in agreement, and none of them rejected this proposal. They had already seen what happened before and they did not want a thing of misfortune such as the beast shell fragment to be near them anymore.

    "Since everyone is in agreement I shall ept it in my possession then," Shirong stated.

    "Please take it, Young Master Shirong." n head Lu spoke and gestured with his hand.

    The people moved to the side, revealing the beast shell fragment that was kept on an altar in the center of the three guardian statues. Unlike the statues in the old and broken temple, these were well maintained and not a single scratch could be seen on them.

    There were also faint fluctuations of a certain kind of energy emanating from the statues, but they seemed to be different than those of the spirit qi.

    "Hmm, this is interesting." Lin Wu muttered.

    Shirong moved forward and secretly checked the statues with his spirit sense.

    ''Looks like everything went well, they are the same as before. No traces were left behind.'' Shirong thought.

    He then extended his hand and went to take a hold of the rock like beast shell fragment. But the moment his hand touched the fragment, he was knocked back flying.

    "GAH!" Shirong yelped as he flew through the air helplessly.

    The force released from the fragment was strong enough to break through his defenses.

    "YOUNG MASTER!" n head Lu shouted.

    The others did the same and rushed to check up on him.

    <em>~Cough~Cough~</em>

    Shirong coughed out some blood as he tried to move from the ground. He had been knocked about ten meters away and had mmed into the wall of the temple. The damage he bore was not due to mming, rather it was due to the force that was released from the fragment.

    Just mming into the wall would have not evene close to harming Shirong as his body was quite tough for that, being in the pseudo nascent soul stage previously. The n heads gathered around Young master Shirong and n Head Lu pulled out a pill to feed to Shirong.

    Shirong could sense that it was a high grade healing pill and epted it without much thought.

    <em>~Haah~</em>

    Shirong let out a slightly pain filled breath and sat down cross legged to recover. While it did not look like he had sustained any physical injuries, that was not so. His core had been rocked hard and Shirong could sense the spirit qi within it getting restless.

    If he did not stabilize it quick, it would have be quite dangerous for him. He had barely recovered from his internal injuries recently and did not want them to open up again.

    "What was that?" One of the n heads questioned.

    n Head Lu had a serious expression on his face as he looked back at the altar. It looked the same as before, and not a smidgen of energy could be felt from it.

    "Seal the temple! No one gets close to the fragment till we know what happened." n head Lu ordered.

    The n heads quickly nodded and n head Mu took out some things from his spatial storage treasure. He immediately started setting up restrictive formations around the altar while the others ced barriers around the temple.

    The people who were outside were surprised on seeing all the influential n heads suddenly flying out of the temple and setting up formations.

    "Look! What are they doing?" One of themoners questioned.

    "All people are ordered to keep a distance from the temple until further notice." One of the guards that had been stationed outside the Temple shouted.

    It was evident that they had been instructed to do so, and the people heeded those orders hurriedly. The people knew that nothing good woulde out of lingering around here, and they should not challenge the authority of the n heads.

    After the people were all gone, more guards arrive and set up a perimeter around the temple''s area.

    "The area is secure, my lord." One of the guards reported to the n head that was overseeing security.

    "Good, ensure no onees near." The n head spoke before returning to the temple.

    Shirong had been recovering for about an hour now, and no one dared to disturb him. n head Lu was standing near him as a Dharma protector and kept his spirit sense extended around. While he was sure that no one would dare to do anything here, he still had to keep up certain pretenses.

    If the Ji n ever learned that he did not act as a Dharma protector when their heir was injured, his life could be on the line.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was wondering what exactly had happened. Unlike the others who had not felt the wave of energy as it had been concentrated on Shirong, Lin Wu had. His link with Shirong ensured that he received full feedback from it.

    Besides, the system was always keeping a close eye on Shirong''s body so as to gain more information about the cultivation techniques and had fully recorded everything.

    "Man, that guy got foldedбн" Lin Wu muttered, recalling how Shirong flew through the air.

 Chapter 97 - Brave Clan Head?

    Lin Wu was currently reading through the report that the system hadpiled after analyzing the energy that had knocked Shirong back.

    "Hahaha!" Lin Wuughed, "So it was his own fault that this happened to him."

    ording to the system''s analysis, the force that Shirong was struck with was directly proportional to the sum of all people''s average strength in the hall. Even the weakest person in the hall was at the core condensation realm as had been decided by the n heads for the ceremony.

    The three strongest people were the top three n heads; Lu, Xiong and Mu. n head Lu was a nascent soul realm cultivator while n Head Xiong and Mu were at the pseudo nascent soul realm. In total, there were thirty three people in the hall.

    "So it was the thing that Shirong did back at the old temple that caused this." Lin Wu said as he continued reading the report.

    The seal that Shirong had created there had blocked the operating of the three guardian statues in the main temple. While it seemed like it had been stopped, the truth was all the spirit qi that had been poured by the people in this hall was still trapped within it.

    It was not able to go to its intended ce due to the seal; this was when Shirong touched the fragment, and the energy escaped to the only ce it could go to- Shirong''s body. But the thing was this energy was not pure spirit qi, if it had been so, Shirong would have been able to forcible manage it.

    "Heck, I would have directly absorbed it if it was spirit qi. I don''t think Shirong would have minded it either." Lin Wu chuckled.

    But no, the energy had been changed due to the effect of the three guardian statues and the ceremony. Even the system was not able to tell what kind of energy this was, and all it got was errors. While there were some simrities to the spirit qi, there were also some unknown variables mixed in.

    What Shirong had just felt was nothing, but thebined attack of all the people in the hall, in simple terms. This was why he was having such a hard time controlling his spirit qi now and had to focus on it totally.

    In fact, Shirong had to forcibly cut off his senses so that he would not be disturbed. He knew that he was at a critical juncture and any minor mistake could lead him to suffer from a qi deviation.

    "n head Lu, I''ve checked the altar and the fragment. There are no traces of any kind of energy there. Whatever it was, it was contained on Young master Shirong. Another thing is that all the formations we set up for the ceremony had been shattered." n Head Mu spoke.

    n Head Lu had a frown on his face after hearing this.

    "What do you think will happen if someone were to check the fragment?" n head Lu questioned.

    "From all my analysis nothing should happen, but I cannot be sure seeing that we had no inkling of this before Young master Shirong touched the fragment." n head Mu stated.

    "Hmm, then you think we should ask someone to test it out?" n head Lu asked.

    "That would be for the best. But I do not know if this would be good for the person attempting this. What if they were not able to bear the brunt of it? We cannot forget that Young master Shirong is much stronger than most people here." n head Mu replied.

    One of the smaller n heads seemed to have heard them talk and went forward.

    "Please let me try it, I volunteer." Spoke the small n head.

    "n head Tie are you sure of this? We can ask a ve to do this too." n Head Lu asked.

    "No n head Lu, a ve will not be able to sense if something were to happen. Besides, I got a few defensive treasures on me that I shall use. Young master Shirong was simply caught off guard I believe, or he should have been able to resist it easily." n head Tie replied, not forgetting to bootlick Shirong, even when he was unable to hear it.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Alright, if that is what you wish." n head Lu permitted.

    n Head Tie cupped his hands before taking out a few talismans from his spatial storage treasure and activating them. A few defensive barriers appeared on his body and he got ready to approach the fragment. The rest of the n heads watched closely and were ready to act if anything were to happen.

    n Head Lu waved his hands and created a few more barriers around n head Tie. The others were in awe when they saw n head Lu do this, as it was something only nascent soul realm cultivators could do. When one reached the nascent soul realm, they were able to freely manipte the spirit qi in the air.

    Thus creating a few a barrier like this was quite an easy task for n head Lu. n head Tie cupped his hands once again in gratefulness and continued onward.

    <em>~Gulp~</em>

    He swelled his saliva and took a deep breath before extending his hand. His heart started beating faster and faster the closer his hand got to the fragment.

    "Huh?" n Head Tie uttered in confusion as his hand easily touched the beast shell fragment.

    He picked it up and checked it in all angles before a relieved expression appeared on his face.

    "It is safe, n head!" n head Tie shouted.

    Lin Wu was unable to see this as his means of observation had been cut off with Shirong restraining his spirit sense. But he was still able to hear the things that people were speaking close by. This was done by letting a small opening in the spatial storage ring''s dimension and letting the sound reach inside.

    "Of course it wouldn''t do anything to you, there is nothing left in it you dumbos..." Lin Wu said with a humored tone.

 Chapter 98 - New Plan?

    After it was established that everything was fine and there was no risk ining close with the beast shell fragment, the people in the hall took a breath of relief. But the restrictions and formations ced in the Temple were still not removed.

    Even if it was confirmed that they were safe, there was still Young Master Shirong who was injured. They wanted to let him recover first and did not want to disturb him. Thus they all waited patiently for Young Master Shirong to wake up.

    But after a day had passed and Young Master Shirong had not shown a single response, they were getting worried. Not to mention that they now had tasks to do that had been pending for a day.

    "n head Lu, what do we do?" n head Meng asked with concern.

    All of the n heads had the same question in their minds and they wanted to return to their ns. Normally they were all quite busy men and seldom had time to do something like this. Them giving time to Young Master Shirong like this was already quite a big thing.

    But on the other hand, they had no choice but to do this so as to give face to the Ji n. They all knew the power of the Ji n, and their influence was spread far and wide. A few bad words reaching the ears of the n could easily spell doom for them.

    "Set up a secure path, we will move Young master Shirong to his courtyard and lock down the city. No one newes in or goes out." n Head Lu ordered.

    The people in the room took a breath of relief. Some of the other non affiliated cultivators that had been recruited by the n for the ceremony were simply watching this. They knew that they had little say in this and besides, they were getting paid by the ns.

    The n heads nodded their head and some of them went to get things ready. Within an hour everything was done, and they were proceeding to the next step. n head Lu waved his hand and floated the tile that young master Shirong was sitting on to a pnquin.

    The pnquin had been specially brought here and was big enough for the entire tile. The temple hall looked a bit strange with the tile missing, but the people did not bother with it much. The tile would be easily reced.

    After cing the Young master Shirong in the pnquin, it was moved over to the courtyard he was staying in. They moved at a slow speed so as to not disturb the young master. Even a curfew had been dered in the city and everyone was ordered to stay indoors. If anyone was seen outside, they would be sent to prison without any chance forints.

    People took this very seriously, and the small criminal groups in the city were shaking in their boots. They did not know why a curfew like this was initiated, but they could not help but think that it could be to catch them.

    But when the curfew was lifted six hourster, the people were a bit dumbfounded as nothing seemed to have happened. No one knew that all of this was done, just so that young master Shirong could be safely transported to his courtyard.

    After cing him in the courtyard the n heads all took their leave, while the n head Lu personally set up a protective formation array on the courtyard. There were already a lot of them there, but he personally reinforced them.

    A lot of guards were also ced around the courtyard, and the security in the entire district was raised by a notch.

    Lin Wu was observing some things but was restricted to the immediate vicinity of Shirong.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "What am I supposed to do now? Do I just wait and watch?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SYSTEM ANALYSIS:plete.

    бкбк

    Just as Lin Wu thought of that, the notification sounded again. This time it was a surprise for Lin Wu as he did not know what the system had analyzed. He opened the new window that popped up on the side and started reading it.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    REPORT: The system has analyzed the energy that has infected Shirong''s core. It is still unknown what kind of energy it is, but the system can remove it from Shirong if the host wants it. Though this procedure has a 60% rate of sess and in the event of failure will harm Shirong.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had not expected that the system would take initiative and do something like this on its own. Still, Lin Wu did not mind it and reckoned it was fine. But this opened up some more ideas for him, and he started to think of how to take advantage of this situation again.

    "System, what is the condition of Shirong now?" Lin Wu questioned, wanting to know more aspects first.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Shirong is trying to resolve the infective energy on his own and is currently attempting to iste it. System''s prediction is that he will eject the energy after it has been isted. The energy has slightpatibility with spirit qi, but Shirong''s current cultivation base seems too low for him to handle it.

    бкбк

    "Hmm, let''s see. He''s trying to iste it, huh?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He then formed a n in his mind and took an hour to do this. After it was done, he started instructing the system to do certain things.

    "If this works, then I''ll be able to control this guy much better." Lin Wu uttered with anticipation.

    "System, DO IT!" Lin Wu ordered.

    Shirong who had been sitting calmly all this time suddenly trembled. He had cut off his sense all this while and was fully focused on resolving the problem that he was in currently. He had not expected that the connection he had with the Green crystal spear would suddenly activate, when it had been silent for all this time.

    Then he felt as if a burning hot de was stabbed into his abdomen.

 Chapter 99 - Unique Core?

    Shirong could not help but let out a pain filled grunt. He felt scared at this as he had sealed his senses and yet this was able to pass through them. The pain in his abdomen seemed to being from a foreign source that Shirong felt was a bit familiar.

    He wanted to resist, but as soon as he tried that, his hold over the rampaging energy weakened as well.

    <em>~Cough~</em>

    Shirong inadvertently coughed out blood as the energy rocked his core again. He was able to hold on with great difficulty and could not even use a healing pill. He felt that losing even a moment''s focus could spell doom for him.

    He was helpless and could only let the foreign source enter his body. But in a surprise to him, the foreign source looked like a spirit qi construct. The construct entered his dantian but did not harm him, rather it started covering the entirety of his dantian.

    Now it was as if a shell had been created in Shirong dantian. This shell contained his core and was present in a differentyer of his dantian. The shell that was formed released needle like spikes from it that suddenly stabbed into his core.

    "GAH!" Another painful cry escaped his mouth.

    But the pain was momentary: as soon after the needles had stabbed into his dantian, he felt as if the rampaging energy in his core was getting restrained. He kept on watching curiously and saw that it started stabilizing.

    He could then feel as if channels were being carved into his core and within them, the rampaging energy was being directed. Little by little it entered the channels, but what Shirong did not notice was that its quantity was decreasing.

    By the time all of the ramping energy had entered his core, it had unknowingly reduced by half. The channel was a new thing that Shirong had never heard of before. He knew that certain cultivators could form unique cores that had different properties.

    This could be a result of their cultivation techniques or their unique physiques. Shirong had not expected that he would one day have a unique core as well. But there was still the question of whether this would be beneficial for him or not.

    After more time, the shell that had formed over his core started shrinking and merging with his core. The channels that were once present on the surface of the core were now hidden beneath the shell. Once this was done, he suddenly felt a lot morefortable.

    All the rampaging energy had disappeared and he felt his control over his core return. Shirong wanted to immediately check the changes with his core, but then restrained himself with great difficulty.

    ''I need to first verify what it actually isбн'' Shirong thought.

    Shirong unsealed his sense and opened his eyes. Hisplexion was a bit pale, but overall he seemed to be well. After seeing that he had been moved from the previous location he was a bit surprised but then realized that it must have been the n heads that must have done it.

    "Looks like they moved the very ground I was sitting on, smart." Shirong stated seeing the tile that he was still sitting on.

    He stood up and pushed the stone tile from beneath him to the side. He then went and got a supportive meditation mat from the inside. This kind of a meditative mat was a low grade spirit tool and could help enhance the sense of the cultivator that used it.

    Shirong sat down on the mat in a meditative pose and closed his eyes, ready to check his core again. His spirit sense entered his dantian and observed his core. There were lines going all around his core in aplex pattern. These lines were the channels that were formed.

    These lines would glow from time to time and he could see the energy which was previously rampaging in his core. The energy had changed its form a little bit and was now pale blue colored. There was a thin transparent shell that coated his core and made it look like an exquisite gem.

    "Marvelousбн" Shirong couldn''t help but utter, seeing his core.

    Now came the time for the big test, Shirong started using his cultivation technique and refined some spirit qi. He was quite nervous as he did not have any idea of what would happen after this. But his worries were soon dissipated as he saw his core working the same as before.

    It was able to freely absorb his spirit qi, and his cultivation technique was working as well.

    "Now to test the limitsбн" Shirong muttered.

    This was another big thing that he thought he needed to do. He focused on his core and tried to influence the pale blue energy that was coursing through the channels. But as soon as he did, he felt as if he was being stabbed by a burning de again.

    He didn''t flinch through and continued trying to influence it. But after he went past a certain limit, the pale blue energy seemed to have be disturbed and leaked into his core.

    <em>~Cough~</em>

    Shirong spat out another mouthful of blood as the pale blue energy returned to its rampaging form. He immediately stopped doing what he was doing and saw a new phenomenon happening. The thin shell that covered his core glowed a bit, and the rampaging energy was being drawn back to the channels on his core.

    A few minutester, his core stabilized again and the energy returned to being pale blue. It calmly circted in the channels. But this time Shirong sensed something else.

    The moment that the shell had activated, he had felt the connection between him and the green crystal spear activate for a moment. It was then that it struck him.

    "The spear! Itбн it solved the problem and tamed the energy."

    ***

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was happily watching everything.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    PROCESS COMPLETED: Back door function created.

    бкбк

    "Now you shall be my puppetбн MUAHAHHAHA!"

 Chapter 100 - Backdoor Function?

    What Lin Wu had done was something he was not fully sure that it would work. Even the system had only told him of a fifty percent probability of sess. He had not actually healed Shirong in theplete sense, rather he had used the Unknown energy as a shackle.

    Lin Wu had asked the system whether it would be possible to create a unique function that could control the unknown energy and manipte it while still keeping it in Shirong''s core. The system had told him this would be possible, but Shirong may find out about Lin Wu.

    But Lin Wu figured since his senses were restrained, this would not matter too much. And even if he did find out that Lin Wu was fully sentient, Lin Wu would easily be able to kill him in his current condition. The interface that the system had created already allowed Lin Wu to leave the ring if he wanted to do so.

    Seeing that the benefits outweighed the risks, Lin Wu went ahead with the n and ordered the system to initiate the process. His bet turned out to be good as he had seeded, albeit with a few injuries to Shirong. Which to be honest didn''t matter to Lin Wu.

    The function that Lin Wu had asked the system to create had multiple properties. Not only would this function mask the operation of his spirit sense from Shirong, it would also make his own perception skewed in terms of things that pertained to Lin Wu.

    There was also a spirit qi stealing property that Lin Wu asked the system to make. This would allow him to obtain around 1% of all spirit qi that Shirong cultivated and refined. Lin Wu kept the percentage low since he did not want to push Shirong to the very brink.

    If Shirong got spooked and decided to get to his n for help, he would have to kill him. The current situation was more beneficial for Lin Wu as he could reap the benefits for a long time. Besides, the best thing for Lin Wu in terms of benefits was none other than Shirong''s identity and knowledge.

    Still, not all of the properties of the new back door function were active currently. Only the one that hid his spirit qi was active. The other properties would be activated once the system verified that everything was stable.

    The biggest variable currently that forced Lin Wu to do this was none other than the unknown energy. While the system could absorb and manipte it to a certain extent, they still didn''t know what exactly it was. Neither did they know what kind of effects it could have.

    Thus erring on the side of caution, Lin Wu decided to observe it for the time being. He had also asked the system to absorb around half of the unknown energy for its own analysis. But even then, the half portion that was in Shirong''s core was enough to harm him.

    Lin Wu merely had to ''loosen'' the restraints a bit and ''punish'' Shirong.

    He also looked at the Host data window and saw that the new entry had been created in it.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 4980 units

    UNKNOWN ENERGY: 2 units (wisps)

    бкбк

    Seeing the amount, Lin Wu was a bit surprised. He had not expected that such a small amount of it was enough to harm Shirong to this extent.

    "Wait, a minute! This energy is in wisp units!" Lin Wu uttered with absolute shock.

    "This meansбн merely four wisp units were enough to overpower thousands of drop unitsбн" Lin Wu stated.

    ''The energy was formed from thebined strength of over thirty people and Even then it is so low, how? What kind of form was this changed into?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, do you have more information on it, now that you''ve absorbed a portion?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system''s preliminary analysis shows that the energy was modified by the effect of the three guardian statues. What they did is currently beyond the understanding of the system, but it can be assumed that it had been refined and condensed to a great extent to turn into this kind of a form.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was astounded by this and couldn''t help but think of the story that Shirong had said to his two followers before about the three guardian beasts.

    ording to it, the three ancient ns had awakened the relics that they had found and summoned the beasts. They had then fought with the invaders and protected this world. In turn, the religion was established.

    "Seems like there is more to these statues than I thoughtбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    Then another idea came to his mind.

    "If there are so many temples, then these statues should be made by someone, right? Perhaps the manufacturers know more about this energy, because if there is something that can refine spirit qi to this extent then it should be quite valuable.

    Perhaps it is a formation or a material of some kind?" Lin Wu said.

    Meanwhile, Shirong was thinking about the unknown energy too in the real world.

    ''What kind of energy is that? But I''m lucky the spear was able to restrain it or I would have likely died.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    He looked inside the ring and saw that the Green crystal spear was still the same, floating around in the spatial dimension. Unknown to him, the new back door function was already working. Even the few spirit qi fluctuations that Lin Wu was intentionally emanating were hidden to Shirong''s perception.

    "It is a ''Backdoor'' indeedбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Shirong looked at the spear for a bit before finally withdrawing the spear from the ring. He felt it to be the same weight as thest time, but there was something strange about it. He felt as if his connection with the spear was both closer and farther at the same time.

 Chapter 101 - Stealing Spirit Qi?

    Now that the back door function was in ce, Lin Wu felt that he could take a few more liberties.

    Now that his spirit qi fluctuations were hidden, he would actually be able to pretend to be an ''Immortal weapon'' better. He had a few ideas in his mind on how to do it too, all he had to do was to wait for Shirong to test it out himself.

    ''Hmm, do I prod him on a bit?'' Lin Wu wondered as hey in Shirong''s hands.

    Shirong was staring at him intently, trying to find the changes that had happened. But even after an hour of non-stop checking, he couldn''t reallye to a conclusion. The only thing was that, deep down in his mind he could feel as if the connection between him and the spear had deepened.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I should recover first, then I''ll test the rest of the things outбн" Shirong muttered to himself in a helpless tone.

    He then stored the spear back into the spatial storage ring. Shirong sat back down and ate a few healing pills before starting to recover from the new injuries that had been inflicted due to Lin Wu''s creating the new back door function. He spent the rest of the day doing this and by midnight was finally recovered.

    But even now his spirit qi stores were at merely half. He needed to recover them too if he wanted to be at his optimum condition.

    "Hehe, nows the timeбн System, turn on the spirit qi steal property." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    INITIATING: Spirit qi steal property

    ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL: Spirit qi steal property on line

    бкбк

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    Seeing it activate, Lin Wu took a breath of relief.

    "Now to see if it works as intendedбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    The system had told Lin Wu that it may need to make a few adjustments along the way as the property was activated. It was not a 100% stable thing and could have some problems. But Lin Wu could care less and let Shirong take all of the weight of the risks.

    In the real world, Shirong started creating the seals ording to the Sky Shaker Immortal Art, and spirit qi started swirling around him. Lin Wu watched on with bated breath and kept an eye on his spirit qi storage.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    QI STORAGE: 2 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    The system had used some of the energy in the creation of the new back door function and thus Lin Wu was low on spirit qi. A few minutester, it finally started.

    QI STORAGE: 2 units [liquid spirit qi]

    .

    .

    .

    QI STORAGE: 3 units [liquid spirit qi]

    "YES!" Lin Wu shouted in joy.

    The Spirit qi Stael function was finally working, albeit slowly. Lin Wu looked on, and tried to get an estimate of the rate at which he was getting the spirit qi from Shirong. He realized that the rate was not exactly the same, and there were quite a few fluctuations in it.

    "Well, can''tin about free stuffбн" Lin Wu said.

    He kept on looking as the spirit qi storage slowly started to rise.

    3 units

    .

    4 units

    .

    5 units

    .

    .

    .

    30 Units

    .

    .

    .

    .

    96 units

    Finally, twenty hourster Lin Wu had obtained about 96 units of liquid spirit qi from Shirong. While it could notpare to the previous gains, it was still quite a bit and he did not mind it.

    "Hmm, this will be good for a passive gainбн" Lin Wu reckoned.

    <em>~Huu~</em>

    Shirong finally opened his eyes and let out a breath. Hisplexion had improved greatly and the spirit qi in his body was also thrumming rhythmically. He felt a bit better than he originally was before the injuries, but could not find a reason for that.

    "Is this the effect of the spear too?" Shirong wondered.

    "Yeah, yeah, it''s me. Now go on, I''m getting bored here." Lin Wu said upon hearing his words.

    "Perhaps, it is time to test out the spear." Shirong decided.

    Lin Wu nodded in approval and watched as Shirong went to the exit of the courtyard. But just as he left it, he was blocked by tens of people.

    "YOUNG MASTER SHIRONG!" One of the persons shouted.

    "The Young master has recovered!" Another shouted.

    "Quickly inform the n heads!" Someone else added.

    In his excitement to test out the green crystal spear, Shirong hadpletely forgotten about checking his surroundings with his spirit sense. Usually, he would never make a mistake like this and was always cautious. But he had missed all the formations and protections that had been ced on the courtyard he was staying at.

    ''How did I make a novice mistake like this?'' Shirong thought, feeling a bit stupid.

    It wasn''t exactly Shirong''s fault though. He had been through quite a lot of misfortunestely and with the influence of a little certain someone, he couldn''t help but let this ur.

    "Looks like the back door function had a few side effectsбн System analyze this and make appropriate improvements." Lin Wu spoke.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTED!

    RECONFIGURING: Masking property.

    бкбк

    Wanting to immediately rectify his mistake, Shirong spread his spirit sense around, scanning everything in its range.

    The guards and servants that had been assigned to the courtyard all shuddered as they felt the strong spirit sense pass through their bodies. They all fell silent and did not speak a word, simply letting young master Shirong finish what he was doing.

    Finally, Shirong knew of the situation that he was in.

    ''Looks like they set up additional security around the courtyard.'' Shirong realized.

    He looked on at the guards, and servants who were all tensed.

    "Ah, I believe the n heads will be expecting me now?" Shirong said with a gentle smile.

    "Ye-yesбн Young master Shirong." A guard answered.

    "We were instructed to tell n head Lu the moment you recovered. We had been waiting for the past four days." A servant exined.

    Shirong nodded at this and found it to be reasonable.

    "Well then, shall we proceedбн" Shirong stated.

 Chapter 102 - Recovered Shirong?

    Shirong was brought to the courtyard of the Lu n. It was perhaps thergest building in the entire Deer wood city and took up around ten percent of its entire area. There were a lot of separate buildings in the courtyard for the different members of the n and they all lived ording to seniority.

    Shirong looked around for a moment before looking straight. The courtyard was nothing fancy to him as he had lived in the Ji n''s ever since he was born. The Ji n''s home was more near to the size of a city rather than a courtyard.

    There were multiple luxurious pces in there and the level of resources used to make it could neverpare to Deer wood city. Even the capital of the Ling kingdom would not be able topare with it and would barelye to 1% of its cost.

    Very few people had the fortune of seeing the home of the Ji n and there were a lot of rumors about it. Even if the Ji n was the second rank, it was considered to be more mysterious than the Long n which was considered the first.

    At least the location where the Long n lived was well known, and a lot of people had seen it. Whereas the Ji n''s location was hidden and was secret.

    Soon Shirong was guided to the main hall where the n head and the other important people of the n were waiting with bated breaths. When he finally entered, a collective breath of relief was taken by everyone.

    Shirong looked around and could see that n head Mu was also here for some reason.

    "Greetings n head Lu, n head Mu," Shirong said while cupping his hands.

    "Ahaha! Young Master Shirong is healed, goodбн goodбн good." n head Lu said with a joyous tone.

    "Young master has the will of a tiger, there is no way he would be harmed by something so small." A voice came from the back.

    Shirong turned around and saw that it was none other than n head Xiong that had entered.

    ''Looks like he got the news tooбн'' Shirong thought.

    "How are you feeling now, Young Master?" n head Mu asked with concern.

    "I am quite fine, n head Mu. You need not worry." Shirong answered.

    "That''s a relief. We are happy that you were able toe through." n head Lu said.

    Shirong nodded and then spoke, "I am thankful for all that you did, in order to help me."

    "You do not have to thank us for that. The Ji n has supported us before thus this is our duty." n head Lu replied.

    "Well then, on a happy asion like this, I believe it''s time for a feast!" n head Lu said out loud.

    The corner of Shirong''s lips twitched hearing this.

    ''Dammit, they''ll waste more of my time.'' Shirong thought.

    "n head Lu, I would like if we postpone this feast forter." Shirong stated.

    "Why young master, is there a problem?" n Head Lu asked with concern in his voice.

    "No, it''s not exactly a problem. It''s simply that I have gained a few insights into my cultivation and would like to train for a bit." Shirong replied.

    "Ahh! Is that so? Then that is all fine and well. We can always have a feastter." n head Lu agreed.

    "Then, if the n heads may give me permission; I''d like to head back." Shirong stated.

    "Yes, yes, leave." Lin Wu urged inside the ring.

    The three n heads agreed immediately and Shirong swiftly left the courtyard. After he was gone though, the expression of n head Mu turned serious.

    "It is as I expected." n head Mu said in a straight tone.

    "Is there really a problem with Young master Shirong''s physique?" n head Lu asked.

    "There are certain changes I was able to perceive from his aura and the spirit qi fluctuations but I cannot exactly tell what the effects of that will be. But one thing is sure, the energy that attacked him certainly did something to him." n head Mu answered.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "We can only hope it will be fineбн" n head Lu replied.

    Meanwhile n head Xiong simply looked on without a change in his expression.

    ***

    Shirong headed straight to the exit of the city. He had thought of getting his two followers Ye Dai and Bei Wen first, but then changed his mind. He reckoned that it would be better for him to check the abilities of the green crystal spear on his own, alone.

    About an hourter, he had left Deer wood city and was now in a part of the Millennium forest. Whileing here he had to hide from the people that had been assigned here. The ns had made this arrangement after the fainting incident and wanted to be kept aware about anything that was happening.

    It caused Shirong a bit of displeasure, but there wasn''t much he could do. Hended in a small clearing that was wide enough for him to test out some moves. The trees covered a 360 degree angle, thus there was less chance that he would be discovered.

    He wanted to set up some formations too, but didn''t know how they would interact with the spear, thus chose not to.

    "Now let''s see what you can doбн" Shirong muttered as he withdrew the green crystal spear from his spatial storage ring.

    The spear gleamed slightly which put a slight smile on Shirong''s face.

    He closed his eyes and felt the connection with the spear. There was something that he could feel it was telling him but it seemed to be very vague.

    "Looks like I''ll have to directly test it out." Shirong said.

    He then held the spear in his right hand and stood in a proper stance. Waves of spirit qi emanated from him as the dust on the ground was kicked up. He tilted the spear forward and stabbed with force.

    <em>~Bang~</em>

 Chapter 103 - New Moves?

    Shirong looked at what had just happened with wide eyes. Right in front of him the group of trees that were there, were now all broken. Just that was not the reason why he was shocked though, the reason he was shocked was because he had not attacked the trees at all.

    In fact, he was about ten meters away from the tree and there was no chance he would have hit it. But here he was standing with the spear that had be over ten meters long.

    "What theбн" Shirong muttered as he looked at the spear in his hands.

    While the weight of the spear was still the same, it had suddenly increased in size. It had prodded him to give it a bit of spirit qi, and that was what he had done. After all, it was an Immortal weapon, it wouldn''t make sense if it didn''t use some qi to work.

    Shirong moved his hand, and the spear moved with it.

    He thought for a bit and then tried tomunicate with the spear through the connection.

    <em>~Swoosh~</em>

    In the next instant, the spear started shrinking at a rapid speed.

    <em>~Deng~</em>

    A couple of secondster it was back to its previous size.

    "This isбн unusuallyбн but good!" Shirong stated.

    "Hahaha! This is merely the icing that I prepared for you, you still got the entire cake left." Lin Wu said in his mind.

    Shirong stood in the stance again, but this time of stabbing out, he waved the spear around.

    <em>~Woosh~</em>

    <em>~Crash~</em>

    <em>~Shatter~</em>

    This time the spear extended as well, but it was not rigid like before. It was now acting like a whip instead. The whip like spear hit the other trees that were to the side and broke them apart. Shirong willed it again, and the spear returned to its normal size.

    "This is simply amazing, I''ve never seen a weapon that can work like this before," Shirong said, feeling amazed.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was also thinking of a few things in his mind while he was being waved around.

    "Hmm, I barely felt thatбн Seems like my defenses increased by quite a lot after reaching the Mid stage of the core condensation realm." Lin Wu realized.

    Lin Wu had been prepared to bear some damage ever since he had decided to be a spear, but now that his defense had increased so much, he felt like he could bear it. Another thing that Lin Wu was happy about was that the Back door function was working very nicely.

    Right now, what Lin Wu had used was nothing but his innate skill: Cellr maniption. That was how he was able to shrink and extend. Another good thing that happened was that he had a zero consumption of his spirit qi while he was using the innate skill, rather he was actually gaining it.

    What Lin Wu was doing was actually using the spirit qi provided by Shirong to use the skills. Basically, he would demand the amount that was used by the innate skill from Shirong, who would give it to him without a second thought.

    Also, due to the spirit qi steal property of the Back door function, not only was Lin Wu using Shirong''s spirit qi, he was also absorbing a small amount in extra from it when it was given to him. This was the more Shirong used him, the more spirit qi he would actually obtain.

    Now that Shirong knew what the spear could do, he became excited at all the possibilities. He started swinging the spear around and instructed it with his mind, and it acted as he wanted it to. It extended, contracted, wrapped, coiled, crushed, pierced and whipped.

    He held it in the middle and spun it in the air. This time, both ends of the spear extended and became like whips. The trees around him were only getting more and more damaged, as he brandished the ''Weapon''.

    After fifteen minutes of testing it around, Lin Wu was getting a bit bored.

    "Let''s show him another moveбн Hehe," Lin Wu muttered in his mind.

    Shirong was just about to swing the spear again, when he felt a vague thought appearing in his mind. He couldn''t tell what it exactly meant, but it was asking him for more spirit qi. Not thinking much about it, he poured more spirit qi into it.

    Then it happened.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    The spear de changed shape and became covered in long spikes that extend from its surface.

    "Now it''s a mace?" Shirong uttered with surprise.

    The spear in his hand now looked like a morning star mace. Shirong also felt like the bnce of the spear was shifting. It became more heavier on the spiked end. Now he needed to hold it with both of his hands to wield it properly.

    <em>~HAA!!~</em>

    Shirong lifted it up high and mmed it into the ground. He felt a wave of energy passing through the mace and transfer to the ground.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Split~</em>

    The ground in front of him split apart and an inch wide long crack appeared. The crack extended for a meter but was still quite deep.

    Shirong was impressed by this, and even more ideas appeared in his mind.

    "Hahaha! How did you like my new technique!" Lin Wu uttered in his mind with jubtion.

    This was a move that Lin Wu had devised after thinking for quite a bit. What he did in this was he would activate qi amplification and then concentrate the spirit qi in his ''head'', which was the top of the Mace. Then he would release it all at once when he hit something.

    This was how he had made the deep crack, even in something like soil, which was not hard. It was now that an idea urred to Shirong.

    "Wait, if it can change its form like this thenбн" He muttered.

    Shirong willed the mace to change back into a spear form and then stabbed it into arge rock that was nearby. Then he willed it to change form, but notpletely. It was a bit difficult for him and he felt that it was taking up quite a bit of his spirit qi, but he was still willing to try it out.

    A dull sound came from the rock, but Shirong knew it had worked. He lifted the spear with both his hands and the rock was lifted as well

 Chapter 104 - Qi Skill Synchronization?

    What Shirong had done was actually making the spikes extend from the spear while it was inside the rock. He couldn''t help but imagine how deadly this skill would be if it were used on an enemy.

    "Ha ha ha! This is just amazing!" Shirong uttered in jubtion.

    <em>~Shatter~</em>

    He then swung the spear along with the rock and smashed it on the ground, making it break into multiple pieces. Shirong started to think of various methods that could be used and was lost in thought for a few minutes. He rubbed his chin while pondering on it.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was also feeling a bit happy that Shirong had figured out a few more techniques that he had made on his own.

    "This is good, at least the person I got is not dumb." Lin Wu said to himself.

    But just as he did this, he suddenly felt something.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DETECTED NEW VARIABLE: Spirit qi signature making contact.

    бкбк

    Seeing the notification, Lin Wu was a bit surprised and wondered if there was something new nearby. But then he suddenly felt an energy covering his body.

    "Wha-what''s this?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The energy that was covering him wasing from none other than Shirong''s arm. He seemed to be channeling spirit qi into him, but its characteristics seemed to be a bit different.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    VARIABLE ANALYZED: Reconfiguring Back door function properties.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu felt as if an intrinsic change had been made in the connection he had with Shirong and some information popped up in his mind.

    "This is aбн qi skill?" Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE: Qi skill synchronization property added.

    бкбк

    Shirong felt like what he was doing was actually working now, so he swung the spear again, but this time upwards. A greenish greyyer covered the entirety of the spear''s surface as it started extending like a whip.

    <em>~Woosh~</em>

    The crack of a whip was heard as the greenish greyyer that covered Lin Wu was shot out along with it. The energy went up into the sky and caused all the leaves around to detach from the trees.

    "It indeed works, and the power is increased too. Hahaha! An immortal weapon is indeed an immortal weapon! Even the might of my Immortal Sky shaker art which is considered a top grade cultivation technique is increased." Shirong uttered while a big smile appeared on his face.

    He then tried it out a few more times with the different techniques of the spear and found that his qi skills worked with all of them.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was trying to understand what the system had just done.

    "Hmm, so it basically made it so our strengths arebined when the skills are used. This isбн rather good. Wonder if it applied to my skills too?" Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, can this qi skill synchronization be used with my qi skills too?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Yes, they can be used with the host''s qi skills too as long as I do analysis to make thempatible. But the innate skills cannot be used as they pertain to the host''s bloodline.

    бкбк

    "That''s good. Now I just need to figure out how to make it work. Hmm, I dock in terms of qi skills though, the only one I have right now is the Qi amplification, which is the most basic skill. I need to obtain more skills." Lin Wu reckoned.

    While Lin Wu was doing this calm thinking, Shirong was madly swinging him around and destroying the environment. This was the equivalent of a person drinking tea in the middle of an all out bar fight.

    There were now broken trees everywhere, splinters of wood, leaves, smashed rocks, upturned soil and some mutted remains of animals around. It was evident that the animals had been the unfortunate victims of Shirong''s testing of the spear.

    Nearly three hours had passed by, after which Shirong stopped and felt satisfied.

    "This is better than most peak grade spirit weapons, currently. I wonder how much more will it improve once more of the seals are lifted." Shirong said, looking forward to the future.

    "Wellбн wellбн wellбн now that you''ve all ''used me up'' won''t you take me to dinner?" Lin Wu said in his mind while sending Shirong a different thing.

    Shirong felt the spear in his hand hum, and then he felt a slight drain on his spirit qi.

    "It wants spirit qi, Hmmбн let''s go hunt some beasts then," Shirong stated as he took out his spirit sword and flew away on it.

    He soon found a six legged spirit beast that had the head of a jackal but small horns like that of a goat. The beast was hunting another smaller beast that looked like arge squirrel. Shirong locked onto the jackal beast and aimed the green crystal spear before stabbing it towards it.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Slick~</em>

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    The spear extended and stabbed into the torso of the jackal beast. The spear had gone all the way through its body and stabbed into the ground, fixing the jackal beast in the process.

    <em>~Woo!~</em>

    The jackal beast let out a pain filled growl and struggled for a couple of seconds before falling silent. If it were a normal spear, the beast might have survived for a bit more, but with Lin Wu sucking its vitality and spirit qi it would have been impossible.

    About ten secondster, a dried up husk of the jackal beast was left behind while therge squirrel had gone off to somewhere unknown. The Jackal beast that Lin Wu had just killed was ate stage qi refining realm beast, and he was able to absorb about two hundred drops of liquid spirit qi and five hundred wisps of vital energy.

    Lin Mu gave about twenty drops to Shirong ording to the settings he had made, while keeping all of the vital energy to himself.

    "Ahh! This feels goodбн" Lin Wu muttered, feeling satisfied.

    Shirong quickly absorbed that spirit qi that he got from the spear and felt content at this. He didn''t mind hunting beasts for the spear as he was benefiting a lot too.

    "Hmm perhaps, I should have brought the two with me. Would have made hunting beasts fasterбн" Shirong said to himself, while making a note in his mind.

 Chapter 105 - Returning?

    Shirong was flying through the sky over the millennium forest while Lin Wu was held in his hand. He didn''t know why but keeping the spear in his hand gave Shirong a strange sense offort. He felt as if he would be able to ovee any obstacle as long as he had the spear.

    If Lin Wu were to hear his thoughts he would have instantly dered him to be weird. But right now he was rather engrossed in spending time in thinking of more moves. He also realized that he needed to obtain some qi skills but didn''t know how to.

    He had indeed obtained some qi skills in the past from the two cultivators that he had consumed but they were more weapon oriented qi skills and would not work for him.

    "Hmmбн should I make him kill more cultivators?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu also tried to figure out a way by which he could make Shirong give him qi skills and cultivation techniques. It was now that an idea struck him.

    "Wait a minute! Now that I have the back door function can''t I just use spirit sense for all of this?" Lin Wu realized.

    Lin Wu did have thoughts of refining spirit sense but had kind of forgotten it in all the things that had happened recently. He had been ready to secretly do that little by little, so that Shirong would not notice it, but his recent misfortune had solved it all for Lin Wu.

    "Hmm, it''s not like I need to be in contact with the qi skills and cultivation techniques, merely being close to them should be enough. Then I will be able to use the spirit sense to read them." Lin Wu reckoned.

    Lin Wu had already learned from the system that spirit sense could be used for a variety of things, and one of the most basic uses of it was none other than sensing and perception. Cultivators could ''see'' things with the spirit sense, and it was as if an additional organ.

    "That''s decided then, I''ll be refining spirit sense in my free time now." Lin Wu stated to himself.

    And just as he did this, he was thrown with great speed.

    <em>~Woosh~</em>

    <em>~Thwack~</em>

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    "Ah nice, more qi." Lin Wu said as he started absorbing the spirit qi and vital energy from the beast that he was stuck inside.

    The beast this time was quiterge and looked like a rhinoceros but had a much longer tail. Looking at the beast made Lin Wu think of a thought that he had a long time ago, back when he was still human.

    ''The ecosystem and food chain of a cultivation realm is really messed up, huhбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Seeing the various types of beasts that roamed in the environment really made one think about it. If it were his past world, there was no way a lot of these kinds of beasts could coexist. And just like this while thinking, Lin Wu had finished absorbing all the spirit qi and vital energy from the beast.

    This was the 22nd beast that Shirong had hunted, and by now Lin Wu had obtained around 1200 drops of liquid spirit qi and 6000 wisps of vital energy. Lin Wu also learned that certain beasts actually gave different amounts of vital energy, even if they were at the same level of cultivation.

    "This should be due to the individual differences in their physique." Lin Wu concluded as hepared it to his knowledge of zoology from his past life. While not all the facts and rules worked in this world, some of the basic things did apply in this world.

    "I should head back now, this should be enough for todayбн" Shirong said as hended on the ground and pulled out the spear from the ground.

    He then started flying back to the Deer Wood city, while thinking of what to do next. Shirong had been making various ns in consideration of the future. He even made back up ns for back up ns, just so that he wouldn''t be caught unguarded like he was before.

    Still, Shirong knew that fate was a fickle mistress and that the future was unpredictable. Even if he was extremely cautious, there was bound to be something that would make him a loss. The only way he would be able to ovee something like that would be if he was strong.

    ''I should gain my cultivation base back first.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    He had used quite a lot of spirit qi in using the green crystal spear today and knew that the consumption was quite high, though it was certainly worth it. Shirong decided not to use the spear for everything, as it was better to leave it when it was necessary.

    Besides, this would also help him avoid the covetousness of other cultivators. While he could shield himself from most of them using his n''s might, there were still a few cultivators who were insane and did not give a damn about consequences.

    Shirong put the spear back into the ring as it would consume his spirit qi ever second that he kept it in his hand. Because the weight of the spear was quite a lot, Shirong had to amplify his strength with spirit qi, which continuously consumed wisps of spirit qi.

    While it was a small amountpared to his stores, it turned to arge one when the spear was used for a longer time. Even with the spirit qi drops that Shirong had obtained from the spear after killing the beasts, his core was still half empty and needed to be replenished.

    He reached the deer wood city after about an hour and directly flew to the courtyard, making use of his privilege of flying inside the city. Some people saw him and pointed at him, it was not every day that they saw someone flying like this in the city as it was reserved for influential and strong people.

    Shirongnded in his courtyard and quickly sat down to cultivate.

 Chapter 106 - Refining The Spirit Sense?

    While Shirong was cultivating, Lin Wu decided to finally start refining his spirit sense. He first went over the method in his mind before getting ready. It was mentioned that one needed to have a calm mind and great focus to be able to sessfully refine their spirit sense.

    ording to what Lin Wu had learned, spirit sense was nothing but tendrils of spirit qi which were made by linking the wisps of spirit qi together and binding them together with the will of the cultivator. Lin Wu didn''t understand how the will would bind it, but it was mentioned in the technique that the will of the cultivator naturally imbues their spirit qi.

    But this ''will'' is quite dissipated and needs to be linked properly for it to control the spirit sense tendril. Lin Wu withdrew a wisp of spirit qi from his core and brought it to float outside his body. This was the very first step and took most cultivates weeks if not months to achieve.

    But this was if they were in the qi refining realm and had little to no experience with spirit qi control. For Lin Wu, who had been getting a feel for the spirit qi since the start due to the system, this was extremely easy, not to mention that he was in the core condensation realm.

    Usually, a cultivator would refine their spirit sense in thete to peak stage of the qi refining realm and then would keep on extending its range and adding more and more tendrils. Till the peak stage of the qi refining realm, the usual limit for most cultivators was ten meters.

    Some more talented ones could even reach a hundred meters, which was what an early stage core condensation realm cultivator had. The range of spirit sense greatly varied in the core condensation realm, and some had short ranges while others had long.

    It all depended on whether the cultivator spent his time in refining their spirit sense. Usually, they would stop after a certain level as it would take up their precious time for cultivation. Not to mention that refining spirit sense was actually quite difficult and would result in loss of spirit qi upon failure.

    For example, if a hundred wisps of spirit qi were used to make a tendril and the hundred and the first one were being added to it; if a failure urred all of the hundred and one wisps of spirit qi would dissipate and the cultivator would lose them.

    Thus this became a cycle of refining, failure and replenishing spirit qi. Because of this, once a cultivator reached a satisfactory level, they would stop refining their spirit sense. There were many methods of refining spirit sense, and all cultivation techniques included one method in them.

    Lin Wu was an exception here, such that he actually had no cultivation technique as he relied on direct absorption to get it. Most beasts used this method, while some of them had their innate cultivation methods. Even the beasts that developed their spirit sense did it instinctively, which was an advantage whenpared to humans who had to manually learn.

    Perhaps Lin Wu would have experienced that as well eventually, but due to him having the soul of a human and the system, this process was changed by quite a lot.

    Lin Wu was now focusing on the wisp of spirit qi that was floating around his body and controlled it to move all around. This was the second step and was meant to help the cultivator get used to controlling spirit sense.

    "Man, this is easyбн why did it say that it was hard in the manual?" Lin Wu said, feeling a bit bored.

    Thinking for a bit, he recalled the next few steps and found that all of them were something he could do automatically.

    "Let''s try skipping a few stepsбн" Lin Wu decided.

    He thus went directly to the step where it said to draw out the second wisp of spirit qi. He did it, and now another wisp of it was floating around him.

    "Huh, that wasбн nothing," Lin Wu muttered.

    He then jumped to the next step, which was the tricky bit. One had to link the two wisps of spirit sense while trying to make the imbued will in them to obey him. Lin Wu brought the two wisps close together and found there to be some resistance.

    "I guess I found the hard partбн" He muttered.

    Lin Wu increased the pressure and the two wisps of spirit qi started toe closer and closer until they were almost touching. But they were still resisting, and it was as if one was trying to bring the same poles of a ma close to each other.

    "Come onnnбн link up!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Phut~</em>

    Suddenly a small explosion urred and the two wisps of spirit qi disappeared. Lin Wu was knocked back a bit in the ring due to the force of the explosion, but was not injured at all. His body was too tough for something like this to affect him.

    "Huh, I guess I''ll have to try a few more times." Lin Wu realized.

    He then repeated the same thing again and again till he was finally able to link the two wisps of spirit qi together. When they linked up, Lin Wu could feel a new connection with them. This was due to the imbued will in those wisps responding to him.

    "Finallyбн" Lin Wu said as he took a breath of relief.

    He took a nce at his core and felt the loss of the spirit qi to be minimal.

    "If this is all it costs, then it''ll be worth it. Even if it takes me a long time, I''ll do it!" Lin Wu dered to himself.

    With new found determination Lin Wu began his own seclusion in refining spirit sense, all the while ignoring the hundreds of spirit qi explosion that he was causing. Shirong was busy cultivating too and did not notice this.

    Meanwhile, an inaudible <em>~Crack~</em> happened inside the ring.

 Chapter 107 - Crack?

    About five days had passed since Shirong had started his cultivation and Lin Wu had begun refining his spirit sense. Shirong still had a calm look on his face as he cultivated in peace, meanwhile Lin Wu was floating in the spatial storage ring in his actual form.

    His eyes were glowing as if bloodshot and strangeughter wasing out of his mouth.

    "Hehehe! I''ll be damned if I don''t get it right this time!" Lin Wu uttered in a hoarse voice.

    Mid way through the refining process, Lin Wu reverted to his normal form as he found that this allowed him to have better focus than being in the spear form. He had no choice to do this since the explosion of spirit sense kept on happening the more he tried refining the spirit qi.

    Lin Wu had actually reached nearly a hundred meters in range but was stuck at 99.9 meters. Somehow this seemed to be a big border for him, and he was unable to scale it. This was his fiftieth attempt at refining his spirit sense, and he had refined the spirit sense all the way to 99.9 meters every time.

    If it were anyone else, perhaps they would have given up. But Lin Wu was still attempting it with a crazed vigor. He had actually started absorbing the spirit qi from the spirit stones that were kept in the ring too when he ran out of his own.

    He gave no thought to what Shirong would think of it and simply focused on refining the spirit sense.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    Another explosion happened, which knocked Lin Wu to a corner of the ring. The more the length of the spirit sense, the stronger the explosions had be. Lin Wu even had a few small cracks on his body due to the explosions, but they soon healed under the effect of his innate skills.

    "DAMMIT! AGAIN!" Lin Wu said with anger.

    Lin Wu didn''t know why this was happening and wondered if he didn''t have talent in refining spirit sense. He had even asked the system to analyze the problem but couldn''t find anything. It said to him that everything was within its parameters and the only uncontroble variable here was Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu asked the system if it would be possible for it to refining and show him the process, but it simply said that since the intangible factor ''will'' was involved in the refinement, the system could not do anything. Only after Lin Wu had refined it could the system replicate it, but that too wouldn''t help Lin Wu as its properties would be vastly different.

    Having no choice, Lin Wu could only keep on repeating till he got it right. He had ovee a few bottlenecks in the refinement process before which appeared at the 1 meter mark, 10 meter mark, 25 meter mark and now at the 100 meter mark.

    Lin Wu had gained quite a bit of experience with spirit sense now and had pinpointed the instant where he lost control. For some reason, the entire spirit sense tendril would destabilize when it started to reach the hundred meter mark.

    When it got close to it, it was as if some unknown force acted on it and broke it apart. Even the system was unable to analyze it further and told Lin Wu that it would need to obtain more data on other spirit sense refining techniques to obtain a new conclusion.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "One more tryбн if it still doesn''t work I''ll just have to wait till the system can obtain more data on the spirit sense refinement techniques." Lin Wu spoke in a helpless tone.

    He once again started with a single wisp of spirit qi and added more to it, one by one.

    1 wisp

    2 wisps

    5 wisps

    10 wisps

    .

    .

    100 wisps

    .

    .

    .

    250 wisps

    .

    .

    .

    .

    900 wisps

    .

    999 wisps

    Lin Wu finally reached the 99.9 meter mark again. A single wisp was enough for about ten centimeters of spirit sense.

    But at this point a sound was heard.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    "Huh? Again? Where is that sounding from?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He had been hearing the cracking sound for a long time now, and he didn''t know where they wereing from. At first they had been very faint, but now they were as if someone was breaking ss. Lin Wu had asked the system to scan the entire ring as he thought some of the items in it may be getting damaged due to the explosions.

    Lin Wu had already moved the items to the corners of the ring so that they would be rtively safe. But systems scan told him that everything was the same as before and it couldn''t find the source of the crack either.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu gave pushed the thought to the back of his mind and took a deep breath, trying to focus on the refinement again.

    "This is the final chance, gotta get it rightбн" Lin Wu perked himself up before adding the final wisp of spirit qi to the tendril.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The spirit sense tendril started getting destabilized again and trembled non stop.

    "NOO! I WON''T LET YOU!" Lin Wu shouted.

    A non stop stream of spirit qi starteding out of his core as he released nearly a few thousand wisps at once. He was still able to control them better individually than together as a long tendril currently. He then pushed those singr wisps of spirit qi against the long tendril that was getting unstable.

    "HAAAA!" He groaned with pressure.

    The wisps of spirit qi that made contact with the spirit sense tendril started dissipating due to the repulsion but Lin Wu didn''t mind it and simply reced them with more spirit qi wisps. This way a cycle of destruction and suppression was created.

    An hour passed, and this was the longest he had been able to maintain the tendril for. But he couldn''t do it for any more as his spirit qi was nearly depleted and he couldn''t spare effort to absorb anymore.

    <em>~Deng~</em>

    Finally, somehow the tendril stabilized and the rest of the spirit qi wisps that Lin Wu had released dissipated.

    "Finallyбн" Lin Wu muttered with exhaustion.

    But thenбн

    <strong><em>~CRACK!!!!~</em></strong>

 Chapter 108 - Spatial Rift?

    Lin Wu was quite startled after hearing the loud crack and had a bad feeling about it.

    "What the hell was that!?" Lin Wu said as he looked around feeling a bit scared.

    <em>~CRACK!~</em>

    "Damn, system scan the entire area!" Lin Wu ordered as he started withdrawing his newly refined spirit sense.

    His joy of finally seeding was doused by the fear that Lin Wu feeling right now. He had suspicions about the sound and now it had reached its peak.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ERROR!

    UNKNOWN VARIABLES DETECTED!: Host is advised to leave immediately!

    бкбк

    "What! You mean leave the ring? What''s happening exactly?" Lin Wu questioned feeling unsure.

    Still, he started changing his form back into the spear and got ready to leave. Even if he was unsure, he was not stupid enough to ignore the system''s warning.

    <em>~WEENG~</em>

    A strange sound was heard when Lin Wu was midway through to his transformation. A different kind of energy suddenly hit Lin Wu and knocked him to another corner.

    "DAMN THAT HURT! What is happening?" Lin Wu yelled as he started healing the new cracks that had appeared on his body.

    This time he had been inflicted with the most cracks, even more than from the spirit qi explosion. It was evident that whatever this energy was it was much stronger than normal spirit qi.

    <em>~ALERT!~</em>

    бкбк

    UNKNOWN ENERGY DETECTED!: Highly vtile

    бкбк

    "That''s it, I''m leaving!" Lin Wu dered as he activated the virtual ring interface and triggered the option to leave the ring. But thenбн

    "Huh? Why isn''t it working?" Lin Wu questioned feeling confused.

    <em>~ERROR!~</em>

    бкбк

    VIRTUAL RING INTERFACE: Corruption detected! Functions offline!

    бкбк

    "What the F*ck! System get me out of here right now! Use any method possible," Lin Wu ordered with urgency.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS: Checking for alternatives.

    DIAGNOSTICS COMPLETE: Alternative found.

    INITIATING: Brute force attack.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu then felt a strong wave of energy that wasparable to the previous oneing from his body. The wave of energy seemed to have hit the borders of the ring and a white opening had appeared there. Lin Wu could feel the airing from it and knew this was his escape route.

    He jumped out of the opening, and it closed behind him.

    ***

    Shirong had been calmly cultivating all these past days and had a rather rude awakening. He was knocked off from the ce he was sitting in and fell to the side.

    "WHO DARES!" He shouted in rage.

    But when he looked for a culprit, he found none. Instead, he saw the green crystal spear lying near the ce he was sitting at. He then felt the spatial storage ring on his hand starting to tremble.

    His expression turned confused for a moment before bing shocked.

    <em>~Cling~Cling~Cling~</em>

    The sound of the ring hitting against the floor was heard as Shirong threw it away. But sadly, that was not enough.

    <em>~WEENG~</em>

    A high pitched sound came from the ring as it broke apart and turned into dust. But not before a silver streak of energy was shot out from it.

    <em>~Woosh~</em>

    The silver streak of energy went upwards and destroyed the roof in the process. But the destruction was quite systematic, it was as if the roof was atomized as no residue of it was left behind from where the silver energy passed.

    <em>~Sheng~</em>

    <em>~Tear~</em>

    The silver energy struck something in the air as if it had met some kind of a barrier. Then a tearing sound came and an irregr ck line appeared in the air.

    "Noбн it can''t be!" Shirong uttered, feeling speechless.

    The irregr ck line started expanding and reached the diameter of a meter within a second. A strong suction force came from it and started sucking things inside it.

    "DAMMIT! How in the name of heavens did a spatial rift open here?" Shirong yelled.

    He braced himself, but the suction force of the spatial rift was too strong.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    One of the metal fixtures of the room was unable to stay fixed and was ripped out, but in the process of being sucked into the spatial rift, it struck Shirong''s thigh instead.

    "Aargh!" Shirong grunted as the blood spilled from his thigh.

    He instinctively wanted to withdraw something from his ring, but then realized that was the entire reason behind the spatial rift. All his belongings that were inside the ring were now either destroyed or lost in some fragmented spatial dimension.

    Shirong internally cursed but knew that there wasn''t much he could do now. He had taken hold of a pir and that was the only thing that was preventing him from behind sucked into the rift. He tried using his cultivation, but it was all for naught.

    In the face of a spatial rift, which even nascent soul cultivators would be wary of, Shirong could only hold on for his dear life. All he could do was amplify his strength with his spirit qi and hold on to the pir and pray to the heavens that it stayed solid.

    <em>~WEENG~</em>

    <em>~Tear~</em>

    The sound of the spatial rift got louder as it started expanding even more. The suction force was now doubled.

    ~DA,DA,DA~

    Suddenly formation arrays appeared all around the ce and Shirong''s eyes lit up.

    "Yes! The formations should be able to restrict it perhapбн" But before Shirong could continue his sentence, he saw the formations breaking as well.

    "NO!!!" Shirong shouted unwillingly.

    Even the formations that were set up by the n head Lu were able to withstand the force of the Spatial rift and broke under its power.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu who was lying on the ground was barely moving even after the suction force had increased. His heavy weight prevented that from happening. He himself was dumbstruck at all that was happening and was speechless.

    He stared at all that was happening and it took him a minute toe to terms with it. The system was giving him non stop error reports, and he had no idea what to make of it.

    "What the f*ck did I get myself intoбн"

 Chapter 109 - Clan Head Lus Plan?

    At the Lu n mansion.

    The n head was sitting in the grand hall and was listening to the daily reports from the stewards and other juniors of his n. This was one of his main duties as the n head and also a rather boring part. But he never showed it as such and fully focused on the things that were being said.

    Apanying him were a few of the elders of his n and the people rted to the matter that was being discussed.

    "Our shops have suffered a loss of 8% in thest month, while the traders have instead increased their profits by 14%. We suspect that they may be undercutting us in the trade routes and showing us the wrong ones." The Junior of the n reported.

    "Hmm, send someone to check if the other ns were affected too, and report back to me." n head Lu said after thinking for a minute.

    "As you wish, n head." The Junior sped his head and went away to do his work.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    n head Lu let out a breath as he rubbed his forehead. Thest few weeks have been hectic and a lot of things had happened which honestly overwhelmed him a bit. He almost felt like he should enter seclusion and leave the rest of the matters to the other elders instead.

    But then he shook his head andughed in his mind.

    ''They are not readyбн why does my n not have a good sessor yet?'' The n head questioned himself as another sigh escaped his lips.

    While there were quite a few juniors in his n that were capable and talented, none of them could be said to be qualified to lead a n. n head Lu would never pass the seat of the n head to them unless he had no choice left.

    While thinking of this, his mind wandered to Young Master Shirong.

    ''Now that is a capable and wise young man. I wonder ifбн something could be arrangedбн'' n head Lu wondered as he stroked his chin.

    He wanted someone that would be good enough to lead his n and had the wisdom to do it too. He knew that such things could not be found easily and were rted to the bloodline. Sadly in his n, even after so many years, none of his descendants were decent enough.

    After he came into power, it was as if the luck of the n in terms of talent had fallen. While the n had greatly grown and became richer since then, it had fallen in terms of the quality of people.

    n head Lu couldn''t help but think of his grandchildren. He had lived for over five hundred years now and had a lot of descendants. He had also seen a lot of his descendants die due to old age too. They could at most reach the core condensation realm, having the life span of three hundred years.

    Right now, he had a little over a hundred grandchildren, if he remembered correctly. He filtered them out and picked the granddaughters that he had in his mind.

    "Hmm, which one would the young master likeбн" n head Lu muttered to himself.

    He wouldn''t dare propose a marriage between his n and the Ji n; NO, they had no power to do that. What he merely wanted was to have the bloodline of young master Shirong to mix with his n''s. If one of his granddaughters were to get impregnated by the young master, it would solve this problem of his.

    Heck, if the Young master wanted it, he would give all of his granddaughters to him. That would only be that much more good as it would mean more choice from the pool of descendants.

    n head Lu still had a little more than four hundred years of his lifespan left, which was more than enough for him to raise a sessor for his position.

    "That''s it!" n Head Lu suddenly eximed.

    All the elders and the juniors in the room were startled due to the sudden action of their n head.

    "Father, what''s the problem?" Asked one of the old men sitting in the room.

    This person looked even more older than n head Lu but was evidently one of his sons. It could be perceived from this what the distance between a core condensation realm cultivator and a nascent soul realm expert was.

    "Problem? No! What I have is a solution instead!" n Head Lu said as heughed a bit and stroked his beard.

    "Lu Peng, we''ll be having a grand banquet tomorrow and the guest of honor will be Young master Shirong. I want you to get all of my granddaughters ready to serve him to the best of their abilities." n head Lu ordered.

    Lu Peng''s eyes went wide as he realized the true meaning behind his father''s words.

    "I understand, father. It shall be done and sister Miao shall personally see to it that the girls are ready." Lu Peng replied.

    The other elders also understood what was happening here after learning that sister Miao was involved. This sister Miao of theirs was a woman of great beauty, but that was not all. She was also strong and had a cultivation base that was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm.

    But her specialty was actually in the seduction arts, which she excelled at. She had been quite helpful in making some business deals and had helped the n grow quite a bit.

    "Speaking of Young master Shirong, what is he up to these days?" Asked one of the elders that was sitting near Lu Peng.

    "From thest report I heard, he has been cultivating in seclusion since the day he came back." Lu Peng replied

    "Good, good, young men should be like this. I''ll go and personally invite him for the banquet. Let''s hope heбн" n head Lu spoke and trailed off at the end as his eyes went wide and his face turned pale.

    "NOO!!!" n head Lu shouted as he flew up, breaking through the roof of the mansion.

 Chapter 110 - Help Arrives?

    n head Lu had sensed the barrier that he had ced on the courtyard of Young master Shirong break. But if it was just that he would have not been this scared, the thing that he was scared of was the spatial fluctuations he felt after the barriers broke.

    "How are there such strong spatial fluctuations here? Did an expert decided to attack Young Master Shirong or something?" n head Lu wondered.

    He had directly thought that Shirong was being attacked and had not even considered that a spatial rift might have been opened there. There were a few reasons behind this though, spatial rifts were quite rare and seldom appeared without any interference.

    They only appeared if someone used a treasure, there was a disturbance in the spatial fabric or if some strong cultivator used a treasure to open a spatial rift. So it was easy to imagine the utter shock that n head Lu had after seeing therge ck rift that had been opened in the air.

    "YOUNG MASTER! YOUNG MASTER SHIRONG!" n head Lu called out with urgency.

    He couldn''t see him as the ck rift was sucking in a lot of debris and dirt from the area. n head Lu did not dare to use his spirit sense either as if it got sucked into the spatial rift, he would be severely injured too.

    A spatial rift wasn''t something that even he would deal with lightly. Besides, he had no spatial treasure that could help him in this situation. All that was on his mind was to find young master Shirong and get away quickly.

    "I''M HERE!" Shirong shouted after hearing the voice of the n head Lu.

    He felt a bit relieved, but then looking back at the spatial rift, he was getting even more scared. The pir he was holding onto was the main support pir and was thankfully quite firm and study. Even if the walls around him were being broken down, the pir was holding on.

    But he was not a fool to believe that he would be able tost long like this. If the spatial rift kept on expanding, it would be nearly impossible for the pir to stay embedded in the ground. He looked back at the n head Lu who had nownded on the ground, not daring to fly anymore.

    If his control was lost even for a moment, he would be pulled in if he was in the air. At least on the ground, he would be able to hold on.

    n head Lu quickly started to think of solutions to this, but realized nothing would work from his current position. He thus moved to the other side and came to stand some distance away from Young master Shirong''s back.

    He then took out a spirit tool that looked like a rope from his spatial storage ring.

    "Young master, hold on to this, I''ll throw it to you!" n head Lu shouted.

    He knew that normal ropes would easily break and perhaps only a spirit tool might be able to hold on.

    <em>~Woosh~</em>

    The rope spirit tool was thrown, and it flew towards Young master Shirong. But just as he was about to catch it, the suction force of the spatial rift changed its direction and pulled it away.

    "Dammit!" Shirong shouted.

    "I''ll try again, Young master!" n head Lu shouted.

    By now a lot of people had noticed the spatial rift in the air. It was stirring up winds, and even the high pitched noise from it was heard across the city now. Many cultivators rushed to check up on it, along with the elders of the Lu n.

    They had seen their n head run out with urgency and knew that something dire must have happened. Otherwise, their n head who was a calm andposed person would never act like this.

    "Heavens! It''s a spatial rift!" Lu Peng eximed with shock.

    The others had simr reactions and were dumbstruck. There were a few people who did not know what it was, but the others soon exined to them about the dangers of a spatial rift, especially one like this which seemed to be quite unstable and was sucking in everything it could.

    "We have to help Young master Shirong and n head Lu!" n head Mu spoke.

    The n heads of the other ns had also appeared after seeing themotion. By now n head Lu had thrown the rope treasure a few times towards Young master Shirong a few times, but each time was a failure. On the other hand, the spatial rift was still growing in size and had now reached a diameter of three meters.

    Its force had more than doubled by now, and the roof of the courtyard had long since been sucked into it, leaving the insides of the courtyard bare. The furniture that was not bolted down was also sucked into it, and now the walls were breaking apart.

    The paved stone tiles in the garden were getting ripped out of the ground as well, turning them into deadly projectiles that n head Lu had to dodge. The other people couldn''t help but put more distance between them and the spatial rift.

    A few of them finally made a team and went towards n head Lu.

    "n head Lu let us help!" The cultivators said.

    They were a mix and from multiple ns with some being from the Lu n too. The only thing inmon was that they were all core condensation realm cultivators. Qi refining realm cultivators were not qualified to even approach it, or they would be pulled in easily.

    "Brothers set up the formation array." One of them shouted and started making hand seals.

    The others followed and did the same, meanwhile n head Lu took a look and coordinated with them. Soon, formation runes appeared in the air and started to move into the positions as directed by the cultivators. A triangr area was set up, with Young master Shirong at one vertex, n head Lu at second and the team of cultivators at the third.

    "Let''s hope this works, or even if we survive this spatial rift, the Ji n wouldn''t leave us aliveбн"

 Chapter 111 - Helpers In Trouble?

    Lin Wu meanwhile was watching everything secretly. He was still lying in the ce that he had fallen at the start and had a good view of both the spatial rift and Young master Shirong. At first, he had been fine just lying there due to his weight, but as the size of the spatial rift increased, Lin Wu could feel the force acting on him.

    The errors still kept on appearing in his notification feed, and Lin Wu knew that the system was fully engrossed in analyzing the current situation. Seeing that the spatial rift was still expanding and its suction force was increasing, Lin Wu had secretly extended spikes from his body that embedded into the ground.

    This had solidified his position for now, but he knew that it was not for long. There were now people watching the entire thing, and thankfully he had not been noticed due to the flying dust and debris.

    "Dammit, system is there any more progress?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: the system was able to detect that there are two different forcesing from that rift. One is the suction force that is pulling everything towards it, while there is also a second type of force. The system''s preliminary analysis shows this as a type of energy that the host felt in the ring.

    This energy is being released from the rift at regr intervals and is also likely to be the reason behind the corruption of the Virtual ring interface function.

    бкбк

    Reading the system''s answer didn''t really provide Lin Wu with much and all he could do was to hold on and watch. If push came to shove, he''ll just dig down but knew that if he did that he would be revealed.

    Besides this, there was one thing that was bugging him. Shirong was in trouble too and would be sucked into the spatial rift if he was not saved. While Lin Wu had no attachment to him on an emotional level, he had invested far too much time in setting up everything with him.

    Shirong was the perfect candidate to leech off. Not only did he have a great status that would open up Lin Wu to information and resources which he would usually be unable to find, but with all the events that had happened Lin Wu had created an understanding with Shirongбн or rather one could say misunderstandings instead.

    Lin Wu wasn''t sure he would be able to replicate all that he did with Shirong. Losing him now could be arge setback for Lin Wu.

    Still, he would not interfere unless he was sure of if it would work.

    "I can only watch for nowбн hopefully, the others can save him." Lin Wu said to himself.

    On the other side, the cultivators and n head Lu had finally finished setting up the protective formation array. If this was a normal situation, the formation array would be stable and solid, not allowing anything to escape it.

    But with the interference of spatial rift, even a formation array such as this could only slow down the things that passed through it. The suction force on Shirong had reduced by a Little more than half and he was able to take a slight breath of relief.

    "Do it now n head Lu!" The group of cultivators spoke.

    "GO!" n head Lu shouted as he threw the rope with all his strength.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The rope was able to travel straight and reach Young master Shirong.

    "I GOT IT!" Shirong yelled in joy as he caught the rope with his left hand.

    He quickly wrapped his hand around the rope and held on tight.

    "YAY! We got him!" The group of cultivators shouted.

    "Come help me pull him back. Rememberer only use spirit qi to strengthen your body, do not use it externally or it would be sucked into the spatial rift as well." n head Lu warned.

    Even the formation array was only able to be set up because n head Lu helped personally. If these cultivators tried to use spirit sense on their own, it would be sucked in which would give them a bacsh. And if they suffered bacsh now, they may lose control of themselves and be sucked.

    "READY! ONE! TWO! GO!" n head Lu ordered.

    "PULL!" They all shouted together.

    <em>~HUAA~</em>

    The rope was stretched taut and a great force acted on Young master Shirong''s body. On one hand was the spatial rift sucking him in and on the other side the cultivators pulling him. These two opposite forces put a strain on his body, but all he could do was grit his teeth and hold on.

    He had wrapped the rope around his waist so that it would be a bit more firmer. But even then his legs were unable to stick to the ground and were pulled towards the rift.

    <em>~GAH~</em>

    Shirong grunted in pain as his body was suspended in the air.

    "Don''t stop! Keep on pulling!" n head Lu shouted.

    "Hold on, young master!" The other cultivators shouted.

    About two minutes had passed and by now they had pulled Shirong to about half of the distance of the rope. But along with this, the force of the spatial rift increased once again. It was now five meters in diameter.

    Due to this, the formation array destabilized again, untilбн

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    <em>~SHATTER~</em>

    The formation array abruptly stopped and the suction force increased by six times for the cultivators.

    "NOO!" Shirong shouted as he felt the pain in his body.

    The corners of his clothes were now getting ripped and sucked into the rift.

    "Be carefulбн" The n head Lu had just warned when one of the cultivators missed their step while pulling the rope.

    "Aargh," the man shouted before his grip over the rope was loosened.

    He tried to hold back hurriedly, but this only made him stumble.

    <em>~Foo~</em>

    The man was suddenly sent flying as he was sucked by the spatial rift.

    "NOOOOOO!" Everyone shouted in unison.

    Shirong was sent flying back as the rope was loosened, but the n head Lu tightened his grip again.

    "Dammit! I''m going to regret, this aren''t I?" Lin Wu said to himself as he made up his mind.

 Chapter 112 - Saving?

    Lin Wu had been thinking of what to do in case the n head Lu and others were not able to save Shirong, and all of his ideas led to one thing, saving Shirong himself. But the thing was, he didn''t know if he was even qualified to do that.

    If even a Nascent soul realm cultivator was having a hard time and did not dare get close to the spatial rift, Lin Mu knew that he would be a fool to rush in. Right now, the only reason he was safe was because he was too heavy and nailed to the ground.

    Seeing that all his progress and investment were about to go to waste, Lin Wu felt his heart ache and he decided to help.

    Lin Wu triggered the innate skill cellr maniption and started to change his form, when he heard a notification that made him stop.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    RIFT ENERGY ANALYZED: Confirmed to be a type of qi.

    бкбк

    This one sentence was enough to solve the problem for Lin Wu. New ideas appeared in his mind and he found the one that was the most likely to work and may even be able to hide his identity.

    "If it''s just qi then my skills should work. From what I''ve seen radiation and qi don''t really mix, though I still wonder why." Lin Wu muttered to himself before looking around the area and ensuring that he was in the right position.

    ***

    Shirong was now wondering whether all his luck had run out today, finally. He had been having one misfortune after the other ever since getting the green crystal spear and even wondered if it was cursed.

    "Did I use up a lifetime of luck in obtaining an immortal weapon?" Shirong asked himself as his grip on the rope weakened.

    "NOOOOO! YOUNG MASTER!!!" n head Lu yelled as he saw Shirong being sucked towards the spatial rift.

    He was regretting that he didn''t pay a close eye on the courtyard and ensured Shirong''s safety. While he didn''t know how a spatial rift appeared here, he was still betting on the fact that it could be the scheme of an enemy.

    He knew Shirong had been in seclusion and perhaps an enemy had taken advantage of this and somehow sneaked in to do something like this. But just as he had given up all hope, a bright light blinded him.

    <em>~SHIIIIIIIG~</em>

    A high frequency sound assaulted the people''s ears as they mmed their hands on their ears.

    "Whatбн isбн thatбн horribleбн noiseбн" Lu Peng uttered with difficulty as he squinted his eyes.

    The others had simr reactions and couldn''t help but look towards the source of the sound which wasing from the spatial rift.

    Shirong had a dull look in his eyes as he helplessly looked at the spatial rift that was about to swallow him. But when he was just two meters away from it, he saw something appear in front of his eyes. It was glowing brightly and was two meters long.

    It didn''t take him long to realize what it was.

    "The spear?" He muttered, feeling speechless.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    Then a wave of sickening energy assaulted everyone in a radius of a hundred meters. The energy made them feel hot and their skin was itching for some reason.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The suction force that was acting on Shirong suddenly fell to zero and he fell to the ground with a thud. He looked at the spear and could feel the same energy he had felt back when one of its seals was released. This was a bit different from before though, as the energy was more contained and directed towards the rift.

    From his connection with the spear, he could feel therge amount of spirit qi that was stirring inside the spear. But strangely enough, the energy being emitted by the spear was not spirit qi at all.

    "Is it elemental qi, fire attribute spirit qi perhaps? No! While it is hot, it''s not exactly the same." Shirong muttered to himself.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    An almost visible line could be seen in the air as Shirong saw two energies colliding and canceling each other out. It took him a second to process this, but he realized what the energying from the spatial rift was.

    "The spatial attribute spirit qiбн it''s being repelled?" Shirong uttered in disbelief.

    Shirong had learned about spatial attribute spirit qi a long time ago when he learned the theory behind the elements. Most people only knew of the nine elemental attributes. But he had learned the full theory behind it in his n.

    The elements were ssified into; five mortal, four heavenly, and three primordial elements. The five mortal were; fire, wood, metal, earth and water. The four heavenly were; Wind, lightning, light and darkness. And finally, the three primordial were; Space, time and chaos.

    The three primordial elements were rtively unknown to most people in the world, and only certain Powers knew the entire theory behind them. Bing a nascent soul realm cultivator would qualify one toe into contact with the three primordial elements for the first time.

    The element that they would experience was none other than the spatial element.

    The difficulty in controlling the elements increased exponentially from mortal to heavenly to primordial. Even learning to control heavenly elements was an impossible task, if one didn''t have the talent and the right cultivation technique.

    Shirong was lucky that his Immortal Sky shaker art was one of the cultivation techniques that allowed one toprehend two of the heavenly elements: Wind and lightning. He knew the difficulty that came with the immortal Sky shaker art and couldn''t even begin to imagine how immensely difficult it would be to control a Primordial element like the space would be.

    From what he had seen in the Ji n''s secret records. There were no cultivation techniques that allowed one to gain an understanding of the three primordial elements.

    But the situation currently was something that didn''t match the well established and undisputed theory. There was actually something able topare with the Spatial element!

 Chapter 113 - Saved?

    The suction force of the spatial rift seemed to have suddenly stopped. The people wanted to take a look but the blinding light was making it hard for them to do so. They were happy that the suction force had stopped, and they didn''t have to dodge random projectiles.

    But the people were now under a different kind of duress. Their skin was burning and blisters were appearing on it. It was still fine for them before when the spatial rift was sucking everything in, as long as they dodged the projectiles or stayed far away from the rift, they would be fine.

    But now this new type of energy was burning their skin and pain assaulted their senses. The strange thing was, their clothes were fine, but their bodies were still being affected.

    "What in the heaven''s name is the disaster!" one of the old n heads uttered with shock.

    "What ever that light is, I think it''s stopping the suction force of the spatial rift and is also releasing the hot energy." Lu Peng analyzed.

    By now their eyes had limatized to the bright light a bit and it wasn''t as unbearable as before. While they still have to squint to see it, they could at least see something.

    "LOOK! ITS THE YOUNG MASTER!" One of the cultivators who had tried to save Shirong yelled.

    n head Lu''s neck snapped at his response and he took a look.

    "Impossible! How?" He said in disbelief before jubtion papered on his face.

    "AHAHA! The heavens are merciful!" He uttered in joy.

    n head Lu was about to proceed forward to get Young master Shirong and threw the rope towards him again. Now that their spirit qi was no longer in danger of being sucked by the spatial rift, n Head Lu thought it would be fine.

    He was the only one currently here that was fine despite the heat and was not suffering from skin blisters either.

    <em>~poof~</em>

    The rope spirit tool that was thrown towards Shirong suddenly lost power in the middle and turned limp before falling to the ground helplessly. The spirit qi that was infused to control the spirit tool was also dissipated after that.

    "What!" The n head said in shock.

    But before he could attempt anything else, he felt the spirit qi emanating from his body getting suppressed. n Head Lu could do anything else and only tried to resist this. He didn''t know what exactly was happening, and thus he didn''t proceed ahead.

    ***

    Shirong could see that the spear was emanating a lot of energy to repel the spatial attribute qi that wasing from the spatial rift. This had created a divide which had also blocked the suction force in the process.

    Another strange thing Shirong found was that while he felt hot, no blisters were appearing on his skin.

    "Is the spearбн intentionally avoiding me?" Shirong wondered as he looked at the other people who were getting them.

    He was the closest to the spear and yet he was safe, while the others were now shouting in pain. Thissted for about a minute before Shirong felt the energying from the spear starting to stir.

    <em>~Whirl~</em>

    The energy started to spin around the spatial rift, forming a vortex. The diameter of the vortex slowly shrank as it started to close in towards the spatial rift.

    <em>~Woong~Woong~Woong~</em>

    A droning sound was heard as the vortex started to speed up. It was now making multiple revolutions in a second, and it didn''t seem like it would slow down. Its speed kept on increasing as it forced the spatial qi back into the rift.

    Seconds seemed like hours as all the people braced themselves.

    <em>~Phut~</em>

    Then in an almost anti-climatic manner, the spatial rift waspressed and disappeared with a suppressed sound.

    "That''s it? A spatial rift was stopped just like that?" Shirong question in disbelief.

    Shirong then saw the spear move towards him, and he instinctively held out his hand.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    The spear was sped in his hand as the glowing light started to dim down. It was now that a fact hit Shirong.

    ''I need to hide the spear! The others can''t know of it!'' He thought to himself with great worry.

    He looked around and saw that they were still having a hard time seeing due to the bright light. Even he was only able to sense the spear due to his connection with it and was barely actually ''seeing'' it.

    Shirong quickly started to think of ideas and his thoughts ran at lightning speed. Shirong''s eyes went wide as a potential solution appeared in his mind.

    "Hopefully this should workбн" Shirong prayed in his mind.

    He thenmunicated with the spear using hismunication and tried to see if it could do what he wanted it to do. The spear lightly hummed in his hand and then he felt it move. The spear started to wrap around his arm and moved upwards.

    "Sssss!" Shirong gasped in pain as the hot surface of the spear rubbed against his skin.

    When he had held the spear, it was likely that the spear had protected him, but now that it was doing something else, it could no longer do the same.

    The sound of searing flesh was heard as the spear moved over his exposed skin. A lot of his clothes had been torn off by the suction force and his torso waspletely bare. The spear made a loop around his right arm and then around his left arm.

    Then the middle part extended over his neck,tching around it. The length of the spear started to extend and wrapped around his chest. Every ce that the spear touched was burned, and Shirong was gritting his teeth to bear it.

    The spear had now wrapped around his neck, upper arms, and upper torso. It looked as if Shirong had been wrapped with a rope. But a secondter, Shirong felt it starting to rapidly suck his spirit qi as another change happened.

 Chapter 114 - Armor Form?

    Shirong could feel the spear tighten around his body and felt as if his bones would crack. The rope like form of the spear started changing and became more tter. The coils joined, interlocking, and the shoulder parts broadened.

    On his abdomen, two parts extended from the spear and joined together. The two crimson glowing lights were now positioned on the back of Shirong and glowed even more fiercely. Finally, Shirong felt it lighten and he could breathe much morefortably now.

    The blinding light finally faded away and people could see clearly now. But what they saw shocked them. The spatial rift had disappeared and in its ce was standing Shirong. He was d in an emerald green armor that covered that covered his shoulders, and upper torso while exposing his abs.

    Two Crimson red eyes glowed at the back of the armor and they could feel the power exuding from them.

    "Wha-what is that?" Someone asked, feeling awed.

    Shirong looked down at his body and saw the armor. He had not fully expected for the spear to be able to what he had wanted to do. But now that it had taken the form of an armor as he wanted, he knew that he would be able to get through this without arousing much suspicion.

    "It''s an armor! A divine armor!" Another person shocked.

    n head Lu stumbled forward, his jaw open in shock. He had not thought that the spatial rift would be able to be closed so easily like this. One must know that even a Dao shell realm cultivator would have a hard time doing the same unless they had a spatial attribute spirit tool. But such spirit tools were extremely rare.

    "Young master Shirong! Are you fine?" n head Lu asked with concern.

    Shirong turned around after hearing the voice and spoke, "Yes n head Lu, I''m fine now. I''m grateful for your help."

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "If you are fine, then everything is good." n head Lu replied and took a look around at the destruction.

    "Let''s go Young master, we''ll talk somewhere else. You can rest and change into some clothes." n head Lu said before continuing, "take care of this all, we''ll go ahead." He said to the juniors of his n.

    "Yes, n head!" They responded and made way for the two of them to go ahead.

    Shirong was actually feeling quite tired after this all. It had taken his all to be able to resist the suction force of the spatial rift, not to mention that he had to continuously use a massive amount of spirit qi to strengthen his body.

    If he did not do that, he would have been sucked into the spatial rift early on or could have even been torn in half if something went wrong. He looked at his right hand and sighed.

    ''I''ll need to get another spatial storage ring. This was another big lossбн I''ve lost all the things stored in my ring.'' Shirong thought to himself with sorrow.

    n head Lu took out arge t disk and both of them climbed onto it. They then flew towards the Lu n courtyard. n head Lu flew it at a slow speed so as to not troubled Young Master Shirong. He could sense that his dantian was quite depleted and he needed rest.

    A few minutester theynded at the main hall, and people were already waiting for them with some things.

    A few servants walked ahead and draped a robe onto to Shirong, which he dly epted. Even if the spear had been turned into an armor for now, he knew it was rather eye catching. He will have to address thister on as a lot of people had seen it, and there was no way that n head Lu would not question him about something that could stop a spatial rift.

    "Young master, please rest for a while till you feel good, we''ll talkter. I''ll send some pills for you to use and food will be sent too if you so desire." n head Lu said.

    "Thank you n head Lu for your understanding," Shirong replied.

    "There is no need to thank me, young master. I''m merely doing what is expected of me. Besides you are an honored guest, the Lu n would not dare to mistreat you." n Head Lu said with a light chuckle.

    Shirong nodded and was then taken to a private courtyard. He entered the main room and saw that the things that n head Lu said were already prepared. He could see a lot of pill bottles and boxes of medicine kept there, along with a set of clothes.

    But the most important thing was none other than a spatial storage treasure that was kept there. It was in the form of a broad bracelet and was lying on the very top of a table.

    "Huh, seems like n head Lu guessed the reason behind the spatial riftбн" Shirong muttered as he picked up the bracelet.

    He branded it with his spirit sense before putting all the pills inside it, sadly though the bracelet was a mid grade spatial storage treasure and he would not be able to store the spear/armor inside it.

    "Now let''s take a look at this," Shirong said as he then used his spirit sense to check the armor.

    He could feel the spirit qi that was still stirring within it and had not fully calmed down. But he could also feel the connection between him and the armor, it was as the armor was an extension of his body and did not feel foreign.

    "Seems like there is more to it than I thought before. An immortal tool that can adapt different forms is not something I''ve ever heard or read anywhere. If it''s already this powerful, then what would it be like when the rest of its seals are released." Shirong wondered.

    He then willed it and the armor started to morph again, changing back into the form of a spear.

 Chapter 115 - Gain?

    "Sssss," Shirong gritted his teeth as the armor rubbed against his skin which was already burned.

    Once the armor was fully turned into a spear, one could see the ugly burn wounds all over Shirong''s back and chest. His hands were trembling as he popped a healing pill into his mouth and sat down to stimte the healing properties.

    He continued using more pills and twelve hours passed like this. The burns on his body were finally healed and his skin turned to its normal color.

    While this was happening, Lin Wu was going over the entire series of events and the notification log that the system had recorded. A lot of things were happening all at once and Lin Wu did not have much time to focus on other things while he was using his innate skill.

    In fact, he had almost failed at stopping the spatial rift, but thankfully his proficiency rose at the veryst moment which helped him tide through it.

    " System show me the logs," Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Host is in imminent danger!

    SUGGESTION: Escape immediately

    PROFICIENCY INCREASED: Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Intermediate-> Expert)

    PROFICIENCY INCREASED: Qi Amplification (minor) (Proficiency: Basic-> Novice)

    PROFICIENCY INCREASED: Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate-> Expert)

    NOTIFICATION: The warning status has been lifted and the host is now safe.

    DATA BANKS UPDATED: New Data has been obtained.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was barely holding on and his spirit qi was draining rapidly when he was trying to suppress the spatial rift. He was using radiation maniption to use the natural radiation in the environment to force the spatial attribute qi back.

    He didn''t know whether this would fully work, but thankfully it did and stopped the spatial rift. Honestly, he had not expected to fully close the spatial rift, all he wanted was to stop the suction force so that Shirong could get away safely.

    But after using the innate skill radiation maniption for a long time, that too in aplex task, its proficiency increased which made everything easier for Lin Wu. That was when he gathered even more radiation and made the vortex to suppress the spatial rift from all sides.

    When the spatial rift was closed, he was wondering if his identity would be exposed and the others would find out he was a supposed ''immortal weapon''. But thankfully Shirong had given him an idea which he would not have thought of them because he was also tired mentally.

    But there was another thing that was restricting him, which was none other than his proficiency level. But he thought he may as well try it and see if it worked. This time though, he could leech of spirit qi from Shirong and use it in the skill.

    In a pleasant surprise, the skill proficiency of cellr maniption increased as well, and he was sessfully able to turn into an Armour. Though he had to admit that this form was rather ufortable to him, but then he reckoned that he will get used to it, eventually.

    Another big thing he learned was the rtion between radiation and spirit qi. Lin Wu had been wondering how a naturally present thing such as radiation would affect spirit qi as it was present nearly everywhere. But he got the answer when his proficiency increased and he was able to perceive everything better.

    It turned out that only when radiation was in a high enough concentration would it affect the spirit qi, but the exception to this was none other than himself. If he was the one manipting radiation, even a smaller amount of it could resist spirit qi.

    This was a new discovery to him and opened up a lot of new ideas. Another thing he realized was that he was getting closer to being able to control specific types of radiation. Right now he was merely using everything blindly. He didn''t really know how the physics of it worked, but it worked.

    Even his qi amplification skill increased in proficiency because he had been using it all this time, which was a nice surprise to him. Now there was another thing that required his attention, which was none other than his current form of an armor.

    He wondered if there would be any new differences in this form. In his different weapon forms, he was able to increase the performance of certain qi skills that Shirong used. He wondered if this could apply to any defensive skills that he knew as well.

    "System, how''s the analysis going?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The new data has increased the speed of analysis and it is approximately fifty percent done.

    бкбк

    "Good, hopefully we''ll know what exactly happened back thereбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ***

    Shirong finally opened his eyes and looked at the spear that was lying on the ground next to him. He stared at it for a few seconds before standing up and walking to the bathroom. An hourter, Shirong was refreshed and d in a new set of clothes.

    "Ah, this feels much betterбн" Shirong said in a rxed tone.

    He entered the room he was previously in and saw that the spear was still there. He picked it up and wondered what he could do with it now since he couldn''t store it in the spatial storage treasure anymore. He could always continue to wear it as an armor, but it also meant that his spirit qi would be continuously consumed.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I''ll need to get a new high grade spatial storage treasure soonбн but now Ick money as well. Hmm, n Head Lu shouldn''t mind sponsoring me for a bit, besides I can always pay him backter." Shirong muttered to himself.

    Shirong didn''t know that even if he had a high grade spatial treasure tool, Lin Wu wouldn''t go inside it. He was scared by what had happened and would not go inside another one till he knew what exactly happened.

    "Well, then let''s go talk to n head Luбн" Shirong muttered to himself before putting the spear in a safe and leaving the courtyard.

 Chapter 116 - Explaining The Events?

    Shirong was standing in the main hall of the Lu n and the rest of the leaders were sitting here along with n head Lu. They had smiles on their face as they felt relieved. They had truly been given a great shock and had not expected for something like a spatial rift to have opened.

    "So Young master Shirong, are you feeling good now?" n Head Lu questioned with concern.

    "Ah yes! It''s all thanks to n head Lu for rescuing me in time, or I''m afraid I would not be here today." Shirong thanked.

    He truly was grateful this time. He knew that even if he had been saved by the spear in the end, it was actually due to the effort of the n head Lu. If he had not dyed for time till the spear saved him, he would truly have been dead.

    Now he wondered if it would actually be good to reward them. Shirong was not stupid. He had spent many years at the Ji n and had learned how to rule over one. He knew that one of the top rules to having a Strong n was to also have loyal allies.

    n head Lu had proved to him that the Lu n was truly willing to pledge themselves to the Ji n by aligning them with him. This was actually one of the reasons why he had originallye to the Ling kingdom: to make allies.

    At first, he had intended to go talk with the royal n directly, but then upon hearing that a new forbidden zone was created in the Millennium forest due to a meteor, he was very interested in it. He reckoned that it would be better to check it out, after all, he could always go to the royal nter. It was not like they would reject him either.

    But seeing the dedication of the Lu n made him think more of them. Also, this didn''t mean that he had to choose only them, the best thing for him was to add as many allies as he could. At least, the Lu n head a nascent soul realm cultivator which made them worthy of being an ally.

    "Umm, Young master Shirongбн" n head Lu was just about to ask something when he was interrupted.

    "I believe, n Head Lu and the people here want to know what exactly happened?" Shirong asked.

    "Yes, we do. Something like a spatial riftбн simply does not appear randomly." n Head Lu replied.

    Shirong nodded his head in acknowledgment before speaking, "yes n head Lu is right. The reason for the spatial rift was none other than my spatial storage ring."

    n head Lu raised his brows after hearing this. Before he had seen the spatial storage ring missing from Shirong''s hand and had thought that it was destroyed due to the spatial rift. It was not umon for spatial storage treasures to be unstable and break due to the influence of a spatial rift.

    Even his own spatial storage treasure had been damaged, which made his heart ache. But he didn''t mind it and simply assured himself that it was all for saving Young master Shirong. Thankfully though, while his spatial storage treasure had been damaged, it had not fully destroyed.

    Rather, his spatial storage treasure''s capacity was merely reduced. This also meant that some of the things that were kept in his ring were inadvertently lost in an unknown fragment of a minor dimension. He had thought that the same thing happened to Shirong but on a higher scale, destroying the ringpletely.

    In fact, he couldn''t even begin to think how a spatial storage ring would be able to cause a spatial rift to appear. The sheer amount of spatial attribute spirit qi required for that would be enough to make a hundred spatial storage treasures easily.

    "How would something like that happen though?" it was Lu Peng who asked this time.

    "I''m afraid, I do not know the full reason either. The spatial storage ring I was using was actually found in the tomb of a fallen expert that I luckily found a few years ago. Perhaps there was some kind of anomaly in the spatial storage ring that I didn''t know of and that was what caused it.

    I was cultivating normally when suddenly I felt the ring cracking on my hand. I knew that the destruction of a spatial treasure can cause injuries sometimes, and thus I quickly threw it away. But I never expected that it would release such a massive amount of power that would open up a spatial rift." Shirong exined while making up a lie.

    The spatial storage ring he had was actually from his n and was not from an expert''s tomb as he had stated. But that was not something that they needed to know. But the part about him finding an expert''s tomb was true. Using a factual encounter andbining it with a half lie only made it stronger.

    "I seeбн perhaps the spatial storage ring was made using some unique production method and it had gotten weaker of the year and finally broke." n Head Lu hypothesized.

    "Yesбн I think that''s what must have happened tooбн I need to be careful about what random things I pick up from now, hahahaбн" Shirong acknowledged with a lightugh.

    "Then is that were Young master got the divine armor tooбн" One of the elders suddenly asked.

    Nearly all of the people that were here had seen Shirong dressed in the armor and had seen it stopping and closing the spatial rift. The bright light had stopped them from seeing what had actually happened and as it only appeared when Shirong was about to be sucked into the rift, only made it that much real to them.

    n Head Lu tensed upon hearing this and gripped the armrest of his throne hard.

    "Elder Niu! Watch your mouth!" n head Lu shouted.

    He knew that there were certain secrets that must not be said out loud, and seeing the abilities of the emerald green armor Shirong was wearing only made it obvious to him. There was no chance that something that could stop a spatial rift would be anything simple.

    At the very least, it must have been a peak grade spirit tool.

    "Please, please! n head Lu, it''s fine. They can ask me." Shirong calmed him down.

    "If the young master says soбн" n Head Lu spoke in a straight tone but still gave elder Niu a re.

    "No, the armor was no something that I found there. Rather, it was a small pendant that was given by the ancestor to protect me. I''ve had it for a while but never knew that its true form was that of an armor. I also didn''t think that it would have been able to stop a spatial rift, thus I didn''t try to use it at the very start.

    But luckily for me, it automatically activated when I was about to be sucked into the spatial rift." Shirong exined.

    "Ahh~ so it was the Ji n ancestor''s grace that the Young master is alive today. I should have expected this, only a great man like him could be capable of doing something like thisбн" n head Lu praised.

    "The Ji n ancestor is truly peerless!" Elder Niu eximed, and the others joined in as well.

    They all knew how to boot lick and were not naive youngsters anymore. They knew that n head Lu wanted to grow a good rtionship with Young master Shirong and this was a good way to show their stance.

    Shirong secretly smirked and knew that his n had worked. He was actually not sure if they would really believe it or not, but it seemed like their eagerness to be his ally made them blind to some inconsistencies that would be revealed if they thought about it a bit more.

    Shirong even thought that if it was the Mu n or even the Xiong n, they would have doubted his im about the armor. Thankfully, he had been Luckyбн or rather unluckilyбн he couldn''t really tell at this point. His life recently had been a roller coaster in terms of luck.

    It was good for a while and then would crash to the very bottom next. If Shirong counted it correctly, in the past month itself, his life had been under mortal threat at least three times. Which was three times too much than he would have liked.

    In fact, if he tried to recall when his life was threatened like this ever before, he could think of less than five incidents since he was a child.

    ''Did obtaining the spear really mess up my luck?'' Shirong wondered.

    "Well then," n head Lu interrupted his train of thought.

    "Now that, young master Shirong is finally recovered, I believe it is finally the time for a proper banquet." n head Lu proposed.

    "Ah, yes. It would be good to rx for a whileбн"

 Chapter 117 - A Letter?

    Shirong was sitting in his room, currently a bit bewildered at some news he had just received.

    "Uncle Quan died?" Shirong muttered to himself.

    ***

    About two hours ago.

    Today was the day that the banquet was going to be held by the Lu n. All of the influential people of the Deer wood city were invited and were told that the guess of honor was none other than Young Master Shirong. The reason for it was none other than theming out of a dangerous situation, which was the spatial rift.

    The people all agreed and were happy about this, they all wanted to find a chance to suck up to Young master Shirong. After all, there were many that had seen his capabilities and the rumor ''divine armor'' had be quite popr too.

    There were many theories behind it and how the Young master was chosen by the heavens. Since he was not wearing it beforehand they all thought it had appeared out of thin air. Though the ns knew the true reason behind it and this was merely the gossips of themon public.

    Another reason why they did not really mind the banquet was because they had truly not been at a disadvantage back then, and neither had they had any losses due to the spatial rift. It was the Lu n that had the biggest losses, seeing how one of their high quality courtyards was destroyed, not to mention the junior elder that they had lost to the spatial rift too.

    This was the man who was sucked into it, and a small funeral ceremony was held by the n yesterday as well. Because there was no body, all they could do was make a tablet for him and ce it in the ancestral shrine. Even the n Head Lu prayed for him as there was a chance that due to his sacrifice, their n was living to see the next day.

    If it had been young master Shirong that had been sucked inside then it would have st doom for the n or perhaps the entire Deer Wood city instead.

    The banquet was going to be held in the afternoon but was then shifted to the night time because a messenger hade for Young master Shirong. Having no other choice, the banquet was dyed again, hopefully for thest time.

    The messenger gave Shirong a letter and went away, but not before Shirong informed him of a few things that he needed from the n. This included nothing but a high grade spatial storage ring, alchemical pills, and spirit stones.

    He also gave the messenger a report of all that had happened here with a few changes here and there that he did not want them to know. Finally, only after the messenger was gone did Shirong dare to open the letter. He had seen the seal that was stamped on it and knew that it came from none other than the Patriarch, his father Ji Shan.

    If it came from the patriarch himself, then it was to be taken care of with the utmost privacy and not one bit of the information was to be leaked. Shirong touched the seal and uttered a few words.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Suddenly the seal glowed and formation runes appeared out of it, before forming a circr barrier around Shirong. This was a privacy barrier and no one could listen to what was being said inside it, nor could they see inside it. Even the spirit sense could not prate it, and using it on the barrier would only give one bacsh.

    The seal was finally released, and Shirong was able to unroll the letter. As soon as he saw the impressive and elegant handwriting on the letter, he knew that this letter was personally written by the patriarch and not by an aide like they usually were.

    This only raised the importance of the letter that much more.

    The letter read;

    "My son Ji Shirong,

    Your fifth uncle Quan has died under suspicious conditions. He was investigating some anomalies in the Dread Coil marsh and we lost contact with him about a month ago. The people that were working with him have also disappeared and are also presumed dead.

    We sent some of our people from the local areas, but they are afraid to go into the marsh now. We only found out about the death of your uncle due to his soul imprintmp going out two days ago. He was investigating a new small sect that was supposedly operating out of the Dead Coil marsh.

    His death is a sensitive matter and others cannot know anymore. Since you are the closest to the location, I am assigning you to this mission.

    Your mission is to; find the reason behind Ji Quan''s death, investigate the sect that has been operating there, find the people that have gone missing- either dead or alive and finally reach the nascent soul realm.

    It has already been quite a while since you''ve been at the pseudo-nascent soul realm. I believe you should find the right moment and reach the Nascent Soul realm. Since you are the chosen heir, you have to prove your worth and do it on your own without the n''s protection.

    A set of supplies has been sent to the Capital of the Ling kingdom and should be enough for this mission. If you need any more or something specific, you can request the supplier when you meet him at the capital.

    There is also another thing that I want you to keep an eye on. This is not something specific to you, but rather has been told to all nsmen. There have been some strange movements in the three guardian ns. Some of the temples of the three guardians have been closed down without any specific reason, and the people have been warned not to go there.

    We do not know what exactly has happened and neither can we ask the Long n. All the temples of the three guardianse under their authority and there isn''t much we can do. Still, news such as this cannot be kept secret for long and is bound to leak.

    If you are able to gain some information, you are to report it to the n as fast as possible."

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Let''s hope my luck will hold up this timeбн"

 Chapter 118 - The Banquet?

    Shirong rolled up the letter and carefully stored it in the bracelet. He would have preferred to destroy the letter, but he still needed to show the seal to the supplier in the Capital of the Ling Kingdom. The supplier was a person working for the Ji n, disguised as a merchant.

    He would never reveal his real identity, even to the heir of the Ji n, unless they had the proper identification. But for Shirong that had be a problem due to the spatial storage ring being destroyed. He had lost the identity token he had in there.

    Thankfully, this seal would serve as the same thing and he would be able to get a new token from the supplier. He would have asked the messenger, but that would have created some problems. Besides, a sensitive thing such as an identity token could not be easily given away and could only be issued by the n.

    What Shirong actually wanted was not even the supplier, but rather ess to the teleportation formation. This was how the ns transported important items and letters. It was difficult tomunicate withmunication jades as the distance between the n and the people would often be a lot.

    Mostmunication jades only worked up to a range of 1000 kilometers. Anything beyond that and it would be expensive to make amunication jade like that. Only a few important people could use a Communication jade like that.

    Shirong had one too, of course, but it was destroyed too. This left him with no choice but to use teleportation formation. Though he knew that he would have to use up a lot of his credits from the n to get the things he needed.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Another sigh escaped Shirong''s lips as he felt a headache approaching.

    "Just as I finished one thing, another popped up. Besides, I''ll need to reach the nascent soul realm now tooбн Ugh! I need to recover my cultivation. Uncle Quan was a child stage nascent soul realm cultivator, and even he died. I cannot be reckless and definitely need to be strong before I go to the Dead Coil marsh." Shirong stated to himself.

    While all this was happening, Lin Wu was observing it all with his spirit sense. He had not expected for it toe in handy so fast. But unfortunately, the barrier had stopped him from seeing what exactly was in the letter. Though he already had a n to obtain that letter ready in his mind.

    <em>~Knock~</em>

    "Young master Shirong, the banquet is ready." A servant suddenly spoke from the outside.

    "Alright, I''ming," Shirong replied and went to the room where the safe was kept.

    He wasn''t going to take the risk of leaving the spear here, even if it was kept in a safe. It was better for it to be on his body for most of the time. At least till he got the high grade spatial storage ring, which he hopefully should get in a day or two.

    Shirong opened the safe and saw the spear lying there just as he had kept it before. He removed his shirt and robes before picking it up and willing it to change its form.

    <em>~Hum~</em>

    The spear trembled lightly before Shirong felt it drawing on his spirit qi. It started using it, and the form of the spear started to morph. This time the transformation was much faster thanst time and he was covered in the armor in five seconds.

    While he was kept in the safe, Lin Wu had been practicing his new form, trying to get used to it. The more he did it, the morefortable he got in it, and the less time it required him to transform. Shirong was impressed by this and tapped the armor.

    "It''s still heavy, but its defenses are definitely quite high. I should test them outter, perhapsбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu didn''t mind this as he would just be sucking Shirong''s own spirit qi to recover and regenerate any injuries he got. In fact, he would also be obtaining a bit more spirit qi due to the stealing property, and the more Shirong used him, the more his cultivation would grow.

    Right now Lin Wu was already a quarter of the way to upgrading to the next stage.

    "System, show me the spirit qi that I have right now." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 4157 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "Hmm, just a few weeks perhaps and I should be able to reach the next stage." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he estimated the rate of increase.

    A change of scenery caught Lin Wu''s attention as he looked at all the decorations with his spirit sense.

    ''Whoa! So this is the banquet they were talking aboutбн this is quite amazing, I don''t think I''ve ever been to anything as grand as this in my past life before.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    There were rednterns hanging everywhere along with decorative banners. Flowers pots had been ced ording to the Feng Shui of the ce and auspicious statues of pixue were ced all around. Shirong finally entered the banquet hall and saw that it was filled with hundreds of people.

    "Ah hah! Everyone, Young master Shirong is here finally!" One of the elders that was standing near the entrance announced.

    Shirong was quickly surrounded by people greeting him and wishing him for prosperity. It took him nearly fifteen minutes just to greet everyone, and it was making Lin Wu bored now.

    "Sheesh! So this is the life of aristocrats, I guess. Quite simr to the high society events that I''ve seen on TV before. Looks like some things never really change, do they? Even if it''s an entirely different world." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Young Master,e sit! We have prepared a lot of dishes for you." n head Lu said upon seeing him.

 Chapter 119 - Opportunity For Clan Head Lu?

    Shirong sat down at the table as guided by n head Lu and soon a myriad of dishes were served to him. There were many different kinds of beasts cooked and prepared along with vegetables. There were desserts that would not be seen normally and wines of the finest kind in this kingdom.

    Everything was prepared for none other than Shirong and the other people were just here to add to the glory. One could just imagine the cost of arranging a banquet such as this. Just the food and decorations would be a few tens of thousands of gold coins worth.

    Even Shirong had not expected that they would go to these lengths to make a banquet. He had merely expected it to be a banquet simr to the one they had when he first arrived here in the Deer Wood city a year ago. But now it had be somethingpletely different.

    Another thing that he was a bit surprised about was the looks he was getting. The people who had served him food were none other than the women of the Lu n. From the few that he recognized, Shirong could tell that they were all granddaughters of the Lu n head.

    He noticed the flirtatious looks they were giving him, along with the different kind of attire that they were wearing. While it was not too revealing, the dresses they were wearing definitely entuated their body and made their curves more prominent.

    Lin Wu who was watching this was fully enjoying it.

    "Ahh! Such is the life! Eating good food and wine while jade beauties serve youбн" He eximed in his mind.

    ''Howeverбн speaking of eatingбн can I have some food too, I wonder?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Ever since he had arrived in the world, he had not had any properly cooked food. All he had eaten since then was raw flesh, dirt, grass or things that probably should not have been edible for most people. Even the beast carapace and the crystal he ate were something that would not have been consumed by any other beasts.

    Now that there was such tempting food around him, he couldn''t help but start to drool.

    "Seems like I have to make a scheme. I can''t just leave the chance of having actually good food behindбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself and started to n a ''nefarious plot''.

    Overall, the banquet went rather normally and nearly everyone enjoyed it except for Lin Wu, who was only getting tortured seeing the reduction in the food.

    "Dammit, leave some leftovers for meбн I''ll steal themterбн" Lin Wu muttered with grievance.

    The banquet was near the end when n head Lu finally asked Shirong about today.

    "Young master, you seem a bit troubledбн was the news brought by the messenger not good?" n head Lu questioned with concern.

    Shirong thought for a bit and framed an answer in his mind. He couldn''t tell him the truth as it was supposed to be a secret, but he could just tell him some general stuff that would not be hidden anyway. So he may as well satisfy his curiosity.

    "Yesбн it wasn''t exactly pleasant. Besides, I''ve been assigned a task and will need to leave soon to aplish it." Shirong answered.

    Hearing that Shirong was intending to leave made the n head anxious. He had prepared so many ns, but if Shirong were to leave, each of them would end up bing a great waste. He knew that he had to seed in one go now.

    "And when will you be leaving young master? I mean, I don''t want to interfere in the matters of your n, but perhaps we could help by preparing some supplies for you maybe?" n Head Lu questioned.

    Hearing his words made Shirong rememberer the final goal that was assigned to him by the patriarch. He still needed to reach the nascent soul realm. For that, he needed to make a lot of preparations if he were a normal wandering cultivator.

    But with his Immortal Sky Shaker art, it would be difficult and would need some new items for the breakthrough. Going through a tribtion was also a difficult task and needed the strongest of wills and utmost of efforts.

    The most of all that he needed was a Dharma protector. While the Patriarch had said that he needed to do this without the assistance of the n, it didn''t mean that he couldn''t use allies that he had made. In fact, wasn''t this the very reason he was here?

    "I''ll be leaving in a month perhaps, if all my preparations go well. You see n head Lu, I''m going to need to break through to the Nascent soul realm and would need someone to act as my Dharma protector and a would also need a special ce prepped for it.

    I wonder if n head Lu would like to be my Dharma protector and if the Lu n would amodate me for this?" Shirong questioned.

    n Head Lu was bewildered by this and had not expected for it to be a request like this. But after thinking for a second, he realized what a great opportunity this was. If the heir of the Ji n was to undergo a breakthrough here, he had no doubt it would increase their reputation.

    Not to mention if he was the one acting as a Dharma protector that would forever ce his position in a good ce if the young master became the next Patriarch of the Ji n. He had thought that he had lost the best time to progress their rtionship but somehow it had just given him an even better opportunity.

    "Of course, young master! I''ll be honored to be your Dharma protector. In fact, I believe the entire Deer wood city would be thankful for you if you were to undergo heavenly tribtion here. Most of the cultivators have no chance to witness a core condensation realm expert breaking through to the nascent soul realm.

    I''m pretty sure that this would be a great opportunity for all the juniors here. I believe even the other ns would like to give a hand in this matter, if they were given the chance to witness the heavenly tribtion." n head Lu replied with joy.

 Chapter 120 - The Clans Volunteer?

    Shirong heard the n head''s suggestion and found it to be reasonable.

    "That would be alright with me n head Lu, butбн" Shirong was about to continue when he was interrupted.

    "Do not worry Young master, I know the procedures. All of us will take a heavenly oath so you do not have to worry about trust." n Head Lu assured and pat test his chest with his fist.

    Shirong nodded in acknowledgment and looked around at everyone. There were all of the other n heads here, along with the more influential people of the city. Shirong even noticed the Head guard of the barrier surrounding the forbidden zone.

    This made him frown for a moment as he remembered that he had yet to find out who had been sponsoring them here.

    ''Seems like the visit to the capital will solve a few more problems than I thought. Good that I waited till now or I would have had to waste time to travel there again.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    Seeing Shirong staring intently at everyone, n Head Lu was wondering what he was thinking of when it suddenly clicked to him.

    "Young master Shirong, do you perhaps want to announce your breakthrough to them here today?" n Head Lu asked in a low voice.

    Shirong snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing n head Lu''s words and thought over them.

    "I guess it should be fineбн yeah. You can announce it, go ahead n head Lu." Shirong permitted.

    "Excellent! This will be the perfect ending to the banquet for the others." The n head said in a happy tone.

    <em>~Slide~</em>

    The sound of a chair moving was heard as the n head Lu stood up. Some of the people immediately noticed this and became silent. It was evident from the n head''s face that he had something important to say. Soon the rest of the hall also became silent after the higher ups of the respective ns gave their order to pipe down.

    <em>~Ahem~</em>

    "I have even more good news for you all here." n head Lu said and looked at their eager expressions. "Seeing that everyone showed him such hospitality, Young master Shirong has graciously decided to give us the chance to witness his breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm." He revealed.

    "What! Really?" one of the n heads eximed.

    "The Young Master is already ready to break thought? This is impressive." n head Mu praised.

    "Hahaha! Young master is a dragon amongst men, he simply cannot be judged by normal standardsбн" n head Xiong ttered.

    The other n heads and people simrly tried their best to bootlick and were truly happy for this opportunity. Having a chance to witness a heavenly tribtion was not something everyone had, and this was one of the very reasons why cultivation sects were so powerful.

    Every time someone was about to break through to the Nascent soul realm, all of the disciples were made to observe this event so that they would have experience in it. Due to this, when they underwent their own heavenly tribtion one day, they would have a higher chance of sess.

    Thest time anyone had seen a heavenly tribtion was when the Lu n head had undergone it. But even that was not seen by many people as it was done in seclusion and not openly like the Young master was about to do.

    "Now then, I will be acting as the Dharma protector of Young master Shirong and the Lu n will be setting up the Tribtion tform for the Young Master as well." n head Lu stated and looked around.

    Then almost immediately,

    "The Xiong n will volunteer and contribute as well!" n head Xiong yelled.

    "The Mu n will too!" The Mu n head added.

    One by one, every single power that was in their room decided to volunteer themselves. Even if their continuation was small, they would still have the chance to witness the heavenly tribtion. Looking at the peoples'' reaction, n head Lu was happy.

    "See young master, they all are willing to contribute. With the help of everyone, I guarantee that we will set up a proper tribtion tform for you." n head Lu stated.

    "Thanks for your help n head Lu," Shirong said with gratitude.

    Having a tribtion tform would greatly assist him in withstanding the heavenly tribtion and was one of the necessities that he needed. Now there were a few more things that he still needed, but he reckoned they could be prepared within the month.

    Shirong exined his particr requirements to n head Lu, and he assured him that they would be taken care of. Shirong had given the time till his breakthrough as one month at the very minimum to n head Lu, but knew that it may take him longer too.

    Thankfully, he had the spear and would be going on a hunting spree soon and that should help him gain enough spirit qi to return to the pseudo nascent soul realm stage. He secretly ced his hand on his chest and felt the faint waves of power that thrummed through the armor.

    "You are my fortune and mine alone. You will take me to the peak of this world and then beyondбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    While this was not heard by anyone else, Lin Wu who was literally attached to him clearly heard it.

    "Damn bro! Obsessive much?" Lin Wu muttered in his mind.

    Still, Lin Wu was quite interested in everything that had just happened and was excited at the prospect of gaining a lot more data. He knew that this would only be more beneficial to him. Besides, he knew that Shirong was still at thete stage of the core condensation realm and would have to either cultivate or use him to gather spirit qi fast enough.

    Lin Wu would be benefiting regardless of the method that was employed. This was simply a win-win situation for him and was the best kind of situation that he liked.

    "Ah! The good days will soon be startingбн"

 Chapter 121 - Preparations?

    Another hour had passed and even as the banquet had already ended the people had not left yet. They simply couldn''t bring themselves too, they all wanted to talk with Young master Shirong. They were all asking him about anything he needed or what kind of area that he wanted them to prepare.

    Each and every single word that he said was listened to by them carefully and they were noted down. Almost immediately, even if it was midnight, the town was woken up and the preparations were started. The workshops and refiners started working and would be working for a long time.

    The citizens were unaware of what had happened and were wondering why all the cksmiths and workshops were working at this time. They even wondered if a war decree had been issued and were a bit scared. Only after the ns assured them that everything is fine and that the more detailed notice will be given tomorrow morning did they go back to sleep.

    The ns knew very well that their actions would have a lot of observers and the other cities along with the sects will be noticing them. They wouldn''t be surprised if they decided to turn up too. n head Lu also wrote a report and sent it to the royal court of the Ling Kingdom.

    The breakthrough of a Nascent soul realm cultivator was a big matter and each and every cultivator that did it would be a powerhouse that could lead a n or even start a sect of their own. Thus it was important for the kingdoms to keep an eye on them.

    They would even be willing to recruit the cultivator if they epted their terms and conditions. The sects would also send invitations to the nascent soul realm cultivator to be an external elder in their sect. They would have made them a true elder but there were few cultivators that would ept something like that.

    Only the bigger sects that had Dao shell realm cultivators could afford to make them true elders of their sect. Making someone a true elder meant that they not only had a new person under theirmand but that they needed to give them an appropriate amount of resources aspensation too.

    Shirong had a top grade cultivation technique and thus had some very specific requirements for a tribtion tform. While he could breakthrough without it the same, the use of a tribtion tform was different.

    When a cultivator underwent a heavenly tribtion, no one else was allowed to interfere or they would bear the wrath of the tribtion too. But the thing was that the other cultivators wanted to observe the heavenly tribtion to gain experience as well.

    For this very reason, a tribtion tform was made. What it did was to shrink the area of effect of the heavenly tribtion. This allowed others toe closer and observe the heavenly tribtion, though there were still some risks of course.

    Despite these risks, though tribtion tforms were quite popr though making them was often a difficult task. There were as many types of tribtion tforms as there were cultivation techniques in the world. There were even special tribtion tforms that could support the cultivator undergoing it.

    Though the general rule of thumb was that the higher the grade of the cultivation technique the more difficult and expensive it would be to make a tribtion tform. Most often than not a tribtion tform was a single use item and would get destroyed after the heavenly tribtion passes.

    Only the sects could have multi-use tribtion tforms that were attuned to most cultivation techniques. After another hour of discussion, it was finally decided that the tribtion tform would be made ten kilometers away from the city in an open in.

    Shirong had no problem with this and only asked to keep him updated about it.

    Now that everything was done, the ns started leaving one by one, bidding farewell to Young Master Shirong. Meanwhile, n Head Lu was only starting to begin his original n behind the scenes. While Shirong was still talking with the other people, a mature woman who seemed to be in her thirties was standing in a room in the n.

    She was dressed in long robes that entuated her figure and deep cleavage could be seen at the top. Even her shoulders were revealed along with her fair neck. She had her hair in a long pony tail and had a few ornaments in them, increasing her charm.

    This woman was none other than Lu Miao, one of the daughters of n head Lu. She was the most talented among his daughters and was only surpassed by his other son Lu Peng. Lu Miao was an expert in the seduction arts and cultivated a special technique for that.

    She had been informed of the n that the n head had made and she dly epted it. In fact, she was too excited and even asked if she could participate. But the answer to this was an absolute ''No'' from the n head.

    n head Lu was worried that her technique may offend the Young master as they would muddle the minds of men. It was still fine if she was teaching her nieces as they would only learn the basic skills of seduction, but not actually a qi technique that was for seduction.

    Lu Miao was looking at the ten girls in front of her and was judging them. n Head Lu had originally said to send all of his granddaughters for this, but Lu Miao opposed that idea. She instead told him that she would choose the ones that were the best and the most beautiful.

    After thinking for a bit n head Lu agreed to it and now out of the sixty granddaughters that he had, only ten had qualified it. The girls had worked hard and were extremely willing to devote themselves to Young master Shirong.

    Shirong in their eyes was the perfect manбн the Prince Charming that will take them away.

 Chapter 122 - Prince Charming?

    Shirong was finally free from all the people and couldn''t wait to get back to his room. The armor form of the spear was actually a bit ufortable, and he was not starting to feel the strain on his body. He had been continuously supplying spirit qi to his body to amplify his strength.

    Otherwise he would have not even been able to stand, not to mention walk. It had been about five hours since he put the armor on, and this was the longest he had amplified his strength for. Lin Wu was also getting bored with all the useless talking that Shirong needed to do.

    The only parts that interested him were that Shirong was gonna breakthrough, the tribtion tform, and finally the fact that he was gonna leave soon. He still wanted to read that letter and knew that he would have to figure something out for that.

    Though the thing that made his heart ache the most was the food. It was taken away and he didn''t know where it was kept. He had been salivating since he saw all the food and had it not been for his crystalline form, he would have created a stream of saliva.

    "Young master, we''ve prepared a better courtyard for you. You''ll like this one and it has more privacy too. Weбн also prepared some small surprises for you there." n head Lu spoke.

    "Oh, you did? Thank you for the courtyardбн though what is the surprise?" Shirong asked with curiosity.

    He was d that he would have a private courtyard again as he was paranoid about someone finding out about the spear. Since he couldn''t store it in the spatial storage treasure anymore, he was anxious all the time, even when he had it on himself.

    Though he did wonder what surprise the n head had prepared for him. He guessed that it must be some gift since he was about to break through soon. He already knew that the other ns would be sending their congrattory gifts tomorrow as well, and it was obvious that the Lu n being his host wouldn''t give up the opportunity to be first.

    "Hahaha! Why doesn''t young master see it himself, I hope you''ll like itбн" n head Lu said and walked away.

    Shirong was a bit surprised that he left him like that, but then a steward came to him and said to follow him to the new courtyard.

    Shirong nodded, and about five minutester they were at the new courtyard. This one was located near the Lu n and seemed to be even bigger than the one he previously had. Just from the outside, he could see that it was of a high quality and sensed the formation arrays that were set up in it.

    "Hmm, seems like n head Lu did his best to make it goodбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    "Please enter young master, this is the farthest I''m allowed to guide you. If you need anything, you''ll find your ''personal attendants'' inside." The steward said in a strange tone and walked away.

    Shirong raised his eyes at this, but still entered the courtyard. There was arge garden right at the entrance and the inner courtyard''s gate could be seen, decorated with the motif of a crane.

    "Huhбн seems like they modified it for meбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    As soon as he got closer, the inner gate opened up and Shirong saw two rows of girls waiting for him there.

    "Wee Young Master!" All the girls greeted with a bow.

    "Huh? What?" Shirong muttered, feeling a bit shocked.

    Even Lin Wu was kind of freaking out seeing the girls there.

    "Oh, noбн oh noбн no, no, no! NO! This isn''t happening! Don''t torture me like this!" Lin Wu yelled in his mind.

    "Please young master,e in~ we have a lot of entertainment prepared for you tonight~" The girls spoke.

    Looking at their attire and the looks that they were giving him, Shirong finally understood what n head Lu was implying as a ''surprise'' before.

    "Seems like n head Lu is really intent on the alliance, huh?бн well doesn''t matter I already chose him so may as well enjoy thisбн" Shirong muttered to himself as a smile appeared on his face.

    Seeing the charming smile of Young Master Shirong made the ten girls blush, and some of them couldn''t help but squish their legs together in excitement.

    "Kiyaa~ Young master is soooo handsome!" One of the girls said and saw Shironging towards them.

    "Well, then shall we go inside?" Shirong asked in a calm tone.

    The girls couldn''t hold back anymore and pulled him into the room. Meanwhile, Lin Wu was bashing his head into an imaginary wall in his mind.

    "I can''t seeбн I can''t hearбн nothing is happeningбн" He kept on saying to himself, trying to ignore everything that was happening around him.

    The room this time was about five times as big as the one that Shirong previously had. And just the bed was huge, upying half of the area of the room. Seeing the shy and red faces of the girls made Shirong excited too now.

    "Let me help you change into something more, conformable Young Masterбн" a girl said as she came close to him and slowly untied his robes.

    Shirong felt like he recognized this girl and then remembered that she was one of the granddaughters of the n head that he had seen back when he first came here. Butparing her to back then and now, she looked quite different.

    In fact, now that he thought about itбн all of the girls seemed to be family to him.

    ''Did he really send his granddaughters for this?'' Shirong wondered.

    But looking at their expression and behaviors didn''t make one think that they belonged to an aristocratic n, rather it seemed as if they some high ss courtesans.

    ''What did n head Lu do to them? Did he really get them to learn the ''arts''?'' Shirong now thought.

    But a momentter he pushed these thoughts aside and just decided to go with the flow.

 Chapter 123 - Relaxing?

    Having made his mind up, Shirong got in the mood. But then he heard a shriek in the next moment.

    "Eiyaa~ The Divine armor!" The girl who was removing his robe eximed.

    All of the girls trained their eyes on the emerald green armor that gleamed under the light of themps. Their eyes were glowing with amazement and they couldn''t take their eyes off the armor.

    "Young master can Iбн touch it?" The girl asked carefully.

    Shirong had kind of forgotten about the armor due to getting engrossed in his thoughts, which led to this situation. He wanted to reject it, but then seeing the sheer awe in their eyes made him think otherwise.

    "Alrightбн but be carefulбн" He agreed.

    "Really!? Yay!" the girls yelled.

    It was not every day that they got to see something like this. After all, all these girls here had some talent in cultivation and were at thete stage of the qi refining realm at the very least. With three of them being at the very peak of qi refining realm.

    "Bitch, I dare you to touch me, even if I want jade beauties I won''t get the ones that weren''t meant for meбн wait a minute! Can''t I use this to my advantage?" Lin Wu muttered.

    The girl extended her hand and ced it upon the center of the armor. But as soon as she did,

    "OUCH!" She yelled in pain and jumped back.

    "What happened?" The other girls asked with concern.

    Looking at her, one could see that there were tears in the corner of her eyes and she was biting her lips. Hearing the words of her sister, she flipped her palm to show them. A burn was clearly visible on it, and it seemed as if there were even small prick marks on her hand.

    Shirong was surprised by this too and didn''t know that this would happen. Now that he thought of it, ever since the connection between him and the spear was formed, no one else had touched it till now. Before this, the first person to touch the spear was Ye Dai, but even he told him that the spear was powerful and made him scared.

    Just the bloodline suppression that arose out of it was enough to knock out all cultivators of the Deer wood city, which showed the true might of the green crystal spear. But now this had actually given him an opportunity to test this out.

    Seeing that others could not touch the spear other than him actually made him happy secretly. But on the outside, he had a concerned expression.

    "Oh, sorry! I didn''t know it would do thisбн" Shirong said in a pleading tone.

    Hearing his voice made the girls go weak in the knees.

    "It is fine young master Shirong, it''s not your fault. I should have been wiser. Of course, a great armor like this wouldn''t allow just anyone toe in contact with it." The girl whose hand was burned spoke.

    Shirong walked forward and held her by her waist.

    "Aiya~" She shrieked lightly.

    He made her sit in herp before carefully holding her hand and looking at it.

    "We need to take care of it quick or it may leave a scarбн we don''t want that, do we?" Shirong said before taking out a pill from the bracelet.

    He then yfully bought it to the girl''s lips and fed her the pill. But the girl didn''t just eat the pill, but rather sucked and licked Shirong''s fingers as well.

    The other girls only got more jealous and stuck to Shirong.

    "Aww! No fairбн we wanna be coddled tooбн" A girl said in a meek voice.

    "Ahaha! Don''t worry, everyone will get the chance. But firstбн I need to remove the armor. We don''t want a repeat of this, do we?" Shirong replied.

    "Yes, yes, Young master. Please, you can put it in the study, there''s also a safe prepared there." The girl who had weed him first said.

    "Alright, that''s good." Shirong said before gesturing to the girl who was sitting in hisp to move.

    Then he stood up and went to the hall outside. He scanned the entire courtyard quickly with his spirit sense before finding the study, which was a few rooms after the one he was currently in. Opening the door, he could see a desk at the very end with a round tenrge bookshelves on both sides of the room.

    There was a smaller door attached to the wall behind the study table, and Shirong had an idea of what it was. That was the only room where his spirit sense couldn''t prate, and he was able to sense the formations that were ced on it.

    "Hmm, this safe is even more secure than the one beforeбн" Shirong muttered before walking to the small door.

    He opened it and saw the storage room. This entire room was the safe. He felt the connection with the Armour and willed it to turn it back into the spear form. About five secondster, he very carefully ced the spear down on a weapons rack that was in the safe.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Crash~</em>

    "Ohбн forgot that would happen. I guess I''ll just have to leave it on the ground for nowбн" Shirong uttered awkwardly, seeing the broken weapons rack.

    The spear''s weight had broken the rack in half and it had now fallen down. Shirong just ced it over the broken remains of the shelf and walked outside the safe. He extended his spirit sense and connected it with the formation array before putting a brand on it.

    Since the formation array was newly set up and the courtyard was prepared for him, n head Lu had put no brand on it. This was made so that Shirong could use it easily at his leisure.

    "Hmm, now that this is doneбн I can get back to itбн <em>~Sigh~</em> perhaps this will be myst day of rxing for a while nowбн" He muttered to himself, remembering the tasks he needed to do next.

 Chapter 124 - Virtual Interface?

    Shirong left the safe and used his spirit sense to activate the formation array. A few secondster, the door of the safe faded away and in ce of it was a in wall. It was as if there was nothing there now. Even if someone were to touch it, they would have no way of knowing if there was even something there.

    "Hmm, everything seems fine," Shirong said before leaving the study and heading back to the bedroom.

    Five minutes after Shirong was gone, Lin Wu started to move.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "Seems like he''s really gone and hearing his words it seems like he''s gonna be busy the entire nighбн <em>~che~</em> Lucky bastardбн" Lin Wu spoke with a bit of grudge.

    "But now that he''s goneбн I can finally move around freely!" Lin Wu eximed as he jumped up morphing in the air to his worm form.

    "Oof! While it has gotten easier being in the spear form and the armor form, this is still the best. Though what would be even better is if I was in my full size, that would really unwind my stiff jointsбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he moved toward the door of the safe.

    He extended his spirit sense and found that it was blocked from the inside as well.

    "Hmm as I thought, it''s gonna be a bit difficultбн" Lin Wu said before holding the handle of the safe''s door with his tail.

    He gave it a turn and the door opened. "Or notбн"

    But he didn''t leave the safe yet, even if it was easy to leave the safe from the inside, he didn''t know if it would be possible to get back inside again.

    "System, analyze this." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYZING: Illusory and restrictive formation arrays detected.

    LINK FOUND: Creating virtual interfaceбн please waitбн

    LINK ESTABLISHED: Virtual interface created sessfully.

    бкбк

    Because the formation array had Shirong''s spirit sense brand, the system had no problem in replicating the same process as before and making a new interface. Now it was as if it was Shirong controlling the formation array when in reality it would be Lin Wu.

    "Now we can leave safely," Lin Wu spoke before closing the door behind him.

    "Ooh! Didn''t know it could do thisбн" Lin Wu said upon seeing the door automatically disappearing after it was closed.

    "Reminds of a certain series from my past life, which was quite famousбн" Lin Wu muttered as he looked at the virtual interface.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    Formation array virtual interface:-

    1.Open Door

    2.Close Door

    3.Enable invisibility

    4.Disable invisibility

    5.Activate Defenses

    6.Deactivate Defenses

    7.Revoke Command permissions.

    CURRENT STATUS: Options 2,3,6 are active.

    бкбк

    "I guess activating defenses mean locking it, perhaps? And what''s thisst option? Revokemon permissions? Wait! Does this mean I can take over the control from Shirong?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Yes, every virtual interface that has the ''Revoke Command permission'' option can be overridden by the host. This depends on the difficulty of establishment of the interface, and certain ones may not be avable at all.

    The higher the permission the system acquires, the more functions will be avable. Currently, in the case of this formation array, the host has all the permissions and the formation array had been linked by the systempletely.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer made Lin Wu excited. He had seen the virtual interface it made for the spatial storage ring before, but it had no options. The only thing that it allowed him was to leave it at any time and hide his fluctuations from others.

    "Hmm, the system has still notpleted its previous analysis of the incident. I need to be cautious before I enter any spatial storage treasure." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He then activated the defenses of the formation array and scanned the area with his spirit sense carefully. Thankfully, he had gotten plenty of practice in the banquet before and had be quite used to it now. There were a lot of people using spirit sense back at the banquet, which made it the easy for Lin Wu to hide his own in the crowd.

    Though the thing was he was actually detected back there by a lot of people as he had brazenly tried to check their cultivation bases. These people were none other than the people of the ns and were a bit shocked at this.

    Some of them even felt angry and tried to follow the spirit sense back to its source, only to find out that it was actuallying from Young Master Shirong. Seeing this made them calm down and actually even a bit excited. They thought that since Young master was paying them attention they perhaps he was happy with them or was interested in them.

    This was another reason why everyone was so enthusiastic at the end of the banquet and was bidding Shirong goodbye, but not before inviting him to their own ns for banquets of their own. Shirong of course epted them on the surface, but this underlying meaning was of polite rejection.

    There was no way he had any more time to attend banquets. Unknown to him, Lin Wu had changed his perception in the eyes of the other ns and had actually increased it. The other ns now thought that Young master Shirong was quite humble and not arrogant at all.

    "Hmm, there are formation arrays on the entire courtyardбн should I take over them too? Or can I just leave without it, perhaps?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu thought for a moment before deciding to be on the safe side.

    "Alright, system take over the formation array of the entire courtyard as well." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYZING: Defensive, restrictive, offensive, and privacy formation arrays detected.

    LINK FOUND: Creating virtual interfaceбн please waitбн

    бкбк

    This time it was taking much longer than it had for the system to make the virtual interface for the safe. It was evident that the difficulty this time was much higher than normal.

    "Let''s take a look around here while the system worksбн" Lin Wu muttered and looked at the bookshelves.

 Chapter 125 - Languages?

    It was currently a little past midnight and Lin Wu reckoned he had plenty of time to do what he wanted to do. Thus he could afford to wait till the system set up the new virtual interface for the Formation array of the courtyard.

    Just from the number of arrays that were ced on it, Lin Wu could tell that it was a few times moreplex than the ones that were ced on the safe. So to pass the time he checked out the books that were ced in the study.

    There were ten bookshelves here in total, five on each side. Each bookshelf extended from the floor all the way to the roof, covering the two wallspletely in books, scrolls and wooden slips. Lin Wu looked at the size and estimated that each bookshelf was about five meters tall and three meters wide.

    There were at least five hundred books on each shelf, which meant that there were around five thousand books in the entire studyбн well approximately. Lin Wu wanted the system to scan the books, but it was already busy with five tasks currently because of which it couldn''t do that.

    The system was making the virtual interface, analyzing the incident with the spatial rift and the spatial storage ring, analyzing cultivation techniques, analyzing the unknown energy and finally maintaining the passive functions of the system.

    Lin Wu had asked the system before what the maximum limit for the number of tasks it could simultaneously was, but the answer it received was something unexpected to him: Unknown.

    Even the system did not know the maximum limit, but at its current capabilities, it told him that five tasks were the most it could do as of now. Lin Wu asked how he could extend the limit and was told that it should happen naturally as his cultivation base rose.

    Apparently, there were a lot of Computational A.I.''s that were part of the system in addition to the main A.I. which was the core of the system. The most that the system could activate right now was twoputational A.I.''s to assist it.

    The system also told him that upgrading its data banks can elerate this process and thus he wanted to gain even more information and pieces of knowledge. And now one of the biggest potential sources was in front of Lin Wu. He went ahead and picked up one of the books with his tail, which he transformed to have two prongs that held the book in them.

    He then looked at the title of the book and carefully read it.

    "F*ck, what''s thisnguage!?" He cursed upon realizing that he didn''t understand what was written there.

    While he found the characters to be simr to the ones he had learned before, there were still some difference which made it unreadable to him. Till now Lin Wu had learned twonguages, the Common tongue, and the Dao script.

    "Is this a different dialect or something?" Lin Wu wondered and ced the book back.

    He then picked up another book and found himself unable to read the title again.

    "Dammit!" He ced the book back and pulled out another.

    "Oh? Wait, I can read thisбн" Lin Wu uttered just as he had given up hope.

    "A Brief History Of The Lu n." Lin Wu read the title.

    "So this one is written in themon tongue that I originally learned from the data node of the cultivators'' memories. The other one thoughбн what is that dialect?" Lin Wu said.

    He flipped to the first page and started reading. The book was rtively small, being around a hundred pages. Lin Wu read about two pages before putting it back.

    "Hmm, this is pretty much generic. Nothing special in hereбн at least not at the start. I''ll read itter when Ie back." Lin Wu stated.

    He then checked the other books briefly and found that there were books of at least fivenguages here. Of all these books here, he could barely read ten percent of them.

    "Damn, this will be a problemбн I''ll need to figure out how to read the rest of them." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    About half an hour had passed since Lin Wu began checking the books, and finally the stem''s notification sounded.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    LINK ESTABLISHED: Virtual Interface Created Sessfully

    бкбк

    "Good, just in time." Lin Wu said in a pleased tone before looking at the virtual interface window.

    "Oh? This time there aren''t that many optionsбн" He muttered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    Courtyard Formation Array Interface:-

    1.Activate Formations

    2.Deactivate Formations

    3.Assign Key (Assigned keys= 1)

    CURRENT STATUS: Option 1,3 is online

    бкбк

    Unlike before, there was only half the number of options that Lin Wu had seen. Another thing was that the options were less detailed than before and seemed much vague. In the case of the virtual interface of the safe, Lin Wu could choose specifically which formation to deactivate and what to activate; whereas here he could only do that for all the formations together.

    "This assign key option should be the one to allow one entry, I thinkбн" Lin Wu muttered before choosing that one.

    He suddenly felt somethinging in contact with his body, and he realized that it was none other than the formation array. Lin Wu could tell that a wisp of some kind was attached to his body now.

    "I guess this is what it meant by the key to the courtyard. I should be able to go in and out freely now." Lin Wu said before leaving the room.

    He briefly scanned the room that Shirong was in and could very clearly hear the moans and cries that wereing from there. He got a glimpse of the ''arts'' that were currently being performed in the room and silently cursed Shirong in his mind.

    Pushing this thought to the bottom of his mind, Lin Wu made his way outside silently, which he didn''t even need to really as there was no one except him, Shirong, and the girls in the courtyard.

    "Now thenбн Let''s go raid the kitchen!"

 Chapter 126 - Kitchen Raid?

    Lin Wu got near the gate of the courtyard and could feel the wisp of aura that was ced on to him by the virtual interface to resonate with the formation array.

    "Huh, so this is how it recognizes the owner of a key." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Having a key to the formation array didn''t mean that anyone couldn''t go in and out. But rather they would be detected and an rm would be rung. While it could be made so that the Formation locked the courtyardpletely, that function was unavable to Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu extended his spirit sense and scanned the area around the gate, only to find itpletely empty.

    "Why is it empty? Shouldn''t there be more guard here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    But then when he scanned further with his spirit sense, he discovered the reason for it.

    "Ohбн the range of the formation array extends beyond the courtyard and reaches the end of the street." Lin Wu understood.

    With the extended area of detection, the guards were standing outside its radius. This way, if someone were to enter the radius of detection, the owner would get a small notification. But unauthorized entry to the courtyard itself would cause the defensive measures to start up.

    Lin Wu slightly pushed the gate of the courtyard open and peeked his head out, confirming with his own two eyes. Seeing that no one was really there, he exited and closed the gate behind him.

    "Ooo! This feels like back when I used to sneak out at night in my past life. The warden was such an a*shole, getting us in trouble all the time, even if we were a minutete to enter." Lin Wu reminisced.

    Lin Wu remembered the path he had seen when he was with Shirong and followed it. After exiting the radius of the formation array, Lin Wu saw the guard for the first time. They were standing around and would asionally scan the area with their spirit senses.

    Thankfully for Lin Wu, they were only at the qi refining realm and the maximum range of their spirit sense was only ten meters. Lin Mu easily found a blind spot and used that to get through them. Even though he had a very easy method of hiding, which was digging, he didn''t use it.

    The ground here was paved with t stone tiles and thus would leave behind traces if he dug in. He could have also skipped the guard by going over the walls of the other houses, but that was problematic for him. All the houses in this area had formation arrays that protected them.

    If he crossed the border of one, he would be detected again. Thus he had no other choice but to sneak past the guards.

    Finally, having crossed the guards, Lin Wu arrived at the main crossroad. The path opposite to him went in the direction of the Xiong and Mu n''s mansions, while the one left of him took him to the main city area. This left him with the one to the right that went to the Lu n mansion.

    The streets were dimly lit with streetmps, which created plenty of dark spots, which made it easy for Lin Wu to hide in. Even at this time, there were asionally people passing from the road while the guards would patrol the area too.

    While he was a bit slower while crawling on the ground instead of digging, Lin Wu''s speed was still faster than a cultivator that was sprinting. Five minutester he had sessfully reached the Lu n''s mansion. This area was well lit and a lot of people wereing in and out from the n.

    "Looks like they''re getting ready for all the preparations of the Tribtion tform." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu circled around and found another smaller entrance that was used by the servants.

    ''This should be fineбн but nows the moment of the test, let''s see if it works for me tooбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    The test was none other than the key to the formation array. Lin Wu thought that he should have the same signature as Shirong did, thus he shouldn''t have the problem in entering the courtyard, and that was exactly what happened.

    Though even if that was not possible, Lin Wu reckoned that with the number of random people going in and out of the n, he would be unnoticed. Thankfully now, the ground here was just simple dirt that Lin Wu could dig through.

    He found a small bush to the side, which would berge enough to hide the hole he would dig and entered the ground from there.

    "System, make a map of the area." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    MAP FUNCTION ACTIVATED: Scanning the area.

    SCAN COMPLETE: Map has been updated.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the map window and saw that it only had the area that was inside the confines of the formation array. The formation array functioned the same for the system''s scan as it did for spirit sense and isted the signals.

    Lin Wu had not made the map for the entire city yet, as he was not sure if others would detect it or not. But now that he had tested it on a smaller scale, he could do it freely when he left the courtyardter.

    "Hmm, now where is the kitchen?бн this part was the entrance that we went through and this was the main hall. If I remember correctly, the servants were bringing in trays of food from the lower two doors of the hall. Then the kitchen should beбн right here!" Lin Wu observed.

    "System, activate the navigating HUD." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NAVIGATION HUD ACTIVATED: Finding route

    ROUTE FOUND: Plotting on mini map.

    бкбк

    Having found his target location, Lin Wu began his journey. Digging through the ground, he reached the building that was the kitchen. There he came out of the ground from under a pile of chopped logs and looked around.

    "Hehe! Time to Raid!"

 Chapter 127 - Good Food?

    Lin Wu didn''te out directly but rather scanned the area with his spirit sense. He was now getting habitual to it and was feeling proud of himself for that.

    "Hmm, so fifteen servants, three guards and four n members around here." Lin Wu observed.

    The kitchen of the Lu n was actually quite big as they needed to prepare food for more than five thousand people every day. The Lu n had around two thousand direct members and three thousand branch members, not to mention the non rted people like servants that worked there.

    The kitchen of a n as big as this usually functioned all hours of the day as the people could need food at any time. There were a majority of cultivators that needed this as they cultivated for long periods of time and would take a break in the middle of the night to get food.

    For them, time had long since be a foreign thing in terms of normal schedule.

    "Hmmбн now how do I actually go about getting the food?" Lin Wu wondered as he saw the servants busily cooking.

    "Hurry up, the nsmen are still waiting for food. Even if the banquet is over, the others have still not eaten!" One of the nsmen nagged.

    "Yes, Senior. We''ll get it done, don''t worry, but the problem is a lot of our workers are out preparing for the tasks n head ordered. We arecking at least a hundred workers." One of the other nsmen spoke.

    "Did you try calling the others from the mansion temporarily?" The Senior nsman asked.

    "We sent someone to call them, but no one has responded yet. I fear they may have been assigned to other tasks as well." The junior nsman who was assigned to oversee the kitchen spoke.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Seems like we''ll just have to beteбн" The senior nsman replied in a helpless tone.

    ''At least they are still cooking food that means I''ll have the chance to eat as well. Damn that aroma though!'' Lin Wu thought.

    The aroma from the food was spread all around the area, and Lin Wu was tempted to knock everyone out and eat everything. Just as he was relishing this feeling, a few trays of food were brought out.

    "Another round is ready. Please take this to the dining hall and put it there. They will take it on their own, and bring back the empty dishes." The junior nsman ordered one of the servants.

    "Yes, chef!" The servant replied.

    "Oh, so he''s a chefбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    The servant then put the food onto a multyer trolley and started moving to the building that functioned as a dining hall. Lin Wu looked at it for a moment and then looked back at the kitchen before making up his mind.

    "I''ll see where they go, perhaps I''ll have a better chance there." Lin Wu said to himself before going back into the ground and following the servant.

    It was easy for him to follow the servant hidden in the ground, but then he had toe out of it when they reached near the entrance of the dinner hall. Lin Wu spotted a brazier that was burning at one of the corners and found it to be the perfect ce toe out of.

    The brazier was brightly burning, thus the area directly below it was extremely dark, making it the perfect ce for Lin Wu to hide. He waited for the servant to enter the dining hall beforeing out of a hole below the brazier.

    Usually, this spot would have been burning hot, but Lin Wu''s resistance to heat made it easy for him and he felt nothing. The servant entered inside and exchanged the empty trays of food for the filled ones before taking them back.

    Once he was gone, Lin Wu peeked through one of the corners. He saw the long tables that were set up in rows and the nearly hundred people that were eating there all at the same time. They were talking with each other as well, so barely anyone was keeping attention on the back entrance.

    Lin Wu then saw a couple of servants that were acting as waiters to take food from the newly arrive trays and serving them to the people that were eating there. Lin Wu wondered how he could get some food now. While he was stronger than anyone in this room, he couldn''t just start a straight up battle.

    After observing for five minutes, he learned that there was a certain dy between when the servant took the food and went to serve it. During that period there was no one paying attention to the food.

    "Looks like I found my chance!" Lin Wu muttered to himself before moving ahead.

    He crawled from the very corner of the wall and headed under the table on which the food was kept.

    ''Annnd safe!'' Lin Wu said in his mind after reaching the table.

    The table was covered with a long table cloth so he was perfectly hidden below it.

    "Heheбн now to sample some foodбн" Lin Wu spoke before checking the area with his spirit sense.

    As soon as the servant was gone, he extended his tail from behind the table and stored the entire tray of food in his inventory. He then withdrew it below the table and ate a little bit before storing it in the inventory again and summoning it back on the table using his tail.

    "Damn, this food is good!" Lin Wu praised as he relished the food in his mouth.

    He had already changed his head back to its organic form so that he could fully taste the food. Which honestly was the best tasting food he had eaten. But that was probably because this was the first time he was eating in a long, long time.

    Lin Wu had literally not eaten properly cooked food in about two and a half years now.

    "Ahh! Who knew the food in a cultivation world could be so good!" He praised again as his eyes turned greedy for more food and he started scheming.

 Chapter 128 - Map Update?

    Lin Wu now felt like he finally had a proper goal for himself in this life. Till now he had just been living for the sake of it and had a rough goal of bing stronger. But there really wasn''t much motivation for him after his lifespan increased.

    Now Lin Wu wanted to try every delicacy in this world and enjoy it. That was the one thing he could do even if he was a worm. If he couldn''t enjoy women, he would enjoy the food. Tasting the food from this world had only made him that much excited.

    The food he had just tasted wasn''t even anything special. It was made with normal ingredients and wasn''t the special one made for the banquet that had spirit beast meat and spirit herbs in it. He couldn''t imagine how heavenly the spirit beast meat and herb one would be like.

    Lin Wu had already scanned the kitchen and knew that there were no ingredients for spirit food there, only the normal ones.

    "Hmm, seems like they only supply the amount that''s required and don''t keep it stocked all the time." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he stole a bit more of the food.

    Every turn that the waiter made, Lin Wu would take a little more amount. By the time the waiter had finished serving ten people, the entire dish was empty. But the waiter paid no attention to this and was simply working mechanically, as if bored out of his mind.

    "Huh, so the dead-end jobs are the same here tooбн" Lin Wu said upon seeing the waiter''s actions.

    ''Wonder if they get paid minimum wage tooбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu had spent about two hours doing this, and it was at this time that the Chef came to talk with the servants.

    "What''s happening, why have the people not stopped eating?" The chef questioned.

    The waiters stopped and became alert, rousing from their dazed state.

    "Huh? Oh sir, we don''t know, they are just eating more today I guess." One of the waiters answered.

    "Is that soбн" The chef replied before looking around the room.

    All of the people seemed to be eating normally, and they would leave after they were done.

    ''That''s strange why are they eating more, it''s not even spirit foodбн'' The chef thought before shrugging his shoulders and leaving.

    While this had indeed increased their work load, there wasn''t much they could do. All their job was to feed the people till they were satisfied. Usually, they were done with most part of the night at around this time. But today seemed to be strange. Even if it was a banquet, this was unusual.

    "Seems like they finally noticed." Lin Wu said as he observed the Chef.

    "Wellбн anyways, I''m done. Now that I know where toe, I can do it every day, Heheбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself in a creepy tone.

    Lin Wu didn''t know that in the time that he had been here, he had eaten about half of the food that was supposed to be given to the nsmen. But now that he was satisfied, he started to go back through the route he hade from.

    He easily sneaked past the waiters and reached the brazier below which the hole was. After entering, he roughly closed it with his tail and got back to the servant entrance. He left the confines of the Formation array of the Lu n before getting ready for his next task.

    "System, scan the city and update the map." Lin Wu ordered.

    Now that he knew it was safe, Lin Wu made the map without hesitation.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    MAP FUNCTION ACTIVATED: Scanning area

    AREA SCANNED: Map Updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the new map window and saw the full area of the Deer wood city for the very first time.

    "Damn this is much bigger than I thought." Lin Wu muttered, seeing the size which he had not expected.

    "System, do you know what''s the poption of the city?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The poption of Deer wood city is: 124,691 humans; 14,750 Beasts; 160 Spirit beasts; 60,584 Animals.

    бкбк

    "Huh, so it is roughly the same poption as that of a city from my previous world. But the nk spots due to the formation array are a bit displeasing." Lin Wu said while looking at the map and saw the small arrow in the corner.

    "Huh? What''s this?" He asked before clicking the button.

    The map shifted and Lin Wu could now see apletely different topography on it.

    "Ooo! So it shows the underground area too." Lin Wu eximed.

    The underground area was mostly empty except for a few ces that seemed to be like rooms. There were eight major areas that were big enough to warrant his attention, the smaller ones just seemed to be blocked caves or empty air pockets.

    "They seem to all be located under the ns. Wait, if they are part of the ns then shouldn''t they be protected due to the formation array too, why do they show up here?" Lin Wu wondered before taking a closer look.

    He found out that the ones that were visible to him were the underground areas for the Lu n and seven other smaller ns. He saw the underground area for the Lu n as he already had the signature for the formation array which was a bit strange considering it was a secret area, while for the other seven ns it was simply visible because they couldn''t afford to make a formation array that was bigger.

    Lin Wu looked at the two empty spots where the Mu and Xiong n were supposed to be and indeed found them to be blocked too.

    ''Hmm, there''s are definitely some secret areas of the n. But why would Shirong have the ess to the secret area of the n? Even if he is an honored guest, this doesn''t make senseбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Hmm, should I check the area outбн?"

 Chapter 129 - Reading?

    Lin Wu thought for a moment and figured that he had three more hours until the morning. He could very well go and return back to Shirong. But then decided against it. There were still a few things he didn''t know and wanted to be on the safer side.

    "Hmm, now that I have the maps, I don''t need to crawl all the way there, I can just tunnel my way to the courtyard." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He then went back inside the Lu n''spound and dug into the soft ground hidden under a bush. He then turned on the navigation and put Shirong''s courtyard as the destination. Now that he had the keys for both of the formation arrays he was able to create the shortest route which was a straight tunnel.

    What had taken him nearly fifteen minutes before now only took two. Lin Wu was like a drill traveling through the ground and quickly reached below the Courtyard. He picked another bush and dug out from under there. He scanned the area with his spirit sense and discovered that Shirong was far from done and was still performing the ''arts'' in the bedroom.

    The faint sounds of moans and cries could still be heard from outside, which only made Lin Wu a bit pissed. Ignoring it for his own health, he walked into the study.

    ''Now then, let''s check out the books and see what the system can do with it,'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, scan all the books and see if you can figure out thenguages." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNING: Multiple targets selected.

    UNKNOWN LANGUAGE DETECTED: Extrapting information please wait patiently

    бкбк

    "Wonder how long this will take nowбн hopefully it is done before Shirong is ''done''." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He then looked towards the shelf, and an idea appeared in his mind.

    ''Might as well read to pass the timeбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    He then went and picked the book ''A Brief History Of The Lu n'' and started reading from the ce where he had left off from.

    Lin Wu found out that the Lu n had a history of about seven hundred years and the current n head was the strongest cultivator in their n till now. He was the only person that had reached the nascent soul realm since the beginning of the n.

    "So his name is Lu Ren, huh?" Lin Wu said upon discovering the name of the Lu n head.

    ''Seems like bing the n Head means that few people would have the authority to call him by his first name in this city at least. Even Shirong only calls him n head for respect.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Most of the things in the book were just the achievements of the n, along with the names of a few prominent members. The rest just seemed like propaganda to Lin Wu, pretty much. He put the book back on the shelf and picked another one that he could read.

    "A treatise on the twelve kingdom alliance," Lin Wu read the title.

    "This sounds kindaбн formal?" he muttered and flipped to the next page.

    He read about ten pages of the four hundred that were present in the book before stopping.

    "That is definitely not for me." Lin Wu said.

    The book had all the political discussions that urred between the twelve kingdoms alliance. Ling kingdom was part of this, and the book had a detailed log of everything that had happened. From conflicts to marriages, everything was covered.

    "I''ll just leave it for the system. This is perfect for it to upgrade its data banks." Lin Wu said, feeling a bit helpless.

    ''Let''s find something interestingбн'' Lin Wu thought and started scouring through the books.

    There were actually a lot of them which caught his interest and had some amazing depictions of their covers. But he was unable to read these books because of them being in a differentnguage. One of the books he found was about the cultivation realms and exined some details.

    But even that was less than what was exined in the Ji n records that Lin Wu had read.

    "Oh wait, isn''t this the same thing that they were talking about earlier?" Lin Wu said after finding a book that contained information about Tribtion tforms.

    He learned that there were chiefly three types of tribtion tforms: Generalized multiple use type, Generalized single use type, and Customized unique type.

    As the name said, generalized multiple use type and generalized single use type tribtion tforms were used by anyone and it didn''t matter what kind of cultivation technique they practiced. This type of tform had a certain level ofpatibility with most cultivation techniques.

    Then there was the Customized Unique type, which was the one being made for Shirong. Because of his top grade Cultivation technique Immortal sky shaker art, there were a lot of requirements to it and would need quite a lot of resources to make it.

    "Boy, Shirong really lucked out huh or it would have been difficult for him to break through to the nascent soul realm. I''ve read the Immortal sky shaker art, and it is gonna have difficulties when the heavenly tribtion arrives. There are some seriously strange things with that technique." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu had not realized it at first when he read the technique, but now he could see the ws in the technique. It was obvious that there were some ws in it. He was only able to see them due to the system''s analysis.

    The Immortal sky shaker art allowed one to gainprehension over the Dao of Sky which included two elemental attributes; Wind and lightning. Now the thing was cultivation was said to be stealing fortune from the heavens and as a punishment for that, the heavenly tribtion would descend.

    For Shirong, the Immortal sky shaker art involved absorbing and refining a very tiny amount of the tribtion lightning. While he would be bearing the brunt of the entire thing, refining even a minuscule amount was incredibly difficult and Lin Wu wondered if he would even be able to do it.

 Chapter 130 - Cause Of Spatial Rift?

    Lin Wu read a few more books to pass time and two hours swiftly went by when the system''s notification finally sounded.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS COMPLETE: Newnguages now avable

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    Seeing that the system was sessfully able to analyze and decipher thenguages made Lin Wu amazed. Not only that, but the system had also scanned and added the contents of all the books here into the data banks which made it ways for him to read through them whenever he wanted.

    The system also had gained new information which meant that Lin Wu would be able to ask it more questioned and it would actually be able to answer better. Lin Wu took a quick look through the detailed log and saw that it had gained a lot of information about the geography of the Continent.

    "This will make it handyбн" Lin Wu said nodding his head. "Wonder if he is done or not yetбн"

    Lin Wu observed the bed room using his spirit sense and saw that they were now just all lying on the bed in a pile, deep in sleep.

    "Che! Lucky bastardбн" Lin Wu said with envy before walking to the wall.

    He used the virtual interface and revealed the safe before entering it and locking it back. It was already morning and the light could be seen on the horizon. While the sun was still hidden, the orange and red clouds showed that it wouldn''t be too long.

    "Looks like they''ll sleep for a bit longerбн" Lin Wu muttered before thinking of what to do next.

    ''Hmm, should I try refining spirit sense again? I haven''t tried after the incident.'' Lin Wu thought.

    After getting over the bottleneck which was the 100 meters of range, Lin Wu wanted to see if he could go beyond it. He extended his spirit sensepletely but couldn''t make it straight due to the confines of the room. He just kept it a little coiled making it take less area.

    He then guided out one single wisp of spirit qi and no more. Lin Wu didn''t know what would happen, thus he was extremely careful. But after a few seconds he was dumbfounded.

    "Huh? How? How the hell is it so easy now?" Lin Wu questioned in shock.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: New experimental data obtained from host!

    ANALYSIS COMPLETE: Please view the report in the relevant window.

    бкбк

    Just as Lin Wu finished adding the wisp of spirit qi to his spirit sense, the system suddenly gave out a notification.

    "What? Wait, me doing stuff can elerate the analysis speed?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He opened the report and started reading it. The more he read, the more he was intrigued.

    Apparently, the reason why it was so difficult for Lin Wu to refine his spirit sense was the spatial storage ring. And the reason behind its destruction was the spirit sense.

    What was happening was that the more Lin Wu refined his spirit sense and increased its length, the more stress was being exerted on the spatial storage ring''s dimension. While it seemed like the inside of the ring had no borders, it was not so.

    Rather even in the darkness, there were only certain limits till which Lin Wu could go to. Beyond that, it was as if there were invisible barriers. Another thing was that every time an explosion happened due to Lin Wu failing, it would exert force onto the borders of the dimension.

    It was as if a gas was stored in a metal container and kept on expanding. The container would be able to bear it up to a certain limit before exploding. That was what had happened here. But the thing with the spatial rift was a bit different.

    Usually when a spatial storage treasure is destroyed, it cannot create a spatial rift as it would take a hundred times more energy than was used to make it. But here Lin Wu hadpensated it by copsing the dimensional borders with the spirit qi explosion.

    This caused the small amount of spatial attribute qi that was used to make the spatial storage ring to be released explosively and ripping a hole in the fabric of space. The hole was quite small, barely the size of a pinhead but even that was enough for the spatial energy to start leaking out from the hole.

    What it had done was create a connection between this world and the void, which was anotheryer of space that surrounded the world. Lin Wu had learned a bit about the void, but there was a lot of information still missing about it.

    Hepared the void to the outer space of his previous world. This hole then started sucking in everything due to there being a vacuum on the other side and also started leaking the spatial attribute qi from it. It was a strange contradiction where it was both sucking and leaking at the same time.

    Even if normal spirit qi was being sucked by the spatial rift, the spatial attribute spirit qi was unaffected due to its special properties. It was also this leaking spatial attribute spirit qi that was keeping the spatial rift open and expanding it.

    The system would have taken more time to analyze this, but when Lin Wu sessfully refined the spirit sense again, it gained enough core data that it finished it instantly and inferred the cause.

    "So the reason why it was so hard for me to refine my spirit sense was because I was doing it in a closed space?" Lin Wu uttered feeling a bit stupid.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "At least, now I know it is safe being in a spatial storage treasure as long as I don''t do anything that can damage it from the inside like refining spirit sense." Lin Wu concluded.

    Having understood everything now, Lin Wu just decided to continue refining his spirit sense. He now wanted to see to what level he could take it to with his current cultivation base.

 Chapter 131 - Stability Increase?

    Lin Wu was focused on refining his spirit sense and didn''t realize when time passed by. He only snapped out of it when he sensed the formation on the safe bing active.

    ''Someone''sing? Shirong obviouslyбн'' Lin Wu though still feeling a bit dazed from the nonstop refinement.

    He had refined his spirit sense further and now it had reached the max range of 110 meters. He had failed a couple of times too but was able to recover and regrow his spirit sense rather quickly. It truly was the spatial storage ring that was causing him all the troubles.

    There were no spirit qi explosions when he failed, and the spirit qi simply dissipated when that happened. This made it quite peaceful for him, as he didn''t need to be at a hundred percent alertness to escape from the explosion when they happened.

    Also, now that there were no explosions, he wasn''t as distracted either and didn''t need to constantly refocus.

    <em>~hum~</em>

    A faint sound was heard as the door of the safe opened. The person who had opened it was Shirong as Lin Wu had expected. He was still lying in the same position as Shirong had left him, and thus he did not suspect anything.

    "That was a good nightбн" Shirong muttered to himself, feeling quite rxed.

    He was only wearing a pant right now and was shirtless. His chiseled abs on full disy like a Greek god''s statue that hade alive. Lin Wu saw him and felt a bit jealous when hepared him to his past life''s self.

    In his past life, he was skinny and had the athletic skill of a snail. But now that he had reincarnated, he didn''t even have the chance to get a ripped body. Even if he was born with an ugly face as a human here, he could still attempt to have an amazing body.

    But then a few secondster he realized something.

    "Why am I even thinking of this? I am no longer a human, there is no sense in thinking about a humanбн" Lin Wu said to himself.

    As soon as he did this, he felt as if his mind had cleared up and a wave of calmness washed over his entire body.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Host Vitals improved.

    HOST SOUL: Stability increased.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had not expected that this one single revtion would improve his condition. He knew that while his soul was healed, it was notpletely stable yet. It was the same as if when someone sick was cured, they would still be weakened for a period of time.

    "I feel much better than beforeбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Shirong was about to bend down to pick up the spear when he suddenly stopped. His eyes went wide as he sensed a fluctuation in the connection he had with the green crystal spear. He didn''t know what had happened, but knew that there was a certain kind of change.

    He tried to think for five minutes but still couldn''tprehend what must have happened.

    ''I''ll just deal with it when I understand itter.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    He then bent down and picked up the green crystal spear while amplifying his strength with spirit qi. He then willed it and the spear started transforming. It coiled around his arm, moving upwards and around his body. Soon it had fully turned into a beautiful emerald green armor.

    Shirong could feel the increase in the weight and stumbled for a bit before stabilizing.

    "Seems like I still need to get used to itбн" He muttered to himself while looking at the armor.

    He left the safe and waved his hand, closing the safe and hiding it back. But just as he was about to step out of the study, something caught his eye. It was in the very corner of his field of vision and he couldn''t help but feel curious.

    "A brief history of the Lu n?" Shirong read the book that was slightly sticking out from the shelf.

    He furrowed his borrows for a moment before an idea papered in his mind.

    <em>~Chuckle~</em>

    "n head Lu took no stops, huh? Even going so far as to highlighting their n''s history bookбн" Shirong said before cing the book back onto the shelf.

    He left the study while Lin Wu meanwhile was a bit on the edge.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "Seems like he didn''t sense anything that different. Good, that I only read a few books and the one that I read the most was this one. I should have taken care to put it back properly thoughбн I need to be careful in the future." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Shirong had returned to the bedroom by now and took a look at his ''painting'' that he had created. The canvas was the bed, and the characters were the ten naked beauties that were sleeping soundly with smiles on their faces. Some small ''red flowers'' could also be seen hidden among the beauties.

    Shirong seemed proud of his handiworks and nodded his head in approval. While Lin Wu simply ignored it. He found it much easier to not be bothered by something like this now that he had the revtion a couple of minutes ago.

    Shirong looked to the side and picked up the sheet that had been pushed off. He flicked it in the air and covered all of the beauties that were currently sleeping as if a painter covering his painting to protect it from dust.

    Shirong didn''t expect that he would do this for someone, or rather a few people in this case. But he couldn''t help but chuckle again. The night was indeed memorable for him and this was the least he could do for the girls that had pleased him.

    He went to the wardrobe and picked out a new set of clothes before wearing them. The armor was once again hidden beneath the clothes, away from the prying eyes of others.

 Chapter 132 - What Happned To Ye Dai And Bei Wen?

    "When will that messengere back?" Shirong uttered as he remembered that he still needed a high grade spatial storage ring.

    Simply wearing the armor for long periods was not sustainable, and he knew that he needed a solution quick.

    ''I''ll just go hunt for nowбн need to get ready for the breakthrough.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    It was now that another thought appeared in his mind. In the next second, a frown appeared on his face.

    "Where are Ye Dai and Bei Wen?" He questioned himself.

    He tried to remember if he had seen them when the spatial rift had appeared or not. But even after thinking hard, he couldn''t ce them anywhere at the scene.

    "This isn''t right, they should havee to check up on me at the very first sign of dangerбн" Shirong muttered with disbelief.

    He then realized that he had somehowpletely forgotten about the two of them as well. In the past two days, not one thought about them hade into his mind. Neither had he seen them at the banquet either which was extremely strange as there was no chance they would give up on an event where they could praise their Young master.

    "The people from the Lu n didn''t inform me about them eitherбн" Shirong muttered in realization.

    "SERV-" Shirong was about to shout when he realized that he was still in the bed room and the ten girls were sleeping.

    Not wanting to disturb their well deserved sleep, he walked outside the bedroom and gestured with his hands. Formation runes appeared on the door of the bedroom for a few seconds before fading away.

    "Now it should be fineбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu meanwhile was wondering what he had done. He could sense that something had changed in the formation array of the House but he didn''t know exactly what.

    "System, what did he do?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The istion and sound proofing formations have been activated.

    NOTIFICATION: New arrays analyzed, adding them to the Courtyard Formation array interface.

    Courtyard Formation Array Interface:-

    1.Activate Formations

    2.Deactivate Formations

    3.Assign Key (Assigned keys= 1)

    4.Istion Formation

    5.Sound Proofing Formation

    CURRENT STATUS: Option 1,3,4,5 are online.

    бкбк

    "Oh nice, seems like it can be increased in this method as well." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Once the formations were active, Shirong turned around and shouted, "SERVANTS!".

    A few secondster multiple footsteps could be heard, and it was evident that people were running towards him.

    Five men appeared and kneeled in front of him, their heads lowered. They could sense that something was wrong and Young master Shirong seemed to be displeased.

    "What are your orders, Young master?" They asked in unison.

    "Do you know what happened to my two followers, Ye Dai and Bei Wen?" Shirong questioned.

    "Lord Ye Dai and Lord Bei Wen?" One of them repeated with confusion.

    "YES! Where are they?" Shirong questioned.

    "Forgive us Young master, but we do not know where they are." The servant replied.

    "WHAT?" Shirong interrupted them.

    "But we do know what happened to them," Another servant hurriedly said, knowing that Young master was misunderstanding something.

    "What is it then? Speak," Shirong ordered.

    "Lord Ye Dai and Lord Bei Wen left Deer Wood city a while ago. We do not know where they went, but they went to do some tasks. We are mere servants so we do not know the details. But you can ask the n head." The servant exined.

    Shirong furrowed his brows as many thoughts appeared in his mind. He knew that they would never leave like this without his permission, at least not if they wanted to give up on all the credits and rapport they had built with him.

    Shirong had a bad feeling about this and ran towards the courtyard where Ye Dai and Bei Wen were staying at. He didn''t have a spirit sword now and couldn''t fly on one. This was one of the things that he had asked the messenger to bring him and was something that he needed urgently.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was wondering what had happened to the two men as well.

    "I don''t think I saw them anywhereбн" Lin Wu tried to recall as well.

    "Wait a minuteбн System, when was thest record of the two men Ye Dai and Bei Wen?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Thest recorded appearance of the two men was back when they had returned to the city after the Host''s breakthrough. No other record can be found in the systems database.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн that was nearly half a month agoбн what happened during that time?" Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, can you scan for them in the city and mark them on the map?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNING FOR TARGET: Please wait a momentбн

    SCAN COMPLETED: No signs of target found in the city area.

    бкбк

    Just as the stem finished its scan, Shirong had reached the courtyard where the two were staying at. He looked around but didn''t find them there. He checked every room, yet there was no one here, neither was there any message or letter left behind.

    He then called for the servants of this courtyard and asked them where the two had gone and theirst sighting. He received the same answer that they had left the city.

    "This does not seem rightбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    His mind started to wander, and thoughts of different possibilities appeared in his head. But there was no concrete conclusion he coulde to.

    "Looks like I''ll get my answers in the Lu n only," Shirong said to himself before leaving the courtyard and going towards the Lu n''s location.

    ''This is getting interestingбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    A couple of minutester, Shirong was standing in front of the Lu n''s gates. The guards and the other people that were there instantly recognized him and greeted him.

    "Greetings, young master Shirong! What brings you here? Do you want to meet the n head?" The guards asked, guessing the most likely reason.

    "Yes, I need to see him urgently this very instant," Shirong replied in a stern voice.

 Chapter 133 - Hypnotized?

    n Head Lu had been informed that Shirong was here to see him and he seemed to be agitated.

    "Dammit! Did those granddaughters of mine do something to displease him? If they really did then, I''ll skin them the moment theye here." n Head Lu muttered under his breath.

    His son Lu Peng who was standing near him clearly heard it and felt sweat appearing on his forehead. Among the girls that had gone to attend to Shirongst night, two of them were his daughters. While he would be displeased with them too, he wouldn''t want to punish them that harshly.

    ''Hopefully, it is something elseбн'' Lu Peng thought to himself.

    A minuteter, Shirong came through the doors of the hall, a pissed expression on his face. n head Lu''s face only fell further and started thinking of all ways he couldpensate Young Master Shirong.

    "Young Master Shirong, Iбн" n head Lu was just about to speak when he was interrupted.

    "Where are my two followers Ye Dai and Bei Wen?" Shirong questioned straightaway.

    "Huh?" n head was dumb stuck.

    He had been expecting a lot of scenarios in his head and had thought up some solutions, be he had not expected that after spending a night with ten of his granddaughters, Shirong would ask this question as soon as meeting him.

    "Why are you asking that to us, young master? You are the one that sent them off for a mission, didn''t you?" Lu Peng answered for his father, seeing that he was in a confused state.

    "What! I did no such thing!" Shirong replied.

    Now the others in the hall were also getting anxious and were wondering what exactly the problem was.

    "Servants, please bring some refreshments for Young master Shirong. Please Young master, let''s go discuss this in the private chambers." n head Lu suggested, after recovering a bit.

    Shirong was still displeased, but could see the reasoning behind it. He followed the pair of father and son to the private Chambers.

    "Now then, young master. Please exin to us what the problem exactly is." n Head Lu asked.

    Shirong then went on to exin how he went to look for his two followers and found them to be missing. Even the servants were unaware of it and thus he came to ask the Lu n as they were apparently aware about it.

    "Young master, ording to what we know the two of them came to us with a letter and told us that they were going out for some kind of a mission that you assigned to them. Seeing that you were in seclusion, I didn''t dare to disturb you either.

    Besides, I checked the handwriting on the letter and found it to match yours." n Head Lu exined.

    "That is absolutely impossible!" Shirong protested.

    "But you didn''t ask us about them during the banquet or after the appearance of the spatial rift either. Thus we just assumed that you knew about it and had ordered them to go out." Lu Peng replied.

    "That''s another thing I''m worried about. Why did I not think of them all these days? There is no way I would have forgotten about them." Shirong said with concern.

    n head Lu''s brows furrowed, thinking of all the possibilities.

    "So the Young master thinks that someone impersonated your identity and forged a fake letter?" n Head Lu reiterated.

    "Yes, and not only that, but they also did something to meбн I don''t know how or what but they definitely did something to make me forget about them all this time." Shirong added.

    "Hmmбн we can take poison or toxins off the list as I doubt Young master wouldn''t detect them on his own." Lu Peng said.

    "Yes, I do not think it''s a poison either. I would have sensed it rather easily. Besides, no normal poison would work on me anyway." Shirong stated.

    "That narrows down the possibilities and leaves us with, hypnotic techniques and skills." n Head Lu inferred.

    Shirong thought over it and found that to be the most likely reason. Be he couldn''t remember where he could have been hypnotized. And if he truly was hypnotized, then how did he realize it now and why were his memories notpletely changed?

    "This still leaves us with two more questionsбн who and why?" Lu Peng added.

    All three of them fell silent and started to think of what could be the reason and the possible culprits.

    "Hmm, perhaps if we figure out the method that was used to hypnotize Young master, we may be able to narrow down on the suspects. After all, there aren''t many people that have good enough attainments in hypnotic skills to affect ate stage core condensation realm cultivator." n Head Lu suggested.

    "Alright, we can try that approach. But how will you do that?" Shirong asked.

    "Lu Peng, go call Miao''er. We will need her help in this." n Head Lu ordered.

    "Yes, father." Lu Peng said and swiftly went away.

    About five minutester, he returned with a gorgeous woman in two. Shirong looked at her and could tell at one nce that she practiced seduction arts. There was no way that the charm she had was natural.

    ''Those concealed fluctuations of spirit qiбн they are definitely meant to muddle a man''s mind subtly.'' Shirong analyzed the method of her skill in a single try.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "Oh boy! Now that is a mature beauty!" Lin Wu praised seeing Miao''er.

    But just as Miao''er got close enough, Lin Wu heard the warning of the system.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Abnormal spirit qi fluctuations detected.

    PRELIMINARILY ANALYSIS COMPLETE: The spirit qi fluctuation can be detrimental to the host''s mental state.

    SUGGESTION: The host should create a protective field of radiation immediately.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu almost flinched on seeing the system''s warning and activated his innate skill radiation maniption. Thankfully, his proficiency with the skill had reached Expert and now he was able to contain it much better. Otherwise, he may have ended up burning everyone that was near him.

    "Did it just get a bit warm?" Shirong muttered to himself.

 Chapter 134 - Nian Yue Sect?

    Shirong couldn''t help but look at the beautiful woman again and wonder if he was feeling warmer due to her.

    ''Damn, her skills must be something elseбн'' Shirong''s assessment of Miao''er just went up a notch.

    "Young master Shirong, this is my daughter Miao''er." n head Lu introduced.

    A charming and seductive smile appeared on Miao''er''s face. Shirong couldn''t help but feel his heart stir.

    "Greetings, Young master Shirong. It''s my pleasure and honor to meet you in person finally." Miao''er said with a little bow, giving Shirong the view of her deep valley.

    "Ahem, likewise," Shirong replied.

    "I believe Lu Peng already exined the situation to you?" n Head Lu questioned.

    "Yes, father and I have an idea on how to figure out what happened to Young master Shirong." Miao''er replied.

    "And what will that be?" Shirong asked.

    "It is quite simple, really. We will simply counteract hypnosis with hypnosis, or more urately some of my technique and skills. Byparing the effect, I would be able to devise what was actually done to Young master Shirong.

    Of course, I will not go overboard and we can stop anytime young master asks me to. We will also have father and elder brother watch us for any problem." Miao''er exined.

    Honestly, Shirong felt a bit anxious at letting someone else hypnotize him, that too willingly, but he knew that this was the quickest way to find out the culprits. If there truly was someone targeting and scheming against him, then it would be dangerous to let them hide in the shadows for long.

    "Alright, I''ll do it." Shirong affirmed.

    "We can get started right away if the young master so wills it," Miao''er spoke.

    "Young master?" n head Lu questioned with raised brows.

    "Let''s be done as quick as possible. I do not like to be schemed against." Shirong said with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

    For a moment there, the n head and his two children felt chills going down their spine as they sensed the change in Shirong''s demeanor.

    ''Indeed, the heir of the Ji n cannot be underestimated.'' n head Lu thought.

    ''Ugh! Now I want to taste this man even moreбн'' Miao''er thought.

    ''I pity the fools that tried to plot against Young master Shirong. Not only are they offending him, but in turn, they are also offending a great power of the Long Continent.'' Lu Peng inwardly said.

    Lin Wu sensed the change in Shirong''s aura and could also sense the strange fluctuations that had appeared in his core.

    "Huh, what''s thisбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before taking a look at Shirong''s core.

    With the back door function, Shirong had no idea that there was someone peeking at this core and prodding it carelessly.

    Inside the dantian, Lin Wu could see that the unique energy that was flowing through the channels carved into Shirong''s core was behaving abnormally. Usually, it would flow in a specific pattern around the core, but now it was as if there were eddies being formed in it.

    "Hmm, system take note of this and analyze it further." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK NOTED: Added new objective

    бкбк

    Seeing that this was done, Lin Wu focused back on the real world where the four people were talking. Miao''er was just exining to Shirong what she will be doing and what to expect.

    "So do you understand everything now, young master?" Miao''er asked for confirmation.

    "Yes, I do. Please go ahead." Shirong replied.

    Miao''er nodded her head, and suddenly her demeanor changed. If she appeared to be charming before, now she straight up seemed seductive. If she were to walk outside on the roads, the passing men may just jump on her with hearts in their eyes, doing their best to vite her.

    Shirong''s eyes went dull for a second before returning to normal.

    "As expected of Young Master, something of this level won''t affect you." Miao''er praised.

    Shirong showed no reaction and simply gestured her to continue. Miao''er then went on to test a few more methods, barely any of which were affecting Shirong.

    ''His mental defenses are truly quite strong and his will power is unyielding as well.'' Miao''er thought.

    Finally, after nearly twenty tries, something worked. Shirong''s expression became dull while he was talking and when it returned to normal a couple of secondster, he repeated the same thing he had said; forgetting that he had ever said it.

    n head Lu and Lu Peng''s eyes went wide at seeing this.

    "Oh, heavensбн" n head Lu muttered.

    Miao''er also furrowed her brows after seeing this and instantly recognized the skill that was used on Young master Shirong.

    "Nian Yue sectбн" Miao''er uttered.

    She then canceled the skill she was using on Shirong, and he returned to his normal condition.

    "Huh? What happenedбн" Shirong muttered in confusion before suddenly realizing it.

    "You found the skill that was usedбн?" Shirong questioned.

    "Yesбн yes, I did. But you may not like it Young master Shirong." Miao''er replied.

    "Just say it, it is fine." Shirong stated.

    "The hypnotizing skill that was used on Young Master Shirong belongs to the Nian Yue sect. It is part of their signature cultivation technique, the Hundred Emotions Bending arts." Miao''er answered.

    After hearing the words, Shirong''s eyes went wide as well. He had never expected this to be true.

    "Nian Yue sect? What sect is that?" Lin Wu questioned after being unable to remember from the records he had read.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Nian Yue sect is a mid sized sect that is located outside the borders of the Ling Kingdom and is considered to be one of the subordinate sects that are controlled by the Ji n. The Ji nsman that is currently assigned to the Nian Yue sect is Ji Xiaolian, the second sister of Shirong.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s interest in the matter just increased by a few levels as he could sense the drama iing.

    "Oh man! We''re going to have a lot of fun, aren''t we? HAH HAH!" Lin Wuughed.

 Chapter 135 - Shirongs Determination?

    Shirong''s face fell as he heard the words of Miao''er. He had never expected that the Nian Yue sect could be behind it. While he knew about the sect itself, as it was one of the subordinate sects of the Ji n, he didn''t know much about their cultivation techniques.

    He wondered if it was a misunderstanding of some sort, as he couldn''t believe his second sister doing something like this. But the implications of this were obvious, someone was scheming against him and he definitely did not like it.

    ''What benefit could they have by doing this? Even if I do lose the two guys, I wouldn''t have much of a problemбн no wait! They know of the secret of the green Crystal spear!'' Shirong''s eyes went wide as he realized that he had just gotten into much bigger trouble than he thought.

    "Young master, are you alright?" n head Lu asked.

    <em>~sigh~</em>

    "I am fineбн just need to think over a few thingsбн" Shirong answered.

    "Do you need us to do anything?" Lu Peng questioned.

    "Yes, send out people to look for Ye Dai and Bei Wen''s traces. They are definitely in danger. I want them even if they are dead corpses." Shirong said with a fierce look in his eyes.

    "As you wish, young master," Lu Peng replied before leaving to carry out the task.

    Miao''er meanwhile looked at him and could sense his difort. She was an expert with men''s behaviors and could tell that he was much more bothered by this than he was showing. Even she was shocked that the Nian Yue sect could be behind it.

    While she knew that it was a subordinate of the Ji n, she did not know who controlled it apart from the Sect Patriarch. The Ji n did not let many others know which one of their nsmen were assigned where. Another reason people did not know was that even if a nsman had been assigned to a particr sect, they did not necessarily stay there.

    Ji Xiaolian was the same, and while she did have control over the sect, she stayed at the Ji n most of the time. Only when it was absolutely needed was when she would go there.

    Shirong finally looked at Miao''er and found her to be staring at him with interest. He thought for a bit and then spoke.

    "The skill that I was hypnotized with, will it still be effective? I mean the one from the Nian Yue sect." Shirong asked.

    "No, young master was already getting free from its effects on his own. And now that I''ve used my own skill on you, it has broken the Thousand Emotion Bending arts'' effect totally." Miao''er answered.

    "That''s goodбн" Shirong uttered, feeling a bit satisfied.

    Now he was feeling just more pressure and knew that if he wanted toe out on top every time, he needed to be strongerбн much stronger than he was right now.

    "What will you be doing now, Young Master Shirong?" n head Lu questioned.

    "I''ll be going out to practice and train. When I return, I should be ready to breakthrough." Shirong answered.

    n Head Lu raised his brows, but then nodded his head in understanding.

    "Do you need me to send some attendants with you?" n head Lu asked.

    "No needбн I have to do this on my own." Shirong said with determination.

    "Please take thismunication jade slip, and contact me anytime you need." n head Lu said, handing Shirong the jade slip.

    "Thank you, this wille in handy. Wait, a few things will be arriving for me from the n. Inform me when they reach here." Shirong replied after thinking of the high grade spatial storage treasure that the messenger was gonna bring him.

    "I''ll inform you at the very first moment I see them." n head Lu assured.

    "Oh, and I need a better spirit sword so I can fly." Shirong asked.

    "That''s not a problem," n head Lu said before withdrawing a spirit sword from his own spatial storage treasure and handing it to Shirong.

    Shirong scanned it with his spirit sense and found it to be decent. It was a mid grade spirit sword that was bordering on the edge of high grade. While it was not as good as his previous sword, it didn''t matter to him as he only wanted it for flying and not fighting.

    In case of a battle, he had the immortal weapon, the green crystal spear. Besides, that spear was the reason why he was going out to hunt. He needed to let it grow and supply him with spirit qi as well.

    Nodding his head, Shirong left the private room. The n head and Miao''er apanied him to the exit, bidding him farewell at the end.

    Shirong jumped on the spirit sword and flew away at a great speed.

    Once he was gone, n head Lu remembered something. He turned his head to look at his daughter Miao''er.

    "Wait, we don''t know if Young master Shirong was pleased or not!" n head Lu said out loud.

    <em>~Chuckle~</em>

    Miao''er let out a littleugh, seeing her father getting anxious.

    "Fear not father, I''ve sensed Young master Shirong''s condition. He was definitely happy with the girls I believe. Anyway, we will learn of it soonбн I''ll go check up on them." Miao''er said.

    "Good, please do that and tell me. NO wait! I''lle with you." n head Lu said anxiously.

    <em>~Chuckle~</em>

    Miao''er let out another chuckle before the both of them flew away to Shirong''s courtyard. Landing at the entrance, the servants were alerted and saw that the n head and mistress Miao hade.

    They hurriedly greeted but were dismissed by n head Lu.

    "I''ll go check in, you wait here father," Miao''er said before walking into the bedroom.

    As soon as she opened the door, she could smell the faint scent that was dispersed in the air. Then she saw the ten girls are lying around on the bed covered by a sheet.

    "My, myбн he''s really a gentleman isn''t he~"

 Chapter 136 - Enjoying The Hunt?

    Shirong flew past the Deer wood city at great speed and entered the Millennium forest after half an hour. This spirit sword was much slower than his previous one and thus it took him longer than normal. Still, this was much faster than just walking there.

    "Hopefully that messenger can bring me a new spirit sword and spatial storage treasure quicklyбн" Shirong muttered as he touched the armor on his body.

    He was continually draining spirit qi while wearing it and was barely able to bnce the drain with his own passive absorption of spirit qi. Shirong also realized that the more time he wore the armor the morefortable he was getting with it.

    His efficiency with spirit qi use was also rising and he was barely wasting it now. Shirong scanned the area with his spirit sense and was not able to find any spirit beasts nearby.

    "Hmmбн need to go deeper," Shirong said with furrowed brows.

    The millennium forest spanned for more than a thousand kilometers in all directions and spanned across five different kingdoms. There were stronger beasts in the center of the forest and the deeper one went the higher the danger became.

    At a certain point, it would even be dangerous to fly over the forest as there would be flying spirit beasts that would attack. Still, it would take Shirong around two hours to even cross the outermost ring of the millennium forest.

    This was the area where mostly normal beasts lived but also had a few weaker spirit beasts living.

    Seeing that he was not having much luck with the beasts, he just decided to kill whichever he saw. Shirong touched the armor and willed it to change the form. The armor trembled on his body and started changing before slithering out of his sleeve like a snake.

    Reaching his palm it turned rigid and took back the form of the green Crystal spear.

    "Alright! Time to gain more spirit qi!" Lin Wu said to himself with excitement.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The sound of wind tearing was heard as the spear was thrown forward with great speed.

    <em>~Thuck~</em>

    The spear effortlessly pierced through the back of the spirit beast impaling it to the ground. No cry or growl was heard as the beast died instantly and in a couple of seconds reduced to a dry husk.

    Shirong got down to the ground and grasped the spear, pulling it out and absorbing the spirit qi that it gave him. Adding it to his dantian, he let it float around letting his core absorb it passively. Shirong scanned the area again and went towards the next beast that turned up in his range.

    This beast was a ratherrge spirit beast that had forelimbs with tworge ws. Still, Shirong did not pay much attention to it as it was much weaker than him, being at the mid stage of the qi refining realm. He approached the beast from the sky and jumped down, stabbing it through its head.

    "Might as well practice some different moves and get used to itбн" Shirong muttered to himself as he basked in the feeling of absorbing liquid spirit qi.

    Shirong repeated the same thing multiple times, as he carved a path paved with beast corpses reaching all the way to the second ring of the millennium forest. This was the ring from where the number of spirit beasts rose and had only a few normal beasts.

    The Millennium Forest was divided into a total of six rings. The third ring had spirit beasts that were at thete stage of the qi refining realm and higher. From the fourth ring, one could start to encounter core condensation realm beasts and was the part where Shirong would have to start being cautious.

    The fourth ring still had some peak stage qi reining realm spirit beasts and normal cultivators asionally went there. But the fifth ring was the absolute bordered where seldom anyone went unless they were also at the core condensation realm.

    But in the fifth ring, even peak stage core condensation realm beasts could be encountered. Even Shirong would have to be careful when dealing with them. But it was these very beasts that he hade here for. If he wanted to gain a massive amount of spirit qi then core condensation realm, then this was his best bet.

    Then finally there was the sixth ring. This was almost considered as a forbidden area as it was upied by a few nascent soul realm beasts. No one knew how many there were exactly and no one dared to check it either. The sects that were stronger than them wouldn''t bother to do a task like this and the others were too weak to even think of that.

    The reason behind the growing strength of the beasts as one went deeper into the forest was due to the increased concentration of spirit qi. It was said that there was a spirit qi spring in the very center of the millennium forest and was the thing that allowed the spirit beasts to grow stronger.

    Some sects had actually tried to obtain this spirit qi spring, but till now no one had been sessful, most of them dying before even reaching it. And the ones that did get near it, were either eaten by the nascent soul realm beasts or escaped by the skin of their teeth.

    If Shirong wanted to go to the fifth ring of the millennium forest, he would have to spend at least fifteen days to cross the first to fourth ring.

    Lin Wu was enjoying this and felt amazing to leech of Shirong. He barely had to put any effort and he would get spirit qi and vital energy.

    "<em>Ahh~</em> it was the right decision, saving Shirong that day. If I had let him die, who knows what I would be doing today, but enjoying free spirit qi like this would have definitely not been possible." Lin Wu said to himself while lying in an imaginary hammock in his mind.

    Meanwhile, Shirong was ughtering a pack of long horned earth bulls. He was covered in blood from the beasts while Lin Wu was still spotless, enjoying it all.

 Chapter 137 - The Third Ring?

    About five days had passed since Shirong had started hunting for beasts. He would hunt for about eight hours straight every day before stopping to travel further. The constant hunting was replenishing the spirit qi he would use during the fights and even exceeding it by a small margin.

    While it was a rather small increase in his total spirit qi amount, it was still more than what he would obtain by cultivating normally. Lin Wu meanwhile was having a great time. His spirit qi stores and vital energy stores were rising steadily and even their progress with the systems analysis was going well.

    Lin Wu had already scanned the area around him with the help of the system and knew that they were at the edge of the second ring, soon to enter the third ring. Had it not been that Shirong needed to rest as well, they would have already entered the third ring a day ago.

    Still, Lin Wu was not one toin about someone that was basically power leveling him for free. He was liking this ''carry''. All Lin Wu had to do in exchange was bear the blows which he was quite used to now and could ignore without much problem and also to use the skills when he was directed to.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    <em>~Drop~</em>

    Shirong just cut off the head of another beast that looked like a lizard that had scales with the texture of wood. He then stabbed the green Crystal spear into the beast to let it absorb the spirit qi for him. A secondter, he felt the liquid spirit qi pouring into him and quickly absorbed it into his dantian.

    Shirong was still a bit doubtful about the strange energy that flowed around his core. That was the reason why he was not absorbing the spirit qi directly into his core. He would gather it into his dantian and would then properly assimte it when he went to rest.

    This way he was able to sense for any abnormalities that may arise due to the strange energy. Though after five days, he was finally feeling that there was most likely no problem with his core.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Another day of hunting in the third ring should push me back to the peak stage of the Core condensation realmбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    Another thing Shirong was doing during this time was to keep an eye on themunication Jade slip. He wanted to be alerted the moment the news about the messenger came and thus kept an eye on it. But now that five days had passed, and he hade this deeper, he was in a dilemma whether to return back to the town or not.

    If the messenger really dide now, he would take at least two days to travel back, even at full speed. But if he did that he would also end up depleting a significant part of the spirit qi he had obtained. It would have been fine if he was still at the first ring, as returning would have at most taken a day.

    He wouldn''t be making much of a loss there either. The other side of his dilemma was that, if he crossed the third ring of the Millennium forest and entered the fourth, even if the messenger came, he wouldn''t know as he would be beyond the maximum range of the jade slip.

    This jade slip was a low quality one and thus could notmunicate for that far off a distance with its maximum range being 500 kilometers. If Shirong had his previous one it would not have been a problem tomunicate even at a distance of a 1000 kilometers, but that jade slip had been destroyed along with the spatial storage ring.

    A lot of things had be problematic for him due to that incident, and he had never expected that a loss of a spatial storage treasure would inhibit him so much.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I need to make a decision soon, or there would be no turning backбн" Shirong muttered to himself after thinking for a bit.

    The sky was turning dark, and it would be night time soon. The noise of the beasts was only starting to get louder as the sun went down, bit by bit. It was as if the entire forest came alive at night and a cacophony of growls, howls and cries echoed.

    Shirong soon found some shelter and chose to rest. He knew very well that the danger during the night time was much greater than the day time. While he had confidence in his strength, he knew better to err on the side of caution.

    He assimted all the spirit qi that he had obtained during the day and slept after that. He had already set up some protective and rm formations around, so he wasn''t as worried. The ce where Shirong was resting currently was an old tree that had copsed.

    The bottom of its trunk was rather wide and hollow, making him able tofortably sit inside. While Shirong had lived in luxury most of his life at the Ji n, he was no foreigner to a life of a wandering cultivator. He had been to many missions before and had explored dangerous areas.

    He didn''t mind being tainted with dirt and water, and neither was his mind affected. The Ji n wasn''t one that would raise a flower in a green house, incredibly weak to the outed elements. Noбн they raised unyielding trees that would grow through mountains and shatter rocks with their roots.

    Still, none of this applied to Lin Wu, and he wasfortablyying on the side of Shirong. The man had ced him on a folded piece of cloth that was rather soft and of a good quality. While the cloth and spear were spotlessly clean, Shirong himself was stained with blood and mud.

    Lin Wu was getting bored and thus started ying with the map, checking out the areas, when he suddenly found something that caught his eye.

    "Oh? What''s this?"

 Chapter 138 - Sneaking Away?

    Lin Wu had seen something peculiar on the map. While the map was mostly static and would only update when Lin Wu asked for it, seeing as he had a steady supply of spirit qi, he had asked the system to switch it to dynamic mode so that he could see the changes in real time.

    Lin Wu felt that it would be better as there could be danger at any time seeing as they were in an incredibly dangerous forest. He had been informed by the system about a long list of dangers that were present in the forest and had also been warned about things that could harm him.

    Thus even if he was with Shirong, he still kept an eye on everything.

    The thing that had caught Lin Wu''s eye was some changes that were happening on the map, a few tens of kilometers away from his current location. He could see that the trees were being broken as they would disappear from the map and the ground''s color also changed on the map, which meant that either its depth was increased or decreased.

    ''Something or someone is moving things there, huhбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, can you check what''s there? You can use the spirit qi." Lin Wu ordered.

    With the steady increase in spirit qi, Lin Wu had set a certain limit on the spirit qi consumption rate of the system. As long as the consumption was below 100 liquid spirit qi units, the system could use it without his permission.

    But if it went beyond that limit, the system would have to ask for his explicit permission before it could proceed further.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    MAP SCANNER: Activated

    MULTIPLE TARGETS DETECTED: 241 beasts, 895 Spirit beasts.

    NARROWING TARGETS: 2 Core condensation realm beasts detected in the chosen area.

    бкбк

    "Oh, so its caused by them it seemsбн are they fighting?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu was now interested and wanted to see how other core condensation realm beasts fought like. In the entire time he had been here, he had only seen one beast that Shirong encountered. That too was killed rather quick and absorbed by him.

    Lin Wu had slowly realized that while he himself was a beast, he barely had any knowledge about other beasts in this world. All that he knew was from the books and data that the system had gathered. But there was a big difference in the recorded data and the actual thing.

    Even if the information about the beasts had been gathered, it had been done so by the by none other than humans. Even if humans were knowledgeable about beasts, they wouldn''t have an idea of what being like a beast felt like.

    Lin Wu felt like he was in a strange conflict. On one side was his human aspect which was his soul while on the other hand was his beastly Worm form. He couldn''t help but feel that he was missing something, but to find out what he was missing he felt like he needed to see other beasts.

    This was an innate feeling he got from the bottom of his heart and he couldn''t exin it. Even the system was clueless about it and simply told Lin Wu that his condition was normal with no abnormalities.

    ''Hmmбн should I check it out, perhaps?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He looked at Shirong and saw that he was deep in mediation. Lin Wu used his link with Shirong through the Back door function of the system, and saw that he was fully focused on assimting the spirit qi. In fact, he was actually half asleep and was letting his core absorb on its own now.

    It was evident that constant hunting and traveling like this had taken a toll on Shirong''s mind and he needed to rest his mind. While he couldn''t fully sleep as it would be incredibly dangerous, he could still mediate to recover his mental energy.

    These past five days Lin Wu had seen Shirong closely and knew that he would not move until the morning, or if the formations were triggered. So far no beasts hade closer to him as they were also repelled by the power of the formations.

    Lin Wu knew that even if he left, there shouldn''t be much of a problem.

    "Hmm, system link up with the formations here and create a temporary interface." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ESTABLISHING LINK: Please wait patiently

    LINK ESTABLISHED: Virtual interface created.

    Formation Array Interface:-

    1.Activate Formations

    2.Deactivate Formations

    бкбк

    "System, just alert me if there is a breach in the formations." Lin Wu ordered.

    A notification sounded telling him that themand was epted, and then Lin Wu got ready to leave.

    "Hmm, I should check if everything is ready, who knows what could happen thereбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "System, show me the Host Data window." Lin Wu ordered.

    He had not seen the window for a while now, and there had been a lot of updates to it. So many that he had just put them on the back and had instructed the system to only inform him of the most important ones.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 5 months, 19 days

    LIFESPAN: 300 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 12597 units [liquid spirit qi]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+3)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Lesser)(Proficiency: Novice)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    BEAST CORES: 1.Fully Condensed(Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm)

    2. Iplete core

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE:13698 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 11985 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Common Grass Mouse

    2. Rock Trampler Boar

    3. Human

    4. Unknown (+3)

    5. Ash Crowned Buck

    [Extend +54]

    бкбк

 Chapter 139 - Tons Of Updates?

    Lin Wu was a bit surprised but had expected for the result to be something like this. He had been getting so many notifications that he had to make only the important onese up and the minor updates were hidden until he asked for them in the log.

    He looked at his spirit qi stores and saw that he already had enough to upgrade to the next stage of the core condensation realm. But he was not ready to do that yet. He had already seen the effect that happened when he rapidly upgraded his cultivation.

    Lin Wu reckoned that this was the ''Stable foundation'' that they talked about in cultivation. Even the system was rather unsure of this concept as ording to it, everything was normal. Yet there were unknown things that would ur beyond his control.

    He had also added a ratherrge amount to his system energy storage as it had a lot of tasks it needed to do and it was rather convenient when the system didn''t have to ask him every few minutes. This way he could limit the system''s usage of energy by soft-capping it by this method.

    Lin Wu had also known how much spirit qi he would be requiring for the next upgrade seeing how each upgrade needed double the amount of the previous amount. He estimated that he would need 24,000 drops of liquid spirit qi to upgrade to the peak stage of the core condensation realm.

    Another thing was the iplete core which belonged to his second bloodline which was unknown. He was still a bit unsure about touching that thing yet and wanted to watch it for a bit. He had also assigned another task to the system, which was to analyze this iplete core for any problems.

    Only when he received the green signal that everything was safe would he touch it.

    The second big thing that happened was the ratherrge number of raw bloodline data he had collected. Lin Wu realized that if he didn''t consume the entire beast, it took longer to obtain the raw bloodline data for that beast.

    In fact, for one of the beasts he had to drain about a hundred and twelve of them to gain the raw bloodline data. Still, he wasn''t as interested in these bloodlines as they were ofmon beasts and weak spirit beasts.

    His own bloodlines were of a much higher level than those and assimting them was out of the equation. Besides most of them were not evenpatible with him and could not be refined further. So for now they were pretty much only there for show.

    Since they took up a ratherrge space on the Host data window, Lin Wu simply condensed the section.

    "System, from now on only the bloodlines that are either close to mine in quality or a above mine should be shown." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    COMMAND ACCEPTED: Changing disy order.

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+3)

    [Extend +57]

    бкбк

    "Ah, that''s much cleaner. I can check themter if needed, anyway." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu took onest look at Shirong and ensured that he was upied with himself before sneaking from the side. He immediately dug into the ground and started moving a bit away from the area Shirong was in. Lin Wu was now excited about something new.

    "I finally get to return to my full form!" Lin Wu said in excitement.

    He came out of the ground about two kilometers away before transforming. There were a few beasts around him that noticed him and came close to him to attack him. It was night time, and this was when most of the beasts were active.

    The beasts were peak stage qi refining realm Shadow w beasts. They looked like a mix between a dog and a lizard and had long ck ws. Their dark fur allowed them to blend into the shadows while their scaly tail slithered.

    Lin Wu knew that they were gathering around him but it didn''t matter to him. His defenses were far too strong for them to get through it anyway. Another thing was his status as a core condensation realm beast. If his aura was fully released there was no chance a qi refining realm beast woulde close to him.

    Right now the system was still restraining his spirit qi fluctuations but now that he was free, he could do whatever he waited.

    "KRREEEEEEEE!!!!!"

    An ear piercing screech came out of Lin Wu''s mouth as he started to grow in size rapidly. This was the first time he had actually let out a noise like this and he didn''t even know his natural voice would be like this.

    ''Damn! It really is scary as hell! I sound like some alien from a movie.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The Shadow w beasts that were running toward Lin Wu froze in their tracks, unable to move a single muscle. Some of them directly copsed to the ground due to the fear while the ones that were the closest started trembling.

    The full force of Lin Wu''s aura was released as the nearby trees started to shake due to the wind stirring up. Lin Wu was now in his full size being over ten meters long and about thirty centimeters thick. His size had actually grown a bit more and he was unaware of this as he had been in the spear form all along.

    <em>~Welp~</em>

    The shadow w beasts cried in fear as they tried to retreat. But then an emerald green tail blocked their path.

    "Where do you think you are going?" Lin Wu said, but all that came out of his mouth was another beastly screech.

    Then in the next instant, heshed out whipping the shadow w beasts that were nearby.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    He slithered ahead and killed the rest of the shadow w beasts that were ahead as well. Within five seconds nine shadow w beasts were dead and no cries were heard anymore.

    "Well thenбн dinner time~"

 Chapter 140 - New Movement Method?

    It had been a long time since Lin Wu had the chance to eat beasts directly and even though he had eaten some of the food at the Lu n, it was barely enough as a snack for him. Lin Wu opened his mouth wider than the thickness of his body and swallowed the beast corpses whole.

    He also ended up eating some soil and stones with it, but that wasn''t really a concern for him.

    <em>~Crunch~Crunch~Crunch~</em>

    His spike like teeth protruded inside his mouth as they minced the corpses. A minuteter, Lin Wu was finally done and felt good.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 2446 Units [Drops]

    QI STORAGE: 15043 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 1265 Units [Wisps]

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 14963 units

    бкбк

    "Damn! I''ve really been making a loss there with Shirong there, huh?" Lin Wu said seeing the amount he got from these beasts.

    "Perhaps I should figure out a way so that I can sneak out more." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''Well, then where are the two beasts?'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he brought out the map window.

    He could see that the two beasts had moved much farther than where they were before and they had left a trail of destruction on the way.

    "System, how much distance is this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host is approximately 102 kilometers away from the targets.

    бкбк

    "Hmm, alright. Shouldn''t take me that long to reach there." Lin Wu muttered to himself before lowering himself and entering the ground.

    With the navigation running in background and giving him directions, Lin Wu could fully focus on digging. While digging he was even figuring out different methods, he could use to increase his speed furtherer. At first, he was just digging how it was instinctively known by his body.

    But he reckoned that there much to be more efficient methods to dig. He had dug for about thirty minutes by now and had covered about twenty kilometers of a distance. He finally came up on an idea and tried to apply it.

    "Let''s seeбн move the eyes to the front, streamline the body. And, create some grovesбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The joints of his segments smoothed out a bit as his body became more streamlined. Then spiral grooves started to appear on his body bit by bit. It took him more effort than he thought to make them uniform. After about ten attempts, he had finally made them to look like the grooves on a screw.

    "Time to try it out nowбн" Lin Wu said as he took a deep breath.

    Thenбн he started to rotate his body.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The ground trembled a bit as his body sped up. Soon it had be fast enough that he started moving ahead. The grooves along his body created traction, and the rotation caused him to move forward, just like a screw would when you turned it.

    Though after about a minute, his head started to get dizzy.

    "Aw damnбн I can''t keep on spinning like this or I''ll vomitбн though I don''t even know if that''s possible." Lin Wu said to himself as he stopped.

    As his body was spinning, his eyes would spin with it too, making him much more dizzy.

    "What else can I doбн if I want to not get dizzy I need to make it so that my eyes stay in the same positionбн" Lin Wu thought out loud.

    He then began a new attempt, this time controlling his eyes to stay in ce as he moved ahead. He failed this time too though, as his eyes would still involuntarily move along with his body. Lin Wu didn''t give up though, he kept on trying until he was finally able to match the speed of rotation of his body and the counter rotation of his eyes.

    Eventually after another thirty minutes he had achieved the equilibrium speed and no longer felt dizzy.

    "System, how far is the target now?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host is bout 42 kilometers away from the target.

    бкбк

    Just using the new method of movement had more than doubled Lin Wu''s speed, even though he had taken a few breaks along the way as well.

    "Looks like the two beasts are moving further and further as wellбн but why are they fighting though? Territory? Or just a normal conflict?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Now fully focusing on the task of digging, Lin Wu started to spin even faster as he moved at a greater speed than before. Then within twenty minutes Lin Wu was at the location of the two beasts. In fact, he was already able to feel the vibrations in the ground due to their fights.

    Lin Wu didn''t know how big the beasts were beforeing here, but now that he scanned them with his spirit sense he found that they were actually smaller than him. One of the beasts looked like an oversized beetle that was the size of a small car while the other beast was arge mole.

    The beetle was bigger than the mole in size though, and even had a long horn with multiple small spikes on it. Blood could be seen on the horn, but cracks were also visible on the carapace of the beetle''s body. As for therge mole beast, it was missing a few of its teeth and a long gash could be seen on its back, evidently caused by the horn of the beetle beast.

    The two beasts were far too involved in the battle to pay attention to Lin Wu. They did not even react when his sprite sense scanned over them as they were drowning in blood lust. This was rather surprising to Lin Wu as he wondered if this is what being a beast was like. Fighting mindlessly until one of them came out on the top.

    "Well, thenбн time to make my presence known," Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He got into the perfect positing before bursting out of the ground with great momentum.

    <strong>"KREEEEEEEE!!!"</strong>

 Chapter 141 - Communication?

    Lin Wu''s appearance had done exactly what he had intended to do. The two beasts were shocked and jumped back, creating space for Lin Wu. They could finally feel the aura radiating out of him and could feel that he was much more stronger than them.

    These two beasts were at the early stage of the core condensation realm and were thus quite weakerpared to Lin Wu. Not to mention, there was also the bloodline suppression they were feeling.

    <em>~meep~</em>

    The Mole beast directlyid down on the ground in submission while the Beetle beast just lowered its head. Its body shape wasn''t really suited to a posture like that, but it still tried to show its submissive attitude. Lin Wu meanwhile wasn''t really expecting this.

    "Huh? They''re not gonna fight me?" Lin Wu said out loud, but with a screech.

    He looked at the two beasts that were trembling and unable to look at him. Lin Wu poked the mole beast a couple of times and saw that it did not even react.

    "They really are scaredбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''Hmmбн I was gonna fight them and eat them originallyбн but what should I do now?'' Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    While he would get a ratherrge amount of spirit qi and vital energy from consuming the two beasts, he would be able to gain that muchter, anyway.

    ''Let''s first find out why they were fighting.'' Lin Wu decided.

    "Hey! Why were you two fighting?" Lin Wu spoke in a screech.

    <em>~Meep~</em>

    <em>~Trill~</em>

    The mole and beetle flinched in fear. They couldn''t understand what Lin Wu was speaking and meanly thought that he was angry with them.

    "Hmm, this won''t workбн System, you got any solution?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: System will need to analyze the beasts first and gather more data on them.

    бкбк

    "Alright, scan them and see if you can makemunication possible with them." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Two targets selected

    SCAN COMPLETE: Targets identified.

    ANALYZING COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS: please wait patientlyбн

    TARGET 1: Deep Earth Millennium Mole

    CULTIVATION BASE: Early stage of the Core condensation realm

    SPIRIT SENSE RANGE: 20 meters

    INFO: The Deep Earth Millennium Mole is a native beast of the millennium forest and is one of the beasts that live underground, mostly. They can be foundmonly in the third to fifth ring. They mainly consume nt roots and other insect beasts that live underground. The strongest recorded Deep earth millennium mole was at the Infant stage of the nascent soul realm.

    TARGET 2: Split thorn horn beetle

    CULTIVATION BASE: Early stage of the core condensation realm

    SPIRIT SENSE RANGE: 22 meters

    INFO: The Split thorn horn beetle is a native beast of the millennium forest and can be found in third to fourth ring. They create nests using the trunks of trees that they break using their horns and shred them to make soft wood chips. The strongest recorded Split thorn horn beetle is an adolescent stage nascent soul realm beetle.

    NOTE: One of the current Nascent soul beasts living in the sixth ring of the Millennium forest is a Split thorn horn beetle.

    бкбк

    This was the first time Lin Wu had encountered these two types of beasts and thus was surprised seeing them here in the third ring.

    "Hmm, the data shows that they are found in the third ring as well, which means that they either reached the core condensation realm recentlyбн or they came from the fourth ring." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    But then when he saw the note at the end for the beetle beast, he was rather surprised.

    "Wait, system do you have information on which Nascent soul realm beasts are in the sixth ring?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system has information on five Nascent soul realm beasts that belong to the sixth ring. Though currently only two of them are confirmed to be there, the others have either perished or are missing.

    бкбк

    "Tell me about them then." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The first beast is the Split thorn horn beetle, and the second one is perhaps the strongest beast in the entire millennium forest. It is called as the Twin Light Liger and the only data that is avable on it is its cultivation base. The Twin light Liger is at the adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm and has been the ruler of the millennium forest for more than a hundred years now.

    бкбк

    "Oh Damn! That''s not a beast I want to cross paths with anytime soon. Though I wonder what happened to the other beasts. Do they get reced by the new nascent soul realm beasts and die in fights or do they leave the forest?" Lin Wu said.

    He then looked at the two beasts and saw that they were still in the same position and did not move at all. Lin Wu probed them with his spirit sense and saw that they trembled again.

    ''Hmm, this beetle beast probably has a higher potential than the mole beast seeing as there is a nascent soul realm one too. This mole beast on the other hand is average for its species, I guess.'' Lin Wu thought looking at them.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS COMPLETE: Establishing Communication protocols

    PROTOCOLS ESTABLISHED: Creating linkбн link created.

    NOTIFICATION: The host can nowmunicate with the beasts.

    бкбк

    "Okay thenбн let''s try this again. Can you understand me now?" Lin Wu questioned them.

    "Huh?"

    "Huh?"

    Two confused voices were heard by Lin Wu together as he finally saw the two beasts raising their head to look at him. They were still trembling, but this time he could see a hint of intelligence in their eyes. Also, seeing how the spirit sense was radiating from their body, Lin Wu understood that the mode ofmunication was made with the use of spirit sense.

    ''So it is simr to the one with Shirong.'' Lin Wu understood.

    "Now then, you twoбн we got a few things to talk about."

 Chapter 142 - Rulers Of The Forest?

    Lin Wu had questioned the two beasts, but they still seemed to be in shock and had not answered him yet.

    "I asked, why were you two fighting?" Lin Wu questioned again.

    Finally this time, it looked like the beasts were able to calm down a bit. Perhaps it was because Lin Wu had not attacked them the entire time, or just because of the fear.

    "Lo-lord serpentбн I-Weбн We were fighting for the nesting area." The mole beast finally spoke.

    Lin Wu heard its voice, which sounded like that of a young man.

    ''Is this due to the system''s trantion or is this how it would sound to other beasts?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "Yes, Lord serpentбн we were fighting for the new territory." The Beetle beast also spoke up.

    Unlike the mole''s voice, the voice of the beetle beast was that of a middle aged woman. He was surprised by this variation and added another task to his list, which was to ask the system about the different kinds of voices.

    "Oh, I seeбн And is this why you are in the third ring, instead of the fourth ring?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes. The one who wins will get to move to the fourth ring and take over the territory." The mole beast answered.

    "That means you two recently reached the core condensation realm, right?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes, lord serpent. I reached the early stage of the core condensation realm a month ago, after a hundred and six years of effort." The beetle beast stated.

    "And I reached the early stage of the core condensation realm two weeks ago after ny one years of effort." The mole beast said with a little bit of pride in his voice.

    The beetle beast seemed to have gotten a bit angry because of the mole beasts boasting.

    "I''m the older I should have been the one to get it. You juniors should be respectful and give it up." The beetle beast said.

    "Hah! What nonsense, I''m more talented, so I should be the one to get the territory." The mole beast replied.

    "Oh, really? Don''t forget that my ancestor is one of the five kings of the forest!" The beetle beast said, trying to intimidate.

    The mole beast seemed both angry and a bit wary of the beetle beast''s words. Lin Wu meanwhile was hearing their conversation with interest. He had actually learned quite a bit from their short conversation than he had expected. The two beasts had also forgotten about the situation they were in a little while ago.

    "So that Adolescent stage Nascent Soul realm Split Thorn Horn beast is really your ancestor?" Lin Wu questioned with interest.

    The beetle beast seemed to be shocked after hearing Lin Wu''s words.

    "Lord serpent knows my ancestor?" The beetle beast spoke with a bit of surprise in his voice.

    "Of course lord serpent knows him, you smelly bug." The mole insulted. "A subordinate of the second ruler of the forest will definitely know him." He continued.

    "Don''t speak like that to me or I''ll stab that heart of yours with my horn." The beetle beast replied.

    "Wait, a minute! What did you say? Whose subordinate?" Lin Wu suddenly questioned hearing the words of the mole beast.

    The two beasts finally became alert after hearing the question of Lin Wu. In their argument, they had forgotten the danger that was right in front of them.

    "Lord Serpent forgive me, I should have called the Olive Viper King with respect." The mole beast suddenly said as it almost buried its head into the ground.

    "Exin properly to me, who is this Olive Viper king you''re talking about." Lin Wu asked but then realized another part. "And why are you calling me Lord serpent? I am a wo-" Lin Wu held his tongue at the end.

    Being called a serpent at least sounded better than being called a worm. Though he still wondered how the mole beast was confused about this.

    "Lord serpent, you''re not rted to the Olive Viper king? I thought you were his subordinateбн wait, you should be, you have the same aura as them." The mole beast replied, but then saw the glowing crimson red eyes of Lin Wu and shut up.

    "Let me exin Lord Serpent, this dumb mole has no idea how to respect his superiors. The Olive Viper King is the second ruler of the forest. He is the strongest beast after the Twin Light Liger King. The Olive Viper King recently became one of the rulers of the forest, about two years ago." The beetle beast exined.

    "Is that soбн Hmm." Lin Wu muttered as he thought about it.

    "And what is this about me having the same aura as that of the Olive Viper King?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "My Lord, I''ve had the honor of seeing the Olive Viper King before and he had the same aura as you. I thought that you were either his descendant or a subordinate." The mole beast answered.

    ''Same aura? Descendant? What is all thisбн wait! That Olive viper king it became the ruler only two years agoбн could it be rted to the meteor too?'' Lin Wu thought.

    "The Olive Viper King, what was his strength like before he became the second ruler?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "The Olive Viper King was once a peak stage core condensation realm beast that lived in the fifth ring of the forest. But about two years ago, when the great disaster happened and stars fell from the sky, the Olive Viper King had a fortunate encounter and grew in strength quickly reaching the Adolescent stage of the Nascent soul realm.

    Even the Twin Lights Liger King is wary of the Olive Viper King and has already had a few battles with him." The Mole beast exined.

    Lin Wu was lost in thought after hearing the exnation and knew that it was definitely rted to the meteor, seeing as how the mole beast talked about ''falling stars''.

    ''Didn''t expect to find another clue to that beast hereбн''

 Chapter 143 - Olive Viper King?

    Lin Wu wondered if the beast that attacked the Royal court cultivators of the Ling Kingdom and the Olive Viper king was the same. He had not seen that beast''s appearance and all he had for identification was the beast carapace fragment.

    ''Wait a minuteбн where''s that fragment now? Thest I saw it was in that temple, but after that, we were moved to the courtyard so that Shirong could recover.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, do you have an idea where the beast carapace fragment is?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The system had scanned the entire city, so he wondered if there were any traces of it in that scanned data.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The beast carapace fragment is in the Lu n. It is at the underground area that the host saw before.

    бкбк

    "Ah, so that''s where it is. Seems like I have another reason to check it out. I wonder if the system will find some new information from the fragment." Lin Wu muttered in his mind.

    The two beasts were getting a bit nervous seeing that Lin Wu had suddenly gone silent. They couldn''t tell anything from his actions and were wondering if they had offended him somehow.

    "Lord serpent?" The beetle beast said after building up a bit of courage.

    "Yes? Oh yeah, we were talking." Lin Wu snapped out of his thoughts.

    "Now thenбн tell me more about the Olive Viper king." Lin Wu questioned.

    "Ummбн what do you exactly want to know about him? His strength?" The Mole beast questioned.

    "Yes, his strength, his appearance, his skillsбн oh and his subordinates too." Lin Wu replied.

    "As Lord Serpent heard before, the Olive Viper King is at the adolescent stage of the Nascent soul realm and is arge viper beast. The center of the back is covered with emerald green scales like that of Lord Serpent. The rest of his scales are olive green in color with his belly being brownish yellow.

    As for his skills, we only know the ones he''s demonstrated before. He has a lot of raw strength and can crush rocks as if they are chalk and his defenses are also quite strong. In the few battles he had with the Twin Light Liger King, he was able toe out with barely any injuries.

    While the Twin Light Liger king was not injured either, this was the first time one of the lower kings had been able to fight like this. He also has a strong venom that even the Twin Light Liger king is scared of. ording to his words, no beast in this forest would be strong enough to resist the venom of the Olive Viper king.

    The subordinates of the Olive Viper king are mostly his own descendants and offsprings. Though there are a few more beasts that are part of them too, but they are in minority." The Mole beast exined in detail, afraid that if he missed something he would get ughtered.

    "That''sбн quite a lot of information. Though it is good, I''m happy with this." Lin Wu replied, which made the mole beast take a breath of relief.

    ''So it seems like I can''t go up against the Olive Viper king in the near future either. Not unless I have an advantageбн though I wonder if my radiation maniption would work on it too?'' Lin Wu thought.

    He had seen that while the Lu n head was able to resist the radiation up to a certain extent, he was still affected by it and there were disturbances in his own spirit qi too. But Lin Wu''s main concern was that if the Olive Viper King obtained his power from another crystal that came from the meteor, then did he gain resistance to radiation as well.

    "Looks like I''ll need to bide my time till thenбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    And just as he did this, a new notification appeared in front of him.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    QUEST UPDATE: Hunt and consume the original bloodline beast.

    SUB QUEST ADDED: Hunt and consume the Olive Viper King.

    REWARDS: Bloodline progression, Skill progression, Cultivation progression.

    DURATION: Unlimited.

    бкбк

    "Oh, finally a new quest!" Lin Wu said seeing the new window.

    The system had finally found something to be worth his time and had added it as a quest. Lin Wu had also realized that the system didn''t have actual rewards that it could give to him. This was a rather big w in the systems quest module that he was confused about.

    All the rewards that he got were nothing but his own spoils that he would obtain after fighting orpleting the quest. Lin Wu had also asked the system why it was so and got the answer: ERROR!

    Knowing that prodding any further would be useless, Lin Wu gave up on that aspect. He knew that the system was still restricted in its functioning, and its full potential was not yet revealed. Lin Wu would have to continue raising his cultivation base if he wanted to increase it.

    <em>~Huu~</em>

    Pushing these thoughts to the back, Lin Wu took a deep breath and decided to focus on the task at hand. He looked at the two beasts and wondered if he should eat them now that he had obtained the information he had wanted.

    Unknowingly just as he thought of eating them, a change in his aura urred and the two beasts noticed it instantly. The bloodline suppression they were feeling was rather Strong so such small changes were amplified to them.

    "Lord Serpent! Please don''t kill us!" The mole beast pleaded.

    "Yes, Lord Serpent, please spare us!" The beetle beast did the same.

    Lin Wu was rather surprised that they had understood what he was thinking of doing. It was evident that his human side was still rather dominant and his beastly instincts were mostly hidden.

    "Weбн weбн we will be your servants, Lord Serpent!" The mole beast suddenly said after thinking a bit.

    "YES!YES! I''m willing, please take us under your guidance, Lord Serpent!" The beetle beast added hurriedly.

 Chapter 144 - Coin Flip?

    Lin Wu was actually quite interested after hearing their words. Now that he thought of it, he was rather uninformed about the beastmunity of this world and barely had how it worked. While he had some knowledge from the books he had read, it was still rather iplete and would notpare to actual first hand information from beasts.

    "Oh? So you want to be my servants, huh?" Lin Wu said, not giving them a straight answer.

    While he was not afraid of them attacking him, he still needed to be wary of the other beasts. If they were able to gather arge enough group, he was sure that he would be heavily injured if not dead. Besides, now that he knew that there was another beast with the powers of the meteor, Lin Wu needed to be careful.

    While he was looking to obtain the other fragments of the meteor, who knew of the other beasts wanted to do the same and whether they would be able to sense him. From what he knew, there was a certain kind of connection between his bloodline that he gained from the green crystal and the other crystals.

    He was able to gain a faint sensation of where they were if they were close enough and wondered if it was the same for others that obtained that Crystal from the meteor.

    "Yes, Lord Serpent! A great beast like you needs servants and we would be honored to serve that role." The mole beast said.

    "Lord serpent''s bloodline quite powerful too, and is no less than that of the five rulers of the forest, I can''t help but think that you may rece one of them and be the new ruler." The beetle beast ttered.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu replied but didn''t take his eyes off them.

    The two beasts thought that Lin Wu was still assessing them and thus did not dare to move from their positions. But in reality, Lin Wu was talking with the system. He knew that beasts could control other beasts that were lower than them, but the problem was how.

    He had seen some books that dealt with beast taming as well, but that was for human cultivators and now other beasts.

    "Well system, what can you do about this? Can I make them my servants?" Lin Wu questioned the system.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the systems data banks, other beasts control the weaker beasts by relying on their bloodline suppression. The Deep Earth Millennium Mole and the Split thorn horn beetle have lower grade bloodlines than that of the host and thus can be directly suppressed.

    The host merely needs to use his spirit sense to create a brand on their beast cores. This method is simr to that of how the human cultivator''s tame beasts, yet in this one, the host will use his bloodline aura as the imprint.

    бкбк

    "So it is simr. But still, if I can suppress and control them using my bloodline, won''t the other stronger beasts be able to reverse the process as well?" Lin Wu questioned further.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system can add additional seals that can prevent this. If the other beasts try to reverse the imprint, the seal can either kill the servant beast or if it is strong enough even oppose the beast that is trying to reverse the imprint on the servant beast.

    бкбк

    ''Hmmбн this is much better. Kinda simr to what we did with Shirong I guess.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Alright, I''ll take you two as my servants." Lin Wu dered after deliberating on it a bit more.

    "Thank you, Lord Serpent for sparing our measly lives." The mole beast said with tears in his eyes.

    "We will do our best to serve you, Lord Serpent!" The beetle beast added, not wanting tog behind.

    Even if the mole beast and she had be the servants of Lin Wu, she still wanted to be the higher one in the hierarchy of the servants.

    Lin Wu nodded his head after seeing their willingness and began to prepare. He looked through the steps that the system showed him and memorized them. They had been modified as the system was going to add a seal as well.

    Lin Wu was rather interested in this new method that the system had added and the modification felt cool to him.

    "Alright you two, which one of you wants to go first?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "ME!ME!ME!" The mole beast shouted.

    "NO! Take me, lord serpent!" The beetle beast replied.

    The two beasts broke out in an argument, and Lin Wu was enjoying seeing it. It was as if he was in his previous world watching a pstickedy skit. From the behaviors of the beasts he understood that while their intelligence was at almost the same level as humans, their personality was not.

    It was evident that while they had great potential, their mind was still like that of a child. Seeing that the two beasts were about to break out in a fight, Lin Wu decided to intervene.

    "ALRIGHT STOP!" Lin Wu ordered.

    The two beats froze in their ce again in an almostical manner and fell to the ground due to their aw awkward postures that they were in. The two of them were in an attacking position when they were stopped, thus they lost their bnce.

    The beetle beast flipped to his side, ending up on its back like an upturned turtle, while the mole beast rolled for a few meters before stopping his momentum.

    ''Seems like having these two beasts as servants wouldn''t be as boring at least.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Okay, we will do a coin flip and then the one who wins it will be the first eon to be my servant." Lin Wu dered.

    "That is fine with me, my lord. But what is a ''coin flip''?" The mole beast asked while tilting its head.

    The beetle beat had a simr expression and seemed to be confused as well.

 Chapter 145 - Servant Beasts?

    Lin Wu felt a bit awkward after hearing the questions of the two beasts. He had forgotten that they were still beasts despite having a higher intelligence and would probably not have an idea of human customs and games. But this was no problem to him and he just decided to exin to them.

    "So what we''ll do is we flip a coin or a t circr rock with equal sides. Each person chose one side and the one that is at the top wins." Lin Wu exined.

    "Ahбн I see." The beetle beast said.

    "I understand too." The mole beast added.

    "Alright, we can start then." Lin Wu said and then looked for a small rock.

    He found one nearby easily and picked it up with his tail before giving it to the mole beast.

    "Huh?" The mole beast said as he took the rock from Lin Wu.

    "Go ahead." Lin Wu said.

    "With what, lord serpent?" The mole beast said.

    "You have those long and sharp teeth right? Turn that rock into a t disk of equal sides." Lin Wu ordered.

    The mole beast tilted his head in confusion before nodding it and doing the task he was assigned. About a minuteter, a crude looking palm sized disk was presented by the mole beast.

    "Ummбн my teeth are too big to do this finelyбн" The mole beast said with embarrassment.

    Lin Wu didn''t mind it and just took it from the mole beast, "this should be fine enough." He then put a cross on one side and kept the other side in.

    "Alright, say the side you want out loud when I flip this into the air." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Ting~</em>

    A slight sound was heard as Lin Wu used his tail to flip the stone disk into the air.

    "CROSS!" The beetle beast shouted.

    "No cross!" The mole beast said.

    Thankfully for Lin Wu both of them had chosen different sides, or he was sure that they would have started fighting if it was the same side.

    <em>~thack~</em>

    The stone coin fell onto the soil with a muffled side as the t side was shown on the top.

    "Did you see that you smelly beetle, I''m the first!" the mole beast shouted in excitement.

    "Humph! What if you win this time, I''ll show youбн" The beetle beast said in an unwilling tone.

    "It''s decided then. You will be my first servant." Lin Wu stated.

    "I''m honored, Lord serpent." The Mole beast said with fervor as he got closer.

    Lin Wu extend his tail and ced the tip of it on the head of the mole beast. He closed his eyes and focused on the instructions that the system had told him. His spirit sense released from his tail and pierced the skull of the mole beast.

    The system had set up a two pronged seal for the servants. One would be set up on the Brain of the servant beast and the other one on the core. Lin Wu''s first step was to create the imprint on the brain of the mole beast.

    This seal would prevent the servant beast from talking about him or revealing any information identally. It would always be active and thus even if the beast was tortured they would not be able to say anything. The seal was also self destructive, such that if someone tried to forcefully read the memories of the mole beast or tried to release the seal, it would explode turning the brain to a mush.

    While Lin Wu was setting up the imprint the eyes of the mole beast went dull, as if it had lost consciousness. After the imprint was set up on its brain, Lin Wu proceeded further. His spirit sense finally reached the beast core of the mole beast.

    The core was brown like the mole beast''s fur and looked rather in. This was the first beast core that Lin Wu had seen with the exception of his own. His beast core was emerald green like his body and thus melded with it, bing invisible.

    Lin Wu''s second core, which was the iplete one was also invisible and didn''t exist in his body directly. He was still a bit confused about how the meridians, dantian, and cores existed in this world. They were both material and immaterial at the same time for some reason which was confusing.

    He focused on the beast core and probed it with his spirit sense. It was extremely dense and packed with the majority of the mole beasts spirit qi. Lin Wu would also sense a certain kind of an aura from the depths of the core.

    ''Hmmбн that should be the bloodline of the beast.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then poured a bit of his own spirit qi thought the spirit sense and created the imprint on the surface of the beast core. The beast core trembled a bit before stopping and letting him to it properly. About a minuteter, the imprint was sessfully created.

    Now was the time for thest step. Lin Wu kept the tip of his tail on the mole beast''s head and extended a small sharp spike from it. The Spike pierced the mole beast''s head and embedded into it. Lin Wu willed it and the spike broke off from his tail.

    He removed his tail from the mole beast''s head and saw his handiwork. The mole beast''s gaze, which was dull, returned to normal and a painful look appeared on its face.

    <em>~Grr~</em>

    It grunted in pain for a bit, before calming down. The pain faded away rather quickly and he gained back his normal sense. But there was still a small change in him. There was now a rhombus shaped emerald green gem stuck to the center of his forehead.

    It was mostly covered by its fur, but its shimmer could be faintly seen as the wind moved its fur.

    "Master, you servant awaits yourmands." The mole beast said as he prostrated in front of Lin Wu.

    "Hmm, this seems fine. Alright, you can wait till I finish the next one." Lin Wu replied before looking towards the beetle beast.

    The beetle beast had been seeing the entire thing closely and felt a bit surprised at what Lin Wu had done. The beetle beast had seen other stronger beasts making new servants, but it was different than the method that Lin Wu used.

    While she could sense that the mole beast was fine, there was also a subtle change in its aura that made her feel a bit scared. She doubted if she should continue with this task or run away. But a momentter, she sighed to herself and knew that the chance to retreat was gone far too long ago.

    "I''m ready, Lord serpent." The beetle beast said.

    Lin Wu raised his tail before cing it on the head of the beetle beast as well. This time the position was a bit different as the beetle beast had a long horn on its head. The tip of Lin Wu''s tail was ced between the two carapace tes of the beetle beast.

    It was the point where the carapace te of the head met the one of its thorax. Lin Wu''s spirit sense prated its head and quickly imprinted the first seal on its brain before moving to the core of the beetle beast.

    The core of the beetle beast was located at the bottom of its belly and looked like a bluish grey sphere that had the texture of velvet.

    "This is rather uniqueбн I didn''t know there can be cores like these. Oh yeah, system record this all." Lin Wu said in his mind.

    The beast core of the beetle beast was even denser than that of the mole beast, which showed that its cultivation base was slightly higher than that of the mole beast, despite them being at the same stage. Lin Wu quickly created the imprint and left behind another rhombus shaped gem embedded in its head.

    The emerald green rhombus shaped gem was hidden between the carapace tes, thus was not easily visible to others. Lin Wu withdrew his tail and nodded at his work.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "That was a bit tiringбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    This entire ordeal had taken him quite a bit of spirit qi actually. The rhombus shaped gems that he had embedded in their heads were the additional feature that the system had made. They were basically antennas that would allow them tomunicate overrge distances.

    They were filled with Lin Wu''s spirit qi as well and would be able to function for a long time. And even if they were depleted, they could be rechargedter. Though the system said that it would improve on the design and make it so that it could be charged by the servant beast itself.

    Still, Lin Wu was quite impressed by this, as it was something the system had created by analyzing themunication jade slips.

 Chapter 146 - Rhombus Gem?

    Lin Wu sensed that he could feel the position of the two servant beasts at all times. And could even tell their condition along with the amount of spirit qi they had left.

    "Alright, this is done!" Lin Wu dered.

    "Thank you master," The two beasts prostrated themselves before Lin Wu.

    The two of them could also feel that they were much closer to Lin Wu now.

    "Let''s see if this worksбн" Lin Wu said using hismunication link.

    "Huh? Master, did you say something?" The mole beast suddenly said, feeling shocked.

    "I head that tooбн" The beetle beast added.

    "Yeah, now wherever you two are I can talk to you in your minds." Lin Wu said using the link again.

    Now that the two beasts could hear it clearly, they knew that it truly was Lin Wu talking. They were shocked by this, as they didn''t know this was something that was possible.

    "Master is amazing! He can even do something like this." The beetle beast praised.

    "Indeed, glory be to our master!" The mole beast said with fervor.

    "Now that we know this works, time for some orders." Lin Wu stated.

    "Yes, master. Please do give us your first orders." The mole beast replied.

    "Your wish is mymand." The beetle beast spoke.

    Lin Wu had already thought of what he was going to use these beasts for. He needed someone to gather more information on the beasts here in the forest, more importantly about the Olive Viper King. Lin Wu now had the sub quest which would help him a lot and thus what else would be better than to stay a step ahead at all times.

    "I want you two to obtain as much information about the Olive Viper King as you can. It would be best if you can track every movement and action of his." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Obtaining information would not be a problem master, but tracking every move of his would be difficult unless someone joins under him as a subordinate." The mole beast replied after thinking a bit.

    "You just need to stay in the vicinity of it and I''ll figure out a method after a bit. For now, just the information would work." Lin Wu stated.

    "I shall do that then." The mole beast said.

    "Should I do the same, master?" the beetle beast asked.

    While the ordures for the two servant beasts were the same, the beetle beast was a bit different from the mole beast and it would be more difficult for it to spy on a Ruler of the forest. The beetle beast was much bigger in sizepared to the mole beast too.

    "You said that one of your ancestors is a ruler of the forest, right?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes master, that is correct." The beetle beast answered.

    "That''s good. You can join under him then and obtain more information about the forest and the things that happen here." Lin Wu said.

    "I can do that with no problem master. Joining my ancestor was my n anyway, after reaching the next ring. My ancestor will also not check up on me and will simply take me under his wing." The beetle beast stated.

    "Even if he does try to check for my imprint, it wouldn''t be a problem. I got that covered." Lin Wu added.

    "Ah, that''s good then master." The beetle beast stated.

    Now that everything was decided, Lin Wu felt that it was time to return.

    "You can give me daily reports, and I''ll also talk to you if needed." Lin Wu said before heading back to Shirong.

    It had already been quite a while since he had gone out, but thankfully no disturbance had been detected by the system. This meant that the formations were working well, and no beast had approached Shirong yet. Lin Wu went back to the ground and switched to his new movement mode.

    He called this the ''Drill mode'' which increased his digging speed by a lot. After Lin Wu left, the two servant beasts started at each other for a minute before grunting in frustration and going on their ways. The beetle beast moved to the south eastern direction while the Mole beast went straight to the south.

    While Lin Wu was drilling his way back to Shirong, he checked up on his spirit qi stores.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    QI STORAGE: 7598 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    Making the two beasts his servants had taken a lot more spirit qi than he had expected. But this was mostly due to the multiple modifications that the system had made. If he had used the original method and had just put an imprint on the two beasts, then he would have barely used any of his spirit qi.

    But not only had Lin Wu made two imprints, one on the brain and one on the core. But he also added themunication link, which was none other than the emerald green rhombus shaped gem. It was that gem that took a majority of his spirit qi to make.

    Lin Wu had not told the two servant beasts about all the features of the gem. They only knew that it could be used formunication, but they didn''t know that Lin Wu could track their body''s condition with it as well.

    Plus, there was another safety feature that was present in the gem, Self detonation. This could kill the servant beast if someone was ever able to reverse the two imprint seals on the beasts. Lin Wu knew that this was the system''s first attempt at making the seals and thus it needed more data to perfect it.

    The system wasn''t omnipotent and its seals could be resolved by another being as long as they had the skills and also the cultivation base. Lin Wu reckoned that if someone really did try something like that, the final ability maye in handy.

    The gem wasn''t really connected directly to the two imprints and the beast''s body and thus even if their seals were removed the gem would stay, due to being a physical item.

 Chapter 147 - Red Furred Beasts?

    Lin Wu''s additional trump card against the other ruler beasts was also these very gems. If he wanted the gems could be weaponized and detonated. The detonation would use up all the spirit qi that was present in the gem at that moment and if the imprint seal was still present on the servant beasts, even their beast cores would explode along with it.

    Lin Wu had thought that this could be used as a sneak attack to be used when needed. He wondered if he should gather more servants like these and make them work for him. The prospects seemed to be quite good and one of the things that Lin Wucked the most, ''Information'' could be obtained from them.

    Not to mention that if he managed to gather a sufficient amount of them, he would be able to disguise himself into them and make it seem like he was part of them. Lin Wu was pretty sure that if other beasts saw him, at least in the case of the rulers, they would be suspicious of him.

    This way he could have the servant beasts vouch for him.

    "System, how''re the links? Everything working well?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The two beasts and he were now about two hundred kilometers apart from each other. The beetle beast had wings, thus it could fly and travel a muchrger distance than the mole beast. Because of this, the beetle beast was the farthest from him being at a distance of 212 kilometers. While the mole beast was at about 138 kilometers.

    <em>~Ding~ </em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Themunication links are working properly and the gems are stable.

    NOTIFICATION: A new section has been added to the host data window now and the host can take a look at it as he desires.

    бкбк

    "Alright, show me the new updated Host Data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 5 months, 20 days

    LIFESPAN: 300 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 7598 units [liquid spirit qi]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+3)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Lesser)(Proficiency: Novice)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    BEAST CORES: 1.Fully Condensed(Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm)

    2. Iplete core

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE:13698 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 11896 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+3)

    [Extend +57]

    SERVANT BEASTS:

    1.Deep Earth Millennium Mole

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    2. Split thorn horn beetle

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nodded his head in his mind after seeing the new addition and felt that it was quite good. If he clicked on the location option in the servant beast section, it would directly take him to the location of the servant beast on the map. This was a quick ess feature that the system had added on its own.

    "This should make it rather easier." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he looked at the mini map.

    He had now arrived near the location of Shirong and was at the ce that he had left the ground from. It was about two kilometers away from the trunk in which Shirong was resting in. Lin Wu checked up on him one more time before shrinking his size using the innate skills and sneaking back to his location.

    Surprisingly, he found that there were actually a couple of small beasts lurking near the edge of the formations that Shirong has set up. The system had not warned him of an intrusion, thus even Lin Wu was surprised.

    "System, how did they get here?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: These beasts have not yet vited the boundary of the formation, thus no alert was sent out.

    бкбк

    "Oh, I see." Lin Wu muttered before taking a closer look at the beasts.

    These beasts were rather small, being the size of rabbits. They had a red coat of fur and had small beady eyes. Their ears were covered with a hardyer of skin and seemed more like horns. If it were not for the opening that Lin Wu had seen at the side of them, he would have surely thought of them as horns.

    The beasts had four short limbs but still moved fast. Currently, it seemed as if they were searching for something around the formation''s area.

    "Are they looking for Shirong or is it something else?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu knew that the scent of Shirong was still present in the area, thus it would be no surprise that the beast would be able to detect that. Though the repelling formation that was set up seemed to be ineffective against them.

    "System, why does repelling formation not work on them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The repelling formation works by spreading a certain frequency of sound waves. These sound waves are inaudible, yet are disliked by the beasts. They would not be able to detect them but would still avoid them unconsciously.

    But in the case of these beasts they seemed to have a different auditory range and thus are resistant to the repelling formation.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн interesting." Lin Wu muttered.

    Lin Wu wondered if he should scan these beasts and was about to do that, but then he saw Shirong moving a bit.

    "Dammit! Need to get there fast." Lin Wu said.

    He slithered there quickly and took back his form of a spear right beside Shirong andid on the cloth.

    Shirong opened his eyes and looked around. He saw that the spear was still Bede him and took a breath of relief at that. But then he saw something else in front of him. The red furred beasts.

    "Pestsбн"

 Chapter 148 - Hard Eared Limber Mice?

    Shirong had been totally focused on himself and was rxing calmly when he felt the faint vibrationsing from near him. At first, he had thought that it was just some beasts passing by and that they would ignore him due to the repelling formation array.

    But it turned out to be the opposite, as the beasts only got closer and closer. He had even felt some stronger vibrationsing from deep under the ground, but didn''t know what it was. He had no choice but to awaken himself when he sensed the strong vibrations reaching near him.

    Shirong opened his eyes and took the first nce at the green crystal spear and slightly nodded his head before taking a look at the reason behind the disturbance. It was caused by none other than the small red furred beasts that were circling around the formation.

    "Pests!" He said in frustration before scanning them quickly with his spirit sense.

    He found them to be in the mid stage of the qi refining realm, which was a bit strange as there should not be many of those levels of beasts in the third ring.

    "May as well take care of themбн" Shirong muttered to himself before picking up the green crystal spear.

    Once Lin Wu was in the hands of Shirong, he was free to do whatever he wanted.

    "System, scan the beasts." Lin Wu ordered straightaway.

    He was interested in their ability to ignore the sound waves and thought that perhaps it coulde in handy.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET SELECTED: Scanning.

    SCAN COMPETED: Target identified.

    TARGET: Hard Eared Limber Mice

    INFO: These are a type of spirit beasts that live inrge groups that are of hundreds at the very least and about ten thousand for the big ones. Their group size depends on the cultivation base of their king beast. A Peak stage qi refining realm Hard Eared Limber Mice canmand a group of about thousand beasts with ease, while one at the early stage core condensation realm will have a group with ten thousand beasts.

    Theymunicate in a unique manner, which is by rapidly tapping their legs against the ground and transmitting vibrations through them. The leader of the group can control his subordinates even from a distance of hundred kilometers.

    These beasts live in underground burrows usually ande out to search for food. They can eat a lot of things and are even able to consume ores that are rich in spirit qi.

    бкбк

    "Oh damn! Does Shirong even know what these beasts are? Seeing that there are tens of them around, the rest of them should have been nearby, but they''re not." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He looked at the map window and saw that only the beasts that were shown nearby were present, while the rest were all too far away from there. It didn''t seem like there were any more Hard Eared Limber Mice hidden here.

    ''Wonder why they came here though?'' Lin Wu thought while his body extended like a whip and ripped apart the bodies of a few Hard Eared Limber Mice.

    <em>~Scree~</em>

    A screeching noise was heard as the Hard Eared Limber Mice screamed out together in pain. The battle didn''t evenst a minute as Shirong made quick work of them. After all of them were dead, he went to each of the corpses or the remnant of corpses so that the spear could absorb the spirit qi.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Shirong let out a breath offort as the liquid spirit qi poured into his body from the green crystal spear. Soon the process wasplete, and he went back to sit on the hollow trunk and recover. Lin Wu was also ced back on his side on the soft cloth.

    Lin Wu waited for an hour before deciding to move. While he had absorbed the spirit qi and vital energy from the Hard Eared Limber Mice. He still wasn''t able to get their bloodline data. He decided that he should at least get it while the corpses are still in front of him.

    He took onest look at Shirong before crawling away silently. One by one each of the dried out corpses were devoured by him and when he had finished all twenty six corpses, he had not only obtained the raw bloodline data but had also gained a bit more vital energy.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    OBTAINED RAW BLOODLINE DATA: Hard Eared Limber Mice

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 1371 units

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 15,069 units

    бкбк

    "Nice!" Lin Wu chuckled after seeing the amount of Vital energy storage he now had.

    He returned back to the position beside Shirong and opened the system interface.

    "System, analyze this bloodline data and see what useful things can be obtained and if it ispatible or not." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYZING BLOODLINE DATA: Hard Eared Limber Mice

    COMPARING DATA: 40% Compatibility detected

    INNATE SKILL DETECTED: Sound Resistance

    бкбк

    "Alright, 40%patibility seems good enough, but I don''t think it can be used yet, can it?" Lin Wu said after reading the notifications.

    "System, what else would be needed to raise the Compatibility?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Additional bloodline data that isplementary to the Hard Eared Limber Mice can be obtained to extrapte the results. Or the host can consume the king beast of the Hard Eared Limber Mice and obtain a higher quality bloodline data from it.

    It is likely that a Hard Eared Limber Mice king would be enough to raise thepatibility, and there is even a chance that additional innate skills may be revealed.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн so my best chance is to find their king, huh? But that would be a bit difficult, and I would have to go out of my way to find it. I guess I''ll just obtain moreplementary bloodline data and wait for the system to extrapte it on its own." Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Now that he had gotten a bit more of the information, he decided to check up on his two new servants that had gotten quite far from him.

 Chapter 149 - Fourth Ring?

    Lin Wu opened the Beast Servant section and clicked on the location option. This directly took him to their current position on the map.

    As of now, the Split thorn horn beetle was the farthest from him and had traveled to over 250 kilometers. Lin Wu could tell that it was heading towards the south western direction but didn''t exactly know what existed there.

    On the other hand, the Deep Earth Millennium Mole was traveling underground simr to Lin Wu. He was a mole beast and thus had an innate affinity to digging, quite like Lin Wu. But his speed was slower than Lin Wu''s digging speed and he was about 190 kilometers away from him in the southern direction.

    Even when Lin Wu was using his normal method of digging, he would have been faster than the Deep Earth Millennium Mole. But now with his Drill mode, he was very fast and could cover about two hundred kilometers in that mode.

    But this wasn''t without its cost focuser. Using the drill mode required him to constantly use his innate skills, which used up spirit qi. So if he wanted to travel so fast, he would have to consume additional spirit qi to do so.

    Thankfully, Lin Wu''s spirit qi stores were more than enough and if he were to use all of the spirit qi he had right now. He would probably be able to travel about five hundred kilometers before it would be depleted. But even then he would have the additional spirit qi in the system''s storage that he could quickly use to replenish it.

    Another thought that Lin Wu had was of digging straight underground. He didn''t know how far deep into the earth he could go. If it was possible for him to travel about a hundred kilometers into the ground, he reckoned that even the strongest of cultivators would have a hard time finding him.

    ''I should test it out when I have some free time. But I''ll need to create some kind of diversion with Shirong before that.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Just like this, the night passed and the day came. But even then, the sunlight barely passed through the few open spots in the forest canopy. The tall trees covered a lot of the sky and created a shade that hid the floor of the forest.

    This would only get denser and denser as they went deeper into the Millennium forest and by the time they reached the fifth ring, they would see no open areas in the forest canopy. The only open areas were those that were created due to some trees naturally dying or some beasts breaking them down.

    In fact, this was an important part of the ecological cycle of the millennium forest. The beasts in the fifth ring were much more stronger and violent than the other beasts. They would fight almost every day and in turn cause damage to the trees, breaking them down.

    These broken trees would fall to the ground and would be the source of sustenance for some lower kinds of beasts. While the opening that was created due to this would give the opportunity for newer and smaller nts to grow.

    Of course, this didn''tst for long and the nts in the millennium forest grew very fast. A broken tree would quickly be reced by either another tree that newly grew or an existing one that spread its crown of leaves, taking the opportunity of absorbing more sunlight.

    This cycle was rather bnced, and if the core condensation realm beasts like those fought in the outer rings of the millennium forest, they would instead cause great damage to the forest instead of stimting its growth.

    Thankfully, the core condensation realm beasts chose to move to the inner rings once they grew stronger so that they could obtain more spirit qi. There were even some nts in the millennium forest that would start absorbing spirit qi and gain sentience.

    Such nts were a bit different from spirit herbs and spirit beasts and were instead called natural monsters. Even other inanimate objects such as rocks, earth, or metal that absorbed enough spirit qi to give birth to sentience would have the chance to be natural monsters.

    This was actually a unique path of cultivation that was only avable to inanimate beings and objects. This was called as the ''Nature path''.

    Shirong finally awakened as the rays of sunlight fell on his face.

    "Hmmбн that was a good rest. Now to continue onwardбн" Shirong muttered to himself before picking up Lin Wu and flying ahead.

    They followed the same routine as before and would ughtered all beasts that came upon their path. By the end of the next day, Lin Wu had already obtained about half of the spirit qi that he had used to create the two Rhombus gems for the servant beasts.

    At night time, he wanted to sneak away again but couldn''t as Shirong seemed to be more alert today. Perhaps it was because they were now officially in the fourth ring that he was tense, or just because of the ufortable location they were in.

    It had started raining and Shirong had no choice but to take shelter on top of arge branch of a tree. He had used a fewrge leaves to create a roof over his head by tying them with vines, but it wasn''t the best one. The winds were also strong and would make it move, and the water would slide down from the corners, making his clothes wet.

    Still, he was able to bear with it and spent the night in cultivation. The next morning, the rain had still not stopped and the floor of the Millennium forest had be muddy. But in exchange, the pleasant smell of petrichor was spread all around along with the aroma of leaves that had be rejuvenated.

    Lin Wu took a look at the map and saw that they were about 25% of the way in through the fourth ring of the millennium forest and if they kept the same rate of traveling, they would need two more days to enter the fifth ring.

    "Wait, what''s that!"

 Chapter 150 - Flying Beast?

    Lin Wu was staring at the map window and saw something moving. It was quiterge and looked as it it was flying over the tress of the forest. Currently it was about fifty kilometers away from his location but with the speed it was moving at, Lin Wu was sure it would reach there quickly.

    Though the problem was that he didn''t know if the beast that was heading toward them would attack them or not. From what he could see on the map, there were plenty of other beasts in the path of the flying beast. But it had not stopped and attacked them, but rather just flew past them.

    ''Hopefully, it is just passing by and is not out for huntingбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself but still prepared himself to run.

    Just from the size of that flying beast, Lin Wu could guess that its cultivation base was quite high.

    "System, can you scan and see what that beast is?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Nascent soul realm beast detected.

    SUGGESTION: The host is advised to retreat.

    бкбк

    "Oh F*ck!" Before Lin Wu even had the chance toplete the sentence the system automatically gave him a warning.

    Shirong who had been resting for this entire time, suddenly felt as if the forest had gone quiet. It was night time thus there should Herve been some cries and growls of beastsing from everywhere but it was strangely calm.

    Suddenly Shirong felt dangering from his connection with the green crystal spear. He opened his eyes and saw that the green crustal spear was trembling in its ce as if something was wrong. He picked it up and felt a new thing from the connection.

    "Run?бн RUN!" Shirong understood and took out the spirit sword to fly.

    He didn''t know why the spear was telling him this, or rather just projecting the feeling of fear on him. But Shirong knew deep in his heart that he needed to escape as soon as possible. Lin Wu on the other hand was looking at the map and was searching for a ce to hide.

    They barely had any time left, and the flying beast was only ten kilometers away from them now.

    "System search for suitable locations to hide!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    LOCATION FOUND: Marking on map

    бкбк

    Thankfully, the system was rather quick this time and Lin Wu was pointed towards a cave in the ground nearby. But the problem was, the cave was in the opposite direction to which they were running. This meant that if they wanted to hide there, they would have to go back a bit.

    "Dammit! What is happening!" Shirong creased as he could sense the winds that had gotten stronger.

    He wanted to speed up, but then felt a pull on his hand. The green crystal spear in his hand seemed to be trying to pull him towards something.

    ''What does it want now?'' Shirong thought.

    Seeing that the direction it was trying to pull him towards was the direction opposite to the one he was running in and towards the source of danger, Shirong hesitated.

    "GAH! I''ll just do it!" Shirong uttered as he quickly turned back.

    The flying beast was now only five kilometers away from them and Lin Wu would have been able to see it with his two eyes if it were not for the canopy of the forest hiding the view of the sky. Shirong reached the cave that the spear was directing him towards just a couple of seconds before the flying beast passed over the forest canopy.

    The trees shook from the winds generated by the wings of the beast, and Lin Wu finally got a clear look at it and had already told the system to scan it.

    The beast in question was arge Eagle that had a wing span of nearly ten meters. Its feathers were yellow, while its beak was silver in color. It had sharp ws that were thirty centimeters long and its eyes were ck in color.

    Shirong could also feel the waves of spirit qiing from that beast and knew what it was.

    "A Nascent Soul realm beast!" He muttered with shock.

    The beast kept on flying and did not pay attention to him. The danger that they were feeling passed away quickly and Shirong slumped to the ground.

    "What the hell is a Nascent soul realm beast doing outside of the sixth ring or even the fifth ring?" Shirong wondered.

    Usually, the nascent soul realm beasts would not leave the sixth ring and would only go to the fifth ring at the very most. But from the speed and direction, this eagle beast was heading towards, Shirong could tell that it was leaving the forest.

    While System was still analyzing the data from the beast, Lin Wu decided to contact the two servant beasts of his.

    "Master? You need something?" The mole beast questioned.

    It had been calmly digging through the ground and heading to do its task when he heard the voice of his new master in his mind. He thus had no choice but to stop and listen to what he was saying.

    "Tell me among the five rulers of the millennium forest, is there an eagle beast?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes, master. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle is one of the five rulers of the forest. Though I do not know much about him, nor have I seen him before either." The mole beast answered.

    "Alright, that''s fine." Lin Wu replied beforemunicating with the beetle beast.

    "The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle? I haven''t seen him before master, I''ve only heard of him from the other beasts. It is said that he is the second oldest beast here after the Twin Light Liger king and that his power was unrivaled until the Olive Viper King came." The beetle beast spoke.

    Lin Wu was intrigued by this information and wondered how he could take benefit of this.

    "Hmmбн let''s wait for the system''s analysis.

 Chapter 151 - Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle?

    This was the first time the system was scanning and analyzing the data for a nascent soul realm beast, and thus it had taken it a bit longer than normal. By now, Shirong had calmed down and thanked his luck that the spear got him out of there quickly.

    Because the beast was a flying beast, Shirong would not have been able to detect it using his spirit sense as the distance would have been too long. He didn''t know how, but the green crystal spear had sensed it beforehand and warned him to run.

    Shirong peeked out of the cave and ensured that the beast was gone before leaving it. In reality, even if Shirong had hidden in a cave, he knew that his chances of survival would be low if the flying beast decoded to attack him.

    The cave was merely a way to get out of the sight of the flying beast so that it did not decide to eat him on a whim. Also from the sheer size and spirit qi waves, Shirong could tell that it was nomon Nascent soul realm beast.

    ''That beast was at the very least an Adolescent stage Nascent soul realm beastбн'' Shirong thought to himself.

    While Shirong had confidence in himself that he would be able to handle an Infant stage Nascent soul realm beast or cultivator, and escape from a Child stage Nascent soul realm beast, there was no chance that he would be able to do anything against an Adolescent stage Nascent soul realm beast.

    The difference in the strengths would be so much that he would barely have to blink and he would be eliminated.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle

    CULTIVATION BASE: Adolescent stage Nascent Soul realm

    INFO: There is limited data avable on the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, and the ones obtained from the books do not have anything about the beast.

    бкбк

    "Huh? This is strangeбн if this is an old beast that has been living here for a long time, why do the people from the Deer Wood city not have any information on it? They had information on the Twin Light Liger King, the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King, but not this?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He could understand about the Olive Viper King as it was a newly grown Nascent soul realm beast that only became one, two years ago. It was normal that the people from the Deer Wood city did not know about it.

    ''Wait a minuteбн I know of the four rulers but what is thest one?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He activated themunication link with the Mole beast and asked him this question.

    "Oh, that is the weakest Nascent soul realm beast of the five rulers being at the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm. It is called as the Slim Arm Ape and doesn''t really appear much. He mostly stays in his cave and actually hasn''t been seen for about ten years now. But his subordinates still roam around the area, thus we know that it is still active." The mole beast answered.

    "Is there anything peculiar about this beast?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Hmmбн I''ve heard that the Slim Arm Ape canmunicate with humans. That''s all I can think of." The mole beast replied.

    "Okayбн" Lin Wu replied before stopping the connection.

    He had not expected that there would be a beast that couldmunicate with humans here, that too one that would be in the Nascent Soul realm. Lin Wu wondered if this beast would be more reasonable than the other beasts and if he would be able to talk with it.

    Shirong was currently sitting inside the cave again. This was much better for him, as he wouldn''t have to get wet in the rain anymore. The shelter he had made before wasn''t able to stop much of the rain, and even if he could make better shelter, it would have been impossible without creating arge amount ofmotion.

    Shirong knew that causing a conflict at the night time in the millennium forest, that too in the fourth ring would be quite dangerous. Thus he just decided to stay here for the time being, till the sun came up. Usually a cave like this would also have some water leaking into it due to the rain but it had a slightly elevated Stone floor.

    This caused the water that entered it to spread to the sides instead of all over the floor. The cloth that he had used to put the spear on was left behind at the tree, thus the spear now kept on the ground directly.

    Lin Wu did not mind it, as he was busy thinking about his own things.

    Shirong spent the rest of the night in the cave while thinking of the Eagle Beast. He had seen the direction it was heading towards and it was to the west.

    ''If it is going towards the west and leaving the Millennium forest, then it would reach the ins first. But there is nothing in the ins except for a few towns and viges with farnd. A nascent soul realm beast wouldn''t attack humans without provocation that toomoners, that would not even give it benefits.

    Besides, if it wanted to eat humans the better choice would be to head to the Deer wood city, with its strength I''m pretty sure it would be able to massacre the entire city without facing much Resistance.'' Shirong analyzed.

    Soon the rain stopped and the sun could be seen peeking from behind the clouds. A pale rainbow could also be seen in the distance, which made the already beautiful forest look even more enchanting. Shirong picked up the spear and began his journey again.

    He didn''t even think if he needed to report the sighting of a Nascent soul realm beast to the authorities as his main goal was to get stronger. He had no time to think of what would happen to the others.

 Chapter 152 - Crazed Beast?

    It had been about two days since the encounter with the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle. Shirong and Lin Wu had crossed over the fourth ring and were close to the border of the fifth ring, which was their destination. Shirong had already encountered a few core condensation realm spirit beasts and had been able to kill five of them.

    These were all early stage core condensation realm spirit beasts and thus were easy for him. Lin Wu had also obtained a massive amount of spirit qi by now and already had enough to upgrade once more. The spirit qi was already half way to the Peak stage of the Core condensation realm.

    Though Lin Wu knew that upgrading it was not a good idea here. Instead, he was focusing on increasing his spirit sense range now. In the past two days, he had managed to increase it to about 180 meters. This had also taken up a bit of the spirit qi he had obtained and thus increased his consumption.

    Shirong was also half way to the peak stage of the Core condensation realm. Since he was already a pseudo nascent soul realm cultivator before he would install reach it when he gets to the peak as he already had the understanding andprehension.

    "A couple of more days here should be enough to get back to my previous levelбн or I can try to see if I can double temper the spirit qi and use that techniqueбн never thought I would ever get the chance to even try it," Shirong muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu''s interest was peaked as soon as he heard Shirong talk about a new technique and was wondering what it.

    ''If it is something that is surpassing even for Shirong, then it must be something good.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Just as he was thinking of this, themunication link he had with the Mole beast was activated.

    "Master," The Mole beast spoke.

    "Oh right, it''s time for the daily report. What do you have for me today?" Lin Wu replied.

    He had been getting updates from his two servants once every day, though it had mostly been about their journey. The beetle beast had already reached the area where her ancestor lived and had been taken into their ranks rather quickly.

    From her tone of voice, Lin Wu could tell that her kin was quite happy about her bing a core condensation realm spirit beast. Now only the mole beast was left to do his task. He was supposed to gather the information about the Olive Viper king, and he was still far from his area.

    "Master, it going to take me longer to reach the territory of the Olive viper king." The Mole beast reported.

    "Oh, why?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "There has been an upheaval in the forest since one of the five rulers of the forest has left his position." The mole beast answered.

    "Oh, you mean the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle? Yeah, I saw him flying in the sky and going towards the west." Lin Wu replied.

    "YOU SAW HIM, MASTER?!" The mole beast said with shock.

    "Why the shock? I saw him when I asked about himst time." Lin Wu said in a calm tone.

    "Master, he massacred all of his subordinates and ate them. He also killed the beasts in the territories surrounding his and is now wanted by all the four rulers. He has killed beast belonging to each of their territories." The mole beast exined.

    Now it was Lin Wu''s turn to be shocked, as he had not expected something like this to have happened.

    "Why would it do something like this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "No one knows. All the beasts in the fifth ring and sixth ring are disturbed about this. Some say that it finally went crazy with age and attacked everyone while some think he was annoyed with everyone here and decided to leave the forest in a domineering manner." The mole beast replied.

    "Iбн doubt it is thest optionбн anyway. Anything else?" Lin Wu further asked.

    "Nothing except that the beast conflicts will increase from now. A lot of new territories have been freed and the beasts will battle to take over them. If master ising to this area, he needs to be careful." The mole beast replied.

    "Alright, that will be fine." Lin Wu said and stopped themunication link.

    "Did it really go crazy? Or is there some other reason behind his actions? Hmmбн wait. He didn''t seem all that agitated when it flew by us. Then what could it be?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Roar~</em>

    Suddenly the roar of a beast could be heard from the distance and Shirong became alert. He spread his spirit sense and scouted the area ahead carefully. Lin Wu on the other hand looked at his map and knew that there was going to be a beast nearby.

    This was merely the border of the fifth ring, and it was time for the beasts to increase in number.

    "A mid stage core condensation realm spirit beastбн good. This will be a good practice." Shirong muttered after determining the cultivation base of the beast.

    He went after it and saw the beast prowling through the trees. There were a few qi refining realm beasts in front of it, that it was probably hunting. Lin Wu took a look at the beast and found it to look like a mix between a horse and an armadillo.

    It had ws instead of giving and also had armored tes on its body. But from the shape and size of its body, it looked like a horse and Lin Wu was intrigued but it. The head of the beast was like that of a thin horse and its neck was much more flexible than that of a horse''s.

    "What does this beast do? Does it run like a horse or dig like an armadillo and what the hell was that weird roar?" Lin Wu had a lot of questions about this one.

    He even found the beast to be weirder than himself.

 Chapter 153 - Beasts In Conflict?

    "System scan this beast for meбн" Lin Wu ordered, before Shirong ughtered it the next minute.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target identified.

    TARGET NAME: Galloping Armadillo

    CULTIVATION BASE: Mid stage of the core condensation realm.

    INFO: The galloping armadillo is a beast that has diverged from its previous species and has adapted to run on the ground instead of digging, though it stumbles a lot of it goes beyond a certain speed and then falls. Their survival rate is twenty percent for reaching a hundred years of age.

    бкбк

    "Huh, you are a defective oneбн" Lin Wu muttered as he was stabbed through the head of the Galloping Armadillo.

    The armor tes on top of its head posed no resistance to Lin Wu''s sharp spear tip and were easily pierced. Lin Wu quickly got to absorbing the Spirit Qi and vital energy feeling amazing.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 986 Units [liquid spirit qi]

    QI STORAGE: 24876 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 657 units

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 20298 units

    бкбк

    Lin Wu passed on a part of the spirit qi to Shirong who quickly absorbed it. He had now be used to it and was no longer as cautious as before. He would absorb the spirit qi he got from the spear as quickly as possible. This was because not only was he continually using spirit qi while holding Lin Wu but that he was also using his spirit sense to constantly check for danger.

    The area had be more dangerous and he could feel the strange feeling in the air. There were soundsing from the distance which only made Shirong more and more anxious. This had started this morning and was slowly increasing in intensity.

    He didn''t know what exactly had happened but knew that it is probably bad.

    ''From the source of the sound, it ising at least two hundred kilometers away. That should mean that there are a lot of beasts making it together or it would not reach this farбн'' Shirong thought to himself.

    They continued onward and had now officially entered the fifth ring. Both Shirong and Lin Wu could feel the abrupt increase in the spirit qi of the forest. This was the biggest difference they sensed till now as in the previous rings the increase was eventual instead of sudden like this.

    "This is rather uniqueбн wonder how it works. Oh wait, system check to see if you can find anything interesting." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK ADDED: Analyzing Spirit qi in the environment.

    бкбк

    They continued onward and fought a few more core condensation realm beasts until the night time arrived. Shirong was extra cautious this time and searched for a safe cave on his own before settling there for the night.

    He set up some extra defensive formation arrays as well and made sure they were working multiple times through the night. Lin Wu wanted to go out to roam and eat the corpses that were left behind, but due to Shirong''s behaviors he could not.

    Still, Lin Wu could notin about it as it was something that even he would have done after an encounter like that.

    <em>~Awooo~</em>

    <em>~Roar~</em>

    <em>~HOWWWLL~</em>

    <em>~KEEEE~</em>

    <em>~REEEEE~</em>

    A cacophony of noises were heard in the night as they made it harder for Shirong to rx. He could hear that they wereing from the further depths of the forest. But now that Shirong was in the fifth ring, he didn''t really have a desire to entire the next ring as that would simply mean suicide.

    Shirong was going to make this cave his shelter for the time being. At least until he reached the pseudo nascent soul realm and would have gathered enough spirit qi.

    ''So this is what they meant by the beasts fighting for the freed territoryбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    He then activated themunication link with the mole beast to ask some things.

    "How are the conflicts with the beasts going?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "They are badбн I''m barely escaping them and need to stay in the ground for most of the time. And I can''t get close to the territory of the Olive Viper King anymore as he has ughtered an army of beasts on his own. He''s looking to expand his territory now, which had made a lot of beasts nervous and scared." The mole beast said.

    Lin Wu looked up the mole beast''s location and saw that he was even further south than them.

    "Hmmбн this should be near the border area of the fifth ringбн looks like this is gonna be tough for us now." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he saw the beasts roaming and fighting in that area.

    He then contacted the beetle beast and got a simr answer from her.

    "Master, only the subordinates that are fighting for territory are going out. The rest of us have been told to stay put for now." The beetle beast said.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu replied before closing the link.

    He checked up on her location and found her to be near the border of the sixth ring as well. Except that she was in the South eastern direction, a bit opposite to Lin Wu current one.

    A bit more time passed and Lin Wu had been practicing refining his sprite sense when he suddenly received a warning.

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    бкбк

    MULTIPLE BEASTS DETECTED: Total beasts 25- (2 Early stage Core condensation realm beasts, 19 Mid stage Core Condensation realm beats, 3 Late Stage Core Condensation realm beasts and 1 Peak stage Core condensation realm beast identified.

    SUGGESTION: The host is advised to- 1. Retreat

    2. Upgrade cultivation base and fight

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s warning alerted Lin Wu pretty quickly, and he immediately switched to the map window.

    "GODDAMN! That''s a lot of beastsбн strong beastsбн" Lin Wu said, feeling shocked.

    While their numbers seemed lesspared to some herds and groups of beasts, Shirong had fought. This was the very first time that he was actually fighting so many core condensation realm beasts all at once.

    "Oh boy, this is gonna be a long nightбн"

 Chapter 154 - Lamp Light Ligers?

    Shirong looked towards the sounds that wereing from the eastern direction. He extended his spirit sense and detected the beasts. At first he was calm as the Oliy beasts he had detected were those in the early stage core condensation realm and mid stage core condensation realm.

    But a couple of secondster his expression changed as he also sensed thete stage core condensation realm beasts.

    "Looks like I''m in for a good fightбн" Shirong muttered to himself and got ready.

    Soon he also detected the peak stage core condensation realm beasts that were behind them. His expression turned serious for a moment before a smile appeared.

    "HAHAHA! THIS IS IT! THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE! A FIGHT WORTHY OF A BREAKTHROUGH!" Shirongughed out loud like a mad person.

    "Annnnnd he''s gone locoбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself seeing Shirong''s change.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Seems like I''m gonna have to take some extra efforts tooбн" Lin Wu said before nning a strategy in his mind.

    He instructed the system to do a few things and to analyze the area. He needed to be fully aware of what was where so that he could take advantage of it all. Though one thing was for sure, if they were able to kill all of the beasts and absorb their spirit qi and vital energy; both Lin Wu and Shirong would have enough to break through to the nascent soul realm.

    The only problem now was to survive. If these beasts hade in intervals, Shirong would have had no problem. But with these many beasts together it was going to be quite difficult, especially because of the type of beasts that were attacking them.

    "System show me the data on the beasts!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCAN COMPLETE: Targets identified

    TARGET NAME: Lamp Light Liger

    CULTIVATION BASE: Early to peak stage of core condensation realm.

    INFO: The Lamp light Liger beasts are the descendants of the Twin Light Liger. They have two eyes that glow with a flicking yellow light simr to amp. The Lamp Light Ligers that can advance their bloodline to the Twin Light Liger can reach the Nascent soul realm and beyond.

    The Lamp Light Ligers have the ability to temperately blind their victims using a sh of light from their eyes. Their physical strength is also great along with their vital energy. They prefer attacking in a group Whig can be anywhere from five to fifty beasts in size and is often led by a Peak Stage Core condensation realm Lamp Light Liger.

    бкбк

    "So these are the subordinates of the strongest ruler of the millennium forest, the Twin Light Liger. Seems like this is going to be even more difficultбн" Lin Wu said before the n appeared in his mind.

    Because the Lamp Light Ligers were beasts that were used to attacking in groups their team work was much better than other beasts. Shirong would have had an easier time if these beasts were unorganized, but with their coordination like this, he would have to stake his life to survive.

    Shirong looked at the Lamp Light Ligers with a malevolent grin on his face as he withdrew a few pills from the spatial storage bracelet and stuffed them in his mouth. These were all supportive pills that included a few Earthen Qi pills that could form an armor made out of Earth attribute qi on his body, and Qi furnace Pill which could increase the potency of his attacks.

    There were also some healing pills that would continually heal him as the battle went on. They would slowly release their medicinal properties, enhancing his regeneration rate.

    With everything ready, Shirong gripped the green crystal spear tightly as he poured spirit qi into it and readied his own qi skills.

    "GRRRR!"

    "ROAR!"

    The Lamp Light Ligers abroad their fangs and showed their hostility to Shirong. While he could only perceive them as animistic noises, Lin Wu on the other hand was able to understand exactly what they were speaking due to the trantion that the System had set up.

    "Look it is a human!" one of the Lamp Light Liger s''s spoke.

    "Oh yesбн its been a long time since I tasted a human." Another one said.

    "Oh brothers, you are in for a treat, humans are quite delicious. Especially the ones that are cultivators, they refine their bones and marrows, which only makes them that much tempting." An older Lamp Light Liger spoke.

    "I remember my first human, it was a female one. She had such soft skin, and barely any fat."

    "Bah! What do you know about quality humans, the best ones are the fatties. Their fat is rich with spirit qi and vital energy."

    "No, no, the best part is the brains I say. If you ate some, maybe you''ll get smart enough to learn to appreciate its taste." A bigger Lamp Light Liger beast joked.

    Lin Wu: "бн"

    "Enough! Focus on the task that the king ordered us to do! Kill the human quickly, we have to capture more territories." The Lamp Light Liger beast that seemed to be the leader spoke.

    Shirong scanned all of the beasts with his spirit sense and got an idea of their cultivation bases.

    "HAAHAH! TAKE THIS!" Shirong shouted before jumping up high, the spear flickering with a green light.

    "Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Cloud Splitting Gale!"

    Wind attribute spirit qi wrapped around the Green Crystal spear as it started to extend. Green light flickered on the length of the spear along with two crimson lights that looked like malevolent eyes staring into one''s soul.

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    The sound of a sonic boom was heard as the spear broke the sound barrier and whipped towards the two Lamp Light Ligers that were at the front. A deep green wave of energy spread along with the spear and struck the Lamp Light Ligers.

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    Before the Lamp Light Ligers could even reach the two that were in the front, were split in half. Their front ends separating from their back.

 Chapter 155 - Immortal Crystal Armament?

    The rest of the Lamp Light Ligers were too slow to react and couldn''t do anything, but see their brothers die.

    "NOO!"

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    A beastly roar was let out by the Lamp Light Ligers but Lin Wu understood its true meaning and in a way, Shirong did too.

    But he did not let them recover and immediately attacked again. The green crystal spear retracted back but at a diagonal angle, hitting the other Lamp Light Ligers that were to the right.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    One of the Lamp Light Ligers that was hit by this attack had its head chopped in half while the other two that were hit with it, injured their limbs.

    "GET HIM! WE SHALL AVENGE OUR BROTHERS AND PAINT THIS LAND WITH HIS BLOOD!" The leading Lamp Light Liger uttered with hate.

    Finally, the Lamp Light Ligers got the chance to attack Shirring and they pounced at him with their ws straightened. Two of the Lamp Light Ligers came from the left while four came from the right, pincering him in the middle.

    "Humph foolish!" Shirong spat out before waving both his hands.

    Wind formed around them and spread out like a wave, knocking four of the Lamp Light Ligers back. But the other two were Late stage core condensation realm beasts and were able to bear through the attack.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    <em>~Tear~</em>

    Shirong''s sleeve was torn as one of the Lamp Light Ligers left w marks on his flesh, leaving it bleeding.

    Shirong gave no reaction to it and shrugged off the pain as if it was nothing, and punched out with his left hand towards the other Lamp Light Ligers.

    <em>~yelp~</em>

    A cry was let out by the second Lamp Light Liger, as it was hit in its belly and knocked back. Shirong had amplified his strength with qi amplification skill, which was further reinforced for Lin Wu''s own qi amplification skill.

    This way the effect of the skill was more than doubled, and Shirong''s punch was strong enough to split boulders.

    Shirong then spun around in one swift movement, willing the spear to elongate its de.

    "Immortal Crystal Armament: Long sword form!"

    This was another form that Shirong had thought of and had used a few times during his journey here. In this form, the spear changed to a single edged long sword. Its de was about three meters long, while its handle was thirty centimeters long.

    It looked like arge horse splitting sword that was used in cavalry battles.

    Another thing that Shirong had done was to create his own style of fighting with the green crystal spear. He realized over time, that calling the immortal weapon a spear seemed to be a bit redundant seeing how it could take multiple different forms.

    So he instead gave it a new name and called it the ''Immortal Crystal Armament''. He had practiced a few different forms while fighting the beasts during his journey and was improving his new style. He knew that it would take him years to be perfect in it and then perhaps it would turn into a true Immortal Weapon Manual.

    There were a lot of weapons manuals in this world. Most of them were specific to a singr weapon, while some could teach multiple weapons. There were even some manuals which had styles that needed a thousand different types of weapons to master.

    Some weapons manuals required unique constitutions or cultivation techniques to practice, while others were all purpose and the only requirement for them was for the cultivator to work hard. Shirong as the heir of the Ji n had learned a lot of weapon manuals since his childhood.

    He had learned to use swords, Spears, Axes, Shields,nces, javelins, sabers, bows, whips, maces, and even some unconventional weapons such as ribbons and fans. He had been trained by multiple weapon masters, preparing him for any situation so that he could fight with whatever he had.

    Some people had the ideology that one should only focus on one weapon and make it their Dao weapon. By doing this, their skill with that weapon would increase by a lot and they would even be able toprehend weapon intent.

    While Shirong had learned many weapons, he had onlyprehended sword intent, or rather the most basic level of it. But even this was an achievement, as not many could do it. He also seldom needed to use the sword intent, as just his qi skills would be enough to deal with most problems.

    Now that the Immortal Crystal Armament was in the Long sword form, he could fully execute the sword intent.

    Holding the long sword in his hand, Shirong''s aura skyrocketed as a murderous vibe exuded from it.

    "COME AND SACRIFICE YOURSELF TO MY BLADE!" He shouted, swinging the sword.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    The sword intentpletely revamped the power of his attack and more than doubled it. Lin Wu was also seeing this for the first time and had not expected the sword intent to be this powerful.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NEW PARAMETERS DETECTED: ANALYZING

    PARAMETER IDENTIFIED: Assigned term- Sword intent

    ANALYZING SWORD INTENT: Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    The System automatically kicked in and started doing its job. Another task was added to its list, and it was now doing four things at the same time, leaving only one slot avable for Lin Wu to use if anything needed to be done.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    A sword light emanated from the long sword, condensed with a great amount of spirit qi.

    <em>~cut~</em>

    <em>~cut~</em>

    <em>~cut~</em>

    Three Lamp Light Ligers were dismembered and left crying on the ground, unable to move. Five more were injured as deep cuts appeared on their bodies. The might of the sword intent could be seen from just this strike alone, defeating eightte stage core condensation realm beasts in an instant.

    "BROTHERS ATTACK WITH ME!" the leading Lamp Light Liger said.

    Suddenly their spirit qi red up and Shirong had a bad feeling. Lin Wu saw the warning from the system and knew what the Lamp Light Ligers were doing.

    But before he could do anything, the Lamp Light Liger executed their innate skill.

    "Blinding Lamp re!"

 Chapter 156 - Late Stage Of The Core Condensation Realm?

    Shirong felt a stinging pain in his eyes as his vision turned to white. He became dazed by the innate ability of the Lamp Light Ligers.

    "Dammit!" Shirong cursed out loud as he covered his eyes with his left arm.

    <em>~Roar~</em>

    The Lamp Light Ligers took this opportunity and finally attacked Shirong.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    <em>~cut~</em>

    Shirong blindly swung the long sword and cut the Lamp Light Ligers that came near him but was unable to dodge all of them. He used his spirit sense at the veryst moment and was able to avoid injury to his vitals. Still, arge w wound was opened from the top of his shoulder all the way to his waist.

    Along with this, there were smaller scratches that were on his arms and legs. With thebined attack of over ten Lamp Light Ligers, he barely protected his head and neck. The long sword''s reach was the only thing that was keeping the Lamp Light Ligers from attacking again.

    They had to retreat after attacking immediately or they would have been chopped in half from the sharp long sword. While Shirong could use his spirit sense to observe the area, due to the properties of the Innate skill of the Lamp Light Ligers, even his spirit sense felt unstable.

    It took him all of his Will owe to control it and even then it was putting a big load on his mind. Shirong had not expected that the Blinding Lamp re skill of the Lamp Light Ligers would be this strong.

    ''No wonder their king was able to be the strongest beast of the millennium forest. With an innate skill like this, most cultivators and beast would be incapacitated and killed swiftly.'' Shirong thought.

    He had known about the Twin Lights Liger that lived at the sixth ring of the millennium forest and knew that it was the strongest spirit beast of the forest being the very peak of Nascent soul realm. Even his n had records about the Twin light Liger and knew that the beast had been living here for the past five hundred years.

    Lin Wu right now was anxious and was trying to figure out the ws of the n. He knew there were many in the one that he had made, but it was the best he could do right now. With Shirong''s vision gone for the time being, there was a great chance that he would be killed by these Lamp Light Ligers.

    "This is it! The moment of decision, I can''t hesitate anymore!" Lin Wu said with determination.

    He scanned the area and ensured that he had taken note of everything before starting his n.

    "System, upgrade my cultivation base to the next stage!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADING HOST''S CULTIVATION BASE: Please wait patiently.

    бкбк

    Shirong suddenly felt the long sword heating up in his hand and let go of it involuntarily. He was able to observe it with his spirit sense for a moment before he felt like his spirit sense would get destroyed if he kept on observing the Immortal Crystal armament.

    ''Is another one of its seals being released?'' Shirong wondered.

    He didn''t know if he had fulfilled any condition that was required to release the next seal, but now it was happening in front of him. Though he did not know if this would be good or not as thest time it had knocked him out and also the Deer wood city''s people.

    Shirong definitely did not want to lose consciousness in the middle of the Fifth ring of Millennium Forest like this, as he knew it would be a death sentence. Even if these beasts were scared off by the Immortal Crystal armament, more would take their ce.

    The Lamp Light Ligers on the other hand were now feeling fear all of a sudden.

    <em>~Grrr~</em>

    "What is happening?" one of the Lamp Light Ligers questioned.

    "That weapon! It is doing something!" The bigger Lamp Light Liger said.

    All of the Lamp Light Ligers looked towards the long sword that was pierced into the ground. Waves of spirit qi started rolling off the long sword as the area started to heat up.

    "Let''s see how you like this!" Lin Wu said as he absorbed all the spirit qi that was around him.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The radiation emitting from his body started spreading into the surroundings as the Lamp Light Ligers began to feel hot. But Shirong was unaffected as Lin Mu was avoiding him intentionally. Besides, he couldn''t see him for the time being anyway, and even his spirit sense was restricted greatly.

    <em>~Whirr~</em>

    Now Lin Wu''s body started glowing with a bright green light that spread in the surroundings. The Lamp Light Ligers though were immune to the Bright light and were able to keep on looking despite it. Their innate skill Blinding Lamp re gave them immunity to light based skills that could affect their eyes.

    <em>~Growl~</em>

    "Why is it so hot all of a sudden?" The Lamp Light Ligers spoke in distress,

    Their fur was rather thick, and the heat had only made it that much worse for them. The heat they were feeling was also quite different, it didn''t seem like their body was heating from the outside, but rather from the inside.

    Their fur was acting like an instor and keeping the heating from their bodies from escaping.

    "AARGH! I can''t take this anymore!" One of the Lamp Light Ligers cried and retreated.

    But before it could take more than three steps, it froze. Not only that Lamp Light Liger, but all of the others did too.

    "Thisбн"

    "What overwhelming bloodline!" The leader Lamp Light Liger realized.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADE COMPETED: The host''s cultivation base has been upgraded from the Mid stage of the Core Condensation Realm to the Late Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/24000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 12386 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "Now it will be fun! AHAHA!" Lin Wuughed in excitement.

 Chapter 157 - Dual Bladed Glaive Form?

    Lin Wu was still in the form of the Long sword and stuck in the ground. But now that he hadpleted the breakthrough to the next stage, he felt as if his power had been multiplied by a lot.

    Shirong who was standing beside it also felt the change through both his connection with the Immortal Crystal armament and the spirit qi that was emanating from his side. He extended his hand and grasped the handle of the Long Sword.

    As soon as he did that though, he felt a suggestion appearing in his mind. It hade from the connection he had with the spear, and he knew that it was hinting him to do something.

    "HAHAHA! Why should I hesitate now? This is how a battle should be!" Shirong hosted out loud.

    Shirong willed it, and the Immortal Crystal armament started changing its form. From the shape of a long sword, it elongated into a pole. Then at the ends of the pole appeared two des. Each having a single edge and pointing towards the opposite directions.

    The long sword had now turned into a dual ded ive. There were two red lights glowing at the base of each de and shone like malevolent eyes in the dark.

    "Immortal Crystal Armament: ive Form!"

    Lin Wu had especially designed this form with the system''s help. He knew that the radiation was ipatible with the spirit qi of the others and thus if he wanted to use it in cooperation with Shirong he would ha vie to figure out a different way.

    This ive form was his solution. One de of the ive would release radiation from Lin Wu, while the other end would channel the qi skills of Shirong.

    Shirong couldn''t see the weapon in his hands but knew that it held a great power within it.

    "So what if I can''t see? I''ll just eradicate the entire area!" Shirong shouted as he jumped up in the sky.

    <em>~HONG~LONG~</em>

    A humming sound was heard as Shirong started spinning the dual ded ive at great speed.

    "QUICK ATTACK HIM!" Themp light Luger''s leader shouted and lunged ahead, but the others were unable to do the same.

    The bloodline suppression inbination with the previous radiation wave was still affecting them and made it quite difficult for them to move. They tried to control the spirit qi in their body to flow, but it did not, bing restricted.

    Shirong was still spinning the dual headed de in the sky. The wind generated from its spinning movement created enough thrust to keep him flying. One of the des of the ive glowed with a yellow light and turned hot, while the other de of the ive was covered in a green light.

    The yellow de was emanating radiation while the green one was emanating wind attribute spirit qi from Shirong.

    "TAKE THIS!" Shirong yelled as a storm formed around him.

    The spinning wind wasced with potent radiation and had be quite hot.

    "Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Sundering Tempest!"

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The heat storm descended on to the ground with Shirong''s will, decimating everything. The grass, trees, leaves were shredded by the sharp winds while the potent radiation contained within it dried them out thoroughly such that they were desated. They became so fragile after being dried that they were reduced to dust.

    The same thing happened with the Lamp Light Ligers. Their fur was burned off while their skin singed. Then the Sharp winds cut it apart, spilling their blood, letting more radiation into their bodies, weakening them even more.

    "WHAT IS THIS HUMAN!" The leader of the Lamp Light Ligers said in a terrified tone.

    But only Lin Wu could hear his true meaning, Shirong couldn''t even hear their pain filled cries hidden behind the sound of the stormy winds.

    The tempest continued and soon their flesh was cut, the radiation prating deeper, before finally ending their lives.

    The Stormsted for about thirty seconds before it faded away, leaving behind a scene of what could only be described as a cmity. There were no grass, nor trees here. Even the ground had been unearthed and a circr depression had been created.

    In this circr depressionid the destroyed corpses of all the Lamp Light Ligers. Not a single one of them had been able to survive, and none of them hadplete corpses.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Shirong fell to the ground on his back and coughed out a mouthful of blood. Using the qi skill Sundering tempest had taken out a lot more from him than he had expected. This was not his first time using this qi skill, but it was his first time using it with the Immortal Crystal armament.

    The effects that he had seen werepletely iparable. Using it with a normal spear, halberd or ive had barely ten percent the power of what the Immortal Crystal Armament had shown. Shirong was left in absolute awe with this amplification.

    ''And what was that other power contained within it? Thatбн heat? It even affected spirit qi.'' Shirong wondered as he tookbored breaths.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    <em>~huu~</em>

    <em>~huu~</em>

    But Shirong wasn''t the only person that was incredibly tired. Lin Wu had also used up arge amount of his own spirit qi to use that ability. Thebination of two skills, one innate and one qi skill, was much moreplex than one would think.

    Especially when two ipatible things like radiation and spirit qi were beingbined. The system had been able to create an unstable equilibrium between them, and thus this new attack was formed. The skill had a short period of action, but its power was overwhelming.

    While lying on the ground there, Shirong took out a few pills and stuffed them into his mouth, beginning to heal his injuries. Thankfully, Lin Wu waspletely uninjured this time and did not need to spend any extra spirit qi to regenerate.

    "Seems like I need to research this more. Perhaps there are morebinations that I can use."

 Chapter 158 - Bloodline Upgrade?

    Lin Wu''s mind was now filled with a myriad of ideas. With the new form, and the abilities that could be used with it, he realized that for specific skills, further fine tuning may be necessary.

    "Hmmбн perhaps I should assign a specific task to the system to optimize these forms and the qi circuits that are used for them. But still, I''ll need to gather more data by fighting and observing if the system is to enhance it." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Shirong was lying on the ground, looking up at the full moon in the sky. The trees in the area had been utterly destroyed, and the clouds had been blown away by his few attacks. Because of this, the moon had been fully revealed.

    After a minute, he managed to make himself sit up. He then changed his posture to one of meditation and focused on recovering his injuries. He didn''t have to recover all of them, just enough so that he could get away from this ce without much problem.

    Shirong also knew that he had to hurry or the blood of the dead beasts would attract the other beasts after a while. Though it seemed that the power of the attack had scared them for now, but soon they would not be able to resist the enticing scent of the blood.

    After about five minutes he gained the control of his body and stood up, picking the Immortal crystal armament that was still in the ive form.

    "Now to gather them allбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    He then went around every corpse or their remains one by one, and stabbed the ive in them. It took him over three minutes to do it for all of them but eventually, he was done. And along with this not only was his spirit qi stores replenished, but they had now reached very close to the peak.

    "Just a few more beasts and I should be readyбн" Shirong said as he assessed his dantian.

    Because he had used up more spirit qi than normal in using the Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Sundering tempest, his spirit qi wasn''t able topletely reach the peak. If he had not used that skill and then absorbed the beasts using the Immortal Crystal Armament, he was sure that he would have reached the Pseudo nascent soul realm.

    ''Seems like I''ll have to dy using that ''technique'' till I can get a lot more spirit qi. Stillбн this battle was great.'' Shirong thought as a smile appeared on his face.

    He basked in the feeling of absorbing all the spirit qi that he got from the immortal crystal armament and enjoyed it. He wished that he could continue to feel this for a longer time, but that was not possibleбн at least not for now.

    "Better leave this ce for nowбн" Shirong said to himself and flew away on his spirit sword.

    A few minutester, the ce of the battle was filled with more beasts. They had sensed the massive spirit qi fluctuation and also the blood that had spilled.

    <em>~Grrr~</em>

    The first to appear were none other than more Lamp Light Ligers.

    "This cannot be! It''s our brothers!" One of the Lamp Light Ligers said with shock.

    A Lamp Light Liger walked forward and smelled the ground, unable to find a scent.

    "There is no scent eitherбн whoever or rather whatever it was left no trace."

    "That''s not all, can''t you feel it?" A bigger Lamp Light Liger that was standing at the back suddenly spoke.

    All of the Lamp Light Ligers then closed their eyes and focused on the area.

    "THIS! WHY IS OUR SPIRIT GETTING SUPPRESSED?" The Lamp Light Ligers said with utter shock.

    "Quick! Leave the area. This does not seem to be the work of any weak being, we need to report to the king." The Lamp Light Liger who seemed to be the leader of this group ordered.

    The others growled in agreement, and all of them swiftly left the area.

    Back at the cave, Shirong was sitting in a cross legged manner and cultivating. He had to assimte therge amount of spirit qi that he had just obtained from the Immortal Crystal armament. The weapon itself though was kept to the side and had transformed back into the normal spear form.

    Shirong also wondered if the spear could be considered its default form or not. But in the end, he let this thought slide as he reckoned it would be better to just wait and watch rather than to blindly specte and reach no conclusion.

    Lin Wu was currently looking through the notification log, as he had gotten a lot of them. He had ignored them for the duration of the fight, but now he finally got the chance to see it.

    "System, show me the notification log." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NEW PARAMETERS DISCOVERED: Analyzing

    ANALYSIS COMPLETE: Establishing protocols

    PROTOCOLS ESTABLISHED: Creating spirit qi circuits

    NEW WEAPON FORM CREATED: Dual ded ive

    -

    WEAPON FORM: Dual ded ive posite circuit)

    INFO: This form allows the host to use aposite spirit qi circuit to usebination skills. Qi skills used by Shirong can bebined with the host''s innate skills up to a certain limit and employed to create new skills entirely.

    This form can only be maintained for a short period of time.

    Current time limit: 10 minutes

    -

    INNATE SKILL PROFICIENCY INCREASED: Cellr Crystallization (Grade: Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate-> Expert)

    -

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 26158 Units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 10863

    бкбк

    Looking at the log, Lin Wu was pleased quite a bit. Not only had his innate skill''s proficiency been upgraded, but he had also obtained quite a lot of vital energy along with spirit qi.

    Another thing he was intrigued about was the new form of the dual ded ive that he had created. His previous forms didn''t have time limits, and only this one seemed to have one. Usually, the spear form was the most conformable one to him and others while ufortable had not set time limit.

    He would only switch because he was getting ufortable, but not because of limit.

    ''Hmm... It is probably due to the conflicting nature of the spirit qi and radiation that it is like this and has a time limit of ten minutes. From this, I can guess that in the future when I make some new forms, they may have a time limit too if they are using ipatible techniques or skills.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Let''s take a look at the host data, system show it to me." Lin Wu ordered.

    There were now a few new changes that had happened due to his increase in cultivation base, and he wanted to see exactly what they were.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 5 months, 27 days

    LIFESPAN: 300 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Late Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/24000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 38544 units [liquid spirit qi]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+3)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: None

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Lesser)(Proficiency: Novice)

    WEAPON FORMS: 1. Dual ded ive Form (time limit-10 minutes)[Qi skill optimized: Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Sundering Tempest]

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    BEAST CORES: 1.Fully Condensed(Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm)

    2. Iplete core

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 31,161 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 10258 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+3)

    3. Lamp Light Liger(+1)

    [Extend +61]

    SERVANT BEASTS:

    1.Deep Earth Millennium Mole

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    2. Split thorn horn beetle

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    бкбк

    Lin Wu could see that a new section for the weapon forms had been added to the list. It seemed like it only mentioned the forms that had a specific time limit attached to them and optimized for a qi skill.

    Another thing was that by absorbing the spirit qi and vital energy of the 25 core condensation realm Lamp Light Ligers, Lin Wu had also gotten the raw bloodline data for them. But the most interesting thing was that there was an extra tag added to it as well.

    "System, why is there an extra tag with the Lamp Light Liger bloodline data?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Bloodline data obtained from the 25 Lamp Light Ligers is enough for aplete bloodline to be created. Because of this, the system was able topile the progressive form and can upgrade the bloodline to its new form.

    The Lamp Light Liger bloodline can be upgraded to the Twin Light Liger Bloodline.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer shocked Lin Wu as he said, "Aw, Heck yeah!

 Chapter 159 - Upgrade Requirements?

    Lin Wu calmed down after a bit of thinking though as he realized that there was no way it could be this simple.

    "System, what are the conditions for the upgrade to the Twin Light Liger Bloodline from the Lamp light Liger?" Lin Wu questioned with apprehension.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADE REQUIREMENTS: Lamp Light Liger-> Twin Light Liger Bloodline

    1. 35000 Units Spirit qi(liquid Drops)

    2. 5000 Units Vital Essence

    3. Two additional Computational A.I. activated.

    бкбк

    "Of course it requires all thisбн but what the hell is with the numbers, isn''t that at a lot? And what is Vital Essence?" Lin Wu said, feeling a bit frustrated.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The requirements for the Twin Light Liger bloodline are less than that of the host''s current bloodline of Crimson eyed emerald worn due to its overall potential being lower.

    Vital essence is the refined version of Vital energy. Its conversion ratio is 1:10, simr to that of spirit qi.

    Host already has the third condition fulfilled due to reaching the core condensation realm.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu wasn''t really that much surprised upon seeing that the requirements for the Crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline were low. If hepared his skills, he understood that they were rather unique and Even his two forms were rather different. Though he hadn''t used his organic form at all and mostly stayed in his inorganic form.

    Lin Wu found his organic form to be rather disadvantageous and hadn''t really found the best time to use it yet. Still, Lin Wu wondered if he created the Twin Light Liger Bloodline and assimted it, what kind of effect would he have and how would his body react.

    "System, how would the effect of the Twin light Liger Bloodline affect me?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He wanted to be cautious and ensure that it was safe and wouldn''t cause him trouble.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The exact changes would only be apparent after the bloodline is refined, but the host can expect new innate skills being added and some physiological changes. Though the system can assure the host that thepatibility can be increased further if a true sample is obtained.

    Note: The currentpatibility is at 70%.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн as long as thepatibility is good, it should be fine. Though the 70% can be a gamble too, and I don''t expect my luck to be good all the time. Heck, I am already lucky to the extreme to be able to survive all this while." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "What kind of true sample is needed? Like blood or hair or something like that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Fresh blood that is infused with spirit qi and vital energy would be optimal for it. The spirit qi and vital energy signatures would increase thepatibility by finding simr frequencies, while the DNA from the blood would help with the assimtion and mutation.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu felt a bit lost here, as he wasn''t really good at this aspect. While he was good at biology, gene stuffy wasn''t really his strong suit. Still, considering that the system had been urate till now, he reckoned he could trust it with this.

    "Alright, then. Seems like we got a few new goals to do. The requirements for spirit qi and Vital essence can bepleted after I have enough to reach the Nascent Soul realm saved up. As for the sample, Hmmбн perhaps my new servants can help in this part." Lin Wu pondered.

    He opened the servant window and used the link to contact the two beasts. He first contacted the beetle beast to see if he knew of the whereabouts of the Twin Light Liger King. Since the Beetle beast was under the authority of another ruler, she was Bound to know more than the mole beast that was still unaffiliated.

    "Master, you need something?" The beetle beast said in its mind.

    "Yes, I wanted to ask if you know about the Twin Light Luger''s Location?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Of course I do. Actually, any beast in the fifth ring will be able to tell you this as it is the seat of power of the forest. The Twin Light Liger king lives in the Dark Bloom Caverns. It is the area that has the highest density of spirit qi in the entire forest. Apparently, the main source of spirit qies from somewhere below that cave." The beetle beast answered.

    This was rather interesting to Lin Wu, as he had learned that there were spirit qi springs that existed naturally underground. When these springs got umted they could even turn into a spirit stone mine. This is how cultivation sects chose their sect grounds.

    One of the basic requirements to establish a sect was to have a spirit qi spring in the sect ground. Of course, a sect having just a spirit qi spring wouldn''t be that strong. But a sect that had a spirit stone mine would be much more stronger.

    ''If there is a spirit qi spring that can provide enough spirit qi to the entire millennium forest, then there should definitely be a massive spirit stone mine there.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "If there is the spirit qi source below it and the Twin Light Liger rules over the area, why doesn''t he go to the source himself?" Lin Wu asked curiously.

    "Ummбн we don''t know that. But all beasts in the Millennium forest know that the depths of the Dark Bloom caverns are forbidden. It has dangers that would easily kill even the Twin Light Liger, which is why he has not tried to do that.

    Though it isn''t like no one has tried that before, in fact, the entry to the caverns is open to the rulers and even their subordinates, but no one that went there has ever returned. The Twin Light Liger king only lives in one of the many caves of the Dark Bloom caverns that''s at the surface, the rest of them are mostly empty." The beetle beast exined.

    "Oh? Is that soбн" Lin Wu muttered as some new ideas appeared in his mind.

 Chapter 160 - Dark Bloom Cavern?

    Lin Wu knew that while the other beasts were scared of the depths of the Dark Bloom caverns, he could still go there. He had the support of the system who could scan out the entire Dark Bloom Caverns and even make a map for it so that he could navigate.

    Plus the system would even be able to spot dangers and other beasts in there which would help him avoid them. And just as Lin Wu thought of this, he heard the notification.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ISSUING QUEST: Explore and investigate the Dark Bloom cavern.

    DURATION: unspecified

    REWARDS: Spirit qi, unknown.

    бкбк

    "Great, that seals the deal then. The only obstacle that exists now is Shirong himself. I won''t be able to get away from him long enough without it bing an obstacle. Though I still need to be prepared for it. Even if the system can scan out for danger, there are definitely things in there that I cannot deal with at my current strength.

    If even an Adult stage Nascent soul realm beast that is over six hundred years old, fears it, then there is definitely something terrifying in there. I best be at the Infant stage Nascent soul realm at the very least, or I''ll be courting death." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu also realized that this was another one of the disadvantages that came with leeching off Shirong. Even if he could obtain a lot of spirit qi, he couldn''t be far from Shirong for long and would have to sneak back as soon as it was possible.

    ''Hmmбн having an additional bloodline should help increase my strength, so getting the Sample from the Twin Light Liger would be another thing to do before I go to the Dark Bloom Caverns.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He then looked at the second beast in his list and activated themunication link with the mole beast.

    "Oh, master! I was just about to contact you." The mole beast said with a bit of anxiety in his voice.

    "Did you find out something?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes, yes, I did. The Twin Light Liger king has sent out his subordinates to capture more territories and I think of the groups ising towards your way." The Mole beast informed.

    "Oh them? Yeah, they''re dead." Lin Wu replied in an almost nonchnt manner.

    "WHAT! Howбн don''t tell meбн you killed them?" The Mole beast said.

    "Yup, I did. They were much easier to deal with than I had originally thought." Lin Wu replied.

    "You need to leave that area immediately, master! They are expert trackers and hunters and can easily find you through the blood traces if they were left behind." The mole beast suggested.

    "I''ll be fine with it. As long as more of them don''te together and stay at the number they attacked in, I''ll be able to kill them myself. More nutrition for me, Hehe." Lin Wu replied.

    The mole beast shuddered a bit as he had not thought of his new master to be so strong. He knew that all of the Lamp Light Ligers in that group were core condensation realm beasts, that he would not evene close to.

    ''Master''s strength is even more profound than I thought. It''s good that chose to submit or my corpse would have definitely been pecked raw by the birdsбн that is if master himself hadn''t eaten me till then.'' The mole beast thought.

    "Did you have more orders, master?" The mole beast questioned.

    "Actually yes, I do. I want you to inform me when the Twin Light Liger gets into his next fight and gets injured. And if possible, I want you to obtain some of his freshly shed blood. If you cannot take it yourself and it hasn''t imed or deteriorated by then, you are to inform me and I''ll head there." Lin Wu answered in a calm tone.

    "Ummбн this is even more difficultбн but I''ll still try my best." The mole beast replied.

    "Alright, contact me if a problem arrives." Lin Wu said before stopping the link, ''it''s not like I won''t know before you die.'' Lin Wu internally said.

    With all that done over the night, the time passed by. When it was finally morning, the sound of beasts reduced by a bit. Still, there were sounds of roars and growls heard from some of the areas, which meant that it hadn''tpletely died down.

    Shirong opened his eyes and looked at the Immortal Crystal Armament before taking a breath of relief. Even if he knew and was assured that the Immortal weapon would stay there, he couldn''t help but think that the weapon was going to run away on its own someday.

    He then spread his spirit sense and checked his surroundings.

    "Hmmбн a lot of the areas show signs of conflict. Looks like a beast frenzy, but with the amount of them that''s killing other beasts, I doubt it will turn into a beast wave." Shirong muttered to himself.

    He held the Immortal Crystal Armament in his hand and stood up. Thankfully, his aim was to just hunt more condensation realm beasts and the conflict among the beasts was only going to help him more. He took out the spirit sword and jumped onto it, flying towards the depths of the fifth ring.

    Shirong knew that he was quite close to reaching his peak at this realm and only needed a bit more of a push to directly enter the pseudo Nascent soul realm. He could even break through to the Nascent Soul realm if needed, but would prefer to do it at a Tribtion tform.

    Besides, he had also made a promise with the n head of Lu n along with nearly all of the ns of the Deer Wood city.

    "Let''s make this a bit quick for him, shall we." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "System, Scan the area for all spirit beasts and evaluate the best route of attack." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Spirit Beasts found in a 100 KM radius = 1138

    бкбк

 Chapter 161 - Fight For The Fifth Seat?

    Lin Wu looked at the new markers that had appeared on the map and knew that he was gonna have a great time.

    ''Looks like the beasts capturing more territories will work in our favor. They are pretty much serving themselves to us on a silver tter. We just have to make sure that we are not overwhelmed by arge group of them.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Let''s point Shirong in the right directionбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself and sent a few thoughts through his connection with Shirong.

    The first thought was of ''hunger'' and the other was of ''go''. Shirong halted in his steps as soon as he felt the Immortal Crystal Armamentmunicate with him.

    "So even you cannot hold back it seemsбн HAAHAH! Let''s get to it then!" Shirongughed before following the feeling of the Immortal weapon.

    Lin Wu would point him in the direction of the nearest beast and Shirong would track them with his spirit sense. At first, they were a bit slow as Shirong was not fully used to this kind of cooperation but after a while, they made a working method.

    Lin Wu merely had to suggest a direction, and Shirong''s spirit sense would be ready to extend. And by moving in that direction for a bit, they would end up finding the spirit beasts. A majority of these beasts were at the core condensation realm, but there were also a few that were at the Qi refining realm.

    The thing with the Core condensation realm was that they did not hunt in the fifth ring normally. Instead, they would go out to the outer rings to hunt and thene back to their territories. This was there was a harmonic influx and efflux of beasts among the rings.

    But now with the beasts expanding their territories they were keeping to the fifth ring, making it easier for Lin Wu and Shirong.

    They hunted a myriad of beasts. They had scales, feathers, furs, ws, and horns, but all of them died to the Immortal weapon that was Lin Wu. Shirong was also improving his understanding of the new weapons skill he was developing and thus increasing his own capabilities.

    Two days had passed swiftly and in this time they had already hunted about 108 Core condensation realm beasts. Though a majority of them were at the early stage of the core condensation realm and only two out of all reached thete stage of the core condensation realm.

    For some reason, no Peak stage core condensation realm beasts could be found now.

    ''So that encounter two days ago with the Lamp Light Ligers was indeed unusual.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    Lin Wu did not have this doubt as he was being informed in real time about what was happening in the depths of the forest, near the edge of the fifth ring and the start of the sixth ring. The beetle beast was already living at the border of the sixth ring, while the mole beast had finally figured out a way to continue onward while hiding.

    The mole beast had particrly gotten in a few conflicts but was able to escape due to his digging skills. Both of them would give him daily updates and Lin Wu found out from that the great disturbance in the forest would be calming down soon as most of the bigger and advantageous territories had already been captured by the subordinate beasts of the four rulers.

    Because the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle had left the forest, now only four positions were left and no contender was yet to appear that could rece the position of the eagle king. In order to be a ruler, the beast had to be a Nascent soul realm at the very least.

    Usually, if a beast reached the nascent soul realm, they would have to battle with one of the rulers of the millennium forest to take over their territory. But now the position was already empty and for the taking; with the only requirement being a cultivation base of Nascent soul realm.

    Of course, the current four rulers did not want to let go of this opportunity and wanted to appoint one of their offsprings or a subordinate to the position. As long as even one of their subordinates reached the Nasser Soul realm, they would have the chance to capture two seats.

    After all, even if their subordinate beast became a ruler they would still be under the influence of their brand.

    "How''s the hunt for the blood of the Twin Light Liger King going?" Lin Wu questioned the mole beast.

    "Even though I''ve gotten closer master, there doesn''t seem to be much of a chance there. The Twin Light Liger beast is staying in his den and does not leave. Only his subordinates have been prowling the area." The mole beast answered.

    "Hmmбн I see. And what about the Olive Viper king?" Lin Wu questioned again.

    "The Olive Viper king returned back to his nest to recover. He apparently got injured in one of the fights for territory." The mole beast answer.

    "He did? Who caused that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Apparently it wasn''t caused by another beast, but by himself. He was killing arge number of beasts at once and used an attack that injured even his own body." The mole beast exined.

    "Ahбн I see." Lin Wu responded.

    It became silent for a minute before the mole beast spoke again, "do you want to ask anything else, master?"

    "Ummбн oh yeah! You said that the current four rulers want to make one of their subordinates or descendants the fifth ruler, right? So which one of the four rulers have the highest chance to do that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "That is aplex thing to answer. The Twin Light Liger King has the most amount of subordinates that are in the Peak stage of the core condensation realm, but they are still not ready to break through to the Nascent Soul realm.

    Only one of the rulers has a subordinate that is close to thatбн the slim arm ape." The mole beast revealed.

 Chapter 162 - Vital Essence?

    The Slim Arm Ape was thest beast Lin Wu had considered being close to this.

    ''If he really is able to make one of his subordinates or descendants into the fifth ruler, the bnce of power would probably shift again. It''s likely that the Split thorn horn beetle king would be the one with the least power, falling from the third position to the fifth directly.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    "Which one of the Slim Arm Ape king''s subordinated is close to reaching the Nascent Soul realm?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "It''s not just any subordinate but rather the son of the Slim Arm Ape King himself. Unlike the ape king, his son is more talented and apparently is a hybrid beast having two bloodlines." The Mole beast answered.

    "Two bloodlines? Which one is the second one?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Except for himself, Lin Wu had not seen any other beast that had two bloodlines in them, thus Lin Wu was intrigued by it.

    "The rumor has it that the son of the Slim Arm Ape king was born from a Demon Spine Ape. I do now know what kind of beast it exactly is but due to it having two bloodlines it has progressed quite fast and is already in the pseudo Nascent soul realm." The Mole beast exined.

    Lin Wu went over his memories and tried to remember if he had seen or read about this Demon Spine Ape before, but couldn''t do it.

    "System, do you have any data on the Demon Spine Ape?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Currently no data is avable on the Demon Spine Ape.

    бкбк

    ''Hmmбн so no leads here either. Still, perhaps I should take a look myselfter.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Alright that will be enough for today, I''ll contact you when needed." Lin Wu said before stopping the link.

    He thought about the demon spine ape and wondered what kind of a beast it could be.

    ''Since there are no records of it in the system then it''s likely that it''s a lesser known beast.'' Lin Wu thought.

    The system had data on all the records that they had obtained from the study in Shirong''s new courtyard, which had quite a bit of info on the local beasts and the native beasts of the Millennium Forest as well.

    Meanwhile, Shirong was busy ughtering more beasts.

    "HAAAA! Take this!" He shouted as the two ends of the green crystal spear extended and sliced the beasts that were surrounding him in one go.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Shirong took a tired breath as he looked at the scene of a massacre. There were corpses everywhere and blood was spilled too. The Strong stench of blood only helped to attract more and more of the beasts, thus speeding up their speed of hunting.

    "System, show me the spirit qi and vital energy that I have right now." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 80969 units [liquid spirit qi]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Late Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/24000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    QI STORAGE: 93355 units [liquid spirit qi]

    -

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 86231 Units

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 199876 units

    бкбк

    "OH DAMN! I''ve umted a heck lot of spirit qi, haven''t I?" Lin Wu eximed.

    Lin Wu had kind of put the increase of spirit qi and vital energy to the back of his mind as he had been focused on nning and killing the beasts most of the time. The system would take the required energy as needed and would regenerate his body''s injuries.

    The energy required for the system''s own use was already set to automatic and was taken periodically as needed. Lin Wu had given the control to the system and had also increased the maximum cap that he had previously set on it.

    ''Alright, since I have all this. Time to make some changes.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, start converting the vital energy into vital essence." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    INITIATING CHECK: Checking for anomalies

    CHECK COMPLETE: No anomalies found

    CHECKING HOST VITALS: Vitals steady

    INITIATING CONVERSION: Converting Vital energy to Vital essence

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s body suddenly felt numb to him, and he lost control of it for a moment. In fact, even Shirong felt the change and became shocked. He immediately retreated to a safer area and ced the Immortal Crystal armament down.

    He then set up a few defensive formations and went to stand about a hundred meters away. He had already learned from the few previous times and thought that it was better for him to be cautious. Shirong did not want to be an unlucky victim of his own weapon and die.

    Lin Wu was currently feeling a warmth spreading in his body. This warmth would expand and contract as if the waves on the seashore. The contracting and expanding feeling increased more and more until a searing pain filled his body.

    Lin Wu had expected something and thus had already given the system the ordures to suppress his voice, so that no one else would hear it. Still, he was shouting with all his might in his mind and bearing through the pain.

    The searing painsted for about five minutes, after which it was reced by a feeling of pleasure.

    "<em>Ah~</em> This is even better than when I obtained spirit qiбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CONVERSION COMPLETED: New Stat added- Vital Essence

    VITAL ESSENCE: 15638 units

    Note: Auto Conversion is enabled.

    бкбк

    The first thing Lin Wu saw was the number, which was less than it should have been ording to the systems information.

    "System why is there a discrepancy in the amount of vital essence that was obtained?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Due to certain unforeseen circumstances, the host''s body became unstable, but then the vital energy was used topensate it at the same time. Until the host''s body became limated to the Vital essence, the system continued to recover the injuries that were being inflicted.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн alright. That kind of makes sense, but since there was no notification then it means there really wasn''t much danger, was there?"

 Chapter 163 - Beast Swarm?

    With the new stat added, Lin Wu was feeling a bit satisfied. It was one of the things that he had on his list that he had been stalling for a while.

    "Let''s see what else we can doбн Oh yeah system, how''s the analysis on cultivation techniquesing along?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The expected progress is at 5.07%.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was rather disappointed by this and was expecting it to be a bit more than just this. But then an idea struck him.

    "System, if the amount of energy invested is increased, will the rate of analysis increase? I mean, can''t you add anotherputational A.I.?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Adding anotherputational A.I. will increase the energy consumption by three times.

    Does the host want to activate it?

    бкбк

    "Yeah. Three times isn''t much of a problem for now, you can add theputation A.I." Lin Wu approved.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Computational A.I. (2) has been activated.

    SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMED: 3500 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 5489 units

    ASSIGNING TO TASK: Computational A.I. (2) has been assigned to the task- Cultivation technique analysis and extraption.

    PREVIOUS SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 22 units/hour

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 66 units/hour

    бкбк

    Looking at the consumption of system energy did not faze Lin Wu as he had expected this. Just the basic activation required arge amount of energy and after that, it would continually consume a set amount of system energy to continue the progress.

    "Alright, system transfer 5000 units of liquid spirit qi from the spirit qi storage to the System energy." Lin Wu ordered, seeing that the amount had fallen by quite a bit.

    He chose this amount by estimating the minimum energy that would be consumed by the system just for the analysis task and rounded it off a bit.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TRANSFERRING ENERGY: 5000 units [liquid spirit qi]-> 50000 units system energy

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 55489 units

    бкбк

    With that out of the way, Lin Wu could forget about the consumption of the system for a while and could use it more efficiently.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    Shirong who had been watching the Immortal crystal armament with an oppressive gaze finally took a breath of relief after seeing it calm down. He walked forward and touched the Immortal weapon lightly with his finger, and quickly withdrawing.

    He didn''t want to burn his hand again and ensured that it was normal before picking the spear up. Holding it in his hands, he felt it to be a bit more different from before. It wasn''t as if its power had increased, but there seemed to be a qualitative change in it instead.

    It felt as if the power that it already had was refined even further into a better form. Shirong lightly circted his spirit qi through the spear but did not find any difference.

    "Hmmбн maybe I''ll see it eventually as I use it more," Shirong said to himself before deciding to continue hunting.

    About two more hours passed and by now Shirong had hunted three more core condensation realm beasts. This was slightly low than normal, and even Lin Wu found it strange. He looked at the map and saw that for some reason the beasts were now all moving away from the area that they were in currently.

    "Oh? Were they scared by us or something?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Shirong spread his spirit sense around and waited for the spear to give him the suggestion. But after waiting for a minute and not receiving any message, he felt awkward.

    "Did something happen? Why is it not doing anything? Did all the beasts run away?" Shirong wondered.

    But just as he said this, Lin Wu got a warning.

    <em>~Tremble~</em>

    "Great! He just jinxed itбн I thinkбн" Lin Wu muttered and looked at the window that had popped up.

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    бкбк

    LARGE NUMBER OF BEASTS DETECTED: Currently approaching host''s location and will arrive in 30 seconds.

    NUMBERS DETECTED: 2589

    NUMBERS DETECTED: 2596

    NUMBERS DETECTED: 3289

    .

    NUMBERS DETECTED: 4985

    .

    .

    NUMBERS DETECTED: 9845

    .

    .

    .

    NUMBERS DETECTED: 20647

    бкбк

    Looking at the rapidly increasing Numbers Lin Wu could only say one thing: "F*ck!"

    "System, do a scan and tell me what kind of beasts they are and where theying from?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He was looking at the markers on the map but found them to be the same as before and was wondering if all these beasts were approaching their position, then why were they not showing up on his map.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Beasts identified

    TARGET: 1. Hard Eared Limber Mice, 2. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    CULTIVATION BASE: 1. Hard Eared Limber Mice- Early to peak stage qi refining realm 2. Hard Eared Limber Mice King- Late Stage of the Core Condensation realm.

    бкбк

    "What the hell how are there so many of them? Didn''t the system say even a king at the early stage of the Core condensation realm will only have 10000 beasts in its group? This group is way more than that." Lin Wu questioned in shock as the number of the Hard Eared Limber Mice increased beyond 50000.

    <em>~Tremble~</em>

    By now even Shirong could feel that something was wrong as tremors suddenly started and the ground shook, making Shirong stumble as well.

    "Wha-what''s happening?" Shirong wondered as his spirit sense spread out.

    At first, he had thought that arge group of spirit beasts was galloping towards him, but a few seconds Lateran he realized that it was noting from the surface but rather underground.

    After ten seconds, he finally sensed the presence of the first Hard Eared Limber Mice.

    "GODDAMMIT! It''s those pests again!" Shirong yelled before withdrawing a spirit sword and jumping on it.

    He then flew to about twenty meters away from the ground and looked at the shaking earth.

    <em>~Crumble~</em>

    The earth finally split open as droves of Hard Eared Limber Mice rushed out of the tunnel that they had just dug. They kept on pouring out and by the time their numbers reached 10000, Shirong was already tense. But when they reached 50000, he was stressed.

 Chapter 164 - Hard Eared Limber Mice Kings?

    ''What the hell! When will they stop and how are there even so many of them together?'' Shirong thought as he looked below at the Hard Eared Limber Mice.

    The Hard Eared Limber Mice were chattering amongst themselves and sniffing the ground. They finally liked up when Shirong did a quick scan of the area using his spirit sense.

    "This is gonna be one big exterminationбн" Shirong muttered as he gripped the Immortal Crystal armament tightly and looked on at the increasing numbers of the Hard Eared Limber Mice.

    They finally stoppeding out then their number had exceeded by 100,000. Shirong couldn''t tell the exact count but Lin Wu could very well do it.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT BEAST COUNT: 101,278 beasts of which; 1 is Late stage Core condensation realm beast, 2 Early stage Core condensation realm beasts, 8922 are peak stage qi refining realm beasts, 23145 arete stage qi refining realm beasts, 33699 are mid stage qi refining realm beasts and 35509 Early stage qi refining realm beasts.

    бкбк

    Just the sheer amount of beasts that were currently appearing out of the ground was enough to level an entire city. Perhaps the Deer Wood city would be eradicated in less than ten minutes if such arge number of beasts were to show up there.

    Even if a majority of them were just at the qi refining realm, they were enough to kill most Peak stage core condensation realm beasts with ease. Just a single attack from all of thembined would be enough to pulverize a beast to minced meat.

    "Don''t tell me all these Hard Eared Limber Mice came here because of the change in territories? Do they want to im a new territory for themselves too?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He kept on looking at the Hard Eared Limber Mice and so did Shirong, who at this moment was ready to just escape. It was now that Lin Wu realized he couldn''t hear the Hard Eared Limber Mice talk.

    ''Wait, why isn''t the system''s trantion not working?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Screech~Screech~Screech~Screech~Screech~</em>

    All he could hear was a cacophony of screeching and chittering.

    "System, what''s the problem here, why are the Hard Eared Limber Mice not meaning anything?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Hard Eared Limber Mice are not speaking anything, thus the host cannot understand its meaning. They are merely creating animistic cries and noises on instinct. Further analysis of the Hard Eared Limber Mice shows that they are in a frenzied state and are not fully conscious.

    Besides a majority of them are qi refining realm beasts and thus cannot speak coherently, anyway.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu read the system''s answer and found it to be rather suspicious. He understood if the Qi refining realm beasts were unable to speak, but even the core condensation realm beasts were not saying anything.

    "System filter out the Core condensation realm Hard Eared Limber Mice on the map." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    The map window flickered before the number of red markers decreased swiftly and only three of them were left. All three of them were clustered together and were located in the central area of the herd.

    "System, focus and see if they are speaking or not." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AUDITORY FILTER ACTIVATED: Targeting Core condensation realm Hard Eared Limber Mice.

    бкбк

    <em>~Screech~</em>

    Even after doing that, all Lin Wu could hear was the sound of screeching.

    "Dammit! Seems like even they are in a frenzied stateбн" Lin Wu cursed upon seeing no response.

    He had thought that he would be able to hear what the Core condensation realm Hard Eared Limber Mice were talking about and then n from there. But now that attempt failed before he even started.

    ''Should I escape or no?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    There were a few possibilities that could happen from here on. Either he would be able to kill arge amount of them or would get killed along with Shirong.

    <em>~Meep~</em>

    Suddenly a small group from the Hard Eared Limber Mice herd seemed to have noticed Shirong, who was flying above them and decided to attack. Shirong had thought that there wasn''t much they would be able to do to him at a ce this far up, but he was proven wrong.

    The Hard Eared Limber Mice that had attacked him were at the back thus he had not seen them, also with there being such arge number of them, his sensing with the spirit sense had also gone a bit haywire. There was only so much that it could handle at once, and these were simply too many beasts for him to urately read.

    The Hard Eared Limber Mice attacked in a rather different way than before. They were extremely cooperative with each other and jumped off each other''s backs to climb on top of tree branches and then jump from there to attack Shirong.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~Cut~</em>

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    Shirong of course responded to the attempted attack. Even if he had been unable to detect it at the moment it happened, his instincts were still sharp enough to respond to them. He immediately swung the Immortal Crystal Armament in its spear form and shed the Hard Eared Limber Mice apart.

    Their blood and guts spilled back onto the ground and covered some of the other Hard Eared Limber Mice that were below them.

    <em>~Screech~</em>

    The fresh scent of blood from theirpanions seemed to have incited the Hard Eared Limber Mice even further, and their noise only increased more. This time Lin Wu could feel a unified wave of spirit qi spreading from them.

    It was as if the entire heard was acting as one and their spirit qi signatures werebined as well. Still, when Lin Wu tried to focus deeper on it, he realized that the spirit qi wave would resonate three times before actuallybining into one.

    It would first start from one of the two early stage core condensation realm Hard Eared Limber Mice kings and then to the other one before spreading to the entire herd. Then from there, it would resonate with thete stage core condensation realm: Hard Eared Limber Mice king onest time and then be released again.

 Chapter 165 - Creating An Opening?

    Lin Wu could tell that this was the way theymunicated and that the key to stopping them would be to take out the three beast kings.

    Shirong on the other hand didn''t know this and was simply chopping down the Hard Eared Limber Mice that were attacking him. After killing the first set of them, the rest of the herd had be infuriated and attacked non stop, with no fear of death.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    <em>~Cut~</em>

    <em>~sh~</em>

    "Dammit! There are far too many of them," Shirong cursed as his route of escape was blocked.

    Whichever direction he tried to go he was blocked and he couldn''t head further up into the sky either due to the spirit sword being a mid ranked spirit weapon. Even if he did go further up, there was a great chance he would be attacked by the flying beasts.

    The sky and the treetops were the territory of the flying beasts and would attack anyone that went past it. It was perhaps the most dangerous route to take unless one was a Nascent soul realm cultivator and was able to fly without a spirit tool.

    From nascent soul onward a cultivator could fly without the need for a spirit tool, but it was still a limited amount of distance and they would need to recover after that. Because of that when nascent soul realm cultivators traveled long distances, they still used spirit tools.

    Lin Wu looked at the map and tried to see if he could find a route to the three Hard Eared Limber Mice kings.

    "As long as I''m able to kill one of them, their cooperation should suffer and if I kill all of them, then they should disperse." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu used the connection with Shirong and released waves of spirit qi from his body.

    "Huh? Does it want to consume the beasts?бн Alright! Let''s kill them!" Shirong said before a fierce look appeared on his face.

    He willed it, and the shape of the Immortal Crystal Armament started to change. Shirong started to spin the spear rapidly above his head while dodging the Hard Eared Limber Mice that jumped to attack him. The two ends of the spear started to glow in a green color as Shirong infused it with wind attribute spirit qi.

    "Take this! Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Cloud Splitting Gale!" He yelled out while striking with the spear.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~Zing~</em>

    Hundreds of Hard Eared Limber Mice were killed at the same time as the ground trembled from the attack. A gully was carved out in the ground and butchered corpses of the Hard Eared Limber Mice were lying on the sides, while those that were in the direct contact were turned to mush.

    Still, the number was barely a dent in the Numbers of the Hard Eared Limber Mice and they soon regrouped.

    "Come on! Move forward while there is a gap!" Lin Wu prodded Shirong on.

    Shirong could tell that the spear was directing him ahead for something and thus he followed it, until being stopped by the Hard Eared Limber Mice again.

    "Bah! I''ll kill you all!" Shirong yelled before striking again.

    More Hard Eared Limber Mice were killed as a path was forcibly opened in the middle. Shirong repeated this at least ten times before he was even able to get close to the area that the Immortal Crystal Armament was pointing him towards.

    But just as he could attack the three Hard Eared Limber Mice kingsбн they disappeared.

    "Huh? Where did they go?" Lin Wu wondered and saw the tags on the map, finding them to be underground.

    "Dammit, I forget they can hide in the ground too." Lin Wu said, feeling pissed.

    ''Oh? It wants me to go in a different direction now.'' Shirong thought before changing the direction and heading towards the three Hard Eared Limber Mice king.

    More of the attacks were thrown, thinning the herd a little bit. But once again, the Hard Eared Limber Mice kings disappeared into the ground, only toe back to the surface a few tens of meters away.

    "These are some sneaky rats! Gotta find a different wayбн" Shirong said to himself.

    This time his speed of hunting was faster, and barely any mistakes were being done.

    "That''s it, just a little bit closerбн" Lin Wu said as he aimed at Hard Eared Limber Mice kings.

    The three Hard Eared Limber Mice kings seemed to have noticed Shirong''s actions and knew better than to stay on the surface. But just as they were about to do that, they were interrupted as a spirit sword came flying towards him.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Screee~</em>

    The spirit sword was thrown by none other than Shirong, and now he was falling to the ground without its support. While the spirit sword had been unable to kill a Hard Eared Limber Mice king, it was still able to cut one of the kings.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    Shirongnded on the ground with his feet getting buried up to his knees due to the weight of the Immortal Crystal armament. A few Hard Eared Limber Mice also got crushed underneath his feet, but he was the least worried about them.

    He swiped the spear and killed the Hard Eared Limber Mice that was surrounding him before pulling himself out of the ground. But just this much time was enough for two of the Hard Eared Limber Mice kings to burrow into the ground, leaving behind the one that had been injured.

    That beast wasn''t as fast and thus, Shirong lunged at it, stabbing it with the Immortal Crystal Armament.

    <em>~slick~</em>

    <em>~Scree~</em>

    A final pain filled cry was let out by the Hard Eared Limber Mice king before it died. The Immortal Crystal Armament acted instantly and absorbed the spirit qi and vital energy from its body, replenish Lin Wu''s and Shirong''s stores.

    The Hard Eared Limber Mice king that had just been killed was an early stage Core Condensation realm beast and there were still two more of them left.

    "One down, two more to goбн"

 Chapter 166 - Pests?

    By now, Shirong had understood that the three Hard Eared Limber Mice that the Immortal Crystal Armament was telling him to target were different than others and also had a higher Cultivation base.

    "So you want the bigwigs, huh? Makes sense, they are also the ones that will give the best challengeбн" Shirong muttered to himself as his spirit sense spread around to find the remaining two Hard Eared Limber Mice kings.

    But Shirong had underestimated the sheer numbers of the beasts. They were able to hide the presence of the Hard Eared Limber Mice kings, and Shirong was unable to find them on his own.

    <em>~sigh~</em>

    "Lemme just point you to themбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before prodding Shirong towards their new position.

    The Hard Eared Limber Mice kings were quite fast as their tunnels were already dug underground and all they had to do was to travel through them. After the death of one of theirpanions, the two Hard Eared Limber Mice kings became cautious and avoideding out of the ground.

    The other Hard Eared Limber Mice also kept on attacking Shirong, and by now he had borne some cuts and grazes on his body. His robes were already torn and drops of blood would seep out from time to time. By now he had used his qi skills quite a few times and exhaustion was setting in.

    Unlike most other cultivators that Lin Wu had seen, Shirong had a rtively high body tempering realm cultivation base, being at the tenth stage. Most of the cultivators would simply cultivate till the eighth stage before practicing a qi cultivation technique and bing a cultivator.

    After that, they would simply abandon it and never practice it again. It was the same for Shirong, but the tenth stage Body tempering realm cultivation still gave him higher stamina and resilience than other cultivators.

    He wasn''t like Lin Wu, who could continuously regenerate their stamina as long as they had enough vital energy in storage. Even if one had a lot of spirit qi, there were only so many times they could use it before their bodies would start getting strained.

    Lin Wu started to think of a method that would work for the Hard Eared Limber Mice kings. It was not like Shirong was out of methods to kill the Hard Eared Limber Mice all at once. If they used the Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Sundering Tempest, they would definitely be able to kill a lot of the Hard Eared Limber Mice.

    But the problem was that the qi skill was too strong and would probably decimate the bodies of the Hard Eared Limber Mice beyond recognition. If this happened, it would pretty much be impossible for them to obtain any spirit qi from them.

    It was fine for them to use it on the Lamp Light Ligers as they were core condensation realm beasts and their bodies were able to handle it. Another thing was that the Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Sundering Tempest was an extremely strong qi skill that put stress on Shirong.

    While Lin Wu might be able to handle it rather easily, Shirong would not. Thus that was another reason to use it. Besides, Lin Wu wanted theplete bodies of the three Hard Eared Limber Mice kings as he wanted to get their bloodline.

    ''Theirmunication and coordination ability is too good to let go of. Even while being frenzied they are able to act so perfectly due to their instincts.'' Lin Wu thought.

    <em>~chink~</em>

    Shirong pulled out the spirit sword he had thrown and jumped on it, flying in the air again.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    <em>~sh~</em>

    <em>~cut~</em>

    He kept on swinging the spear, killing the Hard Eared Limber Mice that continued to attack them.

    "Hmmбн I need to do an attack that would be faster than others. And since the two Hard Eared Limber Mice kings are not leaving the ground, I need an attack that would pierce the ground tooбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself while Shirong continued his ughter.

    "Bloody! Worthless! Pests! Know! Your! ce!" Shirong spat out each word with a strike.

    Blood was trickling down the corner of his forehead and made his hair stick to it. Shirong currently had a rather gruesome look as he was covered in the blood, and entrails of all the Hard Eared Limber Mice that he had massacred.

    After thinking for about five minutes, Lin Wu finally got an idea that just might work. But for this, he was going to need the cooperation of Shirong as well, and thus hemunicated with him using his connection with him. He scanned the area and chose a spot that would be the perfect for the attack.

    ''Huhбн thisбн'' Shirong thought while battling the Hard Eared Limber Mice.

    Lin Wu was giving him some prompts about how the attack should work, but Shirong was having a hard time focusing on both things.

    "Oh, f*ck they''re already in the ce! Dammit, I''ll do it myself." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he triggered his innate skills.

    Shirong who had just swung the Immortal Crystal Armament stumbled because the weight bnce of it suddenly shifted. He was barely able to control himself but the Immortal Crystal armament mmed into a few Hard Eared Limber Mice, turning them into meat paste just from its weight.

    The head of Lin Wu''s started to broaden while the spikes on its side receded. It became wide like a shield and looked like it had a pole attached to its end. Shirong looked at the changed form of the immortal Crystal Armament and found it to bepletely different than he had ever seen.

    Then he heard only one thought in his mind: "Fly, there."

    Not hesitating even one moment, Shirong flew towards the direction he was being pointed towards. But that wasn''t all, the Immortal weapon was telling him to go even higher up into the air.

    "Dammit! Whatever this is, it better work!" Shirong said with gritted teeth and flew up under the incessant cries of the Hard Eared Limber Mice.

    "Time to end this!"

 Chapter 167 - Three Dead Beast Kings?

    Lin Wu''s body was thrumming with power as he channeled more and more spirit qi into the attack. He was also synchronizing it with Shirong''s Immortal Sky Shaker art and was assimting the wind attribute spirit qi into it.

    Once the energy reached a certain level, Lin Wu converted the spirit qi that he had umted in it to radiation. His innate skill radiation maniption worked at full power as it was infused into the wind. This attack seemed to be simr to the Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Sundering Tempest, but its application was different.

    If the Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Sundering Tempest was meant for a wide area, the current attack was meant for a narrow area but deeper impact.

    By now, Shirong had reacher quite a height and it was now impossible for him to go any further. Not only was the spirit sword''s grade not high enough, but the weight of the Immortal Crystal Armament was also too much for it to carry.

    "This should be high enough," Lin Wu said to himself as hemunicated with Shirong to stop.

    Shirong could also tell that they had reached a crescendo, and now it was the time to fall.

    "Enough of this, get ready to die!" Shirong shouted before dropping from the sky.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~Bang~</em>

    The Immortal Crystal armament dropped and Shirong was holding on to its handle, falling along with it. The speed of the fall was fast but soon it exceeded the sound barrier, creating a sonic boom.

    <em>~screech~</em>

    The sonic boom seemed to have disoriented the Hard Eared Limber Mice as they all screeched in pain, unable to move anymore. The wind attribute spirit qibined with radiation was spiraling around the broad shield like head of the Immortal Crystal Armament, cutting off a circr area on the ground.

    This was the exact spot where the Hard Eared Limber Mice were currently located ording to the map. Lin Wu had to actually change theyer on the map so that he could view the undergroundyer. This was also the reason why it seemed to him as if the Hard Eared Limber Mice had appeared out of nowhere.

    Lin Wu needed to switch from the surface view to the nextyer below it to view them.

    Still, the spiraling energy being released by the broad shield like head made it so that the Hard Eared Limber Mice kings could not move from their ce. Lin Wu had trapped them in three ways; first, the sonic boom which disoriented them, then the spiraling energy which created a situation where they were basically in the eye of a storm, and finally the radiation itself, which restricted their spirit qi.

    With the velocity that Lin Wu was falling, the energy cyclone was digging deep into the ground and soon his entire body pierced the ground.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    As if a fire cracker had been lit up in a pile of mud, the soil spread all around as a crater about twenty meters wide and eight meters deep was formed.

    Shirong had already closed his eyes due to the blinding lighting from the energy cyclone and did not dare to probe it with his spirit sense either. He knew that the Immortal Crystal armament was protecting him even now and if it was someone else holding onto it, they would have long since been reduced to shreds.

    This was exactly what Lin Wu wanted. The reason why he had made his head into a broad shield like form was that it made it easier for him to change its form from that. When the shield like end pierced the ground, Lin Wu morphed it into his own head and opened the mouth wide, the needle sharp spike like teeth on disy.

    The Hard Eared Limber Mice kings didn''t even have a chance to let out a cry as they were instantly devoured by Lin Wu and shredded to a mix of minced meat and bone fragments in his mouth. The spike like teeth moved like the des of a blender and finally reduced the beasts into pulp.

    And as soon as he did that, the notification sounded.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 6014 Units [liquid spirit qi]

    QI STORAGE: 95782 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 2564 units-> 256 units vital essence

    VITAL ESSENCE: 15941 units

    -

    REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED: The Bloodline of Hard Eared Limber Mice can now be upgraded to that of a Hard Eared Limber Mice king.

    COMPATIBILITY RAISED: 40%-> 95%

    INNATE SKILLS DETECTED: 1. Sound Command 2. Kin Command

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s original goal was to merely increase thepatibility of the Hard Eared Limber Mice bloodline but with the two Hard Eared Limber Mice kings that he had fully consumed along with the spirit qi and vital energy of the other one, it was enough to directly upgrade it to the Hard Eared Limber Mice king bloodline.

    It had also revealed two additional innate skills that belonged to the Hard Eared Limber Mice and one that Lin Wu thought belonged to the Hard Eared Limber Mice king.

    In addition to that, Lin Wu had also obtained quite a bit of spirit qi and some vital essence too. Only now did he realize the passive effect of vital essence. It was automatically rejuvenating his body and regenerating his fine injuries without him needed to actively fix them using the innate skills or the assistance of the system.

    "Alright, let''s see what''s up with the other Hard Eared Limber Mice now that their kings are dead." Lin Wu muttered to himself before bringing up the map window.

    On there he saw that the beasts were still disoriented and were not moving, merely crying in pain which was mostly screeching. It showed to Lin Wu that they were still under the effect of that substance and did not have aplete consciousness.

    The energy cyclone was still spinning around him but it had be much thinner and about five secondster itpletely disappeared. But before that happened, Lin Wu reverted back to the normal form of a spear. Shirong also felt the change in the weight and shape and realized that it had ended.

 Chapter 168 - A Mountain Of Corpses?

    When the light died down, Shirong looked around at the army of Hard Eared Limber Mice that were staring at them.

    <em>~Scree~</em>

    But in the next moment chaos broke as they all started to run after him. Shirong quickly swung the Immortal Crystal Armament and killed the ones that were the closest to him. This time the Hard Eared Limber Mice were attacking him in a random manner, and their coordination waspletely gone.

    ''This should make it a bit easierбн'' Shirong thought.

    A secondter, Lin Wu started to give him a part of the spirit qi he had obtained and Shirong quickly absorbed it while defending against the incessant attacks of the Hard Eared Limber Mice. At this point fighting the Hard Eared Limber Mice had be a joke.

    All Shirong had to do was keep on attacking in a circr radius and the Hard Eared Limber Mice kept on getting killed. Whatever substance that had affected them had taken away their sense of fear and death. They would keep on attacking him without stopping.

    The death of the three Hard Eared Limber Mice kings had taken away the majority of danger from them, as they could no longer function together. Perhaps if they were in normal condition, they would have been able tomunicate well, but now it was all for naught.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~woosh~</em>

    Shirong fought tirelessly as Lin Wu also absorbed the spirit qi and vital energy from the piles of blood and gore that were umting near them now. For the first time, the spear body of Lin Wu was drenched in blood.

    It took Shirong an entire three hours before thest of the Hard Eared Limber Mice were killed.

    If amoner were to see this scene right now, they would think that they were in hell. There were piles of unrecognizable corpses, pieces of flesh, guts, and bones everywhere. If it were not for the red fur of the Hard Eared Limber Mice, it would have even been impossible to tell what these remains belonged to.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Shirong tookbored breaths as he felt tired from the long battle. He had to admit that this was perhaps one of the most difficult ones he had been through till now. Even the trials of his n were not as difficult as what he had gone through.

    <em>~sigh~</em>

    "Now to absorb themбн" Shirong muttered and was about to use the Immortal Crystal armament to absorb the spirit qi when an idea appeared in his mind.

    "Dammit, the exhaustion is making me dumb! I just need to gather all the remains togetherбн" Shirong cursed.

    He stabbed the spear into the ground and freed his hands.

    <em>~Huu~</em>

    Taking a deep breath, Shirong stimted the spirit qi within his body. He then spread his hands wide as they glowed with a green hue. Wind attribute spirit qi appeared on his palms as he teen flicked them outward.

    <em>~Swoosh~ </em>

    Two orbs of wind attribute spirit qi went to the corners of the battlefield before starting to spin. It was as if they were chasing each other and picking up all that was in their way.

    Shirong had to fully concentrate on this task as he manipted the wind orbs to create a gale. He created two more wind orbs near his body and manipted them to spin as well. This way two opposing forces were created that were unidirectional.

    The orbs in the outer part pushed the remains of the Hard Eared Limber Mice, while the orbs in the inner part pulled them in like a vacuum.

    <em>~Woosh~</em>

    A few minutester, a circr wall of corpses and remains was piled around Shirong. He stopped after everything of relevance was umted and then looked at his handiwork.

    "This should make it much easierбн" Shirong muttered before picking up the spear that was stabbed into the ground beside him and then inserting it into the pile of corpses.

    This time even Lin Wu had to admit that this was a much more efficient way of absorbing the spirit qi and vital energy. He couldn''t even imagine how long it would take Shirong to absorb the resources from all the corpses if he did it one by one.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 869 Units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 478 Units

    .

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 457 Units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 698 Units

    .

    .

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 1169 Units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 145 Units

    .

    .

    .

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 2485 Units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 994 Units

    бкбк

    A long string of notifications popped up as Lin Wu kept on absorbing spirit qi and vital energy from all of the remains of the beasts. This process actually took longer than it took Shirong to gather all the corpses together.

    Shirong was thrilled with the massive amount of spirit qi being poured into him. He had already reached the amount needed to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, but he still kept on absorbing it.

    "HAAHAH! Finally, that technique can be used!" Shirongughed out in joy.

    He sat down cross legged with his right hand on the spear. His left hand formed a string of mudras as the spirit qi that was absorbed into his dantian started to stir. It flowed into his meridians, forming a new qi circuit.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NEW PARAMETERS DETECTED: New Spirit qi circuit being formed in the subject.

    ANALYSIS INITIATED: Observing new spirit qi circuit.

    бкбк

    Only when a new notification informed Lin Wu of what was happening did he realize that Shirong was using a different cultivation technique now. He was happy, as this would mean the system would get to observe and record the entire process from the very start.

    This way it wouldn''t have to extrapte data and would get the actual data instead. It would also help in speeding up its task of analyzing cultivation techniques.

    Lin Wu was still absorbing the spirit qi and vital energy from the beast corpses and was not even halfway done. If this was one singr beast it would have been much faster for him, but since it was a mixture of many, the system had to do it manually.

    Still, them being together in contact helped the process as well.

 Chapter 169 - Massive Gains?

    Time passed and eventually, Lin Wu had finished absorbing all of the spirit qi and vital energy from the beast corpses. The amount contained within one corpse wasn''t that much but with more than a hundred thousand beasts werebined, the sheer quantity was massive.

    Lin Wu knew that even now he hadn''t gotten everything from the corpses as he had not consumed them. If he did the vital energy would increase by another forty percent.

    ''Hmm, I should try to see if I can do it tonight. Shirong is also practicing the new technique and will be busy with it I think.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He looked up at the notification window that had a rather big number of notifications listed on it. Lin Wu had ignored them and had let them umte since he was focused on absorbing them, but now he could finally take a look.

    "System,pile all the spirit qi and vital energy increase notifications into one and show me the amount obtained." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TOTAL SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 2,115,805 units [liquid spirit qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 2,211,587 units [liquid spirit qi]

    TOTAL VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 3,734,126 units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 3,749,494 Units

    бкбк

    Looking at the numbers that had shown up on the window, Lin Wu was dumbstruck.

    "Thisбн thisбн what the f*ck! Holy shit! This isбн massive!" Lin Wu eximed in shock.

    In fact, he was so excited that his body started to tremble and even Shirong felt it. But he was focused on cultivating and thus did not look at that time. Even with the amount that Lin Wu got, he understood that it was only a fraction of the real amount.

    There was still some part left in the corpse and the amount that he had transferred to Shirong.

    "With the amount that I have right now, can''t I just upgrade directly to the Nascent Soul realm? No, waitбн I still need to take care of the foundation or I may have problems again. Still, I should be able toplete most of the tasks I have been stalling for a while." Lin Wu said to himself.

    ''Let''s elerate the speed of the system''s analysis further.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, what''s the most you can speed up the speed of analysis with the energy?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The maximum consumption that can be reached is 198 units/hour if the thirdputational A.I. is activated and overall consumption perputational A.I. is increased.

    бкбк

    "Alright! Do that and also transfer 200,000 units of vital essence to the system energy." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TRANSFERRING ENERGY: Vital essence 200,000 units-> System energy 2,000,000

    ACTIVATING COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Computational A.I. (3) has been activated.

    SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMED: 12650 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 2,055,480 units

    ASSIGNING TO TASK: Computational A.I. (3) has been assigned to the task- Cultivation technique analysis and extraption.

    PREVIOUS SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 66 units/hour

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 198 units/hour

    бкбк

    With the newputational A.I. activated, Lin Wu hoped to get the new cultivation technique soon. But he also had other things he could now do, such as upgrading the bloodlines.

    "System open the bloodline upgrade function." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE UPGRADE FUNCTION: Activated

    AVAILABLE UPGRADES: 1. Hard Eared Limber Mice-> Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    2. Lamp Light Liger-> Twin Light Liger

    бкбк

    Lin Wu decided to go with the Hard Eared Limber Mice King bloodline upgrade first, as the abilities given by it seemed to be rather mild. Plus he wouldn''t have to worry much about his main bloodline getting affected as this bloodline was quite low ranked.

    "System, start with the Hard Eared Limber Mice bloodline upgrade," Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE UPGRADE SELECTED: Hard Eared Limber Mice-> Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    REQUIREMENTS: 1. 12000 Units Spirit qi (Liquid Drops)

    2. 1000 Units Vital Essence

    3. One additional Computational A.I. activated.

    CHECKING COMPATIBILITY: Compatibility at 95%

    REQUIREMENTS SATISFIED: Initiating upgrade

    бкбк

    With all the conditions fulfilled, Lin Wu felt the change. It was as if something foreign was moving through his body. It was like a presence and seemed immaterial, yet it was could be sensed clearly. Lin Wu looked deep within his body using his spirit sense and soon found the cause.

    It was as if a Hard Eared Limber Mice was running around in his dantian like crazy. Its body was twitching and growing at the same time. A few minutester it was fully grown and the process hadpleted with the Hard Eared Limber Mice turning into a Hard Eared Limber Mice King.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE UPGRADE COMPLETED: Hard Eared Limber Mice King Bloodline obtained.

    бкбк

    Now Lin Wu wanted to start the assimtion of the bloodline. This was the first time he was manually going to assimte a bloodline, as the other two bloodlines he had; the Crimson eyed emerald worm and the unknown one were done by the system itself.

    Lin Wu first checked Shirong and found him to be close to done. The spirit qi in his body was slowing down and a change could be perceived. Lin Wu wanted to see what was Shirong doing with his new technique. He still did not know the name of it, thus wanted to learn more about it.

    Lin Wu looked into his body using the spirit sense and found that his spirit qi was flowing into his meridians from his dantian and then into the tissues of his body. There, the tissues rapidly consumed the spirit qi and started producing a reddish energy.

    "Wait, isn''t thatбн Vital essence?" Lin Wu identified.

    Lin Wu looked on for more time just to confirm that it was indeed vital essence that Shirong was producing and it turned out to be true. The vital essence that was being produced by the tissues spread out evenly in his body and started nourishing it.

    His injuries healedpletely, and even the hidden seque he had due to the previous incidents were healed.

 Chapter 170 - Shirongs Body Tempering Realm Breakthrough?

    Lin Wu looked on and saw that the vital essence was increasing the body tempering realm cultivation base of Shirong as well.

    When he had seen him before this, he was only at the tenth stage of the body tempering realm, as that was the minimum level that was required by his cultivation technique, the Immortal Sky Shaker Art. Lin Wu himself was different than human cultivators or even beasts as the system had modified his body.

    There was no such thing as body tempering realm cultivation realm for him as his physique waspletely constructed by the system with the use of the meteor crystal. Lin Wu remembered the memories of the Nascent soul realm cultivate of the Ling Kingdom''s royal court and his words that he had spoken.

    ''I can''t see its cultivation base'' was what he had said back then.

    ''Hmm, considering that the crystal and that beast are linked, I guess the reason why that nascent soul realm cultivator couldn''t see its cultivation was also because of the same reason. Perhaps both of us have a different system of cultivation but because of the system I also have the normal spirit qi cultivation.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    There were many other possibilities that Lin Wu could think of, but this one seemed to be the most likely to him. Lin Wu came to this conclusion by analyzing the theory behind the body tempering realm cultivation.

    ording to what Lin Wu had learned, the bodies of most humans were inherently not satiable for cultivation and could not amodate spirit qi. So to change this factor, they practiced body tempering realm cultivation and modified their physiques.

    The four tiers of the body tempering realm modified the muscles, skin, blood, bones, and marrow in that order. The first to fourth stage tempered muscles, fifth to seventh tempered skin, eighth to tenth tempered blood, and eleventh to thirteenth tempered the bones and muscles.

    Only after reaching the eighth stage of the body tempering realm could a person start to absorb qi from the air and be a cultivator. Lin Wu reckoned that this was due to the blood vessels being simr to the meridians and being located along with them.

    This became the minimum requirement and different cultivation techniques required higher stages of the body tempering realm. But even the best cultivation technique in this world such as the Immortal Sky Shaker Art only needed the tenth stage of the body tempering realm.

    Lin Wu knew that increasing body tempering realm cultivation was quite difficult for most people and increasing it after reaching the qi refining realm became difficult as one''s physiques would be fixed after that. If one tried to practice body tempering realm cultivation after that, they would need even more resources and the process would be tougher as well.

    ''So this technique that Shirong was excited about was what could push his cultivation base further up from the tenth stage of the body tempering realmбн'' Lin Wu thought as he continued observing.

    Soon, Shirong had a breakthrough and his body tempering realm cultivation reached the Eleventh stage and the effects could be seen on his bones directly as they started to toughen. A little more timeter, it reached the twelfth stage and his bones became denser.

    Now it seemed like the vital essence had met a little barrier, but even that was broken as it started to seep into the marrows of his bones. Lin Wu closely observed and saw that the color of his marrow was changing. It was turning from a in yellow color to a vibrant yellow color.

    And with this, Shirong had broken through to the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm.

    <em>~Humm~</em>

    A thrumming sound was heard as Shirong''s heartbeats sped up. The volume of the sound was so loud that it could be heard outside his body, and it created ripples in the smaller puddles of blood that were spread around him.

    All of Shirong''s cells started emanating an aura of vitality as impurities started being expelled from them. The impurities reached his lungs and skin and were secreted there.

    <em>~Cough~Cough~</em>

    Shirong coughed out loud before spitting out a ck tar like glob that smelled absolutely repulsive.

    "Damn, that''s bad! If I had a nose and I were a human, it would have burned my nose hairs. Uff!" Lin Wu expressed.

    He suppressed his disgust and continued observing. This time he saw that the impurities that were secreted into his skin were forming ayer over it. The impurities seemed to be corrosive as they burned the clothes that Shirong was wearing. Even the surfaceyer of his skin started peeling off, and it looked like a newyer was forming beneath it.

    The firstyer that had been stained ck fell apart like a snake or lizard shedding its skin. It didn''t stop there though; it continued and Shirong shed the upperyer of his skin about three times before it stopped.

    Unfortunately, with the shedding of his skin, Shirong''s hair was also removed and he became bald. His head shined like a hard boiled egg that had been peeled and looked supple. Even the beard he had grown, his eyes brows, and eyshes fell off, making him look like a strange hairless man.

    His breathing had be restless now, and it looked like he was having difficulty in breathing.

    "System, what is happening?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CHECKING VITALS: Subject vital are unstable

    WARNING!: Blood oxygen level is falling!

    бкбк

    "Huh? Did something bad happen while he was practicing the new cultivation technique?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He decided to observe for a minute more and see if he would recover on his own.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Subjects blood oxygen is at a critical level

    PULSE RATE: Decreasing

    бкбк

    Seeing that things were only getting worse, Lin Wu decided to interfere and was about to ask the system to do the same. But then a new notification appeared.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NEW PARAMETERS DETECTED: Analyzing

    VITAL ESSENCE ASSIMILATED: Subject vitals stabilizing

    бкбк

    And then it happenedбн

 Chapter 171 - Bald Shirong?

    Lin Wu could see that Shirong''s physique was starting to change. He started losing body mass at a rapid pace and became thinner and thinner. The more mass he lost, the better his condition was getting ording to the system.

    It also seemed like the amount of vital essence in his body was increasing with the loss in his body mass. Lin Wu couldn''t make heads or tails about this situation and found it to be rather strange. About ten minutester, Shirong had be thin as a stick, having his ribs and bones show prominently.

    If anyone else saw him, they would think he had been starving for many days, but ording to what Lin Wu could sense, his body was rich in vital essence and was packed with it.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SUBJECT VITALS STABILIZED: Parameters re-calibrated

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    "So it''s finallyplete, but what did he exactly do? He increased his body tempering realm cultivation and reached the peak. But what is this?" Lin Wu questioned as he looked at Shirong''s body.

    Lin Wu observed his internal condition with his spirit sense and found it to be better than before.

    ''Huh? Did his dantian just increase in size?'' Lin Wu wondered as he thought he was mistaken.

    But when hepared it with the previous record in the system, it was indeed bigger than before, about 30% bigger. It was now that Lin Wu understood another benefit of the technique that Shirong had used. Not only did it push his body tempering realm cultivation to the peak, but it also expanded his dantian.

    The benefit of a bigger dantian was quite obvious as the bigger the dantian, the more the spirit qi a cultivator would be able to store. This would make a cultivator that was in the same realm stronger than another cultivator just by the virtue of spirit qi capacity.

    ''Wait, wouldn''t it be a bit more difficult for him to reach the nascent soul realm now?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    What Shirong had just done wasparable to raising the basic stat cap on a game character, even when levels were limited. Lin Wu checked his spirit core''s capacity and the dantian size and realized that it was indeed true.

    "Hmm, now he will need to get more spirit qi. Though he isn''t that far from it either, after all, I did give him a massive amount of spirit qi." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Estimating the amount that was needed for him to break through again, Lin Wu thought that a handful of core condensation realm beasts must be enough.

    <em>~twitch~</em>

    Shirong who had been still for the most part finally moved, as his eyelids moved. His body waspletely hairless, and he was thin as a stick. He would look strange as an alien if he walked back into the town. No longer did he had the handsome and charming looks of a young master.

    Sharon''s eyes snapped open as a Strong aura was emanated from him.

    "HAHAHA! I SUCCEEDED! After five hundred years, I am the first!" Shirong shouted in joy.

    He looked at his hands and body, finding it to be incredibly bony. He then touched his face and head, finding himself to be bald.

    "The side effects were much stronger than it was recordedбн Hmm, it shouldn''t matter though they are temporary. I just need to cultivate a bit more and I should be back to normal." Shirong muttered to himself.

    He looked around him and saw the remnants of the impurities that had been expelled by his body. The skin that had been shed was still there and so was the ck tar like glob that was half absorbed by the ground. A foul smell wasing from both of the items, and Shirong felt like he really needed to take a bath.

    "Ugh, better get away from here firstбн" Shirong said to himself before standing up.

    He extended his hand to the Immortal Crystal Armament that was pierced into the ground beside him and grasped it before pulling it out effortlessly.

    "Oh? My physical strength increased by quite a bitбн" Shirong said with surprise.

    He had not used any spirit qi to strengthen his muscles, and yet he was able to pick up the spear rather easily. Even Lin Wu was surprised by this as he had not expected something like this to happen.

    "Hmmбн looks like in need to really get this technique that Shirong used, it seems quite powerful." Lin Wu decided.

    "System, what''s the progress on the new technique that Shirong used?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system has recorded all the qi circuits and methods used in the technique and has estimated apatibility of 60% with the host. Further analysis of the technique along with modifications to suit the Host''s physique will make the technique 100%patible with the host.

    бкбк

    "Alright, continue the analysis and tell me when it is done." Lin Wu replied.

    Shirong took out the spirit sword and jumped on it before flying towards a small pond that he had seen before. It was already close to evening and the sun would be setting any minute now. He wanted to be done before that and then find a ce to rest as well.

    "I wonder by how much my aptitude roseбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    About five minutes of flyingter, he reached a small pond, and drinking from it were a couple of spirit beasts. Shirong approached them and they noticed him too. Both of them were at the peak stage of the qi refining realm and were scared, ready to escape.

    But before they could do so,

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    The spear extended like a whip and shed the two beasts in half, like a knife through butter. He then stabbed the spear into the corpses before absorbing the spirit qi from them.

    "Hmmбн the absorption speed has indeed increased. By aboutбн ten percent I guess." Shirong analyzed.

    He then took a bath quickly before taking out a set of clothes from the spatial storage bracelet and leaving the area.

 Chapter 172 - Beast Inciting Powder?

    Shirong was currently resting in one of the caves nearby and was cultivating calmly. He had gained a lot of benefits today and his physique had gone massive changes. He needed to learn more about it and thus was focused on it.

    Formations had already been set up around the cave so as to prevent the beasts froming near them. Though tonight the beasts were acting rather strangely. Unlike before no growls or roars of the beasts could be heard and it was as if they had all gone silent for some reason.

    Lin Wu was intrigued by this too and decided to contact his two servant beasts. He activated themunication function from the beast servant section and the connection was made.

    "Master? I was just about to contact you to report about my findings." The mole beast said.

    "Oh? Okay, go ahead." Lin Wu replied wanting to know his side first.

    "The Twin Light Liger King is angry because someone ughtered a lot of his subordinates. They think that it was caused by another ruler of the forest but the area that they were killed in has be too dangerous to go.

    As for the Olive viper king, he is still resting and recovering in his nest. Also around half of the territories of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle have already been upied by the other rulers." The mole beast spoke.

    "Ah, I seeбн I wanted to ask why is the forest so quiet tonight? Did the rulers do something?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "It is not the rulers but rather the humans, master." The mole beast replied.

    "Humans? There are humans this deep in the forest?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes, a group of human cultivators was found roaming around in the fifth ring. The rulers don''t want them interfering in their battle for territory and thus issued orders to hunt and kill those humans. Some think that they were also the ones that killed the subordinates of the Twin Light Liger king." The mole beast answered.

    Hearing that there were humans in the fifth ring made Lin Wu feel intrigued. He wondered which part they came from as ording to what he knew; he was currently at the border of several kingdoms. They could havee from any of the five kingdoms.

    "Alright, that will be all for now." Lin Wu said before dismissing the mole beast.

    Next, he contacted the beetle beast wanting to hear what happened from here. Since she was the subordinate of one of the rulers of the forest, Lin Wu reckoned that she must know a bit more than the mole beast.

    "Greetings master," The beetle beast said but her voice sounded rather tired.

    "Hmm, you don''t seem to be well?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes master, we had to fight a group of humans that we discovered near the territory today. Oh? So they came to the split thorn horn beetle king''s territory." Lin Wu said.

    "You know about the humans master?" The beetle beast asked.

    "Yes, the mole beast just told me a minute ago." Lin Wu replied.

    "Ah, I see. The humans were apparently doing something to the weaker beasts, and we drove them away when we found that out." The beetle beast informed.

    "Oh, what were they doing? And how many of them were there?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "There were about five of them and they were spreading some kind of a powder among the herds of some beasts. We thought that it was poison, so we fought them, but the powder turned out to be a beast inciting powder." The beetle beast answered.

    This was the first time Lin Wu had heard about something called Beast inciting powder and wondered what it was.

    "System, do you have information on beast inciting powder?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The beast inciting powder is an alchemical product made from chiefly: fuming fungus, three petals fiery lily and mind numbing root. There are multiple variants of this substance, and different nts and herbs can be used to substitute it as well.

    The beast inciting powder is an illegal alchemical powder in the entire Long Continent and is prohibited in any form of use. The powder acts on the beast''s instincts and provokes them into fighting. The beasts lose all sense of reason and fear, only attacking and consuming the creatures they deem to be a prey.

    Beast inciting powder can be used to enrage the beasts into causing a beast wave. There have been historical records about certain powers using the beast inciting powder to attack other powers. If anyone is found to have used beast inciting powder, their punishment is death.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu instantly understood what must have happened before.

    ''The Hard eared Limber mice, they were acting under the effects of the beast inciting powder, huh? Looks like I need to check these humans and see what they are exactly doing here. If that army of Hard eared Limber mice left the forest, they would have definitely massacred a lot of people.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "What happened to the beasts on which the beast inciting powder was used?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "We were lucky that we noticed it quickly. We killed the beasts that were affected by it and wanted to kill the humans too, but they were strong and thus escaped." The beetle beast answered.

    "Alright, inform me when you see those humans again, or if any news about them is heard." Lin Wu ordered.

    "As youmand, master." The beetle beast said before Lin Wu closed themunication link.

    ''Hmmбн seems like certain schemes are underway. Though the question is who is scheming against whom?'' Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    He looked at Shirong, who was fully engrossed in cultivation and thought that this would be the right time to leave. Lin Wu asked the system to create a virtual interface for the formations and also an rm if Shirong woke up, before leaving the cave.

    "Let''s finish up what we started beforeбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 173 - Three Bird Beasts?

    Lin Wu was traveling to the area where they had killed all of the Hard Eared Limber Mice. Even if he had gotten the spirit qi from them, there was still around 30% vital energy that he could gain from eating them. He didn''t want to miss out on such arge amount and thus rushed there, anxious that some other beasts may eat it before him.

    "No, waitбн if theyeбн I''ll just eat them too, why the heck am I even bothered?" Lin Wu questioned his own thinking before speeding up.

    About ten minutester Lin Wu reached the area and as he had expected, there was a group of beasts taking advantage of the free buffet. Lin Wu could even hear what they were talking about.

    "Why are all these beasts dried out like this?" One of the beasts that looked like a over sized sparrow spoke.

    It was pecking into the dead Hard Eared Limber Mice and seemed to be finding it difficult to eat it.

    "What kind of beasts are even these? Do you know?" Another beast that looked like a swan questioned.

    "I think these are called the Hard Eared Limber Mice. But they don''te this far deep into the forest, and never in such arge group." Another beast that looked like arge robin answered.

    ''Huh? Bird beasts hunting at night time? That''s unusualбн or it''s normal, logic doesn''t apply the same way to the beasts in this world as it did to animals in my previous oneбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Shirong had hunted and Lin Wu had consumed a few bird beasts before whileing here and knew that their territories were Rather different. As such that they usually stayed at the top of the forest canopy. Shirong only encountered them when he flew too high and they attacked him.

    Lin Wu sensed their cultivation bases and found them to be at the early stage of the core condensation realm. These three were the strongest bird beasts he had seen till now, with the exception of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle.

    "Could they be former subordinates of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle, perhaps?" Lin Wu wondered.

    "Say, should we report this to the Olive Viper King?" The sparrow beast asked while taking another bite.

    "Are you stupid? Why should we tell him when we can enjoy all this on our own?" The swan beast scolded.

    "Won''t it be just even worse for us if he finds out we didn''t tell him? I mean, with the number of corpses here, I doubt we can finish them all on our own before the other beasts discover this." The sparrow beast replied.

    "Till the conflict is going on, the chances of other beastsing in this direction is unlikely. Even we only detected them because of passing over here. We''re lucky the olive viper king assigned up this territory." The Robin beast exined.

    Hearing the three bird beasts'' words, Lin Wu understood that they were perhaps the new subordinates of the Olive Viper King.

    ''Hmmбн perhaps I can gain more information about the situation in the forest from them; something that the beetle beast and the mole beast didn''t know.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He was now deliberating on whether he should take in one of them as a servant. He had plenty of spirit qi to spare and thought that perhaps a flying beast would have an easier time spying. Having made up his mind, Lin Wu decided to make his presence known.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    "Huh? What''s that!?" The sparrow beast questioned with surprise.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    "KRREEEEEEEE!!!!!"

    The ground split open as Lin Wu appeared from within in his full glory. His crimson eyes shining upon the three beasts and his massive Crystal body gleaming under the moonlight. His aura was on full disy and the three bird beasts shuddered.

    The robin beast directly copsed to the ground because of the bloodline suppression, while the swan beast was able to bear it for a little while more before copsing as well. Only the sparrow beaststed longer than them but even it had to kneel down.

    "Se-Se-Senior! Pele-please spare us! We didn''t intend to hide it from the olive viper king! Please don''t report to him." The sparrow beast hurriedly said.

    ''Oh, so they think I''m part of his subordinates tooбн looks like they are rather low level members and thus don''t know who the others areбн'' Lin Wu understood.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Slick~</em>

    A sharp spike protruded on Lin Wu''s tail and he stabbed that into the Robin beast, killing it instantly. He then brought it to his mouth and opened it wide, disying the hundreds of sharp grinder like teeth to the two remaining beasts.

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    <em>~Crush~</em>

    His mouth ate the entire robin beast at once, as the spike like teeth turned around like a grinder, turning the robin beast into minced meat. A few secondster, Lin Wu swallowed it and gazed deeply at the two remaining bird beast.

    "Now thenбн who wants to be next?" He questioned, his voice terrifying the two beasts to their very soul.

    "Mercy! Mercy Senior!" both the beasts pleaded.

    "Oh? You ask for mercy? But can you afford it?" Lin Wu questioned in a malevolent tone.

    The brains of the two beasts ran at a quick speed, trying to think of reasons to convince the monster in front of them. Lin Wu generously gave them two minutes to think, while he started to eat the corpses of the Hard eared limber mice.

    And just as he had expected, plenty of vital energy was still left in the corpses even now. Though he could tell that the amount had reduced by a few percent more, probably due to the time they had been left out like this.

    In two minutes, he had consumed about ten percent of all the corpses while the two bird beasts simply watched on with terror, unable to move a single muscle.

    "Now thenбн have you decided?"

 Chapter 174 - Exchange For Mercy?

    The two beasts were trembling with fear and couldn''te to a valid decision. They didn''t know what they could give the beast in front of them so that they may have mercy on them and leave them alive.

    "Tic-tok, the time is running outбн" Lin Wu said and raised his tail up in the air, ready to attack them.

    "I-I can give you the location of a spirit herb!" The Swan beast shouted.

    "And what about you?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Iбн the tomb! I know the location of a tomb that exists on the border of the fifth and sixth ring!" The Sparrow beast suddenly spoke.

    Lin Wu hadn''t expected such an answer from the sparrow beast. He would have never guessed that an answer like that of the swan beast was possible, as that was one of the few things that a beast could offer to him. Beasts did not keep material assets like money and at most had some resources hidden away.

    They did not desire gold or gems like humansбн at least not all of them, and thus if one wanted to bargain with them, resources such as spirit herbs and spirit stones would be a viable option. Lin Wu didn''t know what kind of spirit herb the swan beast was intending to give him, but he reckoned that it would be fine to check out.

    ''If it''s something mediocre, I can just eat the swan beast tooбн I only need one beast to act as a spy for me, anyway.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then thought of the tomb that the sparrow beast was talking about.

    "What tomb are you talking about?" Lin Wu questioned the sparrow beast.

    "There is a tomb that has existed for a few hundred years at the border of the sixth ring." The sparrow beast answered.

    "Oh? It has existed for so long? Then other beasts must know about it as well, shouldn''t they? Why do I need to spare you for what is likely to bemon knowledge?" Lin Wu said before looking towards the swan beast. "Tell me, do you know what tomb he is talking about?" He questioned.

    The sparrow beast looked at the swan beast with pleading eyes, as if asking him to deny it.

    "I-Iбн I know about itбн most of the beasts know about the tomb but they don''t go near it due to it being dangerous." The swan beast answered honestly.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    "See, he knows it too. Then there''s no value left in your wordsбн" Lin Wu said and was about to stab the sparrow beast with the spike when it shouted again.

    "I KNOW THE SAFE PATH TO ENTER IT!" The sparrow beast said hurriedly just as the spike was an inch away from its body.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    Lin Wu withdrew the spike on his tail and looked deep into the sparrow beast''s eyes.

    "Exinбн" He ordered.

    "The tomb has a restrictive area around it and if any beast gets near it, they die. A lot of beasts have tried to enter it before but all of them failed, even the past rulers of the forest tried to enter it but they suffered grave injuries. The tomb is the second forbidden area of the forest beside the Dark Bloom caverns." The sparrow beast exined.

    Lin Wu raised his eyes as if doubting the authenticity of the beast''s words, but then decided to give him a chance. If it really was something useful, he reckoned that he would not be losing out on it.

    "Who does the tomb belong to?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I do not knowбн no one knows, it has existed there since before I was born. Maybeбн the rulers know. The Twin Light Liger king must know as he''s been alive the longest." The sparrow beast answered while trembling.

    Lin Wu deliberated on his words and found it worthy to give it a try.

    ''I should probably have a talk with one of the rulersбн the twin light Liger king is likely to attack me, and so will the olive viper king. That leaves the split thorn horn beetle King and the Slim Arm Ape. Hmmбн if I go with Shirong perhaps it may be possible to have a conversation with the Slim Arm Ape king.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu then checked the time and saw that it had been about thirty minutes since he had left the cave where Shirong was. He also checked the condition of Shirong and found him to be the same and was focused on his own cultivation.

    From the system''s observation, Shirong''s body was slowly gaining back its muscle mass.

    ''So it really was the side effect of the cultivation technique that he usedбн as strange effect but at least it is not permanent.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    He then looked at the two bird beasts who shuddered again. Lin Wu withdrew the oppressive aura his body was exuding and let the two beasts rx a bit.

    "Th-thank you, Senior!" The swan beast said with gratitude.

    "Senior is benevolent, this junior thanks you," The sparrow beast said with an extremely respectful tone.

    It was obvious thetter was terrified the most of Lin Wu.

    "Between the spirit herb and the Tomb, which one is closer?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The sparrow beast looked at hispanion with a questioning gaze as well. He had not expected that the swan beast would have something like this hidden away without anyone knowing. Usually, a spirit beast was quite difficult to hide, as their scent would attract the other beasts and if it had a Strong enough spirit qi, even stronger spirit beasts like Nascent soul realm beasts may be attracted.

    "The location of the spirit herb is closer, Senior. It will take us thirty minutes to fly there butбн I don''t know how long it will take you." The swan beast answered.

    "Don''t worry about that, I''ll follow you from below. Also, what kind of spirit herb is that?" Lin Wu questioned.

 Chapter 175 - More Servants?

    The swan beast looked at Lin Wu before speaking.

    "It''s a spirit herb called as the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum." The swan beast revealed.

    <em>~Gulp~</em>

    The sparrow beast seemed shocked by this and shuddered.

    "Youбн you know the location of an eight sigils chrysanthemum? How? How did you even find one? There hasn''t been one seen for hundreds of years." The sparrow beast said.

    Lin Wu could now tell that the spirit herb in question was something that was perhaps very rare.

    "System, do you have information on this spirit herb?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET: Eight Sigils chrysanthemum

    INFO: Extremely rare spirit herb with potent powers. One of the ingredients for the Twilight Ascension pill.

    бкбк

    Seeing the limited amount of information that the system, had Lin Wu knew that the herb was gonna be useful. But seeing that it was used for making an alchemical pill, Lin Wu also wondered what it did.

    "System, what is the Twilight Ascension pill?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET: Twilight Ascension pill

    INFO: Unknown.

    бкбк

    "Huh, so it only has information on the Eight Sigils chrysanthemum and nothing on the pill itself. Looks like the pill was only mentioned in the description of the herb but was not actually recorded in the data banks." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He looked at the swan beast and spoke, "before we leave, I need to do something."

    Lin Wu ced the tip of his tail on the head of the Swan beast, which made it shudder in fear.

    "Senior! What are youбн" The Swan beast said with shock.

    "I''m not killing you, just taking precaution. Nowбн don''t resist." Lin Wu ordered.

    "System, scan the beast and begin the process for servant imprint." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: One target selected

    SCAN COMPLETE: Target identified.

    TARGET: Hook Winged Swan

    CULTIVATION BASE: Early stage of the Core condensation realm

    SPIRIT SENSE RANGE: 15 meters

    INFO: The Hook Winged Swan is a native beast of the millennium forest and is one of the beasts that live on the forest canopy. They can be foundmonly in the fourth to fifth ring. They mainly consume insect beasts that live in the trees and other beasts that fly by. The strongest recorded Hook Winged Swan was at the Peak stage of the core condensation realm.

    INITIATING SERVANT IMPRINT: Please wait patiently

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s spirit sense prated the body of the Hook winged swan and reached its brain, creating the first imprint and then its core which was located in its chest near its heart. He ced the final imprint on it too and then inserted the rhombus gem into its head.

    The rhombus gem was hidden by its feathers and thus could not be seen easily. Lin Wu added all the same features that he had done for the beetle and mole beast, but this time the process was much faster as he already knew how to do it.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 7000 Units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 2,148,805 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    With therge amount of spirit qi that Lin Wu had, he didn''t mind using it for this. At first, he had only thought of making one of the bird beasts as his servant but he reckoned that he may as well get both of them. The two of them were the subordinates of the Olive viper king and the former subordinates of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle, so he thought that he must be able to obtain some benefits from them at least.

    The sparrow beast sensed the change in the aura of the Swan beast and knew what had happened.

    "Senior, youбн made him your subordinate?" The Sparrow beast questioned feeling extremely shocked.

    "Yeah, you have a problem?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Bu-but how? We already have the imprints of the Olive Viper King on us?" The sparrow beast questioned.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu said feeling a bit confused.

    When he had made the imprints there was nothing that he had sensed on their core or anywhere in their bodies.

    "System, was there another imprint on them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The foreign Imprint was weak and thus removed by the system.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had not expected that the imprint of another beast would be removed so easily. But then he focused on the word ''weak''.

    ''Of course! The Olive viper king has too many subordinates, and he can''t make a strong imprint for everyone. With the system''s capabilities, it shouldn''t be that hard to remove them. Plus the ones that I am making are highly encrypted and any wrong step will pretty much cause the beasts to explode.'' Lin Wu realized.

    He looked at the Sparrow beast and answered, "I just removed the imprint of the Olive Viper King."

    "What! That easily?| The sparrow beast said with shock.

    ''What kind of a beast is he to remove the imprint of one of the five rulers of the forest like that. Not to mention his cultivation base is much lower than the Olive Viper king tooбн'' The sparrow beast thought.

    "Now thenбн it''s your turn." Lin Wu stated and extended his tail to touch the head of the sparrow beast.

    The sparrow beast knew better than to protest and thus just stood and let Lin Wu do it.

    "System, scan and make the imprint for this beast too." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: One target selected

    SCAN COMPLETE: Target identified.

    TARGET: High Wind Gale Sparrow

    CULTIVATION BASE: Early stage of the Core condensation realm

    SPIRIT SENSE RANGE: 30 meters

    INFO: The High Wind Gale Sparrow is a beast that is found in many ces in the continent including the millennium forest and is one of the beasts that live on the forest canopy. They can be foundmonly in the fourth to fifth ring. The strongest recorded High Wind Gale Sparrow was at the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    INITIATING SERVANT IMPRINT: Please wait patiently

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s eyes went wide as he read the part about the High Wind Gale Sparrow''s potential.

    "Oh my! Seems like I found an interesting beastбн"

 Chapter 176 - Iron Bark Wood Tree?

    Lin Wu had not expected that a random beast he chose would have the potential to be an Adult Stage Nascent soul realm beast. But from theirmon urrence, Lin Wu reckoned that reaching the Nascent Soul realm would be quite difficult for the beast.

    After all, it only showed its potential, reaching that level was up to the efforts of the beast itself.

    Lin Wu continued on and finished setting up the imprints on the High Wind Gale Sparrow. Finally, the rhombus gem was inserted into its head as well,pleting the process.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 7000 Units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 2,141,805 units [liquid spirit qi]

    SERVANT BEAST SECTION: Updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nodded his head upon seeing that it wasplete and checked the Servant beast section in the host data, just to ensure that everything was working fine.

    "Wait for a bit. I''ll finish up my mealбн" Lin Wu said before retraining to eat the rest of the Hard Eared Limber Mice Corpses.

    Lin Wu moved and opened his mouth wider than before, quickly consuming the corpses. His spike like teeth moved in a spiral and instantly minced the corpses before being swallowed. Within ten minutes, Lin Wu had finished eating them all and now the area looked much cleaner.

    Though the traces of the battle could still be seen and anyone would be able to tell that a great massacre had happened here. The scent of blood was still in the air as well and would take quite a while to dissipatepletely.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    VITAL ENERGY OBTAINED: 12,106,934 units-> 1,210,693 units Vital Essence

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 4,960,187 Units

    бкбк

    ''That was definitely worth itбн'' Lin Wu thought after seeing the vital essence.

    The two newly acquired servant beasts were simply watched as their master consumed ungodly amounts of food all at once. They were beasts and could eat a lot, but this was simply on a different level. The two beasts knew that even the strongest beast in the forest, the Twin Light Liger King could not eat so much food at once.

    It would take him at least a week to finish all this food, and even then it would have to be constantly eating and digesting it. They now understood that their new master was no normal beast and could not be gaged by their understanding.

    "Alright, now that this is done, take me to the eight sigils chrysanthemum." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Yes, master. Please follow me." The swan beast replied in a respectful manner.

    The effect of the servant imprint was instantaneous, and it didn''t take it long for the beast to address Lin Mu as such either.

    <em>~p~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The Swan beast flew up and so did the sparrow beast behind it. Lin Wu dug back into the ground and entered his Drill mode to move as fast as possible. He activated the navigation and set the target as the swan beast. Now all he had to do was to follow the directions of the navigation HUD and he''ll be able to reach the target location.

    Even with his increased speed, Lin Wu was slightly slower than the Swan and sparrow beast. In fact, the sparrow beast was even faster than the swan beast, but because it was following the swan beast, it had kept its pace slow.

    Just like the swan beast had said, it had taken them around thirty minutes to reach the location of the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum.

    Upon reaching it, Lin Wu realized why any other beasts had not found it yet. The eight sigils chrysanthemum was growing inside the hollow of a dead tree. The dead tree was thick and the space in its hollow was about three meters wide.

    Entering it was also impossible for other beasts as the only opening was from the very top, which was also quite narrow being less than 30 centimeters wide.

    "Here it is master, the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum grows inside this dead Iron Bark Wood tree." The Swan beast said.

    <em>~Clink~</em>

    Lin Wu tapped the Iron bark wood tree and heard the metallic sound from it. The bark of the tree did seem like iron, just like its name said.

    "System, scan this Iron Bark Wood Tree." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TAGGER: Iron Bark Wood Tree

    INFO: The Iron Bark Wood Tree is valued for its tough iron like bark and is used for the production of spirit tools. The wood is highly resistant to breaking, burning, and cutting. The tree is also valued due to the convenience it offers because of its life cycle.

    When the Iron Bark Wood Tree reaches maturity, it spreads its seeds which look like iron needles. These needlestch onto the fur and feathers of beasts who then spread them to different locations. After it has sessfully spread its seeds, the tree starts dying.

    Its dying process is also rather unique, such that it dies from the inside first and leaves behind a hollow trunk. This hollow is often used by various types of beasts as a nest or shelter. Cultivators chop down these hollow tress to use in production of weapons and armor.

    бкбк

    ''Looks like something that cane in handyбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Master, how will you take the Eight sigils chrysanthemum now? The Iron Bark Wood Tree is hard to break and only a Nascent soul realm beast is usually able to break it." The Sparrow beast asked.

    "Oh, it''s easyбн" Lin Wu said and touched the bark with his tail.

    "Store the Iron Bark Wood Tree in the storage system." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Suddenly in the Iron Bark Wood Tree disappeared into thin air and the two servant beasts were left wide eyed.

    As soon as the Iron Bark Wood Tree disappeared though, the Eight sigils Chrysanthemum was revealed. The Spirit herb was actually a flower that had eight orange petals, on each of which a sigil was printed.

    "Whoa!"

 Chapter 177 - Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum?

    The two bird beasts could only wonder what miracle Lin Wu had done to make the tree disappear like that. They knew about spatial storage treasures but did not think that a beast may have one. Looking at Lin Wu, they were sure that he did not have any spatial storage treasure on his body.

    Plus, most of the spatial storage treasures were made for humans and not beasts. Just their forms would make it difficult for most beasts to carry them around. Though there were a few beasts that obtained spatial storage treasures and used them as trophies.

    But their surprise was increased to utter shock when they finally saw the Eight sigils chrysanthemum. Even Lin Wu couldn''t take his eyes off it and felt attracted to the flower.

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    бкбк

    rm!: Mental interference detected

    DEFENSIVE PROTOCOLS: Activated

    бкбк

    A calming feeling spread throughout Lin Wu''s body and he felt normal.

    "What the hell was that!" Lin Wu said, after the feeling of calmness faded away.

    A tinge of anxiousness appeared in his eyes as he got apprehensive of the flower in front of him.

    "System, scan this thingбн" Lin Wu ordered, his voice a bit stern.

    In the days that he had spent here, Lin Wu had kind of forgotten that this was a cultivator world and danger lurked in every corner. He had been leaning towards carelessness but this had given him a wake-up call again.

    The Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum had eight petals Nada each petal had a sigil on it. From these petals, streams of spirit qi were being released. They would leave one petal and enter the next after spreading a bit. This way they bounced eight times before returning to the first petal.

    A unique pattern was thus formed that had a mesmerizing property.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum

    INFO: The Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum contains potent spirit qi equivalent to that of, 2,000,000 units of liquid spirit qi. But this is not pure spirit qi and is rather in the form of medicinal property. The patterns on it can create a mental interference field that can stun and attract creatures.

    SUGGESTION: Store it in the inventory and the system can perform a more detailed analysis on it, while decoding its properties.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had not expected that such a small thing would contain such arge amount of spirit qi. It was almost the same amount that he had with him, but that was obtained from eating a lot of spirit beasts. Still, Lin Wu did not feel greedy for the flower and did not want to eat it.

    He knew that there must be more to it and if it was used for an alchemical pill, then using it straightaway like this would be a waste.

    Lin Wu thus extended his tail to the flower and gently touched it. A chill spread through his body and he heard a scream in his mind. It was as if multiple ghosts were screaming in agony. A momentter, it changed and now he heard the voice of beasts crying. It then changed again, but this time it was men and women crying. This repeated for about eight times, each time the being that was making the noise changed.

    The sound stopped quickly and not even a second had passed but Lin Wu felt as if it had been an hour.

    ''Truly terrifyingбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Store it in the inventory, system." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Then in the blink of an eye, the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum disappeared into thin air just like the tree before. The two servant beasts saw it with wonder again, but this time they did not seem as surprised, already getting used to the abilities of their new master.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "Alright! Now that this is done, take me to the tomb that you were talking about." Lin Wu spoke.

    "As you wish, master. But this is going to be a bit dangerous. We are going to pass through the territory of three of the rulers of the forest. The tomb lies at the intersection of these territories." The sparrow beast said.

    "How far is it from here? And why is it at such a location?" Lin Wu curiously asked.

    "It will take us about an hour to reach there, if we take the more safer path. As for its location, it is because of the danger that it has. The rulers don''t dare get close to it and thus the tomb is the only area that is free of the influence of any ruler." The sparrow beast exined.

    "Oh, I see. Well then, let''s go further." Lin Wu replied.

    The sparrow beast nodded and flew up in the air with the swan beast following it. The speed of the sparrow beast was actually much faster than the swan beast, and it hadgged behind a bit. But Lin Wu was even fartherpared to both of them.

    ''Hmmбн flying really is the faster way to travelбн Cultivators can fly in the Nascent soul realm, right? I should be able to as wellбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The path that the sparrow beast was taking seemed to be rather winded and twisted. They went in many curves and circles which didn''t make much sense to Lin Wu. But that was until he checked the map and saw the beasts in the surroundings.

    "Oh, so it is avoiding all the areas that have a higher amount of beastsбн" Lin Wu realized.

    Their journey didn''t go smooth though, as after twenty minutes they were discovered by a group of beasts.

    "Where do you think you two are going? Passing through the territory of the Split Thorn Horn beetle king without permission? Humph, impudent." The cricket like insect beast that had stopped them spoke.

    There were many more insect beasts apanying it, and they ranged from core condensation realm to the peak stage of the qi refining realm.

    "Oh? So they belong to the Split Thorn Horn beetle kingбн looks like I need to have a talkбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 178 - A Small Interruption?

    "Don''t you dare stop us here little cricket! Do you not remember what happened thest time you tried this?" The sparrow beast threatened.

    "Oh? You haven''t lost your arrogance it seems, even though your king has abandoned you all. Hahaha!" The cricket beast ridiculed.

    The other beastsughed in apaniment and seemed to enjoy it a lot too.

    "Trust me, you do not want to mess with our master." The swan beast warned in a stern voice.

    "And what can he do? What master do you even have, huh? The Olive viper king? He hasn''t even left his territory after he injured himself, and why would he bother with you two lowly beasts?" The cricket beast replied.

    While this conversation was happening, Lin Wu was having a different one with someone else.

    He had used hismunication link with the Beetle beast and was talking to her.

    "Soбн I''ve met an obstacle here. Some insect beasts are blocking my path and say that they are the Beetle king''s subordinates." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Ummбн I don''t know them, you can deal with them as you see fit. Ancestor wouldn''t pay attention to it either, there are far too many beasts dying these days due to the conflict over the new territories and thus they will just be more numbers to that." The beetle beast said, straightforwardly.

    "Alrightбн" Lin Wu said before cutting the link.

    The insect beasts and the two bird beasts were still having a verbal exchange which seemed rather strange to Lin Wu. He had expected for them to have broken into a battle right from the start. After all, they had numbers on their side.

    But it had not happened yet.

    ''Hmmбн perhaps they have some reason for itбн'' Lin Wu thought but did not act right away.

    He looked at the map to check if there was anything around and discovered something.

    "Bingo! So that''s why they are not fightingбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself after seeing a few different kinds of markers on the map.

    These markers were much smaller than that of the beasts and Lin Wu had a small guess what they were.

    "System, scan and tell me what these exactly areбн" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Multiple targets detected

    TARGETS IDENTIFIED: Insect beast eggs found (multiple types)

    бкбк

    ''So they want to avoid fighting or it may turn bad and the eggs may get damaged.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He observed the insect beasts in front of him and decided to use the same carrot and stick method he had used before. Except the stick wille firstбн

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~Thwa~</em>

    The ground ripped open and Lin Wu appeared out of it.

    "KREEEEE!!!" he let out a loud screech.

    Lin Wu''s aura spread in the area, his bloodline suppressions in full force.

    "Wh-whoбн who are you?" The cricket beast said with difficulty.

    The other insect beasts had already copsed on the ground, unable to move. Lin Wu himself could be considered an insect type of a beast and thus his bloodline suppression was very effective on the other insect beasts.

    They instinctively felt obliged to prostrate to him in submission.

    "He is our masterбн" The sparrow beast said smugly.

    "Yourбн master?" The cricket beast muttered.

    ''When did an insect beast of this caliber appear in the forest? This bloodlineбн it is even stronger than the kingsбн'' The cricket beast thought with shock.

    "Soбн will you let us pass now?" the Swan beast questioned while Lin Wu red at the insect beasts.

    "Su-sureбн please go ahead senior. Oh, andбн the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King would be happy to meet with you, if you so please senior." The cricket beast replied.

    "Hmmбн I''ll think of it." Lin Wu replied.

    The sparrow beast took to the skies again, and the swan beast did as well. Lin Wu gave the insect beasts onest look before speaking in a low voice.

    "You need to work on better conduct. If you are going to protect eggs, don''t provoke the fights in the first ceбн"

    "Yes, Senior. Thanks for your guidance." The cricket beast said hurriedly.

    <em>~Kraw~</em>

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Lin Wu entered the ground again and followed behind the sparrow beast. He didn''t know why he had chosen to spare the insect beasts, but he just attributed it to the innate humanity he had left with him. Except this time because of him bing a worm, it was directed against other insects instead of humans.

    If it had just been the beasts provoking them out of nothing, Lin Wu would have eaten them without a blink. They were no challenge to him, anyway.

    The rest of the journey went rtively smoothly, but they still had some bumps. A few beasts attacked them, and the two bird beasts were able to take care of them. But about thirty minutester, when they were very close to the tomb, they were stopped by a Peak stage core condensation realm beast.

    Lin Wu was annoyed at this point and did not even give the two beasts a chance to p, before he devoured the beast whole.

    The scene of Lin Wu eating the beast had stuck newfound fear in the hearts of the two bird beasts, but it was also apanied by respect. Beasts innately respected and feared power, this was what Lin Wu had disyed from the start.

    After that, they soon reached the area where the tomb was located. Lin Wu noticed the demarcation of the area as the vegetation here was very scarce. It seemed as if any nts that grew here either died or mutated to be extremely hardy.

    Lin Wu also saw the skeletons of a lot of beasts lying around the borders of the tomb and a strange scent was also spread in the air. The spirit qi in the area was also in a disarray, and it made it ufortable for one to stay there for longer periods of time.

    The sparrow beastnded a short distance from the border and spoke, "here we areбн"

 Chapter 179 - Interference Field?

    Lin Wu could feel the area seemed inhospitable to most and looked around. Even on the map, the area had a very clear demarcation.

    "System scan this area again? Why is it missing the inner area?" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Scanningбн

    ERROR!: Interference detected

    SCAN FAILED: Higher level interference field detected

    бкбк

    "Huh? What?" Lin Wu said to himself in a stunned voice.

    He had not expected that something like this would really happen. The system had been sessful in every scan that it had done and was able to scan even nascent soul realm cultivators. It was able to go past the limits of formation arrays and even manipte them by making virtual interfaces.

    "System, is there a solution to it?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling lost.

    He didn''t know if he should proceed further or not now. If this tomb could block the Scan of the system and it was well known for killing creatures, then it was a clear warning sign.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system can perform a scan if the border of the area is crossed. Only the border is blocking the system''s scan, it is still permissible for the living creatures to cross it.

    бкбк

    ''Ah, I see. So the sparrow beast''s method to go in should help hereбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    He looked at the sparrow beast and saw the fear in its eyes.

    "Well, what is the method to get in there?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The sparrow beast seemed a bit hesitant in answering but under the persistent gaze of Lin Wu, it had no choice but to.

    "Ummбн you have to fly over it and then there is an opening there. It is small though, I got in there by ident when I was younger and smaller." The sparrow beast answered.

    Lin Wu felt like mming his head on the wall upon hearing its words. The system told him that they could cross the border, but looking at the dead beasts'' skeletons it was obvious to be a choice. Flying over it would be impossible for Lin Wu right now, and there did not seem to be another way.

    The tomb itself was like a hill and was grey in color. It was quite tall and the trees only reached a quarter of its height even after being nearly a hundred meters tall. Lin Wu knew that getting up would not be possible, even if he climbed the trees.

    "Wait Nascent soul realm! Should Iбн just upgrade to it?" Lin Wu wondered.

    But he quickly decided against it. He did not know what kind of effects it would have, not to mention the heavenly tribtion that would descend as well. Even with the system, Lin Wu was doubtful if he was ready to withstand it.

    He then looked back to the two beasts and then at their sizes.

    ''Hmmбн if Shirong can lift me thenбн'' Lin Wu nned.

    "You two, pick me up and carry me to the opening." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Us? But masterбн you are too bigбн" The sparrow beast said.

    "I''ll take care of thatбн" Lin Wu said before starting to shrink.

    The two bird beasts watched as his size started reducing at a rapid pace and he became only two meters long.

    "You should be able to carry me now," Lin Wu said, as he watched their shocked gazes.

    "Okay, we can do it now, I guess." The swan beast said and went towards Lin Wu.

    The sparrow beast did the same and sped its ws around Lin Wu''s body. The two of them started to p their wings and only then did they realize how heavy Lin Wu really was.

    "Huu~ this is too heavy!" The swan beast said, but was then shut down by the gaze of the sparrow beast.

    They strengthened their wings with spirit qi and pped even harder before being able to finally lift him up by a little.

    <em>~sigh~</em>

    "This will be difficultбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He then channeled some spirit qi into the bodies of the two bird beasts and they instantly felt rejuvenated.

    "THIS! WHOA!" The sparrow beast eximed as it felt a power it had never sensed in himself. The swan beast felt simr and their cores started thrumming with power.

    For Lin Wu who had put his imprint on them, it was easy for him to aplish something like this. Not to mention the rhombus gem was technically a part of his own body that had been modified and thus could channel the spirit qi without much problem.

    It was the rhombus gem that had made the spirit qi of Lin Wupatible with the two bird beasts. He wasn''t even using the spirit qi in the storage but was simply using his own spirit qi for it.

    The two bird beasts pped their wings faster and faster, until they rose to the height of the trees. At this point they were having a hard time again and thus Lin Wu gave them more spirit qi which empowered them again.

    Just like this, a cycle was created and Lin Wu kept on giving them spirit qi, until they reached the top of the tomb''s hill. From there, Lin Wu soon spotted the opening that the sparrow beast was talking about. It was rather apparent, as that was the only part that looked differently colored than the rest of the area.

    Lin Wu could finally tell that the grey color of the hill wasn''t actually natural and was due to the border that surrounded it. From the opening, Lin Wu could tell that the hill was actually normal and had brown colored soil like the rest of the forest.

    The only difference was that the nts on the hill were either dead or they had mutated to be grey colored as well.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    ''Wellбн this looks a bit better. But I''ll only know more once I enter there.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The opening was rather small, only about thirty centimeters wide, and Lin Wu had to perfectly fit through that.

 Chapter 180 - Tomb?

    Lin Wu aimed at the opening and shrunk his body a little bit more. He was actually going beyond his limit and would not be able to maintain a size this small for long and needed to be quick.

    "Alright, line up properly and release me then." Lin Wu said.

    "Ummбн master I just realized another thingбн" The sparrow beast said.

    "What?" Lin Wu asked.

    "You will be able to enter freely butбн how will you exit it?" The sparrow beast replied.

    "I willбн" Lin Wu then realized that he hadpletely forgotten about this point.

    He started to think of solutions to this problem, and an idea popped up in his mind.

    "System, can your sensing abilities enter through the opening?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: A limited area scan is possible but the system''s reach will be restricted.

    бкбк

    "That''s fine. try to see what''s the depth from the opening." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Scanning please wait.

    SCAN COMPLETED: Depth found to be 75.32 meters.

    бкбк

    "Bingo! This will be easy then." Lin Wu eximed internally.

    He then looked at the sparrow beast and said, "you can drop me now, I cane back up myself as the height is less."

    "If you say so masterбн" The swan beast said and got ready. The sparrow beast nodded and both of them looked at each other.

    "NOW!"

    <em>~thiu~</em>

    Lin Wu''s body started dropping, and he moved his weight around to orient himself in the air. His head became heavier even though it was narrow. His enter ire body was streamlined and shaped like a missile now. He fell vertically straight and soon passed through the opening.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    His speed increased more and a tearing sound was heard in the wind.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Lin Wu collided with the rocky ground and directly pierced it. His entire body was inserted into the ground, leaving only the tip of his tail outside. He didn''t really feel any pain, except for the physical impact that his body had to endure.

    "Wellбн that was somethingбн" Lin Wu muttered as a new idea appeared in his mind for future use.

    <em>~Wiggle~</em>

    Lin Wu started moving and expanded his body to the size that was tolerable to him.

    <em>~crack~</em>

    The expansion of his body cracked the rock ground, and the broken pieces were lifted up due to it. Lin Wu was released and he easily pulled himself out of the ground. He then looked around and saw that he was on a rather in area on the hill and there was barely anything here.

    "Hmmбн the main entrance of the tomb should be elsewhere. The one I saw at the base of the hill is definitely a trap." Lin Wu said.

    "Now then, scan the area system." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Please wait a moment.

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map has been updated.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu opened the map window and took a look.

    "Dang! How manyyers does it even have?" Lin Wu said with shock.

    The map could show the differentyers in the ground, and there were markers for it on the map. Lin Wu counted their number and saw that there were more than twenty.

    "This definitely goes deep into the ground." Lin Wu stated.

    Lin Wu looked for the closest entrance and found it a short distance away from him. He crawled to entrance and found a set of stairs going into the ground. Stairs were directly carved out of the rock the hill was made out of and went quite deep.

    Lin Wu started crawling and looked around with his spirit sense. There was a damp smell in the area and moss was also growing on the walls.

    "Hmmбн rainwater should probablye here all the time and that''s why it is so damp hereбн" Lin Wu concluded.

    He eventually reached the bottom of the stairs and stood in front of a set of doors. The doors were family made out of stone and there were some strange carvings on them, that were mottled. It was evident that they had been weathered due to the elements and had been greatly damaged.

    The cravings could barely be made out, and Lin Wu saw that there were a few humans on it. They were flying in the air and what looked like clouds were below them, so Lin Wu guessed that they must be the depiction of cultivators.

    He looked at the map and saw that the next area was a rather wide hall, but the doors were blocking him. He tried to push them but found it to be quite difficult.

    Lin Wu had to activate qi amplification in order to muster enough strength and push the doors open.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    It was as if him opening the doors had triggered something and the turning of gears and cogs could be hearding.

    "What the hell was that?" Lin Wu said with surprise and quickly took a look at the map.

    Seeing that there was no change to it, he took a breath of relief.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "There definitely was some change, but it seems like I''ll have to find it out myselfбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before taking a look around the new area.

    ording to the map, he was in some sort of a hall, but simr to the stairs before, this area was quite dark. Even his spirit sense couldn''t reach the borders of the hall, which made him realize that he would have to physically see it now.

    Light was no obstacle to Lin Wu, and he raised his tail up high, before making it glow with light. This was one of the basic methods of manipting radiation, and Lin Wu had nearly mastered this part. Before he was only able to create light when he used all of his power, but now he could particrly control how much light he made.

    <em>~Zing~</em>

    The bright light from his tail spread all around the hall, and Lin Wu finally saw its entirety. There were multiple pirs in the hall that propped up the roof, and there were more carvings on its walls.

 Chapter 181 - Carvings?

    "Oh, my!" Lin Wu eximed as he saw the carvings on the walls.

    Unlike the carvings on the door, these ones were very well defined and could be seen clearly. They depicted a great battle between cultivators. There were many different types of them, some were sagely looking, some were demonic looking, some had muscr bodies that wereid bare while others that had beastly looking features.

    But the one thing that was the most shocking was that they were all fighting on one side and they had amon enemy. The enemy was strange though; it had no fixed shape or form. It would appear like a cloud and turn into a liquid. It would shift into a solid form and appear as if a rock.

    This thing did not seem to attack the cultivators directly, rather it would absorb and take over everything that it covered. It would slowly spread and take over worlds, one by one.

    The entire four walls of the hall were needed to depict this and Lin Wu could guess that he would learn more if he went further deep down into the tomb. He thus looked around but couldn''t find any entrance to the next level.

    "Huh? Where do I go nowбн?" Lin Wu wondered as he brought up the map window.

    There he saw a small depression in the ground near the southern wall. Lin Wu could tell the directions easily due to the navigation markers which made it easy for him to orient himself. He walked to the ce and checked it with his spirit sense.

    The ground was made out of stone tiles, and this tile did not have anything below it, which meant that the path was likely to be below it.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    But when Lin Wu put his tail on it, the tile cracked instantly and the stairway to the next level was revealed.

    "Oh, my weight broke itбн" Lin Wu realized it.

    ''Mehбн doesn''t matterбн'' Lin Wu thought, before descending down the stairs.

    He was checking the map side by side and ensuring that everything was fine down there. Till now no signers of life had been detected by the system, which meant that this ce had beenpletely isted and the beasts that tried to enter it back then, never got in.

    Lin Wu reached the second level and saw more carvings.

    This time the carvings depicted how the enemy spread its influence. After it conquered one world, it would explode it andunch its ''seeds'' into the void. These seeds would stay dormant till they found something totch on and then would devour that.

    It would often take long periods of time, but the seeds would eventually reach some and would then start the same process all over again. Sometimes it was even elerated by the conscious effort of certain cultivators.

    They took advantage of the ''being'' and used it to cause war and massacres for their profit. This went on for countless years and the repetition continued.

    This was all Lin Wu could understand from the carvings on this level and called to system.

    "System, you''re recording this, right?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Affirmative" it replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and tried to find the next staircase. Unlike thest time, though, it wasn''t located on the floor but rather on the wall. This part of the wall was also rather unique, as it depicted the part where the cultivators spread the ''being''.

    ''Seems like there is some meaning hereбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    He tapped on the wall and found it to be firm unlike the tile from the previous floor. He put more strength in his push and broke the wall apart. The staircase revealed itself and Lin Wu continued forward.

    The third floor had more carvings just as he had thought, but it showed something distinct. The carvings here seemed to be of a much higher quality than before.

    "Hmm, system something seems wrong here, can you check it?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: No anomalies detected.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн am I just over thinking, perhaps?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He nced at the carvings and felt as if they were much more realistic than before.

    This time the carvings depicted only one that the being was spreading on. It had already taken up half of the and the other half was staunchly resisting it. The Resistance involved strong cultivators the likes of which it had never encountered before.

    It was on this that the being met a cultivator that was able to resist it. The cultivator was depicted as a young man, whose left half of hair was ck and the right half was white. His left eye was white while the right eye was ck.

    The depiction on the wall ended at the cultivator rising up and standing against the being.

    "Interestingбн" Lin Wu muttered upon seeing the carving of the cultivator.

    He looked around for the next exit but couldn''t find it. Looking at the map he realized why.

    "What the hell! The entire floor is the exit?" Lin Wu eximed.

    The reason why he didn''t find any difference was that the entire floor was shown in the same shade.

    "Feels like I''m in one of those retro games where you had to jump to break the floorбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He then coiled his tail on the floor and used it to jump up. The impact of him falling shattered the floor instantly, and the staircase was revealed. The staircase was winding this time, and Lin Wu started descending.

    Lin Wu checked the map and the next level was twice as deeper than before.

    ''The mountain has beenpletely hollowed out it seemsбн but if it is like that then its structural integrity should be poor too. Hmmбн how is it still intact, I wonder?" Lin Wu thought.

    The sixth level that he arrived on was very smallpared to the ones before that were of an equal size.

 Chapter 182 - Statue?

    This room was about square and its sides were three meters wide. Lin Wu had a slightly difficult time moving around due to even the roof of it being short.

    Unlike the previous ones, there were no carvings in this room except for one statue that was located in the middle of the room. Lin Wu found the statue familiar and realized that it was the same cultivator that he had seen in the carving on the previous floor.

    Except the cultivator looked much more older in the statue. He was wearing long Daoist robes and had the taiji symbol on his back.

    Just from looking at him, Lin Wu could feel a strange pressure.

    "Hmmбн so what am I supposed to do here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He couldn''t find any other exits, and even on the map, everything seemed to be the same. Guessing that the statue might hold the answer, Lin Wu probed it with his spirit sense.

    "Oh? It''s impermeable to my spirit sense." Lin Wu discovered.

    He extended his tail and then carefully touched it. But the moment he did that, his vision went ck and he felt the world spinning.

    ''DAMMIT! What the heck is happening now?'' Lin Wu thought.

    A few secondster it calmed down, and he found himself in a new ce. This time, he felt as if he had no body and was watching a movie from the third person perspective.

    At first, everything was silent, but then a thunderous voice spoke.

    "I AM THE TAIJI CELESTIAL AND THIS IS MY LEGACY!"

    The scene in front of Lin Wu changed again and this time the cultivator who he had seen previously was standing. He looked old like the statue, but his gaze seemed to be a bit dull.

    "If you are here, that means you have passed the trials that I set in the levels before." The Taiji celestial spoke.

    Hearing his words though, Lin Wu felt extremely confused.

    "Huh? What trials? I just broke walls and the floorбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He had thought that the old man would respond to him, but there was no change in him. It seemed like a recording that would only y and could not be interacted with.

    "I am the person who is praised by billions as the one who defeated the shadow cmity, but today I confess that it is not true. Ratherбн I am the part of the cmity itself.

    At first, we had no conciousness and only knew how to act on instinct. We would only know how to take and not to give, our hunger never ending. We spread across millions of worlds and destroyed tens of thousands of them. Some worlds were able to resist us while some sumbed to us.

    Some of them gave up in despair, while some staunchly defended for millenniums toe. Some took advantage of us and became ''allies'' letting us spread even further at the cost of their kin''s lives.

    No matter where we went, how many times we divided, we could always feel the presence of our fragments. Even separated we were one. We could tell which ce we had been defeated in and which ce we had conquered.

    This continued for a time that even I do not know, until one day when we gained self-awareness. The cost of it was the separation of us into two beings. We had little knowledge of how things worked and thus we named ourselves Bai and Hei.

    Back then the only thing we knew was to eat and thus that''s what we did. Even if we looked the same, we were different. Bai was aggressive and always wanted to eat while Hei was passive and wanted to rest. Still, we could not do what each other wanted as we only have one ''body''.

    Countless years passed like this, and we started gaining knowledge from the beings we consumed. We learned about cultivation, the world, humans, beasts, nts, demons, and countless other things. And with this we also learned what we wereбн the cultivators called us the Shadow cmity.

    For us who never had a proper sense of emotions, we learned hate. The hate came from the beings who were consumed by us. They hated us for taking their worlds, but we did not understand why they hated us at the same time.

    We were the same as them. They ate food. We ate food too. They ate other animals, we ate worlds. Nothing seemed wrong to us, and we felt this was the natural order.

    More time passed, and we encountered a world that was unlike anything we had seen before. The cultivators there were a strange kind and believed in selflessness. They practiced it to such extremes that they would give up their very lifespans for others.

    Their belief system was very simple and incrediblyplex at the same time. To them, their lives had to be shared, and thus they created a world which they powered with their own life. Each being that lived there was connected and would have the same life span as others.

    They would keep on living as long as the others kept on living, and every time a new being was born, their lifespan would be added to this pool as well.

    They were also the first beings who actually weed us and thought of us as ''beings'' too. They freely let us consume their world. But we did not know the change this would cause in us. Our consciousness started melding with the souls of the cultivators and theirs with us.

    We had reached a strange equilibrium, and a cycle of loss and gain was born. This continued for thousands of years until the cycle could no longer be maintained. We had only taken over half of the world, yet for the first time, we felt ''full''.

    We didn''t know what this feeling was, but when we did; we changed forever.

    That was the day ''I'' was born."

 Chapter 183 - Taiji Celestial?

    Lin Wu continued to listen to the Taiji Celestial and felt amazed at all the knowledge that was being spoken.

    The scene in front of him changed and now the Taiji celestial was standing on an empty.

    "After my birth, I was able to create a body for myself. It was created from the people of the entire and was the culmination of their will of selflessness. That is how I became a ''Celestial''.

    Now having unified, I pondered on myself for a new name. It took me a few years during which I wandered the observing everything until I finally chose one. I named myself ''Taiji'' after my unity with the positives and negatives.

    I saw the ck and white in me, which were representations of Bai and Hei. Then I saw the positives of the cultivators in their selflessness and their negatives of sacrificing everything. I was the amalgamation of all and thus the ''Taiji'' was me and ''I'' was taiji.

    Still, after all this, I still needed a goal in my life. Whiteout a goal I would be the same as before, existing just for the sake of it. It didn''t take long before I learned it.

    I was going to rectify my doings.

    My seeds that had been spread across the worlds were cut off from me when ''I'' was born and thus acted on their own instincts. Thus I needed to take them back and assimte them back into myself.

    From there on, my new conquest began. At first, I was alone and went to the worlds where the Shadow cmity was present. I would fight against it and absorb it back into myself. But soon other cultivators and great powers of the worlds joined me.

    I helped the people of thoses, whether they were human or not, it didn''t matter. I created alliances with the other Powers and we created treaties to help the worlds when in need and in times of disaster.

    It took me forty millenniums before I was able to finish my goal and by that time my name and fame spread across the realms.

    I became venerated as a deity and thus ascended once again. But I knew that even if my goal wasplete, there were many more things I needed to do. What I had learned in my life, I wanted to teach others too. I hoped that they may be able to gain something from it and better their lives and the lives of the others in turn.

    This is the reason why I am leaving my legacy. If you havee this far, then you have the right to know that I have left my legacies on every world that I visited and helped. You will be one of my disciples from henceforth." The Taiji Celestial spoke.

    Lin Wu was left astounded at this and had never expected that his casual decision to visit the tomb would lead to this. But this also led him to question another thing: Why was all this so easy? He had barely done anything.

    He had not experienced any trials and had at most solved some puzzles.

    ''Is it because I came in through the opening at the top? Was that not the intended route?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "No, wait! That''s not all! If there are more than twenty levels to this, then why did I get the legacy so early on at the sixth level?" Lin Wu questioned.

    But his words were in vain as the Taiji celestial did not answer him. Instead, it had just gotten silent and was standing still.

    Lin Wu stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Thirty minutes passed and still, nothing had happened.

    "Ummбн hello? Did youg out? Did the recording freeze?" Lin Wu asked.

    Seeing that there was no response, Lin Wu guessed that there must be some other requirement to continue this.

    ''Oh yeah he said, I will be his disciple, right? Then I guess I need to do the master-disciple ceremony. I need to kowtow to him.'' Lin Wu realized.

    He then got into the posture of kneeling as well as he could with his worm form and began to kowtow.

    He knocked his head on the floor three times before saying, "disciple Lin Wu pays respects to Master Taiji celestial."

    ''Let''s hope this worksбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    A humming sound was heard as the world started shaking. The thunderous voice that Lin Wu had heard at the start sounded again.

    "I THE TAIJI CELESTIAL HAVE ACCEPTED LIN WU AS MY DISCIPLE!"

    "Now prepare to receive my legacy!" The taiji immortal said.

    He created some gestures with his hands and then pointed towards Lin Wu.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Countless runes starteding out of his hands and started pouring into Lin Wu''s head. He felt as if he was hit by a train and started reeling from the shock.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA TRANSMISSION DETECTED: Data node size is excess.

    ACTIVATING COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Additionalputational A.I. unavable.

    REASSIGNING COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: Computational A.I. Number 2 and 3 have been assigned to the processing of data transmission.

    ANALYZING DATA: Please wait patiently

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw the notification from the system and knew that it was something pretty big if it had to stop the others tasks like this. He wondered what things he would get from the legacy and didn''t know if they would work for him or not.

    Till now, all the cultivating techniques he had seen were only applicable to human cultivators, and even after so many days, the system had not been able to analyze them fully. It needed more time to modify the techniques such that they may bepatible with Lin Wu.

    Hate Taiji celestial kept on pouring runes into Lin Wu''s head and even after hours didn''t stop. If it had not been for the system disabling his sense of pain directly at the start, it would have be impossible for him tost.

    After an unknown amount of timeter, the Taiji celestial stopped.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

 Chapter 184 - Disciple?

    Lin Wu finally felt better when the process stopped, and he was able to raise his head normally.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA TRANSMISSION: Completed

    DATA ANALYSIS: 25%pleted

    OBTAINED CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    OBTAINED QI SKILL: Unity Avatar Technique

    NOTIFICATION: Further analysis cannot be done, high grade encryption detected.

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    HOST DATA: Updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the notifications and was content with it. He had finally received a cultivation technique, but that was not all, even a qi skill had been given to him.

    ''Hmmбн if it is only 25%plete and thetter parts are encrypted then there should be some specific requirements for it.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, what are the requirements to decrypt the data?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The requirements for decryption are actually been given in the data itself. The host needs to be an ''Immortal'' and reach the Immortal realm.

    бкбк

    "Ah, I see. That makes senseбн isn''t this how the old cultivators in cultivation novels give their inheritances? They only unlock the part that can be used by the character and nothing extra, at least until specific conditions are fulfilled." Lin Wu guessed.

    Lin Wu then saw the environment change as the Taiji celestial disappeared from the ce. He felt the world spin again before he returned to the same small room, except this time the statue had disappeared as well.

    "Huh? Where did it go?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The room suddenly started shaking and the walls started moving. Lin Wu felt as if he was in a Sci-Fi movie with all the moving walls and roof. The floor soon started to lower, and he felt as if he was on an elevator.

    <em>~Deng~</em>

    About a minuteter, the floor finally stopped moving and he looked at the map. Lin Wu had reached the seventh level.

    "Whoa!" Lin Wu eximed in amazement.

    This was the biggest hall he had seen till now. But that wasn''t all that was shocking to him, rather it was the hundred of formations that were all working here,bining to form a massive array. His arrival had also caused a change, and a formation appeared around him.

    Lin Wu was a bit apprehensive and didn''t know if he should do something when a spirit qi wave hit him.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    бкбк

    IDENTIFICATION FORMATION DETECTED: Identity verified

    ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATION LINK: Please wait patiently

    бкбк

    "Oh? It already verified me? Is it linked to being a disciple of the Taiji celestial?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    Another sound was heard as the hall started to light up. The walls of the hall became white and Lin Wu could see some words appear in front of him. At first, he thought that the system had made these, but they were different.

    Lin Wu was at least able to recognize the characters and understood that they were all in Dao script. He didn''t even have to think much before the system started to automatically trante it for him in his head. Even if Lin Wu had learned Dao script from the system, he still could not master all of the characters andbinations.

    Thankfully, with the help of the system, it became a piece of cake.

    "Wee, disciple Lin Wu." The word said.

    "So it really is linked with me bing the discipleбн" Lin Wu confirmed.

    And just as he did this the notification of the system sounded again.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Established

    ACCESSIBILITY: 100% obtained.

    AUTHORITY SET: Highest grade

    ADDING VIRTUAL INTERFACE: Multiple Functions Avable

    HOST DATA: Updated

    NEW VIRTUAL INTERFACE ADDED: Taiji Tomb Operation Array

    бкбк

    As soon as the notifications ended, windows started appeared in front of Lin Wu. There were so many that he was having a hard time keeping with it.

    "System, pause this. Show it to me one by one." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CATEGORIZING: Completed.

    NOTIFICATION: Please select the intended function from the list.

    бкбк

    A long list then presented in front of Lin Wu. He started counting the number of functions that were avable and got shocked.

    "One hundred and sixty one functionsбн holy hell! And what are these names? Unity extermination formation? Tribtion Attenuation formation? These are some crazy namesбн" Lin Wu said. "But what do they do?" He added before checking their descriptions.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    Unity extermination formation: Destroys an area of 1000 square kilometers (Status: offline)

    Tribtion attenuation formation: Reduces potency of heavenly tribtion by 50% (Status: offline)

    бкбк

    "Oh they''re offlineбн" Lin Wu muttered and saw the symbol next to the function.

    ''They need energy source to work. I should have guessed, something like this must have a very high cost to runбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    He looked at the different formations that were sorted into functions and soon found one that was understandable to him and also online.

    "Activate the Monitoring Formation," Lin Wu selected.

    <em>~Hummm~</em>

    The formation runes started swirling and new ones appeared in front of them. They morphed into a ne sheet of ss on which pictures started to appear.

    This function was the same as that of a security camera and could show Lin Wu the things that happened in the different parts of the tomb. Lin Wu then started scrolling through the different views and felt that this was pretty simr to his previous world.

    "They aplished the same thing using a different method. Instead of technology, arrays are used here instead and formations rece the processors in theputers. The runes are the programmingnguage and the spirit qi is the energy that runs it all." Lin Wu analyzed.

    While scrolling through the windows, Lin Wu came upon the view that showed the two servant beasts of his outside in the sky. They were still flying there and kept on circling around.

    "Huh, thought they would go and wait somewhere else." Lin Wu muttered.

    He scrolled again and came upon a window that showed the entrance of the tomb.

    "Oh? Who are they now?" Lin Wu questioned.

    On the screen in front of Lin Wu, a group of people were currently doing something.

 Chapter 185 - Intruders?

    On the screen, Lin Wu saw a group of seven people dressed in different colored robes. They were obviously cultivators and were looking around, anxious expressions on their face.

    "Is there a sound feature on this?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AUDIO: Activate

    бкбк

    "Ah, thanks." Lin Wu said before listening to what they were saying.

    There were five men and two women in the group talking currently.

    "Are you sure this is the right ce?" A man dressed in a blue robe questioned.

    "Can''t you see the freaking hill? Do you think those skeletons are for show?" A man dressed in a ck robe scolded.

    "I can see that of course, but the record mentioned nothing about the inheritance grounds being like this." The blue robed man replied, not offended by the ck robed man.

    "Su Wen is right, we really need to be careful. The records we found in the sect library are very old, things could have changed. Perhaps the inheritance ground has already been imed tooбн" A woman dressed in a light pink skirt said.

    "Hmmбн we have no choice but to take a chance. Otherwise, we all would have wasted the credits we used for this." A man who looked the oldest among them spoke.

    "I don''t care if I die here. I''m not bending before that core disciple if I have to go back to the sect, so I may as well die here." The second woman who was dressed in a dark green dress spoke.

    She had red eyes, and it seemed like she had been crying. Lin Wu noticed the reactions of the two other men in the group and saw that they particrly paid attention to the woman.

    ''So they fancy her, huhбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Enough, we are going in. This is decided, besides we have the key, don''t we?" A man who was bald and wearing tight fitting robes spoke.

    His muscles could be seen through the outline of the clothes and he was holding arge Guan Dao in his hand.

    "Yes, Senior brother!" Everyone replied.

    The Senior brother nodded and took the lead, walking towards the tomb first.

    "Pass me the key," He ordered.

    The grey robed man took out a tattered piece of cloth that was the size of a handkerchief. There were some characters and calligraphy written on it that was mostly faded.

    "Is that a talisman?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The Senior brother took the talisman from the grey robed man and held it out in front of him.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Suddenly wind started blowing, and the grey border that surrounded the tomb started flickering. The Senior brother stepped forward and the border split apart to create an opening for him.

    "Come on now!" The Senior brother spoke.

    The rest of the group ran in quickly and the bordered closed behind them. The talisman that the senior brother was holding also crumbled into dust after they all entered.

    "Looks like there''s no turning back anymoreбн" Su Wen muttered.

    "Have some courage! If even one of us is able to get the inheritance, we will be rich! We may even be core disciples directly!" The Senior brother said out loud.

    The people nodded hesitatingly and followed behind the senior brother.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DETECTED INTRUDERS: Verifying ess

    ACCESS VERIFIED: Tomb key activated

    ACCESS LEVEL: Basic

    бкбк

    "Oh? So that really was a legitimate key. That means the reason why the beasts all died was because of the absence of keyбн but then how was I able to enter through the opening and why did the sparrow beast not try to im it himself?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He decided to directly ask the sparrow beast about it through their connection.

    "Hey, why did you not try to check the tomb when you were able to enter previously?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Master? Oh, it really is you! Your fine, this means." The sparrow beast said feeling surprised.

    "Yeah, I''m fine. Now answer my question." Lin Wu replied.

    "Didn''t you see it? It''s so terrifying, that barrier injured me when I tried to get close to the entrance and denied me. A voice said that I am ineligible to give the trial." The sparrow beast answered.

    "Huh? What barrier? There was no barrier, and neither was there a trial." Lin Wu replied.

    "There are terrifying formations all over the area, master. Did you not see any of them?" The sparrow beast questioned.

    Now Lin Wu was getting really confused about the entire thing. He had not seen any barriers nor a trial in the tomb. He had been directly granted the discipleship and given hate inheritance.

    "System, can you verify if there really are barriers and trials?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There are multiple barriers set up all around the tomb, and each floor of the tomb has a trial that one must pass before proceeding to the next one. They are all illusionary trials and happen inside the contender''s mind.

    бкбк

    "Illusory trials? Barrier? Why did I not see any of them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system has reached the conclusion that the formations of the tomb target the contender ording to their soul and body. Because the host has the soul of a human and the body of a beast, the formation malfunctioned and did not recognize host as an intruder.

    Simrly, the trials never activated because the host was not detected by it. But the formations that granted the inheritance runs on a different set of formation arrays and thus the host was granted it directly due to being considered passed by default.

    бкбк

    "So I pretty much got this because of shitty programming?" Lin Wu said feeling a bit dumbfounded.

    "Affirmative" The system replied.

    "Dang! Never expected someone a powerful cultivator like the Taiji Celestial to make a mistake like thisбн" Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CORRECTION: This tomb was not set by the Taiji Immortal himself, but by one of his followers.

    бкбк

    "Ohбн so it''s due to negligence and ipetenceбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    "Well anyway. It benefited me, so it doesn''t matter."

 Chapter 186 - First Trial?

    Lin Wu was now wondering what sect these people were from. They had not said the name of the sect, and neither were they wearing clothing that was a uniform.

    ''Wait, could they be the ones that used the beast inciting powder? Hmmбн the beetle beast said there were five of them that time, but here there are seven. Perhaps they split up at that point. Also, she did say they were strong, which means they are at the very least at the core condensation realm.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, can their cultivation bases be scanned?" Lin Wu questioned as he looked through the functions.

    He had seen one function that could do something like this and was part of the identification formation array. He didn''t know if it was activated or not though.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There is one peak stage core condensation realm cultivator, threete stage core condensation realm cultivators and three mid stage core condensation realm cultivators.

    бкбк

    Right after the system answered,bels appeared on top of the cultivators that Lin Wu was seeing on the screen and he observed them.

    "Hmmбн so the senior brother is at the peak, one of the women is at thete stage and the other is at the mid stage. Among the rest of the men, two are atte stage and two at mid stage. A bnced realm, I guessбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The group of cultivators were continuing towards the depths of the tomb and were currently in the corridor before the first hall. Lin Wu was observing the corridor too, and had no difficulty seeing it due to the monitoring function.

    It was actually dark there for the cultivators, but Lin Wu saw it as if there were lights everywhere.

    ''This is rather convenientбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    The cultivators lit up the area using an illumination spell. It created an illusoryntern that spread light in the area at a 360 degree angle. The one using it was the woman who was at thete stage of the core condensation realm.

    They all walked for about five minutes before they reached the hall. If they all had not been walking carefully and steadily, they would have reached it in less than a minute. But they seemed to want to be cautious than rush in, which Lin Wu found very reasonable.

    Finally, they came upon the door of the first hall and the formation lit up.

    "What''s happening?" The mid stage core condensation realm woman asked in an anxious tone.

    "Don''t make any sudden movement''s but be on your guards. We don''t know what we will encounter next, since it is an inheritance ground there is meant to be danger in the trials and tests." The senior brother warned.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    They weakly nodded their heads before forcefully swallowing down their fear. Lin Wu could see that the weaker ones were already trembling in their ces.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The doors of the first hall opened and the seven cultivators walked in.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Suddenly lights appeared in the hall and lit it up, letting everyone see the carvings that were on the wall. Lin Wu looked at them too and found them to be the same as what he had seen before in the first hall he had appeared in.

    "Whoa! What is all this!" The cultivators said in shock.

    Their reaction was the same as that of Lin Wu, but the Senior brother''s expression had darkened instead. He was about to speak something, but before he could his eyes went dull. The others had simr expressions, and it seemed as if they were in aa.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    бкбк

    FIRST TRIAL: Initiated

    NUMBER OF CONTENDERS: Seven

    SETTING DIFFICULTY: Level 2

    APPROVE: Yes/no?

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had not expected that the formation array would ask him for the permission.

    "Seems like being the disciple first has even more advantages. Alright, I''ll approve it, I wanna see what the trials are actually like." Lin Wu replied.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TRIAL APPROVED: Beginning in 3бн 2бн 1бн Trial started

    бкбк

    Lin Wu then saw the screen in front of him change. The seven cultivators'' minds had been transported into an illusion now.

    "So this is what the trial actually looks likeбн" Lin Wu muttered as he saw the gloomy scenery.

    The seven cultivators were currently standing in an area that was ck. Lin Wu recognized this to be one of thes that had been ravaged by the shadow cmity. A loud voice sounded in the ears of the seven cultivators as soon as they appeared in Lin Wu also heard it due to the monitoring formation.

    "Survive for thirty minutes!" The voice said.

    The expression of all the cultivators turned grim, and they took out their weapons.

    "Get ready for whatever that''s about toe!" The Senior brother spoke.

    "I''ll watch for enemies!"

    "I''ll guard the rear!"

    "I scout the area with my qi skill!"

    "I provide defenses!"

    One by one, the members assigned tasks to themselves and showed their teamwork.

    "Huh? They calmed down rather quickly?" Lin Wu muttered, seeing the sudden change.

    ''Or is this their fight or flight response?'' he wondered.

    The cultivators were expecting to fight enemies, but the reality turned out to be very different.

    <em>~BOOM!~</em>

    The ground in front of them suddenly exploded and dark shadows came out of it.

    "RUN! That is not something we can fight" The Senior brother shouted, sensing the auraing from the shadows.

    The aura was terrifying to them, and if it had not been for the fact that it wasn''t particrly directed towards them, they would have already frozen and fallen unconscious due to the pressure.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The cultivators had to dodge right and left, as the ground exploded at random intervals. There was no sense or logic to the explosion, and all they got for a warning was the slight tremor that happened a fraction of a second before the explosion.

    "Aargh!" one of the mid stage core condensation realm cultivators yelled in pain as sharp rock pierced his arm.

 Chapter 187 - Difficulty Levels?

    The rock had beenunched due to the explosion of the ground and had embedded into his shoulder.

    "Heal it!" The Senior brother yelled.

    "On it!" one of thete stage core condensation realm cultivators responded.

    He created a seal with his hand and then directed it towards the injured cultivator. The wound glowed for a moment before the sharp rock fell out and the wound stopped healing. About ten secondster, the wound waspletely gone.

    "Reinforce your bodies with spirit qi, and activate defensive treasures and techniques if you have it!" The Senior brother directed.

    The cultivates did as they were suggested and kept on dodging. But their luck seemed to only get worse as they reached a ravine. The ground was about a hundred meters away from them and a stream of shadows was flowing in the ravine.

    The Senior brother looked back, and saw that the tide of shadows were about ten seconds away from reaching them.

    "What do we do now? Should we fly over it?" Someone questioned.

    "Do it! We have no choice!" The senior brother said and gritted his teeth before flying up on his Guan Dao.

    The others followed behind him, trembling on their spirit weapons. One could see that the streams of shadows were moving in a haphazard manner, and one couldn''t tell where they wereing from. No matter how much they tried to use their spirit sense, it couldn''t prate the shadows.

    It was as if the shadows were eating their spirit sense, which made them even more scared.

    Still, they eventually reached the other side of the ravine sessfully andnded on the ground.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    "DAMMIT! GO! GO! GO!" The Senior brother shouted.

    Their run began again and continued for the next twenty minutes. During this, they got injured by the explosion of the ground but were never touched by the shadows. Eventually, the voice dered the end of the trial, much to the relief of the seven cultivators.

    "THE TRIAL HAS BEEN COMPLETED! ALL HAVE PASSED!" The voice spoke.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    Everyone took breaths of relief and copsed on the ground. Even if they were core condensation realm cultivators, they could tell that they were no match for whatever those shadows were. Even if it was just an illusory trial, they still felt the aura from it.

    "Those shadowsбн what in the heavens were they?" Su Wen questioned.

    "Look there, that''s what they are." Thete stage core condensation realm women pointed at the carvings.

    They finally got the chance to take a clear look at the carvings and understood what the shadows were. They were stunned by seeing all that had happened in the past. Lin Wu meanwhile was looking at the logs in front of him.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TRIAL COMPLETED: All contenders pass

    UNLOCK SECOND LEVEL: Yes/ No?

    бкбк

    "So the trial was to experience the shadow cmityбн that does seem a valid way to test someoneбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu looked at the screen and saw the cultivators trying to find the next entrance. He looked at the map and saw that there was no way for them to proceed unless he unlocked it for them.

    ''So the entrances were opened by default for me when I entered. Or they would not have shown up on mapбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Alright, allow them to proceed." Lin Wu permitted.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SECOND LEVEL: unlocked

    SECOND TRIAL: Waiting for contenders

    бкбк

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The cultivates who were looking for the entrance suddenly found the hall trembling. A few secondster, a section of the wall opened up, and they saw the staircase that led them to the next level.

    "Look! There it is," One of them pointed.

    "Let''s go then," The Senior brother said and took the lead once again.

    They went up the stairs and arrive on the second level, which lit up on their arrival. There were more carvings here too, the same as the ones Lin Wu had seen.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SECOND LEVEL: Seven contenders found

    INITIATE SECOND TRIAL: Yes/No?

    бкбк

    The notification appeared in front of Lin Wu, and he epted it right away. He wanted to see what more the trials actually were, as he was getting more information from them and even the system was analyzing it. Lin Wu knew that it woulde in use sometime in the future.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SECOND TRIAL: Initiated

    NUMBER OF CONTENDERS: Seven

    SETTING DIFFICULTY: Level 2

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw the difficulty level and wondered how that was decided.

    "System, what determines the difficulty level?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The difficulty level is determined by checking the average cultivation base and the number of contenders taking part. If it is just a single cultivator at the core condensation realm, the difficulty would be set to level 1. Up to ten cultivators of core condensation realm, it would be at level 2.

    The host can increase the difficulty level if he chooses to do so. The max level of difficulty is level 10 and its rmended cultivation base is either an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator or ten Dao treading realm cultivators.

    бкбк

    "Holy heck! So the trials are set for even Immortal Ascension realm cultivatorsбн wait! Doesn''t this make this tomb potentially even more important than the temples of the three guardian beasts?" Lin Wu spoke, feeling a bit shocked.

    Lin Wu had learned that the temples could provide blessings to cultivators which could allow them to gain new cultivation techniques, qi skills, or even bloodlines. The blessings were how the three great ns of the Ming Dao world gained their bloodlines as well.

    Lin Wu didn''t know how many Immortal Ascension realm cultivators there were in this world currently, but there shouldn''t be more than a handful.

    ''Shirong''s ancestor should be an immortal Ascension realm cultivator too, and the top sects should have some too. Hmmбн he also said how there are very few pseudo immortal weapons in this world and they are in the hands of great powers, thus they should be controlled by the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

 Chapter 188 - Shadow Dread Beasts?

    The seven cultivators arrived in the second trial and were greeted by a simr world that they had seen before. Except, this world''s flora and fauna had been strangely corrupted by the shadows.

    Lin Wu saw it too and realized that this world was one of the worlds that were taken over by the shadow cmity after they obtained the two consciousnesses, Bai and Hei. That was the reason why the shadows were not as corrosive as before and had not fully covered the ground.

    "What is this ce now?" The grey robed cultivator questioned.

    "The aura is the same as before, butбн it''s not as violent." The senior brother spoke.

    They felt anxious as they knew that if this was the second level it was bound to be more difficult than the first one. If the aura was not violent, that meant something else was gonna be.

    <em>~step~step~step~</em>

    Suddenly the sound of footsteps could be hearding from behind them. They turned around hurriedly and saw the being that was standing behind them.

    "What in the heaven''s name!"

    The being that was standing in front of them was humanoid, but had no nose or a face. It only had a wide mouth filled with teeth and eerily long arms that dangled to its side. They went all the way to its knees and were tipped with long ws.

    Its legs were shorter than its arms and much wider. There were smaller ws on them, and its skin was wrinkly and oily. A pungent smell emanated from its body as drool dripped from its mouth.

    <em>~Screech~</em>

    It let out a loud cry that pierced the ears of every one present and filled them with fear.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    The screeching cry stopped and they opener their eyes only to see something even bigger standing in front of them. It looked like a huge bird beast and it had bitten the humanoid being in half. But even this bird beast seemed to look simr to the humanoid beast and had simr features.

    "What the hell are these things?!" The mid stage core condensation realm woman questioned with horror.

    It was now that the voice sounded again.

    "Defeat ten Shadow Dread beasts!" The Voice dered.

    "Seems like we know what they are nowбн" The Senior Brother said before swinging his Guan Dao.

    "Get ready to fight!" He stated.

    Everyone brought out their weapon and flew ahead. The Senior brother attacked the bird like Shadow dread beast first and shed a wound on its torso. But the beast seemed to be unaffected by it and lifted itsrge eye-less head towards him and snapped its beak.

    <em>~clink~</em>

    The Senior brother parried the sharp beak with the de of his Guan Dao and stepped back.

    <em>~Sss~Boom~</em>

    A fire ball came and hit the beast on the side of its head, melting a part of the skin.

    "It''s defenses are not that strong, quickly defeat it!" Su Wen shouted as he controlled his spirit sword to strike at the beast''s wings.

    <em>~Scree~</em>

    The beast let out another ear piercing screech as it pped its wings, making gales of winds.

    <em>~draaa~</em>

    A shearing sound was made by the beast as it dived at one of the mid stage core condensation realm cultivators.

    "Take this!" Thete stage core condensation realm woman cultivator shouted as she released an arrow made out of spirit qi.

    The arrow was blue colored and moved at a great speed. In the blink of an eye, it was close to piercing the beast.

    <em>~Splick~</em>

    The arrow prated the head of the beast and sttered ck blood everywhere.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~crackle~</em>

    A cold air came out of the arrow and the beast''s head started to freeze. In about five seconds the beast''s head was frozen.

    <em>~pow~</em>

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    The grey robed cultivator, who was at thete stage of the core condensation realm, executed a fist technique and punched the frozen head of the beast, shattering it into icy fragments.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The corpse of the beast fell to the ground with a loud thud, knocking up a cloud of ck dust.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "One down, nine more to goбн" Su Wen said.

    And just as he said this, more screeches were hearding from afar. The Senior brother gritted his teeth and spread his spirit sense far and wide.

    "There are three of them together this time, we can do this!" he said.

    "Yes, Senior brother!" They responded before entering offensive stances.

    Lin Wu watched on as the team defeated the Shadow Dread beasts one by one and soon reached the required number of kills to pass. This time they were not uninjured though, they had cuts and scratches everywhere on their bodies and their clothes had been tattered.

    Blood dripped from their wounds as their cuts burned.

    "THE TRIAL HAS BEEN COMPLETED! ALL HAVE PASSED!" The voice spoke again.

    The seven cultivators returned to the second level''s hall and copsed on the ground in exhaustion. Their wounds had been healed as it was just an illusory trial, but the mental strain would be hard to recover that quickly.

    "Rest for a bit, we''ll precede after we are in a better condition." The Senior brother advised before sitting down cross legged and meditating.

    "Hmmбн despite his looks and demeanor, he is not a bad leader." Lin Wu stated.

    This trial had been beneficial for Lin Wu too, as he actually recognized one of the Shadow Dread beasts that the seven cultivator beasts had fought.

    ''Wasn''t that beast simr to the Shadow w beasts I killed before I met the mole beast and the beetle beast?'' Lin Wu thought.

    The beast that the seven cultivators had fought was like a much bigger version of the Shadow w beasts and had no eyes, but for the rest, its features were the same. Lin Wu thought of its implications and wondered what was the link between that world and the Ming Dao world.

    "Either the beast is found in multiple worlds, orбн this world is the same as that oneбн"

 Chapter 189 - Third Trial?

    Lin Wu pushed his thoughts aside for a bit as he looked at the entrance of the next level. The stairs went in a different direction than were shown on his map. He scrolled through the differentyers and saw that there were actually multiple halls on a single floor.

    There were even some stairs that directly skipped a level.

    "Why are there multiple entrances like this, System, and why was there only one path in the upper halls that came from.?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Depending on the difficulty that is set and the performance of the candidates, different paths may be opened to them. Because the formations did not activate, the floors were set to the default number, otherwise they can open different paths depending on the performance.

    The top floor that the host first appeared in can even go directly to the entrance of the tomb at the bottom if the right path is activated.

    бкбк

    "Ohбн is that so? Seems like I missed this part in the formation array function list." Lin Wu muttered before ncing through the list again.

    About half way through, he found the function which allowed him to change the paths as he liked and link them to different levels.

    ''Hmmбн should I try changing the difficulty level in the next level for them?'' Lin Wu wondered but then chose not to.

    "Wait, can I change the difficulty midway through the trial?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Changing the trial midway will lead to a proportionate increase and decrease in the final rewards. The final rewards cannot be changed by the Host and are fixed as in independent function in the Trial''s formation array.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн that makes sense. Thoughбн do I want to let them obtain the inheritance?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu wasn''t exactly losing anything if the cultivators got the inheritance, since it was not his to give anything. Though he could make it so that they would all lose if needed. But he didn''t know if he wanted to do that, unless he got some benefit from it.

    ''I should first find out what sect they are from. Perhaps that can give me more ideaбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Are you all fine now?" The Senior brother spoke, pulling Lin Wu''s attention back to that screen.

    "Yes, Senior brother. We can continue now." Su Wen and the other replied.

    "Good, let''s hurry." The Senior brother stood up and went to the entrance of the next level.

    They all started climbing the stairs and reached the third level. Their arrival caused the lights to appear, and they were blinded for a moment.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    THIRD LEVEL: Seven contenders found

    INITIATE SECOND TRIAL: Yes/No?

    бкбк

    "Yes, start the trial." Lin Wu said immediately.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    THIRD TRIAL: Initiated

    NUMBER OF CONTENDERS: Seven

    SETTING DIFFICULTY: Level 2

    бкбк

    With the third trial started, the seven cultivators appeared in the new world. This time it was not a dark and gloomy like the previous ones. Instead, it was a normal one, and they were currently located in a jungle.

    "This ce looks differentбн" One of the cultivators muttered.

    "Our clothes are different too!" thete stage core condensation realm cultivator spoke.

    "Seems like we will be assuming the identity of some people in this trial." The Senior brother hypothesis zed.

    Lin Wu was also waiting for the trial''s objective to be announced, as he couldn''t recognize what world this was. He hadn''t seen that many worlds during the Taiji Celestials speech, thus it was likely that this was eventually going to happen.

    He didn''t have to wait long though. The voice echoed soon enough.

    "Prevent the enemies from sabotaging the defenses." The voice spoke.

    As soon as this was announced, confused expressions appeared on the faces of the cultivators. They looked around the area and couldn''t see anyone that seemed like an enemy.

    "What do we do now?" Su Wen questioned.

    "Let me check the areaбн" The Senior brother said before scanning the surroundings with his spirit sense.

    He looked towards the other side and spoke, "there are a bunch of cultivators there and they''re wearing the same clothes as us."

    "Let''s head there thenбн" The blue robed cultivator said.

    Everyone nodded in agreement and flew towards the location of the camp. About a minuteter, the small camp appeared in front of their eyes. There were perhaps a few tens of people in the camp, and they were all looking tense and ready to fight.

    The guards that were looking from the watch tower spotted the seven cultivators and shouted. "The reinforcements have arrived!"

    "So we''re supposed to be reinforcements, huhбн" The Senior brother muttered to himself.

    "Wee brothers! You all are just in time. We received intel that the enemies have already progressed to the first line of control. Our goal is to stop them from continuing and destroy their documents." Themander of the camp spoke after the sevennded on the ground.

    The Senior brother secretly felt the fluctuations of spirit qiing from themander and found him to be at the Nascent Soul realm.

    ''A meremander is at the Nascent soul realm? What kind of a world is this?'' The Senior brother wondered.

    Lin Wu on the other hand already guessed that this was a higher leveled world otherwise something like this was quite unlikely to happen in a world that they were in. He watched on at the cultivators were informed of their aim and then sent off to find the enemies.

    It took them about three hours to find it, but Lin Wu could tell that the time in the world was being elerated. For what was three hours to them was a mere five minutes to him. At first, everything was ying at a normal speed on his screen but soon it sped up.

    He was still able to keep up as they weren''t really talking as much and were mostly running and flying. After finding the hideout of the enemies though, they had their first casualty.

 Chapter 190 - Casualties?

    The Senior brother and the rest of the cultivators were watching the dead body of theirpanion that was lying on the ground. It had been bisected in half from the waist and they didn''t know how it happened.

    They were flying towards the enemy hideout and had just discovered it when this happened. They had nned to surprise and ambush the enemies but now that was not possible as the death of theirpanion had caused noise that the enemies had detected.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~Rustle~</em>

    The trees rustled as the enemies could be heard approaching from the camp.

    "What do we do now? Is he really dead?" Thete stage core condensation realm woman asked.

    "I doubt it. This is an illusory array and thus it''s likely that he is only dead here and has been ejected back into the real world." Senior brother answered.

    "Let''s hope that is how it isбн" Su Wen muttered and readied his sword for a battle.

    A few secondster, twenty soldiers dressed in armor appeared from the trees. The jungle was densely packed with trees which made it easier for people to hide, but once they were found fighting could be difficult. They would have to either take advantage of the close quarters or need to fight in the sky.

    "Ha! Take this!" The Senior brother shouted as he spun his Guan Dao in a circle.

    This released a wave of energy that cut the trees around them, and along with the three of their enemies were also killed.

    "KILL!" The enemy soldiers shouted.

    The two mid stage core condensation realm cultivators lunged ahead to fight when suddenly,

    <em>~thud~</em>

    "Aargh! My arm!"

    An arm had been suddenly cut off out of nowhere. The first one had died because of this too, and they were now scared about how it was being done. But soon thete stage Core condensation realm women realized it.

    "It''s a formation! There are offensive trap formations set up here!" She said.

    Herpanions gritted their teeth as they got ready for a tough fight. The fight didn''tst long though and they were able to sessfully kill all the enemy soldiers.

    But their injuries were also quite bad, most of them were covered in cuts and wounds while two more had lost their hands and arms in the battle. The trap formations were almost invisible and gave one barely any time to react.

    They created a thin and sharp de of spirit qi that would manifest close to the intruder and then cut their limbs or bodies apart.

    "How do we continue now?" Su Wen asked while holding on to his bleeding stump.

    "I''m gonna use ''that'' and kill the entire camp in one go." The Senior brother said.

    "You can''t! If you die with them, who knows if the trial will allow you to continue or not!" Thete stage core condensation realm woman spoke.

    "Don''t worry, I''ve got an idea about this trial now. As long as I''m alive even a second after the enemies are dead, I''ll be able to pass." The Senior brother replied, veins appearing on his body.

    The rest of the cultivators looked on in apprehension, while Lin Wu was interested in what he was going to do.

    "System, record what he is going to do." Lin Wu ordered.

    He had a guess that he was going to use a certain kind of technique and didn''t want to miss out on it. Real time observation and analysis would help speed up the process of the rest of the cultivation techniques as well.

    The senior brother flew on his Guan Dao, looking like a warrior king as his body started releasing more and more waves of spirit qi.

    "You meaningless constructs of a formation cannot defeat our determination!" The Senior brother shouted as he flew up above the camp.

    The enemy soldiers had already noticed him by now and were running out of the buildings to intercept him. After reaching a certain level of height the senior brother jumped and grasped his Guan Dao.

    "Witness the wrath of I the Frozen cloud sect''s Inner disciple Wang Xiong! cier Crash!" The Senior brother shouted as a wave of freezing air came out of his body.

    The cold air started freezing the water in the air and arge ice chunk started to be formed. The ice chunk soon grewrger andrger. Within seconds, it had reached the size of a cier and started falling towards the camp.

    The Senior brother Wang Xiong was now trapped inside the cier but he was still alive. His skin had frost all over it and snow settled on his bald head. His eyes were bloodshot as he strained in body and overdrawing his spirit qi.

    By the time the cier had reached halfway to the camp, it had reached a size that was at least five times bigger than that of the camp. But this came at a great cost to Wang Xiong. His cultivation base had already fallen to the mid stage of the core condensation realm and it was still falling.

    The enemy soldiers wanted to run, but the freezing airing from the cier was also making it extremely difficult to move. It was as if their joints were being locked and all they could do was scream in fear.

    <em>~BOOM!~</em>

    The cier finally crashed into the camp and ttened it beneath it along with arge area around it. Even thepanions of Wang Xiong had to retreat or they would have been affected by the freezing cold air too.

    "Senior brother really did itбн" Su Wen muttered.

    "Yes, he didбн and he even brought out the full effect of the qi skill." The mid stage core condensation realm woman said in shock.

    "Indeedбн we underestimated his skill even now," The grey robed core condensation realm cultivator that was at thete stage spoke.

    Lin Wu was impressed by this sacrificial technique quite a bit and was happy that he had let them progress.

    "Hmm, I should extract more of their secrets like thisбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 191 - Inheritance Rewards?

    After the cier crashed onto the enemy camp, all of the cultivators were sent back to their bodies and they woke up. The one that had died and the others who had lost their limbs regained them.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    THIRD TRIAL: Completed

    CONTENTEDNESS: 6/7 Seeded

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so he really managed to survive long enough for the trial to consider him sessful." Lin Wu muttered to himself after seeing the results.

    The cultivator who had been killed looked to be in shock as he hurriedly checked his body. The ones that had lost their limbs did the same and all took a breath of relief after seeing that they were fully healed now. This was quite a traumatizing experience to them and they thanked the heavens that they survived.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Suddenly the sound of formations appeared and runes appeared in the hall.

    "What is happening?" Su Wen shouted in surprise.

    The runes gathered around the man who had died and thus failed the trial.

    "They''re gonna take him out of the tomb. It''s a teleportation formation." Wang Xiong exined as he held his head.

    Even after he had been fully healed, a splitting headache was still left in his head from using the technique.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING: Teleportation formation

    TELEPORTING: Failed contender.

    TELEPORTATION COMPLETED: Failed contender sent to the beginning area.

    бкбк

    Just as he had said, the runes gathered and made a teleportation formation around the man who had failed before he disappeared in a sh of light. Lin Wu saw this and tried to see where the man had been taken to.

    Lin Wu switched through the screens and looked at the screen that showed the entrance of the area. The man who had failed was standing there with a crestfallen expression. Lin Wu was interested in this teleportation formation and wanted to see what was its limits.

    "System, What''s the max range of this teleportation function?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The current maximum range of the teleportation formation is 5000 kilometers. If a sufficiently strong power source is added, the teleportation formation has a total range of the entire Ming Dao world.

    бкбк

    "Holy Crap! The entire? This is some next level of formationбн" Lin Wu eximed in shock.

    The system had brought up the map and showed him the range of the teleportation formation on it.

    ''This wille in handy, I can directly teleport to the Deer Wood city if needed.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, what are the restrictions to use the formation?" Lin Wu questioned, knowing that there must be certain limits considering it didn''t have a sufficient power source.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Only the host can teleport using the formation within the range specified. Teleportation will consume 1000 Units of liquid spirit qi if done. Within the tomb, the teleportation has no cost. The host can only teleport from the tomb to outside but not the reverse.

    Note: The system can modify the interface to make reverse teleportation possible.

    бкбк

    "YES! Do that! Make it so that I can travel using this as a transit point." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CREATING VIRTUAL INTERFACE: Teleportation ry

    VIRTUAL INTERFACE CREATED: Teleportation Ry is online

    CURRENT FUNCTIONS: 1. Teleport

    2. Return

    бкбк

    "Oh? That was rather fast, I guess the data updates really helped it." Lin Wu muttered.

    He looked at the progress screens and saw that the system hadpleted the analysis of the technique ''cier Crash'' by ten percent by now. Lin Wu had also learned that these cultivators were from the Frozen Cloud sect from the south of the Ling Kingdom.

    It was a cultivation sect located about eight thousand kilometers from his current location, which was rather far considering the strength of the cultivators that hade.

    "They really were determined to obtain the legacy, huhбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    "System, show me information on the Frozen Cloud sect." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Frozen cloud sect is a high level sect of the Long Continent and is located in the south eastern part of the continent. It is situated in the territory of the Fu Lan Dynasty and is considered to be the main powerhouse of the region.

    They specialize in ice elemental cultivation techniques and are well known in the Continent. They are one of the sects that have an Immortal Ascension realm Cultivator backing them and have two Dao treading realm cultivators.

    бкбк

    "Damnбн so they are a big shot sect. No wonder these guys were able to find information on the tomb in their sect. They probably had it from some ancient record." Lin Wu said, feeling surprised.

    ''Wait, have there been others that came here before me?'' Lin Wu suddenly thought.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host is the first person to havee to the tomb and obtain the inheritance.

    бкбк

    "So I really am the firstбн but then do I want these guys to be the next ones?" Lin Wu muttered to himself as ideas appeared in his mind.

    Lin Wu started to think of how he could take advantage of this situation. He knew that letting this chance go to waste would pain him to no end, thus he finally decided upon a n.

    ''If they receive a certain level of inheritance depending on the results of the trials, maybe I can manipte it so that it will be in my favor.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, how many rewards are there forpleting all the trials?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There are three levels of rewards for the contenders who have sessfullypleted the trials. The inheritance that the Host received is the highest level of inheritance. While there are two lower levels of inheritance avable as well.

    The highest level inheritance can only be given one time, the intermediate level inheritance can be given to two people while the basic level of inheritance can be given to three people.

    бкбк

    "So the seven of theming here was kind of a lost cause anyway, huh? They would have envier been able to get all the inheritances. Hmmбн that Senior brother seems like a good candidate to y with, I guess I''ll choose him." Lin Wu said with a chuckle as a plot hatched in his mind.

 Chapter 192 - Short Trial?

    Lin Wu looked on as the cultivators got ready to move on to the next level.

    "Seems like it''s time to make some changes." Lin Wu muttered as he adjusted the trial settings in the window.

    The six cultivators reached the next level and saw the new carvings, which showed the birth of the Taiji Celestial. Just from looking at the carvings, the cultivators felt their hearts pound.

    "Whatбн what kind of a man is that?" Thete stage condensation realm woman asked.

    "Whoever he isбн or wasбн is quite likely to be beyond anything that we know. There is no way that everything showed on the carvings happened in this world. Those look like different worlds beyond this one, even the Nascent soul realm soldier we saw in thest trial; that is not something we would see here.

    To assign someone at the Nascent soul realm as a lowly soldier would be a great offense in our world. A nascent soul realm cultivator can easily be a n head or even the sect master of a low ranked sect. Even in our sect nascent soul realm cultivators can directly be elders." Wang Xiong exined.

    The rest of hispanions nodded in understanding and looked around for the trial to start.

    "Huh? Why hasn''t it started yet?" Su Wen questioned.

    And just as he said that, their consciousness faded and they appeared in the next trial. The reason it took them long was because Lin Wu was specifically changing the conditions of the trial. In total, there were going to be about twelve trials before they would have been able to reach thepletion.

    But Lin Wu made use of the functions that were avable to him and shorted the trial to this single level. He was even able to figure out a way to pass the inheritance of the Taiji celestial himself. There were restrictions on how the rewards could not be controlled by him directly, but he found a loophole such that as long as the inheritance was given to the winner, the formations array would not find it to be an error.

    Lin Wu did it for a few reasons.

    First of all, he did not want others to know about the true story of the Taiji Immortal as he could tell this knowledge could be used as a trump card. The second reason was that he wanted to interact with the winner of the trial who was going to be Wang Xiong.

    He had already determined to let him win and was going to make him his second pawn after Shirong. But this one was going to be used a bit differently. After getting the servants, Lin Wu had already figured out an outline for his future, and having some people under his control was one of the requirements.

    The third reason was that it was soon going to be morning and he would have to be beside Shirong till then. He was still an important pawn and would have use for him for quite a while and thus did not want to give up on him.

    If he finished the trial in one level, it would give him enough time to talk with Wang Xiong and also temperate back to Shirong.

    ''I''ll have to figure out a way to obtain a power source for the formation array. My own energy is not enough for it to workpletely and it needs an integrated source.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He looked back at the screen and saw the six cultivators fighting against a group of Shadow dread beasts. They were having a hard time as not only did they need to battle the beasts, they also needed to deal with the shadows that would pop up from the ground.

    Behind them, a tide of shadows could also be seening towards them. It was as if the shadows were a sea and the shadows extended and receded.

    "Dammit! What the hell is with the sudden increase in the difficulty?" One of the hate six cultivators said, feeling frustrated.

    They had never expected that they would end up dealing with multiple things at once like this. They were only given one instruction at the start, which said to ''Survive''. It didn''t even say for how long or how many beasts they needed to kill, which made them feel dread for theing future.

    Lin Wu watched on as their numbers started to decrease. The six cultivators had managed to kill about half of the shadow dread beasts when the tide finally came.

    "Run! Escape the tide, the other beasts will die to it." Wang Xiong shouted.

    Hispanions did as they were instructed to and flew away as fast as possible. But to their misfortune, among the Shadow dread beasts were some that could fly and thus they were able to keep up.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The tide of shadows came and spread all over the ground. The shadow dread beasts that had been unable to keep up with them were lost within the shadows and could not be seen. Wang Xiong had a grin on his face as he saw the numbers of the beasts fall again.

    "NOW! Kill them!" He ordered and lunged towards the flying Shadow dread beast that was targeting him.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    His Guan Dao moved like lightning and split the beast''s wings in half, making it fall to the ground with a loud cry. The others did the same and managed to down the flying beasts that were targeting them. They descended to the ground and killed them, but just as they were about to leave, a screeching sound was heard.

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    Two bodies of the cultivators fell as blood spilled from their chests. They had been pierced by long ws and had their mouths wide open.

    <em>~Chomp~</em>

    Another sound was heard as one of thete stage core condensation realm cultivators'' heads was crushed. In their assumption that the Shadow dread beasts would be killed by the Shadow tide, they made a grave mistake.

    They were now surrounded by the shadow dread beasts.

 Chapter 193 - Big Boss?

    Wang Xiong and the others looked around and felt their hearts drop. There were now only him, Su Wen, and thete stage core condensation realm woman left alive. The others had been killed in the surprise attack which was overwhelming for them.

    Counting the beast''s, Wang Xiong discovered that there were about twenty Shadow dread beasts that were surrounding them. The ones that were covered with the shadow tide had brought more of them with him which made him grit his teeth in frustration.

    He didn''t know if there were more trials left but seeing as their numbers had been decreased by more than half now, he doubted he would be able to survive till then.

    "What do we do now senior brother?" Su Wen questioned.

    "Attack! Use all that you got, even if this is the only trial we are able toplete, give it your all!" Wang Xiong said before a chilling air appeared around his body.

    Seeing that their senior brother was now like this they couldn''t hold back either. A bow made of a bluish wood appeared in the hands of the woman while Su Wen''s sword started to shake.

    "DIE!" Wang Xiong shouted as he swung his Guan Dao at the Shadow dread beasts.

    A wave of frost came out of it and froze the bodies of the beasts. The woman on the other hand shot out arrows made of ice that pierced the bodies of the beasts and slowed them down. The strangest one was Su Wen though, his sword had shattered into multiple pieces and was now floating around him like a cyclone.

    He then directly lunged towards the beasts and the sword fragment cyclone started shredding the beasts as it came in contact with them. In less than two seconds, the beast he hade in contact with had been reduced to a pile of ck blood and gore. Their flesh let out a pungent and foul smell that almost made the cultivators flinch in revulsion.

    Had it not been for their sheer will, they would have already vomited here. But doing that would cause them to lower their guard and then death. Which was not something they definitely wanted aftering all this way. Even if they were not going to die in real life, they still wanted to avoid it.

    With the shadow tide behind them and the beasts in front, they had few choices left. They bore injuries as they killed the beasts one by one but still were getting weaker. Eventually, they were able to kill all the beasts but in return, Su Wen had been touched by a sliver of the Shadow Tide.

    "ARGH!" he shouted.

    There were ck veins appearing on his body and he started to convulse.

    "Hold him down! We don''t know what would happen from now on." Wang Xiong said as he took out a rope.

    He gestured towards the injured man, and the rope automatically flew towards him, coiling around him.

    "You can let go off him now." Wang Xiong said to the woman who had been holding down Su Wen.

    The man was still struggling and convulsing but now there were changes urring in his body. His skin became a pale Grey and his hair started to fall. His nailed gained a metallic sheen and his clothes started to corrode. A smoky aura appeared out of his body and his eyes turnedpletely white with no pupils.

    "GRR!" Su Wen growled as he looked at hispanions.

    "What do we do now?" The woman asked with concern.

    Su Wen''s transformation conditioned as now his skin started to ke and fall off. Beneath that, a slimyyer could be seen and a leathery ashy skin had appeared.

    "It can''t beбн. He''sбн he''s bing like those beasts!" The Woman said with a hint of fear in her voice.

    Wang Xiong hesitated for a bit before making up his mind. He lifted his Guan Dao and swung it at Su Wen.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    His head rolled on the ground as the woman looked on in horror.

    "You! You killed him!" The woman shouted.

    "It had to be done! Or we would have had no chance ofpleting the trial. He''s a lost cause already, better to not let him experience this and return to the real world peacefully." Wang Xiong replied.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    And just as he said this, the shadow tide started returning and the cries of more beasts could be heard from afar. The woman nodded her head as she understood the reasoning and looked at the shadow tide before determination appeared on her face. Seeing this change on his junior sister''s face, Wang Xiong felt a bit happy.

    ''At least they are losing their naivenessбн'' Wang Xiong thought as he flew upon his Guan Dao.

    The woman did the same and her bow returned to the spatial storage treasure. Lin Wu watched the entire thing with interest, as he had not seen a transformation like that before.

    ''Hmm interesting, not only did his form start to change but I could also tell his power was increasing. This shadow Cmityбн I need to research more about it.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, see if you can extract more information about the shadow cmity from the formation array here." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK ASSIGNED: Analyze Shadow Cmity

    SEARCHING DATA NODES: 105 Data nodes found

    FILTERING: 9 Relevant Data nodes found

    бкбк

    "Alright, that''s a good start, hopefully it can be done quickly." Lin Wu muttered as he looked back to the screen.

    The two contenders were flying towards the other end anxiously, with a horde of beasts following behind them. The ones on the ground were still easy to escape, but the flying ones were annoying to no end and would attack them in a suicidal way.

    "Time for the big boss to appearбн" Lin Wu chuckled.

    ~ROAR!~

    A piercing roar went across the skies as the two contenders almost fell from their spirit weapons.

    "What in the heaven''s name is that!"

 Chapter 194 - Desperation?

    In front of the two, a beast that was five items as big as an elephant was standing. But just the size wasn''t what had shocked them as there were plenty of beasts that were that big in the world. Rather, it was the appearance.

    The beast looked like an amalgamation of multiple humans and beasts. There were limbs of both humans and beasts popping out of its body from everywhere and it had arge number of eyes spread all around its body. It moved by crawling but its speed was still astonishing.

    The beast was currently starring at the two cultivators with malice in its eyes. A smoky aura surrounded it and a rotten smell emanated from its body.

    Wang Xiong tensed his body and took a deep breath. His spirit sense extended and probed the beast but when he did so his eyes went wide.

    "Nascent soul! The beast is at the Nascent Soul realm!" Wang Xiong shouted.

    He looked at the junior sister beside him and then at the horde of Shadow dread beastsing towards them.

    "Escape! I''ll hold them back!" Wang Xiong said as frosty air emitted from his body.

    The woman looked on in disbelief as her senior brother flew up without hesitation.

    "NO SENIOR BROTHER!" she shouted.

    But s! It was already toote.

    "GLACIER CRASH!" Wang Xiong shouted as the ice started to form in the air.

    In less than ten seconds, it had already reached a huge size and was enough to core the body of therge Shadow dread beasts. Still, the beast was moving rather fast and chasing behind the woman. She tried to dodge its attack but was barely avoiding them. Her speed awes vastly inferior to that of Wang Xiong and thus there was little chance for her to survive unless a miracle happens.

    Wang Xiong watched on in rage as his spirit Qi thrummed with power. It was as if this had pushed him beyond a certain imitation of his and his aura reached a peak.

    "Oh? A breakthrough in the middle of the battle?" Lin Wu muttered, seeing the scene.

    He looked at his real body and saw that the spirit Qi was swirling around it too. He was having an actual breakthrough and not just in the illusory world.

    But Wang Xiong did something that he had not expected. Instead of focusing on the breakthrough, he channeled it into the skill he was using.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    Then, almost in an instant, the piece of cier grew to a massive size and spikes appeared on its bottom. The frosty air started to freeze the shadow dread beasts that were running below, and even therge beast was starting to slow down. The Woman was barely able to escape the blow of therge Shadow dread beast when she noticed the change in her senior brother.

    She gritted her teeth and spat out a mouthful of blood. Her speed suddenly increased as herplexion became paler. If she had hesitated now, the frost air would have likely frozen her as well.

    "Senior brother was able to achieve the second level of cier Crash on his ownбн his aptitude is truly beyond usбн had it not been for those arrogant bastards he would have already be a core disciple." The woman muttered to herself.

    "Now this is interestingбн looks like I''ve got an underdog here, huh? Well, more fun for meter on." Lin Wu said to himself as he continued observing the screen.

    Now that therge beast had been slowed down by Wang Xiong, he was able to target it.

    "DIE!" Wang Xiong shouted as the cier fell, along with himself frozen within it.

    His voice was filled with power such that it echoed even outside the cier.

    The smaller Shadow dread beasts were already frozen and as such couldn''t do much, but therge one was still snuggling. s, the size of the cier was toorge for it to escape.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The fall of the cier created tremors that traveled far and wide. Even the shadow tide was affected and ripples papered in it, which made it halt for a few seconds but then continued. The woman had managed to escape the entire ordeal, but she still had a thinyer of frost that had selected on her hair and body.

    She watched on with bated breath at the cier and didn''t know what to do.

    "Hmmбн seems like I''ll have to change my pawn now." Lin Wu muttered, feeling a bit disappointed.

    Lin Wu had manipted the test such that Wang Xiong should have had the highest chance of winning, but there were still unexpected things that append. He never thought that he would sacrifice himself that easily. Despite his appearance, he seemed to have a kind heart, which made him vastly different from Shirong.

    "Time to make some changes to the n thenбн gotta make it so it would work with a weaker cultivator nowбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself when he suddenly stopped.

    "Huh? What''s she doing now?" He said upon seeing the woman fly towards the cier.

    She came to the very top of it and held a sword in her hand.

    "SHATTER FOR ME!" She yelled before mming the sword into the ice.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    The sound of a crack was heard as a fissure opened up in the ice. It was evident that the entire cier was held by spirit Qi and now that had been stopped, its integrity was getting weaker. Even a few attacks from the woman were able to break it open.

    <em>~smash~</em>

    <em>~Smash~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    She continued hacking and cutting at it, till she reached the part where Wang Xiong was encased in. She pulled him out and checked his breathing.

    "He''s alive!" she eximed.

    But just as she said that Wang Xiong''s breathing started getting weaker.

    "NO! YOU CANNOT DIE HERE!" She said before cing her hands at the heart of Wang Xiong.

    A determined expression appeared on her face as she started pouring her spirit Qi and vitality into the body of Wang Xiong.

 Chapter 195 - Trials Completed?

    Lin Wu watched on in interest as he saw a new technique being used. He knew that spirit Qi and vital Qi could be transferred to others as he had done that himself. But the difference was that he had done so using the system and not on how own. He wondered what kind of a technique would be required to do it.

    Thankfully, the system was already recording it and Lin Wu would have the analysis soon enough. Even if the technique turned out to be rtively useless for him, it would still help in the extraption of data that would further speed up the analysis of other techniques. This was something he knew would be a key point in increasing his influence and power.

    About two minutes passed as the woman''splexion kept on getting paler and paler. Her breaths got ragged and eventually, her skin started to wrinkle as well. Her hair started to turn white and even her eyes became dull. But she did not stop despite this and continued till nearly all of her vitality and Qi was transferred to Wang Xiong.

    Lin Wu looked at the real body of the woman to see if any change had urred there but except for a troubled expression on her face, her body seemed to be the same as before.

    ''Hmmбн this illusory array is rather exemry at simtion. I need to study this more, if I can apply this, fighting enemies may be a piece of cake.'' Lin Wu thought.

    When the woman was merely a bag of skin and bones, Wang Xiong woke up.

    "WHAT!" He shouted seeing the old woman in her arms.

    "Youбн haveбн toбн seededбн seniorбн brotherбн" The woman said with difficulty.

    Wang Xiong had a hard time recognizing that the woman in his arms was the junior sister that had been apanying him all these days.

    "Youбн used that forbidden technique? Where did you even learn it?" Wang Xiong questioned but received no answer.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Just tell me when we return to the real world. We cannot let the others know of this, if anyone from the sect finds out, they will kill you." Wang Xiong stated.

    There was a faint nod from the woman as she took herst breath and passed away. While Wang Xiong was sad about this, he was at least content that she had not died in real life. Some new feelings had also risen in his heart for the junior sister and he didn''t know what to think of them.

    ''First to pass this trial and get out of hereбн we were not ready for this inheritanceбн'' Wang Xiong thought.

    He flew up and looked around. There was no announcement for thepletion of the trial and thus he knew there must be something more he needed to do. There were no more of the shadow dread beasts around him which meant that there was a secondary goal that he still needed toplete.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    It was now that a loud rumbling sound was heard and Wang Xiong saw the Shadow Tide recede.

    "What is that?" he muttered.

    In the area that the Shadow Tide had receded from, Wang Xiong saw a huge fleshy egg. The egg was even bigger than that of therge shadow dread beast he had killed with cier crash and was currently throbbing.

    "Are those its heartbeats?" Wang Xiong wondered.

    A serious expression appeared on his face as he understood what he finally needed to do to pass this trial. He took flight and spit out a mouthful of blood onto the Guan Dao, increasing his speed by three times. While flying he made gestures with his arms and runes formed around him.

    Frosty air materialized around him but this time the color of the air was different from the usual blue. It was a grayish blue color and its temperature seemed to be much lower than the normal frosty air. His clothes and body started to be covered in ice as a determined expression appeared on his face.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The ice continued forming and as Lin Wu looked on, Wang Xiong had turned himself into a giant flying ice Guan Dao.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Stters</em>

    The Ice Guan Dao pierced into therge fleshy egg and ck blood stered all over the ce. The blood was missed with some other kinds of corrosive fluids that made a sizzling sound as they dripped out.

    "That was newбн" Lin Wu muttered feeling a bit impressed by the technique.

    "The Trial has beenpleted!" The voice announced and Wang Xiong was transported back to the real world.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    FOURTH TRIAL COMPLETED: One contender sessful

    TRIAL CONTINUATION: Terminated

    ASSIGNING REWARDS: Calcting

    REWARD TO BE GRANTED: Basic level inheritance

    бкбк

    Lin Wu read the notification and knew that his changes that he had made previously had worked. What he had done was to basically reduce the number of trials while increasing the difficulty of the fourth trial by three levels. This way, the trial could bepleted quicker while also keeping the reward to the minimum as he wanted.

    "Now to wait for them to reach the inheritance room." Lin Wu muttered as he looked at the screen.

    The six cultivators were just starting to awake and held their heads, as a piercing headache assaulted their senses.

    "ARGH!" Su Wen yelled.

    He was the one who had been taken over by the shadow tide and was thus affected the most. Wang Xiong had also woken up and was looking at the woman who had saved him. She was awake too but seemed to be a bit dazed.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "At least well all survived." He muttered/

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TELEPORTATION FORMATION: Activated

    TELEPORTING: five failed contenders

    бкбк

    A sh of light happened and the five failed cultivators were sent to the entrance area of the tomb, leaving Wang Xiong alone.

    He signed ahead and looked at the wall that had now started moving.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    OPENING INHERITANCE LEVEL: Sessful

    бкбк

    Wang Xiong knew that this was the next level and walked there. But upon reaching there he saw something that shocked him.

 Chapter 196 - Senior?

    Just before the path to the next level had opened for Wang Xiong, Lin Wu had started to move. He activated the teleportation formation and had teleported himself to an empty hall. Since he was the one that was gonna give Wang Xiong the inheritance, he had to keep up certain pretenses and couldn''t just give it to him directly.

    Wang Xiong entered the dark hall and saw that there was nothing he could see at first. But then two red lights suddenly appeared in the dark. They looked like eyes and were staring at him. He felt chills going down his spine, and he didn''t know why.

    "Is this the new trial?" Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Suddenly a green light came from around the two red lights and Wang Xiong could not see the outline of a head.

    <em>~Shua~Shua~shua~</em>

    One by one the green light traveled downwards, and the segments started to be revealed.

    "Whatбн in the name of heavens?" Wang Xiong muttered to himself in shock.

    In front of him was none other than Lin Wu in his full sized form. He was starring at Wang Xiong deeply and a suppressive aura wasing from his body.

    "Wee contender," Lin Wu spoke for the very first time.

    Wang Xiong flinched as he saw the monster in front of him speaking in human tongue.

    "You! What are you?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Well, aren''t you rude? <em>~Sigh~</em> I should have expected thisбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    His mutterings were still audible to Wang Xiong and he tensed his eyes.

    "What do you mean by expected?" he asked, but before he could continue, the lights started to illuminate the hall.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    Wang Xiong flinched as the bright light assaulted his eyes, but soon recovered. He finally saw the monster in front of him properly. It was a long crystalline creature that had multiple segments and two crimson red eyes that glowed likemps. Its entire body was emerald green in color and looked rather beautiful.

    "First of all, let me congratte you for passing the trial." Lin Wu said.

    "Huh? I passed?" Wang Xiong questioned in confusion.

    "Yes, you did." Lin Wu replied.

    "Iбн Iбн I PASSED!" Wang Xiong eximed in joy.

    "Ahem!" Lin Wu made a coughing sound that doused the excitement of Wang Xiong rather quickly.

    He quickly remembered that he was in the presence of some unknown monster that he had never seen or heard of.

    "Soбн what are you and what will happen now?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    He guessed that since the monster had not attacked him till now, perhaps it did not have malevolent intentions for him.

    "I am called as the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm and I''ll be the one to give you the inheritance." Lin Wu said.

    This was the first time he was revealing his identity to a human, and he only did this because he had full confidence in being able to control Wang Xiong. If something untoward happens, it would take him merely a second to kill him. Besides, there was no way he was gonna let Wang Xiong leave without a contingency n.

    "You? I seeбн But what is this tomb, can you tell me?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    This was the question that Lin Wu had been waiting for and had rehearsed it a few times in his mind.

    "I was gonna do that at the very start, had you not interrupted me. Nowбн listen well." Lin Wu replied, prompting Wang Xiong to silence himself.

    "This is the tomb of the Taiji Celestial, and I am one of his disciples. Since you have sessfully passed the trials, you are now eligible to inherit a part of his legacy and be his disciple." Lin Wu exined.

    Wang Xiong felt shocked at the first part but had already expected the second part of Lin Wu''s words. As it was an inheritance ground, it was obvious that he would get some techniques; bing the disciple of a powerful cultivator was only an additional benefit.

    "You said you are the disciple of the Taiji Celestial? But how? If the Taiji celestial is the one that is depicted in the carvings, then it means that he lived tens of thousands of years ago. Did you also gain his inheritance through the trials?" Wang Xiong questioned further.

    "Master lived even before the time that you are thinking of. And no, I didn''t gain his inheritance throughpleting the trials, I was directly selected by him." Lin Wu answered.

    "Directly selectedбн that meansбн you have lived since that timeбн" Wang Xiong muttered as a dumbstruck expression appeared on his face.

    Usually, the lifespan of a creature was directly proportional to its cultivation base. If what Lin Wu was saying was true, then it meant that the creature in front of Wang Xiong had a cultivation base that was terrifying.

    "Hmmбн that is indeed correct." Lin Wu lied.

    "Thenбн Senior!" Wang Xiong said before hurriedly falling to the ground in a kowtow.

    "Please forgive my rudeness senior!" Wang Xiong said, trembling on the ground.

    From what Wang Xiong knew, even the Dao treading realm cultivators only lived for three thousand years. He didn''t know how long the immortal ascension realm cultivators lived for exactly, but there was no way it would beparable to the time when the Taiji Celestia existed.

    Wang Xiong could very well tell that the carvings were very old and the world that he had seen in the trials seemed to have something that had gone extinct by now. Particrly in the third trial, Wang Xiong had seen a few nts that he knew had gone extinct at least a hundred years ago.

    If he hadn''t known that he was in an illusory array, he would have long since gone crazy after finding it there. Those nts didn''t even have beneficial properties, but since they were extinct, they would still have a great research value that any alchemist would pay a great price to study.

    "Senior, may I askбн what is your cultivation base?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Hmmбн if you consider the current time thenбн I''m at the Core condensation realm."

 Chapter 197 - Accepting A Disciple?

    At first, Wang Xiong couldn''t underhand the words of Lin Wu. He could sense the aura and the fluctuationsing from him and they did seem to be at the core condensation realm like he had told him.

    But then he thought over it more and realized that emphasis on ''current time''.

    "Wait senior you said current time, you meanбн" Wang Xiong spoke with hesitation.

    "Yes, your guess is correct. My cultivation base has regressed as I have been dormant in sleep for all these years, waiting for a contender toe and pass the trials." Lin Wu exined.

    Wang Xiong nodded his head as his doubts were confirmed. If it were that Lin Wu was naturally at the core condensation realm, it wouldn''t have made sense for him to stay alive all this time.

    "So senior what do we do now?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "I think you''ve seen the carvings on your way here and also the shadow cmity in the trials right?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes, senior. I did very well." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Our master, the Taiji Celestial was the one who had defeated the shadow cmity. The shadow cmity was a strange phenomenon that had gained consciousness. It then spread across multiple words and started to consume them as you had seen.

    It would infect the creatures living on that and cause them to mutate into what are called the Shadow Dread beasts." Lin Wu exined.

    Wang Xiong was amazed at this information and wondered how strong the Taiji Celestial would exactly be. He had seen the shadow tide and just one of them was enough to kill them and he was unable to go against it.

    If there were more of them on the entire and then even more across the worlds, he couldn''t even imagine how someone would fight against that. And yet even then his new master had aplished that very thing.

    "Does that mean this world was also once affected by the Shadow cmity?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Yes, it was. Master left inheritances at every ce that was affected by the shadow cmity spread in hopes that when it arises again in the future when he is gone, he would have more people that would be able to deal with it." Lin Wu answered.

    "In the future? You mean the shadow cmity is not gone? But I thought the Taiji Celestial defeated it as you said." Wang Xiong asked further.

    Lin Wu slightly nodded his head as the conversation was going, just as he had wished for it to go. With a few lies here and there along with the truth as the base, he was able to weave a plot beneficial to himself.

    "The shadow cmity is not gone yet. Master predicted that it would return in the future and would be even stronger than before. You see, the shadow cmity evolves over time as it spreads across the worlds.

    Those shadow dread beasts you saw, those were not present when the shadow cmity first appeared. It only gained that abilityter on. It is likely that it has gone dormant as well, somewhere.

    The most likely ce would of course be thes where it spread originally. It doesn''t need to be as big as it was to survive. Even a bare sliver of it canst for many millennia and then grow back to its full potential when the time is right and the conditions favorable." Lin Wu exined.

    Wang Xiong had an anxious expression on his face upon hearing this and he couldn''t help but think the worse.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "Do you think the shadow cmity will arise on this world?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Will arise? Noбн it already hasбн" Lin Wu revealed.

    "WHAT! But we haven''t seen anything like that yet." Wang Xiong said.

    "I know. I fear that it has changed its form greatly and is likely to be hidden. Still, I can sense its presence on this world, although it is faint." Lin Wu exined.

    Wang Xiong no longer had the strong demeanor that he had with hispanions now. He looked to be anxious and was gripping his Guan Dao tightly.

    "What should we do now senior?" Wang Xiong asked after thinking for a bit.

    "Well, master left behind a few instructions in the past. The first was to find a few disciples and train them. The second was to form an organization that could provide us with a base and then finally the third, to gain power in the world and be the strongest. After all, our master is the Taiji Celestial, we would be dishonoring his name if we were weaker than the other powers of this world." Lin Wu answered.

    Wang Xiong''s eyes went wide upon hearing this, and he could imagine the implications of it. He felt nervousness and excitement at the same time. After all, wasn''t this exactly what he wanted? Power so that he could stand tall proud and not having to serve the whims of others?

    He cupped his hands in a salute, and a determined expression appeared on his face.

    "Please teach me senior!" He said.

    Lin Wu nodded his head in appreciation upon seeing this and thought for a bit before speaking.

    "Alright then. I shall ept you as a disciple in the master''s stead!" Lin Wu said before a powerful presence exuded from him.

    Wang Xiong''s eyes went wide as he felt the pressureing from Lin Wu. He felt as if a certain kind of energy was suppressing his spirit Qi and no matter how much he tried, he couldn''t muster it.

    ''What power! What kind of cultivation base must he have in the past if he can suppress my cultivation base and spirit Qi just by the virtue of his presence?'' Wang Xiong thought with awe.

    Lin Wu extended his tail and ced the tip on Wang Xiong''s forehead. He wasn''t fully sure if this was going to work, but he hoped for it.

    "Alright system, you take over from here."

    <em>~Shua~</em>

 Chapter 198 - A Subordinate?

    Lin Wu knew that there was no way he would be able to put a servant imprint on a human. The technique that he had was only made for beasts and even the system couldn''t modify it enough to make it work on humans without more data.

    If he wanted to do the same with the humans, he would need to find a ve binding technique and he was pretty sure they were forbidden. Of course, they could still be found in the market and even in the sects, but the question was that of ess.

    He couldn''t just waltz straight into the ces while being in his form of worm and neither could he order Shirong to do it directly. Thus he either had to wait on his luck to bring that to him or he could go about this in a different way.

    Lin Wu had seen the method by which the Formations array of the tomb had passed the inheritance to him and he was thinking of using that as a back door to put an imprint on Wang Xiong.

    He knew that there were little modifications he would be able to do to it, but he only wanted to put some minimum contingencies on it. For the rest, Lin Wu was gonna control Wang Xiong through good old maniption.

    That was the reason why he had made up the entire plot and the persona that he had.

    Lin Wu looked at the notification window, as more and more of them started appearing.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    INHERITANCE FORMATION: Activated

    TRANSFERRING DATA: One Contender detected (Wang Xiong)

    INHERITANCE LEVEL: Basic inheritance

    BASIC INHERITANCE CONTENTS: 1. Cultivation Technique= Taiji Refinement Scripture

    2. Qi Skill= Unity Returning Fist

    INJECTING TROJAN: Creating back door

    INJECTION: Sessful

    бкбк

    A smile appeared on Lin Wu in his mind as he looked at the notification.

    ''It worked, though how well it functions is still unknown. Still, the inheritance he got seems a bit strange. The cultivation technique seems like the inferior version of the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture, but the Qi skill ispletely different.'' Lin Wu thought.

    The system had recorded the skill when it was transferred to Wang Xiong and thus Lin Wu could take a look through it.

    "Huh? This is actually a good skill! Why was it not in theplete inheritance I got? No waitбн I haven''t unlocked itpletely, so perhaps the better version of this technique is there." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "System, can you check and tell me if there is any data in the encrypted part that matches the technique? Even if the encrypted data can''t be seen, it should be possible to cross reference it right?" Lin Wu said, hoping for a positive response.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There is data that is 70% simr to the Qi skill: Unity Returning Fist in the encrypted data.

    бкбк

    "Bingo! Just as I thought. Looks like I''ll be using the inferior version till thenбн though how would I?" Lin Wu said after a bit of realization.

    The technique required one to have hands and also meridians that worked along with it. Lin Wu could perhaps make something simr to that of a hand from his body, but there was no way he would be able to created meridians. This was something that was beyond his Cellr Maniption skill.

    "Looks like I''ll have to wait for the system to adapt this technique to my physique." Lin Wu thought to himself.

    ''Though, there should be more techniques in the other level of inheritance should there? Perhaps I should find someone to give the intermediate level of inheritance or just give it to Wang Xiong.

    Though I did n to make him work for it. So it doesn''t seem right to give it to him right now.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He looked at the man who was still beelining there and had his eyes closed. The Trojan was what the system had used to inject the back door into the core of Wang Xiong. The inheritance formation was much more powerful and could do much more than the system for now.

    Thus taking advantage of it was rather good for him right now.

    The transfer of the inheritance finished and Wang Xiong finally opened his eyes, prompting Lin Wu to pull back his tail, leaving behind a faint green glint that was the size of a pin head. He checked again to make sure that everything was fine before nodding his head.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    ADDED NEW SECTION: Subordinates

    SUBORDINATES: 1. Wang Xiong

    Functions avable: Communication

    бкбк

    Lin Wu wasn''t able to put a detonation function to the imprint and thus changed it to a subordinate imprint instead. This would allow themmunication as well.

    Lin Wu had ced an inferior version of the Rhombus gem in the head of Wang Xiong too, but this one was much smaller than the previous ones. Because it was made with the assistance of the Inheritance Formation.

    "Thank you senior," Wang Xiong replied.

    "Good, now you need to cultivate well and get stronger. If you reach a certain level, you will be eligible to receive the rest of the inheritance." Lin Wu said.

    "The rest of the inheritance?!" Wang Xiong shouted in surprise.

    "Yes, there is more. Right now you are not strong enough for it, thus this is all you can get." Lin Wu answered.

    "But just this technique I received is already many times better than my sects cultivation technique." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Your cultivator sect? You''re from a sect?" Lin Wu asked, showing ignorance.

    "Yes senior, I am from one of the high tier sects of the Long continent, The Frozen Cloud sect." Wang Xiong exined.

    "Ah, is that so. I see, seems like I need to gain more information about this world. There were not many sects in the past, and thisбн Long continent didn''t exist either." Lin Wu replied.

    "Senior, if you need information I can help you. There is plenty of it in my sect and mypanion''s may be able to help too." Wang Xiong said.

    ''Bingo!'' Lin Wu said in his mind.

 Chapter 199 - Dual Unity Avatar Technique?

    Lin Wu internally smiled upon hearing the man''s words and knew that it would be easier from now.

    "That would be good, let me give you something that would allow us tomunicate." Lin Wu said.

    "What senior?" Wang Xiong asked feeling interested.

    The thought that anything that the senior was willing to give him must not bemon and should be quite valuable. He wondered if it was going to be some rare treasure. He then saw Lin Wu extended his tail and a small spike popped on it.

    Well, the spike was small considering the size of the beast, butparing it to Wang Xiong, it was still like a dagger. Lin Wu manipted it a bit and made it a bit tter and then broke it off from his tail.

    "Here take it," Lin Wu said.

    Wang Xiong grasped the spike which had now be like a t strip. He could feel a faint heat contained within it which was fading by the second. The surface was smooth to touch and seemed to be quite hard.

    "What is this senior?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "You should have usedmunication jade slips before right? This is something simr to that. Hold it to speak with me." Lin Wu answered.

    Wang Xiong was rather intrigued by this as from what he knewmunication jade slips were spirit tools that needed to be made by spirit tool refiners. While his sect gave them out for free to the disciple, the skill needed to make on was still quite high.

    For someone to make one in a couple of seconds like this was rather iprehensible to him. Wanting to test it out he held it in his hand and tried tomunicate with Lin Wu.

    ''Can you hear me senior?'' Wang Xiong said in his mind.

    ''Yes, I can.'' Lin Wu replied.

    Wang Xiong nodded his head and felt content with it. He knew how valuable the guidance of a senior like Lin Wu could be who had lived for so many millenniums. Just the experience that he had must be worth the fortune of the entire sect.

    "You should head back to yourpanions now." Lin Wu said.

    "Mypanions? Where are they senior?" Wang Xiong asked.

    He had a guess that they were perhaps sent out of the tomb, but he still wanted to confirm the fact since they all had suffered death in the trials and he didn''t know if they were going to have longsting effects.

    "They were teleported back to the entrance and should be fine." Lin Wu answered.

    It was now that an idea appeared in Lin Wu''s mind, and he narrowed his eyes.

    "Tell meбн why do I smell Beast Inciting powder on you?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Uhбн weбн were having trouble getting to the tomb, and a lot of beasts were in our paths. We never wanted to use it but had no choice left but to use it. Taking advantage of the time that the beasts were dazed, we escaped and went further towards the tomb." Wang Xiong answered.

    "So that''s what happenedбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    It was a bit different from what he had expected but it was fine never the less for him. He had already gotten a bit of a benefit from all the hard eared limber mice.

    "I''ll send you out then," Lin Wu said, before activating the teleportation formation.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Runes appeared around Wang Xiong and he disappeared in a sh of light.

    "Thank you for everything seniorбн" Wang Xiong uttered before disappearing.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Now to get back to my own workбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before taking a look at the inheritance that he had received.

    The Taiji Dual Unity scripture was a cultivation technique so its effects were apparent, but the Unity Avatar technique seemed to be moreplex.

    "System, show me the data on the Unity Avatar technique that you''ve analyzed." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    QI SKILL: Dual Unity Avatar Technique

    Info: The Dual Unity Avatar Technique was created by the Taiji Celestial as a remembrance to his past two selves, Bai and Hei. The technique allows one to create a second avatar of themselves that can be equal to that of the main body. The cultivation base can be set ording to the host but must always be lower than that of the main body. The avatar can cultivate on its own and can transmit a part of the spirit Qi to the main body.

    Restrictions:

    1. The cost to create an avatar is half of the host''s current cultivation base.

    2. If the Avatar is destroyed, the host will not be affected, but the spirit Qi provided to the avatar will disappear.

    3. The Avatar can be merged with the main body to increase the power and cultivation base of the host.

    4. Both the main body and the Avatar will contain the same consciousness and can be controlled by the main body.

    бкбк

    After reading the Qi skill''s details, Lin Wu felt amazed and understood that this was exactly what he had needed all this time. Being with Shirong had its benefits, but it also came with its own restrictions.

    But now that he was able to have two bodies, he would be able to have the best of both worldsбн albeit with a few restrictions. Lin Wu thought for a bit and then decided to make an avatar. He will be keeping the avatar here in the tomb while his main body will be with Shirong.

    "System, I can use the teleportation array with the avatar the same way I can do with myself, right?" Lin Wu questioned for confirmation.

    "Affirmative." The system responded.

    "Alright, that will make things much easierбн" Lin Wu said.

    "Wait system, can I just use the stored spirit Qi to create the avatar?" Lin Wu asked again.

    "Affirmative," the system responded.

    "Excellentбн" Lin Wu nodded his head.

    He checked the time and knew that it was very close to when Shirong would wake up, thus he needed to hurry up.

    "Let''s get to it thenбн"

 Chapter 200 - Creating An Avatar?

    Lin Wu followed the steps for the Dual unity Avatar technique and started pouring the spirit Qi into it. With the amount that he had stored, he didn''t have to sacrifice his own cultivation base.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING QI SKILL: Dual Unity Avatar Technique

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 60,000 units [liquid Spirit Qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 2,024,600 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    The spirit Qi was quickly absorbed and then arge illusory figure started forming in front of Lin Wu.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The illusory figure started absorbing the spirit Qi that Lin Wu had given and started to materialize. About five minutes passed before a replica of Lin Wu appeared in front of him. At the same moment, Lin Wu also felt a sharp pain in his head.

    Then he felt as if he was falling inside his mind and then suddenly stopped. When he opened his eyes though, he found himself with two points of view.

    "So this is what it feels like to have two bodies, huh?"

    "So this is what it feels like to have two bodies, huh?"

    Both the bodies spoke at the same time, which surprised Lin Wu a bit.

    ''I''ll need to fix thisбн'' he thought before closing his eyes.

    He focused on his consciousness and tried to see if he could create a filter of some kind between them. It took him a couple of tries, but he finally figured it out.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "That was somethingбн at least I won''t keep on repeating the same thing twice when I speak. It would be quite awkward if I randomly speak while in the spear form and people hear it." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CREATION: Completed

    HOST DATA UPDATED: Added new section: Avatar data

    бкбк

    "Alright, let''s check how it looks like." Lin Wu said before bringing up the avatar data window.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR DATA:

    AVATAR CULTIVATION: Early Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/6000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Lesser)(Proficiency: Novice)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    BEAST CORES: 1. Fully Condensed(Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm)

    бкбк

    The Avatar data was less than the host data and there were a few things that had shocked Lin Wu. Considering the amount of spirit Qi the avatar had taken to be created, he ha expected it to be at the Early Stage of the Core devastation realm but what he had not was that the skills it had would be at the same level as him.

    Another thing was the bloodline, for some reason it only had the Crimson Eyes Emera Worm Bloodline and not the unknown one.

    "System, why does the avatar only have a single bloodline?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The unknown bloodline that the host has is not fully analyzed and thus cannot be replicated whereas the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm Bloodline is manufactured by the system and thus can be reduplicate freely. The host can also choose to use the raw bloodline data to add more bloodlines to the avatar.

    Some parts of the system are shared between the avatar and the host''s main body, such as the spirit Qi storage, vital essence storage, and system energy storage along with the host''s own skills. If the avatar obtains a new skill on its own, the skills will be gained by the main body as well.

    The only difference is that the cultivation base of the avatar will be independent and whatever spirit Qi it acquires, 10% of it will be transferred to the host as well. The spirit Qi acquired by the avatar will always further its cultivation base.

    бкбк

    After reading the answer of the system, Lin Wu understood the finer nuances of having an avatar. It didn''t really bother him and couldn''tin about it either, as the technique was rather impressive.

    "Oh yeah, what about the distance? Is there a limit to the distance till which the avatar can operate?" Lin Wu questioned after thinking for a bit.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The range of operation will increase with the growth of the host and avatar''s cultivation base. Currently, the avatar can operate normally as long as it is located in the same world as that of the host and will be able to transfer energies freely.

    бкбк

    "Damnбн that is rather impressive. I''m already having so many ideasбн hehehe." Lin Wu chuckled.

    Now that this was done, Lin Wu needed to quickly return to Shirong''s side.

    "Teleport me to the top level of the tomb." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    He disappeared from the hall and appeared at the top level of the tomb. There he left from the top and saw the two beasts who were still flying around the opening.

    Lin Wu checked for the function to control the barrier and widened the opening.

    "Hey, you twoe down here!" Lin Wu ordered through his link.

    The two beasts were surprised upon suddenly hearing the voice of their master in their heads, but then felt happy as this meant that he had survived.

    "MASTER! You are alive." The Sparrow beast said.

    "Yes, I am. But I don''t have time to talk much. I''ll be going some ce else but I now own this tomb now and can control everything. You two can stay here for the time being and investigate more about the five rulers of the forest.

    If I need you, I will call for you." Lin Wu exined.

    The two beasts had some questions in their mind such as what did Lin Wu get from the tomb and how did he gain control of it. Another one was, where was he going. They wanted to ask them but knew better to do that now, after hearing the urgency in the voice of their master.

    "We shall do as you order, master." The two beasts spoke in unison.

    "Good, see youter." Lin Wu said before disappearing in a sh of light.

 Chapter 201 - Happy Companions?

    Lin Wu appeared at the side of Shirong who was pretty close to waking up already. He could tell that the man was still adjusting to his new physique and his body was twitching as a result of it.

    Lin Wu looked outside the cave and saw that it was nearly dawn and the sky had started to turn a pale blue. It was always hard to see the sun due to the thick forest canopy and thus the color was the easiest way to tell.

    Lin Wu then checked upon his avatar and easily switched his point of view to it.

    "Whoa, this is a bit disorientingбн" The avatar said.

    Lin Wu moved around his avatar a bit and got used to it. The size of the avatar was nearly identical to the main body and thus it didn''t take him long to limatize. Once he was done, he brought up the monitoring formation screen and scrolled to the one that showed the entrance of the tomb.

    There he could see Wang Xiong approaching hispanions who were talking amongst each other.

    "LOOK! Its senior brother!" One of them shouted.

    "It really is him! And he didn''t appear here directly like us, that means he seeded, right?" Su Wen questioned.

    Wang Xiong had a smile appear on his face upon seeing all hispanions safe and sound. Even Su Wen, who had suffered the most trauma rtively speaking, was looking normal and there were no apparent effects on him.

    His eyes then went to his junior sister, who had sacrificed her life to save him back in thest trial. He couldn''t help but feel touched, and now that she was back to her normal youthful appearance he found himself to like her even more than before.

    "I''m here and I got it! I seeded in getting the inheritance!" Wang Xiong spoke.

    "That''s amazing senior brother." Thete stage Core condensation realm woman said.

    "If it were not for you, I would never have seeded, Ye Jin." Wang Xiong said looking at the woman.

    "Senior brotherбн" This was the first time Wang Xiong had called her by her name, and thus Ye Jin felt a bit flustered.

    The others didn''t notice this in either excitement and thus got to talking about all that happened after they were thrown out of the tomb. Ye Jin told them what happed to Su Wen as apparently, Su Wen himself had no memory of the thing. Wang Xiong then exined the rest, finishing up everything.

    Lin Wu was gonna continue listening, but he felt something touch his main body which prompted him to return his focus.

    ''Oh, it''s just Shirong.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He had woken up and was now holding Lin Wu in his hand, ready to leave the cave. Shirong had used up a part of the spirit Qi that was given to him by Lin Wu and used that to progress his body tempering realm cultivation to the peak. This had given him a lot of benefits and had raised his overall aptitude.

    He still needed a bit more of the spirit Qi so that he could have enough to reach the Nascent Soul realm, but that was not going to be a problem with Lin Wu around. He jumped on his spirit sword and flew ahead while looking around for beasts.

    Lin Wu checked on the map and easily found a few beasts on the path back to the city. Shirong had decided that he would only kill the beasts he encounter on his way back so as to save time, and Lin Wu just decided to help him out.

    With a little suggestion here and there, Shirong quickly gained enough spirit Qi that was required for him to reach the Nascent Soul realm. And while he was doing this, Lin Wu was controlling his avatar to observe Wang Xiong and hispanions.

    Wang Xiong had contacted him in the middle and asked him whether he could tell hispanions about the Taiji Celestial and the inheritance. Lin Wu permitted him to do that, as it was essential for his ns.

    He needed to make an organization of his own and for that, he would need the reputation of someone strong and who else better than the Taiji Celestial himself. Although a lot of things that Lin Wu said about him were lies, there was no one who could verify those ims.

    If they wanted to gain even the most basic of information, the only other source they had was the Tomb itself. But the tomb was now in the control of Lin Wu so that base was covered as well. Wang Xiong thus told hispanions about the story of the Taiji Celestial and about the hidden threat of the Shadow Cmity.

    They were shocked to say the least upon hearing that an existence such as the Taiji Celestial existed. Though Lin Wu asked Wang Xiong to avoid mentioning his own existence for now, as that would only be told to the people who absolutely needed to know or if the situation demanded it.

    With all the points exined, thepanions of Wang Xiong were lost in thought.

    <em>~Howl~</em>

    "We should leave the forest now, time to head back." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Ummбн senior brother, we may have a problem." The Grey robed cultivator spoke.

    "What is it?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Since we''ve run out of the beast Inciting powered, how are we going to divert the beasts'' attention?" He asked.

    "Ahahaha!" Wang Xiongughed in response.

    "Did you forget I''ve already gotten the inheritance?" Wang Xiong said with a grin, "as long as we don''te across a Nascent Soul realm beast, I''m confident of getting us out of here." He exined.

    The eyes of the cultivators lit up as they finally got out of their old mindset.

    "Yes! With senior brother backing us, we will have an easier time now." Ye Jin said.

    The others nodded their heads and felt a lot calmer than before.

    "Let''s head back then."

 Chapter 202 - Heavenly Tribulation?

    Shirong had crossed the third ring of the millennium forest by now and had also hunted pleat of beasts by now. On the other hand, Wang Xiong and hispanions were also around the third ring although on a different direction.

    Shirong was heading towards the north while Wang Xiong and hispanions were heading towards the west. Their sect was to the south of the Millennium forest, but for them doing south directly would mean entering the sixth ring which would be a deadly decision.

    Thus they were going towards the west, and then would change their direction from there. Lin Wu had estimated that by the time Shirong and he reached the Wu Lim city, Wang Xiong would reach the southern part of the first ring.

    Currently, Shirong and Wang Xiong had nearly the same cultivation base. Shirong was slightly above Wang Xiong as he had the spirit Qi while Wang Xiong had used up his to increase the power of the skill cier Crash.

    Though considering overall strength, Shirong and Wang Xiong would be the same as Shirong had his peak stage body tempering realm cultivation along with a higher aptitude, while Wang Xiong had the cultivation technique from the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance.

    Even the inferior version, The Taiji Refinement Scripture, wasparable to that of Shirong''s top grade Immortal Sky Shaker Art. Perhaps the only thing that would change the standing would be Shirong reaching the Nascent Soul realm.

    Currently, Lin Wu was practicing the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture with his Avatar. He didn''t do it with his main body, as he didn''t know if there would be any additional effects that could be problematic. With the avatar, Lin Wu would have a free hand in experimenting with techniques and testing new things.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI INCREASED: 200 units [Liquid Spirit Qi]

    AVATAR CULTIVATION: Early Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1200/6000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had been cultivating with his avatar for the past two days while they traveled and had obtained 1200 units of Liquid spirit Qi in that time. While this seemed like it was slowpared to hunting down beats and consuming their spirit Qi, that was not a sustainable method, while this would keep on providing him with spirit Qi as long as there was spirit Qi in the environment.

    Another thing was that he could do other tasks while cultivating as well, which increased his overall efficiency. During this time, Lin Wu had checked the functions of the Tomb''s formation array and had learned more about them. Before he didn''t have as much time and thus couldn''t see them properly, but now he also knew how to turn on the functions that were offline.

    At first, Lin Wu had thought that the reason why the functions were offline was because of some kind of damage that could have happened to the formation array over the many years it had been working. But that assumption turned out to be wrong as the formation was fully intact, rather it was the power source that originally used to be part of it that had been disconnected.

    This was all that was needed for Lin Wu to guess what the power source must have been.

    "The Spirit Qi source beneath the Dark Bloom Cavernsбн that is the main power source of the Formation array. Currently it is just operating by using some spirit Qi in the area with the help of some spirit Qi absorbing formation array." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''But why did it get disconnected?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    This was the second question that Lin Wu had reached after that. He had already asked the system to check the formation array for any information behind the disconnection. He thought that if he could find the reason behind the disconnection, it might be possible to reverse that without going into the Dark Bloom Caverns.

    He was still waiting for that, as the system had quoted him a time period of anywhere from one day to ten days for that. Two days had already passed since he did that, and there was still no response to it.

    Checking the functions also gave him information on the Tribtion Attenuation formation that the tomb had. This formation was basically a part of a tribtion tform, but this one could be used for any cultivation technique. Lin Wu had thus decided that he would be using this when the time for his own tribtion came.

    Unlike the other functions, the Tribtion Attenuation formation didn''t necessarily need the spirit Qi from the main source below the Dark Gloom Caverns, rather it could be powered by the auxiliary powering formations as well, as long as enough supply was assigned to it.

    For now, Lin Wu had diverted 10% of the spirit Qi absorbed by the auxiliary powering formations to the Tribtion attenuation formation as he didn''t know when he would need it. And by the time he does, the formation should have umted a decent amount of spirit Qi.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Suddenly Lin Wu''s main body heard the loud rumbling of thunder from the sky above. The thunder was much stronger than normal thunder and he could see dense dark clouds gathered in the sky. But the thing that was the strangest was that there was a disturbance in the spirit Qi in the air too.

    "What! Those clouds and the thunderбн" Shirong suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky through the gaps in the forest canopy.

    He hesitated for a bit before flying halfway to the top of the trees and then climbing all the way to the top. There were a few flying beasts that tried to attack him, much to their misfortune as they were smashed with a single swipe of the spear.

    When Shirong reached the top and saw the sky clearly, his eyes went wide.

    "What''s he shocked about? Didn''t we see a few storms like this before?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    "It can''t beбн Heavenly Tribtion!"

 Chapter 203 - Who Is Breaking Through?

    Lin Wu was shocked from seeing the heavenly tribtion too. He had not expected to see it today, and it has just appeared randomly here. He didn''t know why but he had a bad feeling about it.

    Even though Shirong was on top of a tree, the source of the heavenly tribtion could not be seen. Whatever beast or cultivators were undergoing the tribtion, the clouds would be concentrated over them.

    Lin Wu immediately switched to his avatar and teleported to the top of the hill where the tomb was located. The hill was taller than the other trees thus it was rtively easier for him to spot the source of tribtion.

    "It''s there, in the south at the sixth ring." Lin Wu muttered.

    He was then reminded of the words of the mole beast. He had told that the rulers of the forest wanted to make one of their subordinates into a Nascent soul realm beast and they were looking for the opportunity.

    ''Seems like one of them seededбн but who?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He immediately contacted his servant beasts one by one, wanting to see if they had any more information about it. The two bird beasts and the beetle beast were in the blind about this and had only found out it right now when the tribtion clouds gathered.

    The mole beast though had an answer.

    "Master, the Slim Arm Ape King! He had been hiding his capabilities all along!" the Mole beast spoke

    "What? Calm down and exin properly." Lin Wu said.

    Lin Wu could tell the beast was anxious and its breath was out of order. It was likely to have been running or doing something strenuous, otherwise it would have not been like this. He also checked his vital status just to be sure and found it to be normal.

    "The Slim Arm Ape, he isn''t at the child stage of the Nascent Soul realm, he''s at the adolescent stage. He had apparently been holding back his breakthrough this entire time and used the force of his breakthrough to trigger his son''s heavenly tribtion.

    His son was already at the peak of the core condensation realm and was waiting for the heavenly tribtion toe. With the help from his father, he is now about to undergo the heavenly tribtion." The mole beast exined.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    Just as he finished speaking, a bolt of lightning streaked across the dark clouds, lighting up the sky in a bright white light. Lin Wu looked at the color of the lightning and found it to be white with purple edges, just like normal lightning was. But he could also sense a strange power contained within the lightning.

    He could tell that it wasn''t just spirit Qi that was within it, but a different power that he couldn''t quantify.

    "System, what''s your analysis?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the data banks and the system''s analysis, the heavenly tribtion contains a ''Dao'' within it. This is the reason why the host is feeling the suppressor from it.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн I had expected it as such. But seeing it ispletely different." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He was also gonna undergo heavenly tribtion soon enough and thus wanted to get more information about it. There was Shirong too of course, and Lin Wu was gonna be quite close to him during the tribtion. He didn''t want to identally be affected by it, thus thought that getting more information would be the best course of action.

    He went back to his main body for a second and saw that Shirong was not moving from his ce and had instead sat down cross legged on one of the top branches of the tree, closely observing the heavenly tribtion.

    "Even a single chance extra of seeing a heavenly tribtion is valuable. The people at the Deer Wood city are paying so much to see mine, while I can see one here for free. How can I waste this opportunity." Shirong muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu internally nodded his head in understanding and returned to the avatar again to observe the tribtion properly. It had been ten minutes by now and the clouds were fully saturated by this point.

    Thick lightning bolts the size of a bowl were slithering in the clouds like snakes. A suppressive feeling came from the clouds that silenced the entire forest. Even the beasts that could be seen flying from time to time stopped.

    <em>~rumble~</em>

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The lightning gathered around making rumbling sounds and then fell from the sky striking an area in the sixth ring. The sound was loud and shook all the trees of the forest with its force.

    "Damn! It''s powerful!" Lin Wu eximed.

    After the first bolt fell, the lightning gathered again for a minute before striking.

    <em>~BOOOM~</em>

    This time its power was greater and even exploded some of the trees in the area. Lin Wu could tell this, since a lot of debris was thrown in the air due to the power of the lightning strike. Lin Wu felt goosebumps on his body seeing the lightning. He looked back at Shirong from his main body and saw that the faint threads on his clothes were standing due to the static electricity in the air.

    But this caused Lin Wu to feel something different in his perception now. He changed his perception from normal to radiation perception and saw radiation spread everywhere in the air. But this radiation was different from the normal thermal radiation he was used to seeing. It had a different form, and it was distributed in waves.

    Lin Wu looked back up at the sky and saw the dense blue colored lights there. Instead of ck clouds, all he could see were blue ones. He finally understood what it was.

    "Of course! Lightning is electricity, which is just another form of radiation." Lin Wu eximed in realization.

    And just as he had this realization, more lightning gathered in the sky before arge ''mouth'' was created in the clouds. Then from that ''mouth'' a bolt of lightning that was three times thicker than before fell.

    <em>~KABOOOM!~</em>

 Chapter 204 - Bloodline Battle?

    The power of the third bolt was the strongest and created a sonic boom that destroyed trees in an evenrger radius than before. In fact, some of the trees have been directly been ignited due to the traces of lightning that had spread in the area.

    Lin Wu could see the red mes and the smokeing from the distance, signifying that the fires were zing. He wondered if there would be more strikes, but soon it proved to be no.

    The clouds started dissipating, and about five minutester they were gone, leaving behind a clear sky.

    ''So did that monkey beast seed or not?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He watched on for a few more movements and saw the change in the spirit Qi of the area. A huge vortex started manifesting,pletely made out of spirit Qi. This vortex was right where the tribtion lightning had fallen.

    The vortex spun at great speed and gathered a lot of spirit Qi, pouring it down to the bottom. This processsted for about five more minutes before it stopped and a strong fluctuation of spirit Qi came from that location.

    But that was not as Lin Wu could feel a bloodline aura mixed within it. Lin Wu''s body started glowing without control and his red eyes glimmered like stars. He suddenly found himself in a different space.

    He knew that it was just his mind that was here and not his body. Here Lin Wu saw a few figures manifesting in front of him. The first figure was that of arge beetle that had a horn with barbed thorns on it.

    The second figure was that of an ape that had long and slim arms that reached all the way to the ground. Its body was packed with lean muscles and a hint of intelligence could be seen in its eyes.

    The third figure was that of arge liger. It was simr to that of the Lamp light ligers that Lin Wu had seen before but was muchrger in size. It had two eyes, one ck, and the other white.

    The fourth figure was of a snake that was about a hundred meters long and three feet thick. It had green crystalline tes on its back and its scales were olive green. It had long fangs and yellow eyes.

    The final beast was the one that caught Lin Wu''s attention the most. This was also an ape, but it was muchrger than the one he had seen before. It had a buff, muscled body with a wide torso. Its spine could be seening out of its back as the bone grew directly out of the flesh. The spine spread into the ribs, which formed a sort of armor around its chest. Its fur had red patterns on it, and a dangerous aura could be seening from it.

    Lin Wu realized who all these beasts were. The first four were the rulers of the millennium forest and the final one was the son of the Slim Arm Ape king that had the second bloodline of the Demon spine ape.

    <em>~Roar!~</em>

    The Liger king roared at everyone after appearing, trying to intimidate them.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    The beetle king mmed its horn on the ground, creating quakes and threatening the others.

    <em>~Kiiiii~</em>

    The slim arm ape let out a strange growl from its throat that spread through the air.

    <em>~Hiss~</em>

    The Viper king let out a deadly hiss, that suppressed other''s auras while bearing its long fangs that were dripping with venom.

    <em>~HOWL~</em>

    The son of the ape king let out a howl from its mouth that seemed unusualing from an ape. The beasts all growled at each other, trying to suppress each others'' bloodline. There was a strange resonance that was urring between each bloodline, and it was as if they were trying to determine which one was the strongest.

    For a while, the five beasts were only trying to intimidate each other, and it was as if they had not seen Lin Wu there yet. Their battle continued and eventually, the Demon Spine ape came out on the top, letting out a great howl while beating its chest and baring its teeth.

    It was now that the beasts noticed a sixth being along with them.

    <em>~howl~</em>

    <em>~hiss~</em>

    <em>~Roars</em>

    <em>~Kiii~</em>

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    Not a single word was spoken before all of the beasts started intimidating Lin Wu. The pressure on his mind increased by a lot suddenly, and he couldn''t think for a bit due to the impact. But then his main body that was in the form of a spear started glowing too, along with the avatar and an impable pressure was released from it.

    Shirong who had been holding the Immortal Crystal Armament in his hand found it to be thrumming with power and then started glowing in a green light along with two red ones at the top.

    ''Why is it doing this?бн'' Shirong wondered.

    "Wait! Is it due to the heavenly tribtion, perhaps? Did something trigger a seal in it?" Shirong muttered to himself in confusion.

    Shirong couldn''t sense the bloodline aura of the beasts and neither could he feel iting from the body of Lin Wu, thus he was not shocked like he was before when he had fainted directly.

    Back in the mind of Lin Wu, the pressure he was feeling from the intimidation of the five beasts was suddenly gone. Instead, the five beasts were now cowering on the ground, unable to move.

    If one looked from the perspective of the five beasts though, they would see a massive beast that was the size of a hill standing in front of them. Its body was hidden in a haze and could not be seen clearly, but what could be seen were the crimson red eyes that had purple outlines.

    The eyes red at the five beasts and suppressed them with ease. It was as if the battle of auras that they had before was but just a joke in front of it.

    The illusion broke after that, and Lin Wu found himself back in his mind.

 Chapter 205 - The Five Rulers Respond?

    After his consciousness returned back to his body, Lin Wu understood what had happened back there.

    "So that was bloodline resonance, huh?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    While Lin Wu was at the Tomb and with Shirong, at the sixth ring of the millennium forest, a great uproar was currently happening.

    ***

    A huge beetle beast awakened from its sleep and let out a loud chittering sound. This caused a lot of other insect beasts to rush to meet him. After reaching him, they all lowered their heads in submission.

    "What happened, my king?" Another beetle beast that was smaller than the big one asked.

    "The son of the Slim Arm Ape King has awakened its Bloodline and has be a Demon Spine Ape. But that is not allбн there is another beast. A beast that has a bloodline stronger than us allбн even stronger than the Demon Spine Ape." The beetle king spoke.

    All of the subjects were shocked by this and didn''t know what to say. They had known about the Demon Spine ape but this second beast that hade out of nowhere was surprising.

    "What should we do now, my king?" one of the insect beasts asked.

    "What are your orders?" Another beast questioned.

    The beetle king thought for a bit before speaking.

    "For now, we wait and see how the rest of the kings are acting. Just keep an eye out for the time being for anything unusual." The beetle king stated.

    "But my king, what should we keep an eye out for? What does the second beast look like?" the beast asked.

    "I do not know. Its bloodline suppression was strong enough to overwhelm the resonance quickly. I only got to see its eyes. So for now look out for any beast that is not native to the forest or is unusually strong." The beetle king answered.

    "A beast that is not native and unusually strong? Wasn''t junior brother cricket speaking about something simr?" Someonemented.

    "Yeah, he did. He even wanted an audience with our king but I told him to wait." A smaller beetle spoke.

    "Oh? What''s this about?" The beetle king asked.

    "Junior brother cricket recently went out to intercept some intruders near the egg clutches and got defeated by them." The smaller beetle replied.

    "Defeated? Are the egg clutches fine?" The beetle king asked with concern.

    "Yes my king, they are fine. The intruders didn''t intentionallye to the area. They were just passing by." The smaller beetle answered.

    "Hmmmбн call the cricket, I''ll talk with him." The beetle king ordered.

    ***

    In a cave in the sixth ring, an ape with long arms opened its eyes. Sitting beside it was another ape, but this was much bigger than this one. It had a bony spine that jutted out of its back and red patches of fur.

    It looked rather menacing and a powerful aura could be felting from its body, showing that it was in the Nascent Soul realm.

    "Looks like we have a hidden yer in the forest." The slim-arm ape king spoke.

    The Demon Spine ape opened its eyes that were bloodshot and let out a low growl.

    "What should we do, father?" The demon spine ape asked.

    "That is up to you now. You are a king too, what you do is not in my control anymore." The slim arm ape said with a little smile.

    "Ah! Don''t be like that father, I won''t ignore your suggestions even If I''ve be the fifth ruler of the forest." The Demon Spine ape replied.

    "Hahah! Okay, I''ll try to control myself. For now, the best course of action would be to just observe. I''m sure the beetle king would do the same while the viper king and the liger king will try to find and kill the new beast that has appeared." The Slim arm ape spoke.

    "To be honest, I want to have a fight with the new beast too. It was able to fight us all to a defeat that means it must be at the Nascent Soul realm at the very least, right?" The Demon spine ape questioned.

    "Hmmбн Not necessarily. If that beast is anything like your mother, then even if it is weaker and at the core condensation realm, its bloodline will still be strong enough to suppress us all. If you were a pure blood Demon spine ape, you would have been able to do the same." The Slim Arm ape king answered.

    "I understand, father." The demon spine ape replied.

    ***

    In another cave, a massive snake was raging around, breaking the rocks and walls of the cave.

    "I WANT THAT BEAST DEAD!!!!" The Olive Viper king shouted.

    There were a few other beasts that were standing outside the cave, scared to enter it. They knew very well that if they entered right now, they would either be smashed into meat paste or swallowed whole.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Let''s go and find it thenбн" One of the beasts said and the rest of them dispersed.

    ***

    At the Dark Bloom Cavern, the Twin Lights Liger King was pacing around. There were a fewmp light ligers near him, waiting for his orders.

    "I think it is the same beast that caused the anomaly in the fifth ring, my king. It has already killed a lot of our brothers." One of the Lamp Light Ligers spoke.

    The liger king stopped pacing and looked at his subordinates.

    "Fine, go search for it then. Also, take some of your brothers and go test out the Demon Spine Ape. I want to see what the kid is like with his bloodline. He won in the battle of the bloodlines, but does he have the actual strength to back it up." The Twin lights liger king ordered.

    "YES, MY KING!" Themp light ligers replied before going away.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "What was so important that the eagle king left his seat as one of the rulers? Did he find some treasure, perhaps?" The Liger King muttered to himself.

 Chapter 206 - Shirongs Return?

    Shirong seemed to have had some gains from observing the Heavenly tribtion and looked to be happy. Lin Wu didn''t know what exactly it was, but he thought of keeping an eye on it.

    His Avatar on the other hand had recorded everything when the heavenly tribtion happened and the system had already analyzed and updated its data banks. The avatar had also cultivated in the past two days and already had enough spirit Qi for the upgrade.

    "Alright system, upgrade my cultivation base to the next stage." Lin Wu''s avatar ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADING CULTIVATION BASE: Early stage of the core condensation realm -> Mid stage of the core condensation realm.

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 6000 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Avatar Data Updated

    AVATAR CULTIVATION: Mid Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/12000] units (liquid spirit Qi)

    бкбк

    "This was quicker than before. Seems like going through it once before helps a lot." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He could already feel the difference in the power, and this was spread across both the bodies. It was a strange sensation, but Lin Wu was quickly getting used to it. He looked at the map and saw that his new subordinate and hispanions were nearly out of the forest by now.

    Unlike Shirong, they had not stopped to see the heavenly tribtion and had instead focused on traveling. Lin Wu saw that they were getting into battles with the beasts and wondered how they were doing.

    "Wang Xiong is definitely handling it rather easily now." Lin Wu said.

    He observed him on the map for a couple of hours like watching a game live stream and then got bored.

    "Man, they really are slow. I should just tell them so directions." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He used themunication link with Wang Xiong and spoke to him.

    "Senior? Do you need something?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "No. I''m gonna give you some directions, and you just follow them. That way you''ll avoid the beasts and get out of the forest quicker." Lin Wu replied.

    "Really? Thank you senior." Wang Xiong responded.

    Lin Wu nodded and then started to direct him in the safe direction. He entertained his avatar like this while cultivating at the same time. Lin Wu''s main body was currently skewering a couple of beasts and draining them of their vital energy and spirit Qi.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    "Should be out of here in one more dayбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu checked the map and found that they were at the edge of the second ring now. The number of beasts was getting lesser and lesser, which had increased their speed, thankfully. Now Shirong could just fly the rest of the way on the spirit sword, and it wouldn''t pose him much of a problem.

    In the past two days, Lin Wu had also been receiving some information from his servants too. The bird beasts told him that the viper king and the liger king were searching for a new beast and had sent out their subordinates for it.

    The Beetle said something else though. Apparently what the cricket beast had said was true and the beetle king was truly inviting Lin Wu to meet him. They were also looking for him, and the beetle was simply informing him in advance while keeping her identity a secret.

    They were not able to find Lin Wu directly, thus they were now looking for the sparrow beast and the swan beast as they were his subordinates and thus should know his location. Lin Wu could have directly gone there but wanted to wait and watch the actions of the rest of the beasts.

    "This should be due to the results of that battle of the bloodlines. I don''t know if I should ept this thoughбн I''ll just wait and watch, I guess." Lin Wu thought out loud.

    The mole beast though told him about the different attitudes of the Viper King And the Liger King. While the viper king wanted to outright kill him, the liger king seemed to be a little bit more cautious since he had found out he was the one that killed all themp light ligers.

    The thing that Lin Wu was most happy about was the cultivation speed. It was rather quick, and he knew it wouldn''t take it long for his avatar to reach the peak stage of the Core condensation realm. But that was where a thought came to him that confused him.

    If both his main body and the avatar reached the Nascent Soul realm, then will they both have a heavenly tribtion and nascent souls, or not. Even the system couldn''t answer this for him and told him that only doing it will give him an answer.

    Lin Wu could upgrade his main body to the Nascent Soul realm at any time and was only waiting to reach the Deer Wood city, so that he could teleport back to the tomb to do it. He also needed to wait for the Tribtion attenuation formation to charge up so that was another thing.

    ''If pushes to shove, I''ll just use the stored spirit Qi that I have. I should still have plenty left over after using it for the upgrade.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Shirong kept on fighting a few beasts and eventually exited the Millennium forest.

    "Finallyбн" He muttered and continued onwards.

    About an hourter, he was at the Deer Wood City''s entrance. He saw that there were a lot more people going in and out of the city. Some of them were workers that were carrying materials and transporting them onto carts that were being pulled by some tamed beasts.

    There were also cultivators that were overseeing the work and ensuring that it went well.

    "HURRY! We have to finish up the Tribtion tform as soon as possible and we haven''t even umted all the materials by now," one of the cultivators shouted at the workers.

    The workers gritted their teeth and hurried ording to directions. One of these workers looked up at the sky and spotted something.

    "LOOK ITS YOUNG MASTER SHIRONG!"

 Chapter 207 - New Nascent Soul Beasts?

    Shirong had not expected someone to recognize him so quickly due to the change in his appearance. Hepletely hairless and was thin like a stick, his bones visible. Overall, he looked like a ve that had been starved for a couple of months.

    He looked at the person who had recognized him and identified him to be one of the servants that had served him food at the banquet.

    ''He was still able to recognize me? This is strangeбн'' Shirong thought.

    There were some apprehensions in his mind and he reached a few possibilities that could have led to the person identifying him. He noted this in his mind as another one of the things to investigate.

    After his appearance, it didn''t take long for the news to spread in the city that Young master Shirong had returned. n head Lu was informed and he went out to personally meet him but was shocked upon seeing him.

    "Young masterбн what happened to you?" n Head Lu said, seeing the thin figure of Shirong.

    "It''s just a side effect of a cultivation technique, n head. Do not worry, I will be fine after a few days." Shirong assured.

    "If you say so, young master. But for now, I think we should head back to the n, continuing here would not be appropriate." n Head Lu replied.

    Shirong nodded his head and flew behind the n head Lu to the mansion. While flying there he could see that the entire city was in a perked up mood. There were people working with gusto, and new travelers arriving in the city as well.

    "Seems like the city is doing pretty well," Shirong said.

    "Indeed, young master. This is all due to you, though. When we revealed that you were going to break through to the Nascent Soul realm here and were going to use a tribtion tform to demonstrate, the powers from the nearby cities couldn''t help but request us for the ess too.

    We thus allowed travelers toe here, and the powers also pledged some resources to us. This has actually dyed the construction for a bit since we were waiting on the logistics to be sorted out.

    But yesterday we finally finished up on that and now the resources have started to arrive and they are being transported to the site of the constriction as we speak." n Head Lu informed.

    "Ah, I seeбн at least the businesses will benefit from the influx of the travelers," Shirong replied.

    "Indeed, young master." n Head Lu agreed.

    "How long will it take for the Tribtion tform to be constructed? Do you have an estimate?" Shirong questioned.

    "If all goes well, we should be done in about ten to fifteen days. Oh, and a messenger also arrived for you some time ago." n head Lu answered.

    "Hmmбн that should give me enough time to return to my optimum condition and as for the messenger, where is he currently?" Shirong asked.

    "The messenger has been waiting at the mansion as well. He brought a few things with him and he said he is supposed to give them to only you. We told him that we would pass them on to you when you arrive, but he did not oblige." n Head Lu replied.

    "I see. Let''s head to meet the messenger first, then. He has some important things with him." Shirong stated.

    "As you wish, young master." n head Lu said.

    They soon reached the mansion and n head Lu took him to the ce where the Messenger had been staying. He called a servant to inform the messenger, and the same man who had brought Shirong the letter from his n appeared.

    "Greetings, young master," The messenger greeted with a bow.

    "At ease. Show me what you brought." Shirong spoke.

    The messenger nodded and took out a spatial storage ring from a hidden pocket in his robes and passed it to Shirong.

    "This has everything you asked for young master. Please take a look," The messenger said.

    Shirong branded the spatial storage ring with his spirit sense and put it on his right hand. He checked it with his spirit sense and saw all the things that he had asked for from the messenger before.

    There was an assortment of alchemical pills, a few piles of spirit stones, and even some clothes there. Seeing the clothes made Shirong look at the messenger with a questioning look, since he had never asked for them.

    "I took the liberty of procuring some good robes worth your standing young master after hearing that your previous ones were destroyed. Please forgive me for this insolence." The messenger stated.

    Shirong nodded his head and spoke, "that was good, I like the initiative."

    "If everything is up to the mark, I will take my leave young master." The Messenger asked.

    "You are dismissed," Shirong replied.

    The messenger cupped his hands onest time before leaving the mansion. n Head Lu looked at Shirong and gestured at the servants to leave the room.

    "How was your training, young master? I can see that there have been some peculiar changes." n Head Lu said.

    "It went better than before, and I got to see quite a few shocking things in the millennium forest too," Shirong replied.

    "Oh? What kind of surprises?" n Head Lu questioned.

    "Did you know of a huge eagle beast that is at the Nascent Soul realm living in the Millennium forest?" Shirong asked.

    "A Nascent Soul realm eagle beast? No! We have no idea a beast like this lived in the millennium forest. We only have the information about three Nascent Soul realm beasts as far as I know." n Head Lu replied, feeling a bit shocked.

    "Hmmбн then you need to update that to five Nascent Soul realm beasts from now on," Shirong said.

    "Five Nascent Soul realm beasts? Not four? If we add the eagle beast it should be four, no?" n Head Lu asked.

    "No," Shirong shook his head, "while I was on my way back, I had the fortune of witnessing a heavenly tribtion. Another beast has reached the Nascent Soul realm, though I do not know which beast."

 Chapter 208 - A Lying Servant?

    The words of Shirong were like thunder ringing in n Head Lu''s mind. The appearance of a Nascent Soul realm beast was a major matter and had many implications. Whenever a new beast breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm, there would be power struggles in the Millennium forest.

    This could lead to a beast wave which was problematic for the people living in the nearby areas. He needed to inform the royal court of the Ling Kingdom of this as soon as possible and would also have to prepare a defensive force, for when the beast wave arrive.

    "Young masterбн when this Heavenly Tribtion urredбн how many bolts of tribtion lightning were formed?" n Head Lu asked with apprehension.

    "There were three bolts," Shirong answered.

    <em>~Ssss~</em>

    n head Lu hissed in shock. This was what he was dreading and was hoping would not be the case. Whenever a creature reached the Nascent Soul realm and underwent the heavenly Tribtion, the number of Tribtion lightning bolts determined the strength and talent of the creature.

    Usually, one bolt of tribtion lightning was enough for a person to break through to the Nascent Soul realm sessfully. People that were a bit more talented would endure two bolts instead of one and those that were even more talented would have to bear three entire bolts.

    Each additional tribtion lightning bolt increased the difficulty by multiple folds and reduced the chances of sess. If a beast had survived three bolts, it meant that it was perhaps the strongest beast in the millennium forest for now.

    "We need to inform the royal court, young master. A beast that survived three bolts would be extremely dangerous." n head Lu said, looking anxious.

    "That would be the right course of action, n head. But I think you will not have to worry as much, because the eagle beast I spoke of, it was leaving the forest." Shirong revealed.

    "WHAT! Which direction was it going towards?" n Head Lu questioned, this time his hands trembling.

    "Worry not, it went to the western direction and was not heading towards here. I saw the eagle beast when I was going toward the fifth ring. It was about a week into the forest if I remember correctly. It has been thirteen days since then so I think, it should have gone quite far by now." Shirong answered.

    "Thirteen days? And there have been no reports of it. ~phew~ that''s a good sign." n head Lu took a breath of relief.

    "Indeed, but the new beast thoughбн I can''t tell much about it except that if one of the Nascent Soul realm beasts has left the forest, then the power vacuum would be filled by the new Nascent Soul realm beast." Shirong said.

    "I see. That does make sense, though I will still do my due duty and inform the royal court." n Head Lu replied.

    "Of course, that is of no doubt," Shirong said.

    "Before I go young master, is there anything you need? There is still some time till fully construct the tribtion tform." n Head Lu questioned.

    "Hmmбн I will like some food made with spirit beast meat and spirit herbs. Iбн need to restore my body''s condition." Shirong answered.

    "Ah, that is no problem. That shall be done without dy and if you need anything else, please do not hesitate to inform the servants." n Head Lu said before taking his leave.

    Shirong sat in the hall for a bit and took a sip of the tea that was ced in front of him. He thought in the silence and called out for a servant.

    "What are your orders, young master?" The servant asked.

    "Tell the guards to bring in the servant that identified me when I entered the city," Shirong ordered.

    "Yes, Young master." The servant replied before quickly going to do his task.

    Shirong closed his eyes and meditated for a while before he heard a knock on the door.

    "We have brought the servant, young master." A voice spoke.

    "Mmm,e in." Shirong permitted.

    The door of the hall opened and in came a couple of guards who brought with them the man who had recognized Shirong at the city gates.

    "Leave us," Shirong ordered the guards, who promptly left the hall.

    The servant looked at Shirong with nervousness in his eyes and anxiously twiddled his thumbs.

    "You should have practiced betterбн you can''t even hide your emotions," Shirong stated, seeing the condition of the servant.

    "Wh-what do you mean, young master?" The Servant asked.

    "Hmmбн so we''re gonna take this route. Alright, I''ll y along for a bit." Shirong said, much to the surprise of the servant.

    "Now tell meбн how did you recognize me? I mean, I look vastly different from before and it is unlikely that just any servant like you should have been able to do this." Shirong asked.

    "I-Iбн young master Shirong is just too impressive, I cannot help but remember his visage deep in my mind." The Servant hurriedly said.

    "Ahahah! Nice try at tteryбн But I want the truth ~whoosh~" Shirong said and gestured with his hand, making winds stir around the servant.

    The servant could feel the power contained within the winds and gulped in fear.

    "I''m telling the truth young master. Please believe me!" The servant stated.

    "INSOLENT!" Shirong yelled before,

    <em>~sh~</em>

    <em>~Splick~</em>

    "AHHHH!" The servant cried in pain as Shirong cut his body in multiple ces with wind des.

    "Nowбн if you don''t want your neck to be the next part I cut, tell me how you recognized me." Shirong said and gestured with his hand again.

    This time the winds got closer to the servants'' neck and a faint cut could already be seen forming as a drop of red blood oozed out.

    The servant looked on in horror, as he could not help but plead for his life.

    "I''LL TELL I''LL TELL! Please spare me for lying, young master!" The servant said while knocking his head on the floor in a kowtow.

    "My, My... things got really interesting while I was in the Avatar I see..." Lin Wu muttered upon his return.

 Chapter 209 - Traitor?

    Lin Wu had engrossed himself in cultivation because of which he had not paid attention to what Shirong had experienced upon reaching the city. Thankfully, because the system was always recording everything, he got the gist of it quickly.

    "Hmmбн this is indeed strange. It should have been close to impossible for the servant to recognize Shirong. There were hundreds of people out there but only this guy identified himбн this is suspicious." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu thought of potential methods that could have been used for it and became a bit confused.

    "It couldn''t have been something they marked him with or the system would have detected that. His body also changed greatly so the only thing that should have been the same would either be his spirit Qi signature and his soul." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu was leaning towards the first option, and the second one was rather unlikely. Even if tracking one''s soul was possible, he was sure a tool that could do something like that wouldn''t be in the hands of a mere servant like this.

    The servant was quivering on the ground and begging for mercy while Shirong watched.

    "Now thenбн tell me in detail how you identified me and who''s behind you," Shirong spoke.

    "YES, YES!" The servant said before removing a talisman from his pocket.

    As soon as Shirong saw the talisman, he recognized it.

    "A Qi tracking talisman? How did a puny servant like you get this?" Shirong questioned with a fierce look.

    "Elder Pei gave this to me and instructed me to inform her whenever you were nearby. I thought she wasбн ahemбн interested in the young master and thus wanted something like that. She paid me to keep silent about this and I just informed her whenever the young master was in the mansion.

    I never did anything more than that, I swear. The talisman would detect whenever young master Shirong was in the nearby area and would inform me." The servant spoke.

    After hearing the servants'' words, Shirong was bewildered, to be honest. Even Lin Wu hadn''t expected something like this.

    ''This elder wanted to keep an eye on Shirong huhбн still it doesn''t seem all right.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Who''s this Elder Pei?" Shirong questioned.

    He felt like he recognized the name but didn''t know the face of the person.

    ''I should have seen her at the banquet or even before that.'' Shirong thought.

    "Elder Pei is one of the external elders of the Lu n. She''s mostly busy with training the junior members of the n and is not seen as much." The servant spoke.

    "Is that soбн" Shirong said before calling out. "Guards!"

    The door of the hall opened immediately and in walked two guards.

    "What are your orders, young master?" The Guards respectfully.

    "Call the n Head and the other elders for a meeting," Shirong said.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "Calling all of them together for a meeting is beyond our capability, young master. May we know in what capacity are you inviting them, so that we can inform our superiors." The guards spoke as beads of sweat rolled off their foreheads.

    Calling an entire meeting with all the elders and the n head was no small matter and few people in the n had such authority. Even the elders themselves couldn''t often call for a meeting on their own and needed the agreement of others.

    "I call them with my authority as the Heir of the Ji n!" Shirong dered.

    "YES, YOUNG MASTER!" The guards spoke before hurriedly going away.

    The servant was now shaking in horror and didn''t know why the situation had progressed to this point. His day was going normally, and he had been assigned to take part in the construction of the Tribtion tform. The wages were better than his normal and could even reach three times as much as before on some days.

    But now, here he was, kneeling on the floor, unable to move due to fear, while a big shot stared daggers at him. Lin Wu enjoyed the show and anticipated more drama in theing few minutes.

    "Oh! Here theye!" Lin Wu said as the doors of the hall opened again.

    Forty people walked in, including the n head Lu. The n head had a serious expression on his face and was wondering what could the young master be calling them for.

    ''I just left him half an hour ago, what changed in this time?'' n Head Lu wondered.

    Upon entering the elders and n head Lu saw the servant who was kneeling on the ground and bleeding from multiple ces. His robes had been drenched in blood while Shirong sat on the couch on the other end of the hall, drinking tea calmly.

    His bald head and hairless face pulled some strange looks from the elders, but they knew better than to show any outright expression on their face. If they did, and it was mistaken as ridicule or an insult, they wouldn''t be able to answer to the power behind Shirong.

    "What''s the problem, young master Shirong? And why is this servant here in this condition?" n Head Lu questioned.

    Shirong looked up at the people who had just arrive and waved his hand.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Winds started blowing in the hall as the doors of the hall were shut due to them with a loud thud.

    "Young master!" n head Lu called out anxiously.

    He didn''t know why the young master was acting like this, and it was only making him worry more.

    "I called you all here to tell you that the Lu n has a traitor!" Shirong dered.

    "TRAITOR? Who is that and what did they do?" The other elders questioned.

    "A certain elder called Elder Pei, apparently asked this servant to keep tabs on my location. She told him a different reason than was intended, but they cannot fool me." Shirong answered.

    "Elder Pei? Why would she do something like this?" n Head Lu wondered.

    The others had a simr reaction, but Shirong''s brows only furrowed more.

    "Where is she?"

 Chapter 210 - Elder Pei?

    Shirong didn''t know if Elder Pei would arrive along with the rest of the elders and thus he had cut off their route of exit. But now it was quite obvious that the elder wasn''t here.

    "I think she should be training the disciples at the grounds." One of the elders spoke.

    n head Lu looked at the guards and spoke, "bring Elder Pei to us."

    "No," Shirong interrupted. "Let''s go meet her ourselves. I want to see what she acts like; first hand."

    The elders looked at the n head for approval, to which he nodded.

    "Let''s go, we''ll see it ourselves." n head Lu said.

    Shirong gestured to the guards to get the servant and followed the rest to the ranting grounds. It was behind the mansion and was popted with disciples training and cultivating.

    Though most of them were practicing their martial skills and the instructors would guide them while correcting their mistakes. Sounds of punches and kicks echoed, and Shirong could hear them from afar.

    Therge entourage that was approaching the training grounds consisted of the most powerful and influential people of the n, and thus everyone was shocked to see this. The disciples were stuck in their positions as they saw the n head with expressions of awe.

    It was not every day that they got to see the n head and many of them were not even qualified toe close to him. Only the main members of the Lu n could do so. Many times even the grandchildren of the n head didn''t get to meet him due to how busy he was.

    Now that he was here, the disciple got nervous, which was increased by a few more folds seeing the rest of the elders.

    Shirong on the other hand, received strange looks from nearly everyone. His bald head shined in the sun while his stick like figure looked like it would be blown away by a slight breeze.

    If it were not for the presence of the n head and the elders, perhaps they would have chuckled seeing this.

    The guards were following at the very back and thus they did not get to see the bloodless servant that was being carried along. Otherwise, they would have gotten different thoughts instead.

    "What do you think the n head and the elders are here for?" someone questioned.

    "It should be to assess us, right? Maybe they are here to pick the outstanding disciples." A teenage boymented.

    It was now that n had Lu spoke up. "ELDER PEI! PRESENT YOURSELF TO US!"

    His voice rung out like thunder as the disciple flinched in shock.

    "Why are they looking for Elder Pei?" A girl wondered.

    The door of one of the small pavilions that were built along the training grounds opened as out walked a woman. She looked to be in herte twenties and, from what Lin Wu could sense, was at the Mid stage of the Core condensation realm.

    "So she is Elder Peiбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he assessed her with his spirit sense.

    "n Head, Elder! Eh-what are you all doing here together?" Elder Pei questioned.

    "Well, you have some exining to do. Particrly something to do with me." Shirong stated.

    "And who''s this, if I may ask?" Elder Pei asked, unable to recognize him.

    "Maybe you''ll recognize this servant instead." Shirong spoke before ordering the guards, "bring him."

    The guards came forward with the servant in their hands.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    They threw the servant on the ground and he cried in pain. As soon as Elder Pei saw the servant, her eyes went wide. Shirong noticed the change in her expression and knew he had hit the nail head on.

    "So you do know himбн then you must be the one who ordered him to track me tooбн getting a Qi tracking talisman too, now that is not something I expected. Tell me, who is behind you and I will spare you." Shirong threatened, not caring for the presence of the n head.

    If someone else were to behave like this in the n, their head would have rolled on the ground by now. Such insolence and disrespect would not be tolerated by the n head nor the elders. But Shirong was the one exception. No one would dare to deny his requests, that too when the situation was in his favor and it was their n that was proving to be on the side of the fault.

    Elder Pei watched on for a second before she pulled out a talisman in a sh and activated it.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Barriers appeared around her, blocking Shirong and the rest from approaching her.

    "ELDER PEI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! STOP THIS INSTANT!" n head Lu shouted.

    He knew that this time they had messed up, and it was just as Shirong had said. They had a traitor in their n. Now the only question that remained was who were they serving.

    Their motive, on the other hand, could be guessed rather easily as there would be many people who would like to keep an eye on the heir of the Ji n. Besides, after the fact that Shirong was hypnotized was discovered, n Head Lu had already been apprehensive about it.

    He knew if the alliance between their n and the Ji n were to be ironed out; they needed to be prompt or miss out on the chance.

    Elder Pei paid no attention to the n head and took out a square te from her spatial storage treasure before spitting out a mouthful of blood on it. Herplexion turned paler as she gritted her teeth and looked on in fear.

    "A teleportation talisman! That''s a teleportation talisman!" One of the elders recognized the square te.

    <em>~Deng~</em>

    n head Lu attacker the barrier but it was blocked by it rather early. He looked at the disciples nearby and knew that he couldn''t use his full strength or his juniors would get injured in the process as well.

    "Not so fast!" Shirong said before speeding ahead, his fist glowing in a green light.

 Chapter 211 - Incriminating Evidence?

    Lin Wu had been in the form of an armor the entire time, hidden underneath Shirong''s robes and thus no one had seen him. But now that Shirong was attacking, he instinctively attacked using the Immortal Crystal Armament.

    But instead of turning into a weaponpletely, Lin Wu did something else. He dementedness over Shirong''s right hand and formed a gauntlet. The gantlet was covered in thin tes of crystal that slid over each other and at the knuckles, barbs were present.

    It was these barbs that were glowing with the green light when Shirong punched.

    ''Immortal Crystal Armament: Gauntlet Form!''

    Lin Wu released concentrated radiation from the barbs along with Shirong''s Immortal Sky Shaker art''s wind attribute spirit Qi.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    A loud sound was heard as Shirong''s fist met the barrier''s firstyer.

    <em>~crack~crack~crack~crack~</em>

    Then in an instant, fouryers were instantly destroyed. The people watched on in shock as even n Head Lu was unable to do the same. He could have done it if he used more of his strength but it would have also harmed the juniors around him.

    But now Shirong had somehow aplished the same without much problem. n Head Lu could also sense the Wind attribute Spirit Qiing from Shirong and thus thought of this to be part of his n''s techniques and did not doubt him.

    Elder Pei was horrified at this and spat out more blood to speed up the activation of the Teleportation talisman. This was the same kind of teleportation talisman that Shirong had sacrificed to hide the truth from everyone.

    Shirong knew that if she sessfully activated the talisman, tracking her would be extremely difficult. The talisman would be able to teleport her to any ce within 10,000 kilometers.

    Also, right now she was using her essence blood to speed up the process of activation, who knows if she had another one of those teleportation talismans and if she would use it after escaping from here.

    If she did, then she would more 20,000 kilometers away from here, which would make it difficult for even his n to find her. Perhaps only someone well versed in the Spatial Dao might be able to figure out where she went.

    But from what Shirong knew, there were less than three experts like these and none of them was someone who could be easily convinced.

    Once Shirong had seen the teleportation formation and the defensive barriers, he knew Elder Pei was being supported by someone big and that this was a conspiracy against him and perhaps even the entire Ji n.

    He knew of the enemies of the Ji n and wondered which one of them would be so gutsy to act like this in their territory.

    Shirong''s eyes red at the woman as the Teleportation formation activated. Her body started blurring and she would be gone any moment now. Shirong originally wanted to capture and interrogate her, but now he wondered if it was even worth letting her live.

    He gritted his teeth and exerted more of his strength, destroying thest of the barrier.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    But still, this was already enough to dy him long enough that Elder Pei had already teleported halfway through.

    While this was happening, Lin Wu was thinking about the situation too. He could sense Shirong''s frustration at being unable to stop elder Pei. Lin Wu thought about it for a bit before making up his mind.

    "Hehe, I''ll just get to see more entertainment if I do thisбн" Lin Wu said to himself.

    Just as Shirong had given up on stopping Elder Pei, he felt a drain on his spirit Qi.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~Zoom~</em>

    A streak of green light was released from his fist and hit Elder Pei. He did not know how it happened or why, but when the light died down, elder Pei was still there standing. The teleportation had been stopped, but the difference was there was now a long spike pierced through elder Pei''s forehead. The spike was attached to nothing but the gauntlet on Shirong''s hand.

    "What theбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    The spike receded into the gauntlet, and it was as if it never existed to begin with. The others looked on in disbelief as the dead body of Elder Pei slumped to the ground.

    Shirong quickly looked around and saw the while they were shocked by the dead woman they either didn''t see the spike or they didn''t care.

    "ELDER PEI!" some of the disciples shouted in horror.

    They couldn''t understand the situation as it had all happed so quickly and were left in a daze. The rest of the elders were able to regain their wits after a couple of seconds, but n head Lu was the first toe forward.

    "Seal the perimeters! Take the disciples away, I do not want a single person speaking about this!" n Head Lu ordered.

    "YES, CLAN HEAD!" The elders responded.

    The guards were summoned, and the students were corralled into their quarters. The elders assured them that they would be fine as long as they do not do anything stupid. The students quickly epted this and knew they were in something deep that was beyond their capabilities.

    Shirong meanwhile was standing beside the corpse of the dead elder and scanning it with his spirit sense. n head Lu approached him and stood silently. Shirong found a few things of interest on her body and furrowed his brows.

    He took the spatial storage treasure from the dead elder and checked it quickly, finding some things that were not good.

    "Take a look," Shirong said handing the spatial storage treasure, which was in the form of a bangle to n head Lu.

    n Head Lu closed his eyes and took a look inside the bangle. He took a few minutes before opening his eyes as a serious expression appeared on his face.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Seems like your conjecture was rightбн elder Pei was truly a traitorбн not only to you but also the n." n Head Lu said.

 Chapter 212 - Minister Du Yang?

    n Head Lu sighed again before withdrawing a few documents from the bangle.

    "This is why the n has been losing business in the past few monthsбн she has been leaking our trade invoices. Even the prices that we setpetitively were revealed beforehand which let outpetitors get an advantage and price it just below ours." n head Lu said.

    The other elders heard it clearly, and their faces fell. They knew that while the n was fine despite the losses as it had only been a few months, this situation could have gotten quite bad had this not been found out quickly.

    n Head Lu looked at Shirong for a bit before speaking.

    "I couldn''t see anything that showed her backer though. Does young master have any idea?" n Head Lu asked.

    Shirong had seen the contents of the ring and knew that there were only a few things that incriminated Elder Pei for betraying the Lu n, but there wasn''t anything specific that could point to her backer.

    His gaze went to the cracked teleportation talisman that was lying beside her, and he picked it up. He probed the talisman, but couldn''t figure out much from it. Most of the formations had been destroyed after its use, and the rest of them were now fading away as well.

    It wouldn''t be long before the talisman would only be an unless piece of metal.

    "I can''t tell which formation master made this talisman. The main formations are already destroyed and the runes cannot be deciphered now." Shirong said.

    "Is that soбн that''s a shame. But fear not! The Lu n will get to the bottom of this, I promise you." n Head Lu stated.

    Shirong nodded his head in acknowledgment and was about to turn to leave when he suddenly felt somethinging from the Immortal Crystal armament. It was some information, and it wasing through the connection he had with the immortal weapon.

    His vision went nk for a bit before some unknown memories yed in front of his eyes. For him, it was as if an hour had passed, but only a couple of seconds had passed in the real life.

    Shirong''s vision returned, and he looked at the Immortal Crystal Armament with aplex expression.

    "So you are willing to help me like this tooбн almost as if you can read my mindбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    "I know who''s behind Elder Pei." Shirong suddenly said.

    "You do?" n Head asked for confirmation.

    He didn''t know how Shirong suddenly knew more about it but he didn''t show his doubt here.

    "Yesбн I was able to recall certain clues that link them." Shirong made up an excuse.

    "Alright, we shall discuss this in some ce more private." n Head Lu suggested.

    Shirong nodded, and the two of them went to the mansion. The elders were instructed to take care of the situation for now and also to make changes to their trade practices imminently since they had found out about them being leaked.

    Shirong and n Head Lu sat at a table and the old man asked him to speak.

    "I used a soul searching technique on her," Shirong spoke.

    "WHAT!" n head Lu shouted in shock.

    "Young master, that is a forbidden technique!" n head Lu warned.

    "I knowбн but the one who makes the rules can also bend them. Don''t be so na?ve n head Lu, you know it does not matter to us." Shirong said.

    n Head Lu went silent and nodded his head as he realized that it was fine as long as no one else found out. There were far too many factors that yed into this and they needed to be careful.

    "Young master, what kind of a soul searching skill did you use? I didn''t see you using it." n Head Lu asked feeling a bit confused.

    "At first I wasn''t sure that the skill would work, and I didn''t get the information straightaway. Seems like using it on dead people is not effective and thus I didn''t get it properly." Shirong lied.

    "I seeбн that does make sense. Well, what did you find out?" n Head Lu replied.

    "The one behind Elder Pei is minister Du Yang." Shirong revealed.

    "Minister Du Yang? Of the Royal Court?" n Head Lu asked for confirmation.

    "Yes him. It seems like he has a particr interest in your n''s workings. I could not find out why as there were no memories rted to that in Elder Pei''s memories." Shirong answered.

    "Thisplicates it nowбн why would a minister of the royal court take interest in our workings? And why would he dare to slight you, Young master?" n Head Lu questioned.

    "That''s where the intriguing part is. They were not intending to particrly harm me, you see. They were spying on me to find out more about me so that the Minister could take advantage of itter on.

    They have been informed that I will be visiting the capital soon and they will need to host me. Of course, they wouldn''t let go of this chance to curry favor with my n." Shirong said with a chuckle.

    "So the only reason why Elder Pei was running away was because of my n?" n Head Lu wondered.

    "No, I doubt that. Even minister Du Yang would not give a teleportation formation like that to anyone willy nilly. Like I said the soul searching method is not fully urate and the information is likely to be iplete.

    I suggest you do an investigation of your own and verify it. I''ll inform my n of this too and we''ll see what happens." Shirong replied.

    "I understand." n Head Lu said.

    "I''ll wait till the tribtion tform ispleted then," Shirong said and left the hall.

    After Shirong left the hall, a pissed-off expression appeared on his face.

    "So even my brothers wish to battle for the position of the Heir, huh? Wellбн since you all want to do it this way, I''ll dly oblige." Shirong said, recalling the information that he had not told to n head Lu.

 Chapter 213 - Prepping For Future?

    Shirong did not want to necessarily tell the other people about the conflict in his n. After all, it was not good to wash out dirty linens in the public. Even if his siblings and he had a conflict, it had to be kept in the n.

    But now that they had started attacks like this which were leaning on the side of open, Shirong was desiring to strike back in the same manner.

    He walked back to his courtyard silently, his face calm and not a single wave of emotion could be seen on it. But on the inside, a sea of fury was roiling and a storm of malice was forming.

    Lin Wu on the other hand, also thinking about the memories he had obtained from Elder Pei. When he had killed her, his aim was nothing but to get the memories. He knew that even if they captured her alive, there was a chance she won''t answer anything and just kill herself.

    If she did that he would still have a chance to get the memories, but it would be hard to do that openly. Another thing was that she was close to excavating by teleporting, thus he had no choice but to do this.

    Lin Wu learned what was actually happening from her memories.

    ''So this Minister Du Yang is being ordered by some of Shirong''s brothers huhбн not one but three of them, they formed an alliance and the eldest one of them is going to be the heir if they seed while the other two get high positions.

    The thing that Elder Pei did with the Lu n, stealing the documents and trade secrets, was something that was done out of greed, rather than as the main aim. Even Minister Du Yang wanted a cut of the cake and thus prodded her on to do it even more.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Shirong reached his courtyard and sat down to cultivate for a bit. He stopped when the food arrived and he ate it with gusto. One could see that his body was faintly growing in size as he ate the food. Even Lin Wu saw it and figured that he should be back to his normal condition after a week or so.

    Shirong had already transformed Lin Wu, who was in the form of an armor back to the spear form and kept it to the side. Seeing that there wasn''t going to be much done here, Lin Wu initiated cultivating in his main body and moved his consciousness to the avatar.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu let out a breath as he felt the difference in power.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION: Late Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [10000/24000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    "So it has already reached the same level as my main bodyбн need to upgrade my main body to let it proceed ahead." Lin Wu said to himself.

    His aim was to have both the bodies at a simr stage so that whenever he had a problem, there would be a greater chance for him to solve him. He was now going to do something which he had been nning for since the start.

    Lin Wu wanted to switch the main body with the avatar. That way Shirong would have his avatar as the spear while he would be free to cultivate here on his own. He didn''t do it straight away though, he wanted to verify that everything was fine in the other ces with his subordinates and servants so that he wouldn''t be disturbed.

    He scrolled through the screens and found the two bird beasts eating some beast corpses. They had made a nest at the top of the tomb and it was quiterge too. Because no one dared toe near the tomb, the two were having a lot of fun.

    They had be the overlord of the area in the past few days, and any beast that dared toe close was killed and eaten by them. Overall, they were enjoying their life more than ever.

    "Should I give them some orders? Is it bad just leaving them like this?" Lin Wu wondered.

    "Hmmбн yes let''s send them on some work. They will get fat like thisбн Hehe." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~ahem~ahem~</em>

    Lin Wu cleared his thorough and took a deep breath.

    "YOU TWO COME HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" Lin Wu shouted in their minds.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~flinch~</em>

    The two beasts were startled by the sudden shouting and became scared.

    "YES MASTER! WE''RE COMING!" The two of the said before hurriedlying to the top entrance of the cave.

    As soon as theynded on the floor, they were teleported into an inner hall. Lin Wu had set it up this way to let theme whenever they needed, just in case someone attacked the tomb.

    "Eh-when did you return, master?" The Sparrow beast questioned.

    "That is not important. What''s important is you two have been cking. Now go and search for resources for me while also checking the situation in the area." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Ye-yes master!" The two bird beasts replied before flying away.

    "Now this feels better somehowбн" Lin Wu said to himself after the two beasts were set to work.

    Lin Wu didn''t necessarily want the resources for himself, but rather for the organization he would be creating. He knew that for an organization to be strong, it needed strong members. And for that, they would definitely need a ton of resources.

    After all, the reason why everyone wanted to join cultivation sects was because of resources.

    While Lin Wu could help them with his own abilities, there was still a limit to it and when their numbers increased, it simply wouldn''t be possible for him to do the same for everyone. Thus he thought that it would be best if he started the gathering of resources from the very start.

    A n formed in Lin Mu''s mind as the Millennium forest became the base of his operations that supplied him with countless resources.

    "MUHAHAHAHA!"

 Chapter 214 - Nascent Soul Realm Upgrade?

    Lin Wu had finished checking up the conditions of all his subordinates. The mole beast and beetle beast were doing what they had been instructed to and Wang Xiong was still traveling back to his sect.

    There were close to it now and would reach it in a couple of days at the verytest. Lin Wu had instructed him to find some loyal allies in the sect that were talented so that they could be recruited as well.

    If they were found to be worthy, he would even give them the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial. With all thatpleted, Lin Wu began for his upgrade.

    "Alright, system switch my main body with the avatar." Lin Wu ordered.

    He had already transformed his avatar into the form of a spear and checked that Shirong was busy cultivating too.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CHECKING PARAMETERS: Parameters verified

    LOCKING COORDINATES: Link established

    ACTIVATING TELEPORTATION FORMATION: 2000 Units of spirit Qi consumed (liquid spirit Qi)

    бкбк

    A light glowed around Lin Wu and a few runes appeared and his avatar disappeared in a sh while his main body appeared in its ce.

    Back at the courtyard, Shirong was startled awake by a sudden increase in the spirit Qi fluctuations in the area.

    "What?" Shirong said in an alert voice and looked around.

    His spirit sense spread around and didn''t find anything. His gaze then went to the spear that was beside him. He looked at it carefully but didn''t find anything different with it.

    "Strangeбн" He muttered before going back to cultivating.

    ''Hmmбн need to do something about those spirit Qi fluctuations. Won''t be good if people find out whenever I appear somewhere.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu moved his mind to his main body and looked at the spirit Qi that he had currently.

    <em>~ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST CULTIVATION: Late Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/24000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 2,115,805 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн how much spirit Qi more is needed for the tribtion attenuation formation, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: 56000 units more of liquid spirit Qi is required for the Tribtion attenuation formation to be activated.

    бкбк

    "Alright, that is tolerable. I can use my own after I finish upgrading to the peak stage." Lin Wu spoke.

    "System, upgrade my cultivation to the next stage." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADING CULTIVATION BASE: Late stage of the core condensation realm -> Peak stage of the core condensation realm

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 24000 Units [liquid spirit Qi]

    UPGRADE COMPLETED: Host has reached the Peak stage of the core condensation realm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/48,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 2,088,207 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    Waves of spirit Qi fluctuations came from Lin Wu''s body as his aura started increasing more and more. Soon it broke through and he reached the peak stage of the core condensation realm.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "Everything seems to be alright in my bodyбн no instability." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He could feel the power thrumming within him and knew that this was but just the start.

    "Alright, system start the upgrade to the Nascent Soul realm!" Lin Wu ordered with determination.

    As soon as he did, his body went still. No spirit Qi fluctuation could be felting from it and it was as if he had be dead. Lin Wu couldn''t move his body and could only think.

    ''What is this now? Did the system paralyze me or something?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    It didn''t take long before the cold mechanical voice of the system was heard again.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CHECKING HOST VITALS: Vitals stable

    EXTRAPOLATING DATA: Data banks updated

    INITIATING UPGRADE: Peak Stage of the Core condensation realm -> Infant Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 48,000 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    бкбк

    <em>~WENG~</em>

    A humming sound was heard as Lin Wu''s body started floating in the air. It instantly grew to its full size and kept on growing to beyond that. Lin Wu felt pain during this but held on.

    Within his body, the Dantian was expanding too. His core on the other hand was spinning at great speed creating a vortex of Spirit Qi around him. The spirit Qi was getting sucked into it and was supplementing him.

    Lin Wu''s body kept on growing till he reached a length of two hundred meters. The thickness of his body had reached a massive two meters, and he was now a giant. More and more crystal spikes raised from his body along the spine.

    Outside the tomb, dark clouds had already started to gather and winds were whipping around. The beasts in the millennium forest became anxious and an uproar began.

    At the Dark Bloom caverns, the Twin Lights Liger King was raging.

    "WHO! WHO IS IT THIS TIME!" He roared in anger.

    He didn''t want more beasts topete for the positions of the ruler now. He was already threatened by the Demon Spine ape as it had a greater potential than him. He himself had reached a bottleneck and was having a hard time progressing any further.

    He knew that eventually he may be able to break through, but perhaps by that time, the Demon Spine Ape Might have already caught up with him. This is what he was fearing.

    A simr reaction was shown by the Olive viper King, and it was furious too. His subordinates dared note close to him and stayed out of his nest. The beetle king and the slim arm ape on the other hand were calm.

    The demon spine ape had mes of battle burning in his eyes.

    "Looks like I will have some goodpetition nowбн AHAHAHA!" he shouted.

    The slim arm ape looked at his son''s reaction and sighed.

    "At least wait and watch who it is. Know your opponent before you fight them, lest you lose your life." The Slim Arm ape advised.

    "I understand, fatherбн"

 Chapter 215 - Grade Upgrade?

    The tribtion clouds had already gathered and were now stirring up lightning within them.

    Back in the hall, Lin Wu was still floating in the air but now there were multiple runes forming around him. These were new runes and were arranging themselves into a formation.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TRIBULATION ATTENUATION FORMATION: Activated

    CHARGING: 56,000 Units of spirit Qi consumed [liquid spirit Qi]

    CHARGE COMPLETE: Initializing process

    бкбк

    Suddenly Lin Wu disappeared from the hall and appeared on top of the tomb. There, the ground had started to shift andrge stone tiles were rising from the floor. They arranged themselves into arge tform before runes appeared on them too.

    The runes that were floating around Lin Wu merged with the runes on the floorpleting the formation.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    INITIALIZATION COMPLETE: Awaiting tribtion lightning

    HOST VITALS: Stable

    COMPUTATIONAL A.I.: All activeputational A.I.''s reassigned to the current scenario

    бкбк

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Suddenly six pirs rose from around Lin Wu. The pirs were made of ethereal energy and if one looked closer, one could see some obscure characters written on them. Beams of energy rose from them and linked to each other, forming a circle.

    The circle extended downwards, forming a dome around Lin Wu. The dome slowly became denser and denser as it became saturated with runes.

    Lin Wu was still not in the control of his body and could only watch on. He was feeling rtively fine in the physical sense, but mentally he was anxious. He looked up at the dark sky and saw that the clouds were far more widespread than he had seen during the time with the Demon Spine Ape.

    "Damnбн this is gonna hurt like hell, isn''t it?" Lin Wu muttered to himself, gaining a bit of control back.

    ''Oh, that''s a good sign, I can speak at least.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He could feel a mixture of energies from the cloud. He switched to his radiation perception and found there to be blue energy hiding in the clouds. Along with the blue energy, he could feel something embedded in it.

    Lin Wu couldn''t tell what, but it appeared to be transparent to his perception. The only reason he was able to see it was because the blue energy was highlighting it and formed an outline for it.

    It was the same as how you would be able to see a drop of water floating in a vat of oil. But along with this Lin Wu suddenly heard an unexpected notification.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CONDITIONS SATISFIED: Iplete core is upgrading

    бкбк

    The vortex of spirit Qi that was spinning around Lin Wu became even more intense and was close to a cyclone now. Inside Lin Wu''s body, the iplete core which corresponded to the unknown bloodline he had was rapidly progressing. The core waspletely ck in color and was originally a hemisphere.

    But now it absorbed the spirit of Qi and grew to a full sphere. From there it kept on expanding until it reached the same size as Lin Wu''s main core. But as soon as the second core reached its peak size, a change in the tribtion clouds could be seen.

    The clouds flickered, as if they were confused for a moment. Then, the lightning in them intensified and the streaks could be seen tearing through the misty curtains. Lin Wu observed them again and discovered that the amount of that unknown energy had increased.

    Before if it was 1% of the entire energy of the lightning, now it was about 3%. He didn''t know if this was a bad change or a good change, but he was leaning on the side of luck.

    "Thankfully, I activated the tribtion attenuation formation to be cautious. Or I likely would have had a hard time doing it on my own." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu had the confidence of bearing the tribtion on his own if it was going to be normal, but this unexpected change was not something he wanted to take chances with.

    A few seconds after the second core reached its limit, more notifications popped up.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CONDITIONS SATISFIED: Upgrade possible for innate skill- Radiation Maniption

    UPGRADING INNATE SKILL GRADE: Radiation Maniption (Grade: Minor -> Lesser)

    INNATE SKILL UPGRADE: The skill description has been updated

    бк

    Innate skill: Radiation Maniption

    Skill grade: Lesser

    Proficiency: Novice

    Description: The skill Radiation maniption allows the host to control and manipte radiation. The host can control radioactive particles to influence other objects and items. The host can use it to heat up objects, corrode, and make them decay.

    The host can also sense the ambient radiation in the environment and perceive it.

    The Current types of radiation that can be manipted are: Thermal radiation and Electrical radiation

    бкбк

    The grade of the innate skill had been upgraded, but its proficiency had fallen by two levels. Still, Lin Wu was pleased with this as he read the description of the skill. He knew that the description didn''t give full details about what the skill could do as he had discovered more applications on it.

    He reckoned that this was likely due to theck of data from the system. He knew that the system wasn''t made to deal with cultivation and it was still adapting to it. There were unknown things that influenced it which would need to be analyzed as they went on.

    One of the things that was still a bit difficult to understand was the interaction of spirit Qi and radiation. Lin Wu didn''t know who or how it opposed each other. Radiation naturally existed in the world but was in harmony with the spirit Qi usually. But when Lin Wu tried to control it, its properties would be restrictive towards spirit Qi instead.

    "Wait, electricity maniptionбн can I?" Lin Wu muttered to himself as his eyes glowed in anticipation.

    He activated his newly upgraded skill and focused on the tribtion clouds above him. He sensed the energy within it, but found it to be inessible. It was as if a heavy anchor was attached to the energy and he couldn''t influence it.

 Chapter 216 - The Tribulation Intensifies?

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Seems like my n fell t before it even startedбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''Just gotta endure the tribtion then.'' He thought.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The lightning gathered together before condensing into a bolt that was as wide as a bowl. It gathered right on top of Lin Wu before falling.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    But before the lightning bolt could hit Lin Wu, it was blocked by the tribtion entuation formation instead. The six pirs absorbed this lightning and glowed with a white light beforeunching smaller lightning bolts towards Lin Wu.

    They were six in number and had the thickness of a pinky finger. They entered Lin Wu''s body and made it glow again. His translucent emerald green body now had streaks of white lightning flowing through it.

    "Ooo! This isn''t that badбн it tingles," Lin Wu said.

    He actually liked the feeling of the lightning passing through his body and it was as if he was getting one of those electrical deep tissue massages. The lightning that had entered his body eventually reached his first core and hit its surface.

    "Ouch! Now that hurts." Lin Wu said.

    He looked back up at the clouds and saw that more bolts were condensing in it. It was evident the process was far fromplete. Lin Wu had guessed that he will get at least three lightning bolts since his bloodline was at leastparable or even above the Demon spine ape.

    He didn''t have to wait for long as the lightning bolt was finally condensed. This time it was slightly wider than a bowl and the color was intense as well.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The lightning bolt fell and struck the tribtion formation again. The pirs absorbed it again and converted it into smaller bolts. They shot into Lin Wu''s body again but this time they didn''t feel as gentle as before.

    "Damn! This one hurt." Lin Wu cursed.

    He braced himself and watched as the third bolt of tribtion lightning condensed in the sky. This one was as wide as two bowls, and the purple outline was deeper than before. It roiled in the clouds for a bit before finally falling.

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    The tribtion attenuation formation shook with this bolt but was able to hold on. The six pirs converted the bolt into smaller ones, but this time they were the thickness of thumbs.

    "ARGH!" Lin Wu cried in pain as the lightning bolts assaulted his body.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    A crack appeared on his first core and that sent a stabbing pain through his body.

    <em>~huu~huu~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu tookbored breaths as he held on for the next bolt. While he was doing this, the rulers of the millennium forest were going crazy.

    "THREE BOLTS AND IT IS STILL NOT STOPPING! We cannot let this happen! We will need to attack whoever it is as soon as the tribtion passes." The Twin lights liger king said.

    The olive viper king on the other hand, stopped raging. It was not because he was tired, but because he sensed something familiar.

    "That auraбн it is simr to meбн but who?" It wondered.

    The slim arm ape meanwhile had a serious expression on his face.

    "You will need to be careful, my son. This is no normal beast at this point, his bloodline may be the strongest I''ve ever seen or heard of." The slim arm spoke.

    The Demon spine ape heard his father''s words but did not respond. He nodded his head and looked towards the sky.

    "That ceбн isn''t that the forbidden tomb?" The demon spine ape suddenly said.

    "Hmmбн now that I think of it. That should indeed be the tomb, but this does not make sense. Why would there be tribtion lightning falling there, unlessбн" The slim arm ape muttered as realization dawned in his eyes.

    Far up in the sky, anotheryer of clouds were gathering above the tribtion clouds. If one looked from afar they would look like two mushrooms stacked on top of each other.

    Lin Wu was observing the sky with his radiation perception and knew there was now more danger iing. The secondyer of the clouds had increased the density of the energy once more.

    Bothyers of the clouds rumbled and lightning spread between them. The purple color looked threatening, and it was as if they would tear apart whatever came in front of them.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    This time two lightning bolts descended together and hit the tribtion attenuation formation. The formation was able to bear them but this time the pirs seem to be struggling to convert them fully.

    Six smaller lightning bolts were shot from the pir, and another bolt descended directly from the top of the formation. It was evident that two bolts were beyond the current capabilities of the formation.

    Lin Wu knew he was operating the formation at its most basic level. He would have used a higher level of course, but that was simply not possible. Even if he supplied all of the spirit Qi on his own, it would not be enough to do it.

    Without a main power source, theter levels of the formation were unable to be activated. He could only make do with the current level.

    "AAAAH!" Lin Wu cried out in pain as the lightning traveled through his body.

    If he could, he would have spit blood at this point.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    The lightning bolts cracked his first core even more and this time affected his second core as well. There were no cracks on the second one but it was shaken.

    The tribtion clouds though, showed no signs of stopping and were already prepared for another round.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Two more bolts fell and hit the formation. The formation did its best, but Lin Wu was still hurt by them.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    The first core was now covered in cracks while the second core had a single crack appear on it.

    "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What the hell! How do I continue like this!" Lin Wu cursed as he started to think of more solutions.

 Chapter 217 - Three Layered Tribulation?

    Lin Wu had known that the heavenly tribtion lightning was needed to make the core transform into a Nascent Soul. The cracks appearing on it were like an egg hatching, but there was also a danger, of course.

    If proper care was not taken or if a problem happened, the core would just shatter and the cultivator would die. It would have been fine if he had one core as the tribtion would have likely stopped at this point, but now that he had two it was not gonna stop till both of them hadpleted the process.

    The thing that was problematic was that even if the second core was notpletely cracked, and needed more time. This was also gonna affect the core that was already cracked. If it was affected more, Lin Wu feared that it may be destroyed.

    He watched with fear as two more lightning bolts formed in the clouds.

    "Dammit! This may really kill meбнe on think! There should be something I can doбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Lin Wu closely observed the bolts as they fell and braced for impact.

    "ARGH!" He yelled in pain but his eyes shone as he realized something.

    "IT CAN BE DONE! The clouds are the reason why it looked so difficult." Lin Wu said out loud.

    Lin Wu had been observing the lightning blots with his full focus and realized that after they left the tribtion clouds, they didn''t seem uncontroble. Previously, he felt like they were heavy, like an anchor was attached to them.

    But the moment they left the Tribtion clouds, the lightning bolts became freed. Using his radiation perception, he could feel the power contained in it.

    "I just need to do it at the right momentбн but the time frame is too small." Lin Wu said as he grasped the time between the bolts of lightning leaving the clouds and striking the formation.

    The time span was very small, less than a second. But he had to do it to ensure his survival. Lin Wu looked at the Tribtion attenuation formation and saw that its six pirs had gotten dimmer.

    "Seems like even the Tribtion attenuation formation is at its limitбн" he muttered to himself.

    A staunch expression appeared on his face as he looked at the tribtion clouds. His body glowed as waves of spirit Qi arose from his body. This time they were not because of the breakthrough but because of his own self.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The streaks of lightning condescend in the tribtion clouds and their amount was much greater this time.

    "Three bolts? COME ON!" Lin Wu said with determination.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    The three bolts fell, two of them together, and the third onegging behind a little bit. Lin Wu exerted a hundred percent of his power and focused on them, his innate skill radiation maniption working at its maximum potential.

    "HAAA!" Lin Wu shouted as two bolts of lightning hit him.

    But thenбн

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    The moment the third bolt of lightning was about to hit the tribtion attenuation formation, it bent and struck the ground to the side, exploding it. The sound was louder than when the lightning hit him and it was as if an earthquake was happening.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Now Lin Wu''s cores werepletely covered in cracks. Both of them had been impacted and even the second one was 90% covered in cracks. The first one was teetering on the verge of shattering, but Lin Wu was able to divert the lightning at thest moment which had saved him.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Harsh winds blew, and it was as if the tribtion clouds were angry. Anotheryer of tribtion clouds started forming over the two exitingyers. They now looked like three mushrooms stacked on top of each other.

    But then a new change happens. The three clouds were connected by a tube that opened up like a mouth. The tube went from the bottom of the firstyer all the way to the thirdyer.

    The lightning bolts could be seen streaking inside it, chaining between the threeyers. It was as if a dazzling white-purple had been formed in that ''mouth''. The more it moved between the three cloudyers, the deeper its color got.

    Lin Wu now knew that it was undergoing a qualitative change. With his radiation perception, he could tell the colorless part in it was getting more dense. Before it was at 3% but now it had reached 6%, doubling the previous amount.

    A fierce look appeared in Lin Wu''s eyes, as he knew this was the moment of reckoning. He would either seed here or die trying. Finally, a couple of minutester the lightning had changed its color and the center half of it was white in color while the outer half was purple in color.

    There was now only a single bolt, and it was not even that thick. It was the mere thickness of a chopstick, yet there was a deadly power within it. Had there been anyone else here they would have fainted just from the oppressive pressure.

    This time Lin Wu started using his skill from the very start before the lightning bolt had even left the tribtion cloud. He knew it was difficult, but he hoped to influence it, even if it was a mere fraction.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The bolt looked like a mortal that had been propped up with many attachments. It was lined straight in the ''mouth'' of the tribtion clouds and looked menacing. The attachments were nothing but smaller bolts of lightning holding it up.

    The moment these small bolts retracted, the half purple half white thing bolt of tribtion lightning fell.

    "BREAK FOR ME!!!!" Lin Wu yelled as his aura reached a peak.

    The entire millennium forest shook from the power that resulted from the collision of Lin Wu''s aura and the Tribtion''s pressure. The beasts trembled in their ces while the weaker ones directly fainted.

    ***

    In multiple ces on the Long continent, a few old people were deep in their mediation, but then they suddenly woke up.

    "Threeyered anomalous tribtion? An abomination has been bornбн"

 Chapter 218 - Nascent Soul Realm?

    The moment the final bolt of tribtion lightning fell, it looked like a spear. Along with that, it was as if another spear was rising up in the sky, ready to meet the lighting spear. This spear was invisible and wasing from Lin Wu.

    The invisible spear was formed from his innate skill Radiation maniption''s effect. The spear collided with the lightning bolt and a loud explosion was heard.

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    The tribtion lightning split into three parts. One part of it hit the pirs of the Tribtion attenuation formation, one of them directly hit Lin Wu not being blocked by the formation, while thest one struck some distance away from the formation splitting the rocky ground in two.

    A fissure could now be seen going from one side of the hill to the other. It was deep and its edges were red hot.

    Lin Wu bore the brunt of the lightning and held on barely. Both of his cores were now fully covered with cracks and a strange aura could be felting from them.

    <em>~huu~huu~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu took tired breaths as he reeled from the pain. His entire body was aching with menacing pain, and he could barely move. The tribtion clouds above him finally started fading and the topyer disappeared.

    <em>~Zoom~</em>

    Then in an instant, it was as if a tsunami of spirit Qi was released from Lin Wu. A storm started forming above him, in which the spirit Qi had gotten so dense that it was now visible to the naked eyes.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TRIBULATION ATTENUATION FORMATION: Deactivating

    DAMAGE DETECTED: Formation integrity at 4%

    бкбк

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The spirit Qi started pouring into Lin Wu''s body and it started to heal at a great speed. The spirit Qi was from the atmosphere and was pure, due to being naturally condensed, it was rapidly absorbed.

    The fine cracks that had appeared on the surface of his body also started to heal. Within Lin Wu''s Dantian, a different scene could be seen. His Dantian was currently being bathed in copious amounts of spirit Qi and started to fill up.

    After a minute or so, it waspletely filled up and now the two cracked cores floated within it, like fish in water.

    Then, a blinding light came from Lin Wu''s first core from between the cracks.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    The core finally shattered and from within it, a tiny infant appeared. The infant had a emerald green skin and its eyes were closed. Lin Wu observed this infant and found it to have simr features like him when he was human.

    "Why is in the form of a human when I''m a worm now?" Lin Wu wondered.

    And just as he said this, a smoky grey light came from his second core.

    <em>~Shatter~</em>

    The second core shattered as well, and another infant was born from it. Except this time, the infant''s skin was ck in color. This infant had the same features as Lin Wu too.

    Lin Wu looked on as the two infants sat cross legged with their backs to each other while the spirit Qi in his Dantian flowed around them, slowly nourishing their bodies.

    With this, the process was finallyplete and Lin Wu had officially broken through to the Nascent Soul realm.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADE COMPLETE: Host has reached Infant Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    Qi SKILL UPGRADED: Qi amplification (Lesser) (Proficiency: Novice) -> Qi amplification (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    HOST DATA UPDATED: Please check in the relevant window.

    бкбк

    The clouds in the sky dissipatepletely, and the winds stopped as well. The spirit Qi storm was fully absorbed into Lin Wu''s body as well, and silence descended in the forest.

    Not a single beast dared to let out a cry, and everyone shivered in their ce.

    Then all of the beasts suddenly started prostrating in the direction of the tomb, as a bloodline aura spread from there. Lin Wu too found himself being transported back to the ce where he had the bloodline battle with the five rulers of the forest.

    They too appeared there, but this time they were much more reserved. Lin Wu could see the fear in their eyes, and they did not challenge him this time. But what Lin Wu didn''t see was that there wasn''t just him standing there. Along with him, an outline could be seen that was ck in color.

    He didn''t spend much time in that ce, as the bloodline of the five beasts lost before they even started. The ce started dissolving and Lin Wu returned back to the real world. His body descended to the ground, making it shake due to his weight.

    He looked around at the destruction that was caused and felt a chill going through his body.

    "Heavens! I survivedбн ~phew~" Lin Wu eximed.

    He looked through the systems logs and saw all the notification.

    "System, show me the updated host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 2 years, 7 months, 2 days

    LIFESPAN: 1,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 1,006,405 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 3,749,494 Units

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+3)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES: Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 1,406,239 units

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 198 units/hour

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+3)

    3. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    [Extend +61]

    бкбк

    As soon as Lin Wu saw the host data, he was in shock.

    "HOLY SHI-"

 Chapter 219 - How Do I Fly?

    There were far too many changes in the host data and Lin Wu needed some time to go through them. He had expected the decrease in the spirit Qi storage and system energy but the two Nascent Souls werepletely unexpected.

    His skills had also increased in proficiency and grade, which was something he liked a lot. Radiation maniption was much more powerful than he had originally thought of. He now understood its true potential, as its grade would rise in the future too.

    ''If the skill allows me to manipte any type of radiation, then its potential is nearly endless.'' Lin Wu thought.

    But when he saw the spirit Qi required to upgrade to the next stage, he was dumbstruck.

    "One and a half million units? Goddamn! And it will only increase more as I upgrade it. No wonder they say it is hard to reach Nascent Soul ream and progress after that.

    I can''t even imagine who I would have done this had I not been with the system." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu finally got a sense of his cultivation and looked at his massive body.

    "Oh myбн no way Shirong''s gonna hold me now is heбн" Lin Wu muttered to leftism.

    "System what''s my current weight and length?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host weighs 211,694.20 Kilograms and is 102.62 meters long.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu tried to recall his past memories and what he had studied and realized that a blue whale which was the biggest animal in his past world weighed about 200,000 Kilograms.

    "Damn! I''m even bigger than a blue whaleбн" Lin Wu said with shock.

    He looked at his appearance in the Host data and saw the minor changes in his body. His overall shape was the same as before, just that he had extra spikes on his back now and his segments were more in number.

    Since Lin Wu could just change the number of the segments, he didn''t really count them. Now he wanted to see how much could he shrink, he doubted it would be the same as before.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    He triggered the skill cellr maniption and started shrinking his body. It was quite difficult for him, simr to how it was when he did it the first time. All the new body mass was hard to move all at once, and thus he had to figure it out again.

    About five minutes were needed for Lin Wu before he reached a point after which he could not shrink.

    "Welpбн I''m still more than ten meters long. Seems like the avatar is gonna have to rece me as the spear from now. No waitбн if it increases in cultivation too it will be heavier too wouldn''t it? And what will happen if it reaches the Nascent Soul realm? Will it have another nascent soul or will it not?" Lin Wu wondered.

    More and more questions arose his mind. He had originally thought that as he grew in cultivation, he would get more answered, but instead of that he only got questions.

    It was simr to when he was a student. In the first couple of years in the University, he thought he knew a lot. But then by the time he reached the final year, he realized he knew jack shit.

    He understood why his professors that had two doctorates and over thirty years of experience told him the more they study and research, the more they doubt themselves.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Seems like I''m gonna have to keep on doing the same as I have been till nowбн Wing it!"

    But as he thought of winging it, another idea came to Lin Wu''s mind.

    "Speaking of wingsбн can I fly now? Nascent Soul realm cultivators can fly without spirit tools, right? Hmmбн let''s try." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He willed himself to fly, but nothing happened. He then propped his tail like a coiled spring and pushed hard.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    He reached a height of fifty meters in the sky from the jump before falling back to the ground and cracking it, creating a small crater.

    "System, how am I supposed to fly?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s analysis, Nascent Soul realm creatures use the ambient spirit Qi in the environment along with their own and make their bodies float.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн use my body''s spirit Qi and the environment''s spirit Qiбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He first tried to sense the spirit Qi in the air and did it rather effortlessly. Then he tried to see if he could control it and was able to do that too, as he had done so before. But then the problem raised when he tried to control arge amount of it.

    Whenever he went beyond a certain limit, his control over the spirit Qi was lost and he had to start over.

    "Seems like this is the disadvantage of progressing fast. I don''t have enough experience and control." Lin Wu realized.

    This also reminded him of the time when he was refining spirit sense for the first time and had a hard time.

    It took Lin Wu a couple of hours before he was able to control a sufficient amount of spirit Qi in the air. The amount was enough to coat his entire body in it.

    "Okay, I got this part. But how do I create lift now?" Lin Wu muttered to himself before thinking of more ideas.

    He tried some of the ideas from his past life that were used to fly, like jets, propellers, and moreplex things like mas.

    "That''s it! Maybe I can create a repressive effect by pushing and pulling using the spirit Qi in my body and the air." Lin Wu had an epiphany.

    Lin Wu controlled the spirit Qi in his body and made it move towards the upper direction while the spirit Qi in the air repelled his body. As soon as he did that, his body shook for a second before gently lifting up a few inches above the ground.

    "OH YEAH!!!"

 Chapter 220 - Mutations?

    Lin Wu''s body was hovering about a meter above the ground and he was now trying to move around. He followed the same method and slightly tilted the repulsive force to a diagonal angle.

    <em>~Crash~</em>

    As soon as he did that, his body uncontrobly shot towards a rock and smashed it to pieces.

    "Uffбн need more practice." Lin Wu said to himself.

    And just like this, Lin Wu continued practicing for a while.

    But while he was doing this, his servants were undergoing something else.

    The mole beast was sprawled on the ground and writhing in pain.

    "ARGH! What is this pain!" He cried.

    There was a piercing headache in his head arising from the rhombus gem. It spread from there all the way to his core, making him tremble and shiver. This had started the moment Lin Wu broke through the Nascent Soul realm.

    The other three servants of Lin Wu, the beetle beast, the sparrow beast, and the swan beast were in a simr condition.

    The beetle beast was currently surrounded by a lot of other insect beasts, and they were all looking at her with concern.

    "What is happening to junior sister? Why is she in pain?" One of the insect beasts questioned.

    "I don''t know one moment she was fine but then suddenly she was like this." Another insect beast said.

    "Move aside!" A voice suddenly said from the back.

    As soon as the insect beasts heard the voice, they knew who it was.

    "Ancestor!" They recognized.

    The beasts moved aside and let therge beetle king approach the beetle servant. She was still crying in pain and couldn''t move much. The Split thorn horn beetle king ced his long horn over her body and closed his eyes.

    A minuteter he opened his eyes, which were now filled with shock.

    "It can''t beбн how?" The beetle king muttered.

    "What''s wrong, my king?" one of the close aides of the beetle king questioned.

    "Yes, what happed to junior sister?" Another insect beast asked.

    "Her bloodlineбн it is mutating." The beetle king said.

    "Mutating? Is it even possible?" A stick insect asked.

    "But isn''t she one of your descendants, my king? Did she perhaps have a parent that was different?" The aide of the beetle king questioned.

    "I do not know. There are far too many descendants that I have. Since she was able to reach the Core condensation realm, she was eligible to follow under me. But nowбн I do not know." The beetle king answered.

    "My kingбн could it beбн due to the Heavenly tribtion that just urred?" The aide asked.

    The beetle king''s eyes went wide, and he connected the dots.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    And just as he did, a change urred in the beetle servant beast. Her horn started cracking and the hardyer that was on it fell to the ground. The insect beasts watched in horror and thought that she was going to die.

    But then suddenly a crystallizing growth appeared on the horn. It started at the base of the horn and went all the way to its tip. The crystalline part was was emerald green and shone with a pale light.

    "Thisбн" The beetle king recognized the faint aura that was nowing from his descendant.

    ***

    A simr change urred in the other three servant beasts of Lin Wu.

    The mole beast''s ws and teeth fell out and in their ce emerald green crystal ws and teeth grew.

    For the sparrow beast, its feathers fell out and new ones grew. These feathers had a green sheen and looked sharp if one looked from the side.

    The swan beast had the most radical change, though. The rhombus gem in its forehead started growing and formed a helmet likeyer over its head. The smalls feathers on its head all fell out and were now covered in a hard emerald green crystal.

    Its beak grew a bit longer and also changed to be crystalline. Its legs grew crystalline scales and its talons became crystalline as well.

    After these changes presented in the beasts, they all fell into a deep sleep. But if one looked at the spirit Qi around them, they would find that it was being absorbed by their bodies and their cultivation base was increasing slowly.

    In a few hours, all of the servant beasts reached the mid stage of the core condensation realm.

    Lin Wu waspletely unaware of it and was on his nth attempt at flying when he got the notification from the system.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE INCREASE: (Early stage of core condensation realm -> Mid stage of core condensation realm)

    1.Deep Earth Millennium Mole

    2. Split thorn horn beetle

    3.Hook Winged Swan

    4.High Wind Gale Sparrow

    MUTATIONS DETECTED: All servant beasts have undergone mutations.

    SERVANT DATA: Updated

    бкбк

    <em>~Crash~</em>

    Lin Wu lost focus upon seeing the notification and crashed to the ground again.

    "Huh? What the hell! How did all of them break through at the same time? And what''s up with the mutations?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu opened the servant data and checked how they were now. He was surprised to see their appearances as all of them now had the same emerald green crystals like he had incorporated into their bodies in some or the other ways.

    "Was thisбн caused by my breakthrough, system?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The gems that the host emended in the bodies of the servant beasts responded to the bloodline resonance that happened when the host broke through the Nascent Soul realm due to the connecting links between them and the host.

    This affected their beast cores and oppressed their own bloodlines. This further resulted in their bloodlines forcefully adapting to the bloodline suppression by mutating.

    The mutation led to an increase in their quality of bloodlines and thus triggered break thorough of their own causing them to directly reach the Mid stage of the Core condensation realm.

    бкбк

    "Huh, so their aptitudes increased because of me too now. Well, I guess it''s just good for me then, I can use them for even more tasks." Lin Wu stated.

 Chapter 221 - The Avatars Breakthrough

    Lin Wu wondered what he should ask of the beasts, but then thought that it would be better to wait and watch them. He still didn''t know what these changes would affect them like and he needed to know that before making decisions.

    He went back to his flying practice and was getting better with every try. Lin Wu also realized that his passive absorption of spirit Qi was much higher than before. But this passive absorption only applied to his own body and not the system''s storage of spirit Qi.

    If it could work like that he would have had a continuously growing source of spirit Qi. There were a few tasks he needed to do in addition to this, like expanding the range of his spirit sense. He put that next on the list after getting the hang of flying.

    "Hmmбн though I wonder if my digging speed is still faster than flying or not." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    While he could still fly, Lin Wu had a lot of difficulties due to his immense weight. Even in a cultivation world, he knew there wouldn''t be that many beasts that could reach his weight unless they were very high in cultivation base.

    At least mostmon beasts wouldn''t be at that level.

    ***

    While Lin Wu was busy with his tasks, the avatar was calmly lying near Shirong and cultivating on its own. With the speed at which he was able to cultivate, Lin Wu had estimated that he would have umted enough spirit Qi to upgrade to the next stage in about five more days.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION: Mid Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [6250/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    Shirong too was cultivating calmly, but he was not increasing his spirit Qi. Rather, he was focused on his own body and was letting it reach the optimum level. Lin Wu could sense the faint increase in vital energying from his body as well.

    Shirong had started using the cultivation technique he used previously to convert his spirit Qi into vital energy again. The system was still in the process of analyzing it and was nearly done. Lin Wu reckoned that once it was done, he may be able to freely switch between vital essence and Spirit Qi when needed.

    Theplete analysis of the technique would also mean that the analysis of other techniques would be sped up. The system would better its understanding and thepatibility of Lin Wu with human oriented techniques would increase as well.

    Five days passed in the blink of an eye and Lin Wu''s avatar had gained enough spirit Qi to break through to thete stage of the core condensation realm. He took a look at Shirong and found him to be in a much better condition than before.

    His body was about halfway to his previous build, and even his hair had started growing back. Small ck hair could be seen all over his head, but his eyebrows were still not here, and neither was his beard.

    Previously Lin Wu had been apprehensive about having a breakthrough when he was near Shirong, but now that he had an avatar and was going through this for the second time, he knew he would able to handle it better.

    Not to mention even the system had improved its masking methods and guarantee that there would be no problem with it.

    "Alright system, start the cultivation base upgrade for the avatar." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADING CULTIVATION BASE: Mid Stage of the core condensation realm -> Late stage of the core condensation realm

    AVATAR CULTIVATION: Late Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/24000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s avatar showed no change after its breakthrough and it was as if nothing had happened at all. Lin Wu took a look at Shirong and found him to bepletely oblivious to it.

    "Looks like the new masking feature is working really good." Lin Wu praised.

    He looked at the time and saw that there were nine days left till the day of Shirong''s heavenly tribtion. Lin Wu wanted to be fully ready for it as he didn''t know what kind of effect a tribtion would have if there was a second person or rather creature with the person undergoing it.

    From the cultivation novels, he had read in his previous life, he knew that additional punishment could be given and the lightning would hit those who were trying to interfere with the tribtion as well.

    But if he really was going to be hit with a tribtion, Lin Wu had some slightly different ns. He was nning to train his radiation maniption skill to increase his proficiency. He now understood the true potential of the skill and knew it could be one of the strongest weapons in his arsenal.

    He just needed to fully grasp its use. After the grade upgrades, its proficiency had fallen and it had be a bit difficult for him to use it, thus he knew it was something he needed to as soon as possible. Thankfully, the skills were shared between both the bodies and if the avatar increased his skill, the main body would subsequently do it too.

    Lin Wu returned back to his main body and checked his progress with the flying. He had gotten better at it and could now control his body without crashing into anything, which was the best result he could hope to achieve for now.

    What he wanted to do now was to go and see how fast could he really fly. Thus he lifted the barrier of the tomb and took flight straight from the top of the hill.

    <em>~Swoop~</em>

    He dived down at a diagonal angle and moved like a missile. He had already shrunk his body to the salesman form he could, otherwise therge form would have broken a lot of trees and rocks on the way down.

    "WOO!HOO!" Lin Wu shouted in joy as he soared through the air.

 Chapter 222 - A Meeting With The Beetle King?

    Lin Wu had been flying for about ten minutes now and had gotten a good idea about his speed. It was nearly the same as he had when he used his drill form to dig into the ground, which was quite fast.

    He had gone past a lot of beasts who shivered and trembled upon sensing his presence. He was still not able to fully reel in his spirit Qi fluctuations and the system needed to do it for him. But when he was actively using spirit Qi that could not be done and as such, it would spread wherever he passed.

    "Well, that''s enough for now. Let''s see if there was a change in my digging speed or not." Lin Wu muttered to himself beforending on the ground.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Even though hended gently, an imprint was still formed when hended. He lowered his head and entered the ground before starting to dig. In just ten seconds, he realized that even in his normal form he was digging at a slightly slower speed than flying.

    "Let''s see how well the drill form does. If just the normal form is this fast, then the drill form must be something else." Lin Wu said before using his innate skills to morph his body.

    His head became conical, while spiral grooves appeared all around his body.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Lin Wu shot forward like a fish in the water as the soil gave way to him. He parted the ground like it was butter and felt nearly no resistance. He slowly started to expand to his full size and found his speed to still be increasing.

    "Damn, even in my full size the speed doesn''t reduce and actually increases. This is something elseбн" Lin Wu said, feeling surprised.

    Ten minutes passed like this and unknowingly he had gone quite far from the area of the tomb. He was now close to the sixth ring of the millennium forest. He did not fear it as much anymore and could freely enter due to being a nascent soul realm beast.

    Besides, the increased concentration of the spirit Qi was a pleasant feeling that he could not help but like. While the tomb also had a spirit Qi gathering formation, it could notpare to therge natural source of spirit Qi located in the center of the forest, right below the Dark Bloom Caverns.

    "Hmmбн I should be able to enter there now that I''m at the Nascent Soul realm. Butбн I still got a few more things to do before that. Can''t go in rushing before preparation." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He looked at the condition of his servants, who were still asleep after five days, and wondered if he should go check up on them. He discovered that the closest servant beast that was near his location was none other than the Beetle beast.

    "Hmmбн that cricket beast invited me to meet the Beetle king, right? I may as wellplete both goals in one go and go there since I''m nearby." Lin Wu decided.

    He tracked the position of the beetle beast on the map and soon reached the ce. Unlike the other rulers of the forest, the area that the beetle king lived was mostlyposed of dead trees. There were chips of barks everywhere and they had been packed into a tough cement likeyer using mud.

    "This is definitely the work of Split thorn horn beetles." Lin Wu said, recalling the description of the system.

    The beetle beasts liked to carve up and break trees to make their nests which were what this basically was. This area was densely packed with trees around the boundary, while this part was rtively open. Lin Wu checked the map and found there to be thousands of insect beasts in the area.

    He saw the location of the servant beast and found that there was arge marker near it.

    "Hmmбн that must be the beetle king. Did he perhapsбн find out about me?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He scanned the area for any suspicious activity and couldn''t find any.

    "At this point, I may as well go and meet the guy. If we fight, we fight." Lin Wu said with determination.

    But he didn''t enter straightway. Doing so would be a direct provocation as he would be intruding on the territory of a ruler of the forest. Instead, he knew just the right thing to do.

    Lin Wu closed his eyes and let out a concentrated wave of spirit Qi that spread all the way to where the Beetle king was. Every beast that came under the range of the wave was able to sense who Lin Wu was.

    "MY KING! IT''S ANOTHER NASCENT SOUL REALM BEAST!" The aide of the beetle king said.

    The other beasts were scared, as usually, something like this meant that the Nascent soul realm beast was here to challenge the owner of the territory. Usually, the losing part would give the territory to the winner and leave the area. But now their condition was rather different.

    There were five rulers in the forest already, and all of them had their shares of the territories. With another beast being added to the mix, there would be more conflict that may even result in fatalities.

    In the five rulers, the beetle beast was rtively less active currently and his subordinates were avoiding all conflicts. All they wanted to do right now was to maintain the status quo and avoid them making losses.

    The beetle king''s eyes glinted, and it was now that another insect beast spoke up.

    "My king, I know this aura. It''s the beast I was talking to you about, the one that spared out egg clutches." The cricket beast informed.

    "So it really is himбн he broke through to the Nascent Soul realm and endured a heavenly tribtion the likes of which this forest has never seen." The beetle king muttered.

    "What should we do now?" The aide of the king asked.

    "Let''s meet and talk. It''s not like we have any other choiceбн"

 Chapter 223 - Usurping A Seat?

    The beetle king had not expected that he would get to see the new Nascent Soul realm beast so quickly. He knew that he would be seeing him eventually in the future as there was no way a Nascent Soul realm beast could stay hidden for long.

    And it was as he had expected. Just the aura that exuded from him was enough to make his heart tremble. He could tell that he hade in peace and did not have the contention to fightбн at least for now.

    He knew that it would not be appropriate to meet him directly in here in his territory and it would be better to talk to him some ce neutral. The beetle king left his nest while being followed by his subordinates and went to meet up with Lin Wu, who was waiting at the edge of the territory.

    The moment he saw him though, he was shocked.

    "Thisбн what beast is thisбн" The beetle king muttered to himself.

    Standing in front of him was Lin Wu, who was nearly fifty meters long. Just from this, his size was bigger than the beetle king.

    "Well, hello there!" Lin Wu greeted with a smile, that bordered on being eerie due to him being the worm he was.

    "He-hello, I am the beetle king one of the five rulers of the millennium forest." He introduced himself.

    "I am theбн Crimson Eyed Emerald worm." Lin Wu revealed.

    ''That''s a worm? There''s no way that''s a worm. That''s clearly a snake.'' The beetle king thought to himself.

    "So what brings you here?" The beetle king finally asked.

    "Oh, I am here since one of your subordinates invited me. It was a cricket beast I believe." Lin Wu replied.

    "Ah yes. He did say that he invited someone, but I did not expect it to be another beast that was at the Nascent Soul realm." The beetle king replied awkwardly.

    "Haha! Oh yes, that''s true. I did reach the Nascent soul realm quite recently. I think you must have seen itбн oh wait, I think we already met before during the bloodline resonance." Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    "That we did, indeed." The beetle beast replied, feeling ufortable.

    He could tell that the beast in front of him was at the Infant stage of the Nascent Soul realm, but even then the bloodline oppression he was feeling from him was enough to pressure him, who was at the Adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    A silence descended in the area as the two beasts stared at each other awkwardly. Lin Wu thought for a bit before finally deciding on what to say.

    "You are the first ruler of the forest that I''ve met till nowбн well, formally. I did see the Silver beak sky soar eagle before he left the forest though." Lin Wu spoke.

    "You saw her?" The Beetle king asked, feeling surprised.

    From what he and the other kings knew, the Silver beak sky soar eagle had massacred all of her subordinates and left a trail of death as she went on her path. No beast that came in her path had survived, and perhaps only the minor beasts that were at the Qi refining realm had survived.

    They had no idea why she had acted like this and the strange change in her. It was definitely something terrifying for the other beasts, as they feared that one of the renaming kings may also end up doing something simr.

    ''The Silver beak sky soar eagle is a she? I thought it was a male too. System did you know this and why did you not tell me?'' Lin Wu internally asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Yes, the system knew it was a female. As for why it did not tell the host, it was because it was of no relevance at that time.

    бкбк

    ''Wellбн it does seem right, I guess.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Yes, I did get to see her. But only see, not meet. She was flying past the third ring of the forest at that time and was heading to the west." Lin Wu replied.

    "To the west, you say? Why would she go to the west, there aren''t even good humans to eat there." The beetle beast said.

    "I don''t know either. I just wanted to get more information about the other rulers of the forest from you." Lin Wu finally revealed.

    "Is that soбн and what would your intentions be?" The Beetle king asked carefully.

    "I know that the millennium forest has always had five rulers and the eligibility for that is for a beast to be at the Nascent Soul realm. The fifth seat was empty, but now it has been filled by the Demon Spine ape. Thusбн I would like to make a seat emptyбн for myself." Lin Wu revealed.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The beetle king became alert, and his aura increased. He became ready for a fight and knew that perhaps he should not havee here right away.

    "Oh, do not worry, I am not after your position. I have my eyes set on a different ruler." Lin Wu assured.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    The beetle king servilely let out a breath of relief but did not drop his guard. Who knew if the beast in front of him was only doing so to fool him and would then attack him when he lost focus.

    "And which beast are you talking about?" The Beetle King questioned.

    "The Olive Viper king." Lin Wu answered.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "So it is himбн I had a hunch that it would be him." The Beetle king said.

    "You did? Why so?" Lin Wu asked, although he already knew the answer.

    "Your appearance and your aura. They are both quite simr to that of the Olive Viper king. And seeing as you suddenly reached the Nascent Soul realm, simr to how the Olive Viper king did after he obtained the fortune from the falling stars two years ago, I knew that it was something rted to that." The beetle king answered.

 Chapter 224 - The Start Of An Alliance?

    Lin Wu already knew that if the two small beasts like the mole beast and the beetle beast could recognize that he was simr to The Olive Viper King, it was obviously one of the rulers of the forest was going to do that too.

    The only difference was that the mole beast and the beetle beast had thought him to be the subordinate of the Olive Viper King but the Beetle king could very well tell the difference. He knew that the Olive Viper king ruled over his subordinates with an iron fist and would not let anyone get stronger than him.

    "I see. Well, we are indeed rted in a way. That is the reason why I''m aiming for him. He has what is rightfully mine." Lin Wu stated, exuding his aura.

    The beetle beast could sense the bloodlust in Lin Wu''s aura and knew that the beast in front of him was serious about this.

    "As long as you are not going toe for my seat, I am fine with it. What you do with the other rulers is none of my business." The beetle beast replied.

    "Now, now, don''t be like that. You know that the change in the positions of rulers would influent the entire climate of the forest. Currently, the slim arm ape and the Demon spine ape are in advantage due to being rted. They are obviously in an alliance." Lin Wu said.

    "Hmmбн well there''s nothing we can do about that can we?" The Beetle beast replied.

    "That''s true but I do not have a problem with them. The one I have a problem with is the Olive Viper King. I believe when he became the ruler, he caused a lot of havoc and hurt your subordinates too?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "That is right." The beetle beast agreed.

    "Then, do you not want revenge for it?" Lin Wu asked.

    "If I got the chance I would, but I cannot match his strength and his subordinates are stronger than mine too." The beetle king replied.

    "Well then, my friend. You are in luck, as I can solve both of those problems." Lin Wu offered.

    The beetle king''s eyes went wide as he finally realized what the beast in front of him was suggesting.

    "You mean to sayбн we make an alliance too?" The beetle king questioned.

    "Yes, but not only that. I will also help your subordinates get strongerбн well the ones that are deserving of it and have good potential. I think one of them has already seen the effects." Lin Wu answered.

    "My descendantбн that was your doing?" The beetle beast asked feeling bewildered.

    He had never heard of any beast that could cause another beast to mutate like this. And here Lin Wu was, admitting that the process could be replicated. The beetle king had seen the changes that urred in the beetle and knew that her potential was greatly increased.

    He was even sure that if given enough time, that beetle beast was sure to reach the Nascent Soul realm. The beetle king was the first of his kind to reach the Nascent Soul realm and thus had been looking for someone who could rece him when the time came.

    He knew that even if he had reached the Nascent Soul realm, his potential was already exhausted; he did not have much chance of breaking through to the Dao shell realm in his life span. He was over five hundred years old and at the adolescent stage of the Nascent Soul realm, this was already quite an achievement.

    He knew that he barely may have a chance of reaching the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm and then he would end up exhausting his lifespan there.

    ''Do we have a chance now? Will my kin have a chance at survival for the long term when I''m gone?'' The beetle king thought to himself.

    "Yes, I am the one who helped that little beetle progress since she helped me a while back." Lin Wu said.

    "Are you sure you can do that again? And will there be any problems?" The beetle king asked.

    "Hmmбн I know I can do it again but for problems, I do not know. The one thing I know for sure is that the beast needs to be strong to be able to bear the mutation." Lin Wu answered.

    "Say if I agree to this propositionбн how will the rest of the n go?" The beetle king questioned.

    ''Got him! Even Nascent Soul realm beasts are a bit easy to trickpared to humans, huhбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Well for now, I just need some information on the whereabouts of the Olive Viper king and what are his strengths and weaknesses. I will formte the proper n after getting more details as we may need to involve the Slim arm ape and the Demon spine ape in this too." Lin Wu replied.

    "Those two as well? Hmmбн the slim arm ape king is a rtively calm beast but his sonбн he is a battle maniac and now that his bloodline has awakened he will only get worse." The beetle king stated.

    "Well, to convince a battle maniac is even easier. All I need to do is to battle and defeat him then." Lin Wu stated, as his eyes glowed with a fierce light.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "I understand. I guess we can proceed for now." The beetle king said.

    "That''s great! Now thenбн tell me all you know about the Olive Viper King." Lin Wu replied.

    "The olive Viper king lives to the northeastern part of the Sixth ring, at the millenniumke. As for his strengths, he is strong overall. His defenses are quite tough and thest time we fought I was barely able to inflict any injuries on him, as that crystalyer on his back is very strong.

    Even his scales are tough to break, but his belly is a bit on the softer side. His fangs are his most powerful weapon, and the venom they spew can melt our hides. As far as I know, even the injuries he got recently were caused by his venom." The beetle king exined.

 Chapter 225 - Olive Viper Kings Weakness?

    Upon hearing that his venom was the most corrosive, such that even the Olive viper king was harmed by it, Lin Wu wondered if it would work on his body. His bloodline allowed him a higher resistance to heat, cold and corrosive substances.

    But he still didn''t know if it would work on something that was likely influenced by the same bloodline as him.

    ''Hmmбн he should have probably mutated like the other beasts. I don''t know if he had the unknown bloodline too thoughбн that thing is still an enigma.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He thought for a bit before an idea came to him.

    "Is there any way you can get some of the venom of the Olive Viper King?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "That''s impossible! No one will want toe near it, not to mention it even destroys the earth if it spills on it. There is no way we can collect it." The Beetle king denied.

    Lin Wu wanted a sample of the venom so that the system would be able to analyze it and check for an anti-venom. Though Lin Wu had a hunch that the venom really may not be as effective against him.

    ''Perhaps the reason why that venom is so corrosive is due to radiation as well. If it is, then it would make sense. Looks like I need to take a look around the millenniumke then.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "What do you think are the weaknesses of the Olive Viper king?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "That is a tough thing to answer. Overall, he is quite tough and while he can be hurt by others, the power needed is quite a lot. Thoughбн the Olive Viper king does need to rest and eat a lot.

    Without regr feeding and rest, he bes sluggish. In fact, the reason why we were able to end our previous fight with him was that he had be tired and decided to retreat." The beetle king answered.

    Upon hearing this, Lin Wu''s mind instantly went to when he had first acquired the bloodline. The consumption of his innate skills was quite high and if he did not have the support of the system and the extra storage of spirit Qi it provided, he may not have been able to keep up.

    ''Hmmбн so he suffers from the same problem. Orбн since he has progressed three stages of the Nascent Soul realm in just two years, it is likely that he has been using a majority of his spirit Qi to progress his cultivation, that may be the reason why he tires out easily.'' Lin Wu hypothesized.

    "Alright, this should be enough for now. I''ll tell you moreter." Lin Wu said before extending his tail forward and creating another one of the t tes he had made for Wang Xiong.

    "What''s this?" The beetle king asked.

    "You must know how the human cultivatorsmunicate using jade slips right? This is simr to that, you can talk to me with this. Just use your spirit sense and it will connect to me." Lin Wu answered.

    The beetle beast was rather fascinated by this. He had seen a lot of human cultivators use those jade slips and he even had some of them lying around in his nest somewhere among remains of humans.

    Most of the beasts were unable to use the spirit tools of humans and thus only kept them with them, as trophies and trinkets. But now the beetle king was getting the chance to use one himself.

    "How did you make this?" the beetle king asked after picking up the emerald green slip with his spirit sense since it had no hands and the jade skip was too small for him.

    "Just think of it as one of my innate abilities." Lin Wu replied.

    "This is marvelousбн I''ve never seen any beast that could replicate the things of humans." The beetle beast said after using themunication slip.

    His voice was heard in the head of Lin Wu and he could hear Lin Wu in his head too.

    "Now you don''t need to send messengers to talk to me and this will be much quicker." Lin Wu said.

    "Ooo!" The beetle king let out a strange sound that could only bepared to a child''s wonder.

    Lin Wu was just about to leave when he was stopped by the beetle king.

    "Wait! When will you be going to talk with the Slim arm ape king?" The beetle king questioned.

    "Hmmбн soon enough. Why? Do you want toe too?" Lin Wu replied.

    "Yes. It would be better if both of us go. While that beast is rtively calm, he is not without danger. He is clever like those humans and even has some dealing with them." The beetle king spoke.

    "Oh? He does? That''s interestingбн looks like I need to meet him soon." Lin Mu said and took a pause. "I''ll inform you when I go there then, through themunication slip." Lin Wu replied.

    "Alright, I''ll wait for it. In the meantime, I''ll pick out the subordinates who are strong and have good potential for you to make them stronger." The beetle king reminded.

    Lin Wu nodded his head, before digging into the ground and disappearing. The beetle king watched as Lin Wu soon went away, judging from the vibrations in the ground.

    "He really is a worm, huhбн he looks quite a lot like a snake though." The beetle king said before turning back to his nest.

    The subordinates of the beetle king had all be standing far from them, not daring toe close. If even the beetle king was wary of Lin Wu''s bloodline aura, then the other beasts that were weaker than him, were straight-up trembling in their ces.

    "What do we do now, my king?" The aide of the beetle king questioned.

    "Call all of your kin and our subordinates. Tell them they will have a great opportunity to get stronger and perhaps even increase the potential of their bloodlines." The beetle king said in an imposing voice.

 Chapter 226 - Scouting?

    Lin Wu was currently heading towards the direction of the Millenniumke as the beetle king had informed him. It took him a mere ten minutes to reach with his speed but he did not get too close as he didn''t know if the Olive Viper king may be able to sense him or not.

    "Alright, system do a detailed scan of the area and find the Olive Viper king. Once he is found do a scan on him too and show me the data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Area selected

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map updated

    MULTIPLE ENTITIES DETECTED: Marking on map.

    RADIATION SIGNATURES DETECTED: Simrity to Host''s own radiation.

    SPECIFIED TARGET IDENTIFIED: Olive Viper King

    CULTIVATION BASE: Adolescent Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    BLOODLINE: Mutated Olive Viper Bloodline

    (1.40% Simrity to Crimson eyed emerald worm. 2. 5% simrity to the unknown bloodline.)

    INNATE SKILLS: Unable to detect [Closer proximity needed]

    NOTIFICATION: Other beasts in the area also have mutated bloodlines simr to that of the host but at fractions of a percentage.

    бкбк

    Looking at the data the system gave, Lin Wu knew for sure that the Olive Viper king had probably consumed a fragment of the same crystal that he had back at the forbidden area. Not only that, but like he had caused mutations in his subordinates, the same way Lin Wu had.

    This showed Lin Wu that this was not an exclusive ability of his and those other beasts that had this could do the same. But this only increased the desire Lin Wu was feeling to kill and eat the Olive Viper King.

    When the quest was given, he only felt an obligation toplete it due to the reward. But now he wanted to do it because his own body was telling him to do so. It was a rather strange feeling that he had not felt before and thus he was a bit confused.

    "Looks like killing him is the only option nowбн hehehe." Lin Wu chuckled.

    He took a look at the map and marked the routes that seemed to be good for entry. There were a lot of beasts spread around in the area, patrolling it. Any beast that came near it would be found by them and killed, only to be taken to a pile beside arge burrow that was made at the side of a small hill.

    The hill was located in the middle of theke and was like an ind. Lin Wu looked at the map and switched to a loweryer on it, and saw the many paths that had been created underground.

    "He has a lot of paths to escape and move around too. This is probably how he has been travailing around the area most of the time, hidden from the eyes of the others." Lin Wu realized.

    It was not that the Olive Viper king appeared less for the others, rather it was just that he stayed hidden most of the time and only appeared to create arge uproar from attacking other beasts.

    Having learned enough for now, Lin Wu went back to the tomb. He thought that he needed to be a bit more strong than just his cultivation base if he wanted to fight against the Olive Viper king.

    Even if he had the advantage in the case of his bloodline, there was no guarantee that he would be able toe out on top against him. So he decided to err on the side of caution and do more preparation.

    "Being at the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm should be enough to fight against the Olive viper king, as then he would only be one stage above me. And after I defeat him and kill him, my bloodline should progress and increase as well." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu could have directly teleported himself to the Tomb using the teleportation formation but did not do so, since he wanted to save up as much spirit Qi as he could for the upgrade to the next stage.

    He currently had a little over one million units of liquid spirit Qi units stored and needed 5,000,000 more to upgrade to the next stage. For this, he would need to cultivate and gather more spirit Qi so that he could reach it at the earliest.

    Soon he reached the base of the tomb and teleported himself to the inside. He looked around at the empty hall and a thought came to him.

    "I should decorate this ce a bitбн it is too empty. Maybe a few cushions or mattresses to sit on?" Lin Wu thought.

    But then he considered hisrge body and estimated the sheer number of pillows that he would need to do that. While he could shrink his body and use fewer pillows, that would defeat the purpose of rxation.

    While Lin Wu''s main body was thinking of this stuff, his avatar was still cultivating. The main body also started cultivating, but was a little bored at the speed. He even asked the beetle king if it would be fine if he started eating the beasts in the forest.

    The beetle king said, while it would be fine if he did it up to a certain extent, he shouldn''t go too far. The five rulers ensured that a stable number of beasts were maintained in the forest and the number could not go below a certain level or everyone''s interests will be harmed.

    Lin Wu asked why did they have to follow something like this, like what was forcing them to follow this rule and the beetle king replied that it was the mandate that was embedded deep within their bloodlines and if they did not follow it, the forest itself may curse them.

    Other beast rulers in the past had indeed done massacres and eaten a lot of beasts, but their end was not good. That was also perhaps one of the reasons why the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle left the forest aftermitting the massacre of his subordinates. She knew she would not be able to live long here after that.

 Chapter 227 - Assimilating The Hard Eared Limber Mice King Bloodline?

    Lin Wu was now wondering what it could have been that pushed the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle to kill all its subordinates and the other beasts in the millennium forest. There were a few reasons he could think of but they didn''t makeplete sense.

    At first, he thought the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle wanted to eat the beasts for the same reason as his which was to gain more spirit Qi. This was likely to have been an idea that came to her due to the appearance of the Olive Viper King who had rapidly increased in strength by eating beasts.

    But then this was counterproductive, if what the beetle beast had said was true, the beast rulers could not just keep on eating the beasts of the forest without any restraint. If they did so, they would have been cursed in some way and die.

    If the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle still did it despite this, then it would have had to leave the forest, which could have been done even before killing them. If she was going to leave the forest, thenpeting with the other rulers didn''t make sense.

    Another reason that Lin Wu could think of, which was rather straightforward, was that the Sliver Beak Sky Soar eagle was just pissed and, like a pissed employee of apany, wanted to cause havoc before leaving the job.

    This kind of made sense, since her killing all the beasts would give her a lot of spirit Qi and also cause trouble for the other rulers in the form of a territory battle that would kill more of their subordinates.

    But by the time they woulde to find her and stop her, she would have already left the forest.

    ''Hmmбн is that it, then? Did she really get frustrated from thepetition among the rulers and decided to leave and start over?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "Everyone wants to get strong as this is the cultivation world, but to what extent can they go before they think it is enough and give up?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    He then shook his head and muttered, "no matter. I''ve just started and got a long time to go. I''ll think of it when the timees, for now I''ll just focus on getting stronger."

    He looked through this Host Data and his eyes came to settle on one thing: Bloodlines.

    Lin Wu had the bloodline of the Hard Eared Limber Mice King that he had upgraded before and increased thepatibility to the highest he could take it. It had been on his list for a while but he had not actually assimted it for a while since he was waiting for the right moment.

    And what better moment than right now, since he was alone and free to do anything he wanted. But then this gave rise to another question on Lin Wu''s mind when he was thinking of bloodline assimtion.

    "System, what will happen to the avatar when I assimte a new bloodline?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The avatar is not affected by the newly assimted bloodline and will not gain the bloodline either. The bloodlines that are assimted by the main body of the host will belong to the main body, while those obtained and assimted by the avatar will be kept by it.

    The bloodlines are intrinsic to the bodies and thus cannot be synchronized the same way as to how the innate skills and Qi skills are synchronized.

    бкбк

    "Ah, I see. That does make sense." Lin Wu agreed.

    He looked through the host data one more time just to make sure everything was alright before proceeding.

    "System, start the assimtion of the Hard Eared Limber Mice King bloodline." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CHECKING HOST VITALS: Vitals Stable

    BLOODLINE ASSIMILATION: Initiated

    BLOODLINE SELECTED: Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    бкбк

    As soon as the process started, Lin Wu felt his body shaking and shivering. Then came the heat as his body started to heat up. If one were to think of it, it was as if Lin Wu was sick and had a fever.

    But strangely, Lin Wu actually did not feel any pain even if he did feel a bit of difort from the heat. But that much heat was nothing to him, who was quite resistant to heat and cold.

    Then, within his Dantian, he could see the illusory figure of a Hard Eared Limber Mice King appear. It was running around restlessly, as if it wanted to escape this ce and was colliding against the walls of his Dantian.

    But Lin Wu''s Dantian was incredibly tough and noter how much the illusory figure of the Hard eared Limber Mice King tried, it could even create a dent in it. Then suddenly, a wave of suppressive aura was emanated from one of the infants that was sitting at the center of the Dantian.

    This infant had an emerald green skin and was the nascent Soul that belonged to The Crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline of Lin Wu.

    The Hard Eared Limber Mice King paused upon sensing the suppressive aura, but then began thrashing around restlessly. It was then that the Emerald Skinned Infant opened its eye.

    Its eyes were crimson red and started into the illusory figure of the Hard Earned Limber Mice, which let out a meek cry before dissipating into a cloud of smoke. This cloud of smoke spread all throughout the Dantian of Lin Wu and merged into it.

    Then Lin Wu felt his body throbbing before finally calming down. He felt as if he had gained something and his hearing capabilities had increased by a lot. At the upper side of his head, a short distance from the spikes, two protrusions appeared.

    If one looked at them, they would think that they kind of looked like ears. These ears had a slight red tint to them which matched with Lin Wu''s crimson red eyes. Since these were also made of the same crystals as the rest of his body, they were freely modifiable and could be moved around.

 Chapter 228 - Two New Command Skills?

    Soon the assimtion process wasplete and Lin Wu heard the sound of a notification from the system.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE ASSIMILATION: Completed

    INNATE SKILLS OBTAINED: 1. Sound Command 2. Kin Command

    HOST DATA: Updated

    бкбк

    The first thing that Lin Wu could feel after sessfully assimting the bloodline was the increase in his sound sensitivity. Usually, the halls inside the tomb were rather silent and nothing could be heard from the outside.

    But now, Lin Wu could sense the faint vibrations in the ground as well as in the air. They were indistinct but were still there.

    ''This is really something elseбн'' Lin Wu thought before teleporting to the top of the tomb.

    But as soon as he appeared there he felt as if his head had been hit with a sledgehammer.

    "ARGH! Dammit, this is too loud!" Lin Wu cried out.

    Lin Wu was feeling as if two loud speakers had been strapped to his head and were creating noise at full volume, giving him a headache. Lin Wu instantly knew that this was due to his new bloodline and needed to control it.

    He carefully lowered the two ''ears'' at the top of his head before they disappeared into his body. After they merged fully into his body, the noise had stopped.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Damn, that was loud! I need to better control this thingбн" Lin Wu cursed before focusing on the two ears.

    He slowly raised them back up and discovered that the more they were out, the higher the sensitivity was.

    "Huh, it''s kind of like an antenna." Lin Wu realized.

    Once he got the hang of it and knew what level was the best for him, Lin Wu set the level of the ears to that point. Right now, if one looked at him, they would see that there were no ears at the top of his head and instead of that, there were two small bumps.

    Lin Wu had set the level of the two ears at the bare minimum so that while he could have an enhanced hearing, it wouldn''t give him a splitting headache.

    After getting the hang of this, Lin Wu wanted to see what the two new innate skills that he obtained could do.

    "System, show me the details of the two new innate skills I got from the Hard Reread Limber Mice King." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL: Sound Command

    GRADE: Minor

    PROFICIENCY: Basic

    INFO: The innate skill soundmand allows the host tomunicate with other beasts that have the same skill through a set of sounds and vibrations. Thesemands can be broadcasted over a long distance using the earth and the vibrations may be created by the host''s body.

    The range of the skill will increase with the increase in its proficiency. The current range of the innate skill is at a radius of 100 meters.

    Theplexity of themunication can be increased with an increase in its grade. The host may even be able to modify the vibrations such that the creatures who do not have the same innate skill can sense the sounds.

    INNATE SKILL: Kin Command

    GRADE: Minor

    PROFICIENCY: Basic

    INFO: The Innate Skill Kin Command allows the host to efficientlymunicate with arge number of subordinates at once and give themmands. Thesemands will be innately understood by the subordinates but need to be simple.

    The number of subordinates that can be ordered using the innate skill will increase with the increase in its grade. The current number that can be ordered is 10 beasts.

    Theplexity of themands can be increased with an increase in their proficiency.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu read the two innate skills and indeed found them to be useful, but not currently.

    "These would be helpful when I''m together with multiple servants or subordinates and need to battle. Though I will need to practice using these skills as their current proficiency and grade restricts me quite a bit." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Thinking of practicing the skills, Lin Wu wondered about his servants. He checked their conditions in the system and found them to still be asleep.

    "Hmmбн how long will they take to wake up, it''s already been nearly six days now? Though looks like their cultivation bases are still increasing little by little." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu looked at the bloodlines and next on his list was the bloodline of the Twin Lights Liger. Unlike the Hard Reread Limber mice King bloodline, this one was much stronger and itspatibility was also low for him.

    ''I''ll need to kill and consume the Twin Lights Liger King to increase thepatibility, can''t take the risk of assimting it and then harming myself. While the bloodline is not Asa strong as the Crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline, it is still quite resilient.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu reckoned that he should only assimte the bloodline after he had killed and consumed the Olive Viper king and increased the strength of his main bloodline first. This way he would not have as great of a risk and the situation would be simr to that of the Hard Eared Limber mice king, where the bloodline was suppressed quickly by his own bloodline.

    "Hmmбн the next step in my n will take a while before I can initiate it. Right now I''ll need to focus on the side ns I guess." Lin Wu thought out loud.

    He checked the condition of his subordinate, Wang Xiong and asked about his situation.

    Wang Xiong told him that while they had entered the territory of their sect, they were still some distance from the main part of the sect itself. It would take them a couple of days more to reach it and he would contact Lin Wu after that.

    Having learned of this, Lin Wu decided to focus on cultivation for now. His avatar needed to reach the next stage too, before Shirong had his Nascent Soul realm tribtion, or there was a chance that some problems could arise from it.

    "Wellбн back to cultivation."

 Chapter 229 - The Tired Clan Head Lu

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 8000 Units [liquid spirit Qi]

    AVATAR CULTIVATION: Late Stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [12000/12000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu''s avatar had just finished cultivating up to the current limit and paused to take a sense of the situation. Lin Mu transferred his focus back to the avatar and looked around with his spirit sense.

    "How much time has it been now?" Lin Wu muttered to himself before seeing that it had been nine days.

    He then saw Shirong and found him to have returned to a better condition than before. His body had more flesh on it and looked normal. Even the hair on his head had started to return and a fineyer of it could be seen.

    His eyebrows though, were still not here and there was no beard on his face either. It was apparent that it would take much longer for those two to grow back. Eyebrows naturally took longer to grow, while the beard was just a trait of Shirong.

    His body simply did grow it well enough. And even without shaving, he stayed hairless for the most bit.

    <em>~knock~ knock~</em>

    Suddenly, a knock was heard on the door, and a voice called out.

    "Young master, it''s me." The voice spoke.

    Shirong opened his eyes and looked at the door, e in n head Lu."

    In walked in the old man, who seemed to be looking much more tired than before. There were eye bags on his faces and his hair was tousled. Even his clothes seemed to be rather ragged and the glow from his face had gone.

    "Damn, is this old man gonna die or something? What happed in the past few days?" Lin Wu wondered.

    "n head Lu? What''s up with your appearance? Are you okay?" Shirong asked, feeling strange too.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "It''s just been hard coordinating and managing all the people. There are now six nearby cities who are participating in the entire event and they''ve sent a few thousand people to watch your tribtion." n head Lu replied.

    "Ah, I see. Have they been giving you trouble?" Shirong asked.

    "Wellбн it is trouble but I don''t think it is intentional. Rather it''s just something thates when there are too many people working on a single thing. As they say, too many cooks spoil the broth, but when the broth is meant to be fed to a hundred thousand people, I don''t think we can do the same." n Head Lu said in a tired voice.

    "You''ve been doing good n head, I thank you for arranging the Tribtion tform," Shirong stated.

    "The honor is ours, young master you need not worry. You don''t know how many of the aristocrats are willing to pay ten times the price to get a closer look at the tribtion." n Head Lu said.

    "Oh? Do they not know getting closer to a tribtion tform isn''t necessarily good? A tribtion tform is not a hundred percent safe and casualties can still happen." Shirong warned.

    "They know it very well. I made sure of it and even got them to sign contracts that no one will be responsible if their people were to get hurt or die." n Head Lu replied.

    "That''s good. Andбн if they still protest after thatбн I''ll take care of it." Shirong said in a serious tone.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "If you say so, young master." n head Lu replied, understanding the hidden meaning in his voice.

    "Speaking of thatбн do you perhaps have someбн unsavory people attending the event. I may be able to take care of them at the same time." Shirong offered.

    Shirong did not mind doing something like this as he knew that building an alliance needed effort from both ends. If the n head Lu was willing to do so much, he didn''t mind putting in some extra effort either.

    Shirong was a selfish man, but he was not a fool. He knew to aim for long term gains rather than short term profits.

    "Won''t that be problematic, young master?" n Head Lu asked with concern.

    "Hmmбн I''ll see how it works out then. For now, you can just give me a list of them." Shirong spoke.

    "Ooo now this is interestingбн taking out thepetition, huh? Should I add to it a bitбн Hehe." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    n head Lu gave Shirong a jade slip in which he put the name, appearance, and background of the people attending the event. Shirong took a look at it, while Lin Wu also spied on it rather easily.

    Since Shirong had gotten the high grade spatial storage ring, he didn''t need to carry Lin Wu around on his body anymore. He would simply keep him in the ring for now, which also made it more convenient for Lin Wu to act.

    Especially since he was now close to a breakthrough and could do that here without having much trouble or Shirong noticing. He had also checked in with the system who had told him what he could do and what not to do in the spatial storage ring, so as to not have a repeat of thest time.

    "So is the tribtion tform ready, n head Lu?" Shirong asked.

    "Yes, young master. We finished thest part just a few hours ago and we are doing the final checks now to see if everything is working properly." n Head Lu answered.

    "So tomorrow is the day," Shirong stated.

    "Indeed, just as we scheduled. We still start it whenever you are ready, young master." n Head Lu replied.

    "That''s good. I can already sense the tribtion and I can trigger it whenever needed. So I guess we will start early in the morning." Shirong replied.

    "Alright, I''ll inform everyone. Do you need anything else before that young master?" n Head Lu questioned.

    "Noбн nothing for now," Shirong replied.

    n head Lu was just about to leave when he remembered something.

    "Oh, I almost forgot! I got these for you, young master." n Head Lu said, and took out something from his spatial storage tool.

 Chapter 230 - Hair Growth Pills?

    Shirong looked at what n Head Lu had brought him and Lin Wu did the same.

    "Huh? A pill bottle?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "What are these pills for n head Lu?" Shirong questioned.

    "These are hair growth pills, young master. I thought since you will be demonstrating in front of so many people, it would do you no justice if you looked like this." n Head Lu answered.

    Shirong had honestly forgotten about his hair by now and was not thinking of it. But now that n head Lu reminded him, he thought that it would indeed be good if he grew his hair back.

    "Thank you for being thoughtful, n head Lu." Shirong replied.

    "It''s not a problem young master. Though I do not know if these will be effective on you. Certain pills don''t work if the hair loss is caused by a technique." n head Lu stated.

    "I''ll try and see it anyway I guess," Shirong said before opening the pill bottle.

    The pill bottle was rather small and only contained a single pill in it. Shirong ate the pill and waited for its effects. But his hair did not grow out directly.

    "Hmmбн seems like it''s not working." n Head Lu furrowed his brows.

    "My hair loss was caused by a cultivation technique, so it may take longer. Even if it has not grown any hair yet, I can feel the tingling sensation on my head and face." Shirong replied.

    "Alright then young master. Hopefully, it is done by tomorrow. I''ll take my leave for now, if you need anything you can ask the servants." n head Lu said before leaving the courtyard.

    "So these are the people who will be a thorn in our pathter onбн" Shirong muttered to himself as he read through the jade slip that n head Lu had given him and rubbed his head.

    His head and face were now a bit itchy due to the pills and now that Lin Wu took a closer look, the area where his eyebrows were supposed to be was getting darker.

    "Oh? It seems like the hair growth pills are taking effect, his eyebrows are already growing below his skin." Lin Wu muttered.

    ''Though I wonder by how much does this pill elerate the growth of hair? Hmmбн normal eyebrows when shaved offspletely take about four to six months to grow back and if I estimate using that, the growth rate is a few hundred times that normal.'' Lin Wu calcted.

    Shirong had finished looking through the jade slip and had now decided to take some good night''s sleep. He had been busy cultivating and making sure his body was in the optimum condition for his breakthrough in these past few days and thus had not slept at all.

    Even though cultivators did not need to sleep as much asmon humans did, it did not mean that they could give it uppletely. While cultivating could rece sleep up to a certain extend, actual sleep was still needed for them to restore their mental condition and fatigue.

    Thus Shirongid down on the bed and slipped into a deep slumber. Lin Wu checked his condition and body to see how everything was working.

    The system had increased its understanding of the unknown energy that coursed through Shirong''s core and had reached the preliminary conclusion that it was a much higher version of the spirit Qi.

    It was destructive to most cultivators and Lin Wu could only guess that the ones that were above the currently known cultivation realms could handle a strong energy like that. But the system was still able to handle it somehow and even Shirong''s core seemed to have adapted to it in a way.

    When Shirong increased his body tempering realm cultivation, his Dantian had expanded as well. This lead to an increase in his spirit Qi capacity and in turn his core could expand once more.

    If one considered his original talent, Shirong was nearly thrice as better than then. Lin Wu had not expected that furthering the body tempering realm cultivation would have an effect like this and wanted to do it as well.

    But then the system told him that his situation was rather unique. The aim of the body tempering realm was to make one''s body more adapted to the spirit Qi and cultivation. But in Lin Mu''s case, his body had beenpletely recreated by the system, which meant that it was inherently suitable for cultivation.

    In other words, what Shirong had done, he had already achieved that due to the system. Still, the system''s analysis had not ended and it would only go on further helping it further the analysis of the other cultivation techniques.

    ''Hmmбн since Shirong is asleep and the rest of the people are busy working for the tribtion tform, I should take advantage of this.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, re-scan the city and the area around it. Check for the people''s position and see if it''s a viable option to visit the underground area under the Lu n mansion." Lin Wu ordered.

    Lin Wu had this on his list for a while and had wanted to check it out but was unable to do so, because of having to go to the Millennium forest with Shirong.

    Another benefit that he had was he now didn''t have to worry about distance as much. If it really was an emergency, he could teleport the Avatar from the city back to the tomb and then next to Shirong.

    While this would take up about 2000 units of spirit Qi, it was still an affordable cost to Lin Wu that he didn''t mind paying for an emergency.

    "Well then, let''s head out." Lin Wu said after checking the map. He shrank his body and appeared in the real world.

    He crawled out of the bedroom and dug into the ground before traveling to the underground area under the Lu n mansion. The outer formations were not a problem for him, since the system already had the visual interface for them.

    Though when he reached the outer area of the underground hall, he came across a problem.

 Chapter 231 - Raiding The Clan Vaults?

    "How do I get past this now?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The underground hall was encased in solid rock. Normally even if someone came here by digging they would not be able to break through the rock as it was over three meters thick.

    Lin Wu though did not have that problem. If he wanted, he could split the rock right here and now. He didn''t even worry about the defensive formation that was ced on the underground hall, as the system had taken care of it.

    The problem was that while he would be able to create an opening in the rock, what would he do when he was going to return.

    After thinking for a bit, Lin Wu came upon one solution which was to create a very small hole through which the system would be able to scan the interior of the hall. But this meant that Lin Wu would not be able to get some of the items of interest from the underground hall.

    Another method he could do was to enter from the main entrant, but then he would be blocked by guards. They obviously wouldn''t let a beast like him enter, and while he could easily knock them out, the ensuing chaos wouldn''t be worth it.

    "I guess I''ll just check what is in there first and see if the items are even worth taking. As for the documents and books, the system should be able to scan and obtain the data directly." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He extended a spike from his tail and inserted it into the rock. Like a hot knife through butter, the spike went all the way to the other end and opened a small hole that was less than a centimeter in diameter.

    "This should be enough right system? Start the scan then," Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER INITIATED: Multiple Targets found

    ENERGY RESOURCES FOUND: Wide assortment avable (alchemical pills, spirit stones, bloodline crystals.)

    бкбк

    "Oh? Bloodline crystals? Now that''s new." Lin Wu said upon seeing the system''s notification.

    He knew that the bloodline crystals were refined from a beast and could be assimted by a cultivator to gain their bloodline abilities. Lin Wu pretty much did the same, except he did not have to refine a bloodline crystal himself as the system could process it directly for him.

    "Seems like this is a vault for the Lu n." Lin Wu realized.

    He waited for about two hours before the system was done, recording everything from the hall.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCAN COMPLETE: Please check the detailed log in the separate window.

    бкбк

    ''Let''s see what they have stored here nowбн'' Lin Wu thought before reading through the new window that had popped up.

    "Oh, myбн this is much better than I thoughtбн" Lin Wu muttered in surprise.

    Due to it being the vault of the Lu n, it contained everything that they deemed to be valuable. This included a lot of cultivation techniques. Lin Wu roughly checked their numbers and they were found to be about 103 of them there.

    In addition to them, there were also some records of the Lu n that included their history. Then there were books that gave information on the various alchemical pill, herbs, minerals, metals, natural treasures, beasts, formations, and weapons.

    Overall, this was exactly what Lin Wu had been wanting for a long time and knew that it would greatly help the system. This would give it a lot of data to analyze and update its data banks.

    Lin Wu also saw that the carapace fragment from the unknown beast was kept in a case in the center of the vault, but he didn''t bother with it for now as he coulde back here with Shirong.

    He was gonna take it with him when he left, anyway.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    ANALYTICS: Expedited

    бкбк

    "Now this is good!" Lin Wu said with joy.

    With all the cultivation techniques that the system had obtained, its speed of procession and analysis will increase once more. It was now that Lin Wu got another idea.

    "Since there is this much information in the vault of Lu n, I may as well check out the underground vaults of other ns as wellбн hehehe." Lin Wu decided.

    He pushed some soil and rocks into the hole he had made in the wall, to not make it look obvious, and checked the other locations on his map.

    "Hehe, I got 5 hours till Shirong wakes up and so many vaults to choose fromбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He decided to go to the Xiong nfirst, as it was one of the top three ns and the Mu n next. He quickly made his way to the Xiong n and found their vault. Unlike the Lu n, their vault was not encased in solid rock. Rather than that, they used a simple wall made out of stone bricks, all of which were engraved with formations.

    Lin Wu asked the system to take care of the formations while he used a t spike on his tail to cut out a brick from the wall. Simr to the Lu n, they had plenty of resources in the Vault including cultivation techniques.

    "You know what to do, system," Lin Wu spoke.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Multiple targets found.

    бкбк

    This time the system took less than an hour to scan the entire vault. This was because the Xiong n had a lot of things that the Lu n did as well and as such the data was simply repeated. Most of the new data was in the form of records and documents.

    After he was done, Lin Wu put the brick back into the wall and it was as if it had never been moved from there. Unless someone specifically checked it, they wouldn''t be able to tell that it was removed. Besides, the formation array was still intact, so they had no reason to suspect.

    "Onto the Mu n!" Lin Wu targeted.

    He repeated the same process and obtained all the data from the Mu n, which took less than thirty minutes now. It was evident that most of the information was now gettingmon.

 Chapter 232 - The Beast Rulers History?

    About four hours had passed and Lin Wu had gone to nearly every n in the city now, along with some of the other organizations like the merchants who had their own small vaults. Some of them were not even located underground, but were inside their buildings.

    Still, Lin Wu followed the same method of creating a small hole and asking the system to scan all the information.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS UPDATED: Please check for details in the relevant window or ask the system for specific questions.

    бкбк

    "AHAHAHA! It is done!" Lin Wuughed out loud.

    He briefly scrolled through the numerous windows that had popped up and nodded his head in approval. Everything that he read was interesting, and some of it was even quite scandalous.

    Not only had he found out information about the resources, but he had also found out all the dirt that the ns kept on each other and some people. There were all the secrets of those ns that nowid bare in front of Lin Wu.

    "This will be quite useful at the right momentбн hehehe." Lin Wu chuckled.

    Lin Wu checked the item and saw that it was now close to morning and even on the map he could see all the people moving around, preparing for the tribtion.

    "Looks like they finished all the tests, huh." Lin Wu guessed.

    He quickly returned to Shirong, who was still sleeping and entered the spatial storage ring.

    Everyone in the city and around it were unaware that all of their secrets had been exposed to a certain worm.

    Lin Wu calmly read through the information he had obtained while waiting for Shirong to wake up. He was particrly interested in the information about other beasts. Mostly the ones that were considered to be strong.

    He found more information on the Twin Lights liger as well. Apparently, three hundred years ago a beast tide had urred that resulted in a lot of damage to the surrounding areas of the millennium forest. Even the Deer Wood City suffered under it and thus the Ling Kingdom sent a delegattion of Nascent Soul realm cultivators to battle them.

    Due to being much more stronger than most beasts, these cultivators easily ughtered them. But then this invited the wrath of the twin lights liger king. The people back then did not know that a beast like this even existed in the millennium forest. While they knew there were some Nascent Soul realm beasts living in the forest, they never expected there to be an Adult stage Nascent Soul realm beasts.

    The Twin lights liger alone ughtered three of the Nascent Soul realm that the Ling kingdom had sent, which was quite a devastating loss for them. After the battle, the people were scared that the Twin lights liger king would kill them all, but surprisingly it retreated after that and even the beast tide ended.

    The cultivators obviously knew that the beasts who had high cultivation bases were quite intelligent, pretty much on the same level as that of the humans. This led them to believe that the Twin Lights liger was exerting his authority and announcing his domain. This was but a warning to the cultivators, which theyter understood after more investigations were done.

    Apparently, a few cultivators from sects had captured and killed arge number of beasts in the millennium forest, all in a short span of time. This invited the ire of the beasts and thus the beast tide was initiated.

    After this incident, clear rules were established and any disciples of the sects that were going to hunt in the forest had to inform their respective sects about it first.

    Usually this thing was taken lightly as the number of beasts in the forest was simply massive and any reduction in them was difficult unless nascent Soul realm cultivators attacked them. That''s why as long as cultivators that were in the Qi refining realm or the core condensation went to hunt, they were not restricted as strictly.

    "Huh, so that mandate the beetle king was talking about has been active for a long time. Even humans cannot escape itбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu read ahead and found out some more information about the other rulers of the forest, both the past and present. Out of the current rulers, there was no information on the olive viper king, the silver beak sky soar eagle, and the demon spine ape. But there was information on the slim arm ape and the split thorn horn beetle.

    The part about the slim arm ape was also quite interesting to Lin Wu.

    "Oh? I didn''t expect there to be something like this in his historyбн the slim arm ape used to be someone''s tamed beastбн" Lin Wu read.

    There wasn''t any exact information on how it came to be a ruler of the forest but it was said that the master of the Slim arm ape died in the forest and freed it. After that, the beast grew in power and established his own domain in the forest bing one of the rulers.

    "So that''s why it has some connections with humans and can speak humannguage. It has been living with one before and probably experienced quite a lot of the human world." Lin Wu guessed.

    Lin Wu wanted to continue reading more, but then he sensed that Shirong was about to wake up.

    "Ah well, I guess I can return to thister. At least I now have plenty of entertainment." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Shirong woke up and stretched his body, feeling much more rxed than before.

    ''It was a good decision to take a good night''s sleep.'' Shirong thought.

    He opened the door of the bedroom and called out to a servant.

    "You called young master?" The servant asked.

    "Yesбн inform n head Lu that I''m ready and that we should head out," Shirong replied.

    "As youmand," The servant said before leaving.

    Shirong closed his eyes for a second before opening them. But this time, they were filled with determination.

 Chapter 233 - The Platform Is Ready?

    Shirong stepped out of the courtyard and flew towards the Lu n mansion where n head Lu and the elders were already waiting for him.

    "Young master," The elders greeted.

    "Mm," Shirong hummed in response before looking towards the n head.

    "Everything ready?" He asked.

    "Of course, young master. We tested all aspects of the tribtion tform and everything should work perfectly as designed ording to your ns." n head Lu replied.

    "Good, we should head off then," Shirong spoke.

    "Indeed, the rest of the people have already been informed so they are at the tribtion tform sincest night." n head Lu said.

    Shirong nodded his head and everyone flew to the site where the tribtion tform had been set up. The location was to the north west of the city and was located on the ins.

    An area of about two square kilometers had been utilized to set up the tribtion tform, and a set of seats had been prepared at the edge of it. These were the seats where people who wanted to observe the tribtion would sit and be protected.

    There were tens of thousands of seats here that surrounded the tribtion tform in a semicircle. The tform itself was made out of tiles made of jade that had been carved with numerous formations.

    All these formations integrated to form arge formation array that would operate as the core of the tribtion tform. Then at the boundary of the tforms just in front of seats, another formation array was set up.

    This formation array was a restraining array and would help to contain the spread of the heavenly tribtion lightning. It would make it so that the presence of all the people would be disregarded by the heavenly tribtion and they would be able to freely observe it.

    Even the seats themselves were all carried with individual defensive formations that would protect the observers from the shock waves of energies created by the tribtion lightning.

    There was no specific protection from lightning itself, as any formation array that could protect from heavenly lightning would be extremely valuable and difficult to make. Even the top cultivation sects would have a hard time making one, not to mention the ns here.

    Even if the aristocratic ns of multiple cities were contributing to the creation of this tribtion tform, it was still beyond their capabilities. Even if they were able toe up with the mary cost required to get the resources, they would need an actual formation grandmaster to set up the defensive formation.

    A formation grandmaster was no joke and there were less than ten of them currently in the entire long continent. Each of them was a highly respected expert and no one dared to slight them. If one wanted to hire them, they would have to wait for years on end, before they would even be able to register in the queue.

    Most of them had reservations that spanned for a hundred years and as such, they were extremely busy people. Shirong''s n, the Ji n also had its own formation grandmaster and as such they were considered a great power.

    That grandmaster was the reason they Shirong had the blueprints for the Tribtion tform ready when the ns said they would volunteer to build it. The blue prints were of course not used to their full potential, but it was still enough for Shirong to use it.

    In fact, Shirong was confident that even if he didn''t have the support of the tribtion tform, he may be able to ovee the heavenly tribtion on his own. His increased talent and body cultivation was the source of confidence for him.

    "Look! It''s young master Shirong!" The people in the crowd shouted upon seeing them approach.

    There were many aristocrats in the crowd, including some nobles from the Ling Kingdom''s royal court as well. These were the people who oversaw the operations of the nearby cities and as such had taken this opportunity to observe a heavenly tribtion.

    Shirong quickly scanned over the people and soon found the few ''targets'' that were deemed to be problematic. These were the people that n head Lu had given him and thus he was going to find an opportunity to get rid of him.

    "The formation array only works against the tribtion itself, it will not restrain your attacks." n Head Lu secretly whispered after he saw where Shirong''s gaze was looking at.

    "I understand," Shirong said before flying towards the center of the tform.

    Meanwhile, n head Lu and the other higher-ups of the different ns headed to the other part of the semi-circle. Here, individual seats had been set up for the people who were going to act as Dharma protectors.

    They all took their seats and waited for Shirong to take his ce. After Shirong sat down in the center in a meditative pose, the n head spoke.

    "I Lu Ren, the ninth patriarch of the Lu n, swear to the heavens that I will follow my duty as the Dharma protector for Ji Shirong of the Ji n.

    If I vite my oath, may I be exterminated by the wrath of the heavens!" n Head Lu dered.

    A gust of wind surrounded n Head Lu for a moment and spirit Qi became chaotic before calming down again. This meant that the heavenly oath had been epted, and if n Head Lu vited this, he would die.

    The other Dharma protectors took the same oath and a simr set of events was witnessed by all the people. This was the first time they were seeing so many influential elders doing the same and as such, they were a bit excited.

    It was not every day that they got to witness a heavenly tribtion and they were all anticipating it to be a good experience for them.

    "Now that all the Dharma protectors have taken their oaths, I shall begin my breakthrough. Everyone should know the consequences of the heavenly tribtion and as such should take precautions." Shirong said onest time before closing his eyes.

 Chapter 234 - Where Did The Tribulation Lightning Go?

    After Shirong closed his eyes, the entire crowd went silent. They knew better than to disturb the person undergoing a heavenly tribtion and knew that if any mishap urred, they could be the target of the tribtion lightning as well.

    Shirong stimted the spirit Qi in his core and used his Immortal Sky Shaker Art. He had long since reached the absolute limit of the Core condensation realm and only needed a slight push of spirit Qi to trigger the heavenly tribtion.

    In fact, had he not been suppressing his breakthrough consciously he would have already broken through naturally due to the spirit Qi being absorbed passively by his body.

    <em>~pop~</em>

    It was as if a balloon had been popped and the spirit Qi in the air suddenly became agitated. Wind started to pick up and strong gusts started blowing. As minutes passed by, dark clouds started catering high up in the sky.

    It would take a little bit of time for the heavenly tribtion clouds to gather and this was actually good. This gave the cultivator time to adjust to the minute changes in their body and would give them a better chance at seeding.

    Though this was not what always happened. Sometimes the heavenly tribtion clouds would gather abruptly and the tribtion would start very quickly. Such was the case when the demon spine ape and Lin Wu underwent their respective heavenly tribtions.

    While Shirong was preparing for his breakthrough, Lin Wu''s avatar was doing the same.

    "Alright system, time to upgrade to the next stage." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Late stage of the core condensation realm -> Peak stage of the core condensation realm

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 12000 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    бкбк

    A wave of spirit Qi rose from Lin Wu''s avatar before calming down rather quickly.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Peak stage of the core condensation realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/24,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Lesser) (Proficiency: Novice)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (minor) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    BEAST CORES: 1. Fully Condensed (Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nodded at the new data and everything was ording to his expectations. He wanted to be at the peak stage, as he didn''t know if he would be able to withstand the tribtion lightning otherwise.

    He actually didn''t even know if Shirong was going to use him as a defense or not, thus there was a chance that he may not even need to act. But still, he decided to be more cautious and prepare for anything that maye his way.

    "Now to wait and watchбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as the dark clouds now covered the entire sky.

    The sun had long since been hidden behind the clouds and the area had be a bit gloomy due to the shade.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Soon the first streak of white lightning could be seen flowing through the tribtion clouds. The tribtion announced its presence with the loud crack of thunder.

    And just as that happed, the tribtion tform activated as well. Countless runes appeared from the tform and arranged themselves into the formation array. This formation array created an illusory shape that looked like a circr cauldron.

    At the center of the base of this cauldron sat Shirong, while the people observed him from the outside. His face was calm without a trace of anxiety or nervousness, and his short hair fluttered in the wind.

    The hair growth pills had finally worked by the time he woke up and as such he had a head full of hair, even if it was short and only a couple of inches long. His eyebrows too had returned, even though they were a bit faint and looked feminine due to it.

    Still, this did no injustice to the handsomeness of Shirong and due to his change after the body tempering realm breakthrough, he had only gotten better looking. The woman in the crowd couldn''t take their eyes off him and even a few men secretly took a second look at him.

    While the rest of the people all looked up at the tribtion clouds in the sky. After all, that was what they had paid to watch.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    By now, five minutes had passed and the lightning in the tribtion clouds had be concentrated.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    The first bolt of heavenly lightning formed quickly and struck Shirong.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The shockwave released due to the tribtion lightning stuck the walls of the illusionary cauldron and protected the observers from getting affected. Still, some of the people couldn''t help but get startled and a few that were of a weak heart straight up jumped out of their seats.

    Theirpanions had to hold them back so that they would not end up disturbing the tribtion process.

    The tribtion bolt hit Shirong, and his body trembled as the power coursed through it. The tribtion lightning reached his core and finally stuck it. But then an unexpected thing happened.

    The unknown energy that the system had concluded to be a higher form of the spirit Qi, intercepted the lightning. It hurriedly consumed it as if it were a starved dog and did not leave even a single bit for Shirong.

    Shirong who had been calm and unmoving till now, suddenly became bewildered.

    ''What in the name ofбн'' He thought, feeling speechless.

    Where was his tribtion lightning? How was he now going to break through if his core was not attacked by it?

    There were a multitude of questions raining across Shirong''s mind, and he couldn''t answer any of them. Even Lin Wu who had been observing the entire thing closely, was shocked.

    "What was that system?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but ask.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system has no answer.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu "бн"

    <em>~RUMBLE~ </em>

    Then it was as if its child had been wrongly kidnapped, the tribtion cloud let out a thunderous sound, shaking the skies.

    "What in the name of heavenбн" all the people muttered.

 Chapter 235 - Shirongs Suffering?

    No one had expected something like this to happen and no one including Lin Wu and the system knew what had caused the change.

    Lin Wu had seen how that unknown energy had consumed the tribtion as if it was nothing. The all powerful heavenly tribtion lightning had disappeared like a y ox in the sea.

    Not a single person dared to look away from the tribtion clouds as they only got thicker. Usually, there would be a slight time gap between the attributional lightning bolts as it would take a short period of time for the clouds to gather the power.

    But due to being agitated, the clouds charged up a tribtion lightning bolt in just a couple of seconds and shot it down.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    The sound of lightning crackled across the skies as the white bolt of lightning struck Shirong again.

    "ARGH!!" Shirong couldn''t help but let out a grunt of pain.

    Just the impact of the bolt felt like a hill had been dropped onto him and when the lightning bolt entered his body it ravaged his meridians. Thankfully, due to having reached the peak of the body tempering realm, he was able to withstand it.

    Shirong observed his Dantian closely and saw that the lightning was just about to reach his core. But then at the veryst moment, the unknown energy red up and soaked up all of it.

    "What the heck! How am I supposed to break through like this?" Shirong couldn''t help but wonder.

    The pain was still spreading through his body, but he was able to bear it for now. But the tribtion did not want to give him respite.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The tribtion clouds charged up another lightning bolt which was twice as thick as the previous two ones and dropped it onto Shirong.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    This time the shock wave created from it, triggered the tribtion tform''s defensive measures and it actively tried to restrain it. The Dharma protectors watched in horror as the store of spirit stones that had been set up to power the formation array drained by a quarter instantly.

    "Cl-n Head Luбн this was not what we had nnedбн" n Head Mu spoke, his voice trembling.

    "You think I font know that! We can''t interfere in the process of tribtion, all we can do is wait and watch." n Head Lu said, feeling anxious.

    The other Dharma protectors checked the formation array and saw that while it was intact for now, they couldn''t say the same if more bolts like these dropped.

    "Young Master Shirong has already taken three bolts of tribtion lightning, this should have been enough for him to breakthrough. Why is it not happening?" Someone couldn''t help but question.

    "Bah! Who do you think young master Shirong is? He is a dragon amongst men, it is obvious that his tribtion will be equal to that of his standing." Another person responded.

    Thankfully Shirong was too focused on his body right now, because if he had heard this man he would have spit blood. Not only had he born the tribtion lightning, something else was taking the benefit of it.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    This time there was a slight dy in the tribtion clouds in the process of creating a lightning bolt and it took ten seconds longer.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The lightning bolt fell like an eagle striking a serpent from the skies and struck Shirong.

    "<em>Ptui~</em>" Shirong spat out some blood.

    The lightning bolt coursed through his body and was once again absorbed by the unknown energy. But Shirong was now pissed, he did not know why that unknown energy that had stayed low key till now was acting up.

    "If you are going to do this, I don''t need you here!" Shirong dered as his eyes turned bloodshot.

    Waves of sprint Qi emanated from his core as it got destabilized. The fine channels that were on his core got affected and the unknown energy red up due to it. It started leaking out of the channels into the other parts of the core and affected the condensed spirit Qi.

    Lin Wu was watching everything with close attention and the system was actively recording and analyzing it too. Thus when Shirong attempted to touch the unknown energy in his core the system set out warning notifications.

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    бкбк

    FLAW DETECTED: Back door function may be disabled

    ENERGY INSTABILITY DETECTED: Explosion may be possible

    бкбк

    "System, can''t you control the unknown energy and restrain it from affecting Shirong''s tribtion?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The unknown energy has undergone a qualitative change and the system cannot manipte it currently. Additional analysis is required topute new parameters.

    бкбк

    After listening to the system''s answer, Lin Wu knew Shirong was fucked. If he removed the unknown energy forcefully, it will cause him to die due to the explosion. And if he let the unknowing energy absorb more of the tribtion lightning, the tribtion clouds will only get more strong and kill Shirong with a stronger bolt.

    Shirong was currently gritting his teeth as the pain from his core assaulted his senses. The unknown energy was spreading through his core and tainting his condensed spirit Qi. Little by little the color of the core started changing from in white to a pale blue. But this did note easily as Shirong felt himself losing control over his spirit Qi.

    It was as if it did not belong to him anymore and had been seized by someone else. Shirong was now cursing the day when he had chosen to touch the beast carapace fragment. His luck had be extremely imbnced and tilted between very good and extremely bad.

    He was getting fortunes and was then being pushed to the very brink of death. First with the Immortal Crystal Armament and the forbidden zone which respected their spirit Qi, then at the millennium forest where he was attacked by a hundred thousand beasts all at once, but then gained a great increase in his body tempering realm.

    After all this, he couldn''t help but ask.

    "Who did I offend to suffer like this?"

 Chapter 236 - Dual Layered Tribulation?

    Just when Shirong was just about to lose hope, he suddenly felt a thought in his mind. As soon as he sensed it, he immediately acted on it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A green glow escaped from his robes as an emerald green armor appeared on his body. His robes had already been tattered by the lightning bolts and now the appearance of the armor had ripped the upper part of the robes, baring his torso.

    The people could now see the armor on his body and a few of them recognized what it was.

    "THE DIVINE ARMOR!" They shouted in excitement.

    The wave of excitement spread as fast as excitement through the audience as they had not expected to see it at all. But the Dharma protectors were not feeling the same.

    "If young master Shirong has summoned the armor, it means the situation is dire," n Head Lu spoke.

    "Indeed, I haven''t heard of anyone bearing four bolts of tribtion lightning in many decades." One of the n heads of a neighboring city said.

    "Not to mention, this is not the end. Young master has still not broken through to the Nascent Soul realm. Who knows how many more lighting bolts will descendбн" n Head Mu assessed.

    Every elder''s expression turned tense as they knew if the heavenly tribtion went beyond a certain limit, the tribtion tform may not be able to bear it. The moment it copses, each and every one of them would be under mortal danger.

    There was not a single Dao Shell realm or above cultivator amongst them, that could somewhat defend them either, which meant that they would have to prepare beforehand.

    ~Si<em>gh~</em>

    n head Lu looked at the tform for a moment before looking at the tform. While he wouldn''t mind a few people in the audience dying, he couldn''t let those of his n and his allies dying in this.

    A determined expression appeared on his face as he made up his mind.

    "n heads! Prepare to retreat, this is no longer safe. The moment we feel the tribtion tform is unable to hold back, I ask you all to take your respective people to a safe area." n Head Lu announced.

    The n heads looked at n Head Lu with aplex expression. They had spent a fortune in setting up this tribtion tform and knew the risks that came with them. While they were a bit unwilling to let this go to waste, they had no choice.

    While getting to observe a heavenly tribtion, especially one that was of someone as talented as Shirong was rare, they couldn''t let their descendants and nsmen getting killed. Each and everyone here was the most talented people from their ns and they definitely did not want them to die. If they did, then their ns may as well die together with them.

    Without talented people to lead a n or an organization, their lifespans will be extinguished. Many ns and even empires have died out just because they were left with ipetent people.

    This was definitely not something they wanted to happen. They had heard countless tales and stories from their elders and ancestors and knew well to put their greed behind them for now.

    "We''ll do as you suggested n head Lu," Everyone agreed.

    They took out their respectivemunication jade slips and gave out orders to their nsmen. One by one, the expressions of the people in the audience could be seen changing. From their previous expression of excitement to the current one of anxiety.

    The ones that were a bit more weak hearted directly felt fear and left the seating area even before they were told to do so. The audience was simply told to prepare, in case it went worse. But these people acted before that and willingly left their seats, retreating another kilometer away.

    But just as they did, another change could be witnessed in the tribtion clouds.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    Stormy winds appeared and the clouds started spinning. It was as if the heavens were now absolutely furious and anotheryer of tribtion clouds appeared on top of the current one.

    As soon as the elders saw it, they knew what it was.

    "The legendary Dual Layered Tribtion!" n Head Lu eximed.

    "I can''t believe I''m getting to witness this with my own two eyes." Another eldermented.

    "Wait, if the dualyered tribtion appeared then doesn''t this meanбн" n Head Mu said with realization.

    "Young master Shirong''s talent is monstrous such that even the heavens are jealous!" n Head Xiong replied.

    The other n heads realized the impending trouble and got everyone to move the seats half a kilometer away. The people quickly got to work while the tribtion clouds formed up and charged the lightning, and within a couple of minutes, they had moved.

    It was almost shocking as to how fast everyone acted in sync, even though they probably had never worked together.

    Shirong too witnessed the change in the tribtion cloud and was truly feeling scared now.

    ''Did the Immortal Crystal Armament Sense that it was going to appear and thus told me to summon it?'' Shirong wondered.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu knew why the change in the tribtion clouds had appeared. After all, he himself had experienced the higher ranked version of this, the tripleyered heavenly tribtion.

    "Just as I expected, my presence instantly triggered the heavenly tribtion to evolveбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He activated his radiation perception and observed the heavenly tribtion. He could see that themensuration of the transparent part of the energy in the clouds among the blue radiation was 3% just like during his time.

    "If it''s this much, I should be able to handle itбн" Lin Wu hoped.

    His body glowed in an emerald green light that mesmerized the people watching it. Even though they were all far from the tribtion tform now, they could still see it clearly like a beacon in the night.

    Lin Wu was now exerting his Radiation maniption innate skill to the very peak.

    "COME ON! I''M READY!" Lin Wu called out.

 Chapter 237 - Splitting Thunder?

    The twoyers of tribtion clouds rumbled and the lightning within it seethed. At the center of the vortex, the lightning bolt was being formed. And this time its color had changed as well.

    "Look! It''s the purple-white tribtion lightning!" one of the elders pointed.

    This was the same kind of lightning that Lin Wu had gone through during his own tribtion a few days ago. The people were scared as they knew a change in the lightning only meant the danger had increased.

    Shirong looked on nervously but was able to calm himself down.

    ''As long as I have the Immortal Crystal Armament I can withstand everything!'' He thought to himself.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The purple-white lightning bolt fell from the clouds and headed towards Shirong. The people watched nervously and some of the weak downhearted directly closed their eyes unable to watch any further.

    But just as the lightning bolt was about to hit Shirong, a miracle happened.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    "Gah!" Shirong grunted in pain from the impact.

    But then he was surprised as it was not as bad as he had expected it to be. He looked up and saw that the lightning bolt was being split into two from the middle. It was as if someone had shot an arrow towards another arrow and split it in half.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    One part of the lightning bolt hit the ground near Shirong, creating a small crater, while the other part hit his body. This time, he didn''t let out a grunt, as he felt like he was paralyzed.

    The lightning coursed through his body and soon reached his Dantian. Now here was the moment he was waiting for. He didn''t know if the same thing would happen.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    The lightning finally touched his core and the unknown energy red up again. But this time it didn''t consume the entire lightning. It looked like only a fraction of it was consumed by the unknown energy and the rest was taken up by the core.

    And when it spread into the core, which had been tainted blue by the unknown energy, it made it tremble.

    Shirong''s eyes went wide as he knew it finally worked.

    "YES! MORE! GIVE ME MORE!" Shirong shouted out like a madman.

    The elders and the rest of the audience had seen the tribtion lightning being split in two and didn''t know what to think of this.

    "n Head Lu, thisбн" one of the n heads spoke.

    "Don''t ask me, I''m as clueless as you." n Head Lu replied, without moving his eyes from Shirong.

    He didn''t want to miss even one bit of the entire process, as it was now quite useful to him too. The tribtion Shirong was undergoing right now was of apletely different level. Even he who was already in the Nascent Soul realm was getting some insights from it. Besides, he would need the experience if he ever had the chance to breakthrough through to the Dao Shell realm.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    With the first purple-white lightning down, the tribtion clouds were just getting started. The only difference was that they didn''t seem to be as enraged as before. Shirong could tell that it was due to that unknown energy that they had acted like that.

    The people in the audience could also feel the pressure on them reduce. Before it was as if they were in a heavy environment, but now they were feeling lighter.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The second lightning bolt was soon formed, and Shirong looked at it with anticipation. He knew it was going to hurt but it was also going to give him benefit.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Same as before, just when the lighting bolt was getting close to Shirong, it got split into two. But this time, its power was just slightly more and thus people could tell that it had met some kind of resistance in between.

    "Is that due to the Divine Armor?" someone questioned.

    "Heavens! What kind of power does the Ji n have that they can make an armor such as this!?" An elder eximed.

    They all knew very well that any treasure or tool that could resist or defend against a tribtion lightning was very valuable and its production method would be even more. Such a thing was a closely guarded secret and seldom revealed.

    Just Shirong using it right now, showed how dire of a situation it was. Even back when they were in trouble due to the spatial rift showed that.

    In fact, if they had not seen it resist the tribtion lightning, they would have never thought that the armor even had an ability like that. n Head Lu secretly looked at the other elders and then at the few people that he was worried about.

    ''I''ll need to talk to Young Master Shirong about thisбн a treasure like this should not be public informationбн'' n Head Lu thought.

    His eyes went back to the few people that were some of the thorns in their path and was wondering if young master Shirong would be able to aplish what he had said he would.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was having some different thoughts.

    "Okay, I think I''m getting the hang of it nowбн" He muttered to himself.

    He sensed the spirit Qi in his body and estimated that about thirty percent of his spirit Qi was used up for those 2 lightning bolts.

    ''I can take four more bolts, three if they get stronger. If it doesn''t end before that I will need to use up the backup amountбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as more lightning charged up in the tribtion clouds.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    This time the new bolt was thicker than before, and Lin Wu knew it was going to be tough.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    "HAA! Break for me!" Lin Wu yelled, but that yell came out as a screech that was masked by the sound of thunder.

    <em>~zing~</em>

    The people got to witness another shocking sight. The lightning bolt was now suspended right above Shirong, as if hanging by some threads.

    <em>~stter~</em>

    And then it happenedбн

 Chapter 238 - Killer Tribulation?

    "SENIOR BROTHER!!! NOOO!!!" A girl shouted as blood sttered all over her body and the people nearby.

    Everyone looked on in horror as only the bottom part of the man was left, the upper part beingpletely destroyed.

    Just a few seconds ago, the lightning bolt that was suspended above Shirong split into two. One of the fragments was bigger and the other one was smaller. The bigger one was taken in by Shirong while the smaller one went towards the audience instead.

    The people had thought the lightning bolt will hire somewhere nearby like before but it had changed its course out of nowhere and targeted the audience. It went directly to a random person in the audience and hit them.

    The people didn''t have a chance to even react and it was done.

    The Dharma protectors looked at it, feeling bewildered.

    "n Head Lu, the tribtion tformбн it didn''t work?" The n heads from other cities asked.

    n Head Lu didn''t respond right away though. He first looked at the person who had been killed and realized that it was one of the people he had told young master Shirong to get rid of.

    ''Did he intentionally do it, or is this just luck?'' He wondered.

    Still, he knew either way this couldn''t be exposed, and he immediately came up with a legitimate excuse.

    "The lightning and the tribtionбн" He spoke and took a dramatic pause. "They are no longer what this tribtion tform was made forбн" n Head Lu said.

    Realization dawned on all the elder''s faces and they got to work.

    "RETREAT! RETREAT!" They shouted.

    The people in the audience finally got out of their initial shock and scrambled to run away.

    Shirong on the other hand, was focused on his Dantian. The third bolt that had hit his core finally created cracks on it. Right now, forty percent of his core was covered with cracks and if he wanted to break through sessfully he needed more of those lightning bolts.

    As for the unknown energy, barely any of the tribtion lightning was consumed by it this time and it was as if its stomach was now full.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The next bolt of lightning came quick and was once again split into two.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Cracks spread further on Shirong''s core and they covered about 60% of the surface. But the other part of the lightning once again shot towards the audience that was currently trying to run.

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    <em>~stter~</em>

    Another person was hit and his body was decimated. The people did not dare to stop and look this time though, as they were already too scared of everything that was happening.

    "ELDERS! DEFEND YOUR CLANSMEN!" n Head Lu shouted.

    n head Lu had seen who was killed the second time and it was none other than a person from the list that he had given to Shirong. He was now sure that it was Shirong, intentionally doing this. He had no idea how, but he was doing it.

    The elders seemed hesitant at first, but then they gritted their teeth and flew towards their respective nsmen. Each of them took out their best defensive treasures and got ready to protect.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    They didn''t have to wait long as the next lightning bolt came down quickly. This time it was twice as thick as the one before it and had much more power. The lightning bolt paused for a fraction of a second before splitting again. But this time it did not split into two, but rather three parts.

    One of the parts was bigger than the other two parts and went to Shirong, while the other two targeted the audience again.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The fragment of the lighting struck an elder who defended with a shield.

    "Ptui~" The elder spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying back.

    The second fragment thus continued uninhibited and struck a man who was being protected by the elder, instantly killing him and exploding his body.

    "NOOO!!!!" The elder shouted in sorrow as tears dripped from his eyes.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Now 90% of Shirong''s core was covered with cracks and he was close to the breakthrough.

    "Just a little more, a little more and I''ll be readyбн" Shirong muttered to himself while bearing through the pain.

    The lightning was coursing through his body and would ravage his tissues, creating burns and tears that hurt like crazy. Still, Shirong was able to bear through with willpower and waited for another bolt.

    He opened his eyes and looked up at the sky, ignoring the tribtion tform which was now broken and the people from the audience that were trying to run for their lives.

    "This should be thest oneбн" Shirong estimated.

    He could sense that the might of the tribtion was getting lesser and lesser by the second. It was now at its limit and had probably exhausted most of the tribtion power it had. Using everyst remnant of power left in it, the tribtion clouds were charging up another bolt.

    It was as if a mouth had opened up in the tribtion clouds and the lightning bolt was forming in it. This time it looked like a long spear and was as thick as one too. Lin Wu saw it as well and knew this was the same as the one he had experienced.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "Let''s do this!" He said with determination.

    For a second there, Shirong had a confused expression on his face.

    ''What was that sound?'' Shirong wondered.

    He had heard a strange screeching sound, that he had never heard before. He couldn''t tell where it came from and he did not have the liberty to search for it right now, either.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    <em>~KABOOM!~</em>

    This was the loudest bolt that they had seen and the shockwave created from it spread far and wide. The bolt had not even touched Shirong yet and still exuded and explosive power.

    "ARGH!" Shirong shouted and lost his stance, copsing on the ground.

    The lightning bolt split into three again, but this time two parts hit Shirong while one part went to the audience.

 Chapter 239 - Shirongs Nascent Soul Realm Breakthrough?

    Shirong was currently bearing the worst kind of pain he had ever experienced. His core was now fully covered with crack and was on the verge of shattering. Even the pale blue color of the core which was caused by the unknown energy was flickering as if it was fading away.

    In the real world though, the third fragment of the tribtion lightning had taken out a group of people. Two people among them were on n head Lu''s list but the remaining seven were not.

    "Damn, thatst bolt was too much. I was able to split the tribtion lightning bolt but could only redirect one of themбн the power was just too much this time." Lin Wu said to himself as he took a look at the cracks on his body.

    Of the two bolts that had hit Shirong, one had been taken by Lin Wu while the other was taken by Shirong. The bolt had caused Lin Wu''s body to develop cracks and his spirit Qi was not fully drained.

    He had to draw some from his reserve store and used the vital essence that he had to recover the cracks. Still, it took him much more than he had expected for it.

    ''Looks like the injuries from tribtion are not easy to healбн especially if it''s from someone else''s tribtionбн" Lin Wu thought.

    Both the Elders that were acting as the Dharma protectors and the people in the audience had run far now. They were over ten kilometers away and did not dare toe close.

    Thatst bolt which had decimated nine people hade from over seven kilometers away from Shirong''s location. Meanwhile, the tribtion tform, which had taken a month of preparation and many n''s contributions was now utterly destroyed.

    The people were now at a loss over what to do. The ones that were the most sad were none other than the elders who had lost their nsmen. In total, twelve lives had been slot today and the people were grieving.

    They had not expected something like this to happen, and they wanted to me someone for it. But in their strange condition, they could not do so. They only had two targets to me, either Shirong or their own elders.

    They could have med Shirong for his tribtion, but then it wasn''t exactly under his control. While they did find it serious that the tribtion bolts were hitting the members in the audience, they had no idea if something like this was possible.

    They could still understand Shirong''s armor stopping the lighting and splitting it to let it spread near him. But to get it to specifically target someone was not possible.

    If they tried to me their elders for setting up a shoddy tribtion tform, they would only get scolded and they still knew that it was not true. Some of them had even contributed and taken part in the construction of the tribtion tform and knew how difficult of a task it was.

    In the end, they could only me their luck or the heavens for letting a tribtion like this kill their kin.

    Shirong was in a strange state currently. He was flickering between consciousness and unconsciousness, while trying to control himself. The pain from the tribtion lightning had evidently overloaded his senses and made it hard to keep a straight mind.

    But then that same pain was the evidence that he was now on the verge of a breakthrough.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Rays of light escape from the cracks on Shirong''s spirit core as the spirit Qi in the environment became agitated. Soon a vortex of spirit Qi formed around Shirong and his body started to float in the air.

    The rays of lighting from his core only got more intense as it finally broke apart.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    From within the core, a tiny infant was born. This infant was none other than Shirong''s Nascent Soul. But if one looked at it, they would find it to be abnormal. Shirong was still not fully under the control of his mind and thus did not see this change.

    While he knew he had broken through, his focus was all over the ce. But this was only until the vortex that had formed around him started to pour spirit Qi into his body.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    Shirong''s body rapidly absorbed the spirit Qi as it was then converted into vital energy by his body and healed the injuries that he had sustained. After his injuries were all healed, he finally gained the full control of his body.

    He peered into his Dantian and saw the spirit Qi from the air, pouring into it. It was filling up at a visible rate and the pressure on his meridians increased slightly. He looked at the Infant in his Dantian and saw the features that were simr to him.

    The one thing that was different was the Skin color of the infant, which was a pale blue instead of the normal white.

    "Did this happen because of the unknown energy too?" Shirong wondered.

    Lin Wu had the same question and the answer came to him in the form of the system''s notifications.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SUBJECT''S CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Pseudo nascent Soul realm -> Infant Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    BACK DOOR FUNCTIONAL: Disabled

    RECONFIGURING: New Parameters detected

    ANALYZING NEW PARAMETERS: Data Banks updated

    NEW PARAMETERS: Analyzed

    UPGRADING: Back door function

    BACK DOOR FUNCTION: Adaptability increased [Core condensation realm -> Nascent Soul realm]

    бкбк

    "Oh! This is good. The system was able to automatically fix and upgrade the back door function. I really thought it was going to be destroyed." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He looked into Shirong''s Dantian as well and saw the Nascent Soul, which was gently floating in the middle of his Dantian. The spirit Qi was still pouring into the Dantian and it was already filled half way through.

    Lin Wu watched as Shirong''s Dantian waspletely filled and the spirit Qi started nourishing the Nascent Soul which was bathed in it.

    "This was even more tiring than my own breakthroughбн" Lin Wu thought.

 Chapter 240 - Shirongs Gains?

    <em>~WEENG~</em>

    Shirong''s body emanated powerful waves of spirit Qi that traveled far and wide. The elders and the audience who had retreaded about ten kilometers away were still able to sense it.

    But that was not all, as a different kind of energy was now present along with Shirong''s spirit Qi.

    <em>~spark~</em>

    Streaks of sticity crackled along Shirong''s body as the wind started spinning around it as well. In his Dantian the spirit Qi underwent another change.

    Normally a cultivator''s Dantian was filled with basic attribute less spirit Qi. If they were practitioners of techniques or Qi skills that used elemental spirit Qi, they had two ways of using it.

    They could either convert the attribute less spirit into elemental spirit Qi as they used the technique or store a specific amount of it in this amount beforehand. Both of these methods had their advantages and disadvantages.

    But the majority converted as they used their Qi skills and did not store it as not everyone had the talent to do so. Storing elemental spirit Qi was often difficult and if their Dantian was not durable enough, they may end up hurting themselves.

    Another thing that yed a major role was theirpatibility with the element. The ones that had a goodpatibility were able to store their elemental spirit Qi without much problem, but the ones that had it lower had problems.

    In the case of Shirong, his Dantian was slowly converting the attribute less spirit Qi into two different types of elemental Spirit Qi: Lightning attribute spirit Qi and Wind tribute spirit Qi.

    Soon, a pool of lightning attribute spirit Qi was formed under the Nascent Soul. It was in the form of a circle and outside of it, another ring was forming. This ring was the wind attribute spirit Qi.

    Then finally the rest of the Dantian was covered with the attribute less spirit Qi. It was a rather strangebination which even Shirong did not know was possible. From what he knew about the Immortal Sky shaker art, the person who practiced it would only convert the spirit Qi during its use.

    Storing it was not really necessary as the speed of refinement was fast. Not to mention the space in their Dantian would be taken up, but the elemental spirit Qi. Another problem with elemental spirit Qi was this.

    It could not be used for everything and one still needed attribute less spirit Qi. If they had stores of elemental spirit Qi, it would end up reducing the space for normal spirit Qi, which could in turn reduce their overall capabilities.

    Shirong would have actually tried to stop this change, but since his body was doing this naturally without any interference, he just decided to watch. He reckoned that this change could have been due to the unknown energy and the tribtion lightning it had consumed.

    He didn''t know to what extent this change would be affecting him, but he didn''t worry much as if he really had a problem, he could just purge all of the stored spirit Qi and just refine more.

    Once the process was fullyplete though, Shirong felt much more powerful. He clenched his fists and lightning flowed around it.

    "The Immortal Sky Shaker art''s next stageбн I already reached itбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    The Immortal Sky Shaker art allowed the user to gain control over two of the heavenly elements; the wind and lightning. In the first stage, one was only able to control the wind attribute spirit Qi as it was rtively easier than lightning to handle.

    In the second stage though, one was able to use lightning attribute spirit Qi as well. Usually the control would have been a bit unstable and the user would not have been able to freely control it as Shirong had just done.

    ''Did the unknown energy''s consumption of the tribtion lightning cause this?'' Shirong wondered again.

    The unknown energy had tainted the rest of his spirit Qi, which had then caused the properties of his spirit Qi to change without him knowing. Only after he had fully broken through to the Nascent Soul realm did he discover this.

    It was now that Shirong noticed the fine cracks in the Immortal Crystal Armament as well.

    "So you took a brunt of the damage as wellбн" he muttered.

    But then a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes as the cracks were disappearing at a visible rate.

    "I''m not going to let you go without noticing my sacrificeбн hehehe." Lin Wu chuckled to himself.

    In reality, Lin Wu had already healed himself a while ago. He was intentionally showing Shirong cracks which were just created by himself using cellr maniption inbination with Cellr crystallization.

    He knew that if he let Shirong take him for granted, he may end up using him as a shield every time. He wanted to let Shirong know he had certain limits and not to overdraw on himself.

    By now, Lin Wu had already grown much stronger than Shirong, but he was now looking at Shirong through a different lens. Before Shirong was a source of spirit Qi and resources for him, but now he was an important pawn that had a powerful background.

    Lin Wu wanted to grow in power and for that, he would need an organization behind him, of course. And to run it he would need techniques and such, which he would be sourcing from Shirong''s n. Not to mention that they likely had a ton of information hidden away that Shirong didn''t know.

    Even if Shirong had ess to all the records, it was quite unlikely that he would have read all of them. It was those missing pieces of information that Lin Wu desired and would need so that the system could further upgrade its data banks.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    The wind started blowing in one direction again, and all the dark clouds that were in the sky dissipated. The tribtion was officially over, and Shirong had seeded.

    The people in the distance watched in awe as Shirong floated in the air with the divine armor that glowed with an emerald green light and sparks of thunder.

 Chapter 241 - Aftermath Of The Tribulation?

    Only after all the tribtion clouds disappeared did, the people dare to approach Shirong. The vortex of spirit Qi that was surrounding him also faded away and his breakthrough was now considered to be fullyplete.

    The people were a bit apprehensive and only when the elders took the lead did they follow. The one who was at the front was none other than n Head Lu.

    "Congrattions young master!" He eximed.

    Shirong who had been focused on himself finally opened his eyes. Upon opening them, he finally noticed the carnage that had been caused. When all the people were being killed, he had actually not noticed as he couldn''t spare his attention.

    It was a very risky situation for him and anypse in judgment could have been fatal to him. But now that the people were closer to him, he noticed them being covered with blood and even an elder that was at the Nascent Soul realm seemed to be injured.

    Among all the elders that had joined as his Dharma protectors, five of them were at the Nascent Soul realm, including n head Lu. The other nascent Soul realm elders belonged to the other cities and were their respective heads.

    "What happened?" Shirong asked in a low voice.

    n Head Lu instantly understood that Shirong must not have been able to pay much attention to other things when he was undergoing his breakthrough.

    ''But how did he kill the targets, then?'' n Head Lu wondered before exining the matters in brief to him.

    After listening to the entire exnation, Shirong understood that it was the Immortal Crystal armament that had killed the targets for him. Since he had them in his mind, the immortal weapon must have picked up on it and acted.

    ''You bring more and more surprises to me every day.'' Shirong thought in his heart.

    After n Head Lu, the other elders also congratted him, but some of them were quite sad due to the loss of their nsmen. Still, what Shirong had done was nothing short of a miracle. In total, he had born ten bolts of tribtion lightning, of which six were even the Purple-white lightning bolts.

    Just being able to bear three normal tribtion bolts was considered to be good, but for him, they could say that he was nothing less than a monster. The elders knew that the Divine armor had contributed to it as well, but it was still Shirong''s talent that must have triggered the change in the tribtion.

    The elders including Shirong himself were unaware that everything had changed because of the presence of Lin Wu. Had he not been here, Shirong would not have had the unknown energy in his core and it would not have absorbed the tribtion lightning.

    Originally he would have broken through after three bolts of tribtion lightning like normal but the unknown energy consumed it and enraged the tribtion clouds. Then the appearance of Lin Wu only made it change further and it evolved into a dualyered heavenly tribtion.

    Still, in the long term, Shirong had only benefited from it. His cultivation technique had progressed to the next level and the unknown energy effect had also made some unknown changes to his Nascent Soul. He could tell that his affinity with the lightning element had increased.

    He took another look at the people from the audience and saw their expressions. Some of them were excited seeing him, some were sad from the loss of theirpanions, and some were simply scared.

    Those that had run away at the first sight of danger were thanking the heavens that they did not dare stay in the audience or they may have died too. The Nascent Soul realm elder who had been hit by the tribtion lighting was still pale and blood was leaking out of his mouth.

    ''It''s good that we got them all to sign the agreements before, or this would have been a mess.'' Shirong thought.

    Eventually, it was decided that they will all return to the city for now and those that were injured will be treated. n Head Lu volunteered topensate the kin of those that had died, but the other elders rejected it. They knew the risks of what would happen and could not go back on their words now.

    No one knew that Shirong would be so monstrously talented that dualyered tribtion would be formed. While they got to witness a rare phenomenon, they also ended up making some losses.

    Currently, n head Lu and Shirong were sitting in a private room and finally got to talk.

    "How did you get rid of the targets, young master? I could tell that you were fully focused on the breakthrough." n Head Lu questioned.

    "It was not actually fully under my control. When the lightning bolts were being restricted by the Armor, and split into smaller ones. I needed to dispose of them quickly. I just ended up deflecting them towards the direction of the targets.

    Although I was lucky at the start as it only killed the main targets but thest bolt was quite strong and I could barely resist it. That''s why when the lightning bolt was sent there, it ended up killing everyone in a radius." Shirong said, making up a believable excuse.

    What he had said was in reality a truth as it was indeed Lin Wu who had killed them with the lightning, but Shirong did not know this fully. He just had a hunch and made up this lie.

    n Head Lu didn''t doubt this either, as ording to him there weren''t many methods by which one could do something like this. Like even he himself would be able to deflect a bolt of tribtion lightning if it came towards him, but to control where itnds would be extremely difficult.

    But he just pushed all this on the divine armor which was given to him by his n and attributed it to their greatness.

    "Wellбн that was entertaining to watchбн" Lin Wu chuckled.

 Chapter 242 - Analysis Speed Increase?

    Shirong was currently standing in one of the training halls of the Lu n. This training hall was rather special though as it was utilized by the n head Lu himself. Shirong had asked to use this as he wanted to test out his skills now that he had broken through to the Nascent Soul realm.

    He could have very well done this outside the city, but with the current popce that was looking at his every move, n head Lu suggested that he stay here instead. Shirong too thought that exposing his abilities right from the get-go would not be that beneficial to him and obliged.

    The Immortal Crystal Armament was already stored in the spatial storage, and Shirong wanted to see his own skills for now. Testing out his skill with the immoral crystal armament was only problematic and was not something he wanted to do here.

    It was fine if n Head Lu saw his own skills, but he could not let them know that the armor was more than just an armor. So instead of that, Shirong simply used a spirit sword for it.

    "Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Sky Parting Thunder!" He yelled.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Sparks flew everywhere as arge amount of lightning attribute spirit Qi condensed onto his spirit sword. This spirit Qi was not sourced from his Dantian and was newly converted. Shirong wanted to know why a difference like this was created.

    Now that he was using his skill, he could tell that his speed of refinement had increase day quite a lot. It didn''t even take him two seconds before his attribute less spirit Qi was refined into lightning element spirit Qi.

    He swung his sword and a beam of lightning was shot out, and it was as if it would tear the sky apart. The sound of thunder could be heard as the attack progressed ahead and then stuck the target at the end.

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    A loud expansion rang, and the target which was a wooden dummy, was instantly vaporized. n head Lu was watching the entire thing and was shocked. His eyes were wide open and his hands were trembling.

    The dummy that Shirong had just vaporized was no normal training dummy, rather it was made out of tough spirit wood, which was used to making weapons and armors. But not only that, it was also inscribed with formations that made it more durable and increased its defense.

    n Head Lu could very well destroy the dummy too, but to do so would require all of his strength. While Shirong here had just used a casual attack of his. n head Lu could very well tell the difference between the two now.

    n Head Lu was at the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm and Shirong was one stage below at the infant stage. Yet even then, their strengths were greatly varied. n Head Lu knew he was no match for Shirong now. He reckoned that even if a few Nascent Soul realm cultivators banded together to fight Shirong, he would still win.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "The younger generation is bound to shadow the old. Young master Shirong''s strength is incredible." n Head Lu praised.

    Shirong did not attack again after the first time as he had understood well. Nothing would be able to bear his attacks here.

    "Thank you for thepliment, n Head Lu, but I still have a lot to learn." Shirong spoke.

    n Head Lu gave a simple smile and thought about how he had sessfully established a rtionship with young master Shirong. He and the other ns had already witnessed Shirong''s monstrous talent, and he was the only one who had the opportunity to capitalize on it.

    ''Hopefully, my granddaughters get lucky. Even if one of them is sessful, my n''s future will be secured.'' n Head Lu thought to himself.

    He looked at Shirong, who was staring at the mountains for some reason.

    "Something wrong, young master?" n Head Lu asked.

    "бнNoбн nothing. I thought I felt somethingбн" Shirong replied as he shook his head.

    He didn''t know why, but he could sense a very faint feeling from far away. It wasing from the mountains to the north, but it faded away rather quickly.

    "I see. What will you be doing now, young master? Will you be leaving?" n Head Lu questioned.

    "Yes. It is time for me to head on ahead. I have toplete certain tasks that my n has given me." Shirong replied.

    "Hmmбн it is understandable. I guess you''re heading to the Capital City of the Ling Kingdom?" n Head Lu asked further.

    "Yes, I need to do some things there before heading ahead," Shirong replied.

    "You will need to stay wary of Minister Du Yang if you are going there, young master. The news about you breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm has no doubt reached the royal court by now." n Head Lu said.

    "I know. Besidesбн I have a few questions I want to ask him myself, anyway." Shirong said, as an evil glint could be seen in his eyes for a moment.

    "Hoho! Seems like our boy here is finally going to actбн Hehe." Lin Wu chuckled, finding the entire thing entertaining.

    While Shirong was testing his skills, Lin Wu was not sitting idle either. The system was actively observing and analyzing his condition and gathering more data. This was helping in its analysis of the Immortal Sky Shaker art.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Cultivation technique analysis at 50%.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had asked the system to notify him when specific milestones were reached and this was one of them.

    "Great, the speed has really increased by a lot morepared to the snail pace before." Lin Wu said feeling content.

    Before it had barely progressed by ten percent in over two months, but now in less than fifteen days, it had reached fifty percent. All of this was due to the additional data that Lin Wu had gathered, which allowed the system to upgrade its data banks.

    But this was still not the end for him.

    "Haha, now that we''re heading to the capital, there is no doubt I will have more opportunities to gather data."

 Chapter 243 - Cosplayer Worm?

    Shirong did not leave right away of course. There were still a few minor tasks he needed to finish up before leaving. But they were short enough that they could be finished in the rest of the day. He would be leaving in the morning first thing tomorrow.

    After he was done with everything, the night had already arrived and he was at the Lu n Mansion. The n head had organized a farewell banquet for him and had also asked the other n''s higher ups to join.

    Shirong was fine with it and just went along. It was a good opportunity to expand his circle anyway and he was fine with adding a few more allies. Though there were a few people that chose not to attend the banquet.

    These were the same people that had been targeted by n Head Lu and killed By Lin Wu. They already had some unsavory rtions with the Lu n and after the deaths, they were in no mood for a banquet.

    In fact, they had left rather quickly after Shirong had finished his breakthrough, and they had returned to Deer Wood City. The ones that were remaining were all those that were very enthusiastic to further their connection with the young heir of the Ji n.

    They all had heard of the Ji n and knew of its influence and knew very well to not waste this opportunity. They even brought congrattory gifts for Shirong because of his breakthrough, and praised him to no end.

    "Hehe, I''ll go and enjoy some food on my own tooбн" Lin Wu said before leaving the ring in the middle of the banquet.

    With the safety of the teleportation formation, Lin Wu was free to do quite a few things. Besides, with the improvement in the backdrop function, Lin Wu could now leave the ring and Shirong would still feel like he was inside there.

    Even if he checked with his spirit sense, he would see that the spear was still there. For this, all Lin Wu had to do was to leave a decoy, which was nothing but a small piece of his crystals. The system installed an illusory function which made it seem like Lin Wu was still in the ring.

    And if Shirong ever tried to summon him, the teleportation formation would directly activate and put him in his hand, making it seem like he was being withdrawn from the spatial storage ring.

    It was a rather convenient method and since his main body could supply the spirit Qi for it to function, he didn''t mind the costs either. Though this safety wouldn''tst for long.

    Lin Wu knew that as soon as Shirong went a certain distance beyond the Deer Wood city, the reach of the teleportation formation would not be enough and it would be unavable. If he wanted to ovee this, he would need to increase the power supply of the tomb.

    ''I''ll think of thatter, for now I''ll just get some delicious food!'' Lin Wu thought to himself and sneaked into the same dining hall where the other nsmen of the Lu n ate.

    He followed the same method of hiding and stealing food and only stopped when he felt content.

    "Hmmбн I should ask the servants for fruits and stuff, I guess. Wait! Maybe I can even get them to cook for me!" Lin Wu just realized.

    He returned back to Shirong''s and entered the spatial storage ring.

    "Though, if I want them to cook for me, they''ll need to have eaten good food, too. And they will need to learn how to cook. Maybe I can get some books on cooking and then transfer it to a jade slip for them to read from." Lin Wu pondered.

    Lin Wu thought of all the resources that could be obtained from the forest and the good food that could be made from it. Just thinking about it made him drool. While Lin Wu was fine with eating raw meat and stuff, he still liked the taste of cooked food.

    Till now he had been tasting food by partially changing the internal parts of his mouth into his organic form, as his crystal form didn''t really have a sense of taste. It was now that he suddenly realized something.

    "Hang On! I''ve never seen what my organic form looks like after I broke through to the Nascent Soul realm!" Lin Wu eximed to himself.

    Feeling a burning curiosity, Lin Wu''s mind returned to his main body and he immediately triggered the cellr crystallization innate skill, reverting his body to the organic form. After he was fully transformed, he took a look in the system data to see his form.

    "GODDAMN! I''M EVEN WORSE NOW!" Lin Wu shouted, feeling a bit scared of himself.

    There were sharp teething out of his ''lips'' and there were two additional appendages to the sides of his mouth. These had smaller teeth and were able to freely move to pick up things by gripping them.

    His eyes had moved to the side of his head and were still the same, while the rest of his body was thick and bulky. The chitin likeyer on his body had gotten more thick and the segments looked more linear now.

    The inside of his mouth still had the sharp spine like teeth that were arranged in tens of rows. He opened his mouth wide and could swear if he lined up his body he would be able to see the other end of his digestive tract.

    Another thing that he noticed was two red ears that had popped up at the top oh his head. Which now that he looked at them closely, seemed familiar to something from his past life.

    "Wait, a minute! Why does it seem like I''m wearing those fake animal ear headbands that the cosyers wore in my past life?" Lin Wu eximed.

    He felt them and could control them, to move around and twitch.

    "Am I a cosyer worm now?"

 Chapter 244 - Getting The Beast Carapace Fragment Back?

    Lin Wu''s new ears were of course there due to the effect of the Hard Eared Limber Mice King bloodline that he had assimted. The normal ones had smaller ears, but the kings had ears that were oversized just like the ones that the cosyers wore.

    They looked a bit silly on his head, which was ratherrge, but he guessed that no one should mind it as he was literally a beast. He also doubted anyone would know what a cosyer was in this world and if they did, it meant that they were also from another world like his.

    This was another doubt that Lin Wu had. He wondered if he was the only human that was reincarnated into this world, or if there were more.

    "If I go by thew of probability, there is bound to be more than just me that has been sent here. Thoughбн speaking of worlds there are many worlds in this specific universe so maybe if they are not in the Ming Dao world they are in some other world." Lin Wu hypothesized.

    Lin Wu wondered if he would ever get to meet someone else from his world or even a world like his in this universe.

    "No, waitбн I''m missing the most important thingбн what if my world is also located in this universe?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    Lin Wu had no way of answering this question and just thought that it would be better if he shelved this matter for now, lest he ends up giving himself a headache or worse triggers some kind of a ''heavenlyw'' that punishes one for knowing too much.

    Since this was a cultivation world and had something like heavenly tribtion, he couldn''t be too careless.

    Just like this, Lin Wu spent some time in his thoughts and the banquet ended. The people returned to their respective ces while Shirong went some ce else with the n Head. Lin Wu returned his mind to the avatar after sensing that Shirong had started moving.

    "Oh, where are they going?" Lin Wu wondered.

    After watching for a bit, he realized that they were going underground through a set of stairs.

    "Could they be going to the underground vault?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He received his answer in a couple of minutes as they really did end up reaching the vault.

    "Let me open this, Young master. Just a few seconds," n Head Lu stated.

    He created a few hand seals and then mmed his palm in the center of the door of the vault.

    <em>~WENG~</em>

    A humming sound could be heard, after which multiple runes appeared on the surface of the vault''s door.

    <em>~clink~</em>

    The sounds of gears moving could be heard as the runes on the surface of the vault door faded away. n Head Lu pushed the heavy door and opened the entrance to the vault. This was the first item Lin Wu was getting to see the vault from a first person''s perspective.

    "Boy! They really have a lot of stuff, don''t they?" Lin Wu muttered, seeing all the things.

    Even though the system had already given him a report of all the items that were in the vault, it was still quite different seeing it with his own two eyes. He watched on as n Head Lu took Shirong further in.

    They passed a few shelves before reaching the center of the vault where a table was kept. On top of this table, a ss cab was kept in which contained the beast carapace fragment.

    n head Lu made a few more hand seals and lifted the protective formation that was ced on the ss cab.

    "You can take it now, young master Shirong." n head Lu stated.

    "Hmm," Shirong hummed in response before picking it up.

    He looked at the fragment carefully and had a few thoughts appear in his mind.

    ''What exactly is it that it can contain that unknown energy before?'' Shirong wondered.

    The unknown energy was able to consume the heavenly tribtion lightning which was no small feat, and as such Shirong was curious. There was no doubt if he found out more about it, it would only be beneficial to him in the future.

    He then stored it back in his spatial storage ring where Lin Wu had already begun his analysis on the beast carapace fragment. Unlike Shirong, he knew exactly where this fragment hade from, but he was wondering what exactly was this unknown energy that could be triggered to appear by it.

    "We should return now, our work is done." Shirong said before he and n head Lu left the vault.

    While leaving n Head Lu casually flicked his hand and the vault door automatically locked itself behind him.

    The fragment was thest thing he needed before leaving the city and heading for the capital. Shirong went to his assigned courtyard, which had actually been transferred over to his name now.

    This was done by n Head Lu to show his assurance that he will always have a ce to stay in the Deer Wood City.

    Shirong sat down in his bedroom and cultivated until the morning. He also had a few matters to ponder on and thus deemed it to be a good time to do that.

    While he was doing this, Lin Wu had decided to leave the ring once more. But this time his reason for it was rather different.

    "I should find some cookbooks before I leave the city. At least my main body will get to enjoy some good food in the meantime." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He sneaked out of the ring and directly went to the book shops in the city. He reckoned that he may as well gather all the information from themon book shops as well, since he was going to leave anyway.

    Lin Wu even sneaked into some of the restaurants to steal the chef''s personal recipes. They were of course not written down, and Lin Wu had to record them manually into a jade slip that he made himself.

 Chapter 245 - Payment For The Mutations?

    Lin Wu spent the rest of the night gathering as much information as he could and also stole some more food from the restaurants he went to. He didn''t eat it right then and there and instead chose to store it for the future.

    "Hehe, now I have snacks to eat while watching dramaбн" Lin Wu chuckled to himself.

    After everything was done, he returned to Shirong and entered the ring. He just decided to spend the rest of the time cultivating.

    Lin Wu was also wondering if he should let his avatar breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm. While it was good for his own strength, it would also make it so that he would not be able to be shrink.

    If his size was as big as his main body was, there was no way Shirong would be able to wield him. Though he also reckoned that he may be able to make different forms that he may be able to use.

    "Hmmбн I''ll have to think more over thisбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he let his avatar cultivate and returned to his main body.

    Lin Wu had yed around a little bit in his organic form and then chose to return to the Crystalline form. He already got the information that he wanted and it had already been added to the system''s data banks.

    Since he had decided to get his servants to cook for him, he now needed to check up on them.

    "Have they still not woken up?" Lin Wu said, as he looked at their status.

    But then another thought came to his mind.

    ''Will they even be able to cook with their forms, though? I think I''ll need someone that is more humanoid.'' Lin Wu thought.

    And as soon as he thorough of humanoid beasts, his mind went to the monkey beasts or more particrly the Slim Arm ape king. Lin Wu already knew that all of the monkey beasts were under his control and if he wanted to recruit one, he may as well meet the Slim Arm ape king.

    "Looks like it is time alreadyбн" Lin Mu muttered to himself.

    He remembered the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king wanted toe with him and thus contracted him with the help of themunication jade slip he had given him.

    "Crimson eyed emerald Worm?" The beetle king spoke, still feeling the novelty of using something like this.

    "I''m going to meet up with the Slim Arm ape king. Are you going to join?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "You''re going already? Hmmбн alright, I''lle with you." The beetle king answered.

    "Alright, I''m leaving right now and will meet you midway." Lin Wu said before stopping the connection.

    He teleported to the top of the tomb and then flew from there. About half an hourter, he saw the huge body of the beetle king flying up ahead. Both the beasts sensed each other and Lin Wu came to fly at his side.

    "Weren''t you gonna pick out some of your subordinates for the mutations?" Lin Wu asked, remembering what he had promised.

    "Well, yesбн and I did tell them but it ended up turning into something different." The beetle king replied.

    "Different? How?" Lin Wu asked, feeling curious.

    "Well, after they heard that only the strong will be eligible to receive and survive the mutations, they decided to determine who among them is the strongest. So now they are having a string of battles like those humans have." The beetle king answered.

    "You mean a tournament? They''re having a tournament." Lin Wu said.

    "Yes, yes, that thing. They have been battling since that day and I had to tell them to go away. They were creating too much disturbance while I wast cultivating." The beetle king replied.

    "Soбн what about the mutations?" Lin Wu asked again.

    "When they are done, they will return and then you can do them. Though do you need something for that?" The beetle King asked.

    Lin Wu thought for a bit and realized that he shouldn''t just do it for free like that since he would be spending quite a bit of his spirit Qi on it.

    "Hmmбн tell you what, when theye, tell them to bring in other beasts that I can eat. I will be using up spirit Qi so I''d like something to eat." Lin Wu answered.

    "This is eptable." The beetle king replied.

    It was nothing for his subordinates and descendant to bring beasts as payment.

    "Oh, I wanted to ask another thing." Lin Wu suddenly spoke.

    "Ask then," The beetle king responded.

    He was feeling a bit strange as the mannerism that Lin Wu used to talk were an awful lot simr to that of the humans and he didn''t know why he did that.

    ''Did he spend time with humans too?'' The beetle king wondered.

    "Are there any fruits, vegetables, and spices that grow in the forest that the humans use?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I know of the fruits, but I don''t know anything particr for the other two things you asked. There are many fruits in the forest which you probably should have seen too. But why are you asking this?" The beetle king replied.

    "Oh, if your subordinates are going toe for the mutations, they can also bring those things as payment." Lin Wu answered.

    "Finding spirit fruits will be a bit difficult but normal fruits should be easy." The beetle king said.

    "Hmmбн if they are able to bring a spirit fruit, they don''t need to bring a beast and if they are bringing normal fruit, they either need to bring arge quantity of it or also bring beasts with it." Lin Wu exined.

    "Really? You will be fine with normal fruit aspensation?" The beetle king said, feeling a bit apprehensive.

    "It should be fine. You can tell them that." Lin Wu confirmed.

    The beetle king couldn''t say much after that and simply screeched in agreement. And just like this, the two Nascent Soul realm beasts reached their destination.

 Chapter 246 - Visiting The Two Ape Kings?

    The two beasts were hovering at the edge of the territory that belonged to the Slim Arm ape and also the Demon Spine ape.

    Apparently, the father and son were now sharing territories as the Demon Spine ape had taken over the nearby territories that were left from the Sliver Beak Sky Soar eagle. Currently, thebined territories of the two Ape kings could be said to be as the secondrgest among all the beast kings.

    Thergest belonged to the Twin lights liger king of course while the thirdrgest was that of the Olive Viper king. And in thest ce was the Split Thorn horn beetle king. Though if one considered his case, the territory was not just restricted to the surface and extended quite deep.

    A lot of the insect beasts lived underground and made their nests there. So if one considered just the surface area in which the beast kings and their subordinates lived, the Split Thorn horn beetle king''s territory could be said to be thergest.

    The two Nascent Soul realm beasts did not enter directly, as it would be seen as trespassing. Instead, Lin Wu decided to do the same thing he had done with the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king.

    He gathered his aura and sent out a wave from his body that traveled deep into the territory. The beasts that sensed this aura all quietened down and waited patiently. They knew not to make too much noise ore in the way of the iing beast, lest they lost their lives.

    At the center of the territory, there was another hill. This hill was smaller than that of the Tomb of the Taiji celestial but it''s overall area wasrger. There was a cave located at the base of this hill, which was not natural.

    If one looked at it, they would be able to tell that this was carved out manually by someone. There were various marks on it that were caused by tools, ws, and punches. It was in this cave that the slim arm ape and his son the Demon Spine Ape lived.

    As soon as Lin Wu''s aura reached them, they roused from their meditation. If one looked at them right now, they would see they were sitting cross legged just the same way humans cultivated. The only difference was their sizes. The slim arm ape had long arms and anky body while the Demon Spine Ape was like a small mountain.

    "Seems like we have a visitor." The Slim arm ape spoke.

    "Visitor? More like intruders." The Demon spine ape said as a me of violence sparked in his eyes.

    "Patience my son. Look before you leap, he is not alone." The slim arm ape spoke.

    "He isn''t?" The demon spine ape questioned.

    "Noбн looks like the old beetle is with him too." The slim arm ape answered.

    "The two of them together? What are they doing here?" The Demon arm ape wondered.

    "Wellбн why don''t we go and find out?" The Slim Arm ape king said before standing up.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu had experienced something else at the border of the territory. The moment when the Slim arm ape king had opened his eyes, his spirit sense had spread out from his body.

    ''The slim arm ape kings'' spirit sense is incredibly longбн looks like there is more to him that I was thinking.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "They are approaching us." The beetle king said.

    "Indeed, I can smell them now too." Lin Wu replied.

    Lin Wu thought didn''t tell him that he had already heard them when they had left the cave due to his enhanced hearing. His ears had secretly extended, and he was now tracking the two ape kings as they traveled towards him.

    Then, in less than two minutes, the two ape beasts appeared in front of them. Both of them were small in sizepared to the split thorn horn beetle king and Lin Wu. They couldn''t help but stare at the emerald green creature that was in front of them.

    Previously they had only sensed his bloodline, but they were unable to see his true form in the bloodline battle. But now seeing him they were shocked, as only one name came to their mind.

    "The Olive Viper king!!" They muttered together.

    While the beetle king might not have heard them, Lin Wu clearly did and they were even speaking in the human tongue rather than the beast one, that too a dialect that was notmon in this region. This meant that even if other beasts that were used to humans heard it, they would be unable to understand it.

    ''So they use the human tongue to prevent the other beasts from listening in. Hmmбн this is definitely a human tactic.'' Lin Wu said as he recognized what a lot of multi-lingual people did in his past life.

    Lin Wu could have simrly responded to them, but decided to hide his advantage.

    ''Who knows what else I may end up findingбн'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    "Greetings! Slim Arm Ape king, Demon Spine Ape King." Lin Wu said, wanting to take the initiative.

    He remembered some of the books on negotiation and conversation he had read in his past life and knew that taking the initiative to speak first could ce one in advantage. Though if it was done wrong they could also end up causing problems.

    Stillбн in his case, he was talking to beasts and did not really know if it would work or not. He just decided to do it anyway and make some use of those shitty books that did not teach him well to talk with girls.

    "And you areбн?" The slim arm ape replied.

    "Ah, I should have introduced myself first. I''m pretty sure you must have seen the heavenly tribtion a few days ago, I am that beast. I am called as the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm." Lin Wu introduced.

 Chapter 247 - Cooperation?

    Upon hearing the words though, both the ape kings were shocked.

    "Worm? That''s a worm?" They questioned under their breaths.

    They looked at each other and sensed that they had the same kinds of apprehensions.

    "So he''s not a subordinate of the Olive Viper King." The Slim Arm Ape spoke in a low voice to the Demon spine ape.

    All of their conversations were done in human tongue and were quite low in volume. From the distance the four beasts were standing, they would not have been able to tell that the other party was talking.

    "What are you here for?" The Demon Spine Ape asked in a rather loud voice.

    "We are here to talk and discuss," The split thorn horn beetle king replied.

    "Talk? Talk what?" The Demon Spine Ape asked again.

    "Well, we would like to discuss if cooperation between us four could be possible." Lin Wu was the one who spoke this time.

    The Slim arm ape king narrowed his eyes as a few thoughts appeared in his mind. He could tell that since this new Nascent Soul realm beast was with the beetle king, it meant that it was not violentбн well, rtively speaking.

    Though now that the Slim Arm ape king thought of it, perhaps it was bad that this beast was calm. It would mean that the beast was more intelligent and his schemes would not work the same as they could on others.

    "Why would we need to cooperate with you?" The Slim arm ape questioned after careful thinking.

    "Well, as you know I''m a new Nascent Soul realm beast just like your son the demon spine ape. And as a Nascent Soul realm beast, we can im a territory in the sixth ring of the millennium forest.

    With thatбн one can alsoy im to the seat of a ruler. But as we know the seats are already upied thus one of them would have to be emptied before another can take over it." Lin Wu answered.

    <em>~humph~</em>

    Visible steam came out from the demon spine ape kings'' nose as the mes of battle intensified in his eyes.

    "SO YOU ARE HERE TO TAKE MY SEAT? FINE! BUT NOT WITHOUT A BATTLE!" The Demon Spine Ape yelled and was just about to attack when he was interrupted.

    "Hang on a minute! I''m not here to fight you. I don''t even want your seat!" Lin Wu exined.

    The Slime Arm ape also sent a re to his son, which made him calm down. He knew that his son''s bloodline was innately violent and there wasn''t much he could do to control it. While he could still get him to calm down, since his cultivation base was less than him, it won''t be long when he''s stronger than him and the same things won''t work.

    "Whose seat do you want, then? Mine?" The slim arm ape king questioned.

    "Noбн I don''t want either of you two''s seats. Rather, the reason why I want your cooperation is so that I can get the seat of another ruler of the forestбн the Olive Viper king." Lin Wu revealed.

    A sh of realization hit the Slim Arm ape as he connected the links. The old ape was smarter than the beetle king and could obviously link Lin Wu''s appearance to that of the Olive Viper King.

    After all, if he were not a subordinate or descendant, then it was obvious that he was an enemy. The slim arm ape king also reckoned that the simrities in their auras were due to the same kind of a fortunate encounter.

    "So you are like him tooбн both of you are mutant beastsбн" The Slim Arm ape king spoke.

    "Indeed, you are as smart as they say. Let''s just say the olive viper king and I cannot exist at the same time. One of us has to die!" Lin Wu said with determination.

    The slim arm ape king looked over to the Beetle king and spoke, "and you are fine with this Split thorn horn beetle king?"

    "He''s helping me get revenge and also helping my descendants, I am fine if he does this." The beetle king simply said.

    "I seeбн" The slim arm ape king responded.

    "I know your subordinates were also killed by the Olive Viper King. Don''t you want revenge too?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Hmmбн while revenge is indeed something I once desired. I am not stupid to go through with it. The Olive Viper king is nomon beast and his subordinates are not either." The Slim Arm ape king spoke.

    "Besidesбн if we help you fight against the Olive Viper King, it would go against the traditions that our ancestors had established a long time ago. One must battle for the seat if it is upied." The Slim Arm Ape king added.

    "I never said that I want you all to fight him with me. All I want is for you guys to not interfere or perhaps just hold back his subordinates, I''ll kill that snake myself!" Lin Wu dered.

    A faint fluctuation in Lin Wu''s aura could be sensed and the Demon Spine ape king only got excited due to the hint of fury in it.

    "Fine, let''s say I agree. But what will we benefit from it? You say revenge, but that is still not worth it for us." The Slim Arm Ape king replied.

    "Wellбн I can offer you the same thing I offered the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King." Lin Wu spoke.

    "And what was that?" The Slim Arm Ape king asked and sent a look to the beetle king.

    "He offered to mutate my subordinates and descendants so that they can get stronger. One of my descendants has already experienced it and her bloodline has definitely unproved by a lot.

    I''d sayбн it''s even better than mine now." The beetle King honestly said.

    The Slim arm ape king had not expected an answer like this and felt strange. As far as he knew, mutations were uncontroble, and all mutant beasts were just lucky to even survive it.

    He didn''t know how Lin Wu would control that.

 Chapter 248 - Mutation Process?

    While the Slim arm ape king was a little tempted by the offer, he didn''t know if it would be good for his kin. For all he knew, it would just end up destroying them intend. And thus he thought of doing itter.

    Lin Wu could see the confusion in the slim arms ape king''s eyes and could guess what he was thinking.

    "I guess you would like to see the proof for that don''t you?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Hmmбн yes. Unless I see it with my own two eyes, I won''t believe that your mutations will be beneficial to my kin." The slim arm ape king replied.

    "No problem there. You can simply bring me one of your kin and I''ll demonstrate. Though they need to be strong enough to bear the mutations, at least at the core condensation realm.

    I haven''t tried it on the beasts who are below it and thus don''t know if it will work. Still, we can try out that option right now if you are willing." Lin Wu said.

    The slim arm ape king thought over it and then nodded his head.

    "Very well, if it is as you say then we can progress further." The slim arm ape said before letting out a cry the spread in the area.

    <em>~kikiki~</em>

    The sounds of monkeys and apes could be hearding from everywhere and soon an army of them was gathered around them. The slim arm ape looked at the beasts and spoke to them.

    "Bring me one core condensation realm and one Qi refining realm monkey from the jails." The slim arm ape ordered.

    He had spoken in the human tongue again, but the monkeys were able to understand him. Lin Wu heard his words and was rather surprised.

    ''He''s really trying to follow the way of humans huhбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    Soon two monkeys were brought to the front and they had a lot of scars on their bodies. They had fierce looks in their eyes and were ready to fight at any moment.

    "These are the criminal of my kind. You can test your mutations on them." The slim arm ape king said.

    "Hmmбн using criminal for testingбн how ''human'' of youбн" Lin Wu said before looking at the two monkeys.

    At first, the two monkeys had not seen the nascent soul realm beasts and thus were showing their fierce expressions. But when they finally looked up, they could see the four nascent soul realm beasts, two of which were none other than the leaders of the tribe.

    Their faces fell and they couldn''t help but feel terrified. Especially when Lin Wu''s crimson red eyes stared at them. They felt as if they would be killed any moment and they shivered in their ces.

    "Who should we start withбн let''s see." Lin Wu muttered before making his choice. "You,e forward." Lin Wu ordered.

    The one he had picked was the monkey that was at the first stage of the core condensation realm. Lin Mu reckoned that to make a better impression it was to use the tested method, rather than something new.

    That was why he picked the core condensation realm monkey, as he knew they had a higher chance at survival. The beast in question wanted to resist, but the gazes of the two ape kings were terrifying and froze them in his ce.

    "Ah, you''re not going to move, are you? Let me get to you instead thenбн" Lin Wu said, but before he could do anything else the monkey flew towards him.

    Or rather he was sent flying towards him. The other core condensation realm monkeys that were beside the monkey kicked him ahead, not wanting to piss off whatever beast that was in front of them. They could all feel the power from him and knew better than to test anything.

    Who knew if he would end up picking them instead of the monkey that was chosen before. Even with their leader here, they couldn''t help but feel scared for some reason. It was as if there was a hidden pressure that exuded from Lin Wu that was iprehensible to them.

    "Oh, this works tooбн" Lin Wu said before extending his tail towards the monkey.

    The monkey shivered in his ce, while the others watched with apprehension. They didn''t know what was going to happen and thus they were keeping silent. Seeing that their king was also doing the same, they didn''t even dare to breathe.

    Lin Wu''s tail extended a small spike that touched the monkey''s forehead and the process.

    ''System, take over. Try to see if you can replicate the mutations faster than before that.'' Lin Wu ordered in his mind.

    The system had already analyzed the mutation that had urred in his servants and could now replicate the process. It had informed Lin Wu that due to their connections, the bloodlines would resonate and this would induce a mutation.

    This also opened up a lot of opportunities for Lin Wu as well. One of the theories that he had was, the more his cultivation base increases, the more strong the mutations will get. There was even a chance that those that had already mutated before may experience it again.

    Though one question had stumped him. He didn''t know if this could be repeated endlessly as long as he had spirit Qi or if he had a limit that he did not know of currently. Even the system was unable to give an exnation to him and he could only figure it out along the way.

    Both the ape kings as well as the beetle king were using their spirit sense to observe the monkey, though they did not dare to directly probe its body as they didn''t know if this would affect the process or not.

    All of them had either seen or heard of mutant beasts and the mutations and thus knew better than to interfere in such a risky process. Just like this, a minute passed before Lin Wu removed his tail from the monkey''s forehead.

 Chapter 249 - Mutation Success?

    The beasts looked on and saw that there was now a small green gem stuck to the forehead of the monkey. Its eyes were closed and it was standing still. Then suddenlyбн

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Its body fell to the ground and it looked like it was unconscious.

    "Just wait a bit, it takes time for it to start. But once it does, the process may take a few days toplete." Lin Wu spoke.

    The slim arm ape looked at the beetle king for answers and therge beetle nodded his head in approval. Though that little nod moved itsrge horn which stirred up strong winds.

    After getting the answer, the slim arm ape returned his focus to the monkey and watched on. Meanwhile, Lin Wu started on the second monkey that was at thete stage of the Qi refining realm.

    This one was a lot more timid than the previous one and fainted the moment Lin Wu got close to it. Though Lin Wu didn''t mind it and just went to do what he was supposed to. He ced his tails and extended a spike that pricked into the forehead of the monkey.

    After he was done, another small gem was left on the forehead of the smaller monkey. And just as Lin Wu finished this, the mutation in the core condensation realm monkey finally started.

    <em>~kii~</em>

    It let out a cry from its mouth even though it was unconscious and started trembling on the ground. Soon the trembling turned to spasm and then into what looked like seizures.

    The two ape kings felt like something was going wrong and were unsure of this entire thing now. While the two monkeys had done crimes and were going to be killed after their punishment was over, they did not feel good seeing them suffer like this.

    After five minutes of struggling the core condensation realm monkey went still and stopped breathing.

    "You killed him!" The demon spine ape yelled.

    "Oh, just wait a bit more." Lin Wu said, knowing what was actually happening inside the beast''s body.

    Just when they thought Lin Wu had deceived them, the core condensation realm monkey started breathing again.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    A deep breath was taken by the monkey before a small vortex of spirit Qi started forming around him. Everyone watched in shock as the monkey''s cultivation base started to increase rapidly and even its body was changing.

    The green gem that was embedded into his head was absorbed into the body and the skin of his arms started tearing. But no blood spilled out from them, rather a greenyer of crystals was now growing out of them.

    These crystals were arranged like ayer of short spikes, like one would see on a meat tenderizer, and formed into something that looked like bracers on the monkey''s arms. The same thing happened to its legs and now it was as if it was wearing emerald green shin tes.

    After this entire process waspleted, the monkey broke into the next stage, reaching the mid stage of the core condensation realm. All of the beasts were astounded at this, and they all knew how long it took for them to cultivate.

    Most of the core condensation realm beasts here were over a hundred years old and it took them decades before they were able to progress in a single stage. But here was a specimen who had broken through in less than an hour right from the early stage of the core condensation realm.

    The slim arm ape approached the monkey and checked its body with his spirit sense. It closed its eyes for about two minutes after which he opened them, this time the look in them had changed.

    "It''s trueбн he truly can improve their bloodlines by mutationsбн" The Slim arm ape spoke.

    "Let me check!" The Demon spine ape said before doing the same thing his father had done. But unlike him, he didn''t even take ten seconds before stopping. No words were spoken by him though, which already showed his answer.

    "How strong do you think their bloodline will get, father?" The demon spine ape questioned in human tongue.

    "Hmmбн it is hard to tell, but right now they are already better than their normal brethren. Seeing as their aura and cultivation is still increasing, they may reach an even higher level. Although they will not be at the same level as your bloodline, they will definitely exceed mine." The slim arm ape answered.

    After getting the confirmation from his father, the Demon spine ape could of nothing but ept the oue. He knew that while they were strong together, it wouldn''t be long before an even strong contender would arise, not to mention that humans could also appear and start killing his kin for resources.

    He didn''t want either of things to happen and thus he kept his silence.

    <em>~kiyaaa!~</em>

    Suddenly the Qi refining realm monkey that had been silent all this while woke up and let out a loud cry. Its eyes turned red as veins appeared on its skin. Strong waves of spirit Qi were emitted from his body, and it looked like its power had suddenly doubled.

    It looked at the other monkey beasts that were standing near him, looking at him curiously and then pounced at them, like a mad beast. But before he could take another step its body froze in ce.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    <em>~stter~</em>

    Then suddenly, its body exploded into a gory mess and the blood sttered over the other monkeys that were near him. Lin Wu thought had gotten sessfully away from the ssh zone and thus was able to save his immacte and pristine body from getting dirty.

    "Ah, looks like this one was a failure. Well now, we know that it only works on the beasts that are at the Core condensation realm at the very least." Lin Wu spoke after seeing the result.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The other monkeys s gulped after seeing the messy scene and wondered if they would have to go through that now.

 Chapter 250 - A Battle For Cooperation?

    The slim arm ape king looked at the remains of his kin and went into deep thought. He weighed his options and felt like this could work.

    "Alright, we will do as you suggested." The slim karma ape replied after ten minutes of wait.

    Lin Wu didn''t disturb him during that time either and knew that he would agree, eventually. He felt like he had grasped the mentality of the beast and could predict how he would respond.

    "WAIT! YOU DON''T HAVE MY PERMISSION YET!" The Demon spine ape interrupted.

    "Oh? You don''t want to cooperate?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The slim arm ape looked at his son, but did not speak. He knew that he could not interfere in this now that his son was a ruler, too. Doing so would not only undermine his authority, but would also invite trouble for himself.

    "If you can defeat me in a battle, I will agree with this cooperation and that n of yours." The Demon spine ape spoke.

    All of the beasts looked at Lin Wu and waited for his answer. Any battle between Nascent Soul realm beasts was dangerous, and its results could affect a lot of things.

    "Hmm, I''m fine with it. We can battle if you want." Lin Wu said in a straightforward manner.

    He had honestly expected that the Demon spine ape would respond like this and was looking forward to it too. Lin Wu wanted to test out his strength against an equal and who else would be better than the Demon spine ape who was at the same cultivation base as his.

    "If you two are going to fight, you cannot do it here. Go to the outer rings." The Slim arm ape spoke.

    "Yes, father." The Demon Spine ape replied.

    "I don''t mind." Lin Wu responded as well.

    With both of them in agreement, the four Nascent Soul realm beasts went towards the third ring of the millennium forest. Fighting in the sixth ring and fifth ring would bring attention OT the other two rulers of the forest, the Olive Viper King and the Twin Lights Liger king, which was not something they wanted.

    While if they did fight in the fourth ring, there was a still a chance some random subordinate of the other two kings may report the fight while they were battling. Thus the third ring was the best choice for them currently.

    They could have directly gone out of the forest too, but that would havee with its own set of challenges. Bringing the attention of humans towards them would only be worse than getting the attention of the other two rulers of the forest.

    Since all of them were able to fly, it took them just a couple of hours to reach the third ring. They didn''t go there together either, as that would be very eye catching. They instead split up and went there, this way it would be less apparent.

    Lin Mu didn''t even fly there, he just went a sufficient distance from there before digging into the ground and drilling his way there. With his increased drilling speed, he was there before them and waited for them on the surface, while hiding his aura.

    His new ears were extended fully and were picking up all the sounds of the forest. He could sense the three nascent Soul realm beasts approaching from far and knew they would reach him in a couple of hours.

    Till they got here though, Lin Wu went over a n on how he was going to fight the Demon Spine ape. He knew there were a few things he would need to hide, but he didn''t mind exposing a few things.

    He didn''t have to worry about these beasts scheming against him like the humans would. Even though they had the same level of intelligence as that of a human, their experience was still different and their culture was also different.

    They would fight to determine things and thus, schemes weren''t really part of their lives. Perhaps only beasts like the Slim arm ape who had previously stayed in the human world and The Twin Lights liger King who had lived for a long time would understand how to scheme.

    But even then, they couldn''tpare to Lin Wu who had seen all the dramas, novels andics of his previous life which expanded his experience of scheming greatly. The three rulers eventually arrived at the agreed location and saw that Lin Wu was already there.

    ''How did he get here before us? He doesn''t even fly as fast as us?'' was the thought all of them had.

    They had seen Lin Wu''s flying speed, which was definitely slower than the three of them. The beetle king could fly even before it was a nascent Soul realm due to having wings so he had the advantage from the start, but the two ape kings were also experienced.

    But this thought didn''tst for long, in their minds, and they got ready for the battle. All the nearby beasts were scared away with a little hint of their aura and they didn''t dare to approach tens of kilometers in their location.

    The beetle king and the Slim arm ape went a sufficient distance away and watched on carefully. This would be an important battle that would determine the situation of the millennium forest.

    "Let''s start now. Do you want to set the rules?" Lin Wu offered.

    "I don''t care for that, let''s just fight!" The demon spine ape said, feeling eager.

    "Alright!" Lin Wu said before spirit Qi waves appeared from his body.

    The same happened for the Demon spine ape, and he initiated his attack.

    "HAAA! TAKE THIS! APE HAMMER!" The demon spine ape shouted as he jumped high and rained down with his fists.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    Lin Wu blocked the attack with his tail, which was deflected as well due to the impact, but he soon gained his control back.

    "Nice! This is going to be fun!" Lin Wu said as he flicked his tail toward the Demon spine ape.

 Chapter 251 - Lin Wu Versus Demon Spine Ape?

    Spikes covered Lin Wu''s tail as it turned into a mace and smashed against the Demons spine ape.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    The demon spine ape took the hit head on and pushed his hands against the mace like tail. He slid back about ten meters before he was able to stop the tail. Lin Wu''s body was over fifty meters long currently thus he had the advantage of reach.

    He had not used his full form as he thought that it would be better to hide it for now. He knew having a bigger body was both an advantage and disadvantage but so far it could be used as a trump card if needed.

    After the Demon spine ape got thrown back, it looked at Lin Wu with a furious face and jumped towards him. But this time maroon mes were now burning on his body. The mes covered his exposed spine and his hands.

    "DEMON FIRE EXTERMINATION!" he shouted before the mes exploded from its hands.

    An area of over hindered meters was instantly covered in the maroon mes and burned everything in it. Even Lin Wu was fully inside the area and his body could not be seen in the dense mes.

    The mes showed no signs of stopping but then the sound of a collision was hearding from inside of it.

    <em>~bam~</em>

    A figure shot out of the mes and broke tens of trees before stopping. This figure was none other than the Demon Spine ape. Soon after it, another figure flew out. But this one did not seem like it was thrown, rather it was flying out on its now.

    Who else could this be other than Lin Wu?

    But this time, he seemed to be a bit unwell. Fine cracks could be seen all over his body, and the glow on his body had gotten slightly dimmer as well.

    "Well, well, I guess I at least know what this body can handle nowбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The Slim arm ape watched on in horror as Lin Wu came out of the demonic mes unharmed. When the mes were finally extinguished, all the things that existed in the area had been reduced to ash and even the ground was scorched ck.

    "Thisбн how can it be possible? The demonic mes of a demon spine ape are dangerous to even an Adult stage Nascent soul realm cultivatorбн" The slim arm ape said to himself.

    <em>~Crumble~</em>

    The demon spine ape picked itself up from the ground and threw all the trunks of trees covering him aside.

    "YOU!!" he shouted before running towards Lin Wu.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "This should be enough for a testбн" Lin Wu said before a blinding glow emitted from his body.

    The demon spine ape couldn''t help but freeze in his tracks as the light assaulted his eyes. The slim arm ape covered his eyes with his arms while looking through the gaps. While the Split thorn horn beetle king was just fine due to hispound eyes.

    The beast kings switched to their spirit sense to observe and saw a terrifying scene. Lin Wu''s body started growing till it reached a length of over a hundred meters and two meters thick. The spikes on his body became longer, and his crimson eyes glowed as well. The cracks that he previously hadpletely disappeared.

    <em>~Screech~</em>

    A loud screech was let out by Lin Wu, which spread far. This was his natural cry, which he seldom used, but he just felt right using it right now.

    Spirit Qi swirled across his body as the area suddenly started to heat up. But there were no mes like before, it was just heating up as if the sunlight was doing it.

    The three rulers suddenly found it hard to control the spirit Qi in the air. It was as if the spirit Qi had be heavy with lead and it took them a lot more effort to move it. While the spirit Qi they had in their body was still usable, once they emitted it from their body, it became hard to use as well.

    "What is this?!" All of the rulers shouted.

    Lin Wu was currently using his radiation maniption innate skill at its full force. He was suppressing all the spirit Qi in the air with the radiation emitted from his body and forcing it into the body of the Demon Spine ape.

    The slim arm ape king and the beetle king didn''t know what the demon spine ape was currently feeling. The effects those two rulers were feeling were not even targeted on them and were just passive effects.

    Lin Wu''s focus was fully on the demon spine ape and he was trying to see how much he could suppress others using just the radiation. He had seen the effect of radiation on the Lu n Head who was also a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, but these beasts were all many times stronger than him.

    "Time to end this!" Lin Wu said before his body shot forward at a great speed.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The winds shook the trees nearby and directly uprooted some of them.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Lin Wu directly collided with the Demon spine ape and a sick cracking sound was heard. The demons spine ape wasunched back again, but before he could go too far, he collided with a hard object.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    This was nothing but Lin Wu''s tail, which had appeared to block him.

    "ARGH!" The demon spine ape grunted in pain as blood spilled from his mouth and nose.

    <em>~swishy</em>

    Lin Wu flipped his tail and mmed the Demon spine ape into the ground next.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    His body created a crater in the ground as an ape shaped imprint was formed. Lin Wu slithered ahead and coiled around his body while constricting hard. He actually had to shrink a part of his tail so that it could wrap around the demon spine ape.

    If he just used his full size, he would just end up squeezing the beast instead.

    "So what do you say now?"

 Chapter 252 - One Sided Battle?

    None of the rulers could believe their eyes. The battle in front of them was no battle but rather a one sided beat down. It didn''t look like Lin Wu was even taking it seriously from the start.

    But now that they had seen Lin Wu''s capabilities and his true size, they knew that he was nomon worm that could be looked down upon.

    The Demon Spine ape looked at Lin Wu with fear in his eyes for the first time. The anger and rage he was feeling due to his bloodline''s ability were no longer there and he felt like if he protested anymore, he would be crushed to death.

    "Iбн ept defeatбн" The demon spine ape answered unwillingly.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    A sigh was released by the Slim arm ape and he knew that the demon spine ape''s position was now as good as gone. ording to the ancient mandate, Lin Wu had the right to kill and take over the position of the Demon spine ape.

    The slim arm ape knew what his son had in mind, when his son asked Lin Wu to defeat him. He had thought that even if he won, it won''t be a once sided victory like this and that they would have to struggle for a while.

    Even if the demon spine ape lost like that, Lin Wu would be in no condition to take over his position. In a way, this was a trap devised by the father and son. The father epted Lin Wu''s proposition by taking the benefits, while the son denied it to reduce Lin Wu''s authority.

    If their n had seeded, not only would Lin Wu have to fulfill his end of the agreement, he would likely be suppressed by the two ape rulers.

    Still, what they did not know was that Lin Wu would not be fazed by their low grade scheme. He had far too much experience in matters such as these and had seen many situations like these in various media such that they had be overused tropes.

    "So you admit defeatбн good." Lin Wu said before releasing the demon spine ape.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The ape fell to the ground and created another imprint on it. At least this time it was not as injured and could pull himself out of it. Lin Wu, on the other hand, turned to the Slim arm ape king.

    "Well thenбн I guess we can proceed." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Alrightбн you can be the ruler now then." The Slim arm ape replied.

    Lin Wu looked at him with confusion in his eyes upon hearing his words.

    "Ruler? What ruler?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "You defeated my son, who is one of the rulers, you get his seat now." The slim arm ape replied, feeling strange now.

    "I don''t want it though." Lin Wu replied.

    "Huh?" Both the slim arm ape and the demon spine ape looked at him in bewilderment.

    "But didn''t you just use this as an excuse to get his seat?" The slim arm ape questioned.

    "Why would I need to do that? If I really wanted, I could have just started the fight the moment we met. Like I said, I only intended to do what I exined before. I do not want his seat, I want the Olive Viper King''s seat." Lin Wu answered.

    In reality, the reason why Lin Wu didn''t want the seat was that it would end up putting him in the limelight far too early. He would like to stay rtively hidden, at least until he reaches the child stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    While he had shown that he had defeated the Demon Spine ape wease, it was not so. In exchange Lin Wu had also borne the injuries which took quite a bit of vital essence to heal. Even the amount of spirit Qi he needed to suppress everyone with radiation maniption was high.

    It wasn''t as high as when he diverted tribtion lightning, but it was still quite substantial. Another thing was that he didn''t want to expose more of his skills by prolonging the fight. This was the fastest way he could do it right now.

    ''Keeping my size small, definitely worked in my favorбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he shrank back to his previous size.

    The three rulers looked at this with peculiar gazes as a thought appeared in their minds.

    ''So he can''t keep thisrge form for long. It is just a temporary ability.'' All of them thought.

    The demon spine ape was still injured but it did not have any life threatening injuries. It would just take him a week to fully recover to his peak state. As a demon spine ape, he naturally had a greater regeneration ability than other beasts and thus could fix his bones quicker too.

    "What now then?" The Beetle king, who had been silent till now, spoke.

    "Nowбн we just do as I said. I don''t require anything in particr of you three and just want you to stop the olive viper king''s subordinates when the timees. As for my end of the deal, if you want to mutate your subordinates, make sure they bring beasts for me to eat, spirit herbs or fruits." Lin Wu answered.

    "That''s all?" The slim arm ape asked.

    "Yes. No waitбн I have another thing I want to ask you three." Lin Wu replied.

    "And what''s that?" The slim arm ape questioned.

    "I wanted to take a look at the Dark Bloom caves. What would be the best ce to enter from that is not in the Twin Lights liger king''s territory?" Lin Mu replied.

    "The Dark Bloom caves? Why do you want to go there? That is a forbidden area." The Slim arm ape and the Beetle king questioned.

    "Forbidden? Doesn''t the Twin Lights Liger king live in one of the caves?" Lin Wu asked.

    "He is the only one that does and that''s because of his strength. Other normal nascent soul realm beasts won''t have the same luck."

 Chapter 253 - Restricted Entry?

    "So there is no way to enter the Dark Bloom caverns?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "No, there isбн the entrance is open. But, the other beasts will not allow someone to enter." The Slim arm ape answered.

    "Why is that? I heard the entry was free, it was just that due to danger no one entered." Lin Mu asked.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "It used to be like that, but then two years ago when the stars fell from the sky something changed. If a beast went into the Dark Bloom caves the other beasts would suffer bad luck.

    This has happened twice such that misfortune descended on the entire forest. The first time it was a random core condensation beast that wanted to test its luck. But when it went in, a terrible sound was hearding from the caves.

    The sound was strange and we could hear it nonstop. No matter what we tried the sound would not stop and it would keep on ringing in our heads." The Slim arm ape answered.

    "That is strangeбн and what about the second time?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Back when the Olive Viper king was battling the previous owner of his seat, the battle had urred near the Dark Bloom caves. This had scared the previous rulers'' subordinates, who ended up running into the Dark bloom caves to escape the attack.

    After so many beasts entered it, our misfortune began again. This time not only was there that sound, but a strange odor emanated from there which made us restless. No matter what we tried, we couldn''t sleep or rest for a week.

    Some beasts went mad directly and started raging. We ended up having to forcefully kill them, or they would have triggered a beast swarm, which is not what we wanted at that moment.

    The beast''s numbers had already reduced due to the stars falling and if the beast tide urred, it was likely the humans would send their experts to cull the beasts. With all the problems we already had we didn''t want the humans adding to it." The Slim arm ape king exined.

    Lin Wu did not know that all this had happened and wondered why the mole beast and the beetle beast servants had not told him this.

    "Wait this matterбн do the beasts from the third ring know about it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "No, they don''t. We don''t involve less intelligent beasts in things like these when they can''t understand it. They can''t get near the dark bloom caves anyway." The slim arms ape answered.

    ''No wonder they didn''t knowбн they were simply too weak to know at that time. And I also didn''t ask the swan and sparrow beast about it. They have been living in the fifth ring for longer and should have probably known about it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having obtained the answer, Lin Wu knew it would not be good to pursue more about it now. If the mandate was anything concrete, then something like this should not have happened. It was clear that whatever happened two years ago, it was rted to the meteor.

    ''Hmmбн what could it actually be? Strange sounds and foul odor?'' Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    "Alright then. I guess we can drop this for now. When you need me, you can contact me using this." Lin Wu said before making anothermunicator like he had done for the beetle king.

    The slim arm ape king looked at it with amazement.

    "Amunication jade slip? You can make them?" The slim arm ape king questioned.

    "Yeah, just think of it as one of my abilities." Lin Wu said before handing themunication jade slip to the slim arm ape king.

    "I trust you know how to use it?" Lin Wu asked.

    The slim arm ape king nodded his head as he spoke, "yes I do."

    "Alright then. I''ll go back to my ce. If you want to mutate your subordinates, do as I instructed and tell them to ahead to the tomb, I live there now." Lin Wu said, much to the shock of the Slim arm ape.

    With this final shock, Lin Wu flew away to his ''nest''. He had another n hatching in his mind, but he would need to wait for a while to enact it. If he did it rightaway, he was sure the suspicion would directly fall on him.

    Even though the Slim arm ape had told him not to go to the Dark bloom caves, Lin Wu was not going to listen to it. He had an idea that perhaps whatever was causing the disturbances; it didn''t want them to see what was in the depths.

    And since it happed after the meteor fell, it was rted to that as well. Lin Wu would wait a few days for the situation to normalize before he would make his way there. He already knew where the caves actually were and he was just asking the rulers as he had thought that they may know more than others.

    That very hunch turned out to be true as Lin Wu would now be aware of these ''dangerous'' that would happen. Besides, Lin Wu knew that if he really wanted to get in, there was no way they could stop him anyway.

    He was not going to go from the surface, he was a worm. He would just dig his way in and nobody would know unless they met him on the way there. Lin Wu also had the backup of using the teleportation formation to return to the tomb if he was ever in danger.

    That was his safety that he would keep handy at all times. It would also help him hide if he ever aroused the suspicion of the other rulers. If they imed he went there, he could just teleport back to the tomb.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I guess I''ll just cultivate for a while moreбн I got a lot of spirit Qi to refine anywayбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 254 - The Four Servants Awaken?

    Lin Wu had been cultivating at the tomb of the Taiji celestial for about a week now since his battle with the Demon spine ape. The things at the millennium forest had calmed down by now and most of the conflict caused due to the territorial battles were also reduced.

    The territory had finally been divided among the five rulers and a strange sense of peace was achieved in the forest. Even the Olive Viper King had been staying silent for a while and had not been seen.

    Lin Wu''s servants had also woken up by now and were now at the tomb as well.

    "Greetings master!" All of them said together.

    This was the first time the four of them were meeting each other officially. They all had met up outside of the tomb and had a conversation amongst themselves. Their ranks were also decided by them.

    Right now the mole beast was at the top not only because he was the first one to be Lin Wu''s servant but also because he was the only one who had sessfully broken through to the Late stage of the Core condensation realm.

    The next was the beetle beast who was at the very cusp of reaching thete stage of the core condensation realm. The third was the sparrow beast and the final was the swan beast. Both of them were at the mid stage of the core condensation realm.

    All of them knew that the reason why they had reached their current cultivation bases was due to Lin Wu and they were grateful to him for that. If it were not for him, it was likely it would have taken them another hundred years to reach this point.

    There was even a chance that they would have never been able to reach the peak stage of the core condensation realm and their life span would have ended. Most beasts in the core condensation realm had the same life span as that of the human cultivators, but some unique ones would live longer.

    But these four beasts were not among those lucky beasts and thus would have ended up extinguishing their longevity, never having the chance at the Nascent Soul realm. They now knew, as long as they server Lin Wu diligently they may actually have a chance at something like this.

    "Hmmбн so you four finally woke up. And I see you all progressed quite a bit in your cultivation too." Lin Wu who was in his full sized form spoke.

    This was the mostfortable form for him to cultivate and thus he stayed in this, unless he was going out when he would switch to a smaller form instead.

    "It was all your doing master, we dare not take the credit." The mole beast boot licked quickly.

    "Humphбн" The beetle beast felt frustrated that she missed her chance again, but for some reason this mole was just too fast at things like this.

    While the two bird beasts were simply bird brained and did not have thoughts like that. All they wanted was to stay safe, eat and cultivate. They had seen Lin Wu''s strength and did not dare to protest about anything.

    Lin Wu nodded his head as he liked their response. They were willing to serve diligently, which was something he was happy with.

    "What is it that you wanted to ask us, master?" The beetle beast questioned.

    "Oh yeah, do any of you have an idea about cooking." Lin Wu questioned.

    "Cooking?" They all said in unison, confused looks on their faces.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I should have expectedбн" Lin Wu said as he shook his head.

    "Take a look at this and tell me if you will be able to do this." Lin Wu said before giving each of them four jade slips that he had made.

    All of these contained information about cooking that Lin Wu had gathered. It even included various ingredients descriptions and how they could be used. The four beasts took the jade slips apprehensively before reading them using their spirit sense.

    It took them an hour before they were able to go through it and after they were done, sweat appeared on their faces.

    "Master thisбн" The mole beast said as he gulped.

    "I never expected humans had skills such as theseбн" The beetle beast said.

    "I know, right? Food is just food, why do they need to do so many things to it?" The sparrow beast said.

    "Ummбн I once ate some of the things a group of humans left. It did taste better than what we usually eatбн" The swan beast added.

    "Exactly!" Lin Wu suddenly interrupted.

    "The food cooked by humans is exquisite and can even enhance the quality of it which can help you speed up your cultivation." Lin Wu exined.

    The four beasts did not think there would be an effect like this and they instantly perked up.

    "I am interested in this master but thenбн" the mole beast said before looking at its crystalline green ws. "I don''t think we will be able to use their techniques using our limbs." He added.

    The other beasts took a look at their bodies and reached the same conclusion. None of them had the right dexterity to do things like that and there was no way they would be able to handle certain cooking utensils.

    "Yeahбн that''s true. So, instead of that what I want you to do is to gather ingredients. You all should have the list in the jade slip, so if you find things resembling that, you can gather them. You all should also start to recruit your own underlings and put them on the task.

    If you find interesting things you can also gather them. Oh, and don''t forget the cultivation resources like spirit herbs, they can be used in cooking too and their effects can be multiplied by that." Lin Wu spoke.

    "We understand master." They all spoke in unison.

    "Though master, if you want someone to cook for you. Why don''t you try getting one of the monkey beasts? They have limbs simr to humans and should be able to replicate all that." The mole beast suggested.

 Chapter 255 - Journey To The Capital?

    What the mole beast had said was exactly what Lin Wu had originally wanted to do. But he had seen the monkey beasts when he met the two ape kings and knew that recruiting them on that day would be hard.

    If he asked them to give him a few monkeys he would have definitely been rejected. Thus he wanted to wait for the right opportunity.

    "I did have that idea, but haven''t gotten the chance for it." Lin Wu stated.

    "There are a lot of monkey beasts in the outer three rings of the forest, but I doubt they are intelligent enough to learn this." The swan beast thought out loud.

    "Indeed. Wellбн anyways you all can go about your way." Lin Wu said.

    "Master, do you still want me to keep an eye on the Olive Viper king?" the mole beast questioned.

    "No, there is no need now. I have other sources of information." Lin Wu said.

    This was one of the things he had added in agreement for the cooperation with the slim arms ape, demon spine ape and the split thorn horn beetle kings. They did not mind something like this and had their subordinates watching the snake anyway.

    This was a better and more efficient method for Lin Wu as it would get him more information. Lin Wu returned to cultivation and returned his mind to his avatar.

    "Hmm, I should be able to upgrade my cultivation base in two more weeks." Lin Wu muttered to himself after seeing the window.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Peak stage of the core condensation realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [8416/24,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    Shirong had left the Deer Wood city a day after Lin Wu had his battle with the Demon Spine ape.

    He was now close to the capital city of the Ling Kingdom and would reach it in an hour. Originally he was going to directly fly there but then decided to take a carriage instead. The reason for this was some new information that he had obtained.

    Shirong had asked n Head Lu to send out his people to search for more information on his two followers Ye Dai and Bei Wen who had gone missing. Apparently, they were seen being taken by some group which had been found to be involved in human trafficking.

    This group operated in between the routes going to the capital city and was said to be quite strong too. They were said to have plenty of Core condensation realm cultivators and were rumored to have a nascent soul realm expert as their backer.

    The n head and Shirong knew that they were definitely not the ones who had made the n to take Shirong''s two followers and there was another party behind them. But these people would be the key to getting to them and thus Shirong made a n.

    He would disguise himself as a rich nobleman and travel by carriage. He would intentionally have low security and make it as if he was a good target for these ''bandits''.

    But just this would not have been enough and it was known that they only targeted specific people who were vulnerable and rich. They were also smart and would not just fall into a trap like this directly.

    Because of this, Shirong had to plot a very long route to the capital. That way there was a greater chance of encountering these bandits. He even got the n head to spread the news that the young master of a noble n who had never gone out into the world before was visiting the capital for the first time.

    This was to incite the bandits to take action. They knew that there was still arge chance they would not seed but Shirong was still willing to take it. The route they had taken went through multiple viges and towns, making sure that they covered the more ''deste'' parts of the routes too.

    But it seemed like Shirong''s luck was not as good and they did not encounter any of those ''bandits'' They had been traveling for six days now and there was no progress in their n.

    Usually, it would have taken a person two days to reach the capital of the Ling kingdom by a carriage but even after expanding this journey to six days, their n seemed to have failed.

    "What should we do now, young master?" One of the servants asked.

    Shirong had been assigned a few servants to act as the part and they were all cultivators who were hiding their cultivation base as well. Shirong looked out of the window and sighed, feeling a bit lost.

    "Seems like our journey was in vain. These rats are way more cautious than we thought, or they moved to some other ce at thest moment." Shirong spoke.

    "Indeed. Our scouts have also reported that there have been no recent bandit attacks on any of the carriages or caravans traveling." The servant spoke.

    Shirong simply nodded his head without answering. He had gotten bored at this time as he barely had anything to do. Since they were traveling to the capital city, most of the paths were well developed, and rarely did any beasts get near this.

    And even the ones that did, were quickly killed by the guards. After reaching the Nascent Soul realm, Shirong wanted nothing more than to fight and test his new skills, but he was not having the chance.

    Even if he did do that, there was a great chance his cover would be exposed and their n would just fail. And now finally after all this time, they were close to the capital city.

    ''Seems like I''ll just have to get onto my mission firstбн'' Shirong thought.

    He spread his spirit sense fully for the first time in days and checked the area. In the few days, while he was in the carriage, Shirong had taken the opportunity to further refine his spirit sense. His spirit sense had now reached a radius of about three hundred meters.

    But just as he did that, he spotted something he had been waiting for.

    "So they have been hiding here all this timeбн"

 Chapter 256 - Bandits?

    Shirong found none other than the very bandits they had been looking for since the start.

    ''Who would have thought they would make their base so close to the capital.'' Shirong thought.

    They were mere hours away from the capital city and if any illegal activity was detected by the guards a strict action would be taken. This was the reason why criminals did not dare to do anything out of the capital.

    Though once one entered the city, things were different. Crime was not as umon in the city itself and certain powers were behind this. Often times leaving the city was an easy way to get a robber to stop his pursuit than going to the guards yourself.

    It was a strange situation created over many years and had now reached an equilibrium. But perhaps to take the advantage of this very bnce, the bandits had chosen to create their base here.

    Their base was also rather apparent. It was an outpost located half a kilometer away from the main path, hidden behind a dense patch of trees. Had it not been for Shirong''s Spirit sense he would not have spotted them.

    "Looks like we won''t be failing this time. They areing to us themselvesбн" Shirong said to the others.

    "What do you mean young master?" The servant asked.

    "The bandits, they areing for us now," Shirong replied as he opened the window slightly and peeked out.

    "Hmmбн there are ten of them. Three in the core condensation realm with the rest in the Qi refining realm." Shirong counted.

    "Should I act young master?" The servant asked as his face turned serious.

    These ''servants'' that Shirong had with him were no normal people and were core condensation realm nsmen from the Lu n. They were no soft persimmons and had been through their fair share of battles.

    "No, just wait here. I want to see how they go about their business. What could they have done that they were able to get two of my subordinates captured?" Shirong said in a cold tone.

    It didn''t take long for the ten men to approach them on horseback. The three core condensation realm cultivators were at the front and were looking at them with grim expressions.

    "HALT!" the man at the front shouted.

    The carriage subsequently stopped and the few guards that were with the carriage showed a tense expression just as they had practiced.

    "Wh-what do you men want?" The carriage driver questioned, while stammering.

    "Surrender your belonging ande with us. If you don''t listen peacefully, prepare to lose your life." The man ordered.

    "Ahahahahahah!" Lin Wu couldn''t hold back anymore andughed out loud.

    "These dumb fucks! Can''t they be any more generic?" Lin Wu said, feeling amazed at this.

    The carrier driver gulped loudly to show his fear and looked at the back of the carrier.

    <em>~creek~</em>

    The door of the carriage opened and out walked the servant, with a scared look on his face.

    "The young master told us to do as they ask. Just don''t harm him." The servant spoke.

    "Hehe, seems like this guy has some brains, at least. This will make it much easier for us." The leader of the bandits spoke.

    "Come on, take the entire carriage to the hideout. We''ll check the loot there." One of the core condensation realm cultivators ordered.

    The Qi refining realm cultivators surrounded the carrier and prodded them ahead while the three experts led them to their hideout. They didn''t travel fast though, as the path was rather rough. This was off the main path and it took them ten minutes to travel a mere half a kilometer.

    On the way there though, the three core condensation realm cultivators were all very alert and were looking around.

    "What do you think first brother? Is this the silk pants we got the information about?" The third core condensation realm cultivator asked the first one.

    "Should be this one. The n name of the carriage reads ''Ji'' so it''s definitely them." The first brother spoke.

    "What if we got the wrong person thought? Perhaps this is the young master of the great Ji n." The second brother asked with apprehension.

    "Ahahha! Second brother, your joke is really good. Why would a young master of the great Ji n travel in a carriage like this that too with so weak guards? Not to mention the guards, they themselves should be strong enough to fight us alone. This is clearly the young master of the local Ji n." The first brother replied.

    "Ahahah!" Lin Wuughed again. He couldn''t believe how urate the words of the second person were.

    The two men took another look at the carriage and indeed found it to be normal looking. There was nothing peculiar and the guards also had weak spirit Qi fluctuations. The concealment talismans that the Lu n head had prepared were working well for them.

    These talismans were single use ones, that could hide the spirit Qi fluctuation of a cultivator making it seem like they were one realm below the actual one. This talisman needed to be activated before someone detected you and worked for about six hours.

    The guards and the servant had activated them, the moment Shirong had announced that these were the bandits they were looking for.

    After approaching the hideout, the carriage was halted and a few more men walked out of the small building that was made from wood and stones.

    "Seems like a good haul this time. We will make a fortune ransoming this guy." The first brother spoke with joy.

    "But what if his n is unable to pay or does not want to pay his ransom?" The second brother asked.

    "You are as doubtful as ever, second brother. We have never had a n who did not pay the ransom for one of their heirs. Besides, even if they don''t pay us, we can very easily sell him off. The costs for well maintained and good looking ves from rich ns are quite high. We will not be making a loss either way." The first brother spoke.

 Chapter 257 - Torture?

    Lin Wu was enjoying the entire thing while sitting in the ring carefree. He was even eating some of the fruits he had stolenбн taken from the Lu n. Since he didn''t have a lot of them he was eating them piece by piece while savoring the vor and the drama as well.

    "I really need to get a lot more snacksбн storing them in the system''s inventory makes them frozen in the state they were put in so I should be able to keep a lot of things." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The first brother looked over to the carriage and shouted. "Come out now! Show us your face!"

    Inside the carriage, the servant looked at Shirong with apprehension.

    "Young master, should we act now?" The servant asked.

    "Just waitбн I''ll take care of this myself now. I''ve gotten bored sitting here all these daysбн" Shirong said in a tired tone before standing up.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The servant couldn''t help but gulp in slight fear. Just because Shirong was bored and perhaps frustrated due to the time spend, he a Nascent Soul realm cultivator was willing to take action himself.

    ''These men are gonna regret this dayбн'' The servant thought before opening the door for Shirong and leaving the carriage first as was the etiquette. Even if he was only pretending to be a servant, that didn''t mean he would stop the act right away.

    Besides, it was not bad to do things like this, since Shirong was a Nascent Soul realm cultivator not to mention the heir of the great Ji n. He would not be making a loss by serving him.

    The bandits saw the servant leaving the carriage and looked on at the open door, only to show confused expression on their faces.

    "Who is that?" They wondered.

    They had an idea of how the said young master was supposed to look, but Shirong was no way like that. It was not just the appearance, but the demeanor which had given him away.

    "You people have been saying a lot of things without thinking about the consequenceбн now it''s my turn to act without thinking of the consequence," Shirong said as he moved towards them, temps by stem.

    The bandits couldn''t help but feel anxious for some reason.

    "Stop! Take another step and we will chop your legs!" one of the Qi refining realm bandits that was near Shirong threatened.

    <em>~flick~</em>

    <em>~swish~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The people watched in horror as a head fell down effortlessly on the floor and rolled towards the bandit leader''s foot.

    "You guys were thinking of taking advantage of a noob when it was actually a smurf." Lin Wu chuckled.

    It barely took Shirong a flick of a finger to chop off the head of the bandit using the wind attribute spirit Qi. His control over the Immortal Sky shaker art had gotten terrifyingly better. And he required much less effort to do something like this.

    If he truly wanted to, he could just kill all of them with a flick of a hand. The wind des would split them in half instantly. But that was not what Shirong wanted. He wanted information about his subordinates, and he was willing to get it by hook or crook.

    The bandits finally understood they had hit a steel te and all they could do now was to escape. While they could still now sense Shirong''s cultivation base, they were easily able to assume that he must be vastly strongpared to them, considering the ease with which he beheaded theirpanion.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In less than two minutes, all of the men were on the ground with their limbs having been broken. Shirong moved at lightning pace and barely took a second for each person.

    "Well thenбн we should start nowбн" Shirong said with a dark smile on his face before getting the guards to carry these bandits'' insides and then telling them to wait outside.

    What happened next was a torture session thatsted an hour, in which Shirong took out all the boredom that he had been feeling these past few days. At the end, all of the bandits were limbless, and some were just dead.

    Shirong had been able to gather quite a bit of information from them, which he had expected, especially with the application of his ''skills''.

    "So their actual head is off doing business with a big ''client''. But they still don''t know much about Ye Dai and Bei Wen. They have seen them, but they were originally captured by their leader and the elite bandits." Shirong muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu watched on and knew his turn was about toe. He had watched the entire thing from start to end and actually had to stop eating as he didn''t feel it to be as appetizing as before.

    Shirong willed it and a gauntlet appeared under the sleeves on his harms. He went to each of the bandits and stabbed their heads with the spike of the gauntlet, while Lin Wu got to his usual task.

    "Ahhбн it still feels got to absorb spirit Qi and vital energy like this. This will save me a few days of effort." Lin Wu said as he waited for the system''s prompt.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA NODES OBTAINED: Ten nodes analyzed

    TRANSFERRING DATA: please wait a moment

    бкбк

    Lin Wu closed his eyes and watched the memories that had appeared in his mind now. All of them were a bit jumbled at first, but the system was able to sort them out. Eventuality Lin Wu got the proper timeline of things and saw the scene where Ye Dai and Bei Wen were brought in.

    The two men were unconscious had were tied up. Their bodies looked injured and their clothes were torn in many ces due to the attacks they had sustained. There were many more bandits standing there over a hundred, along with an old man who looked like their leader.

    "So that is the Nascent Soul realm leader they haveбн but that symbolбн where have I seen that before?"

 Chapter 258 - Shadow Dagger Pavilion?

    In the memories, Lin Wu had seen a symbol on the belt of the Nascent Soul realm cultivator. The symbol was that of three daggers arranged into a ''Y'' shape. He felt like he had seen it somewhere before.

    "System, check the data bank for the symbol." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The symbol belongs to the shadow dagger pavilion. They are an organization that undertakes jobs like assassination, heist, robbery, espionage and sabotage. They are one of the bigger criminal organizations in the Ling kingdom and a few nearby kingdoms.

    A lot of ns have dealings with them and have involved them at some point in time. Even the Xiong n has had a few dealings with the shadow dagger pavilion a few years ago.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nodded his head as he finally realized where he had seen the symbol. It was in the records of the Xiong n where it recorded their business deals and trades. Lin Wu went over those records and saw their involvement.

    "Oh, so they just hired them to cripple the business of a few merchants ten years ago. That''s not as problematicбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Originally Lin Wu wanted to go over all the information as he didn''t want to pass everything to Shirong. He would only give the part which would be more beneficial to him and would help him manipte the man in his favor.

    "I can just give him everything and see if he can figure out more from thisбн" Lin Wu decided before continuing.

    "Alright system, transfer the memories to Shirong." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    INITIATING DATA TRANSFER: Data nodes selected

    DATA TRANSFER: Initiatedбн please wait patiently

    бкбк

    Shirong finally felt the connection between him and the Immortal Crystal Armament be active again and got the response. He had been wanting to get the memories like it had gotten from the traitor Elder Pei, and it was exactly what Lin Wu had done.

    Shirong closed his eyes and let the memories pour into his mind. They started ying in his mind and he watched them one by one. Unlike Lin Wu who had the support of the system, Shirong couldn''t control which memory he watched or the order, thus he ended up seeing the entire thing.

    It took him over an hour for this and he felt a bit tired at the end of it as well. Had it not been for him reaching the Nascent Soul realm, he probably would have had a splitting headache at this point.

    ''Digesting the memories of fifteen men is not something easy even for meбн'' Shirong thought to himself as he analyzed the memories.

    After the memories were fully transferred, Shirong could go over them as he liked and did not need to watch the entire thing from start to end.

    If Lin Wupared this to his past life, it was like watching a live stream. One could only watch as everything happened, but once the live stream was finished, they could rewind or directly skip to the part that they wanted to watch. The potential for control was much better, and it made it very convenient.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA TRANSFER: Completed

    бкбк

    Unlike Lin Wu though, Shirong was easily able to recognize who the old man was.

    "The shadow dagger pavilionбн you have made a grave mistake targeting my people and in turn targeting me," Shirong said in a grim tone.

    He looked through the memories further and imprinted the faces of the bandits on his mind.

    "One of the branches of the Shadow dagger pavilion is in the capital itself. No wonder these guys had the courage to set up their hideout here. Hmmбн the head should be either in the capital, or his whereabouts can probably be found from there." Shirong muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu was amazed by this as he did not have this information and neither did the system.

    "Oooбн seems like giving it to Shirong was indeed the better choice." Lin Wu nodded his head in appreciation.

    Shirong opened his eyes that were filled with a fierce glint and he left the building. The corpses of the bandits were all desated as Lin Wu had sucked them dry and now he needed to get rid of it.

    "Are you done, young master? Did you find clues!?" The servant asked.

    "I didбн they are much closer than I expected," Shirong replied.

    "That''s good. Should we head out then?" The servant questioned.

    "Yesбн but just a moment." Shirong said before turning around to face the bandit''s hideout.

    He extended his finger and spirit Qi waves rolled off him. Arcs of electricity traveled across his body before shooting out from his finger.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    The power contained in that single small bolt of lightning was nothing to be scoffed at and exploded the hideout of the bandits.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Fire ignited on its remains, and soon, everything burned down.

    <em>~gulp~ </em>

    The guards and servant that were apanying Shirong couldn''t help but gulp in fear. They had seen him disy his strength before when he fought with the bandits, but this was on apletely different level.

    ''Young master Shirong is truly a dragon amongst menбн'' They all thought.

    Shirong nodded his head at this result and walked back to the carriage before climbing in.

    "Let''s go! I''m getting sick of this carriage. Continue at full speed." Shirong ordered.

    "YES, YOUNG MASTER!" They all replied before the carriage started running at a much faster speed than before.

    In fact, it was over three times as fast as before. They had been intentionally traveling slowly so that the bandits would have caught up to them in these past scene days. And now that they had found them and obtained more clues, they no longer had to keep hiding.

    In less than thirty minutes, the carriage had already reached the entrance of the Ling kingdom''s capital city. A long line could be seen outside of it, all different carriages waiting for their turn to be checked.

    "MAKE WAY! THE YOUNG MASTER HAS ARRIVED!" A voice came from behind the gates.

 Chapter 259 - Entering The Capital?

    The people and the guards that were checking the carriages became surprised at the sudden interruption. The guards particrly recognized the voice to be of their superior and quickly turned around to salute.

    "CAPTAIN!" They all saluted with cupped hands.

    "What are you all doing here standing!? Get thesemoners moving, Young Master Shirong of the Ji n is on his way!" The captain ordered, anxiety visible on his face.

    Originally Shirong was supposed to arrive over three days ago and they had no idea why he had note yet. So as to not alert the bandits or whoever was behind the kidnapping of Ye Dai and Bei Wen, Shirong had not allowed information about him to be revealed beforehand.

    Still, the capital needed to be informed and thus, Shirong simply asked n Head Lu to tell them that he will being there in two to five days. He had expected that he would be able to find the bandits in that time period but it had taken him much longer to do that.

    Still, Shirong was carrying the jade slip and the guards that were apanying him informed the city only when they had taken care of the bandits. Because of this, the people from the city had to hurry up and prepare for Shirong''s arrival.

    While Shirong was was the Heir of the Ji n, if one considered his social standing he would still be belowpared to the King of a kingdom. But the king would not miss out on this and did his best to prepare for the meeting.

    Good impressions were important and were absolutely necessary for the higher social circles.

    The guard captain had to be prompt due to this order and rushed to the entrance. He knew there would be people at the city gates waiting for verification, since it was soon going to be the time for the annual ancestral worship ceremony. On normal days, it would have been less traffic.

    Shirong though, did not really care for all this stuff and only wanted to get onto his next task. Right now his first Job would be to meet the king and pay his respects before meeting the merchant who worked for the Ji n.

    He would have to collect his token from him and also give him some information that is to be sent to the n. Then he also needed to collect the supplies that would b needs for the mission that his n assigned to him.

    Then after this came two jobs that were personal to him. The first was Minister Du Yang, who had dared to conspire against him and the second was the Shadow Dagger pavilion who had kidnapped his subordinates.

    Overall, he knew it would take him a few days before he would be able to leave the capital.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Hopefully, the king doesn''t pull any extra acts to show to the people. Or he''ll really dy me a long time." Shirong thought to himself.

    While Shirong was fine with the treatment that the Lu n gave him and all the celebrations they held for him, he did not want the king to be doing the same for him. In the case of the Lu n, they were meant to be allies and thus it was fine.

    But in the case of the King and his family, it would never work out as they were two opposing parties in the end. While he would present a genial and friendly front to him, he knew that the king would still be displeased about himing here and recruiting allies from his people.

    It was the same as poking holes in one walls. The king was the owner of the house while aristocrats were the walls that held it up. When holes were poked in it, the wall would get weaker and there would be a greater chance of the owner that lived inside it getting harmed or injured.

    <em>~canter~</em>

    The sound of the horses could be heard by the people from far and they soon spotted Shirong''s carriageing towards them at great speed. There were two horses pulling it, and six guards that followed at the sides on horseback as well.

    From afar these horses looked like normal horses, but in reality, they were thousand-mile horses that had the stamina to run for a long time without tiring out. Before they had barely used them due to searching for the bandits and thus the horses were well rested.

    Now taking advantage of that, Shirong quickly approached the gates. The guards had already gotten to making a free area for Shirong to pass through and had gotten themoners to move from the path.

    Most of the people did not darein, but did feel a bit displeased by this. They did not know who the Ji n was, but seeing the reaction of the guards, they knew better than to make any problem here. If they really did so, they would be swiftly arrested and sent to the prison for a few days. Or worse, flogged till they bled.

    Shirong did not stop at the gates as they had already received the signal from the city guards to proceed. The guards made two files, one to each side, and cupped their hands while bowing their heads in a formal salute.

    Just this gesture showed how much respect was demanded by the Ji n.

    "Where should we head to first, Young master?" The Servant questioned.

    "Hmmбн head to this ce firstбн" Shirong said before describing the location to him.

    This was the location of the merchant who would be giving Shirong his supplies. While he had initially nned to go directly to the king, Shirong now thought that perhaps he should prepare for a bit beforehand.

    He didn''t know but he was having this strange gut feeling that was prompting him to be prepared for everything that came.

    "He''s going to jinx it, isn''t he?" Lin Wu said upon seeing Shirong''s actions.

 Chapter 260 - Reporting Back To The Clan?

    Shirong went straight to the location of the merchant that worked for the Ji n secretly. There were many of these people all over the continent, in each kingdom. They would gather intelligence for the Ji n and also help supply the things to their other members that were current in that kingdom.

    In some cases, they also brought a lot of business and profit to the Ji n. These people were still merchants in the true sense only difference was where their loyalties lied.

    It took Shirong much longer than he had expected to reach the merchant. The ce was much smaller than one would expect and looked a bit run down too. His carriage couldn''t progress beyond a certain point due to the road being smaller and he stopped.

    "Wait here, I''ll be backter," Shirong ordered the servant and guards before walking into a narrow alley.

    There he found the Shop that he was supposed to enter. There was no name board on it, and it was hard to identify for anyone. Unless they knew about it, they would have no idea that this ce even worked.

    <em>~knock~ knock~</em>

    "The will of Ji is absolute." Shirong muttered the password before the door.

    <em>~creek~</em>

    The door of the shop opened and an old man stood behind it. He didn''t speak anything and simply let Shirong in.

    He went to a trunk that was ced on the ground and waved his hand over it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A formation appeared on the surface of the trunk and glowed for a few seconds before fading away. Then, from that trunk, he pulled out more trunks that were the same size as it. It was evident that the trunk was nomon object and was rather a High Grade spatial storage tool.

    The old man ced these trunks before Shirong and gestured to them.

    "Here are the supplies that were provided by the n, for the Young master''s mission. If you need more, I can provide them for the right price." The Old man spoke.

    "Let me take a look," Shirong said before opening the trunks one by one.

    There were plenty of alchemical pills and spirit stones present in each of the trunk. There were even defensive talismans and some spirit tools that coulde in handy for Shirong.

    Then in one of the trunks, he found a small palm sized box. Upon seeing the Ji n''s crest on top of it, Shirong instantly realized what it was.

    He opened it and saw the identity token that was ced upon a soft velvet cushion. Shirong cut his finger with a little bit of wind and dripped his blood onto the identity token. The token absorbed the blood in less than a second and glowed with a red light.

    Its surface started to change as new letters appeared on it. The letters read: Shirong. This now fully confirmed that it was indeed Shirong who was the owner of the token.

    This token was actually a high grade spirit tool as well and had the functions such as verifying the user''s identity, tracking their position, tracking their vitals, sending distress signals and also as a key to the Ji n''snds.

    "Is there anything else you need? The merchant questioned.

    "Yes, I do; The teleportation formation to contact the n." Shirong stated.

    The merchant looked a bit apprehensive, but upon seeing the token in his hand became rxed.

    "Pleasee with me." The old man said, before taking Shirong to another room in the back. In this room, a lot of expensive goods such as spirit tools and weapons were being kept.

    One of such things was a cab that had a lot of runes carved on it. These runes were intricate, and Lin Wu could tell they were runes used for spatial teleportation. He had seen the better and higher version of these runes in the Tomb of the Taiji Celestial and was well aware of them.

    "Here it is." The merchant said, gesturing to the cab.

    Shirong walked to the cab and took out a jade slip from his storage. He had recorded all he needed to report to the n in this during the past few days, and just needed to send it now. He opened the doors of the cab and ced the jade slip in the center before locking its doors.

    He ced his hand on the cab and poured spirit Qi into it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The runes on it lit up and the entire formation appeared on it now. If it was any other person they would have needed spirit stones to operate the formation as it required a lot of spirit Qi at once. Even if someone had that much spirit Qi they may not be able to output it all at once.

    Thus the spirit stones helped in that aspect. But for Shirong, this was no problem now that he was in the Nascent Soul realm and could handle it just on his own. It took a minute before the formation was fully ready and the jade slip disappeared.

    Shirong lifted his hand from the cab and nodded his head.

    "This should be fine nowбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    After this, he didn''t say much to the merchant and simply left the shop, returning to the carriage.

    "Head to the royal pce!" Shirong ordered.

    <em>~Neigh~</em>

    The horse neighed before the carriage headed towards the royal pce. It was not hard to find the royal pce, as it was located at the very center of the city and could be seen from each point in the city.

    It was the tallest building in the city and no one would have a problem finding it. The carriage came to stop at the inner gates of the pce before it could not progress anymore. Shirong got down and headed into the building while being greeted by the servants.

    It was evident that they had already been informed of his arrival and were there specifically for him. It was now that he heard a voice call out to him.

    "Young master Shirong, You''re finally here!"

 Chapter 261 - Meeting The King?

    Shirong recognized who that voice belonged to and even Lin Wu did.

    "Ah! He really did jinx himself. To meet this man just upon entering the royal pce, tsk, tskбн" Lin Wu said.

    "Minister Du Yang, what a pleasure to meet you," Shirong said, forcing a smile onto his face.

    This was the very man that had dared to involved Shirong in his plot and was the one being assisted by his first, third and fifth brother. Shirong himself was the second child of the current patriarch of the Ji n.

    There was a year''s difference between him and his elder brother who was the first born. Shirong had been able toe out on top due to his capabilities and had been chosen as an Heir. The other sons had lost, but it was evident that they would not give up this fast.

    While they could not act openly since the n rules forbid them; they could still makable plots against Shirong to suppress him and weaken him. But they had miscalcted that Shirong would not take this lying down.

    They did not know that Shirong had the Immortal Crystal Armament, Lin Wu who could show him the memories who the people who it killed. If it had not been for him, there was probably no way Shirong had even thought they would do something like this.

    Unlike most other ns, once the session of the heir was decided, there wasn''t much opposition from the other contenders. That is how it had been since the time of his ancestor. But it now seemed like his brothers and even his sister were not willing to continue that tradition.

    Shirong doubted that even if he brought proof, there was a chance that his father the patriarch would not believe it.

    ''But this also means that you can''t act against me openly. Even if I get rid of your pawn''s what can you do?'' Shirong thought to himself as his eyes showed an evil glint.

    For a moment there, minster Du Yang felt goosebumps appearing all over his body and he involuntarily shivered.

    ''Why am I suddenly feeling cold? It''s not winter and I''m a Core condensation realm cultivator for heavens'' sake.'' Minister Du Yang wondered.

    The evil glint in Shirong''s eyes faded away rather quickly as he assumed a friendly smile.

    "No, the pleasure is all mine. Allow me to greet you on your breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm." Minster Du Yang hurriedly spoke.

    "Well, I''m honored to be worthy of receiving your praise," Shirong said while looking minster Du Yang right in his eyes.

    "Butбн I think I should head on in and pay my respects to the king." Shirong added.

    "Yes, yes, by all means. I''m heading there as well." Du Yang replied.

    Shirong nodded his head before walking through the long corridor. After two minutes, they reached the end of it, where tworge doors met them. Guards stood on their sides and they pushed open the door, seeing them approach.

    "YOUNG MASTER SHIRONG OF THE JI CLAN AND MINSTER DU YANG HAVE ARRIVED!" They announced.

    The king who had been listening to his advisers silently, almost fell from the throne. He had his head resting against his palm and lost his bnce, but managed to not embarrass himself. Thankfully, everyone had switched their attention to the doors that had opened and thus did not see his embarrassing act.

    "I pay respects to his majesty, Ling Huo!" Shirong said with a slight bow.

    The other ministers and advisers did the same as was the etiquette and then sat back down.

    "Finally you are here, Young Master Shirong. We have been waiting for you eagerly." The King said.

    "It was the same for me, King Huo. I got a little busy with some bandits whileing here." Shirong replied.

    The king''s brows furrowed upon hearing his words and spoke, "bandits? Here? Near my capital?"

    "Indeed, King Huo. Just a couple of hours distance from the city too. Though don''t worry they are all gone now and won''t trouble the masses anymore." Shirong replied, which made a lot of advisers relieved.

    But there was one person who did not look fully calm. He tried to hide it and was even sessful but one person had caught it.

    "Hoho! So here is the root of the problem, eh? Looks like I''ll get to see the action much earlier than I had expected." Lin Wu said, feeling amazed.

    "I am sorry that you had to act yourself, Young master. I swear that my officers will look into it right away." The king said before looking towards his ministers.

    "YES! Do not worry young master, I will personally go and verify this matter." One of the ministers sitting in the court said before rushing out of the hall.

    "I''ll go and write a missive to inform the heads of the various settlements." Another minister said before leaving the room too.

    After that, five more minsters left the hall, citing some excuse and hurried out. They had spent quite a few years in the royal court and knew when misfortune was close to them.

    After all, when it came time for punishments, it was the idle worker that was picked first rather than the one who was busy with his tasks.

    "If I may speak more King Huo." Shirong said, much to the anxiety of Du Yang.

    "Please feel free to speak Young master Shirong." The King replied.

    "When I ''dealt'' with the bandits, I happened toe across more information that I believe you would be interested in," Shirong spoke.

    "Oh, and what is this information?" The king questioned, feeling interested, while minster Du Yang had now started sweating.

    "I was able to coax out some information from the mouths of those bandits and learned that there is a criminal organization working right under the kingdom''s nose," Shirong revealed.

    The king''s eyes went wide as he gripped the handle of the throne hard.

    "And, which organization is this?" The King questioned.

    "The shadow dagger pavilion."

 Chapter 262 - Co-conspirator?

    The King was appalled by this information and doubted it at first. But then after thinking over it he realized that there literally was no reason for Shirong to fabricate this information.

    If Shirong really wanted to go against the Ling kingdom, there were many easier ways to do it rather than this. He looked at his remaining ministers who were still sitting in the hall showing anxious expressions.

    "I seeбн we''ll look into it right away." King Huo said.

    "Actually King Huo, you won''t have to look far. I believe one of the co-conspirators should be right here." Shirong said with a toothy smile.

    Beads of sweat dripped down Du Yang''s forehead as his hands trembled. King Huo gritted his teeth and looked around the hall once again. But right now nearly every minister was in a simr condition to that of Du Yang, making it hard for him to assume.

    "Do you want me to tell you who that person is?" Shirong teased.

    "Please do, young masterбн" King Huo said in a tired tone.

    Shirong did not speak but simply turned to face Du Yang.

    "Would you like to say it yourself or should I do it now," Shirong said.

    The thing was, Shirong didn''t even know if Minister Du Yang was part of this or not. As from what he knew, the Shadow dagger pavilion had likely cooperated with the Nian Yue sect under the direction of his sister.

    While Minster Du Yang and Elder Pei were under the direction of his brothers. Shirong knew that they would not cooperate on matters such as this, as they had rivalry between them anyway.

    But Shirong didn''t care for this. Since his sister and brothers had decided to fight for the position of the Heir this way, he may as well pool them together. As for what came out of this, it didn''t matter to him.

    The mess would be his sister and brothers to deal with. In fact, he hoped they would do more of this so that he could pull them deeper into his.

    ''The more you struggle the more you will fall, I won''t let the position of the Heir be taken from me.'' Shirong thought to himself with determination.

    Everyone could understand the implication in Shirong''s voice and knew that the conspirator Shirong was talking about was none other than Minster Du Yang. The other ministers secretly took breaths of relief upon seeing that it was not them. Though not all of them were sure yet.

    "Lies! I did no such thing, I''m being ndered, your majesty!" Du Yang protested.

    He didn''t know why this was being put on him. He knew about the existence of the Shadow Dagger pavilion and even had some dealings with them. But he didn''t ask them to target Shirong. He was not that stupid. Sure, he had put Elder Pei on him, but not the bandits.

    "Is that so?" Shirong said before flicking his finger.

    <em>~Kaboom!~</em>

    "ARGH!" Du Yang yelled in pain, as his arm was sted apart.

    Shirong had used just a sliver of his lighting attribute spirit Qi, and the result was this. Even since he had undergone the heavenly tribtion, his Dantian had a qualitative change. His affinity with the lightning attribute was now greatly increased than before.

    Not only that, but there were even traces of tribtion lightning within his own, which made it leagues better than any normal lightning that a cultivator would use.

    Seeing the action of Shirong, everyone in the hall was shocked. King Huo stood up and nearly shouted, but then controlled himself.

    "Ah, don''t worry King Huo. I have proof too, I won''t just act without it. That would be quite disrespectful don''t you think." Shirong said.

    "You have proof? What is it show me!" King Huo said urgently.

    "Here, take this," Shirong said, handing the king a jade slip.

    "The king took the jade slip and used his spirit sense to check it. But just as he sensed the consents he opened his eyes.

    "These are memories! How did you get it?" King Huo questioned.

    "I think King Huo is erudite enough to not need an answer from me and can guess for himself," Shirong replied.

    King Huo went silent for a few seconds before silently muttering, "Soul searchбн"

    Soul searching was a forbidden technique, but its use was still permitted in certain cases. It could be said that this was one of them, and King Huo couldn''t really reprimand Shirong for this either. Even if he did, no sect or power was going to take action against Shirong for using such a technique on bandits, of all people.

    King Huo closed his eyes again and looked over the rest of the memories before looking at Du Yang. But now, his eyes were filled with rage and it was as if embers could be seen in them.

    "YOU TRAITOROUS FOOL!" King Huo Shouted as he whipped his hand at Du Yang.

    His cultivation base was at full disy and now one could tell that he was no weak man. King Huo of the Ling Kingdom was at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    <em>~Shua~ Shua~</em>

    Two beams of energy shot out from his arms as they hit the legs of Du Yang. Making him fall to the ground, his legs crippled.

    "Your majesty, believe me I didn''t do it. I would never get the shadow Dagger pavilion to do something like this." Du Yang protested between pain-filled grunts.

    "MEN! Take him away for interrogation and bring in the rest of his n, too. Then get all of his underlings and subordinates for the same." King Huo ordered.

    The other ministers who were involved inw enforcement all stood up to act. These were no weak people either and were at the peak stage of the core condensation realm. While one of them was even at the Infant soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    But just as they were about to reach Du Yang, a square te appeared in his hands.

 Chapter 263 - Du Yangs Final Gambit?

    The people in the room were wondering what the square te was as not everyone had seen it. But Shirong knew clearly as he had seen one before.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Just like what Elder Pei had done, Du Yang set up a defensive barrier formation before activating the teleportation talisman.

    "A teleportation talisman!" The ministers shouted, after one of them recognized it.

    "Stop right now Du Yang, do not resist!" King Huo shouted but couldn''t break past the barrier.

    Unlike Elder Pei, Du Yang was much more prepared and had a higher cultivation base as well. He even pulled out high grade spirit stones, to supply spirit Qi to the talisman and the barrier.

    One could tell from this that the man had always been ready to run if things ever went south like that had right now.

    "NOT ON MY WATCH!" Shirong shouted.

    The Immortal Crystal Armament appeared on his body and formed a gauntlet around his right hand. But that was not all, as an imposing pressure was released from Shirong''s body that made everyone suffocate in the hall.

    "The spirit Qiбн I can''t control itбн" One of the ministers said.

    Even King Huo was having difficulty with the spirit Qi in the air, while the spirit Qi in his Dantian was still able to function well.

    "What is this pressureбн" King Huo muttered with shock.

    This was nothing but Lin Wu using his radiation maniption innate skill in cooperation with Shirong. Using his spirit Qi to fuel the innate skill, Lin Wu could pretty much keep it active indefinitely.

    Plus in addition to that, his radiation maniption skill worked even more efficiently when it was powered with the lightning attribute spirit Qi. All thatbined put massive pressure on the barrier that Du Yang had set up, such that it cracked in five seconds.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    Du Yang looked in horror, as he had not expected Shirong to have be so powerful. He was confident of holding off against the king who was at the adolescent soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm, including thebined assault of the other ministers.

    But somehow Shirong, who was a newly reached Infant Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator, was able to do it with what looked like minimum effort. Knowing that he was done for, madness appeared in Du Yang''s eyes.

    "YOU WON''T GET ME ALIVE!" Du Yang shouted as he pulled out nearly fifty high grade spirit stones.

    He spat out a mouthful of blood onto the Square te, which was the teleportation talisman, and crushed the spirit stones. A dense wave of spirit Qi that was visible to the naked eyes was released from the spirit stones and started entering the talisman at great speed.

    But it was not going ording to the way that the people in the hall were thinking.

    "Heбн he''s not speeding up the process, he''s going to make it explode!" The King shouted.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    Then a scene that Shirong had witnessed before was disyed.

    A ck tear appeared on the teleportation talisman as it started to spread. The talisman was directly consumed and the ck tear now embedded into the spatial fabric.

    "It-it is a spatial rift!" The minsters yelled in fear.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The ck tear turned into a ck crack and started to suck the air into it. Seeing the repeat ofst time, Shirong remembered his helplessness. Had it not been for n Head Lu who dyed for time and the immortal Crystal Armament that suppressed the spatial right, he would have long since died.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    The ck crack expanded and its suction force increased. The person that was closest to it was the first to be pulled towards it. Of course, this was none other than Minister Du Yang, who had an insane look on his face.

    The king had aplex expression as he saw Du Yang being devoured whole by the spatial rift.

    "THIS BASTARD! NOT ONLY IS HE KILLING HIMSELF, BUT HE''S GOING TO TAKE THE CAPITAL WITH HIM!" King Huo yelled in frustration.

    His eyes wandered to his group of advisers and ministers, witnessing their anxious faces.

    "Useless! The lot of themбн" King Huo gritted his teeth as he muttered to himself.

    But then a change suddenly urred.

    <em>~tear~</em>

    <em>~WEENG~</em>

    Just as the spatial rift had started to expand, Shirong extended his hands forward. His sleeves spontaneouslybusted as a pair of emerald green gauntlets were revealed. The gantlets were long and seemed to go all the way to his shoulder, seeming connected with something more.

    The two gauntlets started to glow as suppressive pressure came from it.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    A change urred again, as a vortex formed around the spatial rift. This vortex was different than the air vortex that was formed from the suction force of the spatial rift though. This one was spinning in a counter clockwise and if one remembered from the paste, Shirong was using the same method that Lin Wu had used before.

    The suction force of the spatial rift was reduced by a lot as the ministers could finally take control of their spirit Qi and stabilize.

    "MINSTERS! SET UP A SEALING FORMATION AND ASSIST THE YOUNG MASTER!" King Huo shouted, before sprinting ahead.

    He formed hand seals before creating runes in the air. Each rune was packed with power and turned into the shape of a leaf before stering it against the vortex that was spinning around the spatial rift.

    The ministers finally broke out of their stupor and hurried to assist their kings. The Nascent Soul realm cultivators among them took the lead while the rest of them supplied them with their spirit Qi.

    "Yezi Sealing Formation!" King Huo chanted.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The number of leaves started increasing and soon covered the entire vortex. Shirong had still not stopped though, and his eyes were closed now. He was observing everything with his spirit sense and focused on the suppression of the spatial Qi that was leaking out of the spatial rift.

    "I won''t lose out this time!" Shirong said with determination.

 Chapter 264 - Stopping The Spatial Rift?

    Lin Wu knew Shirong would not be able to do this on his own and thus was assisting him with it. A few suggestive thoughts here and there made it seem like Shirong was doing this all on his own.

    Even he didn''t realize that these subconscious suggestions were not his own and belonged to someone else. The radiation vortex eventually got stronger and the suppressive force of it also intensified.

    After about ten minutes of hard struggle, Shirong was finally able to close the spatial rift and take a breath of relief. Even with his nascent Soul realm cultivation base, it had taken him quite an effort.

    ''If just this took up half of my spirit Qi, how much more can the potential of the Immortal Crystal Armament be extended?'' Shirong wondered to himself as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

    The others including the king were in a worse shape than him and directly slumped to the ground. They were drained of their spirit Qi as well and could not move for a bit.

    <em>~fizz~</em>

    The formation runes fizzed out and the Yezi sealing formation faded away. It looked rather beautiful even when disappearing as the leaves fell one by one, revealing the empty interior.

    It was as if an egg had hatched but its shell was made out of leaves and its interior was empty.

    The king looked at the ce where the spatial rift was and then at Shirong.

    "Thank you for your help, Young master Shirong. And I mean for both finding the true identity of Du Yang and also stopping the spatial rift. If it were not for you, I''m afraid we would have had a ton of causalities." The king spoke with gratitude.

    Shirong nodded his head and spoke.

    "Do not worry, King Huo. This was not just a problem for you but for me as well. They have been targeting me, so they must suffer the consequence. I swear I will tear them down if I discover where they are." Shirong replied.

    "I''ll send out our intelligence agents right away and they should have some information soon enough." The King stated.

    "No need. I actually know where their hideout is in the city, but seeing Du Yang''s reaction I think they must have already left by now. Try sensing it you will find the spatial fluctuations." Shirong spoke.

    King Huo closed his eyes and extended his spirit sense, but was unable to sense anything. Due to the presence of the spatial rift, the entire spatial fabric of this region had been temporarily disturbed and as such he would not be able to differentiate between the spatial fluctuations.

    Even Shirong only sensed it due to Lin Wu. There was a clear demarcation between the spirit Qi and radiation due to which Shirong could still tell it. But King Huo or the other mercenaries did not have the same level of expression as Shirong and thus could not tell.

    "I''m afraid, my talent does not hold up to young master Shirong. Though, if you tell me where it is, I''ll send my men right away to investigate. Even if they left the area, they should have left clues behind." King Huo replied.

    ''Oh yes. I should go and see how much more I can trouble my sister and brothers.'' Shirong thought with a grin on his face.

    His back was currently turned away from King Huo and thus he had not witnessed the eerie smile. If he had done, King Huo would not have been trusting enough towards Shirong.

    Shirong''s act of suppressing the spatial rift was deemed to be a great merit in terms of contribution to the ling kingdom and he would be hailed as a hero.

    "Hmmбн King Huo, I have a request from you." Shirong suddenly spoke.

    "Sure, Young master do tell. I''ll do my best to fulfill." King Huo replied.

    "I would like this matter to be kept secret, or more urately my involvement in this." Shirong stated.

    He knew that while he would get merits for this, there was not much use to the credits. Whatever he could get with them, he either already had or could easily get from his n. Thus it was not a novelty.

    Rather hiding his involvement in this would have him hide his identity and that of the Immortal Crystal armament. Even now the people here thought of it to be a divine armor that Shirong seldom used. It was better if they didn''t know the true capabilities about it so that he could have an advantage in killing.

    The king thought about it for a while and found it to be reasonable.

    "If you say so young master Shirong. This matter and your involvement in it will be kept secret. Thankfully, the spatial rift didn''t get strong enough to destroy the hall, or there was no way the others would have been unaware about it." King Huo replied.

    "Exactly. Plus, I believe this may give you the opportunity to weed out the problematic ''apples''." Shirong stated.

    The king''s eyes narrowed as realization dawned in his eyes.

    "Young master is wiseбн" The King praised.

    He turned to the other ministers and advisers who were still recovering and shook his head.

    "Everyone that is here shall swear a blood oath to Young master, that his identity and involvement in this matter will not be revealed." King Huo ordered.

    "We ept!" They all said in unison.

    While some of them wanted to take advantage of this turbulent situation to y politics and gain some benefits, the King''s Order and Shirong''s gaze had sealed the deal for them. Neither of them were people that they wanted to offend and doing so would only spell their doom.

    At least this way, they may get some benefits as the saviors of the capital.

    Soon Blood oaths were sworn by each of the person and an invisible chain was formed over their hearts. If they were to break their oath, their hearts would be crushed by their own cultivation base.

 Chapter 265 - Shirongs Main Goals Completed?

    Shirong was now looking through a building that had been recently abandoned. It was evident that whoever used the building before, left in a hurry.

    This was the ce where the Shadow Dagger Pavilion was residing before. Or rather one of their branches. The organization had multiple branches all over the kingdom including a few neighboring kingdoms as well.

    Shirong looked at the destroyed and burned documents and furrowed his brows.

    "Even while leveling they managed to destroy most of the things. What''s left now is not worth much either and I doubt we would be able to find anything." Shirong muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu was also looking around and unlike Shirong the system was able to sense the spatial fluctuation traces.

    "System, can you approximate the location of the bandits from this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system may be able to narrow down the range of teleportation to an area of about one hundred kilometers.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer Lin WU knew that it wasn''t urate but it was still a lot more than the previous thousand kilometers.

    "Alright system, do what you do just said." Lin Wu replied.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    INITIATING SPATIAL ANALYSIS: Please wait patiently.

    бкбк

    After hearing this notification, silence descended in the empty hall.

    ''Now to wait till this part is doneбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he returned his focus to Shirong.

    Now that Lin Wu was in the capital city, he was far enough that the teleportation formation of the Taiji Celestials tomb would not work. The maximum range of the formation was till the Deer Wood city,

    This was a safety for Lin Wu and he kept it for emergencies when he is far away from Shirong or if he wanted to hide in a deste ce. But now this safety was unable to work and the distance would make it impossible for Lin Wu to teleport.

    "I need to get a power source for the Tomb soonбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Did you find anything?" A voice suddenly asked.

    "Nothing of importance. Most of the things here have either been taken away or destroyed so that the members of the Shadow Dagger Pavilion stay safe." Shirong replied to the advisers that had decided to apany him.

    "These pestsбн" The adviser cursed.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I''ll take my leave for now. You all can take over from here." Shirong said before leaving the building.

    There was a cordon set to prevent the people from getting near the building. But as always, they were very interested in what was happening there, can they all gathered around the perimeter of the cordon.

    "LOOK A NASCENT SOUL REALM CULTIVATOR!" Someone shouted as they saw Shirong took flight.

    Since he was not using a spirit tool, it was obvious that he was in the Nascent Soul realm. This shocked the people, as there were only a few Nascent Soul realm cultivators in the capital and all of them were part of the Royal court.

    Seeing one appear here meant that whatever happened here was very important. This would now be a well known matter that the people would talk about for quite a while. But Shirong did not care about it and it was up to the advisers to take care of it from here on.

    His main goals had been fulfilled much faster than he had thought. In less than a day, he had met the merchant and taken the supplies, sent the letter, met the king, taken care of Du Yang and mess up his siblings'' ns and finally investigate the Shadow Dagger pavilion.

    Albeit thest goal was not sessfully done as they had managed to run away. Shirong had not expected that Du Yang truly did have some links with Shadow Dagger Pavilion. This meant that either intentionally or unintentionally, his siblings had thrown in their lots together.

    It was now evening and Shirong was meditating at one of the courtyards that had been given to him. The king was very generous, seeing as how Shirong had possibly stopped theplete destruction of the capital.

    A spatial rift that uncontrobly grew was a terrifying thing. Even ifmon cultivators did not know much about it, the king definitely did. Usually, they did not grow like the one they saw today or the one that happened at the Deer wood city.

    Most of them were unable to sustain themselves for long and would stop automatically. But the one that Du Yang had created was different. They didn''t know if he knew this would happen or not, but it was unexpected.

    If one was able to make spatial rifts like this using teleportation talismans, things would get difficult for a lot of them. Even Shirong didn''t know of this method. He could understand it happen due to a spatial storage ring as it was a mini world in itself, but a teleportation talisman did not work the same way.

    Shirong pondered on it but was unable to figure out how it happened.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I should just restore my spirit Qi for nowбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    Normally the king should have organized a celebratory banquet tonight, but due to the events that urred, he had no option but to postpone them. Shirong didn''t mind it either, as it gave him time to rest.

    After Shirong was deep in cultivation, Lin Wu took this as his cue to leave. Leaving behind a disguise, he left the spatial storage ring and finally came out.

    "<em>Ah~</em> fresh airбн" Lin Wu said to himself. "Now thenбн let''s get to work shall we."

    He looked around the city from the top of the courtyard and spoke, "system, scan the capital city."

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Area selected, please wait a moment.

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map updated

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    "Oh? The data banks got updated just from a map scan? Seems like there are a lot of interesting things here. Better get to it then, who knows how many days I''ll be here." Lin Wu said to himself before opening the map.

 Chapter 266 - Two Drunk Guards?

    Lin Wu could see many new markers on the map which included locations of interest, positions of cultivators, and those of the beasts and spirit beasts. Overall, there were over a hundred thousand markers on the map.

    Lin Wu set the filters and which only highlighted the markers that he wanted to see, but even now there were over a thousand markers on the map. Even the map itself was muchrger than that of the deer wood city by about four times.

    This meant that the capital''s size was equal to that of four Deer wood cities. There were various buildings in the city including the temple of the three guardian beasts and even an ancestral worship temple.

    Lin Wu saw a lot of markers that showed cultivators around the ancestral temple too, which was probably due to the Annual ancestral worship that was going to happen in theing few days.

    Lin Wu had been hearing the conversation of the people all this time and knew that the reason for the peopleing to the capital at this time was due to that. Even at the entrance, the long line of carriages was due to the same thing.

    Lin Wu''s first goal was to further upgrade the system''s data banks and thus he selected the ces that would have books and documents. Among the selected ces the one that had the most of them was the Royal Library.

    It was also the closest to Lin Wu''s position, and thus he selected this ce. But the problem was getting there undetected. There were far too many guards everywhere and Lin Wu would have to be very careful in sneaking in there.

    Though he didn''t have to particrly enter the library itself, as long as he could get in a ten meter range, the system would be able to scan it.

    "System, plot a safe route to the royal library." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CHARTING A ROUTE: Please wait a moment...

    ROUTE FOUND: Activating Navigation HUD

    бкбк

    The navigation pointer appeared in front of Lin Wu and he saw the route on the map as well.

    "Damn, this is quite longбн" Lin Wu said, seeing the route.

    The royal library was about half a kilometer from his location to the west. But to go there, the route that the system had plotted was long and winding. It went through the city and then entered the ground from one of the empty plots in the city garden and then went straight to the basement of the Royal library. From there, he would have to sneak in and infiltrate the rest of the part.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "Better get to itбн" Lin Wu said before climbing down from the roof of the courtyard.

    He directly dug into the ground and bypassed the formations due to having the ''key'' from Shirong. He came out of the ground in one of the houses one kilometer away and then crawled on the roads while hiding along the corners.

    He eventually reached the city garden, where he was almost detected by the guards.

    "Hey what''s there!" The guard eximed, alerting hispanion that was nearby.

    Now Lin Wu could not move nor act as there was an even greater chance that he would be seen that way. Instead, he thought for a bit and let the two guard''s approach him in the dark corner along a wall.

    "Huh? It''s a spear?" The guard said.

    The guard bent down to check closer and noticed the gleam of the spear. His eyes lit up as he realized he had found something really valuable.

    "Haha! What luck! We found a treasure." The guard said to hispanion.

    "Are you sure we should take it? What if it belongs to someone powerful?" Thepanion of the guard questioned.

    "If it is lying like this, the owner either threw it away or it does not belong to anyone. Besides, as long as we don''t tell anyone, they won''t find out." The guard said before kneeling beside Lin Wu, who was in the form of a spear.

    The guard held onto the spear and tried to pick it up.

    "What the hell! Is it stuck or something?" The guard eximed upon finding it very difficult to lift the crystal spear.

    "Hey, why are you just standing there? Come help me pick it up." The guard asked.

    "I don''t feel good man. This does not seem right." The second guard said.

    "Bah! Just shut up and help me." The first guard said in an annoyed tone.

    "If you say soбн" The other guard said before kneeling beside the man and putting his hands on the crystal spear.

    But the moment both of the guard''s hands were on the spear something shocking happened.

    "What the-" Before the guard could yell, his mouth was muffled.

    The second guard could not do anything either and found himself unable to breathe. The two guards discovered that the spear in their hands had suddenly be limp and was now wrapped around their mouths.

    It did not stop there though as the spear then coiled around their neck, choking them. The two guards tried to move it but found it to be impossible. Not only was the grip of that spear too strong, but the weight also made it impossible for them to move.

    A minuteter, both the guards were unconscious and Lin Wu let go of them.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "The old video game assassin trick really works, huhбн" Lin Wu said before dragging the two men to a nearby area.

    There were a few stone chairs here, along with a table.

    "Ah, a perfect pic table." Lin Wu said before setting the two men there.

    He then took out a bottle from his inventory. He opened the mouths of the men and poured the contents of the bottle into their mouths before slumping their heads on the table. He then ced the empty bottle there while spraying some amount on their clothes.

    "There we go. Two drunk guards, cking on their duty." Lin Wu said while looking at his handiwork.

 Chapter 267 - Sneaking Into The Royal Library?

    Now that Lin Wu thought of it, he realized his action reminded him of something.

    "Damnбн I acted like one of them tentacle aliens didn''t I?" Lin Wu shuddered.

    He forcefully pushed that thought away and found the spot where he was supposed to dig through. He entered the ground and swiftly made his way to the area beneath the Royal library.

    Unlike the Deer wood city, there weren''t many underground ces in the Capital city. He didn''t know if they just didn''t want to do that or if there were some other restrictions on making them.

    He looked at the undergroundyers of the map and saw that only the buildings that belonged to the royals had an underground part to them. The rest of the buildings were all built on the surface and had more floors on them for space.

    "Here we are," Lin Wu said upon reaching the underground wall of the basement.

    He used his spirit sense and found a suitable ce to bore a hole through. The ce he had chosen was right behind arge cupboard that was located in an empty room. Lin Wu created the hole easily and crawled out through the gap between the cupboard and the wall.

    Though it was quite a squeeze and he ended up moving the cupboard a little forward. But after that, he would be able to easily re-enter when needed.

    "Is this a storeroom?" Lin Wu said, as he took a look around.

    There was old broken furniture here that was covered with dust and cobwebs. It was evident that this room had not been opened for quite a while now.

    "Wellбн it just makes it more convenient for meбн" Lin Wu said before going towards the door.

    The door was obviously locked but all it took was a little effort from Lin Wu''s end to open it. He looked at the keyhole and inserted a small spike into it. Then in it, the spike started growing and took shape of the interior.

    <em>~chink~</em>

    Lin Wu turned the spike and the door unlocked.

    "Haha, lockpicking 100бн" Lin Wu said before peeking out of the door.

    The corridor was empty, but on the other end of it, a guard was standing. The guard was a cultivator and was dressed in different clothes than the city guards. These were the royal guards that served the royal family and consisted of only cultivators.

    Lin Wu crawled closer and looked up at the beams going across the roof.

    "Bingo!" He said to himself.

    Lin Wu elongated his body and hooked on to a beam on the roof. He then pulled up his body and traveled ahead from one beam to the other. Him being able to extend and shrink his body made it a piece of cake for him.

    But then Lin Wu''s progress was halted when he got near the staircase. The guards here were scanning the area with their spirit sense. There were four guards here and each of them alternated between using their spirit sense. This way there was always someone alert.

    Still, there was a small gap of a couple of seconds when they switched their turns. Besides, they didn''t keep it focused on one ce but instead moved it around just how a security camera would move.

    "Hmmбн aren''t these people just glorified CCTV cameras?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He waited for the guard to switch their turn and moved ahead at a lightning speed. Then when the spirit sense was about to pass over him, he shrunk his body and aligned it with the beam''s length. The system also started masking his spirit Qi which made it harder to detect him.

    Now unless the guard particrly paid attention to that beam, they wouldn''t see Lin Wu there. Even then they would only feel that there was some inanimate object ced there. They weren''t paying attention to a creature like Lin Wu, anyway.

    What they were on guard about was humans or spies who may try to entire the library to steal things. Because of this, it became a bit easier for Lin Wu to sneak in.

    Every time they switched their turns, Lin Wu would move one beam ahead. There were many wooden beams that went across the roof, as they supported the weight of it. They were about a foot wide and several meters long, which made it more than enough for Lin Wu to hide.

    It took Lin Wu about thirty minutes to cross the area before he reached the next floor. From here on, the progress was fast as there weren''t guards constantly scanning with their spirit sense.

    About thirty more minutester, he was at the entrance of the library. He had to stop here as the door was locked and there were four more guards standing there.

    "Hmmбн how do I go ahead from here?" Lin Wu wondered as he looked at the map.

    The route shown on it was from here, and the other routes were even more risky. This was the only point of ess that had the least amount of guards as well.

    It was now that he noticed the decorative wooden grill at the top of the doors of the library. The grill was there for venttion and looked like one of those antique type ones.

    ''Wait a minuteбн I can try that maybeбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself before getting closer.

    He inched close to the grill carefully and made sure that the guards were not alerted. Finally, when he reached there, he studied the grill. He then brought his tail forward and turned it into a sharp form.

    He then started to cut a part on the wooden grill slowly, making sure that no noise was made and no wooden shavings fell down. After a few minutes, an oval shaped hole with beautiful patterns on its edges was made on the grill.

    But Lin Wu was not yet. He created another simr oval shaped hole on the other side of the wooden grill too, making it look symmetrical.

 Chapter 268 - The Forbidden Section?

    If one were to look at the wooden grill now, they would think that it had always been like this. With a little assistance from the system, Lin Wu had been able to make an elegant design.

    "Wellбн let''s just hope they don''t find out about this for a while. Though they probably will find out about it after a while." Lin Wu muttered to himself before entering through one of the holes.

    The hole was still a tight squeeze for Lin Wu and he almost got stuck, but then transforming his body into the organic form partially helped him get through. He did not fully transform into the organic form as he would have not been able to maintain the same size.

    Lin Wu had long since learned that if he wanted to maintain his form and shape, he had to stay in the crystalline form. While he was able to manipte his size up to a certain extent in the organic form, there were still discrepancies.

    Thus the Crystalline form was the more advantageous one in aspects such as these.

    After he got into the library, it didn''t take him long to begin what he was here for.

    "Alright system, begin the scan." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Targets selected

    LARGE DATA STORES DETECTED: Please wait patiently

    ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: 4 hours, 21 minutes and 16 seconds

    бкбк

    "Damn, that''s quite a lot of timeбн but I guess that''s reasonable considering the amount." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He had plenty of time till Shirong would wake up and now that he had better control over Shirong by the virtue of the Backdoor function, even if he was not there, Shirong would not find out about him.

    Even if Shirong checked the ring right now, he would see that the spear is still there, but if he tried to withdraw it, he would find it resiting him. By now Shirong had learned well enough that he shouldn''t force the Immortal Crystal Armament to do things that it didn''t want to.

    Another thing was that the chances of Shirong withdrawing him were also quite less in the city. Not only was there no danger currently, but using the Immortal Crystal Armament in the open was also not favorable for him.

    Since it was going to take a while for the system to scan and store all the things from the library, Lin Wu decided to take a stroll around and check things out to pass the time.

    "May as well read something." Lin Wu said to himself.

    The library was currently locked and no one was here, so Lin Wu could freely move around and check the books. He moved to a section that had more information on beasts, or more urately strong beasts.

    Lin Wu knew that whatever he was right now, it was the result of the unknown bloodline he had assimted with the system''s help. Even now it was notpletely done and he could further obtain more and more abilities as he continued progressing it.

    Lin Wu read through a couple of books for two hours but they all were normal beasts. While there were some immortal beasts mentioned in them, they weren''t anything too extraordinary.

    But eventually, he found a book that was very old. When he opened it, he could tell that the book was a spirit tool itself, having the ability to store a lot of information. Its pages were made out of some kind of an unknown material but they looked quite valuable.

    ''This book is pretty much multiple jade slips bound together.'' Lin Wu thought upon seeing the massive amount of information that was in it.

    "Wait, what section is this?" Lin Wu wondered as he finally looked around.

    While not all books were like the one he had in his hand. About five percent of them were high quality ones simr to the one he had in his hands.

    Finally, at the other side of the shelves, he saw the board hanging that read: Restricted section (Trespassers beware! You will be killed by the formation!)

    "There''s a formation here too? I didn''t feel itбн system scan for the formation." Lin Wu spoke.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    FORMATION DETECTED: Blood ughter Formation found

    FORMATION STATUS: Active

    бкбк

    "Huh? Wait a minuteбн the reason why it didn''t affect me is becauseбн it targets humans? Looks like shitty programming saved me againбн and the system also didn''t consider it dangerous." Lin Wu realized.

    ''No wonder they didn''t ce any guards inside the library, they simply don''t need to. The formation itself is enough for everything.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Returning his focus to the book at hand, Lin Wu started reading it.

    "Oh myбн now this is the kind of beasts I was looking forбн" Lin Wu murmured.

    There were many beasts described in this book and all of them were immortal beasts that were above the Immortal Ascension realm. There were even beasts that were said to be above them described here, but it didn''t say what their cultivation base was exactly. All it said was that it was very high.

    Most of these beasts were considered to be legendary beasts that even Lin Wu had heard of in his past life like the phoenix, flood dragons, unicorns, qilins, dragons and such. Though there were some very unique beasts in it too.

    One of those beasts was a fish beast called as the Blue Ribbon Tail Sting Ray.

    Lin Wu had actually heard about them in his past life too as they existed there too. But the ones mentioned in this book were in no wayparable to those. These ones were strong and could kill thousands of beasts with a single thrust of its stinger.

    But that was not all, as this was but a mere basic form of the beast. The Blue Ribbon Tail Sting Ray had a powerful bloodline and when it reached a sufficient cultivation base, it would be able to further evolve.

    "A Celestial Star Sailing Rayбн now that sounds impressive." Lin Wu muttered in awe of its abilities.

 Chapter 269 - A Plethora Of Books?

    Lin Wu read more about the Celestial Star Sailing Ray and found it to be very powerful. It was said to be able to soar among the stars and absorb their light for nourishment. It was also a massive beast being able to cover entire mountains with its body that was hundreds of kilometers big.

    It had patterns on its body that glimmered with starlight and anyone that looked at them was mesmerized. The beast would take advantage of this and swallow the afflicted prey whole.

    Its stinger was nothing to mess with either. It could shoot out condensed beams of starlight that could cut through metal like it was paper and the venom it contained was even more terrifying.

    It was said that even one drop of the venom would be enough to kill an entire ocean''s creatures.

    Overall, it was a beast that was way beyond Lin Wu''s current level. Or any beast of this world to speak of as a matter of fact.

    He flipped through more pages wanting to see if there was any information about the beast whose bloodline he had. He was trying to match the features of the carapace he had seen and the abilities he had obtained from them.

    But even after another hour, he was unable to find out about it.

    "Hmmбн either this beast is extremely rare or it is simply a new species." Lin Wu reckoned.

    Lin Wu checked the time renaming for the system to finish the scan and saw that there was just below an hour left.

    "Should look at other things as wellбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He picked out a few more interesting books and passed his time until finally the system''s notification was heard.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA SCAN: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    "Excellent! Time to head back then. I''ll check the other ces tomorrow." Lin Wu said before leaving the same way he hade in.

    He went to the side of the doors, elongated his body straight up like a pole, hooked it to the edge of the grill and pulled himself up, before passing through the hole. He continued on ahead and carefully left the Royal library.

    This time he saw that the guards had changed and the pattern in which they moved was also different.

    ''New shift, new patterбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    Still, he figured out the time intervals at which they switched between their spirit sense, and finally reached the basement of the building. From there on, it was an easy route. He few mutester he appeared in the City garden and saw that the guards who he had left there were still sleeping.

    "Are they dead or something? They should have woken up by now." Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The guards are in a deep sleep induced due to consumption of concentrated alcohol. The wine that the host fed the guards is highly concentrated and is made from some low grade spirit herbs and thus can affect cultivators as well.

    бкбк

    "Ohбн maybe I should not have wasted that bottle on them." Lin Wu said, before pushing the matter to the back of his mind.

    He had seen the bottle he had taken and known there was more than just one. Even here in this city, he had seen some of the shops keeping the same bottle, OS if he wanted to he would be able to find it rather easily.

    Lin Wu had to take the long winded route once again, before he finally reached the Courtyard. The reason for the long and winding route was nothing but the formations that were set up in a lot of ces. Lin Wu could obviously override all of them with the help of the system if he wanted to but that would have taken a long time.

    Instead the easier option was to just circle around them or proceed from the empty spots that existed between them. There was also a formation around the Royal Library of course, but since Shirong had the ''key'' to the royal pce, it worked the same for the Royal library.

    If Shirong were to enter the library, while he would get to the book shelves and read most books, he would also be stopped by the inner formation that protected the Forbidden area. That ce would require additional permission and no one could enter freely.

    Only Lin Wu, who was an anomaly would be able to something like that. The formations that worked selectively on specific creatures would likely ignore him, unless they were specially made to stop anomalies like him.

    But it was the very reason why there was very little chance that he would encounter a formation like that. What could stop him though was a basic barrier formation that stopped everything. While Lin Wu was able to get past them with the help of the system, a stronger version would still block him.

    Lin Wu went inside the spatial storage ring of Shirong effortlessly and continued looking through all the information that he had obtained. Not only was there information about the beasts, but there was also a lot of information about different fields, such as alchemy, formations, weapon smithing, spirit tool refinement and some obscure things.

    Though there weren''t any cultivation techniques in this vault.

    "Hmmбн they should probably in a separate vault that''s located in the grand pce. It would make sense that they would keep that under higher security than that." Lin Wu surmised.

    While there was a lot of information in this library, even if it got leaked there wouldn''t be a dire loss. But if the cultivation techniques got lost, there was even a chance the entire Ling Kingdom dynasty would fall.

    While Lin Wu was reading through the information, the system was also speeding up its speed of analysis. It had reached a shocking speed that when it was finally morning, a notification was heard. It was the notification that Lin Wu had been waiting for all this time.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE ANALYSIS: Completed

    бкбк

 Chapter 270 - First Level Of Immortal Sky Shaker Art?

    Lin Wu knew that gathering more data was the key to speeding up the process of analysis but now that it was finally here he felt a bit speechless. But this passed over quickly and he felt excited.

    "What cultivation techniques are now avable system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUES ANALYZED: 1. Immortal Sky Shaker Art

    2. Vital Resurgence technique

    NOTE: More cultivation techniques can now be madepatible when selected individually.

    бкбк

    "Alright! This is good enough." Lin Wu said feeling excited.

    Even the immortal Sky shaker art was enough to increase his power by quite a lot. As for the second technique that he had seen the Vital Resurgence technique, this was the technique that Shirong had used to increase his body tempering realm cultivation.

    Though the thing was this technique was useless for Lin Wu who had a superior body created by the system. But he could now pass it on to other people who he deemed worthy thus it was not entirely useless.

    "Let''s try and see how it worksбн" Lin Wu muttered before reviewing the technique.

    After he was sure about all its ins and outs, he began practicing it. From what he had seen the Immortal Sky Shaker art had four levels to it overall. Shirong was currently in the third level.

    The first level was when the user was barely able to start using the wind attribute spirit Qi while in the second level the user would be proficient in it. The third stage allowed one to use the Lighting attribute spirit Qi while the fourth level was the mastery over the lightning attribute spirit Qi.

    Usually if one wanted to reach the fourth level of the Immortal Sky Shaker art, they would have to reach the Dao treading realm at the very least. This was also the reason why the Immortal Sky Shaker Art was considered to be a top grade technique; it allowed one to cultivate all the way to the Dao Treading realm.

    Most people who were experienced with cultivation and had some level of status knew that if one wanted to reach the Immortal Ascension realm, they would have to do so on their own and no cultivation technique could help them.

    They needed to gainprehension of their own self before figuring out the way to break through to the Immortal Ascension realm. For Lin Wu though, the current situation was very favorable.

    Not only was he used to Shirong using the skills of the Immortal Sky shaker art but he had also felt the Wind attribute spirit Qi every time he used skill sync. Thus when Lin Wu started practicing the technique, he gained proficiency rapidly.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE ADDED: Immortal Sky Shaker Art

    HOST DATA: Updated

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE PROFICIENCY UPGRADE: Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    бкбк

    "A quick start, but it''s not enoughбн let''s continue." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Usually, there were two aspects to a cultivation technique. The first aspect was the spirit Qi aspect that was used to increase the cultivation base of the user, while the second aspect was the Qi skills that were integrated into it.

    Shirong''s Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Cloud Parting Gale and Sundering tempest were two of those integrated Qi skills. Though not all cultivation techniques came with integrated Qi skill. Most low leveled ones only allowed one to gather spirit Qi and if one needed something for the offense they needed to learn other Qi skills or martial skills.

    Since Lin Wu had the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture, which was of an even higher grade than the Immortal Sky shaker art, he did not use it for cultivation directly. He was intending using it to gain the affinity with Wind attitude spirit Qi for now and then Lightning attribute spirit Qi next.

    In Lin Wu''s Dantian, a change could be seen. Before he only had basic attribute less spirit Qi in his Dantian but now a new pool of spirit Qi was forming in it. This was the wind attribute spirit Qi that was starting to gather. His normal spirit Qi would get converted due to the Immortal Sky shaker art and would then be stored back into the Dantian forming this pool.

    His cores though, werepletely unaffected. The spirit Qi condensed within them could not be moved easily. Only when Lin Wu used the Radiation maniption to the maximum was he able to drain the spirit Qi in his core to a sensitive level.

    Otherwise, in normal conditions, only the liquid spirit Qi in his Dantian was used. Even the spirit Qi that freely flowed in his meridians was enough to deal with the most basic uses of his skills and he rarely needed to increase his consumption.

    Little by little the pool of wind attribute spirit Qi was increasing. After about four hours, it reached a point where it was five percent of Lin Wu''s entire store of spirit Qi.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "This should be enough for nowбн I need to rest, the pressure on my meridians and Dantian is really getting high now." Lin Wu said to himself.

    The conversion of the spirit Qi into wind attribute spirit Qi required him to follow a certain Qi circuit. Normally it should not have caused him to pause like this, but since he was not a human, this was the most that the system could do for him.

    If he forced himself to continue, he may end up harming himself.

    ''Though the system should be able to improve it as it grows its data banks.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then looked at the few other cultivation techniques he had obtained over the time. But didn''t feel like using any of them. They were simply far too inferior to the current ones and didn''t have any integrated Qi skills as part of them either.

    Practicing them would simply be a waste of the system''s energy and Lin Wu''s time. It was better for him to focus on quality for now, since he had to work on his cultivation base as well.

 Chapter 271 - No Response From The Clan?

    By now it was morning and Shirong had woken up from his cultivation session as well. Since reaching the Nascent Soul realm, his speed had dropped greatly and knew that it would only keep on getting slower.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Such is the way of cultivationбн if going against heavens was easy anyone would do itбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    But then his eyes opened and he focused over the Immortal Crystal Armament that was in his ring.

    "But as long as I have you and there are other creatures in this world, my speed won''t slow downбн" Shirong said with a fierce glint in his eyes.

    He then stood up and walked out of his room. A few servants were already there waiting for his orders.

    "Any messages for me?" Shirong asked.

    "No, Young master Shirong." The servant replied in a respectful manner.

    ''Hmmбн the king should have said something till now. Is he busy with something else?'' Shirong wondered.

    "Do you need us to do anything, young master?" The servant questioned.

    "Call my carriage for me," Shirong replied.

    "At once," The servant said before going to do the task he was asked to do.

    Soon the carriage was brought to the front of the courtyard and Shirong quickly entered it.

    "Head to the ce we went to yesterday," Shirong ordered.

    The ce he was going was nowhere but the merchant that worked for the Ji n. Shirong needed to wait for his n''s response to the report that he had sent. While he was free to proceed without seeing it, he reckoned in the current situation it would be better to wait and see their response.

    He knew there were many changes currently happening in the continent and it was better to be cautious than to act blindly. After all, if he made a loss due to ignorance he would have no one but himself left to me for it.

    The roads of the capital city were still as lively as ever, with many people from all walks of life going about their day. Lin Wu watched everything and found that it was actually quite simr to his past life, the only difference being that these people were much stronger than the humans of his past life and that the animals here were quite deadly.

    Listening to the people''s conversations and gossip was quickly bing his favorite pass time with the exception of the drama that happened around Shirong. For him, who was used to consuming a lot of entertainment media in his past life, this was the closest recement.

    "Hmmбн though I need more snacks." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He still had some fruits left and continued eating them while listening to the people. But he was not cking by doing this either. His body was still cultivating with the Taiji Dual Unity scripture, and his spirit Qi stores were steadily increasing.

    "System show me the avatar''s data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Peak stage of the core condensation realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [12,951/24,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    BEAST CORES: 1. Fully Condensed (Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm)

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн should take me fifteen more days to gain enough spirit Qi for the upgrade. Though I''ll still need to figure out how the Heavenly Tribtion will work for this body." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    He had even more spirit Qi than he did currently. This was the spirit Qi he had absorbed from the bandits that Shirong had killed. But Lin Wu had used it all up for practicing the Immortal Sky Shaker art to the first level. Also, converting the attribute less spirit Qi into wind attribute spirit Qi was not fully efficient.

    Unlike the other types of energies, System was not able to freely convert this and it was one of the drawbacks that it will take a while to solve. The current ratio of conversion was not like the spirit Qi or vital energy when they could be converted between their forms in a ratio of 1:1.

    Rather for the wind attribute spirit Qi the ratio varied from 1:10 all the way to 1:100. This was a very wide range but Lin Wu knew he would eventually improve on it as his proficiency with the skill improves. All he had to do right now was to continue his routine and steadily improve himself.

    While Lin Wu was dealing with his cultivation matters, Shirong had just reached the Shop where the merchant stayed. He stopped the carriage outside the narrow alley and walked into the shop.

    "The will of Ji is absolute." Shirong muttered the password before the door.

    It was the same old man who opened the door for him after he said the password. Shirong looked at him for a second before heading in.

    "Has there been any response from the n?" Shirong questioned.

    "No." The man simply answered.

    "Nothing? Notter, no jade slip or document?" Shirong asked again.

    "No, absolutely nothing. There have been no signs of activation in the teleportation chamber." The merchant replied.

    "Hmmбн strange. How long is the usual response time for this teleportation formation?" Shirong questioned.

    "When I use it, the n responds in three to seven days. The letter or report reaches the n within a day or at most in two days if the spatial channels are turbulent." The old man answered.

    "I seeбн well, inform me if anythinges. I''ll give you the authority to send a report to my courtyard." Shirong said before leaving the shop.

    ''Hmmбн how long since I wait here? The king should organize the banquet by tonight or tomorrow, but I don''t know when the n will respond.'' Shirong thought.

    He returned to the carriage and ordered the driver to take him to the Royal ce. While in the carriage, Shirong made up his mind.

    "Five days it is. If I still don''t get a response after that, I''ll leave the city and head on to the Marshбн"

 Chapter 272 - The Kings Decision?

    In the royal court of the Ling Kingdom, a plethora of people were currently sitting. The king sat at the head of the hall on his throne while the highest ranking ministers sat beside him.

    But they were not as eye-catching as the man who was sitting near the wall to the left of the king. He was wearing blue robes with a crane motif on its back and had his eyes closed.

    If one looked at him, they would think that he was an erudite man, detached from the worldly desires. This man was none other than Shirong.

    He had chosen to go to the royal court to speak with the king about some matters. Once they were done, he had nothing left but to sit there for a while. Since they had been discussing about what to do about the bandits and the Shadow dagger pavilion, Shirong simply listened with his eyes closed.

    "Your majesty we have already set up the squads that will be investigating the Shadow Dagger Pavilion and their involvement in the bandit attacks." One of the ministers spoke.

    "We were also able to find the link between the recent kidnappings of rich nobles and merchants for ransom. They are supported by the Shadow Dagger pavilion as well." Another minister said.

    "Hmmбн and how is it that these bandits find out about the travel routes of the nobles and merchants?" The king asked.

    "My king, the travel routes of the merchants can be daily found as they trade on those routes, but in the case of the nobles, we suspect that someone from the Postage department may be involved.

    All the nobles that were involved sent letters to their location of travels which mentioned the route they would be taking and when they would being. If someone was leaking details from there, it could be possible that they are part of the conspiracy as well." The adviser spoke.

    "Then it is decided. Dissolve the current administration of the postage department and set up a new one. Make sure that you only fill it with people who have been vetted beforehand. As for the ones who are suspended, investigate them thoroughly and find out the traitors." The king ordered.

    "My king! If we dissolve the postal department without a notice, there will be greatpses in the delivery of letters and packages. Even the royal decrees will find it hard to spread." A minister spoke in an anxious note.

    "There is no other choice. We cannot let this continue. If we have to take such a severe step, then so be it. As long as you all are fast enough in setting up the new department there shouldn''t be apse." The King affirmed.

    бн

    Silence descended on the court as everyone thought over the king''s orders.

    "As youmand, my king." The ministers finally epted it and got to work.

    Lin Wu was listening to the entire thing while munching on some fruits.

    "Bah! This is boring. Now it is like I''m watching one of those parliamentary debates from my past life." Lin Wu said, feeling bored.

    "I''ll just read, I guessбн" He muttered to himself and opened a window that showed the information that had been collected till now.

    Lin Wu was now reading about the different kinds of formations that existed in this world. The system had collected a vast amount of information, and he now had plenty of things to learn from.

    He was just waiting for the night toe again so that Shirong would cultivate and he could go out.

    Thenбн as if his wishes were answered, Shirong stood up from the seat he was sitting on. The king and the other ministers noticed this and looked at him.

    "You''re leaving, young master Shirong?" The king asked.

    "Yes. I''ll go cultivate as I don''t think there is a need for me to stay here anymore." Shirong replied.

    "That is understandable. Forgive me that we aren''t able to hold a banquet in your honor tonight." The king said.

    "No need to apologize, King Huo. I understand that there are far too important things that need to be dealt with before that. I would do the same thing if I were in the same ce." Shirong replied in a calm tone.

    The king nodded his head and directed the servants to take care of young master Shirong.

    Shirong quickly returned to his courtyard and got engrossed in cultivating, giving Lin Wu the opportunity to leave once again.

    "NICE! I''ll have even more time now." Lin Wu said as he waited for Shirong to enter his deep state of cultivation.

    Once he was there, Lin Wu quickly left the ring and crawled away. He opened the map window and picked his next target.

    "Hmmбн we already got stuff from the royal library, so I guess we should check out the public library now. There should still be some things that are not present in the Royal Library." Lin Wu said before he entered the ground.

    Thankfully, the public library was not protected by any formations thus it was much easier for Lin Wu to get there. Upon reaching there thous, he found out a lot of people currently reading in it, or looking for books.

    The public library was thrice as big as the Royal library and definitely contained more books than the Royal library. To Lin Wu''s luck, the library was constructed such that there was arge crawl space below the floorboards of the building.

    Lin Wu was able to easily get there and scanned the entire building. But it was then that he realized that therge size of the library was not due to many books, but rather due to multiple copies of the same books.

    "Uffбн I should have expected this from a public library. Obviously, there would be more than one copy of a book here so that many people can read it." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he shook his head.

    "System, begin your scan." Lin Wu ordered.

    But when the scan was finallypleted, he found something rather surprising.

    бк

 Chapter 273 - A High Grade Cultivation Technique?

    "Never expected that I would see the trope of a powerful technique hidden in trash books myself." Lin Wu said feeling shocked.

    Since about ny percent of the books were already scanned and analyzed by the system in the royal library, this scan waspleted rather quickly. But then the system gave him a notification suddenly.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: High grade cultivation technique found

    NAME: Undaunted Sapphire Body Art

    DESCRIPTION: The user of this technique can gain unique meridians called as the sapphire meridians. This changes the spirit Qi properties of the user and allows it to bypass many kinds of restrictions, thus the name undaunted.

    NOTE: Please view the relevant window for detailed information.

    бкбк

    Looking at the description of the technique, Lin Wu knew that this was something good. While it was not a top grade technique like Shirong''s Immortal Sky Shaker Art, the effect that it had was still quite amazing.

    "Hmmбн this seems like a good choice to learn next. Alright system, begin the analysis for it and make itpatible." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NEW TASK ADDED: Cultivation technique analysis

    ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: 26 hours, 35 minutes, 18 seconds.

    бкбк

    "Oh? That''s a decent speed. At least it has a time ofpletion this time unlike before when it just told me to wait patiently." Lin Wu chuckled.

    "Buuuutбн where is the technique actually ced in the library? Lemme see where the ''jade was hiding among trash''." Lin Wu said, before checking the marker on the map.

    It took him to a rather unexpected ce in the library.

    "The desk of the librarian?" Lin Wu said, before seeing the small note that was written on it.

    "Please put overdue books here." Lin Wu read. "Huh? What the hellбн" Lin Wu felt surprised.

    The cultivation technique was written in a booklet that was trapped in the overdue bookpartment. Thepartment was built such that a box with a slot was ced beneath it and on the top of thepartment, another slot was made.

    These two slots aligned so that when one put a book in, it would enter the box directly. This box could be taken out by the librarian so that he could put them in their respective ces on the bookshelves.

    But the booklet that contained the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art had fallen behind this box.

    "Hmmбн I guess someone put this book when the collection box was not there and it fell down directly. But then when the librarian put the box back in, the booklet was pushed back to the very back and has been stuck since then." Lin Wu analyzed.

    He saw that a thickyer of dust had collected over the book and the interior of thepartment, which meant that whoever took care of this had not cleaned it in a long time.

    "Well, I guess the technique was really hidden in ''trash''бн" Lin Wu chuckled to himself as he pierced a spike through the bottom of thepartment and stored the booklet in the inventory.

    ''No way I''m gonna leave this here for othersбн this is mine now.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he withdrew the spike.

    But Lin Wu still wondered who put the book there. He reckoned that whoever found the technique probably thought it to be fake or something and thus put it back. If Lin Wu did not have the system verify it for him, he probably would have thought the same.

    Now that system had arge Data Bank, it could easily cross reference and extrapte data to form conclusions.

    "Hmmбн let''s see what''s actually written in the booklet. I saw the description made by the system but I want to see what the author actually wroteбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before opening an info window.

    Lin Wu started reading the things written in the booklet with interest.

    ording to the booklet''s contents, the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art was made by a female cultivator by the name of Lan Baoshi. She was a hidden genius who had been abandoned by her n because her husband-to-be used her of adultery.

    She was hunted by the groom''s n and barely managed to escape their clutches. Because of this dishonor, the groom''s n demandedpensation from her n, which was so great that their n eventually cored after a few years.

    But what her n didn''t know was that she had been falsely used so that the groom''s n could usurp their businesses. Swearing to take revenge, she cultivated for many years before she reached the Dao Shell realm.

    It was then that she had a bout of enlightenment and created this technique. But s, her n had already perished to the annals of time and when she went to take revenge she found out the man she wanted revenge on had also died a long time ago.

    She wanted to massacre the man''s n but could not bring herself to kill the innocent. Hundreds of years had passed since that day and the people from back then did not exist anymore. If she were to kill these people, all she would be doing is sowing bad karma that would only hurt her in the future.

    Thus instead of that, she chose to pass on the technique that she had created. Still, it was as if the heavens were against her and a tragedy happened. Even after all these years, she had been unable to resolve her hatred with the groom''s n and thus a heart demon was formed within her.

    This heart demon eventually led her to a Qi deviation and finally to her demise.

    She wrote the final parts of the booklet on her deathbed, as could be seen from the bad writing on the pages. Not only that, but the ink used for it was actually her blood.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I guess this is what happens in a cultivation world. She should have just taken her revenge and prevented the heart demon, but what can I say now that she is goneбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 274 - Expanding Knowledge?

    Having obtained a new cultivation technique, Lin Wu felt content. It had barely been two hours since he had left the courtyard and he had already scored a good item. He now wondered if something like this could be seen in other ces too or not.

    "Heheбн let''s check out the other ces." Lin Wu said to himself before leaving the public library.

    There were many other ces where Lin Wu could find books. There were hundreds of nobles that lived in the capital city who all had a collection of books. Though it was likely that they could be personal records and such.

    Still, Lin Wu did not care for it and just went to get them. The only thing that was actually slowing him down was the formations that protected the residences of the nobles and aristocrats.

    Lin Wu had to spend several minutes near each residence before the system was able to resolve the formation and make a virtual interface for it. The number of virtual interfaces in his list were now growing more and more.

    It won''t be long before he would have more than a hundred virtual interfaces.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SUGGESTION: The host can sort the virtual interfaces into different categories as he deems fit.

    бкбк

    "Oh? I can do thisбн nice! I''ll do this while waiting for it them." Lin Wu said, feeling pleased.

    He opened the list of virtual interfaces that were currently in the fifties. He started sorting them ording to their importance and use. For example, the virtual interface that was used with the back door in Shirong''s Dantian was kept in the most important category.

    Other important virtual interfaces such as the one for Taiji Celestial''s tomb and Shirong''s spatial ring were also kept in this category. As for the minor virtual interfaces such as the one for the different courtyards he was visiting would be kept in unimportant category.

    Lin Wu also set a filter so that the system is able to automatically sort them ording to his needs in the future. This would make things more convenient for him and make it much easier for Lin Wu to check things.

    It was night by the time Lin Wu was done with half of the residences that belonged to the nobles and aristocrats.

    "Damn, it will take me more time. Should just get the food first tomorrow if Shirong getste in cultivating." Lin Wu decided.

    With this in mind, Lin Wu returned to Shirong''s ring and read the information that he had obtained. About ten hours had passed since he had obtained the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art and sixteen more hours were left till it would be fully analyzed.

    Lin Wu was excited to see what the effect of sapphire meridians would be. And while he was reading, he felt a faint change in his body.

    "Oh? I can cultivate the Immortal Sky Shaker Art again." Lin Wu realized.

    A day before he had to stop the process as the stress on his meridians and Dantian had gotten quite a lot. If he had continued even after that, he would have likely damaged them instead. This was not something he wanted. While he was confident that his Cellr Maniption ability allowed him to regenerate injuries to his body. This specifically applied to the physical aspects body and not the spiritual ones like meridians and Dantian.

    If he wanted to repair them, he would need specific healing pills or depend on the system to slowly repair them. But the thing is, even the system would slow down its speed if his meridians and Dantian were damaged.

    Thus Lin Wu did not carelessly mess with them and took proper caution.

    Morning arrived rather quickly, and Shirong woke up from his cultivation session.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    He let out a breath of foul Qi that traveled to the other end of the room, piercing a hole in the wooden wall. The foul Qi was corrosive and easily passed through the wall before dissipating in the outer garden.

    "Hmmбн so the effects of the technique are starting again." Shirong muttered to himself, referencing the Vital Resurgence technique.

    Lin Wu heard it too but did not pay any particr attention to it as the technique was currently useless to him. He then saw as Shirong stood up and went on to do his tasks. He changed his clothes and went to the Royal court. Today was the day when they were gonna get the very first reports about the bandits.

    Another thing that was likely to happen was the banquet for Shirong. It was for a few things such as congratting him for breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm, for protecting the Ling Kingdom in times of great trouble which was the Spatial rift and also exposing a traitor amongst their ranks who was none other than Du Yang.

    Shirong had done plenty of things that were worthy of being rewarded and even the banquet was not something that would be enough usually. Thankfully, Shirong was not someone to mine customs too much and was fine even if the banquet was small.

    At the royal court, he simply spent the rest of the day hearing different reports while Lin Wu continued reading and expanding his scope of knowledge. He truly could spend months just reading all this and it still won''t be enough.

    Lin Wu didn''t know whether the information was just too interesting for him or if his personality had been vastly changed in this world.

    "Hmmбн now that I think about itбн where did I live in my past life?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    His eyes narrowed and he thorough about it. But the more he focused on it, the more he discovered things. That was not the only thing he had forgotten about himself. Vast tracts of his memories were now missing from his mind.

    He didn''t remember how his personality was in his past life, either.

    "System, why did this happen?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling a bit anxious.

    But then he saw something that he had not seen for a while now.

    <em>~ERROR!~</em>

 Chapter 275 - Undaunted Sapphire Body Art?

    Lin Wu had not seen the error notification for a while since the system had obtained a lot of energy stores and a Data bank that was sufficient for a lot of things. If it still got an error, then it meant that the problem truly was something beyond it.

    <em>~ERROR!~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: An external interference is preventing the system from obtaining the answer to the question.

    бкбк

    "Huh? What the hell! What kind of external interference?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but ask.

    <em>~ERROR!~</em>

    "DAMMIT!" Lin Wu cursed.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "No use getting angry over thisбн better just wait and see itter." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He pushed the matter to the back of his mind for now and returned to reading. Just like this time passed and the court''s session finally ended.

    "Now that we are done here, let me announce something." The king suddenly spoke.

    The minsters all looked at him, and even Shirong opened his eyes.

    "For all the merits young master Shirong has earned, I ordered that a banquet be organized in his honor." The king announced.

    "Of course, my king. We cannot forget young Master Shirong''s current contributions." One of the close advisers of the king spoke.

    The other ministers and advisers agreed, and thus the matter was sealed.

    "We shall hold the banquet tomorrow night and it is to be done with the utmost resplendence." The King added.

    The people of the court nodded their heads and soon distributed the tasks among themselves. Shirong did not have a change in his expression, as he didn''t really care for this banquet.

    For him, this was a mere formality, and the only reason why he was still in the city was to wait for his n''s response. If it hade beforehand, he would have long since left it and went on his mission.

    Lin Wu though, was excited about this.

    "Ooo, another banquet! More food for me. This time I gotta steal a lot of food, I don''t care if they start to suspect a food thiefбн Hehe." Lin Wu said with excitement.

    Shirong returned to his courtyard to cultivate while the city was sent into a minor frenzy. The servants and people of the royal pce could be seen going around the city procuring things needed for the banquet while decorations were quickly being set up.

    Some of themoners living in the city went out to see what all themotion was about and found out about the banquet. Rumors spread like wildfire that a banquet was being held in the honor of young master Shirong and that the king would be giving out gifts to themoners as well.

    The people got excited and started praising Young master Shirong for his presence. Because of him, they would be able to get delicious food and things they would have never gotten normal or would have been difficult for them to get.

    "These people really like to make up stories, huh? The king never said he was going to giftmoners too." Lin Wu suddenly spoke as he watched from the top of a building.

    He had left Shirong before and was now busy in stealing food from the restaurants and eateries of the city. He made sure that the amount he stole was not enough to be noticed, but also enough for him to enjoy for a bit.

    ''Hmmбн this much should be enough for tonight. I''ll be getting more food tomorrow night at the banquet, anyway. It will also be much more delicious.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He looked up the map and found a few nearby houses that belonged to the nobles. Lin Wu started his task of obtaining more information. By now, he had gained a lot of dark information about the things these nobles and aristocrats did in their lives.

    There was so much information that he didn''t know how he would even sort it. Thankfully, the system was here to handle stuff like that. While this information was not useful for him now, it would probablye in handyter on.

    He was on his tenth house for the night when a notification sounded.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE ANALYSIS: Completed

    COMPATIBILITY INCREASED: Undaunted Sapphire Body Art- 100%

    бкбк

    Seeing the notification, Lin Wu smiled and exposed his sharp teeth slightly. If anyone were to look at him right now, they would definitely find a smiling worm creepy.

    "Perfectбн now I have something to do tonight after I''m done with these houses." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He quickly finished up as many houses as he could and returned to Shirong''s ring. Once he was there, he was free to begin cultivating the new cultivation technique. He scrolled to the window that had the instructions for the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art and read them thoroughly before beginning.

    Lin Wu followed the circuits that were mentioned in the booklet and felt the change rather quickly.

    "ARGH!" Lin Wu couldn''t help but grunt in pain.

    He felt as if his meridians were being pulled out of his body for some reason.

    "System, are you sure this is safe?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The cultivation technique: Undaunted Sapphire Body Art is 100% safe, and any pain caused due to it is temporary.

    бкбк

    "If you say soбн" Lin Wu muttered before returning to his practice.

    The pain returned as soon as he started it, and the meridian truly felt as if they were getting pulled out. He observed it with his spirit sense and saw that it was not the meridians that were actually being pulled, but rather the spirit Qi that flowed within them.

    The spirit of Qi was being passed through the meridians causing him pain that felt like they were being pulled. Lin Wu simply gritted his teeth and continued after confirming that it really was safe.

    Hours passed by but they felt far longer to Lin Wu as he was in constant pain. Even his spirit Qi was now starting to get greatly disturbed. But then, just when he was about to give up, he saw the effect.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

 Chapter 276 - First Level Of The Undaunted Sapphire Body Art?

    A crack had suddenly appeared on Lin Wu''s body. It started spreading across the length of the body in a very specific pattern. But once it was done, a sapphire blue glow reced it.

    Then after a few minutes, another crack appeared.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    It too spread along the length of his body and a sapphire blue glow reced it. More and more of these cracks appeared along his body and after an hour their number had reached ten.

    Lin Wu gritted his teeth as he bore through the pain. Finally, two more hourster it stopped and the sapphire blue glow faded away.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu took a breath of relief as he rxed his body.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    [AVATAR]

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE ADDED: Undaunted Sapphire Body art

    HOST DATA: Updated

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE PROFICIENCY UPGRADE: Undaunted Sapphire Body art- First level (10% Meridians converted)

    "Finally, it''s overбн" Lin Wu muttered in a tired tone.

    This was the first level of the Undaunted Sapphire Body art that he hadpleted. Currently, ten percent of his meridians had been converted into Sapphire meridians. This was the first level of the cultivation technique.

    In total, the technique had four levels.

    The first level needed 10% of the meridians to be converted.

    The second level needed 30% of the meridians to be converted.

    The third level needed 60% of the meridians to be converted.

    And finally, the fourth level needed 100% of the meridians to be converted.

    The creator of the technique Lan Baoshi herself, had only reached the third level of the technique herself before her death. Because of her heart demon, she had been unable to fully reach the peak of the technique, yet she had the confidence that her technique was perfect.

    It was because of this that she had written thest part of the booklet on her deathbed. Lin Wu knew this and because of that had chosen to practice the technique with his avatar first and not his main body.

    But now that he had the confirmation that the technique truly worked, he would be able to practice it with his main body as well. Thankfully, he didn''t need to refine spirit Qi using the technique, as its efficiency was even lower than that of the Immortal Sky Shaker art.

    Lin Wu had the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture and thus didn''t need to use any other technique for the time being.

    "Another thing added to my list now, I guess. Damn, my spirit Qi expenditure is only increasing. Butбн this is reasonable as it would only be increasing my own strength." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''Let''s see how my main body fares with this techniqueбн'' Lin Wu thought before transferring his consciousness to the main body.

    When he was manually controlling one body, the other one would still do the tasks that were assigned to it. For example, Lin Wu would usually leave one of the bodies to cultivate and they would continue to do that until Lin Wu told them to stop or do something else.

    This was the reason why he could keep up his cultivation even though he had double the work.

    After returning to his main body Lin Wu checked the spirit Qi that had been umted till now.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST CULTIVATION: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [9875/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 1,014,405 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Still got a long way to go till the next upgrade and the two new cultivation techniques will only take more from me." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He then practiced the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art just like he did with the avatar and watched its effects. Unlike in the avatar, Lin Wu did not feel as much pain in his main body. He didn''t know what the reason for it was, but the second difference was that it took much longer for him to reach the first level of the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art.

    He ended up spending the rest of the night on it before he was finally able to reach the level.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    [Main Body]

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE ADDED: Undaunted Sapphire Body art

    HOST DATA: Updated

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE PROFICIENCY UPGRADE: Undaunted Sapphire Body art- First level (15% Meridians converted)

    бкбк

    But upon seeing the conversion percentage Lin Wu was surprised.

    "Why is the percentage different? System?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s main body has better innatepatibility with the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art than was anticipated by the system. Due to this, the first level''s threshold was raised and now it is at 15% instead of 10%.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн that''s fine, but what''s the actual difference?" Lin Wu questioned, not feeling satisfied.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s main body has multiple bloodlines assimted into it, but the unknown bloodline is particrly contributing to this property.

    бкбк

    "Ah, so it''s because of the unknown bloodline again. Just what is it that it can bring about so many effects? I can''t wait to find outter." Lin Wu said, feeling a bit excited.

    He then realized that he had just forgotten something.

    "Oh wait! I still need to test out the effect of the undaunted Sapphire Body Art!" Lin Wu recalled.

    It was mentioned in the technique''s description that the technique allowed one to bypass a lot of restrictions. Lin Wu reckoned that this must include barriers as well.

    "System active one of the barriers in the tomb for a test." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    COMMAND: epted

    FORMATION ACTIVATED: Barrier formation

    бкбк

    Lin Wu then saw some rune appear in the air in front of him, which then gathered together to form a translucent barrier in front of him. This was the barrier formation that Lin Wu had asked for.

    "First should be the baseline experiment. I''ll just use my own strength for this oneбн" Lin Wu said before raising his tail.

 Chapter 277 - Sapphire Meridians?

    Lin Wu didn''t want to directly use the effect of the sapphire meridians as he wouldn''t be able to tell how much of a difference they made in his strength. Choosing to use his own power first would give him a good way topare them.

    At first, he lightly tapped with his tail onto the barrier and saw no effect. The barrier stood there as strong as ever. Lin Wu then increased his power and used about a quarter of his strength.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The barrier was still able to bear it and did not show any change.

    "Okay, time to amp it up more." Lin Wu said as he now used fixity percent of his strength.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The barrier finally showed some effect and slightly flickered. Lin Wu could tell that while it had sessfully taken the blow, it may not be able to take multiple of the same level attacks.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Lin Wu attacked it again and saw the barrier flicker once more. Knowing that this was not enough, he attacked again and again until the stability of the barrier started to reduce.

    By the 20th attack, the barrier was barely holding up and the runes were flickering nonstop.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    He raised his tail and attacked onest time before the barrier broke apart and faded away.

    ''Hmmбн so it takes more than twenty attacks with half of my physical strength to break the barrier. I can get a good estimate with this, so let''s try with spirit Qi now.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, create another barrier." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu used Qi amplification on his tail this time, which allowed the properties of Sapphire meridians to be activated. He only used a quarter of his strength at first as he had done in the first trial.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The effect was better this time as he could visually see the thingyer of spirit Qi passing through the barrier barely. While the barrier itself had not broken, the spirit Qi managed to extend beyond it, even if it was only a millimeter.

    Lin Wu kept on hammering on the barrier and counted the number of attempts that were needed for it to break this time.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    Finally, after fifteen attempts, the barrier was broken. But unlike before, when he needed half of his strength and twenty attempts to do so, he did it with only a quarter of it. This showed the effectiveness of the Sapphire meridians.

    "Make another barrier system." Lin Wu ordered again, not feeling content yet.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A third barrier appeared in front of him, and he raised his tail again. This time it was using fifty percent of his strength along with Qi amplification.

    <em>~Shatter~</em>

    The tail passed through the barrier like a brick through ss. There was little effort needed and Lin Wu couldn''t help but feel impressed.

    "If this is the effect at just the first level, then what would it be at second, third, or even the fourth level?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    Lin Wu had just tested the effect of the sapphire meridians on one of the basic types of barrier formations of the Taiji Celestial tomb and knew that the results won''t be the same with other ones. The likely thing was that as the grade of the formation rose, the difficulty in breaking it would increase as well.

    "Well, this was the physical test, now for a Qi skill." Lin Wu said before getting ready.

    The Qi skill he was going to use was none other than one that came with the Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Cloud Parting Gale. This was actually the first time he was even using a Qi skill that was part of a cultivation technique and was looking forward to learning more about it as well.

    He raised his tail like Shirong would do to him in the spear form. The tail lit up in an emerald green glow as wind attribute spirit Qi swirled around it. Then Lin Wu swung it hard towards the barrier.

    <strong>Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Cloud Parting Gale!</strong>

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    A different result could be observed now. Instead of breaking the barrier, the Qi skill passed through the barrier for about ten centimeters before fading away.

    While this seemed like an underwhelming result, one must consider that a physical attack was only able to pierce for a millimeter. And it had still taken multiple attacks to break it with the amount of strength that Lin Wu had used.

    When he used Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Cloud Parting Gale, Lin Wu had barely even used ten percent of his strength in terms of spirit Qi. This showed that the sapphire meridians'' effect WA bests suited to Qi skills that were of energy emission type.

    "Perfect, these two cultivation techniques work well in tandem. Once they are all at the peak level, I''m sure it will have a terrifying impact." Lin Wu eximed to himself.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    But just as Lin Mu had finished testing the technique, he got a notification from the system.

    "Oh? What''s this?" Lin Wu muttered as a screen appeared in front of him.

    On the screen, Lin Wu could see a few insect beasts standing outside the border of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb. They were waiting anxiously and tapped their feet in nervousness. Lin Wu could even see that they had some things with them.

    One of the insect beasts that looked like a scorpion was carrying a spirit beast in his pincers, while another beast that looked like adybug was carrying a bunch of fruits on its back.

    "Ah, seems like they finally finished whatever tournament they were having amongst themselvesбн" Lin Wu said, before looking at the other insect beasts that were not carrying anything.

    He narrowed his eyes and thought for a bit before activating the teleportation formation of the tomb.

    "Bring them to one of the isted halls, system." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TELEPORTATION FORMATION ACTIVATED: Targets selected

    бкбк

    Then, to the surprise of the insect beasts, they suddenly felt their vision go nk for a moment before they appeared in a wide hall.

 Chapter 278 - Mutating The Insect Beasts?

    The insect beasts were a bit overwhelmed by this, as they didn''t know what had just happened. One moment they were outside the tomb in the forest and then in the next, they were in a wide and tall hall.

    The tiles on the floor were a pale gray and its walls were of the same color. Overall, it looked extremely unnatural to these beasts who had lived in the millennium forest all their lives.

    "What is this ce?" The scorpion beast questioned while looking around.

    It was tapping its legs in anxiety, and its beady eyes showed a hint of fear as well.

    "Ahбн seem''s like you guys are finally done choosing." A voice suddenly stalemated them.

    The voice came from the back and was powerful despite not being loud. The insect beasts turned around and saw the coiled emerald green body of Lin Wu lounging on the ground.

    The fearfully looked up and saw his crimson red eyes staring at them. Lin Wu''s mouth was closed so they did not see the sharp teeth that were hiding within or they would have definitely been scared to death.

    "S...S-senior!" The scorpion beast let out while stammering.

    Thedybug beast had also snapped out of its daze by now and finally realized what was happening.

    Immediately bowing its head, it said, "greetings senior! It''s our honor to meet you."

    Lin Wu raised his non-existent brows upon hearing the words of thedybug beast and looked at it with interest.

    "Hmmбн those things you are carrying, I believe they are for me?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Ye-yes. These are all part of your payment." The scorpion beast spoke.

    There were a couple more beasts, along with the scorpion beast and thedybug beast. Since they were not carrying anything for payment, Lin Wu guessed that they were here to observe or to take these two beasts back when their mutation started.

    "I''ll take them then." Lin Wu said before he put all of the fruits that thedybug had brought him in the storage.

    As for the spirit beast, the scorpion beast was carrying in his pincers, it was conscious but still alive.. Lin Wu simply extended a spike from his tail and raised it.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    The spike impaled the spirit beast in the scorpion beast''s pincers, and Lin Wu picked it up effortlessly.

    <em>~crunch~</em>

    Throwing it into his mount whole, Lin Wu casually chewed it for a few seconds before swallowing it.

    "That should be enough for the mutation." Lin Wu said, before looking at the two insect beasts.

    "So who wants to go first?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I-I''ll do it first senior. I was the first winner of the tournament thus I''ll go first." The scorpion beast replied.

    "Come closer then." Lin Wu said.

    The scorpion beast hurriedly got closer to Lin Wu, fearing that any dy in his actions will cause Lin Wu to be offended. He was stopped by Lin Wu''s tail which came towards him. The scorpion beast then saw a small spike extend from the tail which Lin Wu then rested on the top of his head, right above where his eyes were.

    The scorpion beast was secretly trembling in his ce, but it was still apparent to Lin Wu. He didn''t pay much attention to that as he had already expected such a reaction. There had been a subtle change in Lin Wu''s aura after he cultivated the Immortal Sky Shaker.

    And now that here was the Undaunted Sapphire body art added to it, the change was even greater. His aura exuded a pressure that made lower beasts tremble and fear. Even those that were above his cultivation base would think thrice before choosing to attack him.

    Right now Lin Wu had not even used his bloodline suppression or it would be even more terrifying for the beasts.

    ''Controlling beasts is so much easier than humanбн plus they are not as fickle as them either. Their schemes are a jokepared to what I''ve seen. Only makes manipting them an easy task.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he started the mutation process.

    The small spike was touching the scorpion beasts head and had actually pierced into its brain. But the process was so fast that the beast had no idea and thus did not feel any pain, either. If one were to look from the side, they would not be able to see that the spike was extending deep either.

    Lin Wu then let the system handle the rest of the process and about five minutester it was done.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    A low thud was heard as the scorpion beast fell asleep on the ground. There was now an emerald green rhombus shaped gem in its head and a faint vortex of spirit Qi could be seen hovering over you.

    "Oh? Already absorbing spirit Qi, this is fastбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Unlike the other servant beasts he had gathered, this scorpion beast was much more talented and his higher aptitude allowed it to elerate the mutation process. The faint vortex of spirit Qi was a sign of this, as his cultivation base started to grow already.

    Lin Wu withdrew his tail and looked at thedybug beast.

    "He is done, now you cane next." Lin Wu spoke.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Thedybug beast secretly swallowed its saliva before walking towards Lin Wu, just the way the scorpion beast had done. It had its eyes closed as it watched Lin Wu ce the spiked tip of his tail on its head.

    The tip was ced right below the part where its wings were attached to. The spike then quickly entered its head and it trembled for a second before getting still. The system got to work quickly and imprints were created on their brain and Dantian.

    Five minutes passed while the system did its work. Lin Wu was observing both the insect beasts for changes and once it was done, he did not see the same level of reaction as that of the scorpion beast.

    "Hmmбн so his talent was truly a notch above the others." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 279 - Dual Stinger Scorpion?

    Lin Wu looked at the other insect beasts that had apanied the two contenders.

    "I believe you are here to take them back?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes senior!" They hurriedly responded.

    "I''ll let you guys out." Lin Wu said before triggering the teleportation formation.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    All the insect beasts disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared in the area outside the tomb. They looked around feeling dumbfounded again but were able to recover much faster than before since they had already been through it once.

    "Quick, quick! Take them back to the nest!" The insect beasts said before they dragged the two sleeping beasts to the nest.

    Lin Wu watched them on the screens and once they were gone nodded his head.

    "That scorpion beast is likely to be much stronger than the others. System, show me its data." Lin Wu ordered.

    The system had automatically scanned the scorpion beast when Lin Wu was starting the process of mutation.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET: Barb-Pincered Scorpion

    CULTIVATION BASE: Late Stage of the Core condensation realm

    SPIRIT SENSE RANGE: 100 meters

    INFO: The Barb-pincered scorpion is a beast that lives in the fifth and fourth ring of the millennium forest. It is an overall strong beast with its dangerous stinger and sharp pincers. When given the right conditions the Barb-pincered scorpions can awaken their bloodline and evolve into Dual Stinger Scorpions which have the sentential to reach the Dao Treading Realm.

    бкбк

    "Oh myбн seems like I found a diamond in the rough." Lin Wu said, feeling amazed.

    Seeing that its bloodline awakening already put it at such a big level, Lin Wu didn''t know what would happen now that he was mutating it further.

    "But how does a beast like this exist here and none of the rulers know about its potential?" Lin Wu wondered before realizing something.

    "System, where did you get this information about the Barb-pincered scorpion?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The initial part of the information was obtained from the Lu n''s vault, but the additional information about its awakened bloodline was obtained from the restricted section of the Royal Library.

    бкбк

    "Of course! No one even knows about it." Lin Wu said before opening that part of the book and checking it.

    "Just as I thought. There is no link here between the barb-pincered scorpion and the Dual Stinger Scorpion." Lin Wu stated.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This information was extrapted by the system by thorough analysis andparison between different characteristic.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн the benefits of gathering new data are already showing. So system, since you know what its bloodline awakening could be, do you also have a method for that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system does not have the methodology currently but if a task is assigned, the system would be able to extrapte it from the obtained data. Though with the mutation being initiated in the Barb-Pincered Scorpion, there are some unknown parameters that would be added to it.

    If the host still wants to go ahead with the analysis, the system rmends that he wait till the Barb-Pincered Scorpion is done with its mutation.

    бкбк

    "I guess we can wait and see for now. Besides, taking control of that scorpion just after I mutated him would not look good to the rulers. Better bide my timeбн" Lin Wu decided.

    This was one of the aspects of Lin Wu''s bigger n. Each beast that he would mutate would be linked to him and would thus have to listen to his orders due to being part of his bloodline. His bloodline suppression on them would be much stronger than any other beast.

    Not to mention these beasts would feel an innate desire to serve Lin Wu, which would only make things simpler. Butбн this would only happen once he fully activates the imprint that had been ced on their beast cores and brains.

    "Let''s see what''s going on in the forest recentlyбн" Lin Wu said, before contacting his other servants.

    He talked with them for about an hour and listened to all the updates that had happened while he was cultivating. He had asked them to find some spirit herbs and fruits, including vegetables and spicesst time he had met them.

    "Master, we found some of the things you wanted as well. We marked the areas where they grow like you asked too." The beetle beast spoke.

    Lin Wu had told them to not take all of the fruits, vegetable and spices as it would mean destroying the main nt. Instead of that he had told them to mark the location so that they could be collectedter on carefully and transnted into the Tomb''s grounds.

    He wanted to do this since the Taiji Celstial''s tomb even had areas where spirit herbs and other nts could be cultivated. There were special formation arrays that helped with that and he was 1000% intending to use them.

    Lin Wu had wondered why there were no herbs in those areas if the Taiji celestial had chosen to add them here, but then the system told him that most of those areas had stopped working due to theck of spirit Qi source and the rest of them were intended to be used as rewards for the heirs.

    Lin Wu could not get them directly even if he wanted as it would go against the basic rules that had been set up in the tomb. He had all these treasures in his view but could not touch them. It was really a tease for him.

    "And what about rebutting spirit beasts as your subordinates?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Ah, that part was easy master. We didn''t even have to do much and a few beasts willingly came to us and told us that they want to be subordinates." The mole beast answered.

    "Excellent. Continue your work and report to me when something happens." Lin Wu said, before stopping themunication link.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "So many things to do and so little timeбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he closed his eyes before returning to his cultivation.

 Chapter 280 - Leaving The Capital?

    Three days passed in the blink of an eye. The banquet was done with great pomp and mor, making the entire capital city light up with joy.

    Shirong was the guest of honor and thus celebrated for his merits. Lin Wu though took this opportunity to steal a ton of food. His task was made even easier because the king actually ended up giving some food to themoners, too.

    He had been forced as the rumors about the king gifting food to themoners had spread so much that if he denied it right now, the public outcry would be bad. While he would be able to suppress this rather easily, doing so would be bad for him in the long term.

    Lin Wu took advantage of this very fact and took a lot of food, while the people in the royal court simply thought that it was themoners taking advantage of freebies. Still, there wasn''t much they could do and thus let it happen.

    In reality, it was Lin Wu who was stealing the food from therge kitchens that had been set up. His main body was also cultivating during this time and had progressed a bit with the Immortal Sky Shaker art.

    But he had hit a snag with the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art. He didn''t know why, but more meridians were even more difficult for him to develop. He had even asked the system for the solution but did not get one.

    The system merely told him that it was the normal progression and that it depended greatly on his body itself. He would just have to continue practicing and he would eventually progress further with the Undaunted Sapphire Body art.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I guess this is what they mean by a bottleneck. I never truly experienced one before due to the system''s help but now that I have, it feels a bit bad." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    While Lin Wu was spending time dealing with his problem in the ring, a knock was heard on the gate of Shirong''s courtyard. Shirong himself was sitting inside the bedroom busy in cultivation, thus a servant had answered it for him.

    An old man was standing out and he passed a letter to the servant. The moment the old man arrived, Shirong''s eyes opened.

    "Seems like they finally respondedбн" Shirong said before standing up.

    He was just about to walk to the door when a voice spoke out.

    "Young master, there is a letter for you." The servant spoke.

    <em>~slide~</em>

    The door was opened by Shirong, and he took the letter from the hands of the servant. The servant bowed his head and returned to his work while Shirong sat down to open it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Shirong waved his hand and set up an isting formation before he opened the letter. Then tapping his finger on the wax seal, another formation appeared. This one was shaped like a lock which then opened, allowing Shirong to unfold the letter.

    ''First of all, I would like to congratte you on breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm. You did not disappoint me and even went beyond managing to trigger a dualyered heavenly tribtion. This is an ode to your talent.

    Now for the second part, we looked over the actions of this ''Shadow Dagger pavilion'' and you are right, they need to be eliminated. They tried to target the heir of the Ji n! For this, they and their seven generations will pay the price!

    The n will be sending an extermination squad, so you need not worry about them anymore. We are also sending an envoy to talk with King Huo about his administrative actions in the kingdom. While the Lu n will also be getting an envoy but for their official induction as an ally of the Ji n.

    There are no more instructions from me and you can proceed as was directed in the previous letter.

    бкPatriarch of the Ji n''

    The letter was rtively short than the previous one but conveyed the message very well. Lin Wu also read the content of the letter and knew that perhaps it was the end for the Shadow Dagger Pavilion now.

    ''Even that king will probably be grilled by the envoy,'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then observed Shirong, who was still silent while staring at the letter.

    <em>~spark~</em>

    A small arc of lighting appeared on his hand and turned the letter into dust.

    "Finallyбн I can head on." Shirong said in a relieved tone.

    "SERVANTS!" Shirong called out.

    <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>

    The sound of footsteps hurriedly approaching could be heard.

    "What are your orders, young master?" The servant asked.

    "Tell King Huo I''ll be leaving as of now," Shirong said.

    "Now? But young masterбн"

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    Before the servant could evenplete his sentence Shirong flew away, leaving behind a whirlwind. The speed of his flight was so strong that Gales spread in the capital city, knocking up dust and dead leaves from trees.

    The people of the city were confused and didn''t know why such a strong wind had suddenly appeared. They looked up but did not spot anything in the air either. Shirong was simply too fast.

    Wind attribute spirit Qi wrapped around his body, boosting his speed even further as he soared into the sky.

    "Dread Coil Marsh, here Ie!" Shirong said with a smile on his face.

    He was finally enjoying himself after a month of boredom. Battling to his heart''s content and finding the cause behind his uncle''s death should keep him entertained for a while.

    Lin Wu also watched on and checked the map which was rapidly moving.

    "Hmmбн if I didn''t know it, I''d say that he''s even faster than me. But my digging speed is still greaterбн" Lin Wupared.

    Lin Wu then closed his eyes before leaving the instructions for his avatar to cultivate while Shirong was still traveling. He knew that his avatar would soon be able to break through to the Nascent Soul realm as well.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Peak stage of the core condensation realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [45,698/48,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

 Chapter 281 - Unexpected Tribulation?

    <em>~stter~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The head of ten beasts rolled like marbles on the ground while their blood seeped into the soil.

    It had been a day since Shirong had left the Capital city and he was now at the border of the Ling Kingdom. Most of the area there was ins but there were some small patches of trees as well.

    The beasts that had just been killed were some unlucky beasts that decided to disturb Shirong''s rest. They were killed with a single swing of his Immortal Crystal Armament before they could even get close to him.

    <em>~humph~</em>

    "Filthy pestsбн may as well be part of my strength," Shirong said before he stabbed the crystal spear into each of the corpses.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The corpses started to shrink rapidly as they dried up. A minuteter all ten beasts that were barely in the Qi refining realm were reduced to desated husks. While Shirong felt a faint stream of spirit Qiing from the spear in his hand.

    "No matter how many times I do this, it''s always refreshing." Shirong muttered to himself with a faint smile on his face.

    But this smile soon turned tense as he felt the spear shake in his hand.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    Suddenly strong winds started blowing in the area and the Immortal Crystal Armament started glowing.

    "What!?" Shirong said, feeling surprised.

    The spear started to tremble in his hand and suddenly left his grasp.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The faint sound of thunder could be hearding from afar, making Shirong look up.

    "No wayбн how can this be?" Shirong said upon seeing the dark clouds that were gathering up in the sky.

    He could sense the suppression that wasing from those clouds and the warning that was contained within them.

    "A heavenly tribtionбн did a seal? Yes, that must be it, another seal was released." Shirong muttered to himself.

    Aplex expression appeared on his face, and he hesitated for a moment before retreating. He knew that if this heavenly tribtion had arrived, that too, for a weapon it was likely to be much more terrifying than his own. If he was in its range, there was a great chance he would be injured.

    While he was a bit unsure of leaving the Immortal Crystal Armament out of his grasp, he knew this was something he needed to do.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    More thunder could be heard as the clouds got denser. Lin Wu, who was in his main body at this moment, sensed it as well and quickly returned.

    "Huh? What happened?" Lin Wu said before checking the avatar''s data.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Peak stage of the core condensation realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [49,459/48,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    "How did itбн" Lin Wu wondered but then noticed the beast corpses that were lying around the area.

    "Ah, he absorbed the spirit Qi and vital energy from these beastsбн no wonder it didn''t trigger my rm." Lin Wu realized.

    Lin Wu had originally set it so that the avatar would inform him when he reached the spirit Qi required for him to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, which was 48,000 drops of liquid spirit Qi.

    It was only a few tens of drops away from that point, but then Shirong had suddenly killed these Qi refining realm beasts which directly pushed the spirit Qi store beyond the current limit. Lin Wu had set the rm so that he would be able to choose a time to undergo the Heavenly Tribtion.

    He did not want it to happen in the middle of a battle or in the wrong ce. If he was still in his avatar, he would have been able to dy the heavenly tribtion till he was in a better location, but since the rm did not work because of a loophole, he was left with no other choice.

    "System, show me the updated map." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    MAP: Updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw all the markers on the map and almost facepalmed.

    "These dumb beastsбн how unlucky were you guysбн" Lin Wu could not help but think.

    In the entire map, Lin Wu could see that where Shirong had originally been was empty in a radius of over four kilometers. This meant that the beasts had intentionallye to sacrifice their lives to Shirong.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Thankfully this ce isn''t that bad for a breakthrough eitherбн" Lin Wu said before taking a look at Shirong, who was now standing nearly ten kilometers away from him.

    "Man, is he scared or whatбн guy ran away so far." Lin Wu chuckled.

    Lin Wu reckoned that the man was still a bit traumatized from thest Heavenly tribtion that he went through and did not want to take another chance with it. Thus, wanting to be cautious, Shirong had run away quite far.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Wellбн no use waiting, let''s get this over with. System, upgrade!" Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADING AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Peak Stage of the core condensation realm -> Infant Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 48,000 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    бкбк

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    As soon as Lin Wu allowed his body to break through, the Tribtion which had been mild till now exploded. The clouds covered the sky and arcs of lightning could be seen coursing through them.

    The first thing Lin Wu noticed was that the pressure being exerted by the Tribtion clouds was much less than thest time. In fact, when he observed it with his radiation perception, he saw that the transparent part of the energy in clouds was only at one percent.

    "Better set some privacyбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as his body glowed even more.

    Then wind attribute spirit Qi started swirling around his body, which then turned into a shade of pale red due to radiation being added to it. This created a curtain around Lin Wu which prevented Shirong from seeing him. Or rather his body, which was now rapidly growing to its full size.

    "COME ON!" Lin Wu said as he looked at the clouds fearlessly.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The lightning bolt condensed in the clouds before falling towards Lin Wu.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

 Chapter 282 - Worm Soul?

    Shirong watched on from far as bolt after bolt of lighting felt on the Immortal Crystal armament. He could not it due to the red vortex that was spinning around it and blurring its appearance.

    But whenever the lighting stuck it, there was a moment when the entire area would glow up with a blinding light, it was during this time that he could see the faint outline of something huge behind the curtain.

    Shirong didn''t know why the blurry figure behind it was so big but reckoned that it was just the shadow that was appearing bigger as the actual Immortal Crystal Armament was much smaller in size.

    By now, the third lightning bolt had already struck the spear which was a lot considering that it was not an actual cultivator. Even if it was a cultivator, that was still a sign of how talented that person was.

    Shirong felt goosebumps appearing on his skin every time those tribtion lightning bolts fell. He took a deep breath and moved back a few hundred meters more.

    ''Just to be on the safe sideбн'' he thought.

    ***

    Lin Wu on the other hand, was feeling rather calm. The tribtion lightning bolts were not really hurting him as much as they had before. He didn''t know if this was due to the increase in the innate skill radiation maniption or the Immortal Sky Shaker Art.

    But the tribtion lightning bolts simply hit his body and spread towards his core before affecting it. Though the side effect of this increased resistance was that it took longer for his core to start developing cracks.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    Another lightning bolt struck Lin Wu''s body and the cracks finally covered fifty percent of the surface of the core. Lin Wu had been wondering what the situation would be like with his avatar.

    His main body had two nascent Souls that looked different and with the addition of the avatar Lin Wu reckoned that he may be the first beast to have three nascent Souls.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    Three more lightning bolts fell and now his core was fully covered in cracks, just on the cusp of breaking.

    "Come on now bro, don''t keep me hanging." Lin Wu said, while looking up at the tribtion clouds.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    His words seem to have aggravated the tribtion clouds as they suddenly started to expand. Then a hole opened up in the center of the clouds, within which a tribtion lightning bolt that was four times as thick as before was suspended.

    "There you goбн nice and thickбн" Lin Wu said with a chuckle as he amped his defenses.

    Lin Wu had drawn the conclusion that the stronger the tribtion lightning was the better the spirit Qi infusion that came after that would be. That spirit Qi infusion was quite good for a cultivator and Lin Wu reckoned that it may help with his bottleneck in the Undaunted Sapphire Body art.

    <em>~Kaboom!~</em>

    The thick lightning bolt finally fell from the tribtion clouds and struck Lin Wu''s body, spreading fine cracks over his body.

    "Ooo! Hurts like a bitch!" Lin Wu cursed, but held on.

    The lightning coursed through his body before finally reaching his core and impacting it.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    A blinding light came from the core before it finally shattered. But when the light finally faded, Lin Wu saw something he had actually not expected.

    "What the hell!? What''s up with this nascent soul?" Lin Wu eximed.

    Inside Lin Wu''s Dantian, a new nascent Soul was floating. It was emerald green in color like Lin Wu and was alsoбн a worm.

    "I thought it would be like the previous two, being in the human form. But thisбн how did it be a worm?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but question.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s avatar is inherently part of this world and was created here, thus the system had reached the hypothesis that the Worm Nascent Soul may be due to that. In the case of Host''s main body, that belonged to the host''s own soul which was of a human, and thus the Nascent Soul born was also in the form of a human.

    The system does not have an urate reason behind this, but ording to the extrapted data from the Data banks, the system concludes that it is the workings of the heavenlyws of this universe.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu read the answer of the system and went silent for a few seconds.

    "Hmmбн that''s doesn''t really justify it, but okay. I guess we can deal with it for now. Doesn''t seem like it''s gonna cause any problem either way." Lin Wu said to himself and prepared for the spirit Qi infusion that was about to happen.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A massive vortex of spirit Qi now started spinning around the previous red vortex that was glowing due to radiation. This vortex was strong enough that it directly bore through the curtain of radiation without being restricted and entered Lin Wu''s body.

    His body started to grow rapidly and his spirit Qi also started restoring. Lin Wu took this opportunity to heal his injuries as well and fill up his depleted stores.

    ~Hu~

    The spirit qi vortexsted for about five minutes before dissipating. Lin Wu''s avatar had been growing during this entire time and had now be fifty meters long. This was something that confused him again, as it was smaller than his main body.

    "Now why is this happening?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He had expected it to be the same as his main body, which was over a hundred meters long, but his avatar had only reached the half of that for some reason.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s avatar does not have the unknown bloodline and thus will not have the same level of growth. Even the Unity Avatar Technique cannot ovee the limitation of a bloodline and thus the size of the body will be dependent on the bloodline that the host already has.

    бкбк

    Seeing the answer of the system, Lin Wu almost facepalmed.

    "Is my mental damage returning? How the hell am I missing things like these?"

 Chapter 283 - Previous Owner?

    Lin Wu assessed the size of his body and checked the system''s notifications that had piled up by now.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Sessful

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- First level (15% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    бкбк

    Seeing the updated Host data and the upgrade Lin Wu felt satisfied. And the assumption he had about the bottleneck getting loose turned out to be true as well. Seeing the Progress of the Undaunted Sapphire Body art which had risen to 15% he was happy.

    "Excellent! So I just need to cultivate regrly and it should aconite to grow. Though it is likely that each level''s bottleneck would get harder and harder to ovee." Lin Wu said.

    He also saw the part about the nascent soul. It particrly said that the type of soul was a beast soul, unlike his main body where they were human souls instead.

    "Hmmбн let''s check out the nascent soul in person." Lin Wu muttered before sinking his consciousness into his Dantian.

    Lin Wu''s Dantian was currently filled with spirit Qi, that too of two types. There was the normal attribute less spirit Qi which was in the majority and then the Wind attribute spirit Qi that was five percent of the total amount of spirit Qi.

    This spirit Qi was in the liquid form and was bathing the nascent soul in it, nourishing its growth. Lin Wu looked closely at the Nascent soul, which was tiny and coiled up. It was perhaps only thirty centimeters long in length and had its eyes closed.

    The Nascent Soul calmly sat in the center while absorbing the sprint Qi from the Dantian. It would faintly glow every time a wisp of spirit Qi was absorbed. Having seen it, Lin Wu didn''t find his new Nascent soul special except for being in the form of a worm.

    The heavenly tribtion had started to dissipate by now and Lin Wu noticed it too.

    "Better return to a smaller form. Though the first time will hurt againбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before triggering the two innate skills, cellr maniption, and cellr crystallization.

    It was a bit difficult for Lin Wu to reduce his size as he was five times as big, but he was able to do so after two minutes. He was now five meters instead of the previous two meters and would be hard for Shirong to use.

    "Wellбн I''ll leave it to him on how he decides to use me." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Though waitбн what''s my weight and length now?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s avatar weighs 105,847.1 Kilograms and is 51.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн isn''t that exactly half my main body? Okayбн but I doubt Shirong will still be able to use me with the weight. He may be able to lift me but will probably struggle a bit, even with his nascent Soul realm cultivation base."

    Lin Wu then stopped the red curtain of radiation that was surrounding his body till now and descended to the ground, inserting into it.

    Shirong, who had been watching the entire tribtion from afar, took a breath of relief after it ended.

    "Finally, it''s over. The Immortal Crystal Armament even took nearly the same number of tribtion lightning bolts as meбн truly terrifying." Shirong muttered to himself before approaching the area.

    By the time he reached the area, the red curtain had finally disappeared and he could see the full form of the Immortal Crystal Armament. It was now more than twice as long as he and he didn''t know what to do with it.

    "Thisбн what kind of a person was this even made for?" Shirong wondered.

    While Shirong had used the immortal weapon in its extended form for different attacks, that was only temporary and the normal form was merely two meters long. Which was much more manageable for him.

    But now, seeing this long spear, he felt a bit lost. Still, he approached the spear and ced his hand on it.

    ''Lemme give him a little excuse for the sizeбн'' Lin Wu thought before sending him some made up memories.

    As soon as Shirong''s fingers grasped the spear, he felt a scene appear before his eyes. It was of a huge man who was nearly five meters tall. Shirong could not see his face, but the man''s torso was bare, with his bulky muscles on disy.

    His back was like a wall, and he wore metal bracers on both his hands. In his right hand though, there was a long spear that was nearly as tall as him. It was none other than the Immortal Crystal armament that Shirong had.

    The giant of a man then swung the long spear, creating a sh the split apart the world and thus ending the memory.

    <em>~Gasp~</em>

    Shirong couldn''t help but take a breath upon seeing the scene and the giant man. Beads of cold sweat had appeared on his forehead and his eyes trembled slightly.

    "So the previous ownerбн was such a man." Shirong muttered to himself.

    That was the conclusion that he had reached. It would make sense to him if the Immortal Crystal armament had been made for apletely different kind of a person and thus was much bigger than most weapons he knew.

    "That skill the giant man executedбн what was that? Can I replicate it?" Shirong wondered.

    But upon hearing the words of Shirong Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh.

    "Bro, that wasn''t even a real skill. I just didn''t want to make it too detailed."

 Chapter 284 - Dread Coil Marsh?

    While Shirong obsessed over the skill that he had seen, Lin Wu checked the map for their location. In the past days, he had collected a lot of data from books and records, thus the system now had a map for the entire continent.

    While it was not as urate as it would be after a system scan, it was still good enough for Lin Wu to approximate their location.

    "Hmmбн let''s see, the dread coil marsh." Lin Wu muttered as he scrolled through the map.

    There were about two kingdoms that they would have to cross before they would reach the Dread Coil Marsh. These two kingdoms were not part of the thirteen kingdom alliance that the Ling kingdom was part of and thus a normal cultivator would need to prove his identity to pass.

    It was simr to how one would need a passport and visa to travel to different countries, except in this case their identity would be confirmed with some things like tokens, badges, and jade slips.

    As for if they would be permitted to enter, it would depend on what reason they hade here and also the kingdom''s security. Stillбн for Shirong, this was of no concern. Not only was he the heir of the Ji n, which would allow him to go to nearly every ce in the continent.

    But even without that Shirong still had the identity of Nascent Soul realm cultivator. He would be permitted entry rather easily and even if he was denied he could just pass through the wilderness.

    These areas were usually unguarded, but the reason why people did not pass through them was because of the spirit beasts that lived there. Any ce that was not popted by humans would usually be taken up by beasts.

    Thus the kingdoms often did not need to protect against intruders in these areas as the beasts would do it for them. Besides, the areas that they needed to protect the most were their cities and thus it didn''t really matter what happened to the rural areas in their territory.

    "Seeing the distance, it will probably take him a month or more to reach there. But I don''t know how urate this map is, plus he may take some detours I don''t know of." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu was finally getting to see how vast this world truly was. If he estimated the distance they had traveled in the past day, he''d say that they had already traveled a couple of thousand kilometers. And this was the result after Shirong traveling leisurely.

    If Shirong traveled at his full speed, Lin Wu didn''t know how fast they would reach the Dread Coil Marsh.

    ''Should take a look at the information about the Dread Coil marsh as well. Better to know what I''m eventually gonna end up dealing with. Don''t want to be caught in a pinch when my main body can''te help.'' Lin Wu thought to himself before looking through the data window.

    "Here it is, Dread Coil Marsh." Lin Wu said upon finding the right entry.

    The Dread Coil Marsh was one of the more dangerous areas of the continent. While it was notpletely a forbidden zone, there were parts of it that were considered to be a death sentence for most cultivators.

    Another thing was that once one entered it, it was quite easy to get lost. That was where its name came from. The marsh was like a maze that would could around you and make you dread evering there.

    Not only were there poisonous insects and nts there, but it was said that even ghosts lingered there. Once upon a time, it was said to be a sprawling jungle within which a prosperous sect was located. But one day someone from the sect fell into the evil path and used a forbidden technique to kill everyone from the sect, absorbing their cultivation.

    He then drained the vitality of thend around it which cause it to die and decay. Later, many kingdoms and sects felt the danger from this person and fought a great battle against him. Countless people died, leaving behind a battlefield of blood and death.

    The unfulfilled desires of the people along with the fear they felt, is said to have turned them into the ghosts that haunt that marsh now. Though if this all truly happened is difficult to confirm and has been left behind as a legend.

    Though along with all this danger, there are also opportunities in the Dread Coil Marsh. There are natural treasures and spirit herbs that are not found anywhere else but there. Also, since a lot of cultivators died there, their tombs and remains can still be found.

    These tombs or remains can contain their inheritance of legacy. It is said that even Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators had fought in that battle back then and as such many people desired to find a tomb of a peerless expert.

    Of course, all this was wishful thinking on the part of most people, but for Lin Wu thoughбн "heheheбн the system and I will have a great time here, won''t we?"

    Lin Wu reckoned that if there was someone that could be im to be first in finding treasure, then the system would at least be at the second position.

    "No waitбн that''s not the saying, is it? Hmmбн what was it exactly? Oh yeah, if the system ims to be second then no one can dare to im first!" Lin Wu said, while nodding his head.

    ''At least I still have these parts of my memories with me.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He then felt Shirong suddenly turning him around.

    "Oh? What is he doing?" Lin Wu wondered as his focus returned to the man.

    Shirong held the spear by his side and closed his eyes. A faint pressure exuded from his body as his aura started to rise by the second. Half a minute passed before he opened his eyes that were now glowing with power.

 Chapter 285 - Weapon Intent?

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Massive waves of spirit Qi were rolling from Shirong''s body as he gripped the immortal Crystal Armament hard.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Taking a deep breath Shirong roused the wind attribute spirit Qi and lightning attribute spirit Qi in his Dantian. Arcs of sticity coursed across his body and streams of wind circled around him, forming into a vortex.

    Once his aura was at the peak, Shirong swung the Immortal Crystal Armament.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    "Immortal Crystal Armament: World Splitter!" Shirong yelled.

    Tens of notifications appeared in front of Lin Wu at that moment and he felt a little overwhelmed by them. On the side of his body though, the Qi synchronization function was working well and automatically adjusted it.

    There were different waves of spirit Qi traveling through his meridians and they even interacted with the wind attributed spirit Qi in his Dantian. Once it passed throughout his body, it was emitted from the surface spreading out like a wave.

    <em>~Swoosh~</em>

    A long horizontal sh traveled across thend cutting everything that came in front of it. The small forested area that Shirong was in, was now devastated. Half of the trees that were in it were now cut in half, their tops lying on the ground.

    Some specs of red blood and flesh could also be seen from afar. It was evident that the sh had cut apart more than just trees. But the most shocking thing was that the sh had not stopped it.

    It had already traveled across the span of the forest, not having slowed down at all. After a few more seconds, itpletely disappeared from their field of vision.

    Lin Wu narrowed his eyes and spoke, "system track the energy of the sh and see how far it is going."

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    PARAMETERS ANALYZED: Target Found.

    CALCULATION COMPETED: The target has traveled for twenty kilometers before fading away.

    бкбк

    "Dang! Twenty kilometersбн that''s some power." Lin Wu eximed to himself.

    He looked at Shirong and saw him standing with his eyes closed again. He seemed to be deep in self reflection and was not moving at all.

    ''Something seems wrong.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System check Shirong''s vitals." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    SUBJECT VITALS: Abnormal - elevated pulse rate, spirit Qi depletion and aura insatiability

    бкбк

    "I knew it! This guyбн did he really attempt to use a skill that is not even real? Heck, I literally came up with it in a couple of seconds!" Lin Wu said, feeling surprised.

    Lin Wu used his own spirit sense to check Shirong''s Dantian and saw a surprising scene. Shirong''s Dantian was now nearly empty and all the spirit Qi that was in his Dantian had been drained instantly.

    Even his blueish nascent soul seemed to be looking a bit dull. It was evident that Shirong had overexerted himself.

    "Though, what kind of a ridiculous talent does he have? Making a new skill from a random memoryбн" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    Shirong was now trembling and if it were not for Lin Wu''s body being partially pierced into the ground, there was a hundred percent chance that Shirong would have already copsed from the weight.

    He struggled to move, but managed to sit down.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    Once his grip was loosed from the Immortal Crystal Armament, the spear pierced even deeper into the ground from the sheer weight that it had. Half of Lin Wu''s body was now stuck in the ground but he didn''t mind that much.

    He just kept on observing Shirong and saw the minute changes in his Dantian. There was more than just spirit Qi that was changing in his Dantian.

    "Hmmбн thisбн is this what they callбн weapon intent?" Lin Wu wondered.

    This was not the first time Lin Wu was seeing weapon intent. He had seen Shirong use it a few times before and had even experienced it himself when he used it on his Long sword form. The power exerted by the sword intent was definitely many times more than it would be normally.

    "So if he already has the sword intent, then what kind of a weapon intent is this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    After thinking for a while more, Lin Wu was unable to reach the conclusion and decided to try the system.

    "System, you got any idea?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the data extrapted from the data banks, the subject seems to have gained some insights and is thus forming a new type of weapon intent. Since the subject achieved this by using the host who was in his spear form, the system hypothesizes that this may be spear intent.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн I guess this seems fine enough. Though him using up this much spirit Qi is definitely risky." Lin Wu muttered.

    Lin Wu observed him for a little while more, and Shirong seemed to have entered a deep state of meditation.

    ''He''s probablyprehending the profundities of insights or all that stuffбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    Hours passed by like this and nighttime arrived. Even now, Shirong had not woken up. Lin Wu was now starting to get bored and realized that he had forgotten something after having broken through to the nascent soul realm.

    "Hang on! I can fly now. That should help with quite a lot of things." Lin Wu eximed.

    He followed the same method he had used before with his main body and was able to slightly lift his body up into the air. His past experience made it much easier and about ten minutester, he was now freely soaring through the air while in his spear form.

    And while he was doing this an idea popped into his mind.

    ''If I do this, I will be able to kill two birds with one stone." Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu flew around a bit more and checked the forest for some interesting things. He was able to find a couple of fruit trees and what looked like ginger growing in one of the areas.

    "Wellбн snack time it isбн"

 Chapter 286 - Im A Hoverboard Now?

    Lin Wu had gotten some fruits and even some wild vegetables here. He stored them for now and would eat themter. The fruits were the only snacks he could eat as of now, and anythingplex would need cooking.

    Thankfully,, in that aspect, he had plenty of food that he had gotten from the banquet and the capital city''s restaurants. As long as he ate them sparingly he should have enough for a couple of months.

    After all, he was eating them for taste and not actually sustenance. For that, he had the dead beasts that he got to drain and even the stored energy and spirit Qi he had wouldst him a long time.

    Lin Wu waited for Shirong to wake up for about a day now. And the moment he got the notification from the system, he returned to the previous position he was in.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Shirong let out a breath and opened his eyes. A fierce aura erupted from his body at that moment and the grass that was around him was chopped in half.

    "Spear intentбн so this is what it is likeбн but it still shes with my sword, intent making it unstable. I''ll need to find a way." Shirong muttered to himself.

    He turned his eyes to the five meter long spear that was stuck in the ground next to him and sighed again. While he had gained an insight into spear intent from the memory he saw, he was still unable to use the Immortal Crystal Armament to its full potential.

    But then the connection between him and the Immortal Crystal Armament suddenly became active.

    "Oh? What''s this?" Shirong said before seeing something that made his eyes go wide.

    The spear slowly rose up from the ground and turned to a horizontal position in front of him. It lightly floated in front of him, unmoving, as if waiting for hismands.

    "Iбн I can use it to fly now?!" Shirong eximed.

    He used his spirit sense to link up with the spear and saw it move ording to his instructions.

    "AWESOME! Just what I wanted. So this is what the release of seal brought about this time." Shirong said out loud.

    He then thought for a moment before sending some orders through his connection. The spear lightly hummed in front of him before starting to erge.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The spear was now four times as wide and more t.

    "This should make it easier for me to fly now," Shirong muttered to himself, as he felt happy.

    Meanwhile, Lin Wu was feeling happy too.

    "Haha! This form is much morefortable. Just gotta keep this up, and eventually, I won''t have to hide my true form. Though I''ll probably have to act more puppet like then." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Shirong checked the Immortal Crystal Armament onest time before jumping on it. As soon as he did though, he started to feel the drain on his spirit Qi.

    "Sure enough, the drain is no joke eitherбн" Shirong chuckled to himself but did not mind it.

    He had seen the increased weight of the weapon and knew that even if he tried to fly on his own spirit sword, it would be impossible for it to lift off the ground with all that weight. Even flying himself with all that weight put a lot of burden on him and made him use up more energy.

    But now that the Immortal Crystal Armament could fly on its own, while the energy consumption was still high, it was much less than Shirong carrying it and then flying.

    "Hehe, I get more spirit Qi from Shirong too this way. At least I''m not exhausting my own spirit Qi to fly now." Lin Wu chuckled to himself.

    This was Lin Wu''s goal that he had thought. Using this method not only would he be morefortable, but it would also allow them to reach the Dread Coil Marsh faster.

    Shirong looked towards his intended location beforemanding, "FLY UP!"

    <em>~Zoom~</em>

    "Oh No!" Shirong suddenly shouted.

    Lin Wu sped ahead like a missile, almost making Shirong fly off him. Shirong luckily held onto one of the spines that rose from his back, and did not fall down.

    Pulling himself back onto the body of the Immortal Crystal Armament while making it slow down a bit, Shirong got habituated to the speed. He made a few more changes to its structure using his connection and made what was basically a socket for his shoes.

    By putting his feet in these two sockets, the crystals would lock around them, preventing him from falling down.

    But seeing this modification that Shirong did, gave rise to another thought in Lin Wu''s mind.

    "Am I a hoverboard now?" Lin Wu wondered, seeing his shape and function.

    Thinking back to those fictional hoverboard designs from his past life, Lin Wu found them to be simr.

    "I''m pretty much hoverboardбн if it was made of crystals and flew at a great speed while being able to eat living things." Lin Wu joked to himself.

    They flew past the ins and great speed, leaving the destroyed trees behind. With the Immortal Crystal Armament helping him travel, Shirong was both tired and pleased at the same time.

    He could see that the speed of the Immortal Crystal Armament was faster than him, but it also took up a substantial amount of spirit Qi from him. Though overall he was still covering more distance than he normally would have.

    Lin Wu also learned of the limit that Shirong could supply him with spirit Qi. They could fly for at most ten hours, after which Shirong would have to pause and take a break. He would then cultivate for twelve hours to restore his spirit Qi, and repeat the same thing.

    While it looked like he was spending more time cultivating than traveling, the distance they traveled was the same as what they would travel in a little more than two days. Though this routine of flying and resting didn''tst long.

 Chapter 287 - Wang Xiongs Duel?

    About five dayster, Shirong and Lin Wu had crossed over the border of the Ling Kingdom officially and were now in a new region. Officially it was under the administration of the Tio Kingdom, but because it was heavily inhabited by beasts it was left alone.

    But since there were beasts here, Shirong did not let go of them. Killing the beasts allowed him to restore the spirit Qi that he depleted and even making a little profit on top too.

    With this new addition, Shirong had a great time and Lin Wu was also steadily expanding his collection of raw bloodline data. Though these beasts were mostly Qi refining realm beasts with a couple of core condensation realm ones mixed in between.

    The ratio was about 1:1000 so it was still hard for him to get a bloodline that may be useful in the future. After a few days of travel like this, Lin Wu decided to return to his main body and leave this one to function on its own.

    He still set a few rms so that the system could inform him when certain unexpected conditions arose that could not be dealt with normally.

    Back in the new body, Lin Wu opened his eyes and checked the progress.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST CULTIVATION: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [12,750/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    "Damnбн gaining spirit Qi even with a top grade cultivation technique is hard. Adding the two other ones that I need to practice also makes it slowerбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself, feeling a bit bored.

    But he knew that this pave was still much faster than the others.

    "Let''s get some routine tasks done thenбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before contacting his servants for daily reports.

    Most of the things were normal in the Millennium forest and his servants were still continuing their search for the items Lin Wu had asked for. The first shipment of fruits that they had found were also going to be shipped to him today.

    The mole beast had required a few beasts who were going to bring the fruits to the entrance of the tomb and leave it there. They were warned not to get near the tomb all their life and thus were still scared to see it.

    Thankfully, they were not asked to step into the boundary of it and thus were still willing to do tasks. In exchange, they were getting to stay near the fifth ring allowing them to absorb more spirit Qi from the air.

    "I haven''t spoken to Wang Xiong for a while now either, I should try him." Lin Wu said before contacting him through the jade slip.

    "Senior?" Wang Xiong answered after a few seconds.

    "How are things going there?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Ummбн we had some trouble at the sect." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Oh? What kind of trouble?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Upon arriving we went to report to the mission hall and told them about our sess. While we were able to register out mission details, the rewards we got were minuscule since we did not hunt as many beasts as we were supposed to." Wang Xiong replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head as he knew this was the original mission that Wang Xiong and his team had used as an excuse toe to the Millennium forest. Since they had spent most of their time in getting to the Tomb of the Taiji celestial and then returning back, they had not obtained enough beast materials.

    In truth, Wang Xiong could have very easily hunted a lot of beasts with his newfound skills, but he was fixated on Lin Wu''s mission that he had given him. Also, hearing the story of Taiji Celestial had ignited a me of purpose in his mind.

    He now thought that these sect merits and rewards were useless in the long term. Instead of the sect''s approval, he needed to grow stronger himself and then help Lin Wu form an organization in this world.

    "While the sect itself didn''t say anything about our low yield, our fellow disciples did not leave this chance to insult us. A few of those we already had disagreements with in the past and they did not leave this chance to mock us further.

    Things got escted and they threatened the rest of mypanions. With that said and done, I could not stand back and challenged them to a duel." Wang Xiong exined.

    "Soбн you now have a few cultivators to kill, that should be easy." Lin Wu said.

    Wang Xiong went silent upon hearing Lin Wu''s words. Or rather the ease with which he had said them.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Do not forget your identity now. You are the disciple of the Taiji Celestial! Those maggots should be happy that they are getting to die by your hand." Lin Wu said in a booming voice.

    Wang Xiong who was sitting in his room at this moment, almost fell back due to the power in that voice.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "Forgive me, senior! I forgot that things have changed now, I was still stuck in my old ways. I shouldn''t let the honor of master be solid in this way. I swear I shall let his name thunder across this world again!" Wang Xiong said with determination.

    "Very well! Now get to it. Use the inheritance well and you shouldn''t have any problem defeating them. Besides, you are already at the peak of the core condensation realm. What kind of cultivators can even threaten you at this point?" Lin Wu replied.

    "Ah, they are at the Nascent Soul realm." Wang Xiong answered.

    Lin Wu: бн.

    "Say what?" Lin Wu asked for rity.

    "They are at the Nascent Soul realm." Wang Xiong repeated.

    "How did you get in conflict with a Nascent Soul realm cultivator? Aren''t you all inner court disciples?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but question.

    "Well, I am an inner court disciple but they are core disciples." Wang Xiong replied.

 Chapter 288 - Three Core Disciples?

    Lin Wu was a bit confused by this but figured it out on his own.

    "So you picked a fight with a Nascent Soul realm cultivator despite knowing?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yesбн" Wang Xiong answered, his tone getting a bit anxious now, understanding that he may be in more trouble than expected.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Lin Wu was now thinking of how to recover from this. He didn''t want his first pawn to fail before it even started. Now that Lin Wu was in the nascent Soul realm, he knew the difference between a core condensation realm cultivator and a nascent soul realm cultivator.

    The chasm between them was quite vast. It was the reason why there were so many peak stage core condensation realm cultivators but few nascent soul realm cultivators. Only a few would survive the heavenly tribtion ande out on top as nascent soul realm cultivators.

    In fact, most cultivators were so scared that they would intentionally stop cultivating after they reached the peak stage of the core condensation realm because they were scared of dying to the heavenly tribtion lightning.

    What they would do instead is umte resources so that when their lifespan of three hundred years was close to end, they would speed up to the pseudo nascent soul realm and then approach the heavenly tribtion.

    They thought that by keeping it a final option between life and death was the best thing and they would reduce their chances of dying.

    But it was this very indecisiveness that often caused them to fail. Over the years, the more they waited, the more scared of death and weaker they would be. This would deter them from achieving their optimum condition and thus make them fail the tribtion.

    Still, mostmoners and average cultivators did not know about this. They just thought about enjoying their long life. Only the cultivation sects and aristocrats knew that the earlier one entered the Nascent Soul realm, the better their chances of survival were.

    Because their bodies would be younger, they would have a higher vitality which would increase their chances of survival. One didn''t have to be as young as Shirong either. Shirong was in his early thirties as of now, and even Wang Xiong was in his forties.

    Most Core condensation realm cultivators would try to break through to the Nascent soul realm in their 200''s as that was the period of time needed for them to reach the peak stages of the core condensation realm.

    "Isбн there a problem, senior?" Wang Xiong asked, seeing that Lin Wu had be silent.

    "This person you are going to fight, is he the only one in nascent soul realm or is there more?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "There are three of them, that is a group. But I''m only going to fight against one of them that is at the infant stage of the Nascent Soul realm." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "What about the other two what stages are they at?" Lin Wu questioned, still feeling unsure.

    "They both at the Child stage of the nascence soul realm." Wang Xiong answered.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Are you confident in defeating him? And that tooбн without taxing yourself too much as you did in the trials?" Lin Wu questioned again.

    "Iбн with the inheritance I believe I can take him down, surely." Wang Xiong replied.

    "And do you think that the other two won''t interfere after you have defeated him?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Theyбн they would never. If they did, they would be breaking the rules of the sect." Wang Xiong said quickly.

    Lin Wu held his silence for a bit, as he knew how these people would really act.

    "Tell me the entire thing from the start. Don''t miss anything, I want their personalities and what they do as well." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Okay, senior." Wang Xiong said, before beginning the entire exnation.

    Lin Wu listened to the man for about two hours before he got the gist of it. The situation was kind of what he had guessed. Just some core disciples taking advantage of lower ones. And when they protested, they want to put them in their ce.

    By now he was also sure that the other two nascent Soul realm cultivators won''t take it lightly if their friend is defeated. What Lin Wu was particrly concerned about was their core condensation realm authority.

    This gave them a few benefits that others did not have, for example proposing a duel one-sidedly. They won''t need the agreement of the other side and could force them to take it, and this could be done once a year. Usually, this was only done among those of equal status, but there were no particr rules that were there to prohibit them from targeting juniors.

    This was mostly because there wasn''t much chance they would do so, and these duels were done for a certain reward. There wasn''t much they could get from a junior disciple anyway, and thus it was useless for them to use this chance.

    But Lin Wu knew these disciples would be hot headed and try to do something when their ego was challenged.

    "How long do you have till the duel?" Lin Wu finally questioned.

    "The duel is in five days from now." Wang Xiong answered.

    Lin Wu thought for a moment before asking, "can you break through to the Nascent Soul realm in that time?"

    "Umбн if it was before I would have been, but with the inheritance, my physique is slowly changing, which I had not expected. The spirit Qi I have in my core is being used to temper my physique. This is why I think I can defeat the Nascent soul realm cultivator." Wang Xiong said.

    "Alrightбн is there a restriction on the weapons that you can use?" Lin Wu further asked.

    "No, there is none. The only restriction is on certain talismans and poisons that are considered to be lethal." Wang Xiong answered.

    Lin Wu listened to everything and came up with a n.

    "Okay, now listen to me closely and do as I sayбн"

 Chapter 289 - Plan For The Duel?

    After finishing his exnation and making sure Wang Xiong understood it, Lin Wu stopped the connection with him.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Seems like I gotta elerate my n nowбн anyway I get to collect more data now at least." Lin Wu muttered to himself as his eyes glowed.

    Overall, the n that Lin Wu had made was simple. He was going to go to the Frost Cloud sect and wait there for Wang Xiong''s duel. If the duel went well and he defeated his opponent without any additional problems, then it would all be fine.

    But if that did not happen, Lin Wu would be helping him win this fight. Though Lin Wu did not tell Wang Xiong that he would be heading there himself. He simply told him that he would help him in a certain way that he would only know at that time.

    This way if something happened to Wang Xiong beforehand he would not spill this identally. Lin Wu''s existence would stay hidden even if that happened and he wouldn''t have to think much.

    In either case, Lin Wu would be taking the resources from the sect. In fact, he was now thinking that this duel came at the right opportunity. Lin Wu had been wanting to fix the problem with the power supply to the Tomb and the sect could be a good option.

    He would also be able to gain quite a lot of data for the system''s data banks there, which would only improve the performance of the system. Now the only problem left for Lin Wu was that whether he would be able to enter the sect without being detected.

    The system would be able to find a solution to this, but the chat was that he would have to be there early for that.

    Wanting to be quick, Lin Wu contacted all his servant beasts.

    "I will be entering seclusion for the time being, so just put the things you bring outside the tomb and leave someone to guard them." Lin Wu gave his orders.

    But before they could reply to him, he cut the connection. Next, Lin Wu checked up on Shirong''s condition and that of the avatar. The avatar was functioning as it should have, and Shirong was simply traveling without any interruptions for now.

    Seeing that both sides were in order, Lin Wu brought up the formation screen of the tomb.

    "Alright system, teleport me to the southern most part of the millennium forest." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING TELEPORTATION FORMATION: Coordinates set.

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 2000 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    бкбк

    Runes started to appear around his body as theybined into a formation before wrapping him.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Then, in a glow of bright light, Lin Wu disappeared from the hall inside the tomb. The feeling of teleportation was quite unique to Lin Wu. During it, Lin Wu could see the teleportation channel through which he was traveling at a great speed.

    The inside of it was mostly empty, but there were still a few random glowing lights that he saw. Some of them looked like twilling stars, while a few were ring like the sun. He couldn''t tell what they exactly were but knew that they were out of the range of the teleportation channel.

    The way a teleportation formation worked is that it would create a channel through the lesser void and connected two points in the world. Traveling through the void was much faster than the real world and was often the fastest way of getting to far distances.

    Lin Wu was barely in the teleportation channel for about thirty seconds before he reached his intended location.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    A loud thud was heard as Lin Wu''s massive body fell to the ground, leaving a long imprint on it. The beasts that lived around this area went silent as well as they sensed the auraing from Lin Wu''s body.

    This was the 1st ring of the millennium forest, which was the outermost part and mostly had body tempering realm beasts along with a few Qi refining realm beasts. The presence of a Nascent Soul realm beast was crushing for these weaker beasts, and they did not even dare to move.

    Lin Wu though, felt a little dizzy from the travel that he had just gone through and calmed himself down.

    "Damn, that''s almost like going through a roller coaster." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He took a look around and spread his spirit sense, checking out that area. Finding everything normal, he opened the map window of the system.

    "System, mark the Frozen cloud sect on the map and plot a route to it." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CALCULATING PARAMETERS: Please wait a moment.

    PARAMETERS CALCULATED: Location found

    PLOTTING A ROUTE: Navigation HUD activated

    бкбк

    Seeing the notification of the system, Lin Wu felt better and looked at the route on the map.

    "Hmmбн I should just dig through the ground. Would be faster and people won''t see me eitherбн" Lin Wu made up his mind.

    He then activated the innate skills of Cellr Crystallization and Cellr Maniption before changing his shape. His body became a bit more slender, and the spikes on his back became streamlined. Grooves appeared on his head and the spikes on his body started to move around before arranging themselves into a spiral pattern.

    These spikes that were arranged in a spiral pattern were bent inwards which allowed it to have a better grip. It would increase the speed at which he could now dig. His red ears that were due to the Hard Eared Limber Mice King also receded into his head and he entered the ground.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~crack~</em>

    The soil was pushed aside at a fast speed as whatever rocks and stones that came in his path were crushed. Once Lin Wu was fully in the ground, he followed the navigation HUD and oriented his direction before straightening his body.

    He was now over a hundred meters deep in the ground, so as to avoid any random person''s spirit sense and also to reduce the vibrations felt.

    "Frozen Cloud Sect here Ie!"

 Chapter 290 - Millions Of Markers?

    Three days passed by in the blink of an eye. Lin Wu had been digging his way through the ground nonstop and did not feel tired at all. In fact, this was the first time he was levying his capabilities as a nascent soul realm beast for the first time.

    While he was not able to cultivate like this, the passive absorption of spirit Qi that he got was still enough topensate for most of the exhaustion of spirit Qi. The distance between the Millennium forest and the Frozen Cloud sect was truly quite a lot for him.

    Though once he saw the notification on the HUD, he knew he was close.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The earth suddenly started to shake in an isted part of the forest, startling the nearby beasts who all ran away at great speed. All the beasts knew about earthquakes and knew it was best to run beforehand from disasters such as those.

    The tremors only got stronger before a huge crystalline head upper out of the ground.

    "<em>Ahh~</em> finally! Fresh air really is good." Lin Wu said as he took a deep breath.

    He looked around the forest and saw the different types of trees. Lin Wu could tell that these trees were adapted to a more colder climate and seeing the white areas of the map, he knew there was snow nearby.

    Currently, it was summer and thus there was no snow here. But there were higher areas here, where the snowyer stayed all year long. The Frozen Cloud sect was located on a group of such snow covered peaks some distance from here.

    The reason why Lin Wu had stopped here was to check out the area and get a sense of it.

    "You know what to do system, scan the area!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Large area selected

    TIME REQUIRED: 2 hours, 12 minutes, 7 secondsбн

    бкбк

    "Damn, if it''s taking this long then there are definitely a lot of things in this region." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He pulled out the rest of his body from the ground and spread his own spirit sense to check the area. Lin Wu noticed the Maple trees that grew here along with a few more conifers. There were also plenty of pine trees that towered high over two hundred meters each.

    ''The nts in cultivation worlds are really massive, huh. I bet this isn''t even the taller ones here.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Along with all the trees, there were also a ton of normal animals and beasts in the area. Lin Wu was still in the outer area of the forest, thus there were mostly normal animals here, but a few beasts were also roaming around.

    Though the beasts that he saw were herbivores. He couldn''t really see any predators here, either. The strongest spirit Qi fluctuation that he could sense currently was that of a Qi refining realm beast.

    He then opened the map window and saw the area details appearing little by little. There were hundreds of markers appearing by the minute, and more of them would be added as time passed by. After about an hour, Lin Wu finally saw the outline of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    The Sect was about ten kilometers to the south and he could see therge formation barrier around the sect on the map.

    "Hmmбн so this will be the first thing I''ll have to get past." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    In these three days that he had been traveling, he had not talked to Wang Xiong as the man had been busy in cultivating. Ever since he said that his physique was changing to Lin Wu, he had been advised to fully focus on that part before thepetition.

    Lin Wu didn''t know what exactly was the change as he would have to physically be near him to scan him and see the difference but if it was rted to the Taiji Celestial''s Inheritance then it was bound to be good.

    ''Though I wonder why I did not experience the same. After all, I have the superior version of the cultivation technique that was given to Wang Xiong.'' Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Any data on this system?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There should be more data in the encrypted part of the inheritance but the system can estimate that this may be due to the host himself. While the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture was made to be practiced by nearly any creature, it was not meant for a hybrid like the host.

    Due to being an anomaly, the system reckons that the technique will either take longer to show the effects or it may be that the host''s body simply does not need it. The basic version of the cultivation technique is likely to be modifying the physique of the user so that they can amodate the higher versions.

    In fact, the talent and physique were some of the other aspects that would have been considered during the trials for the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial. Depending on how talented the trial taker was, they would have received an appropriate level of inheritance.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu found it to be reasonable. Overall, he knew his talent was much higher than that of the humans. He even had the perfect benchmark topare himself to, which was none other than Shirong.

    If that man''s talent was among the best in this world, then Lin Wu was far above him. Not to mention his bloodlines that were unique, whose potentials were yet to be unearthed.

    Just like this Lin Wu spent the rest of the time thinking and the system finished its scan.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map updated

    MARKERS FOUND: 6,857,419

    NOTE: Please see the relevant window for more details about the markers.

    бкбк

    "Just as I expected, there were bound to be these many things here." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he opened the window, which had the detailed list of markers.

 Chapter 291 - Range Extension Formation Array?

    There were different categories for each type of maker which would denote either a location of interest, cultivator, spirit beast, resource, formations, data node, etc. Lin Wu scrolled through them and saw that most of the cultivators were concentrated around the sect as was expected.

    Though there were a few markers for spirit beasts in the Frozen Cloud Sect as well. Two of these markers were what caught his attention, particrly as they were the highest ranked.

    "Adult stage Nascent Soul realm beasts, huh?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He saw their location, which was deep within the Frozen cloud sect. Thankfully, he had the map or it would have been a surprise to him. Lin Wu couldn''t estimate how strong these beasts would be or what kind they were, but he reckoned they should be slightly below the Twin Lights Liger king.

    Though he could be wrong and he would just have to see it himself.

    "I''ll have to be careful about those two. If they are tamed beasts or perhaps the guardian beasts of the sect, they may be able to sense me even if the other cultivators cannot." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    But in addition to these Lin Wu saw many more strong cultivators.

    "System show me the Nascent Souls realm and Dao Shell realm cultivators." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    MARKER TYPE: Cultivators

    1. Dao Shell realm cultivators: 10

    2. Nascent Soul realm cultivators: 52

    3. Unknown: 2

    бкбк

    Seeing therge number of high level cultivators, Lin Wu was shocked.

    "Hang on a minuteбн didn''t the records say they are a mid level sect? There''s no way this is a mid level sect. They got way too many powerful people.

    And what''s up with the two unknowns, system?" Lin Wu said,

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The two unknown cultivators cannot be scanned by the system from here. They are under the protection of formation arrays.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu scrolled on the map and found the location of the two unknown cultivators. One of them was located deep inside a mountain peak while the other one was in a building on top of the tallest peak of the sect.

    "Hmmбн seeing the one that''s hiding deep within the peak, that guy should be an ancestor, maybe? And the second one should beбн a grand elder, perhaps?" Lin Wu guessed.

    From the records that Lin Wu had seen, the Frozen Cloud Sect officially had 6 Dao Shell realm cultivators. One of them was the patriarch of the sect, while the rest were high elders. He didn''t know who the other four were, but he assumed that they must be some secret elders as well.

    As for the Nascent Soul realm cultivators, Lin Wu knew those disciples that reached the adolescent stage or the adult stages of the nascent soul realm would be made into elders as well. But these would be the normal elders of the sect that taught others.

    As for the core disciples, the number often changed, but thest recorded number was of twenty core disciples.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Man, this is gonna be much harder and risky than I thought." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Thinking over all aspects of the n, Lin Wu realized he would have to change a few parts. But another thing that bugged him was that perhaps the Frozen Cloud Sect was much stronger than it was recorded.

    "They must have intentionally avoided their rank being upgraded. High Rank sects are those that have eight or more Dao shell realm cultivators while those that gain a Dao treading realm cultivator instantly be a top rank sect.

    Those two unknown ones may be Dao Treading realm cultivatorsбн" Lin Wu hypothesized.

    Seeing the overallplexity of the matter, Lin Wu decided to verify all the points of his n multiple times before progressing.

    "The key to this would be the formations. As long as I have control over them or just make them not detect me, I''ll be fine." Lin Wu reckoned.

    Having thought up all this, he proceeded to the border of the formation. The border was ten kilometers away and went all the way around the sect, forming a sphere. There was the biggest formation that Lin Wu had seen till now.

    This one was not a barrier or protective formation though, rather it was a range extension formation that allowed the other formations that existed within it to function for longer ranges. It was simr to how the tomb of the Taiji Celestial was.

    The formations worked in the tomb itself and Lin Wu would be able to move around in its range without any spirit Qi cost. But to go beyond that he would require spirit Qi.

    But if it was just an extension formation Lin Wu would have been fine, but this formationbined a lot of them by the virtue of its function although they won''t be active all the time. For example, an identity function.

    While Lin Wu would be able to enter the territory of the sect without a problem for now, if anyone did an identity scan, he would be found out. The sect would usually do those scans at regr intervals throughout the day instead of having it continuously active, like the residences of the aristocrats.

    This way the efficiency would still be high and they would not have to bear heavy costs either.

    "Alright system, analyze and create a virtual interface." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET SELECTED: Analyzing

    ESTIMATED TIME OF ANALYSIS: 3 hours 45 minutes 21 seconds

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Seeing the time needed for it, Lin Wu sighed again and just decided to cultivate. The time passed rtively quickly after that and the new notification appeared, which only made him sigh again.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET ANALYSIS: Completed

    CREATING VISUAL INTERFACE: Time required- 6 hours 14 minutes 19 secondsбн

    бкбк

    "Damn, if this keeps up I''ll end up exhausting my time in the formations before I even enterбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Having no other choice, he continued cultivating until it was finally done.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    VIRTUAL INTERFACE ESTABLISHED: Range Extension Formation array

    Function list: 217 Functions (please check the relevant window)

    бкбк

 Chapter 292 - Fishing For A Disciple?

    Lin Wu had expected there to be many functions in the formation array but he was still surprised to see them.

    He read through the list and saw that most of them were not as important and were operation formations for minor things, such as opening doors, sorting names, listing things. A lot of them were repeats of the same function just for different parts of the location.

    The one that Lin Wu considered to be of importance was the one that checked one''s identity.

    "Hmmбн this one requires an identity badge for it to work. Let''s see if we can figure something else out." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He knew his crystals could function as jade slips and should thus work as identity slips too. Though the only thing was he would need an authentic one so that the system could replicate the intricacies of it.

    "Let''s see if I can find someone willing to donate one to meбн Hehe." Lin Wu said, before checking the map.

    What he was looking for now, were disciples that were outside of the sect or were heading there. There were many of them going in and out of the sect, but the location they were located in was quite risky for Lin Wu to go to.

    That area was the main gateway of the Frozen Cloud sect and had tough security, along with many formations. Even beyond it, the path was quite well-traveled and it was likely someone else would discover him if he went there.

    ''Gotta prepare a bait I guessбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself beforeing up with an idea.

    He brought his tail forward and created a small crystal from it. The crystal was shaped like a pendant and if one saw it, they would think it was a treasure no doubt. But this was not all Lin Wu did.

    He touched the crystal and poured some spirit Qi into it. The amount was barely anything to him, but for anyone in the Qi refining realm or core condensation realm, it would probably be worth a lot.

    He then went to the area that was near the main entrance of the sect. He didn''t go all the way through. He stopped about 3 kilometers from there, which was sufficient for others to not detect him.

    Then he ced the pendant on the ground and started releasing pulses of spirit Qi. They were not too strong or too weak, but they would definitely pull the attention of someone that had strong enough spirit sense.

    Lin Wu didn''t want any tom, dick, and harry disciple from the sect or their identity may not even be good enough for the system to use. Lin Wu knew the system would be able to fake a higher level authority but seeing the experts of the sect, he didn''t want to risk getting found out even if the chance was minute.

    He sent out the spirit Qi pulses towards the main path every five minutes and waited for someone to sense them. But didn''t make the pulses too strong either or if he attracted the attention of some elder, it would only make things more difficult as he wouldn''t be able to use their identity for longer.

    Lin Wu stayed beneath the ground there like a fisherman waiting with his line cast. The pendant was the bait, and the spirit Qi pulse was the bob. Though his position was inverted where he was below the prey unlike in the case of the fisherman and he was a worm too on top of it.

    It took Lin Wu about an hour before he saw someone moving towards his direction on the map. From the marker, Lin Wu could tell that it was a cultivator at the core condensation realm, though what stage that was still unknown.

    He didn''t change the frequency of the pulses, though. If he did that and the person suspected it was a trap, they may alert the sect. Thus, he patiently waited without doing anything different.

    The person who had sensed the spirit Qi pulses did note there quickly either. Whoever it was, they seemed to be cautious and did not want to either bring attention to this or were scared perhaps.

    "Come on,e on, I''m waiting little fishy." Lin Wu said as he watched the person like a hawk.

    Eventually, the man came within the range of Lin Wu''s spirit sense and he could see who he was.

    "Ah, an inner court disciple! Perfect." Lin Wu said before waiting for him to get even closer.

    The man was certainly cautious and was looking at his back and sides every few seconds.

    "Where are these spirit Qi fluctuationsing from? They''re way too strong to belong to a spirit herb and they won''t grow here. If they did, they would have already been picked by the sect.

    What could it be, then? A treasure? Or did someone drop something?" The man muttered to himself with furrowed brows.

    Finally, the man reached the pendant and looked at it. His eyes went wide upon realizing what it was.

    "Trea-бн" He was about to exim, but then shut his mouth with his hand.

    His spirit sense spread around as he checked for anyone nearby.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "It truly is my lucky day. Looks like someone dropped this hereбн though looking at the quality and spirit Qiing from this pendant it must belong to an elder at the very least. If he went past here while flying then it makes sense he dropped it and did not realize." The man said to himself.

    Lin Wu nodded his head at the man''s guess while thinking. ''Thank you for making up a story on your own and dispelling your own doubts.''

    The man didn''t pick it up directly though. He first checked it with his spirit sense and verified that it was safe. Seeing that the pendant only had spirit Qi in it, the man bent down to pick it up.

    But the moment his fingers touched the pendants, he felt the ground shake.

    <em>"Huh?"</em>

 Chapter 293 - A Pitiful Meal?

    Ping Bai was an inner court disciple of the Frozen cloud sect and was rtively average. He came from a rich family of traders and was selected by the frozen cloud sect as a disciple a few years ago.

    Thankfully, he was talented enough to directly enter the ranks of an inner court disciple and did not have to struggle much. Though there was still that desire he had in his heart to be greater than he was right now.

    For this, he had been practicing hard but his cultivator talent was now proving to be the obstacle. In the secr world back when he was in his n, his talent was at the very top and there was barely anyone who couldpare to him, but in the frozen cloud sect, there were easily thousands of other disciples who were the same as him or better than him.

    If he wanted to still improve at a good speed, he needed resources that hecked. While the sect did provide him with a set amount of resources for being an inner court disciple, it was barely enough for him to cultivate daily. If he wanted to go beyond that, he would have to depend on his own or the natural spirit Qi in the air.

    Due to thisck of resources, Ping Bai decided to take up a mission from the sect. If onepleted the missions assigned by the sect, depending on the difficulty level they would be given merit points which could then be exchanged for whatever they needed from the sect, whether they be cultivation resources like spirit stones, pills, or other things that improve one''s strength like spirit tools or Qi skills.

    He was currently heading out for a mission, which was to simply hunt for spirit beasts and bringing back their parts. This was the mostmon mission that was always avable for dispels to take and was also the most popr.

    It was also the only mission that did not have a set difficultly level as it would depend on the level of beast one fought. The disciples could decide what type of beasts to hunt and as such, they would be able to change the difficulty level.

    Ping Bai here decided to hunt for some spirit beasts in the forest around the sect. It was a rtively safe location and while he would not find any beasts that were too valuable, he would still be able to make up for that in volume.

    But he had not expected that just shortly after leaving the sect, he would sense spirit Qiing from a ce near him. At first, he thought it was someone fighting or cultivating nearby that was releasing these fluctuations, but then he found them to be uniform every time.

    He reckoned that something like this would probably be caused by a spirit herb or some treasure. Ping Bai also deliberated on the idea that this may be a trap but then thought no one would try something like that so close to the Frozen cloud sect.

    Whosoever did that would invite the wrath of the sect and would not have a good end. Thus with this in mind, he built up the courage to check up on the spirit Qi fluctuations.

    s! His previous guess turned out to be true as it was indeed a trap.

    "Huh?" Ping Bai uttered in bewilderment, as he felt the ground shake.

    Then it suddenly started to rise up around him and he felt fear. He was just about to shout, but then darkness filled his eyes and he did not feel anything after that.

    ***

    Lin Wu was currently back in the ground and had gone over the memories of the man who he had just swallowed whole. They were pretty mediocre memories and did not ignite his interest as much. Even for the information about the sect itself, Lin Wu did not get anything substation.

    "<em>Ptui~</em> this guy was a hermit who barely left his residence. No wonder he knows less than I do about the Frozen cloud sect." Lin Wu said as he spat out some pieces of leather from his mouth.

    This was nothing but the shoes of the man, along with a few other things like his identity badge and spatial storage ring.

    Lin Wu realized that the information that he knew about the sect obtained by the system was way more than this man called Ping Bai. Still, he got the main thing he wanted, which was the identity badge of the man.

    "Alright, system. Time to do your magic." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET SELECTED: Analyzing

    ANALYSIS COMPLETE: Replicating and adapting identity formations.

    NOTIFICATION: Please select an anchor for the identity formations.

    бкбк

    "Use one of the crystals of my body for it." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANCHOR SELECTED: Please wait a moment,

    REPLICATION COMPLETED: New identity badge created.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu then saw a new item appear in his inventory, which was nothing but his fake identity badge. Though it would still work if Lin Wu held it up to the security formations of the sect.

    ''Hmmбн the appearance may be a problem, but as long as I don''t appear personally it should still be fine.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Once this was all done, he quickly went ahead and crossed the boundary of the formation that surrounded the sect. He could feel a faint web spreading over him, but it soon disappeared once it touched the fake identity badge that the system had devised.

    "Huhбн Neat." Lin Wu muttered at the strange feeling of the formation before proceeding to his next location.

    About four days had passed by now, and tomorrow would be the day of Wang Xiong''s duel with the core disciple. The ce where Lin Wu was currently heading to was the peak on which Wang Xiong resided.

    This was one of the smaller peaks in the sect and was used for housing inner court disciples. There were thousands of courtyards on it, and Wang Xiong lived in the middle area somewhere.

    "There you are!"

 Chapter 294 - A Qi Skill Barrier?

    While Lin Wu was near Wang Xiong''s residence, he was actually not intending to meet him. He didn''t want the man to be careless and make some mistake by thinking that he had Lin Wu to back him up.

    Rather, he was gonna wait there and observe him, making sure no one came to do something ''nefarious'' before the duel. Lin Wu had read a lot of cultivation novels and thus knew of the various scenarios that could happen.

    ''No way I''m gonna let some random cannon fodder mess up my nsбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Thoughбн aren''t these guys living a bit too unfashionably? What''s up with these in residences?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The residences of the inner court disciple looked like the houses of vigers. They were in wooden residences with y tiles on the roof. Their doors were bare with nary a bit of cinnabar paint on them.

    Though when Lin Wu saw the formations, he knew all of this was just prioritizing the function instead of the aesthetic. There were many formations on the residence, such as defensive formations, isting formation, and spirit Qi gathering formation.

    These formations were already plenty to bankrupt anymon core condensation realm cultivator, not to mention any Qi refining realm cultivator. Back at the Deer Wood city, Lin Wu had seen the residences of the nobles and they were quite simr to this.

    But the difference could be seen from that, as only the rich nobles could afford such things, while here there were already thousands of residences like those. Even the special residence that was given to Shirong did not have a spirit Qi gathering formation attached to it though.

    From what Lin Wu had learned, Spirit Qi gathering formations were one of the formations that were needed by nearly any sect. Without spirit Qi gathering formations, it would be harder for the disciples to cultivate.

    The sects all had spirit Qi mines and spirit Qi springs under them, which allowed them to gain spirit stones and supply the spirit Qi needed for their cultivation. Without them, the spirit Qi emanated from them would be confined to a very small area and would not be effectively utilized. Some Qi gathering formation could also gather the spirit Qi from the air itself, but their inefficiency depended on their grades.

    But transmitting this spirit Qi to multiple ces without it dissipating was not possible without the formations. Thus they would be one of the primary formations that a sect needed. These spirit Qi formations were also of many types and grades.

    Qi gathering formations were actually an entire subfield in the great field of formation masters.

    There were many formation masters who dedicated their lives to making and studying Qi gathering formations. There were simply so manyplexities and nuances to a Qi gathering formation that many formation masters that entered it would only be able to learn two or three such formations in their lifetime.

    Lin Wu knew there were five categories of the Qi gathering formation.

    They were divided into:

    1. Tool powering formation

    2. City powering formation

    3. Sect powering formation

    4. Empire Powering formation

    5. World powering formation

    The one that the Frozen Cloud Sect was using was one of the sect powering formations. The core of the formation array would be located deep within the sect and would gather the spirit Qi from the various spirit Qi mines and spirit Qi springs before collecting it into arge reservoir.

    Then from this reservoir, the spirit Qi would be supplied to various smaller spirit Qi gathering formations that were each attached to a ce that required it. For example, the residence of a disciple.

    This also allowed the sect to control how much spirit Qi was supplied to each location, depending on the importance.

    For example, the residence of an outer court disciple would get less spirit Qi than an inner court disciple and an elder would receive more than both of them.

    "System the formation that the Taiji Celestial''s tomb hasбн what grade is it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Qi gathering formation that powers the Taiji Celestial''s tomb is an Empire Powering formation. But it has been damaged and can only gather a fraction of its capacity which is roughly equal to half of a Sect powering formations'' capacity.

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "How good it would be if I got that levelбн though now that I''m here I should be able to remedy that. At least a little bit." Lin Wu said as his gaze went to the map.

    There were a few special markers that were used to designate very high level energy sources in the sect. Of these, there were seven that were particrly bright. Three of them were spirit stone mines and were spread across the three main mountains of the sect, while the remaining four were spirit Qi springs that were distributed between the smaller peaks.

    Lin Wu was of course interested in them and wanted to get to the spirit stone mines, but couldn''t help but stop him.

    "Those two secret elders or whatever are there as wellбн can''t risk it." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The two unknown level cultivators were located near those three spirit stone mines and thus Lin Wu did not want to disturb them by going there and getting found out.

    "Though these spirit Qi springsбн" Lin Wu said as he looked at the closest one, which was just half a kilometer away from his location.

    ''Let''s take a look.'' Lin Wu thought as he made up his mind.

    Reaching the spirit Qi springs periphery didn''t take him that long, but he had to stop because of the barrier that was surrounding it. Though the thing was, this barrier was not created from a formation. If it were made from a formation, Lin Wu would have been easily been able to cross it with the help of the system.

    Lin Wu carefully checked the barrier with his spirit sense and came to a conclusion.

    "This is most definitely made from a Qi skillбн"

 Chapter 295 - Spirit Qi Spring Source Crystal?

    Lin Wu could tell that the Qi skill was probably cast by a very strong cultivator. It was made in such a way that once it was cast it would be self-sustaining by absorbing the ambient spirit Qi from the spirit Qi spring.

    Casting a Qi skill like this was no small task, as not all Qi skills would be self-sustaining like this.

    ''It must have been some high grade Qi skill.'' Lin Wu thought.

    But the barrier was not the only thing that was here of course. The formations that connected to it were also here. Though they did not directly interfere with it and only took the spirit Qi that emanated from it.

    Lin Wu stayed here for a while thinking beforeing up with an idea.

    "System check the formations and analyze their functioning in detail. See what can be done to ess this spirit Qi spring." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK ASSIGNED: Formation array analysis

    ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: 11 hours 48 minutes 17 seconds

    бкбк

    "This will be really cutting it closeбн hopefully, it is done before Wang Xiong''s duel starts. Though I don''t think I''ll be able to do anything before the duel, anyway." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Trying to think of something else, Lin Wu spread his spirit Qi to surround the spirit Qi spring. The spring itself was not that being less than a hundred meters in diameter. The barrier surrounding it was in the form of a sphere as well and selectively allowed spirit Qi to leave and enter it.

    The spirit Qi would enter from the bottom, as the spring absorbed spirit Qi from the earth and would then release it from the top, letting the Qi gathering formation to supply it to the main reservoir.

    The area around the spring was mostly made of rocks and soil, with the spring itself located in a wide cave. This cave was obviously made by a person and was not natural.

    "I should be able to get close enough to see it directly at least." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He shrunk his body and dug a small opening near the cave of the spirit Qi spring. He popped his head out and looked around. Thankfully, the area was mostly dark and no one would spot him even if he was here.

    "Huhбн not a single person here?" Lin Wu spoke upon seeing the empty area.

    It was then that he realized the sect could not afford to let anyone stay here. It would be a big problem for them if the person became greedy and tried to do anything to the spring. Besides, with the barrier protecting the spring, they didn''t think they would need actual people to guard it.

    Now aware of this, Lin Wu simply came to the front without caring to hide. Since no one was here, he had no reason for that anymore.

    "Let''s get a bit of light hereбн" Lin Wu said before making his body glow.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Even if the barrier stopped his spirit sense and blocked him from entering it, the light from his body was still able to pass through it with ease.

    "WHOA!!" Lin Wu eximed upon seeing the spirit Qi spring.

    The spring itself was transparent like water, but under the illumination of his emerald green light, it looked dazzling. The reflection cast by the walls of the cave made a unique scene, making it seem as if there was no end to the cave.

    The spring was nothing but spirit Qi wisps that had been fully converted into a liquid form. But unlike the spirit Qi in a cultivator''s Dantian which would quickly vaporize into wisps upon being exposed to open air, this liquid spirit Qi was very stable.

    But this was not all that Lin Wu saw there. At the very depths of the spirit Qi spring, he also spotted a translucent crystal. For others, it would have been hard to see it as it would easily blend in with the spirit Qi spring, but for Lin Wu it who had radiation perception it was easy.

    While the crystal itself did not release any radiation, it did release spirit Qi from it, which caused the ambient radiation in the cave to move.

    "That should be the source crystal of the spirit Qi spring," Lin Wu guessed.

    As source crystal was basically the root of the spirit Qi spring. It was what made a spirit Qi spring to form after a long period of condensation. A source crystal for spirit Qi spring would easily take hundreds of years to form and after that, it would take even longer to condense a spirit Qi spring.

    It were these very source crystals that a sect would gather and nt in their sects to create their own spirit Qi springs.

    This was essential to the growth of a sect. A sect would start by finding a spirit stone mine and building around it. Then the people of the sect would slowly gather more and more spirit Qi spring source crystals and transnt them into their sects.

    Then after a few decades, it would turn into a spirit Qi spring. And if more time passed, say centuries or even millenniums, they would finally turn into a spirit stone mine.

    Lin Wu was here with the same aim as well. He wanted the source crystal of the spirit Qi spring. But getting it would not be so easy, as if he tried to do anything it was likely the sect would be alerted.

    So for this, he would have to make a proper n such that he gets the source crystal and does not alert the sect either.

    While he was waiting, he saw that there was ayer of small stones and rocks surrounding the barrier. These stones were spread around in a circr manner around the barrier and were all loose stones.

    "How did these get here? Or did someone ce them here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    But then incidentally he saw something that answered this question for him.

    ''No wonderбн''

 Chapter 296 - Heist?

    Since the cave was here for a long time and was manually carved out, it was obvious that it would erode from the natural elements after time. Because of this, small pieces of rocks and soil would fall from the ceiling from time to time.

    Some of these would fall on the barrier that surrounded the spirit Qi spring. But the barrier would not let them fall inside, because of which they would roll off it and fall around its edges.

    While this was a very mundane thing, it gave an important bit of information to Lin Wu.

    "Oho, so the barrier does not set off an rm when it is touched. Though it should depend on the level of impact that is levied on it, seeing as the small rocks do not affect it. A light touch by someone should have the same effect I presume." Lin Wu hypothesized.

    ''Let''s see if my estimation is correctбн'' Lin Wu thought before extending a very small part of his tail forward.

    It was only as big as the rock that had previously fallen and hopefully should not cause any problem.

    Lin Wu extended it very slowly and watched it approach the surface of the barrier. His breath was held in his throat as he finally touched it.

    He had thought that something would happen, a flicker, ripple or anything; but nothing did. It was as if the barrier was unresponsive.

    "Hmmбн this is much better than I thought. Let''s up it a little bit." Lin Wu muttered before increasing the force.

    He doubled his previous force and still nothing had happened. He kept on increasing it little by little, seeing no response. By the time two hours had passed by, Lin Wu was now at twenty percent of his full strength.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Finally, he saw a ripple appear on the barrier and spirit Qi fluctuations came from it. He immediately stopped there, and the barrier also stopped whatever it was doing before calming down.

    "Huhбн the strength needed is a lot more than I expected. And even then it stops if it is withdrawn. I guess the threshold is there in case more rocks fall on it or the roof copses. Unless something of that level happens the sect would not get alerted." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Having understood this, Lin Wu realized that there were a few more things he could try out. He especially had something that he had been wanting to try out.

    Lin Wu extended his tail towards the barrier once again, but this time he amplified it with his spirit Qi. This time the undaunted sapphire body art was in full effect and a coating of spirit Qi could be seen around his tail.

    As soon as he touched the surface of the barrier, Lin Wu could see that the spirit Qi had actually passed into it partially. But his body itself was being stopped. It was a rather strangebination, and he reckoned he could test more.

    Seeing as he had a lot more time till the analysis of the system would beplete, Lin Wu decided to just do this.

    And just like that several hours passed and Lin Wu did a slew of different tests with the barrier, always making sure that he did not go beyond the threshold at which the rm formations would activate.

    "Goddamn, it really worked!" Lin Wu eximed.

    He had done something that he had randomly tried. He never expected it to work, but it did. He didn''t know why, but he didn''t care for it.

    In front of Lin Wu, a small fingernail sized hole had been opened up on the barrier. The edges of this hole glowed with a green-blue light which was nothing but the spirit Qi modified due to the undaunted sapphire body art.

    "Ahaha! Now I know what to do. System, record these results and see if they can be extrapted on arger scale without the rm getting activate." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK ADDED: Barrier pration test

    TIME REQUIRED: 5 hours, 48 minutes, 9 seconds

    бкбк

    "Hmm, this should be enough till weplete the duel." Lin Wu said, before checking the timer for the duel. There was still some time left to it and Wang Xiong was also busy in his preparation.

    Lin Wu extended his spirit sense and checked the condition of the man in his residence, finding him to be in the same condition as he had left him. With Lin Wu''s long ranged spirit sense, it was easy for him to now keep track of things that were a bit far from him.

    He took a look around the nearby area as well and while he was doing so the system gave him another notification.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK COMPLETED: Formation array analysis

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    NOTIFICATION: Please check the relevant window for details

    бкбк

    "Perfect! Just in time." Lin Wu spoke, feeling pleased before opening the window with the new data.

    "Oh? This set up seems quite familiar to meбн" Lin Wu muttered upon seeing the information about the Qi gathering formation that the sect used.

    Essentially, the Qi gathering formation array worked quite simr to how the power grid worked in his past life. The Qi would be gathered from various sources, whether it be the air, spirit Qi springs or the spirit stone mines, and would then be guided to the reservoir.

    These sources were like the power nts that generated electricity. And like them, they didn''t always operate at their full potential as it would be damaging to the infrastructure instead.

    Currently, Lin Wu saw that all of them were operating on fifty percent capacity and this was more than sufficient to supply spirit Qi to the entire sect. And not just this, even the reservoir had enough spirit Qi that it could independently supply spirit Qi to the entire sect for a month before it would get depleted.

    This gave him a lot of leeway in making hister ns.

    "Heheheбн time for a heistбн"

 Chapter 297 - Central Battle Stage?

    By the time Wang Xiong notified Lin Wu of the duel''s starting time, Lin Wu had already made a n about how he would retrieve the source crystal of the spirit Qi spring. The only thing left for him was the analysis of the barrier that the system wouldplete in five more hours.

    "Senior, the duel will be starting in fifteen minutes at the central battle stage. I''m heading there now." Wang Xiong spoke over the jade slip.

    "Mmm, go on and be careful. Just do your best." Lin Wu replied.

    "I will not disappoint you, senior." Wang Xiong said in a respectful tone before stopping the connection.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "Now to just wait and watch. If trouble really arrives, I''ll need to interfereбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before moving towards the location that Wang Xiong had mentioned.

    The central battle stage was about three kilometers away from the spirit Qi spring that Lin Wu was at. The central stage was a rather simple name that was given to an entire buildingplex.

    There were multiple stages set up in there, along with seating areas for the audience. It looked quite simr to how the martial arts tournament arenas looked in his past life, except these were much bigger and the materials used were also stronger.

    After all, anymon cultivator here would split the floor apart with a casual attack if they used the same standard of materials they used in Lin Wu''s past life. But this was not the only feature that the central battle stage had a formation array that prevented stray attacks from getting to the audience and also to stop the audience from interfering in the fights.

    There were smaller stages that would be used for a longer tournament for the initial rounds, and then one main stage that was the biggest one. This one also had a lot of space for the contestants to fight, along with the audience to sit.

    It was in this very arena that Wang Xiong was going to battle. Since he was fighting someone who was quite well known and influential in the sect- a core disciple, there was no way a low leveled stage would be used for it.

    Lin Wu saw that a lot of the seats were already filled and even a few elders were in attendance. They had their own seating area and were looking with calm expressions. There was a reefer starting at the edge of the stage who was also at the Nascent soul realm, albeit at the Adolescent stage. Evidently a junior elder.

    "Hmmбн they have pretty nice infrastructure I must admitбн" Lin Wu said upon seeing everything.

    "Pity, it''s not really effective against the system." Lin Wu said with a chuckle before adding, "systemбн create a virtual interface for the formation array of the central battle stage."

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET SELECTED: Central Battle Stage

    ANALYZING PARAMETERS: New variables found

    CREATING VIRTUAL INTERFACE: Please wait patientlyбн

    VIRTUAL INTERFACE CREATED: Battle stage formation array interface

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked over the new interface window and saw that the controls for the stage''s formation array were now added there. He would now have no problem if he entered the premises of the central battle stage.

    Lin Wu got closer and his spirit sense freely entered the area. He checked all the people in the audience without much trouble even though they felt his spirit sense. But to them, it did not seem like the spirit sense of a cultivator. Rather for them, it was just the central battle stage''s formation array doing its regr scan of the area.

    Even the elders calmly sat as the spirit sense passed through their bodies. Though a few frowns did appear on some of their faces.

    "Hmmбн seems like we need to do maintenance work on the formation array soon. It used a much stronger scan than was needed." One of the short bearded elder spoke.

    "You think so? I thought it was normal." Another elder that had a crooked back stated.

    "No, even I feel that it was a bit stronger than normal. Maybe the calibration got skewed due to therge number of people entering at once. After all, we haven''t done a full maintenance on it for a while now." Another elder that had white hair but a smooth unwrinkled face replied.

    Lin Wu heard their words clearly and raised his brows.

    "I guess, this is just luck." He muttered to himself.

    He then looked for Wang Xiong, who he found to be standing on one end of the stage. The man looked to be calmly looking at the stage, or more urately to the other end. Here another man was standing, a frown present on his face.

    ''So this is the core disciple that Wang Xiong is going to fightбн what was his name? Oh yeah, Niu San.'' Lin Wu recalled.

    He checked his cultivation as well and found it to be just as Wang Xiong had reported, being at the Infant soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    Lin Wu watched as the referee moved up to the stage and raised his hand to calm down the audience.

    "Todayбн we are here to witness a duel." The referee said as he took a look around the audience. "The duel is ording to the wishes of the two duelists, and would follow our standard rules of the sect. There shall be no killing, but everything else is allowed." He continued.

    <em>~WOOOO~</em>

    The audience couldn''t help but get excited and shouted out loud. For them, it was not every day that they got to witness something like this and they were looking forward to seeing a core disciple fight.

    There were even bets going around on who would win. The odds were of course in the favor of the core disciple Niu San but Wang Xiong had a higher multiplier on him. Still, those who liked to gamble ced their bets on him without hesitation.

    "Go on, go on. ce as much as you canбн after all, this will all be mineбн hehehe!"

 Chapter 298 - The Duel Begins?

    Lin Wu watched on as the two duelists got into their ces. Wang Xiong had a rtively calm expression but his opponent Niu San still had a pissed off face. He was also muttering something that could not be heard. But from his expression it was likely to not be anything good.

    "The two duelists read?" The referee asked as he looked at them.

    "READY!" Both of them shouted in unison.

    "FIGHT!!" The referee dered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    As soon as he said that, Niu San lunged at Wang Xiong with a sword in his hand. The sword had a gleaming edge and Lin Wu could tell that it was a high grade spirit weapon. Wang Xiong responded by blocking it with his halberd.

    <em>~ng~</em>

    The two weapons collided, knocking up winds in the arena.

    <em>~WOOOO~</em>

    "HE BLOCKED IT! HE BLOCKED THE ATTACK OF A NASCENT SOUL REALM CORE DISCIPLE!" The people in the audience eximed.

    Expression of shock could also be seen on Niu San''s face and he was having a hard time believing this. All this time he had thought of Wang Xiong as an arrogant and overconfident junior who should know his ce, but now he didn''t know what to think.

    "YOU!" Niu San said, his voice dripping with anger.

    <em>~ng~</em>

    Wang Xiong paid no heed to his words and simply deflected his sword. Niu San, who finally recovered from his shock, recovered from the deflecting and looked serious now.

    "Seems like you truly do have some skills to be arrogant ofбн" Niu San said before flicking his hand.

    A white ball of frost was shot out from his hand towards Wang Xiong. The ground below the frost ball started freezing as it passed over it.

    "Look it''s senior Niu San''s Frost Freeze Orb!"

    Wang Xiong looked at the approaching attack and dodged it by flying up. Ning San wasn''t done here though. He threw out more of the Frost Freeze Orbs and filled the stage with them.

    Wang Xiong poured spirit Qi into his halberd and dived down from the air.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    The speed of his drop created a sonic boom and then the halberd hit the ground

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    A shockwave spread outward from the halberd, knocking all the Frost Freeze Orbs out of the stage. But just as Wang Xiong had done this, he suddenly felt the hair at the back of his head, stand.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    <em>~drip~</em>

    He barely managed to move his neck at the right time as an object grazed past it. A small cut was now left at the back of Wang Xiong''s neck.

    A frown appeared on his face as he saw the object that had just grazed him. It was a Grey dagger that was also a high grade spirit weapon.

    "A mere inner court disciple should know his ce. Humph~ daring to challenge me," Niu San said as he looked down at Wang Xiong.

    <em>~Wooo~</em>

    The audience cheered once again, upon seeing the first injury of the duel.

    "Senior brother is indeed worthy of his stays. Wang Xiong is the first to be injured!" One of theckeys of Niu San said.

    There were a lot of supporters of the core disciples in attendance, and even Wang Xiong''spanions were here to support him. Still, they all had tensed expressions on their faces as they saw their leader getting injured.

    Wang Xiong held up the halberd and spun it before creating a sh of spirit Qi. Niu San raised his palm and shot out more Frost Freeze Orbs, but that was not all as now his spirit sword and the dagger was attacking along with them.

    Wang Xiong dodged the Frost Freeze Orbs as he exchanged blows with the two spirit weapons. One could tell that he was being suppressed.

    Lin Wu who had been watching all this, felt strange seeing Wang Xiong being suppressed.

    "Is he doing this intentionally or what? Why is he so slow and weak?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The Wang Xiong he had seen before was much stronger and faster. This was even before he got the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial, which meant that he should have been much better than before.

    Niu San kept attacking Wang Xiong and got closer little by little. His attacks were getting fierce by the minute, and Wang Xiong had a hard time keeping up with them.

    "You should understand by now you are no match for me or any core disciple at that. You should just surrender and let your femalepanionse server us." Niu San said.

    Thepanions of Niu San who were in the audience couldn''t help butugh upon hearing this.

    "Hahah! Senior brother is absolutely right. It is the honor of those girls that they get to serve senior brother in their lives." They said.

    Thepanions of Wang Xiong gritted their teeth and bore it in silence. They knew there was no use in talking back to them, as it would only get more problematic.

    Wang Xiong and Niu San kept on shing as blow after blow was exchanged. But now over ten minutes had passed and people could tell that Niu San WA intentionally dying it, letting Wang Xiong get humiliated along with hispanions.

    "ENOUGH!" Wang Xiong suddenly shouted.

    "HYAA!" Wang Song yelled as he threw his halberd towards Niu San.

    The halberd was covered with ayer of frost that let out a chill that even the people in the audience could feel.

    "What is that? We haven''t seen that technique before." Someone from the audiencemented.

    "Thatбн that''s the cier splitting halberd art!" Finally, someone recognized the technique.

    "Humph! Puny tricks!" Niu San said as he made a few hand seals and created a shield in front of him.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The halberd crashed into the shield and cold Qi started spreading around from it. The shield became covered in ice, along with the entire stage. Even Niu San raised his eyes at the amount of spirit Qi that was contained in the halberd.

    ''Did he use half of his entire spirit Qi stores in this attack?'' Niu San wondered.

    "LOOK!" Suddenly someone from the audience pointed.

 Chapter 299 - Reversal?

    On the stage, ice could be seen covering it along with the shield that had been created by Niu San.

    But that was not all that was there. Multiple ck and white balls of light could be seen glowing around the stage. The people in the audience were all pointing at them and wondered why they had all appeared here.

    "What are those? Another Qi skill?" one of thepanions of Niu San asked.

    Even thepanions of Wang Xiong didn''t know what was happening and what those ck and white balls were.

    Niu San, seeing that the situation was now getting out of his control, decided to give it his all.

    <em>~harrumph~</em>

    He directly ced his palms against the shield and waves of spirit Qi rose from his body. His infant soul stage nascent soul realm cultivation was now fully on disy to everyone who was watching.

    Wang Xiong could feel the full pressure off of him but did not falter. Rather he was looking at him with an expectant gaze.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    Suddenly an explosion happened on the shield of Niu San and the halberd that Wang Xiong had shot got thrown away.

    <em>~ng~ng~ng~</em>

    The halberd fell out of the stage and hit the ground, getting away. But that was not all as the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the halberd were also suppressed.

    "Now, what will you do? I''ve sealed your halberd and it won''t react to yourmands. You will lose!" Niu San dered.

    He was still eying the ck and white balls, but didn''t know what they were. Since they had not attacked yet, he guessed they were some kind of a support Qi skill.

    "You should just surrender. Do that and I may just spare your life!" Niu San taunted.

    Suddenly, a smile appeared on Wang Xiong''s face as he startedughing. "Ahahahahah!"

    The people in the audience, along with Niu San looked on in bewilderment as Wang Xiongughed like crazy.

    "Huh? Looks like he''s already gone mad from his loss. It will be a mercy from me to kill you," Niu San said.

    "DO IT SENIOR BROTHER! Get rid of the useless bug! The sect doesn''t need someone like him." Niu San''spanions shouted from the audience.

    "Very well then. I''ll listen to the request of my juniors and be merciful by ending your meaningless exigence. Maybe in the next like you''ll know how to behave." Niu San stated beforeing towards Wang Xiong, who was stillughing.

    "Hahaha! Just as I expectedбн your arrogance will be the one to spell your defeat!" Wang Xiong replied, when suddenly his hands started to glow.

    One of his hands glowed in a white light and the other one with a ck shadow. Niu San and the other finally realized that this was a Qi skill Wang Xiong had been meaning to use.

    Wang Xiong spread his arms wide apart and then moved them in a very unique manner which left behind a trail of light. When his hands finally stopped, one could see that there was now a symbol formed in front of him.

    The symbol was in the shape of a circle and was half ck, half white; with there being smaller circles of the opposite colors in each part.

    "So he''s finally used it. Hmmбн his n was goodбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The symbol that had just appeared was none other than the Taiji Symbol, which was very well known. Evenmoners could easily recognize this symbol, not to mention cultivators who knew it even better.

    Once the symbol formed, Wang Xiong looked at Niu San in his eyes.

    "UNITY RETURNING FIST! Yin Return!" Wang Xiong shouted.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Then, as if his words were some chants, all the ck balls that were floating around on the stage started moving. Wang Xiong waved his hand as the ck balls reacted with all the ice that was around them.

    It was like a ma had been ced there and this ma was attracting all the cold Qi in the area. The nice suddenly started pealing from the ground while the frost in the air direly condensed into ice shards.

    <em>~pew~pew~pew~</em>

    These ice shards and fragments shot towards Niu San, who was in front and suppressed him.

    "What! How can this be!" The people in the audience said, unable to believe the flipped situation.

    Niu San was caught a bit off guard, and a few of these ice shards pierced into his body. Most of them were stopped by his defensive techniques and the formations that were on his robes, but their numbers were still too much for the defense to be absolute.

    Blood started spilling from Niu San''s wounds, and he became even more furious.

    "Good, good, good. Now you''ve truly angered me! Not only you but yourpanions will not have a good end now either!" Niu San said with murderous intent.

    "Humph! This is just the beginning. The show starts now!" Wang Xiong said as he then punched out with his right hand which was glowing with white light.

    "UNITY RETURNING FIST! Yang push!" Wang Xiong yelled.

    The white first emanated some strange kind of energy that reacted with all the ice that was in the area. Even the shards that were impeded in Niu San''s body reacted and started humming.

    <em>~Boom~boom~boom~</em>

    Multiple small explosions urred as the ice shards became super heated and exploded into steam.

    "ARGH!!" Niu San cried in pain as blood spilled from his body.

    <em>~cough~</em>

    He then coughed out more blood as the tattered robes fell from his body. It was evident that his lungs had been injured and the defensive formations on his robe were unable to stand any more attacks.

    The audience watched on with their jaws wide opened. They felt like they needed to p themselves and check if this was a dream or not.

    "Oh? He already found a different application of the Unity Returning fist? This man is goodбн" Lin Wu said upon seeing the entire thing.

 Chapter 300 - Interference?

    The people were stunned upon seeing the absolute reversal of the entire situation. Not only had Wang Xiong flipped the odds, he had also managed to greatly injure Niu San. And he had not stopped there. He kept on using his new Qi skill and attacking Niu San.

    "Yin Return!"

    "Yang Push!"

    "Yin Return!"

    "Yang Push!"

    "ARGH!" Niu San spat out more blood.

    The ck and white orbs kept on moving in and out, making everything difficult for Niu San to dodge. He couldn''t block either, as the attacks were too fast and came from every direction.

    The elders who were watching it were bewildered as well.

    "What is that Qi skill Wang Xiong''s using? Do we have something like that in our sect?" One of the elders questioned.

    "Noбн doesn''t seem like it. Though it looks simr to Frost Heart Techinque, or rather a variation of it. The way he can manipte ice to move is simr to that but converting it to hot steam is not." The other elder replied.

    "Why have we never seen this junior before? He seems rather talented," The third elders asked.

    "I''ve seen him before. He even participated in the examination for the core disciple selection but never got past the first stage." Another elder said.

    The conversation of the elders was unheard by everyone, but a few people did notice that they had their attention on Wang Xiong now. But then they looked back to the battle as a shout was heard.

    "Take my final attack, Yin-Yang reversal! Return to one!" Wang Xiong shouted as he brought his hands together.

    The white and ck lights mixed before turning his fists Grey in color. The light looked quite unstable, but the power contained in it was massive.

    Thepanions of Niu San were tense and rage filled their bodies as they looked at him getting beat up. They looked at each other and nodded.

    "STOP!" They suddenly jumped into the ring.

    The people in the audience were surprised by this and had not expected this.

    "HALT! What do you think you two are doing!" The referee questioned.

    Even the elders looked on with frowns on their faces. But they did not interfere yet, wanting to see what their angle was. Even as elders, they had to be careful with core disciples. The difference between them was only that of one or two stages and they could not order them around as easily as they could with the inner court or outer court disciples.

    Another thing was these core disciples were quite likely to be elders themselves and some of them would have already be elders had it not been for them intentionally holding back their breakthrough so that they could stabilize their foundations.

    The twopanions of Niu San straight up ignored the words of the referee and just stared at Wang Xiong.

    "Oh, so they finally decided to act, huh? That too in front of everyoneбн so cliche." Lin Wu muttered upon seeing it.

    But he didn''t just stay there idly and moved closer to the stage. He was underground, thus no one could see him and the fomentation array was also under his control, for the time being, so he had no problem on that end either.

    "What do you two want?" Wang Xiong asked, as his gaze turned tense.

    While he was confident of fighting Niu San, he had already depleted quite a fol of his spirit Qi stores. The Unity reversal fist used up a lot of spirit Qi and him using it in a new manner took up even more spirit Qi than that.

    Wang Xiong was unsure if he would even be able tost for more than a couple of minutes if anyone of them decided to attack. He then saw one of them pulling out amand token from his spatial storage treasure.

    "With my authority as a disciplinary pavilion method, Imand you to surrender ande with me so that your crimes can be assessed." The man said.

    Wang Xiong was now confused as to what they were talking about. He looked up at the elders and saw that event they were unaware of this. One of the elders actually stood up and flew to the front.

    "What is the problem here?" He asked.

    "You need not interfere, elder. I suspect that this Wang Xiong has used a demonic technique to attack Niu San. There is no way he would be in this state otherwise, as far as I know, our sect does not have any Qi skill like their either." The man with the token said.

    "Even if the sect doesn''t have it that doesn''t mean that it is a demonic technique." The elder stated.

    <em>~tch~</em>

    "That is what I want to verify. So Wang Xiong wille with us." The man with themand token said.

    "Yeah, this match is also unfair and Niu San is the rightful winner being able tost this long against a demonic technique." The secondpanion of Niu San added.

    Hearing all of their words only made Wang Xiong angry.

    "Shameless dogs, both of you!" he spat out.

    "Watch your tongue! If it were not for the rules of the sect, I would skin you right now!" The man with themand token said, not caring for the others.

    He knew that with his authority there weren''t many that would question it. Even the elders that were present here would not be able to do much as the domain of the Disciplinary pavilion was independent and could not be interfered with by them.

    Only the head elder of the disciplinary pavilion could do it and that elder was his father.

    "YOU!" Wang Xiong uttered, not knowing what to do.

    He was suddenly reminded of the words of Senior Lin Wu.

    ''Remember, they will definitely try to pay unfair when the situation turns sour. Just defeating one of them will not work.''

    "Senior was rightбн" Wang Xiong muttered under his breath before looking straight at the two of them.

    "SCUM LIKE YOU NEED TO BE ELIMINATED!" Wang Xiong dered.

 Chapter 301 - JUNIOR, YOU DARE?

    An uproar spread in the audience upon seeing the events. They had seen the two core disciple attempt to suppress Wang Xiong and now he was openly opposing them despite the threat of the disciplinary pavilion.

    There were few people who were unafraid of the disciplinary pavilion, and even the elders were not free from their clutches. Perhaps only the high elders and the sect patriarch could ignore them and resist their actions.

    It was safe to say though, the two core disciples were absolutely offended by his words.

    "JUNIOR, YOU DARE!" both of the core disciples shouted in unison.

    "YES, I DARE! I challenge you two to a duel!" Wang Xiong shouted before talking out an object from his spatial storage ring.

    "Stop him! He''s trying to use a forbidden talisman!" one of the core disciples shamelessly used.

    He had said this casually, trying to frame Wang Xiong further, he had seen that the object in Wang Xiong''s hand was amunication jade slip but he didn''t care for it. Sadly for himбн his fake usation was true.

    <em>~crack~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A blinding light came from the jade slip as Wang Xiong shattered it. The light was too bright for even the elders to be seeing anything and they had to close their eyes. As for those that were in the audience, they flinched with pain.

    "ARGH! It hurts!

    Their eyes hurt from the bright light and even closing their eyelids didn''t work as much and they needed to put their palms against their eyes.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The people could hear some noiseing from the stage while the ones who were on the stage felt the ground shake.

    Thenбн it happened.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The sound of an explosion could be heard as the pieces of the stone stage flew everywhere.

    "What was that? I can''t see!" the people in the audience shouted.

    When the light finally faded away, they saw a shocking scene on the stage. Wang Xiong was now looking quite different from before.

    He was covered in a green crystalline armor that fully covered his body from head to toe. There were gauntlets with a spiky exteriors and boots that had talons. His shoulders had long curving spikes on them and a malevolent looking helmet covered his face.

    The helmet looked like the skull of a beast and had two red horns on top of it. But that was not all, as Wang Xiong was now floating in the air while strong spirit Qi fluctuations came off his body.

    "W-what is is that!" the people in the audience couldn''t help but wonder.

    This was unlike anything they had seen, and they were intrigued by it.

    The elders were also anxious now and wondered if what the two core disciples had said was true or what. After all, Wang Xiong''s current appearance did look quite like that of a demonic cultivator.

    "See! I told you all he was a demonic cultivator!" The man with themand token proimed.

    Wang Xiong paid no attention to their words anymore and directly attacked.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The speed of the attack was very fast and wind attribute spirit Qi was mixed in it.

    "Damn! How did he suddenly get so powerful?" The man with themand token said as he blocked the attack.

    He was pushed back ten steps before he was able to stop. The second core disciple took out an Axe and shed at Wang Xiong as a shockwave spread around him as the center.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    "HOW?" The core disciples said upon seeing that his attacks were blocked by Wang Xiong''s hands.

    There was nary a scratch on the armor, and it was as if nothing could harm it. Even the elders were now wary of Wang Xiong and entered into an offensive stance.

    "Wang Xiong, stop this now." The elder said.

    "No! I will not. I now know what kind of people they are. Nothing wille out of this. I shall take it into my own hands!" Wang Xiong said as he pushed back the Axe.

    The two core disciples and Wang Xiong continued exchanging blows while the elder kept watching from the side.

    Wang Xiong was about to punch again, but then a sword made out of ice suddenly attacked him from the side.

    "I said stop!" the elder said he hands in an attacking position. It was evident he was the one who had shot out that attack.

    "Do not interfere, elders!" Wang Xiong warned.

    "You leave us no choice, Wang Xiong." The other two elders said as they too, joined the stage.

    Wang Xiong gritted his teeth and looked at the five opponents that he now had.

    "SO BE IT!" he uttered.

    ''Senior, do it, I''m ready!'' Wang Xiong said in his mind.

    "About time. I was getting bored with them." Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    Everything that happened after the two core disciples entered the stage was nned by Lin Wu and he had already told Wang Xiong that something like this would have happened. Lin Wu had also left instructions with him on what to do if something like this happened.

    Though Lin Wu had not expected that they would be so influential that even the elders would not question them.

    ''Seems like I overestimated this sect''s capability. While they look good from the outside, internally they are already corrupt.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Though this just makes things a bit easier than before." Lin Wu murmured.

    Lin Wu knew that if they were corrupt, the thing that they would listen to best would be nothing other than pure power. While Lin Wu was wary of the Dao Shell realm cultivators of the sect, he had been watching the map the entire time and no reaction could be seen on it.

    ''For them, this is probably just some meaningless squabble that is below them. Thankfully, this gives me plenty of time to work things out.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then spoke, "Wang Xiong! Prepare to have the fastest breakthrough of your life!"

 Chapter 302 - Lin Wu The Seniors Plan?

    When Wang Xiong had heard Lin Wu''s n, he had thought that it was not something that could be possible. It was so absurd, ording to all he had learned till now, that he had a hard time believing it.

    But he finally did believe it because it was his senior speaking it. He had personally seen the Taiji Celestials tomb and the murals in it. He had also taken part in the trials and knew to make something like that would be incredibly difficult if not impossible for anyone in this world.

    Not to mention the Cultivation inheritance that he had received, which was the biggest proof.

    With all these thingsbined, Wang Xiong just realized that his scope of understanding of this world was much less and he should just do as Lin Wu was instructing him to do.

    It was Lin Wu''s n for him to use themunicating jade slip and break it. The jade slip had a part of Lin Wu''s power contained in it, which Lin Wu had secretly added without telling Wang Xiong.

    Originally it was supposed to be a backup n in case Wang Xiong went against him or something like that. But now that very thing hade in handy in a different way. Not only that, but it also served as an illusion for Lin Wu to transform into the armor that Wang Xiong was wearing.

    Since Lin Wu''s body had grown a lot than before, he was now able to form a full sized body armor. Not to mention Wang Xiong was a few sizesrger than Shirong, who was much slender.

    In fact, Lin Wu had to levy all his innate skills potential to make an armor like this. The way he did this was to first shrink himself to the smallest form he could and then wrap around Wang Xiong in a very specific manner.

    After doing this he altered the joins and his surface such that they looked to be joined without any seams. This way the armor was flexible rather than being rigid due to having multiple smaller parts.

    There was another important thing that Lin Wu needed to add to it though, and it was the ability to fly. His weight was far too much, such that Wang Xiong would have been crushed under it if not immobilize.

    Thus to address this problem, Lin Wu was counteracting his weight with his ability to fly. He made his body levitate just lightly, such that it was unnoticeable. But this was only when Wang Xiong was on the ground when he was in the air, Lin Wu didn''t need to do anything like that and he could just let Wang Xiong fly within him.

    Lin Wu had totally ripped off this idea from one of theic book superheroes from his past life.

    There were multiple parts to Lin Wu''s n. His first phase was to let Wang Xiong defeat Niu San and then wait for hispanions to act. Then once they did that, Lin Wu would wait for them to show their true colors and let Wang Xiong show his stance.

    With that being done came the third phase, which could either make or break the situation. He called this the domination phase, and Wang Xiong was supposed to show his supremacy over the others.

    But how would he be able to do this if he had a lower cultivation base than his opponents?

    Thus Lin Wu thought what better method than to make Wang Xiong breakthrough in front of everyone. Not only would he be breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm, he would also be doing so in an absolutely domineering way.

    Lin Wu already had three experiences with heavenly tribtions, which was a lot more than anyone here. Not only that, but he was now able to properly manipte the lightning, thus he knew even with him being here the extra punishment brought by the heavenly tribtion would be controble.

    The people who had been watching everything suddenly felt the spirit Qi in the area stir. It was as if a ma had been ced in front of them and all the spirit Qi was being attracted to it. This ma being none other than Wang Xiong himself.

    "Rx your control over your Dantian and let your meridians flow freely. The armor will do the rest for you." Lin Wu spoke to Wang Xiong''s mind.

    "As youmand senior." Wang Xiong said faithfully.

    He could sense the spirit Qi in the area forming into a vortex and then pouring into the armor. Then from the armor, the spirit Qi would transfer into him directly through the specific acupoints on his body.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Wang Xiong''s body floated up even higher in the air as the spirit Qi started to be even dense, now looking like a cloud of mist.

    "What in the worldбн." The elders couldn''t help but say.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    More spirit Qi joined the fray and formed a curtain around the previous vortex. This spirit Qi was not normal though, it was wind attribute spirit Qi and if anyone tried toe close to it, they would be cut by it.

    Even the two core disciples who were wanting to fight Wang Xiong were now a bit apprehensive.

    "What do we do, senior brother?" one of the core disciples asked the one who had themand token.

    "We have to stop himбн whatever he is doing." He answered.

    He then gritted his teeth and took a step forward, but with the movement he did, he felt something that sent chills all over his body.

    <em>~RUMBLE~ </em>

    The cracking sound of thunder could be heard echoing across the sky as dark clouds soon appeared over everyone''s heads. They couldn''t help but look up and saw that the beautiful white clouds of the Frozen Cloud sect were now gone, recing them were dark and gloomy tribtion clouds.

    "He-Heavenly Tribtion cloudsбн it''s a heavenly tribtion!" someone finally shouted.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Streaks of lightning coursed through the dark clouds, leaking a threatening aura. The people frozen in ce and couldn''t help but gasp in fear.

    <em>~boom~</em>

 Chapter 303 - Fun Is Starting?

    The first Tribtion Lightning bolt fell from the clouds rather quickly and stuck Wang Xiong. It was a bit underwhelming for him as he realized all of the impacts had been absorbed by the armor and he only got the necessary lightning that was needed to crack his core.

    After the first bolt fell, the people finally came to terms with their situation.

    "RUNNNNNN!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" The people started screaming in fear.

    Some of them leaped off the seats while others did their best to go through the stairs, but none of them dared to fly, for the fear that they would be struck by a stray bolt of lightning.

    Even the elders didn''t dare to stand there and swiftly took out their defensive spirit tools before retreating.

    "What do we do now, elders? This tribtion is happening out of the confines of a tribtion tform and we have far too many people in its radius." One of the elders said.

    "THIS WANG XIONG HAS GONE MAD! HE''S NOT ONLY GOING TO KILL HIMSELF WITH THE TRIBULATION, HE''S ALSO GOING TO TAKE US WITH HIM!" The two core disciples finally realized.

    The thing was, even if they were Nascent Soul realm cultivators and had gone through the tribtion themselves, they had done so in a very nned manner, ensuring the best level of safety.

    Wang Xiong here though, was being extremely reckless. Not only was he risking his life undergoing tribtion so suddenly but he also did so in the presence of hundreds of other people, which would probably lead to the bacsh from the heavenly tribtion.

    Thankfully till now, the tribtion had not considered them to have interfered in the breakthrough, and thus they had not been struck by lightning. But if Wang Xiong made any moves in this time and came close to them, they would no doubt be caught within it.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The second tribtion bolt came and struck Wang Xiong, cracking his core further. Unlike Shirong or Lin Wu, his breakthrough was rtively simple and didn''t have any unknown factors which restricted him.

    Even with the addition of the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial, he didn''t have a problem. In fact, he could now sense new things while he was undergoing the heavenly tribtion.

    "This energyбн it isбн the extreme yang of tribtion lightning!" Wang Xiong sensed and gained some insights.

    Seeing that this was beneficial to him, he simply closed his eyes and let Lin Wu handle the breakthrough. He on the other hand, focused on sensing the tribtion lightning and the insights that were hidden within them.

    He could tell that if he could grasp even one percent of them, he would have great progress with hisprehension of the Taiji Celestials'' inheritance.

    Wang Xiong had learned that the Taiji Celestials'' inheritance heavily emphasized upon the Yin and Yang aspects of the world. He himself used the cultivation techniques of the Frozen Cloud sect that were mostly focused on ice type technique.

    Ice inherently belonged to the Yin and thus he already had some insights into the Yin part of the Taiji Celestials inheritance. But in the case of Yang, he had little progress, and thus his technique could be said to be iplete.

    While he had tried to apply a few concepts he had picked up to make his own application of the Unity Reversal Scripture, such as in the Yin Return and Yang Push, it was barely enough for him to execute it.

    But there was no way he had explored its full potential. But now he had the opportunity to study the Extreme Yang of the Tribtion lightning, which not many people got the chance to study.

    Originally he would be studying the Yang aspect by learning more about Fire attribute cultivation techniques. But lightning was considered to be superior to fire in terms of Yang and thus it would be more beneficial for him.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    The third tribtion lightning bolt struck Wang Xiong and was easily absorbed by Lin Wu before being guided into Wang Xiong''s core.

    "He''s already at three bolts! Heavens! Will he be having a unique tribtion?" The audience wondered.

    Most of them were still trying to leave but for some reason were unable to go any further.

    "What''s happening, why are the gates not opening?!" the people questioned.

    Soon panic spread through the disciples as they found themselves unable to leave the area due to the restrictions blocking them.

    "Hehe! Do you think you can leave so easily? I gotta have someone to witness all this and be dominated. How else would this n seed?" Lin Wuughed.

    Lin Wu had gone ahead and asked the system to block the exits of the stage area by making changes in the formation array.

    "Why can''t they leave? Elder Bo, please go check!" one of the elders asked the other elder.

    Elder Bo nodded and quickly made his way to the exit and checked the formation array. But just in a few seconds, sweat covered his forehead.

    "This is bad! The formation array is malfunctioning." Elder Bo said.

    "WHAT! HOW CAN THIS BE?!" The disciples questioned, feeling dumbfounded that their sect''s formation array would ever malfunction.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "It''s the heavenly tribtionбн it is having an unknown effect on the formation array. It is not made to operate under conditions like this." The first elder realized.

    His words were spoken softly, yet were heard by everyone since they all had their spirit sense spread around. Hearing these words nearly scared them to death and the ones who were weak hearted directly fell unconscious.

    "Disciples! Listen to me very carefully. Everyone is to move as far as they can from the stage and take out whatever defensive treasure you have. But make sure you don''t let out any strong spirit Qi waves or it may interfere with Wang Xiong''s breakthrough and be considered as punishable by the Heavenly Tribtion." The first Elder ordered.

    Having no other choice, the disciples went silent and did as they were told. Some of them even brought out their life saving trump cards hesitatingly.

    "Hehe, the fun is just starting!" Lin Wu eximed to himself, feeling a strange kind of excitement.

 Chapter 304 - Offending A Monster?

    It had been about ten minutes since Wang Xiong had started his breakthrough and he had already taken three bolts of tribtion lightning by now. Looking at his current condition one could not even tell if he was really undergoing a tribtion or not.

    Usually, cultivators who had their Heavenly tribtions at the nascent soul realm would be very haggard and tired looking after taking the hits of the tribtion lightning bolts. But for Wang Xiong who was d in the emerald green crystal armor, he seemed to be casually floating in the air with no shouts or grunts of pain being released.

    For everyone here, this was an eye opening revtion. They never expected something like this was even possible or not. The elders and the two core disciples couldn''t help but remember the day when they went through the heavenly tribtion.

    ''How much did we suffer that day? And this guy is taking it all as if he''s in a warm shower enjoying itбн'' They all thought.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    But this was just the start. The real tribtion was about to begin. After all, Lin Wu was the one assisting Wang Xiong so there was no way the tribtion would be a normal one. The triangtion clouds soon changed into a dualyered tribtion and the lightning bolts underwent a qualitative change.

    "Du-Dualyered Heavenly tribtion!" The elder called out.

    "He''s a genius! Wang Xiong is a genius! How did the sect never find out about him till now?" Another elder couldn''t help butment and felt a little pity.

    Now that Wang Xiong had openly opposed the sect and even put the disciples in danger like this, it was likely that he was going to be considered a criminal from now on.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    The tribtion lightning bolt finally formed and struck Wang Xiong after being attenuated by Lin Wu. Stillбн unlike before, he actually felt a bit of pain from it, as Lin Wu couldn''t fully suppress something like that.

    He had wondered what the reason behind could be and reckoned that the transparent part of the lightning when he saw it using the radiation perception was the cause. It was something that was beyond the understanding of the system and Lin Wu as well.

    That unknown factor could be the only thing causing a problem like this. Still, it was fine since Lin Wu merely had to split it into two, with one of them going directly to Wang Xiong after processing and the other one taken up by Lin Wu himself.

    "You all just wait, you''ll get the taste of this ''rare'' lightning tooбн hehehe." Lin Wu chuckled as he shrugged off the pain from the lightning bolt.

    This bolt was enough to crack Wang Xiong''s core by seventy percent and the next one would probably be enough for him topletely shatter the core. Lin Wu watched the sky aptly and the moment the next tribtion bolt left the clouds, he acted.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The bolt hit the armor d Wang Xiong, making it light up in an eerie green glow. For a moment there, everyone who was observing him couldn''t help but feel a terrifying presence. But it onlysted for a fragment of a second before disappearing.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    A crack that was inaudible to others was heard inside Wang Xiong, as his core was now finally covered in cracks fully.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A blinding light came from the cracks of the core, and the birth of his Nascent Soul started.

    "Action timeбн" Lin Wu said as he looked at the two core disciples and the tribtion clouds.

    The two core disciples felt a gaze trained on them, which sent shivers down their spine.

    "Senior brother, I don''t feel so goodбн" One of the core disciples said before an explosion was heard.

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    The head of the core disciple suddenly exploded as a tribtion lightning bolt hit his head. A wave of terror spread throughout the entire area as the people watched on in sorry. The elders couldn''t believe their eyes and some disciples directly pissed their pants.

    "LOOK!" Someone shouted, "Wang Xiong is pointing at the core disciples."

    Everyone looked and saw that Wang Xiong''s right hand was extended with his index finger pointed at the now dead core disciple. Faint sparks of electricity could also be seen coursing around the armor.

    This was actually not Wang Xiong intentionally pointing at the core disciples, but rather Lin Wu controlling his hand by moving his body. Wang Xiong himself was deep inprehending the extreme yang of the tribtion lightning and had no idea this was happening.

    Lin Wu then controlled Wang Xiong''s hand to point it at the Niu San who had now gained consciousness. The man was lying on the ground with his back to the seating area and could barely keep his eyes open.

    Unlike others, he had seen what had happened before clearly. Wang Xiong had extended his finger to the first core disciple and then the tribtion lightning bolt that had hit him was sent to the core disciple.

    "No!бн NO!бнNOOO!" Niu San screamed in fear.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    While Wang Xiong had already taken enough lightning bolts topletely crack his core, the tribtion had not yet ended. The extra punishment due to Lin Wu being here was still left after all.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    The bolt fell on Wang Xiong''s head and coursing through the entire armor before being shot out through his finger.

    <em>~st~</em>

    This time the lightning bolt hit the chest of Niu San, directly reducing it to mush. His ribs, lungs and heart were all minced together while his head hung back, barely handing by a few pieces of flesh from his neck. His tongue fell out from his mouth, half bitten, and his eyeballs popped due to being boiled.

    "MURDER! MURDERER!" The crowd started shouting, finally realizing that Wang Xiong was intentionally doing this.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The elders couldn''t help but swallow their saliva after seeing this. Unlike the other disciples, they knew what kind of a feat Wang Xiong had just shown.

    "What kind of a monster did Niu San offendбн" The elders couldn''t help but say

 Chapter 305 - Liberties?

    While Lin Wu was killing using Wang Xiong as a proxy in the real world, Wang Xiong himself was gaining enlightenment.

    He had found himself in a dark space where he was floating, without any sense of direction. He didn''t know how long it had been since he arrived here, but it could have been from a few seconds or tens of hours.

    Wang Xiong''s sense of time was skewed and he could not urately tell anything. After being in this dark space for an unknown amount of time, he suddenly saw a small speck of light appearing in the distance.

    At first the light was only a tiny dot but soon it started expanding till it covered the entire world. Now instead of a dark space, Wang Xiong was in a white space. He was still floating in it aimlessly, without any reason as to what he was supposed to do.

    "Why am I here?" He questioned himself.

    More time passed, and another change urred. A ck dot appeared in the white space which then started expanding rapidly, taking over the entire space again. The space had now be dark again.

    Wang Xiong curiously observed everything without any fear. He didn''t know why this was, but he felt a strange sense of bothfort and unease here. He kept on observing the space and an unknown amount of timeter, it turned into white again. More time passed and it became ck.

    This change continued on for countless times and with each cycle, Wang Xiong could feel like he started to understand.

    <em>"From Yin, Yang is born and Yang shall eventually return to Yin only to give birth to Yang again. The cycle of Taiji is unbroken and even heavens shall not deny it.</em>"

    A mysterious voice was heard in the space.

    As soon as Wang Xiong heard this, it was as if the gates of Dao were opened for him and insights rushed into his mind.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In the real world, a mysterious energy that fluctuated between white and ck was released from Wang Xiong''s body. This energy was hidden from everyone''s eyes due to the Emerald green armor and directly seeped into his Dantian.

    In there the energy surrounded his fully cracked core which was about to birth the nascent soul.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    The core finally shattered and an infant that looked simr to Wang Xiong was born. It was naked, but as soon as the fragments of the core disappeared from around him the strange energy that fluctuated between white and ck surrounded it.

    The energy flowed around the infant, forming into a set of tiny robes. Half of the robes were ck and half of them were white, giving the infant a sense of superiority.

    All this did not go past the system''s gaze and it informed Lin Wu the moment it had urred.

    "Hmmбн so he got a unique nascent soul as wellбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself and observed the nascent soul for a few seconds more.

    Moving his perception from Wang Xiong, Lin Mu looked back at the core disciple who was left trembling on the other corner of the battle stage.

    Lin Wu controlled Wang Xiong''s finger and casually pointed it at the core disciple.

    "Noбн noбн no! Wang Xiong forgive me! <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>" the core disciples suddenly fell to his knees and heavily kowtowed to Wang Xiong.

    Tears flowed out like a river, and snot dripped from his nose. The all-powerful nascent soul realm core disciple had been reduced to a crying brat. Those who were watching could not believe their eyes and pinched themselves.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    "No MeRcY! DiE!" A distorted screechy voice was hearding from Wang Xiong that seemed to be inhuman.

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    The final tribtion lightning bolt descended from the sky, three times as powerful than the one before, striking Wang Xiong. His hands slightly trembled, but the lightning finally redirected towards the core disciple.

    <em>~Shua~shua~shua~</em>

    Suddenly, multiple treasures came out to form barriers and shields around the core disciple. He had used up all of his trump cards that he had been holding since now.

    s! It was all for naught.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    The barriers and shields broke like ss before the tribtion lightning hit the core disciple. The man lit up like a light-bulb before slumping back to the ground, dead. The smell of burnt flesh spread in the area mixed with that of ozone.

    <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>

    This scene was too much to bear for many disciples and they all fainted, copsing on the ground. The fear and pressure exuding from Wang Xiong was evidently too much for them.

    "Welpбн I may have overdone it with the voice I thinkбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    Finally, Wang Xiong''s breakthrough wasplete and the spirit Qi vortex started forming around him. This was the infusion of spirit Qi that came after a sessful breakthrough and it could be considered as a reward of the heavens for sessfully surviving the heavenly tribtion.

    The spirit Qi was incredibly pure and easily restored the condition of Wang Xiong''s body. Even if Lin Wu had reduced most of the effects of the heavenly tribtion, Wang Xiong''s body was still under quite a lot of stress.

    It was just not perceivable to himself as much. The hidden damage that was done to his body was quickly healed, and his Dantian started to fill up once again. Soon it was saturated with spirit Qi and the infant that was dressed in ck and white robe floated in it freely.

    Wang Xiong who had nowpleted his enlightenment, opened his eyes and looked around the area feeling absolutely stunned.

    "What in the name of heavens?! When did all this happen?" He couldn''t help but exim, except his voice could not be heard by others due to the strong wind that was blowing.

    "I took a few liberties while you were busy with your breakthrough. Hope you don''t mind." Lin Wu spoke in Wang Xiong''s mind.

    "Senior, you did this?" Wang Xiong asked.

 Chapter 306 - Wang Xiong The Genius?

    Wang Xiong could feel the traces of lightning in the air that were still present. Since he had gained insights into the extreme yang of lightning, he could very well tell that this was caused by the Tribtion lightning itself.

    "Nope, it was done by you. Or more urately your body." Lin Wu replied to Wang Xiong.

    "What?" Wang Xiong questioned, still feeling confused.

    "We can talk about thister. Right now we have more important things to do." Lin Wu stated.

    "What do we do now then?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Wellбн I''d say just do what you want. I''ve set up the stage for you, do the rest." Lin Wu said.

    Wang Xiong''s gaze stiffened and he nodded his head. He could tell that while all this seemed problematic, there may be some ways with which he could resolve this all. After looking around he found the elders who were still shivering in the corner, their defensive tools active.

    "Alright senior. I won''t disappoint you." Wang Xiong replied with determination.

    Lin Wu hummed in response before making his body which was in the form of an armor, glow brightly. The people who were still awake were scared by this and were thinking that it may be their turn to be killed next.

    But then when the light stopped, they saw Wang Xiong floating there without his armor. Lin Wu had taken this opportunity to get away and dug deep into the ground. There was already a crater below Wang Xiong due to the impact from the tribtion lightning and thus it wasn''t hard for him to make use of that as a disguise.

    Lin Wu didn''t go too far though. He was still observing the situation and wanted to see how it would proceed. He had done enough to make Wang Xiong seem like a genius which he hoped would sway the opinion of the sect.

    "The rest of them should being right aboutбн now." Lin Wu muttered as he saw hundreds of cultivators flying towards the Central battle stage.

    The most eye catching one from them was a middle aged man who was exuding strong spirit Qi fluctuations. The strongest that Lin Wu had seen till now.

    "That must be the Dao Shell realm sect patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect." Lin Wu recognized.

    There were more of the Dao shell realm cultivators among the group, but the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from them were far less. Evidently, those were the head elders of the sect. Overall, six Dao shell realm cultivators had shown themselves while four more were still hidden where Lin Wu had seen them on the map.

    "WHO IS BEHIND ALL THIS!" The sect patriarch questioned in a thunderous voice.

    Wang Xiong looked up at the powerful man and gritted his teeth before flying up to meet him.

    "I am the one who did all this sect patriarch." Wang Xiong stated fearlessly.

    "You!? You killed your fellow disciples?" The sect patriarch questioned with a stern gaze.

    "They forced my hand patriarch. They have be corrupt with power and were abusing it. I reckon others elders will very well verify my ims." Wang Xiong said as he gestured towards three elders who were at the side.

    The three elders looked at Wang Xiong and suddenly felt a dangerous aura lock on to them. They couldn''t tell where it wasing from, but they knew if they did not act quickly, they may be in mortal danger.

    "YES PATRIARCH! What Wang Xiong says is right! Niu San and his twopanions intended to use the authority of the Discipline hall to suppress a genius like Wang Xiong." The elder quickly spoke.

    "Yes, yes, patriarch. He was even forced to undergo a heavenly tribtion so that he couldpete against the core disciples." The second elder spoke.

    Surprise could now be seen in the eyes of the patriarch. While he had seen the heavenly tribtion and knew someone was having a breakthrough. But from looking at Wang Xiong, he couldn''t tell that he had newly broken through.

    If a cultivator broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, their cultivation base would take a while to stabilize and their aura would fluctuate a lot. But nothing of that sort could be felt from Wang Xiong. In fact, now that the patriarch thought about it, Wang Xiong''s aura seemed to be almostparable to that of an Adolescent Soul Stage Nascent soul realm cultivator.

    "You are the one who had the dualyered Heavenly tribtion?" The sect patriarch asked for confirmation.

    "Indeed patriarch." Wang Xiong nodded his head and disyed the full extent of his cultivation.

    Everyone present here could feel two types of aurasing from Wang Xiong. These auras mixed and separated, sometimes being individual, sometimes together.

    "Yin and Yang Duality Physique?" Someone among the head elders recognized.

    <em>~Gasp~</em>

    Shocked gasps spread among everyone as they heard about the legendary physique.

    "AHAHAHA! MY FROZEN CLOUD SECT FINALLY HAS A TRUE GENIUS!" The sect patriarchughed out loud,pletely pushing aside the matter of three core disciples being killed.

    "Bingo!" As soon as Lin Wu heard this, he knew his job here was mostly done.

    He still waited and saw the rest of the events, which progressed rather quickly. The patriarch ordered this matter to be investigated and Lin Wu conveniently cleared the recordings of the recording formation of the central battle stage.

    He also left some traces of Niu San and hispanions on the formation node, which only smeared their identities further. Sanctions were issued against the discipline hall and their members went a shift.

    Lin Wu discovered that the sect patriarch had actually been bothered by the Discipline hall for a long time but couldn''t act against them due to the sect''s rules. These were rules that were embedded into the main formation array of the sect by the ancestors and could not be changed.

    Wang Xiong had just given him the very opportunity that he had been waiting for and he quickly took it, switching the members of the discipline hall with his own people.

 Chapter 307 - Getting The Source Crystal?

    Overall, everything went much better than Lin Wu had expected. Wang Xiong himself was on cloud nine after all that happened as a lot of his problems had been solved with Lin Wu''s intervention.

    Not only had they had absolved Wang Xiong of all charges, but he had also actually been directly promoted to Chief disciple and would be directly under the tutge of the sect patriarch. This was a time for great celebration for the sect, since they have not had a Chief disciple in nearly two hundred years now.

    While the frozen cloud sect had a lot of core disciples, none of them were qualified to be a chief disciple. After all, the position of a chief disciple was not obligatory like that of the core disciples, inner court disciples and outer court disciples.

    A chief disciple would only be chosen if the said disciple was said to have great talent and Wang Xiong was overqualified for that.

    When his story was heard by the elders and the patriarch, they were stunned to say the least. After all, it was carefully modified by Lin Wu to make it very impactful. Even thepanions of Wang Xiong got a part and they were rewarded for their efforts and also gotpensation for being targeted all this time.

    ording to the story, Wang Xiong had been a hardworking disciple for many years. This part was legit and could easily be verified needing no change from Lin Wu. But the part about him gaining the inheritance of a peerless expert was astounding.

    Thankfully, since Wang Xiong had gained the clues to the tomb from the sect''s own library, Lin Wu didn''t have a problem making changes there. He simply changed the part about the location of the tomb of the Taiji Celestial and shifted it to a different part of the forest.

    Lin Wu had intentionally done this as he needed an actual ce away from the tomb to interact with other powers. The sect was prevented by investigating this when Wang Xiong imed only the inheritor could ess that inheritance grounds and that when it ''opened next time'' he would have the authority to take the next contenders.

    This was all nned by Lin Wu to slowly gain more followers, but only after they were deemed to be worthy of it, of course. Though he would be needing to make a lot of changes to the Tomb before he could attempt all this.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK COMPLETED: Barrier pration test

    бкбк

    The system''s notification came at this moment, and a smile appeared on Lin Wu''s face.

    "Time to head to the spirit Qi springбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before making his way to the underground cave.

    The cave was quickly illuminated by Lin Wu''s body as he asked the system to start the n.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    MODIFYING PARAMETERS: Please initiate intrusion

    бкбк

    "Alright, here we goбн" Lin Wu said before extending his tail and pressing it on the barrier of the spirit Qi spring.

    Qi amplification was in full effect as the faintyer of spirit Qi that had been modified by the Sapphire meridians.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Soon a small hole was opened in the barrier, which was about the size of a pinhead. Lin Wu kept on pouring more and more spirit Qi which kept on expanding the hole. Soon it reached a size through which Lin Wu could easily pass through. He had already shrunk his body to the smallest size possible, which made it a bit more convenient.

    Once Lin Wu passed through the hole sessfully it closed behind him.

    "Alright, first part is done. Time for the next step." Lin Wu said before bringing up a window.

    "System, begin the changes to the formation array." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    REROUTING SPIRIT QI: Site elected- Main reservoir

    INCREASING OUTPUT: Auxiliary spirit Qi spring output increase to 60%

    REDUCING OUTPUT: Current spirit Qi spring output decreased to 0%

    бкбк

    Since there were multiple sources of spirit Qi in the sect and all of them were operating at 50% what Lin Mu did was to simply increase that by 10% and stopping the output from this spirit Qi springpletely.

    This way it would seem like that everything was normal and the rest of the spirit Qi sources will bepensating for the missing source. Lin Wu knew that the sect probably did not direly check up on the spirit Qi springs as they did for the spirit stone mines for mining.

    Thus he expected that they would not discover this for a very long time.

    "Hehe, all this went well. Now for the main part." Lin Wu said before approaching the spring. The moment his body touched the liquid spirit Qi, he felt incrediblyfortable.

    "<em>Ahh~</em> this isparable to the hot springs of my past life, even though it is not hot." Lin Wu said in pleasure.

    He forcibly controlled himself and went to the center of the spring. He then swam to the bottom of it where the source crystal of the spirit Qi spring was located.

    "There you are," Lin Wu said as he touched the source crystal before storing it in the inventory.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    An instantaneous effect could be seen upon the disappearance of the source crystal. The ambient spirit Qi in the ground started to reduce while the liquid spirit Qi started to dissipate.

    "Oh? May as well take it all rather than to waste it. Hehe." Lin Wu reckoned before swallowing the liquid spirit Qi inrge gulps while also absorbing it through his body itself.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The level of the spring started to fall at a visible pace as it got taken by Lin Wu. The Host data screen of Lin Wu was updating and the numbers started to increase. It took Lin Wu about five minutes to absorb what was probably a century''s worth of umtion of the sect.

    "<em>Ah~</em> Free stuff is always so good." Lin Wu stated when he heard the notification by the system.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 351,276 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    HOST CULTIVATION: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 1,368,911 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

 Chapter 308 - Leaving The Frozen Cloud Sect?

    Lin Wu had spent quite a bit of spirit Qi in helping Wang Xiong breakthrough and also to get him through the heavenly tribtion. In fact, it took Lin Wu more spirit Qi to control the tribtion lightning than it took him to push Wang Xiong past his bottleneck.

    But now that he had absorbed all the spirit Qi in the spirit Qi spring, he had not only gotten that amount back, but he had also made a little profit on top of it. Lin Wu felt happy about this as it had put him closer to his own breakthrough to the Child stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    Still, Lin Wu would a lot more spirit Qi than just the minimum amount needed to upgrade as he needed to do other things as well. There were the needs of the system and the analysis that it would do along with the other cultivation techniques Lin Wu was using.

    Even the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art took up a part of his spirit Qi as he was only practicing it for its unique effect of changing his meridians into sapphire meridians. And now using it to refine spirit Qi.

    If he really used it to do that, his speed of refinement would be lesser than that of the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture. Having said that, Lin Wu now needed to leave the area quickly as he still didn''t know how the barrier would react.

    The barrier would stand for a few more months or even years, but eventually, its integrity would fall and the sect would notice it. The formation would send an rm when the barrier disappears as well.

    Lin Wu couldn''t change this part and he didn''t intend to either. After all, he already got what he wanted and it would be better if he didn''t interfere more. Now all he needed to do was wait and watch things while slowly guided some things from the back.

    "Alright, let''s head out." Lin Wu said before cing his tail on the barrier and repeating what he had done before.

    A few minutester, a holerge enough for him to pass was opened up and Lin Wu escaped through it. He then went up and took onest look around the sect before deciding to leave. He had already ced a newmunication jade slip in Wang Xiong''s spatial storage ring when he had helped him and would issue instructions from it.

    Plus, this new jade slip actually had a few more functions that Lin Wu had added. The system had improved upon the previous design and had made a new version that could work due to Wang Xiong having a stronger cultivation base.

    These functions would allow Wang Xiong to scan the books and records in the sect, which would then be transmitted to the system. In short, Lin Wu had made the Jade slip into a small scanner. Though the energy consumption of it was high and a core condensation realm cultivator would also find it difficult to sustain the use.

    ''Hopefully, once I set up this spirit Qi spirit source crystal in the tomb, it would have more energy to doplex tasks. The range of teleportation should also increase by quite a bit. Thought getting that main source below the Dark Bloom caverns is a must.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Now that he had seen the sect patriarch of the Frozen cloud sect and the other high elders, who were all at the Dao Shell realm, the other rulers of the Millennium forest seemed to be weak to him.

    Not only that, but he also realized why the beasts had managed to survive till now. If the sects wanted to, they would be able to wipe out all the Rulers of the forest in one go, but the reason they didn''t do that was that the forest brought them benefits.

    The disciples got to train there and find resources along with the forest acting as a sort of barrier between the kingdom''s borders. Overall, there were more benefits for there to be the forest than for it to not be.

    Another thing was that Lin Wu had figured out the reason why the Ling Kingdom had dered the part of the millennium forest as a forbidden zone, even though there were many stronger sects that could go there.

    The reason was simpleбн they simply could not be bothered to investigate it further. The stronger cultivators would not find it worth their time while the weak ones would only be in danger. Thus they decided the best option would be to dere it as a forbidden zone and save the paperwork.

    This became advantageous to Lin Wu though, so he couldn''tin. This was all that Lin Wu thought while he was traveling. He was now about halfway to the millennium forest, and more than a day had passed since he left the sect.

    ''Wonder how Shirong is doingбн'' Lin Wu thought before leaving instructions to his main body to return to the forest and letting his consciousness to go back to his avatar.

    The moment Lin Wu opened his eyes, he found himself surrounded by people.

    "Huh? We''re in a city?" Lin Wu realized.

    Shirong was walking through the streets and Lin Wu was currently kept inside the ring. But even then the passive perception of the avatar was focused on the outside while recording everything that he saw.

    "Let''s see what all happened in the past few daysбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he went through the memories.

    Shirong had traveled quite a distance and had also ughtered a lot of beasts, providing Lin Wu''s avatar with some spirit Qi. Although most of it was used up in flying, he still got to save about 10% from all that.

    They were now in a different kingdom that went by the name ''Ivory Heron Dynasty.'' This was a kingdom that was about the same size as that of the Ling Kingdom and had a simr power dynamic as well.

    Though there was one thing that Lin Wu found to be different.

    "That''s a lot of ducks."

 Chapter 309 - Rivalry Of Two Kingdoms?

    Looking around, Lin Wu saw a lot of ducks. Or more urately, people wearing clothes with duck patterns on them.

    "Either they are big fans of ducks or there''s some festival goingбн" Lin Wu said.

    "System, what''s the info on this kingdom?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Ivory Heron Dynasty is a mid level kingdom that has existed for two thousand years. They are famous for their rivalry against the Ebony Duck Dynasty. Their patron beast is the Ivory Heron, which is said to be an Immortal Beast.

    бкбк

    There was more detailed information added to the second window that Lin Wu went through, but he had gotten the information about the question that was bugging him. But it still didn''t answer why he was seeing ducks here.

    "If this is the Ivory Heron Dynasty, shouldn''t there be Herons here and not ducks?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The rivalry between the two kingdoms of Ivory Heron Dynasty and Ebony Duck Dynasty goes for thousands of years. It was said that both of them were established by entric kings who had the bloodlines of the respective beasts.

    Both the Ivory Heron and the Ebony Ducks are immortal beasts and were considered to be unparalleled in their might among the bird beasts ording to the records. But, ording to the system''s analysis, this may be mere propaganda.

    Even if the beasts are immortal beasts, the royalty of the kingdom does not even have a trace of their bloodline left in them. Otherwise they would beparable to the Three Great ns; the Long n, The Gui n and The Hu n.

    Every year they would hold apetition between the two kingdoms which would be hosted alternately each year. This time the host is the Ivory Heron Dynasty.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so they''re likeбн Sports fans?" Lin Wu realized.

    The whole situation felt hrious to him, which made him look into it more. He read the info in the window and learned that the winner of thest year''spetition was the Ivory Heron Dynasty and they had been winning for three years straight now.

    This made Lin Wu wonder what Shirong was thinking about it and looked at him. Shirong though, seemed to be at ease about this all and didn''t pay attention to it one bit. Instead of that he just kept cultivating silently even while walking.

    "Man''s be focused huhбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He looked at the map and saw that they were just a few days away from the Dread Coil marsh, though if they rushed there they may reach it in less than three days. This made Lin Wu wonder why Shirong had taken a halt in this city. In thest few memories, Shirong had directly bypassed most of the cities when he passed over them.

    Lin Wu continued observing the sights and finally saw Shirong moving towards one of the better looking buildings in the city. Lin Wu read the name board and discovered that this was the City hall.

    Shirong casually strolled in and entered a locked room by snapping its door off the hinges.

    "What the hellбн" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    Inside the room, a man was sitting. He had a stunned look on his face, which was probably due to Shirong bursting in unannounced and breaking the door. Though after a moment of astonishment, the man stood up.

    "M-master Shirong!" The man recognized.

    "You''ve got some guts, Yu Guowei!" Shirong said in a stern tone.

    ''So they know each other.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Where are all the records of the expedition and why were they not updated? The n is not happy with you." Shirong said, his gaze turning serious.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Yu Guowei directly kneeled on the ground and bowed.

    "P-Please forgive me, Young master. This was not my intention, but my hand''s are forced. All the records that we gathered were destroyed." Yu Guowei answered.

    "Insolence! You dare lie!?" Shirong questioned, arcs of electricity already flickering around his body.

    "I tell the truth young master, I''m willing to take a blood oath!" Yu Guowei hurriedly replied.

    "Oh? You are now, huh? Then DO IT!" Shirong scoffed.

    Yu Guowei seemed to be a bit taken aback by Shirong''s response, but nodded his head.

    "I Yu Guowei swear upon my lifeblood that I will speak the truth and only the truth to young master Shirong! If I lie, may my life be extinguished by the world!" Yu Guowei said with slight hesitation.

    A powerful aura emanated from Yu Guowei''s body before calming down. This was the aura of the world itself and would only appear when an oath like this was taken. Taking an oath like this was no easy thing and it could be seen from Yu Guowei''s face, which had gone a few shades pale as if he had lost some blood.

    Seeing that the man had kept up his end of the bargain, Shirong nodded his head and decided to give him a chance.

    "Exinбн Exin to me what exactly happened at the Dread Coil marsh and where is my uncle." Shirong demanded.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Everything was strange from the very start, but master Quan did not want to stop the expedition and wanted to continue it. Of course, the Dread Coil marsh has always been dangerous and the ghosts there are a problem too.

    Even if they don''t trouble most cultivators of a high cultivation, they can still be a pain. After a month at the marsh, our people started to get strange nightmares and they got anxious.

    This anxiety turned into paranoia, and they started to act crazy after another month. By that time, even Master Quan wanted to stop the expedition, but it had been toote. Our people started disappearing and the ones who tried to find them were killed.

    Eventually, Master Quan decided to check it out personally and went deep into the marshбн only to never return. The records which we had so painfully made were all destroyed in a fire.

    The strange thing wasбн the vault they were kept in was never opened and the fire only burned those records and nothing else there." Yu Guowei answered.

 Chapter 310 - Yu Guowei?

    Lin Wu who had also been listening to Yu Guowei''s words, felt it all to be quite eerie. It reminded him of those B ss trashy horror movies of his past life that were cringy yet felt good to watch while drunk.

    Expect in this case it was all real, which meant he would have to deal with all of the happenings. It made Lin Wu feel both anxious and excited.

    "Wonder how those ghosts actually look like and act?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    While Lin Wu was entertaining himself with his thoughts, Shirong on the other hand, was not entertained at all. Unlike Yu Guowei, he could understand the reasons behind all these incidents and had a few guesses.

    "Didn''t Uncle say that you guys had found some organization in the Dread Coil Marsh? What about them? Are they suspects?" Shirong questioned.

    "That sect? Yes, we did encounter their members but they all escaped. They''re more slippery than eels and know the marsh like the back of their hand. We couldn''t keep up once they started running.

    And not only that, they have some unique skills that help them in the marsh. They are quite expert in blending in with the area and can hide their presence as well.

    Among everyone in our team, only Master Quan and a couple of others could actually sense them. The rest of us were depending on spirit tools that are used for sensing by even they got lost along with the other members." Yu Guowei answered.

    Shirong felt like all of this was much worse than he had thought. He was thankful that he had chosen to break through to the Nascent Soul realm beforehand or it would have be difficult for him when he got to the Marsh.

    One had to know his uncle Ji Quan was at the Peak of the Nascent soul realm and was even at the Dao Shell realm once upon a time. His cultivation had regressed due to him bing injured a long time ago but he still had a lot of his skills and was not an easy person to defeat.

    With Shirong being at the Nascent Soul realm, he would at least be able to sense these sect members.

    "Do you have any more information? Anything, even the smallest smidgen of it will help." Shirong asked.

    Yu Guowei shook his head, but then suddenly thought of something.

    "Wait, young master, there is something. But I don''t know if it''s rted to the Dread Coil Marsh." Yu Guowei said.

    "Oh, tell me." Shirong ordered.

    "The presence of a Nascent soul realm cultivator was felt recently. It came from the east and went to the west. It didn''t pass over the city, but about ten kilometers away. Though no one actually saw the cultivator in person, so we think it may actually be a cultivator traveling." Yu Guowei replied.

    "Aren''t there a few Nascent Soul realms in the city already for the Tournament? How recent are you talking about?" Shirong questioned.

    "It wasn''t someone from the tournament." Yu Guowei shook his head, "it happened over a month ago. Some of the city''s Nascent soul realm cultivators even went to check it out, but found nothing." He added.

    "Hmmбн it could be nothingбн but I''ll keep it in mind." Shirong replied.

    There were far too many variables in this for Shirong to make a proper guess. Even that Nascent Soul realm cultivator could have just been a random person that was passing by. Lin Wu couldn''t think of much either and just kept on listening.

    "Ah, I almost forgot. System did you update the map with the new information of the city?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Map has been updated, since the arrival of the host in the city. The markers are currently set to the default filter thus cannot be seen. If the host want''s he can switch it to see the different things on the map.

    бкбк

    "Ah, no wonder I didn''t see anything there." Lin Wu spoke.

    He switched the filter to cultivators and saw the thousands of markers popping up all over the map. Lin Wu increased the restriction to cultivators that were at the Nascent soul realm and above before checking the results.

    "Oh? Quite a few Nascent soul realm cultivators were along with a couple of Dao Shell realm ones as well." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He checked their location and found them to be all over the city with the two Dao Shell realm cultivators in the location where the Pce was located. He reckoned that the Dao Shell realm cultivators should be part of the Royal n or something like that.

    As for the Nascent soul realm cultivators, there were over ten of them in the city and they were concentrated in a few pockets. Having seen this, Lin Wu switched the filter again to ces of interest where he could scan more information like the libraries and found there to be five of those.

    "Hmmбн I guess I got tonight''s task cut out." Lin Wu said.

    Lin Wu had been intending to collect as much information he could to upgrade the system''s data banks and this new kingdom was the perfect target.

    "Alright, system scan and prepare the best routes to those markers." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Parameters selected

    ANALYZING PARAMETERS: Plotting Route

    PLOTTING COMPLETE: Optimum Route has been charted and the navigation can be activated upon the host''s discretion.

    бкбк

    "Perfect." Lin Wu praised.

    Shirong talked with Yu Guowei about a few more things before deciding to leave. Lin Wu learned that Yu Guowei was actually one of the external members of the Ji n and had been assigned to the Capital city of the Ivory Heron Dynasty.

    He had be one of the administrators here and was quite influential. Even the responsibility of holding the yearly tournament between the Ivory Heron Dynasty and Ebony Duck Dynasty fell on his shoulders.

    Though Shirong did not care for any of these things and just wanted information on his mission.

 Chapter 311 - Holiday?

    Shirong had taken residence in one of the many hotels in the city. There were plenty of them avable currently, and more of them had even opened up to handle the influx of the peopleing for the tournament.

    Though Shirong wasn''t exactly living in the room itself. He had instead chosen one of the private courtyards that were located in thepound of the hotel. The privacy was much better, and the cost was nothing to Shirong.

    It was good for Lin Wu as well because he could leave Shirong with ease. When it was nighttime and Shirong was deep in cultivation, Lin Wu left the courtyard and went to the sites he had chosen.

    It was a bit more simple for him now that he could fly as he could sneak in through smaller spaces and not need to maneuver through beams and other structures. By the time it was morning, Lin Wu hadpleted gathering all the data and had returned to Shirong.

    He had learned quite a few things during his outing. For example, that the entire rivalry between the Ivory Heron kingdom and the Ebony Duck kingdom was fake and made up by none other than Ji n itself.

    That''s right! They had set it all up as a marketing scheme to let people spend more money on things every year. Plus they did get to enjoy it, so it was not fully unreasonable either.

    Though it was a rather well hidden fact and was kept under literate lock and key. In reality, the top powers of the continent already knew about this, but they couldn''t care less. As for the weaker ones they would be unable to find it out.

    Both of the kingdoms were actually pawns set up by the Ji n from a long time ago, and they used them as one of the revenue streams. Ji n needed massive amounts of funds every year to keep their members satisfied.

    All of this was brought in from multiple sources, with the two kingdoms being one of them. Though Lin Wu didn''t get how much revenue they actually got from this as that information was not found by him.

    He could find it if he wanted to, but he couldn''t be bothered, either.

    "Though with all this festive mood, there is one good thingбн FOOD!" Lin Wu cheered.

    His mouth couldn''t help but water when he saw all the new dishes he had seen in the city. There were dishes with Duck as the main ingredient which was a sly way of mocking the people of the Ebony Duck Dynasty. Lin Wu found it to be both funny and delicious.

    He hadn''t got to eat much as he was mostly busy with the information collection, but he managed to take a few bites when he was passing by. He definitely didn''t steal it from some random person who looked away for too long.

    "I''ll get it all tomorrow. Shirong is gonna spend a couple of days here anyway and wait for more information toe from the scouts." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Yu Guowei had asked the new scouts to get thetest information about the swamp for Shirong, and thus had asked him to wait for a bit. Shirong also knew that rushing in would do him no good, thus he chose to wait.

    Besides, two days wasn''t much to him and he could tolerate that much. That time would pass away in the blink of an eye if he spent it in cultivating. Lin Wu only realized this in the afternoon when Shirong had still not woken up.

    "Huh? He''s really going at itбн Guess I can wander for longer then." Lin Wu reckoned.

    He left the ring and went around the city, taking in the sights and the snacks; though mostly snacks. He even went to one of the sites of the tournament and observed the fights. They were okay to him but the cultivators fighting were mostly at the Qi refining realm.

    They felt boring to him after a while and he looked for better ones.

    "This is the schedule I guessбн" Lin Wu said as he spotted the long list that was pasted on a board in the middle of the city.

    There were easily thousands of names pasted on it and were divided ording to the cultivation realms. Lin Wu though only wanted to see the Nascent Soul realm fights and perhaps the core condensation realm as well.

    Though he was disappointed to find that for theing one week there were only Qi refining realm fights. The core condensation ream fights were the end part of the tournament with there only being eighty contestants. As for the Nascent Soul realm, there were only four of them; two from each kingdom.

    These fights were the main attraction of the tournament, with there being bets worth millions of spirit stones being made on them. They would be held on the final day of the tournament and would be attended by over twenty million people at once.

    They had even made a special area for it outside the city as there was no space for that inside. Another reason why Lin Wu was interested in them was to gain information about their techniques and skills.

    While he had obtained quite a few cultivation techniques and Qi skills from the various locations here, they were not really worth for him to learn. Thus he had just let the system analyze them and store them in its data banks.

    While lounging around one of the battle stages, an idea appeared to Lin Wu.

    "Should Iбн try to take a look at the Dread Coil Marsh myself?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He checked the viability of the n and found it to be possible. The Dread Coil marsh was three hundred kilometers away from the city and Lin Wu would easily be able to cover that in less than two hours. Plus it was unlikely that Shirong would use him here, anyway.

    There was literally no one who could challenge Shirong here or threaten him. Thus it was a good chance for Lin Wu to roam around.

    "Dread Coil Marsh, here Ie!"

 Chapter 312 - Dread Coil Marsh?

    Lin Wu dug through the ground and made his way to the Dread Coil marsh. Along the way, he could see the change in the soil as he got closer to the marsh.

    The soil was normal before, but as he approached the marsh, it started to get more sticky and mushy. Only when the soil waspletely changed did the Dread Coil Marsh start.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The mud was pushed apart as arge head emerged from the ground. This was none other than Lin Wu.

    "So this the Dread coil marshбн" Lin Wu said as he looked around.

    There were strange twisting trees that coiled around each other. The soil here was ck where it was a bit dry while in the rest of the ces it was mostly mud. There were puddles of water everywhere and if one looked far, they could seerge bodies of water.

    That was evidently the main area of the Dread Coil Marsh.

    <em>~Wooo~ </em>

    <em>~Wooo~</em>

    Eerie sounds could be hearding from around him as wind made its way through the twisty trees. The loops and hoops that were formed by the branches were why the wind made such a sound.

    "Definitely a creepy ce." Lin Wu stated.

    He spread his spirit sense around and checked his immediate area, finding a few beasts. But these beasts were mostly insect type beasts that lived in the mud or below soil. They weren''t even spirit beasts, being normal beasts.

    "System scan the area and update the map." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: New parameters found

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map updated

    NOTIFICATION: Please check the relevant windows for detailed information.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw a lot of markers pop up but they were notparable to the Millennium forest. In fact, they were less than that even if the area of the Dread Coil Marsh wasrger than that of the forest.

    The Dread Coil Marsh extended from the west of the Ivory Heron Dynasty all the way to the western coast of the Long continent. It came under the territory of three kingdoms, one of which was the Ivory Heron Dynasty.

    The other two kingdoms were the Burrow Light Kingdom and the Bing Kingdom. Both of these kingdoms were located along the coast and were quite affluent due to the rich trade that happens between the coastal nations.

    Though around half of these kingdom''snd was taken up by the Dread Coil Marsh. The marsh also prevented them from trading with eastern kingdoms directly, and they either had to take the long route or just use the sea route.

    This was the reason why sea trade had flourished so much for them. Lin Wu had learned all this from the information he had collected over the past few days.

    But now that Lin Wu was looking at the map, he found it to be a bit strange. The number of beasts on the map was far too less than there should be. From the information he had, there were a ton of beasts in the Dread Coil Marsh.

    But in his map, there was not even a quarter of them shown. Lin Wu knew that the system had only scanned a part of the Marsh as that was its current limit, but even then the number of beasts was pathetically less.

    "System is there some problem? Why is the number of beasts so few?" Lin Wu finally questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There is interference in the entire Dread Coil Marsh. While the system can still scan the area, the strength of the scan will be less. If the host want''s the system can do a concentrated scan of a shorter area.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн strange ce indeed. Even the system is affected by it. What could be this interference? Could it be the same as that of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu thought for a bit and came to the conclusion that scanning the area manually would be the best choice for now. He didn''t know why but he felt a bit apprehensive about Shironging here.

    "Better figure out what''s the problem here before heading backбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    Having made up his mind, Lin Wu roamed around the Dread Coil marsh while letting the system scan the area. He saw a lot of things there as the topography of the Marsh changed ordingly.

    There were other types of trees here too, and not just the strange twisting and coiling trees. There were some trees that were filled with thorns that were like swords, while some wererge like walls and spread horizontally.

    These wall like trees often crisscrossed making a maze like area. Lin Wu though just plowed through them, making a clear road for himself. Seeing the sun was difficult, as well as the sky above the Marsh was mostly cloudy, and the leaves of the trees also prevented most of the light froming down.

    Lin Wu had to fully extend his head above the trees to actually even see the sky. Though this also helped him in taking a wider look around the Marsh. In the time that he roamed, Lin Wu encountered some beasts that were native to the marsh.

    One of them was a mud crab that hadrge ws. The mud crab was called as the Dread Coil Crab and was bigger than a dog in size.

    Then there were the countless different types of insect beasts that flew and crawled around. These ones though, did not dare toe close to Lin Wu and kept a good distance between them.

    They were much more sensitive to the bloodline of Lin Wu, as he was also an insect type beast like them.

    Lin Wu of course, ate all the beasts he came across to increase his list of raw bloodline data. They weren''t really anything interesting and didn''t seem worth it for Lin Wu to assimte and use. A lot of them didn''t even have innate skills.

    "Even the beasts are strangeбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 313 - Whack-a-Ghost?

    During the entire time, Lin Wu roamed around, the strongest beast he came across was a centipede that was at the early stage of the core condensation realm. Lin Wu actually tried to talk with it but the beast did not respond.

    Or rather the beast didn''t understand Lin Wu at all, despite the system''s adjustments.

    "What''s the problem here system, why doesn''t the trantor work?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: It''s not that the trantor is not working, but rather the beast is simply responding with beastly cries. It does not have the intelligence that Core condensation realm beasts should have.

    бкбк

    ''Huh? Are they just naturally dumb or something else is affecting them?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, do a detailed scan on this centipede beast." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    SCAN COMPLETE: Target Identified

    TARGET: Dread Coil Centipede

    CULTIVATION BASE: Early Stage of the core condensation realm

    INFO: The Dread Coil Centipedes are one of the native beasts of the Dread Coil Marsh and thus named after it. They proliferate quickly and are mostly found in moist areas. Their fangs are venomous and can kill beasts stronger than it.

    Note: The beast''s brain is affected due to the interference field that is spread all over the Dread Coil marsh. This has permanently reduced the intelligence of the beast, making it act on mere instincts.

    The other beasts of the Dread Coil Marsh may be the same are probably affected by this interference field.

    бкбк

    Having read all this, Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "So it is an environmental effect. Still, this will kinda make my task easier. If the beasts are unintelligent, they will be easier to trick than the beasts in the Millennium forest." Lin Wu reckoned.

    Eventually, the sun went down and absolute darkness descend upon the Dread Coil Marsh. The moon already let out a faint light which was then hidden by the clouds and then again by the leaves of the trees.

    For normal humans this would have made it harder to see things, but not for Lin Wu. He had multiple ways to ''see'' now. He could use his spirit sense to scan the area, watch it on the map of the system, use his radiation perception or simply make his body glow to illuminate the area.

    "Boohooбн" Among the whistling sounds of the twisty trees, Lin Wu suddenly heard a strange cry.

    He focused on it and heard more of them. Little by little their numbers started to increase and it was as if the entire Marsh was now crying. Lin Wu then saw something that would absolutely terrify children and women.

    Pale white specters starteding out of the twisty trees. The cries wereing from these very specters.

    They had no specific features and were basically a torso with arms and no legs. They didn''t have a face or eyes and ears, except for a mouth that was letting out the cries.

    <em>"Woo~"</em> The specters cried.

    Though when Lin Wu looked at them, he found them to be funny instead.

    "AHAHAHA! What is this shitty design? They look like some kids in ame ghost costume," Lin Wuughed.

    The specters wandered around the marsh, seemingly looking for something. It was now that Lin Wu realized there were no more beasts visible in the area. He looked at the map and saw their numbers had decreased even more. Even the system''s markers had disappeared.

    "System, did some change happen?" Lin Wu questioned, having some guesses.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The interference field has gotten stronger and is preventing the system from scanning. The field is approximately four times as strong as before.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu narrowed his non existent brows as he looked at the specters.

    ''Could they be the reason behind the interference field?'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, scan these specters." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Selecting target

    SCAN FAILED: Target not recognized

    DATA BANKS: Activated

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED: Stored information about target found

    TARGET: Marsh Ghost

    INFO: The ghosts are entities that roam the Dread Coil Marsh during nighttime. They are said to be from a long time ago and are the remains of people who died in this area. The dread coil marsh used to be a flourishing jungle within which a prosperous sect was located.

    All these ghosts are said to be victims of a forbidden technique that was used by an evil cultivator who drained the vitality of everyone and everything. The ghosts are chained to this world from their unfulfilled desires andments.

    The ghosts are said to affect the minds of all that pass through them and they ail actively seek out living creatures. They are able to affect cultivators and beasts alike, despite their cultivation bases. The ghosts themselves though have no cultivation base and are unique entities.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu recalled reading this a while ago but a bit more information seemed to have been added to it since then. He reckoned it was system updating it since he had scanned so many information sources.

    "Wait a second, it says they will actively seek out living creaturesбн so why are they not attacking me?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu wasn''t truly scared of these ghosts as he was cautious, but since he didn''t see them being antagonistic against him, he decided to test some things out. Lin Wu got closer to one of the ghosts and touched it with his tail.

    <em>~poof~</em>

    His tail passed through the ghost as it was air, and nothing happened. The ghost didn''t react and simply floated around, letting Lin Wu do whatever he wanted. Seeing this, Lin Wu got bolder and pped it hard with his tail.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    A crater was formed on the ground and mud sshed all over as Lin Wu''s tail hit the ghost, and then the ground. The Ghost''s body distorted before reforming in the air. It waspletely unaffected by Lin Wu''s attack.

    "Maybe it''s just this ghost that''s like this? I should use a bigger sample sizeбн" Lin Wu said before starting what was pretty much a ''Whack-a-Ghost'' game.

 Chapter 314 - Testing The Ghosts?

    Lin Wu spent some time testing out the ghosts that were around. He discovered that physical attacks did nothing to the ghosts, merely making them flicker for a bit before their bodies returned to normal.

    He then tried using spirit Qi and amplified his tail with it before attacking them. This time the effect was simr, except that the ghosts were pushed back. Though not as much as the force should have.

    Lin Wu then used the wind attribute spirit Qi and send out wind des from his tail, and saw that while the ghost were uninjured, they were still pushed back.

    "Hmmбн so physical attacks are useless, while the spirit Qi attacks can only keep them at bay. What about my radiation though?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He then activated his innate skill Radiation maniption before attacking the ghosts with it. The effect this time was the same as when he had used physical attacks. The ghosts were unaffected, and the radiation simply passed through them.

    Though there were some distortions that Lin Wu sensed. He used his radiation perception to see the ghosts and discovered that they didn''t let out any radiation. But even then he could see the spirit Qi being pushed around them as they passed.

    "So they have a different type of energy that they function onбн that is what I am observing here." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Doing a few more tests, he thought back to his past world''s knowledge.

    ''Don''t they say lightning is effective against ghosts?'' Lin Wu remembered.

    But then he realized he couldn''t actually use any lightning yet. His Immortal Sky shaker Art was not at the third level yet.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Guess I''ll have to wait for Shirongбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He thorough the data that the system had stored about these ghosts and read up on how to deal with them.

    The methods to deal with the Marsh Ghosts were quite less. The first method was to use a defensive talisman which prevented them froming close to you, the second was to use a ghost banishing talisman which could exterminate them, the third was to use Qi skills to keep them at bay and the final was to use items of extreme yang to repel them.

    Lightning was one of the things mentioned in it, but there weren''t many people who could use a Heavenly element like lightning, thus all they could rely on were talismans and some spirit tools in this case.

    Even fire was ineffective against these ghosts as the yang in that was not enough to affect them.

    "No wonder all the kingdoms are helpless against the ghosts. While they can get the lightning attribute treasures and even cultivators who can use them, they are simply far too less to deal with suchrge numbers. Even the ghost banishing talismans would burn a hole in the pocket of the kingdoms if they kept on using them." Lin Wu said upon reading the information.

    ''Though the question still standsбн why don''t they attack me?'' Lin Wu thought.

    After a few minutes of thinking, he realized the problem may be his physique.

    "Wait, a minuteбн could it be due to my crystal form? What if I revert to the organic form?" Lin Wu said before changing his body to the organic form.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    The moment Lin Wu was fully in his organic form, the ghosts let out a high pitched screech and rushed towards him. They passed through his body and let out a faint chill while doing so.

    "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Lin Wu said upon seeing the explosive reaction of the ghosts.

    He had known that the ghosts don''t actually cause physical harm and thus didn''t care that they rushed him. But when they passed through his body, he felt ufortable. In less than a minute, over a hundred ghosts had passed through him and now he was getting a headache.

    "Oof~ it''s like I''m having a brain freeze." Lin Wu said before deciding to change back.

    The moment he returned to his crystal form, the ghosts stopped screeching and went back to their previous state. It was as if nothing had ever happened. Though when Lin Wu checked the number of ghosts, they had gone down.

    "Huhбн where did they go?" Lin Wu wondered before checking the map, unable to see any difference.

    "System, do a full scan of my body and check for abnormalities." Lin Wu said upon being unable to find anything wrong himself.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CHECKING HOST VITALS: Scanning

    HOST VITALS SCANNED: Normal

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн so nothing there. Perhaps it is due to my cultivation base? Yu Guowei did say that Ji Quan was resistant to the ghosts unlike the other cultivators of their team." Lin Wu murmured.

    Havinge to this conclusion, Lin Wu thought to check out the rest of the forest. There were far too many things here, and he wanted to see if he could find some of the treasures that could be found here.

    Two days passed like this and Lin Wu decided to return. He had mapped out around thirty percent of the Dread Coil Marsh in this time and could have said to be covered the entire part that existed within the borders of the Ivory Heron Kingdom.

    Lin Wu had also obtained a few spirit herbs and materials that were good. The herbs that were more low quality were directly eaten by him while the better quality ones were saved forter. He reckoned they would be better refined into pills.

    As for the materials, he just kept them as they were something that woulde in handyter as rewards.

    ''Seems like a good enough harvest for now. I''ll find more with Shirongter, anyway.'' Lin Wu thought to himself before taking flight.

    He had gotten bored of the dark and gloomy environment of the marsh and wanted to be above the trees in the sky.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    <em>~rustle~</em>

    The trees moved while some of them were directly uprooted by Lin Wu''s flight. When he was gone though, a few people had appeared out of the fog in the marsh.

    "Did a new Nascent soul realm beast appear in the marsh?"

 Chapter 315 - Exterminating Ghosts With Ease?

    Lin Wu was checking the status of Shirong and saw that the man had not moved one bit from his position.

    "Alrightбн that makes it easier for me I guessбн" Lin Wu said before diving down, letting his body free fall.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    His body was like a bunker buster missile and directly prated the ground. Lin Wu switched to his drill form and made his way to the city. He was still over fifty kilometers away from there and wanted to enter the ground beforehand so that the people of the city don''t sense him.

    Lin Wu swiftly returned to Shirong and entered the ring. He spent a few hours there before it was finally time for Yu Guowei''s report toe.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    Shirong''s jade slips hummed, and he opened his eyes to check it. He closed his eyes and read the message that hade.

    "So the Marsh has been calm with no extreme changesбн" Shirong muttered before standing up.

    He flew out of the courtyard and went to Yu Guowei''s ce. The man was currently with a few other people who seemed to be pretty important looking. Shirong same as before swaggered into the room without a care for the others.

    "Who are you?!" The people in the room questioned looking angry.

    Shirong simply gave them a look and exuded the spirit Qi pressure from his body. The faces of the men went pale as they realized the man in front of them was a Nascent Soul realm cultivator.

    "Gentlemen, can we talk about this in a little while? I got something more urgent to attend to." Yu Guowei spoke.

    The men didn''t reply to anything and simply went out of the room, leaving the two alone.

    "What is it that you need, young master?" Yu Guowei asked.

    "I''m going to leave for the Dread Coil Marsh now. If you have anything to say, this is yourst chance as the jade slips won''t work there." Shirong said.

    This piqued Lin Wu''s interest as he had not known of this fact. There was no information about this in what was gathered by the system either.

    ''Why is that?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Yu Guowei looked at Shirong and shook his head.

    "There is nothing as of now, young master. I will be busy with the Tournament this entire time as it is the time when we make the most profits. I believe you would like it too if the Ji n got a bigger share this time." Yu Guowei stated.

    "Alrightбн" Shirong curtly said before leaving the building and flying away.

    Once he reached the outskirts of the city, he withdrew the Immortal Crystal Armament and transformed it into the hoverboard form before flying away on it. Lin Wu was much faster than he was and they would reach the destination much earlier.

    Just like this, six hours passed and Shirong had finally seen the Dread Coil Marsh for the first time. He had nevere here before and had only heard the stories and reports about it. Also, unlike most other powers of the world, the Ji n had more information on the Dread Coil Marsh.

    It was that very information why the Ji n had sent out Ji Quan to investigate when they discovered that a sect had appeared in the marsh. This in itself was quite strange as the ghosts would be quite a trouble to deal with normally.

    For a sect to choose the Dread Coil Marsh as their base meant that they had some secret information that the Ji n did not. Of course, the Ji n could not let that go and would investigate it themselves, wanting to find out the reason.

    Once Ji Quan had died, it was already confirmed that whatever it was, it was worth the Ji n''s time and effort to investigate.

    Shirong descended onto the ground once he reached the edge of the Dread Coil Marsh and stored the Immortal Crystal Armament back into the ring. He walked into the marsh and scanned the area with his spirit sense.

    During this time he had encountered quite a few dangers which included the beasts, poisonous insects and also the ghosts. He was able to get rid of the beasts pretty quickly but when the ghosts finally appeared at night Lin Wu observed it with full interest.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    "Ugh! These ghosts!" Shirong said with disgust before extending his index finger.

    <em>~Spark~</em>

    Electricity coursed around his arm before being shot out from his index finger. The lightning was extremely effective and was the bane of these marsh ghosts, wiping them out in one hit. Shirong simply waved his finger around, making the lightning act like a whip.

    <em>~KIIII~</em>

    The ghosts let out shrill cries before being destroyed. Lin Wu specifically observed what happened to ghosts who were already supposed to be dead. It was nothingбн they simply faded into air, leaving behind no trace except for their voice that echoed for a while.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Don''t know what I was expectingбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he popped a piece of chicken drumstick into his mouth.

    <em>~nomnomnom~</em>

    He ate the meat and spat out the bones, before realizing he could eat the bones too.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu sucked the air in, making his mouth act like a vacuum, and pulled the bone back.

    "Oh? That''s another ideaбн I can be a vacuum too." Lin Wu said, feeling strangely pleased with himself.

    "No ghost can touch me as long as I can use the Immortal Sky Shaker Art!" Shirong proimed.

    He made his way through the forest, exterminating what everything dared to oppose him and kept looking around. It took Shirong over five days to reach the same point that Lin Wu had gotten to in one day.

    Though it was reasonable since Lin Wu was simply moving around aimlessly, while Shirong was actively searching for clues to his uncle Quan.

    <em>~stter~</em>

    The sound of water sshing could be heard as Shirong snapped his gaze towards the source of the sound. There he saw a different beast than the ones he had seen before.

 Chapter 316 - Specter Skull Hound?

    Shirong and Lin Wu gazed at the beast that had just appeared in front of them.

    It was long and slender with no face having only teeth and a strange mask like skull. It had six pairs of legs and could move very quickly. But that was not what attracted Shirong''s attention. What did was the cor on the neck of the beast.

    "A Tamed Beast?" Shirong muttered as his brows furrowed.

    Shirong spread his spirit sense and probed the beast, only to find it impossible.

    "WHAT? Why can''t I sense the beast? It''s as if it doesn''t exist there." Shirong said, feeling shocked.

    To Shirong the beast was like air. When his spirit sense touched the beast, it passed through it. He knew the Ghosts of the Dread Coil Marsh were like this being hard to sense with spirit sense, but this beast was even beyond that.

    Shirong even thought that perhaps this was actually a different type of a Ghost, but when he saw the foot prints of the beast on the ground, he knew it was not. The ghosts did not leave behind physical traces like these.

    Even Lin Wu felt interested in this and used his own spirit sense to try the same,ing upon the same result.

    "System, can you do a scan?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target found

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target Identified

    Target Name: Specter Skull Hound

    Info: The Specter Skull Hounds are dangerous beasts that are found on dead worlds or worlds withher Qi. There are many variants of them and their attacks are deadly to most humans.

    Their ws and fangs can infect others with Nether Specter Toxins that will continually drain the life force of the being till it dies.

    бкбк

    "What the literal hell! Where did this random high level mobe from?" Lin Wu said upon reading the information.

    Along with the information that the system had given, there were additional windows that had popped in the side that showed more details. It was there where Lin Wu read about the source of this information.

    The information about the Specter Skull Hound didn''te from this world. Rather, the information was gained from the Taiji Celestials Tomb. It meant that this was not a native beast of this world.

    When Lin Wu read more about the beast, it showed that the beasts could reach a realm that was above the Immortal Ascension realm.

    "System, what''s the cultivation of this Specter Skull Hound?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system cannot scan the cultivation base of the Specter Skull hound, butparing its size to those in the database, the system estimates that it should be equivalent to a beast at the Peak stage of the Core condensation.

    бкбк

    "Peak stage of the core condensation realm? <em>~Phew~</em> okay that should be manageable." Lin Wu said.

    In the time that Lin Wu had spent getting the information from the system, Shirong had been observing the Specter Skull hound. The beast was also doing the same and looked at Shirong with its eerie, featureless face.

    There were no soundsing from the beast and it simply looked at Shirong without moving. The only reason why Shirong had not attacked the beast was that the beast had not attacked him and also the assumption that it was a tamed beast.

    Since Shirong couldn''t tell the cultivation base of the beast, he reckoned that it should be strong; at least at the same cultivation base as him or higher. But then came the fact that if the beast had such high cultivation base, then its owner must be even stronger.

    Killing the beast would likely bring the owner''s ire, and Shirong did not want to randomly offend someone stronger than him without knowing more.

    <em>~Kikikiki~</em>

    A strange crackling sound came from the Specter Skull Hound''s mouth as it opened it wide, showing its eight sharp fangs, four on each jaw.

    <em>~Kiiiiiiii~</em>

    The Beast suddenly broke in a sprint that was fast even for Shirong, and rushed at him.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Shirong immediately responded with a sh of wind and lightning. The wind spread from his palm as the lightning spread through his arm and mixed with the wind, turning into a beautiful ribbon.

    But this ribbon was also deadly and the moment it touched the beast it showed its effect.

    <em>~Kiyaaaa~</em>

    The beast screamed in pain as the ribbon hurt its body. The wind tore through its body like a sharp de while the lightning scorched it, causing it further pain in its entire body. The beast flinched and took ten steps back, now looking at Shirong warily.

    "Who is this beast''s master! Come out now or I''ll kill it!" Shirong shouted.

    Shirong was a bit relieved upon seeing that the beast could be harmed by his power, but was still wary of his surroundings. For all he knew, the beast could just be a distraction while the main hunter may be lurking.

    Shirong waited a few seconds and seeing that there was no response, he decided to go ahead. He flicked his sleeve as a long sword appeared in the air, Shirong tapped its handle infusing spirit Qi in that soon sparkled with blue sparks.

    "Sword GO!" Shirong yelled as the spirit sword was sent shooting at the beast.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    The beast moved like the wind dodging the spirit''s sword, surprising Shirong once more. He flicked his hand, guiding the spirit sword back at the beast from the other side while he himself attacked from the front.

    A gauntlet made out of lightning formed on Shirong''s hand as he punched at the beast, knocking up strong winds that sshed the mud around him. Some of the weaker Twisty and coiling trees were directly broken and their dry leaves blew away.

    The Specter Skull Hound jumped straight up in the air to dodge both of the attacks.

    "Ha! You can''t escape me!" Shirong said as he twisted around mid air and kicked beast with his heel acting like an Axe.

    The beast was hit and sent back flying, breaking a few trees in the process.

 Chapter 317 - Regenerating Mob?

    The beast was greatly injured having broken plenty of bones in the process. Even its featureless mask like skull was cracker and crying sounds came from its mouth.

    "Damn this noise!" Shirong blocked his ears.

    The noise was quite loud and gave Shirong a headache. It seemed to contain a strange power as it spread wide and made the trees shiver like a wet man in snow. It was an eerie sight, and Shirong couldn''t help but think something was wrong.

    Lin Wu felt the same and checked the map for any anomalies, but couldn''t see anything different. Though he could see the position of the Specter Skull Hound on the map which was a good sign.

    "I''ll end this noise!" Shirong said in a pissed tone as he sent the spirit sword flying at the beast''s head.

    But before it could reach the beast it was blown away by a strong gust of grey wind. It seemed to havee out of nowhere and what was even more shocking was Shirong''s Wind attribute spirit Qi which should have negated it was useless against it.

    "What kind of a wind is that?" Shirong couldn''t help but say.

    He recalled the spirit sword and heard more criesing from around him.

    <em>~WOOOO~</em>

    The ghosts started toe out of the twisting and coiling trees and soon popted the area. It didn''t take it long for them to notice Shirong and they came rushing at him while letting out screeching sounds.

    "Begone!" Shirong said as he shot out lightning from his hands.

    <em>~zap~</em>

    The Marsh Ghosts that were rushing at him were easily exterminated by the lightning and faded away into nothingness.

    <em>~KIIIII~</em>

    But at the same time, the Specter Skull Hound let out a sound that seemed like a mix between a howl and scream. The sound was sharp and hurt Shirong''s ears. But that was not the only effect that it had.

    The nearby Ghosts that were attacking Shirong were suddenly frozen in mid air. Then, they were sucked towards the Specter Skull Hound and entered his mouth. The beast''s mouth acted like a vacuum and it sucked all the ghosts that were in the area.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    The beast consuming the ghosts seemed to have an effect on it and the injuries it had all started to heal. In less than five seconds it was fully healed and even seemed to be better than its original state.

    "Oh boyбн this is not just a high level mob, it''s also a regenerating mob." Lin Wumented as he popped a slice of a fruit that looked simr to papaya.

    <em>~nom~</em>

    Shirong felt a bit dumbfounded at this action of the beast and had not expected this to happen. His dumbfounded expression soon turned to that of fury though.

    "Enough! This ends now!" Shirong spat out.

    "Oop! Duty time!" Lin Wu said as he was drawn by Shirong.

    Lin Wu changed its form and Shirong sped him firmly in his hand. His over ten meter long body looked massivepared to Shirong.

    "Immortal Crystal Armament: ive From!" Shirong shouted as the spear morphed into a huge ive.

    Shirong flew up in the air and twirled around, infusing the spirit Qi into the Immortal Crystal armament.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The immortal weapon started to glow with a bright green light as arcs of electricity jumped across it.

    "Oo it tinglesбн" Lin Wu said internally.

    Then Lifting the ive high up Shirong swung it hard, straight at the Specter Skull Hound. The attack wasn''t just in a single line though. Instead, it spread in a cone like shape and by the time it reached the beast its range had expanded to over thirty meters.

    "Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Thunder Purge!"

    The cone of lighting decimated everything in its path and left a long gully in the earth. Itsted for five seconds after which it finally disappeared. The Specter Skull hound was now nowhere to be seen.

    Lin Wu checked the map and saw that it''s marker had now disappeared.

    "Dead." Lin Wu confirmed.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Shirong stabbed the Immortal Crystal Armament in the ground and kneeled, feeling exhausted. It was evident that the skill he had just used was not something that could be used often. Shirong was already in the Nascent Soul realm and hadrge stores of spirit Qi along with a quick recovery rate too.

    If a skill put him in this condition in just a single use, it meant that it was nomon skill. Lin Wu felt curious and checked Shirong''s Dantian, finding that he had depleted around half of his liquid spirit Qi in there.

    "Damn, that''s a powerful skill. I haven''t seen him use it before thoughбн did he learn that recently?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu''s guess was actually correct. Shirong had learned this skill when he was cultivating in the city a while back. He had already known about the skill of course and all that was left to do was toprehend it. Which he did, taking advantage of those two days.

    It was understandable why the skill needed some extra few steps to learn, seeing its power.

    "System, you recorded it, right?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Affirmative." The system responded simply.

    "Good. Gotta collect the best attacks." Lin Wu said, feeling happy.

    After about ten minutes of rest, Shirong stood up and stored the Immortal Crystal Armament in his ring before scanning the surroundings with his spirit sense.

    "Hmmбн no ghosts or any other beasts?" Shirong spoke.

    This felt unusual to him, as what he had done was basically a huge beacon for others to find his location. While he could understand that the ghosts would not approach him due to the extreme Yang of the lightning and the beasts due to the sheer amount of spirit Qi in that attack, he felt like others should have stille.

    Shirong was dead sure there was someone observing him, but couldn''t tell where or who they were. His eyes randomly went to the path from where the beast hade from, and he went there.

    "Let''s see where this leads tooбн"

 Chapter 318 - A Mysterious Platform?

    Shirong had found the footprints of the beast that had attacked him. He still didn''t know what kind of a beast it was but Lin Wu did and he knew it was nothing normal.

    ''There''s definitely something happening in this marshбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    Finding an otherworld beast was never normal and he wondered if it was really linked to the death of Ji Quan.

    Shirong could see that the tracks of the Specter Skull Hound were getting harder to see after a while as a few other beasts had covered them with their own tracks. There were many beasts in the Dread Coil Marsh and they would all run and hide from the Ghosts that came out every night.

    Still, most of the beasts of the marsh were already crazy due to the Ghosts so they didn''t care much about it at that point. The only reason why the ghosts even had more beasts to attack was that the newborn beasts would still be normal aspared to their parents.

    This was one of the discoveries that had been done a long time ago. If the ghosts were changing the entire physiologies of beasts on their own, the situation in the marsh would have been quite different.

    Shirong ended up tracking the beast''s footprints for over a day before he got to a location where they just disappeared. Even Lin Wu was in the blind about this ce as he had not gotten to this point when he came here alone.

    "System, scan the area and update the map again." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Please wait a minute

    SCAN COMPETED: Map has been updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu observed the map and saw that the new markers were rather sparsely popted. Usually, there should be more beasts, in the deeper parts of an area like this. But here it seemed to be the opposite.

    There wasn''t any information in the system''s data banks either as there simply weren''t many people who hade this deep or recorded this. Only a preparedly organized expedition that came to investigate the entire area would be able to do something like that.

    But this ce was dangerous and would need a lot of resources to be researched. That was the reason why no one had tried to do this ever before. To them, it was simply a waste of time and it was easier for them to just dere the Dread Coil marsh a forbidden zone.

    Along the way, Lin Wu was wondering why he had not seen the Specter Skull hound when he came to check the area.

    ''Did it arriveter or did someone else brought it here? Hmmбн seeing as it had a cor it was probably brought by someone else. Though who would tame a beast like that?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Shirong spread his spirit sense to see if there was anything nearby but he couldn''t find anything except for a few beasts and ghosts.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I should take a break and restore my spirit Qi. Anything could happen in the Marsh and I need to be ready for it." Shirong murmured to himself.

    He then chopped down a few of the trees and made a tform on the ground to rest. He now had a few spirit tools that were perfect for outdoor expeditions. Shirong took out a rolled up sheet from his spatial storage ring and threw it on the tform he had made.

    <em>~clink~clink~clink~</em>

    The sheet rapidly spread open and six metal poles rose up from its corners, propping it up on itself. The sheet split into multipleyers before joining together into arge walk in tent. This was a special spirit tool tent which was made to live outside.

    It was quite popr among cultivators as it had multiple functions. It could protect from cold, heat and rain while also having defensive formations.

    Shirong entered the tent and sat down cross legged to cultivate. While he was doing this, Lin Wu decided to take a look around himself. He was now personally interested in all this and wanted to look around.

    Leaving the tent, Lin Wu first checked the area with his sprint sense. His spirit sense was now longer than Shirong''s and could cover a wider area. Unlike Shirong though, he also checked the depths of the ground wanting to try his luck and see if he could find anything.

    "Oh myбн didn''t really expect there to be something down there." Lin Wu said upon sensing something solid underground.

    It was not rocks as he could tell from the structure, it was man-made. Lin Wu went a short distance away from the are before digging down and heading towards the location that he had discovered.

    He was only half way there when he suddenly felt the ground shake. To others, it would be imperceptible, but to Lin Wu who was a worm and also had the sensitivity of the Hard Eared Limber beasts, it was easy.

    He immediately extended his spirit sense and saw the source of the vibrations.

    "Oh no, I need to return quickly." Lin Wu said before going back up.

    In the system''s feed, he could see that Shirong had already woken up once the shaking had gotten stronger. The beacon was still in Shirong''s ring which would make him think that Lin Wu was still in it. So Lin Wu still had some time to get to him.

    But he wouldn''t be able to get out directly, thus he thought of a different method. He continued to the site of the vibration and saw that something was rising up from the depths. It pushed the earth away as it moved to the surface.

    Soon it reached the surface, revealing a tform that seemed to be made out of stone tiles. These tiles were small and intricate; definitely man made. There were carvings on it which were faded away due to the effect of time along with many cracks.

    But that was not the only thing special about it. At the center of it, arge trapdoor could be seen.

 Chapter 319 - An Underground Temple?

    Seeing the trapdoor Shirong narrowed his eyes. He stopped there and first made sure that there were no actual traps on it. Only when he was sure did he approach it further.

    Lin Wu, who was just below him simply extended a blunt spike from his head which came under Shirong''s foot. Having touched Shirong, Lin Wu instantly entered the spatial storage ring.

    Shirong didn''t even pay attention to the little obstacle that hade under his food, thinking of it as a random stone. He instead stepped onto the tform and tried to read the carvings on the tiles.

    They were in anguage he couldn''t understand though he felt like he had seen these before.

    "What are these?" He wondered.

    "System, any input on this?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    UPDATING DATA BANKS: New parameters found.

    ANALYZING: please wait a minute

    бн

    ANALYSIS COMPLETE: The carvings on the tiles have a 58% simrity to those in the temple of the three beasts.

    бкбк

    "The temple of the three beasts?" Lin Wu repeated.

    He went through his memories and could indeed link some of them with the carvings in there.

    "Why is this here though? Is this perhaps another temple or something like that?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ''They did say there was a sect here, so perhaps it is an old temple that was buried deep in the ground?'' he hypothesized.

    Unlike Lin Mu, Shirong did not know this and kept on staring at the carvings. Not being able to figure it out, he just decided to open the Trapdoor. There were no handles on the trap door and only the seam could be observed which differentiated it from the other tiles.

    He probed it with his spirit sense and discovered the formations that were iid. With his little expertise with the formations, Shirong found the correct one and managed to unlock the door by infusing a little bit of spirit Qi in the right node.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The trap door moved slowly before opening up to reveal a long staircase that went to unknown depths. Shirong couldn''t see the end of it in the darkness and even his spirit sense couldn''t reach the end.

    He turned around and saw that the foot prints of the Specter Skull Beast actually ended right at the point where the tform had ended. The reason why there were no traces of the tform was because the mud and water woulde and hide it below it quite easily once it went inside the ground.

    "Seems like it came from here," Shirong said in understanding.

    He then created a small arc of lighting that turned around his body, as a source of light. Only Shirong who had mastered the Immortal Sky Shaker Art could do something like this. No one else would use lightning attribute spirit Qi as a meremp!

    The lightning kept on circling around Shirong''s body, providing him with 360 degrees of illumination.

    The steps were made of a simr stone like those of the tiles of the tform. Though these did not have any carvings on it and were in. Both Shirong and Lin Wu constantly observed the area with their spirit sense.

    Lin Wu had also gotten the system to scan the area but it had faced a restriction in the form of an interference field again. This one was even stronger and wouldn''t let it spread its signals anywhere in the area.

    The most the system would be able to do was to do an observational scan if Lin Wu asked it, but not an exploratory scan. Seeing that even the system was in the dark, Lin Wu decided to be even more careful.

    He activated his innate skill of radiation maniption to create an invisible shield around Shirong and in turn himself. This Shield would either stop spirit Qi attacks or at least weaken them before they would reach Shirong.

    Shirong felt that something was different when the shield appeared but couldn''t ce his finger on it and attributed it to the strangeness of this ce. Having traveled for over an hour, Shirong finally reached the bottom of the ce.

    It was a wide open temple that had many statutes. Pirs rose up from an equal distance, supporting the roof of the temple. Shirong walked up to one of the statues to observe it properly and saw that it was of a bird.

    The bird had a long neck and lustrous feathers that were all over its body. The color of the bird could not be told because of it being a stone statue, but the sculptor''s skill in it, showed that the feathers were vibrant.

    It had five long tails feathers with the center one being the longest and the others decreasing in size as they went toward. It had a sharp beak and fierce eyes. Its crown feathers were majestic and would inspire glory within the eyes of the viewer.

    It had five talons on each leg that grasped upon a long branch of an unknown tree. It was made in the posture of letting out a cry.

    Shirong felt impressed upon seeing the statues and could tell the effort made in it was extensive. This statue could easilypare to those in his own n. But when he looked at therge number of them, he realized that even his n may not be able to afford to make so many of them.

    It was not just the skill that was involved in the making of the statue, but Shirong could see formations being iid in each of the statues. All these formations were unknown to him but his best guess was they were an offensive formation.

    Seeing that there were over a hundred of these statues and each had the same formation, they probably worked together as an array.

    But while Shirong was marveling about the statues and the formations, Lin Wu was surprised about something else.

    "All these statuesбн aren''t theyбн aren''t they of the Vermillion bird, one of the four guardian beasts?" Lin Wu said.

 Chapter 320 - Vermillion Bird?

    It was obvious to Lin Wu who had seen the Vermillion bird''s image many times in his past life. He could very easily recognize the beast and was sure that this was one of the four guardian beasts of the world.

    Before, when Shirong and his twopanions had blocked the ritual by using the old temple, he was wondering why there were only three guardian beasts instead of four, but now it could be seen that there really were four.

    But then the question stood, why were there so many statutes of them here and why did the Vermillion bird look like the most authentic guardian beast. The other three looked like some defective versions.

    Lin Wu even wanted the system to do a scan, but the interference field was not letting it do that.

    "System, just do a visual scan and see if you can find anything unusual." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    WARNING!: Limited functionality

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target identified

    TARGET: Vermillion bird statue

    INFO: ording to the system''s data banks, the target matches the description of the Vermilion bird. The Taiji Celestial''s tomb also has archives about the beast but they are in the encrypted part, the system can only obtain a fraction of the information.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system giving its confirmation, Lin Wu understood that there must have been some problem that happened when the three beasts were first awakened in this world. It was still a mystery that was beyond him right now.

    All he could do now was to wait and watch. And that''s what he did as Shirong continued going further into the temple. He passed by hundreds of Vermillion bird statues before reaching the end of the vast hall.

    Here there were a pair of wooden doors. They were carved with the Vermillion bird''s motifs along with some faded words. These words though Lin Wu could read, due to them being in the Dao Script.

    He focused on them and tried to read them.

    <em>"The beast that fell,</em>

    <em>The beast that slept,</em>

    <em>The beast that never awakened,</em>

    <em>Here lies the forgotten beast, </em>

    <em>Forever gone, forever forgottenбн"</em>

    There were more things written on the doors but they were illegible and could not be read. But Lin Wu definitely got some guesses upon reading the words.

    "So whoever made this temple, knew about the vermilion bird. And since it is in this world it should have been made by its inhabitants. But this is in the Long continent which is under the domain of the Long n who has the bloodline of the Guardian Dragon beast.

    Did they perhaps intentionally hide the existence of the Vermillion beast? What could be the reason behind thoughбн just increasing their own power doesn''t make sense since the three guardian beasts were awakened together ten thousand years ago." Lin Wu analyzed.

    There were far too many questions that were unresolved and he felt an increasing curiosity towards them. In this world, Lin Wu did not have any great goal. He wanted to be strong just because he could. He wanted to see the world, just because he could. He didn''t need anything to motivate him, all he needed was for something to exists and if he desired it, he would get it.

    And now that the mystery of the Vermillion bird had pulled him in, he would very well go ahead to learn more about it. After all, he was a beast as well and he may gain some benefits if he learned more about them.

    Shirong too looked at the door and read the words. Though he was barely able to read them due to not being as proficient at it as Lin Wu was. Lin Wu had the support of the system because of which he had a massive data base of Dao Script, allowing him to read nearly any character.

    "A beast? Is this temple about this bird beast?" Shirong muttered.

    He checked the doors and saw that they didn''t have any formations on them. They were just simple doors, albeit massive. Shirong ced his hands on them and pushed it hard.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~Creak~</em>

    Dust fell from the doors as Shirong pushed it with all his strength. The creaking of the door was loud enough to echo thoughtful the temple and even out of it since the trap door on the surface was open.

    ***

    Some distance away from the Trapdoor of the temple, a few men in strange garbs appeared.

    "What was that sound?" One of them questioned.

    "Quickly identify it." A man who was in better looking clothes than the others ordered. He was evidently the head of this group.

    One of the men then took out what looked like a very long and narrowe from a spatial storage tool before holding it up to the sky and attacking it to his ear. It looked extremelyical but if one were to look at the inscription on the cone, they would see that it was actually a spirit tool!

    The man who was using the cone gasped in surprise and spoke, "it''s a lost temple! Another one has appeared!"

    "Are you sure?" The head asked.

    "The sound is the same as that of the others we have seen." The man assured.

    "Hmmбн what does this mean, though? If the sound appeared, that means someone opened it." Another man questioned.

    "It could just be automatic too. Don''t forget that a couple of temples opened without anyone needling to interfere." The head spoke.

    The others nodded in agreement and looked in the direction from where the sound had appeared.

    "And if it really is someone elseбн we just get more sacrificesбн" The head added with an evil glint in his eyes.

    ***

    Shirong had just opened the door fully and saw the interior of the chamber. This room was much smaller than the previous one and was dark too.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    But the moment Shirong took another step, multiple torches with red mes ignited, illuminating the entire room.

    "Thisбн"

 Chapter 321 - A Burning Desire?

    Inside the inner hall, Shirong could see countless torches made the form of a bird ws. They were holding the vibrant mes in their talons and looked fierce. But the torches were a mere ent to what existed at the end.

    A massive statue of the same bird as outside was located here. But unlike those statues, this one was in a different pose and was heavily damaged. Multiple chunks were missing from the statue that towered over Shirong.

    He looked up and estimated the statue was over a hundred meters tall.

    "So it really is dedicated to this beast. But why is it abandoned? Was it left behind by the sect when it was wiped out?" Shirong wondered to himself.

    Lin Wu though was having a different reaction. It was as if a fire had been lit in his heart and feeling rose from deep within his bloodline. It was a desireбн a desire to devour.

    "Whatбн isбн thisбн" Lin Wu uttered, finding it hard to control himself.

    "System! Analysis!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s bloodline is being stimted by something. There is likely a resource that is extremely desirable to the host located here.

    бкбк

    "A resource like thatбн it can''t be a crystal from the meteorбн then what could it be?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    He extended his spirit sense to the full extent, even more than what was permissible by the backdrop function. Since Lin Wu''s spirit sense had grown more and more, it had gotten a bit difficult for the backdrop function to keep on masking it.

    And since Shirong''s cultivation base had increased as well, it had only be harder. But it didn''t matter usually since Lin Wu didn''t need to exert it that much and the system could take care of the rest with the scanner function.

    But now that he did it, Shirong could feel a pressure exuding from around him. His eyes went wide and he became alert.

    "What! Who''s there!?" Shirong said as he entered an offensive stance, wind and lightning swirling around him.

    Since Lin Wu was inside the ring which was on Shirong''s finger, it was as if the spirit sense wasing from his own body, which made it hard for him to pinpoint it. Lin Wu though didn''t care about this for now as it was the least of his concerned.

    If he didn''t take care of this desire, he reckoned he would probablye out of the ring on his own, that too, in his actual form.

    His spirit sense soon found the source of his desire. Shirong was also tracing this random spirit sense that had suddenly arisen out of nowhere and saw that it was going towards the top of the statue.

    Shirong soon spotted where the spirit sense''s target was. It was a small red stone that was mped the beak of the beast statue. Since the stone was very smallpared to the beak, Shirong had missed it the first time.

    "That stone! I can feel it! It has a bloodline in it! A strong one!" Lin Wu uttered with excitement.

    Shirong had a simr reaction and wanted to take a closer look. He flew up and picked the red stone out of the beak of the statue. He looked at the small red stone that was barely the size of a coin and could not sense anything from it.

    He also discovered that the spirit sense that had appeared out of nowhere had faded away. He probed the red stone and could not feel anything different from it. Unlike Lin Wu, who was a beast, Shirong couldn''t sense the bloodline within.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    An explosion suddenly urred behind him, which caught him off guard.

    ~tak~tak~tak~

    The red stone fell to the ground and skipped away.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    Shirong was sent mming into the wall and was stunned from the impact.

    "WHO DARES!" Shirong yelled as blue sparks appeared around him.

    The tearing sound of the wind could also be heard as sharp gales surrounded him.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    Shirong flicked his sleeve and blew away the dust and smoke in front of him. There he saw the culprits behind the explosion. A bunch of men in strange garbs were standing and one of them was holding the red stone in his hand.

    The man who had the red stone in his hand looked at Shirong with the gaze of a hawk and scoffed.

    "Let''s go, we got the god flesh!" The man said.

    "Wait Priest! I can sense the aura of a god servant on this man!" One of them, who was holding a pendant in his hand, suddenly said.

    "A God servants'' aura? Was there any that were sent to this area?" Another man who was shorter asked.

    "Yes, there was one sent out a couple of days ago. I was not actively tracking it since I was not ordered to, but now that I checked the talisman it has gone out." The man with the pendant replied.

    "That meansбн KILL THIS MAN! He killed one of the God Servant!" The man who was called as priest ordered.

    The men in the strange garbs quickly rushed at Shirong with the intention to kill. Shirong though felt this to be ridiculous.

    "TRASH like you dares to speak? I''ll show you your ce!" Shirong uttered with rage.

    His hands spread apart as a whip made out of wind and lightning formed between them. He grasped the whip and swung it at the iing men, who were caught off guard. Lin Wu who had probed the men with his spirit sense, found it to be ridiculous too.

    Like Shirong had said, these men were indeed trashpared to him. They were at the core condensation realm with the man called priest at the Nascent Soul realm. He wondered if they had even checked his cultivation base before attacking.

    "Humph! Puny tricks!" the man who was leading the charge spoke as he took out a ck sword from his spatial storage ring.

 Chapter 322 - Retaliation?

    The sword the man had drawn was strange, as ck smoke kept on emanating from it. He swung the sword with all his strength and actually managed to meet Shirong''s whip on equal terms!

    Both the parties were shocked by this though. Shirong that his wind and lightning whip was stopped and the men in strange garb that his ck sword could actually not cut through this.

    <em>~buzz~</em>

    The conflict between the two forces was not calm and looked like it would break at any time. Shirong smirked and punched with his other hand.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    A jet of wind hit the man, pushing him back and breaking the attack. The man managed to withstand the blow as the ck smokeing from the sword formed a barrier around him when the jet of wind hit him.

    Shirong''s eyes narrowed as he realized the sword was probably not normal. He tried to probe it with his spirit sense and found it to be difficult. It was as if he was trying to push through mud and his spirit sense got stuck in the mire.

    The ck smoke, whatever it was, could restrict the spirit sense. Lin Wu checked it and found that even his spirit sense was restricted by it.

    "It seems simr to the interference fieldбн is it perhaps linked? And what''s this about Shirong killing the God servant, what did they mean by that?" Lin Wu wondered.

    But it quickly struck him that the God servant that they were talking about could be the Specter Skull hound.

    ''Why do they call it God servant then? Though they also called that red stone god fleshбн wait, if they are rted then the bloodline in itбн could it be rted to the vermilion bird? But the specter skull hound being its servant would not make sense.

    Both of them are opposing types of beasts and have conflicting aspects. The vermilion bird represents fire and purity while the specter Skull hound is a being of theher worlds, being evil.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Mu was quickly brought out of his thoughts as he saw Shirong attacking again. The wind and lightning whip streaked across the air, leaving behind afterimages as it shed against the man wielding the smoking sword.

    Shirong wrapped the whips around the de and tried to pry it from the man''s hand, but saw a strange thing. The leather strips that covered the handle grip of the smoking sword suddenly came loose and wrapped around the man''s hands, preventing it from being falling out.

    "The swordбн it''s conscious?" Shirong muttered, feeling surprised.

    Any weapon that could have this level of consciousness must be strong. Shirong was sure that it was at least a high grade weapon.

    "Enough! Everyone attack!" The priest ordered.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~shing~</em>

    Multiple spirit weapons came flying at Shirong as they cut off all routes of his escape. But this was not all as various Qi skills, spells and attacks were alsounched at Shirong, blurring his field of view.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    An explosion was heard as all the attacks hit Shirong at the same time.

    "Humph! Even if he is a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, he thought too much of himself. We are the servants of the Skull god, none shall stop us!" The priest said.

    But then, when the dust and smoke started to clear out, they saw a stunning sight.

    "It can''t be!"

    "How!?"

    "No one can survive all those attacks!"

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    A vortex suddenly appeared in the middle of all the smoke and blew it away. Hidden inside was Shirong who was finally revealed. Expect this time he was fully covered in a malevolent looking emerald green armor.

    There were spikes on his back and shoulders while two crimson red eyes stared at the top of the helmet. Thorn covered gauntlets, protected his hands as an imposing presence exuded from him.

    Shirong had summoned the Immortal Crystal Armament as he realized these men were truly pissing him off. Even Lin Wu was feeling the urge from the red stone and willingly came out of the ring, transforming into the armor form that he had used previously for Wang Xiong.

    His desire for the Red stone had turned into an imposing aura that seemed to want to devour everything. The men in strange garbs were now truly afraid. If before Shirong seemed human to him, now he seemed something differentбн something beastly.

    "Priestбн that manбн that''s no manбн I can sense a different presence on itбн it''s almostбнparable to the god''s." The man who had the pendant spoke, stuttering.

    The priest widened his eyes as he saw Shirong moving at breakneck speeds.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~St~</em>

    Shirong''s fist met one of the men and destroyed his chest, sttering his innards out of his back. But that was merely the start as the temperature of the hall started to rise up. The heat wasing from around Shirong as Lin Wu used radiation maniption to the full extent.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    Lightning started to crackle around Shirong as hot winds swirled, forming into a cyclone. With each step that Shirong took, the ground trembled and cracked. The strong stone tiles which were not destroyed after thousands of years were finally broken.

    Shirong punched out as burning hot orange jets of wind were shot out from his fists. The jets hit a few of the men, knocking them back and instantly burning through their clothes and flesh.

    "ARGH!" the men cried out in pain as they had never expected Shirong to be this strong.

    The others forcefully got hold of their minds and attacked Shirong. The man with the smoking sword did the same as he gritted his teeth.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The armor easily stopped all the iing weapons, as if they were made out of paper. Not a scratch could be seen on it and they fell to the ground helplessly.

    "Bah!" the one whose spirit weapons fell to the ground uncontrobly spat out blood.

    "My brand! My brand on the spirit sword was forcibly severed!" One of them said fearfully.

 Chapter 323 - Interrupted?

    Lin Wu had erased the brands on the spirit weapons by saturating the area with radiation, which pushed all the spirit Qi out of that zone. This caused their spirit sense to stop working and thus erasing their brands on the spirit weapons.

    It was actually a rather crude way of doing it. But in the current condition where he was having a hard time controlling himself, this seemed like the easiest way.

    Did it use up extra spirit Qi? Yes.

    Did it matter to Lin Wu? No.

    He would just be extorting the spirit Qi he used up from the corpses of these men. No way in hell would he let them go after this. He could feel that his temper was raging and he was in a destructive mood.

    <em>~Zing~</em>

    Shirong spun around with a whip kick, sending out arcs of lightning that sang like sparrows. The lightning cut through the men cleanly, searing their flesh. The smell of barbecued meat spread in the area, making Lin Wu feel hungry.

    <em>~HRRRR~</em>

    A strange distorting sound came out of the armor, which surprised Shirong, but he didn''t have the time to pay attention to it. But the priest and the man with the pendant definitely noticed it.

    "See! I told you that is no man!" The man with the pendant shouted.

    This time the priest had no choice but to ept the fact that they had hit a steel board.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "RETREAT! I SAY RETREAT!" The priest ordered, unable to suppress his fear.

    Even though he was a nascent Soul realm cultivator himself, the pressure exuding from Shirong was way stronger now that he was wearing the Armor. Not to mention the man could use two heavenly elements alone!

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Those that were in the outer area quickly turned around before escaping the same way they had arrived, but the ones that were left at the back met their demise as Shirong tore through them.

    He was like a wolf among a herd of sheep. Biting and tearing through them as he pleased.

    Blood sttered on the emerald armor as it sizzled and instantly evaporated, leaving behind dry crusty residue which then fell off the armor. It was evident that the radiation emanating from Lin Wu''s body was way too hot for it.

    Seeing that his foes were escaping with the red stone, Shirong shouted "YOU DARE RUN! I''LL SPLATTER YOUR GUTS!"

    He flew ahead like lighting, Lin Wu elerating his speed further. ws of wind gnawed at the ground as Shirong''s flight disced the air. He directly passed through the escaping men, absolutely destroying them in the process.

    He was like an anti-material bullet, tearing through a mass of flesh.

    The priest and the man with the pendant had managed to get to the top though, and the man who was using the smoking sword wasgging just a step behind.

    "Priest! Quick! Use the beacon or we''ll die!" The man with the smoking sword said.

    <em>~st~</em>

    But before he could speak anymore, a hand protruded out of his chest. The hand sped his heart and a part of his lungs, as they boiled under the heat and lightning.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    The man''s body suddenly exploded as Shirong saturated it with wind attribute spirit Qi from the gauntlets. The blood and guts rained from the sky, staining the tform and the stairs. The twisting and coiling trees were also covered with blood. Their original white color contrasted with the color of the blood, making them look like some horrifying ghouls.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The man with the pendant fell to the ground with a thud as a foul liquid leaked out of his pants. He had pissed himself in fear!

    Shirong stepped forward and the fallen man could not stand up, frozen due to terror.

    <em>~step~</em>

    <em>~Sizzle~</em>

    Shirong stepped on the man as the hot crystal boots burned his clothes and flesh.

    "NOOO! PLEASE HAVE MERCY!" The man pleased.

    <em>~humph~</em>

    <em>~st~</em>

    Shirong harrumphed in disgust and increased the weight on his leg, ttening the man''s chest in one go, silencing him forever.

    He continued ahead coolly, staring into the eyes of the priest as he left the body behind.

    "N-Noбн don''tбн oh great Skull god please save your servant from this beast!" The priest prayed.

    The priest trembled under Shirong''s gaze, wishing that he would be taken away from here. Shirong thought simply extended his hand, his fingers spread apart, nearing his neck.

    But before they could actually touch him, he felt something approaching.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    A massive cyclone suddenly stuck where he was and blew him away. This was quite surprising since he was wearing the Immortal Crystal Armament in the armor form, which was quite heavy. Even with his Nascent Soul realm cultivation base, it was difficult for Shirong to lift it.

    Had it not been for Lin Wu ''floating'' Shirong would never be able to move this well while bearing the weight.

    One must know Lin Wu''s avatar''s current weight was over 100,000 kilograms. Sending something this heavy flying, meant the winds were terrifyingly strong.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~st~</em>

    Shirong was embedded into the ground as he created a crater around him. His spirit sense spread around and discovered the presence of another Nascent Soul being in the area. But this was no normal Nascent Soul realm being but rather one at the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    "WHO!?" Shirong yelled as he pulled himself out of the ground.

    But then he saw the source of the cyclone in front of him and recognized it. Not only him, but even Lin Mu recognized it.

    "It''s her?!" Lin Wu said in an astonished tone.

    The priest who had also been knocked but not as far as Shirong coughed out blood. He had been injured from the cyclone as well. He looked up with difficulty and saw the massive beast that stood up in front of him.

    The beast was arge bird with a hooked beak and sharp talons. Its beak was silver and its feathers were yellow colored. But one could also see a faint red plumage appearing around its neck.

 Chapter 324 - The Former Ruler?

    Lin Wu looked at the beast which was once one of the Rulers of the Millennium forest.

    Yes, this beast was none other than the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle. Lin Wu had gotten a clear look at the beast in the forest and the system had also scanned it. The only reason why he didn''t notice it approaching them was because Lin Wu was affected by the red stone.

    The system also failed to notify him because the interference field was also restricting it. With all that, the Beast managed to approach them unnoticed. Though now that Lin Wu was sensing the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the beast he could tell that the beast was much stronger than before.

    There were additional changes that Lin Wu could sense. First of all the beast''s aura had gotten many times stronger and Lin Wu could even feel a hint of suppressioning from its body.

    "The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagleбн it has awakened another bloodline within itбн or it is evolving its bloodline." Lin Wu realized.

    <em>~Piiii~</em>

    A loud cry was let out by the beast as its beak opened wide. It stared at the priest with a gaze that could kill.

    <em>~sniff~</em>

    Shirong could see that the beast was searching for something and it soon spotted it on the body of the priest. Having found it, the beast''s eyes glowed as it lowered its head.

    The priest saw this and felt terror in his heart. But before he could let out a sound, the beast picked him up with his beak and threw him in the air, before swallowing him whole.

    "Thisбн" Lin Wu was stunned as the Eagle had just swallowed Nascent Soul realm cultivator whole.

    "NOOO!!!!" A loud scream came out of the Eagle''s body as an illusory infant floated out of there.

    If one looked at the infant, one would be able to tell that it looked quite simr to the priest. This was evidently the Nascent Soul of the priest!

    The Eagle obviously spotted the Nascent Soul that was trying to flee and reacted.

    <em>~Piiiiii~</em>

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    Its wings started pping before they lit up with mes. Crimson red mes that burned intently the spread all over the area as the trees ignited instantly. Even Lin Wu felt threatened by the mes and quickly created a barrier of radiation around him while using that very radiation to control the heat.

    It turned out to be hard for Lin Mu, as there was something strange within the mes. He couldn''t tell what it was, but his radiation maniption was not as effective as before. It was a bit better than when he tried to control the tribtion lightning, but it was still quite hard.

    The Nascent Soul that was trying to run was not so fortunate though and was instantly burned to nothingness. Once that was done, the beast stopped pping its wings and turned around to look at Lin Wu.

    By now Shirong had also managed to stand up and was looking at the beast which he had recognized from the millennium forest. The Eagle beast let out another cry before opening its wings wide.

    It was just about to p its wings when it was interrupted.

    "EAGLE QUEEN STOP!" Lin Wu said in the beast tongue.

    The eagle who was about to attack Shirong and in turn Lin Mu was stunned by the voice. It tilted its head in confusion before spreading its spirit sense. Its sharp eyes had a hint of intelligence as they focused on top of the helmet.

    "Youбн you are a beastбн" The eagle beast said.

    "Yes, I am. Don''t attack me, we can talk!" Lin Wu said more clearly, his desire for the red stone vanishing away.

    Whatever the red stone was or ''god''s flesh'' since it had been consumed by the Eagle beast, it didn''t affect Lin Wu''s state anymore. Lin Wu also decided that it was better to not fight the eagle beast now.

    There were a few reasons for this. The first was that he could tell the eagle beast had gotten very strong and was perhaps not even in the Nascent Soul realm. Lin Wu could have confirmed this by probing the beast, but doing so may probably prod it to attack him.

    Another reason was that if the Eagle hade all the way here just for the Red stone, then it was likely that it knew what it was. Lin Mu knew the intelligence of the Nascent Soul realm beasts and knew they would not do something without any reason.

    "why are you in this form? Did this human turn you into a tool?" The Eagle Beast asked curiously.

    "Noбн this is just my own ability." Lin Wu replied.

    "If it''s your own ability, then why are you being controlled by this human?" The Eagle Beast asked again.

    "I am the one controlling him." Lin Wu replied.

    The eagle beast found it to be a bit strange, but it could very well sense the two different aurasing from Shirong. One belonged to Shirong himself and the other to Lin Wu. And since they had not attacked her yet, She reckoned that it was truly as Lin Wu had said.

    "Why are you here?" Lin Wu decided to question this time.

    The eagle beast did not answer Lin Wu and only stared at him for a while without speaking.

    "I came for the bloodline source." The Eagle beast responded.

    "So it truly is a bloodline!" Lin Wu eximed.

    The eagle beast did not take kindly to Lin Wu''s words and puffed up its chest, trying to act intimidating.

    "So you''re here to steal my bloodline!?" The Eagle Beast screeched.

    "NOO! I just want to know what it is." Lin Wu hurriedly replied as he learned what level the Silver Beaks Sky Soar Eagle was at.

    Lin Wu realized that the beast''s spirit Qi fluctuations wereparable to those Dao Shell realm cultivators at the Frozen Cloud sect.

    ''The silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle managed to break through to the Dao Shell Realm!'' Lin Wu thought to himself with shock.

    Shirong, who had been observing the strange beast was now feeling weird. He also realized that he was now unable to move for some reason. At first he had actually panicked and was wondering if some skill had been used on him, which paralyzed him.

    But upon checking with his spirit sense, he could not find anything. It was just the armor that he was wearing which had stiffed. It was as if all of its joints had been welded stuck and he could not move at all.

    Shirong would have even tried to put the armor away into his spatial storage ring, had it not been for therge eagle beast that had just appeared in front of him. Removing the armor and trying his luck without it would only spell doom for it.

    Just from his instincts, Shirong could very well tell that the beast in front of him was nomon beast and was likely to be in the Dao Shell realm. Fighting the beast without any preparation or intimation would only get him killed, and thus not acting was his best option for now.

    The eagle beast also calmed down a bit after hearing the words of Lin Wu and decided to wait and see what Lin Wu had to say.

    "Why did you leave the millennium forest and kill so many of your subordinates?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "They were necessary supplements for my bloodline to grow. They had served their purposed and them being in my belly is a good ending for them." The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle answered without hesitation.

    "Do you know that the other rulers call you Crazy for killing them and leaving the forest?" Lin Wu replied honestly.

    "I don''t care about that. All I care about is my cultivation and strength. Those rulers are mere ves of the forest and need to live under its limitations. Whereas I am free to go wherever I want to." The Eagle Beast answered.

    Lin Wu found it to be correct, as that was how most beasts thought. The Beetle king and the ape kings were right about this, that the eagle beast had massacred a lot of people.

    "What was that red stone you ate and how did you know where it was.?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "That red stone is the leftover crystallized bloodline of the great vermilion bird. I the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle have awakened my bloodline and am a noble beast descended from the vermilion bird the king of birds!" The Eagle Beast answered, much to the expectation of Lin Wu.

    "As for how I found itбн the bloodline resonance." The eagle beast responded before turning around to show its neck, which was covered with red feathers. Seeing the plumage and the changes in the beast''s body Lin Wu knew that the beast was not lying.

 Chapter 325 - Vermillion Birds Bloodline?

    Having heard everything from the Eagle Beast Lin Wu now understood the situation better.

    The Eagle beast was basically pissed off due to the appearance of the Olive Viper King as it had suddenly grown stronger while she herself had been stuck at the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm for over a hundred years.

    Then a time came when she could not hold back anymore and she decided to kill all the beasts she could and consume them in hopes of increasing her chances of breaking through to the next stage.

    During that, the bloodline of the Vermillion Bird awakened within her and allowed her to progress further. But she knew just that would not be enough for her and she would need more of the bloodline.

    She had awakened barely a trace of it in her body, but that was still enough for her to sense that there was more of it somewhere west of the Millennium forest. And thus she left the forest toe to the Dread Coil Marsh.

    But this then made Lin Wu question the existence of the Vermillion Bird.

    "How is that The Vermillion bird is not known in this world while the other three beasts are well known?" Lin Wu questioned, not knowing if the beast even knew about it.

    "The other three beasts? You mean the guardian beasts?" The Eagle beast asked.

    "Yes, you know about them?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I do. They were part of my bloodline memories. As for why they are unknown in this world, I do not know. But I was able to tell that the other three guardian beasts in this world are not the true ones.

    They are actually quite simr to me, being descendants of the original beasts." The Eagle beast answered.

    "Hmmбн I see. How many of those red stones or the crystallized bloodline of the Vermillion bird have you gathered?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The Eagle beast narrowed its eyes, but still answered.

    "I''ve eaten four of those, including the one now." The eagle beast stated.

    "Four? Where did you find them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Two of them I took from the men such as these. I don''t know what they talked about but I''ve seen them lurking around the ces where I''ve sensed the presence of the Bloodline. As for the third one, I found it in a ce such as this." The Eagle beast answered.

    Upon hearing all this, Lin Wu felt like he understood the situation a bit better.

    ''So those servants of the ''Skull God'' are looking for the ''god''s flesh'' which is nothing, but the crystallized bloodline remnants of the Vermillion bird.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "So you mean to say there are more of such ces all over the swamp?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes. I can sense when they are about to appear, as that is when the bloodline resonance is the strongest. I can''t tell their exact location, but there are more of them spread all over the Marsh." The Eagle Beast replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and reckoned that this must really be rted to the legend of the Dread Coil Marsh.

    "Wait, if you can sense the bloodline of the Vermillion bird and have bloodline memories about the other guardian beasts, can you sense their presence here too?" Lin Wu asked curiously.

    "No." The Eagle beast replied in a straight tone.

    Shirong who had been stuck in the armor while being unable to move till now, was feeling weird. The eagle beast in front of him would look at him and let out some strange sounds. It looked like it was doing something, but Shirong could not tell what.

    He was also confused as to why the beast had not attacked him yet.

    ''Is that Immortal Crystal Armament behind this? Is it trying to repel the beast?'' Shirong wondered.

    "What are you going to do now?" Lin Wu questioned the beast, feeling curious.

    "I''ll continue finding more of the fragments of the bloodline crystal and consuming them to further my Cultivation base." The eagle beast said proudly as powerful waves of spirit Qi emanated from its body.

    As soon as Lin Wu felt them, he realized that the beast was stronger than he thought.

    ''Damn, she already reached the Dao Shell realm with three of the fragments. If she gets more of them, will she keep on getting powerful?'' Lin Wu thought while Shirong was just stunned in silence.

    Lin Wu couldpare the spirit Qi waves of the Eagle beast with the high elders of the Frozen Cloud Sect and could tell that she was definitely in the first stage of the Dao Shell realm, which was the Shell initiation realm.

    Lin Wu had yet to see how Dao Shell realm cultivators fought, but he definitely did not want to experience it right now. If his main body was here and he merged with it, Lin Wu may have thought of contending, but not now.

    Lin Wu''s mind worked to figure out how he could take benefit from this situation. He knew letting go of a beast that had the bloodline of the vermilion bird would be bad, but he wasn''t strong enough to kill it anyway. Instead of that, he thought of another way.

    "What do you think of making an alliance?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The Eagle Beast tilted its head and let out a chirp showing its confusion.

    "You''ve said that you want to find the bloodline crystals of the Vermillion bird, so I can help you with that." Lin Wu stated.

    "You, help me? Why would you do that and what do you benefit from it?" The Eagle beast asked with apprehension.

    "You''ve seen these men, right? We are looking for them and want to get some information from them. If they are also looking for the Bloodline Crystals, then our goals are the same." Lin Wu stated.

    The Eagle beast did not say anything and stayed silent. Lin Wu didn''t know if he would get the beast to agree with him, but he knew for sure that he had piqued the beast''s interest. Or there was no way the beast would talk to him for this long.

 Chapter 326 - A New Partnership?

    The Eagle beast spent its time in thinking while Shirong, who had felt the cultivation base of the beast, was nervous. He was sure that the Immortal Crystal Armament was the reason why the beast had not attacked him, but now the question for him was why?

    Still, as long as the beast did not do anything to him, he felt like he should be fine. Though if he managed to move again, he reckoned he should be able to escape safely. He at least had the confidence in that even if he could not fight the beast.

    The eagle beast suddenly turned its head and looked deep into Shirong''s eyes, which made him internally tremble. But what he didn''t know was that the beast was not looking at him but rather on his forehead where Lin Wu''s eyes were located.

    "And how would you be helping me? From what I can see you would be the one befitting as I would be killing the men for you." The eagle beast said.

    Lin Wu was already expecting this question and was waiting for the beast to act. There were a few reasons why he had not stated at the very start, why he had not told her. The first was that he didn''t want to appear overenthusiastic.

    The second was that he wanted to see the cleverness of the beast. While Lin Wu knew that the beast had intelligence the same as that of a human, he wanted to know if it could scheme or not.

    He had seen the Slim arm ape which was much clever than other beasts and had spent its time with humans before depending on if it could scheme or not, Lin Wu would set its danger level.

    "Since the temples are hidden underneath the ground where you can''t reach them, I can help you get to them. You would just need to use the bloodline resonance to find an approximate area and I''ll dig down to find it." Lin Wu said.

    The Eagle beast thought about Lin Wu''s words and found them to be strange. Why would a beast that was in the form of an armor be able to dig?

    "You said dig, but can you even do that?" The Eagle Beast questioned in a doubtful tone.

    "Of course I can. Don''t guess from this armor, my true form is that of a worm." Lin Wu stated.

    "A Worm!" The Eagle beast said with a little too much excitement.

    Hearing the tone of her voice, Lin Wu suddenly realized something.

    ''Dammit, she''s a bird in the end and I''m a worm; Birds eat worms!'' Lin Wu thought.

    But then a few secondster the eagle beast calmed down and even showed a look of disgust from what Lin Wu could perceive.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    ''Seems like it awakening the Vermillion bird''s bloodline made it feel disgusted about eating mere worms.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Alright, if you say so, then we can do it." The eagle beast said, much to Lin Wu''s content. "But what are you going to do about that human with you?" She added.

    "The human will be away when I help you did. Though this can only be done at night time." Lin Wu said, but then thought of something more. "Though, if you can find a way to trap the human for a bit, I may be able to help you out openly." Lin Mu added.

    "Oh? You want to y around with the human?" The Eagle beast said, misinterpreting Lin Wu''s words.

    "Yes! Yes, that''s it!" Lin Wu said, taking advantage of the misunderstanding.

    The eagle beast raised its head and spoke, "there is a ce where you can leave him. It''s a little far from here, but it''s a rather big ce and has formations around it. I was unable to enter it but maybe you will be."

    ''A ce where even the Dao Shell realm Eagle beast can''t enter? It must be some ruins from the olden times.'' Lin Wu was intrigued by it.

    "Alright, show me that ce and we can leave this man there till we solve the problem." Lin Wu stated.

    "Follow me then." The eagle beast said before talking flight.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    A strong gust of wind was released from the wings of the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle as it knocked down several trees nearby and covering the tform with dirt and mud.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    Shirong seemed visibly relieved after seeing the Eagle beast leave and felt like he was lucky.

    "The immortal Crystal Armament is truly miraculousбн it even managed to repel a Dao Shell realm beast." Shirong said.

    "Huh? This guy is really good at making up stuff. Welp, gonna be fun to tease him a bit." Lin Wu chucked to himself.

    Shirong, who was now looking to get away, suddenly felt a message from the Immortal Crystal Armament.

    "What!? Why does it want me to follow the Eagle beast?" Shirong said out loud, feeling bewildered.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "This guy will take too much timeбн" Lin Wu said, before deciding to take action himself.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    Then, before Shirong could say another word, he suddenly found himself flying. Or ratherбн being hijacked.

    "Damn! I can''t control it anymoreбн" Shirong cursed, trying tomand the Immortal Crystal Armament.

    He didn''t know why it was suddenly acting like this but realized that it must be something to do with the Eagle Beast. He could not understand the conversation between Lin Wu and the Eagle beast and thus was in the dark about their true intentions.

    Though while he was soaring through the sky, Shirong realized that the Immortal Crystal Armament was not using his spirit Qi.

    "Itsбн itsбн it is flying on its own?" Shirong said, feeling surprised.

    <em>~Piiiii~</em>

    Shirong''s attention was suddenly pulled by the loud cry of a bird. He spotted the Eagle beast right in front of him, a short distance away.

    "What the hell! Why is the Immortal Crystal Armament following the Eagle beast?" Shirong said, feeling both shocked and scared.

 Chapter 327 - Old Ruins And Barrier?

    Lin Wu didn''t really bother with Shirong for now and just continued to fly behind the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. It was actually a bit difficult for him to keep up with the beast despite it slowing down for him.

    Keeping up with the speed of a Dao Shell realm beast was quite difficult for Lin Wu. Besides, this was not the fastest way he could move. Lin Wu''s fastest movement method was to move in his drill form.

    They flew straight for about two hours before they reached the ce that the Eagle beast was talking about. Lin Wu could see it from the sky itself.

    It was a sprawling set of ruins that spanned for about ten kilometers. From what Lin Wu could see, it was probably the remains of a sect.

    "Huh? Ruins of an ancient sect? So the stories were really true?" Shirong suddenly said.

    Lin Wu could also sense the formation arrays in the distance using his spirit Qi. They were spread all over the area and seemed to beplex. The eagle beast came tond near the edge of these formations and waited for Lin Wu to arrive.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    "So this is the ce you were talking about?" Lin Wu questioned the Eagle beast.

    "Yes. I''ve tried to enter it but no matter how much power I use, this barrier doesn''t break." The eagle beast replied.

    "Why did you try to enter it, though? Did you sense anything good inside?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Indeed, I can sense arge amount of spirit Qi being suppressed in there. I don''t know what it is, but it is bound to be a treasure." The eagle beast answered.

    "Is that soбн" Lin Wu Muttered before asking the system to do its work.

    "System, check if you can figure out the formation." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Limited Functionality avable

    TARGET SELECTED: Analyzing parameters

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Large scale, multiyer formation array found.

    бкбк

    While there was still interference in the area, the system was still able to scan something like a formation array directly due to being close to it. Plus Lin Wu was directly using his spirit sense to probe the barrier and thus it was easier for him to check it.

    "Can you make an entry way into the barrier, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system can find a weaker node from where the host should be able to enter the firstyer of the formation array. There are multiple barriers in this formation array and each has an independent formation matrix.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн we can work with that. I think I got an ideaбн" Lin Wu said.

    He then followed the system guide and saw the weaker node a short distance away from there. Lin Wu prodded Shirong to move there, and he really did. This time he was a bit more cooperative as he realized there must be something inside the runes because of which the Immortal Crystal armament had brought him here.

    ''Though why is that Eagle beast here too and why did it let us follow it? It''s almost likeбн the Immortal Crystal Armament Communicated with the Eagle beastбн but why would it do that?'' Shirong had a lot of questions appearing in his mind now and the image that Lin Wu had made of a spirit tool was slowly being changed.

    This was something that was bound to happen eventually and Lin Wu didn''t mind. He wanted to make it seem to Shirong that he was more than just an Immortal Weapon. By now he didn''t fear Shirong or his power and only wanted the ess to his n.

    Lin Wu knew for sure that the Ji n had a literal treasure trove of knowledge hidden in their n, and Shirong was the best option at essing it. Not to mention that the man would alsoe in handy in a few more ns that Lin Wu had about the future.

    The ce where the weaker node was located was actually an old copsed hut. Lin Wu could sense that the barrier here was weak due tocking spirit Qi. Looking down, he could see the formation inscriptions that had been damaged over time.

    "So this is why it is weaker hereбн I think I should be able to pass through this as long as I use the effect of the sapphire meridians." Lin Wu said.

    Shirong, who was also observing the barrier felt an urge to touch it. Not thinking much, he extended his hand and felt spirit Qi suddenly surrounding it. The moment his hand touched the barrier, he saw something surprising.

    "What!? The spirit Qi managed to get past the barrier?" Shirong said with surprise.

    Even the Eagle Beast who was watching from the side was surprised. She had used her entire strength to try to get past this barrier, but had been unable to. And now Lin Wu had done it somehow.

    Shirong then saw that the spirit Qiing from the Immortal Crystal Armament increased and exerted more force on the barrier. Understanding what he needed to do now, Shirong ced both his hand on the barrier as spirit Qi came pouring in from the other hand too.

    It was as if the spirit Qi ate at the barrier, and after a few minutes, Shirong managed to pierce his fingers through it.

    "HAHA! It works!" Shirong said with excitement,pletely forgetting that there was still a Dao Shell realm beast nearby.

    It was evident that the fear he felt from the beast had reduced after seeing its tolerance to him.

    Shirong continued doing what he was and even supplied his own spirit Qi to the Immortal Crystal Armament, which Lin Wu dly took up and stored in the spirit Qi storage. Both of them worked in tandem and about an hourter, the hole that they had created had berge enough for a child to pass through.

    <em>~heng~</em>

    Shirong lifted his hands and felt tired now. He had extenuated quite a bit of spirit Qi in opening this.

    "Should be able to pass if I go horizontallyбн" Shirong said.

 Chapter 328 - Baby In A Crib?

    Shirong did a little mental Tetris and figured out that if he floated in the air horizontally, he would be able to enter the hole easily.

    And thus that''s what he did. He floated, turned horizontally, and entered the hole which was slowly closing. When he fully passed through it, Lin Wu intentionally stopped his control on his spirit Qi and let the barrier close.

    <em>~Zing~</em>

    The barrier flickered due to being restored, and Shirong flinched.

    "It closed back?бн Never mind, I should be able to open it againter." Shirong said before taking a look around.

    He walked about ten steps ahead before...

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    He hit an invisible barrier.

    "Huh? Another barrier?" Shirong said as used his spirit sense to check the barrier.

    "Heavens! This is no simple barrier!" Shirong eximed.

    If he were topare it, the barrier was on the same level as the ones which were in his own n. They were made by the many ancestors that came before his time and reinforce over time.

    There was no way Shirong would be able to get through this.

    "There should be some other wayбн if the Immortal Crystal Armament brought me here, it should have a method to go further." Shirong said.

    "Bingo! Was just waiting for you to say that." Lin Wu stated before starting to morph into the form of a spear again.

    "Huh? What-" Shirong was a bit surprised as the Immortal Crystal armament acted on its own.

    It changed back into the spear form and floated in front of him.

    "What are you going to do?" Shirong asked.

    In response to that, Lin Wu stabbed into the ground and let out waves of spirit Qi. Shirong had a bout of realization as he understood the Spear''s intentions.

    "It''s going to open the formations somehow?" Shirong muttered.

    He observed how there were different spirit Qi fluctuationing from the spear and how the barrier was interacting. Runes had appeared on the barrier, which revealed the structures of the formation beneath.

    Shirong then saw that the spear was sinking deeper into the ground until only the bottom six inches of it were left out.

    "It must be directly interacting with the formation matrix deep in the ground." Shirong fussed to himself.

    "Good, good! Make up stuff so I don''t have to." Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    He then extended his body and detached a long twelve inch crystal from his body. This was the very part that seemed to be outside the ground and made it seem like he was stabbed in the ground.

    In reality, Lin Wu went back to the barrier and opened another hole before leaving through it.

    "There we go. The ''crib'' should keep him in there for a while." Lin Wu stated with a chuckle.

    Lin Wu had basically baited Shirong into entering the barrier and was going to leave him there, while he went away with the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle. The eagle beast was looking at Shirong and was wondering what Lin Wu was doing.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The eagle beast sensed something moving behind him and saw that the earth was rising. It looked at the ground with sharp eyes, ready to act at any moment. The moment a crystal head appeared out of the ground, it realized who it was.

    "How are you here?" The eagle beast said, before turning her neck. "And there too?"

    "Don''t mind that. We can now leave for work. The ''baby'' should stay in the ''crib'' safely till then." Lin Wu joked.

    The eagle beast tilted her head in confusion, unable to understand the words Lin Wu had just used. Lin Wu saw the awkwardness and lightly coughed.

    <em>~cough~</em>

    "We should go and search for the underground temples." Lin Wu suggested.

    "Alrightбн" The Eagle beast agreed before taking flight.

    Lin Wu too flew up behind it at great speed, leaving Shirong wondering why the eagle beast had left.

    "Strangeбн" Shirong muttered, unaware that the Eagle beast was not the only one that had left.

    He looked at the spear in the ground with a smile on his face and spoke, "Haha, I''ll be able to get the secrets of these ruins soon!"

    ***

    Once Lin Wu had gotten far enough from Shirong, he transformed back into his real form.

    "You''re quite bigбн" The eagle beast said upon seeing Lin Wu''s true form, which was twice as big as her in size.

    "Yeah, people say that a lot." Lin Wu chuckled.

    "Thoughбн are you sure you are a worm? I sense an aura simr to that of the Olive Viper King." The Eagle Beast said, narrowing her eyes and wondering if she had been tricked.

    Lin Wu got a bit tensed and realized that the eagle beast couldn''t tell that his aura was simr to that of the Olive Viper King due to him being ''equipped'' by Shirong. This had made their auras mix and made it difficult for the Eagle Beast to tell them apart.

    But now that she could fully sense Lin Wu''s aura, which was revealed, she found it to be quite simr to that of her old enemy.

    "I''m not rted to the Olive Viper King if that''s what you''re thinking. Though we did get our cultivation and bloodline from the same thing." Lin Wu replied.

    "The fallen starбн" The Eagle beast muttered.

    "Indeed." Lin Wu chimed in.

    Seeing that the Eagle beast was still a bit unconvinced, Lin Wu decided to speak to her a bit more.

    "Look, can the Olive Viper King change its shape and size?" Lin Wu asked the Eagle beast.

    "Noбн not from what I''ve seen." The Eagle beast shook its head, which knocked away a few clouds in the process since she was flying at a great speed.

    "See, I have different abilities than the Olive Viper King." Lin Wu stated.

    "As for the Bloodlineбн" Lin Wu said in a deep tone as his eyes glowed crimson red and his body emerald green.

    "MINE IS FAR SUPERIOR TO THAT SNAKE!"

 Chapter 329 - Conflicting Bloodlines?

    The moment Lin Wu unleashed the full potential of his Aura the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could feel a powerful presenceing from it. She could also feel a hint of suppression from it.

    ''His bloodlineбн it isparable to mineбн or even superiorбн but how? I have the bloodline of the legendary Vermillion bird?'' The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle wondered.

    There were more questions that arose in her mind, but she could note to any conclusion. The only thing that was concrete was the fact that Lin Wu was nomon beast and those rulers of the forest could notpare to him, either.

    Even that old ''enemy'' of hers'' the Olive Viper King was nothingpared to him, even though both of them had obtained the bloodline from the same meteor. She now knew that she should not take Lin Wu lightly even if he was much weaker than her in terms of cultivation base.

    Having shown his cultivation base, Lin Wu calmed down and realized that he had gotten a bit too fired up. This was strange for him, and he didn''t know why he had acted like this.

    ''Is this the bloodline''s effect? It cannot handle others insulting itбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~Ahem~</em>

    "Well then, we should get to our task I suppose." Lin Wu said, wanting to change the topic.

    "Okay." The Eagle beast replied simply.

    "So where do you think the next ce where the Bloodline crystal is?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The Eagle beast closed its eyes and stayed like that for a few minutes before opening them back again.

    "There are multiple of them that I can sense. The closest one is in that direction though." She said, pointing to the east.

    "To the east huhбн" Lin Wu felt strange as that was the direction he had originallye from and had even checked it himself for about two days.

    But in that two days, except for themon beasts, he had not found anything else. This confused him, as he wondered if there were a lot more things that he missed or not.

    "Since you say it''s there, let''s check it out." Lin Wu stated.

    "Alright," The Eagle beast said before changing her direction to the east.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    A strong gust came from her wings as she pped them, blowing away the nearby clouds in one go. Even Lin Wu was slightly affected but was able to manage using the wind attribute spirit Qi to negate the effects.

    "Seems like she has some attainments with wind element as well. Though it should be from her original bloodline of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. I''ve seen her use that strong fire, so that should havee from the bloodline of the Vermillion Bird." Lin Wu analyzed.

    This incited a bit of curiosity in Lin Wu''s mind.

    "System, can you scan her now?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CHECKING FOR INTERFERENCE: Interference field at a minimal level

    SCANNER FUNCTION: Avable

    бкбк

    "Perfect! So the interference field of the Dread Coil marsh is stronger if I get closer to the ground, huh." Lin Wu said.

    "Alright then, scan the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and tell me what new data is seen." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Scan sessful

    Target: Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle

    Cultivation Base: Shell Initiation Stage of the Dao Shell realm

    Bloodline: 1. Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle plete]

    2. Vermillion Bird [Partially awakened]

    Elemental Affinity: Wind, Fire

    Info: The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle are a species of rare bird type Spirit beasts and they usually live in tall mountains. Their main ability is the elemental maniption of wind in which they are innately talented. They can use wind attribute spirit Qi right from their birth, but their control gets better the more their cultivation base increases.

    The strongest recorded Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was in the Immortal Ascension realm.

    The system has also detected the bloodline of the Vermillion bird within the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, but it cannot estimate how much it has affected the beast. The system will need additional updates to the data banks in order to have a better analysis.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu read the entire thing and found it way more than he had expected it to be. The information that was additionally added to the window was taken from the libraries of the royal library of the Ling kingdom. Apparently, it was part of their restricted section and it was one of the old books that looked like it had not been opened in a long time.

    Lin Wu reckoned that no one bothered to check the books in a long time, which caused them to just forget about the beast. Though he wondered if it was such a strong beast just with its own bloodline, then how would it appear in the millennium forest.

    It was not even its native habitat, not to mention the fact that just from its original bloodline it should have been stronger than the Twin Lights Liger King and could have be the stoniest beast of the forest.

    "Hmmбн system why is it that its progress was halted even though it had a better bloodline than the Twin Lights Liger King?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to system''s analysis, this may be the result of the vermilion birds'' bloodline. From the data, the system extrapted the vermilion bird''s bloodline is quite superior to the beast''s original bloodline and maybe having an antagonistic effect on it.

    This may have caused it to be suppressed on its own and thus preventing the beast from progressing in its cultivation normally. This is amon problem that happens with beasts that have multiple bloodlines as they be ipatible.

    In fact, most of the beasts in the world have multiple bloodlines that have mixed so much that they be very weak. Not all beasts can make their bloodlinepatible and this bes a shackle for them.

    The host would have been in the same position, but the system and modify the bloodlines enough to make thempatible with the host''s body.

    бкбк

 Chapter 330 - How Deep Is The Temple?

    Lin Wu read through the system''s description and found it to be reasonable.

    "Hmmбн now that I think of it, a lot ofmon beasts are just descendants of much stronger beasts. The only difference being that their bloodline kept on getting diluted till it morphed into somethingpletely different and they became a different species.

    Though this also gives rise to the questionбн can amon beast progress his own cultivation far enough without a good bloodline or not? If humans can do it, then technically beasts should be able to do it as well." Lin Wu muttered to himself while flying behind the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    The two beasts flew for over eight hours before they reached the location that the Eagle Beast was talking about. The strange thing was Lin Wu had been here before. There were literally the track marks left behind by hisrge body in the mud, along with the trees that were destroyed.

    "Are you sure it''s here?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes, I can sense it deep within the ground here. But I can''t exactly tell where." The Eagle Beast replied.

    "Hmmбн alright. I''ll go down and see." Lin Wu said beforending on the ground and digging in.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Lin Wu''srge body pierced through the dirt and soon disappeared beneath the ground. The eagle beast couldn''t help but raise its brow feathers.

    "He truly is a worm alrightбн" she said upon seeing the efficiency with which Lin Wu dug into the ground.

    Lin Wu traveled through the ground and used his own spirit sense to check for the temple. Since the system was unable to provide him with coordinates, this was all Lin Wu could do for now. He started from the point where he entered the ground and dug in circles, covering arge radius of area.

    It took him over two hours to cover the entire area before he had to move deeper. He repeated the same thing, moving in circles before going even deeper.

    "Damn, just how deep is it?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The previous temple that he saw was not as deep as this one. In fact, that one was at barely half the depth at which Lin Wu currently was. Still, since the eagle beast had said that the temple was here, Lin Wu continued his hunt, until an entire six hours passed.

    "How far deep am I even?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host is 12641.23 meters deep under ground.

    бкбк

    "Goddamnбн if it was the previous world of mine, I would have already hit oil at this point." Lin Wu said.

    This was in fact the farthest Lin Wu had dug until now. But just when he was about to give up, his spirit sense picked up something.

    "Huh? Is that itбн?" Lin Wu wondered and got closer to the area.

    "It really is!" Lin Wu eximed.

    Lin Wu''s spirit sense scanned therge structure and found it to be the same as the temple he had seen before. It had the same kind of tform on top of it along with the trap door, which was technically its roof.

    "Now thenбн how do I actually get the Eagle Beast here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The depth of the temple was quite far and Lin Wu''s original method was going to be just digging the soil to make arge tunnel for the Eagle beast. But now he couldn''t say the same. While he could really use the same method of just digging the soil, he didn''t know how long it would end up taking.

    "Maybe I can find the mechanism that makes the temples rise up from the ground. If I can trigger it, I may be able to get it to ascend to the surface." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Having thought of that, he got close to the entrance of the temple and shrunk himself. There were the same carvings on the tiles that Lin Wu had seen before, along with the ones on the doors of the trapdoor.

    Lin Wu infused some spirit Qi into the formations of the trapdoor and managed to unlock it.

    <em>~creek~</em>

    The trap door opened and Lin Wu walked, or rather slithered, down the stairs while making his body glow. When he got to the very bottom of the stairs, he reached the same kind of a hall from the previous temple.

    "So they really are just replicas of each other." Lin Wu stated.

    He walked ahead and saw all the statues of the vermilion bird decorating the hall. Lin Wu avoided triggering any traps that may be present and got to the door of the inner hall. Pushing them open, Lin Wu caused the torches in the inner hall to light up.

    <em>~Shua~shua~shua~</em>

    The talons that were holding the crimson mes illuminated the hall, revealing the entirety of the hall. There Lin Wu saw therge statue of the vermilion bird at the very end. This statue was also damaged, like the previous one, but in different parts.

    The crumbled and broken fragments could also be seen lying around and Lin Wu reckoned this was due to age. Though there were some peculiar things that Lin Wu noticed there.

    "Huh? Scratch marks?" Lin Wu observed.

    Lin Wu got closer and then suddenly heard a growing sound from behind.

    <em>~Grrrr~</em>

    His spirit sense spread around, but he could not sense anything.

    "Who?!" Lin Wu''s body whipped at a blinding speed as he hit whatever was approaching him from behind.

    There Lin Wu saw arge six legged beast that had a featureless, mask like face, with only a mouth that was filled with sharp teeth. As soon as he saw it, he recognized what beast it was.

    "The Specter Skull Hound? What is it doing this far deep?" Lin Wu wondered. "No, waitбн its size is also much bigger than the previous oneбн" Lin Wu added.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This is a mature Specter Skull hound that is at the Nascent Soul realm. Host should proceed with caution!

    бкбк

 Chapter 331 - A Mature Specter Skull Hound?

    Lin Wu had certainly not expected a beast like this to be hiding in the temple like this. Rather, he wondered how it got in here.

    "No waitбн perhaps it''s been here since the start?" Lin Wu said as a thought came to his mind.

    He observed the Specter Skull Hound which was growling at him and got ready to attack.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    "Come at me, bitch!" Lin Wu said as he grew his body to the full size.

    The Specter skull hound was over five meters tall, but even it was dwarfed by Lin Wu''s body, which was over a hundred meters long. Even though he could not raise his body much more than ten meters in this hall, as that was its height, Lin Wu still looked massive.

    Lin Wu''s crimson eyes and emerald body glowed in the dark, creating an imposing presence that filled the hall. But while Lin Wu was doing this, he was also looking for the thing he hade here for.

    ''Where is the bloodline crystal of the Vermillion bird?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    His spirit sense searched the statue of the vermilion bird and soon found it to be hidden within its beak. The beak of this status was damaged as well and thus the crystal had fallen deeper into it.

    Though another strange thing was Lin Wu did not feel the same intense desire that he had felt before.

    "Why is this?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ''Still I guess it''s better that I''m not affected by it with this guy here.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He looked at the Specter Skull hound, which was still gazing at him without any eyes.

    "Fuck it! I''ll do it!" Lin Wu said before whipping his tail at the Specter Skull hound with a speed that was blinding.

    <em>~Swoosh~</em>

    His tail almost created a sonic boom and knockdown away all the dust in the hall in one go.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The Specter Skull hound was hit square in its torso and crashed into the wall of the hall. But Lin Wu gave it no chance to respond and immediately lunged at the beast. This time his tail turned into a sharp de that was covered with wind attribute spirit Qi.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    The de like tail shed at the Specter Skull Hound but missed.

    <em>~Crumble~</em>

    The tail ended up breaking a part of the wall instead as the Specter Skull Hound dodged it at thest moment.

    "It''s definitely more durable than thest one alright." Lin Wu stated upon seeing the minimal damage borne by the beast.

    "But I have just gotten startedбн" Lin Wu said with a chuckle as he sent out a wind de at the Specter Sulk hound.

    <em>~Grrrr~</em>

    The Specter Skull hound let out a growl and sent out a ck mist from his mouth. This ck mist met the wind de and nullified it.

    "This is newбн" Lin Wu muttered before rushing at the beast.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~shing~</em>

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Attack after attack was exchanged by the beasts, with no oneing out on top. Lin Wu was also taking this chance to practice his own moves now. He had not gotten many opportunities to fight a Nascent Soul realm beast before, and this was his second opponent.

    Lin Wu couldn''t tell what stage of the Nascent Soul realm was this Specter Skull Hound at, but it was definitely not at the same level as him. Even the system could not estimate it exactly as ording to its records. All specter Skull hounds were of this size when they were at the Nascent Soul realm whether they were at the infant stage or the adult stage.

    The battle between Lin Wu and the Specter Skull hound had been going for about an hour now. Both beasts had sustained several injuries by now, but Lin Wu was lookingpletely fine. He after all had the system to regenerate his injuries with the vital energy he had.

    As for the Specter Skull hound, it had cracks on its mask like face while dark blood seeped out of the cuts on his body.

    "I guess this should be enough practice for nowбн time to end this!" Lin Wu said with determination as waves of radiation emanated from his body, surrounding the Specter Skull houndpletely.

    <em>~yelp~</em>

    The Specter Skull Hound let out a strange screeching yelp which Lin Wu identified as the same move the other one had used.

    ''It trying to attract those marsh ghosts, huh? Dunno if they cane this far in the ground, but I''m gonna have to end this before that.'' Lin Wu thought as his eyes shimmered with a murderous intent.

    ***

    Back at the surface. The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle had been waiting for a long time now. It could not sense Lin Wu''s position directly using his spirit sense, but the unique bloodline aura that came from his body was still like a beacon to her.

    "What''s he doing there? It''s been a whileбн" The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle muttered to herself.

    It was now that a strange sound was heard by her.

    <em>~yelp~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle''s eyes turned sharp as it scoured the area with its spirit Qi.

    "Humph! Pesky ghosts!" The eagle beast said, upon sensing that the beasts were about to appear.

    <em>~Piiii~</em>

    She then let out a loud chirp that traveled wide before opening her wings wide and pping them.

    "Be vanquished under the mes of the Vermillion bird!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle proimed, as the pping wings created mes that covered arge swathe ofnd.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The mes covered all the trees in a radius of ten kilometers and started to burn them.

    <em>~Qiyaaa~</em>

    The sound of the ghosts wailing could be heard echoing across the skies as they perished with the burning trees. Normally they should be impervious to attacks like this and even spirit Qi attacks would only interrupt them.

    But these were no normal mesбн these were the pure mes of the legendary vermilion bird!

 Chapter 332 - Vermillion Flames And Nether Qi?

    The Vermillion mes turned the marsh into a sea of mes, evaporating the water and drying out the mud. The beasts that were nearby also died as for the ones that were hidden in the ground, were boiled alive.

    A minuteter, the mes died down and all that was left behind was a deste and empty area filled with ashes. All the trees had been reduced to ash, including the beasts. The ground had cracked due to drying out and no sign of life could be seen.

    "Humph! and they dare appear in my presence." The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle stated before starting to preen her feathers.

    ***

    Down at the temple, Lin Wu had exchanged a few more blows with the Specter Skull hound and was trying to end the beast quickly.

    But the beast kept on dodging and blocking. Evidently, it was trying to stall for time and wanted for the Marsh Ghosts to appear so that it could consume them and restore all of its injures.

    After a minute though, it got anxious as no ghost had appeared.

    "Seems like your attempt failed. Now stop struggling and DIE!" Lin Wu yelled with a distorted voice before colliding with the beast.

    <em>~Kiii~</em>

    The Specter Skull hound let out a pain filled shout as it got badly battered. It had be stunned from the impact and Lin Wu decided to take advantage.

    "GET OVER HERE!" Lin Wu said, before shooting out his tail.

    <em>~yelp~</em>

    The Specter Skull hound let out another painful shout as it was hit with Lin Wu''s spiked tail that pierced into its body.

    "Gotcha!" Lin Wu eximed before pulling him into his ''embrace''.

    More and more spikes protruded out of Lin Wu''s body as he started to coil around the Specter Skull hound. The hound kept on letting out growls of anger and pain, as Lin Wu kept on constricting his body.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    The mask like face of the beast suddenly cracked into multiple pieces as dark blood seeped out from the cracks. The beast could no longer let out any more sounds as his mouth had been mped shut by Lin Wu''s body.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    Its ribs and bones shattered as Lin Wu finally exerted his full power at once, reducing it to a mush.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu let out a breath of relief once he confirmed that the beast had died. But he found something to be strange here.

    "Huh? Where is its nascent soul?" Lin Wu said.

    Usually once a beast or a cultivator that was at the Nascent Soul realm or above died, they would escape using their nascent soul unless it was destroyed along with the body, beforehand. But Lin Wu had surely not done that.

    "System, scan this corpse and tell me what you think." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target''s interference field has been nullified upon death.

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Specter Skull Hound

    CULTIVATION BASE: Equivalent to Child stage Nascent Soul realm Beast.

    NASCENT SOUL: None

    INFO: The Specter Skull hounds are unique beasts and don''t cultivate spirit Qi. They cultivate Nether Qi whichposes their bodies and that is also how they can consume ghosts to replenish their stores of energy along with their injuries.

    Their bodies are unique in such that while they are physical in nature, they are stillposed of the intangible Nether Qi. This is the reason why sensing them with the spirit sense is difficult and why they can negate quite a bit of attacks.

    Their Nether Specter Toxin is deadly to most beasts, but the host is highly resistant to it in his crystalline form.

    бкбк

    After having read the entire thing, Lin Wu realized that this was apletely different type of being he had just killed. It was a type of beast that should have not even been present in this world. Yet here it was, but they didn''t know why.

    Lin Wu looked at the corpse of the Specter Skull Hound, which had now started to dissipate into thin air. It was as if its body was sublimating and there was nothing Lin Wu could do to stop it.

    "Hmmбн system can you store this Nether Qi and analyze it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Nether Qi is currently beyond the scope of the system and cannot be stored. The system will need to gather more data and upgrade its data banks before it is able to handle a new type of energy such as the Nether Qi.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн guess I was hoping for too much. But still, this means whatever this is, it is beyond any normal cultivators capabilities." Lin Wu stated.

    Lin Wu understood that the Specter Skull hound was likely the guard dog of this temple. Though he didn''t know why this temple had one, and not the other one. And if that one had it then why was the one that was killed by Shirong being controlled by those people in strange garbs.

    There were many questions that arose in Lin Wu''s mind and he got entranced by the secrets of this word.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Better to focus on the task at hand." Lin Wu said before moving towards the statue of the Vermillion bird.

    He touched the small bloodline crystal that was hidden in the beak of the statue before storing it in his storage. Lin Wu made sure that he was not feeling anything strange before leaving the temple.

    He ended up shrinking his body so that he could get through the trapdoor before rising up through the soil. But whileing up, he sensed something different.

    "Why is it hot here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He continued going up and realized that the ground here was much drier than before. He spread his spirit sense and discovered that the upperyers of the ground had been fully dried out and even the trees there were gone.

    "What the hell did the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle do?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He soon reached the top of the hole and resurfaced.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The Eagle Beast stared at the ce from where Lin Wu had entered the ground and saw that it was shaking again.

 Chapter 333 - The Eagle Beasts Past Encounters?

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The ground which had been closed up due to the attack of Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle split open and out came Lin Wu.

    "What the hell happened here?" Lin Wu questioned, poking his head out of the ground.

    His neck swiveled as he took in the wide area that had just be empty. There was ash everywhere and the part of the ground that was free of ashes waspletely dried and cracked, as if there was a drought here for years.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle saw that it was Lin Wu had just appeared and spoke.

    "Just took care of some pesky ghosts." She said.

    "Ghosts?" Lin Wu said with confusion. But then he recalled what the Specter Skull Hound had tried to do before.

    ''No wonder it could not call any ghostsбн the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle wiped all of them out.'' Lin Wu realized.

    "Waitбн but I thought the ghosts are not affected by spirit Qi easily." Lin Wu said. "Only lightning works against them from what I''ve seen." He added.

    "My fire is no normal fire. They are the mes of the legendary Vermillion bird! Ghosts such as these are nothing in front of it." The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle said with pride.

    "Ahбн I see." Lin Wu nodded his head upon getting rified.

    The eagle beast kept on staring at Lin Wu, scanning him from top to bottom.

    "Did you find the temple?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle Questioned.

    "Oh yeah, I did. Met a little problem there too; A specter skull hound. Needed to take care of it before I was able to get the Bloodline crystal." Lin Wu exined.

    "A Specter Skull hound? What''s that?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked, curiously.

    "It is a beast who is unable to be sensed by spirit Qi. It''s easily identifiable with a featureless mask like white face." Lin Wu stated.

    "Oh those, yeah I''ve seen them before. They''re a pain to kill." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "Waitбн you knew there was going to be a Specter Skull hound in the temple?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I''ve encountered three of them before. One of them was from a temple such as that one, while two of them I just found randomly wandering. I didn''t know that they lived in the temple though." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    Lin Wu was intrigued by this as it made him think that there were way more of the Specter Skull hounds in the Dread Coil Marsh than he had thought.

    "Were any of the ones you encountered wearing a cor?" Lin Wu inquired, remembering that the one Shirong and he had encountered had a cor on its neck.

    The Eagle beast tilted its head as if trying to remember before speaking.

    "I think the two I met wandering outside had cors on their necks. But the one I met in the temple did not have one." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle Beast answered.

    "I seeбн so the ones in the temple are the actual guardians of some kindбн and the ones wandering are captured onesбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He was trying to think of what the difference was there between these beasts when he was reminded of something.

    "The specter skull hound you fought in the temple and the one with the cors, what were their sizes?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "The ones I fought wandering were small while the one I fought in the temple was bigger than them and also much more resilient. I had to use my mes to kill it." The Sliver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    "Just as I thoughtбн they have different functions. The weaker ones wander around looking for the temples from what we''ve heard from that priest. They are servants of some ''skull god''." Lin Wu stated.

    "Skull god? The god those strange men always talk about before dying?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked.

    "You know about it? I thought you didn''t understand the human tongue?" Lin Wu asked, feeling curious.

    "Well, I do understand certain parts. Plus, these men kept on repeating those two words multiple times so it stuck in my mind." The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle replied.

    "Hmmбн so that''s it. I should tell you then that it''s this ''skull god'' that is getting those men to gather the Bloodline crystals of the Vermillion bird." Lin Wu said.

    "Humph," The Eagle Beast grunted as mes came out of her nostrils. "They can try, but they will all burn under my mes!"

    ''Goodбн goodбн get angryбн'' Lin Wu internally thought while keeping a straight faceбн not that there was ever a change in his face usually.

    "Where is the bloodline crystal you got from the temple then?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked.

    "Oh yes, I almost forgot." Lin Wu said before withdrawing the red crystal from the system''s storage.

    "Here you go," Lin Wu threw the crystal to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, who quickly caught it mid air and swallowed it.

    The moment she did, Lin Wu could feel her aura increasing slightly. Looking at her neck feathers, the Vermillion color had spread a little bit more. It was evident that the bloodline crystal was already having an effect.

    ''Wonder what will happen if I ate one?'' Lin Wu thought.

    He wondered if he could try stealing one for himself.

    ''It''s not like the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would know, would she?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    Answer: The Bloodline crystal will leave a trace behind wherever it is brought. It is likely the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle may be able to sense it, just the way the Host can sense the green crystal from the meteors.

    бкбк

    "Aw, shucks! This won''t work thenбн" Lin Wu cursed.

    "What did you say?" The Eagle beast asked, seeing Lin Wu''s strange reaction.

    "Uhбн nothing. I just meant to say, we will have to speed up or it won''t work." Lin Wu made up an excuse.

 Chapter 334 - Uniqueness Of Vermillion Flames?

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle nodded his head and Lin Wu''s conjecture and did feel like her bloodline was threatened. Who knows how many bloodline crystals had been taken by those men in strange garbs and how many more will be taken.

    Alone, she could not do much to get to those crystals and had to wait for the temples to surface. They were far too deep in the ground and even with all her strength, it was simply not possible to dig it out in a short time.

    In fact, the more likely thing was that by the time she is done digging out one of the temple, another one would readily pop up. So it was better that she spend her time reaching and waiting for a temple to naturally rise up.

    Though now that she had teamed up with Lin Wu, she thought that she might not have to wait for too long.

    "Alright, let''s head to the next ce." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    "Where is the next location that you can sense?" Lin Wu asked.

    The eagle beast turned her neck to point in the northern direction.

    "There? But didn''t we pass by there before?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "We did and there was nothing there at that time. But now I can sense something from there." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    "Hmmбн if you are able to sense it now it may mean that the temple may be about to rise up naturally." Lin Wu guessed.

    The Eagle beast got tense after hearing this and thought about the men who would try to steal the crystal.

    "We should hurry thenбн if those men try to steal my bloodline crystals I will not leave them alive!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle dered.

    ''As if you would leave them alive even without thatбн'' Lin Wu internally said.

    The two beasts then flew away in the direction that the Eagle Base had just said. Lin Wu simply followed behind her while thinking about some ns. It took them about twelve hours before they reached the location that the Eagle beast felt like had the bloodline crystal.

    "We definitely did pass by here." Lin Wu said, beforending on the ground with a thud.

    "Soбн where do you think the crystal could be?" Lin Wu asked.

    The eagle beast closed her eyes for a bit before opening them.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    She spat out a small ball of fire that shot towards a spot on the ground.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    That small fireball was enough to make a crater that was about half a meter deep in the ground. The power of the beast could be felt from this small demonstration.

    "There." The Silver Beaks Sky Soar Eagle simply said.

    "Ummбн. Alrightбн" Lin Wu said and was about to dig before a thought came to his mind.

    "Wait, before I go. Can you destroy all the trees nearby so that no marsh ghosts appear? If there is another Specter Skull hound in the temple, it will definitely try to heal itself with the ghosts. Last time it was still early before sunset so the ghosts had not appeared fast enough, but if its night time they will be roaming around.

    Better to eliminate their hiding ce beforehand." Lin Wu stated.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle thought about Lin Wu''s words and found them to be understandable.

    "Okay, I''ll get rid of the trees." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said.

    "Lemme justбн get in the ground first." Lin Wu said before digging into the ground and getting to a sufficient depth.

    "Alright! You can do it now!" Lin Wu shouted from the ground.

    <em>~p~</em>

    <em>~p~</em>

    <em>~p~</em>

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle started to p its wings as mes soon spread from it. The Vermillion mes devoured all the trees in the area of ten kilometers while drying out the marshy ground. The ponds that were nearby werepletely dried out as well and nothing was left, except for ashes, and scorched earth.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "Okay, she''s definitely beyond my control level for now." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu had actually asked the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle to use the mes for two reasons. The first was as he had stated, so that the Specter Skull hound would not be able to heal itself, while the second was that Lin Wu actually wanted to observe the mes.

    Upon seeing the mes with his radiation perception, Lin Wu could tell that they were simr to the tribtion lightning on a certain level. That ''colorless'' part he would see in the tribtion lightning as radiation was present in the mes of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle as well.

    "Hmmбн is this something rted to the Vermillion bird''s bloodline or is it something else?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The heat of the mes was also much higher than any mes that he had seen until now. The only mes that could probablypare to it would be the ones he had seen back when the meteor fell in the now forbidden area of the millennium forest.

    Besides that, there were no mes that were as powerful as them. This only made Lin Wu more interested in the bloodline of the Vermillion bird, and he felt like he needed to get his hands on thoseбн or his tail.

    Having seen the Vermillion mes, Lin Wu started to get back to the task that he hade here for. He spent about a day digging in the ground before he was able to find the temple. This temple was much closer to the surface than the previous one, but looked the same as the two before.

    "Alrightбн let''s see what''s inside." Lin Wu said before shrinking his body and opening the door of the temple.

    <em>~creek~</em>

    The trapdoor opened as dust fell from the sides, along with small stone fragments. The area that Lin Wu had dug into had a lot of boulders and rocks that he had to break through to get to the bottom.

 Chapter 335 - Quick Kill And Two Crystals?

    Lin Wu''s body glowed, revealing the path ahead. The look of the temple was the same as the ones before and Lin Wu simply rushed to the inner hall without caring much for the statues here.

    <em>~creek~</em>

    Therge stone doors swung open and along with all the torches lit up.

    <em>~GRRRR~</em>

    This time Lin Wu didn''t even have to go step in, before he heard the sound of the Specter Skull Hound. The beast had been lying at the base of the statue of the Vermillion bird and seemed to be ready for any intruders.

    Lin Wu could even see the thickyer of dust that had settled on its body.

    <em>~p~</em>

    The Specter Skull Hound shook its body like that of a dog, shaking away all the dust that covered it.

    "Just how long has it been there for? That dust has definitely not been umted in just a few days." Lin Wu said upon seeing the scene.

    <em>~step~</em>

    <em>~step~</em>

    The Specter Skull Hound stepped towards Lin Wu while baring its teeth. It was the same size as the one he had seen bore and was equivalent to a Nascent Soul realm beast.

    "Let''s get started!" Lin Wu said as he used radiation maniption from the very start.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    His tail swung like a whip, causing a sonic boom and knocking the dust from the walls around. The end of the tail was like that of a spear and shot towards the Specter Skull hound.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The Specter Skull Hound was not expecting such a response and was hit square on its head.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    In a single hit, the mask like face of the Specter Skull Hound was cracked as dark blood seeped out from it. Lin Wu''s tail was also covered with wind attribute spirit Qi that wasced with radiation.

    This windced witih radiation, prated into the wounds of the beast, and started to ravage its insides.

    "Huh? That''s it?" Lin Wu said upon seeing the beast getting knocked away.

    The beast didn''t even twitch after the hit and it seemed like it was done for. Lin Wu approached the specter skull hound to check up on it.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    "THINK YOU CAN TRICK ME, BITCH!" Lin Wu yelled as he mmed his entire weight on top of the Specter Skull Hound.

    <em>~pwesh~</em>

    The minced meat and blood leaked out from below Lin Wu as the beast was smashed. Lin Wu had seen the faint movement of radiation with his radiation perception and knew that the beast was trying to trick him by pretending to be faint.

    Lin Wu didn''t fall for it though and took a decisive approachбн Body mming the beast to a mush. One had to know, Lin Wu weighed over a thousand tons and had an incredibly hard body that was covered with sharp spikes.

    All thisbined was enough to take the life of the Specter Skull Hound.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A few secondster, the body or rather the remains of the Specter Skull Hound started to sublimate and turned to smoke. A couple of minutester, it all disappeared and only a spiderweb like crack was left on the ground.

    "Looks like this is the wayбн to kill the Specter Skull Hounds, not letting them react fast enough." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Feeling content that he had figured out a method to take care of the beasts and also managed to save time and energy, Lin Wu took a deep breath. He then looked at the statue of the vermilion bird and looked for the bloodline crystals.

    He approached the statue and raised his head to the level of the beak.

    "Huh? Two crystals?" Lin Wu said with surprise.

    Inside the beak of the Vermilion bird''s statue, Lin Wu could see two small red crystals. He broke the break, releasing the crystal into his grasp. Lin Wu looked at the two crystals on his tail and was stunned for a bit.

    "Why are there two of them here? Does this mean a temple can have more than just one of these bloodline crystals?" Lin Wu wondered.

    But after a minute of thinking his eyes lit up.

    "AHAHAHA! THAT''S IT!" I FOUND A SOLUTION!" Lin Wu eximed.

    Lin Wu was originally conflicted about helping the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle because it meant that he would have to give the bloodline crystals to her and would not get to take advantage of it himself.

    It was not like he could say he didn''t find a crystal in the temple and just consumed it himself as the beast would be able to sense its aura on him. But if there were two or more crystals in a temple, Lin Wu would not have this problem.

    He could very well take one himself and give the other to the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle and she would be none the wiser.

    "No, wait! I can''t consume it hereбн not to mention the possible ipatibility with my bloodline, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle may even sense it on my body. If the bloodline is umted even a little bit in my body she would be able to tell it due to bloodline resonance." Lin Wu suddenly said.

    Lin Wu thought over it for a bit to figure out a solution which came to him as a reminder from the System.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTE: The host can store the bloodline crystal in the system''s inventory. No signs will be visible if the bloodline crystal is kept in the inventory.

    бкбк

    "That''s right! I just need to use the inventory." Lin Wu agreed.

    "Alright system, store the bloodline crystals in the inventory. I''ll just give one of them to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle." Lin Wu stated.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The bloodline Crystals have been stored in the system''s inventory.

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger, Iron Bark Wood Tree, Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum, Bloodline Crystals of the Vermillion bird (x2)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nodded his head and made his way back to the surface, excited aboutter.

 Chapter 336 - The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagles Goals?

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was not expecting for Lin Wu to be back so soon and was surprised when his head popped up again.

    "You''re back so soon?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    "Yeah, got rid of the Specter Skull Hound rather fast." Lin Wu said before leaving the gorgon fully.

    "And did you get my bloodline crystals?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked.

    "Of course!" Lin Wu said before withdrawing one of the bloodline crystals.

    This was the time of the test and he needed to see if what the system had said was working or not. Tossing the crystal to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle Lin Wu watched on carefully, ready for anything.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle easily caught the bloodline crystal mid air and swallowed it instantly.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Spirit Qi fluctuations came from her body for a minute before subsiding. The vermilion colored feathers on her neck had spread a little bit more, showing that the bloodline crystals were working.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    Seeing that nothing problematic had happened till now Lin Wu took a breath of relief.

    ''It should be fine now.'' He thought.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle opened its eyes have having assimted the bloodline crystal fully and huffed out some mes from her nostrils.

    "Where is the next location?" Lin Wu asked.

    "The next one?бн I can''t sense it right now." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    "Can''t sense it? How?" Lin Wu asked, feeling strange.

    "There are no temples that are nearby it seems like it. There is no sign from my bloodline either." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    Lin Wu thought over it and found it to be reasonable. It was not like they would keep on finding the temples one after the other. Even the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had to spend a long time searching for them and had only found three after many months of effort.

    "What should we do now then? Do we just roam around?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "That''s what I did till now. The two temples that I''ve shown you till now were found by me while roaming. The bloodline resonance only works up to a certain level. While I can tell that there are a lot more of these bloodline crystals in the Dread Coil Marsh, the is signal is far too weak for me to tell where exactly." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle exined.

    "I seeбн I guess we can just look around for the time being." Lin Wu said.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle nodded her head and agreement and the two beasts flew away. They flew for many hours in silence when Lin Wu finally got bored and decided to ask a few questions.

    "Sayбн after you gather all the bloodline crystals orбн awaken the bloodline of the vermilion birdpletely, what will you be doing?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did not respond to Lin Wu at first and flew silently for over fifteen minutes.

    ''Am I getting ignored?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    But just when he was gonna give up hope, she spoke.

    "I don''t knowбн" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said.

    Lin Wu was frankly surprised by the words of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and had thought that the beast would have some high expectations or goals.

    "So you just want to get strong?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied simply.

    "And nothing more? You don''t want to rule? You don''t want to have fun?" Lin Wu questioned further.

    "Rule?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said in a strange tone.

    "Yes, rule. You were one of the Rulers of the Millennium forest before so didn''t you like tomand other beasts below you? You don''t want their servitude again?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Hmmбн it wasn''t really something I wanted when I was a ruler. I just because one because I broke through to the Nascent Soul realm. Back then the goal I had was to only get stronger and defeat the other rulers since they were the strongest beasts. But now that I''m at the Dao Shell realm, I don''t feel like it anymore." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    Hearing her answer Lin Wu felt intrigued.

    ''Her conflicts are quite simr to that of humansбн even though she has the power to take revenge on the old rulers, she no longer feels like it.'' Lin Wu thought but then he remembered something.

    "You said before that the rulers of the millennium forest were actually ves to itбн what did you mean by that?" Lin Wu questioned feeling curious.

    "That forestбн it''s strangeбн back when I was a core condensation realm beast it seemed to be pleasant. And then when I reached the Nascent Soul realm I still felt the same and could absorb as much spirit Qi as I could in the center of it.

    But when my cultivation base progressed further and over a hundred years passed, I felt that the forest had be strange. There was a strange aura in itбн" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said.

    "The Dark Bloom cavernsбн" Lin Wu said in response.

    "Yesбн that ce. There is something thereбн something that makes me uneasyбн it is also something that can control the entire forest, making the beasts its ves. But how it does thatбн I do not know." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said.

    Lin Wu felt strange as he had not felt anything like that there.

    ''Is it perhaps rted to the Taiji Celestial''s tomb? The Dark Bloom Caverns likely contain the main energy source of the Tomb that powers it. If it really is like that then there should be more to it than that.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He had not expected that there was something like this to the Millennium forest.

    "Have the other rulers not sensed anything like that? Did you ever ask them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "They don''t feel it. But the Twin Lights Liger Kingбн he knows somethingбн" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

 Chapter 337 - Mystery Of The Millennium Forest?

    Lin Wu was intrigued by the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s words.

    "What does he know?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "The Twin Lights Liger King is the oldest beast of the Millennium forest. He has been here for over five hundred years now and has seen over ten rulers in that time. All of them perished to the time though.

    He is the only one who has lived till now and has been the supreme ruler since then. At first, I thought that he was this strong due to his bloodline. But now that I''ve be a Dao Shell realm cultivator myself I realized a hint of truth behind him.

    I think that he can break through to the Dao Shell realm at any moment if he wants to. But he is restricting himself for some reason. Over the years he should have gained enough resources for multiple breakthroughs. But he still hasn''t used them." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    "Why would he do something like that? Doesn''t everyone want to get stronger?" Lin Wu asked, feeling weird.

    "The forestбн I think it has something to do with it. The forest can suppress the minds of the beast somehow and only those that are strong enough can tell the difference. Among the beasts, I think only I and the Twin Lights Liger King were able to do something like this.

    There were more of them before thoughбн but they all perished." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    Lin Wu immediately realized what she meant by this.

    "The beasts that tried to enter the Dark Blood Cavernsбн they all died due to that didn''t they?" Lin Wu said.

    "Yesбн back when I was still a ruler, there were two rulers who tried this. They were the rulers who were there before the Slim Arm Ape and the Olive Viper King. They were all strong beasts, almost the same strength as mine back then.

    They were very interested in the Dark Bloom cavern and it was as if it attracted them. Both of them were at the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm too. But once they entered the Dark Bloom Cavern they never appeared again.

    We could sense their aura''s disappearing and the seats of forests freeing up again. I think that is why the Twin Lights liger King has been staying at the Nascent Soul realm and is not breaking through." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "So that''s why the Twin Lights Liger King obsessively stays in one of the caves of the Dark Bloom cavern. He can''t resist it but cannot also enter it. He fears that if he breakthrough he will be unable to hold himself back from enteringбн" Lin Wu hypothesized.

    It was a really strange situation from what Lin Wu could tell. He himself had not felt any attraction from the Dark Bloom caverns yet but he reckoned that it may be due to his special circumstance. Even the Tomb of the Taiji celestial could not urately sense him for the trials because his soul was that of a human while the body was that of a beast.

    ''If the attraction is only for the beasts then it may make sense. Though if it also depends on the bloodline then the Olive Viper King might also be able to resist it as he has a simr bloodline to mine.'' Lin Wu thought.

    This conversation with the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had given Lin Wu a lot to think about. He even asked the system to analyze the findings and see if it coulde up with something. The system simply said that it will analyze it and inform him when it was done.

    The two beasts continued flying for over three days non stop. They had no aim so they just wandered around. On the fourth day though, they suddenly saw something.

    "Huh? Are those the men from before?" Lin Wu spotted.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle looked down and with her sharp gaze urately observed them.

    "Yes it is those same men from before. Thoseбн Skull god''s followers." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "Hmmбн if they are here then they must know the location of the next temple. Or at least have an idea where it is. Let''s mug ''em!" Lin Wu said before dropping from the sky.

    Both of the beasts were flying above the gloomy clouds of the Dread Coil Marsh and hence the followers of the Skull god had not seen them. But Lin Mu''s body that was descending like a missile was hard to miss.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    A tearing sound could be heard as Lin Wu''s tore through the air and opened a hole in the clouds.

    "Wh-what! What is that!" The follower of the skull god pointed at the air.

    Lin Wu had streamlined his body which made him move even faster. The moment it touched the ground strong tremors spread across the area.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The followers of the skull god all fell to the ground. Lin Wu had fallen over a kilometer away from them, yet the tremors were terrifying. After a few seconds, the followers of the Skull god managed to stand up.

    "What in the name of Skull God was that?" Someone asked.

    "Did a treasure fall from the sky?" another onemented.

    "Come, let''s go check it out. Maybe it will be a good sacrifice to the Skull god." The man who was dressed like a priest stated.

    They started to walk ahead and their spirit sense was spread to the full extent. But not even a minute after they started moving they stopped.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The followers of the skull god could feel the ground beneath them shift and move. It made them wonder if another quake wasing or what.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    A massive emerald green head popped out of the ground as two crimson red eyes started at the men.

    "No need to go aheadбн I''vee to you." Lin Wu said in human tongue, his voice eerie and cold.

 Chapter 338 - Interrogation?

    The followers of the Skull god were frozen in ce upon seeing Lin Wu and did not know what to make of this. They could tell that what was in front of them was a beast but this was the first time they were seeing a beast talk.

    "Na-Nascent Soul! It''s a Nascent Soul realm beast!" The priest spoke.

    Unlike the priest Lin Wu had seen before, this one was not at the Nascent Soul realm. It was evident that thest one had a greater status than this one. Looking at the team, Lin Wu counted five men and three women.

    ''This team is smallerбн I guess thest one was out for a different reason.'' Lin Wu thought.

    The followers of the Skull god were frozen with fear as Lin Wu gazed at them.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The Priest suddenly found courage out of nothing and pulled out a sword from his spatial storage ring. The sword started to let out dark smoke, simr to the man Lin Wu had killed before.

    Lin Wu was interested in that sword before but it was a strange weapon. When the man who wielded died, the sword melted into a puddle of ck liquid before seeping into the ground.

    "KILL! For the Skull God! If we have him with us, why should we fear this beast!" The Priest proimed.

    "KILL!" The other followers also gained courage and shouted in unison.

    They all withdrew their weapons and lunged at Lin Wu. But thenбн

    <em>~st~</em>

    Lin Wu casually pressed upon one of the followers and smashed him into a mush. Blood and gore sttered on hispanions as they all froze up mid-run.

    "Huh? No more bravado?" Lin Wu taunted.

    <em>~st~</em>

    Lin Wu crushed another follower this time a woman into mush.

    "Gotta keep it equal or people will say I''m sexistбн" Lin Wu said with a nod.

    The followers of the Skull god were both scared and confused by Lin Wu''s words as they did not know what they meant. Lin Wu had unknowingly switched to a differentnguage than the one that they spoke.

    "Oop! I forgot they don''t speak English hereбн" Lin Wu said.

    The followers kept on watching in terror, but this was just the start.

    <em>~Piiiii~</em>

    A loud screech of a bird could be heard echoing through the sky.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    The clouds were suddenly blown away as the figure of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle became visible. She originally wanted to see what Lin Wu would be doing but seeing that he was just talking around she decided toe herself.

    <em>~Shing~</em>

    <em>~shing~</em>

    "ARGH!"

    "NO!!"

    The sharp winds caused by the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle cut through the robes of a couple of followers that were standing too close to hernding location. The ones who were hit by the sharp winds were now profusely bleeding and could not help but scream in pain.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Afternding, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle looked at Lin Wu with a questioning gaze.

    "What are you doing?" She asked.

    "Ah, I was just about to ask them if they know anything about the temples." Lin Wu said.

    To the remaining followers of the Skull god, only screeches could be heard being exchanged between the two beasts. But the arrival of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle also made them fearful, much more than the appearance of Lin Wu.

    "RUN! IT''S THAT EAGLE BEAST!" The priest shouted upon seeing the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    "Oh? Looks like someone''s popr." Lin Wu said upon hearing that the followers of the skull god recognize the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    "Humph!" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle simply huffed out mes through her nostrils in response.

    "Alright, alright! I''ll get to the interrogation." Lin Wu said as he pulled out the rest of his body from the ground.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The ground trembled again and the Followers of the skull god saw an Emerald Green crystal wall surrounding them. Lin Wu had been surrounding them with his body from the start!

    <em>~thud~</em>

    "OUCH!" One of the women followers of the Skull God even ended up hitting her head against Lin Wu''s body when she was running. Since it had appeared so abruptly she could not stop in time and hit it at full force.

    "Well thenбн let''s get to talking shall we." Lin Wu said with a grin.

    His sharp teeth looked terrifying to the followers and they no longer dared to move.

    "Who are you people exactly?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Dead silence was spread in the area as no one dared to speak.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "AHHHHHHHH!!! IT BURNNNNNS!!!" A fire ball suddenly hit one of the men and made him into a human torch.

    Lin Wu turned to look at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle who rolled her eyes at him. He let out a chuckle before staring at the followers of the Skull god again.

    "See? If you don''t speak all of you will die~" Lin Wu said.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "Now thenбн answer my question." Lin Wu spoke again.

    "We-weбн we''re the followers of the great Skull god." The priest was the one who answered.

    "Andбн who''s that?" Lin Wu asked.

    "The great Skull god is the great god of darkness and has ruled over the Dread Coil Marsh for eternity!" The Priest said with enthusiasm.

    "Pff~ what eternity?!" Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh. "What''s this chatan Skull god been telling you? The Dread Coil Marsh has not even existed for ten thousand years and you say eternity."

    "You dare humiliate the Skull god?!" the Priest said in a fit of anger but then realized his mistake.

    <em>~st~</em>

    "Hmm? You said something?" Lin Wu said as a de of Wind dismembered the arm of the priest.

    The priest did not even dare scream and simply gritted his teeth. He took out a pill from his spatial storage ring and quickly ate it.

    "Don''t! Attack! I''ll speak!" The Priest pleaded.

    "Go ahead then. Tell me what does this Skull God look like and where is he?" Lin Wu questioned.

 Chapter 339 - Splat?

    By now Lin Wu had put the fear of himself in the hearts of the followers. They were helpless, being surrounded on all sides by Lin Wu''s body. Not to mention there was an even more powerful beast next to him.

    But what these followers and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did not notice was that the few people that were killed by Lin Wu had actually disappeared. They were originally smashed below his body and the blood had spread from there, along with some flesh and guts.

    If one saw it now, they would see some blood, but no minced flesh. It was as if it had disappeared into thin air. Not even the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle noticed this, and it was not like she would care about that either.

    ''Hmmбн so this is the Skull god huhбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he went through the memory that the system was showing him.

    This was the memory extracted from the data nodes Lin Wu got from killing the two followers. In reality, Lin Wu didn''t really need to interrogate these followers as he could simply kill them and let the system extract the data nodes from them.

    But as Lin Wu had experienced from the Bandits Shirong had killed near the capital of the Ling Kingdom, there was a slight loss of information during the death of the person. Plus, the longer it took for him to retrieve the data node, the more information would be lost.

    With that in mind, Lin Wu first chose to kill two of the followers and see what they had in their memories. Then he would interrogate the others and cross reference the points. Once this was all done, he would get to consume them all and get the final bits of memories from them.

    This method ensured that there was the least amount of data loss. Plusбн it was kinda fun for Lin Mu.

    The priest trembled on the ground as he finally gained enough courage to speak again.

    "The skull godбн he''s an ancient being. Our prophet found his altar and got blessed with the grace of the Skull god, gaining great powers. The skull god looks like just as his name isбн he''s a floating ck skull.

    His altar is deep in our sanctuary." The priest spoke.

    Lin Wu heard this all, and it matched what he had learned from the memories.

    "And where exactly is this sanctuary of yours?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "It''sбн It''sбн I can''tбн. I can''t remember?" The Priest suddenly said as his eyes went wide.

    He held his head as if he had a headache and wailed.

    "I can''t remember!!! WHERE IS THE SANCTUARY!" The Priest shouted out loud.

    His fellow followers looked at him with confused eyes before one of them realized something.

    "THE SKULL GOD''S CURSE! THE CURSE WILL TAKE HIS LIFE! NO ONE CAN SURVIVE BETRAYING THE SKULL GOD!" The one renaming female follower suddenly uttered.

    But her voice was strangeбн it was hoarse and definitely did not seem like that of a human female. Lin Wu also narrowed his eyes, as he could sense something change in the air.

    "YOU!" The female follower said while pointing at Lin Wu; no fear was visible in her eyes.

    In fact, one could not even see her eyes anymore as they had turned into ck, empty orbs.

    "WHO DARES CHALLENGE THE AUTHORITY OF THE SKULL GOD!!!" She shouted, in an even worse voice.

    <em>~St~</em>

    "Next!" Lin Wu casually said before looking at the other follower, who seemed to be normal.

    "You speak now, since this priest seems to be mad now." Lin Wu stated.

    "Iбн Iбн" The man was filled with fear and found it hard to speak.

    "III III!!!!!" but in the next moment his eyes went ck just like the woman, and a hoarse voice came from him.

    <em>~SPLAT~</em>

    "Next one," Lin Wu said.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The three renaming followers including the priest, were now shocked by Lin Wu''s actions. They were more scared than before seeing him smashing the vessels of their god.

    "No one gonna speak now?" Lin Wu asked onest time.

    "YOU DARE!!!" another follower changed and uttered in a hoarse voice.

    <em>~st~</em>

    "Seems like I should just end you all nowбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    "STOP! KILLING! MY! FOLLOWERS!" The secondst remaining person uttered with rage.

    <em>~St~</em>

    "Nope." Lin Wu stated.

    He then looked at the priest, who was the only person remaining. Lin Wu''s mouth opened wide as the thousands of sharp teeth in his mouth became visible. The priest didn''t even have a chance to transform before he was swallowed by Lin Wu.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "Should have done this from the start. Sad that he messed up my showбн" Lin Wu said, much to the confusion of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    He then consumed the rest of the smashed followers and let the system sort through the data nodes.

    "What are we going to do now? They''re dead." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked.

    "Just a minute," Lin Wu asked her to wait.

    He closed his eyes and went through all the memories that the system had prepared from him.

    ''Hmmбн the location of the sanctuary is indeed protected. Even in the memories, they are secured and any attempt to see them leads to corruption of the memory. Thoughбн seeing as all of them came from the West, the location of the Sanctuary should be there.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He went through a few more memories and gained some valuable information.

    "Bingo!" Lin Wu suddenly eximed.

    "What happened?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    "I got the location of a temple that''s going to appear soon. The servant of the so called ''skull god'' is searching for it right now." Lin Wu answered.

    "Servant?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked before realizing what Lin Wu meant. "You mean those strange beasts?" She added.

    "Yeahбн they''re called Specter Skull Hounds." Lin Wu answered.

    "Then let''s go." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said before pping her wings and flying away.

 Chapter 340 - A Feather?

    Lin Wu had not gotten the exact location of the next temple, but knowing that a specter skull hound was searching for it meant that he would be able to find it too. Plus, he knew the approximate direction that the Specter Skull hound had gone in.

    But this was not all that Lin Wu had obtained from the memories of the followers of the Skull god. He learned how they operated and why they were doing what they were doing.

    The so called followers of the Skull god were nothing but cultivators that had been brainwashed by the Skull god. They would then be sent out to search for the temples of the vermilion bird and get the Bloodline crystals of the Vermillion bird from them.

    Of course, finding these temples was quite hard as they were hidden deep within the ground and only asionally would one of them pop up in the ground. Why they did, this was not known to the followers though and thus Lin Wu did not know either.

    But he did learn that therger specter Skull Hounds that were guarding the bloodline crystal in the temple were also kept there by the Skull God. He was also the one who had sealed these temples a long time ago and had put those specter Skull hounds as a means to guard the temple.

    The smaller Specter Skull hounds thoughбн were created by the Skull God. But Lin Wu doubted the authenticity of that. Unlike the followers he knew that the specter Skull hounds were not the creation of this Skull god and were actually normal beasts of a different kind of a world.

    He reckoned that there was more to this than was being let on.

    ''I''ll find it out eventuallyбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    The two beasts flew through the sky as Lin Wu told the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle where to go. The followers of the skull god had a pendant that could track these Specter Skull hound, sadly Lin Wu could not use that as it needed that ''ck smoke'' that the followers used.

    Lin Wu reckoned that it must be some kind of an ability given by the Skull god and even the system could not find a workaround for that. Thus right now, Lin Wu depended on the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s sharp eyesight that could spot things from over a hundred kilometers away.

    Even in a dark and gloomy ce like this, it was no problem for the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle to find the Specter Skull hound. Four hours had passed since Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle left the location where they killed the followers of the Skull hound.

    They finally managed to spot the said Specter Skull hound in the distance.

    "There it is!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    Lin Wu followed her gaze and saw the beast walking through a bog. It would sniff the air every so often and then change its direction.

    "Now we just need to follow the specter Skull hound and we''ll find the temple. Though, there is likely to be another team of those followers somewhere. They will probablye after the temple too once it appears." Lin Wu said.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle just agreed in silence and slowed down so that they could match the speed of the Specter Skull hound. Another hour passed like this when they finally saw the specter skull hound stopping near a patch of the Marsh. It justid there, as if waiting for something.

    "Do you feel anything?" Lin Wu asked the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle who closed her eyes for a bit before speaking.

    "Yesбн there is something in the ground. It''sing closer, but it''s slow." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    "Perfect! I''ll get it." Lin Wu said as he dived down from the sky.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Lin Wu aimed so perfectly that hended just on top of the specter skull hound. The poor beast did not even get a chance to react before he was utterly annihted. Not bothering with this, Lin Wu continued digging straight down for a while before reaching the temple.

    "Huh, it really is moving. Though seeing the speedбн it will take it at least a day before it reaches the surface." Lin Wu muttered.

    Hended on top of its entrance and shrunk down his body. He triggered the formation on the trap door and opened it.

    <em>~Woo~</em>

    A strange wind blew out from the sealed door, which felt weird to Lin Wu. He spread his spirit sense and scanned the interior of the temple while moving inwards. When he reached the interior area though, he saw that the door of the inner hall was already open.

    "Why''s it open?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Broken pirs and torches could be seen everywhere as chunks of rocks fell from the roof, upon Lin Wu''s movement.

    "Damn, this is the most damaged one till now." Lin Wu said as he looked around for the Specter Skull Hound that should have been guarding the temple.

    "Nothing?" Lin Wu said, feeling weird.

    He approached the statue of the vermilion bird at the end and tried searching for the bloodline crystal. The statute was greatly damaged and half of it was missing. Its beak, where the crystal was kept was also missing.

    "It''s not hereбн but the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle sensed there was something hereбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He searched through the rubbish and debris, trying to see if the bloodline crystal was lost within here. The desire for the crystal that Lin Wu had felt previously was also not here.

    "Perhaps there is no crystal here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    After over thirty minutes of searching, Lin Wu was unable to find anything.

    "Was the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle mistaken?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    But just as he was about to turn leave the inner hall, something caught his eye.

    "What''s that?" Lin Wu said as he approached a fragment of the statue.

    "A feather?" Lin Wu picked it up and then saw it glow faintly.

 Chapter 341 - A Beacons Key?

    The feather in Lin Wu''s grasp was a stone feather and looking at its shape it was likely from the vermilion bird''s statue. It seemed strange to Lin Wu though as the statue itself was made from a single rock.

    Thus the feathers carved on it would have been part of its surface and not individual like this. Lin Wu looked back at the statue and could not even tell what part this feather was detached from.

    "Noбн this is not from the statue. The shape and size do not match. The ones on the statue are much longer than this and the size is also bigger." Lin Wu said afterparing it for a bit.

    <em>~shine~</em>

    "Huh? It glows?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    A red vein in the center of the stone feather could be seen. Lin Wu probed it with his spirit sense and realized that it actually had the bloodline of the Vermillion bird in it.

    "This is quite differentбн it is mildбн yet powerfulбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He stored the feather in the inventory and left the temple. Appearing on the surface of the ground, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle looked at him with furrowed brows.

    "Did you not find anything? I can''t sense anything on you." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    Hearing this Lin Wu was able to confirm the fact that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could truly sense the aura of the bloodline crystals on him. But this also showed him that the stone feather that he had gotten was different from the other bloodline crystal.

    "I didn''t find a bloodline crystal, but I did find something else." Lin Wu replied before withdrawing the stone feather.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle looked at it while tilting her head and then used her spirit sense to probe it.

    "It has the bloodline imprint of the Vermillion bird in itбн but it does not have the same bloodline source as that of a bloodline crystal." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    "Do you know what this is?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Hmmбн let me try to see if there is anything within my bloodline memoriesбн" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied before closing her eyes.

    Lin Wu could feel her aura getting silent as if she was entering some kind of a sleep. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stayed in this state for about two hours without even moving. If this was the Lin Wu of the past, he would have not been patient for this long.

    For the human Lin Wu, it would have been a great waste of time to just wait for two hours doing nothing. But to the worm Lin Wu, who was now a spirit beast two hours was nothing. His lifespan was so long that he had already started to lose the normal sense of time.

    For him, two hours passed like a blink of an eye. He had simply cultivated in these two hours and did not even sense it was two hours.

    ''If one was going to wait around doing nothing, cultivating is the best thing to doбн'' Lin Wu thought with a nod.

    When the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle finally opened her eyes, Lin Wu could feel her aura rising again. He realized that this was something beasts with strong bloodlines could do. When a spirit beast awakened a strong bloodline, they would not unlock all of it at once as that would lead to them getting harmed.

    The power of the bloodline was just too much for a body of a beast to handle. Thus the bloodline would slowly resale its potential while the body predated and grew ording to its requirements.

    Lin Wu also wondered if his bloodline had some sealed memories inside it as well. He knew his unknown bloodline was not fully unlocked and what he had right now was mostly due to the systems'' manufactured bloodline of the Crimson eyed emerald worm.

    "I think I know what it is," The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle suddenly spoke.

    "Tell me then." Lin Wu stated.

    "That feather is a keyбн to some kind of a beaconбн I don''t know what kindбн I could not ess the memories, they are far too deep in the bloodline. If I want to see them it will take me a long time and my cultivation base will also need to be quite high for that to happen." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    "A key? To a beaconбн" Lin Wu repeated.

    ''Seems like there is more to these temples than just the bloodline crystals.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Let''s go search for the next temple." Lin Wu said.

    "But where do we go?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked. "I can''t sense anything for nowбн do we go look for more of those followers of the skull god?"

    "Yes, we don''t know the exact location of their sanctuary, but we do know they are somewhere in the west. As long as we go and wander there, we are bound to encounter more of the followers of the skull god. And who knowsбн we may even find more temples on the way." Lin Wu replied.

    "Alrightбн" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said before taking flight.

    Lin Wu followed behind her and the two beasts flew to the west. They spend over two weeks flying during which they managed to find one more temple that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had sensed appearing.

    Lin Wu found another bloodline crystal in there along with a Specter Skull hound that he killed rather quickly. Now that he knew how to deal with them, Lin Wu didn''t care much about them.

    After they found that temple, they encountered another small group of followers of the Skull god. Lin Wu used the same old routine of shock and awe to gain information from them. While they didn''t gain information about the sanctuary, they did manage to learn about something big.

    "Six temples will be appearing at once, huhбн Interesting."

 Chapter 342 - Six Temples?

    The information he gained from the followers of the Skull god mentioned that there was going to be a unique event soon. Six temples will be appearing at once and many teams of followers will be sent out to gather the bloodline crystals from there.

    "Seems like we have our next goal." Lin Wu said.

    "Where are these temples going to appear? I can''t really sense them. If they were really going to appear, I should have been able to tell that." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    "There is still a week till they appear. I think you should be able to sense them soon. Besides they are far from this location as well." Lin Wu said.

    "I seeбн we should get there quick then. If all six appear at the same time, we will have to be early or the Skull god followers will take them." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "That''s trueбн but we can also snatch it from them. It may actually be even easier." Lin Wu replied.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle simply nodded her head in response and flew up with Lin Wu following alongside her. During the time Lin Wu had spent in the Dread Coil marsh he finally realized just how big it truly was.

    Even with his speed, it took them days upon days to cover the distance between multiple points. This made him get a little sense of just how big this enter continent was and then form that the world.

    ''Once the power source of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb is fully activated and linked with the tomb, I''ll be able to anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye.'' Lin Wu thought, anticipating the future.

    Time passed like sand through fingers, as Lin Wu and Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle continued on their journey. They traveled far to the west of the Dread Coil Marsh and were actually nears its western border now.

    If Lin Wu continued beyond this for another couple of days he would actually end up leaving the Dread Coil Marsh and appear in the Burrow Light Kingdom. And if they went slightly south from there, they would change borders again and appear in the Bing Kingdom.

    Though technically he was already in the Burrow Light Kingdom.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could sense vibrationsing from afar and knew what it was.

    "There! The temple is appearing I can sense it!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle eximed.

    <em>~Piiii~</em>

    She let out a loud cry before pping her wings hard. Usually while flying the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did not use her full speed, so that Lin Wu could keep up. But now seeing the temple after a long time she seemed to be excited.

    The p of her wings blew away all the clouds in the area, revealing the crescent moon that was hidden behind it, small twinkling stars could also be seen there apanying it in a pleasant serenade.

    ***

    On the ground, a group of men in strange garbs were walking when they heard a loud crying from afar.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    "Huh? Where did all the clouds go?" one of the men said in shock.

    They all looked up and saw that the gloomy clouds which eternally covered the Dread Coil Marsh were now gone. The moon and stars which were rarely seen in the marsh were now visible to the men,

    "Noбн NO! IT''S THAT BEAST! THAT EAGLE BEAST IS COMING!" The priest who was the leader of the group spoke.

    "That Eagle beast which has been terrorizing our men? How did ite here? We are so far to the west." One of the other men asked.

    "Who would I know!? But I know only that beast can create winds like these that can blow away the clouds!" The priest eximed.

    "What do we do now?" The followers asked feeling scared.

    "We hurry to the temple! Once we get the crystal we will need to escape quickly." The Priest stated.

    s! The priest was toote.

    <em>~Swoop~</em>

    Just as he had said that sentence, he along with another man was snatched up into the air.

    "AHHHHHH!! HELP ME!! HELP ME!!!!!" The Priest shouted.

    This priest was a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, yet even he could not get out from the talons of the Eagle beast. As for hispanion who was in the other talon of the eagle beast? He was already dead from being squeezed by the w.

    The other followers on the ground scattered like flies, unable to decided where to go. They were running randomly when they suddenly felt the ground shake.

    "Huh? Did the temple appear?" someone wondered.

    But thenбн

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    Multiple emerald green crystal spikes sprouted from the ground impaling all the men that were trying to run away.

    <em>~Tremble~</em>

    The soil parted as the long body of Lin Wu appeared from it. Along the length of his body, one could see over ten men impaled on the spikes. The spikes then started to move towards his head, like some kind of a conveyor belt, and brought the dead bodies to his mouth.

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    <em>~mush~</em>

    Lin Wu quickly consumed the ten bodies and gained the memories from the data nodes.

    "Oh? Didn''t know it would work like thisбн" Lin Wu said in a surprised tone.

    Lin Wu had just managed to obtain the location of the sanctuary of the Skull God. He didn''t know how exactly he got it as usually the memory would end up getting corrupted by some kind of an influence.

    ''Seems like eating multiple followers at once, did not allow the ''influence'' to erase the memory quick enoughбн'' Lin Wu guessed.

    "Stillбн this just made out task easier." Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~Piiii~</em>

    Another cry came from the sky as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle descends, blood visible on her beak.

    "Did you eat them too?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I felt peckishбн" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied while looking away.

    "Ha-" Lin Wu barely managed to hold in his chuckle, after hearing the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle words. He obviously did not want to get punished.

 Chapter 343 - Different Temple?

    Lin Wu scanned the area with his spirit sense and looked for any signs of the temple.

    "Ah, there it is." Lin Wu said.

    "Yes, that''s where I felt it too." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said.

    Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle went to a location about a kilometer away and Lin Wu got to digging. He already felt that the temple was rising up and just sped up its process. This was the first time they caught a temple mid way to moving up and thus he got to see the mechanism.

    "Hmmбн so it has an earth maniptive formation array that makes it move. Though we don''t know how it chooses a specific time to appear." Lin Wu said.

    "System, scan and see if you can figure something out. Now that the formations are fully active, you should be able to do it despite the interfering field right?" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    NEW PARAMETERS DETECTED: Earth maniption formation array

    ANALYZING: Please wait patiently

    бкбк

    "Perfect time to get the next task doneбн" Lin Wu stated.

    He helped the temple ascend fully by unearthing the soil above it. The temple was already quite close to the soil, just a bit more than a hundred meters deep. Thus it took Lin Wu just a few minutes to move all the soil.

    <em>~Tremors</em>

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The temple finally ascended to the surface of the ground and was on disy for everyone to see. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle also saw it and got closer. The Vermillion colored feathers on her neck slightly.

    "Let''s go in." Lin Wu said as he opened the trap door.

    He easily shrunk his body and entered the temple, but the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle got stuck at the door. She was simply too big for it.

    "Humph!"

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    The entrance of the temple exploded as all the debris wasunched in the air.

    "Uhбн well, that''s one way to enterбн" Lin Wu said awkwardly.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle simply snorted in irritation and strutted in. Her ws dug into the stony floor with ease, as if it was sand. Lin Wu simply nodded his head and continued onward.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle though, was looking at all the statues of the vermilion bird with curiosity.

    "Is this the first time you are seeing these statues?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    "Huh? I thought you said you got the bloodline crystals of the Vermillion bird from the temples before." Lin Wu asked, feeling a bit confused.

    "I didбн from the followers of the skull god who got them from the temples." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    "Ahбн I see." Lin Wu replied.

    ''Well, that does seem like the better solution considering her sizeбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Soon the two were in front of the doors of the inner hall and Lin Wu pushed them open with a loud noise.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Dust fell from the doors as the interior of the hall was revealed.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    Surprisingly this ce was different from the previous temples Lin Wu had seen. While the torches that were in the form of bird ws were still there, the other pirs were designed differently.

    Even therge statue at thest was in a much different pose than the previous ones. The previous temples had the statue of the Vermillion bird in a soaring pose, as if it was about to fly up. But in this one, the vermilion bird seemed to be looking up to something.

    And not only that, but it was also facing an awkward angle. It faced diagonally to the right instead of facing toward Lin Wu. This seemed strange to Lin Wu and he couldn''t tell why it was like this.

    "Wellбн let''s get the bloodline crystal." Lin Wu spoke before looking for it.

    He found it very easily in the beak of the statue, as always. He took it out before throwing it to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, who quickly swallowed it down in less than a second.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle closed her eyes as her aura red up. The Vermillion feathers on her body started or increase in number again and now her neck was fully covered in them. One could tell that her bloodline had gotten significantly strengthened since she first met Lin Wu.

    <em>~Piiii~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a loud screech that echoed in the temple''s halls, making it tremble. But this made Lin Wu realize another thing; there was no Specter Skull hound in this temple either.

    Not only that, but the defensive formations of the temple also did not seem to be active.

    ''Have they be defective? I can understand them not activating on me, but it should have worked for the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, shouldn''t it?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    And just as he thought of this, he heard the notification of the system.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS COMPLETE: Earth Maniption formation array (defective) detected.

    NOTE: The temple''s offensive formations are active, but the supplementary detecting formations have been disabled. The system suspects that the interference field might be the reason behind this too.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so the interference field is not a natural thing. If it was, then the makers of this temple would have made either different formations or made them adapted to this.

    Who or whatever it is that is causing the interference field should have some links to these temples too." Lin Wu muttered to himself, much to the confusion of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    Then Lin Wu realized another thing; the temples were hidden quite well and even with spirit sense, one would have a hard time finding them. Which meant that the interference field was intentionally ced there by someone.

    ''If it really is as I''m thinking it is, then this Skull god definitely has a hand in this.''

 Chapter 344 - Excited Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle?

    Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle left the temple after that to look for the other ones. Since he had gotten the information that there would be six more of them rising up, they must hurry.

    The two beasts flew up in the sky before going towards the next location where the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle felt like she sensed the bloodline. It took them about forty minutes before they reached the next temple.

    It was already close to the ground and its tip could already be seening out of the ground.

    "That makes it easier for usбн" Lin Wu said as he quickly moved the soil around the temple and unlocked the trapdoor.

    As soon as he opened the door though...

    <em>~KIIIIIII~</em>

    The screeching cry of the specter skull hound could be hearding from inside.

    "Ah, looks like we woke up the doggy," Lin Wu chuckled. "Time to make it go to sleep again."

    <em>~Zoom~</em>

    Lin Wu then moved at a blinding speed as he rushed to the Specter Skull hound. By now he knew the easiest way to get rid of the specter skull hound was to rush them and break their heads.

    "There you areбн" Lin Wu said upon spotting the specter skull hound that wasing towards him.

    Lin Wu used his innate skill and changed the shape of his tail before flipping in mid air.

    "BONK!"

    Lin Wu''s tail, which now looked like a baseball bat, hit the specter skull hound square in the center of its head which cracked like a porcin bowl. Dark blood spewed out from the cracks as the beast let out a painful howl.

    "BONK!бн go to sleep!" Lin Wu hit the beast again, but this time he had erged the ''baseball bat'' by several times.

    The specter skull hound had no chance of survival and was reduced into a dark paste under the weight of Lin Wu. Its body soon started to sublimate and disappeared into smoke.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The sound of an explosion was heard right after this as Lin Wu turned around.

    "ARGH!"

    "HELP ME!!!"

    "ITS THAT BEAST!!!"

    Cries could be hearding from the outside of the temple and Lin Wu understood who they belonged to.

    "Ah, they''re already here. Better hurry up so I can enjoy the extra snacks." Lin Wu said as he picked up the crystal from the beak of the vermilion bird''s statue.

    He also noted the fact that the statue here was in the same looking up pose, but the angle in which it was looking had changed. Instead of looking to the right diagonally, it now looked straight at it.

    "Hmmбн interesting." Lin Wu muttered before leaving the temple to see what had happened outside.

    There he could see the scattered corpses of around six followers of the Skull god along with the mes that burned around.

    "Looks like you gopany before me," Lin Wu joked before wiping away the rest of the followers of the Skull god.

    It was evident that they were here for the bloodline crystal, and thus he did not want to waste any extra energy in talking to them. Gobbling up the few corpses that had been killed, Lin Wu rejoiced internally.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 12,984 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,067,887/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    With the rate he was obtaining spirit qi he would have soon gained enough spirit Qi to break through to the child stage of the Nascent Soul realm. He never expected that his avatar would reach this point before his own main body.

    Even though the main body was quite close to that as well and if Lin Wu rushed it, he may be able to catch up rather quickly. He did a quick look at the main body''s status and saw that it would need more time to reach the needed requirements.

    "Here, catch!" Lin Wu said as he threw the bloodline crystal to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    The vermilion feathers grew in number again and finally reached the back of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. She cooed in pleasure and closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling. This was the first time Lin Wu found her acting like this and found it to be a bit funny.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    But just as the two beasts were done with the temple, strong tremors could be felt in the ground.

    "Ah, seems like we were slightlyte. The other temples should have already risen up to the ground." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~PIIIIII~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle suddenly let out a loud cry as her eyes glowed in red.

    "I can feel it!! So many!!! So many crystals!!!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said in excitement.

    It was evident that the stimtion from sensing so many bloodline crystals was a bit too much for the beast. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle didn''t even say a word more before flying towards the nearest temple.

    "Wait for meбн!" Lin Wu didn''t even have a chance to speak when he heard a sonic boom, that knocked him back.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    This was caused by the p of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s wings at full force and uprooted trees in a radius of two hundred meters. The temple that had just been unearthed was instantly covered with the soil.

    By the time Lin Wu got to the next temple he saw that its top was already destroyed and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had entered the temple.

    <em>~Piiii~</em>

    Another cry was heard, along with a muffled screech.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Lin Wu entered the temple and saw the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle with its foot on top of the specter skull hound as she plucked the bloodline crystal from the beak of the statue. This time she didn''t even take her time to enjoy the crystal after eating it and just flew to the next one.

 Chapter 345 - Hexagonal Formation?

    Lin Wu watched as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle broke through temple after temple, snatching the Bloodline crystals from the different statues. Lin Wu also tried to keep up with her but found it hard with her speed.

    Seeing this, Lin Wu just gave up and decided to take a look at the statues of the Vermilion bird. When he was at the statue of the fourth temple though, he heard the cry of humansing from far.

    "Ah, seems like she met more followers of the Skull god." Lin Wu guessed.

    He continued observing the statues and the different directions they were facing inside the temple. Once he was done seeing all of the temples though, Lin Wu ended up realizing they were all facing the same point.

    He cross-referenced it with the map and saw their markers. All of the temples were actually located in a hexagonal formation with the statues pointing towards the center of the hexagon.

    "This seems too unique for there to be nothing there. Best check it outбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He exited the destroyed top of the temple; courtesy of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, and saw her standing there with her eyes closed. mes burned around her body as it underwent a changed.

    "Looks like eating multiple bloodline crystals sped up the process of her bloodline awakening." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    The feathers on the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle back started to change color rapidly and soon half of it had turned Vermillion red from the previous yellow color. Even her beak seemed to have a hint of reddish gloss on it now.

    <em>~Piiii~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle raised her head and let out a loud chirp, shaking the air. Lin Wu could tell that she was happy and this was a cheerful chirp. But for humans, this may very well be a terrifying one.

    "Are you done?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Hmmбн yes." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    "Alright, let''s go to the next ce now. I think I found something more." Lin Wu stated.

    "You did? Is it another temple?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned, feeling a bit confused since she had not sensed anything more nearby.

    "I don''t knowбн I don''t even know if there is something, but I do have a good hunch. It''s nearby anyway, so checking it out should not be much of a problem." Lin Wu replied.

    "Okayбн" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and flew to the center of the hexagonal fomentation of the temples. It took them about an hour to reach the ce and Lin Wu estimated that the center of the cycle should be around here. The Map was not fully urate right now due to the restriction of the interference field but it could still estimate it.

    "Hmmбн it should be here." Lin Wu muttered as he searched the area with his spirit sense.

    It pierced deep into the ground but did not find anything.

    "That''s strangeбн it should have been hereбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    ''Is it perhaps too deep?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Thinking that this must be the reason, he decided to go deeper.

    "I''ll dig into the ground, so it will take a while." Lin Wu informed.

    "Mmбн I''ll continue my assimtionбн it is not fully stable yet." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "Sure," Lin Wu responded before digging into the ground.

    This time since Lin Wu waspletely unsure that there was anything here, he just decided to dig deep while spreading his spirit sense around him to check for anything hidden there. But even after six hours of searching Lin Wu did not find anything.

    He had gone straight deep for over ten kilometers and even then he had not seen anything. He then made circles around that long tunnel and checked if he missed anything, but even after that he was unable to find anything.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The ground shook as Lin Wu appeared on the surface again. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle sensed him and opened her eyes.

    "Did you find anything?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked.

    "Noбн there''s nothing there. I went as far as I could, but even there I did not find anything. I don''t know what I got wrong." Lin Wu said.

    "Hmmбн what exactly were you looking for?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    Lin Wu then exined to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle how he thought that since the statues in the temple were all looking in the same direction, there must have been something there. But Lin Wu was proved wrong after his search.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle spent some time thinking about it herself. While she did have higher intelligence than a human, it was not like she used it all that often. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was strong and for her most things could be easily solved with violence.

    She was stuck at a bottleneck before and how did she solve it? By even more violence!

    Killing most of her subordinates before consuming them to further her bloodline. But now that she had met Lin Wu, she could see the benefit of thinking more.

    Before the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle used to despise the Slim Arm Ape for acting like humans, but now she realized there were quite a few advantages to them. She reckoned that if she had not met Lin Wu, she would have still been stuck at the same temple, unable to find any more bloodline crystals.

    Thus the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did her best in thinking and came to a conclusion.

    "You said that the statues were facing the same direction, right?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked.

    "Yeah, they were all looking here." Lin Wu said.

    "But when I saw them they were also looking up at the sky," The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    As soon as she said this, Lin Wu realized his mistake.

 Chapter 346 - A Platform?

    Lin Wu had been stuck with the norm that all temples must have been hidden deep underground. But now, after hearing the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s words, he realized he had been short sighted.

    "Of Course! The statues were looking up, thus whatever the location is, it must be in the sky!" Lin Wu said out loud.

    "Yes, that is what I thought." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "That was nice thinking, let''s see if it really is there though." Lin Wu stated before flying up.

    Lin Wu did not doubt the fact if a temple or whatever the location was could float or not; this was after all, a cultivation world. Whether it be floating buildings or entire mountains, nothing was too unbelievable in a world such as this.

    When Lin Wu flew up the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle followed behind him. After all, she was also curious about it now. The two of them flew up straight, piercing through the clouds beforeing out on top of them.

    When they had originallye to find the six temples, it had been night time. But enough time had passed by now that the sun hade out in the sky. Ascending past the dark gloomy clouds of the Dread Coil Marsh, Lin Wu saw the yellow sun spreading its warmth.

    "Ahбн this does feel quite good." Lin Wu muttered.

    He looked up for any signs of the suspected location, but did not find it.

    "Hmmбн it must either be too far up such that it looks like a dot, or it must be under some kind of an illusory formation." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He continued rising up to the point where the system could use the scanner again and activated it.

    "System search for it." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: New parameters selected

    SCAN COMPETED: Spirit Qi fluctuation detected

    MAP UPDATED: Adding new marker

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw the system''s notifications and realized that he was right. He opened the map and saw that a newyer had been added to it. Thisyer was at the very top and represented the sky.

    Lin Wu switched to theyer and saw that it was mostly empty. There was only one marker on it, which was above Lin Wu. In fact, it was within a hand''s distance from where he had been standing.

    "Never expected the illusory formation to be this good. I doubt anyone else would have had an easy time finding this ce." Lin Wu said.

    He used his spirit sense and found that it was as if there was nothing there. The illusory formation was much stronger than he thought. He simply followed the directions of the map and entered the formation.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The formation array did not block Lin Wu and he could easily enter it. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle though, suddenly saw him disappear into thin air. She searched with her spirit sense and did not see where he had gone.

    But then a momentter.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "Come in, this ce is hidden behind an illusory formation." Lin Wu spoke while poking his head out from the limits of the illusory formation.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle nodded her head and entered the formation cautiously. Upon entering it, she suddenly saw the area change abruptly. There was now a broad tform in front of her that looked simr to that of the temples.

    But in the center of it, there was a wide altar. The altar had multiple steps at the top of which a t tray like thing was kept. There were formation runes surrounding the entire altar that prevented one from approaching it.

    Lin Wu approached the altar and touched it, finding it to be aplex barrier.

    "Hmmбн this will take a whileбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    But upon his touch, the runes seemed to have be active. Lin Wu then saw a red glow on top of the tray that was kept on the altar.

    "Huh? Feathers?" Lin Wu said upon seeing the red flow.

    On the tray, three stone feathers were kept. They s had a red vein in the center of them from which the red light wasing from. They were the same as the stone feather Lin Wu had gotten earlier.

    "Waitбн could it be?" Lin Wu muttered as an idea appeared in his mind.

    He took out the stone feather from the inventory, causing a change in the formation.

    <em>~heng~</em>

    The formation runes started to shift as the stone feather reacted with it. Soon the runes all parted, creating an opening in the barrier for Lin Wu to pass through. Entering it, he was now free to approach the altar.

    He climbed the steps and got to the top, fully seeing the tray. There were four indentations in the tray and in three of them the stone feathers were kept. While one of the indentations was empty, as if something was taken out from it.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had also entered the barrier by now and was watching the entire thing curiously.

    "More of the keys?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    "Yesбн seems like this is where they are supposed to be inserted." Lin Wu replied.

    "Do it then." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said straightforwardly.

    Lin Wu was a bit taken aback by her words, but then realized there wasn''t really anything to fear here. He had the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle with him who was at the Dao Shell realm, thus even if he faced something dangerous he would be able to fight them with her assistance.

    "Alright." Lin Wu said before putting the stone feather in the indentation.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    A loud sound could be heard as the formations of the tform started to change. New runes appeared in the air before the tform started to move. Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle trembled slightly but were able to bnce themselves.

    "Let''s see where this takes usбн"

 Chapter 347 - The Platforms Destination?

    Lin Wu flew around a bit and checked the formations of the tform in more detail. He could tell that they were arranged into an array with multiple functions, but they were still far less than others that they had seen.

    "System, show me the list of functions this has." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    FUNCTION LIST: 1. Barrier

    2. Identification

    3. ess Key

    4. Propulsion

    5. Transportation

    6. Navigation

    бкбк

    After seeing the entire list, Lin Wu was reminded of only one thing.

    "Is this thingбн a car?" Lin Wu muttered. "Noбн an airne in this case."

    Lin Wu didn''t know where it was taking them and wanted to know more.

    "System, create a virtual interface and see where it is going." Lin Wu ordered.

    While the system had shown Lin Wu what the functions were of the tform, it had actually not created a virtual interface for it yet. Previously system needed to make it before it could show Lin Wu the functions, but now with its upgraded data banks, it could directly analyze what the functions were just from a basic observation.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK ADDED: Creating Virtual interface

    Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн I guess we can wait and see where it takes up till the Virtual interface is ready." Lin Wu said to himself.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was also watching everything with interest. She had never seen such a thing before and thus was curious about it. Her spirit sense was moving around like a child in a new ce and scanning everything.

    <em>~Swoosh~</em>

    The speed of the tform slowly started to increase, as if it was really an airne. After a couple of minutes, Lin Wu realized its speed had reached the max speed as that of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    "This is fast as hellбн looks like the barrier formations protect us from the winds too." Lin Wu said upon experiencing the speed.

    This was a rather novel thing for Lin Wu as this was the first mode of transportation that he had seen that could fly. While he had seen spirit weapons that could do the same, they were not fully intended for that.

    ''I guess this can be ssified as a spirit tool too.'' Lin Wu thought.

    The tform kept on flying for about twenty minutes before it reached a random spot in the Dread Coil marsh. Lin Wu had noted that they were moving to the south of the previous location. So right now they were likely near the Bing Kingdom or perhaps even in its borders.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    The tform came to a halt suddenly and then started to descend. This made Lin Wu check the map and see if there was anything particr here.

    "Huh? A vige?" Lin Wu muttered.

    ording to the map, there was an old abandoned vige here. This data did note from the system''s own scan, but rather from the information he had gathered from various sources. ording to that, there should be a vige here.

    Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle peeked down from the sides of the tform and saw the clouds below them. The tform soon passed through them, and they could see the scene below it.

    There were old, dpidated houses and buildings that could be seen as small dots. Slowly, as the tform got closer, they started to expand in size. Though for Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle that distance was nothing and they could see it clearly.

    "These buildingsбн they are not of a style that I''ve seen in this world yet." Lin Wu said.

    The buildings and houses below were made of stone and wood. The stone looked quite simr to the one that was used to build the temples, except it did not have any of the carvings on it. As for the wood, it was from the twisty and coiling trees of the Dread Coil marsh.

    But even then, Lin Wu could tell that the vige had been abandoned for a long time, perhaps even hundreds of years.

    "Why would the tform take us here? Is there something unique here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Lin Wu suddenly saw a change in them. The ground started to part as four pirs started to rise up from the ground. The pirs came from between the vige and did not affect any of the buildings. Seeing their positions, one could tell that the entire vige was actually build around it.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Finally, the tform reached the ground and came to rest upon the four pirs. The barrier of the tform lifted, and the four stone feathers that were glowing on the tray also dimmed down.

    "I guess, we''re supposed to go down?" Lin Wu muttered.

    The two beasts got down and checked out the area, unable to sense anything different for now.

    "Can you feel anything here with your bloodline?" Lin Wu asked the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle closed her eyes in response and tried to check.

    "Noбн there''s nothing here." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle spoke.

    "This is weirdбн is the tform not supposed to take us to something important?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    Thinking that he must have missed something, Lin Wu wandered around the vige, taking a closer look at everything while the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle simply continued to assimte the bloodline.

    Lin Wu spent about three hours wandering the vige until he found something interesting. It was actually an old board that hung on top of a building. He had not noticed it before because it was covered with moss, but once he cleaned it, he was able to read it.

    "Oh? It''s written in Dao Script?" Lin Wu said in a surprised tone.

    Lin Wu reads through the board and realized it was actually an academy.

    "Kou''s Martial academy." Lin Wu read.

    Feeling curious even more, Lin Wu shrunk his body and entered the building. Or more like breaking through the doors since they had be stuck.

 Chapter 348 - Two Veined Stone Feather?

    Upon entering the building Lin Wu could see the old equipment that had been greatly damaged and rusted. Not only that but he could even sense the remnants of formations in the building.

    From everything that was in the building, Lin Wu reckoned it was a ce where some Body Tempering realmmoners trained. Though it was likely, there were some Qi refining realm people here too at that time.

    "This is thergest building in the vigeбн or at least thergest building that is still standing. There is bound to be something hereбн plus this was the only ce that had Dao Script on it." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    For someone of Lin Wu''s size, it was hard to move in the building, but he still managed to do so by lowering his body a bit more. Eventually, he reached the innermost room of the building.

    Lin Wu scanned the room with his spirit sense as he had been doing this entire time and finally found something interesting. There was a and old ss case kept on a shelf at the side of the room.

    The room looked like an office of some kind.

    ''Considering this is an academy, perhaps this is the office of the headmaster?'' Lin Wu thought.

    He approached the ss case and lifted its dusty lid, seeing the item that was ced inside it.

    "Bingo! Just as I expectedбн" Lin Wu eximed.

    The item in the case was nothing but another stone feather. Lin Wu picked it up and poured a little spirit Qi into it, making it glow. Here he could see the difference between this stone feather and the previous one.

    This stone feather had two red veins instead of just one. Now, since Lin Wu had seen four stone feathers on the tform, he wondered if there were three more stone feathers like this somewhere.

    "Hopefully it is just this one and I don''t need to search for more of them." Lin Wu said to himself before leaving the room and then the building.

    He returned to the tform where the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was waiting for him.

    "Look what I found." Lin Wu showed the stone feather.

    "Another one?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle spoke.

    "Not just that, it''s different, too. Let''s see what happens when we use this with the tform." Lin Wu replied before going to the altar.

    He took out the first stone feather from the indentation and put the new one in.

    "Ummбн seems like this does not work." Lin Wu said after seeing no change.

    But Lin Wu would not give up this fast. He had yed plenty of games in his past life and knew that there must be some trick to this. He looked at the tray and picked up the new stone feather.

    He then shifted the stone feather that was in the second position to the first and then put the two veined stone feather in the second position.

    <em>~Weeng~ </em>

    As soon as he did that, the formations of the tform became active again.

    "I knew it! They got a specific order to them!" Lin Wu eximed in joy.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle also watched on as the tform started to move again. Unknown to Lin Wu or the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle though, the tform transmitted some kind of energy to the pirs which then disappeared into the ground.

    The tform soared to the sky before moving further south. Lin Wu didn''t know just how far it would go since they were barely at the border of the Bing Kingdom right now. But if it went too far, he didn''t know if others would notice it.

    <em>~Swoosh~</em>

    The tform soared through the sky, blurring past countless clouds. The gloomy and dark clouds of the Dread Coil Marsh were ever present and were one of the reasons why normal nts did not grow here.

    If there was no sunlight, most nts would find it quite hard to glow. Only nts with some unique features would end up growing here, or spirit herbs that did not particrly need sunlight to grow.

    Lin Wu had gathered and eaten quite a few spirit herbs in his time here. That was one of the reasons why his spirit Qi levels had grown so fast. Though he had only eaten the spirit herbs of a high grade. All those below it were stored by him, as they would not help him much at this point.

    He may as well use them for others when his organization would be fully set up. He had already made separate sections in the inventory of the system using the few spatial storage tools that he had obtained till now from killing and eating people.

    In fact, Lin Wu had them on his body at all times. If one looked at his back, one would see some different colored lights on it that were quite faint. These were the spatial storage tools that Lin Wu had just embedded into his crystalline body.

    The system had already told him that if he stored them in the inventory of the system directly they may get damaged. So instead of that, he let the system modify them and turned them into something like external hard drives.

    With that done, Lin Wu could have items stored just by a touch and would not need to clutter the system''s inventory. Yet if he wanted to, he could have it separately disyed on the screen.

    Overall, it had made his task quite easier, and he was happy with this. In a happy mood, Lin Wu watched from the edge of the tform. But his expression turned a bit nervous as over an hour had passed by since they had started to move.

    "With this speed and time passedбн we should be nearly at the edge of the Dread Coil Marsh now. Why is this not stopping?" Lin Wu wondered.

    And just as he thought, the dark and gloomy clouds of the Dread coil marsh disappeared a short distance from where he was right now.

 Chapter 349 - Beyond The Marsh?

    Lin Wu saw the end of the gloomy sea of clouds and the ins that extended beyond that. Even farther than the ins, he could see some mountains that blocked the view of the horizon.

    Even if Lin Wu could not see past that, he knew what existed there.

    "The Great Ocean of the Ming Dao worldбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    The ocean was uniquely shaped in the form of a ''Y'' while the continents surrounded it on three sides. Considering the position that Lin Wu was in on the Long continent, he would be just below the center of the ''Y''.

    But while the ocean was shaped like a ''Y'' it was actually not that narrow. It was still broad enough that it would take years to cross it. And this was only if there was no danger, but that was not so.

    The Great ocean was filled with dangers that would threaten even Dao Treading Realm cultivators. The aquatic beasts that lived in the ocean, along with the unique phenomena that urred there, would spell doom for most people.

    If one wanted to cross the great ocean, one needed luck more than anything. Trade between the three continents did happen, but it was quite rare and took a long time to happen. Only the three great ns of the world knew the ocean routes that were considered to be rtively safe.

    Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle watched on as the tform eventually slowed down over some small hills. It then started to descend while pirs rose from the hills.

    The hills were pierced through and it was as if they were all built by piling soil on top of these pirs. They were fully covered with nts and vegetation, but the arrival of the tform, disturbed them while uprooting many of them.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Once the tform came tond on the four pirs, Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle got down from it. Unlike the previous ce where the tform had halted, there was no vige here.

    From the stone feather Lin Wu had gotten from the vige, he reckoned that there must be another one here somewhere. Like Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had said before, they were like keys of some kind.

    "What do we do now?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked.

    "Do you sense anything?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Noбн once we went past the limits of the Dread Coil marsh, all of my bloodline resonance stopped. Whatever it is, it''s in the Marsh itself." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    "Hmmбн then why did the tform bring us here, and it''s not like it went here on its own, there are these pirs here, which meant that it was supposed toe here." Lin Wu muttered.

    He spread his spirit sense around and tried to find the stone feather.

    "You go that way and I''ll go this way. See if you can find another stone feather somewhere. I think that is the key to getting to the end of it." Lin Wu stated.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle simply nodded her head and few to the eastern side while Lin Wu went to the west. For the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle using spirit sense was not even needed as her eyesight could scan everything very well from the skies.

    But Lin Wu on the other hand, dug into the ground and moved around at great speed. He first checked the pirs themselves that were in supporting the tform and found nothing attached to them.

    They were simple constructs with some formations on them. Even the system did not find anything that was unusual with them. Giving up on them for now, he just went to search for the stone feather.

    Since the stone feather was in the vige where the tformnded, Lin Wu reckoned that this one should be somewhere nearby too. The first thing he did was to unearth all of the hills here and see if there was anything hiding there.

    But it turned out to be a failure and instead, he provoked a few core condensation realm beasts that lived nearby.

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    "That was a good snack. Back to working." Lin Wu muttered after devouring the three beasts.

    "System, scan the area. The interference should be gone, right?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Updating map

    MAP UPDATED: New markers added

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu opened the newly updated map and saw the countless new markers that had appeared on it. Since the inference field had stopped after the border of the Dread Coil Marsh, Lin Wu was free to use the system''s functions to the max.

    He directly filtered out the markers that he did not need, like the beasts below the Nascent Soul realm. In addition to this, he highlighted markers that were unusual and were not particrly recognized by the system.

    Lin Wu reckoned that the stone feather was bound to be here. But after going through the many markers, he found it hard to find it.

    "Where could it be?" Lin Wu wondered.

    And while he was doing this, he found a different colored marker appearing at the very edge of the map.

    "Huh? It''s moving, so it must be a beast." Lin Wu saw that the color was for the Nascent Soul realm beasts since he had hidden all other markers for beasts.

    He continued watching it for a bit and saw that it had gone to one of the mountains in the distance. Since that was the only Nascent Soul realm beast here, Lin Wu reckoned that asking that beast might be a better option for now.

    As for whether that beast wouldply or not? Lin Wu did not care. The beast would live and answer Lin Wu properly or die and still answer him in the form of its memories.

    "Let''s go do some good Ol'' hunting." Lin Wu said as he approached the mountains from underground.

    In less than an hour, he was at the mountains the base of which were covered with blue flowers.

 Chapter 350 - Copper Hide Weasel?

    Lin Wu looked at the nket of flowers that surrounded the base of the mountains.

    "Scan the flowers, System." Lin Wu asked, feeling curious.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Cyan Blush Azaleas

    INFO: Cyan Blush Azaleas are low grade spirit flowers that grow in areas rich in copper. They are also notorious for being the arena where Copper Hide Weasels live.

    бкбк

    "Huh? This is newбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    "System, show me information about the Copper Hide Weasels." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA FOUND: Copper Hide Weasel

    INFO: Copper Hide Weasels are hardy spirit beasts that live in regions rich in copper. They eat various types of coppers, whether they be normal copper or spirit coppers. They are often found near the arrear where Cyan Blush Azaleas grow because the flowers also need copper rich soil to grow.

    These beasts can reach Dao Shell realm and that is the highest recorded cultivation base that has been discovered till now. Their skin is hard like Copper and their teeth can cut through metal like mud.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн I guess the beast I saw on the map is probably a Copper Hide Weasel." Lin Wu muttered.

    He continued up the mountain and soon reached the area that the Copper Hide Weasel was probably living. Unlike what Lin Wu had expected, the weasel did not live in a cave, rather it made its nest using multiple trees that it had broken and arranged into afortable bed.

    Looking at the size of the bed, Lin Wu reckoned the beast must not be that big, as the bed was barely a meter in size.

    "Well, that''s a small Nascent Soul realm beast." Lin Wu muttered.

    Till now, all Nascent Soul realm beasts or even the Core condensation realm beasts that Lin Wu had encountered were quite big. Some Qi refining realm beasts were also quite bigger than this beast.

    Lin Wu wondered whether the beast had any information about the Stone feather. Looking at the nest, he saw even more flowers in it. The beast had evidently used the flowers as bedding anal created a softyer.

    Most of the flowers were smashed and crumpled, showing that the beast had been here recently.

    "Hmmбн where is it, though?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Looking at the map it was still showing it to be far but Lin WU knew that was because that the map had not been updated.

    "System, update the map." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    But just as he said this, he suddenly felt something approaching from the back.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    <em>~HENG~</em>

    The sound of metal vibrating could be heard as Lin Wu felt something hit him.

    "Hey!" Lin Wu shouted as he turned around.

    "Huh? Nothing?" Lin Wu spoke.

    But thenбн

    <em>~munch~</em>

    "What the fuck! Get off from my head!" Lin Wu ordered the thing that wastched on.

    "NO!" The beast spoke.

    Lin Wu moved his eyes using cellr maniption and started at the beast hanging at the back of his head. It was none other than the Copper Hide Weasel. Lin Wu''s crimson red eyes that had suddenly appeared at the back of his head startled the Copper Hide Weasel.

    The beast stopped munching on the crystal spike on Lin Wu''s back and looked into the eyes. Lin Wu found it to be hrious as half of the spike was in the beast''s mouth and it washed him with a tilted head.

    "I said stop." Lin Wu spoke again.

    "No! Food! Tasty!" The Weasel spoke in broken sentences as it continued biting on his spike.

    The thing wasбн the Copper Hide Weasel was unable to actually bit through Lin Wu''s defenses. But it definitely was licking him like candy.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Wind attribute spirit Qi suddenly rose from Lin Wu''s body as it knocked the Copper Hide Weasel away.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    "I told you to get down before." Lin Wu spoke in a deep voice.

    The Weasel got up from the ground pretty quickly and looked at Lin Wu without fear. This made Lin Wu feel strange, as he was sure any Nascent Soul beast would be wary of him. But this beast did not seem to be like that.

    Looking at it, there were no injuries sustained either. The beast was in tip-top condition and looked at Lin Wu undauntedly.

    "Little beast, tell me have you seen something like this," Lin Wu decided to not waste time and took out the stone feather from his inventory.

    The Copper Hide Weasel did not look at it and just started at Lin Wu''s body.

    <em>~drip~</em>

    Slobber dripped from the corner of its mouth as if it was looking at delicious food.

    ''Has this beast gone dumb?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "I SAID, HAVE YOU SEEN THIS?" Lin Wu said in a loud voice.

    The Copper Hide Weasel finally snapped out of it after hearing Lin Wu and sensing the aura being emitted from his body.

    "Food! Me! Eat! No! Tell!" The Copper Hide Weasel spoke before rushing at Lin Wu again.

    This time it attacked the closest thing that was to him, Lin Mu''s tail. The copper Hide Weaseltched onto his tail and started to bite on one of the spikes again. The beast was not even focusing on Lin Wu who could very well smash him to a mush.

    This intrigued Lin Wu, as the other beasts he had seen were not like. While they would attack him, they would also be able to speak decently if they were in the Nascent Soul realm. But this Copper Hide Weasel seemed to be a unique one.

    "It''s almost as ifбн it''s a child." Lin Wu muttered.

    "System, scan this beast." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    Lin Wu saw the same information as before appear in front of him. But when he switched to the details section that showed the beast''s specific information, he saw something that caught his attention.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    BEAST AGE: 25 years

    бкбк

    "Huh? 25 years old? How can this beast be so young with such a cultivation base?" Lin Wu wondered.

 Chapter 351 - Feeding The Weasel?

    While Lin Wu himself was less than three years old while being at the Nascent Soul realm, this was only because of the System. He really doubted if any other beast couldpare with him.

    Even a talented beast with a great bloodline might need over a hundred years to reach the Nascent Soul realm. But the Copper Hide Weasel had managed to do it in a quarter of that time.

    ''Now that I think of it, the way the Copper Hide Weasel talks is simr to that of a child as seen in some Core condensation realm beasts and Qi refining realm beasts. Soбн if somehow the beast had progressed rapidly, it might make sense as to why it has the cultivation base so strong.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He looked at the Copper Hide Weasel that was still biting onto his body without fearing him at all. Lin Wu had managed to make even the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle with her superior bloodline wary of him.

    But even then, this beast was fearless and did not react to his aura somehow. This was quite peculiar and unheard of to Lin Wu.

    "Wait, don''t they say newborn calves are unafraid of tigers? I guess we can kinda consider this simr to that." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    If Lin Wu really wanted to get rid of the Copper Hide Weasel, all he would need to do is to smash it into meat paste. But now that he had learned of its age and cultivation base, he knew there must be something more to it.

    "Stop and listen to me! I''ll give you more food that you can actually eat." Lin Wu spoke in a stern voice.

    <em>~Munch~</em>

    The Copper Hide Weasel kept on nibbling at Lin Wu''s crystallizing body while listening to him.

    "Food? More?" The Copper Hide Weasel spoke.

    "Yes! You like the crystals, right? Let me give you one that you can actually eat." Lin Wu spoke before detaching a small part of the crystal from his body.

    He had intentionally made this crystal weaker than those in his body so that the Beast could eat it.

    "Take this," Lin Wu spoke and shoved the crystal that was about the size of the beast''s paw.

    To Lin Wu, who was so big, this was nothing and he could freely make more of them if he wanted to do so. He had obtained quite a bit of vital energy and spirit Qi in these few days at the Dread Coil Marsh.

    If he truly got into a fight, he could pretty much keep on fighting non stop for over a month at full power and still be fine. His opponent though, would likely get tired and unable to act after a while.

    Lin Wu could literally tire his enemies to death if he wanted to do so. This of course, was only valid if the enemies were of the same level as him or weaker. For those that were immensely strong like the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, Lin Wu could only run away from them.

    The Copper Hide Weasel stopped for a moment to look at the small crystal that Lin Wu had given andpared the two things. Both Lin Wu''s body and the small crystal seemed to be delicious to him and he wanted to eat it.

    ''Hmmбн seems like he''s still indecisive. Gonna needs some extras incentive.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He poured some spirit Qi along with vital energy into the small crystal before forwarding it more towards the Copper Hide Weasel. The beast sniffed it for a second, finding it to be a lot more entrancing than before.

    "Food! Mine!" The Copper Hide Weasel stated with excitement before grabbing at it.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    The Copper Hide Weasel bit onto the crystal that Lin Wu had just given him and split it into two in one bite.

    ''Boyбн that was something.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    One had to know that even if Lin Wu had weakened the durability of the crystal, it would still be quite difficult for an average beast to damage it. Even some core condensation realm cultivators would find this hard to do so.

    "Just as its data saidбн its teeth can cut though metal like mud." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    As soon as the beast managed to get the first bite in, its eyes glowed with excitement.

    <em>~munch~</em>

    <em>~munch~</em>

    <em>~munch~</em>

    It happily started to nibble onto the crystal that Lin Wu had given it and quickly assimted the spirit Qi and vital energy that was present in it. Lin Wu needed the beast to be in perfect condition or it would probably not speak properly.

    He watched on as the beast finished the entire crystal after about ten minutes.

    "MORE!" The Copper Hide Weasel said, while looking at Lin Wu with desiring eyes.

    Lin Wu didn''t know what to feel about it. What he had just done could be said to be literally cutting''s one''s flesh to feed the others. Buddha had once done it to feed a hungry bird and here Lin Wu was replicating the same.

    But now that he thought about it, the strangeness only increases even more.

    "Only if you tell me about this Stone feather or about yourself, will I give you more." Lin Wu spoke hurriedly while he still had the beast''s attention.

    Lin Wu waved the stone feather around for the Copper Hide Weasel to see and the beast kept its eyes on it.

    "I see feather in tree. I eat tree." The Copper Hide Weasel said, after being silent for a bit.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but feel a bit dumbfounded by this.

    "You ate the tree?" Lin Wu questioned to confirm.

    "YES!" The Beast replied.

    "You are everything on it too?" Lin Wu questioned again.

    "Yes, me eat all tree!" The beast replied.

    "Did you eat this feather too?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling anxious about the feather''s fate.

    If the Feather was lost or eaten by the Cooper Hide Weasel, he didn''t know what he would do next.

 Chapter 352 - A Bountiful Valley?

    Lin Wu watched on and waited for the Copper Hide Weasel to speak further. He hoped that there was more to this story than just this as he did not want to end this ''quest'' of his here. Not when he was just starting to get excited.

    "Me can''t eat. Me teeth hurt! Me put it in nest. Me eat every night, but me can''t eat. Me leave till me get strong. Me was able to eat new things when me get strong." The Copper Hide Weasel replied.

    Upon hearing his words, Lin Wu felt relieved.

    "So you did not eat it?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Me ate." The Copper Hide Weasel replied.

    "But you just said you did not eat it." Lin Wu questioned.

    "Me teeth hurt, so me eat at night." The Copper Hide Weasel answered.

    "You''re not making any sense!" Lin Wu said, feeling frustrated.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I''ll just check it myself." Lin Wu muttered to himself before turning around.

    The nest of the Copper Hide Weasel was right behind him and Lin Wu had not gotten the chance to scan it entirely due to the beast attacking him at thest moment. And thus even if the stone feather was there, he might not have eaten it yet.

    Lin Wu took this chance to check it and found the stone feather lying deep in at the bottom of the nest. It was covered with all the Cyan Blush Azaleas and branches, which had made it hard for one to see it.

    Only with spirit sense did he manage to spot it.

    "There you are!" Lin Wu said before picking the stone feather out from the nest.

    He looked at the feather that was covered in dirt and dust before infusing some spirit Qi into it.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    The stone feather became activated and three red veins appeared on it.

    "Bingo! It really was the right one." Lin Wu eximed.

    The Copper Hide Weasel though, kept on looking at him as if he wanted more. Lin Wu also noticed this and wondered about its cultivation base. If the beast had found this stone feather in some tree he wanted to know what kind of a tree it was.

    If that tree could push a beast to the Nascent Soul realm this easily, then it was bound to be something really valuable.

    "That tree you ate, where was it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Food! Give!" The Copper Hide Weasel demanded.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Fineбн" Lin Wu responded before making another crystal from his body and weakening it before passing it to the Copper Hide Weasel.

    <em>~munch~</em>

    The Copper Hide Weasel quickly ate the crystal before licking its paws clean, even though there was nothing on them.

    "Now take me to where you found the tree." Lin Wu spoke.

    The Copper Hide Weasel did not speak anything and simply turned around. Lin Wu knew this was his cue to follow the beast and thus he did. The beast took him through the forest, and then beyond the mountains.

    Eventually, they reached a valley after two hours of travel. During the entire time, Lin Wu was keeping his map updated so that he could see if there was anything important here. He reckoned that if there was something so valuable, like that tree here, there were bound to be other things too.

    He did end up seeing some good things here. There were a couple of high grade spirit herbs that were growing in some isted areas, while there were also some nascent Soul realm beasts in this valley.

    Here''s where Lin Wu could see the difference between the Beasts of the Millennium forest and those of the Bing Kingdom. The ones here were mostly wild and independent. They kept to themselves and did whatever they wanted in the territory.

    While the beasts of the Millennium forest were much more smarter in a way and would organize themselves. Lin Wu wondered if this was some unique effect caused by living in thatnd or something else.

    ''The tomb of the Taiji Celestial and the Dark Bloom caverns certainly has something to do with it.'' Lin Wu thought.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    While passing by one of the Nascent Soul realm beasts discovered Lin Wu and the Copper Hide Weasel. It rushed at them and let out a loud roar, trying to intimidate them. Lin Wu immediately looked at the Copper Hide Weasel and wanted to see how it would reach.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    The Copper Hide Weasel rushed like crazy and lunged at the beast that had just appeared. It was a panther that had yellow fur but with green patterns on it. Lin Wu recognized it to be a Green Tenspot Panther which was a native beast of the Bing Kingdom.

    Lin Wu did not interfere and wanted to see how the Copper Hide Weasel would deal with it. He saw the Copper Hide Weasel which was four times smaller than the Green Tenspot Panther jumping at its head andtching onto it with its paws.

    It then directly bit onto its nose.

    <em>~GROWL~</em>

    "Let GO!" The Green Tenspot Panther yelled in beast tongue.

    Lin Wu could see that the Nascent Soul realm beasts here spoke normally, too. It was just the Copper Hide Weasel that was a strange guy.

    "Truly fearlessбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He then watched as the Copper Hide Weasel ran around the beast''s body while biting everywhere. The Green Tenspot Panther could not do much and only thrashed around. Both the beasts had simr cultivation bases, but the Copper Hide Weasel was faster and smaller.

    It could easily dodge the Green Tenspot Panther''s attacks and actually made it injure itself while struggling. Lin Wu ended up watching the show for about five minutes after which it got boring for him.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Stop it now," Lin Wu spoke.

    But neither of the beasts responded.

    "Ah, I forgot I need to use force." Lin Wu muttered as he shook his head.

    "I SAID STOP!" Lin Wu yelled with force as he smashed his tail on the ground.

 Chapter 353 - A Pond?

    The shockwave created by Lin Wu''s tail was enough to knock both the beasts down.

    "Enoughбн" Lin Wu said before whipping his tail like aet.

    <em>~St~</em>

    The Green Tenspot Panther was reduced to a mush in a second, under the power of Lin Wu''s tail. The beast was in the Infant Stage of the Nascent Soul realm and thus was easy for Lin Wu to handle.

    Once that beast was gone, the Copper Hide Weasel calmed down. It was obvious that this guy liked to pick fights as could be witnessed from it pouncing on Lin Wu without even thinking.

    ''He literally tried to eat me, of course he would not be afraid of a beast that was five times its size.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Come on now, focus. Take me to the ce like I asked." Lin Wu spoke.

    The Copper Hide Weasel though looked at the bloody mess under Lin Wu''s tail with a drooling mouth.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Go on finish it." Lin Wu spoke as he lifted his tail.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    <em>~MUNCH~</em>

    The Copper Hide Weasel started to devour the meaty paste on the ground and soon finished it all. The bones and fur didn''t matter to him as he ate it all, and even licked the blood from the ground clean.

    But while the Copper Hide Weasel was doing this, Lin Wu was on the lookout for something else. While he had killed the Green Tenspot Panther, he did not see where its Nascent Soul had gone.

    In the case of the Specter Skull hounds, they simply did not have nascent souls and just had bodies that were equivalent to those beasts at that cultivation base. This meant that the Nascent Soul of the Green Tenspot panther was still roaming around somewhere.

    The Nascent Soul itself did not pose any danger to Lin Wu, but the thing was he wanted to observe more Nascent souls as his own were quite different from others. His main body had two nascent souls that were in the form of a human while his avatar had one Nascent soul that was in the form of a worm.

    Plus due to the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance, Lin Wu had the Unity Avatar technique. Using that he could not only create an avatar but also merge it with his main body, increasing theirbined strength.

    Of course, he had not done that yet and wondered what the effects would be with three Nascent souls. He didn''t even know if this was something that was intentional or not; Whether it was the technique that had caused this or if it was his own peculiarity.

    Whatever it may be the system needed a lot more data to upgrade its data banks and it would only do Lin Wu good to have more of it. Thus he scanned the area for the Nascent Soul of the Green Ten spit Panther.

    ''Hmmбн did it manage to escape?'' Lin Wu wondered. "Whatever, doesn''t matter for now."

    Once the Copper Hide Weasel was done with its meal, it started to run again and Lin Wu followed behind it. They continued on for another hour before they reached a new area. There was arge pond here the depth of which was unknown to Lin Wu.

    There was a meow surrounding the pond and there were many spirit herbs growing around it as well. Overall it looked like a small patch of paradise in this forest. But Lin Wu knew better than to judge from appearances.

    After all, this was a cultivation world and there would be danger hiding at every step. The more tempting a ce was, the more danger it was likely to be hiding. Lin Wu spread his spirit sense around to check for any beasts.

    "How can there be none?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The Copper Hide Weasel continued ahead and came to stand at the edge of the pond.

    "Here." It spoke.

    Lin Wu approached the pond and looked at it, unable to find anything.

    "You mean the tree that you ate was here?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes." The Copper Hide Weasel replied.

    "In the water?" Lin Wu confirmed.

    "Yes," the Copper Hide Weasel stated.

    "Strangeбн did the tree grow directly from the base of the pond or was it something else?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He spread his spirit sense into the water and tried to observe its insides. But in a surprise to him, the entire pond was muchrger than he had thought it to be. Not only that, but the pond actually extended below the ground under his as well.

    "How can this be?" Lin Wu asked himself.

    After thinking for a bit, he decided to let the system scan it in detail.

    "System, scan the area and check for anything abnormal." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Perimeter selected

    SCANNING: Please wait patiently

    бкбк

    "Huh? No time given?" Lin Wu said feeling surprised.

    Usually, the system wouldplete the scan fast enough that Lin Wu did not need to was, or if it did not then it would give him a time period that would be needed for it toplete the scan. But since it had not given him one it meant that whatever was in the area it was either difficult for the system to scan or beyond its abilities.

    Lin Wu ended up waiting for about an hour before he got another notification. During this time, the Copper Hide Weasel had curled up and fallen asleep under one of the trees. The beast was evidently very careless, or one could even say fearless.

    Though Lin Wu kind of understood its position considering it had just eaten a Nascent Soul realm beast that was at the same stage as it and was also five times as much in size. That beast had eaten that much volume without slowing down.

    It was obvious that its metabolism was also quite strong. Lin Wu didn''t know if this was due to its natural ability or if this was something that was caused by its fortunate encounter.

 Chapter 354 - What Kind Of A Tree Was It?

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCAN COMPLETE: Map updated

    бкбк

    Once the notification appeared, nil Wu felt relieved. He did not want to see another area where the system would not work, or be limited due to the map. Lin Wu reckoned that if the system could work in the Dread Coil Marsh, it would not have taken him two months that it took him now, to reach this point.

    "Show me the updated map." Lin Wu spoke.

    On the map, Lin Wu could see the two extrayers that had been added for the area. Oneyer was for the ground, one for the sky and the final one for the underground. In the undergroundyer, six more subyers were present on the map.

    This showed how much of the area the system needed to scan and why it needed so much time. But that was not all, as the system would only take this much time if there were too many things in it, or if there wereplex, high energy objects present.

    Any of those could either be a fortune, or misfortune for Lin Wu.

    "Let''s see what''s exactly below this." Lin Wu muttered as he browsed the map.

    On it, he saw that the ground was only about thirty meters deep. Once he went below that, there was just water. The more shocking thing was that this undergroundke was spread in an area of over three kilometers.

    Then from the western part of it, a branch expanded which went far beyond the limits of the map. Lin Wu could not clearly tell where it went, but he had a good guess about what this pond orke was.

    "An undergroundke connected to the ocean, huh?" Lin Wu guessed.

    He went through theyers and realized that the water was still going beyond the sixth suyer of the map.

    ''Theke is deeper than the range of the systemбн'' Lin Wu understood.

    But having learned, this Lin Wu knew that what the Copper Hide Weasel must have said was probably falseбн or right ording to the Copper Hide Weasel.

    "Hang onбн what if the tree he meantбн" Lin Wu suddenly had an idea.

    <em>~Poke~</em>

    "Hey you! Wake up!" Lin Wu shook the Copper Hide Weasel.

    "NO! Sleep!" The Copper Hide Weasel yelled before falling asleep again in an instant.

    "This beastбн" Lin Wu shook his head before extending his tail and picking up the Copper Hide Weasel who was still asleep.

    <em>~stter~</em>

    "There you go." Lin Wu said after throwing the Copper Hide Weasel into theke.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    The Copper Hide Weasel let out a loud screech due to the rude awakening. One moment it was happily sleeping and in the next, it was wet and about to drown.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    It flew out of the water andnded on the ground.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    It quickly shook off all the water from its body and looked at Lin Wu angrily.

    "Finally awake, huh. Now tell me what kind of tree did you see." Lin Wu questioned in a stern tone.

    "A TREE!" the Copper Hide Weasel replied.

    "Describe its shape!" Lin Wu yelled back.

    The Copper Hide Weasel narrowed its eyes as it tried to remember the tree. It thought hard for about three minutes before starting to speak. It was speaking in the same broken words, but Lin Wu was slowly able to piece the information together.

    ''So a tree with manyrge circr leaves that floated on top of the water. Long stems extending from the water while also being attached to the leaves. Then the stem having a singlerge at the top with hundreds of petals.

    Andбн the color is blue? No dark blueбн'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    After hearing the entire exnation Lin Wu felt like his head would explode. The Copper Hide Weasel was making little sense and picking the right information from its words was also hard.

    It was like asking a toddler to exin what something looked like. While they would speak simple words, and they were easy to put together. They would skip on a lot of details thus making it had to understand.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "System can you analyze this and see if your data banks have something matching to this." Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS: Initiated

    PARAMETERS SELECTED: Manual host input

    INITIATING ANALYSIS: Please wait patiently

    бкбк

    Lin Wu waited for the system toplete its analysis and saw the Copper Hide Weasel staring at him.

    "Food." It said.

    "Go eat those spirit herbs and flowers, I''m not giving you more." Lin Wu denied.

    <em>~krrr~</em>

    The Copper Hide Weasel growled in annoyance before going to munch on some flowers. It ate the spirit herbs in the area for about fifteen minutes, managing to wipe out a quarter of the spirit herb poption.

    Till then Lin Wu looked around the area ording to the map and gathered more spirit herbs for himself and for the organization. Though he still found the fact that no beast came here strange. He could not even see normal insects and animals here, which meant that there was something that prevented them froming here or scared them perhaps.

    While doing this Lin Wu was reminded of the Silver Beak Sky soar eagle.

    "Ah, I almost forgot about her. She must still be searching for the Stone feather." Lin Wu muttered.

    He realized he had not given her a jade slip made by himself tomunicate and could not inform her right now.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I''ll do it the next time I meet her. She''s out of the range of the system anywayбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    More time passed and by now the Copper Hide Weasel had finished half of the spirit herbs in the area. The beast had eaten quite a fortune in spirit herbs if one tabted their value. But just when it was about to eat a ratherrge fleshy petaled flower, the ground trembled.

    <em>~Ripple~</em>

    Theke''s water started to shake too and Lin Wu wondered what was happening. His spirit sense spread around and he saw somethingrge approaching from the depths of theke.

 Chapter 355 - Aquadream Sea Lotus?

    <em>~WARNING!~</em>

    <em>~WARNING!~</em>

    <em>~WARNING!~</em>

    After quite a long time, Lin Wu saw the system giving a warning like this. As soon as he heard it, his heart fell to the bottom of his stomach and he felt cold.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Extremely dangerous creature approaching

    бкбк

    "Fuck! If it''s dangerous for me despite being in the Nascent Soul realm, it''s bound to be higher than the Dao Shell realm. Even the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did not cause the system to act like this." Lin Wu thought.

    He realized that what his spirit sense had observed was nothing but this creature. The only problem was that he did not know what it was yet. But in the next moment, the system gave him another notification. It was for the ''tree'' that the Copper Hide weasel had told him about.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS: Completed

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED: Target identified

    TARGET: Aquadream Lotus

    INFO: Aquadream Lotus is a special kind of a creature that can be ssified as both a nt and beast. They live in different bodies of water and are of different sses. They eat the beasts that live around them, while letting other spirit herbs and nts grow around them.

    Their presence is good for the other herbs as not only does it protect them, but also promotes their growth naturally. Some sects especially rear certain sses of this beast for their spirit herb gardens as they catalyze their growth.

    The lowest ss of Aquadream Lotus is called as Aquadream Pond Lotus and lives in ponds. They can reach up to the Nascent Soul realm at most and if they want to increase their cultivation base they need to move to ake.

    The second ss of it is called as Aquadream Lake Lotus and lives in Lakes. They can reach up to the Dao Shell realm at most and need to move to arger water body to further increase their cultivation base.

    The next two sses of the Aquadream Lotus are the Aquadream Sea Lotus and the Aquadream Ocean Lotus. They can reach the Dao Treading Realm and Immortal Ascension realm, respectively.

    бкбк

    After reading therge amount of information, Lin Wu also saw the appearance of the Aquadream Lotus in a different window. It looked simr to what the Copper Hide Beast had described as.

    "Considering the size of the one that the Copper Hide Beast described, it must be an Aquadream Pond Lotus. That must be what it ateбн but how the heck did he eat a beast that was at the Nascent Soul realm while being weaker than it?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    ''No, wait! It only said the maximum it can reach is the Nascent Soul realm. What if it was weaker than that? But that would still not exin how it was able to reach the Nascent Soul realm so fast.

    And neither would it exin how the heck did it get the stone feather from the thing. This all makes no sense.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    But in the next moment, the surface of the pond parted and a long greenish blue vine rose from it. Then more of the vines appeared from the water, before leaves started to appear. Each of these leaves measured over five meters in diameter and there were easily a hundred of them, covering the entire pond in just a few seconds.

    Then from between the leaves, Lin Wu saw arge bud appearing. The bud was about two meters long and half a meter thick. The bud faced Lin Wu and the Copper Hide Weasel before blooming in front of them.

    But what appeared in front of them was not a beautiful flower but rather a wide maw filled with sharp teeth.

    "THAT''S ONE UGLY MOTHERFUCKER!" Lin Wu cursed, before flying back with a flip.

    He used his tail like spring beforeunching himself back in the air at great speed.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    "Huh? Youtched on too?" Lin Wu saw the Copper Hide Weasel stuck to his back.

    It managed to hold onto one of his back spikes and was now flying with him.

    "Seems like you can tell when it''s dangerous as wellбн just that your standard is way too high." Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    Once Lin Wu was in the air, he flew back on his own and retreated for over a kilometer before stopping. He then gazed at the Aquadream Lotus in front of him in the pond.

    "System, what kind of Aquadream Lotus is that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He wanted to sense the cultivation base of the creature, but when his spirit sense was nearing it, he felt it to be wavering. Lin Wu reckoned that the beast had more abilities than was shown by the system and perhaps they were in details.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The creature is an Aquadream Sea Lotus and has a cultivation base at the Dao Treading realm.

    бкбк

    "GODDAMN! Is this distance even safe?" Lin Wu wondered and started to fly back just to be a bit more safe.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    "What the fuck!" Lin Wu cursed while dodging a jet of water that had been shot out by the Aquadream Sea lotus.

    The water jet missed Lin Wu, but it hit the hill that was behind him, piercing through it and destroying the trees beyond it. The power of the attack could be felt from this and Lin Wu was sure that if it hit him, even he would get damaged.

    "Yeah, this distance is definitely not enough." Lin Wu stated before flying back more.

    But while he was doing this, he saw the Aquadream Sea Lotus acting strangely. The flower head that contained the many teeth started to spin as an enormous mouth opened up from it. The Aquadream Sea Lotus started to rise further up from the pond, like Godzi from the sea.

    "That''s not even its full bodyбн" Lin Wu muttered as he saw tens of vines appearing from the pond before the corners of it started to crack and split apart.

 Chapter 356 - It Came From The Great Ocean?

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    The ground around the pond started to split apart as more vines appeared from between the cracks. But that did notst long, as the ground which had cracked, crumbled below and water reced it.

    As Lin Wu had seen before, the ground near the pond was hollow and there was a lot more water spread there. The Aquadream Sea Lotus had broken apart the ground in the process of pulling its body out.

    When the creature was fully revealed, Lin Wu understood how much he had underestimated it before. The part that had appeared in the pond was not even ten percent of its body.

    <em>~SCREECH~</em>

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus let out a loud screech from its many mouths that were located inside the flowers. There were currently over fifty such flowers there, along with thousands of leaves.

    The total area that the Aquadream Sea Lotus had now upied was of about a kilometer in diameter. Overall, this was definitely thergest creature Lin Wu had seen till now in this world.

    "Oh noбн" Lin Wu muttered, feeling the dangerous aura of the creature.

    <em>~pew~</em>

    <em>~pew~</em>

    <em>~pew~</em>

    More and more jets of water were shot out by the Aquadream Sea Lotus as Lin Wu dodged them. The speed of those jets was very fast and had it not been for the distance Lin Wu had put between himself and the Aquadream Sea Lotus, he would not have been able to dodge it.

    Lin Wu simply kept on retreating while dodging the attacks of the Aquadream Sea Lotus. It was getting harder as the number of water jets just kept on increasing with each second. Another thing Lin Wu noticed was that it was getting harder for Lin Wu to use his spirit sense.

    "What is happening, system?" Lin Wu questioned, getting worried.

    If Lin Wu could not use his spirit sense to the full extent, it would get harder for him to dodge as spirit sense was his basis for that. It allowed him to observe and sense things faster, which would not have been possible with just his vision.

    Plus, the range of the spirit sense was also a lot more than what his vision could cover at once.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Aquadream Sea Lotus has the ability to cause mental disruptions along with spirit sense using the spores that it spreads. These spores are microscopic and are spread out from the flower heads.

    These spores are one of the reasons why Aquadream Sea Lotus is considered to be one of the most dangerous creatures of the Great Ocean and kill a lot of travelers when they try to cross it to reach the other continent.

    бкбк

    "Hang on! Why is there an Aquadream Sea Lotus here if they are supposed to be in the Great Ocean?" Lin Wu wondered, but realized the answer on his own.

    "THAT CHANNEL!" Lin Wu eximed.

    When Lin Wu had checked the map earlier, he had seen a branch of the pond extending underground, which went beyond the limits of the map. Lin Wu had a hunch earlier that it may reach the Great Ocean, but now that guess was confirmed.

    "The Aquadream Sea Lotus managed to reach here using that underground water channel. Then that meant that the Aquadream Pond Lotus, that the Copper Hide Weasel earlier must have been an offspring of this Aquadream Sea Lotus.

    No wonder it attacked now since it sensed us near the pond." Lin Wu spoke.

    Lin Wu continued flying back without stopping for the fear that the Aquadream Sea Lotus might chase them. He knew that any being at the Nascent soul realm could fly, and this Aquadream Sea Lotus was at the Dao Treading realm. It was bound to be significantly stronger than that.

    "System, can this Aquadream Sea Lotus chase us?" Lin Wu asked.

    There were many more information windows that had appeared when the system had given Lin Wu the information about the Aquadream Lotus but Lin Wu did not have the time to read it, due to being interrupted but the Aquadream Sea Lotus''s appearance.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Aquadream Lotuses can''t leave water for long periods of time. They need water to survive and even after reaching the Nascent Soul realm, they would not leave the water bodies. Though the higher their cultivation base reaches, therger their bodies get.

    This gives them another method to leave the water, which is to leave its roots behind in water while letting their massive bodies fly.

    бкбк

    "SHIT! No way this distance will be enough then." Lin Wu said before speeding up even more.

    He looked at the Copper Hide Weasel and felt pissed.

    "YOU FLY TOO! WHY ARE YOU HITCHHIKING OFF MY BACK!" Lin Wu yelled at the beast.

    But he received no answer as the beast simply kept hanging onto Lin Wu''s back. At this point, Lin Wu could also not care much and kept on flying. He had reached the mountains where the Copper Hide Weasel had made its nest when he saw something new.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus''s body parted as a translucent orb rose from it. The orb was many times many times smallerpared to its body and looked to be about a meter in diameter as well. But the power exuding from that orb was massive, too.

    If one looked at it, they would see something blurry kept inside of it. When Lin Wu saw it though, he insistingly understood what it was.

    "Dao Shell? That''s a Dao Shell!" Lin Wu recognized.

    In the Dao Shell realm, a cultivator would create a Dao Shell which was simr to a core one formed during the core condensation realm. The one big difference was that it was not used to birth a Nascent Soul but rather something else.

    A Dao Shell was used for nurturing a Dao Embryo and a Dao Embryo was only formed when one reached the Dao Treading realm.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    A bright blue light was suddenly let out from the Aquadream Sea Lotus''s Dao Shell as Lin Wu watched.

 Chapter 357 - How To Escape?

    Within the Dao Shell of the Aquadream Sea Lotus Lin Wu could see a small blue pearl. The pearl was very smallpared to the Dao shell, being about the size of a pea. But it was this very pearl that was letting out the blinding blue light.

    But that was not all, as Lin Wu could feel a strong presence from it. He turned on his radiation perception to see things, since the light was too bright and saw an entirely different scene.

    The entire Dao Shell looked like an opaque ss container, and within it, an empty spot could be seen. This empty spot was nothing but the blue pearl that was giving out the bright blinding light.

    "Why is it transparent? It''s almost simr toбн THE TRIBULATION LIGHTNING!" Lin Wu recognized.

    "The blue pearl should be the Dao Embryo of the Aquadream Sea Lotus and thus is a representative of its ''Dao''. And if this Dao appears transparent in the Radiation perception thenбн the transparent part I see in the Tribtion part must be fragments of Dao as well!" Lin Wu felt enlightened.

    Having learned this, Lin Wu finally understood why he had a hard time controlling tribtion lightning when the concentration of the transparent part increased. The problem he was having was basically in controlling a Dao he had no insight in.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    A strange humming sound was let out by the blue pearl as its light dimmed down. Lin Wu felt a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had not stopped flying back, but he still felt that he was not fast enough.

    And then it happenedбн

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    <em>~SWOOSH~ </em>

    A Torrent was released by the Blue pearl, which was the Dao embryo. The amount of water created by it was simply massive, instantly drowning out all the mountains in the area along with all the life.

    The sea that had been created in mere momentspletely changed the look of the area. Turning it from a forested mountainous area into a literal sea. The water kept on spreading at a great speed and was already near Lin Wu before he could react.

    "WHAT THE HELL!!! THIS IS WAY TOO OVERPOWERED!" Lin Wu couldn''t help butin.

    Now that the area had beenpletely changed, the Aquadream Sea Lotus was free to move as it pleased. It now rushed at Lin Wu with a speed greater than him, whileunching jets of water.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The jets of water that missed him eventually fell into the sea, cleaving apart the water all the way to the ground at the bottom.

    "Argh!" Lin Wu grunted in pain as one of the water jets managed to hit his body.

    A spiderweb like crack could be seen on the surface of his skin where the jet had hit. This was possibly the strongest attack Lin Wu had taken till now, if he excluded the heavenly tribtion.

    At least in the case of the heavenly tribtion, Lin Wu could use radiation maniption to weaken it by splitting it apart. But in the case of the Aquadream Sea Lotus''s attacks, there was nothing he could do.

    Even flying higher up was not an option as the jets of water easily reached over a kilometer up into the sky.

    "DAMMIT! This won''t work!" Lin Wu cursed, as his mind ran at great speed to think of a solution.

    The distance between him and the Aquadream Sea Lotus was getting closer and closer despite the fact that the Aquadream Sea Lotus was moving in water while Lin Wu was in the air.

    "It has the advantage of home groundбн then I''ll do the same!" Lin Wu decided.

    But just as he was about to find a ce to dig into, he was interrupted

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    "Ah, I forgot about you." Lin Wu said upon seeing the Copper Hide Weasel shriek.

    He thought about just eating him and finishing it all, but then decided against it. Why? He didn''t know either.

    "Can''t dig with him on my back, he''ll probably do something to fuck me up again." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    But soon an idea presented to him. He picked up the Copper Hide Weasel with his tail and brought it to the front of his face.

    "You are pretty durable, right?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Durable?" The Beast questioned, feeling confused.

    "I''ll take that as yes." Lin Wu spoke before pulling his tail back.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    The Copper Hide Weasel let out another shriek, this time due to shaking too hard. Lin Wu''s tail glowed green as wind attribute spirit Qi wrapped around it. More spirit Qi poured into it as Lin Wu used Qi amplification to the maximum.

    "NOW YOU FLY!" Lin Wu yelled as he threw the Copper Hide Weasel with all his strength.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The power of the throw was enough to break the sound barrier and causing a sonic boom. The copper Hide Weasel was sent flying to the south at a speed even greater than that of the Aquadream Sea Lotus.

    "That takes care of one part. Now to get away myself." Lin Wu said to himself, trying to look for an empty spot.

    But that was not easy as the sea only kept on expanding. Looking at the Aquadream Sea Lotus one could see that the Dao embryo was still producing more and more water.

    "What the heck, there should be some limit to this right?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He looked at the spirit Qi but it was hard to tell how it was moving. There was simply such chaos in the environmental spirit Qi, it was hard to get a sense of things.

    "System, look for all possible modes of escape!" Lin Wu ordered urgently.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK ADDED: Escape route analysis

    ANALYZING: Checking new parameters

    ANALYSIS COMPLETER: Two possible routes of escape found, updating on map.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu immediately opened the map and saw the routes that had been charted on it. The first route was the most ridiculous, as it told him to fly straight up. And not only that but it had a sess rate of 5% as he would likely be killed by the water jets.

 Chapter 358 - Hard To Escape?

    Lin Wu knew that the first route was a lost cause and he was better off choosing the second one. The second one was what he was originally intending to do. Lin Wu was gonna dig into the ground and the second route was showing him the safest path.

    "Take the second route, system!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ROUTE SELECTED: Activating navigation HUD

    бкбк

    In the next second, the navigation HUD appeared in front of Lin Wu''s field of vision, and now he just needed to follow it. Still, the sess rate from this route was about fifty percent, but it was something Lin Wu was willing to take.

    "It''s ten times better than the first route, for heaven''s sakeбн" Lin Wu muttered to him as he moved ording to the route plotted by the system.

    This was the first time Lin Wu was having to use all his capabilities to escape like this after reaching the Nascent Soul realm. He even used the wind attribute spirit Qi to further increase his speed and caused a small explosion behind himself to propel his body.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The attacks of the Aquadream Sea Lotus continued and Lin Wu got hit several times but it was still manageable. The system was using the stored vital essence to continually heal Lin Wu so that he would be in his optimum condition.

    This was no time to be frugal about resources, and Lin Wu was doing all he could to escape imminent death. But during this entire thing, he also realized that the Aquadream Sea Lotus had not spoken even once.

    All it did was make screeching sounds that were just like cries of a beast. There was no actual sense to them and they were animalistic. He didn''t even as the system to try tranting it as he didn''t know if it would be worth it.

    "Goddamn! Where is the ground?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    By now the sea had expanded past Lin Wu''s vision and it was still expanding. One could tell from this that the Aquadream Sea Lotus was immensely strong. Lin Wu reckoned that the entire Millennium forest may be eradicated by this single creature if it ever appeared there.

    ''Maybe even the Frozen Cloud sect would have a hard time against it. While the elders and the sect head may be able to hold back against the creature, I doubt the disciples would be able to do the same.'' Lin Wu thought.

    This also made Lin Wu think about the Dao Treading realm cultivators. Till now he had not seen the true expression of their might and the only one that he did see was the sect patriarch of the frozen cloud sect.

    Lin Wu had experienced the power of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle that was at the Dao shell realm and could tell she was quite powerful as well. But the Aquadream Sea Lotuspletely overshadowed it all.

    "THERE IT IS!" Lin Wu eximed upon seeing a small patch of ground in the sea.

    The patch was about four meters wide and looking as to how it was still there; it was evident that it was the peak of a mountain. This was the tallest mountain in the area and even this one had been drowned.

    One would ask why Lin Wu did not go to the ground from the water. The reason for this was that while he could have directly sunk into the sea and gone to the bottom, this was the domain of the Aquadream Sea Lotus.

    From the way it controlled the water jets in the air, Lin Wu was a hundred percent sure that it would be able to kill him in less than a minute if he touched water. Thus, the best way for him to escape was none other than this mountain peak.

    "I only got one chance!" Lin Wu fired himself up as he triggered cellr maniption and cellr crystallization.

    His body shrank at rapid speed and he plunged into the mountain top. His body was the perfect size and shape, allowing it to sink into the solid mountain top like a bunker buster missile.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The mountain top cracked from the impact, but Lin Wu instantly changed into the drill form to continue onwards.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    From the cracked mountain top, the water started to rush in, which was kind of expected as the water level was still rising.

    <em>~KREEEEEEEEEE!!!~</em>

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus let out a loud screech as it saw Lin Wu escape into the mountain.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    Arge tide rose up as it sunk the mountain top into the sea. The water rushed into the hole, trying to catch up to Lin Wu.

    "Ahahha! YOU''LL NEVER CATCH ME!" Lin Wu shouted before drilling at his full speed.

    He broke through rock like it was foam and directly entered the actual ground.

    <em>~hua~</em>

    <em>~hua~</em>

    The vines of the Aquadream Sea Lotus wrapped around the mountain and started to constrict.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    The mountain did not evenst for five seconds before it broke apart and more water rushed into it. Thankfully by now, Lin Wu was already a hundred meters below the ''sea floor''. He didn''t stop there and continued deeper till he reached a depth of five hundred meters, as that is what the system told him to do.

    He finally changed his direction, and went in the way where the tform was resting. That was the only thing Lin Wu was sure could save him for now. He already had the stone feather, thus he should be able to leave the ce if he got to it.

    But in a shock to Lin Wu, he realized the Aquadream Sea Lotus had not given up on him. He could feel several tendrils of spirit sense locking on to him.

    "AH! GODDAMMIT! FUCK YOU!" Lin Wu said before using radiation maniption to surround his body with radiation.

    While this dissuaded the spirit sense tendrils from getting close to him, the Aquadream Sea Lotus could still follow him by sensing all the spirit Qi fluctuations he was creating.

 Chapter 359 - Air Support Is Here?

    Lin Wu was in a hard ce now, and it was getting tougher to escape the clutches of the Aquadream Sea Lotus. No matter how far he went, the Aquadream Sea Lotus was taking his ''personal sea'' with him.

    This had basically solved his restriction in movement. Though Lin Wu knew there must be some restrictions to the Aquadream Sea Lotus than he was able to know right now. He was also scanning through the detailed pages of information that the system had kept on standby.

    Currently, the Aquadream Sea Lotus had already caught up with Lin Wu and was parallel to him. The only difference was that Lin Wu was deep in the ground while the Aquadream Sea Lotus was on the surface.

    The two of them were moving at the same speed now, though.

    "If we keep up this speed, there is no way I''ll be able to get away even if I reach the tform. I''ll need to find some other way." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He gazed at the map in the corner of his eye and saw that he was very close to the tform now. Previously it had taken Lin Wu several hours to reach the pond, but now it had taken him less than thirty minutes to cover the same distance. The difference in speed could be seen from this.

    While Lin Wu was worrying about what to do, a loud cry could be heard in the sky.

    <em>~PIIIIIIII~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "Huh? What''s happening?" Lin Wu wondered and updated the map.

    "THE SILVER BEAK SKY SOAR EAGLE IS BACK! The Air Support Is Here!" Lin Wu shouted in joy.

    Currently on the surface, one could see two seas violently colliding with each other. The difference was that one sea was made of water while the second was made out of fire. The water sea was being controlled by the Aquadream Sea Lotus while the fire was being controlled by the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    The collision of the two seas had halted the progression of the Aquadream Sea Lotus and had given Lin Wu the opportunity to put some distance between him and the Lotus. He was thankful that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had luckilye back.

    "Perfect! Just hold it back for me!" Lin Wu shouted, his voice traveling through the ground being carried by his wind attribute spirit Qi.

    This was another use of wind attribute spirit Qi Lin Wu had managed to learn recently. He never had the opportunity to use it till now, but since there was no means ofmunication between him and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, this served to be the perfect medium.

    <em>~PIIIIII~</em>

    All Lin Wu could hear now was the cry of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, but he could understand the intent behind it. Plus, seeing that the eagle beast was fighting the Aquadream Sea Lotus on the map was enough for Lin Wu.

    "Let''s get up now," Lin Wu stated upon seeing that he was right below the tform.

    On the surface, the Aquadream Sea Lotus and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were shing.

    "How did this creature appear here?" Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle couldn''t help but mutter to herself.

    She could tell that the Aquadream Sea Lotus was stronger than her, seeing as it was at the Dao Treading realm and had already formed its Dao Embryo. The entire sea was formed due to the power of the Dao embryo andpeting against that was not easy.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus let out a screech from its many maws and shot out more jets of water towards the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. But she manged to dodge them mid air with rtive ease.

    Unlike Lin Wu, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had been able to fly since her birth and thus had the most experience with it. She could maneuver in the air effortlessly and for a creature like the Aquadream Sea Lotus whose domain was water, even if it was at the Dao Treading realm, it could notpare to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle in the sky.

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus could only shoot out water jets and maintain the sea while also trying to hit the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle with its vines. But the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle simply too far for it to hit her with them.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    Lin Wu finally pierced through the ground and appeared on the surface. There he saw a shocking scene; the two seas of opposing elements collided, creating chaos.

    "The bloodline of the Vermillion bird is truly powerful, its mes can even hold back a creature that is at the Dao treading realm." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    But when Lin Wu watched for a few seconds more, he realized it was not all good as he had initially thought. While it seemed like both the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and the Aquadream Sea Lotus were equally matched, it was not so.

    The spirit Qi stores of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were still quite less aspared to the Aquadream Sea Lotus. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would soon run out of her spirit Qi if they did not manage to resolve the situation.

    <em>~pew~</em>

    <em>~pew~</em>

    <em>~pew~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle weaved through the water jets being shot at her. But then something unexpected happened.

    "WATCH OUT!" Lin Wu shouted as he quickly whipped out his tail, sending out amplified wind attribute spirit Qi.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Large pirs of water appeared from below the Sea of fire on the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle side. These pirs had appeared from below the ground and had surrounded the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle like a prison.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    The attack that Lin Wu had sent out, managed to break two of the pirs of water, but the other were too strong. His attack had faded away before it could reach them.

    "Dammit!" Lin Wu cursed as he sent out more attacks, while also getting onto the tform.

 Chapter 360 - The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagles Dao Shell?

    "You need to get here! We''ll escape!" Lin Wu shouted.

    "Escape? Did you find the next clue?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked while pping her ming wings.

    <em>~Sizzle~</em>

    The mes of the Vermillion bird interacted with the pirs of water managing to evaporate half of them, letting her escape.

    "Yes, I got the Stone feather that is needed to activate the tform again!" Lin Wu replied hurriedly.

    <em>~piiiii~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a cry in response an tried to get away from the Aquadream Sea Lotus.

    But thenбн

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    More water pirs burst from the ground, blocking her path. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle tried to fly over them to escape it, but was stopped from this by the Aquadream Sea Lotus. Whenever she tried to ascend further in the sky, jets of water would stop her.

    The water jets were strong and could injure her as well. Plus, she didn''t know how many she would be able to bear at once, while also fighting back.

    "How did this creature get here?!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked, feeling frustrated.

    "The stone feather was apparently taken by its offspring. When I went to get it, this thing appeared." Lin Wu said, twisting the facts.

    Lin Wu did not want to piss off the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle by telling her that the only reason why the Aquadream Sea Lotus attacked him was that he was curious and went to explore.

    Lin Wu had already gotten the Stone feather from the nest that the Copper Hide Weasel had made and if he returned right after that''s perhaps nothing of this sort would have happened. But there was no medicine for regret and this was the best he could do to remedy the situation.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle furrowed her brow feathers upon hearing that all of this was caused due to the Aquadream Sea Lotus.

    "YOU DARE STEAL MY BLOODLINE''S KEY?!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle yelled, fully convinced that it was the Aquadream Sea Lotus that was at fault.

    <em>~PIIIIIII~</em>

    Another loud cry was let out by the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle as her body started to glow in a bright red light. Even Lin Wu had a hard time seeing anything and his radiation perception was blinded too because of the sheer amount of thermal radiation in the air.

    By the time he adjusted the sensitivity of radiation perception, the scene in front of him had changed. Out of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s body, a red colored orb appeared. This orb was translucent and a unique sigil could be seen on it. Though half of the orb seemed to be thicker than the other half.

    The sigil on the orb was that of the Vermillion bird and glowed periodically while letting out a powerful aura.

    "The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s Dao Shell!" Lin Wu realized what it was.

    Seeing the state of the Dao shell could tell that the Dao Shell was at the Shell genesis stage and was halfplete. Once it was fullyplete, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would reach the Shellpletion stage and if it wanted to, would be able to directly form a Dao Embryo.

    Upon the appearance of the Dao Shell, the spirit Qi in the environment became even more chaotic than before. The Dao Shell started to rapidly absorb the spirit Qi as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s mes became intense.

    <em>~piiiii~</em>

    "You shall not live! Even I can''t kill you now, I swear upon the honor of the vermilion bird that I will kill you in the future!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle dered with fury in her eyes.

    To her, the Aquadream Sea Lotus had touched the one thing she treasured, her very bloodline itself. Thus there was no way the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could let this entire thing go and now considered the Aquadream Sea Lotus her enemy.

    Watching all this, Lin Wu didn''t know what to think.

    ''I think I may have changed the plot way more than it should haveбн'' Lin Wu secretly thought.

    <em>~SWOOSH~</em>

    Still, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle using her Dao Shell had increased her power greatly and actually managed to push back the Aquadream Sea Lotus a little bit. The water pirs that were trapping her were also evaporated under the heat of the Dao Shell.

    The sigil on the Dao Shell was hot like the sun, and anything that came near it would be reduced to ashes. This was something that was unique to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and not many other beasts could have a bloodline sigil like this.

    Even the Aquadream Sea Lotus did not have a sigil like that on its Dao Shell. One could only imagine if the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was able to restrain the Aquadream Sea Lotus temporarily, what would she be able to do once she was in the Dao Treading Realm as well.

    Seeing that the Aquadream Lotus was being pushed back, Lin Wu got topleting his n.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus let out a shriek that seemed to be filled with unwillingness. While the creature could not speak, from what Lin Wu had seen till now, it certainly did have a certain level of intelligence. Even if it was lower than that of the average Nascent Soul realm beast, or perhaps even a Core Condensation realm beast.

    "Quick! Come to the tform." Lin Wu shouted as he inserted the stone feather with the three veins into the tray.

    <em>~Heng~</em>

    The formations of the tform suddenly became active and the tform let out a glow.

    "Return now! The tform will leave any second." Lin Wu urged the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    <em>~Piiiii~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out onest screech as she let out a torrent of mes. The mes evaporated arge chunk of the sea, letting her finally escape.

 Chapter 361 - Successful Escape?

    Lin Wu watched as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle finally made her escape and caught up to the tform that had already started to fly away. The Dao Shell released by her also disappeared back into her body and she looked to be exhausted.

    Lin Wu sensed the spirit Qi fluctuationing from her body and estimated that she had used up over ny percent of it all. One must know the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had a massive store of spirit Qi that was evenrger than that of Lin Wu currently.

    For her to exhaust such arge quantity showed the level of difficultly that she faced inbating the Aquadream Sea Lotus. After all, she was resisting a creature that was an entire realm above her. Doing something like this was no joke.

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus tough was pissed and kept on shooting more and more water jets towards Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. Since the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had stopped its attack, the Aquadream Sea Lotus was now free to approach.

    It was carrying its sea with it and progressing further and further, while destroying everything in its path and drawing every being underneath the sea. It was a walking cmity and would forever change this region.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The water jets shot out by the Aquadream Sea Lotus actually managed to reach the tform and startled Lin Wu. But fortunately, the barrier of the tform was strong enough to bear them all.

    "That was scaryбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus let out an unwilling screech as it was unable to reach Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. The tform had now ascended about three kilometers up in the sky and made it impossible for the creature to reach them.

    Even if it managed to fly up all the way, it would not be able to stay out of water for long. In fact, it did try to do that, but the tform shot ahead at great speed, leaving the Aquadream Sea Lotus behind eating dust.

    But when the tform had reached the very top, Lin Wu was able to see the extent of the area the sea had taken up. It was actually not asrge as Lin Wu had originally thought. While the blue pearl like Dao Embryo of the Aquadream Sea Lotus had created a massive amount of water, it only covered a radius of five kilometers.

    Past that the water tapered and disappeared. Only when the Aquadream Sea Lotus was near the pond was it able to maintain a sea that was twice the current size. From this one could tell that the power of the Aquadream Sea Lotus greatly depended on the water body it was in.

    While the Aquadream Sea Lotus couldpensate for itsck of movement onnd by the creation of an artificial sea, it was limited by certain factors such as its own store of spirit Qi and the distance it was from the sea or any other natural water body.

    Another terrifying factor about the sea was that Lin Wu found it quite difficult to affect it using his radiation. In most cases till now, Lin Wu had seen that spirit Qi and radiation did not mix well unless they were his own.

    But here, Lin Wu was having a hard time trying to evaporate the water. When he was close to the sea, he could not fully tell what was the reason but now that he had a bird''s eye point of view, he understood what it was.

    His eyes were squinted as he used radiation perception to look at the Aquadream Sea Lotus.

    "The waterбн it also has traces of the Dao in itбн no wonder I was finding it harder to influence." Lin Wu muttered.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was also looking at the enemy they had just escaped with fury in her eyes.

    "I swear to end that creature''s seven generations!" She dered.

    Lin Wu heard the words spoken by the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle but did not put them to heart. He doubted whether the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would even be able to find the Aquadream Sea Lotus once it disappeared back into the sea.

    ''Just fighting it here on thend, where it was disadvantage was so hard. I can''t even imagine what it would be like on the sea where it can use its entire power. Not to mention, there is still one more level of Aquadream Lotus above itбн The Aquadream Ocean Lotus.'' Lin Wu thought.

    While Lin Wu did not know for sure if there was an Aquadream Ocean Lotus that currently existed or not. He went through the remaining document''s the system had taken out and discovered that thest sighting of an Aquadream Ocean Lotus was about a thousand years ago.

    He also found another interesting and important bit of information. Though it was not fully confirmed if it was true or not.

    ''All the Aquadream Lotus''s are offspring of the Aquadream Ocean Lotus and are linked to each other. Whenever one of them dies, the others will know and will hunt them down if they appear in the sight of any of them.

    This is one of the reasons why the Great Ocean is considered to be terrifying. If any ship and the cultivators on it identally kill an Aquadream Lotus, they will all hunt them down. This would make crossing the ocean even more difficult.'' Lin Wu read.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "What kind of a terrifying being did we end up fightingбн" Lin Wu sighed before looking at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle who was silently looking in the distance.

    "How are you know?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I am fineбн" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle spoke shortly. "I''ll just rest for a while. Tell me when we arrive at the next location." She added.

    "Uh, okay." Lin Wu agreed and decided to keep watch.

    Regardless of what happened, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had saved him and he would not feel good to deny her this.

 Chapter 362 - Jiao Dian City?

    The two beasts soared across the sky on the tform. This time its speed was even faster than before and it was quite high up in the sky. It was moving in the south eastern direction now and Lin Wu didn''t know where it was going.

    The system could not even keep up with the speed of the tform and update the map, thus Lin Wu just let it do a visual record of all that he saw and he would do a detailed area scan after they stopped.

    "Huh? Is that city?" Lin Wu suddenly said upon seeing buildings in the distance.

    He walked to the edge of the tform and saw that it really was a city.

    "What city is this?" Lin Wu wondered as he looked at the map the system had.

    "Jiao Dian City?" Lin Wu read.

    ording to the maps Lin Wu had scanned from the records, and the speed they were going at, the system estimated that the city below them was the Jiao Dian City. This city was one of the major cities of the Bing Kingdom and housed several thousand cultivators.

    But Lin Wu instantly felt wrong.

    ''What if this stops at the city?'' Lin Wu thought.

    So far, the tform had only stopped in the empty wilderness and thus Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did not have any problem. But if they really did stop in the territory of humans that it in the very sight of arge city like this, it would be problematic.

    While most humans would not be able to see them in the sky as they were quite far up. Some of them will definitely notice, at least those in the Nascent Soul realm. But if they were unfortunate and the next tform was really in the city, they would be attacked for sure.

    The humans woulde to investigate the mysterious tform covered with barriers, formations, and runes; then they would see the two beasts standing within it. Thinking that it must have some fortunate encounter hidden they would approach the tform.

    Then this would result in a conflict between the two beasts and the humans, resulting in enmity. Lin Wu had read plenty of novels to know how a plot like this progressed and it was exactly what he was dreading.

    While he was sure he and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would be able to take care of all the cultivators here with rtive ease, the hidden experts would not take it lying down. They will definitely investigate it and it would then be a burden on Lin Wu''s back.

    ''I don''t want to expose myself more than it is necessary to the humans. It will only be problematicter on as they will try to meddle in my affairs or be curious about me.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "No hang on!" Lin Wu realized another thing. "Even if the tform does notnd in the city, what if the next stone feather is not near it? Seeing it, there is a great chance someone would have found it by now and taken it."

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "This only gets more messed upбн hopefully, this should be thest of the stone feathers seeing as it only had four slots." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    During his entire monologue, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was calmly recovering her strength. She paid no attention to him nor his words and likely would not wake up unless Lin Wu intentionally did so.

    "It''s better if she stays here and doesn''t awaken. If she does wake up there is no chance these humans will survive. She can''t see the long term effects and is short sighted." Lin Wu shook his head in helplessness.

    And as Lin Wu had dreaded the tform reached the city, or more urately the sky above the city.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    In the city below, the people were going about their day. No one knew that a shocking thing would be happening today.

    "Is it an earthquake?" somemoners couldn''t help but say.

    "It''s getting stronger! Quick, run to safety!" the city guards quickly warned the people.

    The sound of the crowd running could be heard as everyone had scared expressions on their faces. The buildings along the streets all shook and some of them even started to copse. The people who were unlucky were directly crushed by the falling buildings.

    The cultivators were able to sessfully escape it though and most did not even bother to save anyone. They simply cared for their lives and did their best to escape.

    On one side of the city, arge pavilion was about to fall on top of a bunch of people who were sitting and drinking tea. This was a tea house that was located next to the pagoda.

    "AAAAH!!!"

    "SOMEONE SAVE US!" the people in the tea house shouted.

    But in the next momentбн

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    A hole was punched through the falling pagoda and it avoided everyone that was in the tea house. The patrons of the tea house saw the source of that attack and saw that it was the old waiter who was serving everyone.

    "Co-Core condensation?!" someone said unable to believe this sight.

    All over Jiao Dian city scenes simr to this could be seen as some of the hidden experts were forced to reveal themselves. Themotion wasrger than anything the city had seen before and it finally reached the higher ups.

    "WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE!" A booming voice said as a map appeared in the sky.

    "It''s lord Mayor! Lord Mayor hase to save us!" The people rejoiced.

    The man waved his hands as tides of spirit Qi came from his body. The spirit Qi quickly turned into illusory threads that all wrapped around the falling buildings.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    One after the other, tens of cultivators arrived on their spirit weapons as they started the rescue mission. Everywhere scenes of screaming and terror could be seen as the people suffered.

    "Just what has happened to my city?" The mayor couldn''t help but say as his face fell.

 Chapter 363 - The City Quakes?

    The people of the Jiao Dian city didn''t know that this was but just the start of the disaster.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The tremors got stronger and stronger as more buildings fell.

    "SAVE THE PEOPLE!" The mayor ordered his men.

    "YES MAYOR!" the cultivators under him replied before getting to work.

    The mayor himself tried to stop therger of the buildings from falling onto the citizens of his city. He even tried to use his cultivation base to restrict the tremors but discovered that they were different than he had thought.

    "It''s not a natural earthquake?" The mayor muttered to himself.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    And just as he said this, a loud cracking sound could be heard as the earth split apart. The people watched on in horror as four massive pirs rose up from the ground. The pirs had hundreds of runes carved onto them and looked to be ancient.

    "What in the name of heavens!" The people eximed in shock.

    They had never thought that their peaceful day would turn out to be like this.

    "Let''s go check the pirs out! There''s bound to be something good there," Some of the cultivators though hadpletely different ideas from themoners.

    For them, this seemed to be a fortunate encounter instead and they felt lucky that they were in the city today. A few cultivators that belonged to the city were pissed through as the pirs had destroyed the buildings that they owned.

    One of the four pirs had evene straight out of the Mayor''s residence. The mayor looked on in anger as everything he knew was getting destroyed. But he didn''t know who or what to me as there was no part here to me.

    Lin Wu was watching everything from the top of the tform as well and was intrigued.

    "These pirsбн they are much bigger than the ones I''ve seen before. Seems like this location is special than the others." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He also got to see the mayor of the city and the other cultivators. The mayor was at the Nascent Soul realm, that too at the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm which made him quite strong, yet he was unable to save the people of his city.

    Most of the cultivators under him were at the Core condensation realm and below with a couple of trusted guards that were at the Nascent Soul realm as well. These Nascent Soul realm guards were nowhere near the mayor though and were working in a different part of the city ording to the mayor''s orders.

    "System, scan the area." Lin Wu ordered, wanting to know more.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map Updated

    NOTIFICATION: New markers added.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu opened the map and saw the new markers on it.

    "Hmmбн so there are around twenty Nascent Soul realm cultivators here. The mayor and one more person are the strongest and are at the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm while the rest are all at the Child stage or below.

    At least there is no one at the Dao Shell realm here." Lin Wu said upon observing the map.

    He then switched theyer of the map to underground and saw what was it that was actually appearing.

    "Oh? Another temple, huhбн seems like it''s like the first stone feather that I got, hidden in a temple." Lin Wu said upon seeing the map.

    While Lin Wu was getting happy upon seeing the temple, the people below were only getting terrified.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The sound of a loud explosion came as the ground below directly exploded. Unlike the other parts in Dread Coil Marsh where the ground was mostly soil and rocks, the ground here was solid due to being tiled.

    These tiles were made fromrge bs of solid rock that had beenid in the ground. These were restricting the temple froming up but the temple exerted a great force, breaking apart these tiles and emerging.

    "LOOK! What is that!"

    "A RUIN! A rare ruin!"

    The people who were watching it all eximed, their words varying ording to what they felt. For some this was the worst day of their lives while for some this was perhaps the best day.

    "Surround the Ruin! Don''t let anyone get close to it!" The mayor immediately ordered.

    The mayor''s words echoed across the city and were heard by each and every person in the city. Even Lin Wu heard it high up in the sky.

    "Oh? What does he wanna do now? im it for himself or something else?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The cultivators quickly surrounded the temple ording to the orders of the Mayor.

    "City Mayor Jiao! What is the meaning of this?" One of the Nascent soul realm cultivators spoke.

    He seemed to be the leader of a small group of cultivators. Along with him were a few Core condensation realm cultivators as well.

    "Don''t even think of getting close to the ruin. It does not belong to you." City Mayor Jiao Stated.

    "Ridiculous! It''s a fortunate encounter, anyone who can enter it will be eligible to get it. Who do you think you are? Even if you are the mayor you cannot order us like this." The man replied.

    "Huh? Do you not see the damage everywhere in the city? The ruins and everything in it will be used to rebuild it andpensate for the people''s losses!" City Mayor Jiao dered.

    His voice was booming and echoed across the city once again. All the citizens heard it and felt pleased.

    "City Mayor is benevolent!"

    "City Mayor is generous!"

    "Praise Mayor Jiao!"

    The people were pleased quite quickly and rejoiced. After the disaster, this was the minimum relief they could get. But while the citizens were happy, the other rogue cultivators and private organizations were not happy.

    By now more Nascent Soul realm had gathered around and their numbers had reached eight. They all looked at the City mayor Jiao with fury in their eyes.

 Chapter 364 - Dramatic People?

    "You can''t do this Jiao. At most, you canpete for the resources, whatever you get you can keep or use for the city. But we will be iming out share too!" The newly arrived Nascent Soul realm cultivators dered.

    More of the others chimed in as they all heard the city mayor''s words. To them, the city mayor was denying them their right.

    "You think you all can tell me what I can do and what I can''t?!" City Mayor Jiao scoffed.

    "People of Jiao Dian city hear me! Now that you all have been struck by this disaster and need help to recover, these cultivators are denying you that. They are the very cultivators who own the businesses that you all are patrons of.

    They act all good when they want you to visit their shops and buy from them, but now you can see their true selves. They want to take everything for themselves and don''t care about you all.

    You all must have already seen how they acted. Did anyone of them try to save you? The few that did are your truepatriots all the others are just parasites that want to drain you of your life and money!" City Mayor Jiao Announced in a thunderous voice.

    As soon as his voice spread across the city, the people were enraged.

    "Those insufferable crooks! I''ll never buy from them!"

    "Banish them! Banish them from the city!"

    "I just say ughter them all! If they don''t care for us, we don''t care for them either!"

    The citizens started to voice out their opinions. Hearing all of their voices, the cultivators who wanted to enter the ruins felt furious.

    "JIAO FAN! YOU DARE!" Suddenly another voice was hearding from one of the city''s corners.

    It came from a luxurious vi that was still standing despite all the earthquakes and was covered in multiple formationsbining intoplex arrays. One could easily tell that it was not anymoner''s residence and probably belonged to a powerful person.

    Soon spirit Qi fluctuations that were strong enough to shake the nearby trees could be felt.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    A streak of light flew out of the luxurious vi and arrived at the site of the temple. Lin Wu watched on closely and felt intrigued. The man who had just arrived was none other than the second person who was at the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    "Hahaha! Old Man Tiandi, you finally dare to leave that shell of yours?" City Mayor Jiao taunted.

    "Don''t go too far, Jiao Fan! You dare disrespect your elders?!" The Old man named Tiandi shouted.

    "What elder?! You are so old and still stuck at the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm. I''m half your age and have already achieved it.

    You all say I forgot the rules of the Jianghu, but it is you all that forgot the biggest ruleбн The one that has the biggest fist gets to rule!" City Mayor Jiao uttered in a fierce tone.

    While all this was happening at the bottom, Lin Wu was having a great time watching it all.

    "Man, these people are good at drama." Lin Wu muttered as he bit off arge piece of roasted meat.

    What Lin Wu was eating was nothing but the leg of a goat like spirit beast. The only difference was that he was eating the leg as if he was eating chicken drumsticks. Munching on the meat, he was able to finish it in two bites.

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    After finishing the meat, Lin Wu ate the bone as well and it crunched like crispy fritters.

    "Now thenбн why is this tform still stuck here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He looked at the formations and they seemed to be working, but the tform itself was not moving. At first, he had thought that the tform had triggered the temple and the pirs to appear, and was waiting for them to fully ascend to the ground.

    But now it looked like there was some other problem. Though Lin Wu was not disappointed as he got the chance to assess the situation in the city and got to see a little drama as well. The conflict below looked a bit childish to him, but then he realized he shouldn''t care about it.

    ''The only thing that I need to care about is the backing of the city. These people shouldn''t be hard to handle but if someone stronger appears it will get problematic hiding myself.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He looked back at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle who was still cultivation calmly and decided it was better not to disturb it for now. He didn''t know if she would be pissed about being disturbed, even if she had told him to wake him up when they arrived at the location.

    While Lin Wu would not say he was an expert with women, he had seen plenty of tutorials about women on the inte and had picked up tips on how to interact with them. One such tip that was heavily emphasized was that he should not wake up a sleeping woman.

    Doing so would be no less than poking a sleeping lion. While the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle wasn''t sleeping per see as she was cultivating, it was not all that different from sleeping. On top of that, most cultivators did not like to be disturbed while cultivating.

    There were plenty of examples were people had been exacted be someone farted a thousand kilometer away from a cultivators residence and it disturbed them.

    In Lin Wu''s case, he was weaker than the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and definitely did not want to take the chance. Instead of that, he would much rather observe the people on the grounds and rx for a bit.

    "Even if they do enter the temple and get the stone feathers inside, it''s not like they can really escape. Rather, they will just be making my work easier. Oh, and there may even be a Specter Skull hound in there." Lin Wu justified to himself. Which was nothing but an excuse for him to bezy for a bit more.

 Chapter 365 - A Battle Of Despair?

    Lin Wu watched on as a battle erupted in the middle of the city. The participants of the battle were none other than the City Major Jiao and the other cultivators.

    There were two parties in this that could be seen. On one side were Old Man Tiandi and the other cultivators who belonged to the organizations of Jiao Dian city. On the other hand, there was Jiao Fan along with his subordinates and a few other rogue cultivators of the city that did not belong to any of the powers.

    These were the cultivators who had helped save some of the people during the quake and many of them included the hidden cultivators as well.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~shing~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    des and swords flew as explosions happened everywhere. The Nascent Soul realm cultivators fought in the sky while the rest fought in the toppled remains of the buildings around the temple.

    "I''ll give you one chance Jiao Fan! Stop this and let everyone take this equally and you may still hold the seat of the mayor tomorrow." Old Man Disposition up.

    "Hah! Do you really think I care for your words? Your time was over a long time ago Tiandi, you may as well die right now and be fertilizer for the nts of my city.

    At least that way you will be of some benefit, rather than being the leech you and your n have always been." Jiao Fang uttered scathingly.

    "You!! I''ll kill you and your entire n if I have to. Today we shall settle our centuries long differences for once!" Old Man Tiandi dered as his aura started to rise.

    Old man Tiandi lifted his hand as it started to glow with a golden light. It then formed an illusory gauntlet that wrapped around his arm. The gauntlet started to erge and soon reached a height of over ten meters.

    "Take my Thousand Geng Fist!" Old Man Tiandi attacked Jiao Fan.

    The air rippled under the force of the attack as the spirit Qi contained within it burst out. The attack was very strong and contained the entire power of the cultivation base of Old Man Tiandi. The people who were unfortunately nearby were affected too.

    "GAH!" A cultivator who was on the side of old man Tiandi shouted as the winds from that attack sent him crashing into a copsed building

    "NOOO! My Legs!" Another cultivator who was on the side of Jiao Fan uttered in pain as his legs were crushed.

    Jiao Fan saw this and gritted his teeth. More and more people were injured under the attack of Tiandi and this was when it had not even reached Jiao Fang.

    "Tiandi, YOU DARE!!!" Jiao Fan yelled in rage.

    sping his hands together he condensed strings made out of spirit Qi in his hands. The strings were hundreds of meters long, but now they were being tightlypressed into a much smaller volume.

    In less than two seconds, the strings condensed into a long mace. The head of the mace was like that of a bull''s skull while its handle was made out of a bull''s femur. Jiao Fang lifted the mace up and met Old Man Tiandi''s Thousand Geng Fist.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    A sound that was simr to that of a bronze bell being rung was heard.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~thud</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The debris and fragments of copsed buildings were all sent flying as more people were injured from that. Thankfully, most of themoners had already moved away from the area where the battle was happening and the ones who got injured were the other participants.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    Finally, the momentum of the two strikes ended as the two men were evenly matched.

    "This isn''t the end yet!" Old Man Tiandi taunted as he flipped back, punching with the illusory gauntlet again.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    More and more blows were exchanged between the two as the other smaller battles raged. In less than five minutes, half of the participants had either been killed or incapacitated. But if onepared the number of people affected, they would realize that the ones who were on the side of City Mayor Jiao Fan were less in numbers now.

    "Hahah! See that Jiao Fan, your days as a mayor are about to end! Who will you rule over if you don''t have any subordinates and citizens left?" Old Man Tiandi mocked.

    "Dammit! This old corpse!" Jiao Fan cursed.

    He realized that he had underestimated old man Tiandi. While he himself was able to go against him on equal terms, the other cultivators who were on old man Tiandi''s side were still stronger than the others ifpared to Jiao Fan''s.

    Most of the people following Jiao Fan were either his subordinates or guards and thus could not bepared to those from the cultivator ns and organizations. The citizens who were watching from afar were also filled with dread now.

    They did not know what would be happening to them after this battle ended. If the city mayor Jiao Fan won, they may have a chance and recovering from their old lives. But if that did not happen and Old Man Tiandi won, the best case scenario for them would be that they would be left destitute.

    But in the worst case, they may be taken as ves instead. They had already said words against old man Tiandi and his followers, thus their future was not bleak. Themoners knew very well how cultivators could act once they were forced to reveal their true selves.

    "Will the city mayor win, mother?" A child who seemed to be of around eight years of age asked his mother.

    His face was covered in dust and blood, evidently from the copsed building. But the blood did not seem to belong to him. The woman standing beside him looked at him with a forced smile.

    "Yes, yes, he will." She answered to cate the child; fully knowing that the current situation may sway either way.

    But just as the people were falling in despair, another shock was about to be delivered to them.

    "What is that in the sky?!"

 Chapter 366 - The Platform Descends?

    While the battle was raging below, Lin Wu was enjoying it freely. He had eaten quite a few of the meaty snacks that he had prepared, and he had to say that it was the best decision he had taken before.

    "Ah, this is the life! Eat food, watch entertainment while lounging around." Lin Wu said, feeling pleased.

    But while he was watching the battle, he had not forgotten about the formations of the tform. He had asked the system to analyze and see what was going on and he had finally gotten the answer.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS: Competed

    NOTIFICATION: The formation array of the tform is synchronizing with the temple below. Exchange signals in the form of spirit Qi waves can be sensed as well. Once the synchronization isplete, the tform will continue its descent.

    бкбк

    "Ah, no wonder it looked like that. So it''s just waiting for the ''airport'' to give it thending permission." Lin Wu chuckled.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    He looked back down and saw the state of the battle, which was now reaching its end. More than half of the participants were now out ofmission while two out of the eight Nascent Soul realm cultivators were also dead.

    This was quite shocking to the people as Nascent Soul realm rarely ever died, even inrge battles such as these. Sure they would be injured but they would be able to escape with their lives with ease if they had to.

    This had also flipped the odds of the battle and made it so that the city Mayor was at a disadvantage now. It was now that the people had started to despair about it, but then they saw something shocking once again.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    "Ah? It started to move again." Lin Wu said, feeling a slight jerk.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SYNCHRONIZATION: Competed

    бкбк

    With the system''s input, Lin Wu now knew that it was time for action.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "Let''s get to it then shall weбн gotta give my best expression." Lin Wu said to himself as his body glowed and erged.

    In a few seconds, it had reached the full size of hundred meters and all of his spikes were extended to the limit. Spirit Qi revolved around his body as it alternated between normal spirit Qi and wind attribute spirit Qi.

    Lin Wu took a look back at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and saw that she was still recovering. Though from the faint fluctuations of spirit Qiing from her body, Lin Wu could at least tell this much that she was in a much better state than before.

    Even if the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle might not be able to fight at her full strength, she would still be able to kill plenty of Nascent Soul realm cultivators. Looking at her, Lin Wu wondered if he should wake her up or not, but then reckoned that it might better to just let her wake up naturallyбн or as naturally as it could be in a noisy battlefield.

    ***

    At the ruins of the city, a lot of the people were pointing at the object that was rapidly descending from the sky.

    "What is that? Is that a bird?"

    "No, it is like a rock."

    Themoners who did not have great vision like the cultivators guessed. But the cultivators were clearly able to see what it was. They recognized the patterns and runes that were around the bottom of the tform.

    "Another ruin?" one of the core condensation realm cultivatorsmented.

    "Noбн not just that. It''s a flying rune too!" his opponent, who had been fighting him just a minute ago, added.

    Nearly everyone had stopped fighting once they saw therge tform descending from the sky.

    "Wait! It can''t be crashing here, can it?" someone said, feeling a bit afraid.

    His words reached the ears of the others, and they all became concerned. If an object like that was truly about to crash into the city here, it was unlikely that anything would be able to survive.

    The temple ruins that had just appeared in the city might even be lost to the falling tform. This made them wonder why it was appearing here, but those who were a bit proficient in formations understood the rtion between the temple and the falling tform.

    "No, while it looks like it is falling, it''s not. It''s actually descending in a controlled manner." The old man who worked as a waiter in the tea shop spoke.

    If one looked at him right now they would see around four core condensation realm cultivators dead around him. He himself was radiating spirit Qi fluctuations of a person that was in the peak stage of the core condensation realm.

    "Hahaha! More fortunate encounters for us!" Old Man Tiandi eximed before looking at Jiao Fan.

    "See that Jiao Fan, even the heavens don''t agree with you and have sent this here." Old Man Tiandi taunted once again.

    He continued staring at Jiao Fan, fully expecting him to snap and retaliate. But even after ten seconds the man did not move his gaze from the tform in the sky. By now it hade over two kilometers Down and the people could roughly estimate its size.

    "Cat got your tongue, Jiao Fan? You go nothing to say?" Old Man Tiandi spoke.

    Jiao Fan furrowed his brows and finally turned to look at Old Man Tiandi.

    "You really have gone senile with age, Old Man Tiandi." Jiao Fan replied, much to Tiandi''s anger.

    The old man was extremely hypocritical. While he liked to taunt and insult others, he himself could not take the same. Jiao Fan saw the change in expression on the old man and shook his head.

    "Even talking to you is useless and you saw you are the leader of these men," Jiao Fan gestured to the other cultivators. "When you can''t even tell the danger that is fast approaching us." He added.

    "Danger? What do you mean?" Old Man Tiandi asked, truly feeling confused.

    And just as he asked this, the tform had descended low enough for them to observe its upper side.

    Soon they were greeted by two massive beasts, one of which gave them arge toothy grin.

 Chapter 367 - Silent Interaction?

    Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi could not believe their eyes at first. Old Man Tiandi in particr had not detected that there were beasts on that tform. He didn''t know that it was because of the formations of the tform itself or that he had missed it on his own.

    Jiao Fan though, had felt something strange the moment the tform hade close. While he couldn''t see anything on the tform from the bottom, he could very well sense a dangerous auraing from it.

    And now that the tform was finally in front of them, he realized why he was feeling anxious. The two beasts on the tform did not look weak, and they definitely were not here by ident.

    The beast that caught his attention at first was none other than the Large snake that had a body seemingly sculpted out of emeralds. It had crimson red eyes that glowed with power, while his hundreds of teeth peeked out from the edge of his mouth.

    No matter what angle he looked at it from, Lin Wu looked like he was giving them a grin, which in reality he was. But then he moved his gaze to the second beast that was at the back of the first one.

    This one was arge bird beast that looked like an eagle. Jiao Fan could not recognize either of the beasts but at least this eagle beast looked normal than the earlier snake beast. The eagle beast had its eyes closed and looked to be asleep for now.

    But the moment the tform came to rest on the four pirs, the eyes of the Eagle beast opened. Jiao Fan could see a me burning in its eyes and a suffocating aura exuded from its body at that moment.

    Spirit Qi fluctuations came from the beast in the next moment and Jiao Fan''s eyes went wide.

    "Iбн It can''t beбн how?" Jiao Fan muttered in disbelief.

    Old Man Tiandi, who had now seen the beasts as well, heard Jiao Fan''s words and became nervous. It didn''t take him long to snap out of confusion to realize what kind of beasts were in front of him.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "A Dao Shell realm beast?" Old Man Tiandi Said.

    His eyes quickly snapped to the crystal like snake beast as he tried to sense its cultivation base, only to realize he was unable to do so. Not only was the spirit Qi fluctuation of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle too strong but there was a strange barrier around Lin Wu''s body which made it difficult for Old Man Tiandi''s spirit sense to cross.

    This barrier was nothing but Lin Wu using radiation maniption. The moment the tform hadnded on the pirs, the barrier surrounding it had fully disappeared and now their appearance was revealed to everyone.

    Lin Wu smiled upon seeing them because his work had just be easier. The supposed enemies had fought amount themselves, weaning their overall strength. This left Lin Wu free to eliminate them with ease.

    And now that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had also woken up on her own, Lin Wu didn''t need to worry about anything. Still, he didn''t attack straight up, since he wanted to see how they would act.

    "Wait for a bit, I want to see what they are going to do." Lin Wu spoke to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    To the others though, all they heard was a strange low screeching from Lin Wu''s mouth. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle heard his words and looked at all of the humans beneath with an overbearing gaze.

    "Alright, they are all bugs anyway." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated as she closed her eyes again.

    Seeing that there was no one to really threaten her, she was much more rxed. She would rather recover her spirit Qi than spend time in what could be resolved by herpanion. By now, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had learned that her fellow beast was much smarter than most beasts.

    She would even say that he was no less clever and feisty than the humans. He also seemed to have an understanding of formations like humans did and even knew a lot of things that she did not know despite her bloodline memories.

    That was also the reason why she had tolerated Lin Wu. He was the first beast who had not gotten scared right away because of her and had also managed to talk. Plus his unique bloodline also intrigued her.

    While it was simr to that of the Olive Viper King, there was a significant difference that gave him a unique vibe. Plus, she realized with him being there, her work was made a lot easier.

    Thus one could say right now the rtionship between Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was of mutual convenience. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle wanted Lin Wu''s intelligence while Lin Wu was taking advantage of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s strength.

    Neither Lin Wu nor the humans were aware of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle thoughts and simply kept on staring. Seeing that she had closed her eyes back, Jiao Fan almost took a breath of relief.

    "The beasts, are they the protectors?" Old Man Tiandi wondered.

    Since they had appeared on the tform which was obviously linked with the temple, this was the most straightforward reason he could think of.

    "Looks like they probably areбн but the vast difference between their speciesбн it doesn''t really make sense." Jiao Fang replied.

    The two had alreadye to a mutual understanding about their current situation and had non verbally decided to stop their fight. Not just them, but all of the cultivators were the same.

    Lin Wu closely observed the changes in all of them and their expressions before being unable to hold himself back.

    "AHAHAHA!" Lin Wuughed out loud, his distorted voice spread across the city, striking fear in the hearts of the people.

 Chapter 368 - Asking For Compensation?

    Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi were shocked and terrified at the same time upon hearing theughter of the Beast in front of them. This was the first time they had ever seen a beastughed and thus it only made them even more nervous.

    "Ah, sorry." Lin Wu said, much to the surprise of everyone.

    "The beast can speak?" Someone spoke, unable to believe his ears.

    Lin Wu looked around at everyone and understood that his actions must have been way more shocking to them than the appearance of the Temple, perhaps.

    "I couldn''t help butugh as I was reminded of something." Lin Wu spoke casually.

    His tone was seemed so causal that the cultivators couldn''t help but want to say why? But they were able to resist doing that when they looked at Lin Wu''s face again. His fangs gleamed like the sharpest of knives, while his crimson red eyes sent chills down their backs.

    But that was just the tip of the iceberg, as his voice was far more unnerving. It was strangely distorted, and yet it could be understood at the same time. One thing was for sure, that Lin Wu was speaking the human tongue despite being a beast.

    Seeing that the cultivators had all fallen silent, he reckoned he may as well continue with his words. Though he was expecting someone to speak and let him continue his words. s! They had better control over themselves.

    "As I said, I wasughing because I was reminded of something I heard a long time ago.

    And the thing I heard wasбн No matter how much humans fight and battle among themselves, when the threat greater than them arises, they all unite rather quickly. I only heard that before and I now get to witness it firsthand.

    I''ve got to sayбн the philosopher who said that was right." Lin Wu said, as he nodded his head in agreement.

    ''Why''s this beast speaking all this?'' Was the thought that was in everyone''s minds.

    They wondered what was its goal ining here and speaking like this.

    "Youбн what do you want?" Old Man Tiandi built up his courage and finally spoke.

    "Oh? Finally, someone speaks! I thought I would have to do an entire one man show by myself, emsбн or one worm show to be urate." Lin Wu said,pletely ignoring the old man''s words.

    The old man was taken aback by Lin Wu''s sudden response and flinched a bit.

    "Ah, where are my mannerбн interrupting people. Please do speak," Lin Wu prodded on.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Tiandi swelled his saliva and spoke once more, "I said, why do you want? And why are you here?"

    "What do you think would be the most likely reason? Hmmбн" Lin Wu replied while tapping the ground with his tail, gesturing.

    The Old Man saw this and Jiao Fan understood it too.

    "You''reбн you''re here for the temple too?" Old Man Tiandi asked.

    "Of course. Why do you think the temple appeared?" Lin Wu replied.

    "YOU!! You caused all this." Jiao Fang said, getting angry.

    While he would have been fine if this was an involuntary urrence, but now that he knew that it was Lin Wu behind the destruction of his city, Jiao Fan found it hard to hold back. He would have direly attacked Lin Wu, had it not been for the pressuring aura that wasing from the beasts in front of them.

    "Yep," Lin Wu agreed straightway. "It appeared in response to our arrival."

    Jiao Fan now didn''t know what to do since Lin Wu had admitted to it directly. After thinking for a bit, he had an idea appear in his mind. He didn''t know if it would work, but he reckoned in their current situation where they were stuck between a ravine and Sea, this might be the best option.

    "You shouldpensate us." Jiao Fan stated.

    Lin Wu raised his brows in response, feeling a bit surprised by Jiao Fan''s words. He would have never expected that the man would be wanting to negotiate with him now.

    ''This just gets more and more interesting, huhбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He had observed the entire series of events right from when the quake started all the way to the truce that the two leaders had reached. He had seen that this man, Jiao Fan was a decent leader and was actually looking for the betterment of his citizens.

    But despite these qualities, Lin Wu had entirely expected the man to either run away or start fighting right away. A negotiation like this was not something any average cultivator would think of when dealing with a beast.

    "And how should Ipensate you?" Lin Wu asked, wanting to get entertained a bit more.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Everyone watching couldn''t help but swallow their saliva as they felt dread in the pit of their stomach. To them, what the mayor was doing was perhaps a mistake.

    "Allow us to take a part of the loot from the temple." Jiao Fan replied.

    Lin Wu did not answer the man straight away and just kept on staring at him. The longer he looked, the weaker Jiao Fan felt. The pressure exuding from Lin Wu only got stronger with each passing minute.

    And just like this, an entire ten minutes passed in silence when no one dared to move even a single step.

    "Okay!" Lin Wu spoke.

    "I knew it, how would he agreeбн" Jiao Fan muttered to himself before, "WAIT, WHAT!?" he eximed.

    "He really agreed?" Old Man Tiandi was also astounded by the answer too.

    "If you can, you guys can try to see what you can get from the temple. I will not interfere and you can take whatever." Lin Wu stated.

    "Really?" Jiao Fan asked apprehensively.

    "Yes, go ahead and try." Lin Wu assured.

    Jiao Fan looked at Old Man Tiandi before looking at the rest of the cultivators around him. All of them seemed to be unsure and didn''t know if they should proceed or not.

 Chapter 369 - Giving Humans A Chance?

    Lin Wu watched on in anticipation, wondering if they would do it or not. He observed the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle behind him and saw that she was still busy in recovering and was not paying attention to this.

    ''She would probably act out if she understood the human tongue and learned that I offered the Humans to take whatever they wanted from the temple.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu was of course not going to let them take the main thing he came here for and was merely doing this to see how far the humans could fare on their own. He didn''t even know if they would be able to get past the formations on the entrance door or not.

    This temple was much bigger than the ones Lin Wu had seen till now and it even had the nding pad'' for the tform over it. This meant that it had been intentionally made like this and would only be revealed upon the appearance of the tform.

    ''Thoughбн is there a Specter Skull hound in there?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He reckoned that since this temple was far from the Dread Coil Marsh, it probably would not have a Specter Skull hound hidden in it. It was not like all temples in the Marsh had them either.

    Still, Lin Wu was curious and extended his spirit sense to check it out. With the help of the system, Lin Wu easily bypassed the formation blocking the entrance and let his spirit sense enter the temple.

    It went all the way in and saw the hundreds of statues of the Vermillion bird in there.

    ''Oh? The formations are actually active in this oneбн Hehe, this would make for a good show.'' Lin Wu discovered as the smile on his face widened, making everyone that saw it nervous again.

    Lin Wu''s spirit sense easily passed through the statues before reaching the inner hall of the temple. This was again blocked by the doors, which did not let Lin Wu''s spirit sense pass. But the problem was that it was not being blocked by any formations, but rather due to the material of the doors itself.

    ''Seems like I''ll just have to wait and see what is behind it.'' Lin Wu decided.

    He withdrew his spirit sense from the temple and closed the formations back up before spreading it across the city. He observed the people and the objects of interest in the city. Lin Wu''s spirit sense particrly went to the ces which contained things such as books and records.

    Since the quake had already made a lot of buildings copse, their defensive formations were inactive, letting Lin Wu freely ess them.

    "System, scan these books." Lin Wu ordered secretly.

    This was another reason why Lin Wu was stalling for time. He wanted to gather as much information as he could from the city as he knew that if a fight broke out, these things may not survive.

    And if the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle woke up and got pissed, she may literally reduce the entire city to ashes in one attack. Lin Wu definitely did not want to waste this chance to obtain more information and upgrade the data banks.

    ''Who knows, I may even find something rting to the temples hereбн if a city as big as this was built here, then someone must have known about this temple or had a hunch about it. Hopefully, I get luckбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu had a lot of time to refine his spirit sense in these past few days and the range of his current spirit sense had reached to about five kilometers now. This was quite a lot for a cultivator at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    Even an Adult stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator''s spirit sense might only reach a maximum range of ten kilometers. And that was IF, they spent enough effort in refining it. Most of them were simply too busy in cultivation and would not spend extra time on something like this.

    Most cultivators were fine once their spirit sense reached a range of a couple of kilometers and would only let it increase passively from then on. To them, if they failed in refinement, their spirit sense would copse and they would have to start again.

    This was a tiring process for many and they would get frustrated. The longer one''s spirit sense got, the more difficult it was to refine it further. But another thing that happened was that if their spirit sense did copse during this, they were able to recover it to their previous range much faster than normal.

    Still, because it consumed a lot of spirit Qi to do so and that spirit Qi would be lost upon each attempt, there were very few people that would do something like this. Usually, those that had long range spirit sense were those who specialized in Alchemical pill refinement and Formation masters.

    Their spirit sense would get used over and over again, with very fine moments and control. This would lead to it getting tempered automatically, such that it would start to passively grow on its own.

    Of course, this passive growth could not bepared to the growth of someone of actively refined their spirit sense. Even the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, who was at the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm had a maximum spirit sense range of ten kilometers.

    While Lin Wu had thought about all this, only five minutes had passed in reality. The cultivators were now discussing amongst themselves.

    "Who will be the first to enter the temple?" This was the question that they all had.

    Both the parties were in a conflict again and didn''t want to let the other party be the first to get their hands on the temple. Their temporary truce was dissolved rather quickly.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I guess this was bound to happen. Humans often falter in the face of benefit and their greed only pushes them furtherбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 370 - Coin Toss?

    Lin Wu watched on as the two parties bickered and freely collected all of the information in the city. The cultivators seemingly had forgotten about Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle due to their argument.

    Though Lin Wu was fine with it as it just gave him more time to obtain the information from all the books and records in the city. The entire argumentsted for about half an hour, during which the system had finally finished scanning all the things that he wanted.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    SCANNING: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    "Perfectбн" Lin Wu muttered under his breath before looking back at the cultivators, who had still not decided who was going to enter the temple first.

    "Are you guys not done yet?" Lin Wu spoke in his distorted voice.

    Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi who were in the middle of a spittle war, halted upon hearing that voice. They turned their necks and saw that Lin Wu was staring at them intently. They could also sense a hint of impatience in it.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    ''Did we?'' Jing Luo and Tiandi looked at each other. ''Really forget about them?'' Both of them had the same thought.

    Seeing that Lin Wu had still not attacked them, they took breaths of relief.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "We are nearly done." Jiao Fan stated.

    "Huh? If you guys are going to do it like this, then it will be never done. I may as well decide who enters the temple first." Lin Wu suggested.

    "You will decide?" Jiao Fan said and looked at old man Tiandi.

    "Hmm, this seems like the better option." Old Man Tiandi spoke.

    Jiao Fan thought over it and agreed with the Old Man. Right now Lin Wu was still calm and was not attacking them. They did not know if they continued to argue will anger Lin Wu or not. They didn''t want to take that risk either, especially when they didn''t know what Lin Wu''s cultivation base was at.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was obviously a Dao Shell realm beast and Lin Wu was quite likely to be the same seeing as he could easily bear the aura of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. Plus, he seemed to be more terrifying to look at than the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, who was actually quite elegant.

    "It is agreed, then. I''ll decide who gets to enter first by a coin toss." Lin Wu dered.

    "A coin tossбн okay." Both the men agreed.

    While it was rather unconventional, they were fine with this simplistic method. At least they knew that the other part was going to be impartial. Lin Wu was a beast and a beast that wanted nothing more than to kill and eat humans would be the most impartial in their minds.

    "I''ll toss the coin in the air and you pick a side then." Lin Wu said before withdrawing one of the many coins he had in his storage.

    By now he had killed enough people that he had a reasonable fortune in coins in his storage. Of course, he sorted them out into one of the many spatial storage rings that he now had for easy ess.

    Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi looked at the coin and nodded their heads, not thinking about where the coin hade from. Lin Wu flicked the coin into the air using some wind attribute spirit Qi and saw it rise up a few hundred meters into the sky.

    "Huhбн used a bit too much strength." Lin Wu muttered. "Should still be fine though."

    "I chose heads!" Jing Luo spoke.

    "And I pick tails!" Old Man Tiandi said as well.

    Both of them watched the coin, which was still rising up in the sky, and waited for it to descend. When it finally started toe down, it was spinning at a great speed, such that its sides could not be seen at all.

    In less than five seconds, the coin had reached the ground.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Lin Wu caught the coin in his tail and looked at it. Since his tail was raised up in the sky while catching the coin, neither Jiao Fan nor Old Man Tiandi could see the results. All they could do now was to wait for Lin Wu to announce them.

    The other cultivators who had been reduced to the audience were intently watching it as well. This mattered greatly to them and would decided weather they would get any rewards or not.

    "It is Tails." Lin Wu announced.

    "YAAAAAAYYYYY!" The cultivators who were on the side of Old man Tiandi rejoiced.

    "Dammitбн" Jiao Fan cursed under his breath.

    Lin Wu watched it all, feeling entertained again and let them enjoy their momentary bliss. For he knew they would despair soon enough. After all, even if they picked who was going to enter the temple first, the question still stood whether they would be able to enter it or not.

    "So who will go from your side?" Lin Wu asked the old man.

    Tiandi looked at his people and saw all of them looking at him expectantly. Many of them were from different factions and had onlye under Old Man Tiandi temporarily due to themon interest of everyone.

    After thinking for a bit, Old Man Tiandi finally made his choice.

    "Owner of Mystic Treasure pavilion, youe first!" Old Man Tiandi announced.

    After hearing his name, a middle aged man that was one of the peak stage core condensation realm cultivators walked out from the crowd. He cupped his hands and saluted old man Tiandi.

    "I think Elder Tiandi for giving me this opportunity." The man said.

    "You are proficient in making spirit tools and formations, right? See if you can find a way to get it. I don''t think that the temple will not have any formations on it." Old Man Tiandi replied.

    The people had a look of realization, as they understood why Tiandi picked this man.

 Chapter 371 - Second Teams Turn?

    ''So they are not too ignorant and know to think further, huhбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself upon seeing that old man Tiandi had actually chosen apetent person.

    "I shall do my best, Elder Tiandi." The owner of the Mystic Treasure pavilion said before heading towards the temple.

    Everyone watched on as he reached the entrance of the temple, which was on the top. It was a rather strange set up which made them feel weird but they didn''t mind it for now and just thought that the creator must have been entric or had some other thought in mind while building the temple.

    The trapdoor had over ten different formations, all of which blocked it from being opened. The owner checked the door with his spirit sense as he closed his eyes. No one made any noise during this time so as to not disturb the man.

    About five minutester the owner, brows furrowed and ten more minutester, sweat appeared on his forehead.

    "Is everything okay with him?" One of the cultivators on old Man Tiandi''s side whispered to hispanion.

    "I don''t know, but seems like he is having a hard time. Formations on old ruins such as these are usually quite strong andplex." Thepanion replied.

    "Hmmбн yeah you are right." The other man agreed.

    Fifteen more minutes passed before a change was finally observed.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The trapdoor finally opened up as the owner of the mystic treasure pavilion copsed on the ground.

    "Itбн isбн doneбн" The man said in-between breaths.

    All that he had done right now was very exhausting for him and he didn''t expect the formations to be thisplex. He would say that he had barely managed to even open the door and did not know if he would be able to do it again.

    "Are you okay?" Old Man Tiandi questioned.

    "I''m fine but opening this door took up nearly all of my spirit Qi. I don''t think I can continue further." The owner replied.

    "Mmm, wait here then. You''ll have a part in the reward too, don''t worry." Tiandi assured.

    "Thank you, Elder." The owner of the Mystic pavilion said before retreating to his otherpanions that were still waiting in the crowd.

    "We can head in now!" Old Man Tiandi announced.

    "Praise to the owner!" Some of the people eximed.

    "Who shall be the next to enter it, then? Since the owner is no longer capable to do that now." Someone asked.

    "There are bound to be dangers in there, so I want you all to be sure of it." Old Man Tiandi spoke.

    Lin Wu, who was watching this all, thought of something before speaking.

    "I think you''ve had your turn and can pass it to the other guy now." Lin Wu spoke.

    As soon as Jiao Fan heard this, his eyes lit up.

    "YES! YES! We only decided who will enter the temple first. Since your member has decided to retreat, we should be able to enter it rightfully." Jiao Fan said out loud.

    "You!бн" Old Man Tiandi wanted to protest but could feel the gaze of Lin Wu on his back.

    He then looked at the other side''s cultivators and they seemed to be ready to fight as well. Tiandi understood that this was not a time to argue and since Lin Wu the overseeing party, had spoken, they may as well go ording to his wishes.

    Unknowingly, this group of humans had be subservient to Lin Wu in a way that even Lin Wu did not understand fully.

    ''Seems like some respite offered in the face of overwhelming danger can be a good way to tame people.'' Lin Wu noted in his mind as his eyes glowed slightly.

    The people felt chills on their necks for a moment, but they ignored it as they focused back on the matter at hand.

    "Alright, Elder Qian shall go in then." Jiao Fan decided right away.

    "As youmand, Mayor Jiao." An old man who was at the Infant soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm spoke.

    Lin Wu slightly nodded his head and knew that this was the better choice. Even if the owner of the mystic treasure pavilion was an expert in formations, that would not have helped him much aftering across the formation array in the temple.

    Unlike the other temples Lin Wu hade across, this one was in the best condition with most of its formations intact. Even theplex formation array made out of hundreds of Vermillion bird statues was functioning rtively well, though there were a few statues that were inactive and broken.

    Lin Wu had gotten all of this information with the help of the system and had already made a virtual interface for the formation array as well.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    VIRTUAL INTERFACE: Thousand Fire Plume Formation array.

    FUNCTIONS: 1. Defensive mode

    2. Offensive mode

    3. Inactive mode

    4. Self destruct

    бкбк

    Lin Wu secretly smiled upon seeing the function of the array and let it be in the Defensive mode for now. He wanted to see what kind of effect it could exert on the people who would try to enter it.

    If need be, he could modify the responses as needed anyway. He watched on as Elder Qian walked in through the trapdoor and descended down the stairs. A few others like Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi were now at the top of the temple as well, using their spirit sense to observe the interior of the temple.

    Everyone else could only wait and see the response of Elder Qian. For about two minutes, they could hear nothing as the temple stairs went quite deep. Jiao Fan estimated that they may even go about half the height of the temple, which was right as Lin Wu knew the exact depth.

    Their spirit sense was still able to freely keep up and thus they observed Elder Qian and the interior as well. They could see the carvings on the walls and finally the statues that just appeared.

 Chapter 372 - Flames?

    About two more minutester, Elder Qian finally reached the end of the stairs and saw the hundreds of statues that were built in the hall.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    With his appearance, all the others along the walls of the hall also lit up with red mes. The torches were the same as Lin Wu had seen before, being that of a bird w holding up the mes.

    The torches being lit up made the entire hall illuminated, making it easy for Elder Qian to see.

    "Heavensбн" Elder Qian eximed under his breath.

    He could see the elegant and beautiful statues of the vermilion bird carved in detail now. Looking at the statues he could tell that they were carved by except sculptures and probably would cost a lot if they were sold.

    Just one of these statues would be enough to obtain a small fortune. But when he looked at what was basically hundreds of statues, his eyes lit up with excitement.

    "AHAHAHA! WE''RE RICH! WE''RE GONNA BE FILTHY RICH!" Elder Qian shouted out loud, his voice traveling all the way up the stairs and out into the crowd.

    "What could have elder Qian found?" someone questioned.

    "Who knows, but it must be something really valuable otherwise he would not have reacted like this." Another person replied.

    "I know, right? Seems like luck was on our side. Look at those traitors, they are regretting going first now." Another man said while pointing to the cultivators who were on the side of Old Man Tiandi.

    Sneers and smirks were visible on the faces of Jiao Fan''s subordinates as they rejoiced in the misery of the others. But a secondter, those smirks were wiped off their faces.

    "AAAAHHHHH! SAVE ME! SAVE MEEEEEEE!" A blood curdling cry for help came from the temple.

    The terror in the voice was apparent and sent chills down the spines of everyone here. Even the cultivator show was on the side of Old Man Tiandi were not excluded and could understand that Elder Qian might havee across something terrifying.

    "What''s happing to Elder Qian?" Jiao Fan''s other Nascent Soul realm subordinate asked with concern.

    His spirit sense range was not long enough to sense the insides of the temple and thus he could only ask Jiao Fan.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi both swallowed their saliva as they witnessed the scene inside the temple.

    "Fireбн endless fireбн" Old Man Tiandi muttered.

    "Elders Qianбн he''s goneбн" Jiao Fan spoke in disbelief.

    "WHAT! HOW?" The Nascent Soul realm subordinate could not help by say.

    The wave of depression spread quite fast among the crowd as they understood the implication behind this. If an Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm cultivator like Elder Qian could die in mere moments like this, then they were not likely to be able to do much either.

    Perhaps here, the only humans that would be able to do something were none other than Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi, both of whom were at the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm. But they were too shocked by this to speak anymore.

    Jiao Fan kept on observing with his spirit sense and hard to keep it maintained there.

    In the hall with the hundreds of Vermillion bird statues, red mes burned endlessly. The statues were all lit up as countless runes surrounded them. The runes arranged themselves into fomentations around each vermilion bird statue.

    Then each of these formations, linked up with each other, turning into a massive formation array that released mes that could easily melt metal and evaporate blood. Elder Qian, who had just entered this ce a mere moment ago, could no longer be seen.

    The only traces of him that were left here were now a few pieces of metal jewelry which had also started to melt and a spirit sword thatid in a pile of ash. The spirit sword was also glowing as runes appeared on it.

    These were evidently defensive runes that increased the durability of the spirit sword. But one could see that the runes were having a hard time maintaining themselves as the red mes continually assaulted them.

    <em>~SHATTER~</em>

    After five more seconds, the runes were unable to hold up against the red mes and were destroyed.

    <em>~SIZZLE~</em>

    <em>~DRIP~</em>

    With the runes protecting the spirit sword gone, it became red hot before melting into a puddle of molten steel. Its wooden handle was reduced to ash while the gem stone on it cracked and shattered into dust.

    The power of these red mes was on a different level and was mind boggling to the two experts watching it.

    "What kind of a formation array is this even?" Jing Luo couldn''t help but wonder.

    "How many statues are there in there? Each of them is an individuality formationбн how can one even set up such aplex array?" Old Man Tiandi was also lost.

    Jiao Fan furrowed his brows and felt like he would be on the losing end if he did not do anything right now. He had already lost two Nascent Soul realm subordinates till now, one in the battle before and Elder Qian in the formation array now.

    He was only left with two more of them now, and they were not people he could afford to lose anymore. After all, unlike Old Man Tiandi who had be an impromptu leader of a group of different parties, Jiao Fan had nurtured each of his subordinates on his own and had personally spent resources for them.

    His losses were far greater than that of Old Man Tiandi, who was actually not losing anyone close to him. Even if these people were united currently, they did not care for each other deeply and were only in it for their benefit.

    Jiao Fan thus gritted his teeth and took out a pale yellow stone from his spatial storage treasure. Old Man Tiandi looked at it and showed a surprised look on his face.

    "The Mind Expanding Lardite?"

 Chapter 373 - Mind Expanding Lardite?

    Old Man Tiandi did not expect Jiao Fan to have something like this with me and it was rather unexpected to him. Even Lin Wu was stringed by this and took a look at the pale yellow stone that was in Jiao Fan''s hand.

    Of course, looking was not really an urate word for this as Lin Wu was on top of the tform and could not directly see with his two eyes. Rather, he was using his spirit sense to observe it.

    He tried probing with his spirit sense and found it to be impermeable to his spirit sense. This surprised him even more, as he knew that the material that could block one''s spirit sense was usually quite valuable.

    So far there were very few things that Lin Wu had encountered that were like this. For example, the door of the inner hall of the temple, the tomb of the Taiji Celestial and the interference field of the Dread Coil Marsh itself.

    "System scan this thing and check the data banks." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target Identified

    TARGET: Mind Expanding Lardite

    INFO: The Mind Expanding Lardite is a special mineral that can help increase the mental faculties of a person using it. For normal humans who keep this on their person, they would be able to think faster and have better memories.

    As for the cultivators that use it, they will be able to expand the range of their spirit sense greatly. It can also help in the tempering of spirit sense and is considered a very valuable resource in the world.

    Mind Expanding Lardite isrgely sought after by cultivators who greatly use spirit sense such as those in the upation of being a Pill Alchemist and Formation masters. They need bettermand over their spirit sense for these upations and as such the Mind Expanding Lardite can be very helpful for them.

    The Mind Expanding Lardite is also quite rate and has a value that reached in thousands of High Grade spirit stones. Even if it has a demand, there is no supply and as such anyone who finds one, would rarely ever sell it.

    The Mind Expanding Lardite also has a limited usage period depending on who is using it. Formoners or mortal humans, the Mind Expanding Lardite canst thousands of years without much wear and tear. But for cultivators, the more they use it the smaller the Mind Expanding Lardite would get.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had not thought that there would be something like this here. But now that he had seen it, he knew he had to obtain it. Perhaps if Jiao Fan knew this, he may have never revealed it but now that he had, his fate was sealed.

    Jing Luo looked at the pale yellow stone in his hand and closed his eyes. In the next moment, a strong pressure was exuded from his body as waves of spirit Qi spread all around. Tendrils of spirit sense rose from his body as they weaved together to be thicker.

    Soon a spirit sense tendril that was as thick as a tree was formed.

    "GO!" Jiao Fan said with bloodshot eyes.

    The pressure being exerted on him was quite a lot as he was overdrawing on the Mind Expanding Lardite. Usually one was supposed to use it lightly, letting it slowly temper their spirit sense. But Jiao Fan did not have that luxury.

    ''Hopefully, it is worth using an heirloomбн'' Jiao Fan thought to himself.

    Old Man Tiandi and the others were shocked by this and did not know what Jiao Fan was exactly doing. To them it looked quite powerful and Jiao Fan also seemed to be angry along with it. Though they thought it was due to the loss of his subordinate.

    Lin Wu also kept a close eye on Jiao Fan''s newly enhanced spirit sense and saw how it passed through the formation array of the statues. The red mes made by the statues tried to burn his spirit sense but could not do so easily.

    Previously Jiao Fan had only stopped because the fire was actually able to harm his spirit sense as well. Thus, even if he wanted to find a way to proceed or doable the formation array, he could not do so.

    But with the reinforcement from the Mind Expanding Lardite, Jiao Fan was basically brute forcing his way in. Of course this did note without any disadvantages, and Jiao Fan was under constant pain due to his spirit sense being continually burned by the red mes.

    Normal mes would have been unable to do anything to a cultivator''s spirit sense, maybe just disturb them by causing spirit Qi fluctuations. But these red mes were extremely different from thosemon mes.

    Unlike Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi, Lin Wu knew that these mes were actually simr to that of the Vermilion bird''s mes. Lin Wu had seen the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle purging all of the Marsh Ghosts using the vermilion bird''s mes, and if it could work on them, then the spirit sense was nothing in front of it.

    Of course, these mes were not fully the same as vermilion bird''s mes and were mere imitations. If it were the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle using them right now, not only would Jiao Fan''s spirit sense bepletely destroyed, even the walls of the temple would start to melt after a certain point.

    Such was the incredible power of the vermilion bird''s mes and that was also the reason why Lin Wu had chosen to go the cooperative route with the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle rather than antagonizing her right away.

    "oh? He actually managed to find this?" Lin Wu suddenly said.

    In the hall where the mes were raging, Jiao Fan''s spirit sense had be as thin as a finger now. But he had a smile on his face as he found the way to ovee the formation array.

    "FOUND IT! That''s the defective node."

 Chapter 374 - A Plan To Overcome The Array?

    Jiao Fan''s voice rang out in the crowd and they all became excited.

    Old Man Tiandi was the same and did not know what Jiao Fan had done, but he knew that it was probably something to do with therge formation array inside of it. Even he could feel theplexity of it and did not think he could do anything to it on his own.

    "What do we do now, Mayor Jiao?" The subordinate of Jiao Fan questioned.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Jiao Fan took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off his brow. He had already withdrawn his spirit sense, as it would have beenpletely burned up if he let it stay in there. Not only that, but he also had a rather bad headache due to forcibly using the Mind Expanding Lardite.

    "I was able to find a w in the Formation array and also have an idea of how it works. The entire array is made out of multiple smaller formations that are contained within the statues of the bird inside the hall.

    While there are hundreds of statues there, a few of them are damaged and thus are not active. But these are rare and few in number. We will need to exploit them and then use them to our advantage." Jiao Fan spoke.

    Lin Wu was listening to it as well and wanted to know what kind of a method did Jiao Fan figure out. If it was good enough, perhaps it may even trigger the system to update its data banks.

    Jiao Fan was now freely speaking, not minding that Old Man Tiandi and the other cultivators were hearing his words. He knew that this was something that would be impossible for him to do on his own, even with the help of his subordinates.

    This left him with the only option which was to take the help and cooperation of Old Man Tiandi. It took him fifteen minutes before he finished his exnation. During this time he took the opinion of several formation masters that were here and improved upon his n.

    While Jiao Fan knew a bit about formations, he was not an expert in it, simr to Old Man Tiandi.

    ''They flipped their stances once again. Now that it is hard for them to go further on their own, they chose to cooperate with others even if they were just enemies a while ago.'' Lin Wu observed.

    And just as he was thinking this, Lin Wu was interrupted by Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi.

    "We now want to enter it together, can we do that?" Jiao Fan questioned.

    Lin Wu raised his brows at this, finding it to be rather interesting. They were still thinking of him as an authority figure despite having no assurance whether Lin Wu would be killing themter or not.

    Lin Wu didn''t know whether to think humans were foolish, or brave for being able to act like this.

    "Why are you asking me? I don''t care. Do what you want." Lin Wu spoke curtly.

    The eyes of Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi lit up, and it was evident that they were actually happy with this response. They then turned around and discussed a bit more with their people. Half an hourter they were finally ready to enact their n.

    Lin Wu looked at the sky and saw it turning orange. It was soon going to be the time for sunset and Lin Wu had already spent quite some time here in the Jiao Dian City like this. The system had gathered all of the information from the city and even managed to get a few data nodes from the people that had died.

    Since Lin Wu had not directly consumed these people, the data nodes were less than iplete but it was still fine for him. As long as the system could improve the data banks using it, Lin Wu was fine.

    He looked around and saw that most of the people of the city had also retreated to the edge of the city. The rescue operations were also mostlyplete, and there were multiple tents and makeshift hospitals set up in the outskirts of the city.

    The injured people were being treated and a ce was being cleared out for them to live in for the time being. The weaker subordinates of the mayor such as those in the Qi refining realm were helping in building some shelter for the people now.

    Since the cultivators themselves were helping, the construction was going rather fast and surprised Lin Wu.

    "Having cultivators doing construction seems both absurd and novel at the same time." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Alright then! We shall start the first phase now!" Jiao Fan suddenly spoke, bringing back Lin Wu''s attention to him.

    The cultivators split into six teams and each of them had different distributions of cultivators. Some had higher numbers of them, while the smallest team only had four. This smallest team wasposed of none other than Jiao Fan, Old Man Tiandi, and two other Nascent Soul realm cultivators.

    "The Nascent Soul realm cultivators will forcibly create an opening and we will expand it. Then teams two and three will stabilize a barrier to separate the mes, which will create a path to the closest broken statue.

    Once that is done, the team of Owner of Mystic Treasure Pavilion and a few other formation masters will tweak the formation on the statue to deactivate it." Jiao Fan exined.

    Lin Wu heard it and thought it to be reasonable, but the question still stood whether they would actually be able to do something like this or not. Lin Wu knew that the mes were reactive and were only at a low setting now.

    Once they faced a higher resistance, they will increase their output, which will put them all in trouble and many will probably die. Still, it did not matter to Lin Wu as much and he was looking forward to watching it.

    "This will be interestingбн"

 Chapter 375 - Pity?

    The first team lined up at the entrance of the temple and started to go down the stairs. Since the stairs were rtively wide, two files of them were able to move rather smoothly and did not face any problems.

    But half way through, they could feel the increase in temperature as the air got hot. By the time they actually reached the bottom of the stairs, they were already sweating like an Eskimo in the Sahara.

    "This is way too strong." Someone among the team said as they wiped the sweat from their face.

    A few of the cultivators who could use the water attitude Qi techniques used them to cool down themselves and theirpanions, but it was mostly fruitless. Against the power and heat of the Vermillion mes, nomon water would be enough.

    "Let''s just do our jobs quickly so this stops." The leader of the team said.

    "YES!" they all replied in unison.

    "On my mark, 1бн 2бн 3бн NOW!" The Nascent Soul realm leader shouted as he created a t barrier in front of him.

    The others did the same and poured their spirit Qi into the technique that the leader was using.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The barrier started to expand and soon covered the entire front part of the stairs.

    "MOLD IT!" The leader shouted.

    The two files flipped tier hands in the opposite direction and the t barrier bent backward. It now looked like a snowplow and had a triangr shape.

    "TEAMS TWO AND THREE GET READY!" The leader shouted before pushing the triangr barrier with all his force.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    The Barrier started to separate the mes and created a temporary path in between. But it would not be long before the mes would gather back again.

    "Erect the corridor!" The nextmand came, this time from Jiao Fan.

    He, old Man Tiandi and the other two Nascent Soul realm cultivators came to the front and created two barriers, one on the left and one on the right. The area in between was now safe from mes as the barriers prevented them from progressing.

    "ACT NOW TEAMS TWO AND THREE!" Jiao Fan shouted.

    "Yes, mayor Jiao!" They said before pouring their spirit Qi into the barriers, stabilizing them. Soon the barriers started to spread apart and a wider area was now avable to them. Before, the space between barriers was only that of half a foot. But now it was a meter wide.

    "Stabilize it now!" Jiao Fan gave the next order.

    Everyone started to rush forward and took their ces against the barriers. The Nascent Soul realm cultivators were on the two ends of the corridor that was erected, while the weaker cultivators were in the middle.

    They were now individually reinforcing the corridor walls that were just barriers. With them pouring their spirit Qi into them, the barriers started to stabilize. Before they were being constantly damaged by the Vermillion mes, but now they were somewhat able to maintain their integrity.

    After about a minute, they had reached an equilibrium and the rate of repair and damage had reached a teau. Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi looked around and saw that they were rtivity fine now.

    "To the next step now," Jiao Fan said before turning to the right.

    This was one of the main problems that hade up during the formation of the n. The damaged and broken statues of the Vermillion bird were not in a location that could be essed by them by going in a straight line.

    Rather the closest broken statue was to their right and they would need to change their direction mid way if they wanted to ess it. But this was where the technical problem came. If they tried to change the shape of the barrier, there was a great chance it would lose the equilibrium and end up copsing.

    This was the same as if someone built a tunnel in the middle of the sea and tried to make a branch on it without creating defensive scaffolding around it. The water would simply rush in and destroy the entire tunnel.

    Because of theplexity of this task, this ended up falling upon the heads of Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi. They were the only two people who had the power to forcibly do something like this.

    "Ready, 1бн 2бн Attack!" Jiao Fan uttered as he punched forward.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Old Man Tiandi did the same, and the force of the attack was enough to push the mes back. But this also allowed them to test the defense of the statues themselves. This kind of an attack should have easily shattered steel, but if one looked at the statues, one would see that they werepletely unaffected.

    There were defensive runes surrounding them, and they had dampened the power of the attack as if it was nothing. Still, since the mes were not solid, they were pushed back by the force of the attack, which ended up creating an empty area in between.

    This was simr to when someone jumped into a puddle of water. The force of the impact would push all the water aside and create an empty dry area temporarily. But once the impact was dissipated, the water would rush back would force.

    And that was exactly what was happening now. In fact, the force was far greater than it should have been.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    Red runes suddenly appeared around all of the statues and spirit Qi fluctuations arose from them.

    "What''s happening?" The cultivators who were reinforcing the barriers asked, feeling anxious.

    "Oh noбн it can''t beбн ACTIVATE YOUR DEFENSES!" Jiao Fan yelled urgently.

    The cultivators all activated their defensive skills and techniques, along with various spirit tools they had. Some of them directly pulled out spirit stones so that they could maintain the barrier at the same time.

    But even with all thisбн it was not enough.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    As soon as the mes hit back at the barrier, it cracked. Lin Wu who was watching all this, smirked.

    "Tch~ And here I thought they wouldst longerбн"

 Chapter 376 - Pushed To The Edge?

    Lin Wu witnessed the barriers made by the cultivators cracking due to the opposition of the formation array. The force of the mes was far too much for the weaker cultivators to bear it on their own.

    Even if they were equally spread to distribute their spirit Qi evenly, it was simply not enough.

    "ARGH!!!" The Qi refining realms cultivators were the first to get killed.

    The mes easily devoured them and once one of the links was gone, it easily spread into the rest of the corridor made by the barriers.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The mes moved like a tide during a storm and ate everything in its way. No matter which cultivator came in front of it, they were burnt alive. Even the Core condensation realm cultivators did notst longer than a couple of seconds before their defensive techniques and skills failed.

    "NOOO!!!!" they couldn''t help but wail in pain.

    Their blood boiled, hair melted, and bones turned to ash. In the span of a few seconds, over a hundred cultivators were killed and their souls lost forever.

    "QUICK PUSH THROUGH TO THE STATUE!" Jiao Fan urged, as he put all his power into the barrier and rushed ahead.

    Old Man Tiandi and the other Nascent Soul realm cultivators did the same and followed behind Jiao Fan. It was getting difficult for even them, but they were still able to maintain their defensive skills for a bit longer.

    Unlike Elder Qian, who had been caught unaware by the vermilion mes, they already knew about it and knew the effects. Thus, they were already using their defensive skills and the defensive tools that they had.

    Due to this, they were able to stay alive longer and finally managed to reach the statue. But now came the tough partбн Jiao Fan and the others did not know how to deal with this formation array. The fourth team that wasposed of the formation masters had already perished in the mes.

    "What do we do now?" The subordinate of Jiao Fan couldn''t help but ask.

    Jiao Fan gritted his teeth as he saw the mes licking at the barrier. He knew that if he took too long the barrier would eventually copse and they would be reduced to nothing. Finally, a crazy idea appeared in his mind as his eyes lit up.

    "I have a method, but it is risky!" Jiao Fan stated.

    "Say what it is! We don''t have much time here. We will take whatever it is now!" Old Man Tiandi replied.

    He did not want to die and would be fine with whatever Jiao Fan proposed. In terms of formations, his understanding was even below that of Jiao Fan. If he could not do anything, then they all would be dying anyway.

    "We''ll use the Mind Expanding Lardite to the full extent bybining our spirit sense. Then we overwhelm the formation array with it. While it would probably not shut downpletely, it should temporarily be stopped." Jiao Fan said.

    The four Nascent Soul realm cultivators looked at each other faces, analyzing this option. The risks in it were truly quite high. Not only was this a blind try to they did not know for sure if it would work or not, but them using the Mind Expanding Lardite in this manner would damage their spirit sense.

    "We''ll do it! We have no choice!" Old Man Tiandi said with gritted teeth.

    The other two also nodded in response and Jiao Fan took out the Mind Expanding Lardite. They all ced their hands on the Mind Expanding Lardite and extended their spirit sense. The spirit sense tendrils entered the Mind Expanding Lardite and started to merge.

    "GAH!" All of them grunted in pain as their spirit sense was being forcefully being merged.

    This was a rather dangerous method of using the Mind Expanding Lardite and was thought by Jiao Fan as a fluke. He knew that his own spirit sense would not be enough to overwhelm the formation array, but thebination of four Nascent Soul realm experts, two of which who were at the Adult stage should be enough, he thought.

    Normally their spirit sense would not be able to merge like this, but under the unique effects of the Mind Expanding Lardite, they collided and warped together before being wound like a braid.

    The Mind Expanding Lardite then started to reinforce it and they felt a drain on their spirit Qi. Since spirit sense was just spirit Qi itself, just organized and oriented in a certain manner, it obviously needed more spirit Qi to increase in size.

    Usually, this took multiple efforts by the cultivator and the spirit Qi lost in failed attempts would not be returned. But with the Mind Expanding Lardite, one did not have this problem. It could allow one to skip the trial and error, allowing them to directly reinforce and extend their spirit sense.

    "Oh my, didn''t expect there to be a use like this too. Now, this just makes me even more interested in the Mind Expanding Lardite." Lin Wu said upon seeing Jiao Fan and the others doing this.

    To Lin Wu, the Mind Expanding Lardite was proving to be a more valuable treasure than anything in this town. He kept on observing the changes in their spirit sense and saw that it was now reaching a thickness of half a meter.

    Lin Wu could not even tell the length of the spirit sense but knew that if it truly extended it would likely go beyond ten kilometers at this moment, or perhaps even double that. But the cost of this was also high.

    "HAA! BREAK FOR MEEEEEEE!" Jiao Fan uttered with rage as blood dripped from his nose, ears and eyes.

    The other Nascent Soul realm cultivators were in the same condition as the two Infant Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivators in an even worse condition. The spirit sense moved with the urging of the four cultivators and struck the broken statue of the Vermillion bird, or mores urately, the formation hidden within it.

 Chapter 377 - A Third Party?

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Within the temple of the vermilion bird, the sound of an explosion could be heard. The people who were all watching it from the start were startled. At first they had heard the screams of agonying from inside and now this explosion.

    "What is happening in there?" Amoner asked.

    "Will the city mayor be alright?" A cultivator, who was a subordinate of the mayor questioned.

    All of the people currently watching had the same, if not simr questions. Their survival depended on Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi as of now. This was because the temple was not the only problem in front of them, Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were equal if not bigger problems.

    The two were beasts and nothing could be said surely about them. If they felt like it, they may eat them all in the blink of an eye. And that was the reason why Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi might be the only ones being able to protect themselves from it.

    Behind a copsed building, a woman was standing. She was wearing the robes of a cultivator and had a good bearing. Her looks were many times better than any average woman and so were her body proportions.

    She was currently hiding behind the copsed building and gazing at the scene in front of her. Since the start of the quake, she had seen one unbelievable scene after the other and they only kept on getting more absurd.

    The temple rising up from the ground, the destruction of the city, the battle of the cultivators and then finally the arrival of the tform with the two beasts.

    "What fools they are! Listening to the words of a beast! Do they really think they are trustful?" The woman scoffed.

    She continued watching and heard the painful screamsing from inside. This time she could recognize the voices to belong to the Mayor, Jiao Fan and Old Man Tandi along with the two other Nascent Soul realm cultivators.

    "I knew it! They were only walking to their deaths. Did they really think the beast was letting them walk in there without a reason? The beast should have definitely known about it. A beast that can speakбн there is no way it''s weakбн" The Woman said to herself.

    While she was looking at the temple, she was also holding a square bangle in her hand. She kept on rubbing it as if trying to do something, but it was not working.

    ''Why is this not working? How do I contact the mistress like this?'' The woman thought.

    She wanted to escape the city but knew that this kind of information was best reported first hand.

    ''Thankfully the mistress gave me the Teleportation talismanбн or I may have had to escape at the first sight of danger. At least now the mistress will be able to get some information beforehand.'' She thought.

    But while she was doing this, she did not know a certain someone was listening.

    "Interestingбн very interestingбн so we have a third party wanting to fish in the troubled watersбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself after listing to the woman.

    While the woman thought that she had been hidden from the start and that no one had noticed her, in reality Lin Wu had spotted her before he had evennded here on the tform. Or rather, it was the system that had detected her in the scan.

    Lin Wu had not spent as much attention on her at the start as there were simply more important matters to deal with. But after seeing the movement on the map, he noticed that one of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators was still hidden in the city and had not revealed itself.

    When Lin Wu had scanned the area with his spirit sense, he had still not seen anything which intrigued him. If something could hide from his spirit sense but was still visible to the system, it meant that they were using some kind of a special concealment technique.

    While Lin Wu may have been able to figure out that she was hidden in a certain area after doing a detailed check with his spirit sense, his attention was upied by the people in the temple currently.

    The only reason why Lin Wu looked at the cultivator was that the system notified him of amunication signal arising from amunication jade. Someone had been trying to contact someone outside the city.

    The appearance of the temple hade with the Interference field that was far weaker than that of the Dread Coil Marsh. This had allowed Lin Wu to confirm that it was truly the temples that created the interference fields and not the Dread Coil Marsh itself.

    ''The number of temples should probably determine the strength of the interference field. Right now there is only one temple, so it is only able to interrupt themunications from the jade slips, but if there is more it can even affect the system.

    Hmmбн I''ll need to let the system analyze this temple in detail once I''m done here. There are bound to be a lot of hidden gains in this that I don''t know of.'' Lin Wu thought.

    But seeing that the woman had tried to use amunication jade slip, Lin Wu became curious and wanted to know what was it that she was exactly doing. And when he finally eavesdropped on her mutterings, he heard all these interesting things.

    "The only question that now stands isбн who is this mistress this woman is talking about? She should definitely be her superior, seeing the respectful tone she uses to talk about her.

    Her leader, perhaps? Or a sect elder?" Lin Wu wondered.

    While the woman was in the robes of a cultivator, she did not have any specifics that could point out the sect that she belonged to. Thus, it was left to Lin Wu to guess it or hear it.

    "I''ll just keep on watching for nowбн"

 Chapter 378 - Regret And Sacrifice?

    Lin Wu saw the woman trying to contract her mistress but no matter what she tried, nothing worked.

    "Do I need to leave the city? Why is this still not working?" The woman wondered to herself.

    She hesitated and looked at the temple in the stance.

    "If I run away without getting concrete results, the mistress will not be happy with me. I need to at least see whates out of this." The woman said to herself in a determined tone.

    "I guess I don''t need to chase her downter thenбн she''ll be here to be taken." Lin Wu stated as he looked back at the inside of the temple using his spirit sense.

    "Oh yeah system, track that woman and record all that she says, just in case." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Affirmative." The system replied shortly.

    Inside the temple, Jiao Fan and the others were doing their best to stop the formation array of the statues. Theirbined spirit sense drilled into the statue and struck the formation inscribed in it.

    <em>~WEENG~</em>

    A humming sound could be heard as their spirit sense directly spread to the formation array through the dangered formation of the broken state. The damaged formation was like a hole in the wall, allowing water to reach the circuitry, and short circuiting it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Then, in the next moment, all of the formations died down and the mes disappeared as well. The only mes that were still burning were those that were on the corpses. These were burning with the corpse as a fuel and were not dependant on the formation array and thus stayed lit.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "QUICK!" Jiao Fan uttered as blood dripped down his mouth. "The Door! Get to the door!"

    The four Nascent Soul realm cultivators managed to reach the door just when another humming sound was heard.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The formations came back alive and the mes started to burn once again.

    "PUSH!" They all shouted and moved the doors.

    <em>~CREAK~</em>

    The doors were hard to open, but under thebined strength of the four Nascent Soul realm cultivators, it finally budged.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    The formation array had seemingly discovered them and the mes rushed toward them as if they were alive. But just as they were about to touch them, they were blocked by the doors.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The doors of the hall closed at thest moment, preventing the mes froming towards them.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "That was closeбн that formation array is far too terrifying." One of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators that were Jing Luo''s subordinate spoke.

    Jing Luo couldn''t help but look back at the door as he was reminded of the hundreds that had died back there.

    "This was definitely not worth itбн we should have nevere here!" Jiao Fan uttered with regret.

    He had lost not only a lot of his subordinates, but friends as well. Some among them were also his n members and he did not like the regret that he was feeling now.

    ''It would have been better if I just let them take it all. They might not have even survived the formation array and one of the problems would have been directly solved.'' Jing Luo thought as he looked at Old Man Tiandi.

    But no matter how much Jiao Fan regretted this, the dead would note back. Just as there was no medicine for regret, Yama would not return the souls of the dead just because someone was sad.

    Lin Wu observed this all and nodded his head. He was a bit impressed by the method that Jiao Fan had used and even the system had notified him that its data banks had been updated. The system had evidently learned a new method to ''hack'' formation arrays.

    "Though them dying means I get less spirit Qiterбн ~Sigh~ I can get moreter anywaysбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Let''s get what we came for," old Man Tiandi said while wiping the blood from his face.

    Evidently, all of them had been affected by the bacsh and felt weak right now. Even using spirit Qi was painful as their meridians shouted out in agony. They knew this was something that was bound to happen, but now they could not do anything.

    "You''re fine with all this!? Jiao Fan yelled at Tiandi.

    "What? They died, and that''s all. Do you just want to give up on this opportunity and waste their sacrifice?" Old Man Tiandi Counteracted.

    "That''s right, we should get what we came here for or we would just be wasting it all." The Nascent Soul realm cultivator, who was on the side of Old Man Tiandi spoke.

    The subordinate of Jiao Fan did not know what to speak and just stayed silent. He was pained by their loss too and regretted that he did not stop the mayor beforehand. Perhaps if they did not have the greed, they would have been able to prevent all of this death.

    Jiao Fan''s eyes were bloodshot and anger spread across his face. But then he gritted his teeth and forcefully suppressed it all. He knew that it would do him no good to act out now and the better option would be to take advantage of this situation.

    ''I won''t let your sacrifices be in vain!'' Jiao Fan Swore to himself.

    "Let''s go then!" Jiao Fan said in a hoarse voice.

    Old Man Tiandi Did not speak another world and simply followed alongside the man.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    But just after stepping a meter ahead, the torches that were hung along the walls started to light up. The four men got startled and gathered up, back to back.

    "Dammit! Is this another formation array!?" Jiao Fan cursed.

    But even after five seconds, they did not feel any danger. They then looked at the torches and realized that they were only burning there without moving.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "At least it''s not another formation array." Old Man Tiandi took a breath of relief.

    "Look! W-what''s that!" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator that was on old Man Tiandi''s side eximed.

 Chapter 379 - The Shocked Jiao Fan

    Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi looked at the end of therge hall and saw arge statue. Previously it was hidden in the darkness, but now the torches that had lit up illuminated the entire area brightly.

    Normally they should have been able to see it all using their spirit sense and would not have been shocked like this. They should have been able to tell that there was no formation array in the hall as well.??

    s! Them using the Mind Expanding Lardite forcefully like that had temporarily crippled their spirit sense. Even normal spirit Qi usage was painful for them and they were only bearing it because of years of experience.

    If it were a normal person they would have long since passed out due to the constant burning pain. It was not a good condition to be in honestly and could even bepared to Qi deviation in a way.

    "The statueбн it''s of the same kind of bird showed in the statues in the outer hall." The subordinate of Jiao Fan spoke.

    They looked at the statue of the Vermillion bird, which they didn''t really know was the legendary Vermillion bird. To them, it was just some mysterious bird beast that they did not know of.

    <em>~step~</em>

    <em>~step~</em>

    <em>~step~</em>

    The four men stepped ahead as they saw the majestic statue of the Vermillion bird. Lin Wu was watching along them as his spirit sense could now enter the door with ease. Them opening the door had left an opening for Lin Wu''s spirit sense to drill through.

    "This statue is bigger than the others and in the best condition too." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The statue of the vermilion bird was in the pose of soaring in the sky. Its wings were spread wide apart and only the tip of its left talon was touching the base of the statue. But even then the statue was solid and stable.

    If it were any other sculpture making this kind of a statue, it would not be sure if that statue would be able to stay bnced or not. The most likely chance was that it would just fall due to the base being too narrow.

    The statue was easily over ten meters wide, while the base was just six inches wide. This showed the wide difference in the two spans. They could see each and every small feather that had been carved on the statue in detail.

    Its crown feathers were spread in a splendor while its tail feathers fluttered with elegance. Overall, it was easily the best statue that they had ever seen in their lives.

    "Marvelous!" Old Man Tiandi Couldn''t help but exim.

    The four men gazed at the statue intently for about five minutes before they realized something.

    "What do we do now?" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator, who was on the side of Old Man Tiandi asked.

    "There should be something here, right? Or perhaps this statue is the reward?" The Subordinate of Jiao Fan said.

    Jiao Fan too narrowed his eyes and looked around.

    "Sss! Using spirit sense is impossible," Jiao Fan hissed in pain. "Spread up and look for anything that looks valuable. There must be something here. There is no way something like this would be built for nothing. There must be something that is being guarded here."

    Old Man Tiandi and the other two nodded their heads in acknowledgment and spread up. They searched every nook and cranny of the hall, from the door all the way to the statue.

    The hall was quite wide and it took them over an hour before they finished searching it all. They now felt quite exhausted as this was the first time in a long time that they were being forced to do something like this.

    As Nascent Soul realm cultivators, they were not used to being unable to use spirit Qi. But now that their meridians were protesting in pain, they could not do much either than go to the ways of the mortals and search it manually.

    "Hahaha! It''s kinda fun seeing them struggle like this. Look at that Tiandi, he''s actually acting like an old man now, with his hand on his lower back!" Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh.

    But while he wasughing, the others around him did not think the same. For the cultivators, Lin Wu was simply letting out beastly noises that they did not know the meaning of. But they didn''t think much about it either and just thought that it was something a beast did.

    To them, beasts didn''t really have to makeplete sense. After all, if the beasts had decorum and manners, would they still be beasts?

    <em>~huu~huu~huu~</em>

    "I didn''t get even this tired in the battle before and now I can''t move anymore," The nascent Soul realm cultivator who was on the Old Man Tiandi''s side said in an exhausted voice.

    He then slumped to the ground with his back to one of the pirs.

    "You didn''t find anything either?" Jiao Fan couldn''t help but ask.

    "Noбн nothingбн this ce is empty." Old Man Tiandi said, feeling frustrated. "Absolutely empty!"

    Jiao Fan rubbed his forehead as a headache spread through it. He feared that they may have really made a huge mistake ining here and that they may need to go back empty handed.

    ''Noбн that is IF we can go back. With those mes in the outer hall, there is no way we can survive that.'' Jiao Fan thought.

    He then looked at the others and thought for a bit.

    "We will rest for the time being and recover our strength. Perhaps what we seek is hidden and we cannot find it without our spirit sense and spirit Qi. Once we feel better, we will search once more. There will be no use in iling around blindly." Jiao Fan stated.

    "Hmm, that seems right. I need to rest my back tooбн" Old Man Tiandi said as he sat down as well.

    The four men took out their respective resources to recover their bodies and waited. Unaware that a certain someone had just finished her rest.

 Chapter 380 - Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle Awakens?

    Lin Wu had been observing the four survivors in the inner hall of the temple and chuckling at their actions.

    "Just by being unable to use spirit Qi they fall to this level, <em>haha~</em>" Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh.??

    He saw that they got tired after a point and just decided to rest. This was probably one of the better choices they had made in the past few hours. Though Lin Wu felt that it was a bit of a pity, as he wanted to see them struggle a bit more.

    But the one thing he failed to realize was that a certain someone had woken up.

    "What are you doing?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle Questioned.

    Lin Wu who had beenughing suddenly stopped and turned his head.

    "Oh! You woke up." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Yes, but what are you doing? Where is the stone feather?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked as she narrowed her eyes.

    "Ummбн it''s still inside the temple." Lin Wu replied.

    "In the temple? Why have you not gotten it yet?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned, her voice getting a bit colder.

    "Well, we know that there are traps in this temple, so I let the humans deal with them. Once they get the stone feather, I''ll just take it from them and make our work easy." Lin Wu exined.

    "Humph! What traps, why do we even need to wait this long?! Leave it, I''ll just do it myself!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said before spreading her wings.

    <em>~PIIIIIII~</em>

    She let out a loud cry that echoed across the skies. The people who had been watching everything were shocked and some of them directly fell due to the sudden sound. They saw that the beast who had been asleep since the start had suddenly woken up.

    "The bird beast! It''s gonna attack RUN!!!" The people soon broke into hysteria.

    Lin Wu ignored them and instead pitied the four Nascent Soul realm cultivators who were inside the temple. They had not heard the cry of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle due to the door being closed, but they would soon be getting surprised.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle pped her wings and got down from the tform, since the temple was below it. Her Vermillion feathers started to glow as mes appeared around her body.

    <em>~Piiii~</em>

    She let out another cry before shooting out mes at the temple.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    A loud explosion urred as everything turned blinding white for a second and when that finally faded away, smoke had filled the area. The people who were still watching were stunned and some of them were directly knocked back because of the shock wave made from the explosion.

    The spirit Qi pressure exuding from the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was also too much for most cultivators here to bear. Those in the Qi refining realm directly fell to the ground, coughing out blood while those in the core condensation realm were knocked back.

    The woman who Lin Mu had noticed to be spying showed a shocked look. She was the only other nascent Soul realm cultivator currently left in the ruins city except for a few independent nascent soul realm cultivators that had chosen to stay out of the fight.

    They all felt the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and also felt the oppressive aura.

    "D-Dao Shell Realmбн it truly is a Dao Shel realm beast and not just that it is definitely not just in the Shell Initiation stage and is probably higher." The Woman spoke in disbelief.

    rm bells rang in her mind and her heart urged her to escape at that very moment. But then the orders of her mistress reappeared in her mind and she forcibly stopped her body from running away.

    "I can''t run now, after spending so much time here. I need to see what happens!" The woman said to herself.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had a fierce look in her eyes as she gazed at the temple. To her, the temple was nothing, but a construct made by humans to stop her. Thus, she picked the easiest method of entering it, which was nothing but to directly destroy it.

    What formations? what traps? What danger? In front of absolute strength, they were all nothing.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle pped her wing and the wind blew away all the smoke that was there. Finally, the view of the temple became clear and one could see that the front of the temple was now gone,pletely obliterated.

    The staircase that went down to the outer hall was fully visible to everyone and had been expanded wide enough that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could enter it now. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle thus strutted forward and jumped to enter the temple.

    "The-the beast is incredibly strong! It destroyed the formations that the Nascent Soul realm cultivators were unable to do." The Woman who had been observing it eximed.

    The fear in her heart only deepened upon seeing all this. It was actually not her first time seeing someone in the Dao Shell realm. She had seen a couple of Cultivators who were at the Dao Shell realm and had seen their might.

    But this beastбн it was different. Its aura was far more suppressive than anything she had seen and a certain level of majesty also exuded from it.

    Lin Wu who had been watching it all, simply sighed in response.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "And I thought I would get to see a bit more entertainmentбн" He muttered to himself before getting down there himself.

    Lin Wu knew that his time for cking was over and if he did not join the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle she might just get really displeased with him. But while the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had done this, the four men inside had a rude awakening.

    "What the hell is happening?! What was that explosion?" Old Man Tiandi said.

 Chapter 381 - Barging In?

    Jiao Fan, Old Man Tiandi and the other two Nascent Soul realm cultivators were literally knocked awake. The doors of the inner hall shook like windows during a storm and the sound explosion couldn''t help but get past them.

    "Something has happened outside. Is it the formation array attacking the door?" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator, who was on the side of Old Man Tiandi said.??

    "No, that can''t be it. Whoever made this temple and made the formation array would not have let that happen. The formation array would have made the doors open automatically if the mes were going to attack us." Jiao Fan said.

    His condition was sightly better than before and he was no longer bleeding. His face was still pale though and his meridians aching. He had barely managed to gain slight control of his spirit Qi back, but even that was painful.

    As for spirit sense? None of them could use it. After all, it had only been two hours since they had managed to enter the inner hall. If the effects of the Mind Expanding Lardite were this easy to dispel or heal from, its use would have been much more rampant.

    Because of this restriction on their spirit sense, they could not perceive what was happening outside and neither did they know that even if they tried to do that, they would not be able to see past the doors as they could block spirit sense as well.

    All in all, this was the perfect disaster and the four were absolutely, definitely, and truly fucked.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Suddenly, in the next moment, another explosion was heard as the entire hall shook. Dust fell from the ceiling and the pirs cracked.

    "Again? What the hell is happening?" Old Man Tiandi got anxious.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "Should we check?" The Subordinate of Jiao Fan asked.

    "We can''t risk opening the door of the inner hall and let the mes in. We will be surely killed if that happens." Jiao Fan said as he wiped the cold sweat off his brow.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The four men could feel a suppressive auraing from the outer hall. Even though their spirit sense and spirit Qi were temporarily crippled, they could still feel it. This showed that the aura was far more powerful than anything they had experienced before.

    "This auraбн isn''t it?" Old Man Tiandi stuttered.

    "That bird beast we sawбн with that crystal serpent." Jiao Fan muttered.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    And just as Jiao Fan said this, the doors of the inner hall were forced open. The four men were startled and, seeing that the doors had been opened got into defensive positions. They took out their defensive treasure and trump cards before hiding behind the pirs.

    This had taken them less than a second to do and the entire time they were looking at the doors. But the problem was that they could not see anything as a thick cloud of dust and smoke was blocking their view.

    <em>~Piiiii~</em>

    They finally heard the cry of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and shuddered.

    "It truly is that beast! Did it enter the temple?" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator, who was on Old Man Tiandi''s side questioned.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    A gust of wind blew through the door and dissipated the smoky dust cloud.

    <em>~cough~cough~cough~</em>

    The clouds came towards the four men and they identally inhaled it. They coughed in protest and felt very ufortable. Their meridians already felt like they were burning, and now their lungs were doing the same.

    Jiao Fan who managed to calm down a bit, finally saw past the doors.

    "Noбн it can''t beбн" Jiao Fan said in disbelief.

    The four men all looked in the direction and saw an astonishing sight. The formation array of the Temple was fully active and the statues of the vermilion bird were all letting out a bright light. Tens of thousands of runes floated around as mes raged on.

    But this was not the shocking part, the shocking part was that these mes were not attacking Jiao Fan and the others despite the doors being broken. Instead of that, the mes were moving towards the opposite direction.

    "Why are theyбн?" Jiao Fan''s subordinate muttered.

    <em>~piiiii~</em>

    The Cry of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle came once again and her figure was finally visible past the thick nket of mes. She was standing among them as if taking a walk in the park and strutting towards the inner hall.

    "Why are the mes not affecting it? This formation is strong enough to kill even Dao Shell realm cultivators. The beast should have been hurt too." Old Man Tiandi Said.

    "Wait, didn''t the beasts appear along with the appearance of the temple? What if they are the guardians of the temple and can''t be affected by it?" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator, who was on the side of Old Man Tiandi hypothesized.

    "No, if that were so, the mes would not have been attacking that beast. Look! They are clearly attacking it, that too with full force." Jiao Fan replied. "And the power seemed to be even greater than what it used to attack usбн" He added uponprehending this point.

    <em>~PIIIII~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a screech as she scoffed at the mes around her. Only Lin Wu who was some distance behind her, could understand what her screeches and cries meant.

    "These puny mes think they can hurt me? Humph! I''m the descendant of the legendary Vermilion mes and these are just some fake imitation. How can they even dare stop me!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle pridefully promation.

    Sadly, there wasn''t really anyone who could understand her words or they would have definitely been impressed.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    ''This beastбн I could have just stopped the formation beforehand but nowбн better to just leave it to her.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "The bird beast! It''s doing something," Old Man Tiandi pointed.

    The four men saw the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle raising its wings wide and taking a deep breath. The breath was strong enough to suck the mes towards it.

 Chapter 382 - Bird Meal?

    "Will it die?" Jiao Fan couldn''t help but hope.

    He knew that now that this beast had entered the temple, there was a great chance it was the end for them. The only thing he could ce his hopes on was nothing but the very same formation array that had made him despair and killed hundreds of people before.??

    But then he saw an oppressive sight.

    All the mes made by the formation array were sucked into the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, mouth as she swallowed them whole. To her, these mes were just nourishment and were restoring all the energy that she had lost fighting previously.

    "If I knew this, I would have already done this at the start and not waited there." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    ''If you did this, I probably would not have had the opportunity to gather information.'' Lin Wu thought to himself, but did not dare to utter it out loud.

    If he did try that, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would probably be pissed. And aftering this far along, Lin Wu did not want that to happen. All he could do right now was to watch the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle devour the mes made by the formation array.

    The formation array did not falter either and kept on producing more and more mes. Lin Wu could ideally turn it off if he wanted to, but he didn''t.

    ''Let''s see how much she can really absorb and what happens to the formation array after that. Perhaps the exhaustion of energy might give the system the chance to analyze how the entire temple works.

    Right now, it still can''t tell where the main energy source of the temple is. I can see that it is being supplied by a spirit Qi gathering formation array that is separately presented in the depths of the temple, but the reservoir is still hidden.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Along with Lin Wu, Jiao Fan, old Man Tiandi and the other two also watched as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle ate the mes made by the formation array as if it was merely water.

    "Howбн how can this beast do this?" Old Man Tiandi asked.

    Till now the man had asked several questions, the answers of which no one knew. It was a pity that they did not know the very statues that they were seeing around them were attempts at replicating the majesty of a Vermillion bird. And the beast that they were witnessing right now was technically a descendant of that very beast.

    "Even a beast that is innately talented in the fire element cannot do something like this. This eagle beast is not simple." Jiao Fan said as he wiped away more sweat from his forehead.

    The temperature of the area had risen up by quite a lot due to the sea of mes and if there was any normal human here, they would have long since been scalded to death. The temperature was easily enough to evaporate water and blood.

    Even if Jiao Fan and the other three were temporarily crippled, their bodies were still at the Nascent Soul realm despite not having any body cultivation. They could withstand the heat, but it still made them very unconformable. They wanted nothing more than to get away from here and soak in a cold spring of water.

    s! Those thoughts were nevering true.

    The four watched on as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle kept on sucking the mes into her body. The more she consumed, the stronger her aura got. Lin Wu could tell that her spirit Qi that had been depleted was rising at a rapid pace.

    Previously, when the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle woke up, while she had not recovered all of his spirit Qi exhausted during the battle with the Aquadream Sea Lotus, she had still recovered about a quarter of her spirit Qi.

    This was more than enough for her to fight and if she wanted to, she could very well erase the entire Jiao Dian city off the face of the world. It had taken her over six hours to recover that spirit qi but now she had reached fifty percent capacity in mere five minutes.

    One could tell from this that the formation array had a great demand for spirit Qi and that the mes were very potent.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The entire processsted for about ten more minutes after which the formation array started to dim down. The runes scattered away and the mes died out.

    <em>~hwak~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle closed her beak and enjoyed the aftertaste of the mes. This was perhaps one of the best meals she has ever had in her life. She was pleased that she got to eat it today and even felt her opinion of Lin Wu increase, as he was the one who made it possible for her to find this ce.

    <em>~shudder~</em>

    Lin Wu didn''t know why, but he felt goosebumps on his body despite having no skin or hair. The feeling passed away quickly, but it was enough to snap him out of his observation mode. He looked at the four men who were left standing in awe and shock.

    "I-it finished it allбн" Old Man Tiandi muttered.

    "I can''t believe itбн it broke the formation by exhausting all of its energy." Jiao Fan said.

    The other two Nascent Soul realm men were far too shocked to say anything at this point and kept their silence.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle lightly shook her head and opened her eyes to gaze at four men standing in her path.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    With each step of hers, the temple shook. Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi, who still had control on themselves, immediately rushed to the sides, getting out of the beast''s path. But the remaining two were not thinking fast enough for that.

    <em>~thwack~</em>

    With a p of her wings, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle embedded the two men into the walls forever.

 Chapter 383 - Jiao Fans Tantrum?

    "Oof! That gotta hurt," Lin Wu said upon seeing the two men who were now wall paintings.

    Jing Luo and Old Man Tiandi had simr reactions, but they also felt an immense amount of fear due to seeing this. They swallowed their saliva and watched the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle closely. ??

    They did not want to miss even a moment, as that could be the moment that would end up deciding their life or death. The two of them saw that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did note towards them and continued towards the Inner hall instead.

    They felt ted at first and turned to look at the only exit of the Temple. But their excitement was doused rather quickly as they saw something else blocking their path. This something was none other than Lin Wu, who was standing at the entrance of the temple.

    While he was not intentionally blocking the exit of the two men, they still did not dare to move. To them, Lin Wu was the same as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and would end them in one hit.

    They thought of the promise that Lin Wu had made and felt a bit wronged. Jiao Fan recalled the deaths of all of his people and couldn''t control his rage.

    "DIDN''T YOU PROMISE THAT YOU WOULD NOT DO ANYTHING AND LET US TAKE WHATEVER WE COULD?!" Jiao Fan yelled.

    Old Man Tiandi was taken aback by hearing Jiao Fan and wondered if the man had eaten a dragon''s liver to be this brave. He directly retreated to the wall and conditioned observing, not wanting to get involved in this.

    Lin Wu, who had been focused on the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, finally turned his head upon hearing the voice of a certain person. He looked at the source and saw that it hade from none other than Jiao Fan.

    "Oh? You said something?" Lin Wu asked causally.

    "DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? YOU BROKE YOUR PROMISE!" Jiao Fan roared.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    Lin Wu tilted his head and bought it close to the man. Now that Lin Wu''s massive head was right in front of Jiao Fan, he realized how big Lin Wu was truly was. Just one of the fangs in Lin Wu''s mouth was bigger than his entire head.

    Lin Wu''s eyes were even bigger than that, spanning over two heads ins size. Jiao Fan realized what he had just done and felt his stomach churn.

    "I never broke my promise thoughбн" Lin Wu spoke in a soft voice,pletely different from what he had been speaking in till now.

    Jiao Fan felt chills go down his back and all of his instincts were currently shouting at him to run away. But his body simply did not want to respond and was frozen with fear. His brain also told him that running away would be futile, as there was no way he would be able to outrun another Dao Shell realm beast.

    s! Only if Jiao Fan''s spirit sense was not crippled, he would be able to sense Lin Wu''s true cultivation base. Since he was not being masked by the barrier of the tforms and Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s aura, Lin Wu''s cultivation base was revealed to everyone.

    But since Jiao Fan could not use his spirit sense for the time being, he could not figure this out. If he did, he would discover that Lin Wu''s cultivation base was actually three stages below him!

    In reality, Lin Wu was confident in fighting beasts and cultivators that were up to two stages above him, being at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm, but with Jiao Fan being temporarily crippled, he was basically a fish of the chopping block.

    Not to mention Lin Wu, perhaps even a warrior in the Body tempering realm might be able to kill him with some luck. Jiao Fan could not even use his spirit stools and weapons except for his spatial storage treasure as of now.

    As for the offensive and defensive talismans that he had, they would barely be able to function. While he would be able to activate them, he would not be able to control them due to ack of Spirit sense.

    Using them would be the same as pulling the pin of a grenade but throwing it straight at one''s foot. Not only would the hard grenade hurt one''s foot, but the subsequent explosion would also turn oneself into an abstract painting.

    The only thing that Jiao Fan had going on for himself was his own body and its innate strength that was there due to him being an Adult Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator. But that was something that would notst long under continued attacks.

    Lin Wu stared into Jiao Fan''s eyes, enjoying them tremble. It was a rather strange feeling that Lin Wu was feeling right now. It gave him a certain kind of thrill, along with some excitement. Lin Wu felt like he could fly at this moment, which he truly could in reality, but this was metaphorical.

    "Do you remember the exact words that I said?" Lin Wu said in his soft voice once again, making Jiao Fan shudder.

    Lin Wu''s speaking felt unnerving to Jiao Fan, even unnatural on a certain level. When he spoke, there was no air, no breath. With a beast this close to his face, Jiao Fan should have smelt the pungent and repulsive stench of a beast''s mouth, but there was nothing of this sort.

    Jiao Fan realized that Lin Wu was neither breathing nor was he speaking with his mouth. He got a very clear look into his mouth and he saw that Lin Wu had no normal anatomy that a serpent should have had, ording to what Jiao Fan knew.

    There were only sharp teeth in Lin Wu''s mouth that werepletely crystalline. He could see the depths of Lin Wu''s mouth from between the gaps of his fangs and the emerald green glow illuminated the darkness.

    Jiao Fan could very well see that there was nothing else in Lin Wu''s mouth except for sharp spike like teeth, there wasn''t even a tongue!

 Chapter 384 - A Mess Of Thoughts?

    Jiao Fan even started to wonder if Lin Wu was even a beast or not. To him, he was proving to be apletely different existence. Jiao Fan was then suddenly reminded of a certain thing that he had read a long time ago.

    The thing that he had read about were mechanical puppets. These were different from the hypnosis controlled cultivators in that they were not living beings. Rather, they were made from different materials and resources like metals, crystals, precious treasurer, etc.??

    They could then be used for various things such as war, alchemy, testing out formation arrays, guarding areas, automating formation arrays and many more. Though there was one special use of them that was rather rare, but also very valuable.

    A mechanical puppet such as that could be used as a second body for cultivators. The ones that had died or lost their original bodies could inhabit in these mechanical puppets and live on.

    Plus, depending on the kind of materials that were used for the puppet, they could have better talent than the original cultivator''s body. There were even said to be some rich and influential cultivators that kept several such puppets on them, just in case their real bodies were ever killed and destroyed.

    Jiao Fan was now believing more and more that Lin Wu was actually not a beast at all and was rather a mechanical puppet. The only difference was that the person who had made it was rather entric and made it in the form of a serpent.

    Jiao Fan could not understand the reasoning behind this, because if a cultivator made a mechanical puppet that was not human shaped or at least Humanoid, they would not be able to control it to the full extent.

    Even if such a mechanical puppet was made out of the best material and had a great potential, the cultivator would be unable to exert his full power due to the ipatibility. But seeing Lin Wu Jiao Fan certainly did not think that he was weak or was having any issues.

    This only left him with a few options in his mind. And either of those options was rather terrifying to him. The first option aboutpatibility was that the reason Lin Wu could exert his full strength was that he truly was a beast or used to be one, and then his Nascent Soul was transnted into this mechanical puppet.

    Now doing this would be quite difficult as no beast would be able to procure nor make a mechanical puppet like this. Which meant that another cultivator must have made this mechanical puppet and then transnted Lin Wu''s souls into it.

    This could mean that Lin Wu had an even more powerful background that he thought as someone who was able to transnt the Nascent Soul of a beast that was at the Dao Shell realm must be many times stronger than them. While another Dao Shell realm cultivator might be able to kill a Dao Shell realm beast, they wouldn''t necessarily be able to control the Nascent Soul well enough to transnt it.

    There was a great chance that the beast''s Nascent Soul would resist and struggle and once it found that it could not escape, it would choose the only option that it had left, which would be to self detonate.

    This seemed to be rather far fetched as there were too many variables mixed in it for it to seed. Thus Jiao Fan passed on this option and moved onto the second option, which was also quite shocking.

    Since he knew that there could be an ipatibility between different forms and that the power of the original cultivator would be reduced depending on the level ofpatibility, the only way Lin Wu would have his level of strength would be if the power of the original Nascent Soul was that much.

    This meant that the power of the cultivator was still at the Dao Shell realm, despite being suppressed by many times. Jiao Fan was quite sure that even a Dao Treading Realm cultivator would not be able to maintain their cultivation at that level when put in an ipatible body.

    This left him with the thought that the Nascent Soul that belonged to the cultivator was at a realm higher than thatбн being at the Immortal Ascension realm. As soon as this thought appeared in Jiao Fan''s mind, everything clicked in ce.

    ''That may be the reason why he did not attack us straight away upon appearing. There is no way another beast would have reacted like that.'' Jiao Fan thought.

    Lin Wu, who had been observing Jiao Fan closely for about three minutes, now found his expression varying greatly. First, the man was shocked, then he was terrified, then surprised, and now he had a face of realization.

    ''This guy is really taking too long to talk. I''ll just continue what I was going to doбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Since you can''t remember the words that I had said to you, let me remind you." Lin Wu said, snapping Jiao Fan out of his thoughts.

    Jiao Fan recalled what Lin Wu had asked him about originally.

    ''What had he promised me exactlyбн'' Jiao Fan wondered with a confused expression which soon turned into a nervous expression.

    "The exact words that I had said wereбн ''If you can, you guys can try to see what you can get from the temple. I will not interfere and you can take whatever.''" Lin Wu repeated.

    To Lin Wu, who had the system continually recording everything, repeating something like this was a piece of cake. If he wanted to, he could even y all the memories from the past month like a video and browse through them.

    But once Jiao Fan heard Lin Wu''s words, he understood where he had gone wrong.

    Lin Wu had only promised him that ''he'' would not interfere. Lin Wu never promised that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would not do the same.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Jiao Fan finally understood. He had been mistaken from the very start.

 Chapter 385 - Spared?

    Tens of thoughts went through Jiao Fan''s mind, but the one thought that went on repeating was that he was mistaken from the very start and that he had messed up.

    ''I was blinded by the potential gains from the temple and forgot to read between the lines. How could I do this?'' Jiao Fan cursed himself.??

    Jiao Fan had been a mayor for decades now and had dealt with all kinds of people. There was nock of unscrupulous merchants and catharsis that wanted to take advantage. He was always 200% alert when signing a contract.

    And yetбн he had made the biggest mistake that he could have done.

    ''Had I not chosen to enter the temple and had chosen to evacuate the city instead, perhaps all this would have been different.'' Jiao Fan thought.

    But Jiao Fan knew there was no medicine for regret now and he would have to bear the cost of his mistakes. He looked at Lin Wu and nodded his head.

    "I understandбн you were not wrong, I was the one who did not pay attention." Jiao Fan said and closed his eyes.

    He was now ready to ept any fate. He did not care whether he was killed now or crippled. He only waited for it to happen any moment now.

    ''Huh?'' But after a few more seconds passed, Jiao Fan could not feel anything happening.

    He reluctantly opened his eyes and saw something he definitely did not expect. Lin Wu was no longer in front of him and had instep returned his head to the previous position. He was now looking towards the depths of the inner hall instead.

    Old Man Tiandi Who had been observing everything without even blinking for a moment, was shocked to see this happened.

    "H-heбн he''s alive?" Old Man Tiandi said to himself.

    He rubbed his eyes, but the result was still the same. Jiao Fan had miraculously not been killed by Lin Wu. Old Man Tiandi was dead, sure that Jiao Fan would not survive this. No beast worth his salt would spare a human like that.

    But Jiao Fan, on the other hand, had different thoughts.

    ''Heбн spared me?'' Jiao Fan thought to himself.

    But after a second shook his head.

    "Even if he hasn''t killed me now doesn''t mean that he would not do the sameter." Jiao Fan muttered to himself.

    All he could do right now was hope that Lin Wu did not kill him. He looked at the beast and saw that he was still staring at the inside of the hall. Jiao Fan moved to the front to see what was actually happening in the inner hall.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The steps of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were still audible as she walked into the inner hall. The inner hall was still a bit too short for the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and thus she was walking slower.

    The previous temples that they had been to were far smaller than this, and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could not enter them at all. But now she could finally enter and take a look around. She did feel a bit curious about how they were all set up and the things that were within them.

    More specifically, she was interested in the items rted to the Vermillion bird inside there. She had the bloodline memories, but they were still limited as of now. Until her cultivation base progressed or the right situation arrived, she would not be able to know more.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was wondering where the Vermillion bird was. There were no traces of it in this world despite her being a descendant. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle wondered if she was the only descendant of the vermilion bird in this world or not.

    From what she could remember, she had some siblings in the clutch she was born in. Most of them had been killed early on, but a couple should still be alive. She did not know if they had awakened the bloodline or not either.

    At least for now, she could not sense anyone with the same bloodline in this world. And while thinking all this, she finally reached the end of the inner hall. There she could see the statue of the vermilion bird in all its glory.

    "Is this what my ancestor looked like?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle muttered to herself.

    Shepared the looks of the Vermillion bird to herself and realized that there were many differences between them. The only thing they had inmon as of now was the feathers that she was growing and the mes.

    But even then the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle knew that her mes were not the true mes of the Vermillion bird. Only when she fully awakened her bloodline, would they awaken as well. That was why she wanted to speed up the process. She didn''t know why, but there was this urgency that came from deep within her heart, forcing her to do this.

    It made her feel like if she did not awaken the bloodline of the vermilion bird soon, something bad would happen. She did not know what it was, but the premonition was enough to change her thinking. This was also why she had decided to give Lin Wu a chance and was now benefiting from it.

    She gazed at the statue and tried to sense the presence of the stone feather there. She found it right where it should have been in, the beak.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Ripping the stone feather out of the beak, she saw that itwas not all that was hidden there.

    "A bloodline crystal?!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said out loud.

    Lin Wu heard it too, and so did Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi. But only Lin Wu understood what her cry meant.

    ''How is there a bloodline crystal here? I was sure there was only the stone feather here when I checked beforeбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself, feeling confused.

 Chapter 386 - Dousing Desire?

    Lin Wu knew for sure that he had properly checked the statue before. The bloodline crystal was red and even Jiao Fan along with old man Tiandi should have been able to see it if it were there in the beak.

    The stone feather was much harder to sense since it looked simr to the entire statue''s texture. Even if it was there, the four men would not have necessarily sensed it.Plus,s with their spirit sense temporarily crippled, it was even more impossible.??

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle on the other hand, was happy upon finding this bloodline crystal. And not only that, this bloodline crystal was far bigger than the others she had consumed until now.

    She looked at the bloodline crystal that was almost the size of a fist, with shimmering eyes. Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi, who had heard it were on the other hand confused.

    "A bloodline crystalбн A BLOODLINE CRYSTAL!" Old Man Tiandi eximed once words sank in.

    "Of course! The treasure that was being hidden here must be that bloodline Crystal!" Jiao Fan also said.

    Both the men knew about bloodline crystals very well and had seen their fair share of them till now. Except, the ones that they had seen till now could probably not bepared to the one that was here in this temple.

    From the level of formation arrays andplexity, they were sure that it must belong to a beast that was extremely powerful. The strongest bloodline crystals that Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi had seen were those of the Dao Shell realm beasts.

    They were extremely difficult to refine and even harder to buy. No alchemist would even sell them for spirit stones and if one wanted to get it, they would either need to trade it for something the alchemist wanted or they needed to belong to a power that had an alchemist like that working for them.

    While beast bloodlines that were assimted by cultivators were quite well known, they weren''t really as often seen as one would think. Many cultivators avoided assimting the bloodline of a weaker beast as that could potentially mess up their own cultivation talent.

    Most of them who had weaker bloodlines were those cultivators who had no chance at progressing in their cultivation after a certain point. Thus, to increase their personal strength despite that, they would assimte the bloodlines of beasts that were avable to them.

    Then came the question ofpatibility. Even if a cultivator was able to find and kill a strong beast, they wouldn''t necessarily be able to refine and assimte it into their body unless it waspatible with their body.

    And even if all those conditions were met, there was still a good chance of failing at it. Thus, many people ended up needing multiple bloodline crystals to sessfullyplete the assimtion of the beast bloodline.

    There was an exception to this, of course.

    Certain strong bloodlines had a hundred percent sess rate of assimtion as long as it waspatible with that person. The best example of this was the three great guardian ns of the world; the Gui, the Hu and the Long n.

    They were considered to have the strongest bloodline in this world and each was strong on its own terms. The Gui n was said to be the strongest in terms of defense, the Hu n was said to be the fastest and finally, the Long n was said to have the highest spirit Qi capacity.

    But getting anything close to those three bloodlines was next to impossible. Even the Thousand Beasts''s sect, which was the second strongest sect in the Long continent, was said to be inferior in terms of bloodline.

    Their strongest bloodline was still a few notches below that of the three great guardian ns.

    As these thoughts went by in Jiao Fan''s mind, he wondered what kind of a bloodline was it that was contained within that bloodline crystal. But in the next moment, his gaze went to the statue of the vermilion bird at the end.

    "No wayбн could it be really the beast in that statue?" Jiao Fan wondered, his voice spreading in the hall.

    Lin Wu and old Man Tiandi both heard his voice. While Lin Wu was indifferent to it, Old Man Tiandi recalled the hellish experience that they had gone through earlier. They had seen how the hundreds of statues had made up a formation array and produced deathly mes.

    ''If the beast is the same as that of the statue, then is it rted to fire too?'' Old Man Tiandi wondered.

    But while the two men were thinking this, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had thrown the bloodline crystal into the air.

    "The bloodline crystal!" Old Man Tiandi And Jiao Fan said in shock as they saw the beast throwing it.

    They were worried that the bloodline crystal that was iparably valuable would be damaged or worse, destroyed. To them, the beasts like Lin Wu and the eagle beast probably did not need that bloodline. The two of them would not be able to use it anywayбн or so they thought.

    But then their eyes went wide as they saw the next scene.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle opened her beak wide and let the Bloodline crystal fall into her mouth. She immediately swallowed it down with an audible gulp and showed a rather pleased expression.

    "T-theбн the eagle beast ate it? THE BEAST ATE THE BLOODLINE CRYSTAL!" Old Man Tiandi yelled in shock before hurriedly shutting his mouth with his hand. He realized where he was and what the current situation was.

    "The beast will not be able to handle another beast''s bloodline. It will die nowбн" Jiao Fan muttered to himself.

    "Hah!" Lin Wu couldn''t help but chuckle upon hearing the man''s words.

    Jiao Fan looked at Lin Wu with an incredulous expression and wondered why Lin Wu reacted like that.

    "Not even closeбн Look." Lin Wu said simply, dousing the man''s hidden desire.

 Chapter 387 - Blowing Their Minds?

    Jiao Fan who had been made to snap out of his thoughts, looked at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle who was now letting out strong spirit Qi waves. Her aura started to rise by the second and a red glow appeared around her body.

    <em>~PIIIIIII~</em>??

    A sharp cry was let out by her that was a bit different from her original cry. This one seemed to be a bit more melodic, yet there was a hidden power contained within it. But this was merely the start.

    Jiao Fan''s eyes went wide as he saw new feathers growing on the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s body. The vermilion feathers that she had on her body started to increase in number and soon over half of her body was covered in them.

    Now her body was half yellow and half Vermillion. Her silver beak had also taken on a slightly copper colored sheen on the tip while her eyes glimmered in a red hue. Her ws did the same and they also started to change in shape.

    They became a bit more bigger and the scaly surface of them changed to be maroon rather than the brown before. If one looked at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle right now, they would see that the mid part of her body was vermilion in color while the head and bottom part was still yellow.

    Her wings were also vermilion about three fourths of the way and the tips were the only part that were yellow now. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle overall size also started to increase and it kept on increasing for about five minutes.

    By the end of it, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had increased in height by thirty more centimeters. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was now a massive beast and could be considered to be twice as big as the statue of the Vermilion bird.

    "Thisбн how can this be?" Jiao Fan muttered upon seeing the entire transformation.

    "How can a beast withstand a powerful bloodline that is foreign to it?" Jiao Fan couldn''t help but question.

    "Hah," Lin Wu chuckled and felt like blowing the man''s mind a bit more.

    "What if that''s not a foreign bloodline at all?" Lin Wu hinted lightly.

    Jiao Fan could hear his words clearly and so did Old Man Tiandi. They thought over his words and looked at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. Their eyes inadvertently went to the statue of the vermilion bird at the end and they saw a few simrities.

    The more they thought, the more they were able to match.

    <em>~gasp~</em>

    About a minuteter, Jiao Fan Gasped with shock.

    "Itбнitбн it''s that beast''s bloodline? The bloodline crystalбн this beast already had that bloodline?!" Jiao Fan spoke, his voice getting louder at the end.

    To him, this was the most shocking revtion till now. Jiao Fan was not as shocked even when he guessed that Lin Wu might be a mechanical puppet, but now he had reached a new level.

    His mouth was turned into an ''O'' shape as he kept on staring at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. Her body was still going to transformations, except they were not external now, they were internal.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s eyes were closed as she assimted the bloodline crystal that she had consumed. Her spirit Qi rippled as more of it was absorbed by her body from the environment.

    She was able to forcefully suck the spirit Qi out of the formation arrays of the temple and thus it was a rtively simple task for her. She didn''t even need to focus on it as much, and it automatically happened.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was currently feeling a mix of emotions. On one side she was ted due to the entire process of improving her bloodline and on the other hand, she was anxious about the future.

    Before, she had a gut feeling that there was something bad that would happen in the future and that was what drove her to get stronger and stronger. And now that she had improved her strength once again, with her bloodline progressing, that feeling or premonition only got stronger.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle wondered if it was her insecurity about her strength that made her feel like that, but since getting stronger did not solve it, she understood there was more to it than just that.

    ''What is this danger that I feel? And why can''t I tell when it wille?'' The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle thought.

    Old Man Tiandi and Jiao Fan did not dare to move at all during the entire process as they were scared their movement might attract the attention of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle or even her ire.

    While Jiao Fan was a bit assured that Lin Wu would not hurt them right away, he could not say the same about the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. They had already seen an example of her strength and demeanor and knew that doing anything that came in her way would only be fatal.

    Thus, like two good students in a ss, they kept their mouths shut and did not dare to move either. Lin Wu saw both of their reactions and found it to be very funny.

    ''This was definitely worth it! HAHA!'' Lin Wu internallyughed.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    A strong spirit Qi wave that was stronger than any other wave the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had let out till now came and shook Lin Wu and the others.

    "Sheбн Broke through?" Lin Wu said in an incredulous voice.

    Jiao Fan heard his voice but could not tell what Lin Wu meant due to it sounding like that of a beast. The system would sonly tranted his voice to sound understandable when Lin Wu consciously did it. Otherwise, what others would hear is just his beastly cries.

    "System, do a new scan of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle right now!" Lin Wu ordered.

 Chapter 388 - Extra Surprises?

    Upon hearing Lin Wu''smand, the system started its scan right away.

    <em>~Ding~</em>??

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle

    SCAN: Competed

    TARGET: Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle

    Cultivation base: Shell Completion Stage of the Dao Shell realm

    Bloodline: Vermillion Bird (Partial awakening)

    Note: The beast is close to a full evolution and will change its species upon itspletion.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s info, Lin Wu finally confirmed that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had truly broken through to the Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm. And now that she was at this point, she only needed to stabilize her cultivation base, and if she wanted she could break through to the Dao Treading realm.

    All the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would need to do is toprehend a suitable Dao and nurture the Dao embryo. Once that was done, she would directly break through to the Dao Treading realm.

    "She''s only getting stronger and strongerбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    When he had met her, she was freshly reached the Shell genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm, but in less than three months, she had managed to reach the next stage. The speed of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was almostparable to that of Lin Wu himself, who had the support of the system.

    Seeing the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s speed and breakthrough, Lin Wu couldn''t help but take a look at his own cultivation base.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Show me the Avatar host data, system." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [3,298,811/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- First level (15% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    WEIGHT: 1,05,847.1 Kilograms Height 51.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had long since gained enough spirit Qi to break through to the next stage, but he had held back since he had not needed to do so right now. And he also had been getting multiple sources of spirit Qi the entire time.

    "Guess I should also do it now, can''tg behind can I?" Lin Wu muttered to himself but then remembered something.

    "No wait, I need my main body to breakthrough firstбн let''s go back for a bit." Lin Wu remembered and left somemands for the avatar in the meantime.

    While he would still be observing everything at the same time, it was still faster to leave some emergencymands just for unexpected circumstances. Though Lin Wu was sure the avatar was strong enough to handle most things.

    He closed his eyes for a moment and his consciousness moved to the Main body.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu took a breath and opened his eyes and looked around at the changing scenery. There were white walls around him and multiple screens were floating around therge hall. On the screens, many things such as the beasts moving around and carrying things could be seen.

    "Oh? Looks like they finished up a lot of tasks that I assigned." Lin Wu said as he looked around at what looked like a small ruin.

    The ruin was part of the Taiji celestial tomb as well, but it was located at a distance from the hill. There were many such small ruins, but they were broken over time and this was currently the only one that was left standing.

    Lin Wu had gotten some of the insect beasts and his servants to clear up the area around it along with cleaning the weeds and such.

    "I''ll take a closer lookter. First I need to upgrade the cultivation baseбн" Lin Wu said as he brought up the host data.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 3 years, 1 months, 7 days

    LIFESPAN: 1,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Infant stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [5,681,522/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 1,368,911 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 3,749,741 Units

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+3)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- First level (23% Meridians converted)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great)(Proficiency: Basic)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Sound Command (minor) (Proficiency: Basic)

    5. Kin Command (minor) (Proficiency: Basic)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger, Iron Bark Wood Tree, Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum, Spirit Qi spring Source Crystal

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7,100,279 units

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 677 units/hour

    WEIGHT: 211,694.20 Kilograms Height 102.62 meters long.

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+3)

    3. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    [Extend +65]

    бк

    "Damn!!! Did the speed of the cultivation increase?" Lin Wu was surprised by seeing a number that was far higher than expected.

    But that wasn''t the only thing he saw, in addition to that, there were several changes in the data. Along with cultivating normally, his Undaunted Sapphire Body Art had also progressed from before.

    It used to be at 15% but it was now at 23%. From what he remembered, while Lin Wu had left some instructions to the Main body, he did not expect it to do so well.

    "Wait, a minuteбн is the reason why the main body progressed so fast becauseбн it was only focused on cultivating without me doing it?"

 Chapter 389 - Unexpected Cultivation Upgrades?

    After Lin Wu reeled from the shock that an autopilot was better at cultivating than him, he quickly got to upgrading it.

    "Welp, time to upgrade. System, you know what to do." Lin Wu said.??

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CHECKING HOST VITALS: Stable

    UPGRADING: Host''s cultivation base

    CULTIVATION BASE: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm -> Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 1,500,000 units (liquid spirit qi)

    .

    .

    .

    UPGRADE: Completed

    HOST CULTIVATION: Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [4,181,522/3,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s body let out strong waves of spirit Qi at first, but it soon stabilized. His current breakthrough was very fast and didn''t take as much time as before.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu let out a breath and assessed his current strength.

    "Hmmбн it doesn''t feel that different than before. Though I guess I''ll need to fully test the power outter. Buuuutбн I got enough for another upgrade. So why wait?" Lin Wu said before smiling.

    He had originally expected there to only be enough spirit Qi for one upgrade, but there was more than that, luckily. And now that he had it, he thought it would be a shame to not use it.

    "Systemбн Do it again!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADING: Host''s cultivation base

    CULTIVATION BASE: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm -> Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 3,000,000 units (liquid spirit qi)

    .

    .

    .

    UPGRADE: Completed

    HOST CULTIVATION: Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,181,522/6,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    <em>~HONGLONG~</em>

    Unlike thest upgrade though, Lin Wu''s body reacted rather violently. Along with its usual light, his body was letting out scorching radiation that was damaging the formations around him.

    Lin Wu himself could feel a bit of pain, but he did not mind it as much as it was way below the usual kind of pain he was used to. If anything, it was more like the pain one got when one had too much energy. For example, during a caffeine rush.

    "Ah, I need to let this outбн too much powerбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before teleporting to the top of the Tomb.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Reappearing on the top of the tomb, Lin Mu''s body looked like a beacon. The two nests made by Lin Wu''s two bird subordinates, the Hook Winged Swan and Gale Wind Sparrow, could also be seen. They had gotten quite big than before and even looked a bit decorated.

    The two beasts had evidently added some trinkets, such as spirit tools and shiny jewelry, to their nests. The nests were pretty much the same as normal bird nests, except they were a couple of thousand times bigger and made from spirit wood.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    Lin Wu''s body automatically started to suck in the atmospheric spirit Qi into it and a small vortex formed above his head. It was not as big as during a spirit Qi infusion when he broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, but it was still faster than his normal cultivation speed.

    "Hang onбн the spirit Qiбн it''s not going to my Nascent Soul?" Lin Wu suddenly realized.

    He looked within his Dantian and saw the bloodline that represented the Unknown bloodline was reacting and absorbing the spirit Qi that was currently being taken in by Lin Wu''s body. Lin Wu looked at the other Nascent Soul and realized that it was this Nascent Soul which had originally absorbed all the spirit Qi for the break through.

    "Huh? If only one Nascent Soul is enough to breakthrough then what''s the function of the other Nascent Soul?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He had thought that the spirit Qi was split between the two Nascent Soul''s equally, but here it turned out to be different. Only his Nascent soul, which represented the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm Bloodline, had actually broken through to the Adolescent Soul stage.

    The unknown Bloodlines'' Nascent soul still had the same level of spirit Qi as that of an Infant Soul stage. Plus, looking at their sizes, it was quite obvious. The green human Nascent Soul was looking like a teenager right now, while the ck human one was still that of a baby.

    <em>~woong~Woong~woong~</em>

    A strange sound came from Lin Wu''s body as it continued to absorb the spirit Qi from the environment.

    ***

    In the eastern part of the Millennium forest, two ape beasts came out of their caves and looked in the direction of the Taiji Celestial''s cave.

    "What is happening, father?" The Demon Spine Ape questioned.

    <em>~sigh~</em>

    "Seems like we underestimated that even more than I had thought we didбн this spirit Qi fluctuationбн he''s definitely having a breakthrough." The Slim Arm Ape said.

    "A breakthrough? How can he have a breakthrough this fast? It hasn''t even been six months since he reached the Nascent Soul realm?" The Demon Spine Ape questioned, feeling shocked.

    The slim arm ape simply shook his head and looked at the distance.

    "There are many opportunities hidden in this forest, my son. While they are hidden to most, they will show up for those who are fated or who strive to find it." The Slim Arm ape said in a mncholic tone.

    The Demon Spine Ape heard his father''s words and felt a bit confused, but then he thought for a minute before realizing something. And when he did so, his eyes went wide.

    "Is that whyбн why mother came here?" The Demon spine ape questioned.

    "I don''t know for sure either, but now it does seem likely. When I was still a tamed beast under my master, I had seen the human world. I have seen and heard about their legends and mythsбн most of the human world thinks of Millennium forest as just any other forest filled with beasts.

    In fact, the strongest powers of this world don''t even put this ce into their eyes." The Slim arm ape replied.

    "The strongest powers?" The demon spine ape asked with apprehension in his voice.

 Chapter 390 - The Slim Arm Apes Past?

    "The strongest powers of this world are the cultivation sects. Butбн there are other individual human ns that can be considered to be strong as well. My master was from one such nбн" The Slim arm ape said.

    "What!?" The demon spine ape said with absolute shock.??

    The demon spine ape had known that his father was once a tamed beast of a human and disliked that fact. This was also amplified by the fact that his father seldom talked about it and thus he thought he hated that time of his life.

    But now that he heard it, the demon spine ape realized that might not be the reason why he didn''t talk about his past. It sent the ape into a memory, trailed as he started linking up the times that he had talked to his father about it.

    After a minute of silence, the Demon spine apeposed himself into a calm demeanor. This was quite unlike him and was frankly against his innate instincts due to having the bloodline of the Demon Spine Ape.

    Yet even then, the calmness andposure of the Slim Arm Ape he inherited from his father were currently shining through the cracks. He took a calm breath before looking at his father, who continued to gaze upon the forbidden hill.

    "Whereбн where did you human mastere from?" The Demon Spine ape questioned.

    "He was from a human n by the name of Tian. It is a rather small n overall and appears weak to the rest of the human world, but in reality, they might not be any less than the top cultivation sects.

    It is simply that they do not wish topete and stay hidden away. But their power is nothing to scoff at. My master was not that strong in the n yet even then he was powerful than most cultivators of the world.

    He was at theбн Dao Shell Realm." The Slim Arm ape said as his eyes zed over with nostalgia.

    The Demon Spine ape knew about the Dao Shell realm very well and knew that it was the next realm after the Nascent Soul realm. The five rulers of the millennium forest all strive to reach it, yet even after several thousand years, no one had reached it.

    Many beasts even wondered if this was a curse of some sort. Their progress would get very fast when they entered the sixth ring of the Millennium forest, but once they reached the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm, it coulde to a screeching hall.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was was the best example of this. It had been over two centuries since he had reached the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realm and even then he had been unable to progress further.

    "Then why did hee to this ce, father? You said that he died in this forestбн if he was so strong, how could he die here?" The Demon spine ape questioned.

    "As I said, there are fortunate encounters hidden here. The only question is if one is fated with it. My master heбн he was dying. He had been sick his entire life and despite cultivating and reaching the Dao Shell realm, he was unable to resolve the sickness.

    His disease would drain his lifespan continually. No one knew what disease it was and even in a n as old as the Tian n, they had no records of it. Thus, my master set out on a journey to find a cure.

    In his travels, he went to a lot of ces, whether they be ruins, ancient temples, forests, mountains, and even the great ocean. This all happened when I wasn''t even born. Then one day my master found me in one of the forests and tamed out of sheer boredom.

    At that time, I didn''t even have the same level of intelligence that I have right now and thus didn''tprehend what he was doing. But as my cultivation base grew, so did my intelligence and my memories of that time finally started to make sense to me.

    Eventually, my master realized he did not have much time to live. Thus, he decided to go out on onest journey, but since he did not have that long to live, he ended up picking the location closest to him that he had read about in some ancient records.

    This ce was none other than the Millennium forest. But that record did not call this ce the millennium forestбн rather it had a different name." The Slim Arm ape exined.

    The Demon spine ape was both nervous and thrilled upon hearing all this. He did not expect his father to know so much.

    "So what was the name of this forest in it?" The Demon Spine ape asked carefully.

    "The records called this ce asбн the Dark Celestial''s Tomb!" The Slim Arm ape revealed, his eyes shing.

    "The Dark Celestial''s Tomb?!" The Demon Spine Ape repeated with shock. "Just what would make someone name a ce with an imposing name like that?" he asked.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    The Slim Arm Ape shook his head.

    "I don''t know. All I know is that my master came in search of hope here. But all he found was despairбн before he died, he seemed to be relieved. He felt that all the stress he had felt in his entire life was finally gone and he felt peace.

    Yet even then, he had a slight regret in his heart. And thus he freed me, before giving me his final wish. He asked me to find the secret of this ce and if it was possible, let it be revealed to the worldбн to his n.

    You see, he was shamed by his n for being useless and weak. They thought that he was a disgrace, roaming around the world looking for forgotten myths and legends. Yet he wanted to prove to them that something existed." The Slim Arm ape exined.

 Chapter 391 - The Slim Arm Apes Master?

    The Demon Spine ape was only getting more and more interested in the story of his father and looked at him intently. The Slim Arm ape felt the gaze on the back of his head and saw his son''s expression from the corner of his eyes.

    ''Seems like my bloodline in him is still active. The curiosity has not died yetбн'' The Slim Arm ape thought to himself.??

    After taking a short pause, he decided to continue.

    "The Tian n was a strange one, ording to what I heard from my master''s words. While they liked to stay hidden from the world and did not like topete with the different powers, they were also obsessive about their n''s strength.

    Their nsmen stayed cooped up in there all their lives while cultivating on their own. It was quite weird, to be honest. I only visited the n with my master twice in my life, but each of those visits were peculiar." The Slim Arm Ape said.

    The Demon Spine ape stroked his head in intrigue. He very carefully noted everything that his father was saying in his mind. His father''s words have always been beneficial to him and whenever he followed them, he had not had a loss.

    Rather, when he did not follow them, he had often faced losses instead. Fighting Lin Wu was once such a mistake that he had done. While his father had said that he had free rein to do whatever he wanted to do as a ruler, the demon spine ape knew that his father disapproved of it in his mind.

    ''That worm beastбн if he can even be called that, has he perhaps had a fortunate encounter?'' The Demon Spine ape thought to himself.

    After having gone over his father''s words and seeing the phenomena in the distance, the Demon spine ape came up with more questions.

    "Now that you have been here in this forest for so long father, you must have some idea about where the said secret lies, right?" The Demon Spine Ape questioned.

    "I doбн most rulers should know about it at this point. Even you do," The Slim Arm ape answered.

    "So it''s the Dark Bloom Caverns?" The Demon Spine ape questioned.

    "Thatбн is one of the ces and yes, all rulers think of that ce to be of the hidden power. But I think it is notбн I think there is another one that has been hidden under our noses this entire time." The Slim Arm ape replied.

    The Demon Spine Ape instantly guessed what his father was hinting towards.

    "The Forbidden hill with that tombбн that''s where the Worm lives now!" The Demon Spine ape eximed.

    "Indeed, that is the ce. Most beasts ignore it due to being unable to enter it and those who tried to force their way in died at the very entrance. The many bones of the dead beasts speak enough to prevent any more from getting close to that ce.

    Rather than that, they think of the Dark Bloom Caverns to be of the greatest importance. And that isn''t all wrong either, it does have the source of the spirit Qi hidden underneath it. But I have a hunch that whatever is hidden in the forbidden hill is definitely a lot more than thatбн many times stronger than that." The Slim Arm ape replied.

    "All these years no beast was able to get close to the Forbidden hill but now not only did that worm beast manage to get close, he even managed to turn it into his home." The Demon spine ape stated.

    "Yes, that is the reason why I have been careful in dealing with him. Even when he asked for our kin, I allowed them to be taken. That beastбн he terrifies me. Not just his bloodline thoughбн there is something else hidden in him, that is strange." The Slim Arm ape said, in a slightly fatigued tone.

    "Do you think that something is from the forbidden hill?" The Demon Spine ape questioned once again.

    "I do not know, but that does seem like the most probable answer. And if it is true, then it confirms my suspicion about the Forbidden hill.

    Hundreds, if not thousands, had tried to enter the Dark Bloom caverns to search for more power within it, yet none of them returned. And thenes this beast out of nowhere and takes over the tomb on the forbidden hill, shooting through cultivation stages as if they were a bamboo.

    If that is not the proof of power within that hill, then nothing else makes sense." The Slim Arm Ape said, his tone agitated.

    The Demon Spine ape looked at his father and felt the faint anger seething within his body. He closed his eyes for a moment, before a determinate expression appeared on his face.

    "Then what do you want to do with the worm beast, father? Do you want to kill him and take over the Hill?" The Demon Spine ape said, his aura ring with the lust for battle.

    The demon spine ape was fully expecting his father to say yes, but the answer seemed to surprise him.

    "Fight him? Hahahah! Why would I fight him?" The Slim Arm ape suddenlyughed out loud.

    "Then what do you want to do?" The Demon Spine ape questioned with absolute confusion.

    "Fighting him would be a waste of effort, not to mention there is a great chance we would just perish under his tail. Rather than that, we should let him slowly expose his own secrets little by little. My goalбн no, rather my master''s goal should be achievable through proxy.

    My master passed on the goal to me and I shall pass on that goal to that worm." The Slim Arm ape dered.

    "But would he even ept it?" The Demon Spine ape asked with furrowed brows.

    "Oh, he doesn''t have to ept it. I don''t even need to speak to him about it, he will do it on his own!" The Slim arm ape replied with a hint of confidence in his eyes.

 Chapter 392 - The Other Kings Notice?

    Hearing the words of his father, The Demon Spine ape did not know what to think more.

    <em>~HONG~</em>??

    But his thoughts needed toe to a halt for now as the situation in the distance changed.

    "Looks like it is about to endбн" The Slim Arm Ape said while gazing at the pir go green light that rose up to the skies.

    "Thisбн it is quite simr to the time when the stars fell from the sky." The Demon Spine ape recalled seeing something simr two years ago.

    "Indeed. Looks like our worm friend has even more secrets than I had thoughtбн" The Slim Arm Apemented with an eerie smile that was quite simr to that of a human.

    ***

    In the south eastern part of the Millennium forest, tens of thousands of insect beasts were looking at the green pir of lighting from the edge of the sixth ring.

    "What is that?" A Dung Beetle questioned.

    "Looks like even your brain is filled with dung! Can''t you see it''s a pir of light?" A beast that looked like an extremelyrge lice said.

    The dung beetle looked at the lice beast with a wronged expression and didn''t know what to say. But the question that he had asked was something that every beast in the area currently had.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The sound of somethingrge approaching was heard, and all the insect beasts turned around to see arge figure appearing from the massive nest made from rotting logs of giant trees.

    "King! The Beetle king has appeared!" The insect beasts all got excited.

    The Split thorn horn Beetle King''s massive horn pierced through the wood as he pulled out hisrge body from the nest. It was evident that he had been asleep for quite a while and seemed to be a bit groggy.

    "What''s all themotion about?" The beetle king questioned.

    But soon he was able to sense the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from afar. He turned his head, which made his massive horn move like a staff, knocking up gales along with it. The nearby insect beasts that were a bit on the lighter side were directly sent flying from the winds.

    Even though some of them got injured, it was not like they couldin about it. After allбн who would they evenin to? The king? He was the one who caused it in the first ce!

    Thus, they could only grit their teeth and bear it with a wronged expression.

    The Split Thorn Horn beetle king did not mind this, or rather he didn''t even notice that he had done this. Even if theyined, he would not put them in his eyes. After all ording to him, why would theye close to him if they were this weak?

    With neither side saying anything, the Beetle king was free to observe the phenomenon.

    "So he grows stronger once againбн" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King said.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The sound of strong footsteps came once again and the insect beasts turned around to see another beetle beast appear. This was also a Split Thorn Horn Beetle, but it was much smaller in size. But that was not the most distinguishing feature of it.

    Rather than that, the emerald green parts of its body along with its horn were the most eye catching features. The aura of this beetle was also quite strong than most other insect beasts here and if one sensed its spirit Qi fluctuations, they might even realize that the beast was quite close to breaking through to the Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm.

    "It is definitely master," The Split thorn horn beetle that was one of the servant beasts of Lin Wu said.

    The beetle king turned to look at his descendant and nodded his head. His little nod made his massive horn shake again, which generate more winds, knocking away more insect beasts. Those who were a bit clever among the insect beasts had already kept a sufficient distance between them and their king.

    "It does not seem like he''s that far off from my level nowбн" The Beetle king said.

    The Split thorn horn beetle that had the emerald patterns closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them.

    "It does seem like he''s getting strongerбн I can sense it. The powerбн it''s affecting me too." The Split thorn horn beetle said as a small rhombus shaped gem that was hidden beneath the carapace of her head shone.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "At least the insect n made a wise decision this time and sided with the right party." The Beetle King said as he looked at the forbidden hill with a strange look in its eyes.

    If it could bepared to that of a human, the Beetle king was basically giving a wry smile.

    "What should I do now, ancestor?" The smaller beetle asked.

    "Go and pay your respects of course." The beetle king stated.

    ***

    In the burrow that was located in ake, a serpent''s long neck was rising.

    It looked at the green pir of light with envy in its eyes.

    "Mine! All mine! I''ll have it! You just wait!" The Olive Viper King dered.

    ***

    At arge cave of the Dark Bloom Caverns, a group of Lamp Light ligers was pacing around in nervousness.

    "Why is king not answering our calls?" one of the Lamp Light Ligers asked.

    "Yes, we need to quickly inform him of the phenomenon! It''s simr to that of the fallen start two years ago!" Another Lamp Light Liger said.

    "Silence!" A Lamp Light liger that was one sizerger than the others appeared from one of the caves at the side.

    "The king is in seclusion and shall not be disturbed. Go away, I''ll inform him when he''s out." The Large Lamp Light Liger said in a harsh tone.

    The othermp light ligers were scared by his aura and voice and quickly scampered off. Once they were all gone, therge Lamp light liger looked at the main cave with a scared expression.

 Chapter 393 - Setting Up The Source Crystal?

    Lin Wu, who was unaware of all the happenings in the forest, continued to feel the increase in his power. The second Nascent Soul was now at the cusp of reaching the same level as that of the first one and would soon break through to the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    While he could see the pir of light that his body was releasing into the sky, he didn''t care as much about the bacsh. He now knew that he didn''t really have much to fear in the forest.??

    Having spent time with the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and witnessing the powers of stronger beings had allowed him to estimate his own power. Even the Aqua Dream Sea Lotus which was at the Dao Treading realm, was held back by the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle despite being weaker than it.

    Lin Wu had beenparing himself to either very strong beasts or beasts that had powerful bloodlines like the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. Having learned all that, he now knew where he stood.

    The rulers of the Millennium forest were nothing in front of him at that point. The only thing that Lin Wu understood he would have to be wary about was the Olive Viper King. That beast technically had the same bloodline as him, but it may have assimted differently.

    Thus, Lin Wu would need to figure out if his abilities would work on that beast or not. Through with the other different ones that he had umted over the time, he was sure that he would not need to worry much.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The process was finallypeted, and the green pir of light faded away. Lin Wu''s body descended to the ground with a thud and he looked around. Even though he could not see the beasts, he could feel tens of gazes on him.

    "Seems like I was rather shy this timeбн Hmm it shouldn''t matter though, gotta get to the avatar first." Lin Wu said before teleporting down to the main hall where he had been living.

    Once he was there, he looked around at the screens. There were n number of beasts all looking towards the sky of a particr part of the forest. This was the nearby area of the tomb which could currently be scanned using the system''s help and that,bined with the formation array of the tomb, allowed Lin Wu to monitor.

    "Ah! Ipletely forgot about the Source crystal!" Lin Wu suddenly remembered upon seeing the monitors.

    He remembered that the system had told him he could expand the scope of influence of the tomb with the help of more spirit Qi. And to do that, he needed a constant supply of it which, while he could do it, it woulde at the cost of his own cultivation.

    "System, use the spirit Qi sprint source crystal for the tomb. Add it to the spirit Qi supplywork!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK ASSIGNED: Spirit Qi supply upgrade

    OBJECT SELECTED: Spirit Qi sprint source crystal

    ANALYZING PARAMETERS: Network nodes identified

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Optimism Network node found

    бкбк

    Upon Lin Wu''smand, the system started its process. The Source crystal was automatically removed from the inventory and came to float in front of Lin Wu. He could see multiple new screens appearing in front of him that showed a densework that oveid on the map of the tomb.

    Lin Wu understood that this was the spirit Qi supply of the entire tomb and spanned over it all. But that was not all, as it expanded outside of it too and linked to multiple locations. The only problem was that many of these external links had either deteriorated over time or had beenpletely severed.

    The system scanned for the proper ce that would benefit from the addition of the Spirit Qi sprint source crystal. Since the spirit Qi source crystals would not directly produce spirit Qi for now, the system needed to find a broad area where it could be left for a while.

    Once it started to stabilize and assimte on its own, the source crystal would make another spirit Qi spring. While it could make a spirit Qi spring in any ce given time, the system found a ce that would elerate this process.

    Since the sixth ring was neurally rich in spirit Qi due to the hidden source beneath the Dark Bloom caverns, the system chose a location there. Thus, with the assistance of the passive spirit Qi from the Dark Bloom Caverns, not only would the source crystal make a spirit Qi spring soon, it would also link up the broken parts.

    Once the spirit Qi spring source crystal was scanned onest time, the system teleported it to the chosen location. Lin Wu could see it moving on the map and it came to settle in a broken down hall, which was a bit simr to the trial grounds.

    There were several damaged formations here, along with the copsed statues and murals.

    "So this is the extended part of the tombбн I guess having more spirit Qi from me allowed the system to unlock the newer parts of it." Lin Wu muttered as he saw the system imnt the spirit Qi sprint source crystal.

    It entered the center of what was a broken formation circle but still managed to function partially. Once it was there, Lin Wu got another notification.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Inject 100,000 units of liquid spirit Qi to initiate process? Y/N

    бкбк

    "Go ahead system, do it." Lin Wu said, giving the system permission.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    PERMISSION GRANTED: Consumed [100,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 1,268,911 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    With that done, Lin Wu felt the tomb shake slightly as a strong wave of spirit Qi was released. It quickly traveled through thework and reached the source crystal, lighting it up.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    In a few seconds, the source crystal became active and started to suck the spirit Qi of the environment.

 Chapter 394 - Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagles Cultivation Stabilizes?

    Seeing that the source crystal was now set up and working as it should be, Lin Wu felt a bit better. He knew that he would not get to reap the benefits of the source crystal soon, but he was pleased to see that it would be helpful in the long term.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>??

    "I''lle for you allter, but for now I got a different situation at handбн" Lin Wu said before transferring his consciousness to the Avatar.

    His vision went dark for a second before returning. But now the scene in front of him had changedpletely. Unlike the white hall filled with tens of screens, Lin Wu was now in a dimly lit hall, with the only light sourceing from the inner hall.

    He looked around and saw that Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi were still there in their positions and had not moved. They were observing the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, who was now close to finishing her transformation.

    ''Hmmбн her cultivation should stabilize soon and her transformation will beplete. Though I think she still needs more of the bloodline in order to be able to reach the peak and awaken a major part of her bloodline.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Less than ten minutes had passed since he had left his avatar and returned and thankfully nothing strange had happened. Themands that he had left for his avatar had never been activated and even when he checked the memories from the system, everything was fine.

    "Guess it was indeed safe leaving the avatar for a bit, despite these two guys being here. Not like they can harm the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle anyway and they fear me far too much to do anything right now." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Jiao Fan felt a gaze on him and turned to look at the source which was none other than Lin Wu. He felt a bit nervous bit since Lin Wu had not done anything to him or any humans for that matter till now, his guess that Lin Wu was a mechanical puppet was turning out to be more and more solid.

    ''Should I ask himбн?'' Jiao Fan couldn''t help but think.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    His gaze was attracted by the loud heartbeats of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and he couldn''t help but gulp down his saliva. The beast was simply too powerful for him or anyone in the city.

    Not to mention just that, Jiao Fan was sure that in the entire Bing Kingdom there would be less than three people that might be able topare with the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle as of now.

    "Will the Minister even be able to do anything to this beast?" Jiao Fan couldn''t help but wonder.

    Lin Wu heard the man''s words and was intrigued, but did not question it now. He guessed that the man might be talking about the higher ups of the Bing Kingdom or something like that. That was what Lin Wu was originally concerned about, but with the increase in the power of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, he did not need to worry as much.

    "I should start my part too," Lin Wu said. This time, his words were audible to the two men.

    "Startбн his part?" Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi repeated, wondering what Lin Wu had just said.

    ~<em>thud~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    But then, in the next moment, their eyes went wide and they fell to the ground.

    "Wh-what!? What''s happening?" Old Man Tiandi said in shock.

    In front of him, Lin Wu''s body was glowing with an emerald green light and his eyes also glowed with a crimson light. Currently, the Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi were unable to use their spirit sense and had a hard time sensing the spirit Qi but due to the sheer amount of spirit Qi waves Lin Wu was releasing they could feel it on their skin.

    "Thisбн is this beastбн or puppet having a breakthrough, too?" Jiao Fan said in surprise.

    And it was exactly as how they had thought. Lin Wu was truly having a breakthrough right now. The wavesing from his body only got stronger till he finally broke through to the Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION UPGRADE: Complete

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,798,811/3,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    With the upgradeplete, the spirit Qi fluctuations that wereing off Lin Wu''s body calmed down and the glow of his body dimmed down as well. He opened his eyes and looked at the two men with arge, toothy grin on his face.

    "Ah, pardon me! Perhaps it was a bit unexpectedбн" Lin Wu chuckled.

    He then turned his head at the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and looked at her, open her eyes.

    "Perfect! At the same time almost." Lin Wu said as he proceeded ahead.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle looked at the approaching Lin Wu and the two humans that were watching her as well.

    "Congrattions, another breakthrough." Lin Wu said.

    "Mmбн it was nothing. Once my bloodline is truly awakened, no one in this world will be my match." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said with a proud expression on her face.

    Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi could not perceive this pride though and for them it only looked like the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was having a fierce expression. Only Lin Wu, who had gotten used to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s emotions and expression, could tell it now.

    He could even feel that if he did not have the trantion of the system, he might still be able to talk to her and understand her.

    "Of course! No other bloodline cane close to the descendant of the legendary Vermilion bird." Lin Wu said with a smile.

    "Legendary Vermillion bird?" for the first time, Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi heard the name of the beast that the statues depicted.

 Chapter 395 - Lin Wu Is A Mechanical Puppet?

    Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi tried to search their memories for any information on such a beast, but they were unable to.

    "A legendary beastбн that title seems familiar," Old Man Tiandi said upon hearing it.??

    Jiao Fan nodded his head, and an idea suddenly appeared in his mind.

    "Wait, a minute! Weren''t the three guardian beasts called as legendary beasts in their origin story?" Jiao Fan suddenly said.

    Lin Wu heard this and raised his brows. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle on the other hand, paid no attention to that and instead spread her spirit sense around seemingly looking at the entire area.

    Old Man Tiandi also had an expression of realization after hearing Jiao Fan''s words.

    "But that can''t be! There are only three guardian beasts." Old Man Tiandi stated.

    "Hahaбн seems like you two finally figured it out." Lin Wu said, feeling a bit amused.

    He was truly wondering since there were so many intelligent people who had lived long lifespans, then there should be someone who was able to link the vermilion bird to the three guardian beasts.

    And now he finally got to see that very thing. Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi though were not amused at all.

    "How can it be? There can never be another beast on the same levels as that of the three guardian beasts. The three great ns proim this!" Old Man Tiandi said.

    "Ahahah!" Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh again.

    He had once heard Shirong saying that the Three ns had pulled the wool over the entire world to ensure that they would forever stay in power. They even split the three continents equally so that they would not have any unnecessary conflicts.

    They spread the faith of the three guardian beasts all over the world, and now very few people would deny and doubt the truth behind them. Seeing Old Man Tiandi''s reaction had confirmed that point for him.

    "Seems like only the top sects and ns know about the truth. But since it is in their favor as well, they do not wish for it to be let outбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Jiao Fan had a pale expression on his face after hearing all this. He wondered if this entire situation was being orchestrated by some greater power that was hidden in the shadows or not. This all seemed far too coordinated to be unnned to him.

    But then the doubts he had about Lin Wu''s identity reappeared in his mind.

    "You!бн You are a human, aren''t you? Or at least used to be." Jiao Fan suddenly said.

    "What did you say?" Lin Wu asked again, wanting to ensure that he had not heard it wrong.

    "You are a human''s soul in a mechanical puppet, aren''t you?" Jiao Fan borated.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu said in a confused tone.

    He was frankly stunned that this man would have somehow figured out that he truly was a human before and that his soul was human right now, too. The only difference was the two words, ''Mechanical puppet.'' Lin Wu did not know what they exactly meant.

    "System, show me the information about these ''Mechanical Puppets''." Lin Wu secretly ordered and in the next second, a window popped up in front of him that showed all the information that the system had in its data banks.

    Lin Wu read the summary that the system showed in the first window rather quickly in less than a minute and got the gist of it.

    ''No wonder he thinks this is a mechanical puppet. The crystalline structure does make it seem like that.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Though Lin Wu was still a bit confused about how the man figured out, he had a human soul. Lin Wu looked at Jiao Fan, which only made the man nervous.

    ''Dammit! What was I thinking? If It really is true, then he must have been hiding this for a long time and now I just revealed his secret.'' Jiao Fan thought to himself, feeling even more scared as Lin Wu gazed upon him.

    "And why do you think I''m a human? Or why this is a mechanical puppet?" Lin Wu questioned, wanting to know the man''s hypothesis.

    To Lin Wu, if Jiao Fan was able to grasp this, then others should be able to do so as well. While he did not know if it would be better or not, that they knew about his human soul, he knew that his current situation had not caused him that many problems.

    Thus if it was possible, Lin Wu would like to continue staying in his current situation. At least until he figured out why he had a human soul himself. Jiao Fan who heard his question, was stunned at first and even wondered if he should answer or try to escape.

    He secretly gazed at the exit but realized that it might be a long shot. If the thing in front of him truly was an old cultivator that had taken over a mechanical puppet, then he must have had multiple tricks to ensure that he died. With that inference, Jiao Fan decided he may as well speak, and perhaps he would survive somehow.

    "Your bodyбн I don''t think there are any beasts like these. It is fully made out of crystals as if someone carved out emeralds and jades to make it. There is no way it can be naturally made. I''ve read about the mechanical puppets and some of them can be made in simr ways as you are.

    And seeing your cultivation base, only an old cultivator that was at the very least a Dao Treading realm cultivator would be able to do the same. Plus, since you know about this ''Legendary Vermilion bird'' it must have been from long ago.

    There is no way anyone that was born in the recent five hundred years would even know about this. I''ve never seen any records such as this." Jiao Fan exined his side.

 Chapter 396 - End Of The Two Men?

    Having heard Jiao Fan''s side of the story, Lin Wu could understand his thinking.

    ''Didn''t expect just my crystal body having this kind of a misunderstanding for himбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.??

    Old Man Tiandi heard everything as well and couldn''t help but agree with Jiao Fan''s words. To him, Lin Wu also seemed like an ancient cultivator that had lost their body and now resided in a puppet like this.

    "Are you done here?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle suddenly spoke.

    Old Man Tiandi and Jiao Fan were startled upon hearing the cry of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and looked at her. They couldn''t understand what she said and only Lin Wu understood the meaning.

    "Oh? You''re done checking out the area? Did you find anything interesting?" Lin Wu asked instead.

    "Yes, I''m done. We should leave now. There are too many humans here, I don''t feelfortable. Andбн I feel hungry again." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said.

    While Jiao Fan and Old Man Tiandi could not understand the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s words, for some reason, they felt chills going down their body upon hearing thest cry of the beast.

    "Hmmбн okay. Let''s leave then. You can have your appetite satisfied as well. I want to restore the energy I used as well." Lin Wu replied before turning to look at the two men.

    "Wh-what do you want?" Jiao Fan asked, instantly feeling that something was wrong.

    "Wellбн it was pleasurable meeting and talking to you, but nowбн it''s time to go," Lin Wu said with a smile.

    "Ah, so that''s what it wasбк" Before Jiao Fan couldplete his words, he saw something that terrified him.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Lin Wu had moved at a blinding speed and swallowed Old Man Tiandi whole. The man didn''t even have the chance to resist, and he was gone.

    "Wh-why?" Jiao Fan questioned, feeling absolutely lost.

    "It''s just businessбн" Lin Wu nonchntly said before eating up Jiao Fan as well.

    The man had no chance to let out a cry or scream and was quickly reduced to mush. Of course, under the effects of Lin Wu''s body, their Nascent Souls that tried to escape were killed instantly.

    The radiation that his body passively emanated was far too much for the Nascent Souls to bear, especially when they were literally inside his body. And just like that, the two men who had entertained Lin Wu for about ten hours now were no more.

    "Well, that shouldpensate for some spirit Qi I used up," Lin Wu said before turning to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    "Let''s head off, shall we? We got a lot more humans out there." Lin Wu stated.

    "Okay," The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle agreed and the two beasts left the temple.

    ***

    Some distance from the temple, a woman was watching it closely.

    "What is happening in there? What the hell was that strong spirit Qi wave?" the woman said as she wiped some sweat off her forehead.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    And just as she said that, she saw the two beasts who had entered the temple reappear.

    "Didбн did they change? Why''s the bird beast like that now?" The woman realized.

    And just as she was looking at the two beasts, she noticed something else. One of the beasts was looking in her direction.

    "Noбн it can''t beбн is it looking at me?" The Woman wondered as she saw Lin Wu gaze at her direction or perhaps even at her.

    Lin Wu, who had just returned to the surface, checked the map for any differences and found it to be rtively normal.

    "There she is, I''ll go meet with a certain person, while you can go and eat." Lin Wu said to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    "Sure." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said before pping her wings.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A single p of her wings created strong winds that toppled the few buildings that were still standing nearby. As for the debris of the previously copsed buildings, it was pushed away too. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle then started to fly up into the sky and gazed at the people below.

    In reality, since she was at the Dao Shell real, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle didn''t even need to p her wings to fly. She could literally take off straight up and hover, using just her cultivation base. But since she had been used to flying like this for hundreds of years, it was hard for her to give up.

    Besides, flying using her wings was far faster than by just using her own cultivation base. This was the one benefit flying beasts had over other non- flying beasts. When they reached the Nascent Soul realm, their speed while flying would still be far greater than the others.

    <em>~Piiiii~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a loud cry that sent shivers down the people''s spines. Meanwhile, Lin Wu calmly apportioned the woman who had been staring at him the entire time and had been spying for a certain mistress.

    "He''s reallying here!" The woman said to herself, feeling shocked.

    She didn''t know what to do at first, but then remembered her orders. The woman gritted her teeth and hesitated, but as Lin Wu got closer, her heart started to waver.

    "Mistress will understand me, I''m sure of it. This was not my mission anyway," The woman said to herself before turning away and stepping into the air.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    But in the very next moment, she found arge emerald green wall appearing in front of her, blocking her way.

    "W-what!" The woman said as she saw the obstacle.

    "Now, now, not so fast," Lin Wu said as he got closer to the woman.

    It was his tail that had blocked the woman''s way. The woman turned around while shuddering slightly. Her eyes met those of Lin Wu and trembled as if a sheep encountering a wolf.

    "Wellбн Hello there~"

 Chapter 397 - Cai Ming?

    Cai Ming had not expected that the mission she had been assigned would turn out like this. Originally when she had been assigned a mission by her mistress, she had rejoiced. It had been a long time since her mistress had looked to her other than sometimes at night, but now she was finally back in her eyes.

    The mission was very simple. She merely had to spy on the mistress''s younger brother. She even got the location where he was heading to and where he would likely head to after that.??

    While she didn''t really have to do anything other than observing and recording the actions of the Mistress''s Younger brother, the location that the target was going to was quite dangerousбн The Dread Coil Marsh.

    But of course, Cai Ming could not help but ept the mission given to her and went on it right away. Her mistress had even given her some life preserving treasures and spirit tools that would assist her.

    And it was not as if she was weak. She was an Infant Soul stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator. Even her mistress was in the Nascent Soul realm, but she could not tell what stage she was in exactly.

    The only thing Cai Ming knew for sure was that her mistress was far stronger than she was. Among the other subordinates of her mistress, Cai Ming ranked third and she had two more senior sisters that ranked higher than her.

    Her strongest senior sister was at the Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm, but even she was no match for their mistress. All of them had been brought up by their mistress ever since they were little girls.

    Her mistress had recognized their hidden talent and nurtured them to be the cultivators they were currently. Even back then, their mistress was at the Nascent Soul realm, so it showed just how powerful she would be right now.

    After setting out on the journey, Cai Ming found it to be rtively smooth. Even when she entered the Dread Coil Marsh, she was not troubled by the beasts and the ghosts. The treasures that her mistress had given her were able to keep her hidden from the perception of the Marsh Ghosts and other beasts.

    Even when she was within a hundred meter radius of the target, he could not see her. This, along with the unique conditions of the Dread Coil Marsh where the spirit sense was greatly suppressed, made it easy for Cai Ming to spy on the mistress''s younger brother.

    It was safe to say she got to see several secrets of the target. The biggest of them being the unique Crystal spear that the man used. He called it the Immortal Crystal Armament that could transform into multiple different forms of weapons.

    Cai Ming had actually been injured a few times by the attacks of the weapon when she had been identally within the range of its attacks. The attacks of that Immortal Crystal Armament were fierce and hard to heal.

    They contained a strange aura that could taint her flesh and make it harder to heal and for spirit Qi to flow. Had it not been for some of the good quality healing pills that her mistress had given her, Cai Ming may have been crippled a couple of times.

    From that moment onwards, she had be greatly cautious and kept her distance from the target. She finally understood why her mistress had asked her to spy on her younger brother and given her this mission.

    The mistress''s younger brother was no less talented than her and could even be considered to be a bit more powerful. Cai Ming was sure that if they went to battle head to head, she would be unable tost long. She had already seen the Mistress''s brother fighting multiple beasts and humans that were at the Nascent Soul realm together and win.

    Even without the Immortal Crystal Armament, he was powerful. But then something unexpected had happened. She had to get away because of therge number of men that had appeared in strange garbs.

    They could somehow detect her and were following her around. Not wanting to get caught, she decided to retreat for the time being. But that turned out to be a mistake and she lost her target.

    But she had also felt a really strong spirit Qi fluctuations from the location of the target and Cai Ming knew something must have happened. Sadly, by the time she got there, the target had disappeared.

    But the scene was quite disastrous. There were dead bodies lying around everywhere, with some of them being scorched to death. The area was greatly burned as well and had hardened into a rock.

    There was the remnant of the temple there which she could see but did not know what it was exactly. Fearing that she may have failed her mission, she decided to search around the Dread Coil marsh more. But no matter where she went, she couldn''t really find anything even after two days.

    Finally, she understood that it was best she headed to the next location that the target was going to head to and wait there. And after having waited there for a few weeks, this is the situation that she ended up in.

    Cai Ming''s eyes were zed over as blood spilled from her lips and nose. Half of her body was gone and half of it hanging out of the mouth of the crystal beast. The moment she had been stopped was the moment her fate was decided.

    "Whyбн Forgive me, mistressбн I failed youбн" Cai Ming said herst words.

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    Her entire body disappointed into Lin Wu''s mouth as he finished eating. A rush of memories appeared a few seconds after he had eaten Cai Ming, and he learned of everything that she knew.

    "Oh? Didn''t expect thisбн a spy for Shirong''s second sister, Ji Xiaolian. And she has been following us all this time withouting to my noticeбн"

 Chapter 398 - Eradicating The City?

    Lin Wu was intrigued, to say the least, after seeing Cai Ming''s memories. The ones that he got right now were the most recent memories that she had, but the system was sorting out the remaining ones so that Lin Wu would be able to see them in detailter.

    "At least now I know there is an additional party keeping an eye on Shirong. Though I doubt this woman is the only one that Ji Xiaolian has on the mission. If there is more, even if they aren''t here, they should turn up eventually after Shirong reappears." Lin Wu muttered to himself.??

    ''Though by chance if there is an additional spy hereбн it could get problematical.'' Lin Wu thought as he looked around at the terrified humans that were all running around.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was already ughtering the humans and her mes would have been scorching the ruins had it not been for the fact that she wanted to eat them to fill her belly.

    If the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle wanted to, she could have erased the entire city in one move by just using her mes that could drown the entire ce.

    "I may as well replenish my spirit Qi, and also make sure there are no extra spies hereбн" Lin Wu muttered as he moved his head.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Then in the next moment, his body moved like the wind, appearing next to a group of men who were trying to carry out their items from a shop that seemed to be selling Spirit tools.

    "M-MONSTER!!!" the men shouted upon seeing Lin Wu suddenly appearing there.

    "Aw, I''m offended." Lin Wu said before opening his mouth wide and gulping them down.

    "Four down andбн. Over twelve thousand to go. Geeze, how fast is the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle eating them?" Lin Wu said with surprise.

    He looked at the counter for humans and found it to be falling at a great speed. Lin Wu then spotted the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and found her to be flying close to the ground. Vortex of wind surrounded her body, pulling in all the humans towards her.

    The vortex would then pull them into her mouth, making it easier to eat.

    "Damn, she''s moving like a vacuum!" Lin Wu said.

    "Thoughбн that''s an efficient method. Let''s try that as wellбн" Lin Wu said before using the Immortal Sky Shaker Art.

    The wind attribute spirit Qi swirled around his body as it started to glow slightly. He then controlled it to form a vortex around his body as well and started to move around the ruined city.

    <em>~shung~</em>

    <em>~shung~</em>

    <em>~shung~</em>

    One by one, the nearby humans, along with some debris, started to get sucked into Lin Wu''s mouth as well.

    ''System, sort out all of the data nodes and search for the keywords Ji n and Ji Xiaolian.'' Lin Wu ordered in his mind.

    "Affirmative." The system responded.

    With the system working in the background, Lin Wu got to feasting. Lin Wu didn''t want to spoil his taste again and thus turned his tongue into a crystalline form as well, which prevented him from tasting anything.

    Usually, when he ate any snacks or food, he changed his tongue into an organic form so that he would be able to enjoy the food. This was one of the little joys of life he had as of now that stopped him from getting bored and thus he wanted to preserve it.

    Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle ate all the humans for about fifteen minutes, after which most of them were now dead and inside the bellies of the two beasts. The few that remained were either still in hiding or had managed to get away from the city.

    "Can you go and get those humans that ran away? I''ll take care of the ones hiding underneath the ground." Lin Wu spoke to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    "Sure," the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said without even thinking much.

    This was something she was going to do anyway, even if Lin Wu did not ask and thus she flew away quickly. Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s improvement in cultivation and her bloodline had caused her to feel a lot of hunger.

    It was obvious that her body had used up quite a lot of nutrients to make itself grow. So it was understandable that she would like to have her fill of meat. Though the meat in this case was none other than humans.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Lin Wu dug into the ground to find the humans that had chosen to hide underneath. These were the people from the ns of the city that had safe bunkers made underneath their mansions and manors.

    A bunch of these people from the city ns were huddled together in one of the underground rooms. This room was about three hundred meters deep as well and would have been beyond the spirit sense of most cultivators, but sadly for them, it was Lin Wu and Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle here.

    "Here''sssбн Me!" Lin Wu said out loud as he burst through a solid stone wall.

    "AHH!! MONSTER!!!"

    "NO! LEAVE US!" The nsmen shouted in fear.

    Lin Wu didn''t respond to them and simply gave a wide smile that turned into a gaping mouth which then devoured all of them.

    "One down, six more to go," Lin Wu said as he went to the other ns of the city.

    In less than five minutes, all of the ns of Jiao Dian city were wiped out from existence. But Lin Wu didn''t stop here. He spread his spirit sense around and found all the ces where the valuable items of the ns were kept.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    Lin Wu copsed a few walls in one hit and revealed the secret vault of the n.

    "Bingo!" Lin Wu said with a smile as he entered the vault. He looked around at the items and knew he was gonna have a fun time.

 Chapter 399 - The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle Is Trapped?

    There were thousands of spirit stones, along with other things such as spirit herbs, spirit tools and even some books kept in the vault. Lin Wu quickly stored them before heading to the next ce on the map.

    There were over ten ns in the Jiao Dian city and all of them had their fair share of items stored away. While Lin Wu had killed plenty of cultivators and eaten them, they didn''t really have that many items in their spatial storage treasures.??

    Lin Wu was able to automatically sort their spatial treasures and any spirit tools they had on their body when he ate them and the system would categorize them. Till now he had obtained over a hundred spatial storage tolls from the city and was depending on the system to scan and sort the items.

    One by one, Lin Mu raised each of the vaults and obtained all of the things that were hidden in there. He also found several cultivation techniques, but would need to wait for the systems analysis toplete before he was able to see if they were useful to him or not.

    "Hmmбн where is the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle now?" Lin Wu looked at the map.

    Since she had not returned despite it being quite some time, Lin Wu was curious. Then on the map, he saw the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle about two hundred kilometer away from the Jiao Dian city.

    "Huh? What''s she doing there?" Lin Wu wondered and zoomed into the map.

    There were some trees and hills around the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, but he couldn''t see any other markers there. The only marker that glowed there was that of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    "System, update this area''s map." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCAN COMPLETE: Map updated

    бкбк

    In a few seconds, the system updated the entire map that it had scanned and showed the new changes on it. Most of the life markers on the map had already disappeared, which was humans.

    As for the ones that were still present in the ruined city and around it, they belonged to that of the various beasts that lived in the area. They weren''t particrly of interest to Lin Wu as they weren''t even at the Core condensation realm.

    Lin Wu instead gazed at the area around the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and saw that there was actually a marker for active sprint Qi disturbance there.

    "System what is this?" Lin Wu questioned, unable to understand.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The spirit Qi fluctuations show that they are from a formation array. But the system cannot tell what kind of a formation array it is withouting into closer contact. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle seems to be contained within the formation array though.

    бкбк

    "WHAT! How the hell did that even happen?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but exim.

    In the very next second, he burrowed underneath the ground and bored his way to the location of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The ground around Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle shook and she looked around.

    <em>~PIIIII~</em>

    She let out a cry and mmed her wings at the cage like barrier that was surrounding her.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The cage rang like a bell, but was surprisingly able to withstand the attack of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The ground burst open and out came Lin Wu. He looked at the cage that surrounded the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and was shocked.

    "How did this even happen?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "It''s those sneaky humans! Three of them were running away and two of them suddenly used this formation to trap me. Their bodies withered right away after using it though, and the third human managed to get away." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    "Huh? What was their cultivation base?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling suspicious.

    "The seemed to be at the core condensation realm at first, but when they used this formation, their cultivation suddenly increased to the Nascent Soul realm." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    "What about the third human that got away?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "He was at the core condensation realm as well, but he was much younger than the others." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    Hearing the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s words, Lin Wu understood that she had met some hidden experts. Though they were not able to fight much against the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, they did manage to dy her from pursuing the third man.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Let''s get you out firstбн" Lin Wu said and raised his tail up.

    Its shape started to change, and it became like a long de. The long de then glowed before a blueyer appeared over it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~kacha~</em>

    Lin Wu swung his long de like tail at the cage barrier and broke it in one hit. The cage split apart like cake, though the noise made by it was a lot more annoying than that of the people who sang happy birthday.

    <em>~piiiiii~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a cry and pped her wings, destroying the rest of the cage. Once Lin Wu had made one cut on the formation, the rest of it had weakened considerably.

    "This was a twin metal mesh cage formation array, wasn''t it system?" Lin Wu questioned upon recalling about it.

    Lin Wu had read about this formation array in the many records that he had, but he wasn''t fully sure.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: yes, this is a Twin metal mesh cage formation array. But it was an inferior version that was powered with a sacrifice technique, along with a lot of spirit stones. Traces of souls can also be felt here, which is a confirmation that the two men who used this formation array were at the Nascent Soul realm.

    бкбк

    Upon seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu furrowed his brows and felt like this was not something simple.

 Chapter 400 - Who Annoyed The Eagle Beast?

    Lin Wu was lost in thought for a few seconds after getting the system''s answer.

    "A formation that can trap even the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagleбн their background must not be simple. Though the question is what were they doing here and if they were rted to Ji Xiaolian as well." Lin Wu muttered to himself.??

    <em>~PIIIII~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a loud cry as she pped her wings and flew up to the sky.

    "I''ll have his head!!!" She yelled before shooting off towards one of the locations.

    Wanting to see who could do this, Lin Wu followed behind her as well, except underground.

    "System, keep on scanning and see who that person was." Lin Wu ordered.

    While Lin Wu had ordered this, he did not get a response, which meant that the person was quite far.

    ''Just how far did he manage to get?'' Lin Wu wondered as he entered the ground and followed behind the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had the scent of the man and with her great vision, she would be able to spot the runaway easily. Lin Wu''s body parted the earth as it moved at a great speed.

    In a minute or so, Lin Wu had already caught up with the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and was right below me. Lin Wu also had an eye on the map to see if there were any markers in range but he could not see anything yet.

    "We should be more than three hundred kilometers away from the city by now, just how fast is that guy?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    <em>~PIIIII~</em>

    A minute after Lin Wu said this, the cry of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could be heard as she spotted the man. Lin Wu instantly checked the map and found him to be at the very edge of the map.

    "Got you nowбн" Lin Wu muttered as he sped up even more.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did the same and swooped down onto the man.

    <em>~PIIIIIII~</em>

    But just as her ws were about to tear into the man, a shield appeared around his body, actually managing to block the attack for a second before breaking.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    "HOW!?" The man couldn''t help but shout.

    Lin Wu finally got to take look at the man and found him to be in his early twenties. He was in the core condensation realm as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had said earlier and was dressed in rather high quality clothes that were all spirit tools.

    "He''s certainly not someone normal." Lin Wu said upon seeing the sheer number of spirit tools he had on his body.

    From head to toe, there were over twenty spirit tools that he was wearing. On his head there was a cap that was a spirit tool, then there were two earrings, a pendant on his neck, his inner shirt, his inner armor, his outer robe, frontal armor, his gloves, his pants, boots and finally the many rings and bracelet that he wore on his hands.

    Overall, he seemed less like a cultivator and more like a rapper from Lin Wu''s past world.

    "Get away, you filthy beast!" The man shouted as he threw out tens of talismans at once.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    The talismans exploded with a rtively strong force, managing to push back the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle back.

    ~Piiii~

    Anger poured out through the eyes of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle as they turned red. It was obvious that she could not hold back anymore plus she had heard the man curse her so she was even more furious.

    While the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could not fully understand human speech, she had still managed to learn quite a few words over time and recognized the word ''beast'' and ''filthy''. Hearing those two words together was enough to piss her off.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A deep breath was taken by the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle as air filled her lungs. Strong spirit Qi fluctuation came out of her body as they knocked up winds. The man who had made her angry was still trying to run away and was throwing out some talismans continuously.

    "No way this guy is normal!" Lin Wu grasped and knew that he could not let the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle kill him without him getting the information from his soul.

    Lin Wu activated his innate skills and made his body a bit more streamlined. Wind attribute spirit Qi gathered around his body as he shot out of the ground like a rocket.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The earth burst apart, pelting the man who was running away as well. His attention was brought back as well, and he saw not one but two beasts attacking him. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was mid away to spewing her mes at him, while Lin Wu was directly attacking the man with hisrge body.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Lin Wu''s body was the first to hit the man and met another barrier that hade up to protect him.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The mes of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle finally came and attacked the man as well. Unfortunately, Lin Wu was currently near him and got hit with it as well.

    "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Hot! It''s hot! Way too hot! Stop it!" Lin Wu shouted.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had not noticed Lin Wu in her rage, but once she saw that he had surrounded the man with his body, she stopped.

    "GIVE HIM TO ME!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle shouted.

    "Yes, yes! You can take him, but first I need to get his memories. Let me just get them first," Lin Wu exined.

    "Humph!" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle huffed out more mes and hovered in the air.

    Lin Wu, who had coiled his body around the manбн or rather the barrier that surrounded the man, looked at him.

    "Now I got you. Who the hell are you?" Lin Wu questioned the man, this time in the human tongue.

    "You! You can speak!?" The man was stunned.

 Chapter 401 - A Stupid Young Master?

    The man had never expected for the beast to be able to speak in the human tongue. While he knew that beasts with a higher cultivation base had the same intelligence as that of the humans and some could even understand human speech, not all could actually speak.

    Those who could speak in human tongue could be counted on two hands and they were not beasts that could bemonly found. Thus, seeing apletely inhuman beast like that talking in human tongue was far more shocking than seeing a humanoid beast like an ape talking.

    "Yeah, I can. Now tell me who you are and what were you doing at the Jiao Dian City? What is your background?" Lin Wu questioned the man in an authoritative tone.

    The man was stunned and did not speak for about ten seconds before he finally understood something.

    "Oh? You want to know my background? Hahaha!" The man suddenly started tough.

    Lin Wu only furrowed his brows upon seeing the man''s actions and even wondered if the man had gone insane from the shock. At first, he was scared and then he was acting fearlessly,ughing in front of two beasts, one of which was at the Dao Shell realm!

    "You will shiver in your ce after hearing about my background! Open your ears and hear, I belong to the Lian n!" The man spoke.

    But after he spoke, no reaction could be perceived from Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. Lin Wu was simply confused and was trying to remember if he knew about this n while the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was simply staring daggers at the man while embers sparked on her feathers.

    ''Huh? Why are they not shocked?'' the man thought.

    Lin Wu got a list of the known Lian ns on the continent from the system and he looked through them. He immediately discarded the weaker ones and themoner ns and only looked at the cultivation ns.

    Eventually, he came upon the most probable option, the Lian n, which was the third strongest n on the Long continent. It was said to be in the same league as that of the Long n and the Ji n, though they were many times weaker than the Ji n.

    "Hmm, is it the Lian n among the top three ns of the Long Continent?" Lin Wu guessed.

    "Hahah! Seems like you know it! Soбн why aren''t you kowtowing and begging for forgiveness now? If my n finds out about this, you all will be ughterбк"

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Before the man could finish his sentence, the barrier surrounding him was cracked by Lin Wu. Spikes appeared from his body that pressed upon the barrier. The spikes also had a blueyer on their tips, which meant that Lin Wu was using the Undaunted Sapphire Body art.

    The man didn''t even have a chance to cry out in fear, before the spikes directly hit his body. The spirit tools on his body all activated and tried to defend, but the spirit Qi modified by the undaunted sapphire body art was the best counter to that.

    <em>~gua~</em>

    The barriers were all broken and Lin Wu''s spikes finally pierced the man''s body. One of the smaller spikes directly pierced his forehead, killing him.

    "System, check his memories if he is telling the truth and gather all that you can get as well." Lin Wu quickly ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA NODE: Obtained

    ANALYZING: Please wait a moment

    ANALYSIS: Complete

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nodded his head upon seeing this and loosed his grip on the dead man, withdrawing his spikes.

    "Here you go," Lin Wu extended the dead body of the man towards the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle who had been looking at him with fury.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    Lin Wu threw the body of the man towards the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, who spewed out a stream of mes that instantly reduced it to ashes that drifted away in the wind.

    ''Oo, she really was angryбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Humph! Pesky human!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said, still feeling angry.

    "A stupid one too. I don''t know what kind of upbringing he had that he was taunting us when death was just in front of him. He really knew how to court deathбн" Lin Wu said.

    "What did that man talk about? Why was heughing?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned after calming down a bit.

    "Oh, yes. This man was just one of the stuck up young masters of the cultivation ns. One of the moreбн dumb ones. He really thought he could depend on his treasures and just his n''s name to resist us.

    Though he does belong to a rather powerful n, the Lian n. They are two ranks below the Long n who have the bloodline of the legendary Azure Dragon." Lin Wu answered.

    "What imbeciles these humans haveбн even beasts don''t act like that and know when to retreat." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eaglemented. "Though this Lian nбн are they strong?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    "Hmm," Lin Wu nodded his head. "From what I''ve read before and this man''s memories, the Lian n has two Dao Treading realm experts and several Dao Shell realm experts." He answered.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle furrowed her brows feathers as her beak slightly opened like a frown.

    "I know humans like to take revenge a lot. They have attacked the beasts in the forest many times, whenever one of theirs was killed while hunting us. Will these peoplee to hunt us too?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    While the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was proud of her strength and bloodline, she wasn''t stupid like a certain younger master and knew that there were stronger experts that could fight and even kill her.

    While the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle might have been able to resist the Aquadream Sea Lotus for a bit, it was still a beast that had been disadvantaged. The human cultivators at the Dao Treading realm would not have a restriction like that and they would also be far more clever.

 Chapter 402 - Lian Li?

    If the other powerhouses knew about the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, they wouldn''t attack right away. First, they would try to find out more about her and then look for a weakness. Once that was all done, only then would they attack for sure.

    It was also likely that it would be a sneak attack.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had seen many humans act in the millennium forest before and had gained a little understanding of how they operated. She did not want an additional trouble before she fully awakened her bloodline.

    Having heard the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s concerns, Lin Wu understood where she was getting at.

    "Hmm, I doubt they would know about it right now. The man did have a mark on him that would inform his n of his death, but I managed to block it from working. While they would find out about him eventually, I think it will take a long time.

    Rather than that, our main concern would be Jiao Dian city as it is now fully destroyed and the people are killed. Since the Lian n would not have information about this man''s death, they would probably assume hisst known location, which would be the city.

    And if theye to see the city, they would find it destroyed and the temple of the Vermillion bird there." Lin Wu exined.

    "Though we don''t know if the temple would disappear yet or not." He added.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle thought over it and found it to be okay. But she still had some doubts that she wanted to convey.

    "How are you sure that the Lian n knows about this man''s previous location which was the city?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    "Its simple, I read his memories. He had informed the Lian n that he had arrived in the city about two days ago and had said that he would be living there for a few more days. And when the temple of the Vermillion bird arrived at the surfaces, it blocked allmunications from the city.

    This means that the man did not manage to transmit any message to his n. Even after leaving his n, he was still unable to get hismunication jade slip to work because of thesting effect of the temple." Lin Wu exined.

    Lin Wu had not known that the vermilion bird''s temple actually had asting effect on themunication jade slips. He had seen the memories of a lot of people but had not gone into detail since it was not the time for it then.

    But with the Lian n''s young master, Lin Wu decided to go into detail and see how much he actually knew. He ended up learning quite a few things from it, such that the name of this man was Lian Li and he was the sixteenth young master of the Lian n.

    He wasn''t even qualified topete with the other young masters of the n for the seat of the heir, but even then had a lot of resources poured into him. Lin Wu also learned that the mother of this Lian Li was one of the hundred concubines of the Patriarch of the Lian n and was from a rather rich background.

    She was the reason why Young master Lian Li had managed to reach the core condensation realm at the age of thirty eight!

    The Lian n was also widely different from the Ji n in that they didn''t really focus on nurturing their younger generation with strictness. They rather let them be opulent while pouring countless resources into them.

    Whereas in the Ji n, they only gave a specific amount of resources to their younger generation and only those that showed drive and talent would get more of them ande out on top. Thepetition was fierce in the Ji n and the people were tough.

    Ji Shirong was literally the heir of the Ji n and even then he was sent out alone to do his missions with a rtively limited amount of resources. Even when he was about to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, they did not invite him back to the n and instead ordered him to figure it out on his own.

    The Ji n''s method was more crude and harsh, but it gave rise to talented and strong heirs. The character of Ji Shirong could not bepared to that of the young master Lian Li at all.

    Also, the reason why Lian Li was not in his n seemed ridiculous to Lin Wu. He had apparently gotten pissed off at some of his siblings and that his parents didn''t respond how he wanted them to and thus he left his home.

    ''This manбн he''s really childish, huh? Running away from home at the aged of thirty eightбн'' Lin Wu didn''t know whether tough at the man or pity the n.

    Still, it was not like Lin Wu could fully disregard the Lian n. Despite Lian Li running away, they kept tabs on him and he even reported his location the entire time. The n had even assigned not one, not two, but four Nascent Soul realm cultivators to guard him!

    Two of them were carelessly sent away by Lian Li a month ago to do some task, while the final two were the ones who had sacrificed their lives to guard them. Just from this, Lin Wu understood that the Lian n might be hiding their true power.

    ''If just the Lian n has this much power and strong cultivators, then the Ji n should have way moreбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself, reconsidering certain decisions.

    "We should get back to the city now. Where is that stone feather?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Here it is," The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said, pulling out the stone feather from her neck.

    The stone feather was easily buried in her thick coat of feathers and could not be seen at all.

 Chapter 403 - [Bonus ]Restarting The Platform?

    "Ah, that''s a rather nifty trick." Lin Wu said upon seeing where the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had put the stone feather in.

    It kind of reminded him of his part time job working as a cashier at a supermarket. Some of the ''ssy''dies would keep their money in their chests and pull that out to pay for whatever they bought.

    It was both traumatic and fascinating to Lin Wu at that time.

    Lin Wu took the stone feather from the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and stored it in his own storage. He now had a lot of spatial storage treasures on him and some of them could even been seen on his body.

    The spatial storage rings that had gemstones on them were embedded into his body and could be seen gleaming from time to time. In total, he currently had over a hundred such spatial storage treasures on him and this had allowed him to organize things really well.

    If one were topare it with aputer, if the system''s storage was the Hard drive, then Lin Wu was using the spatial storage treasures as folders in them. With the stone feathers put away Lin Wu checked the map, just in case there was anything around them.

    "Looks like everything is okay, we can head back to the city." Lin Wu said.

    "Okay," The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied before pping her wings and flying up.

    Lin Wu entered the ground, which was his turf, and both of the beasts sped back to the city. After arriving there, they went to the tform that was above the temple, to get ready to leave.

    Lin Wu paused and looked at the city below and furrowed his brows. A thought appearead in his mind and he turned to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    "Can you erase this entire ce with your mesбн just in case? That way even if someonees they won''t be able to tell what exactly happened." Lin Wu spoke.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle didn''t even think much before nodding her head. To her this was nothing and if it were not for Lin Wu telling her to hold back previously, she would have already used her mes when she was killing the humans before.

    <em>~PIIII~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a loud cry and pped her wings, that started to glow red. Soon, the embers on her wings turned into vibrant mes that flew out and spread across the city.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle started to rise up into the sky as she pped her wings even more and flew around to spread the mes. The vermilion mes licked the ground clean, reducing everything to ash. What could be burned was burned and what could not was charred.

    Even the tough stones of the temple were affected and crumbled down, making an entire wall of the temple that was above the ground disappear. Pools of molten metal could be seen in various parts of the city. These were the metallic objects that were unable to bear the heat of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s mes and melted.

    ''This is nostalgicбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself, remembering the scene of the forbidden area of the Millennium forest.

    But that area was far more damaged than this. The rocks there had literally melted intova and made massive pools of them. Even if the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s mes were strange enough to melt a lot of metals, they weren''t fully able to melt rocks.

    Plus, the mes did not have an explosive impact like the meteor had in the millennium forest back then.

    <em>~piiiii~</em>

    Once the entire city was scorched by the mes, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle returned to the tform andnded.

    "Good work," Lin Wu praised. "Let''s get back onto our journey, shall we?" he said before walking towards the tform.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle followed him and the two of them came to stand near the tform. Lin Wu took the fourth stone feather that had the four red veins in it and put it into the groove on the tform with his tail.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    As soon as he did, all of the stone feathers started to glow and a rumbling sound spread from the temple. The four pirs started to sparkle with arcs of energy that appeared from deep within the ground.

    "Huh? What''s happening this time?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say upon seeing this.

    It was different from thest time and thus he was confused about what was it this time. He watched on as the energy poured into the tform and the formation array started to glow as well.

    The barriers appeared around the tform as it started to tremble.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    A humming sound could be heard as the tform finally started to rise up. Once the tform left the four support pirs, they started to retreat back into the ground as well. Lin Wu watched on as the Jiao Dian city, which once used to be bustling and lively, continued to burn.

    "I wonder what the people who came here to see it would think?" Lin Wu said out loud.

    "I don''t knowбн some human things, maybe?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said, not fully understanding Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu didn''t mind it though and simply shook his head as he looked towards the horizon. The tform finally reached the height where it traveled at and shot forward at a great speed. Had it not been for the formation arrays, Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle would have been knocked back due to the momentum, if not thrown away.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    A tearing sound was heard as the tform soared through the air, its speed only increasing more.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    Finally, the tform reached a speed that was faster than sound and caused a sonic boom. The clouds below it were split apart as it shot back in the north eastern direction.

 Chapter 404 - Back To The Marsh?

    Lin Wu watched the sky as the tform tore through it at a sonic speed.

    "Thisбн this is significantly faster than it was before!" Lin Wu said.

    "Looks like itбн and its even heading back to the Dread Coil Marsh it looks like it." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu was stunned upon hearing this and checked the map. "Oh shit, it really is heading back there." He said.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle nodded her head and closed her eyes back up. Even if she had finished assimting the bloodline crystal and had eaten her fill, she would obviously not waste this free time.

    Thus, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle started cultivating, leaving Lin Wu to his thoughts. Lin Wu saw this and shook his head, knowing that the beast was obsessed about her cultivation and bloodline.

    "Well thenбн let''s see what things we have gained from the little ''excursion''бн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Multiple system windows appeared in front of him that showed various things such as the list of resources he had obtained, the cultivation techniques the system had scanned and the data nodes that were taken from the humans that Lin Wu ate.

    There were literally so many entities that had it not been for the system, organizing and filtering them properly, Lin Wu would have been simply lost. He decided to first check the items that he had gotten from everyone.

    "Oh wait, where did that stone Jiao Fan used go?" Lin Wu wondered and searched through the list.

    "Ah, here it is!" Lin Wu finally spotted it. "Mind expanding Larditeбн"

    Lin Wu took out the pale yellow stone from the storage and looked at it. Surprisingly though, there were cracks on it.

    "What happened to this?" Lin Wu furrowed his brows and probed the Mind Expanding Lardite with his spirit sense.

    Once it entered the Mind Expanding Lardite, Lin Wu felt his spirit sense changing. It was as if it was being cooled down and massaged. It was a stage thing to be feeling from his spirit sense, and he didn''t know what to think of it.

    "Is this how a Mind Expanding Lardite is supposed to work? But weren''t those men suffering when they used this?" Lin Wu was confused.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Mind Expanding Lardite has proportionate effects depending on the quality of a person''s spirit sense. Those that already have a well refined and strong spirit sense will not suffer from the side effects.

    As long as the Mind Expanding Lardite is not used to the limit, the host will not suffer from any problems either and will have a better effect. The system rmends no more than one hour of use every day.

    бкбк

    "Oh, no wonderбн those people did use it forcibly. But what''s up with the crack, did it get damaged?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Mind Expanding Lardite was damaged due to the forced use of the four people. It has lost a lot of its durability and will eventually be used up. Once all of its qualities are drained, it will shatter into fragments.

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Damn those people. I should have just taken this from the very startбн" Lin Wu shook his head.

    Still, there was no medicine for regret and Lin Wu could only let go of the past for now.

    "At least I have it now and can take benefit of it." Lin Wu muttered to himself and put the Mind Expanding Lardite aside for the time being.

    He looked through the other things and realized that he had obtained a massive amount of spirit stones. There were spirit stones of nearly all grades on the list, from low grade all the way to high grade.

    There were only Peak grade spirit stones missing from the list, but Lin Wu knew that they were unlikely to be found in a ce like this. Even the cultivation sects that had spirit stone mines treated them as a strategic resource and seldom used them.

    They were one of the essential requirements for making peak grade alchemical pills, formations arrays and peak grade spirit tools. Without peak grade spirit stone, making either of these things would be immensely difficult.

    Lin Wu directly sorted them into different folders so that they could be kept for emergencies. He was also thinking of using them for the organization he would eventually be making if he didn''t use them before that.

    Lin Wu could already absorb spirit Qi at a quite fast rate and unless there was an absolute emergency that needed it, he wouldn''t need these spirit stones. He was no longer like before when he needed to steal them from Shirong.

    "Shirongбн I need to do something about him. While he is no longer necessary for me, letting him go would be a waste as well. Hmmбн I need to think of a different solution." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu ended up spending two hours like this and finally came up with a solution that might just work. There would be some unknown problems that would ur, but Lin Wu would have to deal with them when they actually came up.

    "I guess the next time we meet would be ourstбн for a long time." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He pushed these thoughts aside for a now and went back to checking the items that he had gotten. The next window he checked was the ones that were showing the alchemical pills. There were thousands of them with a couple of really valuable pills.

    "These seem useful to meбн" Lin Wu muttered and took them out.

    The first pill was a high grade pill meant for the Nascent Soul realm cultivators called as spirit Qi reservoir pill. Its use was as straightforward as its name. The pill could be filled with spirit Qi of the cultivator and then be swallowed when needed.

    In a way, it was like a modifiable spirit stone. The amount of spirit Qi in it could reach a massive amount and it was able to amodate the entire spirit Qi store of an Adult Soul Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator!

 Chapter 405 - [Bonus ]Two New Pills?

    Lin Wu was rather interested in this pill as it could serve as an extra safety in case the system''s storage ran out of spirit.

    The spirit Qi reservoir pill could store a cultivator own spirit Qi. This was the spirit Qi that was part of Lin Wu''s Dantian and meridians. This was the spirit Qi that Lin Wu could not add to the system''s storage and thus it was a rather useful method for him to store it in the pill for emergencies.

    "I''ll use this in a bitбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself and took out the second pill that had been of his interest.

    The second pill was also a high grade pill called as the Triple Meridian Reinforcement pill. This pill was technicality supposed to be for people that had yet to stabilize their foundation after a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm.

    The tribtion lightning usually damaged one''s meridians greatly and even after healing them, it took quite long for one to improve them. This pill helped reduce that time and could be said to be a hybrid of a healing and improvement pill.

    Lin Wu was intending to use this in a different manner, though. The system had specifically sorted this pill into the most useful pill for Lin Wu on its own. This means that it had thought that it was optimum to use this right now.

    "System, this pill should be good for the undaunted sapphire Body art, right? I can increase the speed of the meridian conversion with this?" Lin Wu asked for confirmation.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Yes. Practicing the Undaunted Sapphire Body art with the Triple Meridian reinforcement pill will have a catalyzing effect and increase the speed by multiple folds. The system rmends the host uses it as soon as possible for the best effects.

    бкбк

    "Alright, that''s all I needed." Lin Wu said before nodding his head.

    He decided to first check the status of the technique and see where he was at.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- First level (17% Meridians converted)

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн it hasn''t really increased much since then." Lin Wu muttered uponparing the earlier values.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "Let''s begin then," Lin Wu said before starting to cultivate.

    Since Lin Wu didn''t actually cultivate the Undaunted Sapphire Body art for its spirit Qi absorption, he didn''t automatically further its progress. Instead, Lin Wu cultivated using the Taiji Dual Unity scripture and then transferred that to the meridians, letting it circte ording to the Qi touristic of the Undaunted Sapphire Body art.

    If anyone that was an expert cultivator saw what Lin Wu was doing, they would freak out. This was one of the big no no''s of cultivation. Cultivation techniques could not just be mixed and match, but Lin Wu did not have a problem here for multiple reasons.

    First was the fact that the system had already checked thepatibility and ensure that it would all be fine. And second, was the fact that the Taiji Dual Unity scripture in itself was highlypatible with different cultivation techniques.

    Since it was based on the duality of yin and yang, cultivation techniques of either attributive could be used with it. That was the reason why the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture was said to be one of the top most cultivation techniques.

    But even then, if it was anyone else doing the same thing if they had both the techniques, it was not a 100% guarantee that they would seed on the first try. They would need a few attempts to be able to find a bnce between the two.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Waves of spirit Qi rose from Lin Wu''s body as the cultivation technique started to show its effect. The spirit Qi in the air started to swirl around him and formed a small vortex, before entering through multiple acupoints on his body.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    The spirit Qi only got stronger and stronger until eventually, it reached a teau. Lin Wu watched as the number on the host data started to increase at a visible pace.

    ''Alright, now to redirect it to the other circuitбн'' Lin Wu willed it to change.

    The numbers that were increasing one moment slowed down until eventually stopping. All of the spirit Qi Lin Wu was absorbing was now being used by the Undaunted Sapphire Body art.

    "Now the pill!" Lin Wu popped the pill into his mouth.

    As soon as it entered his body, it melted and assimted rather quickly. If one looked closely, they would see a pinkish liquid circting through his body. This was nothing but the medicinal efficacy of the Triple Meridian Reinforcement pill.

    The pinkish liquid entered each and every meridian of Lin Wu''s body, starting from the three great meridians in the center of his body before moving to the peripheral ones. About ten minutester, Lin Wu had pink patterns on his emerald green body.

    His meridians that were usually invisible, were revealed for the first time.

    "Huhбн so this is what they look like." Lin Wu said, seeing them for the first time as well.

    Till now, Lin Wu could feel the meridians but had not seen them with his own eyes. Only spirit sense could allow him to ''see'' them, but even then it was simr to using the sense of touch to feel up a pattern.

    While Lin Wu had seen the many meridian charts in the multiple cultivation manuals he had gathered, those were useless to him since his body was not that of a human and that of a beastбн a worm beast.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The pinkish glow soon started to change as a bluish tint appeared in there. This tint was mostly in the peripheral parts of his meridians and was focused around the tips of them. If one measured the meridians that had the bluish tint, they would realize that it covered 17% of his entirework of meridians!

 Chapter 406 - Second Level Of The Undaunted Sapphire Body Art?

    The medicinal efficacy of the Triple Meridian Reinforcement pill started to show its effects, and under thebined effect of the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art, it became further catalyzed.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The spirit Qi fluctuationing from Lin Wu''s body changed slightly, its rhythm bing sharper than before.

    Lin Wu continued to cultivate and saw the bluish tint in his meridians increasing bit by bit. The pinkish glow was being consumed and the blue tint increased in exchange. Of course, the exchange was not equivalent and the blue glow of Sapphire meridians was easily overpowering the pinkish glow of the Triple Meridian Reinforcement pill.

    This all continued for about an hour before all of the efficacy of the Triple Meridian Reinforcement pill was used up.

    ''Finally, it is doneбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu let out a breath and looked at his body now. The total length of the sapphire meridians in his body had increased, as could be estimated from the bluish tint.

    "System show me the updated Host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNING HOST VITALS: Host Data Updated.

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (31% Meridians converted)

    бкбк

    "Perfect!" Lin Wu said upon seeing that his avatar had managed to reach the second level of the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art.

    This was even beyond his main body''s process, but he didn''t care as much and knew that he could catch up with itter.

    "The main body is stronger than my avatar anyway, and this helps them get a bit closer. That way I would have a drastic disparity when using both of them and switching between them." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    What Lin Wu didn''t want was to have really good proficiency and skill with one body and getting too habituated to it. If that happened and for example, he switched to a different body, there was a chance he could make a mistake.

    For example, fighting an enemy that was far stronger than him could cost him his life, if he made a mistake. He might be too used to the main body''s higher strength and cultivation and thus causing him to act disproportionately to his strength when in the avatar body''s

    Lin Wu extended his tail and activated the sapphire meridians, using it to convert and amply his spirit Qi. The tip of the tail started to glow in a faint blue light and Lin Wu pressed it on the barrier of the tform.

    Since he had a really good test subject right here, Lin Wu thought he may as well try it out and thus he did. Upon cing his tail on the barrier, at first, nothing happened, but about ten secondster, the runes on the barrier started to part.

    If one looked closer, one would see that the blue glow on his tail was pushing the spirit Qi contained within the runes of the barrier. It wasn''t really fighting with it and thus didn''t trigger any offensive reaction from the tform''s barrier.

    About a minuteter, the part of the barrier where Lin Wu touched waspletely devoid of ruins as it created an opening there. The rest of the structure of the Barrier was not affected at all, and was still stable.

    This was a shocking thing as usually affecting a barrier like this could cause the rest to react as well. If one was lucky doing so, they might just encounter a trap that would activate but not hurt them. And if they were unlucky, only death would await them at the end.

    Not to mention the barrier on the tform was nothing normal and was of a far higher quality andplexity than the other barrier formations that the cultivators might use.

    "Damn! If even a barrier of this level is affected, then this technique is truly a top tiers technique. The creator of this technique was truly a genius if she managed to figure out something like this back then." Lin Wu eximed.

    Feeling pleased with the progress that he had just done, Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "I should deal with the Spirit Qi Reservoir pill as well. But firstбн I need to restore my spirit Qi." Lin Wu chuckled.

    He coiled back up and cultivated for an hour before being able to replenish all of his spirit Qi and filling his Dantian to the full. If he continued to cultivate and went past this, this spirit Qi would just be used by his body to further his own cultivation base.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "This should be enoughбн time to take out the pill." Lin Wu muttered before holding the pill between what looked like a pair of tweezers that had risen from his tail.

    He then started to pour all of the spirit Qi that he had umted into his body. First came out the spirit Qi currently flowing in his meridians, which entered the Spirit Qi Reservoir pill. The pill trembled slightly in his tweezers and almost slipped out.

    "Ah, need a better gripбн" Lin Wu said, before transforming his tail to look like what was a scoop shape. He put the pill in there and folded the tail to cover it. Now if the pill trembled and jumped out of his grip, it would not fall on the ground, thereby ruining it all.

    "There we go! Much betterбн" Lin Wu said as he continued the process after the little interruption.

    The spirit Qi that was in his meridians was replenished by the spirit Qi in his Dantian as it triggered a never ending cycle of consumption. About fifteen minutester, all of Lin Wu''s spirit Qi had been consumed but even then the pill wasn''t full!

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Should have knownбн though in a way it is good since I''ll be getting a far better supply of spirit Qi in case of an emergency." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he put away the pills and cultivated again.

 Chapter 407 - Circling Back?

    It took Lin Wu another hour to replenish his spirit Qi once again, but before he could continue putting it into the Spirit Qi reservoir pill, he noticed a change in the surroundings. Or rather, there were a lot of clouds below the tform.

    These clouds weren''t the same as before either and seemed to have a far darker color than the normal ones.

    "Didn''t expect to reach the Dread Coil Marsh so fastбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He opened the map and saw that they were currently at the edge of the Dread Coil Marsh, or rather, the southern edge of the Dread Coil Marsh. If it were not for the change in the spirit Qi concentration, Lin Wu might have not realized it either.

    After being away from the Dread Coil marsh for these many days, Lin Wu had managed to get a feel of it and could tell the difference there was between the normal spirit Qi and the spirit Qi of the Dread Coil Marsh.

    There was this suppressive feeling mixed into the spirit Qi of the Dread Coil Marsh that caused them to be unable to properly use the spirit sense and also the reason why there was interference in the system''s scans.

    This was all new information that Lin Wu had gotten due to the new data that the system had obtained till now. The data had been analyzed and that,bined with the previous data collected from the Dread Coil Marsh, was enough for it toe to this conclusion.

    "System, can you find a way to ovee this interference now?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system cannot bypass this interference, as it is also dependent on the host''s own cultivation base. The system is restricted intrinsically and the parameters that do so are not currently within the limits of the host nor the system to change.

    бкбк

    After seeing the answer to the system, Lin Wu was lost in his thoughts. There were many things that appeared in his mind, though he was mostly questioning the creation of the system.

    "Who could have been able to make something like this and how does the system actually work?" Lin Wu wondered.

    But no matter how much he thought about it, Lin Wu knew that nothing woulde out of him stressing over it. Even the system itself didn''t know who it was that actually made it and thus it would be senseless for himself to spend too much time on it.

    "I should focus on the matter at hand." Lin Wu said to himself before putting away the Spirit Qi Reservoir pill.

    He couldn''t fill the spirit Qi reservoir pill right now either, as he would need his spirit Qiter and it could get troublesome if he wascking it when he needed it the most. While he could still use only a part of it for the pill, Lin Wu reckoned it would be better to shelve it for now.

    "While I didn''t expect the tform to reach its destination this fast, I can''t just continue doing what I was before and need to adapt." After saying this, Lin Wu walked to the edge of the tform and stared down.

    While he couldn''t see anything below him due to the clouds, Lin Wu could still use his radiation perception to get a sense of the area. Though there were several inconsistencies with them.

    "System, show me the previously made maps." Lin Wu ordered.

    With that, a few windows appeared in front of Lin Wu. These were the maps made by the few survivors who had managed to survive, traveling through the Dread Coil Marsh. While System had already assimted these into its data banks, Lin Wu wanted to see the finer details that could only be seen by naked eyes.

    After staring at it for five minutes, Lin Wu spoke again.

    "Nope! Nothing. Looks like the system got it allбн that was a waste of time." Lin Wu said to himself before dismissing the map windows.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    And just as he did that, he realized that the tform had started to slow down again.

    "Oh? Is it close to its location?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He looked from the edge of the tform but couldn''t really see anything down there because of the clouds. Even his radiation perception wasn''t that helpful at this moment. Lin Wu continued to observe for a while when he felt some movement behind him.

    "Oh? You''re awake," Lin Wu said upon seeing the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, who was now walking towards him.

    "Are we at the Dread Coil Marsh already?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    "Yup, we are. We reached there way faster than I expected." Lin Wu answered.

    The two beasts watched the clouds in silence as the tform slowed down little by little, until eventuallying to a halt.

    "Looks like we''re finally there! I wanna see what kind of a ce the final location would be," Lin Wu said, feeling a bit excited.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle didn''t respond and simply looked on as the tform started to descend. It passed through the clouds and ten secondster; it had finally gone through them all.

    "Oh, damnбн didn''t think it would be this ceбн" Lin Wu said with a surprised expression.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle looked with furrowed brows as well and scanned therge structure that was below them. The ce below them was none other than the ruins where Lin Wu had left Shirong in!

    Right now they got a bird''s eye''s view of the ruins and saw how big it truly was. The barriers that surrounded it were actually concealing its true size as they ended up distorting its appearance from others'' vision.

    "We went all this way only to end up back hereбн huh, who could have expected thatбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself, feeling strange.

    The tform continued to descend and passed through the multiple barriers that surrounded the ruins with ease before finally settling down on four pirs simr to Jiao Dian city.

 Chapter 408 - Blood?

    Seeing that their final destination ended up being one of the very first ones they had been to, though not for the same reason, Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle didn''t know what to say.

    "Wellбн at least this saves me time and I can get done with Shirong as well." Lin Wu said before turning to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. "Do you feel anything here?"

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle closed her eyes and sensed the surroundings with her spirit sense and the bloodline resonance. She stayed like this for a minute before opening them, this time her pupils glowing.

    "It''s hereбн IT''S HERE! I CAN FEEL IT! <em>~PIIIII~</em>" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a cry of joy.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and understood that the barrier formations might have been far more than what he had seen outside. Theyers between which he had trapped Shirong were on the outermost part and were thus the easiest to get into.

    Whereas the currentyer they were in was the innermost one, and there were thirteenyers to the border from here, with eachyer having a different strength and durability. It had taken Lin Wu a few minutes to open up an opening in the outermostyer, just from that, one could imagine how long it would take with each subsequentyer.

    ''Thankfully we have the tform that brought us hereбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Let''s get in! I can''t hold back," The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated and turned around to head towards therge archway in the main structure of the ruins.

    Unlike the other ces, the pirs in this part were made such that the tform would end up in the right center and the level of it would match the entrant. In fact, without the tform, this ce would like unequal.

    The archway here was over thirty meters tall, allowing both Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle to enter easily. Once the two of them were in, they could sense the density of the air increase and be heavy.

    "W-whatбн what is this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING!: The air in this area is suffused with a dense interference field.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s warning, Lin Wu became a bit more alert. He didn''t know what was the limit to which the system could handle the interference field. If the system worked simr to the electronics in his past life, there was a chance it might just stop workingpletely till he was here.

    "Let''s just hope that doesn''t happenбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The area in front was dark, but a minuteter, they felt the ground tremble.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    Two streaks of light came from the arch way from where they had just entered. These streaks of light traveled through the flooring and seemed to havee from the tform directly.

    <em>~Zoom~</em>

    The two streaks of light reached a pedestal that was located about fifty meters away from where they were and went perpendicr towards the walls to the sides. Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle werepletely unable to use their spirit sense here currently and thus needed to depend on their sight.

    The interference field was finally at that point where even their meridians seemed to be in a little bit of distress. This was not a good sign, and if they were being affected by it already while being at the Nascent Soul realm and the Dao Shell realm, there was a great chance it might just kill others that were at a lower cultivation base.

    "Whoa! Where are they going?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The two streaks of light climbed up the wall and entered the hundreds of patterns that were made on them. As the streaks filled them up, the hall started to light up.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    About ten secondster, the entire area was lit up and the two beasts could not see everything there. In front of them was the pedestal that had just redirected the lights. On the sides of the two were tall pirs that supporting the ceiling and at the very end they saw something else.

    Lin Wu had fully expected that there would be a statue of the vermilion bird here too, but it was not so. Instead of that, there was just arge altar at the very end of the hall. This altar also had the patterns, but this one seemed to be a bit more different from the ones on the walls.

    "Huh? Aren''t theseбн written in Dao Script?" Lin Wu recognized.

    He stared as the system tranted it all for him. But that did not catch his attention for long, as that was taken up by the container that was kept on the altar.

    The container looked to be made out of some kind of a crystal and was open at the top, like a ss. The only difference between it and ss was that it was massive in size and thus worthy of being called a container.

    The crystal was unlike the transparent ones and was opaque instead. But from it, both Lin Wu and Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could feel a delicious smell.

    "What is this?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but lick his lips.

    <em>~PIIII~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had her eyes locked on the prize and let out another cry.

    "That''s it! That''s the bloodline of the Vermillion bird!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle proimed.

    Lin Wu narrowed his eyes and zoomed up on the container, seeing that it had a bright red liquid kept in it. The liquid was flowing like denseva and mes also danced around the edges of the container.

    "Is thatбн Blood?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The two of them got closer and finally confirmed that it was bloodбн but the question stood what or rather whose blood this was. Lin Wu felt a bit nervous while the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle seemed to be excited.

    ''System, try and see if you can scan this.'' Lin Wu asked.

 Chapter 409 - Pill Repository?

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Error (interference)

    WARNING: The scanner range will be limited to the one meter radius of the host and touch.

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Seeing the system''s words, Lin Wu couldn''t help sigh. He got closer without asking and let the system scan the blood in the container. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did the same and they came face to face with the thing.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s eyes lit up as she almost pounced on therge container.

    "It''s blood! It''s the bloodline Essence of the Vermillion birdбн I can sense it!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said out loud.

    Lin Wu''s eyes went wide upon hearing this. He knew what this meant.

    ''Just the crystals before were strong enough to push her to this limit. What would happen with a container this bigбн'' Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCAN COMPLETE: Substance identified to be Refined Essence Blood. Information about the species cannot be confirmed, but ording to extrapted data, it is likely to be that of the Vermillion bird.

    бкбк

    Seeing the confirmation, Lin Wu was shocked.

    ''No wonder it seems so temptingбн it is literally the essence blood of the Vermillion bird. But how the hell did it end up here? This must have been intentionally built and put.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~PIIII~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle let out a cry, unable to hold herself back and dunked her head in the container of essence blood.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    It was as if her mouth had turned into a vacuum and sucked in all of the essence of blood in five seconds. Once she was done, she lifted her head with a pleased expression. Lin Wu on the other hand, watched on, wondering if there would be any change in her body now.

    But even after five minutes, nothing happened.

    "Huh? Is everything okay?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle did not respond to him though and stayed in her position while keeping her eyes closed. Lin Wu understood that she must be trying to assimte the essence blood or something like that.

    "Looks like this will take a long timeбн I should get other things done in the meantimeбн" Lin Wu said before looking around the hall.

    After about ten minutes of search though, he didn''t really find anything in this particr hall and it was rtively empty.

    "Guess this hall was only meant for the essence blood." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Still, it is not like there aren''t the other halls. I should check them out tooбн" Lin Wu said before leaving the hall.

    Back on the tform outside, Lin Wu looked to the two sides and randomly picked to go left. There were several structures there, most of which were copsed. Thankfully, since he had left the main hall, the dense interference field was no longer there and Lin Wu could use his spirit sense.

    It spread around and checked the area. Despite its reduced range, it was quite useful. Lin Wu was able to find several old spirit tools and weapons that had been degraded by time. They were unusable and thus were left behind by him.

    Though Lin Wu did end up finding several old murals that showed some history of this ce.

    "System, scan all the murals, records and data you find here and analyze it to find a conclusion." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Affirmative." The system responded shortly.

    Lin Wu continued his search and found an intact building.

    "Let''s see what we got hereбн" Lin Wu muttered and opened the doors.

    The doors were made of stone like the other ces, and were quite heavy. Though for Lin Wu, they were nothing difficult.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    The moment the doors were fully opened, Lin Wu felt a gust of spirit Qi hit his face.

    "Whoa! That''s a lot of spirit Qi." Lin Wu said.

    But that was not all, as he could also smell a fragrant scenting from inside. The building was dark, but Lin Wu simply made his body glow to make it easy for him to see. Finally, once he was inside, Lin Wu realized what this ce was.

    "A Pill repository!" Lin Wu eximed.

    This was exactly the kind of ce that he had been looking for and now he had finally found it. The gust of spirit Qi was a sign that there were things rich in spirit Qi here. Lin Wu swept his spirit sense around and spotted several pill boxes, bottles, vials, gourds, and pouches kept on the various shelves and containers.

    "BINGO!!" Lin Wu eximed upon seeing them all.

    While there were some damaged containers here and several pills that had degraded over time, a majority were still fine for him.

    "Hang onбн System these expired pillsбн I can still eat them for spirit Qi, right? Even if their medicinal efficacy is gone?" Lin Wu questioned the system.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host has resistance to toxins and thus can handle the pill toxins of the expired alchemical pills. Alchemical pills have different lives and some be stronger the more time passes, while some degrade in quality.

    The ones that degrade usually lose their unique medical perpetuity but will still have the spirit Qi that exists in them by default.

    бкбк

    Seeing the answer of the system, Lin Wu showed a big toothy smile.

    "HAHAHA! This should be enough for a lot!" Lin Wu said before collecting all of the pills.

    It took him about an hour just to do that because he had to be careful with the pills. He had already shrunk his body to do this, but he still ended up damaging some of them. Still, it was a loss Lin Wu was willing to take.

    "Alright system, sort out the pills ording to the categories we had decided on previously and as for the expired ones, use them up for the system''s own spirit qi storage." Lin Wu ordered.

    In the next moment, Lin Wu felt a pulse of energy in his body, which came from the pills that had been taken in by the system.

 Chapter 410 - Ji Quans Corpse?

    The spirit Qi taken in from the pills was slightly different than the normal spirit Qi. This spirit Qi had hints of foul Qi that was produced from the pill toxins of the pill. Normally, a cultivator should not eat pills such as these, but Lin Wu was an exception.

    Not only did his body have great resistance to toxins, but it could also use its ability to use radiation and prevent the foul Qi from entering his meridians. There were easily thousands of alchemical pills in the repository that were expired and thus provided Lin Wu with a massive amount of spirit Qi.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 541,052 units [liquid spirit qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 1,971,222 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    With the spirit Qi added from the pills, the system''s spirit Qi storage had increased once more. Lin Wu''s main body had mostly been cultivating directly and not by killing others and thus it was not taken to the system''s spirit Qi storage, instead entering the body directly.

    Even for the Avatar, Lin Wu had mostly been absorbing spirit Qi directly and thus the system did not have a good chance to increase its storage. But now that the pills were consumed, Lin Wu had arge storage of spirit Qi to use forter.

    "Ahh! Perfect!" Lin Wu said upon consuming all of the spirit Qi.

    He checked the couple of windows that had popped up and saw that they were about the pills that they had just obtained. Lin Wu had gotten over ten thousand pills here, though most of them were not something that he could use.

    For some reason, the majority of the pills here were those of healing type rather than the ones that could be used for cultivation. And the ones that were indeed used for cultivation were of a far lower quality than woulde in handy for Lin Wu.

    "Was this ce perhaps a hospital of some kind?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Having searched the entire ce, Lin Wu went out and went to look for other ces. After about twenty minutes, he found another ce that had some spirit Qi fluctuations. This ce was buried under the rubble and thus was hidden from the direct sight.

    <em>~Crumble~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Lin Wu used his tail to sweep the rubble aside and opened the path to the structure. It seemed like the area that he intended to go to was buried underground and the rubble on top of it was from the building it originally belonged to.

    "Damn, the entrance is small." Lin Wu said upon seeing the staircase that was evidently made for humans.

    "Nothing a little elbow grease wouldn''t fix," Lin Wu said before ripping apart the entrance to make it big enough for him to pass through.

    Lin Wu was an expert in digging and drilling, and thus this little excavation was nothing to him. In less than a minute, Lin Wu had expanded the staircase enough for him to reach the very bottom of it.

    Upon reaching there, the first thing Lin Wu saw was a bunch of corpses. This made Lin Wu furrow his brows and look around.

    "The interference is also strong here and thus my spirit sense could not enter, but I didn''t expect this to be hereбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He increased the brightness of his body and looked with his eyes. In total, there were eighteen corpses in this room, some of which were still intact and some that were mere skeletons. Lin Wu went to check up on each corpse, one by one assessing their condition.

    Most of these were skeletons and thus Lin Wu could only let the system tell what must have happened.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: These corpses have died from sprint Qi depletion; all of them.

    бкбк

    "Huh? All of them? There must be some kind of a formation that must have caused this. There is no other way it could have happened." Lin Wu said.

    He then looked at the three corpses that were still intact. These corpses evidently had a high cultivation base, or they would not have been able tost this long. Plus, since there were no injuries on them, that seemed to be the most likely option.

    Though one of the Nascent Soul realm corpses seemed a bit familiar to Lin Wu.

    "Wait, a minuteбн could this beбн Ji Quan? Shirong''s uncle?" Lin Wu said upon seeing it.

    "System, see if they match up." Lin Wu ordered.

    Since the system had the vital status data of Shirong,paring rtions between two people was easy for it.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This corpse has a 46% simrity to Shirong andparing the facial features is likely to be that of Ji Quan.

    бкбк

    Hearing the confirmation from the system, Lin Wu furrowed his brows and checked the corpses to see if they had anything with them.

    "Huh? Nothing on the corpses. No spatial storage ring nor any spirit toolбн" Lin Wu muttered, finding this to be weird.

    This told him that whoever killed this probably took the items with them.

    "But wait, if they managed to get in here, then they must have found a way to ovee the barriers. Whatyer is this in?" Lin Wu said before checking the map and fining that he was in the thirdyer from the outside, just oneyer behind where Shirong was, the only difference was that Shirong was in a different direction.

    "This is pretty far out. If I managed to make a hole in the barrier, then others must have been able to do the same. They must have some method like a spirit tool or a formation master that did this, otherwise, they would have not been able to enter." Lin Wu inferred.

    Lin Wu didn''t touch the corpses now, as he wanted to leave them for Shirong. He now had a different n in mind for Shirong, and decided to check the rest of the area. Going further, Lin Wu saw a few more rooms that were locked.

 Chapter 411 - Over Ten Thousand Years Old?

    Looking at the locks, Lin Wu smirked.

    Of course, these locks were nothing for Lin Wu, though he didn''t break them right away. Instead, he made a small hole with his tail and peeked into them only to find out that they were filled with treasures!

    "Goddamn! There''s a lot of stuff here." Lin Wu eximed before breaking down the doors.

    In total, there were seven such storage rooms here and all of them had mixed items. They were chieflyposed of spirit stones, spirit weapons, spirit tools, talismans, formation tes, spirit herbs and many more things that a cultivator would like.

    There were a lot of things that even Lin Wu could use at his current level and stored them away. Though thest room that he went to, Lin Wu left locked. This was the one he was intending to leave for Shirong.

    "Gotta leave him something so that he doesn''t suspect." Lin Wu stated before getting back out.

    Even if Lin Wu had pretty much decided to leave Shirong by now, he wasn''t going to let go of him as a pawn. He still had a few uses that mighte in handyter, and his n was another point that was important.

    With the increase in Lin Wu''s cultivation and skill, he no longer needed to follow his initial ns. The Taiji Celestial''s tomb and even the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were impregnation factors that led to this change.

    The Taiji Celstial''s tomb gave him the baseline to maintain while the journey with the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle gave him more opportunities and knowledge that expanded his borders. Lin Wu was sure if he had not be a spear for Shirong, he would not have had opportunities like this.

    With all that done, Lin Wu left the underground area and covered the entrance with arge rock.

    ''If they cane here, then that must mean there is a different way of entry to the ruins. Can''t risk someone elseing here and spoiling my set up.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He also wondered who could be behind the murder of Ji Quan and the other members of his team. The most likely answer was the followers of the Skull god since they were looking for the bloodline crystals of the vermilion bird, but he didn''t know for sure.

    "Are there other keys for entry to these ruins, perhaps? The stone feathers might be for the most important part of the ruins, the hall with the essence of blood and it also allowed us to ess the rest of the parts.

    Maybe the Stone feathers were the master key and there are some smaller keys of the lower ranked areas?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He moved around looking for things but could not find any more useful items. A lot of the items were either destroyed or the halls that Lin Wu was able to ess were empty.

    "Hmmбн there are clear signs of a human presence hereбн" Lin Wu said upon seeing the handprints on the walls.

    Because of the dust, it was easy to see them.

    "But why are there no footprints?" Lin Wu questioned, but then a few secondster he got the answer himself.

    "Ah! Of course, the dust would settle on the ground much easier than the walls. Ji Quan was killed about ten months ago and that should have been enough to cover the floor but not the walls.

    Plus, the door of this hall was closed since then, so no new dust could enter this hall either." Lin Wu answered.

    Lin Wu decided he was done looking at the left side and then went to the right side of the main hall. This time, he ended up in a slightly different area. The buildings here were far smaller than the ones on the left side and looked to be more of the residential type.

    Lin Wu could see what were obviously living courtyards that were arranged in a uniform manner. There were rows upon rows of them, but even these were mostly destroyed. Lin Wu didn''t really find anything of particr importance here.

    He did end up finding some tattered paintings and scrolls, but they were far too damaged to make out anything. Even the system was helpless here and couldn''t gather any reasonable data from the things.

    "Hang on, system can you estimate how old these things are, maybe?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYZING: Please wait a moment

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Estimated age of documents ~10,511 years

    бкбк

    "Holy Shit! Now that''s oldбн" Lin Wu said upon seeing the number.

    "Wait, a minuteбн doesn''t this coincide with the story of the Three Guardian beasts. They appeared ten thousand years ago and these documents are a little older than that. Even if the age varies by about 500 years, I think it should be the same time period." Lin Wu analyzed.

    The more Lin Wu thought about it, the more he found it to be right. But there were still a lot of questions that were left unanswered. He didn''t know how or why only three of the Guardian beasts were awakened and why they looked different from the actual guardian beasts that Lin Wu knew off.

    ''This only gets more and moreplex huhбн but also interesting at the same timeбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    After another hour, Lin Wu was done searching through the right part of the ruins. He had gone all the way to the border of it and even there nothing was present. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that most of what was left was already taken by him.

    It had simply been too long that a lot of things had deteriorated and thus not much was left to obtain.

    "Can''t say I didn''t get anything. Even the much is enoughбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he returned to the main hall.

    There he saw that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was still deep in slumber. Unlike before, Lin Wu could not sense any change in her and neither could he probe her body.

 Chapter 412 - Uniting With Shirong?

    Lin Wu tried to get closer to the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, but felt the air heat up.

    "Whoa there! It''s me Lin Wu," Lin Wu spoke up.

    But even after a minute, he revived no answer. Furrowing his brows, he tried to get a better sense of the situation. Since the system couldn''t do much and his spirit sense was suppressed as well, Lin Wu chose the final option that he had.

    "Alrighty! Radiation perceptionбн ON!" Lin Wu said as his eyes glowed with a very chunni look.

    Upon doing this, he could see a thickyer of thermal radiation surrounding the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. It was very dense around her body and the body itself was glowing like the sun under a thermal scanner.

    It was fully white and looking at it hurt Lin Wu''s eyes. He quickly stopped using the skill and realized what it was, probably.

    "This must be a defensive instinct automatically activated by the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle due to her bloodline. The air around her is hot enough to melt steel and even rocks. I don''t even know what would happen to those that touch." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Though, just wanting to test it out, Lin Wu picked up a small stone pebble from the ground and lightly threw it near the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, making sure that it didn''t hit the beast itself.

    <em>~poof~</em>

    The pebbled didn''t even hit the ground before it was heated up, melted and reduced to ash that blew away. All that happens in less than two seconds and was very shocking to Lin Wu.

    ~phew~

    "Good thing I didn''t go closer or my crystal body would have probably cracked due to the heat or worseбн melted." Lin Wu muttered to himself after taking a breath of relief.

    Putting some more distance between them, Lin Wu observed the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle for a minute before deciding to do something else.

    "Let''s get Shirong all sorted out, shall we?" Lin Wu said to himself before heading out.

    The way he was going to was exactly the opposite of the entrant of the main hall. Shirong was trapped between the outer two barriers and ording to the data that the system was currently showing him, he waspletely fine.

    Though due to the interference, the system hadn''t been able to fully update the data for Shirong and he would have to get closer to know what actually happened to him.

    ''At least he''s alive.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu crossed ten barriers before reaching the third barrier of the ruins. From here, he could see out, but others could not see in. This was the way these barriers were designed, the inner part of the barriers was hidden and its size could not be estimated.

    In a way, it was ingenious as that meant that if someone managed to get through the first couple ofyers, they would keep on wandering around trying to get to the next part, or just think this was thest area and leave.

    It was a good attempt at misdirection, to be honest and Lin Wu added that to his list of tricksбн or rather the system did. Lin Wu even wondered if the area that Ji Quan was essed in a simr way. The intruders might have entered behind Ji Quan or vice a versa and Ji Quan ended up dying somehow.

    Though the question still existed, how did Ji Quan die, and if the intruders did it, why did they leave behind his corpses?

    Though them not having any items on them also hinted to the fact that their corpses had been robbed, perhaps.

    Converging his thoughts for now, Lin Wu decided to leave it all to Shirong for now and let him figure things out. He looked at the area where Shirong was trapped and saw him sitting cross legged. His eyes were closed and spirit Qi steadily flowed around him.

    "Huhбн so he''s been cultivating all this time. Maybe he doesn''t even realize it''s been over two months nowбн" Lin Wu spoke.

    Lin Wu had seen Shirong cultivating for a month as if it was nothing before at the Deer Wood city. Just another month extra was probably nothing to him at this point. Seeing this, Lin Wu went over his n and shrunk down his body to the smallest size he could reach.

    Then he drilled into the ground and went to the spot where he had put the recement for himself. It was a fake spear, made in the same shape as him and would emit simr spirit Qi fluctuations as well.

    Overall, it was a good decoy and was something Lin Wu was intending to make use of furtherбн albeit with some modifications and improvements.

    "Here we goбн time to act," Lin Wu muttered to himself as he touched the decoy from the bottom and absorbed it into his body while recing it exactly with himself.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Shirong, who had been dormant all this time, opened his eyes upon sensing the fluctuationsing from the front.

    "So you are readyбн" Shirong said in a low voice.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    Just as he said that, the Immortal Crystal Armament that had been embedded in the ground rose up automatically and glowed, as if beckoning to him. A smile appeared on Shirong''s face as he stood up to grasp it.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Shirong''s Knuckles cracked as he sped his fingers around the handle of the Immortal Crystal Armament.

    ''Feels niceбн'' Shirong thought.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    In the next moment, the barrier in front of him opened up like a curtain, allowing him to see beyond it.

    "Perfect!" Shirong said upon seeing this and stepped into the nextyer.

    There, he saw another barrier in the front and furrowed his brows. He walked up to the barrier and ced his hand against it.

    ~<em>flickered~</em>

    The Barrier flickered against his hand but did not let him in.

 Chapter 413 - Detective Shirong?

    Shirong stood in front of the Fourth Barrier and furrowed his brows.

    "Huhбн so it took the Immortal Crystal Armament a month to disable just one of the barriersбн" Shirong muttered to himself. "Noбн wait. That''s not it, this barrier is stronger than before." He added, after noticing the thickness of the barrier and theplexity of the runes.

    ''Seems like eachyer is different and will take longer for the Immortal Crystal Armament to unravel it.'' Shirong thought.

    After pensively staring at the barrier for a minute, Shirong shook his head.

    "So what if it takes even longer for the Immortal Crystal Armament to unravel the nextyer? I got plenty of time!" Shirong said with determination.

    "Butбн there are more ces to explore at least." Shirong said while looking to his right and left.

    Since theyers of the barriers were set up in a circr shape, one could go around it freely once they entered it. And Shirong was in the thirdyer, right where the corpse of Ji Quan was located, albeit a bit far from where Shirong was.

    Shirong looked to the right and then to the left, before finally deciding to go right.

    "Ah, I thought he would go to the left. Never mind, I''ll let him explore for a bit while I read the information analyzed by the system." Lin Wu decided.

    And so, Shirong spent over ten hours checking out all the ruined courtyards on the right side of the ruins. He was curious about the scrolls and paintings in there as well and wondered if there were useful items in there.

    But eventually, he gave up after nothing of importance was found. He kept on going and circled around to the left side, where the corpse of Ji Quan was located.

    "Ah, finally he went in the right direction!" Lin Wu said upon noticing where Shirong was.

    Two hourster, Shirong made his way to the location where Ji Quan''s corpse was located, or more urately, the blocked entrance. Lin Wu had intentionally made it look a bit suspicious and Shirong caught on to it as well.

    "What''s this?" Shirong muttered.

    His spirit sense probed the rock and went below it, only to find the entrance to the lower area.

    "Huh? A basement?" Shirong said upon his discovery.

    <em>~Boom~</em>

    He lifted the Immortal Crystal Armament and mmed it on the boulder, blocking the entrance, shattering it as if it were chalk.

    <em>~scatter~</em>

    The pieces of the boulder scattered all around and the entrance was finally revealed to the man. He furrowed his brows and waved his hands to produce a few orbs of light around him. They floated around him as he walked further into the basement.

    But once he reached the bottom, his eyes went wide.

    "FIFTH UNCLE!" Shirong yelled, nervousness apparent in his voice.

    While he had already known that his Fifth uncle was dead, he had not expected to truly find his dead body. He had mostly thought that his dead body would have been destroyed /eaten /burned or the n-number of things that happened to cultivators that died out in the wild.

    But what was more surprising to him was that the body of Ji Quan was whole and undamaged. No injuries could be seen on his body and neither were there any signs of dposition, which was not that unusual as the body of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator that died before his longevity was over could maintain it for over many years.

    Plus, Ji Quan wasn''t originally a Nascent Soul realm cultivator either, he was a Dao Shell realm cultivator!

    The only thing was that he had damaged his foundation due to an injury sustained during his youth and ended up with a weakened cultivation base. Despite that, he was still at the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    "Whoбн no, what did this?" Shirong questioned, seeing the stage of his uncle''s body.

    He let his gaze wander and saw the other corpses, some of which were intact while some that were mere skeletons. Seeing the different ways that these people had died, a few hypotheses appeared in his mind.

    "No, I need to get more informationбн" Shirong said while shaking his head.

    He first put the body of his uncle in the spatial storage ring and then went to check up on the rest of the corpses. He took his fair time in checking the corpses in detail, not letting out even a little chance of mistake.

    After two hours, Shirong was finally done and had a tense expression on his face.

    "Spirit Qi depletion? In a ce like thisбн it can''t be done normally and will need a very unique technique or formation to do so. Hmmбн there are no traces of formation around here; that leaves a Qi skill or maybe even a cultivation technique." Shirong analyzed.

    Lin Wu who had been observing him from the start, was rather impressed.

    "He actually managed to reach the same conclusion as the system." Lin Wu muttered as he continued to observe the man. ''Wonder how long he''ll take to check the locked room.''

    Just as Lin Wu thought of this, the man looked at the depths of the underground hall and waved his hand, sending out the orbs of light to the ends. The light spread around, revealing the multiple rooms that were located here.

    Six of the rooms were already opened, but a single one was closed. Shirong gazed at the empty rooms but did not pay much attention. He had already seen the other ruined courtyards and thought that this was the same.

    But when he got to the locked room, his opinion changed.

    "Huh? Spirit Qi?" Shirong said upon sensing a very faint spirit Qi wisp.

    This was intentionally made by Lin Wu as he had left a small hole in the door. It let out the spirit Qi contained within the room and allowed Shirong to sense it.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    Shirong pushed with his hand and wind attribute spirit Qi swirled bound it. The spirit Qi formed into a gale that then pushed through the locked door.

 Chapter 414 - Unexpected Visitors?

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    The locking mechanism of the door broke apart as the force of the wind reached a peak.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The doors were opened with a bang and a wave of spirit Qi hit Shirong''s face. There he saw all the treasures that were lying in the room. If it was any normal cultivator, their eyes would have glowed with excitement, but instead of that, Shirong became wary.

    "Is this safeбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    "Ugh! Just go in, I''ve already verified everything." Lin Wu said, but Shirong could not hear it, of course.

    The man assessed the room for a bit beforeing to the conclusion that it truly was safe for the taking.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "At least this was not all loss. But seeing as there are other rooms empty, uncle Quan was likely killed by either some trap thatid in there, or the other party that came in. Seeing as they have no personal items on them, they were definitely robbed postmortem." Shirong said.

    He stored all the treasures in the spatial storage treasure before collecting the rest of the corpses. He was going to let his n assess them once he got back.

    "I best get back to the n. There are far too many uncertainties here. Besidesбн my mission is alreadyplete." Shirong said to himself.

    But just as he stepped out of the underground hall, he heard a loud sound.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    "AHAHAHA! THE BARRIER THAT STOOD FOR CENTURIES HAS FINALLY FALLEN!"

    "THE WILL OF THE SKULL GOD SHALL BE FINALLY FULFILLED!"

    "GLORY TO THE SKULL GOD!"

    "MAY THE SKULL GOD REIGN ETERNAL!"

    Multiple shouts and cheers came from the distance after the explosion.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    The threeyers of the barrier that surrounded the ruins suddenly started to retract at a rapid pace.

    "What in the name ofбн" Shirong said as he saw the barrier fade away into nothing.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    Wind could be heard as a group of men in strange garbs flew in from the south.

    "Followers of the Skull God!" Lin Wu and Shirong both said at the same time.

    ***

    Twelve Hours Ago.

    Two men in strange garbs who were none other than the follower of the skull god had been sitting on top of a small hill. They had been skillfully hiding between a cleft that was naturally created at the edge.

    From here they were gazing at what were ancient ruins. These were the same ruins where Lin Wu and the eagle beast were currently in.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "What was that!" One of the men was startled by a noise.

    "It came from the ruins!" the other man said.

    They looked at the ruins but could not see anything different around it. The barriers of the ruin extended quite far up in the sky such that the top was even hidden by the clouds themselves.

    Thus, when Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle descended on the tform, they were not seen by anyone else. But the noise caused by them was still enough to attract the attention of a few people.

    "Quick, we need to inform the priest! We were told to report everything that happened here, no matter how small." The other man said.

    They then took out a jade slip and sent a message to their superior. Once that was done they took a breath of relief and kept on observing the ruins.

    "Hey, what do you think must have happened?" one of the men questioned.

    "It can be anything. I remember the high priest said before that this is the ce the Skull god has been desiring for a long time, but it was hidden away for centuries. Only when those people came here ten months ago did this truly appear.

    At least now we can see the outer area of the ruins, previously the barrier was too strong and could hide everything behind it. If a change simr to back then is happening, then it must be the barrier weakening due to the influence of the great skull god!" the second man said, fervor present in his eyes.

    "Praise to the Skull god! With him guiding us, we shall reach the peak of the world!" The first man said proudly.

    The two of them waited for about an hour before the sound of wind blowing could be heard. The two men immediately became alert and looked to the west.

    "They''re here!" The two men said in unison.

    From the distance, over five hundred men in strange grabs were flying towards the hill. All of them were exuding spirit Qi fluctuations which showed that each of them was a cultivator.

    But that was not all as there were multiple Nascent Soul realm spirit Qi signatures in them, along with even more core condensation realm signatures. Along with this, several strange beasts were running on the ground as well.

    These beasts had in white mask-like heads. They were nothing other than the specter skull hounds. Though the strongest spirit Qi fluctuation wasing from none other than the person who was in the front.

    It was a boy that looked to be no less than ten years old. But he had a crooked expression on his face and ck smoke constantly emanated from his eyes. If one looked at his hands, one would find that he had seven fingers on each hand along with nails that were at least three inches long.

    The boy seemed more like a demon rather than a human at this moment. A minuteter, therge group came tond in front of the two men.

    <em>~thud~ thud~</em>

    The two men instantly kneeled on the ground upon seeing the boy.

    "Glory to the Prophet! Glory to the Prophet!" The two men greeted.

    "Speakбн" The boy said in a raspy voice, that strangely echoed in one''s head.

    "The ruins. We felt a strong wave of energying from it a while ago. We think that there might be a change simr to before happening there." The two men spoke.

    "Hmmбн very wellбн Head out!" The boy ordered.

 Chapter 415 - A Small Army?

    Present time.

    Shirong and Lin Wu watched on as what was basically an army of the followers of Skull god arrived. The barriers that surrounded the ruins were being dispelled with strange spirit tools that the followers were using.

    There were a few of the followers that were carrying incense burners in their hands. These burners let out smoke that spread around and whenever it touched the barrier, it would start to weaken it before it eventually got dispelled.

    They had already dispelled the outer twoyers that were the weakest and now were heading to the third one.

    "Dammit, what are they doing here and how did they get in?" Shirong couldn''t help but curse.

    He hid in a copsed building for a bit to assess the situation. He could already feel the multiple strong spirit Qi fluctuations that wereing from the small army and knew that there were multiple Nascent Soul realm cultivators mixed in them.

    "Head to the old location where we werest pushed out!" A voice suddenly ordered.

    "Hahaha! I''ll finally get to sacrifice that man''s corpse to the Skull god! Filthy imbecile tried to oppose us, the followers of the great Skull god!" A Nascent Soul realm cultivator shouted as he flew towards the direction of the ce where Ji Quan and other corpses were lying before.

    Shirong was hiding nearby and had heard their words clearly. They were enough to infuriate him, and he gritted his teeth in anger.

    "Youбн you all really were the ones who killed Uncle Quanбн you shall suffer for thisбн" Shirong said to himself in a low voice.

    While the man was angry, he knew better than to rush out. If he wanted to defeat all of them, a fight due to blind range was not the way. Rather than that, he needed to strategize and find a way to get rid of them without him getting into harm too much.

    It was going to be a tough job and will need a lot of thinking for him to do.

    "Ugh! If that doesn''t work, I''ll just escape. Let''s see how they fare after offending the entire Ji n!" Shirong said.

    Lin Wu who was hearing it all, also understood that this was a rather strange situation that neither of them had expected.

    ''So it really was the follower of the Skull god that killed Ji Quan. The only question is thoughбн how did they get in?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He knew the stone feathers were basically the key to the central area of the ruins and if one arrived using the tform, it was basically the same as them getting the master key.

    "There may be other keys for the different barriers perhaps. Orбн they may have used the same method that they are using now." Lin Wu said before using radiation perception. "That smoke is strangeбн"

    Lin Wu couldn''t see the smoke and it appeared as a glob in his vision. It kept on changing and spirit Qi behaved rather strangely with it. It was as if the smoke was alive and wiggled around.

    "System can you scan?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Negative." The system responded.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Will need to think of something else." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He then spread his spirit sense and did a quick scan himself, trying to see how many people were here and what their cultivation bases were. In less than a minute, an estimated formed in his mind and he furrowed his brows.

    "Forty three Nascent Soul realm cultivators, one hundred and sixteen Core condensation realm cultivators, three hundred and eight Qi refining realm cultivatorsбн and one Dao Shell realm cultivator." Lin Wu calcted quickly.

    While Lin Wu was not worried about the core condensation realm cultivators and the Qi refining realm cultivators, what he was worried about were the 43 Nascent Soul realm cultivators that were spread around.

    He would have been fine it was ten or even twenty such Nascent Soul realm cultivators but 43? Even Lin Wu would have to be very cautious with them.

    ''Thankfully, only five of them are actually at the Adult stage of the Nascent Soul realmбн And one of them is heading right this way.'' Lin Wu observed.

    The single Dao Shell realm cultivator that Lin Wu had sensed, seemed to be the strangest of them all. Lin Wu''s spirit sense could feel the cultivator''s spirit Qi fluctuations, but his body was shrouded in a strange inviableyer that muffled his spirit sense.

    Lin Wu feared that if it got too close, the man might detect him. Plus, the man was far too unusual to him and gave weird vibes to Lin Wu.

    "Might just be one of the creepiest dudes I''ve sensed till nowбн and I haven''t even seen how he looks till now." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Seeing this all, there was one thing Lin Wu knew for sure. Fighting them all alone would not be possible for him, and neither would it be possible with Shirong. Even if they were able to kill a majority of them, the Dao Shell realm cultivator would still be a major problem.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I''m gonna need the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle here. Only she would be able to handle the Dao Shell realm cultivator." Lin Wu said in his mind.

    He looked in the direction of the innermostyer where the main hall was located and could not see any change there.

    ''Hopefully, she''ll wake up from all thismotion soon. She doesn''t like being woken up from sleep anyway and should ughter them all before asking questions.'' Lin Wu thought.

    While Lin Wu was thinking all this and Shirong was observing and making ns of his own, the followers of the Skull god had reached the area where Ji Quan''s corpse onceid.

    "Huh? THE CORPSES ARE GONE!" one of the followers shouted from the inside.

    "There are signs of someone entering and they seem recent! Look at the dust prints!" A more clever follower analyzed.

 Chapter 416 - Discovered?

    The Nascent Soul realm cultivator that was waiting outside furrowed his eyes and went down to check. Aftering to the same conclusion, he had an enraged expression.

    "SEARCH THE ENTIRE AREA! WE HAVE A SECOND PARTY IN THE RUINS RIGHT NOW!" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator shouted.

    The man''s voice echoed in the entire area and reached the ears of all that were in here. Along with his voice, the man also spread out his spirit sense in the ruins, trying to find the ''intruders''.

    Shirong became tense and was ready to attack when he felt the spirit Qiing near him. But just when it was actually about to touch his body, the Immortal Crystal Armament automatically wrapped around him and formed into an armor.

    The Spirit sense that touched the surface of the armor slipped off it as if water on Teflon.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Close callбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    What Lin Wu had just done was to use the traces of unknown energy that were within Shirong''s Dantian to form a maskingyer. It was the same unknown energy that Lin Wu had used to make the backdrop function and it was nowing in handy.

    Although, this ended up depleting a part of it in one go. But now the protection offered by it wouldst for a while against the spirit sense of others. Lin Wu had not expected it toe in handy right now.

    <em>~Howl~</em>

    Suddenly, the howl of a beast that was familiar to Lin Wu and Shirong could be heard.

    "The Specter Skull Hounds!" Lin Wu recognized.

    Lin Wu soon found a couple of Specter Skull Houndsing towards them.

    "Dammit, they can smell him out!" Lin Wu realized.

    "There! The Servants of the Skull God have found the intruders! Get them!" The voices of the men could be heard as they found Lin Wu and Shirong''s positions.

    Shirong narrowed his eyes as a dangerous look appeared on his face.

    "So be it!<em> ~Kaboom~</em>" Shirong said before letting out a massive spirit Qi wave.

    Lightning gathered around his body before exploding outwards, destroying the ruins that he was hiding in, along with the specter skull hound that had gotten closer.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The debris from the explosion was shot towards the followers of the Skull god as well and managed to injure a few while killing some directly.

    "ATTACK! Don''t let him escape!" The Nascent Soul realm cultivator, who was near the ce where Ji Quan''s corpse had been ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In the very next second, various attacks wereunched towards Shirong. There were mes, weapons, smoke, and shadowsing towards him now, all of them directed toward his vital areas and intending to kill.

    "Humph! You dare?" Shirong harrumphed and waved his hands.

    Before the attacks could even reach him, dense wind attribute spirit Qi repelled it all away.

    "ARGH!"

    "DODGE IT!"

    The cries of the followers of the skull god were heard as their attacks were sent back to them, injuring them further. The ones that were the weaker ones among them were directly killed.

    This single opposition of Shirong had killed nearly thirty of the followers of the skull god. But this was merely a drop in the bucket and there were many more that were now heading in his direction.

    Lin Wu let his spirit sense fully flow now that there was no use hiding and directly probed each and every follower of the Skull god that was nearby. Now he could even tell which stage of which cultivation realm they were at, unlike before when he could only tell the realm.

    "Man, this does not seem good. They got fifteen Adult stage Nascent Soul realm cultivators already. Gonna be a tough battleбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he quickly tried to make a n.

    There were a few ideas in his mind and he hoped to be able to defeat all of them, but if that was not possible Lin Wu decided to ce his bets on the one person who could do soбн the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    She was already at the Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm and her cultivation was still increasing due to the bloodline essence she was assimting. Not to mention the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had already managed to restrain the Dao Treading realm Aquadream Sea Lotus before.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    But while Lin Wu was thinking this all, the chime of a bell was hearding from afar.

    <em>~swoosh~</em>

    In the next moment, streams of smoke soared through the sky as they attacked the next barrier. There were over a hundred such streams that attacked the barrier and it started to visibly weaken with each passing second.

    "How are they doing this? Those barriers are far too strong for even me," Shirong couldn''t help but say.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    And just as this was said, the glint of a weapon was seen from the side by him.

    <em>~ng~</em>

    Shirong mmed his hand against the spirit sword that had just attacked him. Since he was wearing the Immortal Crystal Armament in an armor form, Shirong was fully protected as of now and even high grade spirit weapons would not be able to do much against him.

    "What! How?" Words of surprise could be heard from the old Nascent Soul realm follower that had just attacked Shirong.

    Shirong looked at the man and rushed towards him.

    "Why don''t you test and see yourself!?" Shirong yelled as he punched out.

    The gauntlet on his arm glowed with an emerald green light as wind and lighting attribute spirit Qi swirled around it.

    Immortal Sky Shaker Art, Crystal Armament: Decimation Fist!

    Wind and lightning merged as they formed into a cyclone that shot towards the Nascent Soul realm follower.

    <em>~swoosh~</em>

    The speed of the attack was far too fast for the old man to dodge and the best he could do was to defend against it. He pulled out six coins and threw them in front of him.

    "Prime Coin Hexagram Shield!" The old man chanted.

 Chapter 417 - One Against Many?

    The six coins thrown by the Old man reacted to his chant as they started to spin on their own axis before forming into the shape of a hexagram.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    As if a hammer had hit a bell, the Prime Coin Hexagram shield was struck. It trembled and looked like it would crack at the moment now. The attack of Shirong was far stronger than the old man had expected.

    "HAA! BREAK!" Shirong pushed ahead with his fist and increased the output even more.

    Lin Wu did the same, and the amount of spirit Qi within it directly doubled. Plus with the added radiation, the spirit Qi holding the Prime Coin Hexagram shield got unstable. A few secondster, the shield started flickering and was unable to hold back.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~ng~</em>

    <em>~ng~</em>

    <em>~ng~</em>

    The shield broke apart, and the six coins were blown away, scattering against the ground.

    "Aargh!" The old man tried to dodge at thest moment but was still hit on his right arm.

    The arm could obviously not bear the attack and was directly reduced to a mush due to the force of the vortex. The radiation mixed in the vortex also prated the wounds of the old man, making him suffer even more.

    <em>~cough~</em>

    The old man spat out more blood as the paining from his now gone arm did not stop. He felt as if his insides were busing and an unknown energy coursed through his body.

    "What is thisбн ~cough~ what is in my body?" The old man questioned as he struggled to control himself.

    "Die, old man!" Shirong yelled as he sent out another punch.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The punch shot through the old man''s chest, destroying itpletely. The old man''s Nascent Soul tried to escape, but the radiation in Lin Wu''s spirit Qi was enough to corrode it away and kill it instantly.

    The old man could not even let out a voice of protest before his life was ended.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    But before Shirong could do anything else, wisps of smoke came from behind him. He turned to look and saw that there were over twenty Nascent Soul realm cultivators that had arrived behind him with a lot more core condensation realm cultivators and Qi refining realm cultivators.

    Though what caught his attention the most was the child that was floating at the very back. His face and hands looked to be eerie, but the thing that caught his attention the most was the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him.

    "Huh? That child is a Dao Shell realm cultivator? HOW!?" Shirong said in shock.

    Lin Wu had a simr reaction but he was not shown outward and was just in his mind.

    "That''s one creepy kid! I guess that''s what they mean by crotch goblins in this worldбн" Lin Wu said.

    While Lin Wu had known that there was a Dao Shell realm cultivator in their midst, he didn''t know what he looked like. A seven fingered child with long nails was definitely not something that Lin Wu had expected.

    "Oh? Interestingбн I didn''t expect another person would be able to find the keys of the Ruins of the fallen beast." The chills hoarse voice traveled from the back.

    "Yup, definitely creepy." Lin Wu confirmed.

    Hearing the child''s voice, even Shirong was a bit stunned, but soon understood something.

    "It''s an old cultivator that has used his Nascent Soul to take over other''s body. That is definitely not his original bodyбн and seeing the unusual physique of the child, it is bound to be done using an unorthodox techniqueбн fiendish even." Shirong analyzed quickly.

    Unlike most other cultivators, Shirong was from the Ji n and had a plethora of experience with matters such as this. Not only did he know about the detailed cultivation realms, but he also knew their peculiarities.

    From the Nascent Soul realm onwards, even if a cultivator''s body was destroyed, they would still be able to live on in the form of their nascent soul. Of course, the nascent soul was not something that could stay stable for long periods without having a vessel.

    But getting one was easier said than done. Cultivators often spent long periods of time finding suitable corpses for them to take over, but even then there was the problem of ipatibility.

    A corpse that had gotten too old could not be used either and either needed a recently died person or a literally living person. Some cultivators even had secret agreements with unique organizations that could find thempatible bodies.

    The ns and sects though, had it a bit easier as they could just pick someone from their descendants. This was another reason why ns often had hundreds if not thousands of descendants and why the ns would not get rid of trash descendants.

    What if one day they died, and they needed a body and the trash descendant was the onlypatible one?

    Plus, there was also the fact that until a person died and their nascent soul was released, they would not be able to fully determine which body would be suitable for them from the very start. Even if they did so and found apatible body, there was a great chance that it would not bepatible at the moment of their death.

    Thepatibility of the body could change on various factors and they were far too vast to keep track of by most people.

    Shirong now took their entire thing far more seriously than he had till now. The appearance of the child had changed everything for him, it was not just the twenty Nascent Soul realm cultivators and hundreds of other lower ones.

    "Surrender and you shall be sparedбн for now." A Nascent Soul realm cultivator from among the ground spoke.

    <em>~flicker~</em>

    And just as he said this, another barrier of the ruins started to fade away. Lin Wu and Shirong looked at it feeling surprised that they had managed to get through the fifth barrier as well.

    "Wellбн Fuck!"

 Chapter 418 - Spirit Qi Battery?

    Lin Wu now knew for sure that the situation had gone too deep into the negative.

    "Seems like normal tactics might not work here anymoreбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he gazed at each and every person in the enemy group trying toe up with a n.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    But before he could even think more, he felt the sixthyer of the barrier flicker as well. The smoke that wasing from the incense burners only got stronger and managed to pierce through the barrier, eventually making it disappear.

    "Ahahhaa! After all these years, it is finally working! We knew the power of the Skull God would one daye out on top!" A couple of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators from the group spoke.

    No one knew, what Shirong was thinking right now, but he suddenly sped ahead towards the group of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators.

    The eyes of the cultivators went wide for a moment, as they were surprised by this.

    "He darese straight at us!? Get him!" One of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators yelled.

    "He can''t think well about himself and surrender. Now he''s going to suffer for a long time!" Another Nascent Soul realm cultivator spoke.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    Shirong stepped on air, creating small explosions wherever his feet struck. The wind attribute spirit Qiing from the steps shot out in a circr manner and struck the weaker enemies.

    "Gah!"

    "NOOO!"

    "Save me!"

    "My legs!"

    Varies cries of pain and fear could be hearding from the Qi refining realm cultivators and even some Core Condensation realm cultivators. Even Shirong''s non-offensive moves were enough to hurt the people in one go.

    But this was not enough for Shirong as he spun his hands around in a rapid motion.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    <em>~crackle~</em>

    <em>~Sizzle~</em>

    Lighting arced across his arms as it turned into whips. The gauntlets on his arms elongated and sprouted long spikes, which then turned into segmented sections that were joined by a small crystalline cord.

    The crystallized whips were moving around at rapid speeds while spurting lightning from them. Wherever they went, they cleaved through flesh and broke rocks. The structures around them kept on getting more and more damaged until eventually only an area void of anything was left.

    The Followers of the Skull god that were in the range were all killed whether they be at the Qi refining realm or the core condensation realm. As for those at the Nascent Soul realm, the two that were closest managed to get maimed as their limbs were cut off.

    "Argh!" Various shouts filled with pain could be heard echoing across the ruins.

    The Nascent Soul realm cultivators whose limbs had been cut off still managed to retreat, though. Even if they did not have limbs, that didn''t really stop them from moving around by just flying.

    "Bastards!" Shirong cursed as he felt the drain on his spirit Qi.

    While this attack was strong, it also consumed a proportionate amount of spirit Qi from him. Lin Wu was only providing him with thirty percent of the spirit Qi of the total. Though this was not because he was saving and skimping on it, but because he had a bad feeling about it.

    "That childбн he''s the most dangerous one here. He''s been staring at us the entire time and not attacking." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The inaction of the Dao shell realm cultivator was why Lin Wu was limiting his spirit Qi use. He feared that if he used it all up right now, it might be troublesome for himter.

    Lin Wu gritted his teeth before finally deciding to use something that he had made a while back, but never got to use.

    "System, use the spirit Qi battery protocol." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    COMMAND: epted

    CUSTOM PROTOCOL ONLINE: Spirit Qi Battery protocol.

    REROUTING RESOURCES: Internal spirit stone array created

    INITIALIZING CIRCUITS: Synchronizing with the subject

    INITIALIZATION COMPLETED: Protocol link established

    бкбк

    "Aha! Whatбн" Shirong grunted

    A couple of seconds after Lin Wu gave the order, Shirong suddenly felt his meridians trembling along with his Dantian. Then in the next moment, hundreds of pricks were felt all over his body and made him cry out in pain.

    But the pain was only momentary and once it faded away, it was reced with power, pure unending power!

    "What is this?" Shirong looked down at his body.

    Small red patterns had appeared at the lower surfaces of the crystal armor, right where it touched his skin. The patterns were a bit vibrant and if one looked closer, they would realize that they were not just static patterns; they were actually flowing.

    "Is thisбн my blood?" Shirong said in shock.

    The more his blood circted among the patterns, the more spirit Qi poured into his body.

    ''This feelingбн it''s differentбн far different from the Immortal Crystal armament''s usual infusion of spirit Qi.'' Shirong understood.

    Instead of the spirit Qi being poured into him, it felt more like his overall capacity had increased. This was different from using spirit stones as well, since the rate of flow was far quicker than that of the spirit stones.

    "If this doesn''t help him, then nothing willбн time to go all out!" Lin Wu said to himself.

    Somehow his emotions were transmitted to Shirong due to the new link, and he felt enraged as well. But along with the rage, Shirong had a new kind of an emotion. He felt as if he was being looked down upon by the followers of the Skull god.

    He felt as if it was the hugest offense that these people dared to exist in his presence. It was a primal feeling that he could not exin, stemming from deep within his blood.

    "HAAAAAAA~!!!!~" Shirong suddenly let out a roar that bordered on beastly.

    And along with his roar, a strange screeching sound was also mixed in. The crystal armor on his body glowed in a blinding light as the red eye patterns on the top red up into a burning red.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

 Chapter 419 - [Bonus ]Spiked Bowling Ball?

    Shirong moved like a bullet as he tore through the troves of followers of the skull god that were heading towards him. Shirong clearing out the surrounding area had given Lin Wu enough time to set this all up and nowбн they could take full advantage of it.

    The child with the seven fingers who was standing at the back widened his eyes upon seeing this.

    "Jumping from Infant Soul stage to the Adolescent Soul stage in less than a minuteбн now this is interstice." The child muttered to himself.

    He then looked at his subordinate Nascent Soul realm cultivators, who were all staring in surprise and frowned.

    "GO!" He ordered simply.

    The Nascent Soul realm cultivators heeded the orders and attacked Shirong together. There were now over twenty Nascent Soul realm cultivators attacking Shirong at the same time.

    The only reason why the remaining Nascent Soul realm cultivators did not attack him was because they were busy with something else. There were still streams of smoke attacking the barriers and breaking them.

    The followers of the Skull god had progressed another step further and had broken through the seventh barrier now.

    Seeing this, even Lin Wu was stunned.

    "How the hell are they doing this? Even with the Undaunted Sapphire Body art, it took me ten times as long." Lin Wu couldn''t help but question.

    His eyes locked on the incense burners that were in the hands of the nascent Soul Realm cultivators. The burners looked rather simple and were fully covered with holes for the smoke toe out.

    Lin Wu narrowed his eyes and used his radiation perception to its full potential. The color scale suddenly changed for him and he could see a vast difference now.

    The incense burners had a strange flow of spirit Qi around them, which caused the radiation around them to act differently too.

    "Those are all spirit tools, that''s for sure. But what''s inside itбн that is definitely not any normal incense as I can''t see any heat from it." Lin Wu analyzed.

    He then looked at the bodies of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators and saw that their spirit Qi was pouring into the incense burners silently.

    "It''s a bit different. Using spirit Qi as the fuel makes sense, but what is the actual substance being burned?" Lin Wu wondered, but no matter how much he looked, he could not decipher that.

    As for the smoke that came out of it, it looked like a blurry area in his vision. It was obvious that the radiation perception couldn''t really work as well on it.

    "That smoke had different properties as well." Lin Wu realized.

    <em>~Swoosh~</em>

    Lin Wu focused back on the attack at hand as he was awakened by the sound of the twenty Nascent Soul realm cultivatorsing towards them.

    "Well thenбн time to rumble!" Lin Wu said as Shirong sped forward at the Nascent Soul realm cultivators.

    Their small army had various weapons that they were using and all of them were simr to the smoky sword that the first follower of the skull god had used back when Lin Wu met the Silver Beak Sky Soar eagle.

    It was evident that each of these weapons had been specially made and had qualities that could even injure Lin Wu''s body.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Tens of Weapons hit Shirong at the same time, but were blocked by the armor. But this was intentionally done by Shirong and Lin Wu had a surprise prepared for the others.

    <em>~Weeng~</em>

    <em>~zap~</em>

    The weapons that had attacked them and were in contract with the crystal armor got stuck in them as the armor suddenly morphed in a way thattched onto the weapons.

    "Huh? How?"

    "What the hell! Let go!"

    Voices of protest could be heard as the followers of the skull god tried to pry their weapons free, but failed.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    <em>~zing~ </em>

    In the next instant, lightning was sent out from the armor and it traveled through the stuck weapons before finally reaching the bodies of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators.

    "ARGH!!!"

    "NOO! STOP!"

    <em>~Sizzle~</em>

    The smell of burning flesh could be sensed as the lightning charred the skins of the attackers. The attack was full of lightning attribute spirit Qi, which seemed to be far more effective against the strange murky smoke attacks of the Followers of the skull god.

    "That must be themon cultivation technique and skill they use. Since they can alsomand specter skull hounds and they are of the yin attribute, the extreme yang of the lightning element is the best to deal with it." Lin Wu said.

    While this attack had not killed the attackers, it had still managed to stun and paralyze them for a bit. But this was all that was needed for Shirong and Lin Wu to take advantage of.

    The armor started to change once again and became a bit more bulky and broad. The process continued at a rapid pace as multiple protrusions rose up from the surface before finally turning into spikes. The spikes were over a meter long each and spaced in an irregr space.

    Still, the addition of the spikes was enough to turn Shirong into a spiked ball instead.

    Immortal Crystal Armament: Hundred Spike Wrecker!

    The spiked ball started to spin as it then trampled over the paralyzed Nascent Soul realm cultivators around it. They couldn''t even let out cries as tens of spikes skewered them directly.

    Lin Wu and Shirong continued moving without stopping as they mowed through the enemies. The bodies of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators were left stuck on the spikes, but the ball did not stop and kept on rolling.

    "SAVE ME!"

    "PROPHET SAVE US!"

    "O'' GREAT SKULL GOD HELP US!"

    Cries of mercy and pleading were heard as the spiked ball trampled upon them. Once the Nascent Soul realm cultivators were all stuck to the ball, it moved towards the weaker followers of the skull god.

    They all were gathered around, so it made it even easier for Lin Wu to kill them.

    "Andбн STRIKE!" Lin Wu shouted as he mowed down a hundred followers.

 Chapter 420 - Drill Kill?

    Lin Wu was like a bowling ball as he mowed down the followers of the skull god, like bowling pins.

    The more fortunate ones died in a single hit while the unlucky ones were alive even when the spikes pierced their body, leaving them crying in pain and agony. Lin Wu kept on rolling and killing as many as he could right now.

    This was not just to reduce the number of people, but actually to obtain the spirit Qi they had. You see, the form Lin Wu had taken was carefully chosen. The spikes allowed him to prate their bodies and forcefully drain their spirit Qi and vital energy.

    Hundreds of notifications were popping up on the side window for Lin Wu that showed that he had obtained spirit Qi and vital energy.

    ''There we go killing cannon fodder to restore resourcesбн reminds me of a game I used to y in the past. It involved a lot of killing tooбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "A little background music would help though," Lin Wu said finding it to be a littlecking.

    Shirong on the other hand, was as tense as ever looking around hoping that those nascent Soul realm cultivators were dead. While they had managed to catch them off guard, he did not know if it really worked or not.

    His spirit sense spread and checked the bodies of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators, discovering that ten out of all had been killed. Though he did not know if their Nascent Souls were still alive or not.

    "Good, fourteen down, twenty nine to goбн" Shirong said with a little grin.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    But just before they could continue on anymore, a strong beam of energy hit them.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Lin Wu and Shirong were knocked away by the beam, crashing into tens of buildings, destroying all of them.

    "Ugh, dammit." Lin Wu said as he and Shirong switched back to the normal form.

    While the ball form was good for multiple enemies, it was only so for the cannon fodder types. Even the Nascent Soul realm cultivators only became its victims because they were paralyzed. If that had not been, Lin Wu probably would not have been able to kill them.

    Shirong looked at the source of the attack and saw that it hade from the other group of nascent soul realm cultivators that were sent by the child. They were working together and had sent out that attack.

    "Kill him!" The Nascent Soul realm cultivators rushed towards Shirong.

    "He dares kill ourpanions and servants of the Skull god, he shall face our wrath!"

    More and more curses were hurled by the followers of the skull god and their anger could be clearly felt from all this. The number of the followers of the skull god had been reduced by half directly by Lin Wu and Shirong, and this was enough to consider them as lifelong foes.

    "Come on! We''ll kill you all!" Lin Wu taunted, but it was not like anyone could hear him.

    <em>~swoosh~</em>

    They flew towards Shirong with their weapons drawn and various lights of attacks glowing around them.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~ng~</em>

    <em>~bang~</em>

    Shirong tried to dodge as many of the attacks as he could, but it was still difficult to dodge so many attacks. There were hundreds of theming at the same time, making it far more difficult than before.

    Thankfully, Lin Wu was able to bear the attacks. But even then, Lin Wu''s body would get small cracks from time to time.

    "Dammit, those Adult Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivators can still hurt my body!" Lin Wu cursed.

    Even if he could continually heal the damage that he got from the others due to the system, it still hurt Lin Wu and disturbed him a bit.

    "You shall die under my de!"

    <em>~clong~</em>

    Suddenly, the sound of a de bending could be hearding from behind. Lin Wu sensed that there was someone sneak attacking them from behind. It was also a Nascent Soul realm cultivator and he had a long axe in his hand.

    The Axe had smokeing out of it and it was evident that it was something rted to the skull god as well and thus could hurt Lin Wu.

    "Welp, time for a new tactic." Lin Wu said before transmitting some new information to Shirong.

    As soon as Shirong got the message from the immortal Crystal Armament, his eyes lit up.

    "Haha! This only gets better and better!" Shirong said before bringing his arms closer to his body. The armor started to broaden up towards his shoulders and became slender towards his legs.

    <em>~ck~</em>

    His legs suddenly joined up as the boots melded to be one. Then, in the next moment, he started to spin rapidly and disappeared inside the ground.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    The Axe of the Nascent Soul realm cultivator hit the ground where Lin Wu and Shirong had been, but all that was left behind there was a hole the size of Shirong.

    "Huh? Where did they go?" The man couldn''t help but question.

    Shirong''s spinning had knocked up a lot of dust and debris in the area and thus the man was unable to see that they had actually entered the ground. As for the spirit sense, there was still interference from the unknown energy that Lin Wu had used and thus they could not be directly sensed with spirit sense.

    <em>~zing~zing~zing~</em>

    Shirong found himself to be moving through the ground at rapid speeds.

    "How do I control thisбн" Shirong wondered and thought of going left.

    Just as he did that, the spinning armor changed its direction to left.

    ''One thought is all that takes'' Shirong through to himself.

    He quickly grasped the methodology and used his spirit sense for navigation while his mind to control the direction. He thought of going left and it turned left. He thought of right and it went right.

    "Wait, a secondбн isn''t this speedбн FASTER THAN FLYING? How can this even be possible?" Shirong was shocked.

    Somehow, in the armor, moving through the dense ground was faster than flying in free air. After a few seconds of shock, Shirong shook his head and focused on the task at hand.

    "Let''s take advantage of this and get rid of moreбн" Shirong muttered to himself before changing his direction and finding a target that was rtively far from the others and isted.

    It didn''t take him long to do so and he found an Adolescent Soul stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator a distance away from the battlefield. While he was not as far as the others who were using the smoke from the incense burners to break the barriers, he was still at the border.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    "Huh? What''s thaбк" Before the man could say any more the ground below him trembled and burst apart.

    ~<em>boom~</em>

    <em>~st~</em>

    <em>~st~</em>

    <em>~st~</em>

    Out came Shirong covered with the crystal armor that was now moving like a drill. The drill came out from right where the Nascent Soul realm cultivator was standing and hit his body. The spinning motion and spikes on the drill managed to utterly maim the man''s body, killing him in an instant.

    "NOOO!!!" The man shouted in pain as the life drained from his eyes.

    The lower half of his body was almost gone, and he was only left with a head and upper shoulders. Soon his eyes zed over and he died, but then a secondter a pale glow came from his body.

    <em>~swoosh~</em>

    "Dammit, this sneaky bastard!" The man who was only left with a Nascent Soul cursed.

    It flew away at rapid speeds, trying to get to safety, but it was toote for him.

    "Where do you think you''re going?!" Lin Wu said as he controlled the direction of the drill and flew towards the Nascent Soul.

    "Stop him!" The cries of the other Nascent Soul realm cultivators came from the distance as they witnessed what was happening.

    <em>~zing~</em>

    They sent out defensive skills to protect the Nascent Soul, but s! They were not enough.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Lin Wu directly drilled through the defensive silks like they were paper and hit the Nascent Soul that was escaping.

    <em>~poof~</em>

    The Nascent Soul was as if a small balloon, snuffed out in one go.

    "AH, good! More spirit Qi and even some data nodes." Lin Wu said upon seeing the notification window.

    Lin Wu obviously didn''t have the time to go through the data nodes and thus just put them on the back burner till he got into a more free area.

    "He killed brother Jiguan!!" The shocked voice of other followers could be hearding from the other side.

    "How is he doing this?"

    "How did he get there so fast? Is he teleporting?"

    "He must have a spatial spirit tool! Quick, get him! We may get to have some rewards!"

    Various words could be hearding from the followers of the skull god, each worse than the one before.

 Chapter 421 - Spin Spin Spin?

    Seeing that these followers of the Skull god were thinking of him as a treasure as well, Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh.

    "Wonder if I can fool them as well if they manage to defeat me and Shirong." Lin Wu chuckled.

    No one knew what would happen if this came true, but one thing was sure that whoever got Lin Wu would suffer for days toe. Or at least till they died.

    Seeing the Nascent Soul realm cultivators that were flying towards them, Lin Wu smiled.

    "You''re really walking towards me, huh?" Lin Wu said while thinking of a quick n.

    ''Thest time they didn''t realize I had gone underground was because of the attack of that Axe. The hole created by me was copsed by the Axe and thus they thought it was teleportation that got me here.

    Let''s see if I can make use of thatбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself while transmitting some controlling methods to Shirong.

    While Shirong had grasped most of them on his own, they were still too crude and Lin Wu could do a lot more things. Lin Wu could technically control Shirong directly, but with the form that he was currently in, both of their meridian systems were linked.

    Controlling the man physically was easy, but if Lin Wu messed up with spirit Qi, even he would suffer. Thus, it was better if both he and Shirong were on the same frequency. After all, this was synchronization, not control.

    The armor morphed again under the will of Shirong and the assistance of Lin Wu to be like a top. Shirong''s legs joined up while the shoulders extended with sharp des. Then in the next moment, he started to spin and shot towards the Nascent Soul realm followers that wereing toward him.

    "Time toбн LET IT RIP!" Lin Wu said as they spun at a blinding speed.

    <em>~zing~zing~zing~</em>

    The des tore through the air at an extreme speed, creating shes. The armor then started to glow in a green light while at the top a red light could be seen which were the eyes of Lin Wu.

    Now it looked like a green top was spinning at a rapid speed. But the followers of the Skull God didn''t know that this was just the start. Wind attribute sprint Qi and lightning attribute spirit Qi joined the gray, letting out loud humming sounds along with crackles.

    The two joined up to be arge vortex that shot towards the skies. Lightning swam like dragons through the wind, giving one a terrifying view.

    <em>~weeng~weeng~weeng~</em>

    The iing Nascent Soul realm cultivators were now too close to stop and were caught within the cyclone. They used their abilities to resist the suction of the cyclone, but it was only getting stronger by the second.

    "Hold on!" One of the followers spoke out loud.

    "Attack the center together! It''s at the bottom!" Another one pointed out.

    Chains made of smoke bound the Followers to the ground, preventing them from being sucked into the cyclone. While they were able to resist for a few seconds, they were at a loss once the spinning cyclone started approaching them.

    <em>~Rip~</em>

    One of the Nascent soul realm followers was unable to hold on and his control over the smoke chain wavered.

    "Aaaa!!" The man screamed as he was sucked into the cyclone.

    In there, the wind acted like des slicing into his skin while the lighting was like whips, ripping into his body.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    Thebined effect of the wind and lightning was far more terrifying than they had ever thought as the follower ended up being exploded due to the incessant strikes on his body. And of course, while his nascent soul tried to escape, it was exterminated due to the lighting too.

    "GET AWAY! EVERYONE GET AWAY!" The Nascent soul realm cultivators started shouting upon seeing the effect that had been shown by the cyclone.

    It was especially terrifying to them since the one that had died just now was one of the Adult stage Nascent soul realm cultivators. To them, if the cyclone could kill an Adult Stage Nascent soul realm cultivator like that, then it was absolutely going to kill those that were weaker than that.

    "AHAHAHA! You all just walked into a trap!" Lin Wu said as he changed his movement pattern.

    At first, he was moving directly towards the Nascent Soul realm cultivators, but now he was circling around them. Soon his speed of revolving increased and the cyclone created anotherrger cyclone.

    And in the eye of the cycle, the Nascent Soul realm cultivators were trapped. Their smoke chains were still managing to hold them in ce, but the stray wind des and lightning strikes were still enough to hurt them plenty.

    They feared that if they didn''t resolve this soon, they might end up dying.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~swoosh~</em>

    They shot out various kinds of attacks towards the top like spinning armor, but it was useless. A spirit sword that was sent towards it was pushed away due to the winds and then sucked towards the cyclone, only to be shot back at an even greater speed.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    "Heavens! That was close!" A follower said as he saw the spirit sword that was now stuck right between his legs, very close to his precious jewels.

    "Ugh! So close." Lin Wu said, upon missing the counter.

    Qi skills were alsounched towards him, but they were dissipated or blocked by the cyclone before it could ever get close to the armor.

    "We will need to use physical skills! Energy type Qi skills are forcefully dissipated before they can even reach the enemy!" One of the followers analyzed.

    But his words were of little help as the cyclone now started toe closer.

    "Hahahh! Wee to the twister zone. We will ensure that you get the best amusement experience! A word of caution though: The authorities do not take responsibility for any harm that maye to the customers." Lin Wu said, repeating a certain voice-over announcement.

 Chapter 422 - Big Hands For Big Top?

    The Cyclone only got closer and closer as the followers of the skull god started to sustain even greater damage.

    "Ahh! Nooo!!!" Another one of them was sucked into the cyclone and exploded into minced meat.

    Seeing that this was only getting worse, the Nascent Soul realm follower decided to bite the bullet and ask for help.

    "Oh, Great Prophet! Help us! We cannot hold on anymore!" They called out.

    "Oh? So they finally decided to do this?" Shirong said upon hearing the words of the followers.

    He could very well see the fear on their faces and their inability to hold on against the attack. This was of course an exceedingly strong attack, that even Shirong had to admit he had not seen before.

    ''Will father even be able to resist something like this if he was at the same cultivation base as me right now?'' Shirong couldn''t help but wonder.

    There were plenty of Strong people in Shirong''s n and there were also people who could fight over their cultivation bases. There was nock of Ji n members who hadn''t defeated those that were one or two cultivation stages above them.

    There were even some extremely talented ones that had managed to defeat other cultivators that were an entire realm above them. One such example of this was none other than the current patriarch of the Ji n, Shirong''s Father.

    He was said to be the top prodigy in the Ji n in over three hundred years now and had been the patriarch for a hundred and fifty years. It was his talent and fighting capabilities that had won him the seat of the patriarch.

    Shirong himself was only in his thirties and yet had heard plenty of stories of his father and how he defeated one foe after the other, oveing tribtions as if they were a child''s y.

    He had long since wanted to reach the same level like that and he could finally consider that he had reached it.

    "Fatherбн Grandfatherбн Great Grandfatherбн Ancestorбн I have done it." Shirong muttered to himself as he massacred five more Nascent Soul realm followers.

    But just as he said this, he felt a wave of weakness pass through his body, that made him tremble.

    "Huh? What?" Shirong got confused.

    He quickly used his spirit sense to inspect his body and saw what had happened.

    "Dammit! This is taking up too much spirit Qi." Shirong cursed.

    In his body, Shirong could see that his Nascent Soul was now starting to release the spirit Qi that was within it. As for the one in his Dantian and meridians, it had already been used up. And because he was currently synchronized with Lin Wu and their meridians were linked, he did not detect the problem until it waste.

    His body simply registered Lin Wu''s own spirit Qi as his and thought that he still had a lot of it left.

    The wind and lightning attribute spirit Qi cyclone definitely used up a massive amount of spirit Qi such that even a normal Adult Stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator might not be able to sustain it for long.

    Whereas Lin Wu and Shirong had already continued it for over a minute now and had managed to kill nearly eight Nascent Soul realm experts, four of which were at the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    If one considered it in the manner of investment and return, it was certainly worth it. But it did not do Shirong that good, since his trouble had not ended yet.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    A wave of spirit Qi spread from the distance, pulling Shirong''s attention for a moment.

    "Huh? They took down three more barriers?" Shirong said, feeling astounded.

    The Followers of the Skull god were now at the eleventh barrier and only three more were left before they would be able to reach the central area of the ruins. Shirong took a quick look around the newly exposed area but could not see anything that was of value right away.

    "It must be hiddenбн there is a lot of debris hereбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    But while he was thinking this, Lin Wu was having different thoughts.

    "System, you seeing this shit?" Lin Wu questioned. "How are they going through the barriers so fast even when we were unable to do so? And I thought ''we'' had the specialty for that." Lin Wu said with frustration.

    On one hand, Lin Wu was fine with this as the quicker they got to the center, the greater chance there was for them to awaken the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. But there was also a chance that they might catch her off guard and manage to hurt her.

    That was one thing Lin Wu did not want to happen, as she was going to be his trump card in all this.

    "It would be best if she can awaken on her own ande see all thisбн" Lin Wu said to himself, wishing that it would happen.

    s! Sometimes what we wish and what we get are vastly different.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    Out of nowhere, a massive wave of dark energy came towards the cyclone and towards Lin Wu in turn. The energy was strange, almost sticky in nature. It touched the surface of the cyclone and managed to resist it!

    "What? How?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but be surprised.

    Shirong was the same, and he tried to see where it wasing from. His spirit sense spread around but met a strange interference in the form of the dark energy.

    "It can even affect spirit sense?" Shirong said in shock.

    The dark energy then started to spread more and more until finally, it turned into tworge hands. Each of the hands was ck and looked to have a fluid surface. In addition to that, the hands also had seven fingers each instead of the usual five.

    "That Dao Shell realm cultivator!" Lin Wu recognized.

    His eyes traced the source and there he saw the boy floating in the distance, the energying from his hands and trying to strangle the cyclone.

 Chapter 423 - I Am The Prophet Now?

    The Dao shell realm cultivator that looked like a creepy child was the one who had created these giant hands. They were even linked to his own hands and were currently trying to stop the cyclone.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    The winds stirred within his hands as Lin Wu kept on spinning, not giving in to the resistance.

    "You''re gonna have to do a lot more if you want to stop me!" Lin Wu said as he started to let out more arcs of lighting from the cyclone.

    They knew that lightning was more effective element here and thus they were focusing more on that. But even then, the problem was that it consumed far more spirit Qi than what wind attribute spirit Qi did.

    This was mostly because Shirong''s own Immortal Sky Shaker art was at the third stage, which was the Lightning attribute initiate. He had already gained a sufficient mastery over the wind attribute, but it was going to take him long to master the lightning.

    Once he reached the fourth stage though, the consumption of both attributes would be the same for him. Right now, the only reason they were even able to fight back was because of the spirit Qi and vital energy Lin Wu had obtained from the Nascent Soul realm cultivators that they had killed in the process.

    There were still several of them there and Lin Wu wanted to kill them, too. But now that the Dao Shell realm prophet had interfered, he could no longer attack the Nascent soul realm cultivators.

    "Humph! You dare resist!" The child said as he saw Lin Wu trying to keep the Nascent soul realm followers trapped there.

    The child waved his hands and pushed the cyclone to a different side.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu and Shirong were now forcefully knocked off the course and could not do much. Despite the constant attacks of the wind and lightning, there was nothing that could be done to the hands made out of dark energy.

    By now Lin Wu had guessed the reason behind the man''s resistance and even that of the other followers of the skull god.

    "They are using the Dark attribute, aren''t they? But it''s not fully pureбн it''s like there is something mixed in it. Though them using one of the four heavenly attributes makes sense as to how they are able to suppress all others." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Shirong also got some transmission in his mind about what it may be. But the way he got them was such that he thought he was the one who came to this conclusion.

    "Dammit! Dark Attribute spirit Qiбн Even if lightning is of the extreme yang, it can''t do much against Darkness which is pure yang. Only a stronger intensity of the light element might be able to do anything against it.

    Plus, it seems like this cultivator has already grasped some traces of Dao. No wonder his use of the Darkness Element is so different." Shirong stated upon seeing it all.

    Lin Wu had already learned quite a lot about the twelve elements now and knew that there were many other elements as well that didn''t fully match the twelve main elements. Such elements were called as the derivative elements and there was an almost endless amount of them in the world.

    Even Ice was not considered to be a pure element and was designated as a derivative one. The hypothesis behind it was that while ice was technically water, the yin part of it had been increased and thus it became cold enough to be solid.

    Derivative elements gave rise to different types of spirit qi''s as well. They were different from the normal spirit Qi and elemental spirit Qi since they were born from the traces of Dao''s themselves.

    For example, the mostmon Sword Qi was also a type of spirit Qi, but it was born from theprehension of sword Dao and thus contained traces of it. But that was not all that it had. Sword Qi even had origins in the metal element and was thus considered to be under it.

    Thus, thebination of the metal element with the sword Dao resulted in the formation of the Sword Qi.

    In the case of the Dao Shell realm cultivator here, Lin Wu was wondering if it really was just the darkness element or not. There was certain inconsistence in it which made him think that this might be apletely different element.

    "System, can you search your data banks and see if this matches with any other derivative element?" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK ASSIGNED: Data Search

    SEARCHING DATA: Please wait a moment

    SEARCH COMPLECTED: Matching terms found.

    INFO: The simrity is 87.9% between the Shadow element mentioned in several records of the Taiji celestial and the technique that is being used by the Dao Shell realm artictor right now.

    бкбк

    Seeing this, it instantly hit Lin Wu.

    "Wait, a minuteбн can it really be?" Lin Wu felt a bit dumbfounded.

    "No, no, it can''t be. After all, I made all that up." Lin Wu said after thinking for a bit.

    He couldn''t help but look at the technique that the Child was using and the visions he had seen in the Taiji Celestial''s tomb. He couldn''t help butpare them with the cultivators who had been corrupted by the Shadow cmity.

    This all happened muchter after the Taiji Celestial had already been born. His past clones were also evolving and had managed to reach a point where they could corrupt cultivators without turning them into mindless beasts.

    The cogs in Lin Wu''s mind started to move and a timeline of possible invents started to form in his mind.

    "The arrival of the guardian beastsбн the shadow cmity''s influenceбн suppression to take over the worldбн lossбн returnбн" One by one, Lin Wu joined up the theories before a somewhat decent idea of what happened in his mind.

    "What the fuck! Is he a prophet or am I one?"

 Chapter 424 - Taunts?

    With the realization that the story he had made up to tell Wang Xiong might really be true, Lin Wu didn''t know what to do.

    "Damnбн don''t tell me I have a secret ability to tell the future and search the past?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    But before he could lose himself in his thoughts anymore, he was woken up forcefully.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    One of therge, dark hands pped them into the ground, fully embedding them into it. The cyclone of wind and lightning was forcefully stopped and the rest of the followers of the skull god were now saved.

    "GAH!" Shirong grunted in pain.

    While he was not injured directly due to the armor protecting him, the sudden impact of the hand still managed to rock his insides. His brain felt like it had been hammered and his stomach churned.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Lin Wu was not faring that well either. In fact, he was the one who was injured the most. After all, he was the one who had borne the entire damage of the hands. Not to mention this attack was from a Dao Shell realm cultivator.

    "Fuck, what stage is he even at? I can''t tellбн" Lin Wu said as he got the system to heal his injuries using the vital essence.

    The system had been continually converting the vital energy obtained from killing everyone into vital essence and by now Lin Wu had gathered a sufficientlyrge store of it.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    VITAL ESSENCE CONSUMED: 46,000 units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 4,441,799 Units

    бкбк

    In a few seconds, all the cracks that had appeared all over Lin Wu''s body had been healed under the effort of the system. Thankfully, Lin Wu''s meridians were not damaged otherwise, this would have been far more problematic.

    Lin Wu was mostly durable against physical damage and did not really mind it, since he could regenerate it on his own. But the damage that sunk into his body and affected his meridians was not something that could be healed quickly.

    Though this made Lin Wu learn something about the additional cultivation technique that he had been practicing all this time. There was a sapphire blue glow that was hidden by the surface of his body, but Lin Wu could see it himself.

    "Huhбн The Sapphire meridians made by the Undaunted Sapphire Body art have the effect of enhancing the durability of the meridians tooбн didn''t know that." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    But after a second of thought, he realized that it was understandable. The Undaunted Sapphire Body Art was an unpracticed cultivation technique. Even its creator had not utilized it and had died before that.

    Thus, while she had managed to write down about the main effect of the technique, she had missed out on the extra effects of it that could only be discovered after testing out the technique first.

    In a way, Lin Wu was the one who was beta testing the entire Undaunted Sapphire Body Art.

    "I guess that''s why the technique starts converting the meridians from the outermost part first and not the inner ones. The peripheral meridians will be the ones that bear the damage the most anyway." Lin Wu nodded to himself before trying to get out of the ground.

    Though this was not for long since several ck tendrils came out of nowhere and wrapped around him, pulling him into the air.

    "Huh? What?!" Shirong, who had finally recovered from the shock of the impact, said in surprise.

    He traced the source of the ck tendrils and saw that they wereing from none other than the Child who was at the Dao Shell realm. Each of his right hand''s fingers was connected to one of the ck tendrils.

    They all wrapped around his body, with four on his limbs, one on his neck, one on his upper torso and one on his waist. They fully restrained him in ce, making him unable to move at all. Even his neck was stuck in one ce, and he could only move his eyeballs to see things.

    As for his spirit sense? It was getting restrained too. Because the seven ck tendrils were wrapped around him, Shirong''s spirit sense found it hard to leave his body.

    "It is no use struggling. Your time is over!" The Dao Shell realm cultivator spoke.

    Lin Wu tried to use his spirit sense as well and found it to be movable.

    "Dang! The range is reduced to just a few metersбн just what level of suppression is this?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but question.

    Though unlike Shirong who was stuck looking in one direction due to his neck getting restricted, Lin Wu could still look in a 360 angle due to his eyes being movable. Lin Wu looked towards the direction of the barriers and saw that the followers had managed to take down another barrier, leaving only the 12th and the final 13th barrier standing.

    "Come onбн be a bit quicker and reach the 13th barrier. A huge surprise is waiting for youбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He now knew that the best chance at survival was to dy this as long as possible so that either the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle might wake up on her own, or the copse of the 13th barrier disturbs her enough to awaken.

    Either of those options was eptable to Lin Wu and the only thing that he didn''t want to happen was this Dao Shell realm cultivator finding out who or what he was.

    ''If he really is linked with the Shadow Cmity, then me having knowledge about the Taiji Celestials tomb might put me at a greater risk than before.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Shirong felt upset at everything and understood that there was something far more sinister going on in the Dread Coil Marsh than what his n had originally thought.

    "Do you dare kill me? Try and do that! Come on! Then see how the entire Ji n descends upon this ce! You will have no ce to run!" Shirong taunted.

 Chapter 425 - Body Snatcher?

    Seeing that Shirong had decided to reveal his identity and use the influencer card, Lin Wu didn''t know whether tough or cry.

    "They killed your uncle without much. Do you think they will not do the same now? They definitely don''t care for the opinion of other powers." Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    s, Shirong didn''t get to hear that or he would have definitely been shocked. But the reason why Lin Wu was even more sure of how the followers of the Skull god would act was the fact that they were inexplicably linked to the Shadow cmity.

    And if they were linked to something this strong, then the powers of this world would not really fare well against them.

    "AHAHAHA!" Suddenly, the child started tough.

    This brought Lin Wu''s attention to him and he felt that he was truly thinking right. The Dao Shell realm cultivator wasughing in ridicule.

    "Ahahaha!" The child continued tough as if he had heard the world''s biggest joke.

    Seeing this Shirong felt infuriated.

    "What are youughing about? Don''t tell me you get scared to insanity?" Shirong said out loud.

    "Huh?" Upon hearing the words of Shirong, the child stoppedughing and looked at him. "Do you think I care about the Ji n? While they may be powerful, they will still take a long time to reach this ce." He added.

    Shirong narrowed his eyes and knew that it was true. Even if he died here and the soul memp in his n died out, they will still take a long time to find out the exact location. This was the reason why the Ji n was investigating this location in the first ce.

    None of the powers of the world currently had a full idea about what had happened in the Dread Coil Marsh and why it was so strange and dangerous.

    "Even if you die, and the Ji nes here, we would be long gone and our power would be the strongest in the world!" The child eximed with a hint of insanity in his eyes.

    "Besides, I''m sure the Ji n will never find out because I''m not going to kill you." The Dao Shell realm cultivator spoke.

    "Huh?" both Lin Wu and Shirong couldn''t help but be dumbfounded at this.

    ''It can''t be that he wants to forgive us or something, right?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~chuckle~</em>

    Seeing Shirong''s confusion, the child chuckled again and pulled them closer towards him.

    "Rather than killing you, I have a much better use." The child said as he trailed a finger over the face of Shirong.

    "Ughбн Suuuper Creepy dudeбн" Lin Wu felt himself tremble.

    Shirong was the same and felt the coldness from the fingers on his face despite the helmet of the armor.

    "What are you going to do?" Shirong questioned staunchly.

    "You must be a direct descendant of the Ji nбн you''re the heir, aren''t you?" The Dao Shell realm guessed urately. "No wonder you were so arrogant." He added upon seeing the faint reaction from Shirong.

    "Your talent definitely gives you the pass to be arrogant thoughбн and that''s the very talent I desire." The Dao Shell realm cultivator spoke.

    Hearing this Shirong''s brows furrowed when it clicked him.

    "You want me to join you? NEVER!" Shirong staunchly said.

    "Ahahha! You will join usбн but not as a follower." The Dao shell realm cultivator said before an obsessive look appeared on his face. "Noбн YOU WILL JOIN US AS OUR GOD!"

    It was time again for Lin Wu and Shirong to be confounded by the words of the child. At this point, they were really wondering if these were just the nonsense ramblings of a real child and not an actual cultivator.

    "Our god has been searching for a vessel to descend into this world and you will be the perfect one. You have the talent and the identity that is worth being the great Skull god''s vessel." The Dao Shell realm cultivator revealed.

    Hearing this, Shirong''s eyes went wide while Lin Wu couldn''t help but say, "I KNEW IT! ANOTHER OLDIE WANTING A FRESH YOUNG BODY TO TAKEOVER!"

    By now Lin Wu knew for sure that the Skull God wasn''t actually a god and was just a strong cultivator who might have reached a cultivation base above the Immortal Ascension realm. The ones that reached that realm, would obviously ascend to a higher realm and could note back.

    Unless of course, they fulfilled certain conditions for that. Usually, they could suppress their cultivation and descend, or send an avatar made by them. But for some cultivators, there were additional conditions such as those that were specifically rejected by a world.

    For such cultivators, the paths to descend were far less and they could only wait to find a good opportunity. One such method was taking the soul and body of a person native to the world.

    While this was something that could be aplished easily for someone on their level of power and people, if they also wanted to be strong when they descended, they would need a body that was equivalent to that strength.

    Which meant that while they could literally pick up some random beggar off the street or an orphan off the street, it was more than likely that their bodies would be destroyed before the cultivator fully took over them.

    If they were talking over a weaker person, they might need to have a very highpatibility to do so. The other option that they had, thought was for them to find a talented cultivator to take over.

    That way, their avatar that descended or they themselves will have a far stronger cultivation base than the others. They will also have the chance to progress it further and faster than normal, which would allow them to do whatever they wanted much quicker.

    Shirong here fulfilled all of those conditions and on top of that, had the identity of a prestigious n heir. If they were able to fool the other n members, they would even have a better advantage than before.

    With all that done, Shirong and Lin Wu realized that Shirong was fucked.

    "Welpбн it was nice knowing you. See you sometimeter, maybe I''ll meet your reincarnation." Lin Wu said and started to think about an escape n.

    While he had not been found out yet by the Dao shell realm cultivator, if he changed his from right now, there was a great chance he would be found out. As Lin Wu thought this, the Dao shell realm cultivator seemed to have pulled out a ck skull from his spatial storage treasure.

    The Skull looked like it was covered in dark tar and gave off an ominous vibe.

    "BEHOLD!" The Dao Shell realm cultivator said before raising the ck skull towards Shirong.

    The skull suddenly started to shake and trembled in his hands before floating on its own. It then started to deform before endless amounts of smoke started toe out of it. The smoke was dark like crude oil and covered Shirong and in turn, Lin Wu.

    "You shall now have the honor of bing the vessel of the great skull god! Be happy that your meager existence now has a better meaning!" the Dao Shell realm cultivator stated.

    While this was happening, the system was sending out a multitude of warnings to Lin Wu.

    <em>~WARNING!~</em>

    бкбк

    FOREIGN PRESENCE DETECTED: Unknown

    INTRUSION DETECTED: Taking preventive measures.

    MEASURES COMPETED: Link to Subject Shirong disconnected

    бкбк

    The moment this happened, Shirong felt as if the brand he had on the Immortal Crystal Armament had disappeared.

    "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Shirong let out a loud roar of disagreement.

    Lin Wu on the other hand, didn''t really feel anything.

    "Oof! Lemme just take back the synchronizing links as well." Lin Wu muttered before retracting the hundreds of needles that were pierced into Shirong''s body.

    This process was not something that could be hurried and thus Lin Wu needed to be careful, lest he ended up injuring his meridians. Shirong could also feel the power he got from the Immortal Crystal Armament, fading away by the second, and got tensed.

    "Don''t worry, after all this is over and the great skull god descends, you won''t even know why you were anxious in the first ceбн AHAHAHA!" The Dao Shell realm cultivator said beforeughing.

    "HAIL TO THE SKULL GOD!"

    "HAIL TO THE SKULL GOD!"

    "HAIL TO THE SKULL GOD!"

    "HAIL TO THE SKULL GOD!"

    "HAIL TO THE SKULL GOD!"

    All the followers of the Skull god except for those that were working on the barriers kneeled down and kowtowed in the direction of Shirong. Their dedication and emotions could be felt from this and their voices joined together to echo across the ruins.

    Seeing all this, Lin Wu felt even more creeped out and couldn''t wait to get away from here.

    "Dang man, they''re getting even worse." Lin Wu said to himself.

    It was now that the smoke started to enter Shirong''s body fully.

 Chapter 426 - Space Pirate?

    The smoke started to spread through Shirong''s body and both he and Lin Wu could feel it. The sensation of it was quite strange, to say the least.

    There was no pain or difort they felt, except for at the start. After that passed, Shirong mostly felt numb in his body and couldn''t tell what exactly was happening. His five senses had stopped working as well and he was trapped in his own mind.

    Lin Wu on the other hand was still normal and could sense everything. But in addition to that, he started to get strange sensations from the smoke.

    "What is this?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but mutter.

    It was now that the system suddenly sent out a new notification.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA NODE DETECTED: Intercepted sessfully

    ANALYZING: Large sized Data node identified

    бкбк

    Seeing this Lin Wu was surprised and wondered if the Data node was from the smoke that was forcing its way into Shirong''s body.

    ''May as well see what this is. At least till its time for the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle to wake up or for the barriers to copse.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Alright system, show me what the data node contains." Lin Mu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DECOMPRESSING DATA NODE: Please wait a moment

    DATA NODE DECOMPRESSED: Transmitting data

    бкбк

    Once the system gave the final input, Lin Wu''s vision went dark. Then he felt a splitting headache, as if a mountain of information had just been crammed into his head and it was all threatening to burst out.

    "ARGH! Dammit! Filter this out system!" Lin Wu yelled.

    With that order, the information that was rushing into his mind slowed down and became a bit more streamlined. But even then it felt a bit too much for Lin Wu to focus on. It was as if he was trying to do hundreds of things at once and nothing made sense.

    A few things even started to appear in his vision but they flitted by so fast he could not pay attention to them. It seemed to him like he was flowing through a river of memories and a lot of them were jumbled up.

    There were tides in this river of memories as some went up and some went down. Some were more turbulent while some were calmer. Overall Lin Wu knew that perhaps this was the most amount of information he was being given at once.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Processing limits reached

    DATA BANKS: Saturating!

    EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: Activated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was stunned upon seeing these warnings and knew that the system was in trouble now. It had not had such kinds of problems since his cultivation base had increased as the system''s capabilities increased along with it.

    But he didn''t have to worry for long since the system took corrective measures in a bit.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING ADDITIONAL PROCESSING POWER: Computational A.I.''s Added

    COMPUTATIONAL A.I. NUMBER 3: Activated

    DATA BANKS: Upper capacity increased

    бкбк

    Once the third Computation A.I. was activated, Lin Wu felt the load on his mind significantly reduced and he could think straight again. If before he was flowing along with the river of memories while being tossed in it from time to time, now it was like he was floating above the river while being able to observe it more properly.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    Lin Wu couldn''t help but take a breath of relief as the strain on his mind reduced.

    "Now let''s see what all this isбн" Lin Wu muttered before picking a random ce to start from.

    The scene in front of Lin Wu changed and what reced it was a pool of ck tar. The tar looked to be still but there were still some movements from time to time. The pool of tar stayed in the same state for an unknown amount of time before it suddenly started to bubble.

    The bubbling continued to get more and more intense before finally, it exploded. And from the explosion appeared a being that looked like a bare human skeleton. It had no skin, no flesh, no organs. All that was present on it were white bones.

    The skeleton flew up in the sky and pointed towards a pool of tar that had be quite reduced in quantity than before. The tar started to flow up towards him before forming into a ck robe with a hood.

    The robe was over the side and his hands and legs could not be seen from it, thereby hiding the skeletonpletely. With this done, the skeleton flew up in the sky and disappeared.

    Lin Wu was rather shocked seeing this as he could feel the aura of the skeleton from this memory. It was easily the strongest being he had felt till now and could easily bepared to some of the beings shown in the memories of the Taiji Celestial.

    "This skeletonбн it''s the skull god isn''t itбн or rather the cultivator that became the skull godбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The pool of ck tar was also a bit familiar to Lin Wu. It was just like the corrupting fluid that was left behind by the Shadow cmity. But here it looked like it had done somethingpletely different.

    This confirmed to Lin Wu that the Skull god was definitely linked to the Taiji Celestial and might even be a by-product of his ''evil counterpart'' which was nothing but the shadow cmity. Lin Wu also knew that while the Taiji Celestia had eliminate most of the traces of the Shadow Cmity, there were still some hidden traces that were missed by him.

    That was entirely the reason why Taiji Celestial had left behind his inheritance.

    "If the Taiji Celestial can leave behind his inheritance then perhaps one of his ''seeds'' also left behind its own inheritance and it ended up being taken by this Skull god." Lin Wu understood.

    He continued to watch the memories and waited for the new one to load.

    In the new memory, Lin Wu could see the skull god standing on arge podium whilemanding arge army below him. He pointed it towards what looked like a massive city and sent them off to battle.

    The soldiers killed their way to the city only to be stopped by a few strange cultivators. The skull god didn''t act through and simply watched as the two armies killed each other until only he and three other cultivators were left.

    Here started the battle between the skull god and the three cultivators. They were different from normal humans though and were far taller, being at least three meter tall. They also had a few long feathers arising from the back of their necks and they were of different colors for each person.

    Their faces looked like that of normal humans except for perhaps their noses being sharper.

    An intense battle ensued between the skull god and the three cultivators which resulted in mutual destruction. The skull god was killed when one of the cultivators chose to self detonate while holding on to him.

    This led to an area of over a thousand kilometers being reduced to dust, leaving behind a massive crater at the bottom of which roaring magma could be seen. Just from this, one could imagine how deep it went.

    The memory ended here and left Lin Wu curious about what happened next.

    "Is there more? Ugh! Finding anything in this chaos is impossible. All of the memories are broken in fragments and are in no proper order." Lin Wu understood upon sifting through a few of them.

    Lin Wu could not estimate which memory came first and which one waster. All he could do right now was to hope that he could match them up ording to the difference in the events of those memories.

    At least from the two that he watched, he could tell that the first one that he saw was definitely set earlier than the one he watched just now.

    "The first should be how the skull god was born perhaps and the one that I saw might beбн his death?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    He looked in the river of memories and picked on that seemed to be the closest.

    The scene in front of him changed to that of a starry sky.

    "No waitбн this isn''t skyбн this isбн the outer space isn''t it?" Lin Wu realized.

    Here the skull god could be seen traveling on arge ship that was made fully out of bones. The five great masts of the ship were made from long bones that were straight and rigid, while the keel of the ship was made from the spine of some kind of a creature.

    The ship soared thorough the space and passed by countless stars and asteroids. It sometimes came acrosss and worlds, ravaging them. Some of thes though were clearly avoided by the ship as if scared of them and some areas were bypassed as well.

    "Huhбн is he a space pirate or something?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

 Chapter 427 - Flat Earthers Paradise?

    Lin Wu watched on the hundreds of exploits of the Skull god.

    He was literally the same as a pirate, plundering and killing, except it was not ships that he plundered but rather entires and worlds. This also gave Lin Wu some new information.

    "Huhбн t earthers would have a great time hereбн their life long wish gets to be fulfilled." Lin Wu said upon seeing the many t worlds that floated in the space.

    Not only were theres, but there were also t masses ofnd that floated around the space. Most of these were artificially made though and were run by strong cultivators. Though they were also called as worlds and were big enough to be called that.

    An envelope of protective barriers surrendered them, thus allowing its atmosphere to exist normally unlike thes that did so due to their gravity and revolution. This was also the reason why the words ''World'' and s'' were so often used interchangeably.

    There weres that were worlds and tnd masses that were worlds, too. Of course, seeing this, Lin Wu was greatly interested in whether the t earther theories woulde true or not.

    He saw that when someone reached the edge of the world, they did not fall rather, they simply appeared on the exact opposite side of the world. This allowed Lin Wu to understand that there was additional consideration made in the making of these worlds.

    There were even specific spatial formations that bend the space such that it allowed the edges of the world to be linked despite being separate.

    As for how someone left the world? It was simple, they could either go straight up or straight down. The bottom of the world was actually not inhabited and was just a mass of barren rock.

    Of course, this was just one of the examples of t worlds that Lin Wu saw and there were many more that used both surfaces of the world for living space.

    Lin Wu got to learn of artificial cradle worlds that were made by strong cultivators. These were made with the intention of rearing true talent that waspletely uninfluenced by any other cultivator.

    "Huh, never thought I''d get to see free range organically grown humans tooбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu couldn''t really understand the reason behind why the cultivators would make something like this thought.

    ''If they wanted talent, can''t they just get their own world''s people? What''s the use in making a world with humans that know nothing of the world, not even that they are an experimentбн'' Lin Wu wondered.

    It was also impossible for him to understand just how strong these cultivators were to be able to make worlds such as these as the Skull god avoided them entirely due to fear. This at least allowed Lin Wu to ce the skull god in a power structure.

    So far he had it as:

    The Taiji Celestial> Artificial World making Cultivators> owning cultivators> Skull god> The rest.

    The Skull god fought many worlds and waged hundreds of wars, bing the ruler of the worlds he found to be valuable to keep, while destroying those that were not worth in his eyes.

    It was during this time that he officially came to be known as the ''Skull God''.

    "So the power and influence over multiple words is what gave him the title." Lin Wu said, thinking more. "But that''s all it isбн a title with no actual power behind it. There is no way he''s actually a god." Lin Wu understood.

    The memories continued to flow and ebb as Lin Wu went deeper and deeper. Eventually, he came across a memory that told him about the realms that existed above the Immortal Ascension realm!

    "BINGO! NOW THAT''S SOMETHING WORTH WATCHING!" Lin Wu said in excitement as he hurriedly pulled the memory pulled out.

    The scene in front of Lin Wu changed and as a surprise to him, he saw a young boy. The child seemed to be of ten years of age and was wearing blue Daoist robes. He was sitting in what looked like arge ssroom and there were hundreds of other children such as him there.

    ''A school?'' Lin Wu guessed, but upon seeing the cultivation bases of all the children here, he couldn''t help but be astounded.

    "WHAT THE FUCK! All the kids are in the Nascent Soul realm!" Lin Wu eximed in shock.

    "What kind of a world is this? What level is it even at?" Thousands of questions poured into Lin Wu''s mind as he watched the ss proceed.

    Most of the content of the ss was cultivation guidance and theories that even Lin Wu knew, but some of them intrigued Lin Wu.

    "This is definitely a high leveled cultivation world. At least far higher than this one." Lin Wu added.

    While Lin Wu didn''t know if this was an average school or some high ss sect, either way, its standard seemed to be much higher than that of the Ming Dao world. Not to mention, just the children in this ss could easily match most of the experts of Ming Dao world alone.

    "Damnбн just want kind of ss fights must they have? A simple argument might lead to mountains upon mountains being eliminated." Lin Wu wondered.

    He could tell that all these were truly children and not just cultivators that looked to be young. Thus conflicts and arguments amount them must be incrediblymon as was in all school going children.

    The lessons continued for hours upon hours, such that even Lin Wu was getting tired.

    "Damn, hasn''t it already been a day for them?" Lin Wu estimated.

    But despite that, they kept on going and more time passed. This was the longest continuous memory Lin Wu had seen and was one of the bigger fragments in the river of memories.

    "At least the system is getting a lot of new data, aren''t you system?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Affirmative!"

 Chapter 428 - What Is Above Immortal Ascension Realm?

    While Lin Wu was getting bored in the lecture, the system had sent out several notifications regarding the analysis for cultivation techniques that Lin Wu had obtained previous.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TASKS COMPLETED: бн(see list)

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    "Oh my, just this lecture managed to speed up the system''s analysis by this much. Guess this was not a waste at all and was rather a bargain!" Lin Wu understood.

    Now, in addition to the Immortal Sky Shaker art and Undaunted Sapphire body art, Lin Wu had a hundred more cultivation techniques that he could use if need be. But Lin Wu knew that the system had already ranked them ording to the benefits. And since they didn''t pick the system''s attention, Lin Wu decided to put them on the back burner.

    "If need be, I''ll let the system do a further analysis and see if anything can be made from all the weaker cultivation techniquesбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    And just as he did this, he heard a sentence that pulled his full attention.

    "Teacher, what realms lie above the Immortal Ascension realm?" The child that Lin Wu had seen at the start of the memory questioned.

    "Ah! Here''s the part I came for!" Lin Wu said as he watched it with his full focus.

    "You kids shouldn''t worry about the realms that exist above the Immortal Ascension realm for now. Remember, if you want to graduate to the next grade you have to reach the Dao Shell realm first." The Teacher sternly spoke.

    Lin Wu tried to estimate the cultivation base of the teacher but waspletely unable to do so. To him he the teacher looked to have no aura or spirit Qi fluctuations, which only happened if the man was amon human or had a cultivation base that was many times above Lin Wu.

    "System, you got any guess as to what realm he''s at?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Teacher is above the Immortal Ascension realm.

    бкбк

    Seeing the answer, Lin Wu didn''t know whether tough or not.

    "You''ve learned to joke now too, huh? Systemбн" Lin Wu said with a knowing tone.

    The system didn''t reply to him though and Lin Wu just focused back on the ss.

    "<em>Please~ Teacher~</em> We''ll be good students and do our best to reach it!" the child said, while giving the teacher a pleading look.

    The stern teacher looked at him for a while before softening.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Fineбн But I won''t be giving any details about it as it will only disturb your Dao hearts!" The Teacher replied.

    "That''s fine teacher." The child said.

    "YAAYYYY!!!" Upon hearing the answer from the teacher, the rest of the ss couldn''t help but shout out in excitement.

    Seeing this made Lin Wu smile wryly.

    "Man, if I didn''t know these kids could causally p a dinosaur to death, I would have definitely thought this was just a normal ss." Lin Wu said to himself.

    The teacher then red at the students, prodding them to be silent.

    "Now then, listen carefully as I''ll only say this once." The teacher warned before taking a deep breath.

    "You all must know the Immortal Ascension realm is one of the Ascension realms and has no specific stage within it. The Ascension of a cultivator depends on many factors but it''s chiefly due to two; first, theirprehension and second, the world they live in.

    Our world is in the Immortal Realm and as such, the second factor does not apply to us. In the Mortal worlds though, when a cultivator reaches the Immortal Ascension realm, they mustprehend the Dao using their Dao embryo and make it grow.

    Only when it reaches a suitable level where the world determines that it is at its limit does it allow one to ascend. Of course, different worlds have different conditions on this and some can only support the ascension of only a few Immortal Ascension realm cultivators every few millennia.

    Mortal worlds need to use their own energy to make the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators ascend and open the gates between the greater void and the Grand Void, allowing the cultivator to cross over.

    Once they sessfully cross over, they arrive in a ce called as the Ascendence tform. These are nothing but the linking gates that connect a lower world with a higher world.

    You all must remember the field trip we took two months ago. That ce was the Ascendence tform. That is where the cultivators from the lower worlds arrive into ours. Of course, there are many such tforms in myriads of worlds.

    Some worlds have definite links, while some are random. The mortal worlds that are not linked with an Ascendence tform either randomly form a link with the closest tform, or forcefully push out the cultivator into the Greater Void.

    The second situation only happened, if the said mortal world has been isted for a long time and is located extremely far from an Ascendence tform.

    Only when they sessfully reach it are they considered to have broken through. It is at this point that their cultivator base starts to progress and they be what is known as False Immortals.

    At this point, if their talent is high and their foundation stable, they will have their first Immortal Tribtion. There are seven such tribtions and each one varies and also gives the sub realms their names.

    The sub realms of Immortal Ascension realms start from the First Tribtion Immortal, second tribtion immortal, all the way to the Seventh Tribtion immortal.

    Each tribtion can be taken independently and at anytime a cultivator wants. Since they correspond to a specific element, they could undergo the tribtion of that specific element.

    For example, if a cultivator has an affinity with the fire element, they might want to undergo that tribtion first, thereby increasing their strength. And if they are not confident with a certain element, they might take itter.

    Such are the realms above the Immortal Ascension realms." The teacher concluded the lesson, enlightening the children and Lin Wu as well.

 Chapter 429 - Higher Speed And Higher Energy?

    Lin Wu was astounded upon hearing the realms above the Immortal Ascension realm.

    "They are rather simple and don''t have much differentiation other than the fact that one needs to ovee tribtion. And even those can be picked ording to the preference of the cultivator.

    Hmmбн all this seems too simpleбн what''s the catch?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He wanted to watch more, but the memory ended here, leaving him unsatisfied.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I guess, I just gotta see another oneбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he sifted through the memories.

    One by one, he watched tens upon tens of memories, learning about a lot of things that he didn''t know previously and a lot of useless things as well. The system was steadily recording everything, thus Lin Wu was pleased with that at least.

    Now if he came across these things in the future, he would know about them beforehand. Plus, the analytical speed of the system was also improving due to the updates on the Data banks.

    Most of the things he learned were smaller nuances of the cultivation world and information about the various items and techniques of the world. Unfortunately, Lin Wu was unable to obtain any cultivation technique or skill from this, as most of the memories were iplete.

    "Just how long have I been here for and how much time has passed?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: It has been 17.43 seconds in the real world since the host appeared in the river of memories.

    бкбк

    Seeing this Lin Wu couldn''t help but be shocked.

    "Damn! The time difference is massive!" Lin Wu said. "But how?" he asked.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: All these memories have already been loaded into the system. The host is merely viewing them as the system analyzes them.

    бкбк

    "Wait a minuteбн you mean to say, I''m inside you now, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s consciousness is currently within in the system''s analytical circuits. Usually, the system would read through the memories and analyze them ording to the order they appear in but with the host picking them, the system is merely shifting the order.

    бкбк

    Seeing the exnation of the system, Lin Wu finally understood how it was happening.

    "But this still doesn''t exin the time differenceбн I''ve easily spent hundreds of hours'' worth of time in those memories." Lin Wu replied.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: While the host''s consciousness is here, it will be synced with the clock speed of the system. The passage of time in the real world is irrelevant here. With the addition of moreputational AI''s the speed of the system will increase.

    бкбк

    Learning all this, Lin Wu couldn''t help but feel astounded.

    "Damn, even at threeputation AI''s it is already this fast. If more of them are added, just how fast will the processing even get?" Lin Wu wondered.

    With Lin Wu''s current cultivation base, the system could activate threeputation A.I.''s in addition to the main one.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Thinking about this won''t do me good. Just gotta focus on the task at hand, I''ll unlock more of them as I increase my cultivation anywayбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he started to look through the memories again.

    What he was doing right now was pretty much the same as looking at the cover of a book and picking it. Though it was not exactly like that, since he could see a few snippets from the memories as well.

    "That one!" Lin Wu picked a memory upon hearing a very interesting word.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The scene in front of him changed and a court appeared. Lin Wu could see the Skull god sitting at the head of the hall while his subordinates sat in two rows in front of him. They seemed to be discussing something.

    "Skull Lord, we have found several traces of the spirit Qi signature that you told us to search." One of the subordinates of the Skull God spoke.

    It was evident that this happened a while ago when the Skull God wasn''t known as ''god'' but just a ''lord''. The subordinate of the skull god also looked like a normal human, though not all of them were like this.

    There were several other races mixed in as well that had various other features, such as horns, feathers, ws, and many more. Diversity was abundant in the court of the skull god, but the one thing inmon was that all of them exuded a dark aura from them.

    ''They are definitely at the False Immortal Realm or above that.'' Lin Wu thought upon sensing their presence.

    It was far stronger than the aura of an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator that Lin Wu had experienced in some other memories. The thing that differentiated them from the Immortal Ascension realm and other realms below was that there wasn''t just spirit Qi fluctuationsing from them, but also another type of Qiбн The Immortal Qi.

    This prompted Lin Wu to remember the unknown type of energy the system had found in the beast carapace fragment when it had injured Shirong before.

    "Could that unknown energy be Immortal Energy?" Lin Wu wondered.

    "Negative." The system suddenly replied.

    "Huh? What do you mean system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The energy signature of the Immortal Qi does not match that of the Unknown energy. But its simrity to Immortal Qi is more than that of the spirit Qi, which ording to calctions, is likely to be an even higher rank of energy.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu didn''t know what to think of after hearing this. Even Immortal Qi was something that was quite far from his current level, not to mention whatever the unknown energy was.

    "I''ll think of thatter, or it''ll just bug my mind for a long time." Lin Wu muttered to himself and shook his head.

    He looked back at the memory and saw the Skull god raise his head, or rather, his skull. He had no eyes and thus the empty eye sockets red at the subordinate that had spoken.

 Chapter 430 - The Skull Gods Plan?

    "He''s not that creepy, now that I look at him." Lin Wu spoke upon seeing the skull of the skull god.

    "Speakбн" The Skull god spoke in a voice that was cold and airy.

    "Okay, I take that back. He''s still creepy." Lin Wu immediately changed his stance upon hearing the skeleton''s voice.

    He had no flesh and thus no vocal cords. How he was speaking right now, was a mystery to Lin Wu.

    "Aren''t undead skeletons supposed to have mes or something burning in their eyes or body? This guy ispletely bare. If he was ced in a museum, one would think he was just a showpiece." Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    The subordinate of the Skull god nodded his head before continuing to speak.

    "The traces of the Qi signature were found in an upper tier mortal world called as the Ming Dao world." The subordinate spoke.

    "Mingбн Daoбн Worldбн" The Skull God repeated.

    This was the word that had pulled Lin Wu''s attention when picking from thousands of memories.

    "Here we go, let''s see what you have to sayбн" Lin Wu muttered as he watched on with full attention.

    After a minute''s pause, the Skull God spoke again.

    "Tell me more about this world." The Skull God ordered.

    "There are no particrly interesting points about this world, except for the fact that we also detracted signs of the Guardian beasts there." The subordinate spoke.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Hearing this, the skull god gripped the handle of his throne tightly, breaking it in a second.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The other subordinates of the Skull god got scared and swallowed their saliva. They knew that their master was upset upon hearing this and they did not want him to let out his rage upon them.

    While it was rare for their master to get angry, whenever he did, it would easily result in the death of several thousand beings.

    "They are pestsбн putting their im to each worldбн thinking they can be the rulersбн everywhereбн" The Skull god muttered to himself.

    While others could not hear his word, Lin Wu could clearly do.

    "Huh? im to a world?" Lin Wu wondered what the skeleton was meaning by this.

    "How do you want us to proceed, my lord? We won''t be able to go there the normal way, our galleon will be blocked by the greater void''s barriers even before we reach the Ming Dao world.

    And if we forcefully navigate through the void by taking a longer route, descending into the Ming Dao world would definitely bring the attention from the Guardian Beast temple. If their nearby branches detect it and send one of their members, we won''t be able to resist." The subordinated exined further.

    The Skull God steed silent for a while, as if deep in thought.

    "This Ming Dao Worldбн does it have any Immortal Ascension realm cultivators?" The Skull God questioned.

    "From what we detected on the scans, there might be a couple of them. But this is not fully urate as the distance between us and the Ming Dao world is quite far. We are in the Western Immortal Court''s Domain while the Ming Dao worldes under the Northern Immortal Court''s." The subordinate answered.

    "What of the guardian beastsбн have they established their foot hold there yet?" The Skull god questioned.

    "This is the better result we got. As far as we can tell, there are zero traces of them having awakened and no temple has been established there either as we can''t find it on the transmissionwork ording to our spies in the Immortal Court." The Subordinate answered.

    Hearing this, the Skull god tapped his finger on the hand rest a few times before nodding his head.

    "Goodбн at least they are still asleep. As long as the beacons have not been awakened, we still have a chance at this." The Skull God replied.

    "Please tell us how you want us to do it, Lord Skull." The other subordinates of the Skull god responded this time.

    It was evident that the Skull God was putting a lot of emphasis on this world and that meant they would have a chance at pleasing their master. The Skull God looked at his subordinates and thought for a bit before speaking up.

    "Since going there on our own is not an option, and it being a mortal world prevents any immortals from entering, I shall have to send an avatar in." The Skull God spoke.

    <em>~gasp~</em>

    All the subordinates of the Skull God were stunned upon hearing this and couldn''t help but doubt their ears.

    "B-But my lordбн that will weaken youбн Are you sure you want to take this risk?" One of the wolf like subordinates of the Skull God questioned.

    "I amбн but we will not be doing it openly. Noбн that will be a death sentence and will invite the immortal court''s ire." The Skull god replied.

    "Yes, they have us on the cklist. If any of us tried to send an avatar to any mortal world, the immortal Court''s Divine Scrying Pce will detect it." Another subordinate that had the head of an ant spoke.

    "Then how shall we do this?" The human subordinate of the Skull God questioned.

    "We will have to muddy the waters firstбн while we are restricted in interfering in the matters of the mortal worlds, so are the Immortal Courts. As long as the one invading is another mortal world, they will not interfere." The Skull God spoke.

    All of the subordinates of the skull god listened with rapt attention, not wanting to miss anything.

    "Spread a rumor about a hidden mortal world that has immortal treasures among the world travelers. Focus on the world with Ascension tforms that links with Mortal Worlds close to the Ming Dao world. The rumor should eventually find its way to the mortal worlds and they won''t be able to resist." The Skull God exined.

    "THE SKULL LORD IS GENIUS! No one in the immortal court will care for a world that has not produced any Immortals yet."

 Chapter 431 - A Cold Man?

    Lin Wu watched the memory with full interest as it finally revealed how it all happened.

    "Damnбн so the Skull god was behind the invasion of the Ming Dao world too?" Lin Wu was shocked to learn this.

    "But how did he actually enter there, if they were restricted to do so?" Lin Wu wondered and continued watching the memory.

    Thankfully, the memory was longer than this, otherwise Lin Wu would have pulled out his nonexistent hair in frustration.

    The Skull God raised his hand to silence his subordinates that were cheering him on and mainly buttering him up withpliments.

    "The important partes here. Once the invasion of the Ming Dao world has started we will need to send in one of my avatars." The Skull God spoke.

    "What method will we be using, Lord Skull?" the subordinates questioned.

    "Sending one directly will be impossible thus I''ll be sending a sealed wisp of my soul instead." The Skull god answered.

    "Thatбн will you be fine with it, my Lord? Plus, if we send a sealed wisp of your soul, we will have no guarantee that it would be able to awaken and form into an avatar after that." The subordinate asked with concern.

    "Oh, it will definitely awaken. No one will be able to resist the temptation once they find the inheritance with it." The Skull god spoke.

    "I seeбн the ns of my lord are profound and beyond our understanding. We shall do as youmand us." The other subordinates chimed in.

    The Skull god then extended his hand as wisps of ck smoke started toe out of his body. The swirled around his hand before coalescing to form a ck skull. This was the skull that Lin Wu had seen before.

    "No wonderбн so that''s what it was forбн NO, WAIT! If it really is as what this memory says, thenбн DAMMIT! This might be even more dangerous." Lin Wu realized.

    "System, do you have any way to escape quick?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system has already begun the withdrawal process from the Subject''s body. Once the process isplete, the host''s consciousness will return to the Avatar''s body.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu took a breath of relief.

    "As long as I get a chance, I''ll Yeet!" Lin Wu said while looking back at next the memory.

    The scene started to change as the new memory arrived. This time Lin Wu had picked it due to it mentioning the Ming Dao world as well.

    In front of him, a massive forest appeared. There were hundreds of hills and mountains dispersed within it and on them, buildings were built. Each of these buildings had a simr motif imprinted on them which looked like that of a bird.

    Lin Wu though, felt like it was rather familiar.

    "Isn''t thatбн the vermilion bird?" Lin Wu skillfully recognized.

    On one of the more taller mountains, a man who was dressed in a ck robe stood. He had his hands hidden in his sleeves while he crossed them in front of him. His eyes were focused on thergest building built upon a mountain, that were a few tens of kilometer away from him.

    "Elder Hei," A voice called from the back, prompting the man to turn back.

    "Core Disciple Feng," The ck robed man who was evidently named Elder Hei replied.

    "Why do you always stand here, Elder?" The Core disciple named Feng spoke.

    Elder Hei starred at the delicate looking girl that was wearing a red dress with a calm expression on his face.

    "People often stare at things that they desireбн often times they are things they cannot obtainбн" Elder Hei spoke.

    The core disciple had aplex expression on her face upon hearing the elder''s words.

    "I tooбн stare at things that I cannot obtainбн" Core Disciple Feng spoke.

    "Oh? And what is it that you desire?" Elder Hei questioned.

    Upon hearing his question, Core disciple Feng blushed slightly before shaking her head.

    "It''s best not to dwell on things such as these, lest we hurt our Dao Hearts." She replied.

    Elder Feng nodded his head and turned back to look at therge building in the distance.

    "You are correct, Core Disciple Fengбн our Dao hearts need far more protection than we think and desires only tear down those defenses." Elder Hei stated.

    Core Disciple Feng was left staring at his back as a sad expression appeared on her face.

    "Perhaps, I don''t want those defensesбн" She muttered to herself.

    The scene suddenly changed and apletely opposite scenery presented itself to Lin Wu.

    Instead of the calm and serene sect, it was now reced by the fires of destruction and wails of the dying.

    "What the hell happened?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    All the sect buildings had copsed while the mountains had been broken. Some of them even appeared to have been cleaved in half somehow. Wails of people were heard echoing across the area as two people stood on top of the mountain where the sect''s grand pce used to be.

    A woman dressed in a red robe stood on one side while a man in a ck robe stood on the other. Lin Wu recognized them to be the same two people from before, Elder Hei and Core Disciple Feng.

    Blood leaked out from Core Disciple Feng''s lips as she gritted her teeth.

    "Why?" She questioned in a sorrowful tone.

    The ck robed man smiled in response to her question.

    "Haahahah! Ahahaha! You ask me why? It''s been decades since I was promised the position of the sect master, and what do I get? Nothing! I''ve served as the high elder of the Vermillion sect for a thousand years!

    And nowбн a random disciple gets the approval of the inheritance temple and bes the sect master? NEVER!" The ck robed man answered, his voice distorting at the end.

    Hearing this, the woman flinched, as if she had been hurt once more.

    "Is that all I was for you? Some random disciple?!" She asked out loud.

 Chapter 432 - Defeat?

    Lin Wu was really intrigued at this point and felt as if he was at the edge of his seat.

    "Damn! This is some good drama! Where''re my snacks?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    "Hmph! You were just lucky enough to get the approval. Who else doesn''t know that the bloodline crystal only responds to those that have the least of their ownбн humanityбн" The man replied.

    "If I wanted to, I could have gained it a long time ago, but I kept my integrity. I''m not like those three ns who decided to give up their humanity to take up beast bloodlines!" the ck robed man replied, his voice changing once again.

    "I did my best, served the sect. Wonurels for it in the tournaments, gained hundreds of cultivation techniques, refined pillsбн all to help the sect. And yetбн THEY CHOSE YOU!!!" He yelled, this time his voice turning inhuman.

    The woman watched on as the man showed his true self. His right hand and the right side of his face turned into a skeletal figure, while the left style maintained his flesh.

    "And for all thatбн you destroyed our sect? Your sect?" The woman questioned.

    "HAHAHA! If I knew this was going to happen, I would have done this way sooner. If I knew, I would have killed you the day you were born!" The man answered.

    The woman felt lost at this and didn''t know anything other than despair and sorrow.

    "Now you have lost everything, the very thing you set out to gain, you have destroyed itбн by your own hands!" She said in anger.

    Hearing this, the man grinned, his half skeletal face looking terrifying.

    "Oh? Not at allбн Rather, I have molded them just the way I want them to be!" The man said as he spread his hands wide apart.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    A dark wave of energy spread out from him as it started to take over everything. The red robed woman was not affected though as a Vermillion me surrounded her, preventing the dark energy from touching her.

    The Dark energy seeped into the ground, turning it foul, it seeped into the trees, warping them beyond recognition and dposing the leaves, it seeped into the bodies of those that were alive and those that were dead, reducing them to skeletons.

    Their wails could no longer be heard as an eerie silence spread across the area.

    "WOO!!!"

    "WOO!!!"

    "WOO!!!"

    A minuteter, the dark energypletely infected thend and soon, specters started to arise from the dead skeletons. These looked the same as the people that had died and were evidently their ghosts.

    "MO HEI! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" The red robed woman yelled in absolute horror.

    "HAHAHA! This shall be the face of the sect nowбн no more is it the Vermillion sectбн it shall now be calledбн THE SKULL GOD SECT!" Mo Hei proimed.

    The woman''s eyes were bloodshot as mes of anger burned within them.

    "You are no longer the same man you wereбн the man that cared for the sectбн the man I lovedбн" The woman said as she then stared into the empty eye sockets of the man.

    A determined expression appeared on her face as she waved her hands, spreading the mes around.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    The Vermillion mes dispersed the dark energy around her and kept on expanding till they reached the end of the sect.

    Seeing this Mo Hei, who had nearly turned into a skeleton, scoffed.

    "There''s no use, my miasma cannot be destroyed by those mes of your bloodline. You gave you your human bloodline and took up a beasts'' bloodline which is far inferior to mine." Mo Hei stated.

    "What foolishness! And you think you are any more human than me? Look at yourself! You are a monster!" The red robed woman replied.

    "If anyone else were to see us two? Who do you think they will call a human, huh?" She taunted.

    This one sentence of hers irked the man to no end.

    "HONG FENG YOU DARE!!!" Mo Hei shouted, his anger zing just like the mes around him.

    He raised his skeletal hand as the dark energy coalesced around it to form a ck de. The de directly merged with his hand, turning into a single entity. Eerie ck smoke rose from it, tainting the surroundings even more.

    Mo Hei raised the sword up high and shed towards Hong Feng, sending out thousands of smaller ck des.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Hong Feng withdrew a small mirror from her storage treasure and tried to defend against the attack. She managed to block most of them, but a few of them still hit her arms and legs, making her grunt in pain once again.

    "You won''t get away with this Mo Hei! I won''t let you!" Hong Feng dered.

    "Ahahah! I''ve never heard a better joke before. How do you think you will do that? Look around, you have no one left, no disciples, no elders, no masterбн NOTHING! YOU HEAR NOTHING!" Mo Hei replied in a humiliating tone.

    Hong Feng pursed her lips and looked around her. The ghosts kept on being born and all of them had pained expression. They wailed and wailed, as if their existence was pure torture. Her mes that had been pushed away touched them and made them hurt even more.

    "This is just agony for themбн if I leave them like this, they will never enter the cycle of reincarnation and find peaceбн" Hong Feng muttered to herself.

    She closed her eyes and thought of a solution before opening them back again. This time though, her eyes were calm. No longer was there any sorrow in them, nor was there any anger. All that was left was sheer, cold, determination.

    "Perhaps this is a mistake on my end as well, and I ignored a lot of your actions over the years. I let you do things that were forbidden by the sect and turned a blind eye to the disciples you killed at a whim. Nowбн now I need to repent. Not only for myselfбн but also for you." Hong Feng said, her voice clear and crisp.

 Chapter 433 - Self-Sacrifice?

    Lin Wu was almost on the edge of the seat as he watched the climax of the memory.

    "Dang, this is way better than the dramas I''ve seen before. The real thing is way better than the CGI." Lin Wu said upon seeing the progression.

    Hong Feng had tears in her eyes now that she looked at Mo Hei in front of her.

    "I shall end this allбн The Vermillion sect may not exist anymore, but I''ll ensure what happened to you will never happen again. Whatever beingбн beastбн thing that has taken over you, it shall never return!" Hong Feng dered, hear voice rumbling across the skies.

    Lin Wu suddenly felt her aura rise by the sect. At first, she was only at the Shell initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm but it jumped to the Shell Expansion stage in less than five seconds and then directly broke through to the Dao Treading realm!

    "Big words for someone that is going to die by my hands soon!" Mo Hei scoffed at the woman.

    But just as he was about to act, he saw something that stirred his mind and made him shudder.

    "Thatбн how can it be?" Mo Hei said as he saw a dagger appear in the hands of Hong Feng.

    Lin Wu also saw the dagger and found it to be rather unique. The dagger had a red crystalline de on which several gemstones were embedded. It only had a single edge while on the other edge a serpent was carved.

    The handle of the dagger was made out of some kind of polished bone and was carved with hundreds ofplex runes, that even the system could not decipher.

    "What is that system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system is unable to analyze the runes and formations on the dagger due to limited input, but ording to calctions it is likely to be an immortal tool.

    бкбк

    Hearing the two worlds ''Immortal Tool'' made Lin Wu''s eyes go wide.

    "An immortal toolбн a true one at thatбн" Lin Wu muttered in surprise.

    He knew how much Shirong was excited at gaining a Pseudo Immortal tool, which Lin Wu was disguising as or rather was still disguised at. Even at his current capabilities, Shirong considered him to be a sealed immortal tool.

    Lin Wu didn''t even know what a true immortal tool could do. Even the records and documents that he had seen till now didn''t really do much justice to them as they merely describe some surface level abilities and such, in addition to the appearance of the immortal tools.

    In this world, even a pseudo immortal tool was a powerful item that there were only a handful of. The appearance or creation of each pseudo immortal tool brought with it a great time of upheaval.

    Lin Wu couldn''t even imagine what kind of an uproar a true immortal tool would cause.

    "Waitбн but why can''t the power be felt from the Dagger?" Lin Wu wondered.

    But then he got his answer automatically as he saw what happened next.

    Hong Feng held the dagger and looked at it with teary eyes. She then turned it around, holding the handle in a reverse grip as the de of the dagger pointed towards her chest instead.

    Mo Hei didn''t know why but he was not feeling good. While he could not tell what the dagger in the hands of Hong Feng was, he felt strange seeing it. He himself was a formation master and should have been able to decipher the runes that were carved on it in less than a second.

    But he found himself to be at a lost.

    ''It can''t be an Immortal Tool, can it?" Mo Hei wondered.

    The second thing that added to his shock was that Hong Feng had stabbed the dagger into her chest without hesitation. Mo Hei knew very well what self damaging actions like these meantбн A sacrificial technique.

    Sacrificial techniques were final gambits for cultivators which they only used in the moments of life and death. The stronger a cultivator was the more dangerous a technique could get. While Mo Hei was confident of being able to defend against many experts he did not dare to specte about immortal tools.

    He himself was at the Dao Treading realm and with the assistance, his new bloodline had provided him, he was confident of defeating even Immortal Ascension realm cultivators. Even if they had pseudo immortal weapons or tools, he would not be afraid either as he had his own trump cards to use.

    But the woman in front of him, unnerved him. The bloodline that she had was something that repulsed his own and made him feel disgusted. He knew that whatever that bloodline was, it could possibly beparable to his own, despite the fact that he detested every bit of it.

    Just as he was thinking all this, Hong Feng moved.

    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Mo Hei shouted in fear.

    "AWAKEN!" Hong Feng shouted as she stabbed the dagger into her heart.

    As soon as the dagger was fully inserted into her heart, it started to glow. Rune upon rune lit up as a massive spirit Qi wave poured out from the dagger. Blood started to spill from her wound in the chest, but it did not drip down.

    Rather, it was being steadily absorbed by the dagger. The gems that were embedded in it shone with a bright light and then suddenly fell dim.

    "What have you done?" Mo Hei questioned, seeing the life draining from Hong Feng''s body.

    "Letбн thisбн worldбн beбн cleansed!" Hong Feng said with all her might.

    As the final word spilled out of her lips, her entire body lit up with Vermillion mes.

    <em>~PIIIIIIIIII~</em>

    An earth shattering cry was hearding from deep within Hong Feng''s body as it started to float up. An illusory figure of a massive bird formed in front of her as it stared at her. Looking at the beast a smile appeared on her face.

    "I''m sorryбн" She muttered.

 Chapter 434 - Climax?

    When Lin Wu saw the appearance of the illusory bird, he knew exactly what it was.

    "THE VERMILLION BIRD! She managed to summon it?" Lin Wu said in shock.

    The Vermillion bird''s illusory figure stared at Hong Feng as she and Mo Hei stared at the illusory figure in turn.

    "I''m Sorryбн I won''t be able toplete your wishбн I''ll set you free. I hope you find someone betterбн someone, who was intended to get this bloodline and not meбн" Hong Feng said before her eyes closed forever.

    The Vermillion bird''s figure looked at the dead Hong Feng and then let out a piercing cry.

    <em>~PIIIIIIII~</em>

    Hong Feng''s body started tobust and turned into a pure me that flew up and merged into the Vermillion bird''s illusory figure. The figure was now burning and let out a scorching heat.

    The Immortal Weapon dagger that Hong Feng had used floated up from along with the mes as well and entered the illusory figure as well. The Vermillion bird spread its wings and pped, spreading its mes like they were a summer rain.

    The mes licked the ground and banished all the ghosts that had appeared. Along with that, it started to cleanse the sect grounds of the miasma. It flew around the area, letting the mes drop from its body like a cleansing rain, and did the mission it was given.

    "Noбн noбн NOбн NO!!!!" Mo Hei shouted in anger.

    All the work that he had done till now was being undone and he couldn''t do anything to stop it.

    "I need to do somethingбн but what? Those mes are harmful to me as wellбн" Mo Hei muttered to himself as he struggled to defend himself.

    There were mes surrounding him as well, threatening to kill him. Since they were tasked to cleanse this ce of the miasma, Mo Hei who was the biggest source of miasma would be the biggest target.

    ck smoke and shadow surrounded him, trying to prevent the mes from getting closer. But no matter how much Mo Hei tried, the mes kept on getting closer. Their might was also increasing with each passing second.

    Once the vermilion bird finished clearing out the area of all the miasma it turned towards Mo Hei.

    <em>~PIIIIII~</em>

    It let out a loud cry before flying towards him with the intention to kill him. The Vermillion mes raged over its body scorching the air and the earth.

    "I WON''T LET THIS HAPPEN!" Mo Hei shouted in protest and threw his hands forward before making a gestured

    A stream of dark miasma poured out of his hands and formed a shield in front of him.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The Vermillion bird crashed into the miasma shield and continued to force onward. It was evident that the mes were the bane of the miasma and it kept on getting burned due to it. Mo Hei did his best to repel the illusory figure and its mes but was unable to.

    "Thisбн cannot happenбн" Mo Hei said with unwillingness. "I cannot lose to this!"

    But just as he was about to pour more of the miasma into the shield he suddenly felt weak.

    "Huh? What?" Mo Hei muttered as the miasma stoppeding out of his body.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~suck~</em>

    All the remaining miasma started to leave his body and coalesced into a small ck skull in front of him.

    <em>"No! YOU CAN''T LEAVE ME! YOU PROMISED ME!" Mo Hei said, his voice turning lighter and lighter.</em>

    <em>~kakakak~</em>

    The ck skull that had just formed trembled and its jaw shook.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    A sigh escaped it as it looked at Mo Hei and the illusory figure of the Vermillion bird.

    "This n failed as wellбн and aftering so farбн at least I managed to destabilized the temple of the guardian beasts. As long as there is even one beast missing, they will never reach their full potential and I''ll have the opportunity to act in the future.

    All I need to do is make sure the vermilion bird is suppressed. It would be even better if I canpletely eliminate its bloodline from this world." The ck skull spoke.

    Its voice was very low, almost a whisper, and even Mo Hei could not hear it. The only reason Lin Wu could was that this wasposed of its memories as well.

    The ck Skull looked at Mo Hei and spoke, "you were a good vessel, but you didn''t have the one thing that would have helped usбн Luck."

    After saying this and leaving Mo Hei dumbfounded, the ck Skull turned into a stone and fell to the ground.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The shield that had been defending Mo Hei faded away as well and he was finally burned by the Vermillion mes. He didn''t even get to let out a cry before he was reduced to a pile of ashes that disappeared as well.

    The ck skull that had turned to stone, managed to bear being burned by the mes but many cracks had appeared on its surface and it was obvious that if it went past that it would break apartpletely.

    Perhaps it was the ck skull''s luck, but the illusory figure of the vermilion bird seemed to have run out of energy and started to dim down. First, all of its mes faded away and then its figure started to dissipate as well.

    <em>~piiii~</em>

    It looked around and saw that its duty was finished with no miasma left in the area.

    <em>~PIIIII~</em>

    Letting out another cry, the illusory figure of the Vermillion bird started to shrink. Another thing that happened along with this was that the immortal weapon dagger that had been absorbed into it became material again.

    It was covered in cracks as well and looked to be greatly damaged. The illusory figure started to shrink in size and soonpressed to enter the dagger. The crack covered dagger faintly glowed in a Vermillion light before flying straight up into the sky and disappearing.

    And with this, the memory stooped and Lin Wu was sent back to the river of memories.

 Chapter 435 - The Many Vessels Of The Skull God?

    Lin Wu felt a bit overwhelmed having seen all the memories. But he also felt a bit more satisfied as he finally understood all that had happened until now.

    Even if there were several gaps in Lin Wu''s understanding and doubts that he had, his current state was far better than before.

    "Damnбн so much happened and all of it started from that one Skull god. And if I take it even further, then it all started with the Taiji celestial himself. If it were not for one of the tombs being here, perhaps the Skull god would have nevere here and there wouldn''t be all these changes." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He had also gotten to learn a bit more about the four guardian beasts by now. He learned that there were truly four of them but the Skull god had destroyed the sect which was supposed to be the backing for the Vermillion bird here.

    And once that sect was gone, the rest of the area was still destroyed, eventually bing a forbidden area that no one entered.

    "No, waitбн why is the area still like this if the Vermillion bird managed to cleanse everything?" Lin Wu was a bit lost.

    He looked through more memories until eventuallying upon the memory that linked to the one before. Just like before, the scene in front of Lin Wu changed until he could see the same devastating scene as before.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The ground below shook as a crack appeared underneath it and from that crack rose up a temple. The temple was simr to the vermilion bird temples Lin Wu had seen till now, but this one looked well maintained.

    But the one thing that was strange about this temple was the fact that a ck skullid on top of it. This was the container that held the soul fragment of the Skull god. That containerid there till eventually, someone picked it up.

    This man was a Nascent soul realm cultivator who had evidently wandered in to see what had happened in the area.

    "Is this supposed to be the location where the Vermillion sect was located?" The man wondered as he looked at the ck skullying on the temple''s roof.

    "What''s that?" The man said before approaching the skull.

    The moment he picked up the skull, though, his eyes went dull, and he moved around like a puppet. It was evident that he was now being controlled. ck smoke started toe out of the skull before entering the man.

    About five minutester, the process wasplete and the eyes of the man turned ck like coal.

    "DAMMIT! DAMN THAT VERMILLION BIRD!" Suddenly, the man cursed in a hoarse voice. "Six hundred years of work all wasted!" He continued.

    He then looked at the temple below it and suddenly smiled.

    "Don''t think I don''t know of your other temples. I''ll ensure that you are never able to find a foothold in this world. Besides, you are not the only one who made backup nsбн. AHAHAHA!" The man suddenly startedughing, and the memory faded away.

    Lin Wu was taken aback by this sudden ending and was left wanting for more.

    "That''s all? This gives me little to no contextбн <em>~Sigh~</em> I guess I''ll have to figure the rest out on my own." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Still, he was able to make a timeline of events now. He could tell that even at this time, the temple of the three guardians had not been created, which meant that the guardian beasts had not been awakened.

    "I also didn''t see many signs of an invasion there. So either it didn''t happened during this or it happened after it. At least I know that the guardian beasts were awakened when the invasion was at the peak." Lin Wu said to himself.

    "Andбн Mo Hei also talked something about others having beast bloodlinesбн I don''t know if he was referring to the three great ns or not." Lin Wu muttered to himself, but then he shook his head. "No, no, that''s not rightбн the three ns only gained the bloodlines after the three beasts were awakened. This means whoever he was talking about was normal cultivators with beast bloodlines."

    Lin Wu watched a few more memories and learned that his conjectures were true. Apparently, the Mo Hei was not the only vessel of the Skull god. There had been many after that. But thetter ones were hidden well and did all their tasks secretly.

    They were also the reason why no information about the Vermillion sect could be found in the world now. The skull god though, was weakened greatly due to the attack of the vermilion bird back then.

    Due to this, he was unable to keep control of a vessel for longer periods of time and also ended up killing them because of this. And to fix this very problem that he had, he needed the bloodline essence of the vermilion bird.

    "Huhбн so he''s been using the Vermillion bird''s bloodline essence to make an antidote for himself? No wonder he''s been raiding all these temples." Lin Wu understood.

    He also found out that the temples of the Vermillion bird were made by none other than Hong Feng secretly. She had be aware of Mo Hei''s intentions a while ago and the only reason she had not done anything to prevent it was that she loved him.

    "<em>Ah~</em> loveбн makes us do thinks we don''t want to and ignore massive ws of peopleбн" Lin Wu said in an exaggerated tone.

    "At least she had the mind to make backup nsбн or this world might have fallen a long time agoбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    These temples contained the rest of the bloodline crystals and essence of the Vermillion bird that Hong Feng had found. Apparently, she had barely managed to assimte a smidgen of the bloodline herself and even that was only because the vermilion bird assisted her.

 Chapter 436 - Playing The Long Game?

    "Oh? So the Vermillion bird has a mission of its own as well." Lin Wu said as he watched the memories of a jade slip within the memories of the skull god.

    "Didn''t expect she would be foolish enough to store her own memories like this. And she thought they would stay hiddenбн Hahaha!" The current vessel of the skull god said.

    This vessel was a woman and was holding a jade slip that contained the memories of Hong Feng. She had found this jade slip hidden in one of the temples around the area of the sect.

    All these temples were made by the sect''s expert formation masters and were enchanted such that they would appear at random times. This was to give them the chance to allow a lucky person to find them.

    The temple didn''t differentiate between beasts and humans either, and everyone was allowed in it. That was also how the skull god''s vessel had managed to find one. The problem was though that the number of temples was unknown.

    This became a headache to the skull god, as he not only needed to find the bloodline essence to heal himself, but also find more vessels for himself. He had wanted to go out and find better vessels but was restricted to the area of the sect, whichter became the dread coil marsh.

    This was actually due to his own fault. Because of the miasma, he had spread back then, the mes of Vermillion bird had cursed the area. The curse was so strong that it was still maintained.

    The skull god had spent a long time wearing out that curse, which was also why the dread coil marsh only got worse and worse with time. Back when the vermilion bird cleansed it, the area just looked like it had been scorched by a powerful me and that it was destroyed.

    The skull god continued corrupting the area over the years so that he could finally leave the cursed boundary that had been set by the vermilion bird. Even his vessels could not leave the area once he took over them and he needed to use other people that were often under themand of the vessels to do his work.

    That was also how he set up his own temple and became known as a skull god here, too. He gained more followers and let them do his work. But of course, more obstacles arrived in his path, eventually.

    The biggest being nothing but the awakening of the three guardian beasts.

    "How can this be? The guardian temple needs all of them to awaken at the same time for it to work." The skull god said in bewilderment.

    The skull god didn''t even know it was possible for just three of the beasts to awaken. In fact, the reason why he was confident in his ns was because he had essentially taken care of the Vermillion bird.

    As long as even one of the guardian beasts was suppressed, the others should not have managed to awaken. But now that they had, his problems only increased more.

    "Curse themбн whoever did this will pay for it one day! I swear to the heavens!" The skull god''s vessels said.

    The awakening of the guardian beasts served to stopper his progress for many years toe, as he needed to hide most of the time. For over four thousand years, the skull god chose to seal himself and a vessel that he had chosen.

    He decided to wait and see what the future would be like. He didn''t know if the other guardian beasts would send their followers to figure out about the disappearance of the Vermillion bird, but it never happened.

    The skull god spent the four thousand years hiding away and when he finally appeared, he was surprised to find that the world had changed by a lot. No longer were sects at the top, but rather three guardian ns had taken that position.

    "Ahahah! Perfect, this works perfectly for me! This is the first time I''ve seen the sects fall from grace and an independent power taking over the control of the guardian temple." The skull godughed out loud.

    "Seems like I can continue my n steadilyбн only thing is I''ll still need to stay wary of the people that wander into the area and ensure that my existence is not found out and neither is the Vermillion birds." The skull god decided and gave his vessels the rest of the orders.

    Lin Wu then watched on how the organization that the Skull god made rose up. Their main goal was to find the temples of the vermilion bird for now and make sure that no one entered the area of the former Vermillion sect.

    They also managed to finally change the environment of the area into what dread coil marsh looked like now over the years. But this came at a cost, of course. Due to being injured, the Skull god couldn''t fully control the powers that he gave others.

    As a way to entice more followers, he would give them the cultivation methods and skills. So that they could cultivate the shadow Qi that he used. But this was the very thing that limited them as well.

    While it allowed the cultivators to gain power rather quickly, it also sent them to their deaths early on as some parts of the cultivation technique came at the cost of their life force.

    This was also the reason why he didn''t have many followers that had reached a high cultivation base. Over the past two thousand years, he had only managed to gain one follower who had reached the Dao shell realm, and that was the child who Lin Wu and Shirong fought.

    Even that cultivator only survived this long because of the many sacrifices that the skull god did, using the vitality of others to replenish this one follower''s. But it was also this follower that became his main pawn to control.

    "Dayumбн. This guy''s been ying the long game huhбн"

 Chapter 437 - Burning Followers Of The Skull God?

    Having learned of all this, Lin Wu wondered what the Skull god''s next n was. He did know of the end goal, which was nothing but to gain ess to the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, but Lin Wu was sure the man didn''t know if its location.

    In fact, there was literally no one in this world that even knew the tomb existed. Otherwise, there would have been many sects that would have upied the Millennium forest.

    "I bet the tomb of the Taiji Celestial has even more records than what the skull god knows. Maybe I''ll know how the guardian beasts work as wellбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He was just about to look for another memory, when the system sent out a notification.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING: Strong spirit Qi fluctuation detected!

    SPIRIT QI SIGNATURE: Identified- Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle

    бкбк

    As soon as Lin Wu saw it he knew that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle might have finally awakened.

    "System, store the memories forter and eject me from this ce. Quick!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    With Lin Wu''s order, the river of memories faded away, and he was able to see the real world again. He first saw the state of Shirong and saw that half of his body had been invaded by the Skull God.

    ''He''s still hanging onбн'' Lin Wu realized.

    It was now that he heard the followers of the Skull god shouting.

    "WE HAVE DONE IT! THE BARRIERS ARE FINALLY GONE!" One of the Nascent soul realm followers that was dispelling the barriers shouted.

    The prophet of the Skull god looked in the direction and saw that all thirteen barriers were now gone and the main building of the ruins was now visible to them.

    "Finally! After thousands of years! THE GREAT SKULL GOD SHALL HAVE HIS REVENGE!" The prophet shouted.

    His hoarse voice looked eerie whenpared to the child like figure of the man.

    "No bitch, you just courted death!" Lin Wu stated.

    <em>~PIIIII~ </em>

    And just in the next moment, an ear piercing cry of a bird was heard. The cry came from the main building and forced all the followers of the skull god to cover their ears. But this was not all as the Skull god''s avatar that was trying to take over Shirong also halted in its progress.

    "Huhбн I guess it scared you, too. Now to get ready for the main part," Lin Wu said as he prepared for his escape.

    He had already prepared a n and was now executing it. He first used cellr maniption and cellr crystallization to create a replica of the Immortal crystal armament. He then imprinted some information onto it and stored it into Shirong''s spatial storage ring.

    "Now to just wait for the right momentбн" Lin Wu said as he watched on for the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    <em>~PIIII~</em>

    <em>~HUA~</em>

    Another cry came from the building and a jet of mes also shot out from the entrance of the building.

    "AAAHHHHHH!"

    "NOO!!!!!"

    "SAVE US!!!"

    The cry of the followers of the skull god could be heard as they were burned to death by the vermilion mes. Those that were lucky were killed quickly, but those that were the edges of the attack zone were only burned in a few parts of their body.

    "ARGH! THE PAIN!"

    "END THIS!!! NOO!!"

    But the Vermillion mes did not stop there and continued to burn their body, spreading from the ce where they had been burned. This only resulted in them in feeling more pain as they despaired.

    Those who were at the Nascent soul realm were in an even worse situation as they had to feel this severe pain not once but twice. The first time they felt it with their bodies and the second time with their Nascent soul which was burned by the Vermillion mes as well.

    <em>~squeeeee~</em>

    A strange squealing sound came out of the bodies of all the followers that were being burnt, and a mass of ck smoke could be seening out of them. Lin Wu quickly checked it with his spirit sense and realized this was the miasma of the skull god, which was nothing but a secondary substance born from the use of shadow element.

    It was slightly different from normal spirit Qi and had corroding qualities. It would even corrode the cultivators that used it, as could be seen from the memories of the skull god and was bad overall.

    "Perhaps only the skull god who has inherited the ''Hei'' side of the Taiji Celestial might be able to use this without any damage to himself." Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The mes spread from the jet and killed more of the followers of the skull god.

    <em>~PIIIII~</em>

    Another cry came from the main building as the sound of loud steps was heard.

    <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>

    Each step was like a rock pressing upon the heart of a person. As they got closer, the more the followers of the skull god got nervous, if the death of theirpanions was not enough for them already.

    <em>~PIIIII~</em>

    Tworge wings came out from the entrance of the main building as they pped with a colossal push.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    The winds created from this pushed away the broken ruins and debris that was nearby and the pirs that supported the main building''s entrant were directly broken.

    <em>~CRUMBLE~</em>

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    The frontal part of the main building directly copsed due to this, but not before the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle finally appeared on the tform, her body on full disy.

    "Whoa!" Lin Wu was awed at the current appearance of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    "No waitбн is that name even valid now. There''s no way she can still be considered to be a Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle." Lin Wu added after seeing therge bird beast.

    <em>~PIIIII~</em>

    Her cry was like a rion, signaling the death for the follower of the skull god. But in addition to her cry another cry was heard.

    "HOW CAN THIS BE!!!"

 Chapter 438 - Dao Treading Realm Bird Beast?

    The second cry came from the body of Shirong, but not actually from his mouth itself.

    Lin Wu could even see an illusory skull figure forming above his body that looked simr to the actual head of the skull god. It looked in the direction of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and had visible anger as could be seen from the two ck fumesing from its eyes.

    "HOW DO YOU STILL EXIST!?" The Skull god''s avatar shouted.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle to which this question was addressed to, didn''t answer it, however. Rather than that, she let out another cry and pped her Vermillion wings, spreading Vermillion mes from it.

    Lin Wu was awed by her appearance now. She was another size bigger than she was before, reaching a height of almost sixty meters. Her wingspan though was over a hundred meters wide, making it evenrger than Lin Wu''s real body.

    Her entire body was covered with Vermillion feathers that varied in shades of orange and red. At her back, she had one long tail feather on which mes continued to burn and glistened like a liquid.

    Her beak had changed from silver to a golden red now and on her head, two crown feathers could be seen. They swayed in the air while letting out small embers from them. The eyes of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were the most fierce thought.

    Her irises were a deep yellow in color while her pupils were Vermillion in color. Currently, anger could be seen within her eyes and she was clearly agitated by the followers of the skull god.

    <em>~PIIII~</em>

    But that was merely the start as she raised her head and let out a cry.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A red orb suddenly rose up from her body that shimmered like a ruby. If one looked within it, they could see a small me burning. As soon as Lin Mu saw it, he recognized what it was.

    "DAO SHELL! DAO EMBRYO!" Lin Wu said out loud.

    It was confirmed from this that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had now sessfully broken through to the Dao Treading realm. It was evident that she was only at the first stage of the Dao Treading realm right now.

    There were three stages in the Dao Treading realm, the Embryo birth stage, the Embryo growth stage and the Embryo Comprehension stage. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was at the Emery Birth stage and her Dao embryo had just been born.

    This was the stage one would arrive after they sessfully birthed their embryo in the Dao shell in the Dao shell realm. The size of the Dao shell would determine the progression of the Dao embryo and how far they could go.

    This was also the reason why it was often emphasized for one to expand their Dao Shell as much as possible in the Shell expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm. There were many requirements for different kinds of Dao Embryos and some needed a bigger Dao shell than others.

    In the case of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, her Dao shell was even bigger than that of the Aquadream Sea Lotus. That creature was also at the Dao treading realm and Lin Wu was sure that it had progressed quite a bit in that too.

    "Damn! The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s Dao Embryo at the Embryo birth stage is alreadyparable to that of the Aquadream Sea Lotus''s Embryo growth stage Dao Embryo." Lin Wu eximed.

    He could see that the Dao Embryo, which was in the form of a tiny me, was merely the size of a fingernail, while the entire Dao shell was over a meter in diameter. It was evident that there was a lot of room for the embryo to grow there.

    Compared to the Aquadream Sea Lotus''s Dao Shell that was the size of a football, this looked far more massive. Just from this, Lin Wu was sure that if the Aquadream Sea Lotus met the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle again, she would probably be able to fight it on equal terms if notpletely defeat it.

    In addition to that, her Vermillion mes were different from normal Fire Elemental mes. They not only contained the Fire Attribute spirit Qi, but they also contained the traces of the vermilion bird''s Dao!

    With every p of her wings, the mes only spread more and more, purging the followers of the skull god. They were now fast approaching the location where Lin Wu, Shirong, and the prophet of the skull god were, which made Lin Wu wary.

    "Dammit! She''ll burn Shirong and me too, if she keeps this up. I need to warn her!" Lin Wu realized.

    He quickly used his spirit sense to signal the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, but it was impossible to get close to her right now. Not only were the vermilion mes able to burn physical matter, but they were also even able to block, if not damage Lin Wu''s spirit sense.

    Lin Wu knew that if he forced his way, his spirit senses would only get burned and it will hurt him.

    "What other solutions do I have?бнe on, think!" Suddenly an idea was presented to Lin Wu, and he hoped it would work.

    A while back, when Lin Wu had gotten the third stone feather, he had given the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle a jade slip that he had made. This was formunication for when they were separated.

    "Hopefully that jade slip is still intactбн" Lin Wu muttered and tried to contact her.

    But after a few seconds of effort, he received no response, and he realized that her message never reached the other jade slip.

    "FUCK! That jade slip must have been destroyed in her breakthrough or in her mes as well." Lin Wu cursed.

    With each passing second, the Vermillion mes were approaching, and the temperature was increasing more and more.

    With no other option left, Lin Wu decided to do the one thing he could still do.

    "STOP!"

 Chapter 439 - Complete Delete?

    A distorted, monstrous voice spread in the area, shocking everyone that was present. The thing was, this voice didn''te from the prophet, the skull god''s avatar or even the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle.

    Rather, it hade from the armor that Shirong was wearing.

    "Huh? Did the armor justбн Shout?" The prophet was stunned.

    But in response to that shouting, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle controlled her attack. Instead of the mesing straight at them, they split around Lin Wu, devouring the final remnants of the followers of the skull god.

    Now only the skull god''s avatar itself and the prophet were left alive. Even the prophet was only alive because he was close to Lin Wu. Had it not been for the Lin Wu''s shout, all of them would have been wiped out together.

    "What are you doing there?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned from there.

    "I''m back in the armor form and was fighting these followers, keeping them from disturbing you while you assimted the bloodline. But then more of them came, and they started to break the barriers with ease.

    I didn''t know if you would wake up anytime soon, so I did all I could to stall. I also got a lot of news for you that you might liketer. First, you need to get rid of them." Lin Wu answered, twisting the facts a little.

    "Get rid of them? With you there, how do I do that?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked.

    "Just follow my instructions. I''ll actually need you to use your mes on me so that I am able to use them to purge this skull god from instead, while you roast him from the outside." Lin Wu replied.

    "Are you sure? Even I don''t know what the might of these Vermillion mes is now." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle asked again.

    "Yeah, I got a solution for that. And that solution was brought by these very imbeciles." Lin Mu spoke.

    "And what is it that can protect you from the effects of my mes?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle felt curious.

    Currently, the mes of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle were surrounding the skull god''s avatar and the prophet in all directions, preventing them from escaping and giving Lin Wu and the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle to talk.

    The prophet''s jaw was left open as he saw an armor and a great beast such as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle talking to each other. While the voice of Lin Wu was rather monstrous. He could tell that they were actually having rather meaningful conversations.

    The Skull god''s avatar was the same and felt shocked at this.

    "ENOUGH!" The Skull god yelled. "Retreat for now!" he ordered.

    There were only a few stragglers that were left outside of the ruins and thus when they heard this, their own great Skull god telling to retread, all the honor and awe about the skull god was currently nowhere to be seen.

    "AHA! I got you where I want you. How dare you escape!" Lin Wu said, forcibly controlling the body of Shirong.

    Even if he no longer had the nervous control of Shirong, Lin Wu could still use his body''s shape to force the man into moving. And that was all needed as no matter how much the skull god tried, he could not move the body.

    But soon he felt an even more intense force pushing in from the inside. This was the force exerted by Lin Wu.

    "You asked me what I had to be able to resist this, now behold," Lin Wu spoke as a red crystal appeared over his body.

    As soon as the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle saw the crystals, her eyes went wide and she recognized it.

    "A bloodline essence crystal? Where did you get one, I thought I ate all that we found? The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    "I got this from these people. They apparently had some stores of them left, but most of them were used by the Skull god to fix his curse. It was a curse that could have said be put on by another strong beast that is none other than the vermilion bird." Lin Wu exined while making up facts.

    "With this crystal, I should be able to increase my resistance to mes even those at the level of the vermilion bird." Lin Wu stated before consuming thest bit of the bloodline essence crystal.

    The movement, he did several different changes happened in his body. Not only did the spirit Qi started to increase, but other parts of his body did too. Lin Wu continued on, letting the system send its notifications.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE ESSENCE CRYSTAL CONSUMED: Essence stored.

    ADDING BLOODLINES: Please wait a moment.

    .

    .

    .

    Bloodline Addition: Completed.

    NEW BLOODLINE ADDED: Vermillion bird ( fragmented)

    INNATE SKILLS OBTAINED: Fire resistance, me Maniption.

    бкбк

    Seeing the innate skills Lin Wu realized he was on the right track.

    "DO IT NOW!" Lin Wu shouted again.

    While the two cultivators might not be able to do anything to others.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "NOOO!" The prophet was the first to be burned.

    But that was just the start as the Vermillion mes drowned out Shirong directly. The mes of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle merged with that of the Lin Wu''s own he made right at the moment.

    <em>~Hu~</em>

    Together, the two of them killed the Skull god''s avatar. Freeing Lin Wu and Shirong from the absolute control had not been easy but they finally be free from the clutches of the Skull god.

    "ARGH! MY body!" the Skull god shouted in dismay as the Vermillion mes prated the body easily. Lin Wu was now using the synchronization method he had used to join up with Shirong and using that to flush his body of the Skull God''s powers.

    The entire time the avatar of the Skull god kept on screaming but sadly for him, he was trapped by the only beast it could have been.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    Finally, the skull god''s avatar was fully wiped out from Shirong''s body, leaving him unconscious.

    "That''s enough stop it! Now I''m burning too!" Lin Wu yelled again.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle finally stopped her mes and Lin Wu''s appearance was finally revealed. Her body was covered in ayer of ck soot, making him look really bad. All the elegance and beauty he had due to his crystalline body were nowhere to be seen now.

    <em>~cough~</em>

    Lin Wu coughed out a mouthful of smoke.

    "That was one heck of a sauna bathбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He looked at Shirong and started to morph his body back into its full form. He had already left the fake copy in Shirong''s ring, along with some information that will keep in from thinking too much about him.

    Rather, if Lin Wu yed his cards right, he might even get to take more benefit from this.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    Lin Wu used the wind attribute spirit Qi to wipe his body and soon became shiny and crystalline like before.

    "There we goбн much better." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~p~ p~</em>

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle also came tond beside Lin Wu by that time. Her height now matched with him, when his body was sprawled around the ground a little bit.

    "Now thenбн how did this all happen?" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "It''s a long story. Once you were assimting the bloodline essence of the Vermillion bird, I went around looking for treasures in the ruins. It was there that I ended up meeting these followers of the skull god. I took care of the earlier ones, butter on stronger ones started to turn up.

    Thus, to get a little help, I decided to get this human back with me so that we could fight them with ourbined power. But then the Dao Shell realm cultivator arrived. He was the one that looked like a child and was the prophet of the skull god, leading all his work till now.

    He released the avatar of the Skull god which tried to take over this human''s body and since I was connected with him, I as well. I knew that I could only stall for time till you were done, so I let it happen and dragged on as long as I could.

    But in there is saw several memoriesбн memories of the Skull god." Lin Wu answered.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was surprised upon hearing that all this had happened while she was busy assimting the bloodline.

    "But what was it that you said will interest me?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    "Wellбн the skull god has existed in this world for over ten thousand years and hase from a different world. He was also the one who suppressed the Vermillion bird all these years and prevented it from appearing!"

 Chapter 440 - Upset Eagle?

    Hearing Lin Wu''s words, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was stunned to say the least. She had a hunch that the reason for the Vermillion bird not appearing was something mysterious, but now hearing this confirmed it for her.

    "Howбн how did the skull god suppress the Vermillion bird?" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle questioned.

    "Well, I don''t know how it was exactly back then, but apparently the Vermillion bird had chosen a human to do something for it. The human had the bloodline of the Vermillion bird too, but her bloodline was far weaker than you, from what I can see.

    Even weaker than when I first met you. At the end, to stop the skull god from destroying her sect, the woman sacrificed herself and temporarily awakened the Vermillion bird using her bloodline as the source.

    While the vermilion bird did manage to appear for a while, it was merely an energy construct rather than the actual being. It destroyed the skull god and the entire area, but the skull god was shrewd and had multiple backup ns which prevented him from dying entirely.

    Running out of energy, the Vermillion bird''s construct faded away and what little was left of it was absorbed by a dagger which was also an immortal weapon. I don''t know why that happened, but I reckon it was a way for it to preserve itself.

    The immortal weapon dagger though, flew away at the end of the battle and I don''t know where it went.

    As for the skull god, he managed to survive and spent theing years recovering his power. He also managed to discover the ns of the woman Hong Feng who was the woman with the bloodline and found the temples.

    He stole the bloodline essence from within the temples so that he could resolve the curse he had ced on him by the Vermillion bird and also to prevent another sessor with a vermilion bird''s bloodline from appearing." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing all this, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle felt infuriated.

    <em>~fwoosh~</em>

    mes erupted from her nostrils as she breathed out harshly in anger. Her eyes lit up with fury as well, and a heavy atmosphere fell around the area.

    "That Skull God! I''ll eradicate all its kin and descendants!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle dered.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu was suddenly reminded of something.

    "Oh no, what if the skull god has more backup ns to survive? He managed to do it back then and perhaps he can do it again!" Lin Wu said with concern.

    "I''ll kill him and eradicate all his traces!" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle said, mes flickering on her body.

    Lin Wu thought over it and looked around the area.

    "This entire marsh is made by the Skull god by corrupting it with his miasma. I thinkpletely purging it with your mes might be a better option. But I don''t know if it will work fully, since thest time the Vermillion bird did this the skull god managed to survive." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Humph! A measly human can''tpare to me anywhere. I have awakened over forty percent of the Vermillion bird''s bloodline. I still have some parts left to assimte and once I do that, my power will increase once more." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    "My mes will be far stronger than that of that woman Hong Feng!" the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle dered in a staunch voice.

    Hearing all this, Lin Wu knew that the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle felt challenged. She did not want to feel inferior to a human and even felt it insulting that a human had the same bloodline as her.

    "Well then, I think you should begin the purge. I''ll get away from here first though, even if I have a fragment of the vermilion bird''s bloodline as well. I doubt I can withstand your mes." Lin Wu replied.

    "Okay, I''ll start once you get away." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    "Mmбн" Lin Wu nodded his head and went to the tform which they had used to arrive here along with the unconscious Shirong.

    "System, take the tform to the sky." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A humming sound was heard as the tform suddenly sparked to life. A wave of spirit Qi rose from it as the tform detached from the pirs it was resting on.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    It started to rise up into the air and soon sped up into the sky. Once it was at least a couple hundred meters away from the ground, it stopped.

    "Huh? That''s all?" Lin Wu said, finding the height to be far less than before.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The tform''s functions are limited due to the power supply being limited and the formations being damaged.

    бкбк

    The system informed Lin Wu, who furrowed his brows upon seeing this. He checked the formations of the tform with his own spirit sense and indeed, found several of them to be damaged.

    There were even some parts that had darkened for some reason and Lin Wu could feel a familiar vibe from those parts.

    "Dammit! That skull god damaged this with his miasma too." Lin Wu cursed.

    <em>~Foo~</em>

    Lin Wu breathed out mes from his mouth that spread across the darkened parts of the tform. The dark parts were like fuel meeting mes as they were quickly ignited by the mes.

    This was the new ability Lin Wu had obtained from the assimtion of the Vermillion bird''s bloodline crystals. Even if it was rtively weak, it had still been strong enough to give him a qualitative change.

    Lin Wu''s mes currently were far from the level of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle, but they were still enough to destroy the traces of the Skull god''s corruption. The mes evenly spread around in a controlled manner and erased all the traces.

    "Ugh, even with the traces gone, the damage can''t just be reversedбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 441 - Cleansing The Marsh?

    While Lin Wu was done with the cleaning of the Skull god''s traces, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had begun her own cleaning session.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Endless mes spread out from her body as they got more and more intense.

    <em>~PIIIIIIII~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle lifted her head and raised out an echoing cry. A meter wide sphere rose up from her body and glowed in a red light.

    This was her Dao shell and the small me that flicker within it was none other than her Dao embryo. The small me within the Dao shell flickered and suddenly let out a blinding light.

    While its size did not change, its power certainly did. The Dao shell started to rise up into the sky and became almost like a second sun in the sky. The only difference was that the real sun was yellow in color while this one was Vermillion.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The sound of an explosion was heard as a torrent of mes burst out from the Dao shell. The Dao embryo kept on producing Vermillion mes that scorched the earth once again. But this time, their power seemed to be even more than when the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle used it to fight the followers of the skull god.

    It was evident from this that her bloodline was still improving passively even now. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle had stopped her assimtion prematurely because the followers of the skull god had created a lot ofmotion.

    As time passed, here Vermillion mes will only keep on getting stronger and stronger until eventually all the bloodline essence she had consumed was fully assimted into her body,pleting her transformation.

    Lin Wu, who was observing it, all felt awed at it.

    "Damn, the heat is still intense from here." Lin Wu said.

    The tform was over a kilometer away from where the sun like Dao Shell was, but even then Lin Wu felt like he was sitting next to a zing fire pit. Thankfully, the mes were directed in a cone shape rather than spread out in all directions, or Lin Wu would have been affected as well along with the tform.

    Lin Wu didn''t really want the tform to get damaged much either, as he reckoned he could make use of itter on. The only problem was for the system to figure out the rest of its formation so that he could make it work away from this area.

    The tform was more like a closed circuit transport system that moved in a specific set path. Making it go past that was impossible in its current state, as the formations themselves didn''t allow that.

    If he wanted to change that, it would be the same as remaking the formations entirely. Previously, the system would have been unable to do this right away and would have needed a lot more information to do so.

    But the memories of the skull god had allowed the system to upgrade its data banks by multiple times and now he had a lot of new information rted to all cultivation matters, including formations and arrays.

    "System, begin the modification of the tform so that we can use itter as well." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK ASSIGNED: Transport tform Formation Array modification

    TIME REQUIRED: 2 hours, 11 minutes, 9 seconds.

    бк

    With the confirmation notification, Lin Wu nodded his head. The time needed was very reasonable and Lin Wu didn''t think it was much.

    "Well thenбн now to observe the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle and also to check my own gains from all thisбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Below, the mes of the Vermillion bird had covered the entire area of the ruins, all thirteen circles, and was now spreading past that. The speed of its spread was really fast and Lin Wu knew that it wouldn''t be long till it covered the entire Dread Coil Marsh.

    "Thoughбн this is bound to bring in a lot of attention to the area." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "But it won''t matter to me anyway as I''ll be long gone~" Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle kept on pping her wings, as if fanning the mes and making them grow stronger and stronger. The ruins werepletely drowned out by the mes now, and all the corpses lying around had been reduced to ash.

    They were now nearing the twisting and coiling trees that were spread everywhere in the Dread Coil marsh. These trees that were rather resistant to normal attacks were like dry tinder in front of the Vermillion mes and were ignited instantly.

    The mes kept on spreading and the few living creatures of the marsh were also killed by it. But this was still good for the area as these animals and creatures were the victims of the corruption caused by the Skull god as well.

    The mes weren''t just burning on the surface though, as they managed to prate the ground as well. The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was throughly roasting the soil, making sure all traces of the Skull god were being taken care of.

    Some parts of the rocks and stones had already melted into puddles of hotva while the soil was also fusing up to be hard stones. It would not be long till it would start to melt as well.

    The different thing about the Vermillion mes was that theva was no impediment to its flow. Rather than that, it actually allowed it to spread through it easily and let the Vermillion mes prate even deeper into the ground.

    One could only imagine the geological change this would be causing. Lin Wu had already seen and experienced the power of the Aquadream Sea lotus, who was also a Dao Treading realm expert.

    That creature alone had created an entire sea in arge forest and mountains. It was only fair if the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle could also do the same, if not better. After all, her bloodline belonged to the Vermillion bird, which was far superior to that of the Lotus.

 Chapter 442 - Parting?

    Lin Wu watched on as the Vermillion mes ravaged thends. From one end of the horizon to the next, only one thing could be seen, and they were the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s mes.

    The mes burned for several hours and it was already nighttime by the time the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle was done with it. Actually, it wasn''t that taxing for her either. At the start, she was still working on stabilizing her cultivation base, but after an hour or so she was done and just sat on the tform while her Dao shell and Dao embryo did the work.

    It was as if she had just opened a tap to let the bath fill in while she took a nap. Lin Wu was quite astounded by this as he realized the Dao embryo wasn''t even using the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle''s own spirit Qi.

    Rather than that, it was absorbing spirit Qi from the surroundings on its own and then using that to produce the vermilion mes.

    "Damn, the power of a Dao Treading realm expert is far more than the information that I got till now." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The task that Lin Wu had assigned the system to modify the tform was alsopleted long ago, and he was just watching the mes spread the entire time. He was observing it not just because he was awed by it, but also because the system was actively recording information.

    Lin Wu felt like he could gain a better understanding of the fire element and his own fragment of the Vermillion bird''s bloodline if he observed the mes and he really did end up having some progress.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL: Updated

    PROFICIENT INCREASED: me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Basic) -> me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Novice)

    бкбк

    This was the result of two hours of observation that Lin Wu had done. The total time he had watched was longer than that though, and he felt like he would have another upgrade just by watching it.

    But just when he felt that he was close to it, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stopped producing the mes and recalled the Dao shell into her body.

    "You''re done?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes. The entire Dread Coil Marsh should now be covered with the mes. And even if some parts are left, the mes should spread there as well." Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    The sounds of mes burning continued to spread across the area as the ground beneath it cracked and popped after being hardened.

    "How long will these mes stay like this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Hmmбн I don''t know, but it should be at least a few days." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated. "Though we''ll know if we wait long enough." She added.

    Hearing her words, Lin Wu didn''t know what to say.

    "I guessбн that works. The skull god shouldn''t have many chances to escape now that we have the entire area covered. That is IF he survived the initial attack somehow." Lin Wu said.

    The two beasts stood on the floating tform for a few minutes in silence as they gazed over the burningnds. It was already nighttime and the Vermillion mes made it seem like it wasn''t night at all.

    The light from the mes was bright enough to turn the clouds orange and since there was barely any smokeing from the mes, it made it look even more beautiful. But this also raised the temperature of the area to at least two hundred degrees Celsius even at the height where Lin Wu currently was.

    "This is definitely at the level of a cmity, now that I think of itбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Cmity, huhбн" The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle suddenly said.

    Lin Wu instantly became alert and wondered if there was something wrong he had said.

    "Did you say something?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Noбн it''s just that wordбн Cmity, it seems familiar to me." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "The human word ''Cmity'' is familiar to you?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yesбн but I don''t fully remember why. I seem to have heard it a long time ago." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "It''s just a word. Maybe you heard it from other humans." Lin Wu spoke.

    "No, this seems different. It''s a like a very old memory during which I''m sure I didn''t listen to humans talk that much or not at all." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated.

    "A time that old?" Lin Wu thought over it for a bit before speaking, "is it perhaps from back when you didn''t have this level of intelligence? Back when you were a normal Qi refining realm beast?"

    Hearing this, the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle suddenly raised her head.

    "That may actually be it." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle replied.

    "Really?" Lin Wu didn''t expect he would get the right answer in one go.

    "Yes." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle stated as she looked in the distance.

    After a few more minutes of silence, she suddenly pped her wings and flew up.

    "Where are you going?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I''ll take my leave now. I''ve finished my goal and need to assimte the bloodline essence fully. This will take me more time and a more secluded location to do so." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle answered.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu felt a bit unwilling to just let her go.

    "Why don''t youe back with me to the Millennium forest? I assure you the ce will be good and no one would disturb you there either." Lin Wu asked.

    The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle went silent for a while and thought for a bit before shaking her head.

    "No, I also want to check some other things out before thatбн I want to find my siblingsбн see if they awakened the bloodline of the Vermillion bird as well." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle spoke.

    "I seeбн I understand." Lin Wu replied, feeling inexplicably sad.

    "Though I wouldn''t minding thereter to visit." The Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle addedter on.

    Lin Wu raised his eyes, and a toothy smile appeared on his face.

    "Well then, I''ll wait for you... Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle." Lin Wu spoke in a happy tone.

    "You can call me Zhu Tianyingбн I think it''s time I change my name." She replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head upon hearing this.

    "The Vermillion Sky Eagleбн It does suit you with your evolution." Lin Wu agreed.

    "Farewellбн Lin Wu," Zhu Tianying said onest time before turning around and flying away.

    <em>~PIIIIIII~</em>

    Her cry echoed across the skies, making the sea of mes beneath it dance. Lin Wu watched her disappear beyond the horizon before letting out a sigh.

    "Can''t even believe that it''s been six months since thenбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''I hope we meet again soonбн'' He thought to himself before speaking, "system, take this tform to the east."

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In the next moment, the tform started to move and soon sped up. In a couple of minutes, it was flying at a speed that was nearly the same as that of Lin Wu''s own flight speed.

    In this journey, he had a lot of gains and had learned even more. Lin Wu couldn''t help but sigh again as he recalled all the memories.

    "I guess this can be said to be my first adventureбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Can''t say I didn''t have fun thoughбн and I got pretty strong too." Lin Wu continued.

    He looked at Shirong and took out the fake spear he had put in his ring before modifying some things in it.

    "This will be a bit more urate now." Lin Wu said, before storing it back into Shirong''s ring.

    "System, show me the host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [3,298,811/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (31% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Novice)

    5. Fire Resistance (great) (proficiency: Novice)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    WEIGHT: 1,05,847.1 Kilograms Height 51.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu checked his gains from the entire adventure and nodded his head.

    "I''ll have to assimte all the information of cultivation that I got from the memories as well and then increase the cultivator of my main body. Thankfully, it will benefit both of my bodies now." Lin Wu said as he soared across the sky on the tform.

 Chapter 443 - Gains From The Bloodline

    While Lin Wu was traveling on the tform, he decided to take a detailed look at the two new innate skills he had obtained from the Vermillion birds bloodline fragment.

    "System, show me the details about the two new skills." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL: me Maniption

    GRADE: Great

    PROFICIENCY: Novice

    INFO: Fire maniption allows the host to create and control fire. The strength and temperature of the fire will increase ording to the proficient of the skill. The host can also unlock the special ''Vermillion mes'' once the grade of the skill reaches Greater.

    INNATE SKILL: Fire Resistance

    GRADE: Great

    PROFICIENCY: Novice

    INFO: Fire Resistance is a passive skill that increases the host''s hesitance to fire and heat in general. Thisbined with the host''s crystalline form makes the host resistant to most fires below eight hundred degrees Celsius.

    Temperature above that will still cause the host harm and resistance will increase with the increase in proficiency.

    An increase in grade will bring qualitative change and will make the host immune from all mortal fires.

    Note: Special fires that contain the Dao traces and such as those from Dao embryos are exempt from this skill.

    бкбк

    Seeing the detailed informatory about the two skills, Lin Wu was content. Both of them were very versatile and Fire resistance was even a passive skill that didn''t really need that much spirit Qi.

    "These are great! me maniption increases the number of elements I can control to a total of three, while fire resistance increases my defense overall against heat. This is even better for me since I need to be careful while using radiation because of this very reasonбн" Lin Wu said to himself.

    Feeling content about the new skills, Lin Wu decided to check up on the new bloodline.

    "System, show me the info about the bloodline. The analysis should be over by now, right?" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    Vermillion bird Bloodline: Current status- Fragmented

    Info: The Vermillion bird bloodline is the bloodline that belongs to one of the four guardian beasts and is one of the top bloodlines of the universe. The bloodlinees with several innate skills and techniques as well. There are bloodline memories sealed within the bloodline that can be essed by increasing its concentration.

    Upgrade requirements: More of the techniques and skills can be unlocked with the progress of the bloodline. In order to increase the bloodline, the host needs to nurture it slowly or obtain other sources of it such as bloodline crystals or essence blood.

    Over time the bloodline will naturally increase in its concentration as well and the host''s cultivation will also help in that.

    Bloodline potential: Dao Treading realm

    Info: At the current concentration of the bloodline, a bearer of the bloodline can reach the Dao treading realm at most.

    Notes: This does not apply to the host due to him having another bloodline. Whenever there are multiple bloodlines in a beast, the one with the superior potential will determine the cultivation base limit.

    бкбк

    Having read it all, Lin Wu realized that he may have to wait a long time for the bloodline to increase on its own.

    "System, what''s the estimated time for it to grow on its own?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: at the current rate, the Vermilion bird bloodline will reach the next stage in 112 years, 4 months and 21 days.

    бкбк

    Reading this, Lin Wu couldn''t help but sigh to himself.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I don''t think I can find any bloodline crystals or this either. Whatever there were in this world are now part of Zhu Tianying." Lin Wu shook his head.

    After thinking for a bit, Lin Wu wondered if there could be some other way.

    "System, is there a way you can elerate this process?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system can further analyze methods for the bloodline improvement, but this is impossible at the system''s current level. The system will need more Computational A.I.''s to be able to do this.

    бкбк

    "Hmm, I guess the only path to do this is to increase my own cultivation and let the system unlock moreputational AI.''s." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    With all that done, Lin Wu focused on the information that he had obtained till now and read through it while assimting the knowledge about the various principles and concepts of cultivation.

    Lin Wu had to admit, even if the Skull god was a troublesome being, he was a good student back then. Lin Wu had seen in the memories that the Skull god was actually a cultivator that was born in a higher world.

    He reached the Nascent soul realm when he was barely nine years old as well. While he was unable to seedter on in life, he got another opportunity and gave up his humanity to be the skull god.

    The Skull god apparently managed to find an inheritance of the ''Hei'' part of the one of the Seeds of the shadow cmity that were spread around the world. Usually, this should have ended up killing him like it did with the others, but with the skull god''s innate talent he managed to not only survivor, but assimted itpletely into him.

    If Lin Wu were topare himself with him, right now, he would realize that the two of them were onpletely different levels as of now. Even with the system''s help, Lin Wu understood that he would be unable to fight against the real Skull god.

    "Just as I thoughtбн this avatar was barely anything to him and he had actually given up on it already. Luckily, this is also good for meбн at least he doesn''t know that I killed this avatar." Lin Wu said to himself.

    But the one thing that worried him was the fact that he was unable to figure out the cultivation base of the Skull god even after all this time. He knew that the lifespan of the avatar was liked with the soul and would thus match that of the main soul.

 Chapter 444 - Leaving Shirong

    All this meant that the Avatar had lived for over ten thousand years already and yet was alive. A lifespan this long was far above the Immortal Ascension realm and was among the actual immortal realm.

    But even in there, Lin Wu didn''t know what life spans did the immortal cultivators have. Hecked a lot of information about those realms and didn''t know much other than the names of the realms and their general meanings.

    "Tribtionsбн elementsбн immortalsбн Damn! This just gets more and moreplicated. Why does it feel like my brain is limited for all this?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    But just as he did this, he was suddenly reminded of something.

    "Wait, a minute! Is this what those big cultivators mean by not chewing more than what we can eat? I can''t understand that much information because my cultivation is lowбн" Lin Wu finally understood.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Seems like I''ll need to increase my cultivation for that as well, so that my brain''s capacity and procession power can increase." Lin Wu nodded to himself.

    By the time he was done with all this, Lin Wu realized that the area around him had changed. This change was rather apparent since the light had decreased by a lot.

    "Huhбн I guess I''m finally out of the Dread Coil marshбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he turned back and saw the mes burning in the distance.

    The area where the mes were burning was the Dread Coil marsh and he was now in the territory of the Ivory Heron dynasty. Though to be urate, a part of the Dread Coil marsh already existed within the Ivory Heron dynasty, so he had been in here for a while now.

    "Hmmбн time to get rid of Shirong for now. I''ll need to find a good location for thatбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he looked around.

    After a bit of search, Lin Wu spotted a mountain that seemed to be rtively free from strong beasts.

    "That ce should work." Lin Wu said before bringing the tform to stop above it in the sky.

    Lin Wu then flew down along with Shirong on his tail and came to the middle part of the mountain.

    "Mining time!" Lin Wu said as he quickly dug out arge cave to put Shirong down in.

    Shirong was still recovering from the damage done by the Skull god and Lin Wu didn''t know how long it would take him to recover. Plus, since the system had pulled out all the links with him, they couldn''t tell much in detail either.

    Lin Wu didn''t want to make another link right now either and thus asked the system to do a surface scan.

    "System, check the condition of Shirong." Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The target is currently stable but injured. His body''s meridians are damaged and so are his vessels. His Dantian is rtively undamaged and thus his nascent soul is safe too.

    The target will recover on his own after a month or more of rest. The target will also stay in aatose state due to the shock of a foreign mental influence.

    бкбк

    Reading the system''s answer, Lin Wu nodded his head andid Shirong down on a rtively cleaner part of the cave he had made. After he did that he checked the area around and left a spirit Qi imprint in the cave.

    "This should scare most of the beasts away and prevent them froming closer." Lin Wu said before going towards the entrance.

    He put another boulder on it to block it while looking into the cave.

    "This is the least I can doбн after all, I did take advantage of him quite a lot and will take more in the futureбн haha!" Lin Wu chuckled and closed the entrant.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    The boulder was pushed into ce and now no one could enter or leave it without it being moved. This would mostly hide Shirong from others'' sights when they passed by while the spirit Qi imprint will keep the beasts away.

    With all that done, Lin Wu flew up to the tform and left the area. Shirong was now an investment for the future to Lin Wu and he would benefit from itter.

    "Hmmбн now what do I do? Head directly back to the Millennium forest or do something else?" Lin Wu wondered.

    While Lin Wu''s end goal was to go to the millennium forest, he wondered if he should do some other activities on the way. And while he was doing this, he spotted arge city in the distance.

    "That should be the capital of the Ivory Heron Dynasty, right?" Lin Wu muttered as he checked the map, realizing he was correct.

    "I shouldn''t get too close with the tform, as it will be spotted. The system can you take this any more higher?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: With the current capabilities of the tform, it is unable to go beyond 200 meters of height. The tform will need several materials to repair it and also a steady supply of energy to function.

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Guess we''ll have to bear with it. Detour it isбн" Lin Wu said as the tform changed its travel direction.

    It went to the right and started to curve around the capital of the Ivory Heron Dynasty. But while he was traveling around it, he suddenly felt a strong spirit Qi fluctuation.

    "Huh? What was that?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Dao Shell realm cultivator detected 130 kilometers away.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s warning, Lin Wu narrowed his eyes and decided to see what this cultivator was doing here.

    "System,nd the tform somece hidden." Lin Wu ordered.

    A minuteter, the tformnded in a smallke and disappeared below the water while Lin Wu dug into the ground and moved towards the city ording to where the Dao Shell realm cultivator was going.

    Lin Wu observed the map and saw that the Dao Shell realm cultivator had headed straight to the royal pce.

 Chapter 445 - A Hidden Abode Of Cultivators

    Lin Wu was traveling underground and moving towards the direction where the Dao Shell realm cultivator was currently. From what he could see on the map, the Dao shell realm cultivator was also moving towards a certain direction.

    At first, Lin Wu thought that he was heading towards the capital of the Ivory Heron dynasty, but the cultivator changed his direction just before reaching there. Instead of the city, he went to the north and stopped near a mountain.

    "Hmmбн why did he stop here?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    He looked at the map, but didn''t find anything peculiar there. Lin Wu furrowed his brows and thought of something.

    "System, update the map." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    MAP UPDATED: Please check the relevant window.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu opened the full map and saw the new markers that had appeared on it.

    "Oh? There''s actually a hidden area here." Lin Wu said as he let his spirit sense touch the formation array that was hiding it.

    With little help from the system, Lin Wu managed to bypass the formation array, and the map showed what was hidden inside it. There were two markers for Dao Shell realm cultivators on the map and three markers for Nascent soul realm cultivators.

    One of the markers belonged to none other than the Dao Shell realm cultivator who had just appeared while the other one had been inside the area since the start.

    "So this is a hidden cultivator abode, huhбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he easily entered its limits.

    In there, Lin Wu could finally see the simple yet elegant courtyard that had been built at the side of the mountain. There were trees that came out below it and supported the bottom of the residence.

    Overall it looked like it merged with nature and did not seem out of ce as if it had been like this since the start. Of course, Lin Wu could also sense several other formations set up around the courtyard including defense and offensive formations.

    "Hmmбн system get to work on these formations while I see what they are talking about." Lin Wu said before letting his spirit sense enter through the gaps in the formation nodes.

    In the residence, Lin Wu saw the two Dao Shell realm cultivators talking while the three Nascent soul realm cultivators sat on the sides. All of the men were old and had white hair and beard, showing that they truly were quite old when they reached the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    As for the Nascent Soul realm cultivators, Lin Wu could tell that they weren''t even at the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm right now.

    "What brings you here, Minister Qi You?" The Dao Shell realm cultivator that seemed to be the owner of the Abode questioned.

    "Is that really a question that you need to ask, senior Kong? I''m sure with your connections you probably know of all that is happening to the west." The man named Qi You spoke.

    Senior Kong stayed silent and stared at Minister Qi You for a minute before speaking.

    "You know that I''ve withdrawn from the politics and workings of the kingdom for a long time now. My only obligation now is to train other strong court members that can let the Ivory Heron kingdom function well." Senior Kong spoke.

    "I am well aware of that Senior Kong. But the current matter is of grave importance." Minister Qi You spoke in a serious tone.

    The three Nascent Soul realm cultivators also sat a bit more attentively and listened to what the man had to say.

    "Such importance that the Minister of Bing Kingdom rushed all the way to the Ivory Heron dynasty?" Senior Kong questioned.

    Hearing that this man was the minister of the Bing Kingdom, Lin Wu raised his brows.

    ''Did the Bing Kingdom finally find out about Jiao Dian city?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu didn''t have to wait for a long time either as he got his answer in the next minute.

    "Indeed, senior. There is not just the matter about the Dread Coil Marsh, but something else has also happened in my kingdom." Minister Qi You answered.

    "What happened?" Senior Kong asked.

    "The same way how the Dread Coil Marsh is burningбн Jiao Dian city was burned as well." Minister Qi You said in a grave tone.

    Senior Kong and the three Nascent soul realm cultivators all had stunned expressions on their faces as they had not expected this at all.

    ''So they really did find outбн and even the Ivory Heron Kingdom knows about the fire in the Dread Coil marshбн well that was expected, after all, they do have several guard outposts that keep an eye on the dangerous marsh.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Exin more." Senior Kong stated.

    "A few days ago we sensed strong spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the direction of Jiao Dian city. They were strongбн very strongбн" Minister Qi You spoke.

    "How strong?" Senior Kong asked again.

    "Strong enough that the ancestor awakenedбн Dao Treading realm!" Qi You answered.

    Hearing this, the eyes of everyone in the room went wide.

    "Master! Can this really be true?" One of the Nascent soul realm cultivators asked.

    "Yes, perhaps what first brother told us might have been correct." The second Nascent soul realm cultivator said while looking at the one next to him.

    "Iбн didn''t think that it would be a Dao Treading realm spirit Qi fluctuation as well." The third Nascent Soul realm cultivator spoke.

    Hearing this, Qi You furrowed his brows and wondered what was this new information.

    "What do you mean? Please tell me Senior Kong, all of this is very sensitive to our kingdoms. The entire Jiao Dian city''s poption has been wiped out and not even a trace of the city is left.

    The entire city is merely a patch of ck with several areas with what looked melted pools of stone and metal." Minister Qi You requested.

 Chapter 446 - Multiple Calamities

    Hearing all that Qi You had said, Senior Kong sighed to himself before pouring himself a cup of tea.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Fineбн I''ll tell you. My first disciple practices a cultivation technique that makes him extra sensitive to spirit Qi fluctuation. Thus, in order to train this ability more, I assigned him to the outpost near the Dread Coil Marsh.

    He was to focus on expanding its scope and see if he could let it work even in the Dread Coil Marsh, which is so suppressive to us cultivators. But then yesterday, he sensed a spirit Qi fluctuation as well, which rmed him and he came to inform us.

    I didn''t think that it was a Dao treading realm cultivator at first, and thought he was just mistaken due to hisck of experience. After all, it wouldn''t be the first strange thing we saw from the marsh.

    But nowбн now that seems to be true." Senior Kong replied.

    Minister Qi You had a confused expression on his face but then after thinking for a bit a horrified expression reced it.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "Senior Kongбн the Dao Treading realm fluctuation we felt north of the Bing Kingdom was also mixed with water attribute spirit Qi. The one in the Jiao Dian city was weaker than it, being at the Dao Shell realm which had the fire attribute.

    The mountains northwest of the Bing kingdom werepletely flooded as if a new sea had been created there." Qi You exined.

    The more the people heard, the more they were stunned.

    "This meansбн There is not one but two Dao treading Realm beings out there." The first Nascent Soul realm cultivator spoke.

    "One that has mastery with fire and one with a mastery in waterбн we weren''t able to investigate much due to the damage that was caused in the forest and mountains, but I think the two beings may have had a conflict.

    Perhaps they fought and thus was the result?" Minister Qi You spoke.

    <em>~shiver~</em>

    The three Nascent Soul realm cultivators trembled and didn''t know what to think of this.

    "Which senior could do something like this?" They questioned.

    Senior Kong thought furrowed his brows after hearing this.

    "I don''t think it was human cultivators that caused thisбн none of the Dao Treading realm cultivators that have mastery over fire and water are currently out in the open and none of them are in a conflict either." Senior Kong spoke.

    "Could it be someone new that broke through?" Another Nascent soul realm cultivator questioned.

    Minster Qi You shook his head in response.

    "That is highly unlikely. Each breakthrough of a Dao Treading realm would cause a massivemotion and others would be bound to notice it all. Even if there was one cultivator that managed to do this secretly, two of them doing it was even more unlikely." Minister Qi You exined.

    "Then what could be the reason behind this all?" The Nascent Soul realm cultivators asked.

    "I thinkбн it might be beasts." Senior Kong spoke.

    "Beasts?бн." The Nascent Soul realm cultivators muttered.

    "If it really is beasts, thenбн that might actually be possible." Minister Qi You spoke.

    At this moment, one of the Nascent Soul realm cultivators suddenly had an idea.

    "Could it be that one of the ocean beasts left it and caused the flooding in the mountains and forests?" He asked.

    "Hmmбн it is highly unlikely. Aquatic Dao treading Realm beasts live deep in the great Ocean and never reallye near the coasts." Senior Kong replied.

    Silence descended in the hall as all the people inside were deep in thought.

    Lin Wu on the other hand, was surprised that they all reach this point.

    "Damn! These people are really good at analyzing things, huhбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "No, wait! There is one Aquatic beast that can actually leave the ocean!" Minister Qi You spoke.

    "There is?!" The Nascent Soul realm cultivators were shocked.

    "I once read about a beast that is both a nt and beast at the same time. A hybrid, if we could call it that. It lives in the Ocean and is very strong." Minister Qi You stated.

    "Aquadream Lotusбн" Senior Kong muttered.

    "YES! That''s the one!" Minister Qi You agreed.

    "Master, what is this beast?" The Nascent Soul realm cultivators asked.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Fine, I''ll exin." Senior Kong said before pouring himself another cup of tea and beginning his exnation.

    "Oh? They actually know about this beast too." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He then watched on as Senior Kong exined the peculiarity of the Aquadream Lotus and its different forms that existed in the world. It took him an hour to exin it all, and everyone was stunned by the end of it.

    "I never expected there was so much more to thisбн" Minister Qi You spoke.

    "The one that probably caused the flood was an Aquadream Sea Lotus. Only that can be at the Dao treading realm and live outside the water for long enough to be able to do that." Senior Kong stated.

    Hearing all this, the three old Nascent Soul realm cultivators felt like a new world had been opened up for them. Despite being over three hundred years old each, they didn''t know that something like this existed.

    "But this still leaves us with the other Dao Treading realm beastбн the one that burned the Dread Coil Marsh." Minister Qi You replied.

    And just as Qi You said this, he felt themunication jade slip hum on his waist. He held it for a moment and saw the message before opening his eyes that were filled with more shock.

    "I fearбн I fear that the one which burned the Dread Coil Marsh might be even more stronger than the Aquadream Sea Lotus." Minister Qi You stammered.

    "Why''s that?" Senior Kong questioned.

    "At least the mountains in the north west of Bing kingdom were just a small part of the entire areaбн but the one that burned the Dread Coil marshбн it burned it entirely! The mes are raging on all sides of the marsh, I just got the news that it''s burning on the northern end too!" Qi You said out loud.

 Chapter 447 - A Lesson For The Disciples

    Lin Wu who heard this was rather stunned.

    "Their intelligencework is rather vast, it seems. They managed to learn of this much faster than I truly expected." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Hearing the words of Minster Qi You, senior Kong and his three disciples were stunned to say the least.

    "What do you mean, minister Qi You?" Senior Kong asked for rification.

    "We sent scouts to check the extent of damage due to the flood, and they even were surveying the area. While doing this, they spotted the glow in the distance and that turned out to be nothing but the burning Dread Coil marsh.

    This area was the very northern border of it too! This means that not only is the eastern side of the Dread Coil Marsh burning, but the northern and western parts are burning as well. And I thinkбн the southern part is burning as well." Minister Qi You exined.

    "Thisбн even for a Dao Treading Realm beast it''s quite difficult to do something like this. Just what kind of a beast is that?" Senior Kong couldn''t help but wonder.

    "I fear it might be an old beast that just woke up from its feel sleep. It might even have been a native of the Dread Coil Marsh and had been sleeping there for years. Maybe the appearance of the other Dao Treading realm beast caused it to wake up.

    There''s even a chance that they fought together." Minister Qi You said.

    "Hmmбн with the level of destruction this Dao Treading realm Beast has caused, it must be at the Embryo Comprehension stage." Senior Kong stated.

    "Embryoбн Comprehensionбн stage?" one of the disciples of the man muttered in confusion.

    "What are the stages in the Dao Treading realm, master?" the other disciples asked, feeling curious as well.

    "I guess I''ll take this opportunity to exin this to you three as well. There are three stages in the Dao Treading realm. The first stage that one enters after having broken through to the Dao treading realm is called as the Embryo Birth stage.

    In this stage, the embryo had just been born and the cultivator gets used to the presence of the embryo. The cultivator will learn more about his embryo and get better control over its powers.

    The second stage is called as the Embryo growth stage. In this stage, the cultivator is actively trying to grow the Dao Embryo. This can only happen when the cultivator has gained full control over their Dao Embryo.

    They need to make their Dao Embryo grow so that the traces of Dao in them can increase as well. The bigger it grows, the easier time they would have in the third stage. This stage is quite dependent on the Shell expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm and if one did not work well in that stage, they would be disadvantaged here.

    Once the cultivator feels like their Dao embryo cannot grow anymore or that they have reached their own personal limit, they will start toprehend the Dao traces that are present in their Dao Embryo.

    When a cultivator is said to have reached this point, he would break through to the Dao Comprehension stage automatically. This stage is also a very silent stage and one would not be able to tell if a cultivator was in this stage easily as there are no outward sights.

    In reality, telling the stage of any Dao Treading realm cultivator is difficult because the changes they have can be very subjective. Some can have naturallyrge Dao Embryo''s while some may have grown them.

    Even from the Spirit Qi fluctuations, one can only tell that they are in the Dao Treading realm, but not exactly what stage they are in. Only when a cultivator goes all out in a battle and disys their capabilities can their cultivation base be estimated.

    The other method would obviously be to directly probe their cultivation base with your spirit sense, but you all can guess what kind of a problem that would cause. This is on top of whether you would even be able to use spirit sense in the presence of that cultivator first of all." Senior Kong exined.

    Even Lin Wu heard the entire exnation and nodded his head. The expiation he got from senior Kong was quite simr to the one he had gotten from the system. Though this one could be aside to be a bit more simple than the detailed one system gave him.

    "This man is certainly a good teacher." Lin Wu nodded his head, actually feeling pleased with the man.

    The three disciples listened to the exnation with their full attention and felt like they had learned a lot.

    "What of the Immortal Ascension realm, senior? How does one reach it?" one of the disciples asked.

    "That is something even I don''t know. Very few people will ever have the chance to be an Immortal Ascension realm cultivators and even in our world right now, there are less than five of them.

    You can estimate from this how difficult it is to reach the Immortal Ascension realm from this." Senior Kong replied.

    "I seeбн" The disciples muttered in response.

    Lin Wu, who heard this, knew how one reached the Immortal Ascension realm. But the problem he had with it was quite different.

    "There are way too many methods to reach the Immortal Ascension realm. They could literally continue to cultivate and luckily, reach the Immortal Ascension realm. Or they could just have dog shit luck and be given some kind of an inheritance that pushes them to there." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Due to having seen the Skull God''s memories, Lin Wu now knew a lot about the realms that existed below the Immortal Realm. Lin Wu even knew of the alternative methods of cultivation such as the Body cultivation.

    Lin Wu knew that there was also the Five Treasures realm, which was an all epassing realm whose sub stages were equal to the peak realms of the spirit Qi cultivation.

 Chapter 448 - The End Of Meeting

    Learning about the five Treasures realm was a strange thing to Lin Wu. He could tell that the Five Treasures realm was inherently far more superior than the spirit Qi cultivation since just the sub stages were as strong as the entire realms of spirit Qi cultivation.

    But he also knew that it was very difficult to cultivate it. In the entire Ming Dao world, Lin Wu was sure there was no cultivator who had taken this path. As even in the memories of the Skull God there were rarely any people who practiced that path.

    Not only did it require a lot of resources, but the process was often long and grueling. There were often times when a cultivator would be able to finish an entire realm of spirit Qi cultivation and not be able to cross even a single stage of the Spirit Qi cultivation.

    Lin Wu had even asked the system if he could cultivate the Five Treasure realm but was given a straight no. This wasn''t because it would be difficult, but rather because Lin Wu simply did not have a body that waspatible with it.

    The five Treasures realm was mostly oriented towards humans and other humanoid beings that had a simr organ configuration like them. Since the five treasures realm corrted with the five organs, liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys ording to the elements they represented; a person not having those would effectively render it impossible for them to practice that path.

    Lin Wu had even inquired about the Body Tempering realm and its thirteen stages. But then got the answer that when the system rebuilt his body, it was made to the best of its capabilities.

    In a way, the body Lin Wu had was far more capable than say a cultivator that had reached the Thirteenth stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

    Another thing that Lin Wu had that others didn''t have were the bottlenecks. Lin Wu would not be hampered by the bottlenecks and would be able to continue cultivating without a problem due to a system manufactured body.

    In simple words, Lin Wu simply had a massive advantage aspared to others. This is also why he was not dissatisfied with being unable to practice the five treasures realm and was content with his progress.

    After all, it had only been a little over three years since he hade to this world and he was already at the Nascent Soul realm. This was something that took people hundreds of years to reach, if not decades.

    But Lin Wu also knew that this was something that would not be possible in thetter stages. The system could only carry him in the stages which involved pure resources such as spirit Qi.

    When it woulde to stages that required his ownprehension and learning, Lin Wu would have to aplish that on his own.

    While Lin Wu was thinking all this, Senior Kong and his disciples had finally finished their little lesson.

    "What are your ns now, Minister Qi You?" Senior Kong asked.

    Qi You had been sitting silently while Senior Kong taught his disciples, letting him finish first.

    "There isn''t much we can do if the ones involved are the Dao Treading realm beasts. The case with the Dread Coil Marsh burning is fine, since we did not care much for that filthy ce anyway.

    But the Jiao Dian city being burned to the ground is not something the Bing Kingdom can let go of easily. I''ll need to talk with the king and see what decision he truly makes. Though I''m sure that it will involve further investigation into which beast it really was.

    We will also be monitoring the Dread coil Marsh and seeing if any beast leaves on our end. I hope that senior Kong can do the same on his end." Minister Qi You replied.

    "I seeбн keeping an eye will not be a problem. But I''ll warn you Qi You, if it really is an old Dao Treading realm beast like we suspect, we might be biting more than what we can chew.

    You should also investigate the people of the Jiao Dian city in detail. I doubt a Dao Treading realm beast would attack without any provocationбн if it was that same Dao Treading realm beast in the first ce, seeing that you think it might be a Dao Shell realm beast instead." Senior Kong spoke.

    Hearing his words, Qi You nodded his head in response.

    "That is what I am intending to do as well. Perhaps it might be the time that Senior Konges out to the public once more and takes care of the Ivory Heron Dynasty in the open. This is a sensitive time and what happened with the Jiao Dian city might happen here too." Minister Qi You said with concern.

    "I''ll keep that in mind." Senior Kong stated.

    With their conversation done, Minister Qi You stood up.

    "I''ll take my leave now, Senior Kong. I hope that our kingdoms can continue to cooperate in times such as these." Minister Qi You stated before flying away.

    Senior Kong watched on in the distance as Qi You flew away and sighed to himself.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Youngstersбн always so restlessбн" Senior Kong muttered to himself before returning to his room and sealing the entire abode.

    "Looks like my work here is done. I should follow after that other guy and see how he actually reached here so fastбн" Lin Wu said to himself before he left the mountain.

    He continued to follow the minister while underground and saw that he was now heading to the south.

    "Oh boyбн this will turn into a long journey, won''t it?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    But just as he was preparing to take a long detour from his return to the Millennium forest, he saw something that stunned him.

    "Huh? A teleportation talisman?" Lin Wu said in surprise.

    Lin Wu saw Qi You taking out a talisman which then shined and took him away.

 Chapter 449 - Onwards To The Millennium Forest

    Lucius looked around on the map but could not see Qi You anywhere.

    "Huhбн so he had a teleportation talisman. No wonder he was able to cover such as long distance so quickly, he and his kingdom have a fixed location teleportation talismanбн" Lin Wu understood.

    "System, check if the man is anywhere just in case?" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: ACTIVATED

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target not found

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "So he really did travel quite far. Wellбн I guess I can just let it be for now since it doesn''t really cause me any problems." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''At least I got to learn of the situation of the kingdoms a bit more and even who has Dao Shell realm cultivators. Plus I got to know of how the cultivators of these ces teach about the Dao Treading realm.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He turned around and made his way to the smallke where he had hidden the tform. Theke was just slightly bigger than the tform and managed to amodate itpletely. Though it wasn''t as if the tform was too deep in theke either.

    Due to the sides of theke being shallower than the middle, the tform inadvertence stayed close to the surface of the water due to being prevented from going any deeper. Right now, the tform was not directly visible from the outside, but if one got closer to theke and looked into the water, they would find the t tform just at a two meter depth.

    Still, to Lin Wu, this didn''t really matter as it was far unlikely for anyone to find it. And even if they did there was little they could honestly do with the tform. Its main purpose which was to take the inheritor of the Vermillion bird to different sites was already fulfilled.

    Originally this tform was not even supposed to leave its intended paths. It was only able to move on those paths because of the invisible spirit Qi channels that had been set up. These were hidden to most people and would not even be sensed by a formation master.

    The spirit Qi was kept at a frequency that only the tform could sense and it would then absorb that while traveling. It was simr to how there were power lines at the top of a train from which it absorbed electricity to run the engine.

    But Lin Wu here had modified that with the help of the system to make it so that the tform could operate independently without the need of those channels. There were already spirit Qi absorbing formations on it, which the system modified to take spirit Qi from the air.

    This way the tform had changed from a train that could only move on a specific path to an aircraft that could go anywhere as long as it got fuel. Of course, the efficiency was far lower in the case of the tform since it did not have the concentrated supply like before.

    Though this was something that could be changedter on since the only change that happened due to that was the lowered speed. No longer could the tform move at sub-sonic speeds.

    In fact, its speed was actually a bit slower than Lin Wu''s full flying speed. But the tform was still something Lin Wu wanted to keep as it was just too cool and coulde in handyter.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~drip~drip~drip~</em>

    The sound of water parting was heard as the tform started to rise up from theke. The water on it slid off and dripped from the side as the sound of a waterfall was created temporarily.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    Lin Wu jumped onto the tform and let it rise up into the sky. A few beasts that were nearby were startled but it caused no problem for Lin Wu. Once the tform reached the maximum height it could for now, which was just slightly more than two hundred meters, it started to move.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The tform sped through the sky and started moving towards the east.

    "Hmmбн at this speed I should reach the Ling Kingdom in less than a month and the forest a couple of days after that." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He checked the map and zoomed out to see the distance which was of several thousand kilometers. The Ling kingdom was on the eastern side of the continent, while the Ivory Heron kingdom was on the western side.

    ''I guess I can just cultivate here while the system carries me there.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "No wait, I may as well just switch to my main body and let this wine cultivate on autopilot." Lin Wu decided.

    With that done, he gave the system some instructions on how to travel. He wanted the system to avoid the main popted areas so that the tform would not be seen. The tform originally had an illusory formation that could hide itpletely but the Skull god had damaged that as well.

    Plus the spirit Qi needed to run all of those formation arrays at once was far higher than what the tform could absorb right now. Thus Lin Wu had no choice but to take a detour.

    He could technically just store the tform in the storage of the system and travel on his own, but that would mean that he would have to actively travel there. This would end up wasting some time which Lin Wu reckoned he could use much better.

    The trade-off was obvious. On one side he would reach the millennium forest in what would be perhaps less than fifteen days, but this would leave him exhausted and tired when he reached the forest.

    And on the second side, he could use the tform to travel which would use up no spirit Qi of his own and even give him time to cultivate. By the time he would reach the millennium forest, Lin Wu would be even more stronger than he was right now.

 Chapter 450 - Pleasurable Upgrades

    With the choice of travel made, Lin Wu let the system handle the navigation of the tform and switched his bodies. He closed his eyes and his consciousness faded from the avatar before reaching the main body.

    "Mmmhmmбн." Lin Wu hummed in pleasure as he opened his eyes.

    The reason he did so was because of the increase in power he suddenly felt.

    "Looks like I had some extra gainsбн" Lin Wu muttered as he checked his main body.

    "System show me the host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 3 years, 2 months, 18 days

    LIFESPAN: 1,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,487,522/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 1,368,911 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 3,749,741 Units

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+3)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- First level (25% Meridians converted)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great)(Proficiency: Basic)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Sound Command (minor) (Proficiency: Basic)

    5. Kin Command (minor) (Proficiency: Basic)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger, Iron Bark Wood Tree, Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum,

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 4,100,279 units

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 877 units/hour

    WEIGHT: 211,694.20 Kilograms Height 102.62 meters long.

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+3)

    3. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    [Extend +65]

    бкбк

    Seeing the increased spirit Qi that he now had Lin Wu was pleased.

    "Perfect, I''m close to the next stage finally!" Lin Wu said with excitement.

    At first, he had thought that he would go and fight the Olive Viper king when he came back right away. But now seeing that he was close to a breakthrough, Lin Wu decided toplete that first.

    "Hmmбн I''ll reach the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm first and also upgrade a few more things before finally heading there. Thoughбн I can also wait for my avatar to return so that I have an extra backup.

    Plus if push reallyes to shove, I can merge both of my bodies to increase the power even more." Lin Wu said to himself.

    After a few more minutes of thinking, he decided that he would just cultivate for the time being and let the spirit Qi increase. And just as he was about to enter a cultivation session again, he was suddenly reminded of something.

    "Hang on, don''t I have beast corpses ready for me or something?" Lin Wu recalled.

    He quickly switched through the monitoring screens and found the screen that showed the situation of the storage area of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb. This was the area that Lin Wu had designated for storage and whenever the insect beasts ced anything at the, it would be automatically moved into the storage area.

    "Perfect! This should be just enough for me to break throughбн hopefully." Lin Wu eximed.

    "System, bring all of the beast corpses here." Lin Wu ordered.

    ''Hopefully, they have enough spirit Qi left in them even after this entire time.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    With Lin Wu''s order runes appeared in the air as a teleportation formation was activated. Then in the next moment, a mountain of corpses appeared in front of him.

    "Dangбн this is far more than I had through." Lin Wu muttered to himself seeing the hundreds of beast corpses in it.

    Although most of them were Qi refining realm beasts or weaker, it was still enough for Lin Wu as the numbers should be enough to make up for their quality.

    "Well thenбн dinner time." Lin Wu said before opening his mouth wide and starting to eat all of the corpses.

    It took him about half an hour to finish all of the beast corpses and during this time there were multiple notifications that popped up in front of him. These were all notifications for spirit Qi increase and he just muted them till he was done eating since there would be more of theming.

    Once he was done though he sprawled on the ground.

    "Ahh! That hits the spotбн" Lin Wu said out loud.

    He rested for a few minutes before getting up again.

    "System show me the increased spirit Qi." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 148,941 units [liquid spirit qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 1,517,852 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "Ah, I almost forgot that eating adds spirit Qi to the system''s storageбн well in that way I already had enough I guess. All this cultivating is really making me forget things. Perhaps I really do need to rx for a few days and chill.

    A vacation after and adventureбн sounds nice." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Having said this, he quickly got to upgrading the cultivation base.

    "System, strafer spirit Qi from storage to my body and upgrade my cultivation base." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI TRANSFER: Started

    TRANSFER COMPLETED: 12,478 units (liquid spirit qi) transferred.

    HOST CULTIVATION: Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,500,00/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    UPGRADING: 1,500,000 units (liquid spirit qi) consumed

    бкбк

    Lin Wu felt the spirit Qi stirring within his body as all of it rushed towards his Dantian. Once it appeared in his Dantian, it was quickly sucked in by the Crimson eyed emerald worm''s Nascent soul which then started to grow.

    Lin Wu watched on as the Nascent Soul more than tripled in size.

 Chapter 451 - Second Level Of The Undaunted Sapphire Body Art

    Lin Wu''s Nascent soul, which was of the crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline grew more and more until it finally reached the size of an adult man.

    Looking at it Lin Wu felt like he was looking at an older version of himself from his past life. This man had a beard unlike him, who kept his face clean shaven and even looked far more muscr.

    "Hot Dang! Is this what I would be like in my past life if I exercised and grew a beard?" Lin Wu couldn''t help by exim.

    But Lin Wu''s surprise was just about to start as more changes soon apanied this. Along with the breakthrough of the Crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline Nascent Soul, the other Nascent Soul with the unknown bloodline also started to suck in spirit Qi at a rapid rate.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    It was as if Lin Wu had be the eye of a cyclone and all of the spirit Qi in the area started to rush towards him. Thankfully for him, the spirit Qi in the area was already concentrated by the formation array of the tomb and thus he was easily able to absorb it all.

    About an hourter, Lin Wu''s other Nascent Soul had also grown, but it didn''t reach the point where it looked the same age as that of the first Nascent Soul.

    "Huhбн that''s strangeбн why is this one a bit younger?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE Upgraded: Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm -> Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    HOST CULTIVATION: Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/15,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    Seeing the requirements for the next realm, Lin Wu was stunned.

    "What the heck!? The requirement more than doubled?" Lin Wu said out loud.

    He checked his body and saw that it was now absorbing spirit Qi a bit more efficiently and even when he didn''t actively cultivate it would gather several wisps of spirit Qi automatically.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I guess this was bound to happenбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Though system, why is the second Nascent Soul not the same as my first one?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The unknown bloodline of the host is not sufficiently saturated enough to enable a full breakthrough. Only when the bloodline is furthered will the host be able to make the second Nascent soul progress and reach the same level as that of the first one.

    бкбк

    "No wonderбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Still, Lin Wu was satisfied with the increase in his cultivation and could feel the power difference from before. He felt like he could not fight for months at once without getting tired.

    "No, no, no. I shouldn''t get ahead of myself. Better to get everything ready and be a bit more cautious before actingбн" Lin Wu said to himself.

    With that in mind, Lin Wu decided to return to cultivating, but this time he chose to further the other aspects of it. The first one was nothing but the Undaunted Sapphire Body art. It was currently at 25% conversion and Lin Wu needed just a little more for it to reach the second stage.

    "Let''s get to it, shall we?" Lin Wu said before he began his cultivation session.

    Spirit Qi was breathed in by him in ordance with the Taiji Dual unity Scripture''s methods and was slowly refined bit by bit. The spirit Qi that entered his body was far more concentrated than before, but Lin Wu knew it would not be enough for the number of things he wanted to do.

    ***

    Hours turned into days, and days turned into a week.

    A week after Lin Wu had broken through to the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm, he finally cultivated enough spirit Qi that the Undaunted Sapphire Body art started to progress.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE UPGRADED: Undaunted Sapphire Body art: First level (25% Meridians converted) -> Undaunted Sapphire Body art: Second level (31% Meridians converted)

    бкбк

    Not only had Lin Wu managed to break through in one go, but it had also exceeded the thirty percent limit and gone past that.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "That took far longer than I thought it would. This technique is certainly a high leveled one." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Knowing that the progress of the technique would only get slower and slower the higher he went, Lin Wu was thankful. This was something that even the system could notpletely help him with since it was not as simple as a breakthrough by just increasing spirit Qi.

    This needed an understanding of his body and its meridians that Lin Wu was slowly grasping and deepening his knowledge about. In addition to that, his body''s meridians also took some time to change into sapphire meridians.

    Since it was a physiological change, it took a bit longer than normal. But once it waspleted and the second level was breached, Lin Wu could feel the change in his spirit Qi. The spirit Qi that passed through the sapphire meridians was far finer than normal spirit Qi.

    It was likeparing a needle to a hair. While both of them were thin, one was still thinner than the other. Lin Wu understood that his smaller size was the reason why it was able to pass through barriers and restrictions.

    It was the same as water passing through a sieve due to having a smaller size.

    Lin Wu was also expecting an increase in his skills, but it wasn''t seen.

    "Hmmбн guess I''ll continue to cultivate. I''ll attack the Olive Viper King when my avatar is finally here. Thoughбн speaking of the avatarбн where is it now?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He quickly switched his bodies and his consciousness transferred over to the avatar.

    Thousands of kilometers from the millennium forest, Lin Wu''s avatar that was traveling on the tform opened its eyes.

    "My avatar increased its cultivation too, just as I expected. But where am I?" Lin Wu wondered as he looked around.

 Chapter 452 - A Desert And Second Level Of The Immortal Sky Shaker Art

    Lin Wu saw that he was passing over a desert now. There were sparse shrubs disturbed around the area and sand flowed like the water.

    "Oh? Isn''t this the middle desert? How did we end up here?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but question.

    "System, show me the route map that you took." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    A new window appeared in front of him that showed the map along with lines that showed the route that the system had taken until now.

    "That''s a long and winding routeбн why did you change directions so many times?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the host''s directions, the system was to avoid popted areas and humans. Thus the system changed the directions and route whenever there were humans in the path.

    бкбк

    Hearing the system''s answer, Lin Wu found it to be valid, but what he found strange was the number of humans that it had encountered.

    ''This is strangeбн even the route that we nned before was rather empty and few humans passed by there. Why is there so many encounters with them now?'' Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    "System, show me the memories from the past week." Lin Wu ordered.

    In the next moment, Lin Wu''s vision darkened and he could see the memories of all that had happened in thest seven days. Most of it was just the avatar sitting on the tform and cultivating, but there were several times when the tform inadvertently came close to humans.

    Lin Wu could tell that they were all cultivators and were going somewhere. Most of them were in the core condensation realm and could only fly on spirit weapons, but there were a few that were at the Nascent Soul realm.

    If this were in a sect or a big city, such level of cultivators would have been normal. But in the wilderness such as this, it was very strange. Especially because the system had to change routes multiple times.

    They had done it enough that they weren''t even in the same section as before. Originally, Shirong had taken a rather straight route to the Dread Coil Marsh that passed through the middle part of the Long continent.

    But now, the area that Lin Wu was could officially be considered the southern part of the Long continent.

    "Man, doesn''t this just increase the time needed for the avatar to reach the Millennium forest?" Lin Wu said, judging the distance and route.

    He thought about the cultivators that he hade across and wondered if all of them were going to the same ce. What the system had done was move in away from the cultivators whenever they came in its range.

    All of the cultivators were moving towards the south, which ended up with the system going more and more to the south to avoid them. Eventually, it had gone far enough that it ended up in the southern part.

    Lin Wu continued to go through the memories and realized that some of the cultivators that were in the Nascent Soul realm had even managed to sense the tform and had tried going after it.

    Thankfully system was the first in detecting them and had already taken evasive measures. So while they had detected that there was someone or rather something else nearby, they hadn''t actually seen the tform.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    ''At least they haven''t seen it. As long as they haven''t, then it could be considered to be any other object. Though I need to change the tactic, I guessбн Hmm, that should work.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Alright system, the next time you encounter humans, put the tform in the storage and let the avatar hide in the ground. This way at least you won''t keep on getting, off course." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Affirmative." The system replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and realized that he should have thought deeper about the orders that he gave to the system before. If he had told it to do something like this beforehand, it would not have led to this point.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "No use thinking of the past and regretting it. I should just get to work." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    With this out of the way, Lin Wu switched his body again as his consciousness passed from the avatar into the main body. His main body in the Taiji Celestial''s tomb opened its eyes and stood up.

    "The avatar should be fine now. Hopefully, it manages to reach the millennium forest in a month at least." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    With this little inconvenience out of way now, Lin Wu was free to go back to his cultivation session. He coiled up and started to absorb the spirit Qi ording to the methods of the Taiji Dual unity Scripture.

    ***

    Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye and Lin Wu felt that the wind attitude liquid spirit Qi pool in his Dantian had grown bigger than before. If he looked closer, he could tell that it was almost thrice the size than before.

    "I should be close nowбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He continued to cultivate and let the spirit Qi infuse ording to the method of the Immortal Sky Shaker art. Three more days passed and Lin Wu finally felt the change in his body.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    Wind spirit Qi whirled around his body as it passed through his body''s pores in and out. The winds turned into des and would slice anything that dared toe close.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE UPGRADED: Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate) -> Immortal Sky Shaker Art- Second level (Wind attribute spirit Qi Adept)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu could feel his control over wind attribute spirit Qi increase by multiple times.

    "Is this how Shirong felt when using the Immortal Sky Shaker art?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He waved his tail and streaks of wind tore through the air like a powerful jet.

    "Mmmhmm, this is perfect.." Lin Wu praised himself shamelessly.

 Chapter 453 - The Situation Of The Servants

    With a new breakthrough done, Lin Wu felt satisfied. He tested his skills out in one of the trial rooms, which could easily bear the damage and felt even better.

    "Damn this room is very strong. How did I not notice this before, system?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This is one of the sixty trial rooms made in the Tomb, and this one is of the highest difficulty level. This is made to withstand attacks from very strong cultivators and ording to the system''s calction, can withstand even Immortal Ascension realm cultivators attacks.

    бкбк

    "Whoa!" Lin Wu was stunned, to say the least upon hearing this fact.

    "Doesn''t this mean that I can basically win against any cultivator from this world as long as I can trap them here?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system''s analysis is purely on the basis of brute force impact. An actual cultivator might be able to escape using their skills or expertise to ovee the restriction. The host should not becent and uses this as a viable tactic.

    бкбк

    "Ah, hehehe~ I guess soбн" Lin Wu awkwardly said before looking at one of the screens.

    "I guess now that I''m here, I may as well see what my other servants are doing. I haven''t checked up on them in a while nowбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "System, show me the servant data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SERVANT BEASTS:

    1. Deep Earth Millennium Mole

    STATUS: Currently in the middle of a breakthrough

    Cultivation Base: Late Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    2. Split thorn horn beetle

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    3.Hook Winged Swan

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Late Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    4.High Wind Gale Sparrow

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    бк

    SUBORDINATES: 1. Wang Xiong

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: Communication

    бкбк

    Seeing all the info, Lin Wu was a bit surprised. Not only had his servants progressed a lot, even Wang Xiong his only subordinate, had reached the Child Soul Stage of The Nascent Soul realm.

    His progress was quite fastpared to how he had just broken through to the Nascent Soul realm not too long ago.

    For most Nascent Soul realm cultivators, it took them at least a hundred years to break through to the next stage without the support of any resources. Only if they were talented and had a lot of resources, could they break through to the next stage in less than an hour.

    And Wang Xiong had both of these things. First, he had the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial. Even if it had been the most basic one, it was still many times better than other cultivation techniques.

    The second was the fact that he had now be the chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect and had ess to a massive amount of resources. Lin Wu didn''t know how he was being treated exactly, but seeing this it was obvious that it was no less than best.

    "Even the mole beast is in the middle of a breakthrough huhбн and the beetle beast, it directly managed to reach the Peak stage of the core condensation realm. But howбн it''s fine with Wang Xiong since he''s the chief disciple of a sect, but these are just beastбн" Lin Wu wondered.

    After thinking for a bit, Lin Wu checked the locations of his servant beast and saw that the two bird beasts were right above the Tomb right where he had seen themst time. The Mole beast was near the territory of the Olive Viper King.

    It had been spying on the Snake, but it was evident that it had an opportunity and was now in the middle of a breakthrough. The Beetle beast was at the territory of the Beetle king and it seemed like she was in the middle of it as well.

    "Huhбн I should take a look." Lin Wu muttered to himself and went to the beasts that were the closest to him, the two bird beasts.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In the next moment, the teleportation formation activated and Lin Wu was sent to the top of the Tomb. This was where the top entrance of the Tomb was located and also where the two bird beasts had chosen to build their nests.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The air rippled at the top of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb before a light appeared and when that light settled, Lin Wu''s body reced it.

    "M-Master?!"

    "It''s Master!" The High Wind Gale Sparrow said out loud.

    This woke up the Hook Winged Swan who had been sleeping and looked in the direction where the High Wind Gale Sparrow was pointing in with its wing. But just as they looked, they felt a wave of spirit Qi hit them.

    As soon as this happened, their eyes went wide.

    "Aбн Aбн A-Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm?" They stammered.

    They finally realized that Lin Wu was no longer the same as what they had seen a few months ago and was now far stronger.

    "But howбн this is just the same as the Olive Viper kingбн But much fasterбн" The High Wind Gale Sparrow wondered.

    While the two bird beasts were looking at Lin Wu, he was looking at them as well.

    ''Well, they have certainly changedбн their body is different now.'' Lin Wu thought upon seeing the emerald body parts that had appeared on them.

    "Seems like you two didn''t ck and cultivated well." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Of course, Master. As your servants, how can we becking?" The Hook Winged Swan hurriedly spoke.

    "Yes, yes. Especially since all of this is because of you.." The High Wind Gale Sparrow added.

 Chapter 454 - Helping The Mole Beast

    Hearing the words of the High Wind Gale Sparrow, Lin Wu raised his brows.

    "What do you mean?" He questioned.

    "I mean, all that we have gained is due to master. When you made us your servants, it gave us a fragment of your bloodline as well. I didn''t know this at first, but now all of the servants can feel it very well.

    This has not only increased our talent and cultivation speed but it has also allowed us toprehend a lot of things better." The High Wind Gale sparrow answered.

    ''Huhбн so if they have my bloodlineбн will they be worms too?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    But after thinking for a bit, Lin Wu realized something.

    ''Hang on, the bloodline was made by the system and is not specifically for a worm. Only when I named it did it became like that. This meansбн the bloodline must bepatible with a lot more beasts than I knew.

    And if just a fragment of it can do something like this then it must be quite powerful. Just what was that green crystal?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having understood this, Lin Wu also remembered how the Olive Viper King''s subordinates were like too. They had crystalline parts as well that were green in color.

    ''But I doubt he used the same method as meбн no wait, they said his subordinates were his descendants. That''s probably how they also got the crystalline featuresбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    While Lin Wu was thinking all this, the two bird beasts silently stayed there watching their master. They knew that their master was probably thinking something important and thus didn''t think they should disturb him.

    After a few minutes, Lin Wu was done with his thoughts and nodded to himself.

    "I guess this was a better decision. How''re things going with getting more subordinates of your own now?" Lin Wu asked.

    "That is going well, Master. Both of us now have at least a thousand beasts under us that are willing to follow. This even includes ten core condensation realm beasts." The Hook Winged Swan spoke.

    "I see, that''s good enough for the next part I guess." Lin Wu spoke.

    "For the next part? Do you have something nned Master?" The High Wind Gale Sparrow questioned.

    "Yes I doбн but it will take some time to get it ready. For now, we need to get rid of some otherpetitorsбн" Lin Wu replied.

    Hearing this the eyes of both the bird beasts went wide.

    "Are you finally going to attack the Olive Viper King master?" They asked.

    "Indeedбн but just need to wait a few more days." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Do you want us to do anything?" They questioned.

    "Hmmбн for now just gather more subordinates. I''ll tell you what to do when the time to actes." Lin Wu answered.

    "Alright master." The bird beasts replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and then flew away in the direction of the Territory of the Olive Viper King. He wasn''t going specifically to his area, but rather to where the Mole beast was currently.

    With Lin Wu''s link and the system''s location on the map, Lin Wu quickly found him.

    "Huh, he''s quite deep in the ground." Lin Wu said. "Not like that''s a problem for meбн"

    In the next moment, he entered the ground and quickly reached the underground cage that the mole beast had dug out. This was a ce that normally even Nascent Soul realm beasts would find it hard to discover due to the depth it was at, but to Lin Wu it was easy.

    Though Lin Wu could understand why the beast had chosen a ce like this as it was far safer.

    "Looks like his breakthrough came a bit unexpectedly for him, otherwise he would not have stayed here and would havee back to the tomb. I''m pretty sure I left some areas for them to stay in for things like thisбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu took a proper look at the Mole beast and saw that the emerald crystals had also appeared on his body. His ws and teeth werepletely made out of sharp emerald colored crystals while his tail had also started to gain the crystalline hue.

    There were small spikes also protruding from his spine as well, showing that the transformation was taking ce on a much deeper level than before.

    "Hmmбн if he''s taking this much time, it will take him much longer to break through. I guess I''ll help him out a bitбн" Lin Wu said before touching the Mole beast on his head.

    Then, streams of spirit Qi were channeled through his tail into the body of the mole beast. Lin Wu used his spirit sense to monitor the situation and made sure that everything was fine.

    The reason for the mole beast''s condition was not just because of a breakthrough. After all a breakthrough from thete stage to peak stage of the core condensation realm isn''t really thatplex.

    It is merely the matter of the core increasing in size. The problem that the Mole beast was actually having was that even his core was changing due to Lin Wu''s influence and had taken on a green color.

    There were some traces of it turning crystalline as well and Lin Wu reckoned that the mole beast had taken a slightly different path with his bloodline than the bird beasts. Even if the High Wind Gale sparrow beast was at the Peak of the core condensation realm, it did not have the same core as that of the mole beast.

    "Hmmбн what could be the difference? Is it perhaps because they got the rhombus gem earlier than the other two? Oh wait, they also had a far lower cultivation base than the bird beasts when I made them my servants.

    Perhaps that''s why they adapted to my bloodline better. I reckon the Beetle beast should have already gone through this by now.." Lin Wu said to himself.

 Chapter 455 - The Vipers Mate

    Lin Wu watched the mole beast breakthrough sessfully and waited for it to wake up.

    "M-master?" The mole beast said upon waking up and seeing Lin Wu near him.

    "Mmhmmбн seems like you had a lucky breakthrough." Lin Mu replied.

    "Ah, yes. I wanted to find a better ce, but it came much earlier than that. I could only dig further deep and hide here. If I created too many spirit Qi fluctuations, the Olive Viper King or his subordinates might have noticed me." The mole beast stated.

    "You did good. At least you have gotten stronger." Lin Wu stated.

    "But what are you doing here, master?" the mole beast questioned.

    "I sensed that you were in the middle of a breakthrough, and also your location. Thus I came to help out." Lin Wu answered.

    The mole beast couldn''t help but feel touched upon hearing this.

    "Thank you master, I never would have thought you cared so much for me." The mole beast said sincerely.

    "Yeahбн rightбн" Lin Wu replied, knowing that the other reason he came here was that he was worried the olive viper king might detect the mole beast and end up finding out about his n early on.

    While Lin Wu was confident of fighting again the Olive Viper King now, he still had to ensure that the beast didn''t have any hidden tricks under his belt. After all, Lin Wu and the snake had the same bloodline, which meant both of them could hurt each other.

    "So how''re things going with the Olive viper King?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Hmmбн thest I saw him was about six months ago. He hasn''t really gone out and is still recovering from his injury, I think. Though he should have managed to heal by now." The Mole beast answered.

    "He hasn''t gone out huhбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    ''System do as a scan of the area.'' Lin Wu ordered in his mind.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated.

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu switched to the map window and saw the thousands of markers on it. He could see several beasts there, a lot of which were at the Qi refining realm with a few at the Core condensation realm.

    "No, waitбн two Nascent soul realm signatures?" Lin Wu said upon seeing the tworger markers.

    "How?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    "What happened, master?" The mole beast questioned, seeing Lin Wu suddenly speak out loud.

    "Was there any other beast that broke through to the Nascent Soul realm recently?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "No," The Mole beast shook his head. "If there were, the rulers would have detected it." He added.

    "Huhбн looks like the olive viper king has some trump cards indeed." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "What are you going to do, master?" The mole beast questioned.

    "I''m gonna take a quick look. You stay here." Lin Wu said before he moved towards theke where the Olive Viper King lived.

    There was an ind in the middle of theke, which was the nest of the Olive Viper King. The fluctuations Lin Wu felt, wereing from this very ce. The first belonged to the Olive Viper King itself which Lin Wu could identity rather easily since they were at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    But the second one seemed to be weaker, possibly at the Infant soul stage. This was why Lin Wu wondered if it was a new beast that had broken through to the Nascent Soul realm or something like that.

    ''Perhaps it''s one of the subordinates of the Olive Viper King that broke through, but in order to not bring any attention, he sent him out of the forest for the breakthrough.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Now that he thought about it, this option seemed to be the most obvious one. Lin Wu knew that the forest restricted the presence of more than five Nascent soul realm beasts, as only five rulers were allowed to exist.

    Lin Wu didn''t know exactly why but haha hunch that it was something to do with the Taiji Celestial''s Tomb.

    "If the Nascent soul realm beast is still able to hide even now, it must be because the Olive Viper King is doing something. If he gained the ability to use Radiation as well, he might actually be able to hide the spirit Qi fluctuations of the other beast from being detected by the others." Lin Wu thought after a bit of an analysis.

    He made his way to theke and stopped a sufficient distance away from it. He then extended his spirit sense and targeted the area in which he had detected the new Nascent Soul realm beast to be.

    The Olive Viper King was deeper underground and thus Lin Wu was not worried that he might be the one getting detected. The weaker fluctuations wereing from the top rather than the bottom.

    "There we goбн" Lin Wu said upon sessfully breaching the rudimentary barrier of rocks and soil around the area.

    While the thickness of soil and rock did dampen his spirit sense and would probably block other''s spirit sense entirely, for Lin Wu''s whose spirit sense was longer than normal, it was still easy.

    "Oh? It''s not a snake?" Lin Wu said upon seeing the beast.

    From his spirit sense, Lin Wu could perceive what looked like a lizard lying around a pile of thick leaves, twigs, and logs.

    "A nest? No, waitбн there''s moreбн" Lin Wu sensed.

    His spirit sense could now feel some stronger sensations that even elicited some response from his bloodline.

    "Eggs?" Lin Wu realized.

    The lizard was curled up around six eggs that were snuggly protected by its long tail. The eggs were pale white but had a green glossy sheen on it. The lizard didn''t have any traces of the green crystal though, which showed Lin Wu that it wasn''t actually rted to the Olive Viper King directly.

    "The eggs have the bloodline of the olive viper king and thus mineбн but the lizard doesn''tбн that meansбн this lizard is the mate of the Olive Viper King?" Lin Wu muttered.

 Chapter 456 - Club Tailed Lizard

    Lin Wu had certainly not expected to find the mate of the Olive Viper King here.

    "I did know that the Olive Viper King had a lot of descendants, but most of them were snakes. This means that he had other mates, but this one seems to be different. Did he find her somewhere else?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    "Those eggs as wellбн they are differentбн" Lin Wu narrowed his eyes.

    Along with his own bloodline, he could feel something else mixed in it. It was hard for him to tell what it was exactly thought.

    "System scan the lizard beast and tell me what it is." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Club Tailed Lizard

    CULTIVATION BASE: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    INFO: The Club Tailed Lizard is a rtively docile spirit beast aspared to other beasts like it. It lives in the tropical forest of the eastern central part of the Long Continent and can also be found on the ind in the great ocean.

    It can reach up to the Dao Shell realm and has the potential to even reach the Dao Treading realm if given the right resources. Due to their docile nature, they were once used as mounts by the kingdoms of the old. But the many wars in the past led to their poption dwindling and now they have be rather rare.

    Their tails have a bulbous growth at the end which they use as a club and it is enough to break the bones of several beasts. The females of this species are highly protective of their offspring and will fiercely defend them till death.

    There have even been cases of them self detonating at the precipice of death.

    бкбк

    Reading the entire page of information the system showed Lin Wu, he was rather intrigued. He had not thought that a beast like this had existed nearby. He was also surprised by the club like tail since he had not seen it on this beast.

    "If this is a club tailed lizardбн then where is its club?" Lin Wu wondered.

    No matter how much he observed the Lizard he could not see the bulb like club at the end of its tail.

    "Hang onбн that looks like scar tissue?" Lin Wu said.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This Club Tailed Lizard has been injured recently and had the top of its tail which had the club on it broken off.

    бкбк

    "No wonderбн perhaps it was this lizard that the Olive Viper King fought and got injured? I did know that reptiles get into a little fight when mating and injuries are not umon." Lin Wu recalled.

    Having learned of this, Lin Wu had a great hunch that this was perhaps why the Olive Viper king has not been active as of yet and that it had been hiding the presence of the Club Tailed Lizard.

    "How''s he hiding her, though?" Lin Wu wondered and focused on the area around the Club Tailed lizard.

    After a little bit of a search, Lin Wu saw the hidden secret.

    "Huhбн never expected the Olive Viper King would end up with an ability like this." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    From what Lin Wu could perceive, there were small blocks of faces buried around the area where the Club Tailed Lizard was living in. But that was not all, as the faces contained radiation.

    This was quite interesting to Lin Wu as it was not fully radiating outwards like radiation normally should. Rather, it seemed like the radiation was ''controlled'' and only enough amount was released to neutralize the spirit Qi fluctuations of the Lizard beast.

    "That''s a very unique methodбн I gotta take note of this." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ''While it is a bit shitty, it is usableбн haha!'' Lin Wu thought.

    He observed the Lizard and the eggs for a bit before deciding to leave. Though he still didn''t know how the Olive Viper King managed to bring the Club Tailed Lizard into the Millennium forest without other beasts discovering it.

    ''Even if he can hide the spirit Qi fluctuations, that should only be if the lizard is confined to a specific area rather than moving. How did he aplish this?'' Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    Knowing that it was useless waiting here and thinking about it, Lin Wu decided to return to the Mole Beast.

    "Did you find anything, master?" The Mole Beast questioned.

    "I did, yes. The Olive Viper King has a new mate that is at the nascent Soul realm as well." Lin Wu answered.

    "What?! How?" The Mole beast was shocked to hear this.

    "I don''t know either. But he managed to hide the Club Tailed Lizard that is his mate for all this time now and even managed to let it enter the illumine forest without anyone knowing. I do not know how this is possible, but this is probably why he hasn''t left his nest all this time." Lin Wu replied.

    "That does make senseбн I guess I''ll keep an eye on him and see what else happens." The mole beast stated.

    "Alright, you keep it up. I''ll take my leave." Lin Wu replied.

    "Farewell master and thank you for your help." The mole beast expressed his gratitude.

    After leaving the underground cave of the Mole Beast, Lin Wu decided to pay a visit to hisst beast servant, which was none other than the Split thorn horn beetle. She was also at the Peak stage of the Core condensation realm and was currently the strongest among all of his servants perhaps.

    ''Even though both the mole beast and the beetle beast got the rhombus gem at the same time, the Beetle beast managed toe out on top. Hmmбн I guess the mole beast spying all this time affected his speed.

    The beetle beast on the other hand, was at the beetle king''s territory and got plenty of time to focus on its own cultivation.'' Lin Wu guessed.

    And just while thinking all this, he reached the location of the beetle beast.

 Chapter 457 - Heading To The Beetle Kings Territory

    This was the second time Lin Wu hade to the territory of the Beetle king. The first time he hade to establish the alliance with him and the monkey king, and now this was going to be the very second meeting.

    ''Wonder how far they havee. I remember changing a lot more of them.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Hang on! System, where is the data on the others that were mutated?" Lin Wu asked, remembering the others.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Please check the next page of the servant data. Since the other beasts are not the host''s direct servants, they were categorized separately.

    бкбк

    "Iбн the fuckбн" Lin Wu said, thinking that he was stupid now.

    He opened the new page and saw the information about the beasts that he had mutated. In total, he had mutated about five of them, but only the Scorpion beast was the more iconic one.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    Inactive Subordinates:

    1. Barb-Pincered Scorpion

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Not linked

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    2. ck Fur Monkey

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Mid Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Not linked

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    3бн.

    4бн

    5бн

    бкбк

    One by one, the information about the beasts started appearing in front of Lin Wu. The main difference between these beasts and the ones that Lin Wu had made his servant was that they didn''t have the samemunication link established.

    Doing that required fully activating the Rhombus gem that was within this body. But this would also change them into Lin Wu''s fully fledged servants, which would not be good for Lin Wu as it would be the same as stealing the servants of the other rulers.

    While Lin Wu was confident of being able to fight against them, he didn''t want to unnecessarily fight when a better solution was avable. Besides, he didn''t really need others to fight for him as he himself was quite strong.

    Rather than that, the servants were for other tasks that would be far too menial for Lin Wu to do. Though Lin Wu did want a couple of monkey beasts to work in his tomb so that he could have some snacks.

    He wanted them to learn to cook and had even made the jade slip with all the information that would be needed for someone to learn it. For this, he wanted the ape beasts and monkey beasts to learn, since they would have simr dexterity as that of humans.

    But Lin Wu couldn''t just get any monkey beasts and needed one that were more intelligent. And for that he had yet to ask the slim arm ape for his subordinates. While his main body had actually mutated three such monkey beasts, they were still at the territory of the slim arm ape.

    "Hmmбн I might get themter on." Lin Wu thought to himself.

    For now, Lin Wu decided to focus on the current task at hand. He sent out his spirit sense to inform the Beetle king that he was entering his territory. While it was not needed, Lin Wu still liked to keep a little etiquette.

    "That should be enoughбн" Lin Wu said before he entered the territory and went to the nest of the Beetle king.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    Before Lin Wu even reached it, he could feel the tremors on the ground. It was as if something heavy was moving and Lin Wu had a good idea of what it was.

    "That should be the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king." Lin Wu said.

    His spirit sense extended and he quickly found the beetle king appearing from his next. The nest was made from thousands of wooden tree trunks that had been reduced to wood chips by the split thorn horn beetles.

    They then made cave like holes in this ''hill'' of wood chips and lived inside it. Though the other insect beasts that also lived here just lived in burrows or caves that linked to therge nest.

    Lin Wu came to a stop in front of the nest and saw the Split Thorn Horn beetle king standing there. In addition to him, Lin Wu could also see his servant there. She was standing by the side of the Beetle king and the size contrast between them was huge.

    The Beetle king was almost half the size of Lin Wu while the female beetle beast was only ten meters long.

    But the contrast was not just in size. She also had the same green crystal parts on her body as others. Except in her case, her horn had the green crystal going from the base to the end in a spiral pattern.

    Her head had two green crystal lines going in a ''V'' pattern from the base of the horn to the back of her head, where they curved to meet the Rhombus gem that was embedded below her carapace.

    Her legs that had barbed hooks at the end were also tipped with the crystal ws while her wings had also gained a green sheen on them. Unlike her, the Beetle king was just ck overall with some shades of darker blue and Grey mixed in.

    "Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm King, Wee." The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King spoke.

    "Wee, master." The Female beetle said through their link.

    "How have you been all this time?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Everything has been fine. The insect beasts that were mutated have gained even more strength than before and their potential is certainly much higher than before." The Beetle king answered.

    "That''s good. Once you have more candidates, you can send them to me. I''ll have some time this week." Lin Wu replied.

    "I certainly will." The beetle King stated.

    "Thoughбн it seems like my subordinates are not the only ones that have grown strongerбн you have, too. You''re now beyond me at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.." The Beetle king said with a little awe in his eyes.

 Chapter 458 - The Beetle Beasts Surprise Breakthrough

    The Beetle king had felt the presence of Lin Wu, the moment he had approached the boundary of his territory. The king himself had been feeling a bit unsettled today had had thus kept an eye on everything wondering what was wrong.

    But then Lin Wu''s appearance exined everything. His bloodline was something that made his own tremble whenever it came in its proximity. Upon finally seeing Lin Wu, the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King finally realized why he was feeling nervous today.

    But his shock didn''t stop there as not only had Lin Wue to meet him, but he was also far stronger than before. So much so that the beetle king had a hard time believing the same Lin Wu was barely at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm ten months ago.

    Now he was stronger than the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king. This he could tell from the pressure that Lin Wu''s body exuded. It was a different kind of a feeling that he could not exin clearly, but it was strong enough to force him to think every word that he said to Lin Wu.

    The Split Thorn Horn Beetle even wondered if it was due to both of them being insect beasts. The bloodline suppression on beasts of the same type was stronger than that of different ones.

    ''Sighбн the new reces the old while the even newer gets readyбн'' the Split Thorn Horn Beetle thought to himself.

    He was the oldest insect beast in this forest and had seen countless other beasts, whether they be insect beasts or not, die and perish due to old age. But he knew one thing: that a day woulde when others would have to rece him.

    All he could do was to make sure that the newer generation would be prepared to do so. He had already gotten his candidate in the form of the female Split Thorn Horn Beetle that was Lin Wu''s servant.

    Her bloodline was mutated far enough that it was bordering onpletely merging. The Split Thorn Horn Beetle king even wondered if she would be aparable different species when she broke through to the Nascent Soul realm.

    He even knew that she was close to a breakthrough and would perhaps enter the pseudo Nascent soul realm at any moment. And just a minute after Lin Wu arrived, it happenedбн

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Waves of spirit Qi wove around the female Split Thorn Horn Beetle as the green crystalline parts on her body glowed.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu focused his attention on his servant and saw that the rhombus gem in her body was resonating.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Detected that the Split Thorn Horn Beetle servant is close to reaching the Pseudo Nascent Soul realm

    UPGRADE REQUEST RECEIVED: Approve? Y/N

    бкбк

    Seeing the notification, Lin Wu was surprised.

    ''Seems like my increase in cultivation is affecting others as well. Hmmбн if this keeps up, I should have more of my servants breaking through I guess.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Approve it, system." Lin u said in his mind.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    UPGRADE REQUEST: Approved

    NOTIFICATION: The Host''s servant will now undergo a free growth process that will not be controlled by the system. The end result will depend on the servant itself.

    бкбк

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    As the spirit Qi started to pour into the Split Thorn Horn Beetle, she closed her eyes.

    "My, my, looks like I get to see another surprise today." Lin Wu chuckled.

    "Indeedбн I had thought that today was going to be different, but I certainly didn''t think this would happen." The Split Thorn Horn Beetle king stated.

    The spirit Qi waves intensified before finally settling after five minutes. The Split Thorn Horn Beetle didn''t seem to have changed, but Lin Wu could feel faint spatial fluctuations appearing around her.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET: Split Thorn Horn Beetle

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm -> Pseudo Nascent soul realm

    Approximate time for the arrival of heavenly tribtion: 25 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes

    бкбк

    "Congrattions, you are quite close to a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm now." Lin Wu praised.

    "Thank you, master. This is all due to your grace." The Split Thorn Horn Beetle stated.

    "Seems like your presence itself causes miraclesбн" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King muttered to himself.

    "Ah, hahaбн Well, this aside, I just came to check up on you and wanted to say that I would be acting soon." Lin Wu spoke, changing the topic.

    "Oh? You will be fighting the Olive Viper King?" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle questioned.

    "Indeed. But there are a few things I need to do before that. Plus, there are some new developments that have turned up that many don''t know about." Lin Wu answered.

    "Oh? Like what?" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle king questioned.

    "For example, did you know there is another Nascent soul realm beast in the forest now? It''s a Club Tailed Lizard, and she''s the mate of the Olive Viper King. That is also the reason why he has been inactive as ofte." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing this, the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king was surprised.

    "Thatбн that''s unusual. The entire Millennium forest should have felt it if a new Nascent soul realm beast appeared in it." The Split Thorn Horn Beetle king spoke.

    "That''s the thing. I don''t think the club tailed lizard broke though here. I think she was already at the Nascent soul realm and the olive viper king simply brought her here since she was going toy eggs." Lin Wu replied.

    "No wonderбн. If that lizard is his mate while also being at the Nascent Soul realm, then the offspring that he will have now will be far stronger than the ones he has had till now.

    In factбн these will be the first proper offspring he will be having since he became one of the rulers of the Millennium forest." The Split Thorn Horn Beetle said.

    "Oh, is that soбн I didn''t know thatбн" Lin Wu muttered, finding it to be interesting.

 Chapter 459 - A Familiar Sensation

    Originally, Lin Wu had thought that the Olive Viper King always kept on having more and more offspring so that he could have more subordinates. That was also why he thought that they had the crystal parts in their bodies.

    But now it seemed like it was different than that.

    ''If he hasn''t had any offspring till now, then it must be either because he is unable to for some reason or has more requirements for it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu also wondered if this restriction was because of the bloodline itself or just the cultivation base of the beast. Since he himself had the same bloodline as that of the Olive Viper King, Lin Wu wondered if he would have to follow the same restrictions when he had his own offspring.

    "Ugh! I''ll think of this some timeter." Lin Wu muttered to himself, finding it all to be weird.

    "When will you be acting against the Olive Viper King then?" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King questioned.

    "I think in about ten more days." Lin Wu estimated.

    He took the time needed for the avatar to reach the millennium forest in consideration, in addition to the time that might be needed for the three rulers to get ready for it. After all, not only was Lin Wu involved in it, but the two ape kings and the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king was too.

    "Hmmбн ten days it is then. I''ll prepare for it thoroughly." The Split Thorn Horn Beetle king replied.

    "Mmhmm, you do that. I''ll go and talk with the Slim Arm ape king and the Demon spine ape as well." Lin Wu stated.

    "Alright. I''ll keep an eye out for the olive viper king as well. He certainly seems to be acting rtively strangely." The Split Thorn Horn Beetle king spoke.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and decided to take his leave. Once he had flown away, the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king looked at his descendant.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Your master is only getting stronger and strongerбн I think even the Twin Lights Liger King might not be able to hold his position for long nowбн" the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king spoke.

    "Of course. I can feel master''s bloodline. He is not someone that beasts of this forest can even hold up against. Even the Olive Viper King that has a bloodline simr to that of master is still inferior." The female Split Thorn Horn Beetle replied.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The Split Thorn Horn Beetle king turned and went back into the nest.

    "You can go and talk to the other insect beasts. Get them ready for theing battle." The Split Thorn Horn Beetle king''s voice echoed from the inside.

    "Yes!" The female Split Thorn Horn Beetle replied before moving towards the tunnels where the other insect beasts lived.

    ***

    Lin Wu took barely ten minutes to reach the territory of the two ape kings. Since they were father and son, they had merged their territories despite being rulers. That was why their territory was ratherrge now.

    The Demon spine ape had worked in these past weeks to gather the smaller parts of the area that were unupied in the surroundings and gotten their own territory to expand in size more.

    Lin Wu could already sense the presence of the monkey beasts in the forest below. One of the advantages that the ape kings had was that they had the best unity and teamwork out of all other rulers.

    Since the slim arm ape king was once the tamed beast of a human, he knew of human tactics and skills that could be used to increase the administration of everything. This made his governance far better than that of the other rulers.

    If onepared the number of subordinates among the rulers, then the Beetle king would have the most and the then two ape kings. After that would be the Olive Viper King and finally the Twin lights liger king.

    The subordinates of the Twin Lights Liger king were less in number since their overall birth rate was far less than that of the other beasts. But they made up for this in their strength. They had more number of core condensation realm beasts than any other ruler.

    Lin Wu could be said to be at the bottom of the ranking if one considered the number of subordinates, despite the fact that he was not a ruler himself. Though that was something that would change quite soon.

    "There they areбн" Lin Wu spotted the main cave of the Slim arm ape and the Demon spine ape.

    He had already sensed the spirit Qi fluctuations of the Demon spine ape king which spread in arge expanse of an area. This was something that he couldn''t do much about and was just the natural dominance of his own bloodline.

    While it served as a suppression to other beasts, it could also be taken as an advantage since the Demon Spine Ape would be a walking beacon telling everyone where he was. But this time, Lin Wu could sense something familiar from the Demon spine ape''s spirit Qi.

    "Hmmбн why''s it like this?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The closer he got, the more he found it to be familiar and only when hended in front of the cave did he sense the direct aura of the Demon spine ape. And when he did, he realized why it felt familiar to him.

    "The Dark attributeбн no, not exactly dark. It seems to be a derivative as wellбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Simr to the Shadow attitude that Lin Wu had felt from the skull god and the prophet of the skull god, this seemed to be linked to the dark element as well. Lin Wu understood that this must be some other derivative that he didn''t know about.

    ''Perhaps system will know a bit moreбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>

    The sound of loud footsteps could be heard as the two ape kings appeared from the cave.

    бкбк

 Chapter 460 - The Surprised Ape Kings

    The moment Lin Wu had gotten close to the main cave of the two ape kings, they had sensed his presence. But what they had not expected was for it to be overpowering for them.

    "Fatherбн this beastбн" The Demon spine ape spoke.

    "Keep your calm. We had expected his bloodline to be powerful. But now we have the estimate of just how powerful it is." The Slim Arm Ape replied.

    The Demon spine ape lowered his head and thought for a bit before looking at his father again.

    "How does his bloodlinepare to my bloodline thenбн no rather mother''s own bloodline?" The Demon Spine Ape questioned.

    "Hmmбн that is a bit hard to tell. But justpared to you, I fear his bloodline might be far more superior. Even the Olive Viper King seems to be inferior to him now and he supposedly has the same bloodline as him." The Slim Arm Ape answered.

    "And what about my mother''s pure bloodline?" the Demon Spine Ape Questioned.

    "Her bloodline is something far more special. Even in you, it is only partially awakened. I don''t know why she chose me as her mate and gave birth to you, but I reckon her bloodline might have been the reason behind it as well.

    As of now, I think both of their bloodlines might beparable, since I felt quite pressured in her presence as well. She had to intentionally lower her spirit Qi when she was around me." The Slim Arm Ape questioned.

    "Lower her spirit Qi? Just what was her cultivation base?" The Demon Spike ape asked.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    The Slim Arm Ape sighed in response to this, as if some painful memories had popped up for him.

    "Now that you are a ruler and in the Nascent Soul realm, I guess I can tell you more about it. You motherбн Was at the Dao Treading realm." The Slim Arm Ape revealed.

    "WHAT!?" The Demon Spine ape was astounded to say the least upon hearing this.

    "Enough of this for now. We have to attend to the guest." The Slim Arm ape quickly said. "We''ll talk about thister." He added.

    The Demon spine ape nodded his head and then the two of them headed towards the entrance of the cave where Lin Wu was waiting.

    "He has indeed broken through to the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm nowбн" The Slim Arm Ape muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu, who saw the two beast kings, waved his tail in greeting.

    "Greetings, I came to check up on how things are going." Lin Wu stated.

    "Very well. Pleasee in, we can talk in a bit morefort." The Slim Arm Ape replied.

    "Okay," Lin Wu said before entering the cave and following behind the two ape kings.

    He could tell that the cave was certainly a bit modified to suit the living area of a human. There were shelves, tables and even some paintings that were hanging on the walls.

    ''Oh, so he does have a taste for the human lifestyle.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Further in, he could see several other monkey beasts, carrying things around and doing tasks, like cleaning and transporting. Seeing the ease with which they were doing things, Lin Wu was even more tempted to get a few for himself.

    "I have to say, having subordinates that can do a bit moreplex tasks like this is rather good." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Ahaha, yes. They are a bit dumb at times, but they can get some simple tasks done." The Slim Arm Ape king replied.

    "If you don''t mindбн I''d like to take some of your subordinates under me. I would of course,pensate you for it too." Lin Wu proposed the question.

    The Demon Spine Ape and the Slim Arm Ape raised their brows upon hearing this. They had not expected such a request and didn''t know what to think of it.

    "What do we say, father?" the Demon Spine ape asked in a low voice and in a different humannguage.

    The slim arm ape king had taught him this exactly for situations like these and it was certainlying in handy now. Unknown to them, Lin Wu could pretty much understand every humannguage and dialect of this continent, due to the help of the system.

    He, of course, didn''t show like he knew and kept his oblivious expression since he wanted to know how the two will react to this.

    ''Will they be angry or fine with it?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "It shouldn''t be a problem. We can send some to his ce, perhaps it might even win a bit of his favor." The Slim Arm Ape king replied to the Demon spine ape.

    Finally, he turned to Lin Wu and spoke, "you can take some. But they will need to agree to it as well as I won''t force them."

    "Sure. I''ll make sure that it''s worth their time." Lin Wu replied, feeling more confident.

    He knew that with the temptation of growing one''s bloodline, nearly every beast would want to join him. After all, there were hundreds of other beasts who had joined under the servant beasts, with far fewer promises than that.

    The three of them finally reached the final destination, which was arge hall, carved out in the cave. There were low seats and tables set up, with some tes with fruits and meat put on them.

    Lin Wu could even see the cushions there and knew that these were probably traded with the humans. He had known that the Slim Arm ape had interactions with humans before and had even helped them out a few times when they stumbled in the forest.

    Generally, as long as they didn''t do anything to harm him or his subordination, he would protect them from the other rulers. Of course, there were other exceptions to this, but those were not necessary most of the time.

    The two ape kings took a seat, while Lin Wu simply coiled and sat at the other end of the table.

 Chapter 461 - Meeting With The Ape Kings

    The two ape kings looked at Lin Wu a tad bit awkwardly.

    "So what is it that you wanted to talk to us about?" The Slim Arm Ape King questioned.

    "Well, it was mainly two things. The first being that I will be acting against the Olive Viper King soon, probably in ten days. As soon as I get some things on my end ready. As for the second thingбн it''s about the Olive Viper King''s recent inactivity." Lin Wu said before exining all that he had seen and his talk with the Split Thorn Horn beetle king as well.

    Twenty minutester, Lin Wu was done speaking and the two ape kings had a serious expression.

    "Hmmбн we should get things ready on our end as well." The Slim Arm Ape king replied.

    "My subordinates are always ready for a fight!" The Demon Spine ape said as a gush of hot steam came out of his nostrils.

    "As for the Olive Viper King having a new mate and descendantsбн I think I may know the reason why. Certain beasts have restrictions on who they can mate with and most of the time it is obvious as they remain in their own species.

    But sometimes, they reach a point where their own cultivation or something else restricts them from having offspring. I reckon his mutation must be the reason behind this, and his desire to have more offspring led him outside the millennium forest to find a mate.

    Of course, the mate would also have to be strong enough to match his cultivation base, which made it impossible for him to find one in this forest." The Slim Arm ape answered.

    "I seeбн though I doubt we would need to worry much about the lizard beast. From what I know about her species, as long as we don''t harm her eggs, she won''t do anything. She''ll be fine even if we kill the Olive Viper king." Lin Wu spoke.

    It was at this point, the Demon Spine Ape kin questioned, "but father, doesn''t the forest have a restriction on the nascent soul beasts? We all should have felt it if the mate of the Olive Viper king entered the forest."

    "Ah, about that. He has found a way to hide her spirit Qi fluctuations. This effectively makes her invisible to our senses. Only when you are close to her, would you be able to sense her, though seeing her is still normal." Lin Wu exined.

    The two ape kings were once again surprised that something like this could be done.

    "Hmmбн seems like we do need to take the Olive Viper king a bit more seriously. If he has abilities like this then he may have even more." The Slim Arm Ape stated.

    "You don''t need to worry much about the Oliver Viper King himself, I can handle it on my own and will prevent him from causing too much damage, we don''t want a repeat of the Silver Beak Sky Soar Eagle. All you need to do is to handle his subordinates that will definitely rampage when we attack them." Lin Wu suggested.

    The Slim Arm ape king thought to himself and nodded his head.

    "Plus, we will need to keep the Twin Lights Liger King at bay. If they decided to interfere, it will get problematic. Plus, we will need to keep all this secret as if he finds out that we are doing all this, he will take this as an attempt at a rebellion." The Slim Arm Ape king added.

    "Exactly." Lin Wu said, not telling them that once the Olive Viper King was dealt with, Lin Wu himself would not have any problem dealing with the Twin Lights Liger King either.

    ''I''ll have to either get him under me or kill himбн there is no other way. This forest will be mine since I am the owner of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb now.'' Lin Wu thought to himself with determination.

    With that done, Lin Wu talked a few more things with the two ape kings. It was only that he got to take a closer look at the demon spine ape king and the familiar aura he felt from him.

    ''It''s definitely a derivative of the Dark elementбн but what is it? It has some simrities to the Shadow element but does not have the same corroding vibe to it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    ''System, have youpleted the analysis?'' Lin Wu asked in his mind.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The analysis has beenpleted. The elemental spirit qi found to be emanating from the Demon spine ape is another derivative of the Dark element, the Demonic Qi. The concentration of Demonic Qi is quite less in the Demon spine ape as of now, but all of his attacks should contain a fraction of it.

    бкбк

    ''No wonder those mes were able to hurt me back thenбн they do contain the demonic Qiбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Demonic Qi was a type of Qi that was derived from the dark element and wasbined with the traces of the Demon path Dao. This made it a very strong type of a Qi that most mortal elements could not stand against unless the user was very strong.

    ''The demon spine ape might be far stronger than the other beasts if he can use Demonic Qi. Though it doesn''t seem like he has full control over it as of now. But as his cultivation base increases, I''m sure he will obtain some innate skills and learn how to use demonic Qi.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having learned this, Lin Wu was nearly done with the meeting and thought that it was now time for him to leave.

    "I''ll take my leave for now. You already have themunication jade slip so you can contact me if needed." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Oh, aren''t you going to take some monkey beasts with you?" The Slim Arm Ape king questioned.

    "Ohбн I almost forgot.. Yeah, I may as well take a few if you can call them," Lin Wu answered.

 Chapter 462 - Recruiting Monkey Beasts

    About five minutester, a troop of monkeys was standing in front of the cave. They had been called here upon the orders of the Slim Arm Ape King and were now waiting for him to speak.

    Some of them hung on the trees, someid on the ground, some scratched their heads while some scratched their butts. Overall, they did all that was expected of monkeys.

    "Today, I have called you for an opportunity. The Crimson Eyed Emerald worm would like to recruit a few of you all to work for him." The Slim Arm Ape king announced.

    <em>~eek~</em>

    Chattering among the monkey beasts could be heard as they were surprised. This was something that had never happened before, and they were wondering what they would be doing.

    "What is it that he wants from us?" one of the smarter monkey beasts questioned.

    "Why don''t you tell them?" The Slim Arm ape king asked, Lin Wu.

    "Alright." Lin Wu said beforeing to the front.

    "I want you all for doing more dexterous tasks that only you can do. It will involve taking care of spirit herbs, spirit fruits and many such things that only humans can do and of course, humanoid beasts like you as well.

    Don''t worry, I''ll bepensating all that decide to join me. All that do so, will get the opportunity to mutate their bloodline and make it stronger, just the same as what a few others have been able to." Lin Wu stated.

    <em>~Eek~</em>

    The Monkey beasts broke out in chatter again as they discussed among''s themselves. Watching all this, Lin Wu felt as if he was watching a bunch of students dissuading amongst themselves after amon announcement.

    It kind of reminded him of his school days when there would be a big announcement and they would all then chat about it.

    ''Hmmбн seems like as the intelligence of a creature increases, their behaviors start to be more and more simrбн'' Lin Wu noted.

    After about two minutes of chatter, ten monkey beasts came forward.

    "We are willing toe!" They said in unison.

    "Alright, that is excellent." Lin Wu said with a smile.

    He did a quick scan with his spirit sense and learned that all of these monkey beasts were at the Early stage of the core condensation realm. While it was something that was a bit low if they wanted to mutate normally, Lin Wu would have no problem if he controlled the mutation manually.

    "Are you fine with this?" Lin Wu questioned the Slim Arm Ape King.

    "Yes." The ape king replied.

    "Alrightбн what would you like aspensation?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "For nowбн nothing. Though in the future I would like your help if somethinges up that I can''t deal with." The Slim Arm Ape answered, surprising Lin Wu.

    "If that''s what you want, sure." Lin Wu replied, finding the request to be a bit underwhelming than expected.

    To the Slim Arm Ape king, ten core condensation realm beasts leaving his control at once was somewhat of a loss. He didn''t really have that many beasts under him that were at that stage, just a little over a hundred.

    Lin Wu taking ten of them was the same as reducing ten percent of his overall manpower. Though he was pleased that none of the more stronger Core condensation realm beasts decide to leave.

    Otherwise, he would have to bear the pain of them leaving and his base weakening.

    "Alright then. All of you are to report to the forbidden tomb, which I''m sure everyone should know. That is the ce I live in." Lin Wu informed just in case someone didn''t know.

    "Okay!" All of them said in unison.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and then turned to the Slim Arm Ape King.

    "I''ll take my leave then. I''ll contact you if somethinges up and you can do the same." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Farewell." The Slim Arm ape king and the Demon Spine Ape King said.

    "Farewell," Lin Wu replied before taking flight and leaving the territory.

    Once he was gone, the Demon Spine Ape king looked at his father with doubt in his eyes.

    "Why did you not ask for anypensation right now, father?" The Demon Spine Ape King questioned.

    "Oh, I did. The request I asked of him would be more than any materialpensation he could give us right now. You''ve already seen his strength and bloodline. In the future, he will be quite strong and it won''t be that long either.

    With him being in our favor, we will be able to have a trump card of our own as well." The Slim Arm Ape king exined.

    "I understand, fatherбн" The demon Spike Ape King nodded his head.

    The Slim Arm Ape king looked in the direction of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb and then in the direction of the Twin Lights Liger King''s territory.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Hopefully a situation like that never arrivesбн" The Slim Arm Ape King muttered to himself.

    ***

    "Look! Master''s back!" The Hook Winged Swan spotted Lin Wu who was flying in from the distance.

    The High Wind Gale sparrow opened its eyes and confirmed that as well.

    "He''s back early. I thought he''d be gone longerбн" he muttered to himself.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Lin Wunded at the top of the Tomb with a thud and took a look at the two bird beasts that were sitting in their nests. He gave them a simple look and entered the tomb.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Runes appeared in the air and surrounded Lin Wu, before teleporting him away to the main hall of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb.

    "<em>Ah~</em> Home sweet homeбн" Lin Wu said, feeling the high concentration of spirit Qi in the air.

    <em>~swoop~</em>

    A few monitoring windows shed by before Lin Wu picked one of them to view.

    "There it is." Lin Wu said upon seeing the monitor window in which the monkey beasts could be seen.

    ''Now to just wait for them toe here. I''ll mutate them and give them the information needed to get them started on all the tasks..'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

 Chapter 463 - Strength From Lice

    Lin Wu had to wait for about three hours before the monkey beasts reached the Taiji Celestial''s tomb. Even if it only took him just a few minutes to reach the territory of the Slim Arm ape king, it was not the same for these monkey beasts since they were only at the core condensation realm.

    And Lin Wu had directly just flown over the forest to reach there quickly.

    "Finally, they are here." Lin Wu said upon seeing the monkey beasts in the monitor screen window.

    They were standing at the front of the entrance and looking around, confusedly. There were a couple of insect beasts that woulde from time to time to put fruits in a pile, but right now there were none.

    This was mostly because the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king had asked all insect beasts to gather so that they could prepare for the battle that was about toe soon. Lin Wu observed the monkey beasts and waited for them to step into the entrant of the tomb.

    "System, teleport them into the third inner hall." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TELEPORTATION FORMATION: Activated.

    TARGET SELECTED: Initiating teleportation.

    бкбк

    Runes suddenly appeared around the monkey beasts startling them a bit, but before they could do anything, the runesbined into the teleportation formation and took them all away, leaving behind nothing.

    "Let''s head there to meet them as well." Lin Wu said before disappearing into a flicker of light.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In one of the many halls of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, a swirl of light appeared and from that Lin Wu''s body materialized. There was a group of ten monkey beasts waiting there, looking around in confusion.

    The white stone interiors of the Tomb were far different than what most beasts would usually see and thus they were quite intrigued. Monkeys were naturally curious animals, and it only became more amplified in the case of these monkey beasts that had be cultivators.

    Their intelligence was almost the same as a human and their curiosity was also higher. Since they had not seen anything like this, they used various methods to learn what it was. They touched it, licked it, smelled it, and observed it closely.

    Thus it was another shock to them when Lin Wu suddenly appeared out of thin air.

    "EEK!" The monkey beasts shouted, due to being startled.

    Lin Wu looked at the monkey beasts. Their specific name was actually ck Fur monkeys and they were the same kind of a monkey that Lin Wu had evolved before. The slim arm ape and these monkeys were actually quite different from each other.

    After all, the slim arm ape wasn''t actually a native of the millennium forest and was bought here by his master. Still, since he could be considered to be in the same category as these monkeys, they became his subordinates.

    "Looks like you all are finding this ce to be nice." Lin Wu spoke.

    "It''s different. We haven''t seen a stone like this before." One of the ck Fur Monkeys said.

    "Indeed. This ce is perhaps the most important ce in the entire Millennium forest." Lin Wu said, surprising the monkeys.

    "The most important? But isn''t that the central area of the forest? The Dark Bloom Caverns?" Another ck fur monkey questioned.

    "Even that ce is linked to this tomb. Worry not, you will learn more as you spend time here. For now, we should get to work." Lin Wu replied.

    "What do you want us to do?" they questioned.

    "Well, there are many tasks that I want you to do, but first I think I should fulfill my promise and make you mutate." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing that they will get to mutate and grow stronger right away, they were all excited.

    "Who wants to go first, then?" Lin Wu questioned.

    And just as he asked this, the monkeys quickly arranged themselves into a single line.

    "Oh? You guys were ready?" Lin Wu asked.

    "We alreadypeted to decide our ranks." The monkey that was in the front spoke.

    "Ah, and how did you decide that?" Lin Wu questioned, "did you fight and do that?" he added.

    "We decided our ranking by seeing who has the highest number of lice in their fur." The monkey in the front answered.

    "Lice?" Lin Wu was confused at first and wondered if he had heard it wrong but then reying that memory from the system, he realized they were indeed saying lice.

    "You picked out ranks by seeing who has more lice infested fur?" Lin Wu asked for confirmation.

    "Of course! Lice would pick only the bodies of those that are the strongest to live on!" The monkey beast at the front said while tapping his chest.

    Lin Wu raised his eyes and focused a bit on the ck fur monkey. His vision zoomed in like a camera and he could really see small white dots moving around the fur of the ck fur monkey.

    He looked at the other monkeys and they also had simr white dots moving around.

    ''Dammit! These monkey beasts are as dumb as monkeys.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    He couldn''t do much and simply shook his head.

    "Perhaps mutating them may help increase their intelligence a bit more and give them wisdom tooбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "You said something, master worm?" The monkey at the front said.

    "No, nothingбн let''s get this started." Lin Wu said while rolling his eyes.

    "Come forth," Lin Wu said, and the monkey beast obeyed.

    Lin Wu then extended his tail from which a spike arose. The spike touched the head of the monkey beast and directly pierced its forehead. Though under Lin Wu and the system''s control, it felt nothing but just a little pressure.

    "Do your thing system, we got ten of them to go through." Lin Wu said in his mind.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    MUTATION PROTOCOL: Initiated

    бкбк

    This was another thing that system had made ording to Lin Wu''s orders and he didn''t need to specifically make a rhombus gem now.

 Chapter 464 - Washing Machine

    "Aaand Done!" Lin Wu said afterpleting the mutation protocol with the tenth and final monkey beast.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "That took way more spirit Qi, than I had expected. No wonder specifically targeted Mutation is faster, just like the system said." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Previously, when Lin Wu used the Rhombus gem to make a beast servant, the mutation was not actually direct and intentional. Rather, it happened as a side effect of being in contact with the rhombus gem, which also emanated a part of the radiation from Lin Wu''s body.

    After being in contact for long enough, they would mutate their bloodlines, causing them to transform into a new kind of a species.

    "Perhaps I shoulde up with a new name for themбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he watched the monkey beasts that were lying on the ground and slowly changing.

    Even though the mutation was directly done, it was still going to take at least a day for them toplete this. While observing the beasts, Lin Wu''s eyes went to the small white dots that were moving around on their bodies.

    "Ugh! System teleport them into one of the flooded underground halls and wash them. I don''t want the lice spreading to other ces here." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    In the next second, the ten ck fur monkeys disappeared in a flicker of light. Lin Wu observed on the other monitor window as they were dunked into a flooded underground hall. This hall was still linked with the rest of the tomb, but over the years, water had leaked into it from the rains.

    It had been like this long enough that it was now a water tank. The ten ck fur monkeys were thrown into this hall and the formations in the hall started activating.

    <em>~woom~woom~woom~</em>

    The system used several formations, such as the water repelling formation and water attracting formation, to make the water move around in a spiral. Soon, the water formed into a tornado and the entire hall became a washing machine.

    The ten ck fur monkeys were fully unconscious due to the effect of mutation and thus didn''t feel anything at all. As for them being submerged in water? Spirit beasts and cultivators could hold their breaths for far longer than normal animals and humans.

    Not to mention these ck fur monkeys were all at the early stage of the core condensation realm thus, they were stronger than the average spirit beast. To them, even if they were submerged in water for thirty minutes, they would be fine.

    Besides, the system was keeping an eye on their vitals and wouldn''t let any harme to them. The ten ck fur monkeys spun in the ''washing machine/hall'' for about five minutes before it detected zero presence of lice.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK COMPLETED: ck Fur Monkeys sanitized.

    бкбк

    "Very good system." Lin Wu said as the ck fur monkeys were then brought back into the hall.

    <em>~st~</em>

    A wet st was heard as all of them fell to the ground at once.

    "Ah, I forgot about the waterбн fear not though!" Lin Wu said as he pointed his tail towards the monkey beasts.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    He then morphed the tail to have two t des that were perpendicr to the tip and started spinning them rapidly. But in addition to this, he used radiation to heat up the air.

    "There we go. Shirong might call thisбн Immortal Crystal Armament: Hair dryer form!" Lin Wu chuckled.

    The hot air quickly dried out the drenched monkeys and also dried the water on the floor. About a minuteter, they were fully dried and Lin Wu changed his body back to normal.

    "Ah, the things I do for convenienceбн" Lin Wu said to himself.

    He then went to do some other tasks until it was time for the monkey beasts to wake up. Only when they were fully woken up, could he give them the information. He could of course, try to inject it right now, but with them being unconscious, the information may just get jumbled up.

    So instead of wasting effort and time, Lin Wu just decided to wait and do something else till then. He simply read a few more documents that had beenpiled by the system and also let his body cultivate at the same time.

    The day passed rather quickly, with little to no changes happening in the forest.

    "Another part doneбн" Lin Wu said with a nod.

    Lin Wu had just finished about six more books that the stem hadpiled from the data obtained in all his adventure. They contained information about a lot of different things and were sort of an entertainment for Lin Wu as well.

    "Let''s check up on our guests shall weбн" Lin Wu said as he brought up the monitor back.

    Looking at it, he could see that three of the ten ck fur monkeys were already awake and were just testing out their new bodies. Lin Wu also took this chance to observe them and see if there was anything different.

    Looking at them, they also had the crystalline parts like the other beast''s Lin Wu had mutated.

    In the case of the ck fur monkeys, their knuckles, elbows, shoulders, knees, and ankles. Basically, the parts that were joints for their limbs had be crystalline and looked Ike they had green gems embed in them.

    "Damn, now their normal knuckles are the same as knuckle dusters." Lin Wu said upon seeing the protruding knuckles.

    Though in the case of cultivation base, it hadn''t really changed much since most of the spirit Qi that they absorbed during this time and that which Lin Wu had given them had gone into progressing their mutation and speeding it up as well.

    Lin Wu watched as the ck fur monkeys tested out their new bodies and the changes in them. They shed knuckles and tapped them together. Then, they started fighting as if it were a boxing match.

    "Huhбн I may have another entertainment choice nowбн"

 Chapter 465 - Gem Implant 2.0

    Lin Wu actually ended up watching the ck fur monkeys fighting for about an hour before he remembered that he was supposed to give them the information for the various tasks that he needed them to do.

    "Damn, I forgot my snacks for entertainment! These monkeys fight way too well." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Though something good hade out of this observation for Lin Wu. He now knew which monkey was actually the strongest of them. The reason they had ended up fighting was also strange.

    They wanted to see if the lice on their body had grown stronger too and when they checked, they didn''t find any of them at all. This got them confused, and they checked other''s bodies.

    They then used that the others ate their lice when they were knocked out and broke into a fight. But from this Lin Wu learned that the one that had the least number of lice on his body was the strongest ck fur monkey.

    "Huhбн so the weakest ording to their ranks was the strongest in realityбн they are both dumb and kinda smart at the same timeбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Well anyway, let''s get to the next part." Lin Wu said before teleporting to the hall where the ck fur monkeys were now lying around.

    Before they were lying around because they were knocked out by Lin Wu, but now they were lying around because they were knocked out by each other. Of the ten monkeys, only three of them were still awake.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Lin Wu shook his head upon seeing this and spoke, "why the hell did you go this far?"

    The three ck fur monkeys that were still awake were startled upon seeing Lin Wu appear suddenly. But at the same time, they felt a strange closeness with Lin Wu that they didn''t have before.

    They felt as if Lin Wu was far more superior to them and that they needed to follow all hismands. Thus, when they heard Lin Wu speak in a chiding tone, they were startled. They looked at each other before one of them finally spoke.

    "Ummбн we don''t know it just happened." The Strongest ck Fur Monkey said.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Lin Wu sighed again and thought he should just get this over with. Though now that he was close to the ck Fur Monkey''s he realized the bloodline link that was between them. The link was at the same level as that of his other servants after theirplete mutation.

    ''So it does establish the bloodline link. Though the rhombus gem does assist inmutation and extra control if needed.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, is the new gem imnt developed now?" Lin Wu questioned in his mind.

    Lin Wu knew that the Rhombus gem was fine back when he didn''t have a strange enough cultivation base and didn''t know the effect of his bloodline. But now, since he could directly mutate them, he didn''t need to fully ce the imprints on them.

    Lin Wu reckoned that he could simply use the bloodline resonance to kill these ck fur monkeys if needed.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The new version of the gem imnt is ready. The features that are modified are the control functions that have been removed due to bing obsolete, the locater function which has been improved and linked with the formation array of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, and the previously unintentional mutation function which has been elerated.

    бкбк

    "Perfect. I guess we can add the new gem imnts with the information I want to give them." Lin Wu said.

    "Affirmative." The system replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and extended his tail towards the three ck fur monkeys that were awake.

    "I''ll give you three the information about the things in need you all to do." Lin Wu informed.

    "Okay, master." The ck fur monkeys replied.

    They had already started to use ''Master'' as a title for Lin Wu without him needing to tell them so. The natural bloodline suppression could be seen showing the effect here, and it was rather convenient for Lin Wu.

    With their answer, Lin Wu touched their foreheads with his tail and imnted small gems into their heads. They were no longer the shape of a rhombus but rather the shape of a pentagon.

    They were also far smaller than rhombus gem, but had improved functions.

    "Hmmбн this should be called Gem Imnt 2.0: Pentagem." Lin Wu gave it a name.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DESIGNATION: Added.

    NOTIFICATION: The official term for the Gem Imnt 2.0 is now Pentagem.

    бкбк

    "Oh? You''re quick," Lin Wu said as he refocused on the three ck fur monkeys that had dazed expressions on their faces.

    "Ah, I forgot they will take time to go through it all. I did ask the system to make it as integrated as possible." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    One couldpare this to the instation of a program on aputer. It would take some time and in that time period, theputer might not respond normally.

    Lin Wu just let the three ck fur monkeys be and went to the others that were still knocked out. Since their mutation process was alreadypleted, there was no problem in just giving them in gem even if they were knocked out.

    Lin Wu ced his tail on their foreheads one by one and injected the new Pentagem. Two minutester, all of the ck fur monkeys now had a new green crystal part on their body.

    It didn''t look out of ce with the others at all and seemed natural instead. And fifteen minutes after Lin Wu was done with it all, he got a notification.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NEW SERVANT ENTRIES ADDED: 10 ck Fur monkeys

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: 1. Communication link

    2. Vital status

    3. Location

    4. Detonate

    бкбк

    Seeing the notification, Lin Wu nodded and knew that the ck fur monkeys had now learned all the information that he was intending to give them.

    "Now thenбн let''s beginбн"

 Chapter 466 - Pentagem Upgrades

    Once Lin Wu got the notification, it meant that the ten ck fur monkeys had assimted all the information that he had given them through the Pentagem and now they were waking up.

    "You''re finally awake," Lin Wu said, finding it hard to hold in his chuckle.

    "Uhбн what?" The ck Fur monkeys seemed confused at once and still held their dazed expressions.

    But a few secondster, light returned to their eyes, and they finally gained an better understanding of this situation.

    "Master," the ten ck Fur monkeys kneeled on the ground in respect.

    "There we go. I guess you all know what to do?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes, two of us shall tend to the daily chores of the tomb and get it to its former Flory. Three of us will be learning to cook food for master, four of us shall be farming the spirit herbs and spirit fruits while thest remaining one will take care of the external meeting point that the master has designated for humans." The leader of the ck Fur monkeys stated.

    "Excellent! Now thenбн of you go." Lin Wu replied.

    "At once!" The ten ck Fur monkeys said before quickly going to their tasks.

    Six of them were directly teleported to their location while the others went there manually. Since the system had improved the imnted gem, the new Pentagem could allow the ck Fur monkeys to use the formations of the tomb up to a certain extent.

    It didn''t give them any important controls, but just the ones that allowed them to teleport, use monitoring functions, and alsomunicate. These were the things that Lin Wu had decided would be necessary for better functioning.

    "System, show me the screens for the ck Fur monkeys." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    In the next second, ten different screens popped up in front of him and he could see the ten ck Fur monkeys on them. One of them was now in the new area that Lin Wu had designated as a meeting point with the humans.

    This was where they would trade andmunicate in the future if there was a need. The actual tomb was going to stay hidden and he would only allow his most trusted subordinates, which meant the ones that had his imprint on them to enter it.

    Lin Wu was also intending to upgrade the gems of the other servants too.

    "Hmmбн now that they are on their way, I may as well get the others done as well." Lin Wu thought to himself and sent a message for all his servants to gather.

    The bird beasts were already here while the mole and beetle beasts might take a bit longer to reach him. Lin Wu reckoned that it was best to upgrade it as soon as possible since the battle with the Olive Viper King would not be that far.

    While it would not be problematic for him to defeat the beast, Lin Wu still wanted to be cautious in his approach. No one knew when fate would get bored with the current vor and decide to add a twist.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu disappeared from the hall as the teleportation formation sent him to the top of the tomb.

    "You called for us, master?" the two bird beasts were already waiting for Lin Wu and stood at the door.

    "Yes, just need to give you something new and improved." Lin Wu said as he extended his tail towards them.

    For the servant beast''s, Lin Wu had something additional in mind. In conjuration with the Pentagem, he was also going to give them information about cultivation and how the different cultivation realms above the Nascent soul realm worked.

    Usually, beasts'' own cultivation was different from humans since they didn''t really need a cultivation technique to cultivate. They thus figured it out on their own or depended on their bloodline to carry them.

    But Lin Wu had information from the upper worlds due to the memories of the Skull God and thus it was enough for him to separate a suitable amount of information that would be good for the beasts to learn from.

    It contained small insights of cultivation that might help the beasts with difficult conjectures and turning points. Usually, they were able to figure this out on their own, but having more information would greatly speed up their process. When one didn''t have to search in blind, their progress was often fast.

    Lin Wu''s tail touched the Rhombus gem that was on their bodies and started to modify it into the Pentagem. Since most of their body was already mutated and the Rhombus gem had be part of it, it was a rather fast process.

    It was actually the injection of information that took the longest for him. But even then, Lin Wu only took five minutes for each beast. Simr to the ck Fur monkey''s they also entered a daze and stayed like that.

    "Two more done and two more to goбн" Lin Wu said as he brought up the map to check the location of the other two servants.

    "Hmmбн the mole beast is about half way here since he was alreadying back earlier. As for the Beetle beast, she should be here, not thatter either since she is still in the sixth ring." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He returned to the inner hall and cultivated till the other two servant beasts arrived. Once they were here, Lin Wu quickly teleported them in.

    "You called for us, master?" They too had the same question as that of the bird beasts.

    "Yes, I just have some cultivation knowledge for you. It will help with your breakthrough. Oh, and for you Split Thorn Horn Beetle, you should just stay here for the tribtion. Is everything done at your king''s territory?" Lin Wu replied.

    "Yes master, I have finished setting up the orders for others and I''m free to stay here now." The Beetle beast ordered.

    "Good, now get ready.." Lin Wu said as he then upgraded their imnt gems as well.

 Chapter 467 - Replanting Herbs

    It took Lin Wu slightly longer than the other servants to upgrade the gems of the mole beast and the beetle beast. Perhaps it was because they had be the servant first and had the gems for the longest. It had be fully integrated into their bodies, thus making it a bit more difficult.

    But once it was done, Lin Wu could tell the difference right away.

    ''The connection strength and presence is certainly strongerбн maybe this will have some effect on their mutation as well.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    But on the other side, the mole beast and the beetle beast didn''t fall into a daze like the others and recovered almost instantly.

    "I feel different?" The mole beast said.

    "You too?" The beetle beast questioned.

    "What do you feel is different now?" Lin Mu questioned.

    "It is likeбн the spirit Qi has taken on a different qualityбн it flows smoother than beforeбн" The Mole beast answered.

    The beetle beast closed her eyes and checked her body to see the effects on herself and found that she had the same experience.

    "Seems like master made it easy for us to use spirit Qi. Also, the information within our minds will certainly help us in cultivation now." The beetle beast answered.

    "Mmmhmmбн you two can stay at the tomb and figure your abilities out. We shall battle the Olive Viper King in a few days." Lin Wu informed.

    "We will be ready, master." The beetle beast and mole beast assured.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and teleported away from the hall he was in. He returned to the main central hall and decided to sort through his inventory now.

    ''Hmmбн the herbs I have aren''t really useful to me directly now. I think it is time to set them up for further growth.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    There were also other items in his inventory that Lin Wu didn''t really need anymore or never ended up using as his strength rose up quickly.

    "Alright system, sort out the herbs that can be rented and shift them to the area that we designated as a herb garden. As for the others, you can store them in the herb repository forter." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ORDER: epted

    NOTIFICATION: These herbs can be rented: 1. Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum 2. Earth Spirit Ganoderma 3. Blood Quill Grass 4. Iron Bark Treeбн. (total number= 127)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was surprised at seeing therge number of spirit herbs that could still be nted again. He had thought that most of them would not survive that and could only be used as resources directly or for making pills.

    "Even the Eight Sigils Chrysanthemum can be rentedбн this should have been impossible though shouldn''t it?" Lin Wu said.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Due to the recent Data bank upgrades, the system has extrapted and analyzed new methods of spirit herb growing. This can allow several spirit herbs to be rented or even grown entirely from seeds and cuttings.

    бкбк

    "AWESOME!" Hearing this Lin Wu was excited.

    While he knew that he would have to depend on the monkey beasts to rear some spirit herbs, those weren''t really of much value spirit Qi wise and were mostly for Lin Wu''s own consumption as food.

    But now he could actually rear the spirit herbs if needed.

    "Data Updates are awesome!" Lin Wu eximed again.

    He was now fully convinced that gaining more and more information and knowledge was the key to bing stronger. As long as the system could gain more data, Lin Wu reckoned it could do everything.

    "Alright, system how are we going to rent them?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWERS system can set up a formation array for rearing the spirit herbs. The host will only need to nt them ording to the instruction and the formation will ensure proper growing conditions.

    бкбк

    "Alright, we can do that. Which hall are we choosing for it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The sixth to eleventh middle halls are perfect for rearing spirit herbs. The are plenty of spirit Qi channels passing through them that can supply the needed spirit Qi and sun soaking formations can also be set up to provide them the sunlight.

    As for the soil, normal soil from the millennium forest will suffice and for some specific herbs, it can be modified as needed.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu read the entire answer given by the system and decided to get to work. He wanted to set all of this up before the arrival of the avatar so that he would be able to fight the Olive Viper King right away.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    In the next moment, he disappeared from the main hall and appeared in the hall, which the system hadbeled as a sixth middle hall. Upon appearing there Lin Wu saw the floor was quite damaged and cracked.

    ''No wonder the system chose this hall. The floors can just be removed entirely and reced with soil.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The host has to first remove all of the stone floor tiles to unearth the actual soil beneath.

    бкбк

    "Let''s get to it then. I''m a worm, I''m made for this!" Lin Wu motivated himself before using cellr crystallization.

    This time, he changed his body to gain multiple barbs on it. After doing this, heid on the ground and started spinning while also moving ahead.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    <em>~DENG~DENG~DENG~</em>

    <em>~THUD~THUD~THUD~</em>

    Chunk after chunk of the floor was uprooted and thrown around. Lin Wu was like a powerful excavator that rapidly moved throughout the hall. In about ten minutes, Lin Wu had sessfully removed all of the stone tiles from the floor.

    "There we go, this should be enough." Lin Wu said as he gazed at the sight of devastation.

    If it were anyone else here and they saw the state of the hall, they would definitely think that it was destroyed due to some earthquake or other such disaster. It looked utterly terrifying.

    "Now thenбн what''s the next step?"

 Chapter 468 - A Green House

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The host now has to add soil to thisyer before the system can divert water from the flooded levels to inundate the soil.

    бкбк

    "Ah soil, that''s easy. I got a massive amount of soil in the storage." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Whenever Lin Wu dug, he either had the option of pushing the soil aside while digging or swallowing it and excrete it out at the same time. With Lin Wu''s body, both options were easy for him, though he mostly used the option of pushing aside the soil.

    But there were areas that were more packed and the soil couldn''t be moved aside easily. Lin Wu could of course, use more force to push it aside but it would result in him losing his speed and momentum.

    Thus rather than doing that, the option Lin Wu used was to eat the soil and storing it in the storage of the system. There was an entire section that Lin Wu had for soil. He had also done this because he had the idea of making an attack simr to what the Aquadream Sea Lotus had used.

    While the Aquadream Sea Lotus had flooded the area with water, Lin Wu reckoned he would flood an area with massive amounts of soil. While he didn''t have enough soil in the storage for a flood like that, it was more than enough to fill this hall and several more.

    Lin Wu thus moved around while dropping soil from the system''s storage. If one couldpare him with a farming implement, it looked like he was a tractor that deposited soil as it traveled.

    This time, Lin Wu took about thirty minutes to fully spread the soil in the hall. Since it needed to be a bit leveled, Lin Wu had to take extra effort. Still, once he was done, the hall hadpletely changed its look.

    Before it looked like a scene of devastation, but now, it looked like a freshly plowed farm.

    "<em>Annnd~</em> Done!" Lin Wu said upon finishing.

    "System, time to do you thing." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    In the next moment, several runes appeared at the sides and top of the hall before arranging themselves into a formation. Then, a few secondster, water started to rain down from the top and sides.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    The rain was strong enough to push the soil down and pack it a bit more properly.

    "Huhбн this is now like one of those green houses." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Water didn''t really affect Lin Wu, so he just stood there getting drenched. Though it did help remove the dirt and soil that had stuck to his body.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host now needs to make two reservoirs at the sides of the hall.

    бкбк

    "Okay," Lin Wu said and dug deeper holes in the walls of the hall.

    These were going to supply the channels so that the hall would stay watered at all times. One would ask if the system could make water rain from the top, what was the use for these reservoirs?

    The reason was the spirit herbs didn''t just need normal water for proper growth, they also need water that was enriched with sprint Qi. Thus these reservoirs were going to be used for that reason.

    Once Lin Wu made the two holes for the reservoirs, runes appeared on top of them as well before embedding themselves into it.

    "So this is why the system needed these halls. Since they are near the spirit Qi nodes, it can directly pull higher flow of spirit Qi in here to infuse into the water." Lin Wu understood.

    A small teleportation formation appeared from which the water dropped like a hose and filled the two reservoirs. Then the spirit Qi infusing formations that were made earlier started to slowly release spirit Qi into it.

    The other spirit Qi gathering formations also became active and started to increase the amount of spirit Qi that was present in the air.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    REROUTING SPIRIT QI CHANNELS: 5 channels rerouted

    бкбк

    Lin Wu checked the map and saw that five of the other unused halls were now empty of spirit Qi and all of it was being redirected to this hall. The entire tomb had several halls and all of them got nearly the same amount of spirit Qi.

    But since Lin Wu didn''t really have a use for all of them right now, he didn''t think he should just waste the spirit Qi in them and let it float around. Since the tomb alsocked a bigger constant supply of spirit Qi, Lin Wu had to make use of the spirit Qi gathering formations that were carved all around it.

    As for the spirit Qi spring source that Lin Wu had added to the tomb, it would take a while before it grew to the level where it would be useful for Lin Wu and start to generate spirit Qi.

    Though the system had assured Lin Wu that with the new protocols it was taking, the spirit Qi spring source should start producing spirit Qi in about a year. Once that happened, there would be an additional spirit Qi source in the tomb.

    And while this would be smaller than the overall supply of spirit Qi, the tomb obtained from all the spirit Qi gathering fomentations, it would still add at least 10% additional supply than the current level.

    "Now what do we do?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Please follow the steps given in the window to nt each specific herb.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu then saw about 127 different windows that were tacked on top of each other appear.

    "Damnбн at least the steps are not long for all of them." Lin Wu muttered upon seeing the windows.

    He picked the first window and saw that it was for the Blood Quill grass.. The steps were pretty straightforward and Lin Wu just needed to add some blood to the soil where he was going to nt before putting the nt in.

 Chapter 469 - Calm Before The Storm

    Lin Wu ended up taking about four days before he was finally able to nt all of the spirit herbs. The requirements for some of them made it so that he couldn''t nt them next to each other or that he needed to modify the soil in some way.

    Overall though, it was a learning experience for Lin Wu and now he had the entire spirit herb garden set up.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Finally doneбн" Lin Wu said as he observed it from the distance.

    He looked at his hard work for a few more minutes before checking the map.

    "The avatar should be here in a day nowбн" Lin Wu said after considering the distance.

    A serious expression appeared on his face as his eyes glowed.

    "Time to get the team readyбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before contacting the three Beast kings.

    He exined to them what they needed to do and the positions that they should take. Lin Wu had let the system analyze the map to see what locations could be of a strategic advantage.

    One had to remember that while Lin Wu was just targeting Olive Viper King for now, there was no guarantee that the Twin Lights Liger King would not interfere in it. After all, Lin Wu had killed a lot of his descendants as well before.

    After he was done with the rulers, Lin Wu contacted his subordinates and told them their part. They weren''t going to be directly involved in the battle, as they had other things they needed to be doing.

    "We shall do as youmand, master." All of the servant beasts said before Lin Wu closed the link.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu took a deep breath as he looked at the tens of monitoring windows that were floating around him.

    "Now to just waitбн" Lin Wu said as he started to cultivate to spend the rest of his time.

    ***

    In the center of the millennium forest where the Dark Bloom Caverns were located, a pair of eyes opened. One eye was entirely white in color while the other was ck in color. They peered out of the Caverns and looked around the forest.

    "The forest seems to be strangeбн what has happened while I was asleep?" A deep but cold voice muttered.

    "You''re awake, my King?" Suddenly another voice came from the distance.

    A few secondster, the sound of someone running could be heard as arge Lamp Light Liger appeared. It had a scar on its face that went from its nose to the corner of the mouth. It was bigger than the other Lamp Light Ligers and it was obvious that it was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm.

    "I amбн" The same deep and cold voice replied.

    A faint rumbling sound could be heard as the two eyes started to move. Once they appeared in the light, one could see a massive liger beast. The stripes on its body alternated between ck and white, matching its two eyes.

    The Lamp Light Liger that had just appeared looked like a child in front of the Twin Lights liger King.

    "The forest has been rtively calm these few days, thought the calmness in unsettling. I can''t help but wonder if there is something going on with the other rulers." The Lamp Light Liger spoke respectfully.

    "Hmmбн a calm before a stormбн is the Olive Viper King about to do something?" The Twin Lights Liger King wondered.

    "Heбн he''s been inactive since he got injured recently as well." The Lamp Light Liger spoke.

    "I seeбн and what about that other worm beast that appeared? The one that has a simr bloodline to the Olive Viper King?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "The same for him, too. There have been no particr changes about it in the past few months. But before that he apparently fought the Demon Spine Ape and won effortlessly, yet even thenбн he didn''t take the throne of a Ruler.

    We also felt someone breaking through at the forbidden tomb and it is none other than that worm beast. He has already reached the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm." The Lamp Light Liger answered.

    "Seems like this neer has bigger aspirations than I thoughtбн never thorough a worm might be smarter than a snake in this aspectбн" The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.

    The Lamp Light Liger stood there and listened to the ramblings of his king silently, without daring to speak. Only after the king had spoken his share of words did he speak again.

    "Do you want me to do anything, my king?" the Lamp Light liger asked.

    "For now? Nothingбн but do keep an eye on things. I''m sure something is about to happen." The Twin Lights Liger King replied.

    "Do you mean to say a war between other rulers could be happening?" The Lamp Light Liger questioned.

    "Possiblyбн we may have a new ruler this timeбн or perhapsбн something different." The Twin Lights Liger king answered.

    Hearing this, themp Light Liger became tensed but nodded his head.

    "I shall do as youmand, my king." The Lamp Light Liger said before leaving.

    Once he was gone, the Twin Lights liger King looked into the depths of the Dark Bloom Cavern.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Will I finally get the chance to be free from this?"

    ***

    Time passed and finally, at the edge of the millennium forest, a floating tform could be seen. It came to a halt near one of the surrounding hills and stopped. An emerald green crystalline worm was could be seen coiled on top of it.

    A minute after the tform came to a halt, the Avatar opened its eyes as they shone in the dark of the night.

    "It is time!" The avatar of Lin Wu said.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In the next moment, the tform below it disappeared into thin air and the avatar jumped down from the sky and drilled directly into the ground; the rumbles of his movement spreading but fading away quickly.

 Chapter 470 - The Battle Begins

    ~BOOM~

    An explosion could be heard echoing throughout the Millennium forest, making all the beasts cower in fear.

    "AHAHAHA! Finally, I can do it!" A voice could be heard shouting.

    If one looked at where it came from, they would find an olive green snake with crystalline back shouting out. It was long and had burst through the hill near argeke. Green energy floated around him like ribbons before entering his body.

    The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him would put the beast at the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    "With my new mastery, the Twin Lights Liger King is nothing! And that little wormбн humph! I''ll finish him and eat him whole!" The Olive Viper King proimed out loud.

    By now, several of the Olive Viper King''s subordinates had gathered around and were looking at him from the trees. They too were snakes of different kinds along with some random beasts mixed in.

    "What is our King now about to do?"

    "Is it time for another war?"

    "YEAH! LET''S GO KILL THEM ALL! WE SHALL OWN THIS ENTIRE FOREST!"

    The voices of the beasts could be hearding from the crowd as they mixed together. But no one noticed at this time that a small group of the beasts that were shouting suddenly disappeared into the ground.

    A few secondster, two more such smaller groups disappeared. The beasts did not fully notice due to their excitement and kept on celebrating their king''s recovery and growing stronger.

    There were praises and ttery being sent out freely as the Olive Viper King enjoyed the vanity. But while he was doing this, he finally noticed the scent of a few beasts suddenly disappearing.

    "Hmm?" The Olive Viper King looked around but didn''t really see anything different.

    But a few more secondster, he spotted something from the corner of his eye.

    "Where did they go? They were there just a second agoбн" The Olive Viper King felt a bit confused.

    He focused his gaze on the area, and his eyes went wide.

    "Holes?" He potted holes where the beasts were supposed to be.

    They were hard to see due to the trees and other foliage, but the Olive Viper King still managed to spot it. His gaze turned fierce as a wave of spirit Qi arouse from his body. His spirit sense spread around the area like a rain covering thend, but he didn''t find anything.

    This time, he kept a closer eye on things and sensed a few more beast groups disappearing.

    "WHO IS IT!" The Olive Viper King shouted out directly.

    Hearing their king shouting like this, the subordinates of the Olive Viper King were confused.

    "What''s happening, my king?" some of the higher ranked subordinates of the olive Viper King questioned aftering closer.

    "SEARCH THE AREA! WE HAVE AN INTRUDER!" The Olive Viper King announced.

    As soon as his words spread around, his subordinates frantically started to look around for the suspected intruder.

    About a minuteter, they finally found a sigh.

    "LOOK THERE!" Arge python with the thickness of an oak tree shouted.

    But the moment he did, green crystalline spikes rose from the ground, piercing him and pulling him under.

    "WHAT HAPPENED!" Some of the beasts that notice this shouted out in hysteria.

    "I GOT YOU NOW!" The Olive Viper King said as he prepared to fly towards the location.

    But before he could, he suddenly felt a gust of winding from the back.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Tens of des made of Wind attribute spirit Qi hit the back of the Olive Viper King, knocking him off the hill.

    "No, ''I'' got you!" Lin Wu chuckled as he appeared from the ground.

    "Who is that!?" some of the beast that hadn''t seen Lin Wu before questioned.

    This was the first time they were seeing Lin Wu clearly and were shocked by it. Lin Wu''s size was even bigger than their king and he was made entirely of crystal than their king, who only had half of his body made of crystals.

    While the Olive Viper King was caught off guard, he wasn''t really injured, mostly shocked.

    "YOU DARE!" The Olive Viper King yelled as he looked at Lin Wu with its dark eyes.

    The white sclera of his eyes was turning red as veins popped up in rage.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The Olive Viper King rushed towards Lin Wu, full of anger, and breathed out a cloud of poison.

    "SHEESH! Someone forgot to brush their teeth!" Lin Wu said as he avoided the poison breath.

    He knew that the poison of the Olive Viper king was strong and could even affect him possible, thus he wanted to avoid it as much as he could. To dodge the iing Olive Viper King, Lin Wu flicked his body to the side as the Olive Viper King mmed into the muddy soil near theke.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    The Olive Viper King''s body left an imprint in the soil, but he quickly got up. His spirit sense had already detected Lin Wu and lunged towards him.

    It was here that Lin Wu found another big difference between himself and the Olive Viper King.

    "Damn, he''s faster than I amбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    His slender form and a smaller size gave him a speed advantage which he was fully making use of.

    "You came at just the right time. I''ve been craving some food!" The Olive Viper king said as another poison breath spread towards Lin Wu.

    This time, the breath was in the form of a spray and came straight. Lin Wu had a little time to dodge it and thus didn''t do it.

    "Huh, think you can get me this easily. No way!" Lin Wu said as a vortex of wind attribute spirit Qi was shot outwards from his body.

    The wind blocked the poison breath froming near Lin Wu, but the Olive Viper King didn''t really care and directly mmed into him instead.

 Chapter 471 - Lin Wu Versus The Olive Viper King

    "GAH!" Lin Wu grunted from the impact.

    The Olive Viper King had used his entire body to m into him. While usually, Lin Wu would be able to shrug off an attack like this easily, he realized that there was something strange on Olive Viper King''s body.

    "Whyбн is this making me even more sluggish?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    There was a faint green energy flowing around the Olive Viper King''s body. This was different from the green flow that Lin Wu usually let out and was actually material.

    "System, analysis!" Lin Wu ordered while trying to get away from the Olive Viper King.

    But unfortunately for him, the Olive Viper King had taken this chance to wrap around him.

    "Oh, you think it''s gonna be this easy?" Lin Wu taunted as suddenly a screeching sound was heard.

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    Multiple spikes protruded from Lin Wu''s body and pushed the Olive Viper King away. The scales on his belly were weaker than that of his crystalline back, but they were still strong enough to defend against the spikes.

    <em>~HISS~</em>

    The Olive Viper King hissed at Lin Wu and bared his fangs. The two beasts roiled and rolled around the ground, tussling with each other.

    "Enough!" Lin Wu said as sharp des of wind attribute spirit Qi started to shoot out from his entire body.

    The des created enough impact to repel the Olive Viper King and making him unwrap Lin Wu.

    "You won''t be able tost long! You''re WEAK!" The Olive Viper King taunted.

    Lin Wu''s eyes glowed in response and he got a bit pissed.

    "Time will decide that." Lin Wu said as radiation maniption was used at full potential.

    Heated waves of air circted around him as the nts, and grass started to dry out and wither. The water that was nearby boiled up and soon started to evaporate. Lin Wu thenbined the addition with the wind attribute spirit Qi and attached it to his tail like a whip.

    "Take this!" Lin Wu yelled as the long wind whip full of radiation flew towards the Olive Viper King.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    A sonic boom was heard as the wind whip mmed into the back of the Olive Viper King.

    "ARGH!" The Olive Viper King cried in pain.

    The attack of Lin Wu was quite powerful and the impact of it traveled all the way through to his insides.

    "How? YOU USE THAT ENERGY TOO!" The Olive Viper King finally realized what radiation was.

    <em>~swoosh~</em>

    <em>~swoosh</em>

    <em>~p~</em>

    Lin Wu though, didn''t give him many chances to speak and kept on whipping his tail with which the wind whip moved. The Olive Viper King tried to dodge and flew up into the sky.

    "Think you can do well in the sky? BITCH I USE WIND!" Lin Wu taunted.

    The second level of Immortal Sky Shaker art: wind attributive spirit Qi adept came in handy here as Lin Wu directly controlled the winds around the Olive Viper King to push him down.

    <em>~bam~</em>

    The Olive Viper King lost his control and directly mmed into the ground, creating a snake shaped pit.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    Lin Wu''s tail quickly changed its shape and turned into a sharp axe. Taking the opportunity while the Olive Viper King was struck on the ground, Lin Wu brought down the Axe like an executioner threatening to split its body in two.

    But just as the Axe was about to reach the Olive Viper King''s head, he quickly flipped back and opened its mouth.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A spray of poison was shot out towards the tail-turned-Axe and spread on it.

    <em>~sizzle~sizzle~sizzle~</em>

    "DAMN! It burns like a bitch!" Lin Wu cursed.

    He looked at the Axe that he had made and saw the holes on its t surface. The edge was fully corroded due to the poison of the Olive Viper King.

    ''His poison can truly hurt meбн will need to keep it to the minimum or avoid it entirely.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    And just as he did this, the system gave him a notification.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: The Olive Viper King is using another innate ability that may be part of the unknown bloodline. The host did not awaken this ability, and it is likely that it was present in another fragment of the bloodline.

    The ability can slow down the functioning of the body by inhibiting the spirit Qi flow of the body and the air around it.

    бкбк

    "Damn, no wonder it can make even me sluggish. It is an innate ability!" Lin Wu understood.

    "That poison is no good either and can ovee my crystal body. It must be the counter to itбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he started to heal the damage that was done to his tail.

    The Axe had turned back into his tail and he used the vital essence he had to repair it.

    <em>~deng~ng~deng~</em>

    Lin Wu and the Olive Viper King fought head on and they bashed their heads together. Lin Wu''s tail was still healing and thus was out ofmission for the time being. After seeing the strength of the poison, Lin Wu knew that if enough of it was used, it may even be able topletely melt off his tail.

    That was certainly not something Lin Wu wanted.

    Lin Wu''s spirit sense spread around, observing things in the surroundings.

    ''Time to switch it up a bitбн'' Lin Wu thought upon seeing the other subordinates of the Olive Viper King that were still around.

    "Take this!" Lin Wu said as he opened his mouth wide.

    Qi Amplification!

    Sapphire Meridians!

    Immortal Sky Shaker Art!

    Radiation Maniption!

    All of his abilities were activated at once and a dark green orb of energy formed within his throat. It expanded outwards and started sucking in the spirit Qi from the air as well. Lin Wu poured his spirit Qi as well, and the orb reached the diameter of his head.

    The orb of energy reached a critical point and could not maintain its integrity anymore.

 Chapter 472 - Devastating Beam

    This was a move that Lin Wu had made a few days ago but had never tried it. He made it bybining all of the aspects of the abilities that he had. It needed a proper bnce between them or it would just end up failing instead.

    The immortal Sky Shaker art was used to produce the wind attribute spirit Qi which was then modified with the Sapphire meridians to gain prating properties. Then, Qi amplification increased the amount of it that could be produced at once.

    Then finally came radiation maniption, which not only added radiation to the mix but also helpedpress it further. The orb itself was made of a wind attribute spirit Qi which was then furtherpressed with the air around them which Lin Wu irradiated and controlled.

    Thebination of this all resulted in it turning into a dark green orb whose size could be increased indefinitely as long as Lin Wu could control it. But for now, an orb the same size of his head was already the maximum he could reach.

    "Take this!" Lin Wu said as he bit down on the orb hard.

    <em>~ZAP~</em>

    A strange sound was heard as the orb exploded outwards into a beam form. Lin Wu''s head recoiled a bit from the exploding of the orb changing the trajectory of the attack upwards, but he managed to control it in a bit.

    But that little recoil had left a massive difference in the area around. A deep gully was carved into the ground where the beam passed and it was smoking hot. The parts where there were rocks and stones were directly melted and the boiling red liquid was left behind.

    When Lin Wu''s head was cocked back, the beam moved upwards and it destroyed all of the trees in a straight line for about two kilometers. They were either reduced to ash directly or blown to bits in one go.

    As for the sky? The clouds in the sky had been parted and a massive line could be seen in it.

    The Olive Viper King had barely been able to dodge the attack, but even then the forepart of his tail was cut off.

    "ARGH!! MY TAIL!" The Olive Viper King yelled in pain.

    Lin Wu took this opportunity to move his head at a 360 degree angle, effectively slicing all of the trees, rocks, beasts, and anything else that came in front of the beam in half before they burned.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    <em>~THUD~THUD~THUD~</em>

    The trees that were taller were left with only their tops, as their bottom and middle parts were directly reduced to ash. As for the shorter trees, there was nothing left of them and the same could be the same for beasts.

    A circle with a diameter of two kilometers was created within which now there was reality anything. It was as if thend had been leveled and burned down entirely. Even the radiant heat from the beam was enough to melt metal, not to mention the direct impact of it.

    The Olive Viper King would have been burned entirely too had it not been for him being at the Nascent soul realm and having the crystalline body that had a certain resistance of radiation.

    This was the reason why Lin Wu had used the sapphire meridians gained from the Undaunted Sapphire Body art to modify the sprint Qi. This allowed it to pierce the defenses of everything that came in front of it.

    <em>~posh~</em>

    The beam finally ended, and Lin Wu''s head returned to normal. If one looked in his mouth, they could see a lot of the crystalline parts had been damaged as well.

    "Damn! The power is even more than I thought. Though targeting something specific that can move will be a bit more difficult." Lin Wu said upon seeing the Olive Viper King who had survived with just a part of his tail destroyed.

    He then checked his mouth and winced.

    ''It hurts myself too thoughбн damn, my internals are not good using that attack. Thankfully, the vital essence is already repairing it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The Olive Viper King had recovered from the initial pain of losing his tail and was looking at Lin Wu with deadly eyes.

    "You destroyed my territory! PREPARE TO BE EXTERMINATED!" The Olive Viper King dered as strong spirit Qi fluctuations started toe out of his body.

    Seeing this, Lin Wu knew that the fight was entering the final phase and the Olive Viper King would not be holding back anymore.

    ''System, get the second part of the n ready.'' Lin Wu ordered in his mind.

    For a second, a faint rumble could be hearding from the ground, but Lin Wu suppressed it by causing vibrations of his own.

    He nced at the map in the corner of his eye and saw the changes happening in it.

    "Now to just stallбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Bring it on!" Lin Wu taunted.

    "AHH!!!!!" The Olive Viper King let out a battle cry as he flew towards Lin Wu.

    Both of them met mid air and shed again. Blow after blow was exchanged as poison clouds, venom sprays, wind des, crystal spikes were used. The battle raged on for about ten minutes after which, several parts of the Olive Viper King''s crystal back were ripped off.

    Blood was dripping from the weaker scales on his belly and hundreds of teeth marks could be seen on it. These were of course, made by Lin Wu biting the Olive Viper King.

    But Lin Wu was not without injuries either. During the battle, he had been continuously using vital essence to keep his body in top condition and healing it along with it as well. The beam attack earlier had damaged his mouth and internals, healing, which had used up a lot of his vital essence.

    By now, Lin Wu was barely left with any vital essence at all in the storage and was fully depending on his natural recovery.

    Still, the multiple dents and cracks in his body were hard to heal.

 Chapter 473 - Fire Wind Dual Restriction Formation Array

    <em>~huu~huu~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu took deep breaths as he gazed at the Olive Viper King. The attacks earlier had drained him quite a lot and the same could be said for the Olive Viper King as well.

    <em>~HISS~</em>

    "Already done? Now be prepared to die!" The Olive Viper King gained a burst of energy as he attacked Lin Wu again.

    His mouth opened wide, and his fangs glistened in a dangerous light. The venom on its tips could already be seen, and it was a greenish ck in color. One could imagine just what kind of damage a venom like that could do.

    Till now, the Olive Viper King had used many attacks and had even tried to bite Lin Wu. But he had mostly used the poison he could produce and didn''t use his own venom. Lin Wu guessed this was due to the fact that this was his strongest attack and used up a lot of energy for him.

    The innate ability of the Olive Viper King that made Lin Wu sluggish had also beenpounding over the past few minutes and had made him even slower than before. Compared to before, Lin Wu only had 60% of his full speed left.

    Lin Wu though, was not scared and faced the beast head on.

    "Just a little bit moreбн moreбн NOW!" Lin Wu shouted.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    In the next second, another copy of Lin Wu popped up from the ground. It directly tackled the Olive Viper King and bit onto the back of his head.

    "GAH!!!" The Olive Viper King grunted in pain.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    The crystallizingyer on his head cracked due to Lin Wu''s bite, and he didn''t know what had attacked him.

    "What?" The Olive Viper King finally sensed what had attacked him using spirit sense and saw another copy of Lin Wu, the beast he was fighting.

    "How can this be?" The Olive Viper King shouted in shock.

    "Oh, there''s a lot you haven''t seen! NOW TAKE THIS!" Lin Wu replied as his teeth started to heat up.

    In the next moment, concentrated fire attribute spirit Qi started to pour into the head of the Olive Viper King from Lin Wu''s teeth. And if one looked at the mes leaking out from the side they would see that they were vermillion in color.

    "STOPPP!!!!!!" The Olive Viper King shouted as he iled his head around.

    "Now you''re done! SYSTEM, ACTIVATE IT!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    FORMATION ARRAY: Activated

    NOTIFICATION: Fire-Wind dual restriction formation array at full potential

    бкбк

    <em>~HONGLONG~</em>

    A loud humming sound could be hearding from the ground suddenly.

    <em>~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~</em>

    In the next moment, twenty two beams of light sprouted from the ground and pierced the sky. The light beams were tall enough that they could be seen by nearly every beast in the millennium forest.

    ***

    In the center of the sixth ring, severalmp light ligers gazed at the light pirs.

    "What is that?"

    "INFORM THE KING!"

    A cacophony of roars was heard as the Lamp Light Ligers frantically responded. Some went to inform the Twin Lights Liger King while some went to check out what was happening.

    Unfortunately for them, they met several hundreds of insect beasts on their way.

    "What are you all doing? Do you wanna die!"

    "GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR WAY!"

    The Lamp Light ligers threatened.

    "Try us." The leader of the insect beasts, which was arge scorpion beast said.

    He was the same Barb Pincered Scorpio that Lin Wu had mutated and it could be seen from the crystalline body parts that were green colored. His tail''s stinger was emerald green in color and the same could be said for his pincers.

    His eyes glowed in an eerie blue light as he snapped his pincers in a threatening manner.

    "KILL THEM!" the Lamp light liger beast''s leader ordered.

    In the next second an intense fight broke out and the beasts started to battle.

    A few tens of kilometers away from the fight, arge beetle beast and two ape beasts were standing.

    "Seems like the worm has managed to bring the fight to its climax. We won''t have to wait for long now, it seems." The Slim Arm Ape king spoke.

    "Hmmбн it''s strange that the Twin Lights Liger King has not taken action yet. Even the Lamp light ligers only went out on their own and were not sent by their king specifically." The Split Thorn Horn beetle king said.

    "Doesn''t matter. We just need to do as we agreed on. If the Twin Lights Liger King appears, we shall block him!" The Demon Spine Ape said.

    "Let''s just keep an eye. The Twin light liger king is not simpleбн" the Slim Arm Ape King said as he gazed towards the Dark Bloom Caverns.

    ***

    Back at the Olive Viper King''s territory, a formation array was activated. This was the Fire Wind Dual Restriction Formation array. It was something included in the numerous data sets about formations the system had obtained and was the perfect for Lin Wu''s current situation.

    "What is this?! DID YOU COLLUDE WITH THE HUMANS? WHY IS THERE A FORMATION ARRAY HERE?" the Olive Viper King questioned in shock.

    "All you need to know is that this is your end!" Lin Wu said as his main body let out wind attribute spirit Qi that shot towards the multiple pirs of light.

    The same was done by his avatar, but it sent out fire attribute spirit Qi instead. The avatar then jumped back from the Olive Viper King who was now unable to move for a bit. The fire attribute spirit Qi that Lin Wu had injected in him was not normal.

    Lin Wu''s avatar had the partial bloodline of the Vermillion bird, but it was still fragmented. Even then it was enough for his mes to contain a trace of the Vermillion mes and thus when these mes entered Olive Viper King''s body, it was enough to wreak havoc in his internals.

    The Olive Viper King gritted his teeth in pain as he looked at the two bodies of Lin Wu with a hateful look.

 Chapter 474 - Death Of The Olive Viper King

    The Olive Viper King wanted nothing more than to swallow Lin Wu whole, but unfortunately for him, he was unable to do anything.

    He just watched on as the two bodies of Lin Wu moved to the two sides of the area. Each of themnded in one of the light pirs to the side.

    The light pirs were oriented in a unique pattern. There were two light pirs that were bigger than the others, and ten light pirs were ced in a curricr form around theserger light pirs.

    Lin Wu''s avatar and main body were standing on each of theserger light pirs and kept on releasing mes or wind from their mouths. The two elements were drawn towards the other light pirs and swirled around them before spreading around the ground in a unique pattern.

    In about a minute, aplex grid of runes was formed that looked to be hard to read. It was entirely written in Dao script and the Olive Viper King could not make sense of what it was.

    All he knew was the human''s used formations like these and he fully suspected that Lin Wu had taken the help of humans. While the Olive Viper King didn''t know formations in detail, he did know that they needed to be set up beforehand.

    And he for sure knew no human entered his territory to do this. If anyone dared to enter, they would have to be prepared to be snake dinner. As for Lin Wu setting it up himself, the Olive Viper King doubted that, as beasts didn''t have the skills to do it.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    It was at this moment that he realized the mes that restricted his body internally were reducing.

    "Finally! Now that I''m free, that''ll be the end of you!" The Olive Viper King stated.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    s! The snake had spoken too soon as two attacks hit him from opposite sides. But calling them attacks was also a bit wrong as they weren''t sent out by Lin Wu, but rather hade from the runes below him.

    "AAAAHHH!" The Olive Viper King cried in pain as stormy winds buffeted one side of his body, while hot mes burned the other.

    Unfortunately, the Olive Viper King didn''t know that this was but just the start of it all. The fire and wind merged and soon formed a cyclone around the Olive Viper King. His cries were droned out by the sound of the cyclone and his figure soon disappeared within it.

    Both bodies of Lin Wu kept on producing wind and mes at full force and did not stop until the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the Olive Viper King faded away. This took him over ten minutes, which showed just how tough the Olive Viper King really was.

    "Damn, the crystal and that unknown bloodline really increased his resilience the same as me, huhбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He continued to use the formation to attack the Olive Viper King for an extra minute, just for security, and then asked the system.

    "System, do a scan and see if the Olive Viper King is still alive or not." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN COMPLETED: No life signs detected

    бкбк

    With the system''s confirmation, Lin Wu took a breath of relief.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "Finally, he''s deadбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~woong~</em>

    The Fire-Wind Dual restriction formation finally stopped and Lin Wu decided to approach the Olive Viper King''s dead body. Once the cyclone and light pirs disappeared, Lin Wu could see the broken and battered body of the Olive Viper King.

    There was no blood anywhere since it had been burned away by the mes and only the main body could be seen. But on the body, several thousand cuts and wounds could be seen that were created by the sharp winds.

    The fire has then prated the wounds and killed the beast from the inside.

    <em>~sniif~sniif~</em>

    "Hang on a secondбн" Lin Wu sniffed the air.

    "The fuck? This actually smells really good!" Lin Wu said with excitement.

    He used his tail to peel some of the skin of the Olive Viper King and saw the sweet and tender flesh beneath it. It was perfectly cooked and juices were dripping from it. The wounds that were created on the body acted like a tenderizer, allowing the heat to spread evenly within.

    Lin Wu''s mouth dripped with saliva as he felt an intense desire to eat it. And he was just about to do that when he suddenly remembered something.

    "No, wait! I can''t eat it here. If something happens to me or my bloodline and I be immobile here, it could get problematic." Lin Wu understood.

    He then tapped the cooked corpse of the Olive Viper King and stored it into the inventory.

    "System, teleport us to the tomb!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TELEPORTATION FORMATION: Initializing

    FORMATION INITIALIZED: Activating teleportation

    бкбк

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Since Lin Wu was away from the tomb, it took slightly longer for the formation to activate, but it was still fast enough that it was done in less than thirty seconds.

    The runes formed into a formation and took Lin Wu''s main body and avatar away.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Both of Lin Wu''s bodies appeared in the main hall of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb.

    "Before I eat it, I should inform the others." Lin Wu reckoned.

    He then quickly contacted the three rulers and told them that the Olive Viper King was dead and that Lin Wu was gonna go into seclusion for a bit. Hearing this, the rulers were surprised at once but then understood that this was inevitable.

    The one thing that the Demon Spine ape regretted was that he didn''t get to see the fight between Lin Wu and the Olive Viper King. But there was little they could do other than to finish up their n.

    All of the insect beasts and monkey beasts were recalled and they returned to their own territories.

    Lin Wu then contacted his subordinates and gave them some orders before finally getting to the main course.

 Chapter 475 - Delicious Meal

    Lin Wu first took out the body of the Olive Viper King and scanned it fully.

    This was the first major quest that he had received and he was finally getting toplete it after all this time.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "It feels rather strangeбн he seemed too far away back then and nowбн he''s nothingбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    After looking at it for a bit, he was enticed once again by the delicious aroma of the cooked meat.

    "Well, let eat!" Lin Wu said before he pounced on it.

    The first bite he took was of the tender white flesh and it was soft and melted in his mouth.

    "Yumm! This is the best food I''ve had in this world!" Lin Wu proimed.

    He then went to the scales of the Olive Viper king that had turned crispy under the constant heat.

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    "Damn! These are just like chips! All theyck is salt," Lin Wu said before taking out some salt from his inventory.

    He had gathered plenty of spices and condiments for his meals and, spreading it over the olive viper king, the taste was enhanced by another level.

    Lin Wu kept on eating more and more of the corpse and munched on the bones that broke under his teeth like biscuits or breadsticks. The heat had cooked them to perfection, and they were brittle now.

    Lin Wu took the time to savor everything and finished the entire corpse of the Olive Viper King in about three hours. And when he was finally done, he got the notification he had been waiting for.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    QUEST COMPLETED: Consume the Olive Viper King

    REWARD OBTAINED: Bloodline progression, Cultivation progression

    бкбк

    Once the questpletion notification came, Lin Wu got a ton more notification. They were mostly about spirit Qi and vital that was obtained, but at the end, a notification came that he had not seen for a while.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE UPGRADE: Both of the host''s bloodlines will receive an upgrade

    NOTIFICATION: The host will be in a hibernating state, permit upgrade: Y/N?

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I must''ve expected thisбн." Lin Wu muttered to himself and thought to himself.

    "System, can I live on in my Avatar body till then?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The progression will affect the host''s own soul, thus the host would not be able to stay conscious. Though the host can give certainmands to the Avatar, that can be carried out on autopilot.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн I guess that''s a bit reasonableбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself and looked at his avatar.

    "And how long is the progression going to take?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There is no current estimate for it. The time period of bloodline progression cannot be plotted due to the unexpected irregrities that can appear and thepatibleness between the bloodlines.

    The system will be actively modifying and adapting the bloodlines to the most optimum format.

    бкбк

    Reading this, Lin Wu reckoned that he should definitely prepare some backups in case it takes too long for him to wake up. He then spent a few hours thinking of all possible things that could happen and made a few ns.

    He then made alternative ns with the assistance of the system and gave them to the avatar. Lin Wu also contacted his subordinates and told them that he would be cultivated in seclusion longer than he had said before.

    They were currently doing their task of capturing the territory of the Olive Viper King. And while talking to them, Lin Wu also received some news. It was about something he had nearly forgotten about.

    "The Club tailed lizard, she wants to talk?" Lin Wu heard from the beetle beast.

    "Yes master, since her mate is dead she wants a ce to live. We would have attacked her but she didn''t do that to us, thus we held ourselves. Plus, she was stronger than us thus we didn''t want to take the risk without your permission." The beetle beast ordered.

    The Club tailed lizard was a strange creature for Lin Wu and he didn''t know how the Olive Viper king had brought her here.

    "Where is she?" Lin Wu asked.

    "She moved away from the territory before Master started to attack." The beetle beast answered.

    "No wonder I didn''t see her there." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "What do you want us to do with her then, master?" The beetle beast asked.

    "Send her to the tomb, I''ll talk with her." Lin Wu replied.

    "Alright, master." The beetle beast said.

    "Hmmбн the club tailed lizardбн wonder what happened to the eggs. I didn''t see her or the eggs back when I fought the Olive Viper King. Did she know something was going to happen and move away?

    But if she did that, how did she know that I was going to attack?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A few screens appeared in front of Lin Wu and he quickly went through them, observing the work that his servants were doing. In some of them, he could even see the other subordinates of his servants as well.

    "Hmmбн they have certainly increased their numbers by a lot. How many is it now? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand?" Lin Wu didn''t exactly know.

    Unknowingly, Lin Wu had gathered a ratherrge number of beasts under his banner. While they were a bit inept and inefficient that''s humans at work, they were at least far easier to convince.

    To humans, Lin Wu would have to offer better resources and all before they would agree. But for these beasts, as long as Lin Wu was stronger than them and had a superior bloodline, they would follow his orders.

    Such was thew of the jungle and it reigned supreme even among the humans. It was just that it was often hard to see for a lot of people, as the ones controlling were too far up at the top.

    They wouldn''t even know that their lives were in the hands of another person and they could be culled at any time.

 Chapter 476 - Meeting The Club Tailed Lizard

    Lin Wu waited about half an hour before the Club tailed lizard finally appeared at the entrance of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb. Lin Wu didn''t really have enmity with the Club Tailed Lizard and thus didn''t need to fight him; unless of course, she attacked him first.

    ''I did kill her mate and now she''s alone with eggsбн Damn, I turned her into a single mother.

    But thenбн she is quite a strong mother being at the Nascent soul realm, she shouldn''t really have any problems.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    On the monitor screen, Lin Wu could see the Club Tailed Lizard who was carrying the eggs on her back. They were perfectly snuggled on her slightly concave back.

    "No wonder people in the past preferred Club Tailed Lizards as a mount. Their bodies are perfect for it. And seeing the speed, they aren''t that slow either." Lin Wu said after observing for a bit..

    He could see the Club Tailed Lizard looking around in slight confusion. It was obvious since the entrance of the Tomb was the same as before, with the bones of dead beasts piled around. To the Club Tailed Lizard, this was highly suspicious and anyone would think like this.

    "Hmmбн perhaps I should think of renovating the entrance a bit. Though this also helps in giving off a bit more powerful appearance." Lin Wu muttered to himself before ordering the system to teleport the Club Tailed Lizard inside.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The Club Tailed Lizard suddenly found runes appearing around her and then found her body to be weightless. Then in the next moment, she found herself in arge hall that was lit up with white lights that floated in the air.

    Her spirit sense spread around anxiously, trying to get a sense of the area in front of her. It was now that she felt something in the front and she looked up.

    "Youбн are you the Beast that killed the Olive Viper King?" The Club Tailed Lizard asked.

    Lin Wu who had just appeared, nodded his head.

    "Yes, I did indeed. I am the one that killed your mate." Lin Wu replied.

    Lin Wu could see the anxiety within the eyes of the Club Tailed Lizard and wondered if she was angry with him for killing her mate.

    "GOOD!" The Club Tailed Lizard said, surprising Lin Wu.

    "Huh? Good?" Lin Wu said in confusion.

    "THAT BASTARD IS FINALLY DEAD! GOOD RIDDANCE!" The Club Tailed Lizard cursed.

    Lin Wu was now truly confused and didn''t know why the Club Tailed Lizard was behaving like this.

    "You didn''t like him? I thought he was your mate?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "What Mate!? He forced me to move here and made me his mate. I didn''t even want this." The Club Tailed Lizard answered.

    "Huhбн didn''t expect thatбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Soбн what did you want to talk about?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I just want a ce to live in till my eggs hatch. After that, I''ll go back to mynd." The Club Tailed Lizard spoke.

    "Just that?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes. This ce isn''t fully safe because of the other Nascent soul realm beast kings. Plusбн there is something ominous in this forest." The Club Tailed Lizard replied.

    "Something ominous? What do you mean?" Lin Wu questioned, finding it to be strange.

    "I''ve always had a sense for danger. It is also why I knew something was going to happen to the Olive Viper King and I moved away before that." The Club Tailed Lizard replied.

    ''So that''s whyбн that''s a handy ability to haveбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "But what''s ominous here?" Lin Wu asked again.

    "In the center of the forest, I think you all call it the Dark Bloom Taverns. There is something thereбн I do not know what, but it is terrifying and ominous. If it were not for my eggs, I would have left on my own already." The Club Tailed Lizard replied.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu said, taking note of this ''ominous'' thing in the Dark Bloom Cavern.

    There were very few things in the Dark Bloom Cavern that Lin Wu knew of. He wondered what it could be that was ominous. At first, he wondered if it was the Twin Lights Liger King but then shook his head as he was just a beast king.

    Though Lin Wu reckoned that the Twin Lights Liger King should probably know something and even Zhu Tianying had said that the Liger King was the oldest beast here and knew a lot more.

    But in addition to this, Lin Wu knew one other thing that others did not; the Dark Bloom Caverns also contained the main power source of the Taiji Celestia''s tomb. Lin Wu wondered if this was linked with that as well.

    Even the system did not know what the power source exactly was, despite being connected to the formation array of the tomb. After learning this though, Lin Wu decided to be a bit more cautious in dealing with the Dark Bloom Caverns and even the Twin Lights Liger King.

    Having thought of all this, Lin Wu looked at the Club Tailed Lizard and spoke.

    "Alright, I can agree with all the conditions. You can stay in one of the halls in the Tomb, and just tell me when you want to leave." Lin Wu replied.

    "Okay." The Club Tailed Lizard replied.

    Lin Wu''s gaze went over the eggs and he felt the bloodline within them.

    "Those eggs, they have a simr bloodline to me. Yet they are different." Lin Wu spoke.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "As much as I would have not wanted, my offspring will have the bloodline of that snake. I hate him, but I cannot hate my offspring. Half of them are my bloodline, anyway." The Club Tailed Lizard replied.

    "I understandбн but why did the Olive Viper King want you to be his mate and where did he even find you?" Lin Wu asked the question that had been guing his curiosity for a while now.

 Chapter 477 - Start Of The Hibernation

    Hearing Lin Wu''s question, the Club Tailed Lizard spoke.

    "The Olive Viper King was unable to have any more offsprings." The Club Tailed Lizard stated.

    "Why''s that?" Lin Wu questioned, wondering if it was because of the reason he had thorough previously as well.

    "His bloodline is strangeбн or rather, yours is too. It is simply too strong for normal beasts to give birth to his offspring. He was additionally restricted by the beasts that could even mate with him.

    He thus wandered around and somehow found me in mynd. He fought me, broke my tail, and beat me into submission. He then said he wanted me to bear his offspring, and I had no other choice but to do it." The Club Tailed Lizard answered..

    "So it really was thatбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself; his assumption had been correct.

    He then looked at the Club Tailed Lizard and spoke again, "and what is yournd that you speak of?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He himself had known about the area from the system''s data but wanted to know it from the Club Tailed Lizard itself.

    "Ie from the great forest from the east of the millennium forest. There are mountains and hills beyond this forest to the east, and thene some ins, after which finally mynd start." The Club Tailed Lizard answered.

    "And how long does it take for one to go there?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "It took us three months to reach this ce," The Club Tailed Lizard answered.

    "Three months huhбн ording to that, the Olivie Viper King should have left about six to seven months agoбн just around the time that I had left as wellбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Seeing Lin Wu go silent, the Club Tailed Lizard waited for a minute.

    "Is that all?" the Club Tailed Lizard asked. "I need to put the eggs in a warm area." She added.

    "Sure, you can head off now." Lin Wu permitted.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    He waved his tail, making runes appear around the Club Tailed Lizard.

    "This will take you to a hall where you can stay. The hall will stay warm on its own so you won''t need to worry about that part." Lin Wu said as the Club Tailed Lizard teleported away.

    Once the Club Tailed Lizard was gone, Lin Wu sighed to himself and looked at the notification that had been hanging at the edge of his vision.

    "Alright system, begin the process for the Bloodline upgrade." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    PERMISSION: Granted

    BLOODLINE UPGRADE: Initiated

    HOST VITALS: Stable

    ACTIVATING PREVENTIVE MEASURES: Hibernation stage initiating

    бкбк

    Lin Wu felt his body get heavy and his eyelids close. He instinctively coiled up and closed his eyes before falling asleep. The ambient flow of his body also dimmed down considerably and eventually turned darkpletely.

    It stayed in this state for a few hours before the change started. Different parts of his body would flier asionally and some parts would get distorted. The change was rather slow and the parts that changed were mere fractions of a fraction.

    What Lin Wu didn''t know was that once he woke up, he would be experiencing a great change, not only in himself but also in the world around him.

    ***

    While Lin Wu entered his slumber, far from the Millennium forest, to the east; a different man woke up from his own.

    <em>~Groan~</em>

    The man groaned and opened his eyes. His body felt sore and his limbs felt heavy, yet he knew he needed to wake up. He didn''t know why, but he felt very anxious and a hint of fear spread through his mind.

    The man was in tattered clothes, with most of his torso bare at this point. There were wounds on his body that had healed, but the scars would remain there for a long time. His face was also a bit rugged and a few scars dressed his face as well.

    While he had a handsome face before, the scars only added more to his charm. This man was none other than Ji Shirong of course, the person whom with which Lin Wu had traveled as an Immortal weapon.

    Lin Wu had healed him and had left him hidden in the cave, as he thought it would be time to part with him. Since the mission that Shirong was assigned was over, it was time for him to leave and wait out for the rewardster.

    "Whereбн am I?" Shirong muttered as he looked around.

    The area around him was rather dark and only a faint light could be seening from one of the sides. He focused his eyes, and they adjusted to the darkness.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    A few sparks appeared around his body, illuminating the area, which allowed him to see that this was a cave.

    "How did I get here? Noбн where was I before this?" Shirong wondered.

    A spent a few minutes thinking and then finally all the memories came rushing back.

    "ARGH!" Shirong shouted out in pain as his head felt like it was being split in two.

    All the memories and pain he had felt before came rushing back and forced him to fall unconscious again.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    His body fell back on the ground, knocking up some dust. More time passed and Shirong moved again.

    This time though, he opened his eyes rather calmly and it had a dead look in them.

    "I almost diedбн that skull godбн he tried to take over meбн but what happened after that?" Shirong had managed to link up the memories till here.

    But the more he tried to remember, the more difficult it got for him.

    ''What''s thisбн thing in my memories? It''s like a mountain stopping me from going ahead.'' Shirong thorough to himself.

    Having thought of this, he decided to take a different approach. He tried to recall the memories before the end ones and thought a bit more.

    "THE IMMORTAL CRYSTAL ARMAMENT! WHERE IS IT!?" Shirong let out anxiously.

    He quickly checked the ring on his hand and took a breath of relief.

 Chapter 478 - Shirongs Despair And Determination

    Seeing the Immortal Crystal Armament still in his spatial storage ring brought great relief to Shirong.

    s, he was about to discover something that would hurt him more.

    "At least you are thereбн" Shirong muttered and withdrew the Immortal Crystal Armament.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The Immortal Crystal Armament appeared in his hand, but upon holding it he found it to be very strange. He didn''t feel it to be linked with him anymore.

    "Whatбн what happened to the spear?" Shirong said, feeling bewildered.

    He tried to pour his spirit Qi into it but was unable to do anything. No matter how much spirit Qi he added to the immortal crystal armament, it simply absorbed it but didn''t respond to hismands..

    Shirong then used his spirit sense, which felt hard to use. For some reason, while he was still able to use his spirit Qi with little problems, his spirit sense felt very heavy. It was like his spirit sense was now an iron chain while before it was a string made of cotton.

    Still, he forcibly used it and made contact with the Immortal Crystal Armament. And when he did so, he felt another rush of memoriesing from the spear. These were lighter memories though and didn''t cause him any distress.

    "What is all this!" Shirong couldn''t help but exim upon seeing the memories.

    These memories were of course, fabricated and nted by Lin Wu himself. Plus, the spear that Shirong held in his hand was just a replica made from his body''s crystal. It didn''t have any real functions other than being able to hide from any external interference.

    From the memories that Shirong got, he learned of what had happened. He saw the Skull god trying to take over his body and saw the Immortal Crystal Armament resist it. He too was struggling and had a few fragments of this memory left in his mind.

    This just helped him clear those memories up and he could confirm that those things really happened. He then saw the Immortal Crystal Armament taking a drastic step. It seemingly used some mysterious technique to forcefully banish and seal the Skull god again.

    But doing this damaged the Immortal Crystal Armament greatly, and it entered into its sealed state again. At this point, Shirong still felt a little pleased as this meant that he would be able to awaken it again.

    But when thetter memories appeared, he found them to be strange. These memories contained the thoughts of someone else, which Shirong eventually linked to the Immortal Crystal Armament''s own thoughts.

    ''So it really was sentient all this timeбн it was just limited in what it could do at that levelбн'' Shirong thought to himself.

    He then saw the uncertain emotions on the memories of the spear and that it was far more damaged than normal. It was such that it would have no other way to heal but to just stay dormant and absorb the ''natural energies of the world''.

    Shirong didn''t know what these ''Natural Energies'' were but guessed that it might be a different kind of an energy that only cultivators above the Immortal realm would be able to sense.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "So I''ll have to wait for youбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    He sat back down and sank into his thoughts about what to do next. A lot of his ns of domination were dependent on the Immortal Crystal Armament as it would have allowed him to gain strength far faster than normal.

    But after a few hours, Shirong realized he hadn''t necessarily lost everything.

    "I still have the spear intent Iprehended, that move I learned from the spear, the skills I mastered and the spirit Qi control that was enhanced. If I can master these all further, I''ll be able to learn even more ande out stronger.

    That''s right! I just need to persevere and by the time the Immortal Crystal Armament wakes up, we''ll be ready to take on the world!" Shirong proimed.

    In the span of few hours, Shirong had gone from despair to a newfound determination. If Lin Wu were here, perhaps he would wonder if this was the difference between the average cultivator and an ''expert''.

    Perhaps it was even the Young master identity of Shirong that yed as an advantage for him. Whatever it may be, but Shirong now started to revise his ns and charted out what problems he had now.

    "I need to get to the n first of all and dere the truth about the death of uncle Quan. Then I need to inform the n of the Skull god and how he is a threat to all of us." Shirong muttered.

    This was also why Lin Wu had let him think that the Skull god was merely sealed and not banished from this world. Lin Wu wanted Shirong to raise his n in opposition to the Skull god, which was notorious for controlling others.

    And using this aspect, Lin Wu would have a sharp sword that would kill whatever he pointed at in the future. Of course, this was part of Lin Wu''s own grand n and woulde in function far in the future.

    "Oh, and you elder sisterбн you will pay for what you have doneбн" Shirong said as his eyes shone in a dangerous light.

    He had not forgotten that his sister was involved in hypnotizing him and also kidnapping his subordinates. They were still missing and there were no traces of them for a while now.

    The best thing Shirong could do was to return to his n and take his position as the heir before mounting his offense. After all, his sister and perhaps his other siblings had already started opposing him.

    But while they had done that, they had also kept it a bit secret and indirect. Thus, Shirong would have to take a simr approach as well, keeping thews of the Ji n in mind.

    Of course, if he knew that his sister had sent a spy to follow him around, perhaps Shirong would have made a different decision.

 Chapter 479 - Catching Up

    Shirong thought in deep and stayed in the cave for a few more days. This was to figure out his ns and also to stabilize his condition.

    Even if he had woken up, his body was still reeling from the lingering trauma. It was more of a non physical shock and it would take a while to heal on its own. This was something Lin Mu and even the system had not thought of.

    Shirong used some pills to recover faster and ended up spending ten days in the cave. But after that time, he had recovered fully and was almost in his optimum state. The only problem was the mental block, which he was still unable to get rid of.

    "I''ll have to talk to ancestor about thisбн only he might know what it is exactly is." Shirong muttered to himself.

    He then stood up from the floor and walked to the only source of light in the cave.. This was the entrance of the cave, which was blocked by a boulder. Shirong didn''t know how the Immortal Crystal Armament managed to do all this, but he knew that it cost the spear heavily.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Letting out another sigh, Shirong looked at the boulder.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    Shirong then kicked the boulder, letting out a little frustration. The heavy boulder shot forward and flew off the side of the mountain before falling to the bottom with a loud thud.

    <em>~Roar~</em>

    <em>~Chirp~</em>

    <em>~cry</em>

    The sounds of agitated and startled beasts could be heard, as they had a rather rude awakening from the fallen boulder. A few unfortunate beasts had also managed to get crushed underneath the boulder along with a lot of trees.

    Shirong though, could care less about it and flew out. He didn''t even know where he was, thus the first thing he did was to get a grasp of his surroundings. His spirit sense spread around and observed everything.

    After the ten days of recovery, Shirong''s spirit sense worked like normal and it was no longer strenuous for him. In fact, he realized that his spirit sense had even grown by a little. He didn''t know how but didn''t question it, just grateful that he got something out of it.

    "Hmmбн this area doesn''t seem familiar. No signs of humans either, mostly just beasts." Shirong muttered to himself, having seen the area.

    He then picked a direction and hoped that he would reach a familiar area. Shirong thus traveled for about an hour and found an area that he recognized.

    "Huh? Those hillsбн I''m near the Ivory Heron Dynasty?" Shirong said in shock.

    While he knew that he was no longer in the Dread Coil Marsh, he didn''t know where he exactly was. He was surprised that the Immortal Crystal Armament had managed to take him this far despite the fact that he was unconscious.

    "I need to get to the capital and learn what exactly happenedбн" Shirong muttered.

    ''No wait, before that,'' Shirong looked at his appearance.

    He was still in the tattered robes and was covered with dirt and dust.

    "I need to clean up." Shirong said as he looked around for some water.

    He soon found ake nearby where he took a bath. But while he was taking a bath, he found something weird about theke.

    "Why is the depth of thiske so even at some points?" Shirong discovered.

    It was like some had manually dug out channels below the water and when Shirong spread his spirit sense around, he found that they formed an exact square.

    "Truly strangeбн" Shirong said, unable to find a reason behind it.

    Unknown to him, thiske was the same ce where Lin Wu had hidden the tform at. Once Shirong was all clean, he put on some new robes and flew towards the capital city of the Ivory Heron dynasty.

    He reached there after a few hours and directly went to meet the one person who could answer him directly, Yu Guowei. Shirong went to the administrator''s office but surprisingly the man wasn''t there.

    "Where did he go?" Shirong wondered.

    He took out hismunication jade slip and tried to contact him only for him to get no response. Shirong furrowed his brows as he got a bad feeling about this. His spirit sense spread around, but he couldn''t find the man anywhere nearby either.

    "Let''s see if I can ask someone," Shirong muttered and quickly found the clerk who was responsible for Yu Guowei''s meetings and other minor works.

    "Where is Yu Guowei?" Shirong asked directly.

    The clerk who was busy writing down some documents looked up in irritation. He felt displeased that someone would disturb his work and even ask something of him with such a disrespectful attitude.

    But when he saw who had just spoken, his heart dropped and he almost let out a Welp.

    "It''sбн it''s youбн senior Shirong!" The clerk recognized.

    He had seen Shirong meet with Yu Guowei before and also knew just how much respect the man showed him. While he didn''t know of Shirong''s true identity, he could tell that that the man had a great importance, not to mention the spirit Qi fluctuation that wereing off his body ced him at the Nascent Soul realm.

    Neither of these two things were something he could take lightly and thus he quickly perked up.

    "Tell me where Yu Guowei is," Shirong repeated.

    "Lord Yu is at the royal pce. He has not returned for the past week and has been there the entire time." The clerk answered hurriedly.

    Hearing this, Shirong was confused. While it was normal for Yu Guowei to go to the royal pce, as he was an administrator and had a higher rank than most officials. It was highly unusual for him to stay there for such a while.

    It would make sense for other guests to stay there, but not for an administrator like him.

    "Why so long?" Shirong asked.

    "Huh? Senior, you don''t know what happened?"

    Hearing the tone of the clerk, Shirong was a bit baffled.

    ''Could it be rted to the marsh as well? Did the news spread about it?'' Shirong wondered.

    "No, what happened? I haven''t been here for a while." Shirong questioned.

    "The entire Ivory Heron Dynasty, Bing Kingdom and Burrow Light kingdom are in an uproar. The Dread Coil Marsh is burning and has be an area of absolute death." The clerk answered.

    Hearing this, Shirong was convinced that something truly problematic happened while he was unconscious. It was either the doing of the Immortal crystal armament or the skull god.

    Even though the spear had given him some memories, they weren''t fully intact and some parts of them were still fragmented for him. This was intentionally done by Lin Wu, as giving a concrete set of memories was only asking to get found out.

    There were bound to be inconsistencies between the fabricated memories and reality, and thus it was best to keep things vague. These fragments allowed Shirong to form his own opinions and conveniently fill in those gaps.

    "How did that happen?" Shirong questioned.

    "We do not know thatбн or at least themoners don''t. The king, his ministers and advisers are discussing about it. There are even envoys from the other two kingdoms here to join in on the meetings." The clerk answered.

    "I seeбн very well," Shirong said before abruptly leaving.

    The clerk was left standing for a few seconds before he took a breath of relief and sat back down. He pushed out the excess thoughts and got back to work. The current workload for him was even higher since the administrator was not here and he could not afford to ck off.

    Shirong who had left the administrator building, didn''t go to the royal pce. Rather, he decided to understand the ground reality among themoners first.

    ''It would be problematic if I barged into the royal ce and demanded to speak with Yu Guowei. Besides, there is still my sister and the others. Who knows if they have spies here as well.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    Having done that, Shirong walked around the city listening to the words of themoners. He could hear a variety of conversations and eventually, he found a few that were what he wanted to hear.

    Shirong was currently sitting in amon tavern, and there were many other patrons in the establishment. They ranged frommoners all the way to some middle level official of the city.

    "Can''t believe something even worse could happen in that god forsaken ce." One of the men sitting at a table away from Shirong spoke.

    "I know, right? Dread Coil Marsh was already an area where humans seldom entered and now it has just be a burning hell." Another man spoke.

    "Who knows what''s happening around these days. There is surprising news every day. The other day I even heard that the Frozen cloud sect has taken up a new chief disciple who is greatly talented." A plump woman dressed in dark blue robes said with a sigh.

    "We used to call that ce hell to enter, and now it''s literally hell. Hahah! It suits it. There was nothing worth there, anyway." Another man joked.

    "Wonder how it happened, though. It was all of a sudden, too. One day it was fine and then there was fire zing everywhere. My father''s half brother''s sister-inw''s son lives in the Burrow light kingdom and he said the people there have no idea either." The first man wondered.

    "Yeah, it''s confusing. Some people even said that some strong beast appeared there and caused devastation. Can you imagine how ridiculous that sounds?" Another person spoke, catching Shirong''s attention.

 Chapter 480 - Unexpected And Confusing Revelations

    Hearing about a beast, Shirong suspected that this rumor might be the one closest to the truth. While he could not confirm the words of anymoner, since he had been there himself, he could understand the simrities between beasts.

    ''But even those strange skull faced beasts that were the servants of that skull god didn''t use fire. Was it truly even caused by fire or was it some other spirit tool?'' Shirong wondered.

    Shirong even wondered if it was none other than the Immortal Crystal Armament that did it but then realized that it was not possible. While the spear could definitely produce heat enough to burn things, it wasn''t something that would linger on and continue to burn an area.

    "Hah! A beast? Do they think beasts that are this strong can just be found anywhere? It''s probably just some random explosion that caused the fires. Didn''t you know something simr happened back in the Ling Kingdom?

    A meteor fell near it in the Millennium forest and destroyed the entire area while even creating pits ofva. Back then, people didn''t dare get close and waited some time. Perhaps the situation with the Dread Coil Marsh is the same." A map said after downing a cup of wine..

    Hearing this, Shirong raised his brows as it was a matter closely rted to him. But this also reminded him of the devastating potential of the Immortal Crystal Armament.

    ''No, waitбн I haven''t explored all of the powers of the Immortal Crystal Armament yet. Perhaps those mes were one of those abilities that I had been unable to unlock.'' Shirong wondered to himself.

    "Hang on, that does seem rather simr!" A younger woman who had been silent all this time eximed.

    "I''ve heard that the area where the meteorite crashed also became a forbidden zone. In the case of the Dread Coil Marsh, it was already a forbidden area and now there is just no chance or survival there.

    Plus the Dread Coil Marsh is very vast, spanning across three kingdoms. Who knows if it truly was a meteorite that fell and changed the area like this. A meteorite like that would be easily hidden from out eyes." The young woman continued.

    Somehow Shirong realized that all the conversations were somehow either linking back to him or the Immortal Crystal Armament. These were not terms that he wasfortable with and didn''t like others takings about him either, even if they didn''t know his true identity.

    And thus, Shirong decided to take his leaven thinking that he had had enough for the day.

    <em>~cling~</em>

    He ced a few coins on the table before leaving the establishment.

    ''This won''t be enough, I need to see what the others think ofбн'' Shirong thought to himself.

    He thus wandered among themoners for a few more hours, listening to their conversations, their thoughts, and their goals. It was somewhat of a learning experience for Shirong and he bided his time.

    Shirong did this for about six hours, after which a bell was rung in the royal pce. The fewmoners that were around to observe the signs were shocked by hearing the strange sound.

    "It''s the King! He has an official decree!" One of the younger cultivators spoke.

    To them their king was massively strong and there was no chance that he would face any deathtraps. And this their coincidence was rather ted. Unfortunately for them, the reality couldn''t be farther than the truth.

    Shirong also moved to the site of the announcement, along with the othermoners. He could see that several advisers were standing there, and the King stood high up in the pce gallery that the man used to entertain his delivers.

    <em>~chatter~</em>

    The sounds of people talking and chattering spread throughout the area as they waited for this king to speak.

    "Silence!" One of the ministers said out loud while suppressing the people around him.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Sensing the aura and pressure from the man, Shirong truly was shocked.

    "My people! Todayбн I bring you some grave news," the king spoke.

    He waited for a bit and finally spoke.

    "And in this, there is a chance we might be in great danger. But I have no option other than waiting for the follow up. Unless we figure out the beast that caused this fire, little woulde out of this." The king of the Ivory Heron dynasty spoke.

    <em>~gasp~</em>

    Many shocked gasps came out of this as the people were appalled. To them, the kingdom was the umbre that would hold up the rain, but now it was telling them no and that it could not help them.

    Of course, along with themoners, there were also some nobles and aristocrats around the area. Even if themoners had questions, they might not be ableable to ask the king directly, but to the aristocrats, it was not that big of a deal.

    "My kingбн what of the other two nations, the Burrow Light Kingdom and the Bing Kingdom?" one of the aristocrats asked.

    "They are in an even greater dilemma than us. At least for us, we didn''t face any direct loss of life. But in the case of the Bing Kingdom, an entire major city of theirs was destroyed.

    There were traces of simr mes being used and even one''s blood, which confirmed that it was surely a beast. So we can assume that these two incidents are linked and are perhaps from the same beast as well.

    As for the Burrow Light kingdom, they are on tenterhooks since they don''t just have to deal with one Strong beast, but two. There was an expanse of hills near the border of the Bing Kingdom and the Burrow light kingdom and it now is filled with water.

    The mountain peaks have be inds and the ground there was fully hidden beneath tens of meters of water." The king of the Ivory Heron Dynasty exined.

    "My kingбн do we have an idea about what kind of a beast they might be if they can cause something like this?" someone among the audience asked.

 Chapter 481 - An Anxious City

    Hearing the question, the king couldn''t help but sigh. Shirong was interested in knowing more too and focused on it.

    "As far as we can tell, both of the beasts involved, both the one that flooded and the one that burned, are at the Dao Treading realm at least." The King answered.

    <em>~gasp~</em>

    <em>~Hiss~</em>

    People couldn''t help but take in a breath of air in shock when they heard this. Of course, this was the people who actually knew what the Dao Treading realm was. Manymoners didn''t really know about it.

    King Hong could see the mixed confusion among the people and knew what they were thinking.

    "To those that don''t know, the Dao Treading realmes after the Dao Shell is two realms above the Nascent soul realm which most people should know.." The king spoke.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Hearing this, some of the more weak heartedmoners directly passed out. While others were filled with fear. Even the Nascent Soul realm was something they were in awe of and this beast was two realms above it.

    Manymoners didn''t even know something above the Nascent soul realm existed and thus they were scared. Especially since these were spirit beasts and not humans. If it was a person, they might have managed tomunicate and figure out a solution with them, but with a beast, that wasn''t an option.

    Even Shirong was surprised, as he had not expected something like this.

    ''How many Dao Treading realm beasts are there even on the continent? From the n records, we know there are less than thirty Dao Treading realm cultivators, but there are no concrete records of beasts.

    I''ll need to check again once I return. Perhaps the ancestor has a better idea.'' Shirong thorough to himself.

    The king saw the reactions of the people and had expected it. But he knew giving them this information was necessary. If the people heard it from some other source, the chaos that broke out might be even more terrifying.

    What the king didn''t tell them was that they did know what one of the beasts was, but not the one that burned the Dread Coil marsh. It was also that very unknown beast that was the most problematic for them, since it had caused far more damage.

    "My peopleбн I know these are trying times, but we have to be brave. I assure you we shall do our best to protect our kingdom and our people." The King assured giving the people a sense offort.

    Only the aristocrats and nobles knew just how much truth was there to it. Defending against a Dao Treading realm being wasn''t something their kingdom could handle. At most, they would evacuate as many people as they could, but even then the death rate might go very high.

    It wasn''t like this hadn''t happened before in history either. There were several stories ran records from thousands of years ago that described events like these. Each of those events was like a cmity for humans.

    Whenever a beast of that level was enraged and it got directed towards Humans, it would turn into a one sided massacred. It was not often that this happened and there would be sects that would intervene of course, but oftentimes till then, the damage was already done.

    Havingpleted his announcement, the King and his officials decided to return to the pce while themoners and other aristocrats dispersed. Shirong looked for Yu Guowei among the official but did not find him there.

    Shirong did see that some of the nobles headed to the pce instead of heading to their own homes. This prompted him to do the same.

    "Hmmбн guess I should head on to the pce, too. Not like they can reject me anywayбн but that old ministerбн he''s not simple." Shirong muttered to himself.

    Thus, with that in mind, he went to the pce. There were several nobles heading here and the king knew of it already and thus he called for a court session to be held where the more specific questions of the nobles might be answered.

    After all, while the king wouldn''t need to exin much to themoners, he did have a higher obligation towards the nobles. Not to mention the fact that a lot of these nobles were also linked with the royal family, while some were even external members of it.

    "Halt, who are you?" One of the royal guards stopped Shirong, who was trying to enter the royal pce.

    Shirong causally let out his spirit Qi and looked at the guard.

    "Inform the King someone from the Ji n is here." Shirong said calmly.

    But him saying this was just a formality as when his spirit Qi red up, the others in the royal court had felt it. There were several Nascent soul realm cultivators in the royal court who were part of it and the King was one himself as one.

    Letting out a wave of spirit Qi could be seen as being offensive, thus Shirong caught attention rather easily and the people looked outside the door of the court.

    "Who''s letting out their spirit Qi so audaciously?" A ministermented.

    "They are certainly arrogant but do have a strong aura." Another older minister stated.

    The king looked towards the door as well and his spirit sense extended. The others did the same and went towards themon target. Usually using spirit sense like this in a public setting could set of a lot of problems, but when everyone was doing the same, they had a free pass to use it.

    Shirong could clearly feel several spirit sense probes approaching him and he frowned. Before, he had been reluctant ining out publicly since he was worried about there being spies of his sisters in the capital.

    But now, that was no longer necessary as he knew that even if there were spies, there would be no use for him to be low key with the current situation.

 Chapter 482 - Meeting The King And Elder Ou Kang

    Shirong looked into the hall fearlessly while the others looked at him as well.

    ''Humph! Puny attempt.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A wave of spirit Qi thatbined his spear intent, the aura of the Immortal Sky Shaker art, and the killing intent he had developed over the years was sent out. As soon as this came into contract with the spirit sense of others, they were turned back.

    It was like a deer had met a tiger and had no option but to escape.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The only person who was unaffected was the old minister who was beside the king. All other Nascent soul realm cultivators, whether they be at the Infant soul stage or the Adult Stage were all affected by Shirong''s defense..

    "He''s not simpleбн your majesty, be careful." The old minister spoke.

    "Yes, senior Kong." The King spoke.

    The minister who had just spoken was none other than the very same Senior Kong that Lin Wu had seen in the abode hidden in the mountains. It was evident that the man had returned to the capital and took up the position of a minister again.

    Shirong also noticed the unaffected minister and knew that the man was above the Nascent Soul realm.

    "Interestingбн" Shirong muttered.

    He wasn''t afraid that they would attack him since once he stated his identity, they would have to be courteous to him even if they were a Dao Shell realm cultivator. The pressure brought on by the Ji n was not light.

    Besides, the two kingdoms Ivory Heron dynasty and the Ebony Duck dynasty were nothing but cash puppets in the hands of the Ji n. It was due to them that they existed and the Ji n reaped a part of their total profits from these two kingdoms.

    The Ling Kingdom could also be considered to be a bit simr to this now, since Shirong had made them into an ally too. But this was under his own authority. These two kingdoms were not under his authority but directly under his father''s thus, he couldn''t fully control them either.

    "Please enter," The King spoke.

    The guard who had blocked Shirong''s path quickly moved aside. The guard was already trembling and didn''t know if he would have lived long enough. He was fully terrified and had decided that he would leave the capital today itself.

    Shirong walked ahead and looked at everyone in the hall.

    "Greetings King Cang Lu." Shirong cupped his hands.

    "Who are you and why have youe here?" The king asked.

    While Shirong had told who he was to the guard, they had not gotten the chance to tell the king and thus they didn''t know about it yet.

    "I am Ji Shirongбн The heir of the Ji n." Shirong revealed while holding out the token of the Ji n.

    The people in the hall were stunned upon seeing this. They had not expected they would receive someone like this today.

    "How can this be?"

    "Is it really someone from the Ji n?"

    "Didn''t someone else from the Ji n pass through the kingdom a year ago as well?"

    Several questions were appearing in the minds of the court members and they didn''t know what to think. The king was the same, but he decided to ask them straight.

    "So it is Young master Shirong." The king also cupped his hands.

    Senior Kong, who had been watching from the side, did the same and lowered his guard. Being one of the oldest and highest ranked people of the kingdom, the old man knew the underbelly of the kingdom and how things worked.

    He knew that while the Ivory Heron kingdom was independent on the surface, a lot of its interests were tied with the Ji n. They were simply lucky that the Ji n never really interfered in the workings of their kingdom and only took some amount of assets as a tribute.

    In fact, Senior Kong was secretly pleased that Shirong was here now. He had known that the current situation was not something that could be handled by them easily, as the threat of a Dao Treading realm beast was very high.

    But requesting the Ji n for help was also not an easy task and they would have had to wait a while to obtain it. Though now that Shirong was here, it would be far simple he thorough. Especially with his identity as that of the heir of the Ji n.

    "Greetings Young Master Shirong, I am Ou Kong." The old man introduced himself.

    Hearing this, Shirong along with several members of the court were intrigued. There were a lot of members who actually did not know who Ou Kong was. The king simply called him Senior Kong, which showed the level of respect hemanded.

    At most, they assumed that he was one of the retired elders of the Royal family that seldom showed themselves. His appearance at this time was obvious due to his identity and strength. The Nascent soul realm cultivators here could tell that Ou Kong was far stronger than them and thus were respectful to him as well.

    ''Didn''t think I would see him hereбн wasn''t he one of the disciples of external elder Simu?'' Shirong recalled having read about this man.

    While he had never met him before, Shirong did know the names of a sizable number of people that were linked to the Ji n.

    "Seems like Elder Simu would have been proud of you if he was still here." Shirong said.

    Hearing the name of histe master, Ou Kong sighed to himself.

    "It''s been a long time since I heard master''s nameбн oh how I wish he was still here with us." Ou Kong replied.

    "Indeed. From what I''ve heard, he was a dedicated external elder and did a lot of work for the Ji n." Shirong nodded his head.

    Hearing this information, even the King was shocked. He had not known there was such background behind Ou Kong. The other ministers were even more shocked that one of the royal elders was the dispels of a Ji n external elder.

    Though hearing this also made them a bit proud since they had someone backed by the Ji n among them. But what they didn''t know was that Ou Kong had no influence on the Ji n.

    Compared to the King he was even lower than that. This was due to the fact that the disciples of the external elders would not get a rank in the Ji n unless they became an external elder themselves or were taken in by the n.

    This was a very rare opportunity that many took seriously and look forward to. Unfortunately for Ou Kong, this never came as his talent wasn''t as high as his other fellow disciples and they managed to take up the position of an external elder first.

    The King didn''t question what Shirong had just spoken, plus it also severed as an additional verification to his identity. The identity of a Ji n member could be faked, albeit with great difficultly, but such information that Shirong had spoken would be impossible unless one was a member of the Ji n.

    As for the identity of an heir, there were no doubts since it was confirmed that Shirong was a Ji n member. And if one was a Ji n member, they would never falsely im to be the heir to it.

    Doing so was basically asking one to get executed, as the Ji n would not take falsehoods like that lightly.

    If someone had imed they were the heir of the Ji n and even had the token, they might actually be fooling others. But with the information stated, Shirong had proved it now that he truly was who he said he was.

    It was a covert way of proving his identity to the people that mattered.

    "Please take a seat, Young Master Shirong. We''ll take after that." King Cang Lu said.

    Shirong nodded and sat down before looking at the king.

    "I believe you asked me why I was here?" Shirong asked.

    "Yes, Young master." The King replied.

    "The main reason for it is something I can''t say as of now, but at this moment, I am here to learn about what happened to the Dread Coil Marsh." Shirong answered.

    "I seeбн" the King said, finding it to be good.

    To him, if Shirong was inquiring about their situation, it meant that he was either here to help or would probably get his n to help. Either of these options was beneficial to them, and they were pleased with it.

    "Very well, young master. I shall tell you all that I know." The King said before looking at the rest of the people in the hall. "The rest should focus and listen as well, as this will be the information which could not be revealed to themoners and I believe you want to know it as well." He added.

 Chapter 483 - The Aquadream Sea Lotus

    Everyone looked and listened to the King with their full attention.

    "The beast that caused the flood has been determined to be an Aquadream Lotus, or more urately, the Aquadream Sea Lotus." The King stated.

    "Impossible!" Shirong said out loud.

    The others who didn''t know if this beast were confused about it, while the ones that had little knowledge were taken aback.

    "An Aquadream Sea Lotus cannot even exist there! They need seas to live while our world does not have any seas, only oceans. Thus, they exist in the Great Ocean as well. Even if they did attack the continent, they would at most be able to attack the coast.

    The area that was flooded was still rather ind." Shirong exined..

    "I know, young master Shirong, we had the same confusion. But after seeing the spirit Qi fluctuations that reached the Dao Treading realm and the effect that it brought upon the area, have no other option but it being an Aquadream Sea Lotus." The King replied.

    "But there must be a way it appeared so far ind. They can''t be out of their habitats for long." Shirong spoke.

    "Actually, that is the reason why we think the flood urred." Senior Kong chimed in.

    Hearing this, Shirong finally understood.

    "It can''t beбн so it flooded the area so it could continue on ahead." Shirong said with disbelief.

    Shirong had learned about the Aquadream Lotuses in his n a long time ago. They were often the reason why it was difficult to cross the Great ocean and get to the other continent.

    While there were indeed Teleportation formations that could take one to the other continents, they needed a lot of spirit Qi to run and thus used up several tens of thousands of High grade spirit stones.

    Plus, for it to work, the formations needed to be activated on both ends. So for example, someone wanted to go to the Hu Continent from the Long continent, then the people on both sides needed to agree and activate it at the same time for it to be usable.

    It was a safety feature and prevented them from experiencing any surprise attacks. It also prevented people from illegally leaving the continent that they lived in. These formations were said to have been built a long time ago and were currently in the ownership of the three guardian ns.

    Thus, if anyone even wanted to go to the other continent using them, they needed to be strong enough that they could talk to the ns. Otherwise, they would just be ignored and won''t seven be considered.

    Thus, the only way people could travel across was by usingrge ships. Flying was also an option, of course, but again, this was limited to a few strong cultivators. Even Nascent Soul realm and Dao Shell realm cultivators would die if they tried to cross the ocean by flying.

    They would either end up exhausting all of their spirit Qi, or be killed by the dangers there. As for the ones in the Dao Treading realm, they were already influential enough that they could just use the teleportation formation to do the same.

    "Could it perhaps be some other Aquadream Lotus? For example, an Aquadream Lake lotus that managed to break through?" one of the more knowledgeable ministers questioned.

    "Noбн even if it was one often Aquadream Lake Lotus''s in the wild, we already know their locations. As for the Aquadream Pond Lotus that are raised by some sects, they are even more unlikely as they will never break through to the next realm." Shirong answered.

    "Huh? The location of all Aquadream Lake Lotus''s is known?" A general asked.

    "Indeedбн the top ns and sects have known about their locations for a long time. We also prevent them from leaving their territories. Why do you think people do not see beasts above Nascent soul realm often?" Shirong replied.

    "I seeбн I didn''t knowбн" The general and several other people were surprised by this.

    While they had known that the sects and top ns kept a lot of secrets that most people didn''t know, they also didn''t know that they protected them from this as well.

    "This is one of the dilemmas we have, Young Master. We do not know how this Aquadream Sea Lotus managed to appear there and also why exactly it did so." The King spoke.

    "Didn''t you say earlier that it was due to the battle between the beast that burned the Dread Coil Marsh and the lotus?" Shirong questioned.

    "Well, thatбн" The king hesitated a bit. "We just had an assumption we don''t know for sure. It was more to give an excuse to themoners. We couldn''t just say that the beast destroyed the area for no reason. This would cause panic among themoners.

    Rather than saying that, we found it better to just say that it was a battle between two beasts of equal caliber. This way the people won''t have the fear that the beast came to attack and eat humans." The King exined.

    "I seeбн that''s understandable," Shirong replied.

    He knew how important it was to keep the public anxiety and fear in control. If it went to high or low things could get ugly real fast.

    "Thoughбн" Shirong replied. "I think the fact that it was two beasts fighting might really be the truth."

    He had been in the Dread Cool Marsh himself and knew somewhat of the events that urred. So far Shirong was thinking that it was the Immortal Crystal Armament that caused the fire, and now it seemed to be far more likely.

    But it was now that a question was presented to him.

    "Wait, what''s the time period between the flood and the fire in the dread coil marsh?" Shirong questioned.

    "Well, the fire started about a month ago, but the flood definitely urred earlier. We can''t tell how early though since it was done by a Dao treading realm beast and its spirit Qi traces can linger on for a long time." The King answered.

 Chapter 484 - Meeting Yu Guowei At The Outpost

    <em>~sigh~</em>

    Seeing that the discussion was not really helping much, Shirong couldn''t help but sigh.

    "I see and we have no information on what beast caused the fire either?" Shirong questioned.

    "No young master. And we can''t enter to check it either. Just getting within a hundred meters of the Dread Coil Marsh is enough to kill most Qi refining realm, cultivators. The core condensation realm cultivators can get close, but can''t enter it.

    Nascent soul realm cultivators may try to fly over it, but the mes are far more dangerous to try that. We don''t dare to attempt that as it would only result in more deaths." The King answered.

    With that said, Shirong knew that there was little he could do here now..

    "I''ll go and take a look myself. See how it really is," Shirong stated.

    "I''ll send some people with you, to guide young master there. The area is very dangerous." The king offered, not knowing that Shirong had actually gone to the Dread Coil Marsh before.

    "Oh alsoбн do you know where administrator Yu Guowei is? I was unable to find him and the clerk in his office said he would be here." Shirong asked, remembering what he was here for originally.

    "Yu Guowei?" The King furrowed his brows.

    He looked towards his advisers and asked them about him.

    "Ummбн I believe administrator Yu Guowei was helping the schrs in verifying the identity of the beast. He headed to the Dread Coil Marsh a day ago as well." One of the advisers informed.

    "I seeбн well, that just makes it easier. I''ll leave for the marsh now," Shirong said.

    "Alright, Young master Shirong." The king said before towards his people. "General Jian, and General Han shall apany you, Young master Shirong."

    The two generals that were called out stepped up and kneeled in front.

    "We are at your service, Young master Shirong." They said respectfully.

    Shirong nodded his head and spoke, "let''s leave now. Best not waste any time."

    The generals stood up and followed Shirong out of the pce. The three of them directly flew out of the city and headed to the west. It took them about a day to reach the border of the Dread Coil marsh and when they did, they could see the changes.

    The sky was shaded orange and there was a heatwave radiating from the Marsh. Shirong looked at the mes burning in the distance. They were over a hundred meters tall and were still zing at a good potential.

    No sign of the marsh could be seen behind it and, with the size of the marsh, it looked like a long wall of fire spread across the entire kingdom. It was a terrifying scene and would be hard for the weak hearted to observe.

    Though seeing this, Shirong just furrowed his brows.

    ''There is no aura of the Immortal Crystal Armament within the mes.'' Shirong discovered.

    He had thought that it might be the confirmation he needed to see if the fire was indeed caused by the immortal crystal armament. If there was an aura within it, that would be the confirmation that it happened for sure.

    But even if there was no aura in the mes, there was still a chance it was caused by the immortal crystal armament. The only problem was that Shirong didn''t know what king do an ability it really was.

    "There''s the outpost, Young master." General Jiao pointed after either traveled a little further.

    Shirong could see a group of buildings that were surrounded by a moat. The moat looked like it was made recently, as the soil around it looked to be freshly dug.

    "They made a moat?" Shirong asked.

    "Yes, we feared that the fire may still continue to spread, thus we made it as a safety feature. Though we know if the fire is really that strong, the moat might not evenst for a minute before evaporating.

    Thus, it is mostly there for a false sense of safety for the people here.

    "Let''snd there then," Shirong said before heading there.

    Once they were there, a few people appeared around him to check on them.

    "General Jian! General Han!" The people recognized them.

    "What are you here for? Did his majesty order something of us?" the person who was in charge of the outpost asked.

    "We are here to apany Young Master Shirong of the Ji n." General Han replied.

    "The Ji n!" Hearing the name, everyone was shocked, but they all forcibly suppressed their shock as was the discipline.

    "What is it that Young master Shirong desires?" The person in-charge questioned.

    "Where is Yu Guowei?" Shirong asked.

    "Administrator Yu Guowei? He''s in my office, pleasee with me." The man replied.

    "No need, I''m here!" Just as the in-charge said that the voice of Yu Guowei could be heard.

    The man appeared to be a bit anxious and was sweating as well.

    "Greetings Young Master Shirong." Yu Guowei cupped his hands.

    "Let''s talk in private," Shirong stated with a straight face.

    "Of course, follow me, young master." The man said before taking him to the office. He then locked the door and looked at Shirong.

    "I''ve been looking for you, Young master! I''m so relieved you are fine." Yu Guowei said.

    "Huh? What?" Shirong asked.

    "After the fire started in the Dread Coil Marsh you didn''t return, thus I was worried if you were fine or not. I was deliberating on whether to inform the n or not, but decided not to for the time being.

    I waited a month, but you didn''t appear, thus I went to check myself first. If I hadn''t found you here today, I would have gone to inform the n that you have gone missing young master." Yu Guowei exined.

    Shirong finally understood and nodded his head. It was understandable that Yu Guowei needed to follow his duties. He was appointed by the Ji n and if their heir disappeared like this near his position, the me might fall on him.

 Chapter 485 - Link To Jiao Dian City

    Having found Yu Guowei, Shirong finally started to ask him what he wanted to.

    "So what is it that''s exactly going on? Something that the king or the others don''t know?" Shirong questioned.

    "Ummбн I am rather clueless as well, young master. Whatever the king told you is urate, and I know the same as well. I''ve already contacted our other informants in the Burrow light kingdom and the Bing Kingdom; the information I got from them matches the intel we have right now." Yu Guowei spoke.

    Hearing this, Shirong furrowed his brows. He didn''t know, but the entire thing made him feel strange and as if something was missing.

    "Though, young master, what happened to your mission? There was no contact with you and after the fire, I assumed the worst." Yu Guowei questioned..

    "The mission ispleted and I know why uncle Quan died." Shirong answered.

    "You do? How?!" Yu Guowei asked hurriedly.

    Even he himself was every curious and wanted to know how someone as strong as Ji Quan could go missing and then die. It was not like the man was some inexperienced junior that was lucky to break through to the Nascent Soul realm early on.

    Noбн he was once a Dao Shell realm cultivator and was over three hundred years old. He had plenty of experience and knowledge and thus there was little chance that something could have caught him off guard.

    And since Ji Quan had died in an area that was under the administration of Yu Guowei, the Ji n was always breathing down his neck. If it were not for his good record and that the n found no signs of foul y, they might have just decided to get rid of him as a means to vent their anger.

    And hearing that Shirong went missing did not do well for him. That was also the reason why he had hesitated in contacting the Ji n, which he should have done the moment the fire started.

    "I can''t tell you the details as they are a bit confidential and need to go through the n first, but I can tell you this muchбн whatever caused the fireбн it is linked with the death of uncle Quan." Shirong replied.

    Hearing this, Yu Guowei was startled. If something as strong as a Dao Treading realm beast was involved in this, then he could understand how Ji Quan managed to die in the Dread Coil marsh.

    But this also reminded him of another thing.

    "Wait, Young master! Did you encounter any ruins there?" Yu Guowei questioned before quickly taking out something from his storage ring.

    Shirong was a bit surprised upon hearing about ruins from Yu Guowei and wondered how he knew about that. But he waited for him to show whatever the man wanted to show him right nows.

    Yu Guowei took out what looked like a long scroll from his spatial storage treasure. The scroll was a meter wide and about ten meters long when fully unrolled.

    "See this young master? Were there any such markings there in the ruins?" Yu Guowei asked, while pointing to the unrolled scroll.

    Shirong saw that on the scroll, several markings and patterns were printed down. They weren''t written but looked like someone had taken a charcoal rubbing of some monolith. Shirong furrows his brows and observed the markings.

    A few secondster, his eyes went wide as he recognized several of them.

    "Where did you get these?" Shirong questioned.

    "One of the informants got this from the Jiao Dian city in the Bing kingdom." Yu Guowei answered.

    "Jiao Dian city? Wasn''t that city burned down?" Shirong questioned, feeling doubled.

    "Yes, young master. The Bing kingdom sent out multiple people to investigate it, among which was one of our informants as well. The city does not exist anymore and is reduced to less than rubble.

    The rocks and stones around it have melted, not to mention the rest of the things. But the thing is when they went further deep, they found something strange underneath everything.

    A few of the cultivators including our informant, were at the Nascent soul realm and thus used their stronger spirit sense to probe the ground, discovering that there was actually a hollow space below.

    After some difficulty excavating, they managed to unearth what looked like ruins. They were in a horrid state, but they still managed to find several things. These markings were something he obtained there as well and he took them himself so there is no chance of maniption." Yu Guowei exined.

    Hearing this, Shirong felt even more strange. While he did know that the fire in the Jiao Dian city and the one in the Dread Coil Marsh were somehow linked, he did not know exactly how.

    "Did they find anything else?" Shirong questioned.

    "Most of the ruins were severely affected by the heat, either crumbling under it or directly melting. Even the rubbing we obtained was only cause it was taken from a pir that was buried deep within other pirs and thus it managed to survive.

    But yeah, in addition to this, the informant also mentioned that some of the kingdom''s people found a few fragments of what looked like statues. We were unable to figure out what they were but one of the fragments looked like a beak." Yu Guowei said before taking out another scroll.

    "Here''s the sketch of that fragment," Yu Guowei stated.

    Shirong looked at the small sketch which was of a beak and instantly recognized it.

    ''Isn''t this the same as that bird beast statue from the temple?'' Shirong thought.

    "I asked you this since I found it to be rted to what young master just said. If the cause of Elder Ji Quan were rted to the disaster at the Dread Coil marsh, and the fire in the Jiao Dian city was said to have been made by the same beast, I reckoned you must have seen or known something more about this." Yu Guowei answered.

 Chapter 486 - Unending Flames

    Having listened to Yu Guowei, Shirong was now sure that the two ces were linked. The only thing was he didn''t know if it really was a beast or the Immortal Crystal armament.

    ''No, waitбн it could be the Skull god itself as well. They were certainly looking for those crystals and would very well not hesitate to kill others. Perhaps they tried to do the same in the Jiao Dian city and triggered some traps.

    The same could have happened in the ruins in the Marsh as well.'' Shirong came to a hypothesis.

    It was the most logical thing Shirong could think of, but it also made Shirong wonder if there were more people belonging to the Skull god out there.

    ''But the Immortal Crystal armament''s memories assured me that the Skull god was goneбн at least that was the part that was the clearest.'' Shirong thought to himself, feeling a bit relieved..

    He had known just what level of danger he had been in back then and knew that he was very lucky that he had the Immortal Crystal armament to deal with it. But it also came at a cost and now he was unable to use it.

    While it was a bit frustrating, Shirong knew there was little he could do, and that it was far better to persevere and get strong on his own. He had already learned a lot of things from the Immortal Crystal armament and had managed to enhance his own skill with the Immortal Sky Shaker art.

    He had managed to make new techniques that even he didn''t know were possible and new weapons styles that he evener knew existed. These were all made by Lin Wu and he had learned these from the various media in his past life.

    "So young master, is it really something you know?" Yu Guowei asked after seeing the silent Shirong.

    "Yes, I doбн but do not speak of this to anyone else. Not even the king. The information is highly sensitive and cannot be revealed to others at this moment. Only after the patriarch approves of it, can it be released." Shirong warned.

    <em>~p~</em>

    "Of course, Young master! My lips shall be sealed." Yuo Guowei said while pping his chest.

    Shirong nodded his head and looked out, using his spirit sense. The people were already gossiping about his visit and wondering why he was here.

    "We should leave now, this is enough," Shirong stated.

    "Alright, Young master. Do you wish to see the fire wall?" Yu Guowei asked.

    "Yes, I do want to see just what kind of a fire can it even be." Shirong replied.

    "Let''s go then." Yu Guowei said and opened the door of the office.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The two of them then flew towards the zing fire that raged on in the Dread Coil Marsh. Even at this distance, the air was very hot and any normal person would faint within a minute.

    The closer they got, the hotter the temperature got. By the time they reached the border of the Fire, Yu Guowei was already drenched with sweat. Even Shirong himself was finding it to be rather hot.

    "Huh? This heatбн spirit tools can''t block it?" Shirong questioned.

    "That''s another problem we discovered recently, senior. None of the mid and low grade spirit tools work if we use them to defend against the heat of the fire. And high grade spirit tools can only block the heat for a certain amount of time.

    The only ones who manage tost longer were the people who have water element based cultivation techniques. But even they would die from their spirit Qi exhausting after a while. The constant heat here is no joke.

    "Hmmбн" Seeing the fire, Shirong tried to use his spirit sense to probe it.

    But the moment it got close enough to the fire that it was a mere fingernail''s length away, his spirit sense started to waver and got unstable. Shirong tried to control it and exert more face, but it got even more unstable.

    He felt like if he approached anymore or forced his way in, his spirit sense would end up getting destroyed and he himself would feel the bacsh. Thus, to be cautious, Shirong quickly withdrew it.

    He then looked at Yu Guowei in curiosity.

    "The fire in the Jiao Dian city was not this strong, right?" Shirong questioned.

    "Yes, it was not as strong as this, and neither did itst as long. From the information we were able to deduce, the mes in Jiao Dian city died down about a day or two after the initial start.

    As for the Dread Coil Marsh, they have now been burning for a month. We do not know if this will stop as it has shown no signs of stopping at all." Yu Guowei answered.

    This was enough for Shirong to consider the importance of the locations.

    ''The ruins in the dread coil marsh were far biggerбн they were almost the size of an entire city which means that the trap or whatever that triggered its explosion must have also been bigger.

    And seeing the time period for which the mes havested, it seems like it has a source of spirit Qi that it was burning.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    He spread his spirit sense around, ensuring that none of it came in contact with the fire and checked the movement of the spirit Qi in the area.

    "Huhбн just as I thought," Shirong muttered after finding something.

    "What is it, Young Master?" Yu Guowei questioned.

    "The mesбн not only were they injected with massive amounts of spirit Qi at the start, but the spirit Qi was enough that it condensed and caused it to start absorbing more spirit Qi from the environment," Shirong answered.

    Hearing this, Yu Guowei was stunned and had an idea of what Shirong meant.

    "You mean to say, young masterбн that this ce has now be a self sustaining fire pit?" Yu Guowei questioned.

 Chapter 487 - The Chief Disciple Of The Frozen Cloud Sect

    "Indeed. We may not find anything for a long time and investigating it would be impossible unless a very strong expert lends a hand." Shirong spoke.

    Hearing Shirong, Yu Guowei nodded his head in understanding.

    "Seems like the n is our only chance." Yu Guowei replied.

    "Yes, I''ll head out there now. There doesn''t seem to be much left to do here." Shirong said.

    "I''ll wish you the very best, Young master." Yu Guowei cupped his hand..

    Shirong then left the office and spoke with the two generals about heading back. They thus departed and went back to the Royal Pce. There, Shirong talked to the king about discussing this with the king and that they could contact him and the n if any problem arrived or new information was found.

    The king agreed right away and was thankful for the help. With that done, Shirong left the Ivory Heron Dynasty and headed north. The Ji n was located far to the north of the Long continent in an area that was secret to others.

    "Time to head back homeбн" Shirong muttered as he flew away.

    ***

    While Shirong experience and learned of the disasters, there was another person who had done the same as well.

    This was none other than the current chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect, Wang Xiong, who was also the first human subordinate of Lin Wu.

    Currently, he was sitting in a rather luxurious room and reading a bunch of letters and reports that he had gotten. Wang Xiong had been following Lin Wu''s instructions and was building his own power in the sect.

    He knew that building power was not easy, and neither was it direct. One needed more than just a cultivation base to do so and thus Wang Xiong was increasing his understanding of the current events of the world.

    Only by keeping himself updated on everything will he have the chance to act when an opportunity presented itself. It would also allow him to predict different situations which could be both beneficial and disadvantageous.

    It was up to him to make use of them and thus he was doing his best in learning about things.

    <em>~knock~ knock~</em>

    A minuteter, a knock on the door was heard.

    "Senior, it''s me." A woman''s voice could be hearding from the outside.

    "Come in, Ye Jin," Wang Xiong called her in.

    The woman was none other than the junior sister of Wang Xiong, who had sacrificed her life so that he could seed in the trial. Since Wang Xiong had be the chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect, his authority was only below that of the supreme elders and the patriarch now.

    Making his friends into inner disciples and giving them resources took little effort from him. And then from among them the ones that progressed fast were even elevated to the next rank, bing the Core disciples.

    The ones that had managed to do this were Ye Jin and Su Wen. Ye Jing had reached the pseudo Nascent soul realm already and was close to a breakthrough at any time. Su Wen was the same and it could be said that both of them had a lot of talent.

    Once they were given the resources and the cultivation technique, the two of them showed their true potential and their cultivation soared. It had been almost a year since they managed to survive the trials in the tomb now.

    And in this one year, all of them had progressed a lot. Still, the one that had progressed the most was none other than Wang Xiong himself. The man had reached the Child Soul stage of the Nascence soul realm already.

    The resources he got as a Chief disciple were the highest in the sect and he basically had a free rein on whatever they had. If he wanted it, he got it. With such ess, even a pig would be able to cultivate.

    The Taiji refinement scripture was already a top grade cultivation technique whenpared to the rest in the world and it was enough to make Wang Xiong progress at a speed never seen by anyone in the sect.

    The sect patriarch was very pleased with his progress and couldn''t help but smile whenever he thought of the time he decided to take him in as a disciple. Even with the few pointers, he gave to Wang Xiong, the man managed to figure out the rest on his own.

    The patriarch didn''t even feel like he was teaching a student, it was so easy.

    This had also managed to suppress the other elders and had reduced the authority of the discipline hall. There were many elders with Wang Xiong bing a chief disciple and the resources he was getting.

    But once he started to show his true potential, there wasn''t much they could do. Not only was Wang Xiong under the protection of the patriarch, but he was also growing strong at a fast pace.

    They knew that it wouldn''t be long before Wang Xiong might be stronger than all of the high elders and reach the level of the supreme elders. Not only that, but if Wang Xiong managed to reach the Dao Shell realm in theing few years, the position of the next patriarch would definitely be his.

    Though that was a change that would happen a long time in the future. After all, the current patriarch was still rather young and had a long time ahead of him. His potential was also no less than Wang Xiong and he was once a prodigy of the sect as well.

    Wang Xiong looked at Ye Jing, who had walked in and smiled. The woman had gotten better after her breakthrough and the various resources she had consumed had enhanced her skin, turning it smooth like milk.

    Her cherry red lips curled as she saw her senior brother. In her eyes, a hint of affection could be seen and the same could be said for Wang Xiong.

 Chapter 488 - Di Guan Mines

    "Why do you need Ye Jin?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Can''t I juste to meet senior brother?" Ye Jin said charmingly.

    "Ahah, of course you are free toe here always." Wang Xiong replied.

    Ye Jin''s smile bloomed like a rose under the moon upon hearing it, tugging at the strings of Wang Xiong''s heart.

    "Senior brother is just too easy to tease. How can I waste your time? I''m here with something," Ye Jin finally said.

    She took out a box from her spatial storage treasure and put in on the table in front of Wang Xiong.

    "What''s this?" Wang Xiong asked..

    "A few of the junior disciples we recruited into our faction found this box on one of the spies. They intercepted him in the Di Guan mines, and stopped him. But before they could manage to extract anything from him, the spy killed himself.

    This was the box he was carrying though. We suspect that the spy was working for the opposing faction of the elders." Ye Jin spoke in a serious tone.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong furrowed his brows and looked at the box. It looked to be a in wooden box and had a simpletch on it. There were no markings of any kind on it that would point to any ownership.

    "Why were they at the Di Guan mines, though?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "We do not know, but if they are there, then there must be a reason. Our juniors were there on a hunting mission and encountered the spy." Ye Jin answered.

    "A hunting mission? But how did they know the man was a spy?? Wang Xiong questioned.

    "The mission itself was the reason. The hunting mission was assigned to our sect as there was an unknown beast wreaking havoc in the mines. The mines themselves are owned by an independent cultivator by the name of Lai Hai.

    The man is a merchant by profession and the mine is one of his assets. The mine mostly contains some iron, but in the depths, there are some rare metals found as well, some of which are useful in high grade spirit tools.

    Lai Hai is a supplier of our sect and has often transacted with us. Because of the beast, a lot of miners were killed and thus he asked us for help. The man himself is barely in the Core Condensation realm and thus couldn''t be bothered to fix the problem himself.

    Since the mines were closed due to the beast, our juniors found it suspicious that someone was there in the mines. No one would dare to enter it for the fear of death." Ye Jing answered.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong furrowed his brows and thought for a bit. About ten minutester, he spoke again.

    "This spyбн what did he look like?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "He ate a flesh bone melting pill, thus we were unable to tel that." Ye Jing spoke.

    <em>~gasp~</em>

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong couldn''t help but take in a breath. The flesh bone melting pill was a poisonous alchemical pill. It was rather terrifying and could kill anyone below the Dao Shell realm if consumed.

    Its effects were also terrifying and could melt the flesh and bones of a cultivator into a puddle of blood and grime. It was a cruel and painful way of dying and yet the spy had not hesitated in doing it.

    "A Flesh Bone melting pill is not something that can be obtained by just anyone. It would need at least a Nascent soul realm alchemist to make one." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Exactly, and that is why we suspected it to be someone from the elder''s faction. After all, it would be very easy for them to get it." Ye Jin stated.

    "Hmmбн but that''s not enough proof. It could be any other power as well. Besides, what would they even get from the mine? The spy being there makes no sense." Want Xiong reiterated.

    "Wellбн there were rumors that there might actually be a spirit stone mine in the unexplored depths of the Di Guan mines." Ye Jin spoke.

    "Huh? That''s impossible. If there were a spirit stone mine anywhere, the sect would have found it already." Wang Xiong replied.

    "That''s the thing. It might actually be a new mine that matured in the recent years. Plus, it is still buried under several hundred meters of solid rock, thus it may have managed to stay hidden." Ye Jin spoke.

    Wang Xiong nodded his head and found her words to be reasonable. If there truly was a spirit stone mine there, it would be enough of an incentive for the elders to try to obtain it. If they truly managed to do it, they would basically have the capital needed to mount a resistance freely.

    Right now, since the elder faction that was in the opposition of the sect patriarch was being suppressed and thus they could not use the resources and capital they had in the sect. They had to give a reason and report for each use and thus it was made difficult for them.

    Not to mention the punishment that was meted out to several of the elders, making it so that they received reduced resources while some were directly forced to stay in seclusion for theing few years.

    Them obtaining the mines might be the new lease on life that they needed.

    "That does seem like something they would attempt to do." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Although that spy took the flesh melting pill, we still managed to take this box before that. If fear if we werete even by a few seconds, the man might have destroyed it as well." Ye Jin replied.

    "Hmmбн So this box potentially contains the clues to what the elders are nning." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Indeed, senior brother." Ye Jin confirmed.

    "Let''s take a look then. It looks normal enoughбн" Wang Xiong said before he used his spirit sense to probe it.

    But after doing that, his eyes went wide in shock.

 Chapter 489 - A Complex Box

    The box that looked to be rather in and normal on the surface was not. Ye Jin noticed the change in Wang Xiong''s expression and spoke up.

    "I checked it with spirit sense, but couldn''t detect anything. I couldn''t open it directly either." Ye Jin spoke.

    "That is exactly the problem." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Did you find something?" Ye Jin asked curiously.

    "Seems like itбн" Wang Xiong said before closing his eyes.

    A couple of secondster, he opened them and they appeared to be rather still. He lifted both his hands and waved them in a circle before creating a Taiji symbol. A white glow appeared on his right hand faintly and a ck one appeared on his left hand.

    Then ced both of them on the box and infused the energy from the two hands in it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The energy seemed to have caused a change within the box as all of the formations that were hidden on it appeared on its surface. The energy that Wang Xiong had used was like a stain, making the hidden visible.

    "Thisбн how was this hidden?" Ye Jin questioned in shock.

    "Whoever made this was definitely a master in formations. Not only did they ce a concealing formation on it, but they also added a spirit Qi diffusing formation, a reflection formation, and an isting formation." Wang Xiong answered.

    "What? How are they all even working?" Ye Jin was confused.

    As far as she knew, all of these wereplex formations and didn''t work particrly well unless they were made in arge area. The box... certainly was notrge enough topare to its requirements.

    "Hmmбн from what I can tell, the concealing formation is the outermostyer of it. The spirit Qi diffusing formation diffuses the spirit Qi that is brought by the spirit sense, making it seem like there is nothing there, while the reflection formation and isting formation provide additional secrecy." Wang Xiong hypothesized.

    "But these formations are way tooplex to be put on a box as small as this. I meanбн they are used to hide entire sects if not buildings." Ye Jin said.

    "Indeed. Whoever made this managed to find an alternative method that can amodate smaller versions of these formations. Thoughбн from what I can tell, this formation can onlyst a certain amount of time." Wang Xiong added.

    "A certain time? You mean to say it has a fixed spirit Qi storage?" Ye Jin questioned.

    "Yes, it does. But the spirit Qi diffusion formation that is present in it is the self destruct formation as well. Once it runs out of spirit Qi, it will forcibly try to absorb spirit Qi. And you can imagine what will happen to it under the effects of the other formations." Wang Xiong exined.

    Hearing his words, Ye Jin was shocked. She could understand it now and knew that the conflict between other formations and whatever items were kept in the box would cause it to explode.

    This explosion would also result in the destruction of its contents, thus keeping the privacy and identity of the owner safe.

    "But if it really is something on this level, then is it even possibles or anyone from our sect to do this? I don''t think we have formation masters of this level in our sect." Ye Jin said with concern.

    "Exactly," Wang Xiong said and took a pause to gaze at the box with the ck glowing formations.

    "Then if it isn''t someone from our sectбн who else could be involved in this? There aren''t many powers that even have formation masters of that level." Ye Jin spoke.

    "That is what I fearбн it''s either a top sect thinking about meddling in our matters. Or perhaps even some other n." Wang Xiong said as his brows furrowed.

    "Still, we need to know what is inside it to get a proper idea." Ye Jin said.

    "Of course. Let me try to get it open." Wang Xiong spoke.

    Ye Jin nodded her head and waited patiently for Wang Xiong to do his task, she didn''t want to disturb him and break the box destroying its contents. She also watched on curiously as Wang Xiong used the inheritance he had obtained from the tomb.

    He had told her about the technique and the skill, but she was still a bit confused. After all, the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance was not that simple. If one could understand it just from listening, there would be no need for an inheritance trial.

    Wang Xiong released more of the ck and white energies and ced his hands on the two sides of the box. He released them at the same timer, directing them to push against the formations on the box.

    The formations were being filled with the new energy and were getting impacted. After a few seconds of infusion, Wang Xiong withdrew the energy and instead reversed the flow of it.

    Now the energy that had entered the box tried to return to his hands instead. But this energy was like water getting trapped in a ss box. No matter how much it tried, it could not get out.

    Seeing this, Wang Xiong reversed the flow again and poured more of the energy. After a sufficient amount of time, he withdrew the energy and tried to see if it workedбн it did not.

    But the change he did discover was that the box''s formation was bending just a slightly more than before.

    ''If it can do it for this, then I just need to continue.'' Wang Xiong thought.

    He continued to repeat the process of infusing and pulling one after the other until an entire hour had passed by. By this time, he realize the water that was getting trapped in the box had reached a certain level.

    After about one more attempt, Wang Xiong reckoned he would be sessful.

    "Just one more timeбн one more time and we figure out who is behind all this." Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

 Chapter 490 - A Difficult Unboxing

    One more push was all that Wang Xiong needed, and it was that very push that was proving to be difficult. In his attempt to fill the ''container'' with ''water'' he had forgotten just how much he had left himself and how much he could control.

    He didn''t even realize that he was sweating rather heavily and thick beads of sweat would drip down his forehead every so often. It had also resulted in his meridians being strained far more than usual.

    ''No, I cannot fail at this moment.'' Wang Xiong thought.

    If he failed at this moment, he would not only be wasting all of his time and effort, but the box would also be destroyed along with its contents. Which was not something that he wanted to happen.

    Just as he was about to force himself more, he felt a pair of hands at his back. The hands were gentle and soft and gave him a warm feeling. .

    "Just focus on the box, I''ll give you the spirit Qi needed!" Ye Jin urged.

    Wang Xiong nodded his head and focused on the box as spirit Qi poured in from his back. The spirit Qi of Ye Jin was different from his own, and this needed to be converted in his meridians before he could use it.

    Still, with the Taiji celestial''s technique, his absorption rate was rather high. This added with the difference in the spirit Qi capacity of Ye Jin and Wang Xiong made it so that Ye Jin was drained within minutes.

    Her body was covered in sweat as well, and she was pale now. But this was just the boost Wang Xiong needed and he managed to push through at thest moment.

    <em>~kacha~</em>

    Like a dam breaking after just one extra drop of water was added, the formations broke apart from the inside.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    The formations started to dissipate at a fast speed and let out various sounds. Wang Xiong had never seen formations or spirit Qi at that point behaving like this before and thus it was a new learning moment for him.

    He also realized that the spirit Qi that was being released by the runes of the formation was different from the normal spirit Qi.

    "Hmm? Fire and wood elemental Qi?" Wang Xiong recognized.

    These two spirit qi''s were masked by the normal spirit Qi and would not appear normally. If the formation were broken normally or unraveled, the spirit Qi being released would be in the form of normal attribute less spirit Qi. But here there was a mix of three types; fire, wood, and attributeless.

    While the quantity of attributeless spirit Qi was higher than the other two elements, their presence here was already something unusual.

    ''Why is spirit Qi of different elements being released like this? This is strangeбн'' Wang Xiong thought.

    As the condition of the box was a bit sensitive in this transformative moment, Wang Xiong could not touch or interact anymore with the box, for the fear that something might disturb its natural dissipation and end up damaging the contents.

    "Is it done?" Ye Jin questioned while wiping away the sweat from her brows.

    Her upper robes stuck to her torso, entuating her curves. Wang Xiong''s eyes wandered for a second before he forcefully reined himself and looked away.

    "It should be over soon, we just have to wait." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Alright," Ye Jing replied, not paying attention to her condition.

    Like a leaking pot of water, the spirit Qi drained out of the runes of the formation until there were no more left. Soon the in looking box was nothing more but just a in looking box. Wang Xiong ensured that everything was fine onest time before finally touching the box.

    <em>~click~</em>

    A clear clicking sound could be heard as the box opened under gentle force. Once the box was opened, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin''s eyes were met with what looked like a folded up piece of paper and a finger sized piece of jade.

    Both of the times looked unassuming and there was no spirit Qi fluctuationsing from either of them. This made Wang Xiong even more alert as he knew nothing simple would be ced under such security.

    "Should we take a look?" Ye Jin inquired.

    "Of courseбн" Wang Xiong said before taking out the folded paper.

    He unfolded it and saw a few lines written on it. They were written in a rather elegant manner and their strokes were well defined. Whoever wrote it was certainly well versed in the art of calligraphy and used a good brush.

    ''Bury each of the seven agitation jades in the mines at a sufficient distance. Keep a gap of one to two days between the nting of each agitation jade to ensure full effect. Once all seven agitating jades are nted, the beast should be enough to drive out the people.

    Escape within few minutes of nting the final agitation jade or experience death.

    Ensure no one can find this box and its contents though they will still be destroyed if anyone other than you opens them. Make sure our new allies are getting what they are paying for.

    бкWeiyuan.''

    Seeing the contents of the small note and the name at the end, Wang Xiong furrowed his brows. Neither of these things made sense to him and the name at the end was unknown to Wang Xiong.

    "Who is Weiyuan? Do we have someone with that name in our sect?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "As far as I know, there aren''t any elders with that name, but there are a couple of disciples with that name." Ye Jing answered.

    "Hmmбнter on investigate and get me reports on those disciples." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "As you wish. Though it seems unlikely that they would be someone linked to this." Ye Jing spoke.

    "Stillбн we need to cover all bases." Wang Xiong replied before picking up the finger sized jade.

    "Besidesбн this might just be the thing we need for the confirmation." He added.

 Chapter 491 - Pre-Recorded Message

    Wang Xiong looked at the finger sized jade and assessed it. His spirit sense probed it and could feel that there were no formations within it.

    "Huhбн this is interestingбн it''s just a material with no formations in it." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "They called this an Agitation jade in the letter, wonder what it exactly does." Ye Jin said.

    "The words in the letter exin that tooбн it is used to agitate the beasts." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Like the beast inciting power?" Ye Jin asked in surprise.

    They had used the beast inciting power before, even though it was illegal and knew of its effects.. Beasts would go crazy and attack anything in their sight if they were angry enough.

    "Can''t really tell. But if the attack of the beast is considered anything, it is likely that it has a simr effect. Thoughбн the thing that bugs me is the fact that this is just one of the seven agitation jades.

    I reckon the others must be hidden somewhere in the mind." Wang Xiong said.

    Hearing this, Ye Jin''s eyes lit up.

    "THAT''S IT! That''s the reason for the beast attacking everyone. No wonder we weren''t able to find the cause for it." Ye Jin spoke.

    "Indeed. Though what beast it is even that can do something like this?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "From the reports, it is a quadrupedal beast and has dark fur on its body. It is good at digging through rock as well." Ye Jing answered.

    "Hmmбн a beast like that must havee from somewhere. Or perhaps it was always living thereбн just somewhere hidden." Wang Xiong added.

    "Thatбн could be possible. Some of the minors did report finding some random tunnels, but they were unable to determine if they were natural ones or not. This beast could have been the reason behind it.

    Plus if the Agitation jade is what caused this attack, then the beast must have been pulled out due to its effects." Ye Jin spoke in a tired tone.

    "Ask the disciples to look for the other agitation jades. Perhaps once they are gone, the beast should leave on its own. And if it does not, we may as well take care of it directly." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Alright, I''ll do it." Ye Jin spoke.

    She was just about to leave when Wang Xiong spoke, "oh and Ye Jinбн"

    "Yes?" She turned her neck.

    "Be carefulбн we are in a sensitive transition period. Who knows what can happen." Wang Xiong said with concern.

    Ye Jin felt touched by the attitude of Wang Xiong and a smile appeared on her face again.

    "I''ll be careful." She said before finally leaving.

    Once she was gone though, Wang Xiong narrowed his eyes and looked at the agitation jade.

    "Time to talk with masterбн" Wang Xiong muttered before he took out amunication slip.

    The jade slip was different from others in that it looked more like an emerald rather than just normal jade. This was of course, the one that Lin Wu had giving Wang Xiong a long time ago.

    Lin Wu had told him that he could contact him whenever he came across something that he could not deal with, and this situation was the perfect example of that. Wang Xiong didn''t know what an agitation jade could truly do and it was best to contact a more informed person.

    But thenбн

    "Huh? Why is he not responding?" Wang Xiong said in a confused tone.

    No matter how much he tried the jade slip, it simply did not work.

    "No, wait! What''s this?" Wang Xiong suddenly realized that there was actually a message within the jade slip.

    "Was there here before?" Wang Xiong wondered.

    He essed it using his spirit sense and heard the message within.

    "If you are seeing this, then I am currently in seclusion and cannot be disturbed. I also know that you must have contacted me in case of an emergency. Thus for that, I have some options that you can choose in my absence.

    Option 1: If you are in immediate danger and are at the risk of death, tap your forehead and call out ''Save me, senior!''

    Option 2: If you are not in immediate danger but maybe in soon, I advise you toe to the Millennium forest and hide within the tomb. It will recognize you all provide you shelter. You may bring 10 more people with you.

    Option 3: If you are desiring to ask a certain question, please limit it to three a week. There is no guarantee the question will be answered though, so be warned."

    Seeing this, Wang Xiong was definitely stunned.

    "Senior entered seclusion? Huhбн well, it does make sense if he wants to recover his cultivation base. Though these options are certainly well thought out. Senior really kept me in mind when going into seclusion." Wang Xiong said, feeling pleased.

    ''Hmm, I''m supposed to ask it the question just like I do I guess?'' Wang Xiong wondered.

    After thinking for a bit, he tried a few methods of framing the question, making sure that he got the best one. Even though he only had three attempts at asking it every week, he wanted to be a proper one as he didn''t want to waste a chance.

    "This should be good enoughбн" Wang Xiong said before taking a deep breath.

    "What is agitation jade and what are its effects?" Wang Xiong questioned in a rather simple manner.

    As soon as he said it, the jade slip hummed, and he felt a drain on his spirit Qi.

    "Oh?" He was rather surprised by it, but let it absorb the spirit Qi, understanding that there must be some price to pay for the transmission.

    Though he ended up underestimating the amount of spirit Qi needed by the jade slip.

    <em>~drip~</em>

    "Damnбн didn''t expect it to suck me dry." Wang Xiong said in disbelief.

    All of the spirit Qi he had recovered in the past few minutes had been absorbed by the jade slip.

 Chapter 492 - The Agitation Jade

    Once the spirit Qi was absorbed by the jade slip, it glowed in a green light and continued to do so. It stayed like this for about three minutes, after which, Wang Xiong felt a transmission arriving.

    "Oh? Is it finally here?" Wang Xiong said.

    He checked the message and felt information pouring into his head.

    "Ah!" he winced in pain.

    The information pouring into his head was rather quick and harsh, thus gave him a headache. This was of course, aplished by the backdrop that Lin Wu had ced on the man and thus it assisted in the transmission of information more efficiently.

    After about five minutes, Wang Xiong could feel the pain fading away and what reced it was the information that he needed.

    бкбк.

    Agitation jade: They are a special kind of jade made bybining normal jade with befuddling mind flower, Demesne Blood Cobra venom, and Vitrine Gourd water. After the Normal jade is steeped in a mixture of these substances for about a year, it will be converted to Agitating jade.

    These let out waves of energy that were imperceptible to humans and only affect beasts. The beasts thate within the range of it will turn hostile and start attacking others. The effects of the Agitation jade are transient.

    The effects will fade from time to time and stronger beasts may need exposure from more than just one Agitation jade to show any changes in behavior. There is also a secondary effect of the Agitation jade, which increases the strength of the beasts thate in contact with it.

    бкбк

    Seeing the information sent by Lin Wu, Wang Xiong was shocked.

    "Never thought I would see something like thisбн" Wang Xiong muttered to himself in surprise.

    The materials need to make the Agitation jade were unfamiliar to him as well.

    "Hmm, I know about the Befuddling Mind flower. Even the sect has a couple, I think. But the Demesne Blood Cobra Venom and Vitrine Gourd Water are two things I''ve never heard of." Wang Xiong said to himself.

    He gazed at the Agitation jade for about five more minutes before thinking of something.

    ''If I want to find the culprits behind this, these ingredients could be the key. After all, these aren''t easy to find ingredientsбн otherwise, I would have known about them already." Wang Xiong stated.

    He thus put the Agitation jade in his spatial storage ring and walked out of his room. His destination was none other than the sect''s grand library. If there was anything he was to find, it would be there.

    It took him about twenty minutes to fly there as he kept on getting interrupted by other disciples, who stopped to greet him or bid him farewell. Wang Xiong couldn''t really deny them the honor either as that was one of his duties already.

    Upon reaching the Library, he simply shed his identity token at the formation array and it let him inside. Once inside it. Wang Xiong made his way around the entire floor; his aim, information about beast materials.

    If took him thirty minutes to sort through the books that were rted to beast materials and he could not find anything about the Demesne Blood cobra.

    "Hmmбн I guess I''ll try to search for the gourd in the herb section." Wang Xiong said as he switched his target.

    This time, it took him over an hour to find the right book, but he truly did find out about it.

    "Here it is, Vitrine Gourd Waterбн" Wang Xiong recited.

    ''Vitrine Gourd Water is the fluid obtained from the hollow interiors of Vitrine Gourds. These grow in the cold hills of the north and are a high grade spirit herb.''

    "Huh, no wonder there are none of them here, they simply do not grow here." Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    Wang Xiong looked up more information and saw that it could be used in several different kinds of alchemical pills, but was mostly used as a catalyzing agent. He noted this in his mind and reckoned that whoever was behind it might have ess from the north.

    "This is not enoughбн even if this is something that can be found in the north, there is still a chance that someone else has obtained this from either a merchant or obtained it themselves before returning." Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    He knew that this information was not enough and thus he went to the next floor. He got the entry rather easily due to his identity token. There were also a lot more people here on the second floor.

    The disciples took note of who had just appeared and were even curious about his reason for arrival. Wang Xiong paid no attention to them and focused on the task at hand. Thankfully, the disciples followed a mode of decorum and knew that it was very rude to disturb someone reading in the library.

    Not to mention when they were of a high ranking identity such as that of Wang Xiong right now. The man had defeated multiple nascent soul realm elders when he broke through and the gossip of his feats was recited often.

    Wang Xiong spent another hour searching here for information, but didn''t really find anything that was useful for him.

    "Hmmбн it''s not here either. Perhaps the next floor has it." Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    He made his way to the stairwell of the next floor under the observation of the others.

    "Look! Senior Wang Xiong is heading to the third floor." Someone pointed out.

    "Huh? The third floor? Isn''t that only for the elders?" One of the junior disciples questioned.

    <em>~p~</em>

    "You Dumbo," The junior disciple''spanion pped the back of his head upon hearing this friend say things like this.

    "Senior Wang Xiong is the chief disciple of the sect, his status is the same as that of the elders right now and he can go wherever he wants to in the sect." Thepanion of the Junior disciple chided.

 Chapter 493 - The Third Floor Of The Library

    Paying no attention to the chatter of the disciples, Wang Xiong entered the third floor. The third floor was significantly smaller than the second floor and there were fewer people as well.

    At least unlike the first floor, which only had a few servants cleaning things, there were still more people here. The only difference was that the people here were the elders of the sect.

    The Nascent soul realm cultivation bases could be felt clearly as well. A couple of them that were sitting near the staircase heard the footsteps and looked towards it.

    "Ah, so it''s Chief Disciple Wang Xiong." One of the elders said.

    "Greetings, elders." Wang Xiong gave a customary greeting..

    Right now the elders were split into multiple camps but the biggest ones were none other than the one below the Patriarch which Wang Xiong belonged to as well and the second one being the camp which had the elders of the disciplinary Hall.

    While they had made it seem that the camp was disbanded, the elders had simply changed their alliances on the surface and joined other camps. Wang Xiong and the patriarch knew very well that these people could not be trusted yet.

    There was a chance that they would still conspire in the hiding and take advantage when they had dropped their guard. Wang Xiong already had a reminder in the form of the spy who had been killed.

    The letter in the box that he carried and even the box itself were more than enough to serve as a warning for him. He would definitely not trust these elders that showed a kind front, knowing just what kind a person was hidden underneath.

    ''If it were not for the elders allowing it, would the core disciples Niu San ever act so freely?'' Wang Xiong thought to himself.

    He did a simply cordial greeting and headed to the shelf he wanted to go to. It didn''t take him long to find the information he desired. The other elders that were on the floor also noticed him and they greeted him if he came close to them as well.

    Though the ones that were in the distance didn''t bother to do the same and kept doing whatever they were doing. Wang Xiong preferred this too and was rather favorable towards the neutral camp as well.

    ''At least they don''t need to put up a fake frontбн'' Wang Xiong thought to himself.

    He then focused back on the task at hand and opened the book that recorded the information about the herbs.

    "Here it isбн Vitrine Gourd." Wang Xiong muttered.

    The information written about the gourd was simr to what he had read on the floor below, but the difference was that it also mentioned the ce from where the Vitrine gourd''s could be procured.

    "The main producer of Vitrine Gourds isбн North Mist Herb Pavilions?" Wang Xiong read finding it to be a bit familiar.

    ''Where have I heard this name before?'' Wang Xiong wondered.

    He put the book back and tried to look for the second ingredient that he wanted to learn about, the Demesne Blood Cobra Venom. Wang Xiong knew that this belonged to the beast section and went there.

    After about half an hour he found the book he wanted there as well.

    "Huh? What the hell?" Upon reading the information, Wang Xiong was shocked.

    бкбк

    Demesne Blood Cobra is one of the dangerous beasts that were exterminated over five hundred years ago. Since their venom was used greatly by many unorthodox sects and also assassins, they were a big hazard.

    Their venom was something that had no other use other than being harmful and thus it was considered a proper beast for extinction. These beasts lived chiefly in the Green Dappled Woods inrge nests.

    Three hundred and ny four such nests were destroyed back then. Any such beasts that are still in existence have either been bred illegally or privately by different cultivators.

    бкбк

    Having read the information, Wang Xiong didn''t know what to make of it. It was evident that the beast in questioned didn''t even exist for a long time in the wild.

    ''Perhaps there may still be a few, but finding them does not seem like an option the normal person would take. Selling them on the market would also be impossible, as an ouwed beast or toxin like this would not be allowed by the different alchemy guilds either.

    Which meansбн this definitely came from a private owner.'' Wang Xiong thought to himself.

    Though once thing that caught his eye was that both the ingredients, the Vitrine Gourd and the Demesne Blood cobra, were found in the north.

    "The chances of this being someone from the north make the most sense nowбн though who would even support the elders here? What do they really want with the sect?" Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    Wang Xiong spent some more time searching for information on the powers that could potentially afford this. The Befuddling Mind flower was rtively easy to get even if it was expensive and the Vitrine Gourd was simr to that.

    The only thing differentiating was the Demesne Blood Cobra venom.

    ''Hmmбн if the source of the venom could be found, it should give us the possible suspects.'' Wang Xiong thought to himself.

    He soon found more information on it and realized that there was a link between the powers of the north. There were three powers that had the potential to have the ingredients needed to make the Agitation jade.

    The three powers that he learned of were the Huanshan Sect, and two ns, the Lian n, and the Ji n. Of the three potential suspects, the Huanshan sect was a mid tier sect that had only recently reached its rank.

    Till about six years ago, they were merely a low tier sect and didn''t really have a history that long either. They have existed for less than a hundred years. But the two ns that he saw were nothing simple.

    бкбк

    Learning that two of the top three ns in the Long continent might be the suspects behind this, Wang Xiong was stunned. Even if they really weren''t behind this, Wang Xiong was reminded of the power that these ns held.

    "Hmmбн I can exclude the Huanshan sect from this. They are far too weak to attempt this and the elders of our sect are already strong enough to be the sect master of that sect. They can''t afford that many resources either." Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    Finally, his mind went to the two ns. The Ji n was the second ranked n in the entire long continent and their power was well known. Their members were in several sects and some were even owned by the Ji n covertly.

    The Ji n kept their influence hidden most of the time, but the sects and kingdoms could feel their might when it was truly needed. The Lian n on the other hand, was more open and was a business n.

    They had ownerships of various guilds, shops, herb farms, and even many mines. They were well known for pursuing profits and it wouldn''t be wrong to call them a merchant n, either.

    But it was not that they were weak either, there was a reason why they were third ranked n in the long continent. They were said to have plenty of cultivators among their ranks and they were ratherrge in number too, having tens if not hundreds of descendants.

    This was one of the differences between the Ji n and the Lian n. In terms of n members, the Ji n pursued quality, nurturing a handful of members to reach the apex. While the Lian n pursued quantity, looking to overwhelm thepetition with numbers.

    Both were valid options, but it was still the Ji n that was at the top despite this all. Wang Xiong was at an impasse here as he was unable to guess which of these ns could be potentially behind this.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I need to think over this more and gather more information I suppose.." Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    He left the building, and a couple of elders noticed his expression when he was just about to leave. Once he was gone, the elders spoke among''s themselves.

    "What do you think, Elder Gen? Why is the ''chef disciple'' so lost?"

    "What can it be? He came here and had that expression while leaving. It''s obvious that he was unable to find what he wanted to." Elder Gen spoke.

    "Oh? I wonder what is it that he was looking for such that it can''t be found in our library. We even update it with the new information when it arrives." The second elder replied.

    Hearing this, Elder Gen raised his brows.

    "And why do you have such interest in what Chief disciple does, Elder Hai?" Elder Gen questioned.

    Elder Hai looked around in response to this question and ensured that there was no one else around.

    "Don''t you know? There is a certain reward going around about things rted to the new chief disciple?" Elder Hai answered.

    Elder Gen furrowed his brows upon hearing this and replied, "don''t tell me you are in their camp tooбн Elder Hai."

    "No, no, no! I don''t mean in that manner. You must know that Wang Xiong became the chief disciple in a rather domineering manner. Many disciples and even other elders want to know how he aplished this.

    Plus, there are also disciples that wish to find ways to please the chief disciple to raise their own positions. After all, it is quite likely that he would be the sect patriarch if things really go as they are right now." Elder Hai exined hurriedly, fearing that his words might be taken the wrong way.

    "Hmmбн you should be careful Elder Haiбн besides we both are junior elders. These are matters rted to the disciples and senior elders. We should not be concerned with it. Instead if would be better fie you just focus on your own cultivation and teaching instead." Elder Gen said in a stern voice.

    "I understand Elder Gen," Elder Hai said.

    "As long as you knowбн" Elder Gen said before taking his leave as well.

    What he didn''t see was that elder Hai''s eyes narrowed and he looked at him with a gaze of enmity.

    "Another one to be taken off the listбн" Elder Hai muttered to himself.

    He then took out amunication jade slip for and held it in his hand for a few seconds before putting it away. What messages were sent and to whom it was sent was a mystery.

    ***

    Wang Xiong was on his way back to his residence, which was one of the courtyards on the main peaks of the sect, when he saw a few disciplesing towards him. He narrowed his eyes but recognized them to be familiar.

    "Greetings, Senior Brother." They all greeted.

    These were the inner court disciples and were acquainted with Wang Xiong. They had cheered on when Wang Xiong had wonst time too, as they too were oppressed by Niu San and hispanion.

    "Greetings, juniors. How are you here today?" He asked, feeling curious.

    The area he was in was rather in the secluded part of the peak and few people came here. The only ones who did were either those that wereing for him or ones that were going to meet the elders.

    These disciples didn''t seem to be the ones that would have the authority to meet the elders directly, thus Wang Xiong thought that they must be here for him. Stillбн not to assume it he asked the question.

    The disciples looked at each other for a second before looking at Wang Xiong with a serious look.

    "Senior, we bring you some news." One of the disciples that was in the lead spoke.

    "Oh? What kind of news?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "It''s rted to the discipline hallбн they are looking for information rted to you and recruiting people." Hearing this, Wang Xiong narrowed his eyes.

 Chapter 494 - Leak Of Information

    Wang Xiong had obviously known that there were many people displeased with his rise to the position of the chief disciple. But now that there were people openly looking for him, he couldn''t help but get concerned.

    "Hmmбн let''s talk at my residence. This is not the right ce." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Indeed, senior brother." The disciples said..

    Wang Xiong looked at them and noted their appearances. All five of them were familiar to him and he had talked with them before. Thus, he had few reasons to doubt them as of now.

    Plus, taking them to the residence had two benefits. First, it would provide him with privacy and second, there were formations arrays there that could help him fight back, if a battle ever happened and these five were actually the enemy.

    Wang Xiong couldn''t bring himself to fully believe anyone as he had seen many elders who he had thought to be nice before change their stances just the way a chameleon changed its colors.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The six of themnded in the residences and the five junior disciples got to see the best residence that the sect had to offer. The residences of the other high elders and even the sect patriarchs were simr to this.

    "Whoa!" some of the juniors eximed as they felt the concentrated spirit Qi in the air.

    It was even denser than the rest of the sect and once could only imagine the benefits it would bring to their cultivation. They basked in it for a bit and Wang Xiong let them take their time. After all, he was doing something else in secret as well.

    A few formation runes glowed in his hand that was behind his back, as he controlled the formation arrays of the residence. He had intentionally increased the output of the spirit Qi so as to distract the disciples while he tested them.

    An analytical and scanning formation covertly activated and scanned the junior disciple. Wang Xiong kept a calm face outwardly, but internally he was ready if a fight were to break out right now.

    Since the disciples were busy absorbing arge amount of spirit Qi, they did not notice the probes of the formation array that had merged in with the spirit Qi. These entered their meridians and Dantian, before sending back the necessary repose to Wang Xiong.

    "Hmmбн they are normal. No signs of being controlled or anything else." He muttered to himself.

    He then waved his hand and returned the formations to their neutral state. The disciples also came to their senses and felt a bit embarrassed. They looked at Wang Xiong, who did not seem to mind their rudeness and instantly felt better.

    "So what is it that you wanted to tell me exactly?" Wang Xiong questioned while taking a seat at the stone patio table.

    The junior disciple who had spoken the first time walked forward and took a deep breath before speaking.

    "We overheard a few disciples talking that there are people willing to pay a good price for any information rted to you, senior brother." He spoke.

    "Oh? And I''m guessing they already know some things?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "You are right, senior brother." He agreed. "They were looking into your breakthrough and spent quite a lot in figuring out how it was possible. They managed to find out that before your breakthrough, you had gone out of the sect." He answered.

    "Hmmбн that isn''t really any secret information. It is in the sect records as well." Wang Xiong said, finding it to be rtively normal.

    "That''s not all seniorбн they know that you went to the Millennium forest, and that you had a fortunate encounter there. Some of them searched the sect records and figured out that you may have found an ancient tomb that was located there." The second junior disciple exined.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong was now concerned. ording to the official sect records, he had gone to the Millennium Forest for hunting down spirit beast and bringing back their materials.

    It was one of the mostmon jobs that were always avable in the sect and the only difference was that some were in different locations. Millennium forest was of course a bit far from the Frozen cloud sect, but Wang Xiong going there could be attributed to him choosing a ce with lesspetition.

    Plus he had gone there in a team, thus there should have been other ounts of this as well. Of the team, only he had gained the most, and the others were pretty much the same when they came back.

    Only when Wang Xiong had be the chief disciple had he gained enough power and resources that he could also give hispanions some so that they could get stronger as well.

    For others to find out that he did something else there and even discovering about the tomb was really unexpected for him.

    ''Did I remove the records from the old library? How did they still find out about it?'' Wang Xiong couldn''t help but wonder.

    Lin Wu was actually the one who had suggested to him that he should not let the others find out more about the Tomb. After all, to Wang Xiong, the threat of the Shadow cmity was legitimate and he didn''t know where it could strike from.

    He had already heard how it could corrupt others and change things. He had even encountered the beasts in the trials and knew just how terrifying they could get. Plus, with Lin Wu in seclusion, he did not know if the shadow cmity might strike or not.

    "Hmmбн so they found that out? And what are they intending to do with that information?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "We''ve heard different things, but most of them involve going to the Millennium forest themselves to learn about it. They think that even if they don''t find that fortunate encounter, they might still be able to trace senior brother Wang Xiong''s steps and find the sources.

    Even that information is valuable and many are willing to pay a good price for that." The first junior disciple exined.

 Chapter 495 - Games Of Bureaucracy

    Wang Xiong pondered on the matter for a bit before finally speaking again.

    "I understand now," Wang Xiong replied and thought for a bit.

    "Very wellбн can you do something for me?" Wang Xiong asked them.

    "Of course, senior!" They replied hurriedly.

    "I want you to sell information about me." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Huh? WHAT?!" They were shocked to hear and didn''t know why Wang Xiong would ask something like this of them.

    "Senior, we can''t do that! We won''t betray you." The second junior disciples said quickly..

    "No, noбн you won''t be betraying me. If anything, you will be helping me." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Helping you? How?" They asked.

    "Now listen carefullyбн" Wang Xiong said before starting to exin to them what he wanted them to do.

    Wang Xiong was basically trying to bait all the people who were going after him. He wanted to see how many were truly snakes and fishermen waiting for the right time. He even wanted to see if some elder would be tempted enough to leave the sect for that.

    The one thing that Wang Xiongcked right now was the fact that he was in a state of uncertainty when it came to the people of the sect. There were very few that he could truly trust and it could be said to be the same for even the patriarch.

    Despite being strong, his position had bepromised in the recent years. His seclusion earlier had not helped with it at all, and several elders had gotten ambitious enough to start their own ns.

    They wanted to make use of the sect to gain more resources and assets for themselves. Overall, it went against the guidelines and ts of the sect, and thus it could be punished. But this very situation could be flipped very easily and the elders could avoid suspicion by simply giving whatever they were caught with to the sect and say that it was for the sect''s benefit.

    If it were up to Wang Xiong and the patriarch, they would have simply killed such individuals, but doing that in a sect like that was not possible. After all, if they really killed the elders, even the neutral elders would get agitated.

    This may cause more troubles and perhaps, even get the enter sect to rebel against them. One must know, the human psyche was such that it proffered being in groups. Thus, whatever the mob mentality was, many liked to follow it.

    Thus they needed to tread on a fine line and deal with all the matters a bit more pragmatically. After all, the threat wasn''t just from within the sect, but outside too. There was nock of cultivation sects looking for a piece of the pie.

    And whenever a sect was under internal conflict, the ones happiest were pragmatics and the ones on the outside. The former were often the cause of the conflict, while thetter benefited from the wakening of the sect.

    As long as Wang Xiong had enough proof, and it was presented to the patriarch, he would be able to take concrete action against those that were looking to sow chaos or betray the sect. But until then, they needed to bide their time and do their tasks.

    If Lin Wu was here and had the same power as the patriarch though, he might have taken the direct approach. After all, Lin Wu didn''t need to get acquainted with all the elders and walk on eggshells around them.

    He could rule them with an iron fistбн or rather, a crystal tail.

    It took Wang Xiong about half an hour to exin of what he wanted the junior disciples to sell. He ensured to add a few pieces of spice to make the story more catchy yet believable. After he was done, the five junior disciples looked at each other with strange expressions.

    They then turned to Wang Xiong and asked, "Is this really fine, senior?" one of them asked.

    "Yes, do it as I say. Oh, and don''t forget to get your rewards tooбн I want to check something." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Very well, senior brother Wang Xiong. We shall do as you asked." The five disciples said.

    "Good, take this and you can leave then." Wang Xiong said as he tossed five pill bottles to them.

    Seeing the pills in the bottles, the five junior disciples were pleased.

    "Thank you senior, we shall not forget this." The first one said before taking his leaves.

    The others joined behind them, and soon the courtyard was empty. Once they were gone though, Wang Xiong narrowed his eyes and spoke, "I reckon you heard everything?"

    "I did indeed," A man''s voice could be hearding from one of the statues in the garden.

    After the voice came, the statue turned into fog and a man clothed in pure white clothes appeared. He was covered from head to toe in white clothes and even on his face there was a white fox mask.

    "So what do you think?" Wang Xiong questioned the man.

    "Hmmбн disciple Wang Xiong has certainly yed his cards right. Though I do not trust those disciples to do this properly. After all, they are against elders who have been alive for several centuries." The white clothes man answered. "Besides, the elders are unlikely to fall for such obvious tricks." He added.

    "I knowбн and I want them to know that this is a trick." Wang Xiong said with a smile.

    "Oho? The chief disciple is already learning to y the games of bureaucracy?" the White clothed man asked.

    "So what if I do want thatбн there are few ways to reach the point I want to. Only those at the peak can go ahead using pure cultivation base. For the rest, other such methods are the only de they have." Wang Xiong replied.

    The man went silent for a minute after hearing it, but then nodded his head.

    "I see, but what will you do if it goes wrong?" The man asked.

    "Well, don''t I have you for that, Guardian Yun?" Wang Xiong asked with a smirk.

 Chapter 496 - A Guardian

    The man named Guardian Yun looked at Wang Xiong without speaking anything. He had a mask on his face, thus there was no chance of seeing his appearance anyway. Wang Xiong simply hoped that his words had managed to incite the man.

    "Hmmбн I guess we''ll see Chief disciple Wang Xiong. While I am the guardian, I have no responsibility to ensure all your works go well. At most I''ll ensure that they are protected against greater threats." Guardian Yun stated perfunctorily.

    "That will be enough. Just having the assurance that some hidden power won''t act is good for me." Wang Xiong stated.

    The fox masked man nodded his head and disappeared into a mass of fog. Once he was gone, Wang Xiong furrowed his brows and spread his spirit sense around.. Only after he was sure that there was no longer anyone in the area did he take a breath of relief.

    "Who would have thought the sect would be hiding a secret like thisбн no wonder Patriarch doesn''t have time to deal with other things." Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    He then returned to his room and continued to go through the documents that were yet to be done reading. The rest of Wang Xiong''s time was spent in either cultivation or practicing his skills.

    asionally he would get some messages on hismunication jade slip, but they were mostly updates about how the ns were going. The ones messaging him were either Ye Jin or others that were working under him.

    Just like this, about two weeks passed. At this point, several rumors had already spread in the sect about Wang Xiong''s fortune and about an ancient tomb that existed within the millennium forest.

    It had even reached a point where a mission was also put up in the mission hall about the tomb. Since the matter had now be mainstream, the sect elders had decided to do research on their own and went through several old documents.

    They did find some information about the tomb, but most of it was either iplete or written in a cryptic manner. And none of them mentioned the actual location of the tomb. Only the records that Wang Xiong had found a long time ago were the ones with that information.

    On this day, Ye Jin came to Wang Xiong to speak about it.

    "Is this all fine? Won''t it cause problems for us?" Ye Jin questioned.

    "Hmm, it may do that, but in the long term, we will know who our adversaries are. Plus, I don''t think they know just what level of danger they are gonna face there in the forest. Even with the help of the Beast inciting powder distracting beasts, it was quite difficult for us to reach the sixth ring of the forest.

    I highly doubt most of them will even be able to reach the fourth ring." Wang Xiong answered.

    "But what about the Nascent soul realm disciples? I''ve heard several of them are interested in this now." Ye Jin replied.

    "Wellбн we can''t really stop them. Besides, that will just attract the ire of the beasts. I''m sure they won''t like the existence of Nascent soul realm humans in their forest; at least not that deep." Wang Xiong stated.

    Wang Xiong had heard several things about the forest from Lin Wu and knew that there were five beast kings there, each of which were strong and in the Nascent Soul realm. And they weren''t just at the Infant soul stage like most of the Nascent soul realm disciples of his sect, but rather at the child soul stage or above.

    ''It'' will be fun to see how they suffer under the beastsбн'' Wang Xiong thought to himself.

    "But what if despite it all, they manage to find the tomb?" Ye Jin asked.

    "Then they find it, nothing else. Don''t forget that they can''t enter it without an entry talisman. And even if they do find some other way to bypass that requirement, they will still need to face the trials.

    And those are no jokeбн both of us know this." Wang Xiong replied.

    "I seeбн" Ye Jin muttered.

    The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes before Ye Jin spoke again.

    "Will you be going as well?" She questioned.

    "Mmhmmбн it won''t be any fun if I don''t get to see it." Wang Xiong answered.

    "But you leaving would cause some issues here, won''t it?" Ye Jin asked.

    "Yeah, that will be a bit suspicious to them. They might just consider it all a trap." Wang Xiong said as he furrowed his brows.

    "Can you sneak out somehow?" Ye Jing questioned.

    "Me sneaking outбн" Wang Xiong wondered and then the image of a certain fox masked man came into his mind.

    He smiled upon remembering it and spoke, "I think I may have a method. I should be able to get out."

    "Do you need me to do anything?" Ye Jin asked.

    "Just send a few of our unassuming people to the mission as well. Don''t let them know that I am going as well, just tell them to do the mission and keep alert." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Alright, I''ll inform them. Any requirements on how strong they should be?" Ye Jin inquired.

    "Someone in the Core condensation realm is a must of course as for their specific stage, the higher the better." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Okay," Ye Jin nodded her head and took her leave.

    Once she was gone, Wang Xiong left the residence as well. He went to one of the mountains that was deeper in the sect. This mountain was smaller than the other mountains, but it had a dense forest and fog that covered it all year round.

    The fog never dissipated, even if strong winds blew. The disciples never really came here, as it was designated as a forbidden mountain. In fact, many disciples didn''t even know that this mountain existed here, and neither did Wang Xiong.

    "What have youe here for?"

 Chapter 497 - A Foggy Mountain

    Hearing the voice, Wang Xiong looked around. He was floating above the fog covered mountain and knew that the person who he hade for had already detected him.

    "Can''t Ie to visit the venerated Guardian Yun without asking? After all, you do the same to me." Wang Xiong stated.

    For a few seconds, nothing was heard, but then a hole appeared in the dense fog.

    "Enter!" The voice spoke.

    Wang Xiong flew in through the hole, which then closed behind his back. He kept going down and saw the scenery change. From the previous foggy appearance, it changed and became like a normal mountain.

    Even when someone looked up, they would see normal sky and clouds above it.

    ''The formation array here is far superior to all other formations in the sectбн'' Wang Xiong thought to himself.

    Hended on the ground and soon spotted what looked like an idyllic looking house in the distance. It was nothing too fancy and looked like something that a hermit would build. There was a pond on its side and a garden on the other.

    There were even some farm fields on its back, and various crops were nted in it. Then at the side of the farm, one could even see a few other buildings like a chicken coop and a duck coop.

    The ducks could be seen waddling down the side all the way into the pond. In the pond, several fishes swam and looked as if they were dancing. Multiple trees were also nted all along the area.

    These trees were different from the natural forest trees in that they were flowering and even had some spirit fruits hanging on their branches.

    Seeing the things in the area, Wang Xiong couldn''t help but smile wryly.

    "Thousand feather chickens, Grey beak ducks, and silver scale carps? The guardian certainly likes some luxury goods, huhбн" Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    Each of these was actually spirit beasts that were valued for theirponents and products. They were also considered to be delicacies that even strong cultivators that might be at the Dao Shell realm might not get to enjoy that often.

    And yet, here there were hundreds of them walking around freely as if they weremon farm animals. Wang Xiong stayed alert when walking around the beasts, as he knew that if any harm came to the beast it might prove to be a costly affair.

    He ignored the beasts and made his way to the door of the house.

    <em>~knock~knock~knock~</em>

    He knocked on the door and it opened almost immediately. There was no one behind the door, but Wang Xiong knew this was his invitation to enter. He thus entered and saw the man in the white fox mask sitting at a low table.

    There was a white sheet spread on the table and the man held an ink brush in his hand. He paid no attention to Wang Xiong who had just entered and focused on his task. Wang Xiong could feel a powerful aura lingering around the man and thus he kept silent as well.

    He hade here to ask for help and thus didn''t want to displease the man over nothing. The house was silent for a few minutes until when the masked man finally used the ink brush.

    Strong and dominating characters were written on the papers. They read, ''See Life In Obscurity.''

    Wang Xiong read them but couldn''t fully understand the intentions behind these words. The meaning was understandable to him, butprehending them was not something he wanted to do right now.

    "So what are really here for?" the fox masked man questioned without moving his gaze from his sheet of paper.

    "I want to ask you something." Wang Xiong stated.

    "And what is that?" The masked man asked.

    "I want to know where the secret exit passageway is in the sect." Wang Xiong replied.

    But the masked man did not reply to his query.

    "Come on, I know it exists. Even the patriarch has said that I am toe to you if I have problems during his absence." Wang Xiong added.

    "Hmmm, fine. But know this that I don''t do repeat favors like these." The masked man replied.

    "Just this once should be enough." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Very wellбн the secret exit is near the old library. You need to leave through the back exit of the library and get to the small garden behind it. From there you just need to find a tree with the character ''Run'' carved on it.

    That tree will be the exit point you desire." The fox masked man exined.

    "Alright, thank you for your help." Wang Xiong replied before taking his leave.

    Once he was gone, the Fox masked man stood up and looked in the direction of the pond.

    "Follow him and keep an eye on him. I don''t know if things will go well or not." The masked man said.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In the next second, a small ball of silvery mist flew out of the pond and chased after Wang Xiong.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Just what was the patriarch thinking when he decided that I should take care of this childбн this old fox just can''t get any restбн" the man said before going back to his house.

    Wang Xiong didn''t notice that something else had flown out behind him and that it was following him. The ball of silvery mist had turned invisible once it left the foggy mountain, and no one could perceive it.

    The ball soon sped up andtched onto Wang Xiong''s back.

    "Huh?" Wang Xiong stopped in mid air and looked around. He touched his back as he felt something touch it for a second there.

    But upon finding nothing, he wrinkled his brows.

    "Weirdбн what was that?" Wang Xiong said before going to his residence.

    His next task was to wait for the next report about the situation of the mission and, once it was confirmed that the disciples were heading out, he would leave.

    "Now to just waitбн"

 Chapter 498 - 10 Years

    Time passed, summer went and winter came. Each day was like a smoky wisp, disappearing before it could even stay for long.

    Within the Tomb of the Taiji Celestial, arge hall existed. The hall was currently dark and nothing could be seen inside it.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Suddenly, the sound of something trembling could be heard. The sound was low but deep.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    In the next moment, a green glow appeared in the hall. If one looked at it right now, one would see that the glow wasing from a mass of green crystals. There were a few specks of ck dispersed in it, but it still looked rather mesmerizing..

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    A cracking sound was heard as a crack spread across therge green crystal. Though strangely enough, the crack spread in a very unique pattern in a spiral manner. It was then that a pair of red lights opened up at the top of the crystal mass.

    "HAAA!" A sound came from the mass of green crystals.

    Arge head rose up from the crystal mass. It was evident that the entire crystal mass was one creature that had been coiled up for a long time. The head had hundreds of spikes on it as well.

    Therger spikes went down the center of his head and down, while the smaller ones were on the sides in two rows. There were also two red triangr protrusions on the top of his head.

    They looked like ears if one looked closely and even had the auricle structure carved into it.

    <em>~yawn~</em>

    The mouth of the crystal creature opened wide as it let out a long yawn, revealing its thousands of sharp crystallizing teeth hidden inside it. The ones at the back were located in circr rows, while the ones at the front were aligned in a linear manner in a few rows.

    At the very front, two long fangs could also be seen. They were about a meter long and looked very terrifying.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Having yawned, the creature moved the rest of its body and uncoiled. The full appearance of the creature could now be seen. It was over two hundred meters long, once uncoiled and had spikes going down all the way to the tip of its tail.

    "That was a nice sleep," Lin Wu said as he stretched his body, reliving the tenseness.

    He looked around and saw the dark hall that was only being illuminated by his body''s glow.

    "Why''s it so dark here? System?" Lin Wu called out, but received no response.

    "System?" Lin Wu called out again.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETED: All services online

    бкбк

    "Oh? You were down too?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    Then hundreds of windows popped up in front of him, one after the other, overwhelming Lin Wu a bit.

    "Hold up! Don''t just shove them to me, sort them out." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION FILTER: Activated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw the number of notifications reduce significantly as the windows disappeared. By the time most of them had disappeared, only one window was left in front of him.

    "The notification log, huhбн" Lin Wu said as he saw the title.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION LOG: 127 Notification pending

    бкбк

    The number was ratherrge and Lin Wu scrolled through them. Since he was unconscious the entire time, the system had umted all of them so that he could read themter on.

    "Huh? I broke through?!" Lin Wu was surprised and opened the specific notification window.

    "No, waitбн this is differentбн" Lin Wu muttered, seeing it.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST CULTIVATION: Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [32,785,158/15,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    The spirit Qi that he had umted was a rather massive amount.

    "What the hell! How did this even happen?" Lin Wu was now confused and worried at the same time.

    He knew that even if he ate the Olive Viper King, his body could not provide this much spirit Qi to him. Which meant that the spirit Qi had been umted in some other manner.

    "Plus, the spirit Qi should have been in the system''s storage if it got it from eating itбн but this is in my body directly. Which meansбн this was umted due to cultivation?!" Lin Wu realized.

    A bad feeling appeared in his heart and he called out to the system.

    "System, just how much time has it been?" Lin Wu almost shouted.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: It has been 10 years, 8 months and 6 days since the host has been in a state of hibernation.

    бкбк

    "WHAT THE FUCK! I thought it would be a year or two at most! How the hell did it be over ten years?!" Lin Wu was shocked, to say the least.

    Multiple thoughts ran through his mind and overwhelmed him a bit. But then he forcibly calmed himself down and decided that he needed to go through this systematically.

    ''First to see, just what changes have happened to me.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "System, light up the hall. Why is it so dark here, anyway?" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The lights in the hall lit up in the next second and it became bright. All of the formations were working properly.

    ''Huh? Is it just me or is it brighter than it used to be?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu then checked what happened to him. He did this in a direct way and looked at his body and the changes that happened. The first thing he noticed was, of course, his size which had now doubled.

    "Goddamn! Just how big am I?" Lin Wu was stunned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host is now 212.8 Meters long.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu was definitely shocked. Not only had the length of his body increased, but his thickness had as well.

    "Damn, I''m twice as wide as before." Lin Wu realized that too.

    He observed the spikes that had appeared and the teeth as well, finding them to be a new addition.

 Chapter 499 - Vast Improvements

    Having seen the changes in his body, Lin Wu now knew just how vast of a difference that had urred.

    ''System did tell me that it could not estimate the time needed as there could be unexpected changes happening during the process, but this is way more than I thought. I literally slept for five times as much as I did when I got the new formбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Finally, having stabilized his thoughts a bit, he decided to check on the actual technical aspects.

    "System, show me the updated Host data," Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 13 years, 10 months, 29 days

    LIFESPAN: 2,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm .

    HOST CULTIVATION: Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [32,785,158/15,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 3,767,741 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 9,444,169 Units

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+5)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- Second level (Wind attribute spirit Qi Adept)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (31% Meridians converted)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great)(Proficiency: Basic)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (greater) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Sound Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    5. Kin Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    6. Poison Breath (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    7. Venom Fang (great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger.

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 1,279 units

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 1028 units/hour

    WEIGHT: 866,412.80 Kilograms Height 212.8 meters long

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+5)

    3. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    4. Olive Viper King

    [Extend +65]

    бкбк

    There were changes in the host data as well, but Lin Wu had already expected this. The first thing he noticed was that his age and lifespan had both increased. The age was something he had already known, but seeing it was a bit surreal to him.

    "Damnбн I''ve been awake less than 10% of my entire life here." Lin Wu realized.

    He saw that his lifespan had suddenly doubled, despite the fact that he had not broken through.

    "Why has my lifespan increased, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This is due to the progress in the host''s bloodline. Different beasts have different lifespans, depending on their bloodlines. For example, tortoise beasts can have a lifespan that is the same as that of a Nascent soul realm beast even though they are barely at the Qi refining realm.

    The same could be said for the host. Originally, the host was a mud worm with just a few years of lifespan, but the modifications made it possible for the host to have a longer lifespan.

    And now, with the improvement of both the bloodlines, the host''s bloodline is reaching what it should have been.

    бкбк

    "Wait, a minute! So what you''re saying isбн I''m actually supposed to have a longer lifespan, but because I was a worm originally it was reduced? I basically got a debuff?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Affirmative," The system replied.

    "Goddamnбн I didn''t even know I had a debuff all this time." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu then saw an increased amount of spirit Qi that he had, but knew that it had increased because he had basically been cultivating this entire time. The default setting he had left his body on back then was cultivation, so that''s what it would do when it was idle.

    The spirit Qi storage was pretty much the same as before, though the vital essence had increased by quite a bit.

    "Huh? Wasn''t this pretty much emptied out when I fought the olive viper king? I''m sure I used it all up when healing myself." Lin Wu said in a confused tone.

    But then, when he saw the next part, he understood why the vital energy had increased.

    "Whoa! The unknown bloodline''s count increased by 2! No wonder the vital essence increased as well." Lin Wu was surprised.

    He had not thought that he would get two units alone from the Olive Viper king.

    "But wait, even this is not enough toplete the bloodline system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Toplete the bloodline, the host needs all of the bloodline fragments. Now the system has an estimation that there should be a total of 10 more fragments.

    бкбк

    "So it''s just like the bloodline fragments of the Vermillion birdбн but these are spread in other beasts as well. But considering as how there are ten fragments and I have five, thenбн the final five should be in that beast." Lin Wu guessed.

    He had already known that the beast that he had seen in the memories of that half skeleton had been very strong. It had barely been born and had just hatched from its egg and it was already a Nascent soul realm beast.

    Lin Wu couldn''t even imagine just how strong it would be.

    ''I had a debuff and managed to reach the Adult stage of Nascent soul realm in two yearsбн that beast definitely did not have a debuff and should be far superior to me. What realm could it even be in now?

    Noбн more importantlyбн where is it?'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu then checked the new few sections, which were pretty much the same as before. The cultivation techniques had stayed the same, as he had not actively increased them. The same could be said for the Qi skills.

    But when it came to the innate skills, Lin Wu was in for a surprise again.

    "Wow, I got two new innate skillsбн and my older innate skills got an upgrade as well. That should be the effect of the bloodline, I suppose." Lin Wu understood.

 Chapter 500 - Understanding The Gains

    Each of Lin Wu''s innate skills had been upgraded by one rank. This was something he had seen happen before and had thus expected it. Not only that, but Lin Wu also realized that he had obtained two more Innate skills that he found to be familiar.

    "Aren''t these the innate skills of the Olive viper king?" Lin Wu questioned.

    While he had not seen the exact name of the skills before, he could very well tell that they matched the ones that Olive Viper King used.

    "Oh yeah, I have the two longer fangs now as wellбн guess I''m part snake now too. Hmmбн with the number of bloodlines I may bebining I don''t even know if I would be a worm by the end." Lin Wu muttered to himself in wonder.

    He looked at the two new innate skills and reckoned that he may as well check its detailed description.

    "System, show me the details about these two skills.." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILLS:

    1. Poison Breath (lesser) (Proficiency: Basic):

    The host now has the ability to produce poison in his body which can then be breathed out in the form of a vapor cloud. The poison''s strength depends on the host''s skill rank and can be increased.

    Depending on the other elements that the host can control the type of poison produced can be modified as well.

    The current types of poison that are avable are:- 1. Basic corroding poison

    2. Tearing Wind Poison

    3. Erupting Radiation Poison

    4. Numbing Poison

    2. Venom Fang (great) (Proficiency: Basic):

    The has the ability to use the two frontal fangs to bite and inject venom into the prey. This venom is stronger than the one from the poison breath and only works when injected directly into the body.

    The venom is vtile and will degrade when left out in air. The venom has strong restrictive abilities and can eventually paralyze the entire body of the foe, shutting down its organs as well, leading to its death.

    бкбк

    Having read the description of the new innate skills, Lin Wu found them to be very useful. He had already seen the Olive Viper King using these two skills and knew just how efficient they could be when used inrge scale battles.

    "Poison breath for multiple enemies and Venom Fang for a single oneбн these will serve me very well, not to mention theye in sub types too." Lin Wu said feeling quite pleased.

    And while he was looking at the innate skills he saw that Kin Command had gone up by a rank too.

    "Huh? How did this one increase? I don''t even use that skill." Lin Wu wondered.

    While Lin Wu did have many subordinates, they were smart enough to directly understand hismands and he didn''t necessarily need to depend on Kinmand to control them.

    The skill was useful when there was arge number of weaker beasts that had inferior intelligence and were rtively dumb. He had not used the skill that much since he got it, plus since it was a passive gift it was not like he could forcefully increase it either.

    Thus the increase in the skill''s rank was unexpected.

    "System, how did Kin Command increase?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Olive Viper King also had the same innate skill and was of a higher rank than the host. The system assimted the new information and upgraded the skill ordingly.

    бкбк

    "Ahбн no wonder. The Olive Viper King did have a lot of subordinates that he controlled. Considering his personality, I reckon he preferred being forceful. No wonder the skill was higher for him." Lin Wu muttered.

    Kinmand was an innate skill that could be acquired by a lot of beasts as long as they had a lot of other beasts under theirmand. It was one of the mostmon innate skill, and was one of the few that fell in the category of both Innate and acquired skills.

    The reason it was still considered to be Innate was because it could actually be passed onto offspring. Otherwise, it would just be a normally acquired skill. All of the beast kings in the Millennium forest had this skill from what Lin Wu could tell.

    ''They control tens of thousands of beasts each, this skill would be essential to them. Guess I''ll see an increase in it as well.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Other than these parts, Lin Wu didn''t see any other significant changes in the host data. His System energy though was close to running out.

    "Oh? Has the system been running on the reserve I stored all this time? Well, time to transfer some to it." Lin Wu said.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ENERGY TRANSFER: Please Specify the amount

    бкбк

    Lin Wu thought for a bit before deciding, "let''s make it a nice even number in the other storages."

    "System, transfer 1,767, 741 units of Liquid spirit Qi into the system energy storage." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ENERGY TRANSFER: Initiating

    CONVERTING: 1,767, 741 units (Liquid spirit Qi) -> 17,677,410 units (system energy)

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 1,279 units -> 17,678,689 units

    бкбк

    "There we, that shouldst for a while. The overall consumption of system energy has risen too. It''s almost 60% more than it used to be. Guess the upgrade increased the overall energy needed for the system to operate in my entire body." Lin Wu spoke to himself.

    At the end of the Host data, he saw that his weight was now over four times as much as it used to be.

    "GODDAMN! I''m Dummy thick!" Lin Wu said upon witnessing the increase.

    He knew that the length and width of his body had doubled but had not expected such a massive increase in weight.

    "Oh waitбн if you double the volume of something it increases its weight by a cube doesn''t itбн or something like that, my maths ain''t that good." Lin Wu realized.

    Having checked the entire Host data, he decided to see how the avatar was doing.

 Chapter 501 - Where Is The Avatar?

    "Where the heck is my avatar anyway?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He checked the monitoring screens and found the avatar in one of the secondary halls.

    "Huh? What''s it doing there?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He tried to switch his body but found himself unable to do so.

    "What the hell? Why is it not working? Why can''t I switch to my avatar?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host has been in a state of hibernation for over ten years. The synchronization between the host''s soul, main body and avatar has weakened. The avatar has simrly gone into hibernation and only awakens when something is needed to be done ording to the protocols set..

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн guess I''ll need to cultivate the Unity Avatar Technique a bit moreter. I''ll just go see it directly." Lin Wu said before teleporting to the hall where the avatar was.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Hisrge body disappeared in a flicker of light and reappeared in the secondary hall. The hall was smaller than the one he was in and had not been in use since there were no upants.

    But now, Lin Wu found it to be different than before.

    "Huh? Why is the spirit Qi concentration here higher?" Lin Wu was confused.

    He approached his avatar that was coiled up and scanned it using his spirit sense.

    "Hmmбн it seems to be working normally and cultivating. System, do a check on your end too." Lin Wu spoke.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    SCAN COMPLETED: Establishing a link to secondary system subroutine

    LINK ESTABLISHED: Avatar Subroutine active

    бкбк

    A few notifications appeared in front of him as the system did its work. He could feel the familiarity between him and the avatar increase a bit and he could sense it directly without spirit sense now too.

    It was now that the system finished its analysis and showed the avatar data.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [29,794,481/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (51% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Fire Resistance (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    WEIGHT: 1,05,847.1 Kilograms Height 51.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    The first thing Lin Wu noticed was of course the increases then spirit Qi that the Avatar had umted till now.

    "Damnбн even it managed to get a lot. Even though it''s a bit less, it''s almost the same." Lin Wu muttered in surprise.

    The next thing he ended up noticing was the cultivation technique Undaunted Sapphire body art. Its conversion had increased quite a bit even if it had not advanced to the next level.

    "How didбн was it perhaps cultivating that too? Hang on, system what were the settings the avatar was on all this time?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Host''s avatar was on a set of protocols that prioritized cultivation whenever it was favorable.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн that exins why it''s in this hall. The spirit Qi here is even higher than the main hall, which is strange. And since it has been prioritizing cultivation, it would switch between the techniques as need." Lin Wu understood.

    Between the two cultivation techniques, the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture and the undaunted sapphire body art, only thetter could be cultivated by just pouring spirit Qi. It could even increase passively as long as the meridians were continually used.

    The same could not be done with the Taiji Dual Unity scripture as it was a bit moreplex and needed conscious improvement of it. That was also the reason why neither Lin Wu''s main body nor the avatar had experience an increase in its skill level.

    ''The proficiency of the me maniption and fire resistance increased as well? That''s strange, that would only happen ifбн if the avatar got into a fight!'' Lin Wu realized.

    "System what else happened in the tomb during this time? Were there any conflicts?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Five years after the host went into hibernation, the system went into an upgrade state as well and was inactive. But to let the other functions running, it created a subroutine that ran in the host''s Avatar.

    Any information in thetter five years will be present in the avatar and the host will need to control it to ess it.

    бкбк

    "Ugh! Need to wait till I fully sync with the avatar." Lin Wu muttered.

    He then got closer to the avatar and used the Unity Avatar Technique on it. In the next second a very peculiar change happened. Lin Wu''s main body wrapped around the avatar and both of them started to fuse.

    It was like watching two ice cubes melting and then being frozen again.

    "Huh, I don''t think I''ve done this ever since I got the skillбн or more like I never had the chance nor the need to do so." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    In the entire time, his avatar had either been away with Shirong or busy taking over his duties while he was in hibernation. Thus it was no surprise that Lin Wu never got to use the Unity Avatar Technique to fuse back with the avatar till now.

    The fusion took about a minute toplete and by the time he was done with it, Lin Wu''s body had increased once more. It was now twenty percent bigger than his alreadyrger body and had a few more features such as the addition of the two extra Vermillion colors eyes on top of the ones that were already there.

    "Mmmбн this feels differentбнfortable tooбн" Lin Wu said with pleasure.

 Chapter 502 - The Fused Form And Memories

    Lin Wu''s fusion wasplete and he got to look at his newly transformed body.

    "Oh damn, I look cool!" Lin Mu said as he took a look at his body.

    The four eyes he had looked rather intimidating, with one pair being crimson red and one being Vermillion in color. His size being increased was something he had already expected, but the additional power that came with it was also pleasing to him.

    "Alright then, now that I''ve fused up, the sync should beplete soon, right system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Affirmative" The system replied.

    Lin Wu thus waited about fifteen minutes for the avatar to sync with his main body. During this time he just checked out his new form and moved around a bit. He found himself to be far more nimble than before..

    Not only that, but he realized that the more the sync progressed, the better his control and power were getting. His spirit Qi stores started to increase rapidly and his ess to the avatar''s skills was also open.

    Then finally system gave the notification he was waiting for.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SYNCHRONIZATION: Completed

    HOST DATA: Updated

    NOTIFICATION: The Fused form''s data is now avable.

    бкбк

    "Alright, show me the good stuff!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 13 years, 10 months, 29 days

    LIFESPAN: 2,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Fused Form)

    HOST CULTIVATION: Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm (boosted)

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [32,785,158/15,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    Secondary store: [29,794,481] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 3,767,741 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 9,444,169 Units

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+5)

    3. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- Second level (Wind attribute spirit Qi Adept)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (41% Meridians converted)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great)(Proficiency: Basic)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (greater) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Sound Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    5. Kin Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    6. Poison Breath (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    7. Venom Fang (great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    8. me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    9. Fire Resistance (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger.

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (Human soul)

    3. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Worm soul)

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 1,279 units

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 1028 units/hour

    WEIGHT: 971,582.80 Kilograms Height 259.8 meters long

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+5)

    3. Vermillion bird

    4. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    5. Olive Viper King

    [Extend +65]

    бкбк

    Lin Wu could see several differences right away. The added innate skills and increased spirit Qi storage were the most obvious. Though he also noticed that his progression with the Undaunted Sapphire Body art had changed as well.

    His Avatar had reached 51% while his main body was at 31%. But now that he was in the fused form, his progress was at the 41% mark.

    "Hmmбн I guess the meridians that are from the avatar join my body and cover a certain part of it too." Lin Wu understood.

    Having understood the new datum he quickly got to what he wanted to do from the start.

    "Let''s see what we got hereбн" Lin Wu muttered and checked the memories of the avatar.

    Since his soul was not awake, the memories were stored separately in the avatar''s brain.

    "Ugh! The headache againбн" Lin Wu grunted in pain.

    After about a minuteter the pain faded and the memories joined the rest of his memories.

    "Alright, time to view them all from the start." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Initiating memory yback

    бкбк

    In the next second, Lin Wu''s vision went ck and the scene in front of him changed.

    "Okayбн this feels weird." Lin Wu said as he felt his surroundings.

    He could not feel his body and felt like he was floating around in water. Everything in front of him was nk, except for what looked like a Video slider which could be moved back and forth as needed. There was a time stamp next to it as well which showed the time from when he was sleeping.

    "This is simr to a video yer huhбн very well, start." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In the next moment, colors started to appear in front of him and an entire virtual environment materialized. Lin Wu could tell that he was back in the tomb, but this time his point of view was omnidirectional.

    It was a bit disorienting at first, but he soon got used to it.

    "Now then, let seeбн Hmmбн nothing happened for the first six monthsбн nothing outside eitherбн the beasts were in a rtive peaceбн" Lin Wu muttered as he observed everything.

    The memories shown to him were from the formation array of the tomb and were gathering the monitoring feeds from everywhere in the forest. Lin Wu could see that his servant beasts were doing just as they were ordered to do.

    They took over the area where the Olive Viper King lived and made it their own. After this was stabilized, they returned to their usual tasks with the addition of extra area to cover. The expanded territory was rather useful for them as they now had wider ces to grow things.

    The beasts had learned some basic methods that they could use to farm things and had plowed thend while nting whatever seeds that they could get. The ck Fur monkeys were doing well too and were directing the farming tasks.

    There were two that were tending to the herb garden while the rest were outside dealing with the other spirit herbs and such.

    "Huh, did nothing happen to the Twin Lights Liger king during this time?" Lin Wu wondered and checked further.

    He soon found some memories that rted to it. They weren''t direct memories of what happened but were from another beast''s conversation.

    "Can''t believe the Lamp Light ligers had to run away in defeat." An Insect beast that looked like a mix between a caterpir and a bagworm spoke.

    "I never would have thought the other kings would interfere like this. Not only that, the Twin Lights liger king actually let it happen." Another insect beast that looked like an overgrown dune bug replied.

    "They did try to halt the work of Worm King but the other beasts under the kings prevented them froming close. And when the worm king really won and official became the king, they had to go back."

    "<em>~Sigh~</em> don''t know if this willst, though. The Lamp Light ligers are never to let go of a failure."

    "Let''s just hope this stays, or at least the worm king does something."

    Lin Wu watched the short memory and understood that the rulers had done exactly as he had asked them to do.

    "Their promise was fulfilled. Let''s see what more happened, still it''s strange that the Twin Lights Liger king didn''t even attempt anything, just themp light ligers did." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He continued watching the memories that were mostly misceneous and finally reached the one year mark.

    It was now that he saw the Club Tailed Lizard moving again. She had been with her eggs in one of the halls since the start and had not moved since she arrived there. And just as their agreement was, she woke up after a year.

    It was evident that she was looking for Lin Wu but could not find him.

    "Where is Worm King Lin Wu?" She called out.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    "He is currently in seclusion and is cultivating. ording to the previously agreed protocol, you are free to leave." The system''s prerecorded voice spoke.

    "A Responsive formation?" The Club Tailed lizard was surprised.

    She then tilted her head and spoke again, "it''s not that. My eggs have not hatched, and it doesn''t seem like they will for a while. I want to ask if it''s possible to stay here for longer." She stated.

    The system did not reply right away, but Lin Wu could tell that it was probably analyzing things. After about five minutes of silence, it finally responded.

    "The previous agreement shall then be extended. The agreement can be extended at increments of every six months and if any disturbance is detected you shall be evicted or exterminated depending on the level of threat." The System stated.

    Hearing the cold voice of the system, the Club tailed lizard couldn''t help but shudder. There was also the fact that there was a distinct threat that she could feeling from there and knew for a fact that she would be killed without being able to do anything if it really came to it.

 Chapter 503 - The Beetle Beasts Breakthough!

    Lin Wu saw the entire interaction of the club tailed lizard with the system and found it to be rather surreal.

    "Didn''t think the system would talk like this to othersбн now that I think of it, it hasn''t really spoken to anyone else other than me." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu trusted the system to have made the decision. If he was here he would have done the same and didn''t mind that it allowed the Club Tailed lizard to stay. In fact, now that had seen that her eggs hadn''t hatched, he was even more curious about how the hatchlings will be like.

    "The bloodline might have caused some changes that I don''t know about. Perhaps the system might be able to gather some new data from them. That way, I guess it''s better to let them live here for now." Lin Wu said.

    Lin Wu continued watching the memories and let them proceed.. Another year passed and now it was the second year since he had fallen asleep. The things were still going stably, though there were a few conflicts that had happened among the beasts in this time.

    They were mostly between the newer beasts that came to the fifth ring of the forest from the lower rings. Of course, the subordinates of the five kings showed them their rightful ces.

    The ones that were a bit smarter were recruited while those that were too dumb were sent back to the fourth ring. As for the ones that were still aggressive, they were killed without mercy.

    Then came the third year when the first major event happened.

    "Huh? The Split Thorn Horn Beetle broke through to the Nascent Soul realm!?" Lin Wu was surprised, to say the least.

    He knew that the Spirit thorn horn beetle who was his servant was already at the peak of the core condensation realm and was almost at the pseudo Nascent soul realm back when he saw herst.

    But now after three years of umtion she had finally broken through.

    "System, show me her data, quick!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SERVANT DATA: Split thorn horn beetle

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    бкбк

    Seeing the data, Lin Wu confirmed this fact.

    "But how? Doesn''t the forest restrict the number of beasts that can reach the Nascent soul realmбн no wait that''s not it. It just makes it harder to break through when there are five rulers. But even then they can still breakthrough." Lin Wu remembered.

    Lin Wu checked more about the Split Thorn Horn Beetle and saw that her breakthrough came as a shock to the other beast kings as well. There was an unease in the forest for the entire year during this time as the beasts were under the impression that there might be another battle for the position of a ruler.

    But surprisingly, nothing of that sort happened and the beetle beast kept her presence to the minimum. In fact, she barely left the territory of her ancestor and seemed to be working there to expand her influence.

    It was then that Lin Wu understood what was happening.

    "Ahhбн so she''s gonna take over from the current beetle king." Lin Wu muttered.

    The other beast kings also understood the same matter and took breaths of relief. But still, they weren''t fully free either and got to training their own subordinates so that they could also reach the Nascent Soul realm.

    Among the five beast kings, the Two Ape beasts now had the strongest camp due to being rted. But now there was a contender again. Even if the beetle beast was calm right now, there was no certain chance she might stay the same.

    If she ever decided that she wanted more areas under her control, the battle for influence might start again.

    But in this entire thing, there was something that most beasts didn''t know. It was the fact that the Beetle beast was actually the servant of Lin Wu and was loyal to him. And since he was a king already, it was obvious she wouldn''t be a king on her own.

    She even stayed with the current beetle king only because he was her ancestor. If not for that she might have never done that. Then there was also the fact that Lin Wu was the one who had originally asked her to do that.

    Finally, four years passed and now Lin Wu saw some humans appear in the forest.

    "Huh? Aren''t theyбн disciples of the Frozen Cloud sect?" Lin Wu recognized their robes.

    He could see several of them in the forest and they hade from the southern part of the forest. That area was the territory of the beetle king and Lin Wu now and thus anyone that intruded in that area would have to deal with them.

    "But stillбн aren''t they a little too careless?" Lin Wu said upon seeing the cultivation bases of the disciples.

    A majority of them were in the Qi refining realm while a few were at the Core condensation realm. There were even a handful of them that were at the Nascent Soul realm.

    "Hmmбн system do we have records of them?" Lin Mu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    IDENTIFICATION: Completed

    NOTIFICATION: Please check the relevant window for more information

    бкбк

    "Just as I thoughtбн these Nascent soul realm cultivatorsбн they are from the same camp as that of the Niu San. That disciples that fought Wang Xiong and died. Wang Xiong also killed his otherpanions." Lin Wu said in slight confusion.

    Thest he had heard of Wang Xiong, he had be the chief disciple of the Frozen clouds sect and had be rather important there. His status had sky rocketed and he was busy in expanding his influence as well as cultivating diligently.

    Lin Wu had not checked upon him for a while and now decided that he should do that too. For all he knew, the arrival of these disciples might be rted to him.

 Chapter 504 - The Frozen Cloud Sects Disciples Arrive

    "Hmm, speaking of Wang Xiong, show me his status too System." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SUBORDINATES: 1. Wang Xiong

    Cultivation Base: Adolescent Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: Communication

    бкбк.

    "Damn! The man reached the Adolescent soul stage as well? That was unexpected. Even with the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance, it shouldn''t have been this fast." Lin Wu was surprised.

    Lin Wu reckoned even Shirong might not have reached that point this fast. From what he had seen till now, Nascent soul realm cultivators took at least fifty years to cover the entire Child Soul stage if they had some resources.

    Without them, they might even take over a hundred years. From Wang Xiong''s progress, it was evident that he was being fully supported due to his position as the chief disciple.

    "Looks like helping him out back then was the right decision. Not only did I get that source crystal, but now there is a strong subordinate that I can take advantage ofter on." Lin Wu said while nodding.

    Having discovered this, Lin Wu decide to pay more attention to what the disciples were talking about.

    "Where could the mysterious tomb be?" a few disciples were discussing in a group.

    They were all at the Qi refining realm with one of them being at the core condensation realm. It was evident that the core condensation realm disciple was actually the leader of the small group.

    "From all the information the elders have gathered over the past four years it is determined that the tomb is somewhere in the fifth ring." The core condensation disciple spoke.

    "But can we really trust it?" A doubtful disciple asked.

    "Senior brother is right. If it were not for the elders carefully considering it, they wouldn''t have halted their mission for four years. I''m sure they did it so that we had more urate information and had enough time to prepare." A female disciple said.

    Hearing this Lin Wu was surprised.

    "Huh, four yearsбн so they were actually going toe the very year when I fell asleep? What made them change their mind, I doubt it''s just something like collecting the information?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He knew that the sect already did several missions in the millennium forest, the only difference was that they seldom came to the inner rings of the forest. The furtherer they went was the third ring as beyond that the core condensation realm beasts started to appear.

    Even for core condensation realm disciples, core condensation realm beasts could be very dangerous. Especially since some of the beasts could formrge herds or groups and attack together.

    "Let''s go then, we should be the first ones to reach there. There are many other teams out to find the tomb. Who knows if we are lucky, we might get an inheritance like Chief Disciple Wang Xiong as well." The core condensation realm disciple spoke.

    Hearing this Lin Wu was now sure that all these disciplesing here was rted to Wang Xiong.

    "What happened? Did the fact that he got the inheritance in the forest get leaked?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He scrolled through the different windows and saw nearly a hundred different teams of disciples all over the forest. A majority of them had entered through the southern part, but there were some who had chosen to enter from the other three directions as well.

    "The ones who entered from the east will have the advantage. After all the tomb is located in the eastern part of the fifth ring. Butбн this is only if they get to it." Lin Wu muttered.

    He switched the scene to the eastern part and saw only three teams here. They were also stronger overall when considered against the rest.

    ''They even have a Nascent soul realm disciple with them?'' Lin Wu noted.

    Back at the frozen cloud sect he had scanned most of its area and had recorded all of the spirit Qi signatures of the stronger cultivators that were part of it. This included everyone at the Nascent soul realm and above.

    "System is this person part of the data we have?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Negative," The system responded right away.

    "Huhбн so this disciple must have broken through recently." Lin Wu said.

    He could tell that he was at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm too and from the slight instability of his cultivation base, it was evident that he had yet to fully uncover the use of his power.

    "Senior brother Wang Xiong said that we should approach from the east since the Tomb at the border of the sixth and fifth ring. Everyone should have memorized the map right?" The Nascent soul realm disciple asked.

    "Yes, Senior!" all three teams answered at once.

    "Good, we shall split into three but still stay within two kilometers of each other. You are to send out a distress signal the moment you encounter danger beyond what you can handle. And if you see any Nascent soul realm beast, run!" The Nascent soul realm disciple exined.

    "There are five of them in the forest, right senior?" One of the disciples who looked rather young asked meekly.

    Even this young looking disciple was at the Core condensation realm which was rather surprising, considering he didn''t look older than sixteen as of now.

    "Indeed. They are the five rulers of the forest and are very strong beasts. One of the rulers was said to have left the forest a few years ago, but someone else should have reced it by now. We need to be careful at every step.

    Even I may have a hard time battling them as they are quite likely to be at the Child Soul stage or above." The Nascent soul realm disciple warned.

    "We understated senior!" all of them replied.

    "Alright, now let''s head on." The leader replied and the teams started to move.

    Lin Wu understood that this was the team that Wang Xiong had sent in.

    "Just what are you nningбн Wang Xiong?"

 Chapter 505 - Battles And Beasts

    Having learned that it was Wang Xiong behind this team, Lin Wu was now far more interested than before. He changed the settings of the monitoring screens and made it so that they were mostly focused on the three teams of Wang Xiong while setting up alerts for the other teams.

    The alerts were mostly for when they reached areas where there would be stronger beasts or if they got closer to the Tomb or just the fifth ring itself. Lin Wu knew for sure that most of the disciples would not be able to get past the fifth ring if not for the stronger Nascent soul realm disciples there.

    Lin Wu observed as the disciples made their way to the second ring with little effort. The first ring was something that evenmoners could move around with rtive safety, so it was a given anyway.

    As for the second ring, that was where the Qi refining realm beasts got more and moremon. This was also rtively easy for the disciples to get through. After all, they were all at the core condensation realm and if they faltered here, they may as well choke on a block of tofu and die.

    The third and fourth ring were also covered with rtive ease, but from the third ring onwards they started to have more and more conflicts with the beasts. It was evident that the beasts had gotten agitated all over the forest now..

    "Oh boyбн the rulers would certainly not like this." Lin Wu said as he observed the screens.

    All over the forest, different battles were being fought by the disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect. So far there had been no deaths, but there were several disciples that had been injured.

    "Hmmбн they do have the backing of the sect, so they should be able to retreat in the face of danger." Lin Wu muttered.

    It was now that Lin Wu felt one of the rms going off.

    <em>~Warning!~</em>

    Lin Wu quickly switched to the screen that was showing the warning and saw that it was one of the teams that Wang Xiong had sent.

    "Oh? The Demon Spine ape is acting now?" Lin Wu saw a few core condensation realm monkey beasts appearing on the screen.

    <em>~EEK!~</em>

    They screamed at the disciples, which Lin Wu could trante into words.

    "What are you humans doing here! Go back! This is ournd!" They shouted while baring their fangs.

    The disciples of course, could not understand what the monkey beasts were saying and simply thought that they were threatening them. Which was in a way, correct as well.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "The monkey beasts are done forбн I''m pretty sure these were sent by the Demon spine ape and not his father. If it were the Slim Arm ape king, he would have first investigated before taking action.

    Though I don''t know if they have the news about the other disciples here too." Lin Wu said as he observed the rest of the screens.

    Overall, the entire Millennium forest was in an uproar as from everywhere the humans were appearing. This was the first time in over a thousand years that so many humans had appeared in the millennium forest all at once.

    And it was also due to the fact that they were all quite strong. Core condensation realm was already something that was considered top of the hierarchy in the forests, with the Nascent soul realm being the apex.

    Even if the number of core condensation realm beasts in the forest was over a thousand, the number of humans that had appeared was over a hundred and they were at the core condensation realm too.

    As for the Qi refining realm cultivators, there were over four hundred of them.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Lin Wu sighed to himself as he saw the monkey beasts and the disciples break out in a fight. The battlested about ten minutes and was ended due to the appearance of the other teams who joined forces and quickly killed two of the monkey beasts while the rest of them fled for their lives.

    "The Demon Spine ape will not like thisбн" Lin Wu predicted.

    He counted the number of disciples and saw that the number had gone down by a bit now.

    ''So the deaths are starting nowбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    More time passed and the number of disciples kept on falling. After about two more days after the battle with the monkey beasts, the three teams that Wang Xiong had sent entered the fifth ring.

    It had taken them over twenty days to reach the fourth ring, which was quite fast and then just two more to reach the fifth ring. This was the part that Lin Wu found to be rather strange.

    "Did the Slim Arm Ape king stop his son? Why are there no beastsing to attack them?" Lin Wu was confused.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    It was now that a loud roar was hearding from the north and the entire area shook as if a somethingrge was heading their way.

    "Oh, boyбн seems like now I know why the slim arm ape stopped." Lin Wu said as he saw the Lamp Light Ligers appear.

    "STOP!" The Nascent soul realm senior Disciple called out to the juniors.

    He was the first one to have sensed their presence and was ready to find now.

    <em>~GRRR~</em>

    The bushes and trees parted as about twenty Lamp Light Ligers appeared. All of them were at the Core condensation realm while three of them were even at the Peak stage of the core condensation realm.

    "These are the Lamp light Ligers we were told about. We need to be careful. They are one of the most dangerous beasts of the forest." The Nascent soul realm senior disciple warned.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    All of them swallowed their saliva and got ready for a battle. This one was not going to be an easy one, especially since the Lamp Light Ligers were not one to retreat. They would fight to their deaths.

 Chapter 506 - Virtual Snacks And Entertainment For Lin Wu

    "All disciples split up the beasts ording to your strengths. I''ll handle the ones at the peak stage." The senior Nascent soul realm disciples said.

    "Yes, Senior brother!" They all replied.

    <em>~ROAR!~</em>

    Unlike the Monkey beasts, the Lamp Light Ligers did not even speak anything and simply pounced on them. It was certain that they were here to kill and would not hesitate to do it.

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    The first one to sh was of course, the senior brother. He took out a long sword and held it in front of him to block the attacks of two peak stage core condensation realm Lamp Light Ligers.

    The third one though, did not attack directly, but rather circled around to jump on his back.. Even if the man was at the Nascent soul realm, he had only broken through recently and was at the Infant Soul stage.

    "BEGONE!" The man shouted as he pushed with all his force and knocked two of the Lamp light ligers away before spinning quickly and blocking the other one that was attacking him from the back.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~ng~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    Various sounds of conflict were heard as the other disciples began their battles as well. Lin Wu watched it with interest and considered it to be entertainment.

    "Man, I wish I had snacks now." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    "Huh?" Lin Wu heard a notification sound and was surprised.

    In front of him, several snacks automatically appeared.

    "What is this system? How did they appear here?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Since the host is viewing memories in a virtual environment, these snacks are just virtual constructs. The system can replicate the taste and texture that the hosts sad felt when eating them before.

    бкбк

    Hearing this, Lin Wu''s expression became serious.

    "Have I ever told you this systemбн youбн areбн AWESOME!!! How the heck did I not know this was possible. I would have eaten them all the time." Lin Wu said with excitement.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This can only be simted in the virtual space and thus the system cannot do this normally.

    бкбк

    "Ohбн still this is pretty nice." Lin Wu said as he took hold of all the snacks.

    He had to be a bit more careful in handling them since his body was evenrger than before. He had to carefully change the shape of his tail into a thin fork that he could use for it and pick up the snacks.

    There were many different kinds here, including fried and grilled meats, fruits, and many more things.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    Suggestion: The host can simply control the snacks with his mind. This is a virtual space, there is no need for physical interaction.

    бкбк

    "Whoa! That makes it even more easier." Lin Wu felt pleased.

    The snacks simply floated out of the tes and serving bowls before entering Lin Wu''s mouth.

    "<em>Ah~</em> the taste is the same. I love you system!" Lin Wu said as he enjoyed the show.

    The battlested for about an hour at the end of which the victor was of course, the frozen clouds sect''s disciples. At the start, it did seem like they were on the losing side, but Lin Wuter realized that they hade with far more preparation than he had expected.

    They already knew of the unique ability of the Lamp Light ligers and were prepared for it. One by one, they used the tactics they had nned out and killed all of the Lamp Light ligers.

    Of course, once the Nascent soul realm senior disciple was freed, after killing the three peak stage core condensation realm Lamp Light Liger beasts, the rest became a far more easy task.

    "Wang Xiong definitely gave them a lot more help than others." Lin Wu said after seeing the battle.

    He then switched the screens and saw how the rest of them were doing. He saw that other than the teams that Wang Xiong had sent, only four more teams had managed to reach the fifth ring.

    And all five rings were there due to being led by Nascent soul realm disciples. In total, there were two more Nascent soul realm disciples that hade to the millennium forest.

    The ones that had entered from the southern part of the millennium forest ended up shing with insect beasts, mostly. As for the beasts that were now considered to be under Lin Wu, they didn''t act unless the disciples got close to the areas where the spirit herbs were nted.

    "Look! There are so many spirit herbs here!" A few disciples ended up getting close to the spirit herbs farms.

    "Hang on! We can''t just enter without thinking." The leader of the group said.

    "Take a closer lookбн do you really think so many spirit herbs would be unguarded?" The leader asked while pointing at the area.

    The disciples in the team observe the area closely and could see some beast marks around the area. They were mixed, and it was hard to tell which beasts they belonged to.

    "Huh? Mantis beasts, Weevil beasts, Horn caterpir beast, earth moth beast, Wood Limb Wolves, Red Tailed squirrelsбн there are all vastly different beasts. How are their footprints all here?" One of the smarter disciples analyzed the tracks.

    The leader looked towards the disciple who had just spoken and nodded his head.

    "Exactlyбн why would such beasts be here? That too in an area like this where everything seems normal and calm. Usually, if beasts like those meet they would just end up fighting over these spirit herbs and fruits." The leader spoke.

    "Then why are these tracks here?"

    "Not just thatбн those spirit herbsбн don''t you think they are nted way too symmetrically?" someone else questioned.

    The disciples got a bit more close to take a look and narrowed their eyes.

    "Huhбн are theseбн plowing marks?"

    "Don''t tell meбн were these spirit herbs nted here?" The one who had recognized the beast tracks spoke, feeling bewildered.

    <em>~TREMBLE~ </em>

    Just as he said that the ground started to shake with great force.

 Chapter 507 - The Mole Beasts Show

    "Wh-what''s happening?!" The disciples were more than shocked.

    The leader''s face fell as cold sweat appeared on his brow.

    "It''sбн it''s a beastбн" before he could say much, the ground tore open.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    "<em>KIIIIIIIIII~</em>" A strange screeching sound was heard as a cloud of dust and dirt was created due to whatever that hade up from the ground.

    From the dust clouds, they could make out a few green glints of lighting, but couldn''t exactly tell what it was.

    <em>~SLASH~</em>

    But before they could get a chance to do so, the sound of something tearing and ripping apart could be heard.

    <em>~st~</em>.

    A wet liquid was sprayed on the bodies of the disciples and they felt a warmthing from it.

    "Blood?" One of them touched the warm liquid on their face and looked at it. The crimson red liquid stuck their fingers, showing them the proof that one of theirpanions had just died.

    "RUNNNNNNN!!!!!" The leader shouted.

    <em>~RIP~</em>

    Unfortunately for him, that was just a needless cry. Before he could even take another step, his body fell apart like ribbons. The ribbons were fleshy and held on by some bones and sinew.

    The blood spilling from it spread a bloody scent in the area and tingled the nostrils of each and every disciple there. A sickening feeling rose up from the bottom of their stomachs, and they tried their best to hold it back.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Finally, a gust of wind blew away the dust and the scene could be seen clearly. Two dead bodies that were greatly damaged were lying on the ground. One of them was split into four unequal parts while one of them was turned to fleshy ribbons.

    The one that was split into four unequal parts was none other than the smart disciple who had recognized the beast tracks, while the one that was turned into ribbons was the leader.

    Two normal living disciples that were speaking just a few seconds ago were now dead.

    "EEEEEKKKKK!" The female disciples let out a high pitch screeching shout upon seeing everything.

    Even if they were the disciples of a cultivation sect and were used to death and battles, this level of blood and gore was not something they had seen before. And even if they had, it was usually the beasts that were butchered like this and not humans.

    All of their mentality and willpower had gone into the drain, and their morale dropped to zero.

    A pair of dark brown eyes gazed at them as the snout in front of them twitched slightly. The whiskers on it moved diagonally as they sensed the fine changes in the air. Below the snout, a mouth could be seen.

    But the most shocking thing was the thing that hung out from the mouth. A pair of sharp emerald green crystalline incisors could be seen jutting out from the mouth. They curved towards and looked like sharp des.

    This was a beast, and it was not just any beast, but the mole beast who was the very first servant of Lin Wu. His emerald green crystal ws were covered in blood as well and it slid down them without staining them at all.

    "Daring to defile Master''s property, hump! Impudent!" The Mole Beast scoffed.

    Of course, his words were only understandable to Lin Wu as of now and to the disciples, it was just a beastly screech. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from this body were also nothing weak and turned the knees of the disciples weak.

    "N-Nascent soulбн Nascent soulбн A Nascent soul realm beast!" The disciples cried out.

    The mole beast walked forward and didn''t care that the disciples were running away. Just a little hit of his aura was enough to freeze them in ce now. He casually walked up to the next disciple and raised his ws.

    <em>~SLICK~</em>

    The ws were like razor sharp des as they cut through the disciple''s body cleanly. If one looked at it, one would see that the disciple was now cut in four vertical slices. It looks like someone had put an egg in an egg slicer and cut them.

    The blood started to spill out more and more, turning the area bloody.

    <em>~sniff~</em>

    the fresh blood of humansбн just how long has it been since I got to taste it?" The mole beast wondered.

    <em>~STEP~STEP~STEP~</em>

    A few disciples gained a second wind and managed to break through the fear that was immobilizing them.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Their spirit tools were summoned by them and all of them tried to fly away.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The Mole beast raised his w again, causing winds to stir. The ones that were close by were knocked back just by this.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Then he mmed his w down to the ground, making it shake as if an earthquake had arrived.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    But that was just the start as three spikes rose up from the earth. The spikes were made out of solid rock and rose at a great speed. They appeared just below the disciples that were trying to fly away and stabbed them from the bottom.

    <em>~SLICK~</em>

    Three disciples were now skewered like rats on a stick, unable to move. Their spirit weapons fell helplessly to the ground. They lost their glow, and it was the sign that they were no longer being controlled; their owner had died!

    "Just a few more leftбн" The mole beast said in a pleased tone as he changed his gaze towards the four disciples that were left alive. These were the ones that were too scared to move and the pressure exuding from the Nascent soul realm cultivation base was also immobilizing them.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    The mole beast waved both of his ws, splitting the disciples into multiple pieces of meat and bones. It then licked his ws, tasting the blood of the freshly in disciples.

    "This is niceбн perhaps humansing to the forest again ain''t that badбн" the Mole beast muttered.

    Lin Wu who had seen everything, felt entertained as well as he shoved more and more snacks down his mouth.

 Chapter 508 - Strong Servants!

    "Now THAT was a nice show!" Lin Wu said out loud.

    He had seen the entire series of events when the Mole beast appeared and killed the disciples, finding it to be pleasing. It reminded him of those fantasy monster shows of his past life.

    He often had a fun time watching them and would eat snacks just like this while lying on the bed.

    "Alsoбн when the heck did the Mole beast breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The mole beast broke through to the Nascent Soul realm 14 months ago.

    бкбк

    The system quickly answered.. Seeing this, Lin Wu was surprised and then recalled that a lot of his servants were at the peak stage of the core condensation realm and would break through whenever the right time came.

    "Guess he finally had his right momentбн though wait there were more than just him and the beetle beast in the peak stage. What about the other beasts?" Lin Wu asked again.

    "SYSTEM SHOW ME THE DATA OF ALL THE SERVANTS!" Lin Wu ordered.

    1. Deep Earth Millennium Mole

    STATUS: Vitals Stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    2. Split thorn horn beetle

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    3. Hook Winged Swan

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    4. High Wind Gale Sparrow

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    5. ck Fur monkeys (2)

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    6. ck Fur monkeys (8)

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    бкбк

    Seeing the data, Lin Wu was shocked, to say the least.

    "GODDAMN! Nearly all of my earlier servants reached the Nascent soul realm? And even two of the ck Fur monkeys managed to do the same. The forest isn''t really restricting them, huh?" Lin Wu eximed.

    To him, so many subordinates'' breaking through was a massive thing. Right now he was already stronger than all of the Rulers of the forestbined just from the sheer power of his subordinates. In total, he had six servants that were at the Nascent Soul realm.

    It was a massive increase in the power of the beasts, which was unprecedented in the millennium forest.

    "Seems like I may have a better chance at going against the Twin Lights Liger King now. What''s he even gonna do? Send out more of his subordinates? They''re just gonna be food." Lin Wu couldn''t help but chuckle.

    Though he also wondered if the other rulers of the forest knew about Lin Wu''s servants and their breakthrough.

    "Hmmбн was that why the slim arm ape and others have been careful?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He also knew that his servants were mostly staying in the Tomb and seldom went out. The subordinates that they had made for themselves were now also quite strong and were capable enough to handle more tasks.

    Only the beetle beast was the one that publicly went out, since her cultivation base was alreadymon knowledge in the forest. Lin Wu had seen most of the insect beasts fighting the disciples of the foremen clouds sect and guessed that they were doing so under themands of the beetle beast.

    And even if it was not her, it might have been her ancestor, the beetle king. The split thorn horn beetle king had to definitely follow Lin Wu now. After all, his very talented descendant was now a Nascent soul realm cultivator.

    It was also her to whom he was going to pass on the throne of the ruler when it came his time to die.

    Lin Wu watched the different screens as the disciples of the frozen cloud sect fought and died. Some ran away while some fought on bravely. Some even managed to defeat the beasts that were fighting them, but those that did meet even more terrifying beasts.

    Lin Mu''s other servants, the two bird bases, had joined the battle as well and were holding the ground in the middle area of the fifth ring now. A few ps of their wings and anyone that came close was dead.

    <em>~YAWN~</em>

    "This is just too easyбн" The High Wind Gale sparrow said while yawing.

    "I know, right? I wonder when master will return from seclusion. It''s been four years now." The Hook Winged Swan spoke.

    "Yeah, I miss him too. Which is strange as I never thought I would in the past." The Sparrow beast replied.

    "Mmhmm, if it were not for the fact that the link master established between us is still active, I would have thought he left us and went away somewhere. But he can still be sensed within the center of the tomb." The Swan beast said.

    "Master fought the Oliver Viper King and won. I''m sure he had some gains from it and is just taking time to recuperate from any injuries that he may have gotten. After all, we all saw just how devastated the area was.

    Even if master is very strong, it would be hard toe out of it without injuries. After all, even the Twin Lights Liger King had gotten injured when he battled with the olive viper king in the past." The Sparrow beast said after thinking a bit.

    "Yeahбн by the time we see him, he may be very strong." The swan beast agreed.

    "True. And that is exactly why we need to be strong, too. If we are too far behind master, we won''t be of any use to him. So let''s just do our best and carry out the orders that were given to us." The Sparrow beast said in a proud tone.

 Chapter 509 - The Isolated Shrine And The Caretaker Monkey

    Hearing the words of his servants, Lin Wu felt touched.

    <em>~Sniff~</em>

    "<em>Aww~</em> You guysбн" Lin Wu said before seeing the two bird beasts taking their leave.

    He switched the view to a different ce. This was a location he hadn''t really focused on for a long time now, ever since he actually got it.

    "I never got to this one. Wonder what the ck Fur Monkey did with this during these past yearsбн" Lin Wu said before scrolling through the screens and picking one at the very back.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The scene in front of him changed to that of a location that looked like a shrine. It was made out of carved stone and wood. There was arge wooden gate at the front that looked aged..

    There were certain words carved on it that were hard to read and were written in some old script that was long forgotten. Lin Wu himself though could read and understand it as it was a script that the system had deciphered for him.

    "Gate of Perseveranceбн that''s a heavy sounding name." Lin Wu muttered.

    He observed the gate and saw that had it been significantly cleaned up since hest saw it. Before the gate was covered in a thickyer of moss and was even tilted. But now it looked to be standing in the proper form and was clean as well.

    Behind the gate was the shrine''s courtyard, that was filled with grass and small nts. At the center of it went a paved stone path that fit the vibe of the shrine very well, giving off an aura of calmness.

    There were six ponds distributed in the shrine ording to Fengshui and there were also auspicious statues set up at certain ces. They too were cleaned and polished, giving them a rather luxurious look.

    Finally, at the end of the path, was the main building of the shrine. It was a simple square building with four supporting pirs and a curved roof. The eaves of the roof were colored red while the wood that was used to make it was brown. Its walls were made out of stone and had many murals carved onto it, giving it an aura of the ancients.

    Lin Wu could see a ratherrge person cleaning the backyard of the shrine right now. He was sweeping the dead leaves that hade from the trees in the backyard. There were several different kinds nted there, including thousand year old peach, Auburn Plum, and Amber Maple Trees.

    The multicolored leaves were scattered around the ground, and the man would gently sweep them to the side. He carried out the task very calmly and looked like a monk seeing the way he was dressed.

    "Huh? What happened to the monkey beast?" Lin Wu was confused.

    He tried to sense the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him and realized that he was actually at the Nascent soul realm now.

    "So he''s one of the monkeys that broke through to the Nascent Soul realmбн but wait, hang on, wasn''t he one of the weaker monkeys? How the heck did he break through first or second?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Soon the monkey beast turned around, letting Lin Mu take a look at him. Seeing his appearance, Lin Wu was shocked again.

    "No way that''s the same ck Fur Monkey!" Lin Wu eximed.

    The monkey beast now looked vastly different from before. It had grown out the hair on his face more than his body. It looked like he had a long mustache and a beard as well. His eyebrows were drooping at the sides, making him look like an old monk.

    The most eye catching part though, was the green gem that glowed in the center of his forehead. It looked like a third eye and even had a hint of white color in it. If one looked at the hands of the beast they would see that while his knuckle had the free emerald crystal on it, there were also white circles on the front and back of his palms.

    His nails were also white and shone like ss. Overall, he looked like a holy monk now.

    "Yeah, something definitely happened to this monkey beast. Did he gain some new abilities or something?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The system can show a separate log for this servant beast.

    бкбк

    "Oh yeah, show me that." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION LOG: essing

    NOTIFICATIONS: Loaded

    ***

    ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED: Location- Auxiliary shrine number 1

    DATA NODES DETECTED: Location- Auxiliary shrine number 1

    ANOMALY DETECTED: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has made contact with the anomaly.

    MUTATION DETECTED: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has absorbed the Energy source.

    DATA TRANSMISSION DETECTED. Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has assimted the data nodes.

    NOTIFICATION: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has obtained spirit Qi.

    NOTIFICATION: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has gained enlightenment.

    NOTIFICATION: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has gained elemental affinity (Light).

    NOTIFICATION: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has upgraded his cultivation base- Peak Stage of the Core Condescension realm -> Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    NOTIFICATION: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has gained enlightenment.

    NOTIFICATION: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has learned Qi skills.

    NOTIFICATION: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey] has sessfully mutated.

    NOTIFICATION: Host''s servant [ck Fur Monkey]''s bloodline has been changed- Currently unassigned.

    бкбк

    Seeing the stacks of notifications pertaining to just one of his servants, Lin Wu was stunned.

    "Soбн basically he gained something from the shrineбн was there really something there? If there was, then why didn''t the system detect it back then?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The said energy source was hidden and was in a sealed state. It only got released when the overall condition of the Tomb''s formation array started to increase.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн and just what was this energy source?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The energy source was a statue of a god. The ck Fur monkey touched it and absorbed the spirit Qi while also gaining data nodes which gave it enlightenment.

    бкбк

 Chapter 510 - The Peculiarity Of The Shrine And The Creator Of The Tomb

    Lin Wu widened his eyes upon learning about this.

    "No wonderбн could it have been a statue of the Taiji Celestial, perhaps?" Lin Wu wondered and looked inside the shrine.

    But there, the statue looked like apletely different man.

    "Huh? System whose statue is this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the recently decrypted information, this person is an elder disciple of the Taiji Celestial and is also the one who built the tomb in the Ming Dao World.

    He was called as Daoist Sky Bright and was a very high leveled cultivator. The rest of the records are still encrypted thus, this is all the information currently avable..

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн so an elder disciple and the creator of the tomb as wellбн he must have been assigned to make it in this world and could have even had direct contact with the Taiji Celestial." Lin Wu muttered.

    This was one of the questions that Lin Wu have had in his mind for quite some time now. The location was called as the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, but a tomb was only made when someone died. But from all that Lin Wu had learned till now about the man, it didn''t really seem like he was dead.

    Thus, having a tomb for the man that too made by some other disciples seemed strange to him. Plus, the tomb was meant to serve as a ce where the Taiji celestial could pass on his inheritance and also take in more disciples.

    "System, is the Taiji Celestialбн you knowбн dead?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This information is currently unknown. ording to the information and records that have been decrypted till now, they all point to him being alive.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн so the system is doubtful, too. Perhaps I''ll learn more in the future. Besides, the Taiji Celestial does not seem like someone that would be able to die easily." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu looked at the rest of the notifications and saw that the bloodline of the monkey beast had mutated as well, along with it gaining the affinity to the light element.

    Lin Wu knew that the light element was one of the four heavenly elements along with wind, lightning and darkness and was hard toe across. The people who had an affinity for it were quite few and rare to find.

    But Lin Wu also knew that the techniques of the Taiji Celestial dealt with the Yin and Yang. One of the mostmon ways to represent these two aspects was by nothing but Light and darkness.

    Light was Yang while darkness was Yin. Thus, if one gained control over the inheritance of the Taiji Celestia, they were bound to gain an affinity to both darkness and Light, eventually.

    And considering that, it seemed obvious that the monkey beast might be able to gain an affinity to the light element. After all, even the Taiji Celestia was split into two beings: Bai and Hei.

    Plus the Shadow element and the shadow cmity arose from the yin aspect of the Taiji Celestial as well.

    Seeing the white marks on the monkey beast''s palms and in the Pentagem, Lin Wu wondered if it was due to that as well. Thisbined with the monk like appearance, the monkey beast truly looked like an enlightened monk.

    "Guess I''ll learn more if I see ahead." Lin Wu muttered and looked back at the screen before unpausing the memory.

    <em>~sweep~sweep~sweep~</em>

    The monkey beast continued his endeavor of sweeping the dead leaves until the sound of several footsteps was hearding from the distance. His ears picked them up very easily but his spirit sense was even faster.

    His eyes that were almost closed, opened slightly, and he waved his hand.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    <em>~RUSTLE~</em>

    A wind started to blow before picking up all of the dead leaves on the ground. The leaves spun in a vortex before being carried to the side and being deposited into a single pile. The monkey beast flipped his hand and the broom that he was using to sweep the backyard shrunk in size before bending and turning into a bangle.

    The bangle automatically floated up to his hand and set itself over his wrist. The monkey beast then put his hands inside his sleeves and calmly walked over to the shrine.

    "Where the heck did he learn all these dramatic methods? Has he been attending acting school or something?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He knew that monkeys had what could be said to be a natural ''ir'' for drama and acting, but this was usably restricted to them causing mischief and teasing. But this was on apletely different level than what he had thought it would be.

    Lin Wu was quite impressed and thought that he was watching some old movie about a Kung Fu master that had been living in seclusion.

    Lin Wu switched his attention to the footsteps and wondered who it was that had just arrived here.

    "It can only be the disciples of the Frozen cloud sect. But which ones among those are they?" Lin Wu muttered.

    The fate of the disciples was pretty much set at this point, depending on what party they were from. If they were just anymon disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect, they would be swiftly killed.

    If they were a strong disciple they might live for long and struggle before being brutally killed.

    Perhaps only the ones that were from Wang Xiong''s camp might survive.

    "Oh? It really is them." Lin Wu realized.

    The ones that had arrived were none other than the Nascent soul realm senior disciple that was sent by Wang Xiong along with the rest of hispanions. The one surprising thing about them was that they were all alive with not a single person dead.

    The same could not be said for the other teams as in most teams, at least one person had been killed if not the entire team itself. The beasts of the millennium forest were harsh and Lin Wu wondered if they would be meeting the same fate too now.

 Chapter 511 - A Tian Clan Disciple And Quest

    "Whoa! Is this the ce we have been looking for?" one of the disciples questioned.

    "Seems like it considering how well kept it is." Another one of them answered.

    "But it''s not exactly how Chief disciple Wang Xiong described it." A female disciple said, her gaze cautious.

    "Hmmбн it could be the one we are looking for or something else altogether. But since we are here, we may as well check it." The Nascent soul realm senior disciple stated.

    "As you say, senior brother." The disciples all replied.

    They went up to the gate of the shrine and looked at it, feeling a bit stunned.

    "It is well maintainedбн doesn''t seem like it was abandoned or anything."

    "Mmmhmmбн perhaps someone is living here?"

    "That can''t be. If there was someone living there, won''t they hide or keep the ce to themselves? Who would let a ce of such power be left in open?"

    Many questions were in the minds of the disciples and they wondered what was the truth. The senior disciple though, looked at the characters that were carved on the door and tried to read it.

    His brows furrowed as he was unable to even recognize the words.

    "Do you know what this means, senior brother?" the cautious female disciple questioned.

    "I don''tбн it''s in some unknown script." The senior brother said.

    "Xiaoge aren''t you always reading the history and old records and stuff? Come, tell us if you can recognize anything." One of the disciples asked a small girl at the back.

    She had a meek expression and was short, being merely 150 centimeters tall. She scuttled to the front and took a closer look at the characters carved on the gate. Her gaze stayed on it for about five minutes, and she only looked away when she was called again.

    "Xiaoge! Xiaoge! Speakбн have you lost yourself again?" Her friend called out.

    "Thisбн I can''t really tell what it is. But I''ve read this character in a book before." Xiaoge pointed.

    "Oh? What is it and where did you read it?" The Nascent soul realm senior brother asked, feeling curious now.

    "I saw it back when I was in my n, the character''s meaning is ''Perseverance''." Xiaoge answered.

    "Your nбн the Tian n?" The Senior brother muttered.

    "I''m just from a small branch of the Tian n," Xiaoge corrected, a slight hint of fear in her eyes.

    "Okay, and this character means perseverance huhбн interesting." The Nascent soul realm senior brother said.

    Lin Wu who heard all this, was intrigued as well.

    "I didn''t think there would be someone else that would actually be able to recognize thisбн even the system could only do this after extrapting and analyzingrge amounts of data." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    And just as Lin Mu did this, he heard a notification from the system.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ISSUING QUESTS: Visit the Tian n and obtain their records

    INFO: The system has run into an obstruction when searching the records of the Tian n. Many such analytical streams lead to the conclusion that the Tian n may have a lot of unknown information.

    REWARD: Data bank update

    бкбк

    "Oh? A quest? It''s been a while since I got one." Lin Wu was surprised.

    The system hadn''t really given him quests in a long time and Lin Wu knew that it would only do so when it found something truly important. And this level of importance varied ording to his cultivation base and power.

    For example, the system wouldn''t issue a quest for a spirit herb that could no longer help him now. Whereas if Lin Wu was still in the Qi refining realm, the system would be issuing him quests left and right.

    Lin Wu had done what was basicallyбн over-grinding, like one would in an RPG game.

    ''Though now that I think of itбн I''ve basically been doing one side quest after the other and kinda pushed the main quest to the side. Seems like some habits never die huhбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    His attention went back to the Tian n, and he wondered what they were.

    "System, what''s the information that you have about the Tian n for now?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Tian n is a rtively reserved n that has little to no interactions with the secr world of the Long Continent. They use their weaker branches to interact with what little is absolutely necessary with the rest of the world.

    Their exact powers and man power is unknown, but the n heads of the branches are at the Nascent Soul realm. From this, the system can estimate that the main n may very well have Dao Shell realm experts.

    бкбк

    Seeing the information, Lin Wu was interested. The n wasn''t ranked in any way nor was it in any of the talks and conversations Lin Wu had listened to. They weren''t in the information and records he had read about the continent, either.

    "They''ve really managed to keep their working quite lowбн people only do that in worlds like these when they have something to hide or if they are really weak but smart. And in this caseбн I''m leaning on the former possibility." Lin Wu said, making up his mind to visit the Tian n sometime.

    There was no time limit on the quest, thus Lin Wu was free to visit it whenever he felt like it and there was nopulsion on him. Bringing his attention back to the situation at hand, Lin Wu saw how the disciples entered the courtyard of the shrine.

    <em>~CREAK~</em>

    The gate of the courtyard let out a loud creak. That was a bit usually harmonious. It didn''t seem like it was like that due to age or degradation, but rather it seemed like it was just made like that specifically.

    "Oh wow! This ce is better than the shrine in my n!" Someonemented.

    "Same here. Actually, this seems to be better than many capital city shrines as well.." Another disciple that was a bit more well-traveled added.

 Chapter 512 - A Monk

    The disciples gazed at the clean courtyard and the nts that were in it. The paved path, the auspicious statues and even the ponds were mesmerizing to them. There was a strange air in the ce that calmed down their minds.

    They continued to talk and talk, before eventually reaching the main building, which was nothing but the shrine inside. They came to a halt and hesitated to enter it.

    "Are guests not going toe inside?" A voice suddenly came out of the shrine.

    Hearing this, everyone was startled.

    "W-who?!" The Nascent soul realm senior brother was stunned.

    He couldn''t tell who the voice belonged to and realized that there was no way to use his spirit sense, either. The entire courtyard was like a locked area where the spirit sense simply did not work.

    It was as if there was a denseyer of iron around their bodies that prevented their spirit sense froming out. The enthralling environment of the courtyard hadpletely made them forget to use their spirit sense.

    The senior brother finally realized that they dropped their cautiousness entirely without even getting a hint of it happening. Cold sweat appeared on his back as he clenched his fist. He knew that the situation they were in was rather serious and if they did not deal with it properly, they might never go back.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "May we know who senior is?" The Senior brother asked carefully after assessing his options.

    Since his spirit sense did not work and seeing hispanions, it didn''t seem like they could use it either; the man took the cautious approach and estimated the voice to belong to a far stronger cultivator.

    "Why don''t guestse inside and see?" The voice spoke.

    Hearing this, the disciples were rmed and wanted to run away right that moment. But something told them that if they tried something like that it would not bid well for them. They swallowed their saliva and forced their bodies to stand in ce.

    Lin Wu who had been observing everything, was also shocked.

    "Damn, that monkey definitely took some drama sses! No way he learned how to act like a mysterious senior in the past few years. He didn''t even know how to use the human tongue before." Lin Wu said.

    He knew that among the beasts, there were very few that could speak the human tongue. At one point, everyone could do so, but it was certainly far higher than the Nascent Soul realm.

    The ones that could do so before that either had unique physiques that allowed them to do so, or used other methods like metalmunication to do. It wasn''t that they didn''t understand the human tongue, it was just that they could not physically speak it.

    Of the beasts that Lin Wu had met till now, perhaps only the Slim arm ape king, the demon spine ape king and Zhu Tianying were able to do so naturally. If Lin Wu were to think of it, it seemed a bit obvious that monkey and ape beasts that were naturally closer to humans would be able to do so.

    As for the second most likely beasts, it was none other than bird beasts, as could be seen from the normal mortal parrots and many such birds.

    Lin Wu himself was a weird anomaly and used alternative methods to speak. His own natural voice was a distorted screech that was terrifying to not only humans but other beasts.

    He had to actively modify his voice using cellr maniption and cellr crystallization to create unique structures that made speech when air passed through them. The system also helped him by modting and adjusting the voice.

    So far, Lin Wu hadn''t really gained a particrly deep control over his cells such that he could use them directly as vocal chords, but hoped that as his skill level rose, he would be able to do so.

    The Nascent soul realm senior brother deliberated for a bit, before finally making up his choice.

    <em>~Creak~</em>

    The door of the shrine was opened by the man and the inside of the shrine was finally visible. There they saw a statue of a man that looked valiant and cold. It was made rather skillfully and exuded a powerful aura despite not having any spirit Qiing out of it.

    There were no specific decorations inside the shrine, and it looked rather quaint. It was not that the decorations were missing, but instead, they were never needed in the first ce.

    But the most eye catching thing was none other than a person sitting in front of the statue. The person was sitting on his knees and seemed to be meditating. His back was towards the disciples, and they could feel the faint spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him.

    ''Nascent soul realm?'' The Senior brother detected.

    "A monk?" The disciples were surprised to see the attire of the person.

    But the senior brother felt suspicion instead. And it was because of several points. The monk''s hair seemed to be far too long, and it covered even his ears from what he could see from the back.

    Another thing was the size of the monk. The man seemed to be bigger than most average humans. Just fromparing the chief disciple Wang Xiong, who was considered to be more of the bulky and buffer disciples in the Frozen Cloud sect, the man found the monk to be two sizes bigger.

    "Wee, guests." The Monk spoke.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "Who are you, senior, and what is this ce?" A courageous disciple asked.

    <em>~Creak~</em>

    The floor boards creaked slightly as the monk stood up from his kneeling, meditative posture. Only now did the other disciples realize just how big the monk was. He was over 250 centimeters tall and seemed like he weighed several quintiles!

    And when the monk turned around, the disciples'' surprise turned into shock.

    "A B-Beast?" The Nascent soul realm disciple stuttered.

    Lin Wu watched with rapt attention, not wanting to miss anything as more and more snacks flew into his mouth.

    "Man the suspenseбн" He muttered as he munched.

 Chapter 513 - A Monkey Beast

    The disciples were quite nervous seeing the Monk, who was actually a beast. But even then, the appearance of the beast was strange to them, seeing as how it was actually trying to be like a monk.

    "I am but a humble monk working under my master." The Monkey beast replied.

    "Monk? You''re clearly a beast." One of the braver disciples spoke.

    "Who says that a beast cannot be a monk?" The monkey beast said with a smile.

    "Butбн butбн a monk needs to be human." The Disciple replied.

    "That is just the general thinkingбн to be a Monk what you need is not to be human, but to just have the devotion and dedication." The Monkey beast said in a sagely tone.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu couldn''t help but chuckle.

    "He''s now a ''Monk''ey beastбн hahaha!" Lin Wuughed.

    Having heard the monkey beast''s words, the Nascent soul realm senior disciple narrowed his eyes. He did not detect any offense or enmity in his voice, and neither could he feel that from his aura.

    ''Is he truly a monk?'' The disciple wondered.

    An awkward silence descended in the shrine where no one spoke and just stared at each other. After a minute passed like this, The Monkey beast decided to break it.

    "Why don''t guest take a seat? You all must be tired, I''ll bring some refreshments." The Monkey beast stated.

    The disciples looked at their senior brother for guidance, who nodded after thinking for a bit. He was still on guard and thus thought that even if something did happen, he would be able to act in time and prevent it.

    "We shall do as you say then, senior." The Nascent soul realm disciple spoke.

    The monkey beast nodded his head and waved his hand.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    Multiple sitting pillows appeared out of thin air, surprising the disciples. Even Lin Wu was surprised and wondered how he did it.

    "System, what''s up with that? I don''t think he used a spatial storage tool." Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The entire shrine has an overall operating formation array simr to the one in the tomb. In fact, it''s the same as the one in the tomb, just on a much smaller scale.

    бкбк

    "Ohбн that was unexpected. This shrine was made by the one who made the tomb rightбн the elder disciple of the Taiji Celestial, Daoist Sky Brightбн makes sense that he would be able to make a smaller version of the formation array as well.

    Though it''s strange that the monkey beast is able to control it so well. He certainly got a lot of gains, it seems like it." Lin Wu said.

    The disciples took seats on the sitting pillow while the monkey beast went to the back of the shrine. He returned about five minutester with two trays in his hands. One of them held several tea cups and a teapot while the other one held arge bowl with several fruits in them.

    <em>~thud~ thud~</em>

    He ced them on the table and prepared the tea first. He opened the lid and put some dried pink and red petals in it. He then swirled it for a minute, after which a pleasant and floral aroma came out of the teapot.

    "Huh? What kind of tea is this?" One of the female disciples asked, finding the scent of the tea nice.

    "This tea is made from the petals of some plum and peach trees I have here. I''ve made it myself but it''s nothing special." The Monkey beast said.

    After having prepared the tea, he poured it equally into the tea cups and gestured for them to take one each.

    "Please. You can try the fruits too, they are cultivated under my master''s orders." The Monkey beast said.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu raised his pointy red ears.

    "So that''s from the farms huhбн they are certainly getting better." Lin Wu said finding the fruits to be decent looking.

    Though he didn''t know if the fruits were any good or not and thoughts that he may as well judge themter. For now, he just needed to see what the intention of the monkey beast was.

    The disciples took the tea cups one by one and sipped on tea. The moment they did though, they felt a stream of spirit Qi swirling within their body.

    ''This tea is nothing special? Heck, if this is nothing special, then those special teas the elders drink are garbage.'' The disciples thought.

    Drinking a sip of the tea was the same as eating an alchemical pill. They took a few more sips and quickly finished the entire cup. They were already tired and had used up quite a bit of their spirit Qi in the journey here and thus this helped replenish it.

    "Good Tea!" The Nascent soul realm disciple said.

    "Thank you for your kind words." The Monkey beast said with a smile.

    The guards of the disciples were lowered by this point and even the senior brother was the same. They tried the fruits that were kept in the bowl and took a bite each. Their surprise was no less than when they drank the tea.

    "These areбн spirit fruits? That too of mid grade?" A disciple couldn''t help but speak this time.

    All of them ate a fruit each and the bowl was soon empty. After that, they looked at the beast/monk in wonder.

    "So what does senior do here? And what is this shrine?" The Nascent soul realm senior brother questioned.

    "This is the shrine of the Sky Bright Daoist. As for what I''m doing hereбн I''m just waiting for the fated." The Monkey beast answered.

    "Sky Bright Daoist?" The disciples were intrigued.

    They tried to remember if they knew any venerated figure like this, but could not do so. They also took looks at the statue but did not recognize it from any of their records that they had read.

    "What kind of fated do you mean?" The senior brother questioned.

 Chapter 514 - Fated And Two Trials

    This was the question that even Lin Wu had, and he focused on the entire scene.

    "I am looking for those that are fated with my master. Those who are and can pass the trials will be his disciples." The monkey beast revealed.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu felt like face palming.

    "I don''t think I even told him to do all this. I never followed up with the orders after telling him to clean and maintain the shrine." Lin Wu said to himself.

    That was also the reason why he was confused. Since he had not given them any specific orders after taking care of the shrine, he wondered if they had some other agenda than that.

    But now it was confirmed that it was not so and that monkey beast had just started to think of the future on his own.

    "Seems like he went from monkey brain to big wrinkle brain, huhбн at least I''ll have someone smarter under me now." Lin Wu felt a bit pleased.

    The disciples though, had apletely different expression. They were instead excited.

    "Did weбн find it?" one of them said.

    "Is this the ce that senior brother Wang Xiong was talking about?" A female disciple said.

    "Ah, so you all are sent by Wang Xiong." The monkey beast said.

    Information about Wang Xiong was no secret among Lin Wu''s servants and they knew of him and that he was a subordinate under Lin Wu as well. To them, it was just a matter of pride and they felt better than even a human was a subordinate of their master.

    Plus, Lin Mu had already left instructions on what to do if Wang Xiong ever came back. If he came to the Tomb, it was inevitable that he would end up meeting some of the beasts. Thus to him, it was better to exin some of the ns to the servant beasts, and he had done so before he went to hibernate.

    Hearing the name of their chief disciple from the mouth of the monkey beast and the familiarity, the Frozen Cloud sect disciples felt that this was truly the ce where they had been striving toe, too.

    "You know Senior brother Wang Xiong?" The Nascent soul realm disciple asked.

    "Of course I do. Wang Xiong is also working under my master." The monkey beast replied.

    "Working under him!?" The disciples were shocked.

    Information like this was a huge mountain to them and could cause a lot of trouble if it got out. After all, being the chief disciple of a sect and then working under some other master was a ring signal that the person was a traitor.

    "Indeed. My master passed him the inheritance of his own master after Wang Xiong qualified the trials." The monkey beast spoke.

    Now the disciples had confirmed for sure that this was where Wang Xiong had gained the new techniques and be so strong.

    "So does this meanбн others can be like that too?" The Nascent soul realm disciple asked, while the rest looked on in excitement.

    "Of course. That is exactly why I am here." The monkey beast replied.

    "YES! We seeded!" The disciples said out loud.

    "So how do we do that, senior?" The Nascent soul realm senior brother asked.

    "Well, you have two choices for the trials. You can decide which one you want to attempt. One of them is the same as that Wang Xiong took while the other one is what I took." The monkey beast spoke.

    "What are the differences Senior?" They questioned.

    "Well, I can say this directly that the one I have taken is far inferior. The one that Wang Xiong took is of a top grade inheritance." The monkey beast answered.

    Hearing this, the disciples felt like there were thunders shing in their minds.

    "WE''LL TAKE THE ONE THAT SENIOR WANG XIONG TOOK!" they all said in unison.

    "Of course you can. As long as you pass the tests of the Sky Bright Daoist, you can proceed on to the main Tomb." The monkey beast said with a smile, but this time, it was mischievous.

    "What?" The disciples were confused.

    "Everyone will have to take the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist. Only those that can pass it can go further to take the same trials like that of Wang Xiong. If you can''t even pass the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist, there is no chance you will pass the other''s that are far more dangerous and difficult.

    Losing your life would be amon possibility." The Monkey beast said.

    <em>~GULP~</em>

    Hearing this, the disciples couldn''t help but swallow their saliva. They looked at each other before making up their minds.

    "We shall do it! We''ll take the trials." They stated.

    "Alright, but before you take them, let me tell you this and warn youбн these trials are not simple and may take you years toplete. Then there is the advantage of the first trial, which is of the Sky Bright Daoistбн even if you fail them you will not die.

    And failure is not permanent. You can keep on trying. There are no limits to the number of attempts." The Monkey beast expanded.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    All of the disciples couldn''t help but take breaths of relief after hearing this. They had already heard that the things may not be simple from their chief disciple. They wanted to know more, but Wang Xiong was unwilling to tell them.

    But what they didn''t know was that Wang Xiong didn''t tell them because he was unwilling, but rather because he himself didn''t know how things would proceed. He knew that he himself had won due to luck and that the difficulty of the tomb was a mystery.

    He was the first one there in many years and the tomb had just awakened. And from what he had heard from Lin Wu, there may be more changesing.. He thus thought that it was better to leave it to fate for now.

 Chapter 515 - Arrival Of Unknown Beasts

    Lin Wu then saw how the disciples got ready for the trials. They went for the trails of the Sky Bright Daoist first, as was the need. He didn''t know why the monkey beast had chosen to put this condition but Lin Wu didn''t really mind it either way.

    He could tell that the techniques of the Sky Bright Daoist were inferior to that of the Taiji Celestial, of course, and the inheritance that he was passing on was for a lower kind of technique that he hadprehended himself.

    "Hmmбн system can I see the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Trials of the Sky Bright Daoist are held in a separate array architecture and is inessible from the main formation array.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн guess I''ll check it outter." Lin Wu muttered.

    He could now tell that the monkey beast was probably doing this so that he could fulfill some kind of a condition that he had. He reckoned that when the monkey beast got the inheritance himself, he may have had to also get others to join him as a condition.

    And that may have been why he was getting all of them to take the trials. He would of course not break the orders that Lin Wu had given and had stated directly that the Sky Bright Daoist''s inheritance was inferior and that the Taiji Celestial could still be obtained after passing.

    That way, those that did not pass the Taiji Celestial''s trials would still gain the inheritance of the Sky Bright Daoist. In a way, it was a win-win situation and didn''t really cause Lin Wu any specific problem.

    It was actually helping him dy for time since he would not have been able to interfere with the trials if he was in hibernation.

    "I wonder how they are doing nowбн since this is from five years ago, they should be done by now." Lin Wu wondered.

    The memories had now ended here, and Lin Wu was switching to the ones that the avatar had.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The scene changed and now he could see things from the perspective of the avatar instead.

    "Oh? What''s this? Someone came to challenge?" Lin Wu said upon seeing the scene.

    Lin Wu saw several beasts standing around the Tomb. Most of them were the ones that were under the servants of Lin Wu, but there were also some beasts that didn''t seem like they belonged to the millennium forest.

    "Now who are they?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He tried to recognize the beasts but could not.

    "System, any idea?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The beasts are southern Tusk Tapirs. They live beyond the area of the Frozen Cloud sect and are highly territorial.

    бкбк

    "Huh? Why are they here then if they are like that?" Lin Wu wondered and watched the memory.

    ***

    "What are you all doing? You dare tread upon thend of King Lin Wu?" The Hook Winged Swan said in a fierce tone.

    "<em>Ptui~</em> What King? He''s merely a Nascent soul realm beast. Our tribe has many such members. From now on, this area is ours and you all can either be ves or get lost!" The leader of the Southern Tusk''s Tapirs said.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu felt a bit bewildered.

    "What is this? The young master equivalent of a beast?" Lin Wu said in disbelief.

    "You dare?!" The Hook Winged swan said before jumping down.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    His wings created sharp winds that pushed the trees and smaller beasts away before they could even do anything.

    "HUMPH! Impudent!" The Leader said as they started to battle.

    At first, the Hook Winged Swan seemed to be doing well, but the defense of the Souther Tusk Tapir was just too high. Their sharp tusks were also quite dangerous and could create deep wounds.

    Even though the Hook Winged Swan was at the Nascent Soul realm as well, it was only at the Infant Soul stage and was not in a right match up against the Tapir beast. They fought for about thirty minutes and no one came out on top.

    Though it didn''t seem like the Hook Winged swan would be able to do much and he was also getting exhausted.

    <em>~CHIRP~</em>

    It was at this time a loud sound came from the distance.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Strong winds blew as another bird beast arrived in front of the two fighting beasts. This was none other than the High Wind Gale Sparrow.

    "STOP!" He shouted as razor sharp gusts of winds spread in the area.

    <em>~deng~deng~deng~</em>

    The winds shed against the tough skin of the tapirs and managed to injure the weaker ones.

    "Calling for help, huh? Won''t be enough." The leader of the Tapir beast said before letting out a loud cry.

    <em>~TROOOOOO~</em>

    More Tapir beasts appeared and now there were over ten Nascent soul realm Tapir Beasts here. Seeing this Lin Wu was feeling weirder and weirder.

    "Something definitely happened during this timeбн a shame that the main system was offline so we can''t check the other data." Lin Wu muttered.

    Since all of this had already happened before, he could only watch as the result had long since been decided.

    <em>~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~</em>

    But the arrival of the Tapir beasts also triggered the other rulers of the millennium forest. And along with them, the remaining servants of Lin Wu arrived as well.

    The Slim Arm ape king fought one of the Tapir Beasts that was at the Adolescent Stage, while the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King did the same. The Demon Spine ape was even more ambitious and took on two Child Soul stage Nascent soul realm tapir beasts on his own.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    <em>~THUD~ </em>

    <em>~BAM~</em>

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    The battle raged on for a long time and the area was greatly changed due to it. Only the immediate surroundings of the Tomb were safe due to the Formation array protecting it.

    <em>~huu~huu~huu~</em>

    The rulers of the forest were now exhausted as three days had passed since the battle had begun.

 Chapter 516 - Battle For The Millennium Forest

    No one had expected the battle tost this long, and neither had they expected that more than twenty Nascent soul realm beasts would descend into the Millennium forest today. All of them were from the Tapir Tribe and were the same kind of beasts.

    Lin Wu had read the information about the Southern Tusk Tapirs by now and had learned that they were highly territorial, and this also meant that they would only move from theirnd in very specific conditions.

    One of the reasons was if a certain Tapir beast was exiled from the tribe but had a lot of subordinates. Then those members would probably follow that tapir beast and upynd somewhere else.

    But it did not seem like that was the case here, since there were over twenty Southern Tapir Beasts here. This led Lin Wu to believe that it may be due to some other reason, and that was the expansion of a tribe.

    Sometimes when a tribe got too big, they would not have the necessary area around them that was suitable for living and thus they would look for greener pastures. Souther Tusk Tapirs were strong spirit beasts and needed an equally good area to live in.

    And since their old territory already had plenty of other beasts living nearby, they had no choice but to look further. But then, the next closest area that was habitable was none other than the Frozen Cloud sect''s territory.

    While the sect might not mind a couple of Nascent soul beastsing to live there as it would just be considered as increasing the sect''s value, when tens of them appeared and started to cause trouble while hurting the disciples, they had to take action.

    Thus, they could not stay there either and had to escape. Finally, they reached the next best location that was the millennium forest. Hearing that there were just five Rulers that were at the Nascent Soul realm, the tapir beasts thought it was ripe for the taking.

    While the Tapir beasts had the quantity, they didn''t have as much of a quality on their side. The strength of their members wasn''t that high overall with most being at the Child Soul stage or below.

    After all, the Nascent soul realm Southern Tusk Tapirs were just the higher ups of their tribe. There were hundreds of other beasts that were at the Core condensation realm and below.

    <em>With so many beasts appearing, the ecosystem of the Millennium forest was being flipped basically.</em>

    <em>~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~</em>

    Lin Wu saw an explosion happening on the northern side of the forest as well.

    "Will the Lamp Light Ligers be able to hold the north?" The Gale Wind Sparrow questioned.

    "The Twin Lights Liger King will make a move if something gets too troublesome. That is one point we don''t need to worry about. Now we only have the south to defend. The east and west are being taken care of by the others." The Slim Arm ape answered as he mmed his fists into the head of a Tapir beast, eliciting an angry grunt from it.

    The battle right now seemed to be very intense, but it was actually not a deadly one. If the Nascent soul realm beasts wanted, they could reach a conclusion very soon if they used their full power.

    But something like that wouldn''te without its own set of problems. It would be the same as the battle between Lin Wu and the Demon Spine ape. It would progress quickly but both parties would get injured and exhausted at the end.

    Plus, the damage to the surroundings would be problematic as well. Not to mention there were many important areas around here.

    The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King was especially worried since the eggs that were recentlyid were quite nearby. Since the area around the Tomb was the safest in the forest right now due to Lin Wu''s presence, the beetle king had decided to use that for the Egg clutches.

    But he never expected that trouble like this would be arriving one day. In the past five years, the Insect beasts had a lot of development and even had four more Nascent soul realm beasts among them.

    The scorpion beast and several more that Lin Wu had mutated were the ones that had broken through. Plus some of them had alreadyid eggs and the new offspring that were born from those eggs were stronger than their parents.

    This led the beetle king to believe that the power of the insect beasts was now on the rise and he had to do his best to keep it up. Plus, since he was allied with Lin Wu anyway, it was fine to get a bit closer to his territory.

    And just to not have any problems, he had even gotten his descendant, who was the servant of Lin Wu to check everything. She was also the one who was taking care of the area and protecting it.

    The beetle Beast was fine with it as to her, this was just more servants for her master.

    But now in the battle, things were getting strenuous.

    "Where is King Lin Wu? Why does he not appear?" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King questioned.

    "Masterбн is in seclusion." The beetle beast replied as she used her Horn to flip two Tapir beasts into the air.

    "He''s still in seclusion?! It has nearly been six years now!" The Demon Spine ape who heard it was surprised.

    Even he who liked to cultivate and get stronger could not keep up a session that was this long. Perhaps only some of the more older and experienced beasts might have the level of patience needed for that.

    The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King''s eyes narrowed, and he thought of something.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "We hold out ground then! We won''t let these beasts take over ournd!" He shouted and let out a loud screeching cry.

    And just as he did that, a strong wave of spirit Qi came from the distance.

    "Huh?! It can''t be!" The Slim Arm Ape shouted.

 Chapter 517 - Silver Tusk Tapir

    The spirit Qi wave that had juste from the distance was far stronger than normal and pulled everyone''s attention.

    Everyone looked in the distance and saw arge Southern Tusk Tapir Beast appear. It was three times as big as the other ones, and its tusks were a shining silver in color. It looked like a hill flying in the sky and a powerful aura was exuding from it.

    "YOU BEASTS HAVE LIVED LONG ENOUGH! NOW IT''S THE TIME FOR MY GREAT TAPIR TRIBE TO RISE!" The Silver Tusked Tapir Shouted.

    All the beasts could feel the pressure exuding and the rulers particrly sensed the cultivation base of the Tapir beast that had just appeared.

    "Dao Shell realmбн THAT BEAST IS AT THE DAO SHELL REALM!" The Slim Arm ape recognized.

    He was one of the few beasts who had actually seen cultivators and beasts with that cultivation base before and knew it very well.

    Once all the beasts heard it, they were scared. A Dao shell realm beast was something that Millennium forest had never seen before. The strongest beast that had even lived in there had reached the absolute peak of the Adult Stage of the Nascent Soul realm at most.

    But they had never actually broken through to the Dao Shell realm. Even now, only the Twin Lights Liger King was considered to be the strongest of the beasts with the highest cultivation base in the forest.

    Lin Wu was also quite strong, but the beasts did not exactly know what point he was at. While the fight between him and the Olive Viper King was fierce and caused a lot of destruction, it was still not enough for them to estimate if he would be able to fight a Dao Shell realm beast.

    "AHAHAHA! Our King has arrived!" The Southerner Tusk Tapirs rejoiced.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The Silver Tusk Tapir stepped on the ground, making it shake and tremble. The weaker beasts had directly fainted, while the ones that were a bit more strong were now running away.

    It was a deep seated instinct that was making them act like this and they could not resist it even if they wanted to. Soon, only the Nascent soul realm beasts of the Millennium forest were left.

    This included the rulers, the servants of Lin Wu and a few other beasts that Lin Wu had mutated for the rulers.

    "What do we do now?" The Hook winged swan questioned.

    It had one of its wings broken and blood was dripping from it. The other beasts were no good and most of them had pretty bad injuries. The same could also be said for the ruler beasts.

    A few of the other servants of Lin Wu, such as the mole beast who was holding the beasts in the west back, also sensed the appearance of the Silver Tusked Tapir who was the king of the Southern Tusk Tapirs.

    At this moment, they knew that they had very few options left. All the servants of Lin Wu tried to frantically contact him. Even if they knew that Lin Wu would be disturbed, they still chose to do it as it would possibly harm Lin Wu too, if the beasts were not stopped.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    It was at this moment a humming sound came from the tomb.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    The formation array of the Tomb lit up and hundreds of thousand sod runes appeared in the air. At the same time, a strange mechanical voice was heard.

    "ss 3 Threat detected! Activating defensive protocols!"

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    Suddenly, the runes started to fly around the Silver Tusk Tapir and rapidly formed into different fomentations.

    <em>~ding~ding~ding~</em>

    One by one, barriers started to form around the Silver Tusked Tapir.

    "Humph!! IMPUDENT! You think this can stop me?!" The Silver Tusk Tapir shouted.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    It then mmed its body into the barriers, making them shape non stop. Seeing this through, the other beasts were shocked.

    "WHAT!? The barriers blocked an attack from our king?" the Southern Tusk Tapirs said in shock.

    The rulers were surprised too, while the servants of Lin Wu took breaths of relief.

    "It''s master! He''s taking action!" The Beetle beast said.

    They had all seen Lin Wu use the formations before and knew that something like this could probably only be done by Lin Wu, unaware that it was actually the system that was controlling the reins for now.

    Unfortunately, their excitement was short lived.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    "Huh?" The Split Thorn Horn beetle king said upon hearing the cracking sound.

    Everyone looked at the barriers and saw that a crack had appeared in the innermost barrier.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    "YOU FOOLS ARE JUST DELAYING THE INEVITABLE!" The Silver Tusked Tapir shouted as it continued to m its body into the barriers.

    And he was seeding in his endeavor as well, since the barriers started to break.

    <em>~SHATTER~</em>

    The first barrier finally broke apart and the second one followed soon after. The more space the Silver Tusked Tapir got to move, the stronger his attacks got.

    <em>~CRASH~</em>

    "NO!" The Slim Arm ape and the others shouted.

    The barriers finally broke apart, and the Silver Tusked Tapir managed to free himself.

    "AHAHAHA! Now prepare to meet your end!" The Silver Tusked Tapir said.

    He then raised his head and gathered spirit Qi into his tusks. His silver tusks were like bamboos after a spring rain. They started to grow at a rapid speed and soon reached a length of ten meters long!

    "NOW DIE!" The Silver Tusked Tapir Beast yelled and charged towards the rulers.

    They all rushed to avoid the attack of the tapir king, but were still too slow aspared to the tapir king. After all, the speed of a Dao Shell realm beast was not something that could be easily ovee.

    The approaching body of the Tapir King was like a meteor falling towards the earth and looked very intimidating. The Demon Spine ape was feeling helpless and angry at himself and dark red mes started to burn on its body.

    "I''LL KILL YOU FIRST EVEN IF I DIE!" The Demon Spine ape shouted and jumped at an incredible speed.

    His aura suddenly spiked and became like a crushing millstone. The Slim Arm Ape who saw this was stunned.

    "NO SON! NO!!! Don''t use that!" The Slim Arm ape couldn''t help but shout.

    Dark red mes covered the fists of the Demon Spine ape and even his eyes started to burn. He looked like a demon that had just walked out of the pits of hell and charged towards the Southern Tusk Tapir King fearlessly.

    It was his bloodline that made him innately violent and when he was threatened with death like this, his hidden potential was unleashed. Rather than dying under the power of another beast and helplessly waiting for it to happen, he chose to perish on his own terms.

    Using all the power that he could muster from his body and bloodline, he came forth.

    But just as the Demon Spine ape and the Silver Tusk Tapir were about to collide, a white cloud appeared in the middle of them.

    <em>~poof~</em>

    Then, as if both of them had hit a ball of cotton, their attacks were neutralized.

    "Huh?"

    "What?!"

    "WHAT IS THAT?"

    Different questions were asked by the remaining beasts, but their general meaning was the same. They were all confused about the cloud that had just appeared. The beetle beast and the two bird servants of Lin Wu let out a cold breath.

    They could feel death creeping upon them and now the appearance of the clouds was no less of a shock.

    "Is that master?" The couldn''t help but wonder.

    To them, only Lin Wu could do something at this moment, thus this was all they could think of. Since Lin Wu had already acted and used the barriers, they just thought that this was his next attempt.

    The Demon Spine Ape stared at his ming hands that were easily stopped by the white clouds and felt rather perplexed. He could tell that they were fine and his attack was stopped. But he didn''t feel a recoil, either.

    "What is this?" The Demon Spine Ape King questioned.

    While on the other hand, the Silver Tusk Tapir was very angry.

    "WHO DARES!?" Unlike the other beasts, he could sense more.

    "Who dares interfere in my fight!?" The Tapir King continued.

    Hearing this, the other rulers and Lin Wu''s servants were confused. They had expected it to be some kind of a skill that had been blocked, but now the Tapir King''s words were proving to be rather different.

    <em>~SIGH~</em>

    And then a sighing sound was heard. It was low, but echoed rather clearly within the ears of all beasts.

    "I thought this would be a simple and easy jobбн and now you have toe and ruin it." A voice came from the white cloud.

    The mechanical voice made its return as well.

    "Defensive Protocols: Sessful. Activating Offensive Protocol: Version 3!"

    "Okay, okayбн I''ll do as I promised," The voice from the cloudszily said.

    After that, the cloud split into two, and a person appeared from it.. It was a man that was wearing a white fox mask on his face.

 Chapter 518 - Demon Beast

    Seeing the person, Lin Wu was confused.

    "Now who the heck is that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The person in the white fox mask waved his hands and pushed the two clouds away, pushing the Demon Spine Ape and the Sliver Tusk Tapir along with it. This was a shocking action to every one, since the ease with which he did it was stunning.

    "WHAT?! Who is that?" The Slim Arm Ape king questioned.

    He could very clearly tell that it was not a beast and was probably a human. But seeing the show of strength, he was even more varied. For a human to push a Dao Shell realm beast along with a Nascent soul realm beast meant that they had a high cultivation base than them.

    The Slim Arm Ape instantly became alert and spread his spirit sense, trying to probe the person in the white fox mask. But the moment his spirit sense got close, it was blocked by an invisibleyer.

    "Huh? I can''t check this either?" The Slim Arm ape was surprised.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    The man in the fox mask casually nced around him and sighed again.

    "I''ll get rid of them. You all stay back and don''t interfere." The man in the white fox mask spoke.

    The rulers and Lin Wu''s servants were confused upon hearing this.

    "You''re talking to us?" The Beetle beast questioned.

    "Yes, all of you. Now that I''m here, I''ll deal with the Tapir beasts." The man in the white fox mask said before turning to look at the Silver Tusk Tapir.

    The tapir beasts were simrly shocked and were wondering just who was it that was now interfering in the fight of their leader.

    "YOU DARE!? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" The Silver Tusk Tapir Beast lets out a loud bellow.

    <em>~Boom~boom~boom~</em>

    It ran towards the man in the white fox mask, intending to impale him with his long silver tusks. But the man shrugged it off like it was nothing and dodged it with ease.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The Silver Tusk Tapir mmed into the ground, creating along gully at the side of the tomb.

    "HNGGG!!!!" The Silver Tusk Tapir let out hot air from its snout and raised its head again.

    It charged towards the man in the white fox mask, who waved his hands and created more clouds.

    "Frost Land Domain!" The man stated.

    The clouds started to spread rapidly in the area as the temperature fell.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Soon, cold winds started to blow and snow started to fall from the clouds. A terrifying aura started to emanate from the man in the white fox mask. It was as if a dam had been broken and his true power was finally released.

    "A Dao Shell realm cultivator? Noбн not just thatбн he''s at the highest stageбн" The Slim Arm ape king muttered.

    He had seen such cultivators before and could tell the difference just from the intensity of the aura. But after a few seconds, the aura started to get a lot more colder and oppressive.

    "Ugh!" The Demon spine ape grunted in displeasure.

    "What happened?" The Slim Arm Ape King asked with concern.

    "That manбн his aura is dangerousбн but also familiar. It can suppress my bloodline somehow." The Demon spine ape stated.

    "It can?" The Slim arm Ape king said as his eyes narrowed.

    And while the father and son ape kings were talking and had just realized something about the man in the white fox mask, the Sliver Tusk Tapir Beast was the same. In fact, it seemed to be even more shocked.

    "WHAT!? What''s a Demon beast like you doing here?" The Silver Tusk Tapir beast questioned in shock.

    The two words, Demon Beast, echoed across the area and were heard by each and every beast that was there. The Slim Arm ape had a face of realization and couldn''t help but flinch a bit.

    "It can''t beбн another demon beast? And one that has already attained the human form?" The Slim Arm Ape King muttered.

    "A Demon Beast? What''s that father?" The Demon Spine Ape King questioned.

    "That is what you areбн at least partially." The Slim Arm Ape King answered.

    "Huh? I''m a Demon Beast?" The Demon Spine Ape was confused.

    "Your mother was a Demon Beastбн albeit not on the same level as that man. And thus you are a half Demon beast." The Slim Arm Ape King exined.

    There were a lot of questions that were popping up in the mind of the Demon Spine ape, but he knew that now was not the time to ask them. Lin Wu was in a simr situation and was thinking about Demon Beasts as well.

    He had read a bit about them before, and the system had given him some input right now as well.

    Demon beasts were nothing but beasts that had the bloodlines of demons in them.

    Simr to how humans could have beast bloodlines, the beasts could also have demon bloodlines.

    This was usually due to a beast having an ancestor that managed to reach a high enough cultivation base so as to transform into a humanoid form.

    The offspring of a transformed Beast and Demon was a Demon beast.

    Demon beasts were a rather peculiar breed of creatures. Due to how proliferated the demon race and the beast race were across the many worlds, they could be found almost everywhere.

    Many beasts often had traces of demon bloodlines in them and the only thing that mattered was if it was pure enough or not. If it was pure, they would be able to awaken it and be a Demon Beast.

    If it was not pure enough and had a lot of bloodlines mixed, it was called impure. Beasts with this were unable to awaken it, but there were still some beasts who, through some stroke of luck or a fortunate encounter, manage to awaken that bloodline.

    The mostmon difference that was there between Demon beasts and normal beasts was the fact that they could actually gain humanoid forms way faster.

 Chapter 519 - A Blizzard

    Even in the Nascent Soul realm, there were several demon beasts who managed to gain a humanoid form. And the higher their cultivator base went, the closer they could get to a true human form.

    "Huhбн so the Demon Spine Ape king is basically three quarters Beast and one quarter Demon?" Lin Wu estimated.

    Lin Wu took a few more looks at the Man in the Fox Mask, or he must say Demon Beast in the fox mask.

    "Hmmбн looking at his choice of attire, he must be a fox Demon beast, right?" Lin Wu guessed.

    "Oh yeah, system what''s his cultivation base? He seems way too strong even for Dao Shell realm. Perhaps evenparable to Zhu Tianying." Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Fox Demon Beast is at the Shell Expansion Stage of the Dao Shell realm. ording to the System''s estimation, the Demon beast has been in this stage for at least several centuries.

    бкбк

    Reading this Lin Wu was rather confused.

    "Why has he not chosen to breakthrough? It''s quite obvious that he has all the requirements. I meanбн his control of ice and frost seems as good as Zhu Tianying''s control over fire. It should be easy for him to create a Dao Embryo." Lin Wu wondered.

    But since he could not get any answers now, he had to shelve it for the time being and focus on the fight.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The falling snow gained momentum and turned from a gentle snowfall into an all out blizzard. The snow blew and buffeted all the beasts that were around the area.

    "EVERYONE GET BACK!" The Slim Arm Ape King ordered.

    He didn''t even need to speak half of the sentence and all of the beasts that were there were already retreating. This included the Split Thorn thorn beetle king, the Demon Spine Ape King, Lin Wu''s servants, and even some of the Tapir Beasts that were getting affected by it.

    Thankfully for them, the Fox Demon Beast controlled the clouds and made it so that it only spread towards the Tapir Beasts and not towards the others.

    "Why is someone like you interfering? What do you want? Territory? With your power, you can easily get it!" The Silver Tusk Tapir questioned.

    "My aims are none of your concerns. All you need to know is that if you do not retreat, death is your only option." The Fox Demon Beast said.

    Hearing the voice, Lin Wu could clearly tell that it belonged to that of a man. One that was possible in his thirties.

    ''Just what kind of a deal did the system make with the Demon beast? For someone as strong as this to ept, there must have been some kind of a price.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He watched as the Silver tapir beast only got more angry and steam came out of his snout and mouth.

    "So you don''t agreeбн fineбн I''ll just end it." The Fox Demon Beast said before raising his hands.

    "Forbidden Frost Scripture: Absolute Winter Barrage!"

    The moment the incantation was said, it was as if a white carpet had been spread all over the area. Everything became white and cold. The trees and ground could not be seen at all, and a bone chilling wind blew.

    The Silver Tusk Tapir beast that was huffing hot air angrily was nowhere to be seen, having been buried under the massive snow nket. The blizzard raged on as it spread more and more.

    "RUN!!!" The Souther Tapir Beasts shouted and tried to escape.

    <em>~Woong~</em>

    The blizzard drowned all of them and soon covered arge area of the fifth ring of the millennium forest. No trace of the Tapir beasts could be seen, and only the man in the fox mask could be seen standing in the sky.

    He looked at the scene below with a high gaze, as if what he had killed were mere insects. The Slim Arm Ape King and the others who had just seen all of this were left with fear in their hearts.

    They felt that they were lucky this person was on their side, otherwise, they probably would have perished either way.

    "Just what kind of people does master know? He even got a strong cultivator like this to help out?" The High Wind Gale sparrow spoke.

    This sentence was like water being poured over the head of the Slim Arm ape king. He realized the crux of the entire thing.

    ''Of course! It was him who asked this demon beast toe help. If he can do something like this, then he must have some strong connectionsбн I don''t think I''ve even heard of a demon beast like this before.

    It has certainly lived a long time and with ice abilities like his, he should have been well known. Even when I was with master, I never heard of a beast like thisбн'' The Slim Arm Ape King thought to himself.

    The image of Lin Wu in his mind went up a few more ranks and a strange glint appeared in his eyes.

    "If he can call a Demon beast like this, thenбн he can certainly fulfill thatбн he should definitely be able to figure out the mystery of the millennium forest! He will fulfill master''sst wish." The Slim Arm Ape King muttered to himself.

    While the others did not hear him right now, Lin Wu certainly did.

    "Huhбн now he''s mistakenбн and a master? He wants me to fulfill his master''s wish, what''s that about?" Lin Wu wondered as well.

    ''Guess I''ll talk to him about thister.'' He decided.

    He put his attention back on the area and saw the man in the white fox mask wave his hands again. This time though, the clouds started to retreat and were absorbed back into his hands.

    In about a minute, all of the clouds were gone and just the snow was left below.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The Nascent soul realm beasts and ruler swallowed their saliva and looked at the aftermath.

 Chapter 520 - Memory Sequence Completed

    The snow covered forest looked out of ce and it was hard to imagine that it would ever be in a state like this. The region that the Millennium Forest was located in was warm overall and even in winters it never really snowed.

    If one wanted to see snow, they would have to go quite far to the north, or to the very south. Of course, there were also some smaller locations that were quite highly elevated and thus snow could be seen there as well.

    "Damn, that was a strong skillбн and that nameбн isn''t that one of the higher leveled techniques of the Frozen Cloud sect?" Lin Wu recognized.

    The Forbidden Frost Scripture was something he had learned about in the sect, and even Wang Xiong had some information about it. In fact, the skill that he had used to defeat the cmity beast egg in the trials was one of the lower ones from the Forbidden Frost Scripture.

    This made Lin Wu wonder if this Demon Beast was from the Frozen Cloud sect as well.

    "Interestingбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    The rulers and the rest of the beasts approached the area and observed the snow.

    "Wh-whatбн in theбн thatбн just what kind of a strength is that?" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King was astounded.

    Each and every beast here was shocked and could tell that the man in the fox mask was far stronger than any beast here, even more than the Twin Lights Liger King. And even Lin Wu, who had shown a lot of power, did not reach the same point.

    After all, he had just killed a Dao Shell realm beast in just a minute. This was not something that even another Dao Shell realm beast in a higher stage could do normally.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    And just as they were observing it all, they found that the snow was now starting to reduce at a visible pace. It wasn''t melting but rather just disappearing, which was a bit strange.

    In about a minute, the entire nket of snow was gone and only some frozen statues were left behind. These were of course, the Silver Tusk Tapir and the rest of the Southern Tusk Tapirs.

    All of them were frozen solid and every wisp of life had been drained from them. They were frozen in the same posture that they were in before the skill descended. Even the Silver Tusk Tapir that was angry before was stuck with that expression.

    He could even be said to be looking ''Alive'' but the aura and spirit Qi waves said otherwise.

    The beasts approached the frozen Silver Tusk Tapir carefully and checked to ensure that he really was dead. Meanwhile, the man in the fox mask looked in the direction of the Tomb and spoke.

    "My work here is done. You''re satisfied I believe?" He said.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    A strange wave of energy spread through the surroundings and pulsed back.

    "Offense Protocol Version 3: Sessful. Obligation fulfilled." A mechanical voice said from the tomb.

    The man in the fox mask nodded his head and disappeared into a cloud that flew away. Having watched all this, the beasts didn''t know what to do and chatted for a bit. They discussed a bit about what to do and split up and returned to their territories.

    One thing was sure though, that the millennium forest''s demographic would change forever from now on.

    Lin Wu continued on to the next few memories and realized that they were actually quite empty.

    "Seems like even the Avatar didn''t experience much more after thisбн so the past sixбн no seven years were what had the most events, huh." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Soon he was done with it all and finally came to the end part, which was the information from the system itself.

    "Well then system, what was that about the Fox man? Fox Demon Beast? Whoever he was." Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DECRYPTING RECORDS: Please wait for a moment...

    DECRYPTION COMPETED: Injecting data

    бкбк

    The moment the notification came, Lin Wu felt a rush of memories in his head again. But this time they were different from the ones that he was seeing till before. It was more direct and Lin Wu guessed that this was probably because this was more on the end of the system.

    ''Of course it would only record the points that it would deem necessary and remove the other thingsбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu went through it all and finally understood the gist of it.

    "I seeбн so the system detected him spying around in the forest and observed him. He was actually rted to Wang Xiong and some drama that is happening in the Frozen Cloud sect.

    The man eventually found out that someone was observing him but could not tell who. The system, having learned of his strength, did some calctions and made its decision of making contact with him.

    But once that was done, the man was very shocked and quickly got ready to meet." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The contents of the meeting were even more surprising to Lin Wu. The man was apparently desperate for something and realized that the system might actually be the key to getting what he wanted.

    Due to system being able to hide and still be able to observe him, he estimated it to be very strong. At this point, the man had mistaken the system to be Lin Wu himself. He had known that Wang Xiong had gained an inheritance in the forest and just thought that this was where he got itбн or rather who he got it from.

    The system proposed a n for him right away and told him that as long as he helped protect the forest and the tomb in a time of trouble, it would help him outter. And the man''s request was also rather straightforward.

    "So he wants to leave this worldбн" Lin Wu said the crux of it.

    ''But why is he so desperate? He didn''t exin his side and agreed right away..'' Lin Wu wondered.

 Chapter 521 - What Is Everyone Up To?

    Having seen the memory sequence, Lin Wu was certainly interested in the fox masked man. There were several reasons for it too. One was that he was just quite strong, the second was that he was rted to the Frozen cloud sect and the third was that he wanted to leave this world.

    Lin Wu was mostly confused about the third reason for him leaving this world.

    "Can''t cultivators leave the world when they get strong enough? I mean Immortal Ascension realm cultivators should be able to ascend after a breakthrough, right? He just needs to cultivate more." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He could tell that the man was rather strong, even for a Dao Shell realm cultivator. Lin Wu actually got the same vibes that he got from Zhu Tianying. There was something extra in that man which made him far more powerful than normal.

    "Him being a Demon beast might have something to do with itбн maybe I''ll just meet him first and learn more then." Lin Wu said before reappearing in the hall.

    The memory state had faded, and he was now back in control of his body.

    ''I''ll miss the infinite snacksбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He checked the other monitoring windows to see where everyone was currently.

    "Oh? The tomb''s monitoring range has expanded even moreбн it now covers the entire forest." Lin Wu was surprised.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Spirit Qi Spring is now active and producing spirit Qi

    ADDITIONAL TOMB FUNCTIONS: Avable

    бкбк

    Just as Lin Wu spoke, the notification appeared in front of him.

    "Must be a backlogged notification. More of them should being soonбн" Lin Wu expected.

    He opened all of the windows and went through them one by one. In them, he saw the situation of the tomb itself first.

    "Oh? The spirit herb farms are starting to grow. Niceбн though some are still not sprouted." Lin Wu said as he observed the farms he had made.

    In there, he could see that some of the easier to grow herbs had already sprouted and reached maturity. Then there were some that had grown all the way to produce fruits. But the majority had not even sprouted, and it looked barren.

    Lin Wu knew that spirit herbs often took a long time to grow. Most mid grade herbs and above took at least a hundred years to even sprout. So even if it had been ten years since he had been in a state of hibernation, it was still not enough for them to have grown.

    He could also see the ck fur Monkey beasts working there. They were carefully overlooking the herbs and would pick out some bad leaves or clean them if they were covered.

    They had also gotten quiet strong now as he had seen till now. Tate monkey who was in charge of the tomb''s upkeep was actually in a different hall which now looked like an administrative office.

    There were several shelves and tables set up there, along with books and records.

    "Huh? Where did all thise from?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He looked closer and saw that the furniture actually looked a bit unrefined, as if it was made by someone that was a novice at carpentry.

    "Didбн the monkey beasts build these themselves?" Lin Wu questioned as he looked at the end of the room where the monkey beast was sitting at a desk.

    He seemed to be very skillfully writing down something on arge book. The monkey beast himself was about three meters tall and was farrger for most things. Thus, the items he used were also proportionally sized ording to that.

    He was currently using what looked like a brush made out of some kind of a bone with some hairs attached to the end of it. He dipped into a cut skull and wrote using the ck ink that was present in it.

    Lin Wu gazed into the records and saw that it was written down in one of the local dialects.

    "Huh, they learned this tooбн though I think I included thenguage pack as well when I transmitted the information." Lin Wu reckoned.

    He switched to a different window for now and saw that the servants of Lin Wu were also here. The High Wind Gale Sparrow was at the top of the tomb and had actually expanded its next by quite a lot.

    The same could be said with the Hook Winged swan. Its nest looked big but he was not there at the time being. Finally, Lin Wu switched to thest window that showed someone in the tomb.

    "Oh? The Club Tailed Lizard is still here?" Lin Wu said in surprise.

    He had not expected that it would stay this long. But now he was seeing something other than just her too.

    "And we now have five new additions as wellбн" Lin Wu said as he saw five smaller lizards around the Club Tailed Lizard.

    They looked simr to her but were the size of dogs. They had a crystalline club at the end of their tail and their back scales were made out of crystal as well. Other than that, they seemed to have longer fangs than a normal Club Tailed Lizard.

    Lin Wu narrowed his eyes, as he could feel a particr aura around him now that he was focusing. He closed his eyes and sensed it more deeply, realizing that it wasing from none other than the five baby lizard beasts.

    "Hmmбн guess I should go talk to her. I''ll also summon the rest of my servants and see what they are doing and what else has happened." Lin Wu muttered to himself and sent out a signal using hismunication link with all the servants.

    After that, a few runes appeared around his body and he disappeared into thin air. A few momentster, he reappeared in one of the halls of the tomb. Here, the Cloud Tailed Lizard was living with her children.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Suddenly, a sh of light pulled her attention, and a strong aura descended.

 Chapter 522 - Emeraldine Legion Bloodline

    The Club Tailed Lizard could feel a familiar yet different presence appear in front of her. Her five children were the same, but they were a bit more scared at the same time. They were far weaker than her or Lin Wu of course, and were only at the Qi refining realm currently.

    Thus their intelligence was also less and they could not speak just yet. They would have to reach the core condensation realm to be able to do so, at the very least. Though there was still a chance that they would learn to speak faster as they had a better bloodline.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The runes and light finally faded away, and Lin Wu''s gigantic figure was now visible. It towered over the club tailed lizard and her offspring. Just by extending his head, Lin Wu was over a hundred and fifty meters tall.

    The roof of this hall was just a little over a hundred meters tall and thus Lin Wu had to keep his head a little lower for hisfort. Though this was mostly due to the fact that he had currently fused with his avatar and thus his overall size was more.

    If not for that, he would have been at the perfect height to standfortably in the hall.

    But the Club tailed lizard had some other thoughts.

    ''Heбн changed?'' She thought.

    She could see the extra spikes, horns, and the second pair of eyes on his head. In addition to that, there were long fangs that were hidden in his mouth. If it were not for his crystal body being faintly translucent, they would have been impossible to see.

    "Looks like someone has taken this ce to be a homeбн" Lin Wumented, his expression still.

    "K-King Lin Wu!" The club tailed lizard stumbled.

    "Mmhmmбн I reckon you had no problem all this time?" Lin Wu spoke casually.

    "Yes, of course! Thanks to you, me and my offspring had a safe ce to stay all these years." The club tailed lizard replied.

    "That you did indeedбн" Lin Wu said as he took a closer look at the five baby lizards.

    Lin Wu''s gaze made the tiny beasts shiver and trembled. His bloodline aura was after all, far superior to them and they instinctively felt inferior to him. Even though they did not have the same intelligence as that of their mother, they could very well tell that Lin Wu was not to be messed with.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The club tailed lizard swallowed her saliva and didn''t know what to think of. She could feel the pressure but could also tell that Lin Wu did not have any maleficent intentions right now.

    She had long since trusted on her premonitions and instincts. It was those very instincts that had saved her from getting caught up in the battle between Lin Wu and the Olive Viper King.

    It was also those very instincts that had saved her from the great battle with the tapir beasts that happened three years ago. If she had not chosen to extend her stay and had headed back instead to hernd, she would have likely met the Tapir beasts on their way here.

    While the Club Tailed Lizard had several thoughts running through her mind, Lin Wu was thinking something elsepletely.

    "System, do a scan of these juvenile lizard beastsбн I wanna see what''s different about them." Lin Wu ordered in his mind.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Juvenile Lizard beasts

    SCANNING: Please wait a moment

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Mutated Juvenile Club Tailed Lizard

    Cultivation base: Late Stage of the Qi refining realm

    BLOODLINES: 1. Club tailed Lizard Bloodline

    2. Olive Viper King Bloodline

    3. Crystal Worm Bloodline

    INFO: The targets are mutated juvenile Club Tailed Lizard beasts and have fragments of multiple bloodlines present in them. They are stronger than the normal Club tailed lizards as well as Olive Vipers. The crystal worm bloodline in them is the same as that the host has, but it is far inferior to that of the host.

    They have higher defense and natural resistance to radiation. They also have resistance to heat along with having venomous fangs. Due to being juvenile, their venom sacs are not yet developed.

    Innate skills: 1. Venom Fang (Undeveloped)

    2. Heat resistance (Passive)

    3. Crystalline Defense (Passive)

    4. Crystalline Rampart (active)

    бкбк

    After reading the entire data, Lin Wu nodded his head. Most of it was something that he had expected it to be like. Though he had not expected that all three bloodlines would be present in them now.

    ''The crystal worm bloodline had been rather adaptiveбн this is already a well established fact. In factбн calling it the Crystal worm bloodline seems a bit incorrect, seeing as there are many other beasts with it as well, and they were all made by me.

    Hmmбн it needs a new name.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    A strange silence had descended in the hall, during which no one made a single noise. The Club Tailed Lizard and her offspring were far too anxious to do anything and Lin Wu himself was deep in thought.

    After about two minutes of intense thinking, Lin Wu was finally done.

    "I''ve got it! The bloodline shall now be renamed to Emeraldine Legion Bloodline! All beasts other than me that get it shall be named as having this and will be my servants and subordinates." Lin Wu said in his mind.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    UPDATING SYSTEM DATA: New term added- Emeraldine Legion Bloodline

    UPDATING DATA BANKS: Appropriate updates made... Transmitting Kernel updates

    бкбк

    With this done, Lin Wu felt a bit satisfied and looked at the Club Tailed lizard. In that moment though, a strange change happened to the five juvenile Emeraldine Club Tailed Lizard. The looks in their eyes changed.

    All of them rxed and looked up at Lin Wu. Then, in the next second, they walked towards Lin Wu and came up to him. Their eyes shone slightly and the crystals on their back shone in a green light.

    <em>~SQUISH~</em>

    The five baby lizards snuggled up against Lin Wu, much to his shock, and fell asleep.

 Chapter 523 - Bloodline Tracer And Resonance

    Lin Wu who watched the juvenile lizards act, was stunned. If he were not so shocked, he would have stepped back rather easily. After all, for him to dodge five baby beasts was rather easy.

    While he was shocked, the Club Tailed Lizard was absolutely terrified. For her offspring to directly walk up to Lin Wu and act like that could be considered to be highly offensive. She wouldn''t be shocked if Lin Wu was enraged enough to smash them all to mince meat.

    But the dreadful fate that she was expecting did not happen. Rather than that, she just saw Lin Wu looking at her children with a strange look.

    "King Lin Wuбн Iбн theyбн" The Club Tailed Lizard tried to exin.

    "It''s fineбн though it''s certainly unexpected." Lin Wu said.

    The Club Tailed Lizard didn''t know what to say and was confused. Lin Wu on the other hand, was having a different thought stream in his mind.

    "System? What was that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system suspects that the host giving a proper name to the bloodline has triggered a mass resonant effect. The system cannot fully analyze it, but it has something to do with the approval of the heavens.

    The host is now the ''creator'' of the bloodline and thus every beast that has it will be obedient and submissive to the host.

    бкбк

    Hearing this, Lin Wu finally understood. In his past world, he had read a lot of fantasy novels and knew that naming certain beasts was a way to establish contracts, taming and many such things.

    "So me naming the bloodline was basically putting my im to it and bing its ownerбн and since these baby lizards are technically the closest beastspared to my original bloodline, they are acting like this." Lin Wu said.

    "Affirmative." The system replied.

    "Hmmбн" Lin Wu hummed in response and observed the baby lizards.

    Their crystals were growling lightly and were in sync, not only with each other but also Lin Wu. Lin Wu''s body would glow and dim every so often and had a specific rhythm to it. It could be considered to be a bit simr to his heartbeat, but different.

    He had not paid as much attention to it before, but now he could tell that it had something to do with the bloodline resonance. He closed his eyes and tried to sense his surroundings.

    He realized that he could now sense not only the baby lizards near him, but every other servant that held his bloodline or the beasts that were mutated by him. He could sense their locations without the use of the system or even his spirit sense.

    Of course, there were limitations to its uracy and right now Lin Wu could only pinpoint those that were within the limits of the Millennium forest. As for Wang Xiong, while he could not spot his exact location, Lin Wu could vaguely tell that he was to the south.

    ''Well, that''s a new additionбн'' Lin Wu muttered.

    And just as he did this, a notification sounded.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NEW INNATE SKILL ACQUIRED: Bloodline Tracer

    INNATE SKILLS: Updated

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (greater) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Sound Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    5. Kin Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    6. Poison Breath (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    7. Venom Fang (great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    8. Bloodline Tracer (Minor) (Proficiency: Master)

    бкбк

    "Huh? What theбн how is it at master?" Lin Wu was surprised again.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Since the Host is the creator of the bloodline, the proficiency will be the highest for him. Host''s other subordinates also have the innate ability or will awaken itter on. They will start from the basic proficiency though.

    And as the host''s cultivation level increases, the ability''s grade will increase. Right now, the ability works in a radius of a 100 kilometers with urate location and 2000 kilometers with a vague sense.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн no wonder. Well, that makes sense. I guess it should rise automatically with my cultivation since it''s already at master and it is also a passive ability." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    While he was in his thoughts, Lin Wu was woken up by the Club Tailed Lizard.

    "King Lin Wuбн should I get them away?" The Mother lizard asked.

    "Ahбн yeah. I have to leave now." Lin Wu said.

    The Club Tallied Lizard nodded her head and went to grab her offspring. All it took was a single sweep of her tail and all five of the baby lizards were swept up by her.

    "KIKIKIKI~!" But the moment she did so, the five lizards woke up and let out cries.

    They were looking towards Lin Wu and extending their ws towards them. The desire in their eyes was obvious.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu didn''t know what to say.

    The Club Tailed Lizard knew what the desire in the eyes of the juvenile lizards was, though. She was their mother and had been taking care of them for about ten years now, ever since they were eggs.

    She knew very well that the look in their eyes was that of closeness.

    ''Do they think King Lin Wuбн'' The Club Tailed Lizard shook her head.

    She carried the give small lizards and took them away. Lin Wu looked at them onest time, feeling a strange tug in his heart. He felt a little reluctant to leave, but still teleported away.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "That was a strange roller coaster of eventsбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "I should get back to the rest of the things." Lin Wu said, and checked the monitors.

    All of the beasts that he had called were on their way while the ones that were closer had already arrived. They were all waiting in the halls now. Though there were a few that were still missing.

    "Hmmбн the Mole beast seems to be a bit far awayбн and so is the Hook winged swan. The others are here now though, may as well call them in.." Lin Wu said.

 Chapter 524 - The Servants Arrived

    Rune appeared around Lin Wu and he teleported again, this time to a bigger hall. He had seldom used this hall before and thest time he used it for was to meet Wang Xiong and pass him the inheritance.

    It was one of the few that could easily amodate his new size in the fused form and he couldfortably talk there as well. Having appeared there, Lin Wu started to summon all of the servant beasts of his.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    One by one, teleportation runes appeared and beasts started to appear from the formations.

    The Split thorn horn beetle beast was the first to appear, then appeared the High Wind Gale sparrow, and then appeared the monkey beasts. The beasts were a little disoriented from the teleportation but soon gained their wits.

    They felt a heavy presence in the hall and looked towards the end of the room. When they were called here, they only heard a few words; ''Come, I''m awake.'' It was just these three words that hadpelled them to drop everything they were doing and rush here at the next moment.

    The power ofpulsion they felt was so strong that they didn''t even think of anything else. Even Lin Wu did not know that he would have had this kind of an effect and he was soon going to find out.

    "Master?" all of them said in unison.

    "Weeбн seems like all of you have been doing rather well." Lin Wu said as he observed all of his servants.

    Other than the eight ck fur monkey''s that were yet to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, each and every servant of Lin Wu had broken through to the Nascent Soul realm. The monk monkey beast or the ''Monk''ey was even close to reaching the Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm now that he observed him a bit closer.

    Lin Wu got to learn several more details now that he was observing him directly and could tell that the beast had a high concentration of Light Attribute spirit Qi in his body. Lin Wu could tell this not only because of the Taiji Dual unity scripture but because of his Radiation perception that had increased in grade.

    ''It''s like he''s a walking light pirбн'' Lin Wu thought upon observing the beast with his radiation perception.

    And since Light was also a type of radiation, it appeared rather clearly in his vision, despite being hidden within the meridians and Dantian of the ''Monk''ey Beast.

    While Lin Wu was observing all of his servant beasts, they were doing the same as well. The mole beast and the hook winged swan had arrived as well, and they were a bit taken aback on seeing Lin Wu''s fused form.

    ''Master has gotten even biggerбн does he even have a limit?'' The beasts all wondered.

    And while they were all thinking this, the Mole beast decided to take the opportunity to speak.

    "It''s all thanks to the master and his bloodline that mutated us. It has allowed us to get stronger and progress far faster than we ever would have been able to." The Mole beast said, not forgetting to tter Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu simply nodded his head at the clear attempt at ttery. He didn''t mind it but he did know that it was true. The more his cultivation progressed, the more he realized that his bloodline influenced far more things than he had thought.

    The resonance link that he had with his servants actively allowed them to improve as his own cultivation base improved.

    "So thenбн I''d like to hear all that has happened these past ten years." Lin Wu stated.

    Even though he had already seen the memories, he knew that there was probably a lot more to it than he had seen. Not to mention that thetest five years of memories were a bitcking as well.

    "I''ll speak!" The Beetle beast said.

    "No, I''ll speak!" The Hook winged swan said.

    Each of the beasts hurried to respond but Lin Wu simply raised his tail as a gesture to tell them to stop.

    "Wait a second, you all can speak in the order you all arrived. Soбн the beetle beast can go first, then the sparrow, then the monkeys and so on and so forth." Lin Wu ordered.

    "As you wish, master!" They all said in unison.

    Lin Wu nodded his head in approval and waited to hear the stories.

    The Split Thorn horn beetle beast started first and spoke about some minor matters at first, but then she moved on to how there was an invasion of human cultivators. This was of course, none other than the Disciples of the Frozen Clouds sect that hade here for the mission.

    She also told him about the new insect beasts that had been born from the mutated insect beasts and how they had characteristics of the Emeraldine bloodline already. They were also far stronger than others.

    She then continued on to the great invasion of the Southern Tapir beasts and how they all had died. Even though the servants of Lin Wu knew that Lin Wu had somewhat acted during this time, they still exined everything as if Lin Wu was hearing this for the first time.

    There was an absoluteness to Lin Wu''s words that they were fully intended to follow. Lin Wu heard how the battle progressed and the man in the white fox mask arrived before saving them all.

    He also learned that the corpses of the Sliver Tusk tapir King and the other southern Tusk Tapir kings were stored in the tomb. Since Lin Wu was the one who had called the man in the white fox mask to help them out, ording to them, the spoils of war rightfully belonged to him.

    Lin Wu raised his brows at this as he had not actually seen them anywhere when he checked the tomb before.

    "Is it really in the tomb system?" Lin Wu questioned.

 Chapter 525 - The Smart Monke

    Upon Lin Wu''s question, the System gave a notification sound and a few screens appeared in front of him.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The beast corpses have been stored in the new areas that have been recovered over the years. Since they were frozen, they are kept in a low temperature room to keep them as it is. They will be in the perfect state for consumption when unfrozen.

    бкбк

    Hearing this Lin Wu was impressed.

    "Very good system. Looks like we now have a fridge here as well." Lin Wu chuckled and took note of this hall.

    He could tell that there were some different kinds of formation arrays present in it that were being used to lower the temperature. They wereposed of several types of formations, some of them being insting formations, heat repelling formations, chilling formations, and isting formations.

    Thebined formation array made from all these formations basically resulted in a massive refrigerator of a hall. This was actually a formation array that several sects used to presser the beast corpses that were hunted down by the disciples.

    Since every sect had a high demand for the beasts, there were often several such halls set up in them.

    Lin Wu put his attention back on the conversion and was now listening to the sparrow beast speak. He too was repeating the same series of events, albeit with some new addition and omissions ording to what he had experienced.

    One by one each beast spoke their side of the events, but when it came to the ''Monk''ey beast, Lin Wu listened with even more attention. This was the one servant of Lin Wu who had had the greatest change during this time and had gained a lot as well.

    Lin Wu was curious to hear about his side.

    "Master has already heard the same series of events several times, so I won''t waste master''s time. Rather than that, I''ll just tell master about the more important things that I saw and experienced.

    The first thing master should know is that we now have an enemy." The ''Monk''ey beast spoke.

    "Oh?" Hearing this, Lin Wu and the other servants were equally surprised.

    "We have a new enemy and you never told us?" The Beetle beast questioned.

    "I did not deem it necessary at that point and could not judge it well, either. But over the years my understanding has grown and I think we have an enemy now." The ''Monk''ey beast rified.

    "I seeбн and what is this new enemy we have that you speak of?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Master has a subordinate named Wang Xiong, and he had be the chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect in the past few years. His progress was of course a result of master''s interference had has allowed him to gain a lot more power and influence.

    This has caused several rifts in the Frozen Cloud sect''s internal politics and two camps have now been formed. One is on the side of Wang Xiong and the other is against him. It is the camp that is against him that is our enemy.

    I have learned that it was also that very camp that caused the disciples of the Frozen Clouds sect to arrive in the forest due to a ''mission'' that they so issued. They are jealous of Wang Xiong''s power and desire it themselves.

    After the great defeat they faced, the frozen cloud sect retracted the mission and recalled all of the disciples. Some of the ones that survived ryed the power that we as the beasts held in the forest.

    They also noticed that there were several more Nascent soul beasts than just the rulers now and are convinced that it is due to master. While they don''t know that master exists, they know that there is something in the forest behind Wang Xiong and those beasts.

    And thus I have deemed them to be our enemies." The ''Monk''ey beast exined.

    Upon hearing this, the other servant beasts were surprised, while Lin Wu was impressed. He knew that this monkey beast had the greatest intellective of all the servants he had, but this was on apletely different level than his expectations.

    ''Not only does he have foresight, but his analytical ability is rather good. Hmmбн the inheritance of the Sky Bright Daoist might be something I should look into more.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "I seeбн and what else do you have. This is only one of the things I presume?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Of course, I have a few more." The ''Monk''ey beast said before continuing.

    "The second thing that I have to say is that Wang Xiong also knew of what was going to potentially happen and thus he sent his own people to the forest. These people actually inhibited and stopped a lot of the other disciples of the Frozen cloud sect.

    There was also one of the teams that actually arrived at the shrine where I was appointed by Master." The ''monk''ey beast stated.

    "And what happened to that team then?" Lin Wu asked, wanting to know more.

    Even though he knew that the disciples stayed there for the trials, he did not know how they were faring now.

    "I allowed the disciples to undergo the trials of the Sky Bright Daoistбн I have been granted an inheritance by him as well, and what I am right now is the result of that. I learned a lot more thing from him as well and know just what kind of a power stands behind master." The "Monk''ey beast said while cupping and bowing his head in respect.

    "Oh? So you took the Sky Bright Daoist as a teacher?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Indeed, master. And since he is my teacher, I am also your disciple-nephew by rtion." The ''Monk''ey beast said.

    Lin Wu raised his brows upon hearing this, but once he linked the ''family tree'' he did realize that it made sense.. The Sky Bright Daoist was a disciple of the Taiji Celestial and his ''senior brother'' and since the ''Monk''ey beast was his disciple, it made Lin Wu the ''Monk''ey beast''s uncle-master as well.

 Chapter 526 - The Sky Bright Trials

    Having heard this from the ''Monk''ey Beast, Lin Wu now wanted to ask him about the other things.

    "I seeбн what''re the other things you wanted to tell." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Ah yesбн Well, like I told master before, I got the disciples to undergo the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist, and only after they qualified them would they be able to do the trials of the Taiji celestialбн this was what I told them." The Monkey beast said.

    "Hmmmбн and I''m guessing some of them did?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Indeed. I had put that condition since master was in seclusion and I did not know if it would be appropriate letting them into the tomb. But now since master is awake, they can proceed further." The Monkey beast said.

    "I seeбн and how many of them qualified?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "About ten didбн out of fifteen." The monkey beast answered.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu raised his brows. He knew just how tough the trials such as this could be and ten qualifying out of fifteen was a rather high sess rate. While Lin Wu did not know just how difficult the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist were, considering he was the disciple of the Taiji Celestial and also the creator of this tomb and everything within it, he reckoned they must not be simple.

    "I seeбн so they want to do the Taiji Celestial''s trials now?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Wellбн two of them do. The othersбн they are too scared to do it. I may have ramped it up a little bit and now they are terrified." The Monkey beast replied.

    "Terrified? Just what kind of a trial did the Sky Bright Daoist set?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Why doesn''t master take a look himself?" The monkey beast said.

    "Why not, sure." Lin Wu answered.

    "Pardon me then." The monkey beast sped his hands in respect before pulling them apart and creating a mote of light.

    He then waved his hand and sent the mote of flight towards Lin Wu. He had a hunch of what it was and touched it with his tail.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    FORMATION ARRAY KEY DETECTED: Absorbing

    ABSORPTION COMPLETED: Sky Bright Shrine Formation Array is now essible.

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: 1. Defensive barriers

    2. Offensive formations

    3. Self destruct

    4. Illusory Trial Array

    бкбк

    With the new Formation array key added, Lin Wu saw several windows appear in front of him. He now had full ess to the Sky Bright Daoist''s shrine and he could also ess the trials that had been set by the man.

    "Alright system, show me what the trial is." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Previous Trial Recordings found: y- Y/N?

    бкбк

    "Yeah, go ahead." Lin Wu replied.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu''s vision went ck and he got a familiar feeling. He appeared in the same state as before and could now see the recordings, like a video or a movie.

    "Alright! Snack time!" Lin Wu said as a few snacks materialized in front of him.

    "y it system." Lin Wu said as he munched on some crispy fried pork bits.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The surroundings changed and Lin Wu could now see that he had arrived in an empty world. All that could be seen was a blue sky at the top with some clouds spread around at random. Then there was a mirrored surface below, which was basically a still ocean.

    There he saw fifteen disciples appear as well. Of the fifteen disciples, four were female while eleven were male. The fifteen of them were a bit anxious and were looking around nervously.

    "Oh? This is a group trial too?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Sky Bright Daoist''s trials are variable in both groups and individual versions. The Individual versions are easier than the group ones, but the group ones can help when the trials are something beyond their expertise and others canpensate for it.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн I see. So if they are lucky and know everything the trial demands of them, they will be able to do it on their own. But if they don''t then the group trial, while being more difficult, will give them an opportunity toplete it." Lin Wu understood.

    He then saw the disciples walking around aimlessly.

    "What are we supposed to do here?" One of them asked.

    "I don''t knowбн perhaps this is the trial?" One of the female disciples said.

    "Hmmбн that could be it. Senior Monk did not say anything else other than that we will have to figure it out on our own. Maybe that was a hint as well and we are supposed to figure out how to get out of here?" The Nascent soul realm senior brother, who was the leader of the group said.

    "That does seem likely." A disciple that wielded a pole arm spoke.

    "Now that I think of itбн doesn''t our sect have a simr illusory hall? I think some of the formation hall''s disciples go there to train and test their skills." A shorter disciple said.

    Hearing this, the eyes of the Nascent soul realm disciples lit up.

    "Cao Du, haven''t you taken some lessons there? Can you tell what we''re supposed to do here?" The nascent soul realm disciple asked.

    "Ummбн I barely spent two years there, so didn''t really learn much. I gave up once I realized my talent in formations was not good." The Disciple named Cao Du replied.

    "Come on, you must have some idea?" Cao Du''s friend said, cing his hand on Cao Du''s shoulder.

    Cao Du ced his hand on his chin and thought for a bit before nodding his head.

    "I think this is like an escape test. Just as Lingua said before. We need to find the hidden formation runes which we then unravel to leave this ce." Cao Du said.

    Lingua was the name of the shorter disciple who had spoken before.

    "Hmmбн if it really is like that then, this will be a test of our sense. Everyone spread out and see if you can find any clue. There are fifteen of us, so we should be able to find something.." The leader said.

 Chapter 527 - A Mirrored Sky

    Lin Wu had been watching the 15 disciples of the frozen cloud sect wandering around in the empty space for about ten hours now.

    "Man, this is boring. Speed this up!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The slider at the bottom started to move ahead at a faster speed than before, and Lin Wu could see the scenes progress faster. But the more he saw, the more he was shocked.

    "Goddamn, they''ve been here for a week now?" Lin Wu said upon seeing the time stamp in the corner.

    There were basically no instructions given to them and thus they were left grasping for empty straws. But it was obvious that even with thebined brainpower of the fifteen disciples, it was hard for them to think of a solution.

    Even Lin Wu himself had not grasped anything on his own but guessed that it was probably due to the fact that he was just observing a recording. Eventually, he saw the disciples give up.

    "UGH! This ce is insane! What are we even supposed to do?" one of the female disciples shouted in frustration.

    "We cannot give up, we don''t have a way to go back either." The senior brother said.

    "I''ll die like this." The female disciple said.

    "No, you won''t. This is an illusory array, and our bodies are still in the shrine. It''s just our minds that are here." The Nascent soul realm senior brother said.

    "Even stillбн we are unable to do anything for a week now. We can''t even cultivate to spend time, there is no spirit Qi here either." The Female disciples said.

    Upon hearing this, even the Nascent soul realm disciple knew that there was little he could say to convince the female disciple. The situation truly wasplex, and it was unknown if they would awaken on their own after a certain time period or if they would be stuck here the entire time.

    "I give up as well." Another disciple said before sitting down on the ground.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    "I do too!" A third one spoke.

    <em>~THUD~THUD~THUD~</em>

    One by one, over half of them gave up and sat on the mirror like ground.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    The senior brother knew that there was little to do now and he decided to sit down for now as well.

    "Fineбн we''ll rest for a bit. Perhaps we''ll be able to figure out something after a while." The man said.

    With that said, the others also sat down while someid to take a nap. Just like this, more time passed, and soon it had been twenty days since they had arrived here.

    "Yeahбн this is definitely a boring trial." Lin Wu said.

    But just as he said this, something happened.

    "What the!" One of the female disciples suddenly shouted.

    Lin Mu recognized her to be Xiaoge, the disciple from the Tian n.

    "Oh? What did she get?" Lin Wu said in wonder.

    "What happened, Xiaoge?" the Senior brother asked.

    The others were alerted as well, and they all came to check. But upon seeing here they were a bit confused.

    "Umбн what are you doing?" The Nascent soul realm senior brother asked.

    Currently, Xiaoge was in a rather strange position. She was lying on the ground with her face perpendicr to the ground. She was on her side and looking towards the distance.

    "Come! I think I found something!" Xiaoge said whit excitement.

    "What is it?" They all asked.

    "Lay down like me, then you''ll see!" She said hurriedly.

    While they found it to be strange, they thought it was worth a try nevertheless. They had been stuck here for over twenty days now and they were truly getting frustrated now. They were willing to grasp anything they would get.

    And thus, all of them followed Xiaoge andid on the ground. They were now lying in a straight line with Xiaoge in the center and were looking towards the distance.

    "Whoa!" Cao Du said in surprise.

    "Thisбн" The others were shocked as well.

    "No wonder we could not find anythingбн we were looking in the wrong direction." The nascent soul realm senior brother said.

    Lin Wu switched to their point of view and finally understood what this was all about.

    "Oho! That''s a clever way of hiding the formation." Lin Wu said.

    Currently in front of him, the clouds were on the left side, while the reflective surface was on the right side. This was due to the way they were all lying on the ground. Then, between these two surfaces was the horizon.

    When standing, the horizon didn''t really look that different, but once theyid down like this, they discovered that the horizon looked far vast than it was before.

    Not only that, but the clouds in the sky that seemed to be randomly distributed before were actually not so. The clouds in the sky and the reflective ground actually linked together when seen in the ever expanding horizon.

    It was like a fractal effect and Lin Wu felt like he was staring into an infinity mirror.

    The Nascent soul realm senior brother and the rest of them started to find patterns within the infinite horizon and eventually figured out that it was a formation array that was hidden within it.

    "I GOT IT!" The Nascent soul realm senior brother said.

    "What?" The rest asked.

    "Okay, everyone needs to lie in a circle. We need to observe every side of the world and see how it exactly is. Perhaps then we will be able to figure out the rest." The Nascent soul realm senior brother said.

    "As youmand, Senior Jun." They all said in unison.

    "So his name is Junбн weird they never used his name in all this time." Lin Wu muttered. "Too respectful I guessбн" he added, remembering just how the etiquettes were in worlds like these.

    Lin Wu then watched as all of themy in a circle and figured out the formation array. It was very wide and only after seeing it from all angles did they grasp its node.

    "YES! Now we can do it!"

 Chapter 528 - Thousands Of Deaths

    Lin Wu watched on as the disciples figured out the formation and finally managed to get out of the trail.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The area around them faded away, and they had returned to the real world. There they were sitting cross legged in a hall and the ''Monk''ey beast was sitting at the head.

    "Huhбн are we back?" one of the disciples said.

    The others also opened their eyes and looked around before taking breaths of relief.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "We finally didбн that was frustrating." The Nascent soul realm senior brother said.

    While the disciples wereing to terms with their habituation, the ''Monk''ey beast looked at them and nodded.

    "Congrattion forpleting the first trial." The ''Monk''ey beast announced.

    "We really didpete it?"

    "WE DID IT!"

    All of them shouted in excitement. Only they knew just how difficult the entire process was and how many times they had lost hope. They didn''t know if they would be trapped there forever or not.

    They just hoped that they would be able to return back to their bodies.

    "Indeed. You all sessfullypleted the first trial. Now you just have nine more to go." The ''Monk''ey beast said, pouring cold water over their excitement.

    "N-nineбн Nine? NINE!? THERE ARE NINE MORE TRIALS!?" A female disciple said in shock.

    To this, the ''Monk''ey beast lightly nodded his head. He had intentionally not told them that the total number of trials were a hundred. This was to keep them from giving up at the start.

    The ''Monk''ey beast knew that the trials were not simple and would test the willpower of the trial taker.

    "W-weбн should we even take them?" Someone questioned.

    This was the thing that everyone was doubled about. While they had not suffered any physical harm during the entire ordeal, the mental harm they faced from the despair, disappointment and helplessness was already quite a bit.

    The Nascent soul realm leading disciples named Senior Jun though, steeled his heart and decided to ask something else.

    "How long were we in the trial?" Senior Jun questioned.

    "It has been two days." The ''Monk''ey beast answered.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Hearing this, the disciples almost stumbled.

    "T-two days? Just two days?" They questioned.

    "Indeed. It is two days since you entered the first trial." The ''Monk''ey beast stated.

    "Isn''t thatбн a bit too short?"

    "Yeah, it felt like over three weeks had gone by there."

    "That is understandable. Since the Trials only take your mind, time is rtive there. The current flow of time there is ten times faster than that of the real world. Of course, this might change depending on the trial." The ''Monk''ey beast exined.

    "Ten times fasterбн I don''t think any sect has a formation array that can elerate time as much as that. Even if this is just our mindsбн this is far too fast." Cao Du spoke.

    "The Sky Bright Daoist is not someone who can bepared the minuscule sects of this world." The ''Monk''ey beast said, a hint of superiority in his eyes.

    It was very apparent and was enough to make the disciples gulp. But this also made them think of the counterpoint.

    ''If the trials are at this level, then the rewards should be great too. Not to mention, this is just the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials. There are still the other trials at the tomb which are above these.'' The little girl Xiaoge thought.

    ''Just what is the background of this ce? How can they have this level of formations and power?'' Cao Du wondered.

    ''No matter what, I have to reach the trials at the main tomb. But for that, I need toplete all the trials here.'' Disciple Jun thought.

    Everyone had simr thoughts and felt a bit better than before. With newfound determination and motivation, they decided to attempt the next trial as well. Of course, they first took a break to eat and rest.

    Even if their bodies were fine, they needed to let their minds rest as well. A person''s strongest weapon was not their body or cultivation base. Rather, it was their mind. If their mind was tired and weak, their body and cultivation base would not work well either.

    The ''Monk''ey beast agreed as well and allowed them to rest as much as they wanted. This also allowed them to think more about thetter trials. They figured that if just the first trial was this difficult, they were grossly unprepared for the rest.

    Thus, they made a rather radical decision. They took six months of break and got to know each other''s skills and proficiencies. They tried to consolidate their own skills as well and knew that it would take their all for them to seed in the trials.

    Those that didn''t know much about formations learned about them, those that did not know about alchemy learned that. While they could not gain sudden mastery in these skills, knowing just a little bit might help them in the trials and thus they didn''t want to take any chances.

    Lin Wu watched the entire thing at a fast speed and was rather surprised.

    "At least they are cautious. Though taking a six month break might have been a bit too much." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Soon it was the time for the next trial and all of the disciples entered it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    This time, the location of the trial waspletely different. They were all in a dense forest where the cries of beasts and insects could be heard. It looked simr to the Millennium forest, but it was far more darker.

    The trees were taller and created a thick canopy that blotted out the sunlight. At the bottom of the forest, there was darkness that made it harder to see. But this also made it easier for certain beasts to hide and hunt, thus elevating the danger even more.

    In just a minute, the disciples felt chills going down their bodies and knew that they were in a tough situation.

    But they knew what they had to do here, ''Survive''.

 Chapter 529 - The Sky Bright Daoist Is An тАШSтАЩ

    Lin Wu watched as the second trial proceeded. Simr to the first trial, no instructions were given, but the disciples guessed that their goal to pass it was either to survive for a certain period of time, or to reach a certain destination.

    This was also rather entertaining for Lin Wu, as he got to see the disciples die several times. The first death happened within three minutes of their arrival as one of the disciples was swallowed up by a nearby nt.

    The ones that died would fail and would awaken in the real world. The entire team of the remaining fourteen disciples barelysted for about an hour before being killed by the beasts.

    "What the hell is that trial? What are we even supposed to do when there are literally hundreds of beasts swarming us?" The disciplesined in frustration.

    Senior Jun though, was calm and was analyzing just why it was that they failed so fast and what things they should avoid tost longer.

    "No wonder Wang Xiong made this guy the leader. Not only is he stronger, he is also smarter than all of them." Lin Wu said upon seeing the approach of the man named Jun.

    The disciplesined a bit after failing the second trail in just five minutes, but the ''Monk''ey beast simply ignored them and meditated with his eyes closed. The disciples stopped after an hour and the ''Monk''ey beast opened his eyes.

    "So ready for another try?" He questioned.

    "Yes senior." Disciple Jun answered.

    "Very well." The ''Monk''ey beast said and waved his hands.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In the next moment, a wave of energy spread and the minds of the disciples were transported back to the second trial. Their second attempt was even shorter than before as the ce they appeared was right in the middle of a swamp.

    The swamp was sticky and the moment their bodiesnded on it, they were quickly sucked inside. Only disciple Jun was able to fly on his own, but he too died trying to save the others.

    Thus in three minutes, all of them were dead.

    "Oof! That was a bad spawn point. Didn''t think the spawn point is random for this trial. This will just make them more frustrated." Lin Wu said, seeing it.

    Awakening in the real world, the disciples all had lost expressions on their face. This time, the fault was not even theirs and they had still died.

    "Just tell me when you are ready." The ''Monk''ey beast casually said and returned to cultivating.

    The disciples talked more and made a new strategy. They reentered the trial and withdrew their spirit weapons right away, flying using them. This was the strategy they hade up with to survive the swamp.

    This time though, they were not in a swamp and were in a random spot in the forest. Their third attemptsted rather long, and they managed to survive for about an hour without anyone dying.

    But after that, they were discovered by a Dao Shell realm beast that tore them to shreds. Awakening in the real world they took deep breaths. This time around, they were not disappointed. Rather, they had hopeful looks on their face.

    "It can be doneбн we just need to stay safe." Disciple Xiaoge said.

    "Mmmбн it doesn''t seem like the trial is meant for us to kill anything. If it was really like that the trail would be impossible and I don''t think it would be like that. The goal is really just to survive." Disciple Jun stated.

    With this said and done, the fifteen disciples discussed further and made use of their experience toe up with more strategies. They had survived for an hour, thus they had seen some things that mighte in handy next time.

    After discussing it for a couple of hours, they reentered the trial. This time, their time of survival extended for over three hours before they died. This only helped to motivate them even more and they went over their experience again.

    This cycle of failure and learning continued again and again. And just like this, about five months passed, before finally, they managed to pass the second trial.

    The goal of the second trial was just as they had expected. They had to survive a certain amount of time, which was actually just a week. But it was that one week which was incredibly dangerous.

    They had died thousands of times, and each experience was fresh in their minds.

    "Congrattions onpleting the second trial. You can now proceed to the third one." The ''Monk''ey beast said.

    "Will senior tell us what the third trial will be like?" The disciples questioned.

    "No." The ''Monk''ey beast said simply.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Was worth a tryбн seems like trial and error it is." Disciple Jun said.

    They took a break for a couple of days before going to the third trial.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    They appeared in another forest, but this one did not seem as dangerous as before. But still, they died in less than five minutes after appearing here. The deaths this time though, were because of poisoning.

    They didn''t even know they were poisoned and died. They went for the second attempt right away and manage dot survive for over three days directly.

    "Is this trial also survival?" Cao Du wondered.

    "Hmmбн seems unlikely that two trials would be the same. Perhaps there is something we are not understanding." Disciple Jun replied.

    His estimation turned out to be correct, as nothing happened even after surviving for an entire week. They had managed to do this in their fourth attempt, which was rather shocking to them.

    "Seems like I was right. The goal here is not survival but perhaps to kill beasts." The senior brother said.

    With this as their goals, the disciples started to kill as many beasts as they could. Of course, this also made them die many more times and since they didn''t know just how many beasts they were supposed to kill, they could only keep on killing more.

    "I''m starting to see a pattern hereбн The Sky Bright Daoist is definitely an ''S''.." Lin Wu stated.

 Chapter 530 - New Names

    Lin Wu watched the disciples fail and fail thousands of times as they went through the trials. He ended up skipping a lot of the parts but finally reached the point where they hadpleted the final trial.

    Doing all this had taken them ten years, and it was not an easy task for them.

    "The Sky Bright Daoist certainly designed these to test the trial contenders in the most sadistic way possible." Lin Wu understood.

    From all the trials, the one thing Lin Wu had learned was the fact that the trials were random and the aim of the trial was not given. The disciples had to figure it out all on their own through the mistakes they made.

    Many times they struggled for months on end, only to learn that what they thought was the solution was not that all.

    For example, in the sixth trial, the disciples had thought that they needed to protect a certain person that theye across in the trial. They did thousands of attempts and died many times.

    Only after a year of this did they learn the right method. And even that was only because one of the disciples got frustrated and killed the person who they were protecting all the time.

    While the others were nervous that they had failed the trial again, they actually found themselves seeding.

    The main theme behind that trial was learning who was one''s true enemy and who was holding you back. The person they thought they were supposed to protect them was the very person who had been holding them back and causing them problems during the entire trial.

    It was the same as when ying an RPG game, one got a quest to escort and protect an NPC. The quest was tough and hard, but then one would discover that if one killed the NPC beforehand, the quest would bepleted automatically.

    At least that was what Lin Wu thought it was like.

    "The Sky Bright Daoist would certainly make one fucked up quest designerбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    Finally, with the ten trialspleted, only ten disciples had actually passed them sessfully. There were still five that half not passed the final trial. The tenth trial was rather different from others and focused on the individual person rather than the group itself.

    It was the only trial where they had toplete it individually and the group didn''t work. Each trial was also different for each person and thus the others could not help them either.

    Of the ten people that passed, each of them had done differently. There was actually one of them that passed it on their very first try. This was none other than the small female disciple, Xiaoge.

    The others that managed to pass the tenth trial early on were the leading disciple Jun, and Cao Du as well. Of course, the remaining five were still trying, but it was uncertain when they would pass it.

    "That was definitely a lot tougher than I had expected it to be. Wonder if the Taiji Celestial''s original trials were like this too." Lin Wu muttered.

    He had modified the trials so that he could shorten the time required for Wang Xiong to pass it. But the main difference was that the trials of the Taiji Celestial were not as random as that of the Sky Bright Daoist''s.

    There was a certain goal to each trial, and it was specifically said to the trial takes as well. Then there was also the fact that the trial was adjusted ording to each contender''s capabilities.

    This way, they were properly tested.

    In the case of the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials though, it seemed to not focus on cultivation at all. Rather, it was mostly focused on mentality and willpower instead. Lin Wu was sure that if he had to do so many attempts, he would have long since given up.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "That is enough system. End this." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The area turned dark and Lin Wu felt his mind shifting. He could feel his body again and realized that he was back in the hall. His servants were all standing around and were looking at him.

    ''How much time passed system?'' Lin Wu questioned in his mind.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: It has been 62 minutes and 12 seconds since the Host entered the memory yback.

    бкбк

    ''Hmmбн just over an hour to watch ten years'' worth of memories. That is rather efficient. Though I did skip through most of it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Are you done, master?" The ''Monk''ey beast spoke.

    "Yeah. I''m done. Those wereбн quite plex'' trials there." Lin Wu replied.

    "They were indeed. I doubt I would have been able toplete them myself. Thankfully, I was picked to be the tester by the Sky Bright Daoist instead." The ''Monk''ey beast said.

    "Oh? I see. Though now that I think of it, you''ve changed in the most different mannerpared to the others." Lin Wu stated.

    "I have?" The ''Monk''ey beast asked.

    "Indeed. I can tell you now have an affinity to the light element and can also feel the light attribute spirit Qi in your body. I''m guessing you got a part of the Sky Bright Daoist''s inheritance as well?" Lin Wu replied.

    Hearing this, the ''Monk''ey beast was surprised.

    "Master is indeed wise." The ''Monk''ey beast said.

    Lin Wu simply nodded his head, finding it funny that the same monkeys once fought to see who had the most lice on their body.

    "I think you all need a new name now." Lin Wu spoke.

    "We do?" Lin Mu''s servants said in unison, some looking more excited than the others.

    "Mmhmmбн it is time we have a unified name for ourselves. Since all of you have been mutated by me and have features simr to me, I have decided on a name." Lin Wu said.

    "And what is it, master?" The beasts questioned.

    "You all shall be named as Emeraldine Beasts and the bloodline you have is the Emeraldine Legion Bloodline!" Lin Wu dered.

    бкбк

    All of the beasts felt their bodies shudder upon hearing Lin Wu''s words and the crystals on their body all glowed.

    They felt a ltronger link with Lin Wu and felt like they needed to devote themselves to him even more.

    "Now for the namesбн" Lin Wu said and pointed at the beasts one by one.

    "You shall be the Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole."

    "You shall be the Emeraldine Horn Beetle."

    "You Shall be the Emeraldine Wing Swan."

    "You Shall be the High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow."

    "You Shall be the Emeraldine Monkeys." Lin Wu said their names one by one, before finallying to the ''Monk''ey beast.

    "Am I not an Emeraldine Monkey?" The ''Monk''ey beast asked.

    "Noбн you are different from them. You mutated in a different manner, that too twice. It won''t do you justice." Lin Wu answered.

    The ''Monk''ey beast now greatly anticipated what kind of a name he would get.

    "You shall be ''Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape.''" Lin Wu stated.

    As soon as Lin Wupleted naming all of the beasts, several notification sounds were heard and then windows started to appear.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SERVANT DATA: Updated

    NEW DESIGNATIONS: Assigned

    1. Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole

    STATUS: Vitals Stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    2. Emeraldine Horn Beetle

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    3. Emeraldine Wing Swan

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    4. High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    5. Emeraldine Monkey

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    6. Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    7. Emeraldine Monkeys. (8)

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    бк

    With all the information updated, Lin Wu felt a rush of memories in his head. But now he had be a bit used to it and was able to handle it rather easily. All of the servant beasts felt their links with Lin Wu increase in strength.

    "Huhбн what''s this feeling?" The Mole beast said and turned to look at his fellow servant beasts.

    They too looked at each other and felt a familiarity with each other.

    "We canбн sense each other?" The beetle beast said.

    "Noбн not just each otherбн I can sense more beasts in the forest." The ''Monk''ey beast said.

    "Mmhmmбн that should be your new innate skill. It is called as Bloodline Tracer and will allow you to sense others that have the same bloodline as you." Lin Wu exined.

    "Oh! That''s a rather helpful ability. Now we will know where each other is and will be able to function even more efficiently." The Mole Beast said.

    "If someone is in danger, we will be able to learn of it too and provide help quicker." The Sparrow beast added.

    "Yes. The ability is a proof that you all are part of one bloodline and are all my subjects.." Lin Wu stated, his voice resonating in the hall.

 Chapter 531 - Making A Power

    Hearing Lin Wu, the servant beasts all felt a sense of pride swelling up in their bodies.

    "We shall bring glory to master and rise to the top of this world!" The Mole beast said with great enthusiasm.

    The other beasts looked at the mole beast upon his words and had a strange expression on their faces.

    "The world already? Pretty sure we would have to be far more strong to even be qualified to say that." The Beetle beast said, feeling doubtful.

    "Noбн" Lin Wu interrupted.

    "The mole beast is right. We shall be the strongest power in this worldбн even above the humans. We are beasts! We are innately stronger than humans when born. We need no cultivation techniques and yet we grow stronger.

    All we need is some direction and I''m sure we shall rise to the top!" Lin Wu proimed.

    After hearing the words of Lin Wu, the beasts finally felt a bit more convinced. Lin Wu had made this goal after quite a bit of thinking. He had read plenty of novels and knew how cultivation worlds worked.

    Unless one was strong in the world, it was hard to survive. One couldn''t be strong alone either, as then there would be many others changeling them. Rather than being strong alone, it was better to have a power backing them.

    Thus Lin Wu reckoned why not be that power themselves. Since it was always the ''proimed son of heaven'', ''the providence bearer'' or just the ''protagonist'' who faced the most trouble and courted it as well, why not be the power that stayed at the back and let the main character fight.

    Lin Wu knew that even if he had the system, he was not invincible. He was not born as a human and thus had nothing to do with them. Karma and fate existed in worlds such as this and thus he was now linked to beasts.

    It was far better for him to be with beasts rather than foolishly try to ally with the humans and support them directly. Rather than that, it would be far better for him to have humans as ''his'' subordinates like Wang Xiong was.

    Lin Wu knew that this way the troubles would be less likely to head his way and even if they did, Wang Xiong and the rest would probably face them and he would be alerted beforehand to be prepared for it.

    It was a long n and would need quite a bit of preparation. But Lin Wu already had the baseline ready now. He had the tomb and the inheritance that came with it. He had his servants, who while not the strongest, had a decent enough cultivation base that would prevent humans and other beasts from challenging them outright.

    But Lin Wu knew that this was not full enough. Just the Tomb would becking and he needed to increase his area of influence.

    "We shall follow, master!" All of the beasts said in unison.

    "Good! Now thenбн the first thing we need to do is to stabilize our position in the millennium forest. If we want to get strong, we have to fully control it." Lin Wu said.

    "Does this meanбн we will be removing the rulers?" The beetle beast asked.

    While she was indeed Lin Wu''s servant, the current beetle king was her ancestor and had been good to her the entire time. She did not want him to suffer anymore.

    "Noбн we will be adding them to our ranks. Why remove someone that can increase our power? Of course, this is only if they ept to join us. If they resist, thenбн they shall be eliminated." Lin Wu replied.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    Hearing this, the Beetle beast took a breath of relief.

    ''Ancestor will be fine with this. As long as the insect beasts are safe and can live without too much conflict, I don''t think he will mind master taking over the entire forest.'' The beetle beast thought.

    "I think we won''t have as much problem with this. The Slim Arm ape king and the Demon Spine Ape king are already in an alliance with us and have a genial rtionship with us. As for the beetle king, our rtionship is even better, as their egg clutches are located at the border of our territory for being safer." The Nascent soul realm Emeraldine Monkey said.

    This was the same monkey who Lin Wu had assigned to take care of the tomb and was the one who was writing records in the hall it had taken over. It was certainly smart and had kept up with all the happenings in the forest.

    "That''s good then. What about the Twin Lights Liger King?" Lin Wu questioned.

    In all that Lin Wu had seen in the system''s memories, the information about the Twin Lights Liger king and his territory seemed to be minimal. Which was rather strange, as it seemed like they had not acted much during the past ten years.

    "The twin Lights liger kingбн he''s been silentбн too silent." The Swan beast was the one to answer this time.

    "Oh? Tell me more." Lin Wu asked.

    "I''ve been particrly keeping an eye on him and his territory. In fact, that was where I was just a few hours ago. I came when master summoned me.

    As for the Twin Lights Liger King, thest time he was seen was during the invasion of the Southern Tusk Tapirs. He held off the northern part of the forest and only appeared when all of his subordinates were about to be killed.

    His power was the same and he very easily killed the six Nascent soul realm southern Tusk Tapirs that had attacked from the north. As for the ones with a lower cultivation base, they were killed by the Lamp Light Ligers." The Swan Beast exined.

    "Hmmбн I see and he did nothing else? Not even ask around about me or the Olive Viper King?" Lin Mu questioned.

    "Noбн nothing. He just went back to his cave and has been there ever since." The Swan Beast answered.

    Lin Wu furrowed his brows and wondered just what it was that was up with the Twin Lights Liger king.

    "System, can you check up on the Twin Lights Liger King?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCAN FAILED: Interference detected

    NOTIFICATION: The area around the Dark Bloom Caverns has be unstable.

    бкбк

    Seeing this, Lin Wu was even more sure that something was definitely going on with the Twin Lights Liger King.

    "Seems like I''ll have to visit him on my own." Lin Wu muttered.

    "What do you want us to do, master?" The beasts questioned.

    "Hmmбн Beetle beast, you can go and ask your ancestor if he''s willing to join under me. And you, Emeraldine Monkey, you can ask the Slim Arm Ape King as well. The Demon Spine Ape king will probably agree if his father does and if he does not, he''ll probably ask for a fight first." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing about a fight, the eyes of the Emeraldine monkey lit up.

    "I would look forward to that. I''d like to see what the Demon Spine Apepares to us now." The Emeraldine Monkey said.

    "You can do that. Or if he wants to fight me, that''s fine too." Lin Wu replied.

    The Emeraldine monkey cupped its fist and bowed his head in eptance.

    "What do I do with the Frozen cloud sect disciples master? Should I allow them toe to the tomb for the trials?" The ''Monk''ey beast questioned.

    "Hmmбн wait for a bit. What do they want to do now? Have the asked toe?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Of the ten that qualified, only two want to attempt the trials and they are waiting patiently. They have already understood the difficulty of the trials and want to be prepared before attempting the Tomb''s.

    They will wait as long as I tell them to wait. As for the restбн they are already inheriting the Sky Bright Daoist''s techniques. It will take them a while though." The ''Monk''ey beast answered.

    "Hmmбн so that''s how it is. Very well, let them wait for a bit. I''ll let them take the trials after my breakthrough." Lin Wu stated.

    "Y-your breakthrough?" The ''Monk''ey beast asked doubtfully.

    "Mmhmmбн I''m ready for a breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm. I just wanted to know what all was happening before attempting it and giving you all a notification." Lin Wu confirmed.

    "Master will be breaking through to the Dao Shell realm? Is it truly possible?" The Swan beast questioned.

    "Yes, doesn''t the forest prevent that from happening? So far no Dao Shell realm beast has managed to appear in the forest." One of the core condensation realm emerald monkey beasts said.

    "Noбн we thought that there could only be five nascent soul realm beasts before, but now we clearly have several more. Which means the rules of the forest are not rigidбн or that they have changed now.." The beetle beast said after thinking.

 Chapter 532 - Ready For The Dao Shell Realm

    Lin Wu knew the words of the Beetle beast were pretty close to what he had thought as well. He now had a hunch that the rules of the Millennium forest were probably dependent on the formation array of the Tomb.

    It was spread throughout the entire forest and many parts of it were currently broken and in disrepair. But as Lin Wu got stronger, and the system repaired the formation array, things were getting better.

    ''With the formation array getting repaired, perhaps the restriction might get lifted little by little. There are Already Nascent soul realm beasts more than the earlier limit of fiveбн Dao Shell shouldn''t be a problem eitherter.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "The beetle beast is right. The restrictions of the forest will be slowly lifted. It won''t be long before more Dao Shell realm beasts appear as well." Lin Wu stated.

    Hearing the confirmation from Lin Wu, the servant beasts all had serious expressions. They now knew that they would have to strive to be stronger and be the first one that reached the Dao Shell realm after Lin Wu.

    Though they also knew that it would probably be someone else that did it first. The Twin Lights Liger King was the very first choice, as his talent and bloodline were strong enough to do it. The only thing stopping him had been the restriction of the forest.

    ''Though he won''t be able to do so if I get rid of him before that.'' Lin Wu thought as his eyes glowed lightly.

    "Is that all, master? Do you want us to do anything else?" The servant beasts questioned.

    "No, that''s all. You all can go ahead. Andбн put some distance between us when I''m breaking through. I don''t know if it will have some side effects." Lin Wu answered.

    This was something Lin Wu truly did not know and wanted to be safe. There was no heavenly tribtion when he broke through to the core condensation realm, yet the effect cause was strong enough to knock out Shirong and hispanions.

    This time it was going to be a breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm, thus Lin Wu wanted to be even more prepared.

    "We shall take our leave then, master." The servant beasts said before the teleportation formations took them away,

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    With all of them gone, Lin Wu looked around and sighed to himself.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Time to get started for it I guessбн but before that. System, do I need to separate my bodies for the breakthrough?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Yes, the host needs to break through with the bodies separately.

    бкбк

    "Alrightбн let''s get to it then. Though the fused form did feel better than I thought it would." Lin Wu muttered and activated the Unity Avatar technique.

    The moment he did, his body started to glow and several grooves appeared along his body. The spread all the way around his body and started to change. Lin Wu''s body also coiled up and became like a single mass.

    The glow got brighter and brighter until it was harder to see anything and about two minutester it stopped.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Now in ce of Lin Wu''s fused body, his two bodies could be seen. The main body wasrger than the avatar and could be recognized rather easily.

    "Ah, this feels a bit ufortableбн a bit ipleteбн" Lin Wu said.

    Lin Wu''s avatar was currently at the Child Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm and was thus two stages lower than his main body. Right now though, both of the bodies had enough spirit Qi for them to break through to the Dao shell realm.

    Of course, this was not possible as the Avatar needed to be lower than that of the main body.

    ''I''ll upgrade the Avatar''s cultivation base all at onceter when I''m done with my main body.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu took a deep breath and decide to start after sending his avatar to a different hall.

    "Alrightбн let''s get to the top." Lin Wu said and teleported to the top of the Tomb.

    This was a precaution just in case too much chaos happened.

    "System, prepare for the upgrade!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST CULTIVATION: Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [32,785,158/15,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    HOST CULTIVATION BASE: Upgrade initiated

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 15,000,000 units (liquid Spirit Qi)

    бкбк

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    As soon as the order was given, Lin Wu felt a mass of spirit Qi gushing into his meridians. His meridians were like raging rivers and the spirit Qi was the stormy water. It spread all around his body and inundated his cells.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    Finally, the spirit Qi reached his Dantian, and it was as if a storm had formed within it. A cyclone formed at the center of the spirit Qi and at the top of the storm were Lin Wu''s two Nascent Souls.

    Both of the human Nascent souls were calm right now and were sitting with their backs to each other.

    <em>~HONG~HONG~HONG~</em>

    The storm continued to seethe, and the cyclone spun. Soon, it reached a critical point and the spirit Qi started concentrating on one point.

    <em>~HUALA~</em>

    A very faint outline started to appear at the bottom of the cyclone. The outline was irregr and was changing shapes every so often. It was like a bubble that was still forming and was unstable.

    This statested for about an hour and the shape of the outline kept on changing. Soon it started to be more and more condensed and reached a more circr shape.

    This circr shape then expanded into three dimensions and became like a sphere. It expanded more and more until it finally reached the shape that was the more normal for a Dao Shell.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu took a deep breath upon seeing this and knew that the process was close topleting.

 Chapter 533 - Second Dao Shell Outline

    Lin Wu gazed at the spherical outline and thought that the change wasplete.

    <em>~HUALA~</em>

    But as a surprise to him, it was not fully done yet. Lin Wu''s human nascent soul that represented his Crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline suddenly opened its eyes and gazed down at the outline of the Dao Shell that had formed.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    A green beam of light shot out of its eyes and reached the outline of the Dao Shell at the bottom.

    The green light started being absorbed by the Dao Shell and its color started to change. From its previous translucent white color, which was like the color of the attribute less spirit Qi, it became an emerald green, just like Lin Wu''s body.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The Dao Shell''s outline was nowpleted, and it started to float up into the sky. It reached Lin Wu''s green Nascent soul and came to a rest below him. The Nascent soul then stood up and sat back down on top of the Dao Shell''s outline cross legged.

    "Uhбн is that it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~HUMM~</em>

    The other Nascent soul that represented the unknown bloodline opened its eyes suddenly as well and stood up. It looked up at the sky and let out a bellowing roar.

    <em>~ROAR!~</em>

    The Roar was loud enough to shake Lin Wu''s entire Dantian and Lin Wu himself.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Bloodline Abnormality detected!

    NOTIFICATION: The Unknown bloodline has triggered an unknown effect, the host best prepares for impact.

    бкбк

    "What the fuck! I knew something would happen!" Lin Wu said.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    Clouds started to appear in the sky, and strong winds started to blow. Some lightning could also be seen in the clouds, but it was obvious that this was just normal lightning and not tribtion lightning.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Just as how the cyclone in Lin Wu''s Dantian had formed, a cyclone in the real world was also forming now. The phenomenon was like a representation of his Dantian and spirit Qi started to stir in the atmosphere.

    The shocked and scared cries of beasts could be hearding from across the forest, and it was evident that they had not expected something like this to happen.

    <em>~HUALA~</em>

    The spirit Qi started to pour into Lin Wu''s body and was rapidly absorbed into it. It was carried by his meridians into his Dantian, where the ck Nascent soul was waving its hands.

    As if a conductor in an orchestra, the Nascent soul controlled the nearly arrived spirit Qi and started to wave it around. Lin Wu had no control over it and was reduced to being the audience at this point.

    "This is certainly strangeбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    The palms of the nascent soul directed the spirit Qi to split apart and merge, as if the waves in a stormy sea. By splitting and merging it apart constantly, the spirit Qi started to condense more and more.

    Soon its mass started to reduce and became smaller and smaller. In about an hour, it had reached the mass of a small marble and looked like a ck orb.

    The Nascent soul gestured his hand in an upward manner and the ck orb came to float in front of him. He held it in his palms in a praying gesture before pulling it apart.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Instead of breaking apart, the small ck orb started to expand evenly and soon became more and more translucent. Soon it reached the same volume as that of Lin Wu''s previous Dao Shell outline and came to rest below the ck Nascent soul.

    The Nascent soul then turned around to look at the green nascent soul and stared at it for a few seconds before turning back and sitting down on the ck Dao Shell outline. Once it sat down, both the Nascent souls came back together to sit closer.

    Expect this time they were not sitting fully back to back. The Dao Shell outlines below them started to revolve around a central point and the Nascent souls continued to sit on them.

    Like a carousel, the two Nascent souls and Dao Shells kept on revolving while letting out very faint waves of energy that were rather rhythmic.

    Lin Wu found the entire thing very strange and didn''t know what to think of it.

    "Wellбн that''s over I thinkбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Sessful

    HOST CULTIVATION BASE: Adult Soul Stage Of The Nascent soul realm -> Shell Initiation Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    QI SKILL PROFICIENCY INCREASED: Unity Avatar Technique

    HOST DATA: Updated

    бк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 13 years, 10 months, 31 days

    LIFESPAN: 4,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Initiation Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [17,785,158/15,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 3,767,741 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 9,444,169 Units

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+5)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- Second level (Wind attribute spirit Qi Adept)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (31% Meridians converted)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (greater) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Sound Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    5. Kin Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    6. Poison Breath (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    7. Venom Fang (great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    8. Bloodline Tracer (Minor) (Proficiency: Master)

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger.

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)

    DAO SHELLS: 1. Green Dao Shell Outline (Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm Bloodline)

    2. ck Dao Shell Outline (Unknown bloodline)

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 1,279, units

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 1028 units/hour

    WEIGHT: 866,412.80 Kilograms Height 212.8 meters long

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+5)

    3. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    4. Olive Viper King

    [Extend +65]

    бкбк

 Chapter 534 - The Dao Shell Realm And Peculiarities

    Lin Wu felt far more powerful than before after breaking through but realized that his spirit Qi was the same overall. It was a strange feeling, and he didn''t know what to think of it fully.

    Only when he looked at the spirit Qi needed for the next upgrade did he realize something.

    "Huh? The amount needed didn''t increase?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Shell Initiation stage is the shortest stage of the Dao Shell realm and as soon as the cultivator starts to use spirit Qi to form the Dao Shell, they would reach the Shell Genesis stage.

    The Shell Initiation stage is mostly a realm for stabilization as the cultivator or beast decides what shape do they want their Dao Shell to be. The shell outline can still be modified in this stage and once the shell starts to form, it is hard to change its shape.

    Thus, the cultivators spend time in finding the most suitable cultivation technique for them, if they don''t have one or pick on the Dao that they would like to pursue so that the Dao Embryo can be raisedter in the future.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s exnation, Lin Wu finally understood it.

    "Hmmбн so this is more of a preparatory stage. I guess for the average cultivator, even reaching this stage is a great thing and they may not have a technique that can take them beyond the Nascent soul realm. After all, only the Top tier techniques can allow one to reach the Dao Treading realm and above. As for the high grade ones, they will bring one to the Dao Shell realm with some luck while the mid grade ones will end at the Nascent Soul realm." Lin Wu muttered

    He continued down the newly updated Host data and saw that one of his Qi skills had increased in proficiency as well.

    "About time the Unity avatar Technique''s proficiency increased, seems like using the fused form for a bit helped and the breakthrough finally pushed it ahead." Lin Wu said, feeling a bit pleased.

    Other than this, the onest change that Lin Wu saw was that there was now a new section for Dao Shells. He had already seen that there were two Dao Shell outlines, one each for a Nascent soul.

    This was the point where Lin Wu was confused about how he was apposed to proceed.

    "Soбн do I need to upgrade both of them one at a time, or is the second one automatic system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Host only needs one of the Dao Shell''s to bepleted and a Dao Embryo to be born, in order to proceed to the Dao Treading realm. Though if both of the Dao Shells arepleted and both Dao Embryos are formed, the host will have a stable cultivation base.

    бкбк

    "<em>~Sigh~</em>бн Guess this is the disadvantage thates with multiple strong bloodlines. While they are strong, they will also restrict at the same time." Lin Wu said with a sigh.

    "Hmmбн though once Iplete the Dao Shells, I think that should be enough for stability. After all one is free to have more than one Dao Embryo and Dao Shell as long as they are willing to make them of course.

    This usually happens after they cross the Dao Treading realm though. But perhaps I can make use of it early one." Lin Wu analyzed.

    He understood that he now had the opportunity to form more than one Dao Embryos. This would give him a wider scope of power, though he wondered which Dao was it that he would prefer to pursue.

    Lin Wu would have to make his choice very prudently since this was something the system would mostly be unable to help him in. The growth of a Dao Embryo depended on both the spirit Qi as well as the individual control over the Dao embryo.

    The first part was something the system could asset with, but thetter is something Lin Wu would have to master on his own.

    ''My progress will probably be slowing down at that pointбн'' Lin Wu understood.

    Having understood all these things, Lin Wu decided to take the next step forward.

    "Alright, system. Let''s not wait anytime and proceed to the next step already. We know what we are going toprehend." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Initiated

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Initiation Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [17,785,158/15,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 15,000,000 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu felt the spirit Qi in his meridians and Dantian flying up to the free Dao Shell in his Dantian. It was as if several strings of yarn were being wrapped around the Shell outline and they were getting merged slowly.

    Lin Wu carefully observed as the Spirit Qi started to merge with the outline little by little. About an hourter, his entire Dao Shell outline had been covered and it had be a bit more corporeal.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The spirit Qi then started to spin around the outline and spiraled to the bottom of the Spherical Dao Shell. Lin Wu had decided to keep his Dao Shell spherical in shape, as it was the shape that would be able to amodate most of the Dao Embryos.

    He didn''t need any specialized shape as he could simply keep on increasing the size of the Dao Shell. Spirit Qi was one thing that Lin Wu had confidence in gathering. Thus he could take the Shell Expansion stage in stride and see if the Dao Embryo he was trying to make suited it or not.

    If it was small, Lin Wu would expand it more. And if it fits perfectly, he would still expand it as the Embryo would grow more in the Embryo Growth Stage of the Dao Treading realm as well.

    With these two things going hand in hand, Lin Wu had a solid n ahead.

 Chapter 535 - Numbers Galore!

    Lin Wu watched on as the yarn like spirit Qi condensed at the bottom of the shell and formed a small inverted dome. The dome was about five percent the size of the entire Dao Shell and was the initiating point of his Dao Shell now.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Sessful

    HOST CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Initiation Stage Of the Dao Shell realm -> Shell Genesis Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Genesis Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [2,785,158/100,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    And with this, Lin Wu was now sessfully at the second stage of the Dao Shel realm, the Shell Genesis stage. Of course, this was just for one of his Dao Shell''s and he still had the second Dao Shell that needed to progress as well.

    "SHEEEEESH!!!" Lin Wu eximed, seeing the spirit Qi needed for the upgrade.

    "Broбн that''s likeбн nearly seven times thest stage, Damn!" Lin Wu cursed.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    REMINDER: The Shell Completion stage has no specific spirit Qi requirement for upgrade and the Shell Expansion stage has no limit to the spirit Qi that can be used. This is the only stage in which the host will have a set spirit Qi limit.

    бкбк

    After reading this, Lin Wu felt a bit more relieved, though he was certainly taken aback. Seeing such a huge number was certainly shocking to him. After all, he had obtained all this spirit Qi after ten years of cultivation and eating the Olive Viper King.

    "This will just keep on getting longer and longer won''t itбн seems like that lifespan will finally start getting used up." Lin Wu said to himself in preparation.

    Lin Wu also recalled that this was just one of the Dao Shells and he had another one.

    "No, waitбн three Dao Shells. The Avatar will have one too." Lin Wu recalled.

    ''Though with the avatar, it should be a bit simpler as it would also be able to cultivate on its ownter.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    While he had broken through, Lin Wu was not done.

    "Let''s bring back the avatar as well. Can''t let it staygging behind too much." Lin Wu said and triggered the formation array.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Runes appeared as the teleportation formation brought Lin Wu''s Avatar back.

    Lin Wu observed the Avatar and his main body. After the cultivation upgrade, his body had actually not increased in size. Which now Lin Wu understood that only came at some substantial points.

    ''Hmmбн at least I won''t get uncontrobly big.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having observed the Avatar for a minute, he deiced to proceed.

    "Alright system, do the same for the Avatar. Go as far as you can!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Initiated

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [29,794,481/1,500,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 1,500,000 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu observed his avatar as the spirit Qi started being absorbed by the worm Nascent soul at a rapid pace. The size of the Nascent soul started to increase and soon reached a size that was twice as big as before.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Child Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm ->

    Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [28,294,481/6,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    "You know that''s not enough, again!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Initiated

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [28,294,481/6,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 6,000,000 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    бкбк

    The Avatar''s Worm Nascent Soul started to grow once again and increased in size. Though this time, the speed of its growth was slower and more stable. Lin Wu watched on as the avatar took about an hour toplete its breakthrough.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm -> Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [22,294,481/10,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s Avatar had now reached the Adult Soul stage and was ready for the major realm breakthrough.

    ''At least the cost is lowerбн though this should be thest upgrade.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "AGAIN! We got plenty of spirit Qi here." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Initiated

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [22,294,481/10,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 10,000,000 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    бкбк

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    A far stronger pressure exuded from the avatar''s body as its spirit Qi started to rush towards the Nascent soul. But this was not all, as the atmospheric spirit Qi also joined into the fray and added to the turbulent siltation.

    "Oh? It''s growing in size as well." Lin Wu realized.

    He could see that the size of the avatar was increasing slowly, and its mass was increasing by the minute. While he knew that the avatar won''t reach the same size as his main body, it would still be a lot when he fused with it again.

    Just in the Nascent Soul realm, Lin Wu had the confidence to fight several Nascent soul realm beasts at once if he was in the fused form, he couldn''t even begin to imagine just what level he would be on once he fused in the Dao Shell realm.

    "Best watch it myselfter." Lin Wu said as the avatar continued to grow and the Dao Shell''s outline started to form.

    It was here that Lin Wu realized the Dao Shell''s outline was different for the avatar. Unlike the green or ck Dao Shell outlines, the Avatar''s outline was amon translucent white, just like that of most cultivators.

    "Well, it''s not like this is a defect, anyway.." Lin Wu said as he saw the jumping numbers.

 Chapter 536 - Upgrade Completions

    Lin Wu watched on as the avatar finallypleted its upgrade.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm -> Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm

    AVATAR DATA: Updated

    бк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [12,294,481/70,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (51% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Fire Resistance (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    DAO SHELL: 1. Normal Dao Shell outline

    WEIGHT: 3,17,173 Kilograms Height 147.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu read the updated Avatar data and saw that it was rtively the same as before, with the only exception being the spirit Qi needed for the next stage being lower and the Dao shell being of a normal type.

    He also got to see the exact difference in the dimensions of the avatar now.

    "Huhбн it is more than twice as heavy and a fifty percent longer." Lin Wu learned.

    Lin Wu got closer to the avatar and probed it with his spirit sense again and saw that its Dantian was bigger than before as well. Though he guessed that it would probably keep on expanding more.

    "Now this should be enough for me to be prepared." Lin Wu said as he looked around the forest.

    Since he was at the top of the tomb, he had a rather wide view of everything in the sixth ring. Of course, the trees hid most things but with the monitoring formations, Lin Wu had no difficulty.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    Several monitoring windows appeared around him and he saw the beasts of the forest. Some of them seemed to be scared, some seemed shocked, and some were just indifferent.

    The ones that were scared were the core condensation realm beasts. The ones that were shocked were the Nascent soul realm beasts, while all that were at the Qi refining realm were indifferent.

    Unlike the Nascent soul realm, where the heavenly tribtion would terrify all beasts, the Dao Shell realm did not have as big of an impact. The Nascent soul realm beasts and Core condensation realm beasts were only discovered because of the movement of the spirit Qi.

    The thunderclouds that had appeared earlier were nothing much, since they could be seen at other times as well. Rain did happen in the forest and the beasts would just think it was something like that.

    Lin Wu also paid some attention to the territory of the Lamp Light ligers to see what they were doing and found them to be wary. They were looking in the direction of the tomb and were certainly alert.

    "Hmmбн so he still won''te out." Lin Wu said, thinking of the Twin Lights liger king.

    Lin Wu watched everything for a bit before deciding that it was fine for him to return to his tasks and that there was nothing unexpected happening.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Teleportation runes appeared around him and he returned to the hall he was in. The avatar was sent to the room it was in before so that it could continue to cultivate. Lin Wu knew that the next stage would take a while to reach and for his main body, it would be even more distant.

    He had just pushed one of his Dao Shells to the Shell genesis stage, so anything for his main body will take twice as long for him to progress in. His avatar though, would be able to get the needed spirit Qi far before that.

    ''Even if it would be able to upgrade to the next stage before the main body, I will be able to do so immediately when my main body is read. Not to mention the other cultivation techniques can still be upgraded using it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu thought about what to do next and recalled that he still had something that could provide him a lot of spirit Qi.

    "System, bring me all the corpses of the Southern Tusk Tapirs and the Silver Tusk Tapir king." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>

    In the next second, the teleportation formations were triggered one after the other as beast carcasses started to appear. All of them were ratherrge and dropped with a thud on the ground.

    Thankfully, the ground was very tough and would not be damaged just because of this. Though Lin Wu was still surprised by the amount of corpses.

    "Hmmбн System, you only kept the nascent soul realm corpses and the one Dao Shell realm corpse?" Lin Wu questioned after seeing the rtively smaller number.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The economic cost of preserving other corpses was not worth, and it was a far better option to give it to the other beasts in the forest so that they could restore their strength quicker.

    бкбк

    The system''s answer seemed valid to Lin Wu, and he was fine with it. He knew that the other beasts were the ones who would have to defend the forest and it was better for them to eat the corpses than for them to be kept in storage for years.

    "That''s fine I reckon." Lin Wu said before looking at the corpses and counting them.

    There were about twenty six Nascent soul realm Southern Tusk Tapir beasts and one Dao Shell realm Silver Tusk Tapir king corpse here. There were actually more Nascent soul realm Southern tusk tapir beasts, but they had appeared in the other parts of the forest and were imed as spoils by the beasts that defended there.

    Lin Wu was fine with this and didn''t mind sharing that much.

 Chapter 537 - A Meal After A Ten Year Fast

    Lin Wu looked at the corpses that were still frozen solid.

    "Need to defrost them first." Lin Wu said. "And I got the perfect thing for that." He added.

    He simply waved his tail as radiation maniption was activated. The water molecules in the corpse started to vibrate and heat up. The ice quickly started to melt, and the corpses were getting warm from the inside.

    Due to Lin Wu''s microwave radiation being intense, the inside of the corpses heated up way quicker than the outside ice. By the time the outside ice was fully melted, the inside was already cooked.

    Five minutester, the process wasplete and Lin Wu was now free to eat.

    "Let''s get to eatingбн meal time." Lin Wu said as he opened his mouth wide.

    <em>~MUNCH~</em>

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    <em>~GOBBLES~</em>

    Various sounds were heard as Lin Wu ate all the corpses one by one. He started from the Nascent soul realm ones and only after finishing all of them did he head on to the Silver Tusk tapir beast''s corpse.

    This was the very first Dao Shell realm beast he was going to eat and was thus quite excited.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    Since the corpse of the Silver Tusk Tapir was far bigger than the others, it took Lin Wu longer to eat. Not to mention, its bones were also tougher and made it harder to eat. Stillбн under the grinding of Lin Wu''s crystal teeth that literally moved like a grinder, the bones were eventuality pulverized.

    "Ahh~ that was a nice meal. It was cooked too, though not evenly. I''ll need to focus on my microwave cooking more, I remember being rather good at cooking food in the microwave before." Lin Wu said as he lounged on the ground.

    He felt rather bloated and knew that he had truly eaten quite bit.

    "Let''s see what''s the change now." Lin Wu said as he pulled out the notification.

    The notification would always keep on stacking and Lin Wu could choose to see them whenever. He had set filters for them so that he would only see the most important ones right away while the minor ones will be directly added to the long.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    BEAST CORPSES CONSUMED: 26 Nascent soul realm, 1 Dao Shell realm

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 16,258,196 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 6,007,873 units

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA OBTAINED: 1. Southern Tusk Tapirs

    2. Silver Tusk Tapir

    HOST DATA: Updated

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 20,025,937 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 15,452,042 Units

    бкбк

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "That''s good enough, but won''t put much of a dent on the amount I need for the upgrade to the next stage. Though it might be just enough for the ck Dao Shell to be upgraded." Lin Wu muttered.

    Lin Wu thought of if he should upgrade the second Dao Shell as well, but decided to wait for now.

    ''I''ll wait for now. If I need it in a pinch, I''ll be able to use it then.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Lin Wu also got a decent amount of Vital essence which would help him sustain himself for a long time and also help in healing himself when the need arises.

    "Hmmбн the vital essence was less than I thought. It should probably be because the corpses have been kept frozen for that long. They do lose vital essence even then." Lin Wu guessed.

    With this task out of the way, Lin Wu decided to take care of the tasks that were rted to the others now.

    "Hmmбн the disciples of the Frozen cloud sectбн wonder if they will qualify the trials of the Taiji Celestial too." Lin Wu wondered as he looked at the monitor window.

    There he could see the disciples sitting in the shrine of the Sky Bright Daoist. They had now been living there for about ten years now, which was not that much whenpared to the lifespan of the cultivators.

    ''Did the Frozen Cloud sect not ask anything about them? They''ve been gone for a while now, or did they perhaps inform them beforehand.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He also thought about contacting Wang Xiong, but decided against it. He wanted to deal with that a bitter and wanted to be done with the tasks that were closer at hand first.

    "Hmm, the eight of them are still in the process of obtaining the inheritance of the Sky bright Daoist. The five are still trying to pass thest trail and the two are cultivating privately, probably waiting for me." Lin Wu observed.

    After watching them for a minute, Lin Wu decided to talk to the ''Monk''ey beast again.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "Congrattions on breaking through, Master!" The ''Monk''ey beast said out loud.

    "Thank you," Lin Wu casually said

    The ''Monk''ey beast looked at Lin Wu and found him to be different from before. He didn''t question him, but did notice that the aura of Lin Wu had increased once more.

    "You called for me for something, master?" The ''Monk''ey beast asked.

    "Time to get the two disciples," Lin Wu replied.

    "You are willing to let them take the trials of the Taiji Celestial?" The ''Monk''ey beast questioned.

    "Mmmhmm, they''ve waited long enough." Lin Wu answered.

    "Then I''ll get them. Do I need to tell them anything to prepare them or will master be talking to them himself?" The ''Monk''ey beast asked for confirmation.

    "Hmmбн bring them in. I''ll talk to them myself a little interaction won''t hurt." Lin Wu replied.

    "As you wish, master." The ''Monk''ey beast said before teleporting away.

    Lin Wu had gotten a bit bored and wanted to interact with the humans. He wanted to also know more about the two disciples and what was actually going on with Wang Xiong and the situation at the Frozen cloud sect.

    He also wanted to know the results of the mission that they had embarked on and how much the sect knew about the tomb now and the beasts of the forest as well.

 Chapter 538 - [Bonus ]Xiaoge And Juns Circumstances- I

    The two disciples, Xiaoge and Jun did not know the events that were going to happen soon. The two of them were deep in mediation and were focusing on improving their cultivation as much as they could.

    They had rejected the inheritance of the Sky Bright Daoist and were instead going to go ahead and take the trials of the Taiji Celestial. They actually didn''t even know that the ce they were going to was the tomb of the Taiji Celestial.

    Neither did they know the name Taiji Celestial either. They simply knew that they were going to go to the tomb of a mighty figure and that the said figure was the one who had given Wang Xiong, their senior brother and Chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect, the power that he had now.

    Wang Xiong was an idol for most disciples that came from lower backgrounds or those that did not have any backing. He was simr to them and had no unique thing about him. He hade from a peasant background and had reached the position he was in on his own.

    He had kept his head low at first, but then decided to go against those that opposed and suppressed him. It took him many years to build up this courage as well as he used to be afraid about the more influential disciples from the sect harming his family back in the secr world.

    While doing so was against the rules of the sect and could get one punished, for cultivators, there were many ways they could kill someone. They didn''t even need to do it personally.

    Simply paying off some bandits and letting them raid the vige where the family of their target lived was an easy enough way of doing so. The sect wouldn''t really have a way to verify that it was done intentionally, as most of the time, the said bandits would then be killed by thew enforcement or passing by cultivators with a sense of ''justice''.

    But for Wang Xiong, who was a cultivator, after a few decades passed, his family had passed away leaving him alone. After that, he had nothing to hold him back and he decided to push back against all that opposed him.

    This was all that the disciples had learned after he became the chief disciple. His story was well researched by both the enemy camp and the disciples that were liking him. They wanted to know more about him, wanted to know what made him tick and what were his preference.

    His situation was very rtable to the disciples frommon backgrounds or those with weaker ones. Disciple Jun who was the leader this time, was one such person and was the son of a vige chief as well.

    While the position was a vige chief might be rather high in that vige or the area around it; for the sect, as long as someone was a mortalmoner, they were the same. If a king was a mortal too, they wouldn''t care either.

    As for Xiaoge, she was from a small branch of the Tian n. The Tian n was a mostly reclusive n and not many things were known about it around the world. They did know that they had some Nascent soul realm cultivators and perhaps even a Dao Shell realm cultivator, but nothing beyond that.

    The Main branch of the Tian n didn''t even appear in themon world most of the time and depended on their branches to do things. What people didn''t know was that the members of the branch ns weren''t even rted by blood to the main n.

    Rather, they were just descendants of servants who had managed to gain some honor and merit in the main branch of the Tian n and were bestowed the surname. From there on, they would be made into the patriarch of the branch n and given certain resources along with the duties that they would need to fulfill.

    Their main duty was to handle the things with the secr world and interactions with the other ns and sects. They would procure items and make deals with the people all around as per the need.

    This way, the people of the main n focused on themselves for most of the time and didn''t interfere with the otherworld. Because of this, most cultivators didn''t even know of the power of the main branch of the Tian n.

    This was the same for the members of the branch ns as well. Except for a few, everyone thought that the Tian n was amon mid tier cultivator n. But Xiaoge was one of the exceptions.

    She was the granddaughter of one of the branches of the Tian n and knew a lot more. From childhood, she was interested in myths and stories of the old. She had read her n''s library from top to bottom several times and knew almost everything.

    Along with her being the granddaughter, she also had ess to some of the more secret records as well. While her talent wasn''t too outstanding, it was decent enough that the patriarch allowed her to gain some higher knowledge as well.

    She thus had ess to the hidden records of her n and managed to learn something about the Millennium forest. It was a very old record and most of the contents in it were faded.

    But she did learn that the ce calls as the Millennium forest has a big secret behind it. It was actually called by apletely different name. Xiaoge had even thought that the ce was not the forest at first.

    Only afterparing the locations and cross referencing it did she confirm the fact that the ce was the millennium forest.

    The name that it was called was what caught her attention. It was called as the ''Dark Celestial''s Tomb''.

    The name certainly brought forth many questions in one''s mind and Xiaoge was no different.. She tried to find more, but failed.

 Chapter 539 - Xiaoge And Juns Circumstances- II

    Xiaoge would have never through that almost thirty years after she had read about the Millennium forest she would learn of someone that had managed to gain something from there.

    This person was none other than the disciple named as Wang Xiong. She originally did not know much about the man, but had gotten interested after learning that there were rumors about him gaining a certain inheritance there.

    It was unknown which expert it belonged to, but Xiaoge felt rm bells ringing in her mind after learning of that. Her memories of many years ago came rushing back and her curiosity ignited again.

    She had not told anyone about what she had learned about the millennium forest, as she herself was not fully convinced. Plus it wasn''t something that was too outstanding either and did not require the patriarch or others of her n to be disturbed.

    Thus, she just let it go back then. But now, after discovering this, there was no way she would let go of it. She had always been interested in the myths and old tales and this was the best way to learn more about it.

    And thus, Xiaoge did her best to get close to chief disciple Wang Xiong. After several months of effort, she managed to join the camp that the man had decided to make. She had met Wang Xiong a couple of times, but had been unable to ask him about the tomb or anything about it.

    Her innate shyness andck of a proper opportunity were behind it, mostly. Though she also knew that there was a great chance Wang Xiong might get offended instead. She did not want to spoil the rtion between them, especially since Wang Xiong had a great status now.

    Rather than doing that, Xiaoge decided to wait for a perfect opportunity. And this opportunity presented to her as the mission that was put forth by the sect. Many disciples were going to join it and try to find the secret inheritance of the Millennium forest and she was no different.

    She was even more shocked when she learned that Wang Xiong would be personally selecting some of the disciples under him to go on the mission as well. Not only this, but he also gave them some insight into the things about the forest and how they would have to deal with them.

    It was because of that they had managed to get this far without losing any of their members. It was Wang Xiong''s tip that they should enter from the west of the forest, unlike the others that had entered from the south, even though it was the longer path.

    They were very lucky and the obstacles they faced were still enough for them to ovee with rtive ease. Even when they found the shrine of the Sky Bright Daoist, they had not thought that they would gain the inheritance.

    The events after that were a bit traumatic for them as they ended up suffering a lot mentally. They were tested on their willpower and mentality at each point and those that did not qualify had still not passed the trials.

    Xiaoge was appalled at the difficulty level of the trials and thought that even the Frozen Cloud sect''s own official trials were not this hard. She wondered if they were given the chance to take those too, if they would find them easily or not.

    But what she was more worried about was the fact that the main inheritance they hade for wasn''t even seen by them yet. There were still more trials for them to take, and she was a bit anxious about how they were going to be.

    So far, they had not suffered any physical harm and thus were fine. But Xiaoge was not sure if the tomb''s trials would be the same or not. She was worried that she might be too weak for them.

    Disciple Jun who was their leader right now, was at the Nascent Soul realm and was far stronger than her and thus he had a better chance at seeding than her. But even then, she did not want to give up and thus decided to cultivate.

    Thankfully, the beast who was also the caretaker/monk of the shrine did not force them to take them right away and had given them time to rest. She of course, did not know that it was intentional on the side of the ''Monk''ey beast as Lin Wu was in seclusion.

    But now, she was about to be ordered to go there.

    "Wake up," A voice was heard in the hall that the two disciples were sitting in.

    Jun and Xiaoge opened their eyes and saw the monk standing in front of them.

    "What is it, senior?" Jun questioned.

    "It is time for you two to attempt the trials of the Taiji Celestial." The ''Monk''ey beast answered.

    "Huh? So fast? I thought we could wait a few more months." Jun said.

    "Things have changed and you are getting an opportunity earlier. Do you not want to take it?" The ''Monk''ey beast questioned, raising his brows.

    "NO! No, no, Senior! We''ll take it!" Jun hurriedly said.

    He feared that the next opportunity might take a long time or something else mighte up before that. Thus, he did not want to waste this chance. They had already rested for over ten months now and thus had recovered mentally from the trauma of the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist.

    He and Xiaoge were the first two to pass the trials and thus had the longest time to prepare. The same could not be said for his fellow disciples and it had taken two months after they passed for the next person to pass it.

    Thest person to pass the trial had only done so half a month ago, thus they were still not fully done with this ce.

    But now the two of them had the chance to proceed further.

    "What do we do now, senior? Where is the next location of the trials?" Xiaoge asked curiously.

 Chapter 540 - Uncertainty And Anxiety

    The ''Monk''ey beast looked at the two disciples with a slight smile on his face and spoke, e, I''ll take you there myself."

    "Um, okay senior." Xiaoge said, finding the ''Monk''ey beast to be a bit different today.

    Not only was his appearance slightly different, his aura seemed to have increased as well. She could not ce her finger on it, but there was a certain change that was hard to tell that.

    Disciple Jun looked at the ''Monk''ey beast as well and observed the beast/master that had been hosting and guiding them in the past few years. He had seen him enough to learn that the beast was far more clever than he showed.

    Jun was reminded of the elders back in the sect that were always scheming yet never let it be shown on their faces. While it was hard to tell that, there was a certain presence to people such as these that Jun could feel.

    And it was the same feeling that he got from the ''Monk''ey beast as well. The said beast had not even given them a name, and had just asked them to call him a monk. Jun noticed that Xiaoge had felt something as well and knew that there was something up with the ''Monk''ey beast.

    In the past ten years, he had gotten to learn of his fellow disciples and now knew them very well. Of them all, he hade to learn that Xiaoge was the most knowledgeable of them all and also had a rather strong tenacity.

    She could pick up on fine cues that he could not desperate having a higher cultivation base. Thus he knew more than to trust on her judgment now.

    "So how do we go there, Senior?" Jun asked as well.

    "Just stand where you are," the ''Monk''ey beast said.

    Jun furrowed his brows and suddenly felt something.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Waves of spirit Qi rose from the ground and runes started to appear in the air.

    "Huh? Formation runes?" Jun questioned as his brows furrowed.

    He tried to recognize what runes these were and what formation did they belong to, but he was unable to. This was rather shocking to him as in these few years that he had spent doing the trials, he had gotten to see a lot of runes and formations that were already considered to be rare.

    Some of them were something he doubted even the elders of his sect would be able to identify. And even then, he had seen them enough to learn about them now. Thus it was far shocking to him than it was for Xiaoge who saw it from a different perspective.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    The runes quickly arranged themselves into a formation that surrounded them. The two of them couldn''t even react before they found themselves feeling light, almost weightless.

    "W-whatбн teleportation?" Jun finally realized.

    He had actually seen teleportation formations before but none like this. The runes used werepletely different and the entire formation had activated with ease. All teleportation formations that he had seen till now needed a very specific control mechanism and would only work in set locations.

    But in the current case, there were no such things here. The runes had appeared out of thin air with just a wave of the ''Monk''ey beast''s hand. There also seemed to be almost no spirit Qi consumption either.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    And while Jun thought all this, he found his vision going dark. Then about a secondter he found the scene in front of him change. Instead of the shrine hall that he was in before he was now in the middle of a forest.

    But that was not all, as in front of him was arge hill. It towered up into the sky beyond the canopies of the tall trees. Then there was a structure built at the base of it at the front of which he was standing.

    He could see a wide gate built into the hill which extended into a cave of some sort. There were hundreds of thousands of bones lying around. They were piled up into small hills as well and gave the area a dangerous vibe.

    "It cannot beбн" Suddenly the voice of a girl could be hearding from the side, prompting Jun to gaze at her.

    "What''s the matter Xiaoge? Did you sense something?" Jun asked.

    "Thisбн tombбн it is the true trial ground," Xiaoge said, changing her words mid way.

    She had actually thought of something else but did not want to reveal it to Jun here and thus changed it.

    ''There''s no doubt. This must be the tomb of the Dark Celestial.'' Xiaoge thought, remembering the records that she had read.

    "Go on, enter it. You two are already qualified to do that, the barrier won''t stop you." The ''Monk''ey beast said from the back.

    "Are you noting senior?" Jun questioned.

    "This is as far as I can go, the rest is for you two to do." The ''Monk''ey beast answered.

    <em>~GULP~</em>

    Jun and Xiaoge swallowed down the anxiety they were feeling and nodded their heads.

    "We''ll head ahead then senior. Is there perhaps anything we should know or you want to tell us?" Xiaoge asked while at the edge of the barrier.

    "I don''t. You''ll learn the rest inside." The ''Monk''ey beast said prompting the two to enter.

    <em>~RIPPLE~</em>

    The Barriers opened up and allowed the two to pass through them with ease. They stepped in and continued walking until they had fully entered the cave. Once they were gone though, teleportation runes appeared once again and surrounded the ''Monk''ey beast.

    He disappeared with the formation and appeared in a certain hall inside the tomb.

    "It is done, master." The ''Monk''ey beast stated.

    In front of him stood none other than Lin Wu. His back was facing the beast and he seemed to be focused on something.

    If one looked, they would see several windows floating in the air in front of Lin Wu.

    "Time to get started then.." Lin Wu said.

 Chapter 541 - Enter The Trials

    While the ''Monk''ey beast was getting the two disciples, Lin Wu was setting up some things in the tomb. Since the disciples were goings to take the trials, he had to change things up a bit.

    The trials that Wang Xiong had taken were modified by Lin Wu and would be far easier for the two of them. Since they had attempted the already far more hard trials of the Sky Bright Daoist, Lin Wu could not let them think that the trials of the Taiji celestial were easy.

    Of course, fixing this was rather simple. Lin Wu simply had to return the trials to the default format. That way they will have to pass all the trails before they were able to get the inheritance and meet Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu was obviously not going to give up on that and was definitely going to put traces and his crystals in the two disciples as well. This was to ensure that the two of them would not cause any problem in the future and he would also be able tomunicate with them in time of need.

    There were only advantages to this and no disadvantages to thisбн at least for Lin Wu. The same could not be said for the two disciples though. But their problems were not really something that Lin Wu would care for anyway.

    "There they areбн" Lin Wu said as he observed the window in front of him.

    It zoomed into the two disciples and they could be seen entering the first hall with the murals. Lin Wu watched as the two disciples went through the same series of shock and awe as that of Wang Xiong.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Suddenly the hall shook lightly and a sprint Qi fluctuation could be felt.

    The two disciples felt their bodies go dull and their vision ck. Then in the next moment, they found themselves in a very familiar ce.

    "Huh? It''s the forest from the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials." Jun spoke.

    But this was the only thing that was familiar as a loud voice rang in their heads.

    "First Trial has begun, the two contenders are to survive for a day or to kill all enemies in the area!" The voice of the trail said.

    "There we go," Lin Wu who was watching them said.

    He wanted his infinite imaginary snacks right now but could not get them since he was not in a memory sequence.

    "Eh, I can still eat the real ones." Lin Wu said as he withdrew some of the snacks from the storage and started to eat

    He watched as the two disciples began their trial. Lin Wu could tell that they were truly prepared and got into the flow right away. Theypleted the first trial in about three hours by killing all the enemies that were in the area.

    "Huh, they were smart enough to know that the surviving this would be harder than killing the enemies." Lin Wu muttered in interest.

    While the test seemed simple enough, and one would most likely take the option of surviving for a certain amount of time to pass, the two of them decided to do otherwise.

    Instead of waiting it out, they decide to kill all the enemies enough though the other choice seemed to be safer. But this was actually a tricky trap.

    The enemies would eventually discover them if they decided to wait it out and would thenunch a series of attacks. But if they decided to take the first option and kill the enemies instead of just surviving, they would have the advantage of surprise.

    Not only that, but they would even be able to get rid of the enemies without them even detecting them if they were sneaky enough.

    In fact, they had gotten rid of over half of the enemies before they were even discovered. After that, the process was significantly easier for them and they managed to pass.

    "First Trail has beenpleted sessfully! Both the contenders shall head on to the next stage!" The voice of the trial said.

    Lin Wu watched as the two disciples returned to their bodies. Same as that with Wang Xiong, the two disciples had only gotten their minds sent to the trial.

    "Huh? We''re safe? Our injuries are healed too?" Jun questioned.

    "This is an illusory trial as wellбн though the difficulty is certainly higher," Xiaoge said.

    She was close to being killed several times but had still managed to survive. She didn''t know if they would be able to give the test again if they failed, thus she did not want to die even if it was an illusory trial.

    She wanted to know what was the truth behind the Tomb and whether the records of her n were true or not. The two of them continued on to the next hall and saw the murals there as well.

    "Thisбн just what kind of a power would be needed to do what is in these murals?" Jun said in shock.

    "Whatever it may be, it is certainly beyond anything we have ever seen." Xiaoge said.

    "True, there might not be anyone in this world that can evene close to this level of power." Jun agreed.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    "The Second Trial will be in one minute, all contenders are to be prepared." The voice of the trial said.

    Lin Wu watched on as he ate more snacks. The trial was something that the two disciples struggled toplete but still managed to do it in the end.

    "Hmmбн this was good. Perhaps, I can see some of the things that are still hidden about the Taiji Celestial from these trials." Lin Wu said upon having watched everything.

    The two disciples underwent more trials and continued to progress. The trials took far less time than the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials but they were definitely many times more difficult.

    Lin Wu knew that if it were not for the preparation the two got from the trials before, they might not have evere close.

 Chapter 542 - The Wary Jun And Xiaoge

    "Finally d<em>one~"</em> Lin Wu said as he stretched his body.

    Xiaoge and Jun had just finished the final trial and Lin Wu had been overseeing them the entire time. It had been about five days since they started their trials and they were finally done.

    Unsurprisingly both of them passed each and every trial as failure in even one trial meant that they would not be able to take them again. This was the restriction that was built into the formation and was something even Lin Wu could not change easily.

    Of course, he already had the basic level inheritance with him thus if he really wanted to he could just directly pass it to someone. But since Lin Wu wanted to gain more parts of the inheritance and the sealed information that came with it, he needed for the people to pass the trials.

    There was an unknown amount of information that was encrypted in the Tomb and the system was barely able to decrypt a small amount from that. He didn''t even have an estimate on just how much information there was in it and the easiest way for him to get more right now was to take the opportunity when the new people got the inheritance.

    "Let''s get them to the next room, shall we? I have to meet them too." Lin Wu said and turned around.

    "Should I wait outside, master?" The ''Monk''ey beast asked.

    "Hmmбн you can return to the shrine. I think the two of them will be able to return there on their own after they get the inheritance." Lin Wu replied.

    "As youmand, master." The ''Monk''ey beast said before teleporting away.

    All of Lin Wu''s servants now had a limited ess to the tomb''s formation and could at least use the teleportation andmunication formations for their needs. This improved their productivity and speed as well.

    Lin Wu meanwhile went to the same hall where he had met Wang Xiong before.

    "Need to set up the stage, <em>heheh~</em>" Lin Wu chuckled.

    While he was doing this, Jun and Xiaoge were lying on the ground in the final hall where thest trial was held.

    <em>~Huu~huu~huu~''</em>

    They took deep breaths and seemed to be quite tired.

    "Thatбнst trial was something else." Jun said between his breaths.

    "Yes, senior brother. I never expected there to be such creatures and powers in the world. I was sure we were going to die there." Xiaoge said as she wiped the sweat from her brows.

    "I know right? Even our real bodies are affected despite never being strained." Jun replied.

    "Noбн I think they were rather strained as well. Our brains were the ones mainly affected and thus the rest of the body had to work hard to make sure it was fine. We''re out of breath because our hearts have been working hard as well." Xiaoge exined.

    "That''s new. For something to even affect me as a Nascent soul realm cultivatorбн these trials are something else entirely." Jun stated.

    "We are far too weak to evenprehend how these trials were made." Xiaoge said.

    <em>~chuckle~</em>

    "I''m more interested in knowing who made these trials? Didn''t senior Monk say we would get some answers here? The trials never said anything." Jun spoke in a curious tone.

    "Well, the trials did tell us some things. Didn''t you see, the locations that we fought and did the trials inбн they were simr to some of the ces in the murals. Even some of the beasts seemed to be the same." Xiaoge said.

    "The murals don''t exactly say much though. The man shown in them seems to be strange too? I mean that disaster that he was fighting wasn''t it made by him too? Was he the viin or the hero?" Jun asked.

    Xiaoge went silent upon hearing this and didn''t speak for a minute.

    "Xiaoge?" Jun asked in a concerned tone.

    "I thinkбн he''s both." Xiaoge suddenly said.

    "Huh? What?" Jun asked, feeling confused by the sudden random words.

    "You asked if the man was a hero or a viinбн I think he''s both." Xiaoge stated.

    "How can he be both? Or do you mean he did all that to gain some kind of benefit?" Jun guessed.

    "Hmmбн that is one of the options. But there are many other reasons that can be, we can''t be sure until we see more." Xiaoge replied.

    "Will we even see any? I mean the trial''s voice said this was thest trial and I don''t see any path out of here." Jun said feeling doubtful.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    And just as he said that, the hall shook lightly and it seemed like an earthquake had just happened. The two of them looked and saw that one of the walls of the hall was now moving.

    "It can''t beбн another trial?" Jun muttered.

    "No, I think that''sбн the reward room or something," Xiaoge replied.

    <em>~TREMBLE ~</em>

    The wall had now fully slid down and a new path was opened for the two of them to venture on to. They could see a long passage that headed upwards and it was currently illuminated with a few flickering torches.

    <em>~HUU~</em>

    The two of them took a deep breath and looked at each other before nodding.

    "Let''s continue," Jun said.

    "Mmhmm." Xiaoge replied and took the first step.

    Jun joined her and the two of them entered the new passageway. They walked all the way up as the path turned and curved. About five minutester they finally reached the end of the path and saw arge dark room in front of them.

    The room was pitch ck and they could not see anything in it. It was rather surprising since the light of the torches seemed to end just at the edge of the entrance. It looked a bit unnatural and made the two disciples a bit wary.

    They had already developed their senses to be keen and could pick up when things did not seem right.

    "Be careful, it does not seem to be fully safe.." Jun stated.

 Chapter 543 - Acting Like A High And Mighty Senior

    "Are you two just going to stand there and make us wait?" A voice suddenly came out of the dark hall.

    "WHAT??" The two disciples were startled upon hearing the voice and took several steps back.

    The voice was rather strange to them and did not seem human to them.

    "What was that? Who are you?" Jun questioned as he withdrew his long sword.

    Xiaoge was also alert and withdrew her bow. She was actually someone that preferred to use bows and was also good with them. Her small stature allowed her to outmaneuver enemies with ease and also made it easy for her to find good vantage points to attack from.

    "<em>Ahahah~</em> You two are here to meet me and are now hesitating? Do you not want the reward for the trials?" the voice spoke.

    <em>~GULP~</em>

    Jun and Xiaoge swallowed their saliva and were still a bit doubtful. While they had some thoughts about whether there was actually someone in the tomb they had not expected it to be true. Plus, the ''Monk''ey beast had not said anything to them either.

    They looked at each other for a bit before nodding their heads in unison. They then stepped ahead and entered the dark hall.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    After taking about ten steps they felt a presence in the room and a green glow spread as well. Their eyes were trained onto it and they saw a pair of red eyes appear from the green glow.

    The glow had not be like an outline and they could see a long body of a beast. It wasrger than any beast they had seen and the pressure exuding from it was rather strong as well.

    ''This auraбн even the elders don''tpare to thisбн'' Xiaoge thought.

    "Wee," Lin Wu finally spoke as the glow of his body fully illuminated the hall.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    A blinding light spread from his body, forcing the two disciples to close their eyes. When they opened them again, they could see that the room they were in was now brightly lit. There were hundreds of light sources everywhere that illuminated the room that was rather bare.

    The ceiling of the room was taller than any other room they had seen in the tomb till now and it was several hundred meters wide as well. But the most shocking thing was therge serpentine beast that was located in front of them.

    It had arge crystalline body that seemed as if it was made out of priceless emeralds while its eyes were like wless rubies that glowed with the light of magma. The spikes were long and looked deadly while the sharp fangs that came out from the mouth of the beast were both majestic and terrifying.

    "W-whatбн W-whoбн is... are you??" Jun stumbled.

    Unlike Xiaoge he could feel the fainter spirit Qi fluctuationsing from Lin Wu and knew that the beast in front of him was certainly many times stronger than him.

    ''Dao Shell realm? Or perhaps more?'' Jun thought.

    While Jun was thinking this, Xiaoge was having some different thoughts.

    ''Are both the trials headed by beasts? Is the final inheritance also rted to a beast perhaps?'' Xiaoge thought.

    Lin Wu gazed at the two disciples that had a stream of emotions flowing through their minds. He could see the fear and wonder that was in their eyes as well as the wariness in their fingers as they gripped their weapons hard.

    "I am Lin Wu, and I''ll be giving you your reward." Lin Wu replied.

    "You will be giving us the reward? Butбн you''re a beast and we''re humans, will the inheritance even be usable for us?" Xiaoge couldn''t help but ask.

    "Ah hahaha!" Lin Wuughed out loud.

    "Why do you think they would be unusable? Just because I''m a beast? If you two think so, then your understanding of the world is less than shallow." Lin Wu spoke in a low tone.

    His voice subconsciously pressured the two disciples and made them swallow down their saliva.

    Lin Wu''s head rose and he got closer to the two disciples. When the two of them saw him up close they found it to be even scarier. Lin Wu''s head was over four times as big as their entire bodies.

    If he wanted to he could simply inhale them and they would be dead.

    "Hmmбн." Lin Wu hummed as he stared into the eyes of the two disciples.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    The auraing from Lin Wu''s body increased once more and the disciples realized something horrifying.

    "My spirit Qiбн Iбн I can''t feel it." Xiaoge said while stuttering.

    Jun tried to feel the spirit Qi and was unable to do it as well. He couldn''t sense any spirit Qi in the air and neither could he feel any spirit Qi that was in his body either. Instead of spirit Qi, it felt like there was something very dense stuck around them.

    It was preventing them from using spirit Qi and also feeling it. It was a very strange situation for them and they didn''t know what to make of it.

    ''Being able to make us lose control over spirit Qi like thisбн what even is this beast?'' Jun wondered.

    ''To be able to pressure us and stop spirit Qi from flowingбн I''ve read this before haven''t I?'' Xiaoge thought. A few secondster, the word she was looking for appeared in her mind. "Immortalбн" She muttered.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu raised his brows upon hearing her speak.

    The pressure was intentionally being emitted by him as he wanted to see how they would react. It wasn''t really a test or anything, Lin Wu was just curious about it

    It definitely wasn''t him being a jerk and wanting to act all high and mightyбн

    ''This girl is certainly strongбн even if not physically right now, her mind and will definitely is.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He knew that the pressure he was exuding was mixed with radiation and it would make most if not all cultivators scared and unable to use spirit Qi.

    Her being able to even mutter that much was unexpected.

 Chapter 544 - Passing The Inheritance

    Lin Wu''s gaze continued to linger on the two disciples and made them uneasy.

    But Xiaoge seemed to be determined to say something. She gathered up all her strength and finally spoke.

    "Y-Youбн You''re an Immortal aren''t you?" Xiaoge asked.

    Hearing this Lin Wu was a bit stunned but did not show it on his face. Of course, even if he did, his expressions weren''t something humans would be able to understand, anyway. They would simply feel that it was a bit different but won''t be able to tell what that meant.

    "Why does that matter?" Lin Wu questioned instead.

    "You have to beбн such powerбн and those recordsбн all these thingsбн they won''t make sense otherwise," Xiaoge answered.

    Her voice was trembling and she was struggling to speak. Lin Wu finale decided to give the poor girl a little rest and withdrew the pressure. The natural pressure exuded due to his aura and spirit Qi was still there of course, but it was manageable for the two to handle.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    Both of them took breaths of relief and rxed their grip on their weapons. They were certainly stressed and now wondered why the pressure had disappeared.

    "Hmmбн why don''t we start with the main thing that we are here for?" Lin Wu said changing the topic.

    "The main thing? Our reward?" Jun asked.

    "Indeedбн along with a few exnations which I think both of you desire." Lin Wu said as his eyes glowed.

    Xiaoge was about to say something else but before she could her eyes went dull. The same happened with Jun and both of them felt a rush of memories in their mind. They saw everything that Wang Xiong had seen and experienced and learned about the Taiji Celestial.

    Of course, all of this was the modified form of the history that Lin Wu had prepared. He didn''t want them to know some of the secrets such as that he was now an old disciple.

    He wanted to keep the misunderstandings in some parts and it was not like they would be problematic to the disciples either. Lin Wu waited about ten minutes for the process toplete after which the eyes of the two disciples finally opened.

    "Thatбн how is all that true?" Jun muttered in disbelief.

    "I would have never thought our understanding would be thiscking. The world is truly great and we are mere frogs in a well." Xiaoge stated.

    Her expression was that of an awed person and the memories kept on reappearing in her mind. To her who was curious about learning the history and the mysteries of the world, this was one of the most valuable things.

    Even her n did not have any records that went this past and even they did exist, Xiaoge reckoned they were either with the main branch or with other great powers of the Ming Dao world.

    "I believe the two of you now know the origins of this ce and who the Taiji Celestial is." Lin Wu spoke, pulling the two out of their daze.

    "We do," both of them said while nodding their head.

    "Butбн who are you senior?" Jun asked carefully.

    He had already expected that Lin Wu was not some normal beast and if he could exist here and give them the reward, his status was definitely high.

    They had just learned of the Taiji Celestial and were now wondering how Lin Wu was linked in all this.

    "You two know about the Taiji Celestial and how he brought about the change in the myriad of worlds. In order to keep that up, he recruited several people and beasts; taking them in as his disciples.

    I am one such beast. I am Lin Wu, the Crimson Eyed Emerald worm and a direct disciple of the Taiji Celestial!" Lin Wu revealed.

    This revtion was enough to shock the two disciples.

    ''Heбн he''s a worm?!'' Both of them thought at the same time.

    They scanned Lin Wu from top to the bottom. No matter what way they looked at him they found it hard to believe that he was a worm. At the very least, they thought that Lin Wu was some serpent or some other reptilian beast.

    But him being a worm waspletely out of the norm. They didn''t know of any worms that could get as strong as this. Even in insect beasts, there weren''t really that many worm beasts that could be said to be strong.

    As for the ones that were strong like some caterpir, orrva beasts, they weren''t true worms. They were the primary stage of many insect beasts and would metamorphose to be a true beast.

    But in the case of worms, this didn''t happen. At least they didn''t know of any worm that could reach the nascent soul realm or above.

    To them, this was a very absurd revtion. Worms were one of the creatures that were at the lowest hierarchy in the world. Not only were they eaten by other beasts, but many animals also ate them.

    Whether they had cultivation or not, their fate was often the same and there was little to change that fact. But now, here was Lin Wu in front of them, clearly showing them that the reality was often different.

    The two disciples didn''t know how to react to this other than to just swallow down this information. They knew the cultivation and status of Lin Wu were very high and they could notpare with it. Forget them, they thought that even the patriarch of the Frozen Cloud Sect might not be equal.

    "Junior Tian Xiaoge pays respect to Senior Lin Wu." Xiaoge suddenly said.

    Jun who was a little behind her quickly did the same as well.

    "Disciple Pei Jun pays respect to Senior Lin Wu!" he said loudly.

    The two of them kneeled down on the ground quickly and kowtowed once.

    "That''s enough, get up." Lin Wu said, stopping the two of them.

    The two looked at Lin Wu and felt a bit lost at this.

 Chapter 545 - Special Snowflakes

    Lin Wu knew that if he let the two of them take the same course as Wang Xiong, they might go into the worship mode again. Rather than that, he''d much rather get the task they were here forpleted first.

    He realized that unknowingly he had already spent half a month on these two. Whether it was watching them or letting them take the trials. There were many tasks that Lin Wu needed to do next and he realized he should hurry up.

    There was a potentially unstable factor sitting in his backyard that he needed to deal with as soon as possible. This factor was of course the Twin Lights Liger King and the Dark Bloom Caverns.''

    Lin Wu did not know what was up with the ''Ruler'' of the Millennium forest and also wanted to know what the hidden information there was about the forest. The Twin Lights Liger King was possibly the only one who had this and it was best if he dealt with him at the earliest.

    "It''s time to give you two the reward." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Yes Senior," the two of them stood up respectfully.

    Lin Wu looked at them and spoke internally to system, "everything ready system?"

    "Affirmative." The system replied.

    "Goodбн the new process should be better than that of Wang Xiong." Lin Wu said before raising his tail.

    "Come close, I''ll pass on the inheritance to you two on behalf of master, as is my duty." Lin Wu said before extending two spikes out of his tail.

    The spikes spread in a uniform manner and reached the foreheads of the two disciples.

    They were a little scared as the spikes looked sharp and strong. Even a touch would probably cut and injure them.

    "Don''t move." Lin Wu said as the tips of the two spikes approached the two disciples.

    The tips touched the forehead of the two and they felt a sharp pain from it. Fortunately, the pain was only for an instant and after that, they felt numb. They didn''t even notice that a very small piece of a crystal had been inserted into their forehead.

    Their body felt a bit numb, and they knew that they were in a special state. They had already felt this state when they underwent the trials and thus weren''t scared.

    What they didn''t know was that a small piece of crystal had been inserted deep into their head. It easily pierced their skulls and entered their brain. There it quickly increased in size and took a snowke like shape.

    While Lin Wu was doing this, the two disciples were getting the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial in their minds. It was the same as that of Wang Xiong and was the basic level inheritance.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    INHERITANCE FORMATION: Activated

    TRANSFERRING DATA: Two Contenders detected (Tian Xiaoge and Pei Jun)

    INHERITANCE LEVEL: Basic inheritance

    BASIC INHERITANCE CONTENTS: 1. Cultivation Technique= Taiji Refinement Scripture

    2. Qi Skill= Unity Returning Fist

    INJECTING TROJAN V2: Special Snowke

    INJECTION: Sessful

    бкбк

    The system modified the second version of the Trojan on the basis of the new Pentagem that it had devised. Unlike Wang Xiong, in whom the crystal could not be imnted due to the restriction between humans and beast servants, the version two of the Trojan had a physical body and would be more strong.

    ''I should do it for Wang Xiongter as well when I meet him. That''s another thing I need to add to the list. Then all three of them will be my special snowkes. hehe~'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Oh yeah, system show me the list of tasks I made." Lin Wu spoke.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TASKS TO DO: 1. Upgrade cultivation base pleted)

    2. Deal with the trials (Completed)

    3. Pass inheritance and convert disciples (in process)

    4. Investigate Twin Lights Liger King (Iplete)

    5. Deal with Twin Lights Liger King (iplete)

    6. Find out information about the Dark Bloom Caverns (iplete)

    7. Visit/investigate the Dark Bloom Caverns (iplete)

    8. Visit the Tian n and obtain the information from their records (iplete)

    9. Visit the Frozen Cloud sect and meet the Fox masked man (iplete)

    10. Visit Wang Xiong and upgrade Trojan

    бкбк

    These were the tasks that Lin Wu had decided to do and were the main priority in theing few months to years. He knew that the things would take longer from here on, but he was ready to deal with them.

    "A slow but steady approach is the best one, isn''t it?" Lin Wu said to himself.

    And while Lin Wu was thinking of all this, the two disciples Jun and Xiaoge finally woke up.

    Their eyes glimmered lightly and a mix of white and ck could be see in their pupils for a few seconds. The light faded away rapidly, but it was evident they had learned something.

    "Thank you senior!" The two of them said while cupping their hands.

    They understood the Taiji Refinement scripture and just how strong it really was. Theypared it to their current cultivation techniques and found them to be far inferior.

    They finally understood how Wang Xiong could progress as fast as he did. Now they would be the same as him and would probably catch up soon.

    "Now thenбн are you two ready to learn about the truth of the world? The disaster that awaits it?" Lin Wu dropped another bomb on top of them.

    "Huh? What!?" The two of them who were feeling the euphoria of getting the inheritance felt incredibly shocked now.

    "The shadow cmityбн it''s not gone yet. This world still has traces of it and it will be returning in the future. If nothing is done to stop it, the world as you know will be consumed by it and all that you love will be destroyed." Lin Wu said, beginning his process of conversion.

    He needed to talk to them even if he had nted the Trojan as conversations were the easier way of doing this rather than prodding around in their memories.

    Plus, it was a path of less resistance and would be more impactful if the two of them made decisions on their own.

 Chapter 546 - Roping In Two More Subordinates

    Lin Wu then went on to tell them about the shadow cmity and how he had sensed its presence in the world as well. He also told them that Wang Xiong knew about it as well and that the two of them were working towards making sure that something like that would not happen.

    Of course when Lin Wu had told this to Wang Xiong back then, it had pretty much just been a lie. But now that he had fought the skull god, Lin Wu knew that it wasn''t really false either.

    Lin Wu knew that the Skull god was here for the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance as well and had gotten the ''Hei'' aspect of Taiji celestial. The Skull god and the shadow cmity were rather simr and the Skull god himself had done this by taking on the aspects of the Shadow cmity when he had found a weakened seed of it.

    Lin Wu guessed that if there was one such Skull god, there were probably others that had gotten the inheritance of either the shadow cmity or the Taiji celestials inheritance as well.

    There was bound to be someone that would try to get the other inheritances as well. Especially the Skull god himself. Lin Wu had only gotten rid of a single Avatar of the Skull God and thus he was not sure if there would others that he might send or if he woulde here on his own if the time so arrived.

    ''Even with the restriction that he has from the guardian beasts, I wouldn''t be too sure of it. This world already is not fully protected since it only has three statues and not all four. While we don''t know if that is enough or not, and if Zhu Tianying''s presence would be any help, it would be better to assume that there would be an attack iing.

    I best be prepared, not going to let go of this world so easily.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    Xiaoge and Jun sat down in shock after hearing all that.

    "Such dangerбн the people of our world are just blind aren''t they?" Jun spoke.

    "They aren''t blind, just ignorant. And they aren''t fully to me either." Lin Wu answered.

    "What do you mean senior?" Xiaoge asked.

    "Have you two heard of what happened in the west? The great mes of the Dread Coil Marsh and the fall of the Jiao Dian city?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "You know about it senior?" Jun asked in surprised.

    "Of course I do." Lin Wu replied. "Who do you think they were caused by?"

    Hearing this, the eyes of Jun and Xiaoge went wide.

    "You meanбн they were done by you?" Jun asked feeling shocked.

    "No, noбн that wasn''t me. But rather another ally of mine. And why do you think something like that was done?" Lin Wu asked further.

    "Theбн Shadow cmity?" Xiaoge asked.

    "Indeed. Or rather one of the pawns of the shadow cmity. You two have already seen how it can corrupt others right? This pawn was the same. He was called as the Skull god and had been corrupted by the shadow cmity.

    He is very powerful and from a different world. He roams the myriad of worlds piging and conquering them. He once sent an avatar to this world and tried to take over it. He was prevented many times by was never killed sessfully.

    He was also the one who had created the Dread Coil Marsh. In fact, that area was once the home of a very prosperous Vermilion sect. The sect''s head sacrificed herself to kill the Skull god but was unable to do so. The Dread Coil Marsh was the result of that." Lin Wu exined.

    <em>~Gasp~</em>

    The shock of the two disciples only kept on increasing more and more as they listened. Lin Wu was internally rejoicing and felt that his words were working just as he had intended for them to.

    "Didбн the Skull god die?" Jun asked carefully.

    "His avatar did die, but his main body is probably alive somewhere in a different world. Besides, the power of his avatar is iparable to his main body. That is not something anyone in this world can handle.

    Even if everyone in this world decided to fight together, they would not be able tost for more than just a few minutes. It is the world''s protection that had prevented him froming to this world.

    If not for that, this world would have ended thousands of years ago." Lin Wu replied.

    "I understand the Dread Coil Marsh, but why did Jiao Dian city perish?" Xiaoge questioned.

    "There were others being controlled by the shadow cmity there as well. It could infect more people and it was unknown just how many there were. We don''t know if some people managed to escape either.

    Thus even if the entire city was burned, there would probably be a more such infected appearing, eventually." Lin Wu exined.

    "That will be rather problematic. How do we deal with this when the number of corrupted would increase?" Xiaoge said feeling a bit lost.

    "That is exactly why the Taiji Celestial created his tombs as a means to pass on his inheritance. You two would be helping in this and I would be doing it as well. I simply need to recover my cultivation base." Lin Wu spoke.

    "I seeбн what do we do for now senior?" Jun asked.

    "For now, you two need to focus on learning the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial. Yourpanions who are learning the inheritance of the Sky Bright Daoist will also help you in this venture." Lin Wu replied.

    "They would help too? Why?" Xiaoge asked.

    "After all, the Sky Bright Daoist was one of the disciples of the Taiji Celestial as well and his mission is the same. In fact, he knew that not everyone will be able to get the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial and thus he made his own.." Lin Wu stated.

 Chapter 547 - The Deal With The Slim Arm Ape King

    The two disciples Xiaoge and Jun learned everything from Lin Wu and finally understood their duty. The two of them were chosen by Wang Xiong on the basis of their personality already and he knew that they would suit this thing.

    That was the reason why he had sent them here. Lin Wu was happy that Wang Xiong could do this and felt that he was getting better and better.

    "You two can go and cultivate in one of the halls for now, the spirit Qi is better there so it should help you two." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Yes senior!" Xiaoge and Jun said in unison.

    <em>~SHUA~ </em>

    Runes appeared around them and formed into teleportation formations which then took the two disciples away.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    Lin Wu took a breath of relief after seeing this and removed all the effects that he had been using.

    "That''s one thing out of the way. Now to do the other tasksбн" Lin Wu said as he checked the other windows.

    He spent a few hours checking the situation of the other ces and the beasts.

    "Hmmбн they should have alreadymunicated with the Slim arm ape king, the demon spine ape king and the Split thorn horn beetle king by now right?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He then decided to contact his servants to know how things were going. Fifteen days had already passed and thus there had been enough time for his servants to have talked with the kings.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    "Master?" the beetle beast directly appeared in front of Lin Wu upon his call.

    "How''s the deal with your ancestor going? Has he decided anything?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Ah! Yes. He epted it right away. With you being one of the insect beasts as well, he has no problem with you being the overall king of the entire forest." The beetle beast answered.

    "I seeбн that''s good then. Guess I just need to ask the monkey beasts now." Lin Wu spoke.

    "I know about that too," The beetle beast added.

    "Oh, you do? Do tell." Lin Wu asked.

    "The Slim Arm ape is fine with it as well but he wants you to ensure that his kin would be protected as well. He also has some things that he wants to talk to you about in person." The beetle beast replied.

    "And what about the Demon Spine Ape king?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Wellбн he has a condition as well. He wants to fight you." The beetle beast answered.

    "Hmm, just as I expected." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Very well, guess I''ll go and meet the father son pair now." Lin Wu stated.

    "As you say, master. Is there anything else I need to do?" The beetle beast asked.

    "Nothing for now. You can return to your tasks." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The beetle beast nodded and teleported away. Lin Wu looked at the map and knew where the two monkey beast kings were.

    "The beetle beast saved me some time there, time to head out and stretch a bitбн" Lin Wu said before he teleported away as well.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Runes rippled in the air, and Lin Wu appeared in one of the areas of the sixth ring. His body left a deep imprint on the ground just by the virtual of his sheer weight. Lin Wu looked at it and thought of something.

    "Hmmбн I''ll need to do something about this as well. It''s fine if I''m in non-hostile territory but in dangerous or enemy territory I''ll need to be careful of leaving behind traces." Lin Wu took note.

    With this done, he floated up and flew towards the territory of the two monkey beasts. The forest around him had gone silent due to his presence and all the beasts were scared enough to stay silent.

    Lin Wu reached the monkey beasts'' territory in a few minutes andnded in front of the cave. He knew that his aura would be picked up by the two ape kings rather quickly and he wouldn''t need to announce himself.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Lin Wunded on the stony ground, cracking it a bit and looked into the cave.

    "King Lin Wu," The voice of the Slim Arm Ape King was hearding from the inside.

    "Slim Arm Ape King," Lin Wu greeted.

    The two ape kings walked in from the inside and looked at Lin Wu.

    "You wanted to talk in person about the deal?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Indeed. I''m fine with your decision as long as you satisfy some things that I want." The Slim Arm Ape King replied.

    "And what are they?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I want you to do somethingбн I want you to find the truth about this ceбн this forest and the Dark Bloom Caves. Since you live at the forbidden tomb, you must already have some idea but I''d like you to figure out the entire thing." The Slim Arm Ape king answered.

    "Hmmбн I can do that. But why do you want that?" Lin Wu asked feeling curious.

    The ape king''s request was something he was fine with and it wasn''t something that was out of his goals. He was going to do them anyway himself but he wanted to know what the ape king''s interest in this was.

    "I once had a masterбн a long time ago. He was the one that raised me from amon ape all the way to the Core condensation realm. If it were not for him, perhaps I would have died a long time ago.

    I have a debt to him and I''d like to fulfill it. Hisst wish was to find the secrets of this forest, but he died before he could do that. I''ve tried to do it myself but it wasn''t really possible for me. The rules of the forest were hard for me to go against.

    But youбн you''ve already changed them. If you can do that, then you can definitely do this." The Slim arm ape king requested.

    "Alright, I''ll Do it!" Lin Wu agreed.

 Chapter 548 - A Small Test Of Mettle

    Lin Wu''s quick agreement was not something that the Slim Arm Ape king had thought of. Even if he knew that Lin Wu could do it was going to do it on his own, he was sure that Lin Wu would probably ask for something extra, perhaps.

    He didn''t know what Lin Wu would ask, but in his mind, themon option was none other than his kin, the ck Fur Monkeys. Even though they were not of the same species directly, being of the same source, the Slim Arm ape king still considered them to be his kin.

    Back then, Lin Wu had asked for some of his kin to join him. Of them all, about ten of them had decided to join Lin Wu. And those that joined were now many times stronger than before.

    In fact, two of them were already at the Nascent Soul realm. Even though they weren''t as strong as him, they were still far stronger than any other beast in the forest. The Slim Arm ape had met them before and knew that they had gone on an entirely different path than what he had seen.

    The influence of Lin Wu had changed them and this was a fact. With the miraculous changes that Lin Wu brought, the slim arm ape king was confused as to whether this was due to him getting the crystal from the meteor or something entirely.

    But now there was nothing that the Slim Arm ape king needed to worry about.

    ''Perhaps it might really be better with Lin Wu at the helm. He''s eerily like humansбн despite being a beast. Though he truly is a beast, the bloodline does not lieбн'' The Slim Arm ape king thought to himself.

    "Alright, I shall follow you then." The Slim Arm ape king stated.

    "I won''t though!" The Demon Spine ape king suddenly said out loud.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu looked on with interest.

    He knew what the headstrong beast wanted and would not mind giving it to him, either.

    "What do you want?" Lin Wu still decided to ask for the sake of formality.

    "I want to fight you!" The Demon Spine Ape King spoke.

    "Son! You cannot do that!" The Slim Arm ape king wandered.

    "I know, I know! I cannot fathom to think of winning against him. I do not want to fight him for that. I want to fight him to see the power of a Dao Shell realm beast. And I also want to see if I canprehend something." The Demon Spine ape king replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and thought that it was fine. He himself had no threat and if he wanted to, he could defeat the Demon Spike ape king without even touching him. Simply the radiation let off by his body would stop the beast in ce.

    With the increase in his control after the breakthrough, Lin Wu''s power had increased once more.

    ''This might be a way to test my control as well. I can try that on the Demon spine ape king.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "I''m fine with that too. But if you get injured, you will have nothing toin." Lin Wu stated.

    "I am not scared of injuries. Give me this one thing and fight me at your full power. I want to witness it! I want to see if you are worthy of being my leader!" The Demon spine ape stated.

    "Oho? You want me to fight at my full power? That might not be good for you or the forest either. I do not have control over it and even my half power will kill you before you react. The forest won''t fare well either." Lin Wu replied.

    The Demon spine ape gritted his teeth upon hearing this. He knew that Lin Wu was not lying. This much he could tell. He still had a hope that he might be able to match a little bit against a Dao Shell realm beast.

    But he had forgotten that he was not just fighting against any Dao Shell realm beast, but Lin Wu. Even the Sliver Tusk Tapir King, who the Demon Spine ape was intending to perish against, was nothing in front of him right now.

    The Demon Spine ape king had been stunned by seeing the power of the White fox masked man. He had heard that he was a Demon beast that had taken a humanoid form and wondered if he himself would have the same power.

    His mother was a Demon Beast and he knew that while he might not have the same potential as her, he would still be many times stronger than the average beast.

    "Just do whatever you can, I''ll fight at my full power then." The Demon Spine ape replied after thinking for a bit.

    "Okay, where do you want to fight?" Lin Wu asked.

    "The forbidden areaбн it has calmed over the years and any damage caused there shouldn''t be problematic for us. We can go there." The Demon Spine Ape suggested.

    Lin Wu thought over it and nodded.

    ''Haven''t been there for a while now, wonder what the changes there have urred till now,'' Lin Wu thought to himself. ''Maybe I''ll get to see if there are anyva fishes there hehe~''

    With the agreement made, Lin Wu and the Demon spine ape flew towards the forbidden area. To them, it was merely a few minutes to reach at their cultivation base.

    The forbidden area had be deste over the years since the meteornded here. This was the ce Lin Wu started his journey, and this is the same ce that he had returned to.

    <em>~thud~ thud~</em>

    The two of themnded in the middle of the area and looked around. Theva pits had long since cooled and hard ck basalt could be seen there. In some of the ces, theva had turned into obsidian instead and long bs of it were spread as cracks were visible within it.

    This was the arena that the two would be fighting in.

 Chapter 549 - Home Run!

    Lin Wu and the Demon spine ape stood face to face at the deste forbidden area, their gazes were sharp.

    "You sure you want to do this?" Lin Wu asked for a sense of propriety.

    "I am, let''s start." The Demon spine ape said with confidence.

    "Alright, you go on ahead. I''ll defend and give you the chance." Lin Wu said.

    He wanted to see the change in his defenses and test out how much his body had changed. The Demon spine ape had managed to injure him before, thus he wanted him to be the test subject again.

    ''After all, it is only proper that we use the same subject in an experiment for an unbiased result.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The demon spine ape agreed as well as he knew that if Lin Wu truly decided to attack him first he might be too injured to act after that.

    "Don''t mind if I do!" The demon spine ape said as his aura shot up like a beacon.

    Spirit Qi fluctuations rose from his body and spread throughout the area. His fur stood up and ignited in small, dark red mes.

    <em>~BANG~</em>

    He started with a leap and raised his fists like a hammer. They were covered in dark red mes that originated from his spine. The mes were like snakes that wrapped around his back and reached his hand before igniting his fists.

    This move was the same one that he had attempted to use against the Silver Tusk tapir but had been stopped by the white fox masked man. Though in that attempt, he had ended up using all his power going so far as to ignite his bloodline.

    Thankfully, he had been stopped in the initial stage, or it would have been rather dangerous for him. Death would have been the most likely option if not being crippled. This time he was just using his own power and was not going overboard as he knew that he was not fighting to the death.

    Lin Wu''s eyes watched the Demon spine ape''s every move. To him, he move slowly and his vision was dynamic. Lin Wu''s eyes narrowed and his radiation perception activated. The scene in front of him changed and different colors appeared in front of him.

    The radiation in the air moved, and the spirit Qi moved between it. This allowed Lin Wu to see the flow of spirit Qi in the air and see how the attack was working. Only high level cultivators would be able to do something like this, but Lin Wu was able to do the same with his radiation perception.

    The hammer like fists of the Demon spine ape king descended upon Lin Wu''s head and he kept it rigid.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    A loud ringing sound was heard, and the fist and the head collided. The shockwave spread and shook the surroundings, cracking the ground spreading tremors in the area. Lin Wu''s body sank into the ground slightly, but no damage was actually sustained.

    He stared the Demon spine ape straight in his eyes and saw the surprise in them.

    "System, what''s the damage?" Lin Wu questioned in his mind.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    Initiating Host scan: please wait a moment

    Host scanpleted: No injuries found

    Host integrity: 100%

    бкбк

    "Just as I thought," Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    Lin Wu bore a full powered attack of a Child Soul stage nascent soul realm beast with ease and shrugged it off like nothing.

    "Should I start now?" Lin Wu asked with a chuckle.

    Lifting his tail up high, Lin Wu morphed it into a smoother and t surface, which then curved to form a cylinder. If one looked at it right now, one would find it to be rather simr to a baseball bat.

    Lin Wu''s tail, which sent a chill down the Demon Spine ape king''s back, cast a long shadow.

    <em>~thwack~</em>

    "Aannnnnd! Home run!!" Lin Wu said as the Demon Spine Ape was sent flying high into the sky.

    He kept on flying due to the impact and probably went a couple of kilometers away before finally crashing into one of the hills. A deep imprint was left by his body and blood could be seen sttered around.

    Lin Wu had evidently held back, or the Demon Spine Ape would probably be reduced to a mush, or directly exploded upon impact into a rain of blood and gore.

    Holding up his tail like a visor, Lin Wu gazed into the distance.

    "He should be fine," Lin Wu said with a nod.

    ''He''ll be fine? Youunched him into the air like a rag doll and you say he''ll be fine?'' the Slim arm ape king thought, but did not dare speak.

    "Let''s go check up on your son." Lin Wu said and flew up.

    The Slim Arm ape king joined him and the two of them reached the ce where the Demon Spine ape hadnded in a minute.

    The scene looked ever more devastating up close and the crater made by the Demon Spine ape was at least fifty meters wide. The beast himself, though seemed to be rtively fine.

    Blood dripped out from his nostril and mouth, and his arms seemed to be broken as well. But other than that, there was no other damage that could be seen from him.

    "Son! Are you okay?" The Slim Arm ape king asked out loud.

    <em>~Cough~cough~</em>

    "I''mбн fineбн justбн gonna need to rest a little." The Demon Spine ape said as he coughed out some blood.

    Heid on the ground and took some breaths, trying to initiate the healing process. He was after all, a Nascent soul realm beast and was also a partial Demon beast. To them, injures such as these could be recovered in less than a month.

    It certainly was not life threatening and could be easily taken care of. Not to mention, there were even fruits and herbs that they had which could help in healing the injuries.. The Slim arm ape king was smart and would definitely make use of his experience.

 Chapter 550 - Onwards To The Dark Bloom Caverns

    With the short battle over, both the parties were satisfied. Lin Wu was satisfied with his defenses while the Demon Spine Ape king was satisfied with the power that Lin Wu showed. He now knew what to look forward to in the future and didn''t mind following someone that was this strong.

    "Now thenбн I''ll head back. I have some other things I need to get to." Lin Wu spoke.

    "That''s fine. We''ll head back tooбн need to let him heal now." The Slim Arm Ape king said.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and flew away to another destination. The ce he was heading to was none other than the territory of the Twin Lights Liger king. The location was to the north east of the sixth ring, though the cave that the king himself lived in was more to the center.

    The territory of the Lamp Light Ligers and the Twin Lights liger king was very wide and thus there were many ces of conflict between them and the other rulers. In the recent years, the conflicts had pretty much mellowed out due to Lin Wu''s takeover.

    Thest major conflict was when the Beetle king and the two ape kings blocked the Lamp Light Ligers from acting when Lin Wu was killing the Olive Viper King. After that day, the conflicts started to reduce.

    Then when the new Nascent soul realm beasts started to breakthrough in the forest, the Lamp Light Ligers were forced to stay in their territory. Right now, it was just the Twin Lights Liger king''s influence that was holding the territory in ce.

    Once the territory lost its owner, it wouldn''t take long for the order to copse.

    "Hmmбн let''s see," Lin Wu muttered and hovered in the sky.

    His vision and spirit sense scanned over the entire area and went as far as possible. This gave Lin Wu an idea of what beasts there were and who was currently watching him as well.

    The system had already updated the map, but to him, observing them on his own was important for details as well. Without it, things could turn problematic.

    "The Lamp Light Liger Kings are spread around rather evenly. Seems like they aren''t staying in groups anymore. This is strangeбн" Lin Wu understood.

    Lin Wu''s aura was now contained and he had surrounded himself with radiation. This prevented any spirit Qi waves from going and alerting the others. Plus, he was high up in the sky, hidden in the clouds, thus the Lamp Light Ligers could not spot him anyway.

    Lin Wu continued traveling and soon found a suitable location tond. It was distant from all themp light ligers and was close to the Dark Bloom Caverns as well.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Lin Wu controlled his body to make as little noise as possible andnded before moving towards thergest cave there was in the Dark Bloom Caverns. Lin Wu could faintly feel a strange aura in the air that got stronger the closer he approached the caverns.

    After a few minutes he finally reached the main cave of the Dark Bloom caverns.

    "Alright system, scan it all." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    ERROR!: Interference detected

    SCAN: Failed!

    NOTIFICATION: The host will need to manually scan around with his spirit sense and the system will pick up the passive data from that. Active scan will be disabled until the interference is removed.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн the ce certainly has a lot more to it than we thought. At least the system isn''tpletely in the blind this time though, which means it has improved." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He spread his spirit sense just as the system had told him to and entered the cave. The cave was tall enough for him to easily move around with his head raised, which was a bit unusual.

    "Caves as tall as these are rather umonбн was this perhaps made by someone?" Lin Wu wondered and took a closer look at the ceiling and the walls.

    Most of the ces were covered with either moss or looked like normal rocky walls. But after going a bit deeper, Lin Wu started to see the signs of human interactions.

    "These marksбн they''re certainly made by tools. Plus this shapeбн it''s too smooth for it to be natural." Lin Wu said, seeing the corners of one of the tunnels.

    By now, he was sure that there were humans that hade aroundter. This was after the tomb had been built by the Sky Bright Daoist.

    ''These marks are certainly not made by the Sky bright Daoist. He wouldn''t use normal tools to make a cave like this. Instead, it looks like someone tried to expand on an already existing cave.'' Lin Wu guessed.

    After working for about five more minutes, Lin Wu finally came across the reason for the Dark Bloom Cavern''s name.

    "Whoa!" Lin Wu eximed, seeing the blue light illuminating the inner area of the caverns.

    The light came from a special type of moss that was growing on the ceiling and the walls of the cavern. In addition to the moss, somerge mushrooms could also be seen growing on the floor.

    These were glowing as well, but their illumination was a bit weaker than the moss. The size of these mushrooms was the same as any small mushroom and they were spread around the rocks that were scattered in here.

    "There is no information about the flora here, is there, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA DECRYPTED: Iplete Data node obtained

    TARGETS IDENTIFIED: 1. Dark Bloom Moss

    2. Dark Bloom Mushrooms.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн that was rather simple. Though this new informationбн it''s from the two disciples, isn''t it?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Affirmative" The system responded.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and continued onward, though he didn''t forget to take some samples of both the new things.

    ''This ce is really bigбн I''ve already been traveling for an hour now..'' Lin Wu thought to himself when finally he appeared in anotherrger section of the cavern.

 Chapter 551 - A Deep Maze

    The entire Dark Bloom Caverns were a series of tunnels and caves that were joined by passageways. While it had many entrances, there were only a few paths that actually led to the depths of it.

    There were hundreds of smaller entrances that were blind on the other end, and tens of major entrances that led deeper. Though only the main entrance was said to go to the very depths of it.

    But beasts rarely ever entered it. The current reason for it was the Twin Lights Liger King, but before him, those that entered it all just died. There may have been some survived by those beasts were lost and never heard from again.

    Lin Wu may have been one of the only beasts that had managed toe this far in hundreds of years.

    "This is certainly made by a man." Lin Wu said upon observing the cave he was currently in.

    There were carvings on the wall that looked decorative in nature, though some faded runes were remnants of various formations that once dressed this cave. The runes were in Dao Script and readable for Lin Wu, though he could not really make out the formations right away.

    "These should be the older formations that linked on the surface. They have really degraded over timeбн" Lin Wu said upon seeing this.

    After about a minute of investigationter, Lin Wu asked the system. "Is this the reason why the tomb''s formation is unable to link to the Dark Bloom Caverns?"

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: No, the formations here are auxiliary input and channeling formations. The main formation circuits that link to the Tomb''s formation array are deep underground. ording to the system''s recent estimates, after the new data was obtained, the Dark Bloom Caverns might be over twenty kilometers deep.

    бкбк

    "Damn, that''s deep." Lin Wu said upon hearing this.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Would the host like to see the theoretical map- Y/N?

    бкбк

    "Yes! Yes! Why''s that even a question? Show me." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    In the next moment, the map window expanded in front of Lin Wu and he could see several newyers being added to it. On the right side, he could see that thewyers went at least a hundred meters deep.

    "Hmmбн so the difference between eachyer is about a hundred meters. This means there should be around 200 if not moreyers." Lin Wu hypothesized.

    On the map, Lin Wu could only see the currentyer and the one below it. All the others were currently hidden as he had not explored it himself. The interference prevented them from being shown.

    "Thoughбн where the heck is the Twin Lights Liger king? I''m already quite deep, just how far deep does he live? Is he a liger or is he a mole?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu even wondered if he should drill straight down, but he decided against that. The reasons for that were several, the first being the fact that he didn''t know what was below him.

    The second was that going straight down might mean that he misses the Twin Lights Liger king. If he was in one of theyers and Lin Wu did not appear near him, he might just end up missing him.

    Rather than that, it was better for him to follow the path that already existed. Finding the Twin Lights Liger King was one of the important tasks that he needed to do. Only that beast knew the secrets of the Dark Bloom Caverns and the millennium forest itself.

    Lin Wu ended up traveling for about an entire day and kept on going deeper and deeper. It didn''t take long for him to realize that the depths were no less than a maze and if he didn''t check the map again and again, he would get lost.

    "Fudge, wrong turn again!" Lin Wu cursed as he checked the map.

    Currently, the map could only update passive with the use of his spirit sense. It was simr to the video games of his past life in which one needed to explore an area to reveal the parts that were hidden behind the ''fog of war''.

    Often times what was happening was that Lin Wu would take a long route and eventually realize that he ended up circling to a part that he had already been too. A lot of the routes were looping, and some were simply dead ends.

    There were dangers here too of course, but to Lin Wu, they were pretty much nothing. The dangers being, poisonous and acidic nts, mosses and small insect beasts that were weak but could probably kill Nascent soul realm beats just from their sheer numbers.

    Lin Wu could also tell that the small beasts here had little to no intelligence and were mostly acting on instincts. If they found something that looked like prey they would swarm them and attack.

    Their bites and stings would probably be deadly, but for Lin Wu''s crystalline body they were nothing. In fact, most of the insect beats didn''t even register him as a living beast. The ones that attacked were just those that attacked based on movement.

    Then there were other dangerous areas such as falling stctites. These were sharp and had condensed over thousand of years. Any movement that caused vibrations over a certain limit would trigger these to fall.

    The Stctites themselves were easy to dodge if they were limited in number, but the problem was they covered the entire ceiling, thus leaving barely any room for one to dodge.

    Lin Wu tested out a couple of them and found them to be harder than iron.

    "Damn, these can easily kill even Core Condensation realm cultivators and beasts. A Nascent soul realm beast that has weaker defenses might get injured as well." Lin Wu analyzed.

    But it was these very stctites that showed Lin Wu the path and where to go. Lin Wu noticed that there were some ces where the stctites were missing, and it looked like they had fallen already.

    "This should probably be the path that the Twin Lights Liger King took.." Lin Wu stated.

 Chapter 552 - A Strange Being

    Following the path that was shown by the fallen stctites, Lin Wu finally reached the deeper levels of the Dark Bloom Caverns. On the way, he had seen many branches and forks in the path, which would be dizzying for the average person.

    There were simply too many routes and blind ends, turning the ce into abyrinth.

    "Wonder how the Twin Lights Liger King even managed to find the path. Did he try for many years or something like that?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He ended up traveling for another day before he finally reached what looked to be the deepest part of the Dark Bloom Caverns. Lin Wu didn''t know just how deep he hade, but it was probably a few kilometers deep at this point.

    "What the heck!" Lin Wu couldn''t help but exim upon seeing what was inside the final cave.

    Multipleyers of barriers were covering something that could not be seen. There were millions of runes floating around, their functions seemingly unknown for now. There were also carved formations on the floor which were actually uniformly t.

    It was obvious that it had been made like that manually and intentionally. The runes carved on the floor also looked to be well detailed, and it didn''t look like they were that old. But from the faint aura that they exuded, Lin Wu could tell that they were ancient at this point.

    "Just what is this ceбн is that the power source that the system was talking about?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The multiple barriers made it hard to see what was actually behind them, thus Lin Wu could only guess.

    "Is it a spirit Qi spring? A mine? Or something else entirely?" Lin Wu wondered.

    These were the mostmon spirit Qi sources that came to Lin Wu''s mind and were used by many people. But the protection used here seemed to be a little too much for things like that.

    "Just what could be behind it?" Lin Wu wondered and got closer.

    His spirit sense had already checked everything and he hadn''t found anything dangerous to be here. Regardless, Lin Wu carefully approached the barriers and came to stand in front of them.

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    <em>~WARNING!~</em>

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    All of a sudden, the system sent out warnings and Lin Wu got into a defensive stance. The system didn''t even get the opportunity to tell just what kind of a danger it was due to the interference field, but still managed to pick up something from the passive sensing.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    Spikes sprouted from Lin Wu''s body, looking extremely gruesome. This was one of the defensive abilities that Lin Wu had devised. Anything that attacked him was bound to get hurt as long as they did so physically.

    The spikes also helped in blocking ranged energy attacks, as they would dampen the force of impact and would be the first to break off in case of excess damage. This would prevent the damage from traveling to Lin Wu''s body.

    Radiation swirled around Lin Wu''s body and suppressed the spirit Qi in the area. This would also prevent spirit Qi based energy attacks from being used easily. It could even prevent the spirit sense of others from approaching Lin Wu.

    Taking a two pronged approach, Lin Wu opened his mouth as energy started to gather inside it.

    "I''ll st every MOFO that gets near me! Try me, bitch!" Lin Wu said as his eyes glowed.

    But the danger that Lin Wu was looking for never approached.

    "Huh? Why a warning then?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Finallyбн" It was then that a raspy voice was heard from behind him.

    Lin Wu''s eyes flipped to the back and saw the source of the voice.

    In front of Lin Wu, he could see a pair of ck eyes watching him from inside the barriers. They werergeбнrger than the entire body of Lin Wu and looked terrifying. The pupils of the eyes were acid green in color.

    But the strangest thing was that there was nothing attached to the eyes. They were just a pair of eyes floating in the air. Though if one looked closer, they would see that there were faint wisps of something fluid emanating from their edges.

    "Finally, someone else managed to reach this ceбн" The eyes spoke.

    That was rightбн the eyes were speaking. The edges of the eyelids had small teeth, and the eye blinked like lips talking.

    "W-whatбн W-who are you?" Lin Wu questioned and continued to charge energy in his mouth.

    "Oh? A beast that can speak? That was unexpectedбн I never thought I''d see one speak in this world." The eyes spoke.

    The eyes closed for a few seconds, as if thinking and then opened again.

    "Hmmбн doesn''t matter. Even if it''s a beast it is fineбн" the eyes spoke and then started into Lin Wu''s eyes.

    "Tell meбн Little snakeбн do you want power?" The eyes spoke.

    "I''m a worm," Lin Wu interrupted and continued to charge the energy in his mouth.

    The size of the energy ball in his mouth started from a pea size and was now about the size of a basket ball. Of course, in Lin Wu''s mouth, it looked rather small even now.

    "Okayбн Little worm, do you want power? Do you want to be more than just a worm?" The eyes spoke.

    Lin Wu didn''t know what the eyes were getting at, thus decided to engage it for a bit. At least until his attack was ready to beunched.

    "Ummбн Sure?" Lin Wu said.

    The eyes went still and started at Lin Wu for a bit before speaking again.

    "You seem to not believe me?" The eyes spoke.

    "No, I fully believe you, 100%. Trust me," Lin Wu said as the energy ball in his mouth reached half of its full size.

    "You say you trust me. But your body seemed to be saying something else." The eyes said, looking at the energy gathering in Lin Wu''s mind.

    "Oh, this? I just have indigestion. Lemme puke and I''ll be fine.." Lin Wu replied in a deadpan voice.

 Chapter 553 - A Proposal And The Twin Lights Liger King

    The encounter with the ck pair of eyes was certainly unexpected for Lin Wu. While he was expecting conflict, it was with the Twin Lights Liger King and not something like this.

    Lin Wu couldn''t even tell what kind of a being it was. It didn''t seem like a beast, nor was it a human or a demon. All of the system''s scans and searches wereing back empty, and it was at a loss as well.

    It was clear that whatever this was; it was not in the system''s data bank. Lin Wu carefully observed the being and tried to use his own past life experiences of games and novels to figure out what this being was.

    ''An evil eye? A floating eye beast? Eye demon? Too many options and they don''t look the same. Is it even a cultivator or something else? A demon? Noбн demons in this world are different.

    Then perhapsбн it''s a manifestation and not a real body?'' Lin Wu analyzed in his mind.

    The pair of eyes though seemed a bit stunned at Lin Wu''s nonchnt answer before this.

    "I''ll ignore what you saidбн now tell me if you really want power?" The Pair of eyes asked again.

    "I do, what do I have to do and who are you to be able to give me them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    I am someone more powerful than you can ever imagine! I have existed for hundreds of thousands of years! I amбк" But before the pair of eyes could say anymore, they freezed.

    "NOOO! GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!" A voice that sounded like a roar was heard.

    Lin Wu''s eyes moved again, and he spotted a beast approaching at a fast speed. Its two eyes glowed in two different lights, one being pitch ck and the other being bone white in color.

    "The Twin Lights Liger King?" Lin Wu recognized.

    Lin Wu raised his tail in a defensive gesture, just in case the Twin Lights Liger King was heading towards him, but the beast didn''t do that. Instead, it moved to a particr ce in the cave and stood in what looked like a formation circle.

    <em>~BANG~</em>

    It mmed its feet on the ground and shouted, "Suppress!"

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The formation arrays in the cave all lit up and pressure was exerted from them.

    "DAMN YOU! FILTHY BEAST! ONE DAY I''LL KILL YOU!" The pair of eyes shouted from inside the barrier before they were pulled back.

    A secondter, they had disappeared, and no signs of them could be seen. Lin Wu looked back at the Twin Lights Liger king and found him to be looking rather pale. It seemed as if he had exhausted a lot of energy in a short amount of time and was panting.

    This was surprising since he was an Adult Soul Stage Nascent soul realm beast and should have been able to hold for days if not weeks on end.

    "What the hell was that?" Lin Wu questioned, the energy ball in his mouth having reached the peak.

    "Restrain your Qi! The formations here are unstable and get affected by external spirit Qi!" The Twin Lights liger said instead.

    Lin Wu looked at the barrier and then back at the Twin Lights liger king before thinking for a bit and nodding.

    <em>~poof~</em>

    The energy ball in his mouth, reduced in size before fizzing away and the surrounding radiation calmed down as well, before retreating back into his body.

    Lin Wu was not afraid of the Twin Lights liger king and thus was fine with reeling in his attack. If he wanted to, Lin Wu was confident in defeating the Twin Lights liger king on his own, with just his body.

    After all, he was at the Dao Shell realm now and had little to fear from him.

    "Alright, I''ve done what you said. Now can you tell me what was that and what''s going on here exactly?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    The Twin Lights liger King looked at Lin Wu for a few seconds before sighing.

    "So the day has finallyeбн" The Twin Lights Liger King said.

    "What day?" Lin Wu asked curiously.

    "Youing to confront meбн and probably investigate this ce." The Twin Lights Liger King replied.

    Lin Wu was a little surprised at the urate guess of the Twin Lights Liger King, but then understood that it was something a bit obvious. After all, the Twin Lights Liger King was no naive young beast and had been a ruler for hundreds of years now.

    "Hmm, you got that right." Lin Wu stated.

    "So, do you want to fight and kill me?" The Twin lights liger king questioned.

    Lin Wu looked at the current weak state of the beast and shook his head.

    "Noбн not necessarily. I did originally think that I would have to fight you, but it''s certain that you have more to you than just an average beast''s thinking." Lin Wu answered.

    "I seeбн you are one of thoseбн beasts that have minds like those of humans. Your thinking is certainly not normal for the beasts of this forest or even beyond it." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.

    Lin Wu was surprised once again by this and was now sure that the Twin Lights Liger King was certainly more experienced than he had thought originally.

    "You are pretty simr as well, if I say so myself." Lin Wu replied.

    The Twin Lights Liger King simply nodded his head and looked back at the barrier.

    "So you want to know about this ce?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "I do indeed." Lin Wu answered.

    "But are you prepared to bear the consequences of doing that? Let me tell you that once you know, you will either be shackled to this ce or leave it if you are strong enough to resist it.

    Do you still want me to tell you that?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned in a stern voice.

    "I doбн go on.." Lin Wu said with determination.

 Chapter 554 - The Truth Of The Millennium Forest - I

    It would be a lie if Lin Wu said that he was not worried about the Twin Lights Liger King''s words, but he still went on with his decision. Even if there were some repercussions to it, Lin Wu was confident of finding a solution to them.

    "Go onбн tell me what this ce is and what was that thing." Lin Wu stated.

    The Twin Lights Liger King took a deep breath and looked towards the barrier before speaking.

    "That thingбн those eyes you sawбн I do not know what it exactly is, but it is a dangerous creature. It tempts every beast or human that manages toe here and offers them power.

    Little do they know that they are simply tricked and get their own life sucked out of them instead." The Twin Lights Liger King stated.

    "Huh? They get killed?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Indeed." The Twin Lights Liger King nodded his head. "Come, follow me." He added.

    He then turned around and led Lin Wu to one of the parts of the cave to the very back. The location that he took him to was hidden behind arge boulder which the Twin Lights Liger King pushed aside.

    This revealed another tunnel, and he entered it.

    <em>~hua~</em>

    The Twin Lights Liger King illuminated the path with his eyes and repelled all the small beasts and bugs that would trouble whoever entered the ce. Lin Wu could see that they were the same bug swarms that could bite a Nascent soul realm beast to death.

    ''So that''s how he navigates hereбн'' Lin Wu thought upon seeing the light of the Twin Lights Liger King''s eyes.

    The light emitting from his eyes was like smoke scaring away the bees and preventing all the bugs froming close. They scuttled away and let the two beasts pass. Though Lin Wu had no need for this, as these beasts never considered him to be a living beast due to his crystalline body.

    Lin Wu wondered where the Twin Lights Liger King was taking him and if it would take long. But the wait was rather short, as in just ten minutes they were at the next location.

    This was also a cave, but it was at least twice as big as the earlier one. In fact, Lin Wu could even see the multiyered barriers here as well.

    "There''sбн another cave like that one?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "There are four to be urate, though all of them are the same and are located in a circle." The Twin Lights Liger King answered.

    Lin Wu checked the mini map on the side of his vision and saw that he was indeed at a 90 degree angle from the previous ce. He then looked around at the cave and saw something more shocking.

    "Bones? There''s so many of them tooбн even more than the bone hills in front of the tomb." Lin Wu said.

    "These are all the unfortunate creatures that fell prey to the temptation of power. That creature would suck out the life of whoever it managed to trap and leave them dead. Their bodies would be drained of all vitality and spirit Qi leaving only a sack of skin and bones behind." The Twin Lights Liger King replied.

    "If all the caves are same, then why were there no bones in the previous one?" Lin Wu questioned after thinking for a bit.

    "That''s because I''m usually blocking that cave and preventing anyone froming. These other caves though, I can only check when I suspect something has happened." The Twin Lights Liger King said.

    "I seeбн but what are you doing here exactly? I understand you are blocking that creature, but why''s that?" Lin Wu asked the main thing he wanted to.

    "I am doing this because this is my dutyбн or is something forced upon me by this forest." The Twin Lights Liger King replied.

    "Forced? Has the forest bound you to it somehow?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yesбн it has control over all the beasts that live within it. Though its control mostly extends over the Nascent soul realm beasts. The ones weaker than that are not worthy in its eyes and are mostly ignored.

    The forest acts through the bloodline resonance and can put shackles on us that we don''t even feel. They can subconsciouslypel us to do things that we don''t even know we are doing.

    That is exactly how it exerts its rules and how they came to be." The Twin Lights Liger King exined.

    "I seeбн so that''s how it all started. But how did you get involved in this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "All of this started a long time agoбн longer than even the existence of this forest. Back then, this ce was called as the Dark Celestial''s tomb. It was said to contain a source of great power and was sealed because of the danger it posed to everyone.

    A Peerless expert seemed to have descended upon this world and sealed the ce. It was said that when the peerless expert descended, the sky turned bright and all the shadows were dispelled.

    Having sealed the tomb, he left the world. But not before making sure the tomb would be taken care of. He made it so that the tomb would be self sufficient on its own for the most part.

    The Seal itself was based on bloodlines and as long as a certain amount of strong beasts were linked to it, the seal would be intact." The Twin Lights Liger King exined.

    "That''s why the need for five Nascent soul realm rulersбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    "Indeed. It''s not that they are five rulers, but rather they are the five chains that hold back the creature and keep the seal intact. Whatever the seal is, it depends on the bloodlines and not the cultivation of the beasts.

    For it to function like this, I do not know what level of a formation master it would need, but it''s certainly not an average one.." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.

 Chapter 555 - The Truth Of The Millennium Forest - II

    Having heard about the seal from the Twin Lights Liger King Lin Wu could guess who made it.

    ''The Sky Bright Daoist no doubtбн so he made the tomb and the seal. But that doesn''t fully make sense. The Tomb is that of the Taiji Celestial. Why was it called as the Dark Celestial''s tomb?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "This ce binds to one of the ''rulers'' and forces them to maintain it." The Twin Lights Liger King added.

    "Maintain it? How''s that exactly?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Have you ever wondered why the beasts never go above Nascent soul realm in this forest?" The Twin Lights Liger King replied.

    This made Lin Wu raise his brows and he finally understood it.

    "So the forest drains their spirit Qi and prevents them from doing so." Lin Wu stated.

    "It does do that, and the ruler that is bound to this ce needs to directly contribute spirit Qi to control the seal. That is what I have been doing all these yearsбн" The Twin Lights Liger King revealed.

    "If it were not for this ce thenбн you would have be a Dao Shell realm beast already." Lin Wu said.

    "Perhaps if I never came to this ce, I would have been able to. But now that I''m bound there is no other way other than to let another being take my ce. The other rulers are at least free in this aspect and can leave the forest if the need arises and they want to.

    But I can''t do that. Back when the Silver Tusk Tapir King arrived, I even wondered if it was intentional on the forest''s part as before this there has never been an invasion as big as that. It has always prevented it one way or the other." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.

    "Hmmбн this is indeed tooplex." Lin Wu said before looking at the barrier.

    "How did you even get involved in this? You said you came to this forest which means you were not a native?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes, I am not a native of this ce. While the Lamp Light Liger Pride that lives here is native, I myself am not. I was once a Lamp Light Liger too, but once I awakened my bloodline and became a Twin Lights Liger, I moved out from the pride I used to live in and set out for a new ce of my own.

    Eventually, I found the pride of Lamp Light Ligers living in the millennium forest and took over as their head. Shortly after that, Iбн like many other rulers stumbled into the Dark Bloom Caverns.

    There have been many generations of rulers that were bound to this ce. In my time it was another beast and she was the one who passed on the position of the ''keeper'' to me. I was naive at that time and thought it would give me more power and authority.

    But it was a trap masked by fortune instead. It gave me a quick boost in my power, but shackled me in the long term.

    Now all I can do is do my duty here and prevent the creature from getting out. I have to supply my spirit Qi to do so every time it manages to slip through. It is hard to tell when it gains sufficient strength to do so because it doesn''te out until there is someone to tempt.

    At all other times, it stays hidden. That''s why I stop all beasts from approaching. But there is little I can do when there is not one but four such ces. Thankfully they are harder to reach than the one I guard most times." The Twin Lights Liger King exined in detail.

    Lin Wu now understood the strange behavior of the Twin Lights Liger King. He understood why he was so hard to see and why he was the ruler for so long. It also exined his disappearances at long time periods, since he was here guarding.

    It was now that Lin Wu was reminded of something.

    "Waitбн I remember hearing that many rulers have entered the Dark Bloom Caverns from different entrances, what happened to them? I''m sure not all of them died." Lin Wu spoke.

    "There have been many that entered this ce. In my time alone there have been about twenty three rulers." The Twin Lights Liger King said.

    "Twenty three?! That''s way more than what the Slim arm ape king and the beetle king told me." Lin Wu said feeling doubtful.

    "That''s understandable. They are one of the more recent rulers and are more stable than the ones that came before them. You must understand, most rulers that actually became rulers weren''t one for long.

    Of the twenty three that came here, fifteen died before they could even reach the seal. Five couldn''t resist the temptation and were killed. From the remaining three, two managed to resist it and turned back, the Olive Viper King being one of them and the other being the ruler that the Olive Viper King killed to take his ce." The Twin Lights Liger King answered.

    "And what about the final one?" Lin Wu asked, seeing that the numbers didn''t add up.

    "Number twenty three is you, of course. The only question that stands is what you want to do? Will you turn back and pretend like this ce does not exist like the Olive Viper King, or will you take over for me?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned in a calm tone.

    Lin Wu was sent into deep thought after hearing this question. He was fully informed of the danger of this ce and who it would bind him, but he also knew the ce was important for him overall if he wanted full control over the Tomb of the Taiji Celestial.

    ''But the Dark Celestial tombбн two tombs in one ceбн one functions as the power source for the otherбн my choice is obvious.'' Lin Wu thought to himself before deciding on an answer.

    "I chooseбн NEITHER!"

 Chapter 556 - An Unexpected Choice

    Lin Wu''s choice was certainly not something the Twin Lights Liger King had expected. In fact, it was a choice that was not even presented to him. From all that he had learned and observed about Lin Wu till now, the Twin Lights Liger King was sure that he would take over his ce.

    He did think that there was a small chance that Lin Wu might just turn away, but Lin Wu''s personality was not like that. The Twin Lights Liger King knew that Lin Wu also desired power and would like to try his own attempt at this tomb.

    The Twin Lights Liger King knew this because he himself was the same as Lin Wu back then. Despite hearing the dangers, he was willing to take the duty into his own hands, because he had the coincidence and hope that he would be able to do it.

    But that was a mistake. A mistake that cost him several hundreds of years of his life and his cultivation as a cost. Even now, he only cultivated so that he could supply the spirit Qi to the sealing formation when needed.

    Other than that, he could never break through to the Dao Shell realm, no matter how much he wanted to. In fact, if he was never bound to this tomb, he would have broken through to the Dao Shell realm over two or three hundred years ago.

    His innate potential was really high, and it was just the tomb holding him back. There were many problems hovering over him, the main one being that he was running out of lifespan.

    He only had about a hundred years or fewer of lifespan left and he needed to find someone else willing to take over him. Otherwise, he would never be able to breakthrough.

    There was actually something he had not told Lin Wu, and it was a secret that was only held by the keeper of the tomb. It was that even if a beast''s lifespan ran out, they would still not die.

    The tomb would keep their souls bound to the world and forcefully keep their bodies alive. They would be living puppets that would only have the task of providing spirit Qi to the formation.

    It was a cruel existence and no one would like to live trapped like that. The Twin Lights Liger King knew this because the one who was the keeper before him was in that stage. The beast had already run out of his longevity and was only alive because of the seal.

    The beast passed on his position to the Twin Lights Liger King and turned to dust in the next second. The Twin Lights Liger King did not want that to happen to him as well. He was desperate to escape but couldn''t give away the duty to anyone carelessly, either.

    This was not because he was forced to, but he knew just how heavy his duty was. He had felt the horrors of the thing that was bound by the seal and knew that if he passed the duty to someone ipetent and they let the seal be broken, this world as he knew would end.

    Either way, he would die. Thus, it would be better for him to suffer a bit more and find someone that could bear the duty for him.

    But now, here was Lin Wu, who had neither epted, nor denied his offer. Rather, he was going on a separate path that the Twin Lights Liger King did not know where it would lead to.

    All he could do now was to let Lin Wu show him.

    "And what''s that? If you choose neither, then what are you going to do?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "Just watchбн even if you can''t do anything to this ce and are helpless, doesn''t mean I am too." Lin Wu answered.

    "Oh? Confident I seeбн overconfident perhaps tooбн" The Twin Lights Liger King added.

    "Nope, just a bit more tech savvy." Lin Wu replied.

    "Tech savvy? What''s that?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked feeling confused, having never heard those two words.

    "Ah, you won''t get it." Lin Wu shook his head.

    "Let me just show youбн" Lin Wu said and approached the barrier.

    While the Twin Lights Liger King had been exining things to Lin Wu, he had been talking with the system anding up with other ns. He knew that even if the seal was strong and had trapped many beasts till now, it would still be nothing in front of the system.

    All he needed was a little time and preparation.

    ''The system managed to ovee the formation of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, which is far moreplex than this one. The formation sealing this ce should be far easierбн'' Lin Wu thought as he observed the barrier from up close.

    "If I directly touch the barrier, you''ll be able to ess the formation despite the interference field, right system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Affirmative." The System answered.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "Alright, here goes nothingбн can''t embarrass myself here after talking hot shit now," Lin Wu said and extended his tail before lightly touching the barrier with it.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was watching him as well and was wondering what he would be up to and was a little worried when he touched the barrier. Even though he knew that the barrier did not cause any harm to anyone that touched it from the outside, there were still unexpected things that could happen.

    He was secretly anticipating something to happen, but that something never happened. Instead, Lin Wu simply stood there with his tail touching the barrier for about two minutes.

    The Twin Lights Liger King kept on watching, feeling astounded for five more minutes and finally decided to speak again.

    "Just what are Yoбк" But before he couldplete his sentence, he saw something that shocked him to his core.

    <em>~HONG!!!!~</em>

    The formations all started to hum with a loud noise, and it looked like the entire cave was shaking.

    "WHAT DID YOU DO!?" The Twin Lights Liger King shouted.

 Chapter 557 - Lifting The Dark Bloom Caverns Interference Field

    The Twin Lights Liger King couldn''t help but think the worst upon seeing the change.

    He didn''t know what Lin Wu had just done and wondered if the seal was broken or something. The Twin Lights Liger King thought that he was foolish that he even let Lin Wu try something like this.

    Now he could only regret this and hope that things weren''t as he had just thought they were.

    "Rx, the seal is fine. I can guess what you''re thinking." Lin Wu casually said, upon hearing the Twin Lights Liger King.

    "Huh?" The Twin Lights Liger King looked at the barriers and saw that they were indeed the same as before.

    "Thenбн what happened?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "Something goodбн something helpfulбн" Lin Wu said as he looked at the woodwind in front of him.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    MODIFICATION COMPETED: Interference field disabled

    FORMATION LINK: Initiated

    LINKING COMPLETED: Sealing formation key acquired

    бкбк

    Seeing the few notifications in front of him, Lin Wu felt pleased. He knew that there was just a little thing standing in between him and this ce and now even that was gone. He was restrained by the interference field and it just took a little touch and work from the system to take care of it.

    "Alright, systemбн time for a total scan of this ce." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING SCANNER: Deep scan initiated

    SCANNING: Please wait a momentбн

    SCAN: Completed.

    MAP: Updated

    NOTIFICATION: Data Nodes obtained

    NOTIFICATION: Data banks updated

    бкбк

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    In just a minute, the entire view of the Dark Bloom Caverns changed for Lin Wu and he could see everything that was hidden within this ce. He could see all the formation links andworks that spread in the caverns.

    He could even see the spots where it was damaged and its link with the Taiji Celestial''s tomb''s formation array was broken.

    ''That''s a lot of damageбн doesn''t seem like it can be fixed directly or quickly for that matterбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then looked at the other ces on the map and could see all the routes and caves there were in the Dark Bloom Cavern. He now had the right path that he could follow and leave from the other caves if the need so arose.

    "Hmmбн I can probably dig a new tunnel that takes me directly to the Taiji celestial''s tomb if the need so arises. A straight path will be the fastest oneбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He checked the map for other markers and discovered that there wasn''t really much in the Dark Bloom caverns other than the big seal and a few nts and insects. There were no treasures in here either like the rumors said.

    The seal was another thing that was shocking to Lin Wu. Even after the system got ess to itpletely, the seal still turned up like a blind spot on the map.

    "Why''s this part still hidden system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The encryption on the seal is additionally strengthened and the system cannot decrypt it right away.

    бкбк

    "And what about the power source? Can we use the main power source now?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to what the system had been able to decrypt till now, the being in the seal is the power source itself. But due to the original link being broken, the sealing formation''s security features were activated and it heavily encrypted the ess.

    Now, if the main power source is to be used, the system will need to fully decrypt it and then make a new ess point for the power source.

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Hearing the answer of the system, Lin Wu couldn''t help but sigh. In fact, the moment he had seen the being, the pair of ck eyes, he knew that he would be running into some sort of a problem.

    The being was beyond his understanding and was likely to pose a problem. And after he heard from the Twin Lights Liger King that the Sky Bright Daoist was the one who sealed it, Lin Wu knew that the being was more than something he can handle at his level.

    ''If it has been able tost this long, it should be very strong. But this was a tomb, wasn''t it supposed to be dead all along?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The system has found some data nodes rted to this. Would the host like to view them? Y/N

    бкбк

    "Right one time, show me." Lin Wu ordered.

    Lin Wu felt a surge of information in his mind and several windows also appeared in front of him.

    ''If it was directly injected into my mind, that means it was already prepared in that format. Hmmбн interestingбн'' Lin Wu thought and started to go through the information.

    In it, he saw how the entire situation with the Dark Bloom Caverns had originally started.

    A long time ago the Millennium forest did not exist and this was just barrennd. But what did exist here was an ancient tomb that had existed for an unknown amount of time. There was a being buried here that was waiting to be revived.

    There was no mention of whether it was a human, a beast, a demon or some other creature. The only thing that was told was that it was a very strong being that could end the world in mere minutes of being given the opportunity to do so.

    The tomb was deste for a long time and the being inside it stayed dead all that time. But after a certain time passed, it was gaining life again and the being inside it was going to be revived.

    It was at that time that the Sky Bright Daoist arrived and sealed the entire tomb. Raising the great earth, he fully hid the tomb deep underground. He then put more seals on top of it, before making the Taiji Celestial''s tomb on top.

    Then, to make the seal stronger and weaken the being inside, the Sky Bright Daoist turned it into a power source and kept on draining its spirit Qi.

 Chapter 558 - Bloodline Unity Seal

    Lin Wu continued going through the memories and saw that the Sky Bright Daoist did not stop at just cing the seal and turning the Dark Celestial''s tomb into a power source of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, but he also added the bloodline seal to it.

    It was now that Lin Wu learned of the seal''s name.

    "The Bloodline Unity Sealбн Gather the will of the bloodlines and suppress for generations toeбн" Lin Wu recited its mnemonic.

    The Bloodline Unity seal was actually moreplex than the other seals that the Sky Bright Daoist had made and thus ended up spending a lot of time in making it. This also leads to a lot more information about it being recorded.

    Lin Mu learned that the Bloodline Unity Seal was one of the many Bloodline seals and was a variation of the Bloodline Trinity seal which was made with the bloodline Trinity formation.

    The bloodline trinity formation was considered to be one of the strongest key formations in the world. But its strength is varied depending on the bloodline that is entered into the formation.

    It used the differences between different bloodlines to seal something. It was usuallybined with a self destructive or explosive formation that would destroy whatever it was protecting.

    Unlike the bloodline trinity formation though, the Bloodline unity formation or seal did not vary the strength of the seal depending on the difference between bloodlines. But rather it would stockpile the bloodlines on top of each other and let them act as the locks.

    Letting five Nascent soul realm beasts act as the Bloodline Unity Seal''s chains would have been useless if the being that was confined in the tomb was at its full strength, but that was not the aim here.

    Rather, the aim was to keep the being sealed and dead. Even now, what Lin Wu had seen was not the being alive, but rather just a wisp of its consciousness that was separate from its body.

    It was trying to unseal it but it did not have full ess to its true power. That''s why it needed some other beast to act as a conduit so that it could gather power for itself and then break the seal on its own.

    It was a long andplex procedure and the being had not seeded till now. Even if it managed to entice and trap a few beasts, draining them of their spirit Qi, it could only watch as the Twin Lights Liger King sacrificed its own spirit Qi to restrain it again, making it lose the advantage it had gained.

    ''This is basically a game of tug of war and the yers are the Twin Lights Liger King and that being. But what hangs in the bnce is very big as wellбн it''s the very fate of this world.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having thought of all this, Lin Wu knew that the situation was way more dangerous than he had thought and he would have to deal with this being very serious.

    "System, what is the chance that the seal will break if we directly try to link it with the main tomb?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Chances of seal copse are 97.89%

    бкбк

    "Just as I thoughtбн there is no way we can attempt something like that. We will need to do it some other wayбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SUGGESTION: The system cannot break the seal directly but the seal can be integrated into the system''swork and thus made to work directly with the Taiji Tomb''s formation.

    бкбк

    Reading this Lin Wu felt a bit better, but wondered what would be the conditions for it.

    "What are the requirements that we would need to satisfy?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system would rmend that the seal''s integrity be increased further first. Currently, only five beasts bloodline is being used as the chains for the seal, this number can be increased with the system''s modification.

    Once the number reaches a sufficiently high level, the system will be able to create a back door that can link the power source with the Taiji Celestial''s tomb.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн that does seem like a valid option. The Bloodline Unity seal bes stronger the more bloodlines there are in it. Though with each additional bloodline, it also bes progressively harder to stack." Lin Wu said.

    He thought for a bit more and asked another question, "say if we go ahead with thisбн how exactly will the bloodlines be added?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system will be using the host''s own bloodline and the Pentagem crystals, along with the external bloodline links to add the new bloodlines to the seal. Since the process will be done externally, it will be slightly inferior to the five ruler bloodline chains, but it will have no direct limit.

    And once the system has gained a sufficient understanding of the formation, it will be able to analyze it further and be able to directly add the bloodline chains.

    The host merely needs to add more beasts to his bloodline, and they will be subsequently linked by the system.

    бкбк

    "Damn! That''s such a novel way of doing itбн if we really do it, I can utilize my servants in dual methods." Lin Wu couldn''t help but exim in his mind.

    "Can we make use of the current servants I have, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Only beasts at and above the Nascent soul realm can be added, thus all of the host''s servants that are at that level will be added to the link.

    бкбк

    "Alright! Do it, why waste time!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYZING NEW PARAMETER: External bloodline chain formation

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: External bloodline chain formation created

    External bloodline chain formation: Adding first link- Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole

    First Link Addition: Sessfullypleted!

    External bloodline chain formation: Adding second link-Emeraldine Horn Beetle

    Second Link Addition: Sessfullypleted!

    .

    .

    .

    .

    External bloodline chain formation: Adding sixth link-Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape

    Sixth Link Addition: Sessfullypleted!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu watched on as the links started to form one by one.

 Chapter 559 - Mass Changes In The Millennium Forest

    While Lin Wu was doing something he had never done with the help of the system, other things were happening over the millennium forest.

    In the territory of the two Ape kings, the pair of father and son were sitting in the cave.

    The Demon Spine Ape king was lying on a stone bed on which several pelts of different beasts wereyered to make it softer and morefortable. The Slim Arm Ape King was sitting on the side while griding some herbs in what looked like a mortar.

    <em>~ck~ck~ck~</em>

    With each hit of the pestle, the herbs were getting more and more ground.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    The Slim Arm Ape King suddenly sighed and spoke. "You should have stopped when he gave you the option to do so. Now, look what situation you are in."

    "I know, father. But I also needed to see it with my own two eyes if he was worthy of following." The Demon Spine ape king replied.

    "What worthy? He''s already many times stronger than you, me, and every beast in this forestbined! Even the Twin Lights liger King shouldn''t be much in front of him." The Slim Arm Ape King said, his volume a little loud.

    The Demon Spine ape seemed like he wanted to say something, but gave up after a few seconds of thinking.

    "Just how did he get that strong? Was there really something that precious in the meteor that fell?" The Demon Spine ape king questioned.

    "None of the beasts know what was it that the Olive Viper King and Lin Wu obtained. All those that went close to it died, only those two were able to obtain it. Which means it was something attenuated to them, or they were just lucky and in the right ce.

    But even then, the difference in superiority is obvious. The Olive Viper King became a nascent soul realm beast before King Lin Wu and yet he was the one to die in the end." The Slim Arm Ape King answered.

    "That''s it? All of it falls to luck?" The Demon Spine ape king asked, feeling a bit frustrated.

    "That''s just how things are in the world. Fate is a mysterious mistress and ys games that are beyond the imagination of humans, beasts, and even immortals." The Slim Arm Ape king exined.

    Hearing all this, the Demon Spine ape king seemed tired andid back down on the bed. The Slim Arm Ape King knew his son was a bit lost and had his self esteem fall, but knew there was little to do here.

    "Come on now, drink this. The faster you heal, the faster you will be able to get stronger." The Slim Arm Ape King ordered.

    "Alright." The Demon Spine Ape king said and drank the herb juice that the Slim Arm ape had made by grinding all the herbs.

    Once the Demon Spine Ape King finished drinking it all, he closed his eyes and circted his spirit Qi to help heal his injuries. The Slim Arm Ape King kept an eye on his son for a bit but then noticed that he seemed to be in some difort all of a sudden.

    "Are you okay? What''s the problem?" The Slim Arm Ape King asked.

    The Demon Spine Ape king opened his eyes, that were glowing red.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Suddenly mes started burning on him and pressure exuded from his body.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The Slim Arm Ape King was forcefully pushed back and dug his long arms into the ground to stop himself.

    "WHAT!?" he questioned in confusion.

    He wondered if the herbs had caused something, but was sure that there were no such herbs in the concoction.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    It was only after he felt the bloodline aura did he get a hint of what was happening.

    "The bloodline resonance? Why is it happening now? There is no new rulerбн" The Slim Arm Ape King said.

    A few secondster, a simr pressure exuded from his body, and his eyes started to glow as well. Unlike the demon spine ape king though, they were glowing in a Grey light.

    Simr events were happening all over the millennium forest and all the beasts that were at the Nascent soul realm experienced this.

    In the territory of the Split Thorn Horn beetle king, the king''s body was emanating a crushing aura that scared all of its followers and subordinates around him. Somewhere in the south of the nest, a scorpion beast was also undergoing the same process.

    Inside the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, the Emeraldine monkey suddenly teleported and appeared in an empty and rugged hall.

    "Ugh! Can''t damage the furnitureбн" he said as he mmed his hands down on the ground, cracking it.

    <em>~Shua~shua~shua~</em>

    More teleportation formations activated and the mole beast, along with Lin Wu''s other servants that were in the tomb, appeared.

    "You all felt it too?" The Emeraldine Monkey questioned.

    "Of course. The aura is of master, I feared it is another change and came to the furthest hall from the main tomb." The Mole beast said, as it gritted its teeth and dug its ws into the ground.

    All of the beasts looked like they were in some kind of pain, but they were forcefully trying to bear it.

    "What do you think is happening?" The Swan beast questioned.

    "Whatever it isбн it''s not restricted to us. I can feel ancestor going through something simr." The Beetle beast answered.

    "Him too?" The Sparrow beast narrowed his eyes.

    "You don''t thinkбн this is happening to all beasts?" The mole beast asked.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Just as he asked this, another teleportation formation appeared, and another beast appeared. This was none other than the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape and he looked OT be in a better condition than them.

    His hands were hidden in his sleeves, but the slight trembling could still be observed.

    "No, it''s not all beasts. From what I checked, it is the beasts in the Nascent Soul realm!" The ''Monk''ey beast stated.. "It''s not just us servants, every Nascent soul realm beast in the forest is going through the same thing."

 Chapter 560 - Bloodline Unity Chains And Forgetting Fear

    Lin Wu was not fully aware of the changes that were happening in the Millennium forest while he was in the Dark Bloom Caverns. His actions had caused a mass reaction in the forest and every beast that was rted to him was now getting affected.

    The system also kept on sending out notifications that Lin Wu saw and noted.

    "The other beasts are also getting addedбн huh." Lin Wu muttered.

    The entire processsted for about thirty minutes, during which the Twin Lights Liger King could only watch on in shock. He had been the keeper for hundreds of years now and knew what Lin Wu was doing.

    ''Heбн he managed to take the position without me even passing it on? How? The formation tooбн I directly broke off my link and let him take over.'' The Twin Lights Liger King thought.

    "Just what is thisбн" he muttered in disbelief.

    Soon, the process wasplete, and a final notification came to Lin Wu.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE CHAIN LINKING: Completed

    NOTIFICATION: New section added, please check it in its separate window.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was certainly intrigued and opened the new window on the side.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE UNITY CHAINS: Current Number of chains = 19

    Direct Chains: 1. Twin Lights Liger King

    2. Split Thorn Horn Beetle King

    3. Slim Arm Ape King

    4. Demon Spine Ape King

    5. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm King (Lin Wu- Host)

    Subordinate Chains: 1. Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole

    2. Emeraldine Horn Beetle

    3. Emeraldine Wing Swan

    4. High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow

    5. Emeraldine Monkey

    6. Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape

    7. Emeraldine Dual Stinger Scorpion

    8. Emeraldine w Mantis

    9. Emeraldine Pike Stick Bug

    10. Emeraldine Dew Aphid

    11. Emeraldine Jaw Ants (4)

    бкбк

    Seeing the new window, Lin Wu was a bit confused. He understood the Direct chains that were the original ruler chains, but the subordinate chains were what made him confused. He did not recognize a few of the beasts in there.

    "Huh, where did thest few beastse from, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The beasts after the Sky Light Monk Ape are the ones that the Host mutated earlier. All of them have grown and broken through to the Nascent Soul realm. Some of them, such as the Dual Stinger Scorpion and the Pike stick Bug, have awakened their bloodlines and changed their forms.

    Also, all of the beasts have also undergone the Emeraldine mutation and are part of the Emeraldine legion.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so those are the ones I mutated back then. They certainly became a lot stronger. Wasn''t the Dual Stinger Scorpion a Barb Pincered Scorpion? And the Pike Stick Bug the Millennium Wood Stick Bug?" Lin Wu recalled having met the beasts.

    The Barb Pincered Scorpion was among one of the earlier ones that were mutated and were the first to undergo the process. Then came the Long w Mantis and the Millennium Wood Stick Bug.

    The Dew Aphid and the Iron Jaw ants were among thest ones that Lin Wu had mutated. The Iron jaw ants were rather resilient from what Lin Wu remembered, and out of the twenty that hade to him, four of them had managed to mutate and reach the Nascent Soul realm.

    ''Now that the beasts have more function than just being my subordinates and servants, I guess I should change the way I mutate themбн Hmmбн time for a littlepetition among themбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Nobody knew that Lin Wu''s current decision would change the face of the Millennium forest in the future.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    While Lin Wu was thinking all this, the systempleted its process and the formation array faded away.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Finally done." Lin Wu took a breath of relief.

    "What did you do?!" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "I just solved your problem. Since you didn''t have the option I wanted, I made it myself." Lin Wu answered.

    "What do you mean? What happened to the formation array and why can''t I feel the link to it?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned, now feeling doubtful.

    "As I saidбн you are no longer the said ''keeper'' of this ce. I took over it, and it won''t be a restraint on you either. Or on other beasts, for that matterбн" Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing this, the Twin Lights Liger King was shocked. He wanted to believe it, believe that he was finally free, but his years of despair had made him very doubled. He checked multiple times if the restraint was still on him and every check came out negative.

    "Y-youбн you really did it? YOU DID IT!" The Twin Lights Liger King eximed.

    "Mmhmmбн of course there are some conditions that I have for letting you be free." Lin Wu stated.

    Hearing this, the Twin Lights Liger King became serious. He knew that Lin Wu was currently many times stronger than him and even if he had the potential to reach the Dao Shell realm, he could not match the beast in front of him.

    He had already sensed Lin Wu''s cultivation and knew that he was at the Dao Shell realm. He couldn''t tell which stage he was in, which only made him think that Lin Wu had already taken a few steps ahead.

    "What do you want?" the Twin Lights Liger King asked directly.

    "You must have already known that the other rulers have agreed toe under me and be my subordinates. I want the same for you." Lin Wu replied.

    The Twin Lights Liger King furrowed his brows and went silent for a few seconds before speaking again.

    "And what if I refuse?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "That is not an option. You either be my subordinate or stop existing." Lin Wu said in a cold tone.

    At that moment, the Twin Lights Liger King could feel a sharp aura rising from Lin Wu. He couldn''t tell what it was at first, but soon he recognized it. He then realized how foolish he was.

    ''How did I forget what fear was like?'' he wondered to himself.

 Chapter 561 - Adding The Twin Lights Liger King To The Team

    Lin Wu watched on as the Twin Lights Liger King deliberated on his decision. He gave him a minute but the beast replied rather quickly.

    "I eptбн at least this is better than dying to the seal and being bound forever." The Twin Lights Liger King stated.

    "Good. You won''t regret it. Plus, being my subordinatees with benefits too. Oh, and you won''t be restricted by the seal anymore. If you want to, you can continue to cultivate and breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm." Lin Wu said, trying to lift the beast''s mood a little bit.

    Lin Wu wasn''t particrly upset with the Twin Lights Liger King. He actually preferred having the beast as a subordinate than it being dead. After all, even if the beast was killed and Lin Wu ate him, the most he would get is a bloodline that won''t necessarily be useful to him at this point.

    But if the Twin Lights Liger King agreed, then Lin Wu would get an experienced and smart subordinate that knew a lot about the forest and its history. Not to mention that it also knew about the history of humans nearbyбн at least a certain part of it.

    Lin Wu''s tactic of scaring the Twin Lights Liger King had worked perfectly.

    The Twin Lights Liger King though, was stunned hearing this. He thought that even if he was released from the seal, he would be unable to break through, but he could feel that Lin Wu was telling the truth.

    "I can really breakthrough?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked in disbelief.

    "Not just you. Now all beasts should be able to do it. The seal will no longer restrain them since it now depends on me." Lin Wu confirmed.

    "Thisбн how did you do it? No one has ever been able to do it. And what about that being in the sea?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "Let''s just say I have my methods. As for the being in there, it will stay sealed eternally. I''ll make sure of that." Lin Wu answered.

    The Twin Lights Liger King knew that Lin Wu did not want to fully reveal his skill, but that was understandable to him.

    ''Everyone has their secretsбн as long as he keeps his end of the promise, I don''t care anymore.'' The Twin Lights Liger King thought.

    While the Twin Lights Liger King was going through a string of thoughts, Lin Wu was preparing something else.

    "Is it ready now, system?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Affirmative," the system replied.

    "Alright, let''s begin then." Lin Wu said in his mind before looking at the Twin Lights Liger King.

    "Oh, and before we leave, I got one thing to do. Come here," Lin Wu ordered.

    The Twin Lights Liger King stepped towards Lin Wu, not knowing what he wanted. He wasn''t afraid that Lin Wu would attack or kill him, since there was no use for a sneak attack. Lin Wu was strong enough to kill him outright anyway.

    Lin Wu meanwhile, lifted his tail and extended a small spike from it.

    "Now thenбн don''t move. I''ll be making you my official subordinate." Lin Wu stated.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The Twin Lights Liger King couldn''t help but swallow his saliva, not knowing what Lin Wu was about to do. He even wondered if this was going to be painful or not. But soon felt a different sensation.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    PENTAGEM INJECTION: Initiating

    PROBE INJECTED: Please wait a moment...

    INJECTION COMPLETED: Pentagem has been sessfully imnted

    HOST DATA: Updated

    NEW SUBORDINATE ADDED: Twin Lights Liger King

    бкбк

    The Twin Lights Liger King felt like his body had gone cold for a second and then he felt a warmth spreading from his forehead. He didn''t even realize that a pentagonal gem had been imnted there.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "Ugh! What''s this?" The Twin Lights Liger King said out loud, as a wave of difort assailed him.

    "Just wait a bit. It''ll pass. Your body is getting used to my bloodline." Lin Wu stated.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was stunned upon hearing this and tried to use his spirit sense to check what was happening. But was then shocked to realize his spirit sense was not working at all.

    In fact, his spirit Qi itself was no longer in his control. His body was still functional, but it looked like he had lost control of his cultivation base. Thankfully, the process onlysted a few minutes and after that he regained control.

    In addition to the control of his body and spirit Qi, the Twin Lights Liger King felt a few more changes in his body.

    "Huh? What did you do to me?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "Well, like I saidбн bing my subordinatees with benefits. This is the first of them. Your bloodline should be strengthened on my own now. You should be able to sense it." Lin Wu answered.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was stunned, as he knew that his bloodline was already strongpared to most beasts in this world. But he also knew that Lin Wu''s bloodline was something very unusual.

    It was literally out of the world as they knew both the olive viper King and Lin Wu had befitted from the meteor that fell.

    The Twin Lights Liger King cheek his body and saw that deep within his bloodline a tinge of green color had been added. His Nascent soul had changed slightly and fine green patterns had appeared on it.

    In the real world, his body had some changes as well. If one looked into his eyes, one would find that there was now a green ring around his pupils in addition to the pentagonal gem that was embedded in his forehead.

    The gem was emerald green in color and was rather small, being the size of a 1 cent coin. It let out a faint glow that apanied the glow of the Twin Lights Liger King''s eyes as well.

    "Iбн I feel strangeбн powerful evenбн" The Twin Lights Liger King muttered to himself as his newly changed bloodline slowly changed his body.

 Chapter 562 - Added Features Of The Emeraldine Legion Bloodline

    Lin Wu let the Twin Lights Liger King get used to the changes in his body and spent that time in checking the notifications and updates he had in the log.

    <em>~Ding~ </em>

    бкбк

    SUBORDINATES: 1. Wang Xiong

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: Communication

    2. Pei Jun

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    3. Tian Xiaoge

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    4. Twin Lights Liger King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    бкбк

    Previously he only had Wang Xiong as a subordinate, but then he had added the two disciples after they obtained the inheritance. They had the Special Snowke Trojan embedded in their heads and thus Lin Wu could control them more in detail.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was the first beast to be added as a subordinate and not as a servant. Though there was not much of a difference between servants and Subordinates for Lin Wu as he could kill them if the need arose pretty much the same way.

    The difference was just because of the functions they would be fulfilling.

    ''Hmmбн I should add the other rulers to it as well.'' Lin Wu decided.

    By now the Twin Lights Liger King had figured out the new changes in his body and also some skills that he had obtained. One of these skills was the bloodline tracer that allowed him to sense all the others that were either of his original bloodline or the Emeraldine Legion bloodline.

    "Oh? I can sense the positions of other beasts?" The Twin Lights Liger King said to himself.

    "That''s one of the skills you have now. You have the Emeraldine Legion Bloodline as part of you too, so ites with that. Though it should allow you to sense your other kin as well." Lin Wu informed.

    "I seeбн I can even feel the other Lamp Light Ligers in the distance. I can''t tell their exact location, but I know they are somewhere in the north." The Twin Lights Liger King stated.

    Lin Wu linked up with Twin Lights Liger King and saw the new markers appear on the map.

    ''Hmmбн so there are other prides of the Lamp Light Ligers to the northбн possibly in thend of the Great Shan Dynasty.'' Lin Wu took note.

    This was one of the functions that only Lin Wu had. Since all the beasts with the Emeraldine Legion bloodline were linked to Lin Wu as the main point, Lin Wu could also check what they were sensing from their original bloodlines.

    Lin Wu usably kept this turned off since he didn''t need too many markers on the map, but he could still turn them back on if needed. In addition to the Twin Lights Liger King''s kin, he could also see the beasts of the same species as his servants.

    Though this didn''t really work with humans, since there were too many of them. The signals were too mixed, and it just ended up giving Lin Wu a headache instead. On the map, they appeared as arge blob that was spread all over the map.

    Lin Wu knew that this function was useless for humans and thus kept it turned off by default.

    "Soбн what do I do now?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked, feeling unsure.

    He had been released from his seal and didn''t know what to do. Since Lin Wu was his leader now, he had to follow his orders.

    "Hmmбн for now, I guess you should gather your subordinates and tell them about the current situation. Oh, and if they want to mutate again, they can bring some offerings to the tomb and I''ll mutate them." Lin Wu replied.

    "Is that how the subordinates of the other kings got strong?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked, remembering the defeat that his subordinates faced a couple of years ago when they fought against the Beetle king and the two ape kings.

    "Indeed. They fight among themselves to determine who is the strongest and thene to me with offerings as a payment. I''ll then let the mutate and gain a part of my bloodline. You got it for free." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing this, the Twin Lights Liger King was surprised and a bit taken aback. He didn''t know how good it was to let some other bloodlines interfere and merge with his subordinates, but then he thought there weren''t many drawbacks to it either.

    It was already established that Lin Wu''s bloodline was strong and would help raise the talent of the beasts.

    "So this bloodline is called the Emeraldine Legion bloodlineбн I''ll ask them if they want to obtain it as well." The Twin Lights Liger King replied.

    "Very well. I''ll leave now, you can decide what to do next after you''re done talking with your subordinates. If you want to you can just talk to me using the link we have now. You can also talk to the other beasts under me in a simr way.

    All of you are now linked and can go to help them, as well as ask for help." Lin Wu informed.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was aware of this skill, but didn''t think that it would allow him to do so much.

    "Okay, I''ll leave now too. But this ceбн it will be fine, right?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "Mmhmmбн there shouldn''t be any problem. And if something does ur, I''ll know first. Everyone else should find out after that as well. I''ll make some additions and repairs to the formation here too so that we''ll be able to teleport to and from here." Lin Wu said, shocking the Twin Lights Liger King again.

    "Teleport? You''re making teleportation formations here?" the Twin Lights Liger King asked, feeling doubtful.

    "I''m not making them. I''m just reactivating and repairing them. They''ve existed for a long time in this forest, they have just not been used.." Lin Wu answered.

 Chapter 563 - The Expanding Subordinates List

    The Twin Lights Liger King was intrigued upon hearing this. He realized that perhaps he had not spent enough attention on learning about the formations here, despite being here for hundreds of years.

    And yet, Lin Wu who had been here for a mere twelve years, had managed to learn about them. Though what the Twin Lights Liger King did not know was the of these twelve years, Lin Wu had only been active for a little over a year.

    The rest of the time he had to spend in a state of sleep and hibernation.

    "Also, you can use them to teleport around the forest. They are fully functional now and you can get to anywhere in the forest as long as it''s within the fifth ring." Lin Wu added.

    While the teleportation formation could take Lin Wu as far as beyond the Deer Wood city, he had it set differently for the servants and subordinates. Since each use needed spirit Qi, he did not want it to exceed beyond what could be handled by the formation.

    A couple of them teleporting around was fine, but if all of them started to do this, the formation''s spirit Qi supply might not be able to keep up. That''s why he had reduced the maximum range in which they could teleport.

    Of course, if the need arises, Lin Wu could change it at any moment. That way, if he wanted, he could summon the entire group of beasts anywhere within the range of the formation.

    He only imagined how impressive it would be to turn up with an army of Nascent soul realm beasts when there was a small enemy causing a problem in one of the areas. He also did this because he knew just how the humans could plot and strategize.

    This way, quick transportation could allow them to move around more efficiently and ovee the ws.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was truly impressed now and wanted to use the teleportation formation to get out of the Dark Bloom Caverns. After all, they were quite deep, and getting out manually would take them a day.

    Of course, this was for the Twin Lights Liger King, for Lin Wu now that he knew the map and the locations of things, he could just dig straight to wherever he wanted to go.

    "How do I use the teleportation formation?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked like a child eager to try out a new toy.

    "It''s simple. Just imagine where you want to go and will yourself use the Emeraldine Legion bloodline as the link. The teleportation formation should activate on its own." Lin Wu exined.

    "Okayбн let''s try." The Twin Lights Liger King said and used the method.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "Oh! It''s working!" The Twin Lights Liger King said as the runes surrounded him.

    Then in the next moment, he disappeared in a sh of light. Lin Wu checked on the map and saw that he had gone to meet up with his subordinates just like he had directed him to. Lin Wu nodded his head and thought that he should get to his work, too.

    "Hmmбн since I''m here, I may as well make a direct route to the Tomb now. The tunnel shouldn''t take that longбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Alright system, plot the best route for a tunnel." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYZING MAP: Please wait a momentбн

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Plotting the route on the map

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw the new route, which was actually not straight. He zoomed in and saw that some of the formation''s nodes were present in those areas and thus they needed to be avoided.

    Still, the distance was short enough for him and it wouldn''t take him that long toplete it.

    "Here we go!" Lin Wu said as he turned on the navigation and switched to his drill form.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Lin Wu''s body changed its shape and his head became like a long drill that easily pierced the walls of the cave. He moved swiftly through the dirt and rocks and followed the navigation HUD.

    About two hourster, he reached one of the halls under the Taiji Celestials tomb and was done making the tunnel.

    "And there we go. Another task is done. The tunnel shoulde in handy when moving things." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Done with this, Lin Wu now wanted to add the other rulers as his subordinates. Thus, without wasting any time, he teleported away to the territory of the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King.

    The Beetle King sensed his presence immediately and awakened.

    <em>~Tremble~</em>

    Hisrge body caused the ground to shake as he moved and appeared from the nest.

    "King Lin Wu, to what do I owe this visit?" The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King questioned.

    "Well, since you are now my subordinate, I am here to make it official." Lin Wu answered.

    "I seeбн so what do I have to do for that?" The Split Thorn Horn beetle King questioned.

    "Nothing much. Just stay still and don''t move. It will be over quickly." Lin Wu replied.

    The Beetle King was a bit confused, but did as Lin Wu asked. And just as he had said, the entire thing was over quickly and Lin Wu had added another subordinate to his list. Of course, Lin Wu also gave a short exnation of what the Beetle king could now do and let him explore on his own.

    Lin Wu then teleported away to the territory of the two ape kings.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "Eeeekeeek!" The Monkey beasts were a bit startled due to Lin Wu''s sudden appearance and ran away in fear.

    The Slim Arm Ape King and the Demon Spine ape king detected him and wondered what he was here for.

    "Seems like he''s here to see what the phenomena earlier was." The Slim Arm ape king said, referring to the process in which Lin Wu added the new bloodline chains.

    The Demon Spine Ape King was still lying on the bed, as his condition was still weak.

 Chapter 564 - A Wish Fulfilled

    Lin Wu''s arrival was met with eptance and he was allowed to quickly enter the cave where the Slim Arm Ape King and The Demon Spine ape king were waiting.

    "What are you here for King Lin Wu?" The Slim Ape King questioned, even though he had an idea about it.

    Lin Wu then went on to exin what he was going to do and make them into his subordinates officially. He also did exin to them that he had taken in the Twin Lights Liger King under him too and the phenomena that urred previously was basically him getting the ownership of the entire forest.

    "Thisбн then you must know about the truth of the forest now?" The Slim Arm Ape King questioned with great expectations.

    This was one of the desires that he had for a long item and was the dying wish of his master that he wanted to be fulfilled. Lin Wu was the person that hade closest to it and the Slim Arm Ape King wondered if it was alreadypleted.

    "Ah thatбн it is a long story. But yes, I know what there is to the forest now." Lin Wu said and told the Slim Arm ape about the tomb of the Dark Celestial and how it was sealed.

    While Lin Wu hid some crucial parts, it was still enough for the Slim Arm Ape King to be satisfied. After all, this was the deal that he had made and now fulfilling it made sense. Though the Slim Arm Ape King still found it to be a bit difficult to believe that his goal of so many years would be fulfilled this quickly after meeting and agreeing to Lin Wu.

    He now felt even more trust in Lin Wu and thought that he had made the right decision.

    "Now thenбн I''ll officially make you two my subordinates as well." Lin Wu stated.

    "What will we have to do? Are there any conditions?" The Demon Spine ape King, who had stood up as a sign of respect to Lin Wu asked.

    "Well, for the most part, you two will be doing the same things as you have been doing till now. You two will have control over your territory and do as you please as long as they don''t go against my own goals.

    Other than thatбн there will be a few changes that I''ll ask to make in the future, but I assure you that they will be beneficial to not just you but also your subordinates and the forest as a whole." Lin Wu exined.

    The two ape kings heard Lin Wu''s words and thought over them for a bit before finally responding.

    "Very wellбн I ept." The Demon Spine Ape King was the first to answer this time, which was a bit surprising to Lin Wu.

    ''I guess he''s had enough of beat downs to now know there is no use resisting.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "I ept as well. I never thought my master''s wish would finally be fulfilled. I will be honored to follow you." The Slim Arm Ape chimed in.

    "Alright, now stay still and don''t move. It''ll be done quickly." Lin Wu said before starting with the Pentagem imnting procedures.

    None of the beasts knew that bing Lin Wu''s subordinate or servant was the same as being a ve in a sense. Though Lin Wu didn''t really force them all the time. It was far more efficient for him to let them do their own things and only ask them for changes when needed.

    Besides, with his bloodline control, the beasts themselves will be conducive to Lin Wu''s orders and be willing to follow them. They would never think that they are ves, rather they would feel dedicated to him instead.

    Such was the benefit of the Bloodline and the Pentagem that allowed Lin Wu to extend it to other beasts.

    In just a few minutes, both the Ape Kings were added to Lin Wu''s list of subordinates and were now officially part of the Emeraldine Legion. Simr to the rest, the two of them had the Pentagem in their forehead and their bodies were slowly adapting to the new bloodline.

    The Slim Arm ape King could feel his body change slowly and knew that he would be seeing some new things soon. As for the Demon Spine ape King, he didn''t feel it as much as his father, but he did sense the presence of the other beasts of the Emeraldine Legion Bloodline in the forest.

    Lin Wu then gave the two of them a little information about themunication and teleportation before taking his leave.

    Once Lin Wu was gone, the Demon Spine Ape King looked at his father and spoke.

    "Fatherбн do you sense others of your kind?" The Demon Spine Ape king questioned.

    "Hmmбн I do, they are far. But I can sense them." The Slim Arm Ape King answered.

    "I can''t sense any Slim Arm Ape other than you. Perhaps my bloodline has been far to distanced now." The Demon Spine Ape King stated.

    "Hmmбн perhaps it''s just a matter of time. Maybe you''ll sense them after you get used to it?" The Slim Arm Ape King suggested.

    "Maybeбн" The Demon Spine ape king said and went silent.

    But a minute after that, his eyes suddenly went wide, and his fur stood on end. The Slim Arm Ape King sensed the change in his son''s expression and was concerned.

    "What''s the matter?" The Slim Arm Ape King asked.

    "Iбн Iбн I can sense someoneбн someone other than the Emeraldine Legionбн" The Demon Spine Ape King replied.

    "What do you senseбн or ratherбн who do you sense?" The Slim Arm Ape King questioned, a few ideas appearing in his mind.

    "The aura is very simr to meбн and I''m thinking it''s my Demon Spine Ape Bloodline that it belongs to. It''sing from very far thoughбн I can only tell that it is somewhere far to the west, but nothing more than that.." The Demon Spine Ape King answered.

 Chapter 565 - The First Feast

    Lin Wu returned to the Tomb after being done with the two ape kings and decided to treat himself to a good meal.

    "I just finished a lot of tasks that I''ve been meaning to do for years now. This is the right time for a feast!" Lin Wu said out loud.

    He quickly sent out messages to his servants to set things up while he himself decided to watch some screens to entertain himself. With the monitoring formations, there was always something to watch and Lin Wu could find some beasts that were having a fight.

    Since he had already told his servants and subordinates to direct their underlings to fight and determine their rankings, Lin Wu had plenty of fights to watch.

    "<em>Ahh~</em> reminds me of my childhood when I used to watch one wrestling match after the other. Just pure mindless violence for <em>fun~</em>" Lin Wu said to himself as he munched on some of the snacks he had stored in his inventory.

    He ate them very carefully so as to not go through them. With his appetite, he could virtually eat all that he had stored in just a couple of bites. He definitely did not want to empty out his snacks that fast and wanted to savor them.

    ''After all, what use for a snack that simply satisfies that hunger. It is the taste that gives its true meaningбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Over the years, his servants and their underlings had carried out his orders rather well. There were now many farms and orchards in the forest that produced both normal vegetables and fruits along with spirit herbs.

    For Lin Wu, snacks were more for enjoyment, thus he didn''t mind them not being useful for his cultivation. Plus, another benefit they had in the forest was that due to the higher concentration of spirit Qi, even normal veggies and fruits grew quickly.

    Not only was their growth fast, but their yield and quality were also higher too. Lin Wu had checked the reports and records and even wondered if they would turn into spirit herbs after a certain point.

    "Let''s see how they are preparing for the feastбн hehehe," Lin Wu muttered to himself as he pulled up a monitor screen that showed one of the halls of the tomb.

    In it, a lot of movement and noise was currently going on as the beasts worked.

    "QUICK! QUICK! QUICK! Master has asked us for the first time to cook! We have to do our best!" One of the Emeraldine monkeys that was at the Peak stage of the Core Condensation stage shouted.

    "YES SENIOR!" The rest of the beasts replied.

    Lin Wu could see several other Core condensation realm beasts working and replying to the Emeraldine monkey. They weren''t mutated by Lin Wu and thus weren''t part of the Emeraldine Legion, but they had certainly increased their intelligence after a certain point.

    Most of the beasts that Lin Wu saw there were other monkey beasts, but there were also some beasts like arge Crab beast that used its ws to hold argedle and then walked around a pot to stir it.

    There were beasts that could use fire, heating up things, while bird beasts would use their wings to fan the mes. Various beasts came together to make the best use of their abilities, all under the direction of the Emeraldine monkeys.

    "Seems like they''ve got this under control. Hmmбн reminds me of a certain celebrity chef I liked to watchбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He watched the entire thing like some cooking show and then switched to something else when he got a bit bored. Just like that, he kept on scrolling through the screens as if he was watching TV and spent his time in rxation.

    And just like this, hours passed, and the food was ready.

    "Master, we have the feast prepared for you in the dining hall as you asked." The Emeraldine Monkey sent a message.

    "Oh? You''re done already?" Lin Wu asked as he switched his attention from one of the screens on which a pair of beetles seem to be in a flippingpetition.

    "Yes! Master cane for the feast now!" The Emeraldine monkey replied.

    Lin Wu then nodded his head and teleported away to the dining hall.

    "Ooooo! I like the decorations too." Lin Wu said, upon observing the drapes and curtains that hung on the walls.

    He remembered thest time he checked this hall. It was just empty and filled with broken debris. He had randomly assigned this ce to be a dining hall and had then forgotten about it.

    "Please tell me if you are pleased with everything. The food is waiting for you to grace its presence." The Emeraldine Monkey said in an eloquent manner, which made Lin Wu chuckle.

    "Have you been talking with the Emeraldine Sky Light Ape recently?" Lin Wu asked curiously.

    "Ummбн yes. I went to him so that he could teach me the way humans talk and something called as dining etiquette." The Emeraldine Monkey replied.

    "Huh, I see." Lin Wu replied casually, though internally he wondered something else.

    ''I wonder where the heck does the ''Monk''ey beast, learn all this fromбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He soon came up to the food, which was ced on arge stone table. It was a bit strange to call it a table as it was over a hundred meters wide square and looked more like a tform instead.

    There wererge tters made out of wood and stone ced on it that contains the dishes made by the beasts. While it looked a little sloppy when Lin Wupared the presentation, Lin Wu didn''t mind that.

    ''All that matters is the tasteбн'' Lin Wu said and got ready to eat.

    With his every transforming and multipurpose tail, he quickly turned it into a spoon and took a sip of arge tank of soup that was ced at the very front.

    Fine pieces of meat and vegetables could be seen floating in it, looking rather pretty.. The aroma was rather nice as well and made Lin Wu''s mouth water.

 Chapter 566 - Satisfaction And Good Sleep

    Lin Wuy curled up on the ground and let out a voice of pleasure.

    "<em>Ahh~</em> that was the best food I had in a long timeбн" Lin Wu said as he rolled on the ground.

    Around him, the empty tes and bowls could be seen. All of them had been picked clean and there were no traces of food left. For Lin Wu, bone and meat were the same, thus there were no scraps left when he ate something.

    Everything that he ate, no matter how tough, would be ground down by his thousands of teeth that could move like a grinder. The amount of food that Lin Wu had just finished eating could probably feed a couple of thousand people at once easily.

    And even now, if Lin Wu wanted to, he could eat more. His current condition was actually created by himself as he intentionally let the system slow down his metabolism. He liked the feeling of satiety and wanted to enjoy it a bit.

    "A little sleepa never hurt anyoneбн besides the sleep you get after arge meal is just <em>sooooooo~</em> amazing!" Lin Wu said to himself.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    With that said, he teleported away and the other beasts appeared instead to clean up the dining hall.

    The Emeraldine monkey looked at his underlings that were doing their work and was pleased.

    "Everyone!" He suddenly said out loud.

    "Yes, senior?" The beasts stopped in their spots and looked at him.

    "You all did well today! We''ve been practicing and learning for ten years now and you finally showed master your capabilities. He was really pleased today and happy with your work.

    The food was to his liking. But! We cannot stop here. We have to keep on improving! I''ve read the things that humans can make and we need to make things better than them!" The Emeraldine Monkey stated.

    "YES SENIOR!" They all shouted in unison.

    "WE WILL IMPROVE EVEN MORE!"

    "WE WILL SHOW THE HUMANS BEASTS CAN COOK TOO!"

    "WE WILL MAKE THE BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD!"

    The beasts all shouted with fervor. A little motivation was all that they needed and they were now fueled to go further.

    What Lin Wu did not know was that in the years he had been asleep, the beasts that were in the cooking department had be really involved in cooking. Many beasts had found passions for it and had joined, while those that did not particrly care for it, decided to leave for other things.

    This all happened in the starting two years. But after that, the department had mostly stabilized and the Emeraldine Monkey had be the head chef and the teacher that was teaching everyone.

    He had ess to the many human texts and records that included cookbooks and many such things, which allowed him to learn many things. He taught this to the beasts, and they quickly caught on.

    He didn''t do this blindly either, though. He made sure that the beasts only did those tasks that they specialized in. Since different beasts had different bodies and capabilities, they had different jobs.

    Over the years, the Head chef had found the perfect structure for the cooking department and now they had all gained a path to go forward.

    Plus, because they worked closely with the farming department, they even helped them and increased the yields as they discovered new ways of using the herbs and fruits.

    The Emeraldine monkey looked at his workers and nodded before speaking, "all of you will get one mid grade spirit fruit as a reward for today!"

    A cacophony of different cries could be heard as the beasts rejoice at hearing this. One must know that other than Lin Wu''s direct subordinates and servants, the other beasts weren''t that strong.

    Thus, even getting some spirit fruits was hard for them in the past. But because Lin Wu gave them the farming knowledge, it allowed them to grow even more spirit fruits and herbs than before.

    Previously, they could only search for them blindly in the forest, but now they had an almost steady supply of them.

    The beasts then continued their clean up of the dining hall and then returned to their workstations. Lin Wu on the other hand, headed to the bedroom that had been made for him a couple of days ago.

    "I forgot I even assigned this ce to be a bedroomбн" Lin Wu muttered as he looked around.

    The bedroom was nothing but arge hall that had a few hundred beast pelts stitched together and turned into a mattress. It was stuffed with feathers and all the soft materials that the beasts could find.

    ''They definitely managed to learn quite a few things on their own.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Of the ten Emeraldine monkey''s one of them was focused on making things like this mattress. He could also make other furniture and objects that could help in daily uses.

    "Well, with my body a bed isn''t particrly necessary, but it''s still an improvement." Lin Wu said and crawled into the bed before coiling up in a morefortable position.

    He then closed his eyes and fell asleep. This time it was a normal sleep and not like the forced hibernation that he had undergone before. One could count the numbers of times that Lin Wu had slept normally in this world on two hands.

    And that mostly happened when he was still amon mud worm a long time ago. After that, he had mostly been forced to sleep or tranquilized.

    But now that Lin Wu finally slept, he experienced something he had not yet in this world.

    For the first time, he saw dreams!

    And since Lin Wu had fallen asleep like this after a long time, he quickly lost himself in the dreams. The dreams were short and quick, not letting Lin Wu think much before they ended.

    He couldn''t even count how many dreams he had before he finally woke up.

    <em>~yawn~</em>

    "That was niceбн" Lin Wu muttered.

 Chapter 567 - The Guna Plains And A Dao Shell Realm Beast

    "Another day to start anew!" Lin Wu said as he stretched his body.

    Though when he checked the date, he was a bit surprised.

    "Huhбн I slept a week?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    He now wondered what his normal sleep cycle was like. He knew that not all beasts follow the usual sleep cycle of just a night''s or day''s sleep. Some needed way more than that.

    "System, what''s the rmended sleep time for me?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: For the host, the rmended sleep time is one month. Though the host can function all year round without sleeping normally. Sleeping will still give the host better mental functioning.

    Cultivation can serve as a recement for sleep, too.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн that''s neat." Lin Wu said. "Though a month''s sleep time is definitely more than I expected. So what I took is just a nap." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Having learned this, he decided to check out the things that he needed to do now.

    "System, show me the list of tasks I made." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    TASKS TO DO: 1. Upgrade cultivation base pleted)

    2. Deal with the trials (Completed)

    3. Pass inheritance and convert disciples plete)

    4. Investigate Twin Lights Liger King plete)

    5. Deal with Twin Lights Liger King plete)

    6. Find out information about the Dark Bloom Caverns plete)

    7. Visit/investigate the Dark Bloom Caverns plete)

    8. Visit the Tian n and obtain the information from their records (iplete)

    9. Visit the Frozen Cloud sect and meet the Fox masked man (iplete)

    10. Visit Wang Xiong and upgrade Trojan

    бкбк

    "Huh, remove the ones that areplete and show me the location of the Tian n." Lin Wu spoke.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    The list of tasks shortened significantly and then another window popped up that showed Lin Wu the location of the Tian n. It was located to the south west of the Frozen Cloud sect and was further than he had thought.

    "Hmmбн guess I need to change the order of the tasks. I''ll visit the Frozen Cloud sect and meet Wang Xiong and that fox masked man first, before heading to the Tian n." Lin Wu decided.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TASK LIST: Updated

    TASKS TO DO: 1. Visit the Frozen Cloud Sect and meet Wang Xiong (iplete)

    2. Upgrade the Trojan (iplete)

    3. Meet The Fox masked man (iplete)

    4. Visit the Tian n and obtain the information from their records (iplete)

    бкбк

    "Now that''s better." Lin Wu said and then did some checks on the map before making a route.

    "Alright, time to leave then." Lin Wu said and sent some messages to his servants, informing them that he would be leaving now.

    His avatar would still be here to take care of any problems and he would be able to switch to it in an emergency. The avatar was cultivating when it was not in use by Lin Wu, so it was efficient.

    ''I should probably alternate between both the bodies to make the optimum use. That way both can cultivate and I will still get the other tasks doneбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Runes appeared around him and formed the teleportation formation that sent him to the southern edge of the forest.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    His bodynded on the ground, causing it to sink into it due to the weight.

    "I need to improve mynding tooбн I think I squished a rabbit," Lin Wu said as he looked at the blood sttered underneath him.

    He noted it in his mind and dug into the ground before switching to his drill form and making his way to the Frozen Cloud sect. Lin Wu''s speed had improved a lot more than before and now he reckoned that it wouldn''t take him more than a day to reach the Frozen Cloud sect.

    Previously, he had to avoid several areas since they were inhabitable by strong humans or beasts that could pose problems to him, thus he took a longer route. But now he was at the Dao Shell realm and could deal with them if the problems arose.

    Plus, his ability to dig deeper and through tougher materials meant that he could simply go in a straight line now. Lin Wu still kept on checking his map as it was updated at regr intervals.

    The system kept on scanning and gathering new data as he passed over the new regions. This not only added to the data banks, but it also gave him a better understanding of the regions of the Long Continent.

    During his journey, Lin Wu even came across the territory of a Dao Shell realm beast.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DAO SHELL REALM BEAST DETECTED: Marking on map

    бкбк

    "Oh? What area is this?" Lin Wu checked the map and saw that it was called as the Guna ins.

    The area was sparsely popted by nts and trees and most of it was an open area filled with grasses of various kinds and shrubs. The beasts and animals that lived here were those that would be found on ins like wild buffaloes, Deers, stags, antelopes, and horses.

    As for the predators, there were a few of them, but all of them seemed to be rather strong and lived in their specific territories.

    "System, scan the beast." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING SCANNER: Target selected

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target identified

    TARGET: Four Winged Guna Griffin

    CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Initiation Stage of the Dao Shell realm

    INFO: The Four Winged Guna Griffin is one of the infamous beasts of the Guna ins and is known to hunt humans that intrude on its territory. They mostly hunt horses and buffalo beasts, plucking them from the ground, but won''t hesitate to eat any other beast that dares to challenge them.

    They live in groups of five to ten, with the strongest one being the leader. The average cultivation base of the beasts is in the Nascent Soul realm, though asionally one of them might reach the Dao Shell realm.

    The current beast is a specimen of that kind.

    бкбк

    Reading the information, Lin Wu felt intrigued, but then continued on to his journey.

    "I''lle to itter if the need arisesбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

 Chapter 568 - Changes In The Frozen Cloud Sect

    Lin Wu continued his journey after the little pause but took note of the beast in his mind.

    "System, will I be able to get wings if I get the bloodline of that Four Winged Guna Griffin?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling curious.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system cannot answer with a hundred percent uracy, but there is a chance that the Host might be able to gain them. But this is if the bloodline ispatible with the Host, which is unlikely.

    The host will need to consume several Four Winged Guna Griffins before the system will be able to make itpatible.

    But ording to the system''s analysis, the host has no need for wings since he can fly already.

    бкбк

    "Is that soбн Aww, I just thought it would be cool to have some wings. It''s the intimidating factor of it that I wantбн" Lin Wu said.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host can technically make wings using Cellr crystallization too. They will simply not be functional.

    бкбк

    "That''s trueбн but where''s the fun in that." Lin Wu replied.

    But this also made Lin Wu think of other things.

    ''Now that I think of itбн I''ve eaten several beasts with wings, but I''ve yet to gain any bloodline that canpare to my main ones.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, the raw bloodline data that we have. Can it be refined further? You did say we can make use of itter, right?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Raw bloodline Data is indeed usable, but the host will get no benefit from it right now. Rather, there is a chance that it may lead to some issuester on as too many bloodlines can cause conflicts.

    Unless the Host can find a different bloodline that can achieve a bnce between all of them, it is advisable for them to stay in a dormant state.

    бкбк

    "Hmm, I see. We''ll not like we''re losing out much. If I was able to kill them with ease, they aren''t that strong anyway." Lin Wu gave himself an excuse to take it off his mind.

    Time passed, and soon Lin Wu entered the external territory of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    "And here we areбн let''s see what has changed till now." Lin Wu said and checked the map which was just updated.

    He could see that most of the outer areas were the same as before, but the number of building in the inner area was increased now.

    "Oh? The size of the sect increased?" Lin Wu discovered.

    He could see that with the addition of more buildings to the outer area, the sect had increased at least ten percent in its size. Though when he checked the new buildings, he could only tell that they belonged to servants of the sect.

    "Hmmбн weren''t these buildings closer to the sect before? If they have been moved here, then that meansбн the sect has more disciples?" Lin Wu guessed.

    He got closer and encountered the very first formation array that surrounded the sect.

    "Oh? They added another detectionyer to itбн" Lin Wu said before quickly passing through it.

    Since he already had the previous key to the formation array, it didn''t take longer than a second for the system to make another one for this formation array as well. Continuing onwards, Lin Wu took note of the new areas and buildings that were added.

    "Hmmбн so its the fresh disciples that have increased in number. Though what''s up with the division of the areas now?" Lin Wu noted the change on the map.

    Previously, it looked like all the buildings and areas were mostly homogeneous and there was no direct division within them. The disciples of the sect could move around as they wanted as long as they had the approval.

    But now, Lin Wu could see at least three major divisions in the buildings. Which meant that there were three buildings of the same type, just having different designs. This included the major buildings, like gathering halls and lecture halls as well.

    "Even the disciples seem to have different badges on their uniform robes now." Lin Wu took note.

    He continued to observe and made his way forward. The map kept on updating and suddenly he got a warning.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING: Multiple Restrictive Barrier Formation arrays''s detected!

    SUGGESTION: The Host is rmended to find the wed nodes and enter the formation. Alternatively, the system can resolve the formation arrays as well.

    бкбк

    "This is new... Three different formation arrays for the three major divisions. They definitely did an overhaul of the sect." Lin Wu said after seeing this.

    He then spread his spirit sense around and spend a few minutes finding the wed nodes in the formation array. Once he did, he approached them and prepared to enter through them.

    "Here we goбн" Lin Wu said as he lifted his tail and used his sapphire meridians to create some Undaunted Sapphire spirit Qi that helped him pierce through the barrier.

    Lin Wu shrunk his body to the smallest size and quickly passed through the hole that then closed up behind him.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "At least now I''m in the main area of the sect." Lin Wu said.

    He was currently deep underground, but the barriers had extended this far down. He couldn''t even sense the Spirit Qi mines and springs that he was able to back when he came herest time.

    "Their defenses have been improved a few times than before. Was this due to their failure at the Millennium forest, or something else?" Lin Wu wondered.

    While he could have asked Wang Xiong everything directly, he reckoned that he should first get some unbiased information on his own. After he got a sufficient amount to make a base on his own, he would go and ask Wang Xiong the rest.

    "Time to spy on people againбн now where to startбн eenie-meenie-miny-moeбн I pick you!" Lin Wu said as he picked one of the locations.

    This location was of course, none other than one of the dining halls of the sect.. Lin Wu certainly did not pick it just because he wanted to snack again.

 Chapter 569 - Lin Wu Caused The Change?, Three Divisions Of The Sect

    Lin Wu spent about a week learning about the sect and all the changes that happened there. Usually, it would have been enough for him to gather enough information in just a day or two, but then he learned that Wang Xiong was actually not in the sect.

    He checked it through the system as well and realized that Wang Xiong was truly away. Lin Wu had wondered if he should go and find him on his own, but then learned that Wang Xiong would be returning in a few days anyway.

    Thus, he just thought that he may as well spend some more days here and learn more things. The system also took this time to analyze the new formation arrays that were made by the sect and add them to its data.

    Lin Wu now had the free rein to move around in most areas of the sect, even the ones that were inessible to him previously. His cultivation base increasing allowed the system to hide himself better and also unravel moreplex formations without it being detected by the others.

    During this time, Lin Wu learned a lot of new things, along with stealing some food and snacks as well.

    The most important thing that he learned was the division of the sect. The Frozen Cloud sect was now divided into three main divisions. The first division was called as the Frozen Brook Division, the second one was called as the Frozen Cliff division and the third one was called as the Frozen in division.

    These divisions were made due to the creation of the three camps in the sect. Earlier they were not as big and the conflict was not enough for them to reach this point of turning into full blown divisions, but over time some incidents happened that pushed them to the edge.

    It all started with Wang Xiong bing the Chief disciple, of course. At that time there were just two camps, the one that belonged to the Elders of the Discipline hall and the ones that sided with them, and the second camp was everyone else.

    But the conflicts between them only kept on increasing more and then something was discovered that made their difference irrevocable.

    This was nothing but the missing Spirit Qi springбн which Lin Wu stole.

    The two camps put the me on each other and finally, it broke out into a direct conflict. Several hundred disciples died in this and it forced the patriarch and the supreme elder to take the matter into their own hands.

    They had to forcefully amend the rules of the sect and allow the creation of the two divisions. But then a group of people expressed their neutrality in the matter and a few elders joined in as well, saying that they did not want anything to do with either of the camps.

    This led to the creation of the third camp, which was the neutral camp.

    The First Division, the Frozen Brook division, belonged to the patriarch and Wang Xiong, along with everyone that sided with them.

    The second division, the Frozen Cliff division, belonged to the former elders of the Discipline hall and the Supreme elder who had sided with them.

    The third division, The Frozen in division, belonged to the members that had decided to stay neutral. It included people from many different pavilions and halls of the sect and thus wasn''t fully represented by one power.

    "Damn, never would have thought stealing that source crystal would lead to thisбн oops." Lin Wu said to himself upon learning all this.

    Later, he also learned the reason behind thebined invasion of the Millennium forest by the Frozen Cloud sect. It was due to Wang Xiong and the secret of his power being revealed.

    Apparently, a someone in the sect managed to find records that said that there was a secret tomb in the Millennium forest and thus implied that Wang Xiong had obtained his inheritance there.

    At first, there were just rumors, but then it turned into a full blown mission and was officially issued by the sect. Of course, Wang Xiong knew that it could turn problematic and tried to figure out a way that would help him.

    This led him to reveal more information that was spread by his people as more rumors. While normally this would have sped up the process of people joining the mission, it instead slowed it down instead.

    The elders of the Frozen Cliff division instantly thought that this was a ploy by Wang Xiong to pull them into some kind of a trap. Even though Wang Xiong had spread them as rumors, the elders had enough people spread as spies to figure out that Wang Xiong was doing it intentionally.

    This made them rmed, and they put a stop to the mission quickly. This led to the mission being dyed for a couple of years. Only after everything was verified by the sect did they issue the mission again.

    But this time was exactly what Wang Xiong needed to stabilize his influence in the sect. He had grown rather quickly in power and, with the backing of the patriarch, continued to grow more and more.

    His cultivation base was also increasing steadily and he was already at the Child Soul stage and was almost at the Adolescent soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    Lin Wu got this information from some of the people that were close to Wang Xiong, which included one of thepanions that had apanied him to the Taiji Celstial''s tomb.

    Thispanion being none other than Ye Jin.

    "Seems like Wang Xiong has gotten a girlfriend now tooбн that dogбн" Lin Wu said, feeling a little jealous.

    There were many more minor matters that Lin Wu learned of from the newly updated records of the sect and from the mouths of disciples that discussed it.

    Though he still wanted to hear more in detail from Wang Xiong himself.

    "Where is he now? He should be close, right?" Lin Wu wondered to himself as he checked the map again.

 Chapter 570 - The Stressed Wang Xiong

    On the map, Lin Wu could see that Wang Xiong was rapidly approaching the Frozen Cloud sect. He seemed to be about an hour ago, though his speed was certainly considerable.

    "Is he on something? That marker seems to be a little too bigбн" Lin Wu said before zooming in on the map.

    "Oh? It''s a boat?" Lin Wu noted.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The object that the host can see on the map is a spirit boat.

    бкбк

    "So that''s what it isбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He knew of the spirit boats as they were one of themon forms of transportation in the world used by cultivators. They came under a category of spirit tools as well and were generally referred to as spirit vehicles.

    There were many kinds of them with conventional forms like boats, ships, carts, carriages, all the way to more unique forms like swords,passes, and many more. The tform that Lin Wu and Zhu Tianying used to fly around in the Dread Coil Marsh was a form of a spirit vehicle as well.

    The strange thing was that even after spending time in the sect and listening to the conversation of others, Lin Wu had still not learned where Wang Xiong had gone to exactly. Even Ye Jin did not speak one word about it, only mentioning that he was out on a mission and will be back when he''s done.

    "There is certainly some level of secrecy going on if they are not speaking about it at all." Lin Wu reckoned.

    Soon, Wang Xiong reached the sect and was met with a small entourage of his people. He briefly talked before quickly entering his private courtyard along with the closest of his people.

    Lin Wu too decided to hear in on the conversion and see what happened to him.

    "Did you manage to solve the problem, Senior?" One of Wang Xiong''s subordinates, named Kai asked.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Unfortunately notбн whatever that beast is, it has forced the merchant Lai Hai to sell of the mines to the highest bidder. Since we were unable to solve the problem, he did not want to make any more losses." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Thenбн did the Frozen Cliff members take over the mine?" he asked further.

    "Thankfully no. It is currently in the hands of a local n called Juntai. They are a neutral power of that region, but I do not trust that the mines would be with them for long enough.

    The members of the Frozen Cliff division are bound to interfere soon enough. They are simply waiting for us to lose the influence there." Wang Xiong replied.

    "And what about the cooperations with the merchant unions of the south?" Ye Jing questioned next.

    "That was also inconclusiveбн those merchants are really deviousбн no less shrewd than our own elders." Wang Xiong said.

    Overall it did look like he was exhausted from the work and needed to rest. The small group discussed a bit more for less than ten minutes before Ye Jin quickly sent everyone out to allow Wang Xiong to rest.

    <em>~ck~</em>

    The door of the courtyard closed and Ye Jin approached Wang Xiong, who was rubbing his forehead. She came to sit behind him and started to massage his shoulders.

    "Was it really fine going there yourself? If it was really necessary, I could have gone there too. Now all the eyes are on you again." Ye Jin said in a light voice.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "They really forced our hand this time. Elder Gun Kai managed to get his way in the end." Wang Xiong said.

    "Ugh, that man will never stop, will he? Even if he is not getting any benefits, he wants to sabotage all our working rtionships with the others." Ye Jin said in a frustrated voice.

    "Indeedбн" Wang Xiong replied.

    "Are we really that helpless? Will patriarch not interfere either?" Ye Jin asked.

    "If he could do that, he would have already done it. But the supreme elder is holding him back as well. They cannot break the bnce in the power right now, or the consequences will be really bad." Wang Xiong repelled.

    Ye Jin didn''t know what to say either and thus kept silent.

    "If only senior was out of seclusionбн" Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    Ye Jin knew about who Wang Xiong was talking about and had seen him mention him many times. At this point, she was really curious about who the senior Wang Xiong talked about was like.

    "WANG XIONG!" Suddenly, a loud noise was heard in the courtyard.

    It echoed several times in the courtyard, yet strangely it never left it. It was as if the courtyard was fully enclosed.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    At the same time, some formations could be seen appearing around the courtyard. They could only be seen from the inner side and nothing could be seen from the outside.

    "W-who!?" Ye Jin was startled by the voice.

    The voice was strange, and she had never heard it before. It seemed inhuman to her and the power contained within it, sent shivers down her spine. Ye Jin''s hands started to tremble and she didn''t even realize.

    Her thoughts went to the formations and she wondered if someone had managed to infiltrate this far inside their area.

    ''Did some expert decided to interfere on behalf of the Frozen Cliff division?'' Ye Jin wondered.

    But Wang Xiong''s reaction waspletely different. While he too, was shocked, he was not scared. Instead, he was a bit overwhelmed at first and then joy appeared on his face.

    "SENIOR!? SENIOR, YOU''RE HERE?" Wang Xiong called out.

    "Seems like in my absence you have lost yourself a littleбн" Lin Wu''s voice was heard again.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    At the same time, the ground started to shake and tremble.

    Ye Jin forcefully held onto Wang Xiong and was scared of what was happening. Her mind couldn''t evenprehend what Wang Xiong had just said, due to the fear that clouded it instead.

    All her instincts told her to escape right here, right now; they told her that whoever was about to appear was not something they could deal with.

 Chapter 571 - Shock And Awe

    <strong></strong>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Some distance from Wang Xiong, the ground started to crack before it parted. And from the ground appeared arge body. It kept on extending more and more, stunning both Wang Xiong and Ye Jin.

    The two of them could only gawk at it, while Ye Jin wondered just what kind of a being this was. She could tell that it was a beast, but the size of it was simply massive. Wang Xiong''s private courtyard was ratherrge, but even then, half of the yard was directly upied by the being that just appeared.

    Finally, Wang Xiong could see the head of Lin Mu that appeared from the mass of crystals.

    "SENIOR! It''s really you!" Wang Xiong said, feeling excited.

    "Of course it''s me. Who else do you think looks like me?" Lin Wu lightly joked.

    "Y-yes! Only Senior Lin Wu has a magnificent body like this!" Wang Xiong stammered, but still managed to tter Lin Wu.

    Ye Jin was finallying around and understood who Lin Wu was.

    "Thisбн thisбн this is the senior you talked about all these years?" Ye Jin asked in disbelief.

    "Won''t you introduce us Wang Xiong?" Lin Wu asked with a smirk, though to Ye Jin it was just a terrifying look instead.

    "Ah yes, Senior Lin Wu, meet my Daopanion Ye Jin. I believe you''ve already tested her before, so she should be up to your standard." Wang Xiong quickly turned into a formal mode.

    Ye Jin was a bit taken aback by it took.

    ''Why does it feel like I''m meeting the parents now?'' Ye Jin wondered.

    "I seeбн very well, I should introduce myself as well." Lin Wu said, turning Ye Jin nervous as well.

    "I am, Lin Wu! The Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm, The progenitor of the Emeraldine Legion, The King of the Millennium forest, the keeper of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb and his direct disciple!" Lin Wu introduced himself, using all the titles that he had.

    It was as if steam wasing off Ye Jin''s head and she felt like she was about to faint.

    Even Wang Xiong had not expected Lin Wu to say things like these. Though he was intrigued by some of the things that he said.

    "Senior you said you are the King of the millennium forest? When did that happen?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "A couple of days after I woke up from my seclusion." Lin Wu answered.

    "Whoa! Then that meansбн you broke through?" Wang Xiong asked with anticipation.

    "Of course," Lin Wu said and unsealed his aura partially.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The spirit Qi in the air suddenly turned still as if frozen and all the beasts that were on the peak became dead silent as well. Even though Lin Wu''s aura was mostly contained within the courtyard, his bloodline was still strong enough to spread the resonance around and affect the beasts.

    <em>~gasp~</em>

    Ye Jin felt short of breath and for her, it was like a hill was ced on her chest. Wang Xiong was in a slightly better condition, but it was difficult for him to breathe as well. But that was not all as his eyes flickered slightly and he saw something in Lin Wu.

    Ever since getting the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial, Wang Xiong had been diligently practicing and improving his proficiency with the Taiji Refinement scripture. This allowed him to devise some techniques and skills of his own.

    One of such techniques was simr to Lin Wu''s Radiation perception, but this allowed him to see the yin and Yang aspects of the world instead. Wang Xiong''s proficiency with it was very low and even after all this time, he had barely managed to get some control over it.

    When he activated the skill and observed anything, it would appear in different shades of grey. Yet even then, Lin Wu''s body appeared like a sun to him. He had to quickly stop using the skill or he feared that he may just turn blind.

    ''Just what level is senior even at? How much power and energy are confined within his body? Even patriarch was not close to this level when I observed him secretly.'' Wang Xiong thought in his mind, feeling awed.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    Lin Wu quickly withdrew his aura in a small span of five seconds, yet that was enough to turn both Wang Xiong and Ye Jin sweaty.

    "Ah sorry, I''ve yet to gain the same control as I used to have on my body." Lin Wu lightly apologized, though it didn''t seem like he was truly thoughtful.

    "Itбн I-it''s fine, senior. It is we that are at the fault for asking thisбн" Wang Xiong quickly responded.

    Now that he had felt a hint of Lin Wu''s power, he was more than impressed. Lin Wu''s veneration in his heart had increased by many times. Ye Jin was the same and now understood why Wang Xiong often muttered the word ''senior'' so much.

    "Senior Lin Wu is certainly a peerless expert." Ye Jin couldn''t help but praise either.

    The two cultivators couldn''t even tell at what Level Lin Wu''s cultivation base was at due to it overwhelming their senses. And they didn''t dare to ask him directly either, as it could just lead to more trouble if it was taken as being rude.

    Lin Wu chuckled internally and felt pleased with the reactions that Wang Xiong and Ye Jin showed him. He felt his vanity being satisfied with a little and wondered if there was time for some reward now.

    "Wang Xiong." Lin Wu said.

    "Yes, Senior!" Wang Xiong replied in a very concise manner.

    "While you have gotten a little lost on the task I gave you, I cannot deny your achievements. And for that reason, I believe you are worthy of a reward.

    Hearing the word reward made both Wang Xiong and Ye Jin''s ears perked up. Though she also wondered if she should escape from here since Lin Wu''s presence was being a little too ufortable to her.

    Wang Xiong could only anticipate the reward that he was about to get.

 Chapter 572 - Rewards And Request

    <strong></strong>

    Lin Wu smirked to himself as Wang Xiong had yed right into his hand.

    ''This will make upgrading the Trojan rather easy. I''ll add in a few things as a bonus too, just to make it look a bit more appealingбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He looked at Wang Xiong and spoke, e close."

    "Yes, Senior." Wang Xiong came to stand close to Lin Wu, who then lifted his tail and extended a very thin spike out of it.

    The spike was thinpared to Lin Wu himself, butpared to Wang Xiong''s size, it still looked like a spear tip instead.

    "Now thenбн don''t move." Lin Wu warned and touched Wang Xiong''s forehead with it.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Ye Jin swallowed down her saliva, feeling nervous. After all, Wang Xiong was her Daopanion that she loved and seeing him stand so close to arge beast like Lin Wu was terrifying.

    Even if she knew that Wang Xiong trusted the beast, she still had some hesitation.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    While she was thinking all this, she suddenly felt Wang Xiong''s aura rising. He could also see that Lin Wu''s tail seemed to be glowing and the glow was flowing towards Wang Xiong.

    It looked like something was entering Wang Xiong''s forehead, but she couldn''t tell what. But a minuteter, her eyes went wide.

    "No wayбн" She gasped.

    Lin Wu pulled back his tail and retracted the spike from Wang Xiong''s head. The man opened his eyes as well, that now had a faint green glow to them. There was also a small green dot in the center of his forehead, but it was quickly disappearing.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TROJAN UPDATE: Completed

    SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE: Sessfully imnted

    Notification: The host''s subordinate, Wang Xiong has been added to the formation''smunication channel.

    бкбк

    "Perfectбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Wang Xiong looked at himself and felt his cultivation base.

    "I broke through? I BROKE THROUGH!" Wang Xiong eximed.

    <em>~sp~</em>

    Ye Jin held Wang Xiong''s shoulder, checked him directly to see if he was fine and what she had felt was real. Lin Wu narrowed his eyes at seeing this and secretly took note of it.

    ''Still a bit suspicious I seeбн doesn''t matter, everyone will be the same once they get the Trojanбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Ye Jin finally came to terms with her situation and understood that Wang Xiong had really broken through.

    "Thank you senior! Thank you for helping me break through to the Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm." Wang Xiong said, feeling grateful.

    "No, you deserved it. Alsoбн that breakthrough is not your only reward." Lin Wu replied.

    "Oh? What do you mean, senior?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Why don''t you feel for yourself?" Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    Wang Xiong raised his brows, but then nodded his head. He closed his eyes and then felt a small set of memories appear in his mind. They exined to him about all the features that he now had, including being able tomunicate directly with Lin Wu and the rest of the beasts in the Emeraldine legion.

    Learning that Lin Wu had so many servants and subordinates at the nascent soul realm was shocking to Wang Xiong. While he had known that the number of Nascent soul realm beasts of the millennium forest had increased in the recent years, he was still in the dark about the others that had not appeared in the open.

    "Waitбн is thatбн Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge?" Wang Xiong was stunned upon sensing his juniors.

    "They managed to gain the inheritance as well." Lin Wu chimed in.

    Hearing this, both Wang Xiong and Ye Jin''s eyes lit up.

    "They really seeded?! Everyone thought that they had either died or something happened. We lost contact with thempletely tooбн" Wang Xiong replied.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu was a bit surprised as Pei Jun had not expressed anything like this when he talked to him.

    ''Did they forget? Or just get too lost in the trials?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "They did seed. Wellбн everyone did, just not for the same inheritance that you got." Lin Wu answered.

    "What? There''s more than one inheritance?" Wang Xiong was confused.

    "Yes, there isбн" Lin Wu then exined to him how he was lucky and managed to enter the tomb directly due to the token he had.

    He also told him about the trials of the Sky bright Daoist and how they needed to be cleared before the Taiji Celestial''s could be attempted. Feeling enlightened after this, Wang Xiong thanked his lucky stars.

    "Being able tomunicate with the others will be a godsend. Though how far can Imunicate right now?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "You''ll probably need to go halfway before you canmunicate with them without any effort. At this distance, you will need to use up some of your spirit Qi, if you want to talk to them." Lin Wu replied.

    "I seeбн though I can feel their location too." Wang Xiong said, "and I can feel yours tooбн and othersбн there are so many!" he added as more and more information surged into his mind.

    "Of course. Everyone that is our ally will be within our circle and everyone can feel each other''s location. Themunication link will allow everyone to be safer and be able to ask for help in times of trouble." Lin Wu stated.

    Understanding the benefits of the new abilities, Wang Xiong was happy. But then an idea came to his mind, and he looked towards Ye Jin. His gaze lingered for a few seconds before he turned to Lin Wu.

    "Senior, I have a requestбн can youбн" Wang Xiong hesitated.

    "Ahhahah! I know what you want. Don''t worry, I was going to do it anyway." Lin Wu said.

    Ye Jin was a bit confused by it at first, but then understood what Wang Xiong meant.

    "Come hereбн child." Lin Wu said in a friendly tone.

    Ye Jin hesitated and looked towards Wang Xiong, who nodded his head.. Suppressing the nervousness, Ye Jin finally took the next step and came to stand in front of Lin Wu as well.

 Chapter 573 - Ye Jin Joins The List And Political Trouble

    There were many thoughts going through Ye Jin''s mind about how it all could go wrong. A spike was currently ced on her forehead and Lin Wu was doing the same thing that he had done for Wang Xiong.

    He decided to give her a little reward as well as it would only be beneficial if she were in favor of him.

    ''Unnecessary conflict will just be bothersome. It''s way easier if they think better of me.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Ye Jin who was uneasy all this time, suddenly felt her fear fading away. Instead, what reced it was peaceбн and a sense of belonging. She had not felt like this in a long time and only Wang Xiong could provide this to her after she left her family.

    But now she could feel the same from Lin Wu and she didn''t know why. At the same time, she felt even closer to Wang Xiong.

    ''I feel moreбн connected. Is this what Wang Xiong feels like too?'' Ye Jin wondered.

    Her cultivation base started to increase as well and in just five minutes, she had broken through to the next stage.

    "I reached the Child Soul Stage already?" Ye Jin was stunned by seeing just how it was.

    She had practiced for years on end to reach the point she was and all it took was a few minutes of help from Lin Wu for her to progress.

    ''Just what mysteries does this senior hold? The Taiji celestial''s disciple is indeed not simple.'' Ye Jin thought, recalling all the murals about the Taiji Celestial that she had seen along with the others in the tomb.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    ''Another one addedбн'' Lin Wu internally muttered as the list of subordinates updated.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SUBORDINATES: 1. Wang Xiong

    Cultivation Base: Adolescent Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    2. Pei Jun

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    3. Tian Xiaoge

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    4. Twin Lights Liger King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    5. Split Thorn Horn Beetle King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    6. Slim Arm Ape King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    7. Demon Spine Ape King

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    8. Ye Jin

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    бкбк

    Ye Jin was the eighth subordinate Lin Wu had added and with each addition, his scope of power increased a well. After all, with all his subordinates around, he could control a far bigger area also gain more information through them.

    Lin Wu even had ns for the next upgrade of the Trojan. He wanted the system to add many more functionalities, but they would take a while to be developed andpeted. It essentially needed additional Computational AIs to be unlocked, and they only increased with Lin Wu''s increase in cultivation.

    This was mostly because they needed a higher bandwidth to function and the system itself could only do that when Lin Wu himself was stronger.

    "System, how many more AIs do you need for the Trojan upgrade?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Currently the system has about sixputational AIs unlocked and for the next upgrade of the Trojan, it has been estimated that it would need at least nine of them. The Host will need to reach the Dao Treading Realm to be able to unlock more all of them, though, with each sub-stage of the Dao Shell realm, more of them will be added.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн so seven at the Shell Completion stage, eight at the Shell Expansion stage and nine at the Dao Treading realmбн that should be fine." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Ye Jin and Wang Xiong had gained better control over their abilities by now, and it looked like Wang Xiong even managed tomunicate with Pei Jun.

    "It''s amazing senior! I talked with Pei Jun just now. He said they are going to cultivate there for a while andprehend the inheritance." Wang Xiong said.

    "Yes, I told them to focus on learning it first. The others should be done after a while as well and you will be able to talk with them too." Lin Wu replied.

    "I seeбн if we only had this ability before, then our problems would have been solved." Wang Xiong said, his tone turning a little sad.

    "Oh? What happened? I''ve seen some changes in the Frozen Cloud sect and conflict too. What''s the problem exactly?" Lin Wu took this opportunity to extract more information.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "It''s a long storyбн" Wang Xiong then went on to exin how all the things happened.

    The people of the Di Guan mines were forced to run away due to a beast, and the terror caused by it. He also told him about the spies they caught and the Agitation jades they found.

    After the first one that Wang Xiong got from the spy, his people managed to find three more of them hidden around the cave. But despite that, they were unable to stop the beast that was causing the problems.

    They knew that the beast was at the Nascent Soul realm, but its speed was far too fast for them to be able to deal with it. Plus, it had the ability to just dig into the rocks and run away when it felt like there was a trap there.

    Wang Xiong told Lin Wu how the Frozen Cliff division caused conflict for them using proxies and their current situation, where they were close to losing a lot of money and resources.

    It was aplex political situation that even Lin Wu didn''t want to hear more about, but did so for the sake of it.

    But at the end, Lin Wu spoke again.

    "I think I can help you."

 Chapter 574 - Lin Wus Agreement

    "Huh?" Wang Xiong was not expecting Lin Wu to say something like this and was a bit confused.

    "You will help us, Senior?" Wang Xiong asked for rity.

    "Mmmhmm, this problem of yours with that mineбн it''s been there for a long time, right?" Lin Wu replied.

    "Of course! It''s been a thorn in our foot that we have been unable to remove. We never through a single Nascent soul realm beast would be that problematic." Wang Xiong said.

    "Then I''ll get rid of it. That should allow you to focus on other thingsбн after all, if you are being bothered by this, you are spending less time on things that matter." Lin Wu stated.

    "But won''t thatбн be beneath you? I can''t bring myself to pester you about my own problems." Wang Xiong replied.

    "It''s nothing for me. Besides, I have some other tasks I need to do around there as well, so I may as wellplete this." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing this, both Wang Xiong and Ye Jin''s faces lit up.

    "Thank you senior!" Both Wang Xiong and Ye Jing said out loud.

    "Just give me the necessary information and I''ll go there once I''m done here." Lin Wu stated.

    "YES! I have the ready with me already!" Wang Xiong hurriedly said.

    Since he had been trying to deal with the problem for a long time, he carried all the records and documents with him. Lin Wu though, didn''t need them in reality and was just doing this to get whatever information he was missing in the system.

    ''Scan them all system.'' Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN COMPLETED: Data banks updated

    MAP UPDATED: New markers added

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw a few notifications in front of him and also saw the new information that was added. It even included a rough sketch of what the beast that was causing trouble looked like.

    Lin Wu furrowed his brows after seeing it.

    ''Thisбн seems a bit familiarбн have I seen such a beast before?'' Lin Wu thought, but it was impossible for him to confirm it since the sketch was truly rough.

    The beast in the drawing had four legs and ck fur, but its head was drawn like a simple oval and its body looked oddly bulky. Lin Wu also looked over some of the other information, such as the people that lived near the Di Guan mines and who its owner was.

    Since it was located somewhat before the Tian n''s branch, Lin Wu got the information about their territory as well. In fact, Xiaoge was originally going to be part of the investigation team, but then she never returned from the millennium forest.

    Thus Wang Xiong ended up assigning others for it. Since the beast was a Nascent soul realm beast, he needed to put other Nascent soul realm cultivators to deal with it. But even then he could not use too many people as the number of Nascent soul realm subordinates under him was ultimately limited.

    Excluding Pei Jun and Ye Jin, Wang Xiong had eleven Nascent soul realm subordinates under him. This was a sizable number of cultivators and would be considered being a rather strong power if they went out to the secr world.

    After all, there were plenty of small sects that were made by Nascent soul realm cultivators. So technically, each of them could make their own sect. But now all of them were under Wang Xiong, and that too willingly.

    But this didn''t fully represent the Frozen Brook division''s power. There were many other people in it, but not all of them were under Wang Xiong. Currently, the Frozen Brook division, and the Frozen Cliff division both had nearly the same level of power.

    While the Frozen in division was the smallest of the two and was barely ten percent of the entire sect''s people. Still, it had some influential and powerful elders in it thus couldn''t be disregarded either.

    Lin Wu got to learn everything and was soon ready.

    "Will you be leaving right away, senior?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Noбн first I have to meet someone else." Lin Wu answered.

    "Someone else? Who?" Wang Xiong asked, wondering who it could be since there weren''t many acquaintances that Lin Wu could have.

    "A certain man in a white fox mask." Lin Wu replied, stunning Wang Xiong.

    "Him?!" Wang Xiong said out loud.

    Ye Jin on the other hand, was confused as to whom the two of them were talking about, but was able to guess some things.

    "Is it someone from our sect?" Ye Jin questioned.

    "Indeed. I do not know his name, but I''ve seen him." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong was even more confused. He hesitated a bit, but then decided to speak.

    "Where did you meet Guardian Yun, Senior?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Oh? So his name is Guardian Yun, huhбн" Lin Mu muttered.

    Ye Jin also wondered who this person they talked about was. She had not heard of anyone in the Frozen Cloud sect with that name or title before.

    "As for your question, I saw the ''man'' in the millennium forest. He chose to help out the beasts in fighting off an invasion of beasts." Lin Wu answered.

    "A beast invasion?" Wang Xiong furrowed his brows, and an idea popped up in his mind.

    "Was it perhaps the Southern Tusk Tapirs?" Ye Jin ended up the first one to guess it instead.

    "Indeed, child. It was the Southern Tusk tapirsбн along with the Silver Tusk Tapir King as their leader." Lin Wu confirmed.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong narrowed his eyes even more.

    "We did get some reports about arge herd of those beasts leaving the Southern Reach Jungle, but our people did not go close due to a Dao Shell realm breast being detected. We thought they had turned to the south, thoughбн how did the sect miss this?" Wang Xiong wondered.

    "What? The Frozen Cloud sect did not know about it? How is that possible when the beasts would have to pass around your territory?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling confused as well.

 Chapter 575 - The Frozen Cloud Sect Being In The Dark?

    The little revtion by Lin Wu turned out to be more of a bomb for Wang Xiong and Ye Jin. The movement and migration of such arge number of beasts was a matter of great concern.

    As one of the top ten sects of the Long Continent, the Frozen Cloud sect had a duty to ensure that the people in their territory lived in order. This pertained to both cultivators andmoners.

    If they were harmed by the migration of such beasts, they would have to bear the karma. Not to mention their own benefits would reduce since it would be their people dying. These were the same people that supplied them with external resources and helped with trade andmerce.

    As much as cultivators thought themoners were beneath them, themoners were still an important part of the world. Without them, perhaps the cultivation sects might not be able to exist for long.

    While themoners were at the bottom of the pyramid, they were also the foundation. They were the source of new talent and also many other things, like information. Without them, the sects would soon find themselvescking.

    In a sense, the duty of a sect was simr to that of a king and his ministers. Both took care of themoners under them, though the number of people that sect had livings in their territory was usually less.

    But they were stillmoners that were often rich and powerful, as many of them were none other than family members of the sect disciples. Not everyone could cultivate nor have the talent to do so, thus they took up other professions and became the foundations on which sects rose to prominence.

    Even the disciples wouldn''t like their families getting hurt, and if it was found that the Frozen Cloud sect had missed such an important matter, the morale of the disciples would go down greatly.

    "Thisбн I do not know how this matter turned out like this. We should have known the moment the Southern Tusk tapirs got close to the sect. They can''t even go to the area south of Millennium forest without passing by us first." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Can''t they go around us, though? There are forests and mountains that extend quite far outside our territory." Ye Jing asked.

    "Noбн even if they do try to do that, the other beasts will keep them in check. Don''t forget there are many Dao Shell realm beasts, even if they are rare. I doubt even a Silver Tusk tapir would like to fight another Dao Shell realm beast like it.

    After all, even if it can match its power, the same cannot be said for the rest of the herd. They would simply be killed in a matter of minutes if they intruded on the territory of other beasts.

    While there is a chance it could happen, we would have still noticed it. A fight between Dao Shell realm beasts is no joke and will cause enough noise and destruction for it to be heard hundred kilometer away." Wang Xiong replied.

    Now, even Lin Wu was confused and wondered about the situation. Originally, he had thought that the Frozen Cloud sect had let them pass without any interference, since it could be considered to be a natural series of events.

    Beast migration was something a lot of beasts did and was a natural part of the ecological cycle. But a sect would still keep an eye on it and be alert for any problems that might arise.

    "You don''t thinkбн someone intentionally pulled out attention away from it, do you?" Ye Jin asked, feeling a bit fearful.

    To her, if someone was able to do this, they would have to be either very strong or very influential, as to silence elders from all three divisions.

    "Noбн even if the disciples and elders can be fooled, there is someone that won''t beбн Guardian Yun won''t let something like that happen under his watch." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Just who is this Guardian Yun and why haven''t I heard of him?" Ye Jin asked, feeling curious.

    "I''d like to know more too," Lin Wu chimed in.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I guess it would be better to hear it from the man himself. I have taken some oath''s that prevent me from speaking about it to others." Wang Xiong exined.

    "Very wellбн take me to him." Lin Wu spoke.

    Hearing this, Ye Jin looked at Lin Wu and furrowed her brows.

    "Butбн will that be fine? I mean, senior is technically trespassing." Ye Jin said with concern.

    "Oh, it will be fine. I believe Guardian Yun would prefer if we kept it a secret as well." Lin Wu replied.

    Wang Xiong nodded his head as well and spoke, "Senior Lin Wu is right. We should just meet Guardian Yun directly."

    "Very well! It''s decided then, bring me to him." Lin Wu said.

    "Please follow me, Senior. Oh, andбн you''ll be staying underground, I believe?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Yes. You two just go on as normal, I''ll be behind you." Lin Wu replied.

    With that done, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin flew in the direction of a certain mountain. It was located in the middle of several other mountains and seemed to be covered in the fog all the time.

    Half way up from it, nothing could be seen due to the thick fog. Not many disciples actually came to this area, since it was restricted and only certain elders and core disciples even had the permission to enter it.

    The fog covered mountain was peculiar to Lin Wu for several reasons. The first was the fact that it was smaller than all the others around it and the second was a bigger one, being that the system was unable to scan it.

    ''An interference fieldбн this is certainly not simple.'' Lin Wu thought.

    There were several areas of the Frozen Cloud sect that the system could not just scan directly without being detected, but this area had an entire interference field around it which was very suspicious.

 Chapter 576 - A Violent Meeting

    Lin Wu tried to scan the area with his spirit sense and realized that even touching the outer part of the fog was impossible.

    "Is this even fog? Its defense is more like a steel teбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Soon they reached the very edge of the mountain and Wang Xiong came to a halt. He then held out what looked like a badge and shed it to the front.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    Soon a hole opened up on the fog, allowing them to pass through.

    "You cane out now senior, this area is hidden from the view of others." Wang Xiong said.

    Lin Wu checked it once to ensure it was fine and only then did he leave the ground.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The earth shook as Lin Wu''s body appeared out from it. The emerald green glow of his body looked eerie as it got diffused in the fog even more.

    "Please follow me senior. We will have to go by foot from here." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Alright," Lin Wu replied before continuing onwards.

    Wang Xiong kept the badge in front of him and it acted as a tool to keep the fog away. The three of them continued heading up the mountain while Lin Wu looked at everything. He was trying to see what was hidden here or if there was a secret.

    The system was unable to scan anything here and the interference field here was also strong. While the system might be able to forcefully break through it, that was not a good option.

    After all, Lin Wu didn''t want to announce to everyone that he was here. The same could be said for a lot of formations. Even the areas that were restricted in the Frozen Cloud sect, the only reason Lin Wu did not enter them even if he had the capability was others finding out about it.

    Even if Lin Wu was in the Dao Shell realm, he wasn''t overconfident and knew that he couldn''t take on the entire sect if he managed to offend them. There were cultivators in the sect that were possible at the very edge of the Immortal Ascension realm, not to mention the ones that were at the Dao Treading realm.

    Lin Wu might be able to defend against one or two of them, but if all of theme, it would be very dangerous.

    ''Better to keep a low profile right nowбн'' Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    After walking for about an hour, they reached the very top of the mountain. It was here that they experience a vast change.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    As if they had passed through a curtain, the fog disappearedpletely around them.

    "Huh? Where did the fog go?" Ye Jin wondered.

    "We are now in the main area of the peak. The formation protects this ce." Wang Xiong spoke.

    And just as Wang Xiong said this, Lin Wu heard a few notifications.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Detected Dao Shell realm spirit Qi fluctuation

    NOTIFICATION: Detected several Nascent soul realm and core condensation realm spirit Qi signals.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu narrowed his eyes and quickly switched to the map. One by one, several hundred markers popped up on the map. A majority of them were ones at the core condensation realm and about five percent of them were at the Nascent soul realm.

    "1,2бн 56бн 208бн that''s a lotбн" Lin Wu counted the markers.

    He saw about six Nascent soul realm markers hidden to the very back and ahead of them was the Dao Shell realm marker. It was the brightest and biggest one, making it very easy to notice.

    <em>~shudder~</em>

    Lin Wu also felt something strange in his body. It felt like his bloodline had just sensed something that was dangerous nearby.

    "That''s bound to be that demon beastбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    If something could directly make him feel dangerous through his bloodline, even at his current level, it meant that it was something really dangerous.

    "Guardian Yun! We are hereбн" Wang Xiong said out loud.

    Lin Wu was alert just in case things went south. Ye Jin was nervous too, but the reality turned out to be rather mundane. For the first five minutes, there was no response.

    "Is everything fine?" Ye Jin asked, seeing there was just silence.

    "Hmm, he''s usually quickбн this is strange." Wang Xiong said.

    "Should we go on ahead?" Lin Wu asked.

    "We may as well." Wang Xiong replied and stepped ahead.

    But just as he took five steps forward, a voice was heard.

    "I see chief disciple has brought some guests. Won''t you introduce them to me?" the voice spoke from the distance.

    Lin Wu, who had been seeing the map the entire time, knew that this Guardian Yun had not moved one step from his original location.

    ''Deliberator acting mysterious huhбн I see you.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    A few secondster, the dot on the map moved at a great speed and appeared right in front of them.

    "So this is the manбн" Lin Wu muttered as he saw the person dressed in a pale white robe, wearing a white fox mask on his face.

    <em>~sniff~</em>

    "He''s definitely a beastбн at least partially." Lin Wu sensed the scent.

    Though taking a look at the humanoid looking beast was intriguing to Lin Wu. He now wondered what was the story behind this person and why he had managed to make a deal with the system.

    "This is Ye Jin, a Core disciple of our sect and my Dao Companions." Wang Xiong said, pointing to her. "And thisбн is senior Lin Wu. The King of the Millennium forest, I believe you might have an idea." He added.

    Guardian Yunpletely ignored Ye Jin and simply looked at Lin Wu who towered over him. In front of Guardian Yun who was two meters tall, and Lin Wu who was hundreds of meters, it was simply a ridiculousparison.

    No one could see the expression of Guardian Yun under the mask and thus it was hard to estimate what he was thinking. Though Lin Wu had some other approaches.

    Radiation perception activated and his field of vision changed.

    "Wanting to test out I seeбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as several skills silently activated without anyone knowing.

    Then in the very next moment, a tearing sound was heard.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    <em>~RIP~</em>

    It was as if the air itself was torn in half when the Fox masked man moved.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were stunned and pushed back as they saw Guardian Yun sh with Lin Wu.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    Currently, Lin Wu was using his tail to block the attack of Guardian Yun. The man in question had condensed a hammer made out of ice and had swung it at Lin Wu.

    "Oho? You got a different definition of hospitality, I seeбн" Lin Wu spoke as he easily resisted the attack.

    Frost had started to spread from the Hammer onto Lin Wu''s tail. Terrifying ice Qi could be felt in the air as it started to rise in concentration. Wang Xiong felt the pressure and chill and was instantly rmed.

    He grabbed onto Ye Jin and retreated as far as he could in that moment.

    "What?!" Ye Jin was startled.

    "Dammit, what is guardian Yun doing?" Wang Xiong was confused.

    Lin Wu saw the frost and ice forming on his tail and smirked.

    "Something like this is not enough," He said as copious amounts of radiation started pouring out of his body.

    <em>~Sizzle~</em>

    <em>~poof~</em>

    The ice and frost evaporated almost instantly and even the normal spirit Qi in the air was affected. Guardian Yun narrowed his eyes as he saw the handle of the hammer he was holding melt as well.

    "Fire elemental Qi? Noбн what is this?" He muttered to himself finding it strange.

    The heat was as ifing out of nowhere. He couldn''t feel any spirit Qi working for it, but rather it felt like the spirit Qi was being repelled instead.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    Lin Wu took this opportunity to flick his body and extend a spike from the side that pierced the head of the ice hammer.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    The hammer broke apart like chalk in guardian Yun''s hand, and the man quickly flew back.

    "Is that enough or do you want more?" Lin Wu asked.

    The man looked on in silence, his thoughts unknown.

    "Let''s do more," He said in a low voice and raised his hands.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The spirit Qi in the air started to gather at a rapid rate and even more spirit Qi was pouring out of Guardian Yun''s body. Lin Wu saw the spirit Qi moving around in specific patterns and found it to be recognizable.

    "So he''s using thatбн this will be a bit hard to resistбн" Lin Wu internally said to himself.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    He reacted immediately and let wind attitude spirit Qi surround his body. The wind moved rapidly and turned into a sphere around him. The chilling from Guardian Yun was almost isted from it, but the ice spirit Qi still tried to prate it.

    "I''m just starting!" Lin Wu said as radiation started leeching into the wind attribute spirit Qi.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    As if the air was lit up on fire, the sphere of wind exploded and turned into a scorching fireball. Lin Wu''s body was hidden within it and the ice attribute spirit Qiing from Guardian Yun was fully pushed back.

    But that was just the start, as Guardian Yun made a few hand seals.

    "Forbidden Frost Scripture: Tearing Blizzard!" He chanted

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin who heard it, were shocked to no end.

    "Thatбн patriarch''s original technique!" Ye Jin recognized.

    Wang Xiong though gritted his teeth and pulled Ye Jin further back.

    ''Has he finally gone insane?''

 Chapter 577 - Undaunted Sapphire Blaze Cleaver!

    Ye Jin and a few other disciples of the Frozen Cloud sect that had been fortunate enough to see their Patriarch teach himself, knew of his techniques. Or at the very least, they had seen them being used.

    The patriarch of the Frozen Cloud Sect, Patriarch Bing was considered to be a genius among his generation. When he was still an inner court disciple he had already started to make his mark and had gathered a lot of merits for the sect.

    His progress only increased exponentially and it barely took him two centuries after that to be the patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect. He was officially the eleventh patriarch of the sect and was considered to be the Second strongest patriarch in all of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    He had learned the sect''s techniques thoroughly and had even mastered the Forbidden Frost scripture which was consider to be a top level technique that was restricted only to a few people of the sect.

    And even in that, he had managed toprehend his own variations of it and had made a few that were now learned and practiced by the junior disciples, all the way from the outer court disciples to the core disciples.

    But the most well known was his signature skill in the Forbidden Frost Scripture, the Tearing Blizzard. It was something no one else knew and neither had he taught it to anyone else.

    It was one of the few techniques that had no records in the sect and were a matter of pride for the patriarch.

    Yet here there was an anomaly. Ye Jin and Wang Xiong got to see a second person use the very same technique. This was astounding to them and they could not understand how the man had gotten hold of the technique.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    A strong wind blew out from Guardian Yun''s hand which was filled with bitter cold. The moment it came out, it turned white as the ice and snow filled it. The air was sharp as if it would cut apart anything that it touched and freeze it solid.

    Such was the technique called Tearing Blizzard.

    Lin Wu though was able to handle it right now. The fire that surrounded him protected him from the cold and nullified it before it even reached him. The wind provided the defense and the heat provided the neutralization property.

    This was rather confusing to Guardian Yun as he nced at the very strong technique being unable to do much.

    "It is not fire spirit Qiбн the tearing blizzard can easily snuff out any fire like that. Just what technique is it? The wind attribute spirit Qi seems to be the driving force behind it." Guardian Yun muttered to himself.

    Wang Xiong had seen Guardian Yun enough to know that he was a rather entric person. He always felt ufortable around the man and was always on his guard. But he knew that Guardian Yun wouldn''t do anything wrong.

    But now he wasn''t so sure anymore.

    "Why is he doing this?" Ye Jin couldn''t help but question.

    "I don''t knowбн only him and Senior knows now. It''s best if we stay out of it, we cannot interfere on their level." Wang Xiong answered.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Ye Jin swallowed down the fear for the time being and retreated as far as she could along with Wang Xiong. Only when they reached the very opposite end of the area did they stop and take a look at the battle.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    It was then that a sudden explosion happened. The bright light forced Wang Xiong and Ye Jin to close their eyes as a gust of hot air flowing over their faces. The air was hot enough that if it were anymoner, they would have probably gotten first or second degree burns.

    But thankfully Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were notmoners and could easily handle something like this.

    "Time for my counter attack now!" Lin Wu''s voice could be heard.

    Wang Xiong peeked out from behind his fingers and saw Lin Wu''s body that had changed its form. His long body was curved like a ''J'' and his head was at the bottom. His tail though was pointed to the sky.

    It looked like a hundred meter tall broad sword that had a glowing blue edge. There were fiery sparks jumping out of the tip and more fire orbs were appearing at its back. The sword only had one edge with the other one being thick and t.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The blue glow of the sword edge started to glow like water and it looked surreal. On the other hand, the fire orbs that were attached to the other side of the sword were swirling and gathering more spirit Qi from the air.

    "Thisбн at this rate he''ll drain all the spirit Qi in the area!" Wang Xiong eximed.

    The spirit Qi was being absorbed by his entire body and split into two parts going to the two sides of the sword.

    <em>~weeng~weeng~weeng~</em>

    A strange crying sound seemed to being from the back of the sword as the fire orbs suddenly split apart.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    "Take this!" Lin Wu yelled.

    ''Undaunted Sapphire ze Cleaver''

    This was the name that Lin Wu had given to the new technique he had made after his breakthrough. Itbined all the new upgrades to his skills that he had gotten and imbued into one.

    While he could turn into several weapon forms, this was the easiest way of using them for now.

    <em>Undaunted Sapphire Body art!</em>

    <em>Immortal Sky Shaker Art!</em>

    <em>Radiation Maniption!</em>

    <em>Qi Amplification!</em>

    <em>Cellr Crystallization!</em>

    <em>Cellr Maniption!</em>

    <em>Sound Command!</em>

    All these skillsbined and turned into the current attack. Each provided a different effect that worked in synergy with the other. Though the Sound Command was the most hidden of them all.

    Its function was important yet easy to miss. It simply hid and diffused the sound of the attack when used.

    Guardian Yun''s eyes went wide as he quickly turned to his back.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    Even though Guardian Yun could see the attack in front of him, he couldn''t help but feel uneasy.. And when the sound came from his back, he realized that it was a trick.

 Chapter 578 - Forced To Defend

    "Ugh!" Guardian Yun grunted and turned back. but then his face fell.

    "What!" But then his face fell and he was shocked to see nothing behind him.

    He was rather Dependant on his sense of hearing since Lin Wu''s radiation maniption had made it close to impossible for his spirit sense to work. Every time he tried to use it, he felt like his spirit sense had entered a bog and got trapped.

    If he struggled too much the spirit sense even showed signs of tearing. This was certainly not what he wanted in the middle of a battle.

    Guardian Yun also had a lot of trust on his other senses and was thus sure that the attack in front of him might be a trick and the attack wasing from behind. But the reality turned out to be different.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The true attack descended with the force of a volcano, giving the man barely enough time to condense an ice shied in front of him.

    ~<em>cling~ </em>

    <em>~cling~</em>

    <em>~cling~</em>

    Taking the fraction of second that the ice shield provided, Guardian Yun retreated as he created more ice shields to dy the attack as much as he could.

    <em>~shing~shing~shing~</em>

    But s, under the power of the Undaunted Sapphire ze Cleaver, the ice shields were no more than butter under a hot knife and were cleaved apart almost instantly. The de was emitting enough spirit Qi fluctuations mixed with radiation that Qi refining realm cultivators would have simply died from being in the area.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin started having trouble breathing and the pressure from it made it difficult to use their own spirit Qi as well.

    "Dammit! We can''t stay like this! Inverse Yin Frost Dome!" Wang Xiong said and flipped his hands.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Ice attribute spirit Qi emitted from his hand and started to float put above him. The color of the Qi was also different than the normal ice elemental Qi being a bit more dark in color.

    Its level of coldness was also more than the normal level and if anyone touched it they would get frostbite almost immediately.

    Holding Ye Jin in his embrace, Wang Xiong let the Inverse Yin Frost Dome descend on them.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The solid ss like dome covered them entirely and protected them from the surrounding effects of Lin Wu''s attack.

    But even under the protection of the dome, Wang Xiong realized that it was not enough.

    "This can''t beбн how is it degrading this fast?" Wang Xiong was confused.

    Gritting his teeth, he ced his hands on the insides of the dome and started pouring his spirit Qi into it, trying to maintain its form as long as it was possible.

    ''At least till senior Lin Wu''s attack is over.'' Wang Xiong thought.

    Ye Jin felt like her world view was being broken down and being rebuilt at the same time. While she knew that there were many strong experts in the world and she had even seen them; seeing the power of Lin Wu and Guardian Yun was still on a different level.

    ''How can this beast imitate human techniques? He even has a hint of sword intent within that attack!?'' Guardian Yun thought as he saw the glowing blue de approaching him.

    The fire orbs behind it were like thrusters that increased the force of the attack, as well as its speed. It was something he had never seen or heard of before. After all, even if there were many spirit tools that imitated modern technology, Guardian Yun had not seen the level of innovation that Lin Wu''s old world had.

    Even with a rather crude application of different principles, under the refinement of the system''sputational abilities, everything could be made perfect.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    One after the other, the ice shields broke apart before their fragments were directly evaporated. These were ice shields that even other Dao Shell realm cultivators might find a hard time breaking and yet Lin Wu was breaking them with ease.

    <em>~Zoom~</em>

    <em>~boom~</em>

    Another explosion happened and the force of the attack increased more as the de''s opposite side emitted even more fire.

    If before the fire was only being emitted from specific points along the length of the de; now the entire de itself was emitting it. It looked like a long wall of fire pushed the de ahead.

    Lin Wu who was the perpetrator of all this was grinning widely. His two venomous fangs looked especially ring under the different lights.

    "Ahahah! How are you liking this guardian Yun? Are you having fun? Made the right decision, didn''t ya!" Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    Guardian Yun gritted his teeth under his mask and realized that he may have truly made a mistake.

    "Curses! Can''t stop it like this." He muttered under his breath.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Taking a deep breath, he steeled his determination as a strong aura emitted from him.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu quickly noticed the development as the system was actively analyzing everything and notified him.

    "Oh? Can''t hold back now, can''t we?" He said as he saw a Pale blue orb appearing out of Guardian Yun''s body.

    It rose up from his head and quickly started to expand. In just a second, it reached a size of six meters in diameter. All this happened, just before the final ice shield had broken.

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    The giant de met therge Pale Blue orb which was nothing but Guardian Yun''s own Dao Shell.

    Seeing its appearance allowed Lin Wu to confirm the fact that the man in front of him was already past the Shell Completion stage. There were thin and very faint lines that went around the orb which showed that the orb had expanded several times before.

    These were often called as expansion lines and were a sign that a Dao Shell realm cultivator was in the Shell expansion stage. Though not everyone could see them since they often melded into the rest of the orb easily.

    The collision of the two objects though shook the entire area.

 Chapter 579 - Ending The Battle And Results

    Guardian Yun felt his body shake as his Dao Shell was hit by the giant de. The collision was powerful enough to create a crater below the Dao Shell even though it had not even made contact with the earth.

    The formation array of the entire mountain flickered, and the fog started to disappear. For a couple of seconds, everyone would have been able to see the true form of the mountain.

    Guardian Yun saw this all and just hoped that no one was paying attention to the ce.

    ''Dammit, I''ll have to make up something if they pester me again.'' He thought.

    Lin Wu on the other hand, was paying his full attention to the entire situation. This was his first time using this new attack he had made, and he didn''t know what kind of power it could express.

    In fact, he didn''t even know if it would work against Guardian Yun at first. But now that he knew it was enough to force him to use his Dao Shell, he knew its power was substantial.

    ''Nice! Now I got another trump card I can use. Thoughбн its consumption is too high.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he felt his Dantian deplete by half almost instantly.

    One must know that Lin Wu''s Dantian had a rather massive capacity, and the amount used by him in the attack was enough to fill a small spirit stone mine. Using a small spirit stone mine''s worth of spirit Qi in one attack was ridiculous on many levels for Dao Shell realm cultivators.

    Especially since they could not even have Dantian that big.

    <em>~WEENG~</em>

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The giant de kept on pushing on the Dao Shell and it looked to be slowing retreating. The sapphire blue de edge looked deadly and seemed like it would pierce through the Dao Shell at any moment.

    Guardian Yun was now in a dilemma. He couldn''t retreat directly as that would put him in a bad spot and he couldn''t fight against Lin Wu''s attack either. Just resiting it with his Dao Shell was taking up all of his efforts.

    Not to mention the fact that he could feel the outeryer of his Dao Shell being affected now.

    The Dao Shell of a cultivator that had reached the Shellpletion stage would be very strong and could even bear the attacks of Dao Treading realm cultivators up to a certain extent.

    And yet Guardian Yun''s Dao Shell seemed to be on the verge of being affected.

    ''This beast is certainly on a different level. Seems like the rumors of the millennium forest really are trueбн'' Guardian Yun thought to himself.

    At this point, Lin Wu''s image in Guardian Yun''s mind had been increased to a rather highlight. But what he didn''t know was that the only reason why Lin Wu''s attack was affecting him was due to the Sapphire meridians granted by the Undaunted Sapphire Body art.

    Without it, Lin Wu certainly would not have been able to push him to this extent.

    ''Looks like I need to invest more in the Undaunted Sapphire Body art. The piercing effect is far better than I thought. I reckon if I reach the third stage, I should be able to break a Dao Shell with no problem.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Taking note of this, he continued his attack and increased the spirit Qi used to propel the de forward even more.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The jets of fire intensified and the pressure on Guardian Yun increased even more.

    It was now that they felt the formation array flicker even more.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "SENIORS YOU NEED TO STOP!" Wang Xiong''s voice could be hearding from the distance.

    Wang Xiong spoke, but the two beings did not stop their battle.

    "LOOK! THE FORMATION ARRAY CANNOT BEAR THIS!" He pleaded further.

    But even now, they did not pay attention to him. After all, their entire focus was on the opponent and they couldn''t spare the attention to look elsewhere. The loss of attention could mean death right now.

    "THEY WILL DISCOVER YOU TWO! WE CANNOT ALLOW THAT!" Wang Xiong finally said the thing that made both the beings wary.

    "Hehe, I think the kid is right. I don''t think you want this mountain to be revealed to the rest of the sect either." Lin Wu finally spoke.

    "Rightбн I think both of us have obtained what we wanted from this." Guardian Yun replied.

    "Agreed." Lin Wu nodded his head. "We stop now?"

    "YES!" Guardian Yun said, and Lin Wu withdrew his attack.

    The propelling jets of fire stopped and the blue edge of the giant de faded away as well. Guardian Yun secretly took a breath of relief and withdrew his Dao Shell back into his body before carefully checking it in his Dantian.

    But when he did this, he felt hurt.

    "Dammit, he really did make a mark!" Guardian Yun shouted internally.

    On his Dao Shell, a faint mark could be seen. It looked like someone had scratched a marble and left a small impression on it. It pained him, as the wless look of his Dao Shell was no more.

    ''This will cost a fortune to repairбн'' Guardian Yun thought to himself.

    If it were anyone else in his position, they would have been helpless at this moment. Or perhaps they might have been dead already. One must not forget that Guardian Yun was far stronger than the average Dao Shell realm cultivator and was also a Demon beast, as estimated.

    He had also expanded his Dao Shell several times and thus it was denser than most Dao Shells. Perhaps if it was someone in the Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm, they would have already had their Dao Shell broken.

    While Guardian Yun was regretting his decision, Lin Wu was having some problems of his own.

    Even though it looked like he was fine on the surface, internally he too, was damaged.

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Surface meridians have been damaged!

    Damage level: 13%

    бкбк

    "Ughбн get to healing them system. We should have enough vital essence. Though this will take away from our stores." Lin Wu said to the system.

    He checked his host data and saw the vital essence fall.

    "Will need to be careful next time. Thoughбн now that we have tested it out, you can get to improving the ws, System." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Affirmative." The system replied.

    With the battle ended, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin finally dared to leave the dome that had been protecting him.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The dome melted away and Wang Xiong looked at the damage that had been caused around them.

    "Both of them are monsters on their ownбн" Ye Jin muttered in shock.

    Lin Wu returned his body to its normal form and coiled up to look at the aftermath.

    "How are the formation arrays here system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system has managed to analyze the formation arrays during the fluctuations that were caused by the battle. The Formation arrays are at 50% integrity and the interference field is now removed for the system.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu felt pleased.

    "Perfect, do another scan of the mountainбн I want to see everything!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Dense formations detected; the scan will take longer than usual

    бкбк

    "Yeah, that''s not a problem. At least we can scan now." Lin Wu said as it was an improvement from before.

    Letting the system do that in the background, Lin Wu watched as Wang Xiong and Ye Jin approached them.

    "Are you two okay?" Lin Wu asked.

    "We are fine, senior. But I don''t think we would have been if the battle went on for any longer." Wang Xiong replied.

    "I seeбн perhaps I should have been a bit more careful." Lin Wu stated.

    "It''s fine senior, it wasn''t fully your fault, anyway." Wang Xiong said as he stared at Guardian Yun.

    "Patriarch will not be pleased with this Guardian Yun." Wang Xiong spoke in a straight voice.

    "It will be fine. You do not need to worry. I''ll deal with it." Guardian Yun replied in a simr tone.

    Lin Wu could perceive a little friction between the two and wondered what the true reality here was.

    "Now that all that is behind us. Will you be willing to tell me what''s exactly going on?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I reckon introductions are in order." Guardian Yun said, after taking a little sigh.

    "I am Yun Bai, the guardian of the Frozen Cloud sect." He revealed.

    "Hah," Lin Wu chuckled a little upon hearing this. "That''s not all, is it? I mean, that much was rather obvious. You are a Demon Beast, aren''t you?"

    "Yesбн I am indeed." He admitted.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were both shocked.

    "A Demon beast? What''s that?" Ye Jin couldn''t help but ask.

    "In simple words, a Demon beast is basically a beast that has the bloodline of a Demon. Demons are nothing but another species of creatures like humans." Lin Wu gave a short exnation.

    "Butбн aren''t theyбн" Ye Jin hesitated to speak.

    "I know what you mean. Most humans use the term demon incorrectly. They just attribute it to evil beings, but that''s not true. Of course, there are evil demons, but not all of them.

    While they may have somewhat of a vtile mentality, they aren''t that different from humans. They are simply a different race of beings. And beasts that have their bloodlines are called as demon beasts.

    It''s simr to how humans can have beast bloodlines." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing Lin Wu''s rtively positive words, Yun Bai was rather astounded.allnovelfull

 Chapter 580 - Yun Bai

    Yun Bai was used to hearing people speak badly about Demon beasts. This was mostmon among the humans and he could count on one hand, that knew as much about demon beasts as Lin Wu did right now.

    ''He knows a lot more than I expectedбн that''s a good sign.'' Yun Bai thought to himself.

    "So how is it that a Demon beast like you became a Guardian beast of this sect?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but question.

    "It happened a long time agoбн back then, the Frozen Cloud sect did not exist." Yun Bai spoke.

    "The Frozen Cloud Sect didn''t exist?! Just how long ago are we talking about, because the sect is over two thousand years old now." Ye Jin couldn''t help but be doubtful.

    "Hmmбн a little over 2500 years ago I suppose." Yun Bai answered.

    "2500 yearsбн how are you alive? No, waitбн what''s the cultivation base of Guardian Yun?" Ye Jin asked and then realized that she should not have done that.

    Asking seniors like Yun Bai about this cultivation base could be taken as offensive and rude.

    "I want to know that tooбн how can a Shell expansion stage Dao Shell realm being live for over two thousand years?" Lin Wu asked.

    This helped Ye Jin, since the question wasing from Lin Wu as well, and he mentioned Yun Bai''s cultivation base as well. This helped her judge since most Dao Shell realm cultivators and beasts could only live up to two thousand years.

    This was their peak lifespan, and very few actually reached it. Most of them would die many years or centuries before that, too many factors such as being killed by others, cultivation problems, and a myriad of other problems that gued the cultivators.

    It was rare for someone to live up to their full lifespan and even rarer for someone to exceed it without actually breaking through.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "It''s due to me being a Demon beast. Some of us can have longer lifespans than humans and beasts." Yun Bai said, but his tone seemed to be a bit sad. "Thoughбн it alsoes with its ws." He added.

    "Like what?" Lin Wu asked.

    "That is actually what I wanted to meet you for." Yun Bai replied.

    Lin Wu gazed at his mask and could feel the actual desire that the man had. It was hidden underneath a cold demeanor and wanted something from Lin Wu. He didn''t know how he could feel it, but he still could.

    "You want me to help you leave this, don''t you?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Hearing this Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were confused. They didn''t understand the term that Lin Wu had just used.

    "Indeed. Living on this is not suitable for meбн or my n. Seems like thatбн formation spirit told you about it." Yun Bai answered.

    "Indeed. I control it so, I''ll know everything that urs in the forest." Lin Wu said, just to pressure the man a bit more.

    "Hmmбн I made a deal with it to act if there was anything strong that appeared in the forest. I know you were in some kind of seclusion and wanted it to act as extra protection." Yun Bai stated.

    "And you certainly fulfilled your end of the bargain." Lin Wu nodded.

    "So you''re here to satisfy your end of the agreement?" Yun Bai asked.

    "Perhapsбн we''ll see if it''s viable first. There are many factors thate into leaving this ceбн but we''ll talk about that in private." Lin Wu said as he took a look at the two subordinates.

    "W-we''ll give you some privacy seniors!" Wang Xiong horridly said.

    He knew there were things that he shouldn''t know or was not supposed to know. Some were secret because they could be harmful to others while some were secret just for the sake of it.

    He quickly took Ye Jin and retreated to the corner of the area, while Yun Bai quickly set up an isting field around him and Lin Wu with the flick of his hand.

    Ye Jin couldn''t help but feel incredibly curious about it all and didn''t know what to do.

    "Just who is he exactly, Wang Xiong?" Ye Jin asked.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "If it''se to this, I guess I can tell you more." Wang Xiong replied. "The things that he said right now are something even I didn''t know. But there is other information I know of."

    "And what''s that?" She probed.

    "Guardian Yun is, as you''ve heard, the guardian of the Frozen Cloud sect. He has been so since the start of the sect. He helped the first patriarch of the sect and also the founder to create the sect.

    All the techniques and skills that we use today, including our original cultivation techniquesбн alle from him." Wang Xiong revealed.

    "What!? Is that why he knows the signature technique of patriarch?" Ye Jin said in shock.

    "Indeed. He is technically the teacher of all the patriarchs of the sect that have existed till now. He is also older than any of our sect ancestors, including the ones that have been in seclusion since thest thousand years." Wang Xiong said, confusing Ye Jin.

    "Butбн that doesn''t make sense. If he''s that old, thenбн how''s his cultivation base only at the Dao Shell realm? If it''s like that, then he should have been at the Dao Treading realm at the very least, shouldn''t he?" Ye Jin said, feeling doubtful.

    "That is something I don''t know either and have not been informed of. I was introduced to Guardian Yun by the Patriarch and was told to go to him if I had some problems. The duty of Guardian Yun is to handle external problems that can threaten the existence of the sect.

    While I can''t ask him to interfere in our internal matters, such as the conflict between the three divisions, he can still act if there are greater problems. It was one of the reasons why I asked him to head to the millennium forest during the mission, just in case something problematic happened.." Wang Xiong revealed.

 Chapter 581 - The Oldest Member Of The Frozen Cloud Sect

    Hearing Wang Xiong''s words, Ye Jin could finally make sense of some of the things.

    "So this meansбн the patriarch has already decided to groom you as his sessor?" Ye Jin asked.

    "Indeedбн well the chances are quite likely. But with the current split in our sect, there are chances that we may have two more candidates. One each from the three divisions. There is a chance the elders might argue for this soon, and the matter might be put forth in our annual sect meeting next month." Wang Xiong added.

    "Will that be good, though? Our sect has had the tradition of the chief disciple being the next patriarch, hasn''t it? Changing it like that will be against what our ancestors decided." Ye Jin said, remembering some of the doctrines of the sect that prevented traditions from being changed arbitrarily.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "I honestly don''t know. As long as the supreme elder gains support from half of the elders, they will have to agree with the change. The ancestors will probably be informed soon as well.

    That is something Guardian Yun will do himself. He is the only one who can make direct contact with them in normal times. The others are prohibited from disturbing them as long as it''s not an emergency." Wang Xiong exined.

    "Hmm... That makes sense. Now that we know more about him, it does make sense with him having that much influence. He is literally the oldest member of the sect." Ye Jin agreed.

    While Wang Xiong was having his conversation with Ye Jin, Lin Wu was having a different one from Yun Bai.

    In the istion field, Lin Wu looked around and could feel the effect in ce.

    "Now that they''re goneбн you can remove that mask. I reckon you don''t like humans seeing your face?" Lin Wu spoke.

    <em>~ck~</em>

    The sp hidden at the back of Yun Bai''s head was opened and the mask was removed, revealing his face.

    Simr to his white hair, his eye brows were white as well and he had a white mustache that looked like fox whiskers. Then there was a patch of fine white hair at his chin, making it look like he had a goatee.

    His ears, which were hidden underneath his hair, were revealed as well. They were shaped like fox ears and were white, though there was a small earring hanging from one of them.

    Yun Bai''s pupils were a faint red, almost bordering on pink, and were vertical. Overall, while he did have a humanoid shape, he didn''t fully have their features. As long as he wore a mask, no one would suspect him, but once it was off, people would certainly be creeped out.

    "The humansбн they like to judge and reject. Their actions are often not well thought out." Yun Bai spoke.

    "That''s right. They can be foolishбн and smart at the same time. But their minds force them to hate the creatures that they cannot understand or is unlike them." Lin Wu replied.

    "So you know it as wellбн you''ve lived as long as me, haven''t you?" Yun Bai questioned.

    ''YES! GOT HIM!'' Upon hearing this Lin Wu secretly eximed in his heart.

    "As long as you? Noбн try a few hundred times more than that." Lin Wu answered.

    Yun Bai''s eyes went wide upon hearing this. But then he felt doubtful.

    "That can''t beбн if that were possible, you wouldn''t be able to exist on this. It would reject you tooбн" Yun Bai said, piquing Lin Wu''s interest.

    "Perhaps this might help convince you and answer some of your doubts." Lin Wu said and produced a crystal slip from his body.

    "What''s this?" Yun Bai asked as he took the crystal slip from Lin Wu.

    "Just use your spirit sense, you''ll know. And don''t worry, I won''t harm you. I don''t need to use a sneaky method like this for that, you know." Lin Wu replied.

    "Very wellбн" Yun Bai said, and used his spirit sense to activate the crystal slip.

    After he did, Yun Bai went silent and Lin Wu simply observed him for the time being.

    ''This will take him a while. Just how much did you cram into that slip system?'' Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The information that the host sorted, some information about the Taiji celestial, and modified memories about the host made using the locations taken from the experiences of the Skull god.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so you added that one. Yeah, that will take him some time to go through. That man''s pretty much just watching a hundred hour long documentary." Lin Wu muttered.

    He went back to watching Yun Bai while also analyzing the area around them. He had not gotten to see it properly, but now that Yun Bai was busy, he could see all the things that existed in there.

    The things that caught his attention were none other than the many markers that were located on the mountain.

    "Let''s see what things are hiding hereбн" Lin Wu said as he spread his spirit sense.

    A few secondster, though, he furrowed his browsбн or the brow crystals.

    "Chickens? Ducks? Carps? And that''s a farmбн this guy farms here?" Lin Wu was a bit confused.

    But then he sensed the cultivation base of the ''farm animals'' and realized that they were not even close to a farm animal.

    "Goddamn! These chickens are at the Nascent soul realmбн and so are these ducks and carps." Lin Wu was surprised.

    He was surprised because they didn''t act like actual beasts in the Nascent soul realm at all. They looked just as dumb as any normal farm animal.

    "What are they system?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The chickens are a type of beast called Thousand feather chickens and are luxury meat among the aristocrats and people of the sects.

    The ducks are called as Grey Beak ducks and their eggs are said to be one of the best to make century eggs out of in the cultivation world.

    As for the carps, they are called as Silver Scale carps and are very expensive, with each carp being at least a peak grade spirit stone in value. They also eat silver as food.

    бкбк

 Chapter 582 - Frost Fox Demon Beast Clan

    Seeing the system''s information, Lin Wu was surprised.

    "Damn, these are certainly some top end food ingredients aren''t they? And what the heck is with the carps? They eat silver? That would be really expensive, wouldn''t it?" Lin Wu said after seeing it all.

    But at the same time, he couldn''t help but want to try out them as well.

    "Hmmбн will he know if I take some of them with me?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He could count several of the beasts, but the Silver Scale carps were the least in number, being only thirty three. But they were also the ones that had three nascent soul realm carps among them.

    Lin Wu checked the beasts closely and saw that the ones that were in the nascent soul realm were the bigger ones among their kin and would proudly strut around. The others would give them berth whenever they walked by.

    What stunned Lin Wu even more was the defensive array that was set around them.

    "This thing didn''t get affected even during our battle? He made it stronger than the mountain''s main defensive formationбн he must definitely care for them a lot." Lin Wu noted.

    He also checked out the various herbs that were nted by Yun Bai, but they weren''t particrly as impressive whenpared to the three types of luxury beasts. They would still be very valuable in the usual market though, and could be used to make some really good alchemical pills.

    While Lin Wu was taking a look around, Yun Bai finally finished going through the information from the crystal slip. He had an expression of utter shock after he was done, and it looked like he still had a hard time believing it all.

    "Oh? You''re awake?" Lin Wu said as he noticed Yun Bai open his eyes.

    "I never would have expected you to have a background like that." Yun Bai muttered.

    "Not many do." Lin Wu casually said.

    "How long have you been asleep for?" Yun Bai questioned, having understood the reason for Lin Wu''s current cultivation base.

    "I don''t know either. It has been far too long." Lin Wu replied.

    "I seeбн at least now I know I have some hope of leaving this." Yun Bai spoke.

    "So why is it that you want to leave this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Thisбн it rejects meбн and my n." Yun Bai answered.

    "Your n? What''s that?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I belong to the Frost Fox Demon beast n. We are not originally the natives of this and were said to have been brought by other cultivators when they invaded this world.

    Or at least that is the story that my ancestors told us. You must have already known about the main invasions this world has faced. We were brought as ves during one of them.

    But our masters failed, and either died or escaped. Some of us were left behind and managed to free ourselves. We hid for years and made sure that no one knew of our existence before finally making our appearance.

    But that didn''t go well as well, and we had more conflicts with the humans. It was then that we discovered another problem, the new generation of our n could not grow strong. It was as if their cultivation base was forcefully restricted.

    Our elders that had high cultivation bases managed to protect us for a long time, but their lifespans still came to an end. By that time they had figured out that problem that we had.

    The reason why the new generation could not increase their cultivation base properly was because of the world itselfбн the world was rejecting us. It knew we did not belong to this ce and thus prevented us from cultivating properly.

    Stillбн we are Frost Fox Demon beasts and our bloodlines are strong on its own. We still managed to push through and the most talented of our n reached the Nascent Soul realm.

    But that was the limit of what we could achieve. I was the one with the best talent and the strongest bloodline among my n, and thus my elders passed their entire inheritance to me. They told me that I have to save our n and let it leave this world if we were to live.

    The longer we lived here, the weaker our n would get and eventually a time woulde when they would simply die out. I do not want my n to be exterminated, and thus the only way for us to survive is to escape.

    And that is exactly what I want your help with." Yun Bai exined.

    Hearing the entire situation, Lin Wu was intrigued and had not thought that Yun Bai''s n was not from this world.

    ''That does exin some of the partsбн seems like they came here right before the three great guardian beasts were summoned. It does align with the entire history. Though there are a few things that are still not sure with me.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "I seeбн but then how did you manage to reach the Dao Shell realm when the Nascent soul realm was the barrier for your n?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "That was where the Founder of the Frozen Cloud Sect came in. You see, I knew with my strength as a Nascent soul realm demon beast, I would still be too weak and won''t be able to do much.

    Thus to get stronger, I finally figured out a solution. Or at least I thought so at that time. Since the problemy with the world itself rejecting us due to being invaders, I tried to find a way that would make it ept us.

    And that way came in the form of a contract. I made a contract with the Founder of the Frozen Cloud sect; I would help him establish a sect, pass him some of the cultivation techniques we had in our n, and also be the guardian of the sect.." Yun Bai answered, surprising Lin Wu once more.

 Chapter 583 - Goals Are Aligned

    Lin Wu wondered just how viable this method of making a contract was. He was interested in this because it was actually useful to him. After all, he too was after a certain beast that was an invader in this world.

    ''That beast that came with the meteorбн it''s technically an invader too, isn''t it? That means its power should be restricted too. Guess I''ll have a better chance at killing it, if this restriction of the world thing applies to it as well.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then focused on Yun Bai''s situation and thought over it a bit, before figuring out a few more things about him.

    "So I''m guessing you regretted making that agreementter on?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yesбн our contract stated that I would serve as a guardian for five hundred years minimum, and after that, I would only stay with the sect as long as I didn''t find a solution to leave this.

    The contract was made with someone of this world, so it allowed the world to give me somewhat of a leeway and it eased up on me. Taking that time, I broke through to the Dao Shell realm. But I cannot progress anymore.

    Another use was for the sect to help me find a solution as well." Yun Bai answered.

    "And they did not do that?" Lin Wu asked.

    "No, they actually didбн but that method is not something we can use. The way to leave the world was to reach the Immortal Ascension realm, but of course, the world will not allow us to do that.

    I tried to look for other methods and researched a lot. I tried everything from teleportation formations to spatial rifts that asionally appeared in the world. But none of them turned out to be a viable option.

    The teleportation arrays that could have been used for leaving this world were either destroyed after the invaders were repelled, or they became useless due to the defenses of the world increasing due to the temples of the guardian beasts." Yun Bai replied.

    "So you know about the three guardian beasts tooбн that is something not many people in this world know of." Lin Wu said.

    "I doбн I got to learn plenty about them in my years here. Half of my problems can be attributed to them. If it were not for them bolstering the world, we would have been able to leave with no problem.

    But now we can neither be part of this world and neither can we leave it. Those three guardian ns also prevent any knowledge of the beasts from being revealed to the world. They want to keep the true power limited so that they can stay as the overlord of this world.

    After all, if the people learn the true powers of the temples, they will start to grow strong at a far greater speed than before." Yun Bai stated.

    "The bloodlines of the guardian beastsбн the three ns don''t want others to have it, but the temples can offer it to them. Thus by restricting the knowledge, they can prevent them from obtaining it as well." Lin Wu summarized.

    "Indeed. Humans can find so many ways to oppress their own kind. If only they let everyone have more knowledge about the temples, there might have been a lot more experts.

    Perhaps if there were enough of them, the world would have grown in its overall power and reached the next level. Thereby allowing the travel between worlds freely. At least that way we would have had some hope of leaving." Yun Bai said in a frustrated tone.

    "Hahaha!" Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh upon hearing this.

    "Seems like our goals are aligned in the end." Lin Wu stated.

    "They are?" Yun Bai repeated.

    "Indeed. We both are against the great powers of this world. You are against them for your reasons, while I am against it because they are not on the right path. There is a great danger that is in this world that no one knows about it." Lin Wu replied.

    "The shadow cmityбн and the skull godбн I saw them." Yun Bai said, recalling all that he had seen in the memory slip.

    "The first incident has already urred. This time, the target was the Dread Coil marsh. I managed to stop it but I do not know if it will be possible again." Lin Wu revealed.

    "That was you!?" Yun Bai was surprised again.

    He knew of the incidents at the Dread Coil marsh as it had be a big shocker to everyone on the Long continent. Everyone, from themoners to the top ns and sects, now knew of it and were investigating it.

    Even after ten years, they had little to no clues about who could be behind it. The mes that burned the Dread Coil marsh had died out by now, but even then there was little to nothing for them to see.

    Only ash and dirt were left behind with all the trees and ces in the Dread Coil Marsh gone. The same could be said with the Jiao Dian city as it was already confirmed that it was done by the same being.

    "Yesбн and so was the Jiao Dian city. The shadow cmity had already spread amongst the popce there." Lin Wu stated.

    "No wonderбн seems like this world is far too unlucky. Not just for us but for the humans as well." Yun Bai replied.

    "Mmhmmбн though I want to change that." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Change it? How?" Yun Bai questioned.

    "By taking over it, of course. My master''s initiative was for his disciples to spread to different worlds and establish a great power that would protect them from the Shadow cmity.

    But he didn''t specify that we only had to protect it. We can take over the world as well, if its powers was far too ipetent to look after themselves. And from all that I''ve seen after awakening, this world needs us far more than we need it." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing all this, Yun Bai was stunned.. He had not expected Lin Wu to have such great ambitions.

 Chapter 584 - Yun Bais Agreement

    Yun Bai was now certain that there was a great chance with the help of Lin Wu, he and his n might have the chance to leave the world. The only questions left for him were now, how and when?

    "Hmmбн what you want to do is certainly not something the powers of this world will likeбн but I will support you. As long as you can fulfill your end of the deal." Yun Bai stated after hearing Lin Wu''s words.

    "Of course. As long as you are willing to follow me and go ahead with the n, I''ll do my best to fulfill my end of the deal." Lin Wu replied.

    "Alright, say if I do agree with this. What are the requirements that I would have to fulfill and when is it that we might be able to leave this?" Yun Bai questioned.

    "For the requirements, I do not have that many. I simply want you to cooperate with me in establishing my organization and spreading it. Of course, I''ve heard that you have certain restrictions and cannot act directly, and I understand that. We can find some ways to ovee that and work something out.

    As for when we will be able to leave the, it will be slightly difficult to sayбн at the minimum, it might take us a hundred years." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing Lin Wu''s words, Yun Bai secretly took a breath of relief. He was pleased that Lin Wu understood his restrictions and even if it was going to take a hundred years to leave, it was within his consideration. Leaving a world was not something easy to do anyway for an average cultivator, not to mention the fact that he needed to take his entire n with him.

    If he had to wait till all of his nsmen reached the Immortal Ascension realm, which was often the minimum needed to leave a world, it would have been at least a thousand years or more to do it. This was obviously an option that he didn''t have.

    Thus, a hundred years was far less than he had expected it to be possible.

    "If you can truly do it in hundred years, it will be amazing." Yun Bai stated.

    "Yes, but if we want to get started on it, I need to know what are the things you can do and cannot do." Lin Wu asked.

    "The things that I can do are anything that my strength allows, as for the ones that I cannot do is anything that goes against the Frozen Cloud sect. I cannot interfere in its internal matters and neither can I do anything about its internal conflict." Yun Bai replied.

    "I seeбн for the Frozen Cloud sect, I''ll handle it since Wang Xiong is my junior. Frozen Cloud sect is certainly a good ce to start with our mission. I''ve already taken over the Millennium forest and thus the beasts there will be supporting us." Lin Wu stated.

    Yun Bai nodded his head and the two of them discussed for a couple more hours and nned on the things that needed to be done. In that time, Lin Wu also got to know more about Yun Bai and his n. The Frost Foxes were currently living in a different area than the Frozen Cloud sect.

    The area was under great formation arrays that had been made thousands of years ago, and it was said to be one of the strongholds of the invaders. After they were repelled, Yun Bai''s ancestors turned it into a ce for them to live in.

    It was hidden in a grotto to the south of the Frozen Cloud sect and could only be essed by those that had the bloodline of the Frost Fox Demon beasts. Lin Wu took note of it and the system quickly extrapted the location.

    Lin Wu also learned more about the situation of the Frozen Cloud sect and the division that had happened in the recent times.

    ''So the conflict has been ongoing for over three hundred years alreadyбн and it has been brewing since then. A rivalry between fellow disciples that continued onto their juniorsбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    The reason for the conflict started when the patriarch, who was the predecessor of the current one was chosen. There were two candidates back then as well and both of them were chief disciples. But in the end, Wang Xiong''s master, the current patriarch won.

    The one who had failed was the head of the discipline pavilion. But that was not the only identity the man had. He was also the son of the current supreme elder. The supreme elder had been in his position for over eight hundred years now and was even older than the patriarch.

    Though both of their cultivation base were close and the patriarch was only stronger due to the techniques and skills he inherited. This was also why he couldn''t fully oppose thepetition either and could only maintain the bnce.

    This was also where Yun Bai''s position came into y. In the sect, only a few people knew of his existence, which included the patriarch, the supreme elder, and the ancestors of the sect. He was their guardian and would also act as an arbitrator when problems arose.

    His powers were restricted by the contract he made and he would have to be as fair as possible. He could not favor one party over the other. Thus, if they wanted to do anything, it would have to be Wang Xiong and Lin Wu would do it.

    With the ns determined, Lin Wu decided to call Wang Xiong and Ye Jin back.

    "You called for us, senior?" Wang Xiong said after returning.

    "Yesбнe sit. We have some things to discuss." Lin Wu replied.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin felt a little nervous, but acquiesced nevertheless. Once Lin Wu started to speak of his n though, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were blown away.. This had gone beyond their understanding and left them short of breath.

 Chapter 585 - First Step To Taking Over

    "You want to take over the world!?" Wang Xiong said out loud.

    "Yes." Lin Wu replied.

    "And you want to start by taking over the Frozen Cloud sect?"

    "Yes."

    "And you want me to take over it?"

    "Yes, it''s the most obvious method and won''t go against Yun Bai''s restriction either. You are a legitimate member of the sect and also the chief disciple. If anything, we are just speeding up the process." Lin Wu stated.

    While Wang Xiong knew that Lin Wu wanted to make an organization to protect the world against the Shadow cmity, him taking over it entirely was way beyond his thinking. It was frankly something no one in the world could do.

    There were many reasons for it, the main one being that the powers of the world would not allow something like that to happen anyway.

    ''No, waitбн Senior Lin Wu is not a normal being, anyway. If there''s anyone that can do it, then it''s him.'' Wang Xiong thought to himself.

    Ye Jin had simply given up on thinking anymore and had decided that she will just let everything happen. As long as Wang Xiong was there, she would be with him and support him. Other than that she only felt like she would stress her mind if she thought too much about it all.

    The powers that were now acting was beyond her power and thus it was better for her to keep her head down.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Guess I''ll just follow your words, Senior." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Mmhmm, I assure you it will be for the best." Lin Wu replied.

    "So, where do we start?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "The first would be to solidify your position in the sect. We will begin with the Di Guan mine and solve the problem there. I''ll go there myself and also see what''s exactly hidden in it that the Frozen Cliff Division wants it." Lin Wu replied.

    "Yes, senior. Plus, there is the spy that we caught as well. There are some other people that are interfering in this. They have apparently allied with the Frozen Cliff division. The one name we have is Weiyuan. I''ve already checked the sect and its no one from here.

    We tried to see the other potential suspects as well that may have been behind it, but our investigations came out negative." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Hmm, Weiyuanбн I''ll keep that in mind. What else do you have about it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Wang Xiong then told him about the agitation jade and a little more information they had gathered. Lin Wu was really intrigued by this and wanted to see the item himself.

    "Show me the agitation jade." Lin Wu asked.

    "Here you go senior." Wang Xiong withdrew the agitation jade from his spatial storage ring.

    This time he had three of them. There were two more that his subordinates had managed to find in the Di Guan mines. Lin Wu took a look at them and found them to be rather peculiar.

    "System, scan and analyze them. I want to know everything about them." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Agitation jade

    INFORMATION: It can be made from several different materials that can be mixed and matched to get the same result. These are made using Demesne Blood Cobra Venom, Mind Befuddling flower, and Vitrine Gourd Water; its mixture is then infused into a jade. Thebination of these materials results in an effect of anger and vtility in beasts.

    The Agitation jades can decrease the intelligence of beasts, increase their anger and make them hostile to all beings. They will fight anything that they see and it can cause a beast wave if enough beasts are affected.

    The agitation jades are a forbidden spirit tool, first used by the invaders that appeared in the Ming Dao world. They used them to induce beast tides that devastated thends.

    The greater the number of agitation jades used, the greater its effect. If the beasts are under its influence for longer periods of time, they can be permanently be affected.

    Depending on its grade an agitation jade can affect beasts all the way up to Dao treading realm. The one that the host has right now is a mid grade agitation jade and can affect beasts in the Nascent Soul realm.

    бкбк

    Reading the information, Lin Wu furrowed his brows.

    "This is certainly not something just anyone can makeбн if they can do this, then they are probably from one of the stronger powers of this world. After all, the information about things rted to the invaders was either destroyed or hidden away by the guardian ns." Lin Wu stated.

    "You think this is rted to the invaders'' senior?" Wang Xiong asked, feeling worried.

    "I don''t just think, I know it. The agitation jades were made by the invaders first and they brought the knowledge. Thus the only people who can make it are the ones who hid the information in the first ce." Lin Wu replied and looked at Yun Bai.

    "What do you think?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Hmmбн I think I''ve heard of these before, though I''ll need to check my n''s archives again. Perhaps I''ll find something there." Yun Bai replied.

    "Alright, you can go and check that, I''ll go deal with the beast in the Di Guan mines. You two just gather your people and get them ready for the things toe. We''ll have a lot of work to do. They need to be strong if they are to fight for this." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Yes senior!" Wang Xiong replied.

    "Oh andбн take these." Lin Wu said as a mountain of objects appeared next to him.

    Seeing these, Wang Xiong was confused at first, but then he recognized what they were.

    "Thisбн what do we do with these many pills, senior?" Wang Xiong asked, feeling a bit dumbfounded.

    "What else do you think? Give them to your people and tell them to hurry up. I don''t want us tog behind just because your people are weak.." Lin Wu replied, much to Wang Xiong''s embarrassment.

 Chapter 586 - Heading To The Di Guan Mines

    Wang Xiong had not expected to suddenly get so many cultivation pills. Even if he was the chief disciple, there was actually a limited amount of resources that he could pass on to his subordinates.

    For the most part, they would either have to depend on the sect itself for their regr allowances. At most, Wang Xiong could help them out in some of the missions and give them tips so that they could earn more merits.

    Still, there was a limit to how much he could do on his own, and that''s why the external sources of resources were important if one wanted to make their own camp in a sect. That was one of the reasons why the Di Guan mine was important.

    It was said to have a secret spirit stone mine in its depths that had not been unearthed until now. An Untouched mine like that had a great price and could help them a lot. After all, a spirit stone mine was basically a continuous source of spirit stone as long as it was mined conservatively.

    A sect that started out would barely have a single mine to themselves, and would slowly increase the number of them that they own. It was not an easy task and took many years to achieve.

    That was also how they got richer and more powerful. After all, spirit stones were the currency of the world and could either be used to cultivate directly or be exchanged for other things that they did not have.

    Plus, wherever there was a spirit stone mine, the chances wereбн there could be more of them. Thus, it was really important for Wang Xiong to ensure that he would be able to obtain the spirit stone mine.

    But that beast that had been terrorizing them had made it impossible to do so. Even he himself was unable to catch that beast. And the underlying problem with the agitation jades made it so that even if he managed to get rid of this beast, there was a chance some other beast might enter and cause a problem the same as this.

    It was a two-pronged problem that needed to be targeted at the same time.

    "Thank you, senior!" Wang Xiong said, feeling grateful.

    "I''ll make proper use of these and ensure that my people do notg behind." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Good, I''ll head to the Di Guan mine and figure out the problem there." Lin Wu replied.

    "Farewell senior." Wang Xiong and Ye Jin said.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and looked towards Yun Bai.

    "Youing with me?" Lin Wu asked since their path was the same about half way through.

    "No, I need to deal with the sect first. Our battle might have caused a few people to notice it. I need to inform the patriarch just in case and deal with a couple more things. I should be leaving in less than a day though." Yun Bai replied.

    "Okay. Take this," Lin Wu said and created amunication jade slip for him.

    "You can contact me with this." Lin Wu exined.

    "Hmmбн that''ll help." Yun Bai nodded his head and watched Lin Wu leave.

    Once Lin Wu left the sect, he thought to himself.

    ''Can''t use the Pentagem on him for now. Being at the Dao Shell realm and more experienced will probably alert him to the functions that are hidden in it. Besides, I doubt he will want to be a subordinate like that when his entire goal is to leave.

    I think I''ll have to hold off on making him one, anyway. At least until I can think of something else. Stillбн that jade slip should help in tracking him.'' Lin Wu pondered.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Lin Wu''s body dug deeper into the ground and he entered his drill mode. He started moving at a great speed and made his way to the Di Guan mine.

    "Let''s see what we have hereбн" Lin Wu muttered and opened the map.

    The map had just been updated and some real-time information had been added to it. He could now see the various kinds of beasts that were present on it and Lin Wu got an estimate of their powers.

    "The Southern Tusk tapirs are located beyond the Di Guan mines too, right? Perhaps I might find something thereбн need to investigate how they managed to get without the sect finding out about it tooбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    To Lin Wu, it was obvious that someone else was orchestrating the events in the dark. The agitation jades in the Di Guan mines, the natural migration of the Southern Tusk Tapirs that was hidden from the sect, all these pointed to someone actively controlling them.

    But the only problem was that who it could be.

    "They are bound to be strong if they can operate without anyone else finding out. Plus, being able to put the sect in ignorance also means they may have some influence in the sect.

    Hmmбн the Broken Cliff division might have some information. I should interrogate if I get the chance." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    His travelsted a few hours before Lin Wu finally came across a couple of towns. These were the towns that hosted the miners and other people that worked in the Di Guan mines. Lin Wu quickly made his way to them and used his spirit sense to gather some information.

    In just two hours, he had got the current situation of the town and the mines.

    "So the beast has be a bogeyman for them. They attribute everything to the beast now, even when getting things stolen in the town." Lin Wu reckoned.

    The townsmen had several ces from where things like food and livestock were stolen. They could not figure out how someone broke through the protection and left without them finding out, thus they all just med the nightmare of the Di Guan mine.

    That was the title that they had ended up giving to the beast that had been causing all the problems.

    "Wellбн it is kinda urate in their sense."

 Chapter 587 - A Maze Of Tunnels

    Having gathered enough information from the people, Lin Wu decided to head to the actual mines. They were located about ten kilometers to the south east of the town and the path there was well demarcated.

    The road to the mine was rather broad and had the tracks of horses and carts on it. It was obvious that a lot of traffic went over it every day. But once reached the halfway point, they would find that the tracks ended there.

    Arge barricade was built here with logs and rocks, blocking the path of everyone that tried to pass. And arge board was also ced over here with a warning on it.

    ''Do not enter! Dangerous Beast inhabits the mine!''

    Of course to Lin Wu, all of these were not of concern and he easily passed ahead of it. After all, he was underground and not on the surface. He kept an eye on the map though, to ensure he could see everything that was in his path.

    "This should be a good enough ce to enterбн" Lin Wu said as he found a rtively open path underground.

    He quickly broke through the rocks and appeared in one of the mine shafts.

    "Now thenбн let''s see where we exactly are." Lin Wu said as he checked the map.

    ording to it, Lin Wu was currently in the third level of the Di Guan mines. About a hundred meters above him, the main entrance of the mine could be seen. It was blocked as well, though arge hole could be seen on its side.

    "Something definitely came out through thatбн" Lin Wu took note.

    The hole wasn''t that big, being only a meter wide. This made Lin Wu wonder about what kind of a beast it really was. The sketches Wang Xiong and the rest got could not show the beast urately and thus Lin Wu did not assume from it.

    ''The beast is rather small if it can pass through thisбн considering it is at the Nascent Soul realm, this is unusual.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Most beasts in the Nascent soul realm would grow rather big and it would be hard to miss them. A beast that was small and yet in the Nascent soul realm was rather rare. Such could be seen from the Thousand feather chickens, Silver Scale carps and the Grey beak ducks Yun Bai kept.

    But those were somewhat of outliers and weren''t ''true'' Nascent soul realm beasts as they didn''t have the same level of intelligence.

    "System, scan the mines in detail and show me what it has." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    DEEP SCAN: Initiated

    NOTIFICATION: Please wait till the scan isplete

    бкбк

    "Oh? It''s going to take time? Must be more things here than I thought then," Lin Wu reckoned.

    Usually, if the system took longer to scan, it meant that there was either something restricting it or that there were a lot of things to scan. While the systempleted its scan, Lin Wu checked out the area using his spirit sense.

    "There''s not much here other than rocksбн even the ores have been mined out for the most partбн" Lin Wu muttered as he observed the area.

    Di Guan mines were originally silver mines and also had some other metal ores mixed in them. It was said to have been depleted for a few years now, but the locals still mined here for whatever remnants were left.

    Even if there wasn''t much, whatever ore they mined was enough to at least feed them. Plus, they could still mine out the rocks, since they were also used in construction. This was also the reason why the Di Guan mines weren''t abandoned.

    Its close proximity to the towns also made it easier for the people to have a good source of stones and rocks. Otherwise, the nearest stone quarry was located at least two hundred kilometers away.

    Lin Wu continued making his way through the mines and saw the abandoned tools and equipment that were left by the miners. He was taking the main routes of the shafts, since they were the only ones that could amodate his body even after he had shrunk it down.

    While he could always expand the shafts, it might get problematic and just copse in its entirety. Plus, it might be suspicious for the minerster on.

    "Oh? What''s this?" Lin Wu noticed something.

    All along the path, he found several small holes that went deep and turned into full blown tunnels. They were about a meter wide in size and were carved at the base of the shafts.

    "Are these perhaps made by that beast?" Lin Wu wondered and used a spirit sense tendril to trace its path.

    But that turned out to be useless as the paths intertwined and turned into a maze that had no end. It was so long that Lin Wu''s spirit sense ended up reaching its range limit, which was rtively long.

    "Damn, it did a number here. Guess it used all the years to make a home for itself." Lin Wu muttered.

    He continued wandering around and eventually reached the next level of the mine. The Di Guan mines in total had five levels, with each subsequent levelrger than the one before.

    This was due to how the tunnels were made and branched, so as to ensure that they did not copse directly. And just as Lin Wu reached the fourth level, the system sent him a notification.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DEEP SCAN: Completed

    MAP UPDATED: New markers added

    INTERFERENCE FIELD: Detected

    NOTIFICATION: Interference field is ineffective against the host

    ANALYZING: Interference field

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: The interferer field is identified to be causing mental changes. The system''s estimation is that it is caused by the Agitation jades and the simrity is 98.6% with the previous sample.

    бкбк

    "Oh? You found them already. That''s good. Highlight them on the map and we''ll head to them. And also point out the beast if you can now." Lin Wu ordered.

    In the next second, the map changed but made Lin Wu furrow his brows.

 Chapter 588 - Earthen Depths Obsidian

    Lin Wu could see severalyers appearing on the map along with multiple markers that pointed out the location of the Agitation jades. They were spread around in the different levels and Lin Wu would have to go a long way around to get to them.

    But that was not what had made Lin Wu a bit tense. Rather, it was theyer beneath the fifth level of the mine. It basically appeared like a ck mass and almost nothing could be seen beneath it.

    Even the system was unable to go beyond it. The problem was though, that it was not an interference field but rather something solid that was blocking it. This made Lin Wu wonder what it could be.

    ''Where''s the beast though?'' Lin Wu looked around on the map but could not see it.

    "System, where''s the beast? I thought you found it?" Lin Mu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There is a dense material that prevents the system from directly scanning beyond it, but the system might be able to do it if the host makes direct contact with it. As for the beast, the system detected traces of aura and spirit Qi entering thatyer.

    This is likely to have been left behind by the beast and is found in some of the other parts of the mine as well.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн Seems like whatever is hidden in the Di Guan mine is probably below that ckyer. Though I should get rid of the Agitation jades first." Lin Wu said and got to finding them.

    In about an hour, Lin Wu had finished finding them all and had quickly stored them away in the inventory. If the need arised, he could use them in the future again. Plus the system will be analyzing them for more information and will be adding them to its Data Banks.

    "Now to head on to thatyerбн" Lin Wu muttered and started to drill down.

    While there was indeed a path that led to the ckyer, it was far too small for him to enter through. Lin Wu reckoned that it was made by that beast and had been in use for a long time now.

    ''Now that I''m on the final floor, there is no need for me to worry about copsing the mineбн'' Lin Wu thought as he bored through the solid rocks and soil.

    The darkyer was situated rather deep in the ground, which made Lin Wu think that perhaps this was why no one had found out about it. Lin Wu even wondered if it was something made specifically by someone to hide treasure.

    "If it really is like that, it might just be a jackpot. Thoughбн It might not be as good for Wang Xiong." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He ended up digging for about five hundred meters straight down before finally reaching the ckyer on the map. And when he saw it, he realized that it was not a barrier or some kind of a manufactured structure.

    "Huh? What is this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target identified

    TARGET: Earthen Depths Obsidian

    INFO: Earthen Depths Obsidian is a type of hard mineral that is formed under great pressure and heat. Usually formed around Magma tubes and underground Magma pools, these take thousands to tens of thousands of years to form and are an amalgamation of several ores.

    They are heated, melted, and cooled several times over before forming a smooth yet tough material. The pressure of the earth would harden it even more and finally turn it into Earthen Depths Obsidian.

    It is a good material for the creation of Pure Refinement type spirit tools and is very hard. A piece broken from the main mass can have a very sharp edge that is often used as a weapon directly.

    Since processing it is very difficult, only Grandmaster Weapon forgers use it. Though finding a deposit of Earthen Depths Obsidian is a very difficult task as well and thus increases its price.

    Since it is most often found near magma tubes and magma pools, obtaining it often involves extreme danger and very few people mine it in the Long Continent. In total, the Long continent has three official deposits of the Earthen Depths Obsidian and are all monopolized by the sects and ns.

    Each of the top three ns owns a deposit while the sects have a share in it.

    бкбк

    Reading the information provided by the system, Lin Wu''s eyes lit up.

    "Seems like we may have hit an even bigger jackpotбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "Even if this was not a spirit stone mine, Wang Xiong should still be able to make a fortune from it." Lin Wu said before he got close to the surface and tapped it.

    <em>~ring~</em>

    A very crisp sound was heard as his crystalline body tapped against the crystalline Earthen Depths Obsidian.

    "Oooбн System this any use of to us?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Please consume a small sample for in-depth analysis.

    бкбк

    "Okay, let''s see just how hard this is." Lin Wu said as he changed the shape of his tail.

    The tip of it started to broaden before it spit apart in two. A crescent like shape was formed and the tips of the crescent were incredibly sharp.

    "The Pickax form makes its return!" Lin Wu said with a chuckle before raising his tail.

    <strong><em>~CLANG!!!~</em></strong>

    A loud ng was heard as his tail vibrated with recoil. It was the first time in a long while that Lin Wu had faced something this hard. One must know that Lin Wu had used a significant amount of his physical strength, which was enough to pierce through the defenses of a Nascent soul realm beast.

    "Oh? That''s good! The tougher it is, the better its uses will be." Lin Wu said as he raised his tail again.

    This time, spirit Qi surged into it and amplified his strength by another level. A faint flow illuminated the dark obsidian, and a spark was created when the Pickax struck it again.

    <em>~CLANG!!!~</em>

 Chapter 589 - Vibrational Mining

    Lin Wu''s tail struck the Obsidian and only managed to make a small indent in it. Seeing this effect, Lin Wu''s interest was piqued even more.

    "Time to try out the Sapphire Qi nowбн" Lin Wu said before raising his tail again.

    This time a blue glow appeared on its tips and get intense. Finally, when the power was at its peak, Lin Wu mmed it down onto the Obsidian.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Eventually, a crack spread in the Obsidian as the pickax finally pierced it. Half of the pickax had sunk into the obsidian.

    "Bingo!" Lin Wu eximed and started to repeat the process.

    About a minuteter, several fragments of the Earthen Depths Obsidian had been mined out and Lin Wu was now ready to taste them.

    "Here goes nothingбн" Lin Wu said as he threw a small finger sized piece into his mouth.

    Of course, the size might be too big for a normal person, but for Lin Wu''s cavernous mouth, it was the same as a grain of sand.

    His body got to working and digesting the fragment and started to grind it down. The system also began its analysis, and itsted for about five minutes before it was finally over.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Earthen Depths Obsidian

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    INFO: The Earthen Depths Obsidian has a high durability to direct and Qi type attacks. Due to the vast mixture of ores and other minerals in it, it acts as a spirit Qi instor and cannot be used for formations or anything such as that.

    The Earthen Depths Obsidian is durable but can be weak under certain conditions. Constant vibrations that reach its resonance frequency can make it brittle and any attack it sustains at that point will shatter it.

    As for the host, it is not fullypatible directly but the system can further analyze it and devise somepatible forms.

    бкбк

    Seeing the information of the system, Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Alright, you can add that to the background tasks and work on figuring out apatible form. In the meantime we have to investigate the beast. So can you simte the resonant frequency?" Lin Wu stated.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    INITIATING: Resonance wave

    RESONANCE: Detected

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Resonant frequency found

    SIMULATING: Please wait a momentбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu waited a minute before he felt his tail start to vibrate at a very rapid frequency. Its form also changed, and it felt like it had been detached a bit as several hundred small segments appeared in one of the joints.

    They were just a few centimeters long, but all worked together. It was these segments that prevented Lin Wu''s entire body from vibrating together with the Earthen Depths Obsidian.

    "Here we go again," Lin Wu said as he changed the form of his tail into a long needle.

    It then pierced into the crack he had made already and started the vibrations.

    <em>~buzz~</em>

    The needle sprouted more branches from it and turned into a barbed structure that pierced more into the obsidian while also vibrating. The vibrations continued to intensify until finallyбн the resonant frequency was reached.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    RESONANCE: Achieved!

    бкбк

    With the system''s alert, Lin Wu directly bashed his head onto the Earthem Depths Obsidian.

    <em>~SHATTER~</em>

    As if it had turned into normal ss, the wall made out of Earthen Depths Obsidian shattered and scatted into thousands and thousands of pieces.

    "Perfecto!" Lin Wu said as he pulled his tail back.

    With the Earthen Depths Obsidian broken, Lin Wu was now free to explore further.

    Though before heading onwards, he took a pause and looked at the fragments on the ground.

    "Might as well eat them if I have them." Lin Wu gave himself an excuse as he got to eating all of the fragments.

    He directly chewed out the rocks along with the Earthen Depths Obsidian.

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    "Oo! Now that I think of itбн these are like the Hard candy pops from my past lifeбн though they need to be a bit more fruity. Though they are a bit salty somehowбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Salty taste is due to the natural sodium and potassium salts that are present in the rocks that the host just ate.

    бкбк

    "Ohбн then I guess we just vor it with somethingter on." Lin Wu said as he continued to eat.

    In just five minutes, he had finished eating all of the Earthen Depths Obsidian and along with it, a big chunk of the rocky floor.

    Lin Wu took another look at the map and saw that the entire ckyer was an enclosed structure. Whatever there was hidden, it was within the center of the entire area. Though its shape was certainly unique to Lin Wu and he wondered how it was formed.

    "No, waitбн if it was this hard for me to break, then how did the other beast get into it?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    He could see the small path that the beast had made and he could see the teeth marks on it.

    "It actually bit its way though, damn! Must be some bite strengthбн though I guess it also took a long time to do the same." Lin Wu reckoned.

    He continued onwards and saw the darkness in the entire area. He realized that the area inside the Earthen Depths Obsidian was not just made out of it, there were other materials inside it as well.

    There were normal rocks that were spread everywhere in the mine and some ores as well. But the deeper Lin Wu went, the more he realized the uniqueness of this ce.

    "There are a lot more ores here," Lin Wu took note.

    The system also did its scan and showed Lin Wu what it discovered in a different window.

    "Essence Cooper, Twisted Iron Veins, Fume core Metal, and even some Fire essence crystal!?" Lin Wu read them.

    By now Lin Wu was sure that this piece was more than just a jackpot, it was a super jackpot.

    "The Earthen Depths obsidian was just the treasure chest, the actual treasure is inside it!" Lin Wu eximed.

 Chapter 590 - The Weasel Beast

    Lin Wu felt likeing to the Di Guan mines was way useful than he had trigonally thought now.

    "All this is way more valuable than normal spirit stones." Lin Wu said as he checked everything.

    He took out a few samples from the walls so that the system could analyze them in the background. All the materials had different properties and could be used in many different ways.

    There were materials here that could be used for spirit weapon forging, for alchemical pill refinement, formation creation, and even something obscure, like divination. Lin Wu didn''t even know how such a vast variety of materials could be formed here.

    "How is this possible?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s analysis, the Earthers Depths obsidian acted like an incubation chamber, and various kinds of energies were trapped within it along with small amounts of minerals.

    Over time, spirit Qi in them got concentrated and they started to morph and grow into different forms. And due to the insting properties of the Earthen Depths obsidian, it managed to stay like this for a long enough time for the different energies to separate along with the different materials that contained them.

    бкбк

    Seeing the answer of the system, Lin Wu was intrigued.

    "Hmmбн so basically what was supposed to be impurities mixed in an almost homogeneous manner were all separated out and nurtured out over a long time to form all these materials." Lin Wu summarized.

    "That is amazingбн" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    He continued exploring a bit more and soon found the center of the area. This was a hollow space and was covered in several shining crystals.

    "Is this a spirit stone mine?" Lin Wu was shocked again.

    "Affirmative." The system replied.

    "Damn! No wonder those materials formed so perfectly. They had a steady source of spirit Qi!" Lin Wu eximed.

    He looked in the more central area and could feel the concentrated spirit Qi that was hidden within it. It faintly exuded more and more spirit Qi, which Lin Wu could tell was freshly produced.

    "That should be the source vein. What grade is this, though?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: While the size of this spirit stone mine is very smallpared to a normal mine, it is still a mid grade spirit stone mine. The growth of other materials has suppressed it from expanding naturally.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nodded his head upon seeing this, as it wasn''t a bad thing either.

    ''Its value is actually more due to the other materialsбн'' Lin Wu muttered.

    This was because even if the materials were minded out, the spirit stone mine will still keep on working normally. It might even spread more and continue expanding, reaching its normal size after a century or two.

    <em>~Keeeeeee~</em>

    It was now that Lin Wu heard a noiseing from the side.

    <em>~WARNING!~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Beast detected approaching at great speed.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu snapped toward the direction where the beast wasing from and was surprised. This was because he had not felt the beast nor its presence yet. His spirit sense had been working the entire time and still could not perceive it.

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    His body felt like it was hit by a cannonball, but he still managed to hold his ground. After all he was incredibly heavy. Lin Wu''s tail slimmed down and quickly wrapped around the object that had just hit him.

    <em>~KREEE~</em>

    The beast which had now been caught by Lin Wu cried out in protest and he could finally take a look at it. But when he did, he was astonished.

    "IT''S YOU?!" Lin Wu said out loud.

    The beast in Lin Wu''s grasp was none other than the Copper Hide Weasel. Although its form seemed to have changed quite a bit now. It no longer had the copper colored fur it used to.

    Instead of that, it had be inky ck and had patches of brown in between. Its ws were also metallic and so were its teeth. They shined like they had been polished for hundreds of hours by an expert craftsman.

    Nothing made sense to Lin Wu and he wondered what had just happened.

    "STOP SQUIRMING!" Lin Wu shouted.

    The Weasel looked at Lin Wu and its eyes squinted as if thinking.

    "FOOD SNAKE!" It suddenly shouted.

    "I''m not a snake!" Lin Wu replied. "And I''m not food either!" Lin Wu stated as a matter of fact.

    But the weasel did not care and started munching on Lin Wu''s body.

    "Dammit, it''s still dumb." Lin Wu cursed.

    Fortunately, Lin Wu''s body was far too durable to be broken by the weasel.

    ''Is he even a copper hide weasel now?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System scan him and checks what''s up with him." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target Selected

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target identified

    TARGET: Copper Hide Weasel (Mutated)

    CULTIVATION BASE: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm

    INFO: The Copper Hide Weasel seems to have mutated due to the consumption of various materials here. The system can identify high concentrations of Earthen Depths Obsidian in its fur and bones.

    Its flesh and blood are concentrated in multiple different forms of energies. Yet even then they seem to be in a harmony and are still keeping his body intact. The weasel beast''s spirit Qi meridians though, have been mutated in a strange manner and do not conduct spirit Qi in the normal form.

    ording to the system''s analysis, the weasel beast cannot use any spirit Qi skills or even Qi amplification due to the changes in his meridians. Instead, his meridians are fully dedicated in nourishing his body and are limited to his internals.

    His peripheral meridians are almost absent, while his internal meridians have expanded in thickness.

    The system can also detect some brain irregrities that were possibly caused due to long term exposure to the effects of the agitation jade.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu furrowed his brows upon reading this.

    "So from what I''m seeingбн he randomly ate everything he came across and mutated, but the mutation crippled his meridians and his body further adapted to it." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Affirmative." The system replied.

    "That''s really weird. I don''t know if it''s lucky or not." Lin Wu muttered.

    Though there was one thing Lin Wu knew for sure, the weasel beast was now a unique beast and possibly a good subject.

    "What do you think we should do system?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SUGGESTION: The system suggests putting the Weasel beast under observation. The unique bnce that its body has achieved despite the damage to the meridians gives clue to a greater adaptability ability.

    The system can gather more data and update the data banks. It might even be able to gain father insight into bloodlinepatibilities.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu thought over the system''s words and found them to be fine.

    Right now, Lin Wu had hundreds of raw bloodlines that he had obtained. But all of them could not be used due to being ipatible. While a few of them could be changed to be made use of, they would still not be useful when Lin Wu added more of them.

    The bloodlines had small fractions of beneficial traits in them that the system had identified. The only problem was that they could not be used together.

    ''If the system can truly figure it out, I might be able to grow my power even more.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~ck~ck~ck~</em>

    While Lin Wu was thinking this, the Weasel beast continue to nibble on his body but was unable to really do anything. Lin Wu looked at it and couldn''t help but chuckle.

    "He really is dumb and those agitation jades probably didn''t help him much." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Alright! Listen to me," Lin Wu said to the weasel while bonking him on his head.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~KREEE~</em>

    "I SAID LISTEN TO ME, YOU LITTLE WEASEL!" Lin Wu said out loud.

    Finally, the beast seemed to have understood that Lin Wu was speaking to him and paid attention to him.

    "What? Eat time?" The Weasel said.

    "No, eat time! It''s listening time!" Lin Wu replied.

    "Listening time? What get I? Eat time better!" The Weasel spoke instead.

    In response to this, Lin Wu sprouted a small crystal from his body and injected some vital energy and spirit Qi into it.

    "If you listen to me, you get this." Lin Wu waved the crystal.

    "You want this, right? Good food! Very tasty!" Lin Wu enticed.

    The Weasel Beast looked at the crystal and followed it with his eyes as it moved around.

    "I get food! I follow!" The Weasel replied.

    "Good, at least you have some sense." Lin Wu said and gave the crystal to the weasel.

    He quickly grasped onto it with his ws and started munching on it. The crystal was weaker than Lin Wu''s normal level and was still eatable by the Weasel. In a few bites, it had already bitten off half of the crystal and in two minutes he had eaten it whole.

    And once he was done, he got sluggish and calmed down.

    "Huh, seems like stuffing his belly worked." Lin Wu muttered.

    "Me want more," The Weasel stated.

    "And you will get more, IF you follow my orders." Lin Wu replied.

    The Weasel looked at Lin Wu without moving its eyes and finally spoke. "Okay."

    "Good, now I''m gonna let go of you. Don''t you run away!" Lin Wu warned, and put the weasel down.

    Lin Wu was half sure that the weasel would not listen, but surprisingly, it did.

    ''Hmmбн so hunger makes it antsy and feeding him makes him more tame."

 Chapter 591 - Unknown Effects Of The Agitation Jade

    Lin Wu ended up spending some time with the weasel and asked him questions about what actually happened in all this time. The weasel, of course, didn''t really answer him straight and Lin Wu had to work a bit hard toprehend it.

    But after about a day, he had finally got the gist of it.

    "Never thought it would be like thisбн talk about luck." Lin Wu muttered.

    Apparently, after Lin Wu threw the weasel away, hended in a random ce that it could not exin. But then it kept wandering for food and started eating the beasts around the area.

    It then smelled something delicious and ended up digging into the mine. Of course, that was when the Agitation jades had already started being nted. Lin Wu could not tell how many were already installed by then, but the Weasel said that he felt his head hurt.

    It made him angry, and he started to kill everything he came across. The first to be the victims were the beasts that naturally resided in the mines. After that were a few humans who quickly escaped.

    Then came a strong opponent for him. It was a Nascent soul realm beast that had been asleep for a long time in the mines. It was awakened by the presence of the Weasel beast and came to check who had intruded in its territory.

    The beast was sleeping away from the area of Agitation Jade''s influence and was thus unaffected at first. But after heading to the main mines, it got affected too and soon lost its mind.

    Both the beasts sniffed out each other, and a battle ensued. It was a devastating battle and a lot of the copsed areas that Lin Wu had seen on the map were made due to their fight.

    In fact, that was how the Weasel beast ended up stumbling upon the Earthen Depths Obsidian in here. The battle created an impact that opened up fissures in the ground in which the two beasts fell.

    Their battle continued, and they eventually managed to make some dents in the Earthen Depths obsidian. This was really astounding to Lin Wu as he knew just how difficult to do that was.

    ''That beast must have been rather strongбн but then the weasel beast is definitely stronger if it could match up ande out on top in the end.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He also wondered what beast it was that the Weasel beast fought but was unable to get an urate answer. The weasel beasts'' mind was muddled and even getting these memories took a long time for Lin Wu.

    ''Not like there are any remains for me to check. The weasel beast ate them whole.'' Lin Wu thought.

    At the end of the fight though, the weasel beast was injured greatly and was close to death. He ended up eating a broken fragment of Earthen Depths Obsidian and got benefit from it, making him want more.

    He continued to do so in a mindless rage and managed to burrow his way through the Earthen Depths Obsidian in a year or so. He ate all that he burrowed through and it changed his body.

    It caused him a lot of pain, but then his entry into the Spirit stone mine allowed him to recover using the spirit Qi again. He healed up eventually and then started to eat the other materials that he found there.

    For the first time in his life, he did not feel as hungry as before and would get full for days after eating just a small amount of the materials here.

    ''No wonder the mine and the other materials are still intact. Who knows what would have happened if he could have continued to eat without stopping. Though his body is certainly unique for it to be able to adapt like that.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    "Is there any extra information on Copper Hide Weasels, System? Perhaps about their bodies or adaptability?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Negative." The system shortly replied.

    "Hmmбн there must have been some other factor that yed into it other than the materials here. I would have understood if this happened under the mutation induced by me, but this was naturalбн or was it!" Lin Wu was suddenly reminded of something.

    "System, check if the Agitation jade has effects on bloodlines or physiques!" Lin Wu ordered.

    The system replied with a confirmatory notification and got to work. In about five minutes, Lin Wu had his answer.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s initial analysis, the agitation jade can indeed have mutative effects on the bloodline and physique. Due to its agitation effect, it can spread all over the beast''s body.

    This effect only presents if the beast has been under its effect for multiple years. The exact estimate will be known after a model assessment is done.

    In the case of the Copper Hide weasel, it is likely that the Agitation jade made his physique susceptible to greater changes and allowed it to assimte the Earthen Depths Obsidian into his body.

    Thisbined with the other materials present in the mine, has resulted in a mixture of chaotic properties that are still contained stably by his body. This final change resulted in its bloodline evolving too and it is now apletely different beast than before.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu felt like his conjecture was true as well.

    "Hmmбн this agitation jade is certainly worth more to research. If Ibine this with the information I''ll get from the Weasel''s body, it might really help in adapting other bloodlines and making thempatible with mine." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    What Lin Wu had right now was basically a drug and the test subject on which the drug had sessfully worked. He had both the theoretical data and the practical data ready for him.

    As long as the system worked on it long enough, Lin Wu would have gained an important advantage.

    "Coming here was a really good decision." Lin Wu said to himself.

 Chapter 592 - Whats In A Name?

    Having understood the situation of the Weasel beast, Lin Wu realized another thing.

    "You need a new name or ratherбн your first name." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Name?" The Weasel beast repeated.

    "Yes, name." Lin Wu confirmed. "One for yourself, and one for your bloodline."

    "Bloodline? Me, Copper Hide Weasel." The Weasel beast stated.

    Even if the weasel beast had a low intelligence, it still had the bloodline memories that each beast would have. They contained a varying amount of memories and information, but the most basic thing would be their own bloodline''s name.

    Thus, the weasel beast at least knew what or who it was.

    "Yeah, you were a Copper Hide weasel. But you ate so many things you have changed. And that deserves a new name." Lin Wu stated.

    "No new name." The weasel said tly.

    "A new name means you''re stronger." Lin Wu teased.

    "Strong? Me?" The Weasel beast asked.

    "Yes," Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "ME STRONG! NEW NAME!" The Weasel beast said out loud with a chitter.

    "Hmmбн what should we make your new nameбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    The Weasel beast looked on in anticipation at Lin Wu. He had fully left the name up to Lin Wu and didn''t want to think about it and spend energy.

    Lin Wu thought of the weasel''s abilities and the physique and finally came up with a name after a while.

    "Myriad Obsidian Weasel." Lin Wu stated. "Yup, that will be your bloodline''s nameбн at least for now. I can''t really give an official name like I can with my own."

    "Okay!" The Weasel quickly epted and the system also updated it on its data.

    "Thoughбн about your actual name. Do you want me to give you one?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I name!" The weasel said excitedly.

    "Oh? This time you want to name yourself?" Lin Wu asked, finding it a bit strange.

    "Yes!" The weasel beast replied.

    "Okayбн so what name have you chosen?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Meбн Tim!" The Weasel answered.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Lin Wu visibly stumbled after hearing this, and his eyes went wide.

    "Tim? How the heck did you evene up with that?" Lin Wu asked out loud.

    "Tim." The Weasel repeated.

    Seeing the straight expression of the weasel, Lin Wu knew he would have no luck in figuring out the beast''s thought process.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Fineбн you''re Tim." Lin Wu gave up.

    <em>~Kikikiki~</em>

    The weasel beast, ''Tim'' chittered in happiness and ran around, bumped into a rock pir, bit it down, pulled out a crystal of some kind, ate it, and returned.

    Lin Wu ignored his shenanigans and focused on his thoughts.

    ''How the hell did he even figure out the name Tim? That is certainly not a name I have heard here. It wouldn''t be out of ce in my past life, but hereбн I don''t think I''ve seen any other kinds of names other than the ones from cultivation novels.'' Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    And while thinking this, Lin Wu had another thought.

    "The bloodline memoriesбн is it due to that?" Lin Wu guessed.

    He knew that the bloodline of the weasel beast had changed and mutated, thus the memories in it would also be changed. If there was some other bloodline thatid dormant in the original bloodline of the Copper Hide Weasel, there was a chance some of those memories may have appeared in his new mutated bloodline.

    "Could there be other ces or worlds where they used different names and have a different culture? Plus, now that I think of itбн I haven''t seen any Caucasians or even blond people in general." Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    Lin Wu pondered on this for a bit but still could note up with anything substantial.

    "System, consolidate all the foreign names in my memories of the past life and see if you can find any simr ones in all the data you have." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    EXTRAPOLATING COMPRESSED DATA: Sessful

    ANALYZING DATA: Cross referencing given parameters

    NOTIFICATION: Parameters found!

    ANALYZING: please wait patientlyбн

    .

    .

    .

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Several matching results found!

    бкбк

    Soon Lin Wu got what he wanted, and the results were certainly surprising to him.

    "Heck! There are actually other kinds of names in this universe." Lin Wu eximed.

    The system had managed to match not one, not two, but an entire three hundred and ny four names from the database. And the database from which the system had found them was none other than the Skull God''s memories.

    Apparently, there were many different worlds, but most of them were dominated by the same culture as wasmon in most cultivation novels. But a few of them had different kinds of people and they could have western names too.

    Even their appearances were like those of westerns and they were not weak either. The biggest and most important name that the system ended up finding was, ''Denthor, The Flesh Master''.

    He was apparently a very strong cultivator and even the Skull god had to stay away from him. While both of them had a simr level of influence and power, Denthor was not an ouw like him.

    He was a true ruler of a world and was legitimately revered by others. Thus he didn''t have to fear the same things and have to face the same things that the Skull God had to in his journeys.

    Lin Wu learned of several more names, a couple of which were even subordinates of the Skull god. Though they weren''t of any particr importance.

    "Looks like I have a whole different aspect of this universe to look forward to once I manage to leave this world. Plusбн if they have different names and cultures, they definitely have different cultivation paths too." Lin Wu reckoned.

    It was an exciting find for him and he was certainly not thinking of the different and unique kinds of foods that they might have.

    <em>~nudge~</em>

    While Lin Wu was in his mind doing all this, the Weasel came up to him and nudged him with his paw.

    "What?" Lin Mu asked.

    "Humans." He replied.

    "Humans?" Lin Wu furrowed his brows and checked the map. "Interestingбн seems like someone is making a moveбн"

 Chapter 593 - Three Na?ve Men

    Lin Wu was looking at the map and could see at least fifty people appearing near the entrance of the mine. All of them were spread around and seemed to be hiding in the trees. Only a couple of normal humans were actually standing at the actual entrance.

    "Hmmбн three normal humans, twenty Qi refining realm cultivators, eleven Core condensation realm cultivators, and four Nascent soul realm onesбн that is certainly a substantial party." Lin Wu muttered as he saw the markers.

    He knew for sure that they must be here for the mine, as that was the most obvious option.

    "Eat?" Tim the weasel suddenly asked.

    Lin Wu looked at him and furrowed his brows.

    "Noбн at least not now. Once we know a bit more, sure." Lin Wu replied.

    <em>~KEKEKE~</em>

    Tim chittered and snapped his teeth, thinking of the food. Lin Wu chuckled and decided to see just what they were all here about.

    "Stay away from them for now, I''ll tell you when to appear." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Okay," Tim replied and went to sit in the nest he had made. Lin Wu had not noticed it at first, but it was a cup shaped structure that the beast had carved out in the side of the spirit stones.

    There was even a small water stream leaking out from the corner that made it look pleasant.

    Nodding to himself, Lin Wu continued onwards to the upper levels. Now that he had mapped out the entire area, it took him less than two minutes to reach the top. Once there, he let his spirit sense expand and reach the surface.

    "Let''s see what they are up toбн" Lin Wu muttered and started observing.

    The three normal men were cautiously peeking into the side of the cave. Their faces were covered in sweat and it was obvious they were very nervous.

    "Is this really as they said, big brother? It doesn''t seem like there is any beast here." One of the men asked.

    "Hmmбн they have all these barriers set and even blocked the entrance, but there is no one here. From the vigers'' words, it seemed like there were beasts everywhere." The big brother spoke.

    "See! I told you it was just a rumor. My intel is always right! There is no beast here, it was just some bandits that killed the miners here and spread the rumors of a beast." The third man said after wiping the sweat off his face.

    ''Acting all high and mighty when you are sweating like a pig too, haha!'' Lin Wu thought, seeing the man.

    "Why would the bandits do this?" The younger brother questioned.

    "Are you dumb? It''s obvious they hid some treasure here. They are bandits. They will steal stuff and stash it in ces no one would look. This mine is perfect for them." The third man answered.

    "Hush! It''s not that simple. They could have found many other ces to stash it, why go through so much just to make a new stashing ce?" The older brother interrupted.

    "Butбк" The third man could not speak more.

    "Are you sure the man who gave you the information was trustable?" The older brother asked in a staunch tone.

    "H-heбн he was. He even bought a lot of information from the others. I saw him paying in GOLD!" The man replied.

    The elder brother furrowed his brows upon hearing this.

    "If someone can afford to buy information at that price, they have no reason to trick us for a couple of silvers. Plus, he even told me that the bandits will be away for a few months as the kingdom is already looking for them." The man justified.

    "Hmmбн we''ll wait a while and see if things are really safe. If nothing happens in an hour, we''ll enter." The Older brother stated.

    "Alright," the other two men agreed.

    They went to the side and hid behind a pile of rocks. There were plenty of them lying around from the time the mine was acting and one would not see them unless they went around.

    "At least they are not recklessбн but they have certainly been tricked." Lin Wu guessed.

    To him, it was obvious that someone was trying to use the three men as bait.

    "The weasel should be their target. They are using the three to pull him out and then the rest will attack him." Lin Wu reckoned.

    He observed the four Nascent soul realm cultivators and tried to sense their cultivation bases without alerting them.

    ''They are certainly cautious and are using something to suppress their spirit Qi fluctuation. Even the system can only estimate their realm, but not the stage they are in. If they are in the Infant or child soul stage, they would just be walking into their deaths. The weasel will kill them all.

    Even Wang Xiong had to give up when he couldn''t catch him.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    All the men that Wang Xiong had sent till now were either injured in the task or even killed. Thankfully, the ones that were killed weren''t too important and their numbers were less.

    Lin Wu continue observing the cultivators, trying to see if he could identify them, but none of them seemed to be on his list.

    "Are they not from the Broken Cliff division? Who else is interested in this ceбн" Lin Wu wondered before it struck him.

    "Weiyuanбн could they be rted to that person?" Lin Wu guessed.

    Once this thought came to him, Lin Wu knew that this was a bit more serious. From what he had seen until now, this Weiyuan certainly had some strong connections and background.

    Lin Wu wouldn''t be shocked if it was a Dao Shell realm cultivator himself or someone with an expert like that behind them. After all,manding four Nascent soul realm, cultivators like this was not a simple task.

    "That should be enough. We can try entering now." The older brother said after an hour passed.

    The three men pulled out some of the rocks around the hole out and made an opening that was wide enough for them to enter.

 Chapter 594 - Bait And Trap

    Even if the three men were normal humans, they were still warriors at the Seventh to eighth stage of the body tempering realm, thus moving somerge rocks was manageable to them.

    The moment the three entered the mine, the cultivators got active.

    "Follow them," A Nascent soul ream cultivator said in a low voice.

    It was still heard by Lin Wu though, and he took note of them. Two Qi refining realm cultivators and a core condensation realm cultivator came out of hiding and entered behind the three men.

    Having disappeared inside, the rest of the cultivators waited for five minutes before leaving their hiding ces as well.

    "Can''t hold back anymore?" Lin Wu muttered.

    The four nascent soul realm cultivators spread their spirit sense around and ensured there was nothing nearby before looking at each other.

    "Begin the n! Set up the formation array!" The junior cultivators all said in a unison and got to work.

    Several different materials were taken out and were being used to construct formations which would then beyered together and liked to make an array.

    "Seems like they will be functioning as the nodes themselves. No wonder they brought Qi refining realm cultivators here as wellбн" Lin Wu understood.

    In a formation array, if one wanted to enhance the control while reducing theplexity, one could use more people to control it. Of course, not all formation arrays could be controlled like this, but the ones that could, it was really beneficial.

    It would make use of multiple people rather than just one person to control and regte the formation, reducing the mental burden and cost of spirit Qi to operate it.

    Lin Wu observed as they set up the formation array that was rather wide. It surrounded the mine in a wide circle and the furtherer edge of the formation array was about five hundred meters from the entrance.

    The Qi refining realm cultivators were situated in the outermost parts, the core condensation realm ones in the middle and finally the four Nascent soul realm experts near the center.

    They directly took out hexagonal stone tforms that were carved with thousands of runes and ced them down in a rhombus shape. Then sitting on them, they started to make runes in the air with their hands and joined the formation.

    Lin Wu took note of which formations were being made.

    "Hmmбн A confinement formation as the beast, then a restraining one to enhance it and a Qi gathering fomentation to amplify it. The outermostyers are just there to strengthen it and prevent any impacts from affecting it." Lin Wu quickly identified the formations that were being made.

    Because most of theponents of the formations were already prepared by them, the cultivators were done, making it in less than an hour.

    Lin Wu was also keeping an eye on the three men and their three stalkers.

    "Oh? They managed to reach the second level?" Lin Wu saw their markers underground.

    It was surprising to him, as he knew just how convoluted the mine was. If someone did not have a guide or some map to show them the path, they would probably get lost. Even the signposts that the miners had put up had long since been broken due to the fights that happened in there.

    "This map is really good!" The younger brother spoke out loud.

    "Indeed, we were lucky to find one left behind by miners. This ce is a maze. But even then, the tunnels don''t seem all right. Some of them are not present on the map. What''s up with that?" The Third man asked.

    "Haven''t you seen? The new tunnels are all small. I don''t think they are made by miners." The older brother guessed.

    "Who could have made them then?" The Younger brother questioned, feeling nervous.

    "Who cares! We are in here so we can now find the hidden stash." The Third man said casually.

    Hearing their conversation though, Lin Wu raised his brows.

    ''There was certainly no map here when I came. There were just some destroyed registers and documents that the overseers and miners used to log their haul in. If there really was something, the system would have found it.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    But then he focused on the three stalking cultivators and understood what must have happened.

    "So they are the ones behind thisбн they not only baited them using a fake information broker, but even made it seem like they got this map by luck. Interestingбн but letting theme this far and even following them doesn''t make sense." Lin Wu said to himself.

    He thought that if the three men were just baited, following behind them was just adding more bait. Rather than that, it would make better sense to stay behind.

    Three hours passed like this as the men finally reached the third level. In this time, the rest of the cultivators at the surface had alreadypleted the formation array and had hidden within it.

    "Will this be fine, elders?" one of the core condensation realm cultivators questioned.

    "Yes, the illusory formation is enough. Now even if we stay here for weeks, we shouldn''t have any problem." One of the Nascent soul realm elders answered.

    The core condensation realm cultivator cupped his hand in respect before retreating to his position.

    "Hmmбн making the important formations first and then the illusory one next once they got more time. That was a smart move, thoughбн it''s useless against me." Lin Wu said to himself as the system gave him a notification that the formation array had already been infiltrated by it.

    Seeing that they were just staying silent, Lin Wu decided to act now.

    Within the spirit stone mine where the weasel was resting, a voice was heard.

    "Are you ready to eat, Tim?"

    The weasel quickly raised his head and tried to look around but didn''t see anyone there.

    "The humans have entered the mine. You can go and eat them now. There are six of them." The voice spoke again.

    This time, Tim found it to being from a crystal that was hidden in one of the crevices on the wall.

 Chapter 595 - Tims Meal

    Before leaving, Lin Wu had ced themunication crystal in the wall. He knew that if he directly gave it to Tim, there was a 99% chance he would have eaten it the moment he left.

    Thus, it was a better option to hide it somewhere nearby. Since Lin Wu didn''t have the samemunication link as he did with his servants and subordinates, he needed to use this method.

    Plus, adding a link to Tim was not an option either as it would likely mess up the unique change and chaotic bnce that his body had achieved. It was important that it was kept as it is so that the system could continue to analyze it.

    "Humans, Eat? YES!" Tim said in agreement and quickly pulled out the crystal and shoved it into his mouth without blinking.

    He then scampered onto the ce where he could smell the nearest humans at.

    <em>~crunch~crunch~</em>

    And during this all, he kept on chewing themunication crystal. It was harder than the crystal that Lin Wu had given him specifically for eating. But even then it wasn''t as hard as the Earthen Depths Obsidian and could be eaten by him.

    The only thing that he needed was time, and that was no problem for him. He quickly made his way to the third level, where the six humans were and soon reached them.

    "Elder brother, did you hear that?" The younger brother of the two suddenly said.

    "What?" The elder brother asked.

    "There was some soundбн something breaking." He replied.

    "Something breaking? I didn''t hear that." The elder brother stated.

    "Are you sure you''re not just getting delirious?" The third man questioned.

    "No, I''m sure I heard it. It was likeбн ss or rocks breaking." The Younger brother answered.

    "Hmmбн perhaps it is just some rocks in the mines cracking. I''ve heard that some of the loose ones can do that. We should change the route we are taking. The sound may mean that this shaft may copse.

    If any rocks have gotten loose, they may fall on top of us or block our way out." The senior brother rmended.

    "But that''ll take us long to reach the next level. We can''t change it like this," The third man protested.

    "Do you really want to risk getting trapped here? Besides, we have the map, we can take an alternate route." The elder brother said and took out the map. "Look! There is another route there, it''s not that long either."

    Seeing this, the two of them nodded their head in agreement and changed their path. The three cultivators that were stalking them silentlymunicated amongst themselves and waited for the three men to turn around the fork before continuing behind them.

    "Huh?" But the moment they peeked into the new path, they saw that the three men had disappeared into thin air.

    "How''s this possible? The tunnel is straight for quite a long way." One of the Qi refining realm cultivators said in confusion.

    They were sure that no matter how fast the three of them were, they wouldn''t be able to cross such a long distance in less than five seconds. Plus, they had not heard them run either.

    Running in a mine shaft like this would create noise that would echo and spread all around. They would have known that they were running if that truly happened.

    "Stay alertбн we may not be the only ones here." The core condensation realm stalker spoke.

    The other two understood what this mean and took out their weapons. And along with that, they also took out what looked like a small. The was barely thirty centimeters wide, but the intricate runes carved on its fine threads showed that it was anything but simple.

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    Just as the three stalkers got ready, they heard a loud crunch. It was a sickening sound and made them feel goosebumps for some reason. It was like hundreds of bones breaking all at once and being ground.

    The core condensation realm cultivator immediately took out amunication jade slip and tried to contact the others on the surface, but suddenly realized that he couldn''t do it at all.

    "What?!" The man was confused.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    In the second he had taken to do this, a strong gust of wind blew past him and one of the men disappeared. He snapped to look at him, but then another gust of wind blew past his back.

    <em>~SWOOSH~</em>

    The man knew what was happening by now and swallowed the saliva in his mouth.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    His spirit sense finally detected the culprit.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    He swung his sword at his full power but missed the attacker.

    "The beast?" The man recognized.

    He had managed to catch the silhouette of the beast while it was moving past him. Right that moment, he knew that he would be unable to do anything to the beast.

    "Dammit, the original n was useless. They couldn''t even dy it enough to use thes." The man cursed his luck.

    But he didn''t get to do that for long as a secondter, he felt the world spinning.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    <em>~SNAP~</em>

    The spinning feeling onlysted a second, and his vision went dark after that.

    <em>~drip~drip~drip~</em>

    The sound of blood dripping could be heard as Tim stood there with half the body of the cultivator in his mouth.

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    He continued to chew and pushed the body into his mouth with his hands. About five secondster, he was done eating him entirely.

    "<em>Ahh~</em> Good humansбн" Tim said in pleasure.

    It was his first time eating humans after the effect of the Agitation jade had been removed and he got to fully enjoy the taste. Earlier, he had always been in a constant state of anger and could not taste the things he ate.

    At most, it would satisfy his hunger a bit and provide a little sense of relief, but that was only a brief thing.

    For the first time in ten years, he felt calm.

 Chapter 596 - The Cultivators Act!

    Lin Wu had been keeping an eye on the situation inside the mine and knew the moment, the six men were dead.

    "Huh, he''s rather efficient. Though he did end up eating themunication crystalбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The six dots that represented the men had disappeared from the map, and Lin Wu knew it was time to start the next step of the n.

    "Hmmбн do I act directly or wait a little bit." Lin Wu wondered. "Waiting will be a better option. Let''s see if they even find out their men are dead." Lin Wu decided.

    His choice turned out to be correct as just five minutester, there was some movement among the elders.

    One of the elders opened his eyes and furrowed his brows. He took out what looked like a mosaic ss mirror. There were multiple sections on the ss mirror and it looked like it was made from hundreds of broken ss shards that were struck together.

    Three of the sections were dimmer in color than the others and a few secondster cracks formed on them, before they fully turned into dust.

    "They have failed." The elder spoke.

    The other three elders woke up as well and looked at him.

    "We already expected something like this to happen. It just means the beast is a bit more powerful than we thought. The rumors about everyone only seeing it as a blur was most likely due to it being fast." The first elder stated.

    "If they have been killed, it means the beast has awakened. Considering its aggressive nature, it will probably be on the prowl to hunt more. We should be ready for it toe out at any time." The second elder suggested.

    "Yes," The three elders said and one of them stood up.

    "All disciples are to be ready!" He said out loud.

    The disciples simply responded with cupped hands and got to work. Closing their eyes, they let their spirit senses join with the formation array. The elders on the other hand, focused on the entrance of the mine and stayed alert.

    Lin Wu who had been observing all this, raised his brows.

    "They are certainly experienced with this. Does not seem like this is their first time doing something like this. Are they from a sect?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The system had already scanned all of the cultivators here, but it did not find their identities.

    "Hmmбн I''ll probably have to get their memories. If they can do all this and stay hidden, they are probably the secret force of some power." Lin Wu reckoned.

    His attention was pulled back to the map as the system sent him a notification.

    "Oh? The weasel ising upбн of course, he wants to eat more. Though I guess it doesn''t really matter now. Let''s see what he can actually do." Lin Wu decided.

    While he had a little sh with the weasel beast, it was more of a one sided thing and Tim could not do much against him. Lin Wu wanted to see just what abilities and skills the Weasel had with his new physique and bloodline.

    ''Not to mention the system will get the chance to do the first analysis as well.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Thus with this in mind, he let it happen. He watched as the marker showing Tim''s position rapidly approached the surface. Plus, as a surprise to the Cultivators here, he was not taking the usual path.

    "Did they not take into consideration that he coulde through another opening?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The formation array is omnidirectional. It does not matter from where the beast approaches, the effect will be the same.

    бкбк

    The system answered for him.

    "I see. Guess they only set it up here, as it was easy to observe if anyone enters or exits. Plus, this is really in the center of the area. The mines spread out radially from here, underground." Lin Wu muttered.

    In about five minutes, the Weasel beast had already reached the surface. The location that it had chosen to appear from was one of the rock piles that were near the side of the entrance.

    It had simply burrowed out and appeared right next to a disciple that was sitting on his formation node.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    The weasel beast pounced on him immediately without caring that there were others here, too. It was now that Lin Wu realized another thing about the weasel.

    "His spirit senseбн it is gone too." Lin Wu muttered.

    He recalled his condition and reckoned that with how his meridians had changed, the Weasel had be more dependent on his body directly. Even his sense of smell had been amplified proportionately.

    "It''s certainly a different path that he has taken." Lin Wu understood.

    <em>~BANG~</em>

    But before the weasel could touch the cultivator, a barrier appeared around him in the form of a cylinder and blocked the attack.

    <em>~KREEE~</em>

    The weasel beast let out an annoyed cry and looked at the barrier.

    "THE BEAST IS HERE!" The disciples shouted.

    "All disciples, INITIATE!" The elder ordered.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    The runes started to glow as the formation array came alive. Barrier appeared around every person and were the same cylinder formed. The Weasel looked around at everyone and sniffed.

    "FOOD! TONS!" He said out loud.

    Of course, this was only understood by Lin Wu. The others could only hear a sharp and ear piercing cry instead.

    The Weasel beast didn''t care about the formation array and directly attacked the barrier in front of him. In his eyes, only the cultivator in front of him was important.

    <em>~BANG~</em>

    The barrier blocked his attack effortlessly. But that was just the start. The weasel beast wed at the barrier tens of times in the span of a few seconds. The barrier was certainly impacted and seemed to have been dented.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    But at the same time, the formation array let out a humming sound and a wave of energy spread through it.

    <em>~WEENG~ </em>

    As the energy spread through the air, the spirit Qi started to disappear.. In five seconds, the spirit Qi in the radius of one kilometer was wiped out.

 Chapter 597 - Spiky Tim

    Lin Wu narrowed his brows seeing the effect of the formation array.

    "Huh, a formation array that istes and absorbs all the spirit Qi in a certain area, preventing anyone from using it. Neat." Lin Wu spoke.

    He could see how it would be useful in dealing with an average cultivator. After all, they were protected by a barrier and did not have to use up any spirit Qi of their own, but their enemy would be dependent on their own spirit Qi to sustain themselves.

    Sooner orter, they would run out of it and end up getting killed by them. It was a way to prolong and outperform the enemy.

    "Unfortunatelyбн The Weasel is not really the perfect candidate to use this formation array on." Lin Wu shook his head.

    He watched on as the events progressed.

    "Haha! The formation is working! The beast is as good as gone now." A couple of Core condensation realm cultivators rejoiced.

    <em>~BANG~BANG~BANG~</em>

    But as a surprise to them, Tim didn''t care about the missing spirit Qi. In fact, he could barely sense it at all. After all, he no longer absorbed spirit Qi from the air for the most part.

    A majority of spirit Qi that it got was obtained from eating other materials that were rich in spirit Qi. Plus, since it was in a constant state of anger the past ten years, it didn''t really cultivate normally.

    His increase was mostly due to eating the entire time. Still, that was enough for him to reach the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm in that short time. For any other beast, it would take at least five to eight hundred years to reach that level on average.

    The Twin Lights Liger King who was rather talented, still spent four hundred years on reaching it. Even the Olive Viper King was nearly three hundred years old before he found the meteor and broke through to the Nascent Soul realm.

    Otherwise it would have run out of longevity and died. It was the method of cultivation that often decided this, and cultivating without any resources was often slow and strenuous.

    Very few actually cultivated that way and they strive for resources all the time. Only when a cultivator reaches a high enough cultivation base where no resources would help them do they end up cultivating normally for the most part.

    This was usually when a cultivator would enter a long seclusion and stay in it till they broke through. Since cultivation states like these needed long periods of concentration, seclusion was the mostmon method.

    The Weasel was an anomaly and acted like one. He attacked the barrier nonstop and mindlessly.

    "Activated the offensive formations! Counterattack!" The elders ordered.

    "YES ELDER!" The disciples replied in unison.

    <em>~shua~ shua~</em>

    They all made different hand seals and the offensive formations hidden in theyers activated. Multiple colors appeared in the sky as different attacks materialized. mes, ice, iron spikes, chains, whips and a multitude of weapons made out of spirit Qi were created.

    But the fastest attack was a bolt of lightning that shot out of a Thunder Punishing Offensive Formation and struck Tim the weasel.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    A thunderp resounded in the air as the ground around the exploded with soil and dirt. For a second the attacks stopped as smoke covered the air, but when it finally dissipated, the junior cultivators were stunned.

    <em>~BANG~BANG~BANG~</em>

    The weasel was unharmed and casually shook his head before attacking the barrier again. The only difference was in its eyes, and it seemed to be annoyed even more. By now he had understood that his normal attacks won''t really work here.

    <em>~shing~shing~shing~</em>

    And just as he thought this, the rest of the attacks arrived as well.

    <em>~KIIIIIIII~</em>

    The Weasel growled in anger and moved like a blur, dodging all the attacks with ease. The weapons were unable to even get close to him. As for the energy attacks that still managed to hit him due to a wider area of effect, they just fizzled out in the end.

    The fur of the weasel was far too tough to get injured from.

    "Just what is this beast?" The disciple whose barrier Tim was attacking this entire time said.

    "No wonder it has managed to terrorize this mine for such a long timeбн it is certainly strong." One of the Nascent soul realm elders said.

    "As expected." Lin Wu muttered, seeing the Weasel beast unscathed.

    He was sure that even his own attacks won''t injure the weasel easily. He had even held him in a crushing hold earlier to stop him from moving, and the weasel was just fine. If it were any other beast or cultivator, they would have had their bones shattered and organs squished.

    But then Lin Mu saw something new.

    "Oh?" He raised a brow.

    Tim started to run in the opposite direction and then turned around, using the barrier of the formation array as support to flip. He then sprinted towards the barrier and mid way through started to roll instead.

    <em>~ZING~ZING~ZING~</em>

    His speed turned him into a spinning tire that barreled towards the barrier at great speed. His fur stood on its end and a prickly surface was created. Everywhere he passed over, the ground was uprooted and soil sprayed around.

    <em>~KATA~</em>

    <em>~CRACKLE~</em>

    The spinning weasel finally hit the barrier and it made a strange noise. But it didn''t stop there, as after the initial impact, the weasel beast kept on spinning and a grinding noise came from the barrier.

    "Huhбн reminds of me a certain fast hedgehogбн" Lin Wu said upon seeing Tim''s ability.

    The disciples were a bit surprised too, but that soon turned into utter shock.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    "WHAT THE-!" The disciple sitting in the barrier said.

    Sweat dripped from his forehead as he watched cracks spreading on the barrier. The spiny fur of the Weasel kept on grinding it down and a couple of secondster, managed to fully breakthrough.

    <em>~KEKEKEKEKKE~ </em>

    Tim chittered in joy as the food in front of him was now free for him to eat.

 Chapter 598 - Tims Power!

    The Qi refining realm cultivator, whose barrier had just been broken, stumbled back and tried to run.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    But all that was for naught, as the Weasel shot forward like a rubber band and pinned him to the ground. Unfortunately for the cultivator, the weasel was far bigger and heavier than him, thus getting pinned was the same as getting crushed under a boulder.

    <em>~KIKIKIKI~</em>

    The weasel screeched at the scent of blood and quickly stuffed the cultivator into his mouth. Since the bones of the cultivator were all broken, he was stuffed at odd angles and then the weasel''s mouth shut close.

    The other cultivators that watched all this were horrified.

    "VILE BEAST! YOU DARE!" one of the elders was infuriated by this and waved his hand.

    <em>~HUA~</em>

    With this gesture, an illusory hand materialized in the air and struck the weasel.

    <em>~swat~</em>

    <em>~THWACK~</em>

    It hit the weasel and swatted it away to the very end of the formation array, where he stuck the wall and fell to the ground.

    <em>~KREEE~</em>

    The weasel was once again uninjured and cried out in anger. Shaking his head to get rid of the slight disorientation, it directly went on to attack the nearest disciples.

    <em>~ZING~ZING~ZING~</em>

    It began to attack the same way as before and rolled, using his spiky fur to attack.

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    And just like before, the barrier protecting the cultivator shattered. But this time, the weasel didn''t stop there and mowed down the disciple as well. The cultivator''s head burst apart like a watermelon and her guts were squeezed out like toothpaste.

    Tim kept on rolling and hit the next barrier, shattering it as well and killing the disciple inside it.

    "He''s rather effective. That''s nice," Lin Wumented seeing this.

    He had not expected something like this would really happen. Since the system controlled the formation array he had the information about how strong the barrier protecting the disciples was.

    It could easily bear the attack of a Adult Soul stage Nascent soul realm beast and thus should be impossible for Tim to break. The outer dome like barrier was even stronger and could bear the attack of a Dao Shell realm cultivator.

    One could see from this just howplex and powerful the formation array was.

    "NOOO!"

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    Another barrier was broken as the cultivator within it died. In less than ten seconds, Tim had killed four disciples. This waspletely out of the expectations of the elders and the juniors under them.

    "DAMMIT! How is this beast doing it?" The second elder questioned.

    "Just wait, it will definitely get exhausted at this rate. Without the spirit Qi to replenish its stores, it can''t continue like this. That attack definitely consumes a lot of its spirit Qi." The fourth elder replied.

    "I''m not gonna stay like this without retaliating. This is a taunt to our dignity!" The third elder through was infuriated.

    He directly brought his palms together in a praying gesture before raising his right hand straight up and keeping the palm perpendicr to the other.

    "Take this! Qi Upheaval Palm!" The third elder said.

    The spirit Qi that had been absorbed by the formation array oozed out and turned into a pale white palm that was translucent. It was a bit different from the other palm that was made before.

    That was the attack made by an offensive formation, but this was a proper Qi skill. The Qi skill certainly held a lot of power and descended on the Weasel, trying to stop him from attacking the others.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    Tim crashed into the palm that fell like a b from the sky.

    <em>~KIIIIII~</em>

    He screeched in pain as the impact actually hurt him from the force. While there were no surface injuries, he still felt its internals being rocked. The palm that had just descended flipped around and wrapped the Weasel.

    "HAHAHA! GOT YOU!" The third elder said as he looked on with a grin on his face.

    He then raised the palm into the air and started to squeeze Tim.

    <em>~KREEE~</em>

    Tim let out a screech of anger and struggled within that palm. It wanted to escape but could not, and it was only making him furious.

    "STOPбн MEбн NOT!" Tim said out loud, but only beastly screeches were heard.

    Lin Wu watched this and shook his head.

    "Guess this is his limit. Going up against a formation array for this long is already quite impressive for him." Lin Wu said, having witnessed everything.

    ''Time for me to actбн'' Lin Wu thought and was just about to get the system to disable the formation array when a change happened.

    "AHH!" A pain filled cry was let out by the third elder and his face turned pale.

    Lin Wu furrowed his brows and looked to see what happened. and was surprised.

    "Whoa! He can do this too?" Lin Wu said as he watched Tim biting the hand that held him in air.

    Since he could not move his limbs, he moved what he could: His jaws. The elders didn''t know that while Tim''s ws and fur were strong, they were not the strongest part of his body.

    The strongest part of his body were his sharp teeth that could break through Earthen Depths Obsidian, not to mention some Qi construct or bones.

    <em>~KEKEKEKEK~</em>

    Mid way through, Tim''s voice changed from distressed to pleased. It had bitten out arge chunk from the palm and had even started to eat it.

    "IMPOSSIBLE!" The elders all said.

    The other junior cultivators couldn''t even say anything as they werepletely lost seeing everything.

    Tim quickly swelled the chunk of the palm which turned into spirit Qi in his mouth after being chewed. It was rapidly absorbed into his body, and he felt energized again.

    "KILL! MORE!" Tim dered as he gnawed out the five fingers of the hand that held him.

    The Third Elder Tried to keep him contained, but it was all for naught. Plus, the damage to the palm also caused pain to him and made him lose focus.

    About thirty secondster, Tim was free!

 Chapter 599 - Intervening

    Lin Wu who had been watching everything, felt rather pleased with Tim.

    "He can certainly carry his own weight. Not badбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    For Lin Wu, who had observed many humans and cultivators, Tim seemed to be better than most. His power was good, and he didn''tin about not being able to do anything.

    In fact, Lin Wu was sure he didn''t even think that far and would just go for anything that he wanted. Him attacking Lin Wu to eat without fear was a sign of that. Though Lin Wu also wondered if hisck of fear was natural or due to some other problem.

    It was rather peculiar since Tim didn''t seem to be affected by the bloodline aura of Lin Wu either. Almost every beast would feel the pressure exuding from Lin Wu''s bloodline and would be nervous around him.

    But Tim was the same as he always was and did not seem to care about it. He might be the most peculiar beast Lin Wu hade across till now and it even included Zhu Tianying.

    <em>~KIKIKIKI~ </em>

    The weasel let out a cry upon being freed and flipped in the air and pounced directly on the nearest barrier. He started spinning mid air and crashed into the barrier, shattering it like the others.

    The Third Elder who had been injured due to the bacsh of the technique, gritted his teeth and was angry.

    "ENOUGH! WE ARE ENDING THIS!" The first elder seemed to be in agreement now.

    All along, their n was to suppress the beast and take it away for analysis. It was not an absolute requirement, but their master had told them that the beast was of some interest to him.

    They were told that if the beast died, it would still be fine, but they would get more rewards for catching the beast alive. They had already lost a few of their people and now even the third elder had gotten injured.

    "The formation doesn''t seem to be working on it for some reason or it just has a lot of spirit Qi tost this long. We will just attack directly!" The second elder added.

    And thus, the first, second and third elders attacked at the same time. Only the fourth elder stayed in his ce, as he needed to maintain the formation array in the meantime.

    A multitude of skills were used and all of them went towards Tim.

    The other junior cultivators watched on in pleasure as the beast that had killed theirpanion was about to die. But just when the skills were about to hit Tim, something shocking happened.

    <em>~SHING~SHING~SHING~</em>

    A circle of green crystal spikes suddenly rose up from the ground and surrounded the weasel beast. Curling up on top of the beast, they turned into a dome that fully protected it.

    <em>~BANG~</em>

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The various skillsnded on the crystal but were not even able to make a scratch on them.

    "WHAT?!" The junior cultivators were stunned.

    "IMPOSSIBLE!" The third elder shouted.

    "How can this beast do something like this?" The second elder questioned.

    The first elder on the other hand, narrowed his eyes and checked the area with his spirit sense. But the moment he went past the first fifty meters, he felt very ufortable. His spirit sense started to waver and it felt like he had entered a swamp.

    It became very difficult for his spirit sense to move and the more he went ahead, the more strenuous it got for him.

    "What is happening?" He muttered.

    The other cultivators also realized that their spirit senses were getting suppressed, and they didn''t know why.

    "W-what? Why''s my spirit sense not working?" One of the core condensation realm cultivators couldn''t help but question.

    A few secondster, the situation got so bad that their link to the formation array broke as well.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    It was at this time that the ground started to tremble. The Nascent soul elders watched on in anxiety as something started to rise from the ground.

    "Itбн it''s surrounding us?" The fourth elder noted.

    <em>~TREMBLE~</em>

    The ground started to part as more green crystals rose from the ground. But this time, they all seemed to be joined together from the start. The crystals were in a circle and looked to be several meters tall in height.

    Only when the ground near the elders parted did they see the truth of what it was.

    <em>~Huu~</em>

    A hot breath left Lin Wu''s mouth as he raised his head from the ground. The crystal dome around Tim also recessed and turned into the tip of Lin Wu''s tail. He had split it apart to make a dome to protect the weasel.

    Lin Wu knew that even the weasel might get injured from some of the skills that the Nascent soul realm cultivators had used. Even if it did not die, the injuries might be severe and thus Lin Wu wanted to avoid that.

    "You were right." Lin Wu said while looking at the first elder. "That was a good showбн but now it''s enough." He stated.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    Horizontal spikes rose from his body, with each of them pointed towards a junior cultivator.

    <em>~Shua~shua~shua~</em>

    The spikes glowed with a green light briefly before tens of wind attribute spirit Qi arrows were shot at great speed from them.

    <em>~SPLAT~ SPLAT~</em>

    The arrows prated the cylindrical barriers like it was paper and burst the heads of all junior cultivators in less than a second.

    "NOOO!" The fourth elder shouted.

    <em>~COUGH~</em>

    He then spat out a mouthful of blood as the bacsh from the formation array reached him. The sudden death of the disciples maintaining the formation array''s nodes led to them being abruptly disconnected.

    The other three elders watched in horror as all their subordinates died in an instant.

    "Now that they are goneбн let''s get rid of this formation array too." Lin Wu said casually and pointed towards a point in the air with his tail.

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    As if a sheet of ss had been poked a bit too hard, the formation array was covered in cracks.

 Chapter 600 - Confronting The Elders And Obtaining Secrets

    The Four elders were horrified seeing the formation array getting destroyed in an instant.

    "How is this possible?" The third elder couldn''t help but say.

    They couldn''tprehend this fact because the formation array was very strong. Even a Dao Shell realm cultivator wouldn''t be able to damage it directly, while it would still be able to hold on for a few minutes against a Dao Treading realm cultivator.

    The cost to set it up was also rather high and they could feel all theponents they had nted around the area breaking along with the formation array.

    ''Breaking a formation array with one tap? Even a Grandmaster Formation Master at the Dao Treading realm might not be able to do this.'' The First elder thought.

    But what the elders didn''t know was that Lin Wu hadn''t done what they thought he had. Him tapping was simply a casual thing he did to show off. It was actually the system that dismantled the formation array all at once.

    After all, it had been under the system''s control from the start. If Lin Wu wanted to, he could have reversed the formation array onto the cultivators from the start. But he didn''t do that, as he wanted to observe the power of Tim.

    He got good results and reckoned this was more than enough for now.

    <em>~KREEE~</em>

    Tim, who also got out of the crystal dome, looked around and found everyone to be dead.

    "Dead? No kill?" he said, feeling a little lost.

    But that feeling soon faded away as he directly rushed to the dead cultivators and started to stuff them down his mouth. The elders didn''t even get to look at him for long as the pressure exuding from Lin Wu was getting to them.

    "What are you?" The third elder asked, building up a little courage.

    Since their spirit sense was restrained, which they didn''t even know how, they couldn''t estimate Lin Wu''s cultivation base. But the pressure and aura exuding from him told them that he was not to be taken lightly.

    If anything, just his size was enough to shake their minds.

    "Me? I''m just a beast." Lin Wu answered casually.

    Upon hearing this, the elders were a bit taken aback.

    "Just a beast? Can just any beast do something like this?" The second elder couldn''t help but say.

    "Ahahaha!" Lin Wuughed in his distorted voice, unnerving the elders.

    Lin Wu usually had to consciously control his voice so that it appeared to be ''normal''. He did this when speaking with people he was fine with or just about anything. But his own natural voice was a mix of strange distortions and screeches that formed together to make words.

    It was like someone was rubbing two metal tes to make coherent words. It was a strange condition, but Lin Wu was used to it. Plus, he liked the fear factor that appeared when he used his natural voice.

    Though asionally he would slip up and use it instead of his ''normal'' voice.

    "I guess I am a little special." Lin Wu replied and looked at the elders. "But enough about meбн what I want to know isбн who are you all?" He questioned.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The elders swallowed their saliva and didn''t know what to say now. Their identity was secret and they couldn''t truly speak anything. It was a secret they would take to their death if they had to.

    "Hmmбн I see. One of those peopleбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    The elders furrowed their brows, not understanding what Lin Wu meant before a strong gust of wind went past them.

    <em>~SLICK~</em>

    A disturbing sound was heard as the three elders turned to look at the fourth elder. His head was pierced with a long spike and his eyes bulged out in shock. Lin Wu closed his eyes and read the information that the system was absorbing from the dead elder''s brain

    The three elders were stunned at the ease with which the fourth elder died and didn''t know what to do. It was now that Lin Wu started to speak again.

    "Oh?! So that''s now it isбн" Lin Wu said, pulling their attention back.

    "Never thought it would be someone from the Ji n." Lin Wu said, shocking the three elders.

    "How?" The first elder was horrified at this.

    "So your master is thisбн Weiyuan. His true identityбн Ji Yuan, the elder brother of Ji Shirong, current heir of the Ji n." Lin Wu revealed.

    "H-howбн how do you know this?" The third elder asked.

    "I have my waysбн" Lin Wu said as he went through more information in his mind.

    In just five seconds, he had understood the gist of it, though there were some nk spots in the man''s memories.

    ''Have they been artificially removed? Doesn''t seem like they are due to natural degradation, or the system would have told me.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He stared back at the three elders, sending shivers down their spine.

    It was now that the first elder understood something.

    "Soul Searchбн You used a soul searching skill!" The first elder said out loud.

    "Correct," Lin Wu responded, though the answer wasn''t really true.

    ''But they don''t need to know that.'' Lin Wu internally said.

    "A beast that can use human techniques? That''s not possibleбн" The second elder stated.

    But the first elder said something else in response.

    "Noбн it is possible." The first elder said, recalling certain information.

    While Lin Wu speaking was very unusual, there were still some beasts that could speak the human tongue; though most normal cultivators did not know this. But they were not normal at all and had ess to a lot of information the average cultivator would not have.

    "Who are you, senior? What''s your Dao title?" The first elder finally spoke, understanding something.

    Lin Wu raised his brow, seeing the man''s reaction before guessing what conclusion the man hade to.

    ''Huhбн he thinks I''m a human that took over a beast too?'' Lin Wu thought, recalling Jiao Fan had done the same.

 Chapter 601 - Weiyuans Identity

    Gao Qian had not thought that the mission he was assigned to would end up taking such a turn. From all that he had been briefed about and had learned, it was a rtively simple mission and only involved capturing a beast that they had turned crazy from the use of agitation jades.

    Their master had started the n over a decade ago and it was finallying to fruition. Though he didn''t know why he had asked him and his three other seniorpanions toe here.

    Even a single one of them was enough to capture the beast, even if it might have been at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm. They had trust in themselves and the formation array.

    They had done multiple simr missions that involved the capture of strong cultivators. Thus, this mission was even simpler, with the target being a mindless beast that couldn''t even figure out the formation array like a cultivator might be able to.

    Gao Qian didn''t protest of course and silently listened to his master thinking that there might be more more to it than they knew and their master had a better idea. And now that he had seen everything, he was sure that it was just like that.

    ''A Titled Daoistбн a true Titled Daoist was hiding here.'' Gao Qian thought seeing Lin Wu.

    Even though Lin Wu was in the form of a beast, he could tell that he wasn''t really a normal beast. He had read about the back up a lot of experts kept in case their main bodies died.

    Lin Wu with the crystalline body seemed like a puppet to him and he was sure that it was an expert that had lost his body. And considering the power that Lin Wu disyed, including the formation array being shattered, she was sure that Lin Wu was at least an Immortal Ascension realm expert.

    ''That would also exin how he could use a human technique like soul searching. If he was a human from the start, he wouldn''t have any problem using it with a different body.'' Gao Qian thought.

    Daoist was a term that was often used almost synonymously with a cultivator, but a titled Daoist was not. For someone to be a titled Daoist, they would need to make a great achievement.

    It could be the creation of a new top grade cultivation technique, formation array, spirit weapon, alchemical pill, establishment of a sect and many more things. But the most impressive method was to reach the Immortal Ascension realm.

    Anyone that could do that was considered to be very powerful and talented. Thus they were deserving of a title. Even if they didn''t pick one, others would usually assign one to them.

    Gao Qian had read a bit about titled Daoist of the past and current times and knew most of them. Thus, he knew that if he got the Daoist Title of Lin Wu, he would be able to know who he truly was.

    He even thought that recognizing Lin Wu''s greatness might impress him and he might be saved.

    Unfortunately for him, the reality turned out to be cruel.

    <em>~SLICK~</em>

    "UGH!" Gao Qian coughed out blood and looked at the spike that had prated his chest.

    Two more coughs were heard as his fellow elders were stabbed with the spikes as well.

    "W-why?" He said unwillingly.

    "It''s easy." Lin Wu casually said as he raised the four elders up to his mouth and dropped them into it.

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    In less than five seconds, the elders had been reduced to a mushy mix of flesh and bone while the system extracted their memories.

    "There we go. That should get us enough informationбн" Lin Wu said, as he saw the notification.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA NODES OBTAINED: Total number- 9

    ASSIMILATING DATA NODES: Parsing

    NOTIFICATION: Please wait patientlyбн

    .

    .

    .

    ASSIMILATION: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    Soon the systempleted reading and analyzing the information from the data nodes and showed it to Lin Wu.

    "Hmmбн that''s quite a bit. Let''s filter it down a bitбн" He muttered, and the information started to change.

    About a minuteter, he got the information that he needed pertaining to these cultivators.

    Lin Wu learned that these were cultivators who belonged to the Weiyuan Chamber. The Weiyuan chamber was an organization that dealt with a lot of businesses including but not restricted to the sale of pills, weapons, resources.

    While it was quite diverse, it was actually not that well known. It mostly worked as the middle man and did not appear in direct contact with most people. Even if some people knew of their existence, they didn''t think of them to be anything big.

    They were spread all over the Long Continent and had a wide reach. They owned a lot of businesses under different names and were thus able to maintain their secrecy.

    But their biggest secret was that they were actually owned by none other than the Eldest son of Ji Shan, the current patriarch of the Ji n, Ji Yuan. He was one of the contentments for the position of Heir, but had been pushed out by Shirong due to his inferior talent.

    Though his cultivation base was rather high, being at the Adult Soul Stage, which even Shirong was not at. This selection would seem unfair to most people, seeing as the stronger candidate was rejected for weaker, but that was not what the Ji n was after.

    The Ji n not only desired strength and power but also personality and talent. This was the one thing that the Eldest son failed in and Shirong seeded. Thus, even with a Core condensation realm cultivation base, he was selected as the heir.

    Though thepetition for the position was still going on secretly.

    And to continue that, the brothers of Shirong made their own organizations and allies. This was allowed by the n, but they could not fight each other directly.

    What Lin Wu was most surprised by though, was the fact that Ji Yuan had said that he was not fighting for the position of the heir anymore.

 Chapter 602 - Weiyuans Aim

    Lin Wu had not expected to unearth such a secret today. While he knew that Weiyuan might be from some strong power, it was very unexpected for him to be rted to someone he knew.

    "The Ji n seems to alwayse around in some form or the other. First Shirong, then his sister, and now his brother Ji Yuan." Lin Wu muttered.

    He continued going through the information and tried to learn more. The next thing he went for was the reason behind this mission.

    Lin Wu found out that a few powers knew that there was something hidden in the Di Guan mines for a long time. But this was merely a spection, and no one wanted to be the first to show interest as it would incite others to act as well.

    If they did that and failed to get anything, they would lose face and be ridiculed. On the other hand, if they seeded, there would be many powersing like hungry sharks to get theirs share even if they put no effect.

    Not to mention the Di Guan mines were already under the territory of an established power. And if they tried to do anything there, the Frozen Cloud sect would not watch silently.

    Thus, Weiyuan found a different way to do it. Rather than acting directly, he let the Frozen Cloud sect do it themselves. He first incited some conflict from preexisting matters of the sect and got them to split up.

    He then nted the Agitation jades to push the miners and the owner of the mine away. It even made the sect fail in its mission to kill the beast. Weiyuan was fully prepared to send more beasts to the mine if the ones in it were killed.

    But surprisingly for him, that situation never arrived. The beast that was in the mine was plenty strong and troubled the Frozen Cloud sect to no end. He had allied himself with a few people from the Broken Cliff Division and negotiated on a profit split of things worked out.

    Of course, these people didn''t know that there was Earthen Depths Obsidian in the mines along with many other things. They only thought that it was a spirit stone mine.

    The beast of the Di Guan mines being able to keep all attempts at recapturing the mine off made Weiyuan interested in it. He had heard of Wang Xiong by now and knew that the man was rather strong too and if he was unable to hunt the beast, he reckoned that the beast was worth his time.

    And thus, he sent his men to capture the beast and im the mines as well. Once this was done, the people from the Broken Cliff division would take over, and none would be the wiser.

    Unfortunately for him, the n was foiled by Lin Wu, who decided to pay a visit.

    "One thing still doesn''t make sense though. He says he''s notpeting for the position of the heir, but is still doing things that point to it. Is he just faking it or is his aim something else entirely?" Lin Wu wondered.

    His search through the information led him to some other discoveries as well, such as the nks in the memories of the elders.

    "System, what''s the cause behind this? It can''t be that they all had memory loss about the same thing, right?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The memories that were missing were about the location of the true headquarters of the Weiyuan Chamber. All four elders were missing the same location, which didn''t really make sense to him since how would they find their way back afterpleting their task.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system''s initial analysis states that the four cultivators had parts of their memories eased by some technique. This was done willingly or the memory removal would not be this clean and there would have been fragments about it.

    The memory of the memory erasing was removed at the same time as well.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн seems like this Weiyuan orбн Ji Yuan is very cautious. The other members of his organization don''t even know his true identity, only the elders do." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He thought to himself, what needed to be done here.

    ''Weiyuan will definitely act again if these cultivators go missing. The system blocked all transmission frommunication jades, so I''m sure no information was leaked for now. But he will probably send more people to investigate.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    He looked at the Weasel beast that continued to eat the other corpses. He had already finished three quarters of them and only had about ten left to eat now.

    "Perhaps he can be of useбн" Lin Wu said and made up a temporary n in his mind.

    He then contacted Wang Xiong and told him to send over others to upy the mines. Lin Wu didn''t tell him about the Weiyuan Chamber members, as he still needed to figure out what to do with them first.

    Lin Wu could technically just avoid them and Weiyuan would not be able to do much. After all, Wang Xiong would be iming the mines officially in his capacity as the chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    If Weiyuan or others challenged him, the entire Frozen Cloud sect would have to show their stance and oppose Weiyuan.

    Thus, if Weiyuan was as smart as Lin Wu was thinking him to be, there was a great chance he wouldn''t act out.

    ''Now to wait and see. Though need to do something about Timбн'' Lin Wu thought and looked at the weasel.

    By now, the beast had finished eating all the corpses and even licked up all the blood that had spilled.

    "That''s a good cleanup. At least I won''t have to think much about leaving the traces." Lin Wu said before calling out to the weasel. "Come here, Tim!"

    <em>~Ki~ </em>

    The Weasel looked back to see Lin Wu waving his tail at him.

    "More Food?" He asked, making Lin Wu chuckle again.

 Chapter 603 - Battle Simulations

    Lin Wu wondered if he should wait for Wang Xiong and his team to arrive or leave for the Tian n. Both of them were options he could take and had different benefits. He could go to the n and save some time till Wang Xiong arrived, or he could wait till they do and read up on the rest of the information he got from the cultivators.

    ''I did get a few cultivation techniques from the elders, though it is doubtful if it would be useful or not.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The system had already added the techniques to the data banks, but since they weren''t as useful for Lin Wu, they were not particrly notified. Though they could still be used to improve the other techniques that Lin Wu might get in the future.

    Lin Wu looked at the Weasel approaching him and decided to wait.

    "This guy is still a bit of a wild card. No guarantee that it wouldn''t just go on a killing spree at the n. Plus, it can''t hide the spirit Qi fluctuations like I can." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    In the end, Lin Wu simply decided to wait until Wang Xiong arrived.

    "Where food?" Tim questioned.

    "Not food. But I will give you food if you listen to me." Lin Wu replied.

    "Listen, what?" He asked.

    "There will be some humansing soon. You have probably seen some of them and fought them. Now when they appear, I want you to NOT eat them." Lin Wu stated.

    "Not eat? But Human food." Tim replied.

    "Not these ones. They are useful allies." Lin Wu exined.

    "Human useful? Yes, useful. As food." Tim said with a nod.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Lin Wu shook his head.

    "Understand it this way. If you don''t kill them, they can help us get more food than you would get from eating them." Lin Wu tempted.

    The weasel beast seemed to be thinking hard about it and stayed like that for five minutes. Finally, though, he nodded his head.

    "Okay." He answered.

    "Good! Now just stay still when they appear and don''t do anything unless I tell you to." Lin Wu said before tossing a crystal to the weasel as a treat.

    <em>~Nom~</em>

    The weasel quickly grabbed the crystal mid air and started to gnaw on it. Lin Wu had understood by now that he needed to train the weasel like a dog. Otherwise, getting him to learn things would be close to impossible.

    Lin Wu observed the weasel for a bit as a few thoughts came to his mind.

    "Hmmmбн. Now that I think of it, the weasel might be stronger than a lot of my subordinates." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "The apes might be able to resist him due to their intelligence, and the beetle king and the Liger king mighte on top due to their strength. As for the restбн they''ll lose due to the speed and piercing power advantage that Tim has." Lin Wu analyzed.

    Suddenly the system send him a notification that he had not expected.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS: The Myriad Obsidian Weasel "Tim" can kill all beasts in the Millennium forest other than the Twin Lights Liger King, the Demon Spine ape and the Sky Light Monk Ape. All others will die ording to the system''s simtion.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн that was certainly unexpected. But if you are saying it must be urate." Lin Wu said.

    He knew that the system had gathered a lot of data about all the beasts and could simte a lot of scenarios. Even with the initial data of the Weasel, it could conclude that the others would notst long.

    ''The Twin Lights liger king is understandably and so is the Sky Light Monk ape; That Monk''ey is rather sly, but the Demon Spine Ape king seems an unlikely candidate. How does that work?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Would the host like to see the simtion? Y/N

    бкбк

    "I can see that too? Neat." Lin Wu said, finding it rather amazing. "Sure, why not? We got some time before Wang Xiong arrives," he answered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    INITIATING: Battle simtion

    INITIALIZATION COMPLETED: Simtion startingбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu got a familiar feeling simr to when he watched memories and felt his vision go ck. In the next second though, he appeared in the simted space.

    "Huh, reminds me of a few science shows I saw in my past lifeбн or something like that, the memories are getting fuzzy again." Lin Wu said as he rubbed his head.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The figures of the Myriad Obsidian Weasel and the Demon Spine ape materialized before they started to fight each other. The battle progressed for about six hours and both the beasts sustained injuries.

    At that point, the Demon Spine Ape got a little too angry and used his sacrificial skill and burned his bloodline, killing both the weasel and greatly injuring himself in the process. Though he did die a few secondster after that.

    "Welp! That''s something I didn''t think of. That sacrificial skill is really something being able to shatter the weasel''s defenses and prate them directly. I''ll keep that in mind just in case. Though it can''t really be said a victory, can it? The ape did die shortly." Lin Wu said, having seen everything.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The simtion faded away after the fight ended and Lin Wu returned to the real world. He looked at the time and saw that about ten minutes had passed.

    "Hmmбн" Lin Wu furrowed his brows before he checked the location of Wang Xiong and his team.

    "Alright, I think I know how to pass the time now. System, y the other simtions you have. I want to see as many as I can until Wang Xiong arrives." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    INITIALIZING SIMULATIONS: Please wait a momentбн

    QUEUE GENERATED: 671 battles

    .

    .

    .

    FIRST SIMULATION: Starting inбн 3бн 2бн 1

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s vision faded to ck, and he reappeared in the simtion space. Soon the one simtion after the other started to y and Lin Wu observed them all.. His goal in this was to improve his own fighting abilities and skills.

 Chapter 604 - A Warning And Disrespect

    "That was fast. Did senior Lin Wu really manage to solve the problem?" Ye Jin questioned.

    "Well, he told me that, so it must be true. Plus, if he can''t do it, I''m pretty sure no one else would be able to." Wang Xiong replied.

    He and his team were currently flying towards the Di Guan mines and had left soon after Lin Wu had called them. It was a bit unexpected for Wang Xiong as well, since he did not think he would get the message this soon.

    "And what else did he say?" Ye Jin asked.

    "Hmm, he didn''t say much. Butбн It did seem like there was more to it than he was saying. Perhaps we will see it when we get there." Wang Xiong said.

    "Seems like it. We''ll reach there soon anyway." Ye Jin said and looked at the town in the distance.

    They didn''t stop at the town and went straight past it.

    "Look! Cultivators!" A few children shouted, seeing the flying people.

    Finally, theynded near the mine, but couldn''t see anything.

    "Is this the right ce? I don''t see anything differentбн or even senior Lin Wu." Ye Jin spoke, seeing the empty area.

    It lookedpletely undisturbed, and there was no one there either.

    Wang Xiong furrowed his brows and closed his eyes for a second before opening them again.

    "He''s here. I can feel him." Wang Xiong stated. "Come, let''s go in further a bit. The rest can wait here." He said to the rest of the team.

    "YES SENIOR!" His subordinates replied.

    They had not seen Lin Wu and didn''t know of his existence, thus Wang Xiong was not going to let them know right now. He would wait until Lin Wu wanted that to happen. Plus, it was best to keep Lin Wu''s existence hidden from most people.

    Wang Xiong proceeded forward with Ye Jin and approached closer to the mine. The moment he got within three hundred meters of it though, he felt touching some kind of a membrane.

    The two of them felt a wave of spirit Qi covering their body and reaching inside their heads before they were sucked into the membrane.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "Huh? Where did Senior Wang Xiong and Senior Sister Ye Jin, go?" One of the disciples asked.

    "Don''t go ahead!" A senior disciple warned. "They will tell us if they need anything."

    "Okay!" The disciples replied and stayed put.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin on the other hand, found themselves in front of Lin Wu''s massive body. It was coiled up and his eyes were closed as if he was deep in thought. They looked around and saw the signs of devastation and damage.

    Even if there were no dead bodies here, Wang Xiong could feel the traces of a bloody aura in the air.

    "Many people died hereбн" Ye Jin said and furrowed her brows.

    Wang Xiong nodded his head and looked back at Lin Wu. But this time, he noticed something different.

    "Huh? What''s that?" Wang Xiong said in a confused tone.

    At the bottom curl of Lin Wu''s coiled body, Wang Xiong spotted a ck mass. It was about a meter in size and he couldn''t tell what it was. But a secondter, it started to move and twitch.

    It was then that he saw the ck mass was actually fur. Ye Jin felt nervous at that moment and saw the ck mass rise up.

    "A beast?" She said before the Weasel turned around.

    "<em>Kiii~</em> (food?)" Tim said seen the two humans.

    <em>~sniff~</em>

    He sniffed their scents and found it to contain a familiar aura mixed in. He looked at Lin Wu and spoke again, "They Food?"

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were both confused and a bit nervous at seeing the beast. They of course, couldn''t understand what it said as all they heard were some cries. But if they did, they would only be more nervous, perhaps scared.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    Lin Wu''s eyes opened and he gazed upon the two human subordinates of him.

    "No, they aren''t food." Lin Wu said in beast tongue.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin swallowed their saliva as they heard the weirdly distorted screech from Lin Wu''s mouth. While it was low, it still sent shivers down their body and they didn''t know why.

    "Okay," The Weasel said and curled up again.

    "Alsoбн why are you sleeping on me? GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!" Lin Wu said out loud.

    <em>~KIKIKIKI~</em>

    The weasel was startled and quickly scampered to a tree nearby.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    It then ripped the tree from the bottom with ease andid on the soft leaves of the crown.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin didn''t know what to think of it. To them, someone sleeping on Lin Wu would be a great disrespect to him. They wouldn''t be surprised if the beast was killed instantly for that.

    But surprisingly, Lin Wu simply shouted at the beast and didn''t act out.

    "Just what is this beast?" Ye Jin said.

    "Itбн seems a bit familiar." Wang Xiong raised his brows and rubbed his chin.

    "It''s the beast of the mine." Lin Wu casually replied.

    "Huh?" Wang Xiong was stunned at first, but then his expression changed.

    "WHAT!!? THAT''S THAT BEAST?" Wang Xiong said out loud and quickly took out his ive.

    Ye Jin did the same and was ready for a battle right away.

    "Calm down. It won''t do anything." Lin Wu stated.

    "B-But senior! That beast is deadly!" Wang Xiong replied.

    "Yes! It killed many people!" Ye Jin added.

    "It won''t do that anymore. Plusбн it wasn''t his fault." Lin Wu replied.

    "Huh? What do you mean? It killed our fellow disciples. How can we let that go?" Wang Xiong said, feeling uneasy.

    "Just leave it," Lin Wu said in a staunch voice.

    Ye Jin grabbed Wang Xiong''s hand and brought him to his senses. It was then that Wang Xiong realized the strong gaze of Lin Wu on him. There was a hint of pressure in it that was like a dagger in the dark.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "S-sorry senior!" Wang Xiong hurriedly apologized.

    "There will not be another chance.." Lin Wu stated.

 Chapter 605 - The Shock Of Wang Xiong And Ye Jin

    Having heard Lin Wu''s warning, Wang Xiong realized just what kind of a mistake he was making. He was used to being in the sect for too long such that he could speak against other elders and be fine.

    Even if he protested against the patriarch, who was his master, he would at most be reprimanded. But in front of Lin Wu, he feltpletely different. He felt like doing something like this again would get himself erased.

    The gaze he got from Lin Wu was the most fierce gaze he had seen. It was as if eons of vicissitudes were hidden in them and would hammer him down if he ever did something. He understood just how wrong he was.

    ''Even master is nothing in front of senior who has lived hundreds of times more than him. If he has done this, he must have a proper reason for it.'' Wang Xiong finally came to the conclusion.

    Ye Jin on the other hand, was far more terrified than Wang Xiong. She wasn''t as used to facing various elders and people of higher cultivation, not to mention it had only been a couple of days since she got to meet Lin Wu.

    His appearance and power were both something that was very hard to get used to. Not to mention he had also defeated their sect''s guardian, who was technically the oldest elder in the entire sect.

    She had always been on guard with Lin Wu and was thus able to sense it very quickly when Wang Xiong seemed to have stepped on a certain boundary. Ever since she died in the trials of the tomb, her sense of danger had gotten many times better.

    And at that moment, she felt the greatest danger of her life. Even though it wasn''t even directed towards her.

    She could only grab Wang Xiong''s hand and hope that he stopped. Only after Wang Xiong apologize did she take a breath of relief.

    Lin Wu who had been observing the two for a few seconds, didn''t know what was going in their minds. To him, Wang Xiong was just being irritating and he didn''t want to deal with that right now.

    He didn''t even know his casual ''no'' caused the two to think so many thoughts.

    After thinking for a bit, Lin Wu decided to speak again.

    "What do you two think of that beast?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Huh? The beast?" Wang Xiong was confused.

    He thought deeply, as he didn''t want to offend Senior Lin Wu again and wanted to be sure of what he wanted to know. After thinking for a minute, Wang Xiong hoped that he had the appropriate response.

    "That beast isбн very strong." Wang Xiong stated.

    Lin Wu raised his brows, feeling that the answer was rather unexpected.

    "You want some detail in that?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    "The beast isбн unique?" Wang Xiong replied.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Alright, I''ll take that. But yes, he is certainly unique." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "What do you think his cultivation base is?" Lin Wu questioned next.

    This prompted Wang Xiong and Ye Jin to probe the beast with their spirit sense. But when they got closer to the beast, they realized a surprising thing.

    "Huh? Why doesn''t ourбн spirit sense enter his body?" Wang Xiong wondered.

    "Not just thatбн he has no spirit sense fluctuationing off his body either." Ye Jin added.

    The weasel beast was calmly sleeping on the pile of leaves and waspletely clueless about what was happening around him. For him, only sleep was the thing he wanted, and he was getting it.

    "Now do you see?" Lin Wu replied.

    "How is this possible? And what is his cultivation base?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "It is due to the unique bloodline it has developed, as for his cultivation baseбн he''s at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm." Lin Wu answered.

    <em>~gasp~</em>

    Hearing this, both Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were shocked.

    "Heбн he didn''t feel that strong when we fought. If he really is at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm, couldn''t he have killed us all very easily?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "He could have, yes. As for him not being strong, that was simply the effect of the agitation jade. It reduced his intelligence and prevented him from using all the abilities he had.

    Though his physical strength is still not something to joke about. In your case, I would say you and your subordinates were lucky to retreat at the right time. Plus, the weasel beast had better food to eat and thus didn''t have as great of a drive to hunt you down." Lin Wu replied.

    "I seeбн but that''s not all, is it? If senior is interested in this beast, there must be more to it." Wang Xiong guessed.

    "Indeed. How old do you think that beast is?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin both furrowed their brows. They tried to use all the information about beasts they had and analyzed the fact. They took into consideration the size of the weasel and the cultivation base, beforeparing it with other types of weasel beasts.

    "It should be at least three or four hundred years old, right?" Wang Xiong estimated.

    "Ahahah!" hearing that number, Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh.

    "He is younger than both of you." Lin Wu chuckled.

    "WHAT!? How''s that possible?" Ye Jin eximed.

    "He''s less than two hundred years old?" Wang Xiong guessed.

    "No, he''s not two hundred years old. He''s around fifty years old." Lin Wu revealed.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Wang Xiong simply fell on the ground, having heard this, while Ye Jin''s jaw was wide open in shock as well.

    "H-howбн how is that even possible? Even with the support of resources, reaching just the Nascent soul realm is difficult, not to mention reaching the Adult Soul stage." Wang Xiong stated.

    "He''s not just at the Adult Soul Stage, he''s at the very peak of it.. I don''t think it would be a problem for it to break through to the Dao Shell realm in a couple of years.

 Chapter 606 - Understanding

    Upon hearing all that Lin Wu had said, Wang Xiong didn''t know what to do. He felt like all the years he had cultivated were for naught, and a small beast had managed to ovee him. But then his mind went to a word Lin Wu had said.

    "What bloodline does it have, Senior? It must be very good, right? If it can reach the Nascent soul realm." Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Wellбн originally, it was a copper hide weasel. But he was already at the Nascent soul realm then. He then got here, ate the materials in the mine and improved his bloodline. It has now be a Myriad Obsidian Weasel." Lin Wu exined.

    "What theбн a copper hide weasel?" Wang Xiong had never expected this.

    When he was estimating the information about the weasel andparing it with other weasel beasts, he had take then copper hide weasels in consideration too. But even they did not reach Nascent Soul realm this quick.

    Even if they were strong, they would still take a few hundred years to do this.

    ''I would have understood if he entered the Nascent soul realm after the development in his bloodline, butбн he already was in the Nascent soul realm before that.'' Wang Xiong thorough.

    Ye Jin was having simr thoughts, and she couldn''t help butpare the weasel to the highly talented disciples of the top sects and ns. The record for the youngest Nascent soul realm cultivator was held by one of the former patriarchs of the Long n.

    It was a well known record and people could only marvel at it, but never hope to reach it. The former patriarch had reached the Nascent Soul realm at the age of fifty and that was considered to be a record.

    While there might have been more people in the word that achieved the same, there were no official records from them. Or they simply chose not to reveal it. Shirong was one such example and had actually broken the record.

    But he had simply decided to keep it a secret. If he was the same Shirong of the past, he would have let it be known everywhere. But after experiencing all that he had, he had learned it was better to keep some things hidden.

    ''A simple beast has pushed human prodigies downбн thisбн'' Ye Jin was at a loss for words as well now.

    It was now that Wang Xiong finally spoke.

    "Is that why senior want''s to protect the weasel beast?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Mmhmmбн the beast is worth raising and training. Plusбн he is literally a child so will be easy to mold." Lin Wu replied.

    "Beasts of his talent are not easy toe across. At least not the ones that have rtively normal bloodlines. Those ''great'' beasts having memories ingrained into their bloodlines that they awaken at birth, thus they can''t be controlled at all." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong understood that this was part of some secrets that might be part of the beasts. He thought considering Lin Wu was a beast too, it was normal for him to know all this.

    That was also why he didn''t question how Lin Wu knew the weasel''s age and history. He simply assumed that he had his methods, if not just talk with the weasel. He had after all, seen Lin Wu order the weasel earlier and the beast had clearly listened to him as well.

    "Thenбн what will this weasel beast be doing?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "He will be part of our organization, of course! He will be a sharp sword that will strike down the enemies!" Lin Wu answered in a firm tone.

    Wang Xiong could simply nod at this and could understand Lin Wu''s thinking.

    ''Having a strong and talented beast under one was understandable. It is the same as recruiting a strong disciple in a way for Senior Lin Wu, isn''t it?'' Wang Xiong reckoned.

    Now that Wang Xiong was on terms with the current situation, he no longer felt as angry as before. He could see that keeping the weasel alive and letting him grow was far more beneficial to them.

    ''Plus as senior said, the weasel might reach the Dao Shell realm soon. Even a single Dao Shell realm expert will be a great help. Especially since Guardian Yun and Senior Lin Wu both have certain restrictions and cannot appear in front of others easily.'' Wang Xiong thought.

    "I think you should call in your team and take over the mine now. There are a lot of materials in it, including the Earthen Depths Obsidian." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Huh? What about the spirit stone mine? Does it not contain that?" Ye Jin suddenly asked.

    "It contains that, too. It''s simply a treasure trove. You two can take the others and explore it. I''ve set a formation array here and it should keep the area hidden and protected for a bit." Lin Wu replied.

    "Thatбн that''s amazing!" Wang Xiong couldn''t wait to explore the mine now.

    "Alsoбн" Lin Wu took out another jade slip from his body and passed it to Wang Xiong. "This contains the information of the materials and the map to reach the bottom. The path is a bitplex." He added.

    Wang Xiong checked the jade slip and found a list of materials that Lin Wu, or rather the system, had found in the mine. The ones that Lin Wu had seen were only the ones that were present directly on the surface. There were a lot more hidden deep within the rocks and would need to be dug out first.

    "Such arge deposit of Earthen Depths Obsidian!" This was the thing that Wang Xiong was stunned by the most. "This is even more valuable than the mine is a way." He added.

    "The mine is pretty good, too. Though the total value of the different materials definitely outweighs the short term value of the mine." Lin Wu stated.

    "What will you do now, senior?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "I have some things to do, so I''ll be gone for a bit. Though you will still be able to contact me.." Lin Wu replied.

 Chapter 607 - Heading To The Tian Clan

    <em>~KIKIKIKI~</em>

    "Where Go? More hunt?" The weasel questioned.

    Lin Wu and Tim were now traveling toward the location of the branch of the Tian n. They had left Wang Xiong and the rest about an hour ago, and Tim was following behind Lin Wu.

    "You''re asking that now?" Lin Wu raised his brows.

    ''He followed along quietly before. Seems like his thoughts are really slow.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "More Hunt?" Tim questioned.

    "Noбн not this time. Though we can huntter." Lin Wu answered.

    "Okay." Time replied.

    Lin Wu looked at him and nodded in satisfaction.

    ''At least he''s getting a bit more controble now. Keeping his stomach full seems to be the key.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu looked at the map and saw that they were still quite some distance from the Tian n. ording to the system, it would take Lin Mu about five more hours to reach the ce.

    "I need to be slowed since the Weasel is with me. Or I could have reached it in about an hour or two." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He had even thought of leaving Tim behind or in some ce, but the thought of him randomly going on a rampage was not going to leave Lin Wu alone. He was fine with Tim killing other beasts or humans, but doing so at a location like this might bring some unnecessary attention to them. Which was not something that was desirable.

    The two of them continued their travels while avoiding the few viges and towns that came in their way.

    "For a ce this remoteбн there sure are a lot of human settlements here." Lin Wu muttered.

    He looked at the many markers that were there on his map and saw that the number of cultivators here was higher than usual too.

    "Isn''t the number of cultivators low in viges. Not to mention their cultivation base being low as well. Why do I see Core condensation realm cultivators here?" Lin Wu was intrigued.

    It was very rare for there to be a core condensation realm cultivator to live in a vige. If there was one, they would either be passing through, or be there for a very specific purpose.

    ''Even if it was a group of them travelingбн this is still a bit strange.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Feeling curious, he extended his spirit sense and did a quick scan of the vige. With his range, it was very easy for him to reach that point. In less than a minute, Lin Wu had gotten an image of the vige in his mind.

    "So they are not travelersбн they are actually natives of that vigeбн" Lin Wu said.

    With his spirit sense, he had seen that the core condensation realm cultivators were living in different houses of their own in the vige. They were mingling normally with the people there and they seemed to be unaware that there were core condensation realm cultivators walking among their midst.

    Normally if a core condensation realm cultivator arrived in viges, they would be met with a weing ceremony. There would even be a banquet to celebrate their arrival, even if it was only brief.

    Lin Wu listened to their conversations and slowed down a bit more.

    ***

    "Old Lu! Old Lu!" A young man called out while running into a house.

    "What is it! Why are you shouting! My ears will bleed, you brat!" The old man who was pruning a peach tree said out loud.

    The young man though, did care for that scolding and brushed it away like it was nothing.

    "The Bloom! The bloom will happen soon, they say!" The Young man spoke.

    Hearing this, the Old Man furrowed his brows and put down the shears in his hand.

    "Where did you head that?" The old man asked with furrowed brows.

    "At the tavern. There are a few warriors that just arrived from the forest. They say they saw it themselves." The young man replied.

    "Saw it? Saw what?" The old man questioned.

    "The traces of the bloom, of course! The buds have already started to rise." The Young man answered.

    "I seeбн so it is already time for it. But why are you telling me this? Don''t tell me you are thinking of going there," The old man said in a serious tone.

    "I am of course! If I can get some bamboo flowers, I''ll be able to buy spirit stones and start cultivation as well. I''m already at the sixth stage of the body tempering realm already. I''m sure if I go there I''ll find enough resources to push me to the Eighth stage and then the beyond it!" The Young man said with excitement.

    "Huh? Do you really think it''s that easy?" The Old man scoffed.

    "I know it''s not easy. But it''s not too hard either. Elder Ping''s son is just at the fourth stage and he''s going too!" The Young man stated.

    "Humph! Go if you want to face danger. You might die too." The old man said and turned around.

    "I won''t. I know the forest well and can take care of myself." The Young Man replied.

    "Why did you evene to me if you were going to go there, anyway?" The Old Man said in an upset tone.

    "I need something from you, of course." The Young man replied.

    "Oho? Now you think you can demand things from me?" The Old man said in a cynical tone.

    "You still owe a few favors to father. I''ll use one of them today." The Young man said cheekily.

    <em>~HUMPH~</em>

    "Fine! But you won''t get to do this again. This is thest time I''m going to help you." The Old Man said in an upset tone.

    "Hahha! I knew you woulde around Old Lu! Admit it! You care for me too!" The young man said.

    "In your dreams," The Old man said before walking towards his house.

    He opened the backyard side entrance and went inside a room. He returned half a minuteter with a long box in his hand. The box was made out of wood and looked to be hand made.

    There were a few finely carved patterns on it as well, though they were rtively simple.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The old man threw the box in front of the Young Man and it came tond at his feet.

    "Take it and leave!" The old man waved with his sleeve, gesturing the Young man to leave.

    The Young Man quickly picked up the box, not minding the chiding. He quickly opened the lid and revealed the weapon that was kept covered in the box. It was wrapped with a thick canvas cloth and then tied with a leather strap.

    The Young Man nodded his head seeing this and quickly led the house. He didn''t stop anywhere and ran all the way to his house. There, he finally opened the box again.

    "''With this, dealing with the beasts will be way easier!" The Young Man said with excrement.

    He unbuckled the leather strips before unwrapping the canvas sheet.

    ~shua~

    Finally, the weapon hidden in it was revealed. It was a polearm with a tapering handle. It had a crescent de at the side of its top and a straight spear tip at the center.

    "Only Old Man Lu can have high quality weapons like this. Wonder why he never became a cksmith here. If he ever did it, he would be the best cksmiths in the vige and make a lot more money than he does now by selling fruits." The Young Man muttered to himself.

    The pole arm was rtively simple, but had an attractive property to a warrior. Lin Wu, who had been observing everything with his spirit sense checked the pole arm and was a bit surprised.

    "Huhбн it''s made from spirit weapon materials, but is not really a spirit weapon. It''s like it was never refined nor were there any runes and formations ced on it." Lin Wu muttered.

    To him, the entire situation seemed suspicious and he wondered what this ''Bloom'' exactly was.

    "System, give me the information about the bloom." Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~DING</em>~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Bloom is themon term used by natives of this region to refer to a special urrence that happens every ten years. It is the blooming of the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo flowers.

    Every ten years, the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo would mature and fine stems would rise from the ground. These stems would be different than the normal stem of the Bamboo and would be of red color.

    They would also have flowers growing at their tips, that contained the main medicinal value. They are used for the manufacture of various pills and other items and thus, are almost always in high demand.

    Many sects pay the viges in this area to gather the flowers for them. This even includes some private cultivators that would desire the flowers as well. The flowers not only have the medicina properties to heal someone, but they also can be used in various pills.

    бкбк

    Seeing the answer of the system, Lin Wu was surprised.

    "So I''m guessing the Bloom also brings in a lot more beasts. Not only would they being in for the flowers, but they will also probably cause another situation to happen." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    MAP UPDATED: The potential location of the Bloom has been marked on the map.

    бкбк

    Seeing this, Lin Wu couldn''t help but feel pleased.. He thought over it and deiced that it might be worth checking out this Bloom as well.

 Chapter 608 - Spies Of A Different Continent?

    Having seen the weapon and gotten the location of the Bloom, Lin Wu deliberated on if he should go there. It was now that his spirit sense picked up on something else.

    "Oh? There''s more to it, huhбн" Lin Wu said as he saw the Old man entering an underground room that was hidden under the floor.

    He took out a rectangr te from a chest that was kept at the end of the room and held it up. He then took out a dagger and cut his thumb before drawing a pattern on the te with his blood.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The moment he did that, the te started to glow and a bunch of runes appeared from it. The runes changed into amunication formation and a circr screen appeared in front of the old man.

    The circr screen was nk at first, but a few secondster, an image could be seen in it.

    "Why are you contacting us at this time?" The voice of a man could be hearding from it.

    The one speaking was a man that had his entire face covered with a cloth. Only his eyes could be seen, and they had a deadly glint to them. The pupils were Grey in color while the rest of the eye was normal.

    "The Bloom." Old man Lu replied.

    "But that''s still some time away." The man on the screen said.

    "I thought so too. But we have gotten eyewitness reports that the Bloom has already started. It seems to be early this time around," Old Man Lu spoke.

    "Hmmбн what about the others? What are they thinking?" The man on the screen questioned.

    "I haven''t gotten around to asking them yet. ording to our initial agreement, we would be keeping contact between ourselves limited so as to avoid others knowing about the truth." Old Man Lu answered.

    "Then it is time to end the agreement. If it really is ''The'' Bloom we have been waiting for, then you all can return after finishing your mission." The man on the screen replied.

    "Alright. How will the goods be delivered after we gather them?" Old Man Lu questioned.

    "I will have to inform the leaders. But for now, expect there to be some unexpected changes. The situation isn''t exactly safe in the Long continent. Thus there might a chance that you will have to bring it yourself to us." The Man on the screen answered.

    Hearing this, the expression of old man Lu turned serious.

    "You want me to cross the ocean alone?" Old Man Lu asked.

    Upon listening to this part, Lin Wu was stunned.

    "My, my, myбн seems like I''ve stumbled onto another secret huhбн" Lin Wu said to himself.

    "Yes." The man on the screen stated. "We cannot afford any Dao Shell realm cultivators to escort you right now. The Long n has been on alert recently and might find out about us. We cannot afford that to happen." He exined.

    "The Long n? What is it that''s happening?" Old Man Lu asked.

    "You do not need to know that now. Just focus on your mission andplete it as soon as possibles." The man on the screen said before closing the connection.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The screen shut down before fading away into ruins and spirit Qi particles. The old man frowned, seeing this, and shook his head.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I''m getting too old for thisбн I wish this hade earlier or perhaps even further down in the future." The old man said as he rubbed his forehead.

    Done with this, The old man left his house and went to talk with a few other people. All these were the other Core condensation realm cultivators that were hiding in the vige, and Lin Wu knew of them all.

    "Seems like they have been acting as spies or something all this time. Also, seeing as he talked about leaving the continent, they are definitely not from here. The only question that stands is the continent that they are from.

    Is it the Hu continent or the Gui continent?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He felt like observing the old man a little more, but knew that he could not do so easily.

    "Hmmбн time to use that thing. This is the perfect moment to do it." Lin Wu said as he took out three disks from his storage.

    The disks were made from the free crystal like the rest of Lin Wu''s body, but were finely carved with runes. They were rather small as well, with each disk being half the size of a normal gold coin.

    Lin Wu held it in this tail for a few seconds and injected some spirit Qi and instructions in it before throwing the three disks out.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The disks flew out like Frisbee and disappeared in the distance. They arrived in the vige a few secondster and split apart into three Frisbees. They then quickly reached the three old spies that were there and stuck to their clothes all without them knowing. they also changed the color to be transparent making it hard to tell what they were.

    "Now to see how it all goesбн" Lin Wu said as he checked the map.

    The Location of the Bloom was near the Tian n''s branch from what Lin Wu could see. While it was not exactly in the territory of the Tian n, Lin Wu estimated that it was just an hour''s distance from it.

    "This is pretty much two birds with one stone." Lin Wu said before deciding to go to the Bloom.

    Since his mission to the Tian n wasn''t exactly missions sensitive, there was no problem in him going to the Bloom site.

    "Go where?" Tim questioned, seeing that they had changed the direction again.

    "We might actually get to eat some new things." Lin Wu said, making the weasel beast excited.

    It even sped up and took the lead.

    "Where are you even going when you don''t know the location?" Lin Wu said as he saw the weasel rush past him.

    "Ki?" The weasel stopped and looked at him before returning to Lin Wu''s side.

    "That''s better.." Lin Wu said before continuing toward the Bloom Site.

 Chapter 609 - Millennium Parrot Bamboo Egg

    <em>~rustle~ rustle~</em>

    A bunch of trees trembled and their leaves shook as a very fast being went through them.

    <em>~sniff~</em>

    "Flowers GOOD!" Tim called out.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    The ground shook as Lin Wu appeared out of it as well.

    "Oh? You''re right." Lin Wu spoke as he saw therge bamboo forest that spread in front of him.

    This was the end of the normal forest and from this point onwards only the dense bamboos could be seen. Most of them were the normal green and yellow bamboo, but asionally some rare forms like violet vein bamboo and the cicada leaf bamboo could also be seen.

    "System, correct the location ordingly." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    MAP UPDATED: Re-routingpleted.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw the map change as the bamboo forest, along with a few other markers appeared. The location of the Bloom that Lin Wu was following was given to him by the system and was extrapted ording to the information that he had received from the different people that he had seen in the vige.

    But due to being passed in the oral format, there were some inuracies. But with the help of Tim and his great sense of smell, it became rtively easier to find the location of the Bloom.

    "How far from here Tim?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Tim Furrowed his brows and thought for a bit before speaking, "two kill, far."

    "Huh?" Lin Wu was utterly confused.

    "How far is that?" Lin Wu asked further.

    "Kill two, time get." Tim replied.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu finally understood.

    "Damnбн you even estimate distance in the time needed for you to kill beasts." Lin Wu said, finding it rather strange but appropriate at the same time.

    He looked at the map and saw the markers denoting the humans that had already reached the bamboo forest. They were wandering around, trying to look for the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo.

    It was a spirit nt that was less than 5% of the entire bamboo forest and could only be found located in a few spots. They were sparsely popted but their value was very high. If it were not for the fact that it was very useful, the sects would have probably chopped all the bamboos by now.

    ''The ten year cycle allows it to be replenished and regrown. The people gather the flowers at this time while all the bamboos speed up this growth.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    Having understood this, Lin Wu dug back into the ground as well. Tim the weasel didn''t do the same through and continued onwards as he was ordered to before.

    Lin Wu was also thinking about what was special about the bloom this time.

    ''That old man Lu and the man on the screen were both dangerous. Though what exactly is it that they are looking for?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    And just while thinking like this, Lin Wu reached the area of the Bamboo forest that was popted with the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo. He peered into it and did not see any humans there, though there were certainly some signs of them being there a few days ago.

    <em>~Kikikiki~</em>

    Tim stood between a few bamboos and called out.

    <em>~rumble~</em>

    Lin Wu''s head popped out of an empty spot and gazed at the ce where Tim was.

    "Now what is this?" Lin Wu muttered as he looked at the fist sized flower blooming in the ground.

    It let out a red aura and was the flower of a Fragrant Parrot bamboo. It looked bright red and gave out a pleasant smell.

    But that was not what caught Lin Wu''s attention. After all, he had already known of the appearance of the flower. What truly caught his attention was the small marble like thing growing in the center of the flower.

    <em>~KREEE~</em>

    The Weasel quickly approached the flower and ripped it out of the ground without hesitation.

    Lin Wu could only shake his head at that, but also knew that this was inevitable.

    "Though it does save me, the effort of testing to see what it is. Since Tim can hold it easily, then there shouldn''t be any danger." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~Munch~</em>

    Tim directly bit into the flower and swallowed half of it in one go.

    <em>~munch~</em>

    With the next bite, he finished the entire flower, including the marble that was growing at the center. But a few secondster, his expression changed.

    <em>~PUKE~</em>

    "Ugh! Grossбн" Lin Wu said as Tim vomited out a mouthful of liquid.

    <em>~tak~tak~tak~</em>

    But along with the sound of the vomit spilling, the sound of something hard falling could also be heard. Lin Wu looked at it and saw that it was nothing but the marble like object that was growing in the center of the flower.

    "Oh? Did he really meet his match?" Lin Wu was shocked.

    So far, Tim has been able to eat most of the things and didn''t mind anything. Thus, seeing it not only being unable to digest something but also vomiting it out this fast made Lin Wu think that this marble was certainly special.

    "Let''s see what it isбн" Lin Wu said as a small tube extended from the side of his neck.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    A jet of water shot out of the tube and hit the marble, washing it clean in just a few seconds. The water that had just shot out was stored in his inventory, thus he had plenty of it to use whenever he needed it.

    "System, scan this thing." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target selected

    SCANNING TARGET: Please wait a momentбн

    .

    .

    .

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target analyzed

    TARGET: Millennium Parrot Bamboo Egg

    INFO: The Millennium Parrot Bamboo Egg is the fruit of the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo. It only grows after Ten full life cycles of the bamboo arepleted, with each cycle being hundred years long.

    Each life cycle isposed of ten breeding cycles within which the flowers of the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo bloom. These are used to increase their numbers, but the fruit of the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo has a different function.

    The Fruit is very unique and contains the life essence of thousands of bamboos umted over hundreds of years. It has the potential to gain sentience and be a bamboo spirit!

    бкбк

 Chapter 610 - A Bamboo Spirit

    Seeing the information, Lin Wu was surprised.

    "This thingбн it''s an egg? Shouldn''t it be a seed instead?" Lin Wu said feeling confused.

    He read the information again and realized that the information was talking about apletely different being than just a spirit herb that was the bamboo.

    "System, what is a Bamboo spirit?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The bamboo spirit is a type of nt spirit and is formed after thousands of years of umtion. It is a spirit born from the collective consciousness of the bamboo forest and can be very strong if it can grow.

    When born, it will be of a simr shape to that of its originating nt, but of a miniature form. It will also not be limited to a single location and would be able to move around as needed.

    The Bamboo spirit can cultivate and grow stronger through the consumption of other resources along with spirit Qi. The stronger the bamboo spirit grows, the better its abilities get.

    Its chief ability is to enhance and augment the growth of various spirit herbs. Just by being in the vicinity of spirit herbs is enough for it to almost double the growth rate of those herbs.

    And if a bamboo spirit can be made to take care of a spirit herb, its growth and quality would both increase by multiple times.

    In ancient times, bamboo spirits were one of the mostmon nt spirits that were used to farm for spirit herbs in cultivation sects. But over time, they would either perish to the dangers of cultivation just like normal humans or would be killed for other purposes.

    In addition to being useful for the growth of spirit herbs, the bamboo spirits themselves are useful for some alchemical pills, though the system currently does not have any information about it.

    бкбк

    Seeing the System''s answer, Lin Wu reckoned that perhaps this is why the power behind Old Man Lu had decided to act.

    "So they want these eggsбн but even then, it doesn''t seem like there is a guarantee that they would grow a bamboo spirit. Also, why does the system not have any information about the pills? It''s unusual considering the amount of information we gathered." Lin Wu said.

    To this, the system had a very quick response.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: In the current times, the Bamboo spirits or, for that matter, any nt spirit is considered a blessing and is thus revered whenever ites into existence. Every sect would vie for the nt spirit and would do their best to nurture it if they ever got one.

    The ones that used a nt spirit to refine alchemical pills would be greatly punished if not killed. There were a lot of cultivators that would hunt down nt spirits in the past since they were such a valuable ingredient of the pills.

    Thus, to prevent and stop it, the sects collectively destroyed and restrained the information about pills that used nt spirits as ingredients for pill refinement. Even unorthodox sects supported the agreement and the only ones that were in opposition were a few ns and rogue cultivators.

    Since most of the cultivators that refined pills like that from nt spirits were either rogue or from those kinds of cultivation ns and could not afford to wait for the long term benefits of the nt spirit, they would very much prefer to refine the nt spirit into a pill.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so that''s how it is. Though yeah, the long term gains of having a nt spirit are far better than just refining one into a pill." Lin Wu said, seeing the answer.

    Now that he knew that the bamboo spirit could help out with the growth of the spirit herbs, Lin Wu couldn''t help but want one as well.

    "System, what are the chances that this egg will sessfully hatch a bamboo spirit?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The possibility of a Millennium Parrot Bamboo spirit being born from this egg is 5.68%.

    бкбк

    The system''s answer poured cold water over Lin Wu''s n.

    "Thisбн this is as good as nothing." Lin Wu said.

    But then a few secondster, another thought came to his mind.

    "HANG ON A SECOND!" Lin Wu realized something.

    He opened the map and flipped through the filters before changing a setting.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The map changed its markers and a few secondster, tens of small red-green markers appeared on the map.

    "BINGO! It''s not just one such egg, there are more!" Lin Wu eximed.

    He looked at the time and spoke, e on! Gather more of these flowers and the marbles that they have on them. Go sniff them out,"

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Tim didn''t have to hear it a second time and he shot forward like a gust of wind. Lin Wu could see his marker moving towards one of the markers on the left side of the map.

    "Hmm, I take the right side thenбн" Lin Wu muttered and went to find the flowers.

    About ten secondster, Lin Wu had found the second flower. Though looking at it, Lin Wu found it to be different from the others.

    "Oh? Why''s this one bigger than the previous one?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He could also see that the marble like egg in the center was slightly bigger than the previous one. The flower itself was twice the size of the first one that Lin Wu had seen.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The bigger the size, the better the potential of the egg. The hatching probability of this egg is 7.14%.

    бкбк

    Seeing this, the system''s eyes lit up. "Let''s get them all then!" Lin Wu said as he sped up his task.

    In less than ten minutes, he had gathered all of the Millennium Parrot Bamboo eggs that were present in the area and waited for Tim.

    Lin Wu checked through the various probabilities of them hatching a bamboo spirit and saw that the hugest probability he had was 10.39%. As for the lowest one, it was a meager 1.97%.

    ''Hopefully, Tim has ones with even better chancesбн'' Lin Wu thought.

 Chapter 611 - Hatch Rates

    Lin Wu''s waitsted just five more minutes as Tim finally appeared in front of him.

    "Did you get those marbles?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He could care less about the flowers themselves as they weren''t as useful to him. While he still did consume them, they only gave him some spirit Qi and vital Qi in exchange. Lin Wu didn''t eat any of the Millennium Parrot Bamboo eggs right now since he didn''t want to eat one that could potentially hatch.

    Though Lin Wu was curious about what would happen if he ate one of them. He had seen Tim eat the first one and he was forced to vomit it out. This was a highly unusual urrence, considering its physique and cultivation.

    Thus Lin Wu avoided eating it right now, even if he was sure that his body might be able to digest it.

    After all, the way his body worked was vastly different from the average spirit beast. Lin Wu had managed to digest literally inedible things, thus something organic like an egg would be digested as well.

    Tim nodded his head in response and then spat out something.

    <em>~BLEGH!~</em>

    <em>~tak~tak~tak~</em>

    Out of his mouth, twenty three Millennium Parrot Bamboo fell out. They were covered in spit through and Lin Wu had to clean it up first.

    <em>~SWOOSH~</em>

    He sprayed them with water and got them all clean before finally checking them all.

    "Good!" Lin Wu said, seeing the biggest egg of them all.

    This Millennium Parrot Bamboo egg was twice as big as the biggest egg Lin Wu had gotten and thus had the greatest probability of hatching.

    "System, what''s the probability of this one?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The probability of this Millennium Parrot Bamboo egg sessful hatching is 22.81%.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu couldn''t help but smile.

    "Excellent! If I keep all of the eggs now, there is bound to be at least one that will hatch into the bamboo spirit." Lin Wu said.

    He stored the Millennium Parrot Bamboo eggs away and decided to incubate them at the tomb where the spirit Qi was the thickest. He didn''t believe the yield couldn''t be increased by supporting the eggs more.

    ''Once at least one of them has hatched, I''ll be free to try and eat the others. Wonder what I''ll get from eating one of them.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Done with this, Lin Wu checked the map to see if he had missed any more flowers with the eggs, but could not see any more left.

    "Seems like our work here done. The flowers with the eggs are very rare among the normal ones and are gone now that I''ve plucked them all out." Lin Wu said after observing the map.

    He then reactivated the route to the Tian n and started moving in its direction. Tim followed after him and the two of them traveled for another hour or so before they reached the territory of the Tian n.

    "Don''t get any closer or the humans will find out about us." Lin Wu warned Tim.

    "Okay~ I sleep." Tim said before he curled up on a tree directly.

    Since the trunk of the tree was thick, it was far more stable and could directly bear his weight now. Lin Wu nodded his head and found Tim to be getting a lot more presentable now. Though he was still worried that he might throw caution to the wind and pounce on a few humans as a snack.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu set up a formation array around them for that very reason and created an area that would not be detected or be seen.

    "This should be enoughбн" Lin Wu said seeing the formation array that directly hid the area that Tim was in.

    Lin Wu checked the map and saw that the actual location of the Tian n branch was further in. The current part that he was in was the boundary of their formation array. It was a formation array that detected who and what entered the territory.

    Lin Wu of course, got the system to take over the formation array and hid in in sight.

    "Without the system''s help in things like this, it would take me a long, long time to do the same." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he let his spirit sense spread.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    His spirit sense spread across a wide area as the map started to update again. This time, Lin Wu finally got to see what the Tian n looked like.

    "Huhбн they got some serious securitypared to the other ns, not to mention their n is prettyrge. I think it''s bigger than a few cultivation sects in size too." Lin Wu said, seeing the many buildings of the Tian n.

    While they were not built on a mountain peak like most sects, the buildings still exuded a level of majesty. The entire n was hidden in a curtain of mist and was surrounded by a bamboo forest that further enhanced its secrecy.

    ''Plus, this is merely a branch of the Tian n. Who knows just how vast the true Tian n isбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    He continued onwards and saw the main courtyard of the Tian n in the range of his spirit sense.

    "Hmm, this should be far enough. Time to let the spirit sense handle the rest." Lin Wu said as he quickly checked all the people that were in the area.

    "System, scan the Tian n in detail." Lin Wu ordered.

    He then checked the map and saw the various people that lived in the Tian n. For a simple branch n, they seemingly had a vast number of people in their n. Though their cultivation bases weren''t too shocking for Lin Wu.

    "Hmmбн so there are four Nascent soul realm cultivators, hundred and fifteen Core Condensation realm cultivators, and then over seven hundred Qi refining realm cultivators, in addition to several servants that are just normal humans.." Lin Wu took note.

 Chapter 612 - Gathering Information And A Little Drama

    To Lin Wu, the current Tian n was nothing and he could easily deal with them if the need rose. But that was highly unlikely to happen and he would be done with this ce as soon as he finished gathering the information and records.

    "Hmm, where are the records, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    MAP UPDATED: Highlighting targets.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu then saw several points appearing on the map.

    "So there are eight areas where they store the information. Three of them seem like the n repositories where they store in information and the rest seem like the ce where they store cultivation rted knowledge including techniques and such." Lin Wu checked.

    He decided to start with the location that was closest to him and approached it. In less than a minute, he was under the building where this was located. It was a small library that was located in the outer area of the n.

    Lin Wu could see several servants and weaker members of the n visiting the building.

    "This should be the lowest level library of the n. There are five more of them." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he extended his spirit sense and started to gather the information.

    He spent about fifteen minutes here and got information about some low leveled cultivation techniques and skills. They were mostly useless for him and only the system could benefit from it.

    "Onto the next." Lin Wu said as he went to the next closest location.

    This time it was a different building and only contained normal information that was unrted to cultivation for the most part. Lin Wu read the board at the top of it and understood what it was.

    "The affairs hallбн huh? Why would an individual n need this?" Lin Wu felt curious.

    He could understand a sect or a bigger organization having something like this, but the Tian n branch was far too small to actually need an entire building for it. Only after he took a look inside and saw what was going on did he understand the reality.

    "The new tasks have arrived!" A loud voice could be heard echoing through the Affairs hall.

    As soon as the people in the hall heard it, they all rushed towards the wall located to the left side of the hall. The wall was in and didn''t seem to have anything on it at first. But as soon as the nsmen stood in front of it, runes appeared in it.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The runes formed a textual disy on the wall and soon a few lists appeared.

    "Hey! Don''t Push!

    "Let me in the front! I want to see too!"

    "Senior Brother Han is here, everyone make way!"

    Various voices were heard as they all tried to see the list of tasks.

    A rather proud looking man walked to the front as the people parted to give him way.

    "Humph! Good," The man said with a harrumph and gazed upon the wall.

    His eyes scanned from left to right before settling on a line of words that were glowing in a yellow light.

    "I''m taking that task!" He said firmly.

    The others saw what he chose and their faces fell. Some directly trowed while some could only shake their heads in disappointment.

    "You can''t just take the best task like that! I won''t allow that." The sound of a girl was hearding from the side.

    The man named Han turned to look at the source of the voice and saw a slightly plump looking girl approaching.

    "Oh? Cousin Chu does not approve of me taking the task of gathering the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo Flowers?" The man named Han questioned.

    "You think you can do that alone? I''ll be going with you as well! Don''t think you can hoard this task all to yourself. Just because you have a little strength do you think you can suppress everyone in the n?" The girl named Chu replied.

    "Why does Cousin Chu not understand. Strength is the key to everything in the world. If I want to im this task, do others dare to deny me that?" The man named Han said fiercely.

    "Hah!" The girl chuckled. "That might work in other ces, but as long as you are a member of the Tian n you must follow the n rules. Even if you have strength, you have to allow others to have a fair chance at the tasks." The girl named Chu said smugly.

    ''This pigбн If we were not here, I would show her what she''s worth.'' Han thought coldly.

    He was irked by her words and wanted to deal with her right then and there, but knew that would just be courting death.

    "Fine thenбн I''ll allow you to apany me in the task." Han said in a gracious tone.

    "Humph! Think I''m begging for scraps? It''s not just me, more will being for it. The Fragrant Parrot Bamboo flowers only bloom once every hundred years. Even you alone won''t be able to do it.

    Don''t forget that this is a rank I task issued by the main branch. If you dare to hoard it all to yourself and fail to gather enough flowers, the main branch will not be pleased." The girl named Chu taunted.

    Han wanted to counter her but knew that fighting there was just useless. He knew the girl''s personality and fighting a battle of words against her was just a waste of time.

    "Fine! Bring who you want to for the task!" Han stated.

    He then waved his hand and a token shot out of it. It came to float in front of the list where the task was written and shone a light on it. A secondter the task returned to his hand and he turned around.

    The girl named Chu did the same and marked the task. But in addition to her token, she also used eight more tokens.

    Lin Wu who was watching this all was intrigued as their methodology seemed to be different than other sects.

 Chapter 613 - A Weird Clan

    While Lin Wu was observing the little drama that was happening, he was also gathering the information in the hall. Doing these two things simultaneously was easy for him and watching the people was free entertainment for him.

    "This guy is certainly not up to any good." Lin Wu said as he noted the evil gaze with which the man named Tian Han was looking toward Tian Chu.

    Lin Wu was also interested in the different n rules that Tian Chu had just mentioned and looked into them.

    "Here they are," Lin Wu muttered as he found the n rules of the Tian n.

    They were very prominently disyed in the Affairs hall for everyone to see and were hard to miss. There were over a hundred rules and most of them were normal and understandable, such as not killing fellow nsmen, not stealing things, and all.

    But then there were unusual rules like, not participating in any tournaments outside the n that were not approved by the n elders; leaving the n for more than a year without approval from the elders; monopolizing tasks and missions being prohibited and a lot more.

    "Aren''t some of theseбн not good for the growth of the n?" Lin Wu said, finding the rule to be nonpetitive and suppressive without a reason.

    In addition to the more than a hundred main rules, there were a lot of smaller rules that were additionally hung on the side. They were written on long scrolls and one could read them just by tapping them which would cause the scrolls to unfurl.

    Lin Wu found a mind raking level of rules in them. The smaller rules were different than the main rules, such that they could be broken and the punishment would be far milder.

    "This n is weirdбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    To Lin Wu, this didn''t seem like a family n, but more like an indoctrination center of a cult.

    ''Though ns are kinda cults in a way?'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    He pushed this to the back of his mind and thought that he would learn about it more in detail once he finished gathering all the information in the Tian n branch. That way he would be able to learn the history of the n as well as the reasoning behind the rules.

    About thirty minutester, Lin Wu finished gathering all the information in the Affairs hall and went to the next location. He spent the rest of the day gathering information from five more locations and finally reached the final location that was the main repository of the n.

    It was the smallest of them all and contained the most secretive and important records of the n.

    But when Lin Wu was trying to gather information from this hall, he came across an obstacle.

    "Huh? It can actually stop my spirit sense?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    There was a thin barrier that actually protected the repository from being infiltrated by anyone. This was surprising to Lin Wu since the system was already in control of the n''s formation arrays.

    "What''s the issue here system? How''s this possible?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but question.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The barrier was hidden from the system''s scan and is on a different level than the others it hase across till now. While it can still be infiltrated by the system, it will take some more time to do so.

    The Isting formation array is on a different level than the formation array that is spread over the n; It is at least two levels higher than it.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu understood that this was not a simple thing.

    "Was this made by the main branch of the Tian n perhaps?" Lin Wu wondered.

    That was the only logical answer that came to him at that time.

    "How long will it take you to decrypt the formation array and take over it, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYZING: Please wait a momentбн

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: The Formation array decryption will take 7 days, 14 hours and 43 minutes.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu was surprised.

    "No way! How''s it taking you that long? Just what level is this formation array at?" Lin Wu was shocked now.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system estimates it was set up by a cultivator that was at the Immortal Ascension realm at the very least.

    бкбк

    "GODDAMN! I knew the Tian n was hiding something." Lin Wu eximed.

    He spread his spirit sense around the n and checks it in detail to verify the cultivation bases of every person. But even after two tried, he didn''t find anyone that was at the Dao Shell realm or above here.

    "Huh? So was it someone from the main n that set this up?" Lin Wu guessed.

    No matter what, Lin Wu was now determined to obtain the information that was hidden here. This repository stood out from all others and had a security that was on par with the Frozen Cloud sect which is one of the top ten sects of the Long continent.

    "Is there any other way we can speed up the process of essing it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host can directly break down the confines of the repository and ess the contents inside. The defense of the repository only pertains to spirit sense and other investigative techniques, it does not actually defend as well against direct attacks.

    The repository can only defend attacks of Nascent soul realmpletely and will be able to hold on for a while against Dao Shell realm attacks. The ones above those realms are able to break it in a single blow.

    Though doing so will inevitably trigger the warning and rm formations that will send alerts to every Tian n branch as well as the main branch.

    бкбк

    "This is basically a trap, isn''t it? The one who set it up must be confident that no one would attack it physically. They probably have solutions set up for that too. The main n will definitely react to protect their branch.." Lin Wu understood.

 Chapter 614 - Tian Aigou

    Lin Wu knew that attacking the formation array was out of options, thus his only option was to now wait.

    "No waitбн what if we just follow after someone that opens it for us? Will you be able to use that to get ess, System?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system can gain ess if the formation array is unlocked in its intended manner. It will give enough of time for the system to analyze the details.

    бкбк

    "Good! We can use that then." Lin Wu said.

    But then a secondter, his brows furrowed.

    "Now I need to find out who has ess to the ce. The ones who most likely have it are the patriarch and the high elders. I just need to find one of them and take over temporarily." Lin Wu muttered.

    Lin Wu''s spirit sense spread around the area before he quickly found a suitable target.

    "Huh, he''s out for a stroll." Lin Wu said as he spotted none other than the patriarch himself.

    He recalled that he was also the father of Xiaoge.

    ''His name isбн Tian Aiguo rightбн That should be correct.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He then started to think of how to do this without others finding it out. Tian Aiguo was calmly walking around a herb garden and was observing the various spirit herbs and flowers that were blooming.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "The time for the Bloom has arrived, even the flowers here are getting affected. Hopefully, the juniors can have a good harvest this time. It would be bad if the main n''s elders get angry again, we are already in debt to themбн" Tian Aiguo muttered to himself.

    He liked to contemte on his problems like this and the garden helped him think clearly. As a patriarch, he had a lot on his te and things often got hectic.

    "Xiaoge hasn''t spoken to us in ten yearsбн is she still angry about that?" the man rubbed his forehead.

    "Silly girl, why does she trouble her father so much. Perhaps I should inquire about her from the Frozen Cloud sect. Ten years is still a bit too much for them to not tell us anything." Tian Aiguo reckoned.

    "Fathбн"

    But while he was doing this, his ears suddenly perked up as he heard something.

    "Whatбн?" The man looked around.

    "Fatherбн" The voice was heard again.

    He turned towards the source of the voice and observed that it wasing from the trees in the distance.

    He furrowed his brows, but decided to check it out.

    "Fatherбн" The voice called out again.

    This time though, Tian Aiguo could hear it far better than before.

    "Xiaogeбн?" he said in disbelief.

    "Fatherбн hereбн" The voice continued to call out.

    "Xiaoge? Is that you!?" Tian Aiguo called out in response.

    At first he couldn''t confirm if the voice was really who he thought it belonged to, but now he could hear it far more clearly and knew it was of his daughter.

    "Fatherбн I''m hereбн" The voice spoke.

    "Xiaoge! I''mingбн" Tian Aiguo said, nervousness appearing in his voice.

    He didn''t know why, but he was feeling anxious all of a sudden. The feeling took over him very quickly, and he didn''t even think clearly about the whole situation. If it were any other person of his stature, they would have understood just how shandy the entire situation was.

    "Fatherбн I''m hereбнeбн" The voice called out once more.

    <em>~woom~</em>

    This time Tian Aiguo broke out in a full blown sprint.

    "I''m COMING!" he shouted.

    To him, it felt like Tian Xiaoge was in trouble and was calling out to him. His mind was telling him that something was wrong and this shouldn''t be possible, but his heart as a father was telling him otherwise.

    He didn''t even realize when he had rushed out of the boundaries of the n and entered the forest. There, he could feel a faint figure in the distance.

    It was small and looked like a girl. Tian Aiguo''s brows furrowed and he withdrew his spirit sword as spirit Qi waves came off his body.

    <em>~SWOOSH~</em>

    He flew towards the figure at great speed, and shouted.

    "WHO DARES!"

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The figure of the girl faded away like a shadow and sparks were seen.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "And it was going so wellбн seems like I need more practiceбн" A feminine voice said, that soon turned inhuman.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Tian Aiguo recoiled back from the attack as his wrist ached. He gritted his teeth and flipped back, finally getting a clear look at the thing in front of him.

    But when he saw it, his eyes went wide.

    "W-what?!" The man was shocked.

    "Well, hello. This is awkwardбн you shouldn''t have seen meбн well, optimally." Lin Wu spoke.

    Only hisrge head was out of the ground right now and spoke. The green light on his body flicked and was forming various shapes. It was how he had made the figure of Xiaoge in the air.

    It was simply casting a shadow onto the dust floating in the air. Amon trick that illusionists used.

    "A beast?" Tian Aiguo muttered.

    <em>~step~step~</em>

    He took a few step backs, trying to retreat, when his back hit something.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    A green crystal wall popped up behind him and stopped him from retreating.

    "Ah, yeah I can''t let you leave. At least not like this." Lin Wu said.

    "You! What do you want!?" Tian Aiguo said, hints of fear visible in his voice.

    Even if he was an Adult Soul Stage Nascent soul realm cultivator, even he couldn''t help but feel pressured at seeing Lin Wu. The aura exuding from Lin Wu was almost always there and even if he suppressed it, those that had higher sensitivity to it could feel it.

    Tian Aiguo practiced a cultivation technique that increased his sensing capabilities. It was also why he was so unnerved by the voice of his daughter. He knew that it could be faked, but his technique would be able to perceive it.

    If it was fake he would find out as no voice could be replicated 100%. Or so he thought.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t know Lin Wu would be here and could do a lot more with the assistance of the System. Lin Wu already had the soundmand skill and modifying it a little bit by adjusting the crystals in his throat was enough to replicate the voice of Xiaoge.

    This was the method that Lin Wu decided to used to lure the man. He knew that it was important to get the man out of the n first. Since Lin Wu had not confirmation if there were other methods by which he could alert the other branches.

    Since there was a formation array in the n, Lin Wu reckoned it was the best option to get the man away from there first. Then, even if he had some other method on his own body, Lin Wu still had the confidence to catch him before that.

    "Well, I just need your help. Don''t worry, it will be over soon and you won''t be hurt. Nothing will happen to your n eitherбн" Lin Wu said with slight assurance.

    But no matter what his words were, there was no way Tian Aiguo would believe it.

    He looked around, trying to find a path of exit, but his spirit sense started being suppressed.

    "What? HOW?" Tian Aiguo was scared now.

    He felt his control of spirit Qi weakening and a few secondster, he couldn''t feel any spirit Qi in the air at all.

    <em>~drip~</em>

    A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead and he gritted his teeth.

    "DAMN IT ALL!" He cursed before shooting up.

    <em>~SHING~ SHING~</em>

    "GAH!" but before he could get even a meter away, five spikes pierced through his body.

    One each went through his limbs, and one went through his abdomen.

    "Now look what you made me do!" Lin Wu said as he shook his head.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Everything would have been so easy if you just stayed put." Lin Wu said as he controlled the spikes to change the shape.

    Tian Aiguo felt a searing pain spreading from the spots where he had been pierced.

    "Youбн what are you?! Why are you doing this?" He questioned.

    But he didn''t receive his answer, as a few secondster his vision went dark. The five spikes that had pierced him changed their form to be a slim armor. The armor retreated inside his clothes and was hidden from the sight of others.

    <em>~chink~ chink~</em>

    The base of the spikes detached from Lin Wu''s body and fully merged into the slim armor that covered Tian Aiguo.

    "There we go, let''s see if it works." Lin Wu said as he connected his spirit sense.

    The slim armor faintly glowed as a response and dimmed down, hiding its presence.

    "Step forward," Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~step~step~</em>

    "Good!" Lin Wu said seeing Tian Aiguo moving forward.

    A wide smile appeared on his face as he controlled Tian Aiguo to move around. Once Lin Wu was sure that he could control the man''s movement freely, he nodded to himself.

    "This should be enough for mechanical control." Lin Wu said as he looked at the unconscious man.

    Tian Aiguo had been knocked out, and his eyes were closed. Seeing him walk in this state was a bit strange to see, but Lin Wu doubted anyone would question it. They would simply think that Tian Aiguo was deep in thought while walking to his destination.

    ''A cultivator of his level doesn''t need eyes to ''see'' anyway.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Let''s begin then.." Lin Wu said as he controlled Tian Aiguo to walk back to the Tian n.

 Chapter 615 - A New Method Of Control

    Lin Wu himself went back underground and followed from there. One of the restrictions that Lin Wu had in controlling the man like this was that the range of this was very short. Lin Wu not only needed his spirit sense for it to work, but the cellr maniption link that his body had with his crystals was also needed.

    With just his spirit sense, he would not be able to control the man, not to mention if he went past a certain limit, the crystals that were detached from his body would be lifeless.

    This was something Lin Wu had only gained recently after his upgrades to the innate skills. Being able to control his body parts as crystal when they were detached was only possible in the Crystalline form, though.

    He could not do the same in the organic form and would just end up injuring himself instead.

    "For now, this will have to do. Thankfully, as long as I hide underground, just below Tian Aiguo, there won''t be anyone that really sees me." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he controlled the man to walk further and further.

    Lin Wu had to be sure that the man was walking in the proper gait or it would look very suspicion. The patriarch of a n with Nascent soul realm cultivation suddenly walking like a drunk would be an rming sign.

    While Lin Wu didn''t know what kind of a personality Tian Aiguo had or how he behaved while drunk, he safely assumed that he simply did not do that. It was more safe for Lin Wu to make sure that the man acted normal.

    Even if the man had his eyes closed while walking.

    And Lin Wu''s guess turned out to be true a few minutester.

    "Huh? Is thatбн the patriarch?" One of the n members questioned.

    Hispanion who was standing by the side, turned around and saw that it really was Tian Aiguo.

    "What''s he doing here? Were we informed of this?" theparison questioned.

    "Hmmбн I don''t think so. Maybe he''s here for some personal task? If it were an official issuing of weapons, we would have been informed." The nsman answered.

    They did notice Tian Aigou''s closed eyes but didn''t question it. For them, it was just the patriarch being deep in thought. Which was understandable, considering the amount of work he needed to do.

    His mind needed to be working at all times and thus he made the most efficient use of his timeбн or so they thought.

    <em>~step~step~step~</em>

    "Oh, he''s noting here." The nsman said, seeing that Tian Aiguo turned into a different corridor.

    "Isn''t thatбн the forbidden repository?" The second nsmen recognized.

    "Shush!" The first one hurriedly shut hisparison mouth shut.

    "Are you looking to get us in trouble? You know we are not supposed to question something like that and neither know about it. We best look away!" The man stated.

    Hispanion, whose mouth was still shut, nodded his head and only after did his mouth was freed.

    Lin Wu who had been observing everything, took a breath of relief.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "I almost had to get rid of them." Lin Wu said to himself.

    "Thankfully, they know better than questioning things like these." He added.

    Lin Wu turned his focus back to the patriarch and finally got him to enter the outer chamber of the repository.

    "Now to see if he can directly enter the actual forbidden repository or notбн" Lin Wu said as he controlled the man to put his hand on the door handle.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The moment he did, runes appeared in the air and quickly formed into a formation that spread on the door. Lin Wu got the system to restrain the spirit Qi in the air, so that no one else was alerted about this opening.

    While Lin Wu could not ess the repository, just stopping some spirit Qi fluctuations was an easy task for the system. Plus, he could simplify it even more by using radiation and just filling the are with it.

    Any spirit Qi that came into contract with it would be neutralized. Though there was also the off chance that it might damage the formation array and bring more trouble. Since the damage to a formation array could be perceived as an attack, which would result in an rm ringing.

    ''The moment of truthбн'' Lin Wu watched as the formation array scanned Tian Aiguo.

    He didn''t know if the formation could be activated passively with just the man being there, or if it needed his actual control. Lin Wu wanted it to be the first option, as the second would mean, he would have to temporarily merge with the man.

    That was not a task that was possible for him anymore, simply due to the fact he had be far toorge now. Even after shrinking his body to the maxim, Lin Wu was still thirty meters long and thus could not hide as an armor or a spear like before.

    ''Well technically, I can still disguise as themбн but just extrarge.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    While he was thinking all this, the formation array finallypleted its work and the color changed.

    <em>~CREAK~</em>

    "BINGO!" Lin Wu eximed as he saw the doors open.

    His tactic of using Tian Aiguo had worked, and just the passive presence of the man was enough for the repository to open.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    FORMATION ARRAY: ess obtained

    бкбк

    "Nice!" Lin Wu said as the system did the task it was assigned.

    With the system having taken over the formation array, Lin Wu quickly ''entered'' the repository. The moment, his spirit sense looked inside, he could see two things there. One was a book shelf that was located along the back wall.

    While the second was a wide table that was kept in the center. The room was smaller than the other repositories and even some basic storage rooms.

    "Now let''s see what''s hidden here exactlyбн" Lin Wu said as his spirit sense got to work.

 Chapter 616 - Checking The Tian Clan Repository

    Lin Wu could see several pill bottles and preservative jade boxes kept on the table. There were individual locking formation carved onto the table which would prevent one from just taking them casually or even knocking them down by ident.

    Of course, the locking formation was nothing for him and the system had already decrypted it the instant it saw it.

    "Hmmбн not really useful for me anymore." Lin Wu said, seeing the items in the table.

    While the pills and resources kept in the jade boxes were helpful for cultivation, for Lin Wu, that was still a minuscule amount at this point. Not to mention, he was already at the Dao Shell realm and the spirit herbs kept in the boxes would have no effect on him.

    ''Plus, taking them just like this would not be goodter on. Would certainly make everyone suspicious as to how the items disappeared.'' Lin Wu thought before looking at the book shelf instead.

    "Now thisбн is useful." Lin Wu said as his spirit sense got to checking them and the system recorded.

    Since Lin Wu simply needed to copy and record the information, there was no problem or conflict of interest here. None would be the wiser after he left this ce.

    "Damn, these books are dense!" Lin Wu said as he felt the informationing from the books being more than what was physically gritting on them.

    He knew that this was another method of storing arge quantity of data without the use of jade slips. In this, special paper that had been treated with word condensation liquid were used.

    It would allow multipleyers of information being stored and could almost rival the storing capacity of a jade slip. While it seemed better to save such information in a jade slip so that it could be easily learned and transported seemed normal, there were still some aspects that were better learned from books.

    There was the aura and intent that was often hard to put into the jade slips due to how vtile they were. But such books could help in storing that and would be helpful with techniques that needed the intent behind the words at all times.

    Lin Wu actually ended up spending the rest of the night in this task, before he was finally done. He got to learn a lot of new things, but knew that it was best to leave before it was toote and others wondered where the patriarch was.

    "Alright system, wipe his memories and rece with the fabricated ones." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    REMINDER: A direct memory modification might lead to brain defects and cognitive degeneration in the long term.

    бкбк

    "Huh?" Lin Wu was surprised seeing this warning.

    "Wellбн if he dies, he dies. At least the cause would be something unrted to me and undetectable by others." Lin Wu said.

    With that done, Lin Wu gave the go head to the system and controlled the man to leave the repository.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    The door of the repository closed automatically on his exit and he was now free to drop off Tian Aiguo.

    "Just leaving him in the bedroom should be fine." Lin Wu picked and brought the man there before putting him in some extra sleep.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Memory fabricationpleted; injection sessful.

    бкбк

    "Perfect." Lin Wu said, using seeing the answer.

    With everything done smoothly, Lin Wu left the area of the Tian n and appeared back where he had left Tim at. The beast was still deep in sleep and didn''t seem like would wake up that easily.

    ''Though food should help rouse him,'' Lin Wu thought.

    He felt good at havingpleted this task as well and decided to look through it now.

    "I can finally satisfy the itch!" Lin Wu said with excitement.

    "System, show me the analyzed information!" he ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    In the next second, a few windows opened in front of him and Lin Wu could see various titles and information on them. Lin Wu quickly changed the filters to new and unlearned information and started to read.

    "Oho?! This is interesting." Lin Wu said as he got to learn more about the Tian n.

    The first thing he learned was the true situation of the Tian n.

    Apparently, there were eight branches that had split off from the main Tian n. Of these eight, only three were officially known by the other powers and sects, while the other five were also Tian n branches, but they pretended to be separate.

    Tian wasn''t really a rare surname in the Ming Dao world and also had multiple meanings with pronunciations. Plus, there would always be some n that imed to be part of the Tian n, just to get some benefits and reputation.

    They could very easily im that they had a long lost bloodline as there were often nsmen that would leave behind their children outside the n. This was either due to choice or ignorance about the issue.

    There were chances that someone would just not be told that they were father for a Long term.

    The Tian n''s branches were spread all over the Long Continent as well. The location of the main n was securely guarded and Lin Wu only figured it out after piecing together information from various sources.

    The actual location wasn''t mentioned anywhere in the records clearly, probably due to the fact that they didn''t trust the n to have that secret easily.

    "Looks like my decision turned out to be right." Lin Wu said as he looked at the derived location.

    It flickered on the map and pointed to the southern part of the Long Continent. It was quite far from where he was at the moment, and it would take him a long time to reach that ce.

    "That all willeter. For now, I need to figure out the power structure of the Tian n." Lin Wu said as he observed the rest of the information.

    By the time it was afternoon, Lin Wu was finally done with his research, having learned some astounding things.

 Chapter 617 - The Tian Clans Origin - I

    "This is a messed up n." Lin Wu said after having read everything.

    "They are doing everything just for a prophecy that some random beggar made?" Lin Wu muttered in disbelief.

    That was right, the entire reason for the strange rules of Tian n and their tendency to keep hiding was a beggar!

    It was said that a long, long time ago, when the first founder of the Tian n was a child, he had gotten lost in a forest. The forest was vast and full of dangers. The Tian n founder was the only child of a pair of farmers that worked in a vige next to the forest.

    They were very anxious and spent all their time in searching for their child. The Tian n founder was ying with his friends and identally wandered too far in. And there, he saw something shining and went after it.

    He was merely seven years old then and thus couldn''t resist the attraction of something like that. At first he only wanted to go a little further, but he didn''t even realize when he had lost his way.

    The forest was full of beasts of course, and while there were only weak beasts at the periphery; they were still more than enough to kill a mortal child. In just six hours, the Tian n founder came across the first danger.

    There were several wolf beasts nearby that were hunting for some prey. They ended up smelling his scent and came after him. The child didn''t even have the first stage body tempering realm cultivation, thus he would be injured with just a weak flick.

    The wolves stalked the Tian n founder and finally attacked him when they were close enough. The boy screamed in terror, but just as he was about to be killed, something pushed him.

    He fell to the ground and scratched his body. But instead of checking that, he turned to look at who had just pushed him, only to find none other than his father then. In front of him, the Tian n founder saw his father''s arm being ripped off.

    Blood spilled like a waterfall, and the father protected his son. Without wavering, he swung the sickle he had in his other hand and attacked the wolf beast. The beast was hit urately on his neck and fell on the ground helplessly.

    ''Run!'' ordered the farmer, and the son obeyed.

    Unfortunately, even if the father was stronger than the son, a pack of such wolf beasts were too much for him. In less than a minute, the farmer was killed and shredded apart. The child could only keep on running as his tears clouded his vision.

    He didn''t even realize how long or how far he had run, but by the time his wits were a bit more in control, he saw his vige there again.

    Stumbling into the vige, he copsed and passed out.

    When he finally came to his senses, he found a few people staring at him. He was now in a familiar room and another familiar face was staring at him. This was none other than his mother, whose eyes were bloodshot and swollen, as if she had been crying for a long time.

    The other people in the room were the other vigers who were concerned about him.

    A lot of conversations happed after that, but in the end the mother of the Tian n founder heard that her husband had died. She felt pale after that and fainted. The child founder kept silent and stayed in the same ce for a long time.

    Finding him to be traumatized, the vigers cared for the fainted mother and the shocked child. A few hourster, the woman did wake up and came to terms with the siltation, but the boy never did.

    He became very silent and would never talk unless talked too. And even then, there was a great chance he could just ignore others.

    He stayed like that for many years, and when he was twenty, he finally changed. This change was brought about by a beggar that the founder had met.

    The beggar asked for money for him and as usual, the founder ignored it. But then the beggar offered something else.

    The beggar said that if he gave him some food, he would tell him his fortune. The Tian n founder didn''t know why, but he finally responded to the beggar. He gave the man some food and in exchange, he told him his fortune.

    But the fortune telling turned out to be bad for him as the answer that the founder got was that he was doing to die.

    ''You will die the same way as your father did, in ignorance and because of your weakness.'' The beggar said.

    This thing struck the Tian n founder, and he asked a few more things, but the beggar didn''t answer him just like that. Instead, the beggar insisted the young man follow him for a while.

    The Tian n founder ended up agreeing and went along with the beggar as he wandered the vige and nearby towns, begging for food and money. A month went by like this when finally the beggar spoke with the young man who had patiently waited.

    ''You have patience, but youck execution. You can work hard, but you can''t bide your time well. That will be your undoing and the reason behind your death. But if you are able to ovee that, you will be peerless in the world!'' the beggar stated.

    The Tian n founder was easily convinced, because he had already seen the beggar tell the fortune of others in this time and all of them came true.

    And thus, The Tian n founder adapted the careful approach that the beggar had told him and started to work towards his growth. He still had his mother to care for and didn''t want her to suffer or die.

    The founder kept true to this and saw his first few gains after a year.

 Chapter 618 - The Tian Clans Origin - II

    Ten years passed like this, during which the young man gained some experience. He worked and gathered enough money to buy a cultivation manual. He had already reached the eighth stage of the Body tempering realm and was free to cultivate now.

    Five more years passed after that and the Tian n founder finally managed to enter the first stage of the Qi refining realm. All of this was a secret from the entire vige and no one knew that he had be the first cultivator of the vige.

    The Tian n founder kept this fact hidden and followed the advice of the beggar and stayed low key.

    He would continue his practice and keep up the facade. Fifteen more years passed and the Tian n founder''s mother died. Having lost her, the man got silent again. By now, he looked like he was in his early thirties, but his actual age was over fifty.

    His cultivation had managed to keep him younger than most people. But having lost his mother, he went off the knocker and started to wander around again. He gained more during his travels and increased his cultivation base.

    Fifty years flickered by and now the Founder was in the core condensation realm instead. He had obtained several fortunate encounters and was still growing strong. But his heart would still ache for his mother.

    He wished that he would have been able to let her live longer, but the regret would get worse and worse.

    It was during that time; he came across someone familiar. This was none other than the beggar who the Tian n founder had met as a child.

    He was certainly astound and had never expected him to be still alive. It was then that he found out the beggar was not simple and he could not sense his presence easily. The beggar recognized the Tian n founder and talked with him about all that had happened.

    In the end, the founder was challenged, and he lost. The beggar forced him to follow him along again and the founder did that for five years. After this time passed, the beggar gave him another ability.

    But that was not the most important thing, rather it was how to hide it from the others.

    He got the same advice as before but, this time he followed it religiously. His bet turned out to be right and the more he stayed hidden, the better progress he made. Over time, he gathered more and more friends who became hispanions.

    This finally ended up bing the Tian n. The n progressed well despite being well off and from time to time, the beggar would appear again.

    And whenever the beggar appeared, it would either be before or after something disastrous. With the multiple meetings, the Tian n founder had be a lot more cautions and he finally made it into a rule.

    A hundred years passed like that and the beggar made his return. This time, the Tian canal founder went to meet him personally and learned that there would be a great upheavalter on.

    The beggar made a different prophecy this time. He said, ''There will always be people envious of you and your seeds. While attacking them might be a useful, after a certain point, it would only cause more distress to you.

    To prevent yourself and your n from falling, you need to bide your time for an indefinite amount of time. If he could have the patience for that, a miracle would appear for the Tian n.''

    The Tian n founder took this very religiously, and all the members started to follow his cause.

    "So the reason they do this is that they believe they will achieve something really great in the future and be the rulers of a world." Lin Wu muttered.

    The people of the Tian n would follow their doctrines for an unknown amount of time, until the person of the prophecy appeared. The said person would cause a great upheaval in the world and allow many great talents to appear.

    One such talent would be from the Tian n and would be the signal for it to appear in the real world. All those that were part of it would be very strong by that time and would be able to dominate the others that were not ready.

    While all this seemed like a long shot, the Tian n had a very deep belief in the beggar and had even venerated him in the n.

    Many generations passed after the first founder of the Tian n and even then, the tradition and the rules were strictly followed by the current patriarchs.

    "All this just seems like coincidence, though. That beggar might just be pretending the entire time, or was a cultivator that was also a con artist." Lin Wu muttered to himself, finding it all strange.

    Though he couldn''t tell if it was entirely true either, since the records did not mention a lot of details.

    ''It could also be that the branches don''t have the entire information. They don''t even have the name of the beggar.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He couldn''t help but think that there was something more to the Tian n and the prophecy.

    "Maybe I''ll have to visit the Tian n in the future, just to be sure. That beggar might be more than just an average cultivator." Lin Wu said before shaking his head.

    He could understand how the other rules of the Tian n came around. The people of the Tian n were of the same thought at first, but as more and more generations passed, their thinking changed.

    And with this change came a different interpretation of the prophecy. It led to the creation of a lot more rules and restriction on the members.

    In general, the reason behind them staying hidden was because they didn''t want toe in limelight like the other top ns and be ready for the day that the disaster happens.

    That would be their day of debut and they would shock the world.

 Chapter 619 - A Group From The Tian Clan

    Having understood the thinking behind the Tian n, Lin Wu could only shake his head.

    "They can either be really strong, or be weak in the long term. Though they do have different factions in their n that think differently and want a different approach." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    But this didn''t reduce his interest in the Tian n. There was still a lot of information that the Tian n had which the others didn''t. Because the Tian n had stayed hidden for the most part over the years, they had the lost information with them.

    ''If the assumption is correct, then the Tian n should have existed since before the time of the Three Guardian ns. They probably have the true records of the world with them.'' Lin Wu thought.

    With this in mind, Lin Wu decided to visit the Tian n one day. But that day was not today or any time in the future.

    "They have Immortal Ascension realm experts with themбн and not all of them are I seclusion. They may actually find out if I get close." Lin Wu said in a serious tone.

    He reckoned that until he himself reached the Immortal Ascension realm or at least the Dao Treading realm, going to the main Tian n would be a bad choice. From all the information that he had obtained, the system had surmised that there were at least four Immortal Ascension realm cultivators along with several Dao Treading realm cultivators.

    "Wouldn''t this strength match the Long n itself?" Lin Mu reckoned.

    After taking onest look around the area, Lin Wu decided to return.

    ''Hopefully Tim hasn''t cause any troubleбн'' Lin Wu thought as he made his way back.

    About fifteen minutester, he was at the ce where he had left Tim and found him right there. The beast was still sleeping and didn''t seem to have moved at all.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Good," Lin Wu said, but just as he was about to resurface, his spirit sense caught something.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu became alert and scanned the area.

    Some distance away from where Lin Wu and the Weasel where, a small group of humans were traveling. Lin Wu checked them in detail and found them to be none other than the Tian n branch''s nsmen.

    "It''s those two," Lin Wu recognized.

    Lin Wu nced at Tim onest time before deciding to follow after the nsmen. Once he got close, he could hear their conversations.

    "This is strange? Where are the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo flowers?" one of the nsmen questioned.

    "Were the reports we got wrong? We should have started encountering them here, shouldn''t we?" Another nsman asked.

    A slightly plump but decent looking girl at the front furrowed her brows and kneeled down to check the ground.

    "This area has been harvested alreadyбн someone was here before us." Tian Chu said.

    "Hah, looks like Cousin Chu''s dy in beginning has cost us now." Tian Han said from the side.

    "Speak for yourself, Cousin Han. Don''t forget that there are beasts in the forest not to mention other cultivators we might encounter. Don''t be so arrogant to think that you are strong to fight all of them." Tian Chu scoffed.

    The other nsmen didn''t dare speak or interfere in the conversion. The two cousins were of a higher rank than them, not only in terms of cultivation base, but also the ranking in the n.

    Both of them were nsmen that had the direct bloodline and were the closest linked to the Main branch''s bloodline.

    "I know my limits, and how to prepare the best. You simply lost time in over preparing and now we will be slow in gathering the flowers, not to mention that others might have already started to gather the flowers before us." Tian Han replied without backing down.

    "Humph, I won''t dignify that with an answer." Tian Chu said as she continued walking.

    Tian Han frowned and clenched his fist secretly.

    ''This girlбн if it were not for her father, would she even be able to speak.'' Tian Han thought. "I''ll show youбн" he muttered silently as a dangerous light appeared in his eyes.

    The group continued to explore and couldn''t find any of the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo Flowers anywhere. All the areas looked like they had been dug out and there were even some strange marks on the ground, which made them feel confused.

    "Are theseбн beast marks? Is it beasts that havee to eat these?" A nsman questioned.

    Tian Han furrowed his brows and used his spirit sense to scan the area. His nose wrinkled, and he withdrew a small hoop from his spatial storage treasure.

    "Aural Exposure Hoop!" Tian Han chanted.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    The hoop flew out and expanded in size, before bing about a meter wide in diameter. Glittering particles fell out of the hoop as it flew across the ground. It made a circle around the area that Tian Han had selected and returned to him.

    Tian Chu was looking with curiosity, having never seen something like this.

    "What is that spirit tool?" A nsmen questioned.

    "I don''t know, but it seems like a tracking or analytical spirit tool?" A second one guessed.

    Lin Wu who had been seeing it all, was intrigued too.

    "This is new," he muttered and saw as Tian Han used the hoop.

    He turned it vertical, and a screen appeared in the hoop. On the screen, several yellow dots could be seen and along with the faint ck marks, were spread across the area. The marks were unusually long and looked like strings.

    "This was certainly caused by beastsбн not humans." Tian Han said as he saw the marks.

    "What is this tool?" Tian Chu couldn''t help but ask.

    "Not something, someone like you would know. But I will be gracious enough to exin." Tian Han smugly said, irritating Tian Chu.

    But since she wanted the answer, she didn''t speak anything.

    Tian Han smiled in pleasure and started to speak, "it can sense the traces of auras left in the area that were recently there."

 Chapter 620 - A Vulnerability

    The nsmen were intrigued after hearing this.

    "This is really good, Senior Brother Han!"

    "Yes, yes! Where did you get it?"

    "Yeah, I''d like to get one too."

    The nsmen said in excitement. They could very easily tell the usefulness of a spirit tool like this, as it could be used in a variety of ways and situations.

    <em>~humph~</em>

    "Do you think a spirit tool like this is easy toe by? Just anyone can get it? I got this as a reward from Elder Jigou." Tian Han stated in a proud tone.

    "ELDER JIGOU!?" the nsmen eximed and even Tian Chu seemed surprised.

    "Isn''t heбн the guest elder from the main branch?" Someone asked.

    "He isбн" the person next to him answered.

    "Why would Elder Jigou give something like this to you?" Tian Chu questioned.

    "Because he liked my talent, of course!" Tian Han said smugly.

    Tian Chu felt like she had lost this time and didn''t have anything left to say. Tian Han felt pleased at her look and couldn''t help but want to trample on her more. But he also knew that now was not the time for it.

    ''Need to check the situation before the hoop stops working. I cannot charge it hereбн'' He thought to himself.

    But while they were talking about this elder, Lin Wu was also interested in him.

    "Elder Jigou huhбн so he''s from the main branch and was assigned to the Tian n hereбн" Lin Wu muttered as he checked the older map data from the Tian n.

    "He isn''t here, is he?" Lin Wu muttered in confusion.

    "System, any information on this man?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "None," The system replied simply.

    "Hmmбн so he isn''t really someone that is know by others as much and doesn''t even reside here. The system would have known about it otherwiseбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He also hadn''t sensed anyone that was above the Nascent soul realm in the n and guessed that the guest elder from the main branch would have to be at the very least Dao Shell realm.

    "The main branch and the sub branches have different standards for elders. Nascent soul realm cultivators can be elders in the Sub branch but it''s not the same in the Main branch.

    Just like the top sects, they need to be at the Dao Shell realm to be elders." Lin Wu muttered, recalling the information from the rules of the Tian n.

    Though hearing about an elder from the main branch of the Tian n gave Lin Wu some other ideas.

    "Perhaps more information can be gained from this elder." Lin Mu said. "If I can find himбн" he added while ncing at Tian Han.

    He continued watching them as Tian Han got some information from the hoop.

    "This is impossible," Tian Han said as a confused expression appeared on his face.

    "What is it senior brother?" A nsman questioned.

    "The aurasбн ording to the hoop, they belong to Nascent soul realm beastsбн or even strongerбн" Tian Han answered as his brows furrowed.

    "The n would have known if there were Nascent Soul realm beasts, here. This is far too close for the elders to not know. Something is wrongбн" Tian Chu said as she looked around anxiously.

    Lin Wu who saw this, couldn''t help but think about being more careful in the future.

    "So such tools exist tooбн will need to be on the watch for them, or there might be a time when I fall into a trap." Lin Wu said.

    He looked at the hoop in Tian Han''s hand and wondered about something.

    "System, can you fix this vulnerability?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: if the host can obtain that spirit tool, the system can analyze and derive a patch for the vulnerability.

    бкбк

    "Good," Lin Wu said with a nod as he trained his eyes on Tian Han.

    To Lin Wu, keeping his safety was of the top most importance and he knew just how advantageous it was to stay hidden from the knowledge of others. It was fine now since the person that sensed him was Tian Han and it was not even urate.

    But Lin Wu couldn''t rely on that fact as there could very well be better treasures that can detect more information than just this. This was even more important as it was not in the system''s data bank.

    Lin Wu followed behind the ground as they continued their search. They had be far more careful and knew that there was potential danger all around them. Even Tian Han and Tian Chu didn''t bicker and stayed alert.

    The Hoop spirit tool had stopped working after a while and Tian Han had put it away, telling Lin Wu about the limitation it had on it.

    The group searched for over a day but still could not find anything. No matter where they went, it was as if all the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo Flowers had been plucked.

    "This can''t beбн if we go back empty handed without even a single flower, the elders will not be pleased." Tian Chu said, feeling upset.

    "But what can we do, senior sister Chu? It''s not that we are unable to fulfill the quota, there are simply no flowers to be found." A nsman said with concern.

    "Shut up!" Tian Han said in anger. "There is no way we are going empty handed. We will head to the east!"

    "The east!? But that''s in the depths of the forest. If we got there, we are very likely to encounter the stronger beasts." The subordinate of Tian Han said, feeling afraid.

    "Do you not want toplete the mission and lost your rank?" Tian Han asked the man, but he simply lowered his head. "I thought soбн" Tian Han scoffed.

    "Those that don''t want to follow can return, but I am going. Feel free to go back. I was intending to go alone in the start anyway." Tian Han taunted.

    Tian Chu gritted her teeth and knew that if she let Tian Han do this, she would be losing face.. And it would be even more if he actually managed to seed.

 Chapter 621 - Into The Depths For The Flowers

    Tian Chu felt like she had no option other than to go head with Tian Han. She herself didn''t want to fail an important mission like this and put a stain on her clean mission rankings.

    Every nsmen had a personal record of missions and showed how many they failed and passed. The ones who had a peerless record were highly valued and would get better resources.

    The ones that were at the very top would even be taken in by the main branch of the Tian n and be nurtured there. That was the dream that every Tian n member had, and she was no different.

    In fact, the main reason behind the rivalry between Tian Han and Tian Chu was for the position of the top disciple that would be sent to the main branch. It was something that only happened once every hundred years and the time for the next selection was going to happen soon.

    Both of them thus needed to umte as many merits as they could bypleting the missions. Plus, the better the mission was, the higher the merits they would get.

    It was also why Tian Chu had an argument with Tian Han about the mission to gather Fragrant Parrot Bamboo Flowers, since it was a high paying mission that gave a lot of Merits.

    If onepleted it with fewer people, they would get more merits. But if theypleted in a group, the merits would get divided into multiple parts. Even if Tian Han and Tian Chu got higher merit share as the leaders, it was still a good chunk of merit going to others.

    That was why they suppressed others from getting it and no one from the other nsmen questioned or fought for the mission. Doing so would only mean that they would get challenged to a fight that if approved, would make them lose.

    Among the Tian n rules, infighting was not allowed. But if one took the permission for a proper fight and went ording to the proper procedures, they would be allowed to fight.

    Disputes over the mission could often be solved like this. Plus, one could very well state that only the stronger person was suitable for the mission and thus im their right over the missions.

    Tian Han and Tian Chu were both at the Peak of the Core condensation realm, with Tian Chu being slightly behind Tian Han. This was a cultivation base that was higher than most junior members of the n.

    Only the elders would be able to contend against them, but they weren''t someone that would do the missions. Tian Xiaoge used to be one of the geniuses of the n as well and had a good cultivation base.

    But instead of staying within the n, she chose to leave and join the Frozen Cloud sect. This turned out to be in her favor and her cultivation base rose aftering in contact with Wang Xiong.

    Not to mention, she was now at the Nascent soul realm as well due to the influence of Lin Wu and the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial. If she were to ever return to her n, she would be an elder, no doubt.

    But since she had left the n and joined a sect, she would never be included in the internal matters of the n as per the rules of the n. Even if her talent was good, the Tian n''s main branch would not allow her to enter there.

    Tian Han took the lead and guided everyone to the depths of the forest. Hours passed by before they finally entered an area they had not been in before.

    <em>~Roar~</em>

    <em>~Chirp~</em>

    <em>~squawk~</em>

    Various beast sounds could be heard echoing in the forest as the group of Tian nsmen wandered around.

    "Stay alert, there can be dangerous beasts hiding right around the corner." Tian Chu warned everyone.

    "I hate those bird beasts. We need to keep an eye on the sky too, or a bird beast might just swoop in." A female nsman said.

    "Hey! Don''t say that, you''ll jinx it!" Someone interrupted.

    And just as he said that, another sound could be heard.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    "Now look what you didбн" The person said as they saw a ratherrge bird beast flying towards them.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    The bird beast looked to be in the core condensation realm and had four wings, two beaks, and two legs. Its beaks were attached in a ''V'' shape and looked rather sharp.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    The bird beast swooped down onto the Tian nsmen and attacked the ones that were at the back first.

    "ON GUARD!" Tian Han shouted as he took out his spirit sword.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The sword flew out at great speed and blocked the Bird beasts''s descent.

    <em>~CLANG!~</em>

    The beaks and spirit sword collided, making a loud sound that felt like steel shing against steel.

    "Attack!" Tian Chu shouted and threw out her own spirit sword.

    The other disciples attacked using their own skills, and soon overwhelmed the beast.

    <em>~CHIRP~</em>

    The bird beast let out an unwilling cry before it was killed and fell to the ground.

    "Take its core," Tian Han ordered one of his men.

    "Yes, Senior brother!" The man replied and quickly dug out the core from the bird beast''s chest.

    Tian Chu and the others looked on but didn''t care much about the core, since they would be getting part of the spoils in the end anyway. As per the rules, they would have to divide the spoils of the mission once they reached the n.

    "Now keep your mouth shut," Tian Han said to hispanions, while ring at the female nsman who had spoken earlier.

    "Y-yes, senior brother." She replied meekly.

    "You can''t just stop them from speaking. You have no right to do that." Tian Chu said, not wanting to back down.

    "Humph! If you want to stay alive, you will do as I say, or there will be no guarantee of you living to see the end of this mission.." Tian Han stated in a cold tone.

 Chapter 622 - Tian Hans Taunt And Ploy

    The team of Tian nsmen continued onward under the lead of Tian Han and Tian Chu while the two bickered.

    Lin Wu continued to observe them and got to learn a few more things from their conversations. He learned about the selection of the outstanding members who would be sent to the main n to be nurtured.

    ''Hmmбн interesting. Wonder if Tian Xiaoge would qualify for that. If possible, I might be able to get someone in the Tian n and gather the information from there.'' Lin Wu thought.

    The beasts of the forest often attacked the Tian n members, but so far, they had been able to fight them off. Most beasts they encountered were at the Core condensation realm and they could handle them with rtive ease.

    It had been about two days since they had embarked on the mission and had finally reached an area that was untouched.

    "It''s nearby! I can smell the flowers!" One of the nsmen shouted.

    "Oh? So it''s spread here too." Lin Wu was surprised.

    He checked the map and realized that they had indeed reached an area that was far from the one he had originally scanned.

    "Scan the area, system." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNING: Please wait a moment.

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu checked the map and saw the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo flowers in the area. There were less than the ones in the previous area, but there were at least some here.

    ''There are even some with the Millennium Parrot Bamboo Eggsбн'' Lin Wu took note.

    He scrolled through the map and saw that there were signs of there being more areas than just these in the distance.

    "There''s definitely a lot more areas with the flowers. Though the ones with eggs are significantly less. I doubt they can reach there due to the beasts here though." Lin Wu analyzed.

    "Come! We need to gather them all quickly, before the beasts sense us." Tian Chu stated.

    Tian Han went to one side while Tian Chu went to the other and started to gather the flowers.

    "WHOA! Is this the legendary fruit?" One of the nsmen eximed.

    "Show me," Tian Han demanded.

    The nsmen obediently handed the flower to Tian Han to inspect. He looked at the small marble attached to the center of the flower and observed it closely.

    "Hmmбн this is it! This is the main goal of our mission!" Tian Han said out loud, feeling pleased.

    Their mission had two goals; the first was to get as many Fragrant Parrot Bamboo flowers as they could get, and the second was to priorities the flowers with the eggs if they found those.

    The merit points for the fruits was ten times the merit points for just the flowers.

    "Quickly gather the flowers with the fruits first!" Tian Han ordered.

    Tian Chu did the same and a littlepetition started under them to gather more of the fruits. Lin Wu was observing them all and saw that none of the fruits were big enough to have a significance chance of birthing a Bamboo spirit.

    ''Though the numbers are rather temptingбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as his eyes glowed in a sly glint.

    Tian Han and Tian Chu gathered all the fruits and then the flowers. This time Tian Han had more fruits than Tian Chu, having eight of them, while Tian Chu only had four.

    ''This dogбн I have to find a way to get more of them. At the end even if they split the merits, he will have more due to being the leader on his side.'' Tian Chu thought.

    Tina Han had simr thoughts and wanted to get the Fruits that Tian Chu had as well.

    ''This bitch doesn''t deserve even a single fruits. All of them are mine! I shall be the one to enter the main branch.'' Tian Han thought with fervor.

    "I think that''s all the flowers, senior brother." A subordinate of Tian Han spoke as he brought the bundle of flowers to him.

    Tian Han nced at the flowers and furrowed his brows.

    "This isn''t enough. We need more. There should be more areas with the flowers." Tian Han said.

    "But senior brotherбн we are already in a dangerous area, if we go any further, we might encounter Nascent soul realm beasts." Someone said with concern.

    "Humph! And this is exactly why you will always stay behind. You don''t dare take risks and dare to call yourselves cultivators." Tian Han taunted.

    Tian Chu didn''t want to be berated and replied, "being a cultivator doesn''t just mean taking risks, it also means being smart about them."

    "Think whatever you want, but I''m going ahead. Follow if you want to." Tian Han said and took off.

    "Wait for us senior brother!" the subordinates of Tian Han flew after him.

    On the other hand, Tian Chu''s subordinates looked at her with confused expressions.

    "What do we do, senior sister?"

    "Do we follow or do we return?"

    Tian Chu looked at the flowers they had and Tian Han who was already a dot in the distance.

    "We follow!" She said decisively.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Jumping onto a spirit sword she flew in the distance and the others followed.

    "I swear I''ll knock you down and show you your ce Tian Han." Tian Chu muttered to herself.

    Lin Wu who was watching all this couldn''t help but chuckle.

    "This is a weird rivalry. If I didn''t know better, it would seem as if they were vengeful lovers instead." Lin Wu said as he checked the beast markers on the map. "But, their time mighte to an end soonбн"

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    Tian Han who was in the lead secretly took out a small metal te that shone on his hand.

    "Haha, she''s walking right into my hand. If all goes well, the flowers she has will be mine too," Tian Han muttered to himself as a devious smile appeared on his face.

    On the metal te, several dots could be seen. The biggest dot though were emitting spirit Qi fluctuations at the Nascent soul realm and Tian Han was heading right to it!

 Chapter 623 - Crocodile Head Wolf

    Lin Wu could see what Tian Han was doing and understood his plot.

    "Huh, simple but decent enough." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He watched on as Tian Han brought hispanions closer to death with each step. Tian Chu had been feeling more and more anxious, but she didn''t know why. Cold sweat had appeared on her back, but she was trying to keep herself calm forcefully.

    ''I can''t falter hereбн why am I so afraid?'' She wondered.

    But a few secondster, her fear turned out to be valid.

    <em>~ROAR!~</em>

    A bone shaking roar was hearding from the front as a strong wind shook the bamboos and trees around them. The bamboos swayed while the ones that were at the front were directly bent enough to touch ground.

    "WHAT IS THAT?" Someone questioned in rm.

    "BEAST! A NASCENT SOUL REALM BEAST!" Tian Chu''s spirit sense finally discovered the spirit Qi fluctuations once she got close.

    But that was not a good thing, as for her it meant she had less chance of escaping it. Her gaze went to Tian Han, who was even further than her and thus closer to the beast.

    The thought of Tian Han intentionally doing this never came to her mind, as it would mean that he was putting himself in danger too. After all, he was closer to the beast than her.

    ''Noбн if he was this close, he should have detected the beast before meбн why was he still moving?'' Tian Chu was confused.

    "Haha, time for the show to begin." Tian Hanughed to himself as he took out a paper talisman and stuck it on his chest.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The talisman ignited and let out an azure smoke. The smoke turned into six rings and attached to each of his limbs, torso and forehead. The rings lightly glowed before Tian Han''s body turned translucent.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    Then without speaking another word, he flew up and disappeared.

    "WHAT!?" Tian Chu was astounded at this.

    "SENIOR BROTHER! WHERE DID YOU GO?" The subordinates of Tian Han were confused too.

    They knew that Tian Han was antagonistic towards Tian Chu, but they never expected that he would abandon them, too.

    <em>~tch~ tch~</em>

    "Dumb guys don''t even know who to trust and who not to. This is what happens when you get sheltered by a n with weird rules." Lin Wu said.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    Another roar was heard as the trees and bamboos all around them were broken.

    <em>~CRASH~</em>

    Three of the men that were unfortunate were directly hit by the broken trees, and one of them was impaled through the chest with a bamboo.

    <em>~thud~ thud~</em>

    Their bodies fell to the ground lifelessly as the beast finally showed its appearance.

    <em>~GRRR~</em>

    "Crocodile head Wolf! It''s a crocodile head wolf!" The Tian nsmen shouted.

    The beast in question was six meters long and two meters tall in height. It had the head of a crocodile but the body of a wolf. Its cultivation base seemed to be at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm but the vitality exuding from him showed that it was probably stronger than that.

    "Oh? That''s a rather bloody aura." Lin Wu noted.

    Lin Wu had seen plenty of beasts by now and but only a few of them had an aura like this. It wasn''t a natural aura, but something that one gained after killing a lot of beings and being stained in their blood.

    The other beasts that Lin Wu had felt this aura on were the Twin Lights Liger King, The Olive Viper King, Zhu Tianying, and the Weasel. It was an aura that was often hard to perceive because it could mix with the normal aura of the being.

    Lin Wu could differentiate it easily due to his enhanced senses and the help of the system.

    "S-senior sisterбн it''s that beastбн the ughterer of the Kina vige." One of the subordinates of Tian Chu said.

    "How is it still alive?"

    "Yeah, didn''t the elders kill it back then?"

    It was evident that there was some mystery to the beast that was hard for them to understand. But Lin Wu who heard all this, raised his brows.

    "Huh? Those elders were unable to kill a beast at the Infant Soul stage? That shouldn''t be possible." Lin Wu said as he gazed at the beast again.

    His spirit sense rose from his body and directly probed the beast.

    "So that''s whyбн it''s not that they were unable to kill an Infant Soul stage beast, but that it wasn''t at the Infant Soul stage back thenбн" Lin Wu said as he discovered the internal injuries of the beast.

    There were many injuries on the beast''s dantian and meridians that showed that it had only started to recover recently. There were some scars on its body too, but they were hidden underneath its fur.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "What ever the truth may be, we now need to escape. We can''t fight this thing." Tian Chu said decisively.

    And just as she said this, the Crocodile head wolf pounced at them. It moved very fast despite its size and opened its jaw wide.

    "NOOO!!!!!" One of the members shouted as their body was pulled into the mouth of the beast.

    They were a bit too slow to respond and were sucked in by the beast''s mouth.

    <em>~SNAP~</em>

    The beast closed its long jaw and crushed the entire body of the cultivator with ease. Its jaw was big enough to fit at least ten such bodies and swallow them at the same time.

    "NOOO!!! TIAN XUFEN!" Thepanion of the person that just died shouted.

    But that a mistake he made as the Crocodile head wolf swiped its ws, splitting the man into four segments. The man''s face was stuck in the same screaming expression as his head was separated from his body.

    Tian Chu watched on in horror but also didn''t stop flying.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    But all of a sudden, something appeared in front of her to block her way.

    "TIAN HAN! YOU DARE!"

 Chapter 624 - A Temptation For Survival And Power

    "Hahaha, do you think you can escape this easily?" Tian Hanughed as he stood beyond the barrier.

    Tian Chu gritted her teeth as he saw the man in front of her. She had understood by now that they had fallen into Tian Han''s n. But the only thing that she didn''t understand was that how this had even urred.

    "You dare break the ns Rules! Tian Han, have you be so shameless?" Tian Chu shouted.

    "Haha! I never broke a rule." Tian Han stated. "The rules state that we cannot kill each other, but I am not doing that. Can''t you see? It''s the beast. I''m just standing here." He added.

    "You! The patriarch would never forgive this! Do you really think you can get the position of the top member of this generation like this? If we die, the n will certainly investigate this all." Tian Chu said as she frantically tried to get past the barrier.

    A barrier was now standing in front of her that prevented her from going any further. It was evident that the barrier had been made a long time in advance, but she couldn''t tell how.

    "Tell you whatбн if you are willing to handover all the flowers and fruits, I might let you leave." Tian Han said.

    "NEVER! Do you think I''m a fool!?" Tian Chu replied.

    "Well, have fun there then." Tian Han casually said as he retreated to the back.

    "Are you that confident in escaping the Crocodile head wolf? When we are dead, the beast wille after you!" Tian Chu said, trying to counter the man.

    "Haha, that would be possible if the beast could sense me. Right now only you can see me." Tian Han said smugly.

    Tian Chu''s attention went to the six rings that were on Tian Han''s body and understood that it must be some other treasure that Tian Han had.

    ''How did he get so many items? Does Elder Jigou really favor him that much?'' Tian Chu couldn''t help but wonder.

    She could also tell that the barrier in front of her was not simple and could not be made by just any formation master. It would take someone very proficient in such barriers and would even need some good resources to make it.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    <em>~SPLATTER~</em>

    <em>~CRASH~</em>

    "AHH!"

    "SAVE ME!"

    "RUN!!!"

    While Tian Chu was thinking this, the other members of the Tian n were being killed by the Crocodile Head Wolf. It was obvious that the beast could have easily killed them all at once, but was taking pleasure in hunting them down one by one.

    ''The beast is in collusion with that guy?'' Lin Wu, who was observing it all wondered.

    By now, he was finding the entire thing strange and suspicious.

    A frown appeared on his face as he made a decision.

    <em>~TREMBLE~</em>

    The ground shook as the Crocodile head Wolf rushed towards Tian Chu. All the others had been killed and eaten by the beast, with the remains being stuck on its face and body. The blood dripped from the scales on his head and looked gruesome.

    Its scarlet eyes red at Tian Chu with a great desire and sent shivers down her spine.

    "I WON''T DIE LIKE THIS!" Tian Chu yelled as she threw out two daggers.

    <em>~SHUA~ SHUA~</em>

    The Daggers flew at a great speed and could barely be seen as blurs.

    <em>~clink~</em>

    The first dagger struck the head of the beast and was deflected with ease. The scales were far to hard to pierce.

    <em>~Slick~</em>

    But the second dagger managed to cut the side of the beast.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    The Crocodile Head Wolf growled in anger as the pain from the cut affected it. Tian Chu took this opportunity to fly up and circle around the beast. She recalled the daggers, and they came to fly by her side.

    Brining her hands together, she chanted something and threw out an illusory figure of a fan.

    "Tempest Dance Fan!" She shouted as the illusory figure erged.

    The fan became corporeal and Tian Chu controlled with her hands. It moved and followed her hands, sending out sharp winds that actually managed to push the Crocodile Head Wolf back.

    "Oh? Seems like you do have some worth." Tian Han admitted seeing Tian Chu managing to hold for a bit. "But it''s useless." He scoffed.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    The Crocodile head wolf roared in frustration and decided to stop ying.

    <em>~DENG~DENG~DENG~</em>

    Ignoring all the attacks that wereing towards it, the beast sprinted towards Tian Chu with its jaws opened wide. The pressure exuding from the beast was enough to paralyze a normal person and could even affect a cultivator.

    Tian Chu did her best to resist and tried to dodge it. All her focus was put into the spirit sword that was carrying her and allowed her to maneuver expertly through the air.

    <em>~swoop~</em>

    The Crocodile head Wolf swiped its tail and tried to hit Tian Chu, but she avoided it by the hair''s breadth.

    <em>~HUU~</em>

    She took a deep breath as death slipped past her.

    ''Am I gonna die here?'' She questioned herself.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    But just as she thought that, another sound was heard. As if a needle had been dropped on a metal te, a faint but far reaching ring spread in her head.

    "Do you want to live?" A voice said in her head.

    "Huh?" But Tian Chu was far too confused to understand it.

    "Do you want to survive this?" The voice spoke again.

    Tian Chu didn''t answer to this either.

    "Do you want power?" The voice tempted.

    As if time had stood still for Tian Chu her body froze in ce and so did the Crocodile Head Wolf.

    "YES!" She answered decisively as her mind finally grasped it.

    She didn''t know if she was hallucinating or if she was dead already having a strange dream. She wanted to take the chance and would give anything for it now. Tian Han''s act had already shown her that going by the rules did not work and she would have to be better and stronger.

    "GIVE ME POWER! I WANT TO LIVE!" Tian Chu shouted out loud as the beast''s open maw threated to close on her body.

 Chapter 625 - A Reversal For Two

    Tian Han was finally feeling that his n wasing to a fruition. His preemptive trap, set a few months ago was finally working. He had not even intended this to be for Tian Chu but for anyone that he did not want to obstruct his path.

    He would have found a way to bring them here and then let them be killed by the beast. It was a rtively simple trap, but needed some really good support. If not, the barrier that needed a very proficient formation master to create, just the Crocodile Head wolf was enough of a challenge.

    That was a beast which could not be controlled and Tian Han could only fool its senses to avoid it from attacking him. Though he still had reserve methods to escape in case something problematic happened and his n failed.

    He knew how to choose his allies and how to eliminate his foes. And that was exactly what he had done here.

    Unfortunately for him, his n was about to flip on its head very soon.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    The crocodile head wolf opened its jaws wide and surrounded Tian Chu''s body with them. A glint of pleasure appeared in Tian Han''s eyes as he saw the despair on the face of Tian Chu, but that pleasure froze when the beast froze.

    <em>~SLICK~</em>

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    Three crystal spikes shot out of the ground; two of them stopped the jaws of the crocodile head wolf from closing, while the final one pierced through the body of the beast. Even though the fur and skin of the beast was tough and resistant to many attacks, this was not one that could be blocked.

    <em>~HISS~</em>

    The beast hissed in pain, unable to roar anymore since its jaw was propped open by the two crystal spikes. The spikes stopped them from closing or even opening wide as they directly sprouted more spikes from their sides that directly pierced though the two ends of the jaw.

    <em>~drip~ drip~</em>

    Blood spilled from the beast''s jaw, drenching Tian Chu who was in the middle. Her eyes were left wide open as she stared at the death, which had just been halted in its ce.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    But that was just the start, as the entire area started to shake. Tian Han finally grabbed hold of his mind and floated up on a spirit sword, avoiding any tree or bamboo that might fall on him.

    <em>~Thud~ thud~</em>

    <em>~Crash~</em>

    Various trees and the Fragrant parrot Bamboos fell to the ground as the soil started to rise.

    "What is this?" Tian Han couldn''t help but question.

    Tian Chu was having the same thought and saw as a wall of crystal started to rise from the ground surrounding her. Her head moved as she took in the view of the being that was appearing.

    It was massive and seemed to be made out of emerald colored crystals. She could tell that it was a living being rather than something like a skill or spirit too because the vitality was very apparent to her.

    "A beast? Noбн it can''t be oneбн" Tian Chu muttered under her breath.

    Tian Han''s pupils reduced to a pinpoint as rm bells started to ring.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    The metal te he was holding in his hand started to buzz like crazy, prompting him to take a look at it. But the moment he saw it, a bead of sweat dripped from the side of his face.

    "Dao Shell Realm? Impossible!" Tian Han said upon seeing the massive sized circle on the te.

    <em>~TREMBLE~</em>

    The ground kept on shaking as Lin Wu''s entire body finally left it. It was then that Tian Chu realized it wasn''t exactly walls that were rising, but rather the coiled body of a beast.

    Lin Wu''s crimson red eyes gazed upon the three beings in front of him. The Crocodile head Wolf shivered in its ce, unable to move due to the spikes restraining it. Tian Chu trembled as she saw a powerful presence staring at her.

    Just the gaze was enough to soften the bones in her body and she was forced to avert her gaze.

    ''You''ll die! You''ll die! You''ll die if you look!'' Tian Chu''s heart shouted at her.

    Lin Wu who saw this, thought to himself, ''she''ll need a little more training, her mentality is weakбн but she''s a good test subject.''

    He then turned his gaze towards the third and final party, Tian Han.

    "What in the name of heavensбн?" Tian Han gasped.

    Unlike Tian Chu, he had a stronger will power and did not cower from Lin Wu''s gaze, which earned slight approval from him.

    ''He''s a bit like Shirong. He has the ambition, butcks the same talent or smartnessбн'' Lin Wu assessed.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Lin Wu''s mouth opened into what could only be called a cruel smile. The fangs and canines were prominently disyed and added another fearsome factor into the intimidating look.

    "Greetings," Lin Wu''s voice echoed in the ears of the two humans.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Tian Chu fell to the ground upon hearing it. Not because she hadn''t expected it, but because it sounded far too human to her.

    Tian Han has the same astonishment and gave rise to a few ideas in his mind. He hid his left hand behind him and made certain hand seals.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The barrier that was in front of him changed color and became far more corporeal.

    <em>~woong~</em>

    It then started to shrink inwards, trying to restrain Lin Wu who was there.

    "My, myбн someone is really brave." Lin Wu said as he saw Tian Han acting, despite the fear that was pressuring him.

    "NO!" Tian Chu yelped upon seeing the shrinking barrier.

    She knew what it meant and that it could kill very strong cultivators, reducing them to a mix of ground bones and flesh. She had once seen the elders use that to trap a group of Nascent soul realm beasts, when a beast horde had urred.

    The barrier had not only managed to stop them, but had even killed them all.

 Chapter 626 - Futility And Surprises

    For Tian Chu, the barrier was a death sentence. Even with Lin Wu there, she could only imagine the same fate as that of the Nascent soul realm beasts. In fact, she couldn''t even sense Lin Wu''s cultivation base in all the confusion.

    Though even if she tried, she wouldn''t be able to estimate it urately. Tian Han was only able to do so because of the special spirit tool he had, which was specialized for that task.

    Lin Wu and the system could hide the spirit Qi fluctuation well enough that even a Dao Treading realm expert will have a hard time detecting them. In fact, if it were not for the Aural Exposure hoop spirit tool that Tian Han used, Lin Wu would have thought that his secrecy was assured.

    He was a bit thankful for Tian Han in that aspect, as he had potentially saved him from a great problem in the future.

    Though for now, he could onlyugh.

    "Ahahha! Futile effort," Lin Wu said as he saw the barrier shrinking.

    His eyes flickered, and he casually raised his tail before tapping on the barrier.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    A very crisp sound could be heard, as if a cymbal had been hit.

    <em>~crack~crack~</em>

    That sound was the start of a crescendo as cracks started to spread from the point of contact. Tian Han watched with his mouth wide open as the cracks covered the entire formation array.

    Until finallyбн

    <em>~SHATTER~</em>

    The barrier broke apart, and the runes faded into nothingness as a powerful andplex formation array was reduced to dust.

    Tian Han had no words for this and could only stare at the entire series of events.

    "Now thenбн we can talk a bit morefortably." Lin Wu continued.

    Tian Han gritted his teeth and knew that the current situation had gone beyond his thinking.

    "Dammit!" He cursed before throwing out a palm sized sword.

    The sword quickly erged in size and shot towards Lin Wu. Its edge was sharp and the humming sounding from it would give goosebumps. Even Lin Wu couldn''t help but take it a bit more seriously.

    "Now this is interestingбн" Lin Wu muttered as he brought forth his tail.

    "PROTECT ME!" Tian Han shouted as the sword attacked.

    He himself though, turned tail and started to fly away.

    <em>~WEENG~</em>

    Therge sword let out a cry and exuded strong spirit Qi fluctuations that surprised Lin Wu.

    "Dao Shell realm power?" Lin Wu said as the sword attached him.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    His tail blocked the attack with a sound ng as the edge of the sword grated against the crystal.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    As an even greater surprise to Lin Wu, the sword actually managed to put a crack in his tail''s surface. Lin Wu''s gaze turned a bit cold as the aura exuding from him turned violent.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    An invisible wave of energy spread from him and surrounded the sword, drowning it in it. The sword that seemed to be full of power copsed lifelessly to the ground and impaled itself in the soil.

    Lin Wu''s eyes went to the escaping Tian Han and he harrumphed.

    "I would be an imbecile of if I let you escape like this," Lin Wu said, finding it all to be insulting.

    The Radiation in the air seethed and boiled before rushing toward Tian Han in the distance.

    The unaware Tian Han took a look behind and saw that Lin Wu was still there and had not moved.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "Just need to a little far then I''ll be able to escape!" Tian Han said as another talisman appeared in his hand.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    But just as he muttered that, he felt the spirit sword beneath his feet losing control.

    "AHH!" Tian Han cried out in fear as he started to fall from the sky.

    Even if he was at the Core condensation realm, if he fell from this height he was bound to break a bone or two. And something like that would just spell death for him when going against an enemy like Lin Wu.

    <em>~CRASH~</em>

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    And just as he had feared, Tian Han crashed to the ground, falling leg first. His right leg was the first to bear the brunt of the impact and snapped from the femur. Having absorbed most of the force, the rest of his body was able to bear the other injuries from falling.

    His face and arms were covered in scratches as blood dripped from his leg. The sharp edge of a bone popped out of his thigh, looking gruesome. Tian Han cried for a few seconds, but then forcefully reeled his mind.

    "Not like this!" He said and tried to stand using his hands.

    Even if he had a broken leg, he wouldn''t stop escaping. But when he tried to call the spirit sword, he found it not responding.

    "Huh? What?" Tian Han was confused.

    Thinking that it might just him being disturbed and unable to focus due to the pain, he decided to numb it using a pill. But when he tried to use his spatial storage tool, he was failed again.

    "HOW!" He shouted in confusion and anger.

    He then realized that it wasn''t just the spirit tools that weren''t working, but his spirit sense itself had stopped responding. It was forcefully shoved back into his head, making him wince in pain.

    Tian Han felt as if a swamp was threatening to swallow him and was pushing him from all sides. His spirit sense as an effect was pushed as far back into his head as possible. He didn''t even know how it was possible and felt that if he tried to resist, his spirit sense would just be torn instead.

    Now broken and helpless, Tian Han could only watch as a foe beyond his imagination approached him.

    "I have to admit, you''ve brought me some surprisesбн surprises that I did not expect from someone at your level.." Lin Wu spoke as he came to stand in front of the fallen and despairing man.

 Chapter 627 - Submission Through Demonstration

    Tian Chu was stuck to Lin Wu''s side, hanging by a spike that extended from his body. She hadn''t even realized when she was picked up by it and brought here. She was far too overwhelmed to do anything on her own and could only be carried by Lin Wu.

    But still, it was a strange feeling for her as the appearance of Lin Wu and his actions didn''t seem to match for her.

    Tian Han was feeling the opposite though and thought that Lin Wu''s actions and words matched urately. His appearance made one feel terrified and his actions intimidated.

    "Wh-whyбн Wh-what do you want?" Tian Han asked while stammering.

    "What I want?" Lin Wu replied. "Well, there are a lot of things that I want. But if you mean what I want from you, there are just a couple." He added.

    Tian Han heard each and every word with focus, knowing that this might determine his survival right now.

    "What is it then?" Tian Han asked.

    "Hmmбн rather responsive, aren''t you?" Lin Wu said, feeling amused.

    "Very well. I''ll make it easy for you then." Lin Wu stated and took a look at the girl sitting on one of his spikes.

    "I offered this girl something and I would offer you the same, if you do something for me." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Offer?" Tian Han repeated as he looked at Tian Chu.

    "What could you have to offer?" Tian Han questioned.

    "Hahaha! I know, I knowбн a random creaturees and says he wants something from you and offers you something. It is wise to be cautious. And don''t worry I''ll answer you." Lin Wu replied with a wide smile.

    "Or even betterбн I''ll give you a demonstration instead. That will be better than the answer." Lin Wu said after thinking.

    So far, Tian Han was confused and didn''t know what he was getting into. But Tian Chu who was there, felt something else.

    "The thing that I offered this girl wasбн power." Lin Wu answered. "And I''ll show you exactly that!"

    "EEK!" Tian Chu screamed and flinched as her body was suddenly pulled up.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    She watched as Lin Wu''s tail soared through the air and grabbed onto the Crocodile Head Wolf. The beast was still stuck there and was forcefully brought here.

    "Tell meбн are you ready?" Lin Wu asked, while staring into Tian Chu''s eyes.

    But Tian Chu was far too scared to say anything.

    "ARE YOU READY FOR THE POWER?" Lin Wu asked out loud.

    "YES!" Tian Chu finally responded.

    "Good," Lin Wu said in a low voice. "This will hurtбн quite a bit."

    <em>~SHING~SHING~SHING~</em>

    Tian Chu''s eyes went wide as a soul shaking pain racked her body. Tian Han who was watching everything, felt himself tremble.

    Tian Chu''s body was impaled with tens of sharp and thin spikes that were no different from needles. They went into her head, arms, legs, torso and into her back. She was like a pincushion that could not move at all.

    The only thing she could feel was pain. Even her fear had been forcefully wiped away by the pain. Tears streaked down the side of her eyes and she couldn''t even speak. Her mouth was left wide open as drool dripped down from it.

    <em>~HISS~</em>

    At the same time, another sound was heard. Tian Han looked towards the source of the sound and found it to be none other than the Crocodile Head Wolf. His body too, had been impaled with tens of spikes, but they were many times the size of what were in Tian Chu''s body.

    But that was not what stunned him. No, that was the condition of the beast.

    "W-what evenбн how?" Tian Han found it hard to speak as he saw the beast shrinking in size.

    "Noбн it''s withering." He muttered as he saw the beast''s flesh and blood being dried out.

    It was rapidly reducing in size and a few minutester was just reduced to a bag of bones. It''s eyes had long since retraced into its skull due to being drained and its life was all but gone.

    The strong vitality of the beast was nowhere to be seen and neither could the overwhelming spirit Qi could be felt.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    In the next moment though, Tian Han could feel a strong spirit Qi fluctuationing from near him. Not just that, even an aura full of vitality could be felt.

    "Impossible!" Tian Han eximed as he saw the source of it.

    It was none other than Tian Chu. Her body was as if bursting with vitality and strong spirit Qi waves emitted from it. Along with that,her body was also absorbing the spirit Qi in the air at a very rapid speed.

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    A cracking sound could be hearding from her body as torrential waves of spirit Qi rose.

    "She broke though?" Tian Han watched, feeling speechless.

    Tian Chu''s core cracked before the tribtion even arrived.

    "No, that can''t beбн with the tribtion it is not possible." And just as Tian Han said, his words came true.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    Dark clouds covered the sky within seconds as arcs of lightning stirred within them.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Then without a warning, the first tribtion thunder bold descended.

    "NO!!!" Tian Han shouted and tried to escape.

    He knew just how dangerous it was being this close to someone''s heavenly tribtion, especially when they were not using a tribtion tform.

    Tian Han could only despair in the fact that he was going to be struck by tribtion lightning today and perish. His eyes were shut tight, but that feeling never arrived.

    He opened his eyes with difficulty and saw an unimaginable scene.

    "Heavens be witnessбн" he muttered as he saw the state of the tribtion.

    Instead of striking Tian Chu and causing destruction to the area, the Tribtion Lightings bolt was instead stopped by Lin Wu. The lightning was being absorbed by him and only a partial amount was being channeled into Tian Chu.

    Lin Wu saw Tian Han observing and chuckled.

    "A little tribtion is not something that matters to me." Lin Wu said causally.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    As if being taunted, the tribtion clouds rumbled and shot down an even thicker bolt of tribtion lightning bolt. But just like before, it was stopped by Lin Wu.

    Tian Han flinched once again but saw Lin Wu controlling the tribtion lightning as if it were some water. The scene repeated over and over again until eight tribtion lightning bolts had already fallen.

    This was something beyond normal already, but could be understood since there were two other beings that were not supposed to be interfering here.

    <em>~SHATTER~</em>

    And just as the final bolt''s effect faded, Tian Chu''s Core finally shattered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A bright light emitted from her body as a vortex of spirit Qi formed above her. The spirit Qi poured into her as if a dam had been broken and her cultivation base started to rise rapidly.

    "Thatбн Nascent soul realmбн" Tian Han said as he watched everything with glimmering eyes.

    Tian Chu''s nascent soul seemed to be lively and directly jumped out of her Dantian and body, before appearing on top of her head. The Nascent soul overtook her body and directly started to absorb all the spirit Qi from the sprint Qi vortex that was infusing into her.

    Lin Wu who was orchestrating all this, was also a bit surprised but kept his expression still.

    ''Now this was differentбн her Nascent soul has a stronger will than othersбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    Usually a Nascent soul would not act like this and would be under the control of the creature it belonged to. Only in rare cases would it act on its own, and it was usually in self preservation.

    But it was evident right now that it was acting in greed instead.

    The process continued and the tribtion clouds in the sky faded away. Lin Wu withdrew all the spikes he had inserted into Tian Chu''s body and she kept on floating in the air.

    Ten minutes passed like this before the phenomena passed. Tian Chu''s Nascent soul had grown by a bit but had not reached the Child Soul stage yet. If one were topare it, instead of looking like a new born baby, it looked like a six month old baby instead.

    It was certain that the spirit Qi infusion directly into the Nascent soul had pushed it greatly towards the next stage.

    Done with this, the Nascent soul closed its eyes and descended down into Tian Chu''s body before disappearing into her Dantian where its ce was. Tian Chu finally opened her eyes that had a trace of calmness in them.

    No longer was there any fear or uncertainty in those eyes. Instead recing them was sheer determination and faith. She gently descended onto the ground and looked at Lin Wu.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    Then, in the very next moment, she fell to her knees.

    <em>~thack~thack~thack~</em>

    She kowtowed three times, hitting her head hard on the ground, creating a resounding sound.

    "Your servant pays respect to master!" Tian Chu said loudly.

    Her voice overflowed with respect and an aura of devotion was exuding off her body.

    "Good." Lin Wu responded with a wide smile.

    "Rise." He ordered.

    Tian Chu stood up and faced Lin Wu with a calm expression. Lin Wu nced at her momentarily before looking towards Tian Han.

    "Well, thenбн was this to your liking? This will be the offer," Lin Wu asked.

    Tian Han''s throat felt dry and he could not speak; but at the same time his heart was shoutingбн YES!

 Chapter 628 - Tian Hans Acceptance

    For Tian Han, the main goal in trying for the position of the top nsmen was just so that he could get into the main branch and grow stronger. He knew that even if he did manage to reach the Nascent soul realm in theing few years and was promoted to a n elder, his progress would most likely stop there.

    He had seen many people follow the path, including his own father who was a n elder who was at the Nascent soul realm. To him, if he wanted the opportunity to grow any further, he would have to join some sect like the patriarch''s daughter had or the main branch of the Tian n.

    He could not join a sect since doing that would mean he would have to start from the bottom and remake his influence there. Plus, he might not be able to get the same level of resources unless he made some big contributions.

    Despite all that, there was a great chance that he might not even be allowed to leave the n by the elders. If he forced his hand, he would just be punished instead. Just the Patriarch''s daughter leaving the n for a sect was considered rather controversial at that time.

    But since she was his daughter, she had an advantage. Plus her talent wasn''t as significant as his or even Tian Chu''s thus the n didn''t mind her leaving. Additionally, when she left, Tian Xiaoge was just at the Qi refining realm.

    Many years had passed since then and the girl had not visited the n for a long time. Tian Han was sure that he had long since surpassed that and might be able to contend for the position of the patriarch in the future, since the current patriarch had no male heir strong enough to lead the n.

    But bing a patriarch was a dead end position and he would not progress after that even if he had ess to a lot of resources that the average nsmen didn''t have. This left him with the Main branch of the Tian n as an option.

    He had spent a lot on ttering and buttering up the guest elder Jigou, and had indeed obtained some benefits. But even then, there was no assurance that he would be selected since the final decision depended on the other elders from the main branch.

    ''But nowбн can I really do this?'' Tian Han wondered.

    His brain told him to think deeply about it, but his heart was screaming him to say yes.

    "So? What will it be?" Lin Wu prodded him on.

    "бкept" a faint voice was heard.

    "What was that?" Lin Wu asked again.

    "I ACCEPT!" Tian Han finally shouted.

    "Good, good." Lin Wu said with a nod.

    "But before thatбн you will need to give me what I want." Lin Wu stated firmly.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Tian Han swallowed his saliva and knew that there was no other chance for him to negotiate here. The power of the creature in front of him was far beyond his imagination. Just him allowing Tian Chu to the Nascent soul realm with such ease and stopping a heavenly tribtion made him feel dizzy.

    Tian Han fully doubted that the being in front of him was hiding its cultivation base and that it was not at the Dao Shell realm like his spirit tool had shown him.

    ''What is this being at? Immortal Ascension realmбн or even beyond that?'' Tian Han wondered.

    As a talented member of the Tian n, even if it was just a branch, he had read the records of the n. He knew about the existence of cultivation realms beyond the Immortal Ascension realm, but didn''t know their names.

    To Tian Han, no one in the Dao Treading realm would be able to do what Lin Wu just did. Thus, Immortal Ascension realm was the lowest he could guess.

    "W-what is it that you want?" Tian Han asked. "Seniorбн" He added after thinking for a second.

    "There are few things, but the first thing I want to know is who is behind you?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Huh? What do you mean?" Tian Han asked, feeling confused.

    "This formation array, that sword that contained the power of a Dao Shell realm cultivator and your spirit tools that can track aura." Lin Wu replied.

    Tian Han didn''t know why someone as powerful as Lin Wu would want to know this, but decided to answer him.

    "The formation array is something our n had for a long time. My father assisted me in setting it up a long time ago. It was intended to be used on any enemy by luring them here.

    The spirit tools were given to me by Elder Jigou as gifts. And as for the sword with the power of the Dao Shell realm cultivatorбн I don''t know." Tian Han answered.

    "What do you mean you don''t know? You were using it, weren''t you? ANSWER MASTER!" This time it was Tian Chu who had shouted.

    Her entire demeanor seemed to have changed and her voice was oppressive. Lin Wu calmly nced at her for a second before saying, "what the girl said."

    "I truly don''t know. It was left in my room, and I don''t know how it got there. There was nothing pointing to who left it there other than a note that exined what it was." Tian Han answered.

    "That is impossible! No one can enter the n without being detected." Tian Chu said. "He is lying master!"

    "NO! I''m not! I swear upon my life!" Tian Han pleaded.

    Lin Wu didn''t say anything and simply stared at the man. He knew that there were plenty of ways to enter the n without being detected. He himself had done it with the help of the system.

    There were other formation masters or cultivators that might be able to replicate that.. Lin Wu believed in this even more after seeing the different kind of spirit tools that Tian Han had.

 Chapter 629 - Quick Answers

    Lin Wu didn''t doubt that Tian Han was lying by now. His sense had grown good enough that he could judge falsehoods.

    "Is he saying the truth, system?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Affirmative." The system replied.

    ''Hmmбн then what could it be. The most likely person to do it would be someone from the n itself, since they won''t have to deal with the formation array. And considering that the sword was given to help him, the most likely person would be someone who is close to Tian Han.'' Lin Wu thought.

    While Lin Wu was thinking, the silence only made Tian Han more and more nervous. He felt like his heart would jump out of his throat if he did not get a reply.

    "Alrightбн we''ll get to thatter." Lin Wu replied. "Butбн I want to know how this beast is still alive." He added.

    "Of course! How the hell is this Crocodile Head Wolf still alive? I thought the patriarch and elders killed it!" Tian Chu asked as well.

    "Theyбн they did kill it." Tian Han stuttered.

    "And that''s clearly false." Lin Wu spoke.

    "They did kill itбн but my father saved it secretly." Tian Han replied.

    "Exin." Lin Wu stated.

    Tian Han felt hesitance for a bit, but went ahead to exin the entire thing. By the end of it though, Tian Chu seemed to be angry.

    "Seems like Elder Ruan has gone astray and no longer has the n in his thoughts." Tian Chu scoffed.

    Tian Han couldn''t reply to it and only stay silent.

    ''So they thought they killed the beast by exploding it, but this elder Ruan actually pulled the wool over their eyes and used an illusion to rece the beast with another corpse.

    He thenter went to the ce where he had sent the beast to using a short distance teleportation talisman and healed it just enough so that it won''t die.'' Lin Wu thought.

    All this that Elder Ruan had done was so that he could tame the beast. The crocodile Head Wolf was a rather strong beast that had lived in the area for quite a long time and they had known about it for a while.

    The Tian n and the beast had even shed several times, but it had never reached a point of death for either party. But then the beast finally overstepped and killed a few n members, prompting the elders to go and hunt it down.

    But Tian Ruan had some other thoughts and wanted trump cards of his own. Thus, he secretly saved the beast and even managed to control it in a roundabout way. They could use the sense of smell of the beast to make it ignore certain targets.

    That was how Tian Han had managed to escape the sight of the beast. That,bined with another illusory spirit tool, made it even more effective and safe for the man.

    Tian Han knew very well the beast was living here for the time being and had thus chosen this area intentionally so that he could let Tian Chu and the rest be killed by the beast.

    He wanted to avoid being implicated by the n''s rules and be executed for fratricide. This was a way to avoid that and also get some leeway for being unable toplete the mission.

    The appearance of a beast like this could be considered to be a valid excuse and would allow him to content for the position of the top nsmen, even if the mission was not a great sess.

    "Seems like there are some new undercurrents in the Tian n." Lin Wu said as he looked at Tian Chu. "Is there anything more you know about it?" he asked.

    "No master. While there have indeed been some internal conflicts in the n, they were mostly normal and nothing serious. The only major thing that is going on is the recruitment for the Main n." Tian Chu answered.

    "I seeбн then there is someone definitely interfering in this." Lin Wu spoke after thinking for a bit.

    "You really think so, master? But what would they get from interfering with us? The Tian n avoids most matters with the secr world and other powers. We keep to ourselves and have no known conflicts." Tian Chu asked.

    "One doesn''t need to have a conflict with your n to antagonize it. If a party has something that another party wantsбн a conflict is inevitable. Especially since that can''t be resolved through dialog." Lin Wu replied.

    Lin Wu didn''t need to hide much from Tian Chu since she was all but under his control now. She was the same as other beasts and could be killed at anytime Lin Wu wanted. But he probably won''t need to do something like that ever, since she had willingly offered her support.

    Lin Wu even went a bit further and let the system, imnt some mental restrains on her that would prevent her from ever thinking of revolting or betraying him.

    This was a new thing that they were testing out and Tian Chu was the perfect subject for it, since the restrains were something that needed the willingness of the subject to work as well.

    It was why Lin Wu had picked Tian Chu as a servant for now. Tian Han was also a choice, but he didn''t know if he would be the same as Tian Chu and fully ept it due to potentially having someone backing him.

    That would add a mental diversion that would quite likely make the restrains fail.

    "Then who could be behind it all?" Tian Chu couldn''t help but wonder.

    "If Tian Han doesn''t know it, then we can explore a bit more." Lin Wu said and looked at the man. "Tell meбн where is this Elder Jigou?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Tian Chu looked at Tian Han as well and had a sharp gaze.

    "Heбн he''s in Tieba City." Tian Han answered.

    "What!" Hearing this answer, Tian Chu was rather offended.

    "What is someone like him doing in that rat hole of a city! No honorable person would go thereбн ever!" Tian Chu said out loud.

 Chapter 630 - [Bonus ]A Short Plan

    Lin Wu was intrigued by this new information and wondered what was up with this city. He felt like he had heard about the name before, but couldn''t recall any details about it.

    "System, what is this city?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Tieba city is an unofficial city that is not under the authority of any king or sect. It was formed by various rogue cultivators andmoner bandits. It is where a lot of organizations that deal with unorthodox and illegal business reside.

    The people backing the city are mostly unknown, but the couple that are known in the open, are at the Dao Treading realm. Because of this, the city can exist and is not attacked by the orthodox sects and kingdoms.

    In addition to this, the kingdoms and sects also have dealings with the people of the Tieba city, providing additional support to it in secret.

    бкбк

    Reading this information, Lin Wu finally recalled where he had heard about Tieba city.

    "The Shadow Dagger pavilionбн they are originally from the Tieba city." Lin Wu remembered the bandits that Shirong had tortured while on the way to the Ling Kingdom capital.

    At that time, the system wasn''t as efficient as it was now and couldn''t extract all the information. Thus he had not learned about the Tieba city much, simply knowing that there was a city like that.

    "So it alles full circleбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    Tian Chu heard Lin Wu''s muttering and couldn''t help but feel intrigued.

    "Master knows about the city?" She questioned.

    "Hmmбн you could say that." Lin Wu answered.

    Both Tian Chu and Tian Han were surprised by this. They knew that Lin Wu was not someone that would appear out in the open. They had no knowledge about someone like him, and it was very evident that he would be very famous if he was in the open.

    It only made them wonder more about who Lin Wu was exactly. But they didn''t dare ask him that either.

    That was understanding since he was rather intimidating individual. They could somewhat guess that he was a beast, but at the same time, they doubted that since his actions and even appearance were far too different than any beast.

    For them, he was simply an enigma at this point.

    "Ummбн do you want to know anything else, senior?" Tian Han asked, feeling unsettled.

    "Noбн at least not for now." Lin Wu replied.

    "Thenбн" Tian Han swallowed his saliva and felt a bit hopeful.

    "Your reward, right?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Y-yesбн if that''s fine with you, of course." Tian Han replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and extended his tail and dropped a few things in front of him.

    "THISбн how?" Tian Han was stunned.

    Even Tian Chu was confused and surprised seeing the items in front of her.

    "The fruits? How?" Tian Han said in confusion.

    "This is what you need to fulfill the mission, right?" Lin Wu asked. "I reckon these many would be enough."

    "YES! M-more than enough! This is plenty!" Tian Han hurriedly said.

    But then a secondter, he gazed at Tian Chu and felt like he was missing out.

    "WHAT!? Do you want to breakthrough as well?" Tian Chu could easily guessed.

    "Iбн errбн" Tian Han didn''t dare ask anymore.

    "Hah," Lin Wu chuckled. "You might get that reward, too. If you continue to work for me."

    "Work for you?" Tian Han repeated.

    "You fool! You should be grateful master is even offering you this! BE HIS SERVANT!" Tian Chu said passionately.

    Lin Wu raised a brow at seeing this.

    ''Did we go a bit overboard with those restrains? Check it again for the next time system.'' Lin Wu said in his mind.

    Tian Han thought about it for a minute before nodding his head.

    "Iбн I''m willing." Tian Han stated.

    "Goodбн but not so easily. You will have to prove your worth. Tian Chu did so by showing faith, you''ll have to do the same." Lin Wu said with a smile.

    "I''ll do my bestбн but how?" Tian Han asked.

    "It''s simple. You simply go back to the n and do what you''re supposed to; Turn in this mission." Lin Wu replied.

    "What about me, master?" Tina Chu asked as well.

    She had no idea that her life would be flipping around like this and didn''t know how to proceed now. Her heart simply told her to follow around Lin Wu, but that was also something that didn''t seem right at the same time.

    Tina Chu knew the difference between herself and Lin Wu, both in terms of existence and power. It was not entirely a viable option to follow him around. While she would willingly do it, she didn''t know if Lin Wu would want that.

    "You will go back to the Tian n as well." Lin Wu replied.

    "I will? You don''t have any other use for me?" Tian Chu asked. "I know I''m weak, but I''m still at the Nascent soul realm and can do a lot of things, master!" she pleaded.

    "You will be far more useful at the n. Both of you will return to the n andplete the mission." Lin Wu answered.

    "But what about our nsmen that died?" She asked.

    "I''m sure Tian Han has that sorted out already." Lin Wu said with a smirk. "Don''t you? Since you were ready to do this?"

    "Y-yes senior!" he hurriedly replied.

    "Then I''m thinking you know what to do now?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes! I''ll modify the n to include Tian Chu in it." Tian Han replied.

    "The story will be: We went to do the mission and gather the Fragrant Parrot Bamboo Flowers and encountered an unseen beast. We managed to fight it, but it killed ourparison.

    We escaped and stumbled across a spirit fruit fortunately that allowed Tian Chu to breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm." He exined.

    Lin Wu nodded in approval after hearing his made up story.

    "That''s good enough. I''m sure you can handle any problem thates in addition to this at the n." Lin Wu said teasingly.

    "O-of course!" Tian Han said, trying to be confident.

 Chapter 631 - Two More Pawns Added To The Hand

    With the short n made, Lin Wu thought that it was time to finish up here.

    "Well then, you two can head back. But I need to do just one thing before that." Lin Wu said.

    "What''s that, master?" Both Tian Han and Tian Chu asked.

    "You,e here." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Y-yes?" Tian Han said nervously as he stepped forward.

    "Don''t move." Lin Wu said as he touched Tian Han''s forehead with a sharp spike.

    The man was shaking in his boots, but knew better to flinch.

    ''If he wanted to kill me, he doesn''t need to do this. He can simply crush me with a breath.'' Tian Han thought and forced himself to calm down.

    <em>~slick~</em>

    At that time, he felt a sharp pain in his head and wanted to wince, but it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    Lin Wu withdrew the spike from his head, and only a faint wound was left there. A drop of blood dripped down from the spot and trailed down to his nose.

    "What was that, master?" Tian Chu asked, feeling curious.

    She asked this because she could feel a familiar feelinging from Tian Han now. It was simr to the feeling she got from master and she was confused about it.

    "A little improvement, you could say. Now you two can talk with your mindsбн between each other and me as well." Lin Wu exined.

    ''What?'' Tian Han said, but realized that he had not moved his lips.

    "I HEARD THAT!" Tian Chu was surprised.

    "Seems like you two already grasped it, good. This will make it easier tomunicate." Lin Wu stated.

    "Oh, and alsoбн I want the spirit tools you have." Lin Wu demanded.

    "My spirit tools?" Tian Han said before taking them all out.

    "I want, this, this and that one." Lin Wu pointed them out.

    "Umm, these were all given to me by Elder Jigou. My father will probably ask me if he finds them missing." Tian Han stated.

    "Simply say that you lost them during the battle." Lin Wu stated. "And I''ll have some rewards for youter too, so you won''t miss them as much either."

    "O-okay, master. If you say soбн" Tian Han said, under the fierce gaze of Tian Chu.

    With the quick exnation done, the two of them headed back to the Tian n, while Lin Wu stayed back.

    Once they were gone, Lin Wu stored the spirit tools he got from Tian Han in the storage for the system to analyze and pulled up the map.

    ''Another task doneбн thought it went in apletely different direction than I had thought.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "At least I know have a potential in to the Tian n''s main branch." Lin Wu muttered.

    His aim was to use the two to gain information from the main branch and potentially open up opportunities for him to visit it directly.

    "Those probes will need to be upgraded onest time if they are to head out there. System, you will be done with the new version till then, right?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Affirmative." The system replied.

    "Good. The new version is necessary for a sensitive area like that." Lin Wu said.

    The system had started its analysis of the spirit tools and would be done with it soon, from what Lin Wu could see.

    "Time to head back I guess." Lin Wu said as he made his way back to the Tian n''s vicinity.

    Quickly entering the ground, Lin Wu reached the Weasel who was still sleeping soundly.

    <em>~knock~</em>

    "Wake up! We leaving now." Lin Wu said, knocking the beast down from the tree.

    <em>~KIII~</em>

    Tim was a bit startled and his fur stood on its ends, but then it calmed down seeing Lin Wu.

    "We leave?" he asked, feeling groggy.

    "Yes." Lin Wu replied.

    "Leave for where?" He questioned further.

    "Home." Lin Wu stated.

    "Home?" The weasel seemed intrigued by the word, but didn''t say anything by that.

    "Come, follow." Lin Wu ordered, and started to move.

    The two of them first went a sufficient distance away from the Tian n before taking flight and speeding their way towards the Frozen Cloud Sect.

    ''Yun Bai should be done by now. I''ll contact him just in case.'' Lin Wu thought and opened themunication link.

    But after a minute, he furrowed his brows.

    "How is this not working?" Lin Wu was confused.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Themunication target is missing and cannot be found in the range.

    бкбк

    "That''s strangeбн if the jade slip was broken, the system would have known. Then this only means Yun Bai is not in the range orбн the system cannot reach into the grotto where the Frost Foxes live." Lin Wu reckoned.

    After thinking for a bit, Lin Wu understood that it would make sense if an old formation array that had hidden the Frost Fox n for such a long time could stop the system''s signals like an interference field.

    "Seems like we''ll have to wait at the Frozen Cloud sect for him them. Though system, keep on trying and tell me if the link works again." Lin Wu stated.

    "Affirmative." The system epted.

    Lin Wu and Tim then continued on to their journey silently. Lin Wu was also observing the beast, trying to get a better gauge of the beast''s behavior.

    During the journey, they hade across several beasts, but Tim did not attack him like before. He seemed to be far more in control than before.

    "He''s getting moreбн sane." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Their journeysted a few days before they finally reached the Frozen Cloud sect. They did need to stop a couple of times because Tim got hungry and needed to eat something. Lin Wu let him do this and also got the system to analyze him at the same time.

    This let him discover the fact that it was absolutely essential for Tim to continue eating or he might not be able to function properly.

    "It''s like a diabetic person needing sugar from time to timeбн"

 Chapter 632 - The Elders Of The Frozen Cliff Division

    In one of the peaks of the Frozen Cloud sect, a group of elders were sitting. They were all talking about something and had serious expressions on their head.

    "How can this be possible? They failed for ten years and suddenly seeded?" A brown haired elder said out loud.

    "No matter what we say, it has already happened. Now we need to figure out how to stop them from gaining too much power." Another elder spoke.

    "Elder Liewei is right, we need to do damage control." A few others chimed in.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    A loud sight could be hearding from the oldest looking elder in the hall. The man seemed like he was over a hundred years oldpared to a mortal''s appearance. His skin was dry and saggy, with wrinkles so thick they hid his eyes.

    Still, his sigh was enough to silence all the elders in the hall.

    "Is there a problemбн Elder Weizhe?" The elder who was sitting at the head of the hall spoke.

    He was rtively younger than the other elders and seemed to be middle aged. Yet if one felt the spirit Qi fluctuationing from him, they would be able to tell that he was at the Dao Shell realm.

    From his position and authoritarian voice, it was evident that he was the leader of these elders.

    The old elder named Weizhe looked up at the middle aged elder with a still face.

    "How long will you keep this up? We should have stopped a long time ago, doing this will only harm the sect further." Elder Weizhe spoke.

    "Oh? Has Elder Weizhe decided to leave the Frozen Cliff division?" The middle aged elder asked in an intrusive tone.

    "I never said that, Elder Qianshu. Do not twist my words." Elder Weizhe replied, his tone still calm.

    "If you are making such statements, then it only means that you are inclined on doing as I said. If you don''t want to leave the Broken Cliff Division, then you will listen to our words and do as I say." Elder Qianshu said in a firm voice.

    Elder Weizhe looked at the man and stayed silent. Five minutes passed like this, as the two men had a staring match.

    "Fineбн do as you want. I won''t interfere in anything unless ites toбн that. But at the same time mark my wordsбн we should have never taken the help of outsiders," Elder Weizhe said before standing up.

    His back was hunched, and he had a weak gait while talking. If anyymen looked at him, they would think that the man had one foot in death''s door. There weren''t any detectable spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him either and his vitality was rather weak too.

    The other elder looked at Elder Qianshu with interest, wondering if today was finally the day the two would battle.

    ''This damned old manбн why does he still hand on to his life, his time is long goneбн'' Elder Qianshu thought.

    His expression seemed upset, yet he did not do anything and forcibly held back. He kept on watching till Elder Weizhe reached the door of the hall.

    <em>~Creak~</em>

    But just as he was about to open the door, it opened on its own.

    "Elder! Iбк" The person who had just opened the door was startled. "Elder Weizhe!"

    The old man watched the young disciples with a still expression and simply passed by him without saying anything. The disciple seemed a bit shocked but reeled in that, since he had something important to say.

    "What is it?!" The brown haired elder asked in an irritated tone.

    "Elders! This disciple hase to inform you that Chief Disciple Wang Xiong has left the sect once again!"

    Hearing this, the elders seemed a bit confused.

    "Didn''t he juste back three days ago after calming the mine? Why is he out again?" an elder asked.

    "I-I don''t know. He was seeing leaving just five minutes ago. I rushed here to inform you, as instructed." The disciple replied.

    "Hang on, has he gone alone? Or is there someone with him?" the elder named as Liewei asked further.

    The other elders seemed intrigued by why he had asked a question like this.

    "Thest time he left with a few people, but called more to im the mine. If he is going for something big, he will probably take more people. We can asses his goals from that." Elder Liewei exined.

    The elders nodded their heads in understanding and looked towards the disciple for answers.

    "He left with core disciple Ye Jin. No one else is with him." The disciple answered.

    "Oh? Just those two, huhбн" Elder Qianshu said with interest.

    "Are you sure those two didn''t go out just to celebrate? We do know they are ''close'' now." Another elder asked.

    "I do not know about that, elder." The disciple replied, feeling helpless.

    "What do we do now then?" A short elder asked.

    "Hmmбн we have kept to ourselves for quite a bit now. Our ally hasn''t contacted us about the mine either and we have no extra information. I think it is time for us to probe for intelligence on our own this time." Elder Qianshu spoke.

    Hearing this suggestion, the elders couldn''t help but agree.

    "But will our ally be fine with this? Didn''t they say not to interfere till they make contact again?" The brown haired elder questioned.

    "What do you think of us? We are the elders of the Frozen Cliff division! They are the outsiders and we are the ones who will be dealing with everything at once. Even if they are our ally, our rtionship is that of a merchant and customer." Elder Qianshu said in a reprimanding tone.

    "I-Iбн I understand." The brown haired elder lowered his head.

    "If we do go through with this, what do you suggest we do?" A Female elder asked.

    "Wellбн I''d like to ask Elder Liewei for a suggestion. He has always had an analytical mind." Elder Qianshu spoke.

    Elder Liewei nodded his head, and a smile appeared on his face.

    "With pleasureбн"

 Chapter 633 - Missing Yun Bai And A Drastic Act

    "Senior Lin Wu has returned rather quickly." Ye Jin spoke.

    "I know, even I did not expect him to return this fast. I fully expected him to be gone for at least a couple of months." Wang Xiong replied.

    "You have experience with that?" Ye Jin asked, feeling curious.

    "Wellбн I don''t know what Senior did exactly. But that''s just how muchmunication I had with him in the past. He would barely contact me a couple of times in a year." Wang Xiong replied. "So I just guessed based on that estimate." He added.

    "I see. But we do have the means to contact him directly, so that maybe the restricting factor back then." Ye Jin replied.

    "Possibly, yeah." Wang Xiong nodded in agreement.

    The two of them were flying towards a location that had been designated as a meeting point by Lin Wu. It was a sufficient distance away from the Frozen Cloud sect such that the elders of the sect shouldn''t detect Lin Wu.

    He had decided to be a bit cautious after seeing Tian Han''s spirit tools and bet on the fact that there would be someone else with such tools or simr skills in the sect. So far, he had been lucky when he infiltrated the sect, but this time there was no Yun Bai there.

    The man would be able to cover for Lin Wu if he was there, but since he had not returned yet, doing so would be unwise. Additionally, the little battle that Yun Bai and Lin Wu had back then had alerted a few strong experts of the sect and Lin Wu didn''t want to alert them again, just in case they were keeping an eye.

    And thus, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin had no option but to leave the sect to meet with him.

    "There it is. That should be the ce." Wang Xiong said as he pointed towards a certain area.

    It was a rocky hill that was bare of any trees and there was ake that was attached to its base. It seemed like over many years, the rain had washed over the soil from the hill and left behind only a rocky core.

    The rain water then umted at its base to form theke. It wasn''t particr picturesque and there were also many spirit beasts that lived near it, thus no one really came here.

    "I didn''t even know there was a hill like this here." Ye Jin spoke.

    "I''ve only passed by here a couple of times. I remember the first time I went past here, it still had some trees growing on it." Wang Xiongmented.

    The two of them came tond beside theke and looked around for Lin Wu.

    "Where is Senior? I can feel him nearby, but can''t estimate where he is exactly." Ye Jin wondered.

    <em>~Ripple~</em>

    And just as she said that, the water of theke started to ripple. Faint tremors appeared in the ground, before a dark body could be seen in the depths of the water.

    <em>~gush~</em>

    Then from theke rose up the head of Lin Wu along with a part of his body. Sitting on one of his spikes was none other than Tim the weasel. Though he seemed to be irritated by the water and shaking it off from his body.

    "Just in time." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Senior!" Wang Xiong and Ye Jin cupped their hands in greeting.

    "Do you know where Yun Bai is, or when he''sing back?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Guardian Yun? I thought he was in contact with you." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Noбн while I did try to contact him, I couldn''t. When did he leave the sect?" Lin Wu replied.

    "Hmm, I can''t tell exactly. But I went to see if he was there on his peaks after returning from the mine and couldn''t enter it. The formation arrays blocked me from progression, which means that he wasn''t on the peak." Wang Xiong exined.

    "I guess he had left by then. He didn''t say anything to you before leaving?" Lin Wu asked.

    "No nothing. I don''t even know when he left." Wang Xiong repeated.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu couldn''t help but furrow his brows.

    ''So we have no estimate on when he''s going toe back and no way to contact him either.'' Lin Wu understood.

    While Lin Wu could very well leave for the forest and talk to Yun Baiter, he would prefer if it was done face to face since there were somethings best shown to him directly. Plus, Yun Bai was also likely to bring some records that Lin Wu would need to check physically to read.

    "Did you want to ask ''us'' anything?" Wang Xiong questioned, feeling a bit strange since Lin Wu could have very well asked them this through themunication link, unaware of the extra caution that the worm was taking now.

    Until the system gave him the green signal that it had patched a few new vulnerabilities and cross checked them, to ensure they worked, Lin Wu would not dare to use themunication link in areas controlled by others.

    "Ah yes, how are things going with Di Guan mines?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Oh! Everything is going really well due to the senior''s help. We have already secured the area and assigned some people there temporarily. Ye Jin will work on expanding the numbers and make sure that everything is fine on the end of the sect as well, since we will be sending out disciples." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Hmmбн that''s goodбк" Lin Wu was mid way to replying when he felt something and his aura changed.

    "Tim! Attack them!" Lin Wu ordered as he rapidly sank back into the water and drilled back underground.

    ~KIIIIII~

    The weasel needed little more to act and spun in the air while aiming towards the confused Wang Xiong and Ye Jin.

    "W-what?" Wang Xiong hurriedly dodged and Ye Jin did the same.

    They couldn''t understand why Lin Wu would do something like this all of a sudden.

 Chapter 634 - Wang Xiong And Ye Jin Versus Tim!

    <em>~SHING~SHING~SHING~</em>

    The sound of Tim''s hard and sharp fur grinding against rocks could be heard as sparks and debris shot around.

    "Get back!" Wang Xiong shouted.

    Ye Jin was confused by the sudden change, but knew better than to question it at this moment.

    <em>~kiikiii~</em>

    Seeing that he had missed the targets, Tim pivoted off the rocks and shot up into the sky and dived down in one smooth motion. His ws were wide extended and a faint glow could also be seen on them.

    Wang Xiong couldn''t help but shudder seeing this. He felt a pressure he had rarely ever felt before and knew that if he tried to go head to head against Tim, he would be utterly destroyed.

    "Dammit!"

    Gritting his teeth, Wang Xiong waved his hands.

    "Taiji Scripture: Yin Pull!" Wang Xiong chanted.

    <em>~Whoosh~</em>

    With his gesture, the water in theke started to rise. A cold wave of energy spread out from Wang Xiong''s body and entered the water, quickly freezing it in the air.

    <em>~crack~crack~</em>

    The frozen water then splintered into hundreds and hundreds of thin needles that floated in the air.

    "Rise!" Wang Xiong pointed towards Tim who was falling towards him.

    <em>~pew~pew~pew~</em>

    The sound of wind being torn could be heard as the ice needles traveled at a great speed.

    <em>~ng~ng~ng~</em>

    The ice needles hit Tim''s body and did no damage.

    ''How did we even think that we could defeat a beast like this back then?'' Wang Xiong couldn''t help but feel stupid now.

    But while the needles did no damage, it did slow down Tim enough that both Wang Xiong and Ye Jin could retreat even more.

    "Tri-light Swords!" Ye Jin made seals with her hand before materializing three swords in front of her.

    The swords were made out of Qi but if one looked closer, they would see that it wasn''t just normal attribute less spirit Qi, but it had traces of Yin Qi in it.

    "Touch of Yin!" Ye Jin tapped one of the sword on its pommel, turning its color into ck.

    "Touch of Yang!" Wang Xiong reached Ye Jin and tapped the pommel of the second sword, turning it white.

    The two of them then looked at each other and nodded before sping their free hand together.

    "Dual Unity Swordsmanship! de of Companion!" The two of them chanted together and held onto the swords they had tapped.

    <em>~WEENG~</em>

    The third sword that was freely floating started to move at that moment. It came to float in front of them and gained a dual color. Half of the sword was ck and the other half was white.

    Wang Xiong held the white sword in his right hand, while Ye Jin held the ck sword in her left hand. They gazed at the iing Weasel beast and swung the swords in unison.

    <em>~SLASH~</em>

    The third sword mirrored their moves and shot towards Tim, letting out a powerful sh.

    The air was split apart as peerless sword energy shot out of the dual colored sword. The energy traveled vertically in a straight line, creating a deep ravine in the ground and splitting the rocks in its path into two as well.

    <em>~KREEE~</em>

    Tim''s glowing ws crossed mid air and mmed into the iing sh.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    As if a gong had been hit, a sonorous sound spread in the surroundings. The frozen part of theke cracked upon being influenced by the sound, and even the rocky hill gained some extra cracks.

    It was evident that the sound held a lot of power within it, prompting one to think that the actual attacks held even more power.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin exerted all their power, trying to push Tim back. They didn''t know why Lin Wu had ordered this or why he was letting this happen, but they knew that survival was everything at this moment.

    <em>~Kacha~</em>

    But despite their strength, the swords in their hands started to crack and so did the third sword that was actually shing with Tim.

    "Noбн" Ye Jin said unwillingly.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    A blinding explosion happened as pure physical force and Spirit Qi met.

    "AAAAHHHH!" Ye Jin cried out in pain as she was knocked away.

    Wang Xiong was the same and was sent flying along with her. Still, he was stronger than her and was able to maintain his control. His eyes were open and just when he was about to m into a tree, he saw something.

    ''Theyбн!'' Wang Xiong''s eyes went wide, but quickly gained a calm expression.

    <em>~Thud~</em>

    His body collided into a tree, breaking it in half and copsing on the side.

    "Ugh!" Wang Xiong grunted in pain and forced himself to stand again.

    His spirit sense quickly spread around and a few new things came into his observation. But ignoring those things, he quickly went to Ye Jin who had met a simr fate as him.

    "Ye Jin!" he called out anxiously.

    Seeing that she had simply suffered some cuts and bruises, he felt better.

    "Noбн the damage is not just physicalбн" Wang Xiong sensed as he saw the arms of Ye Jin tremble non stop.

    He could already guess what had happened to her meridians and knew that if he checked them right now, it would only cause more disturbance to him and take away the precious time they had right now.

    "That beastбн where is he?" Wang Xiong turned around to search for him.

    His eyes wandered around but could not find him.

    ''Dammit, I can''t even sense him with spirit sense. He''s far too different!'' Wang Xiong cursed internally.

    "Beбн Behindбн" Ye Jin''s lips faintly moved, and she mouthed out a word.

    Wang Xiong''s eyes darted to his back and there he spotted the beast rising up from the ground.

    The beast had also been knocked away like them due to the explosion. But when Wang Xiong saw the state of the beast, he was in for a surprise again.

    "Just how tough is he evenбн Not even a scratch!" Wang Xiong felt uneasy.

 Chapter 635 - Knocked Back

    <em>~cough~ cough~</em>

    Ye Jin coughed out a mouthful of blood. She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her lungs and her body ached to no end.

    Her body told her to sleep and rest, but her brain shouted that she would die very quickly if she tried that.

    "WAKE UP!" Thankfully, Wang Xiong''s shout was enough to rouse herpletely.

    Her vision stabilized and she quickly ate a pill to start the recovery.

    "This battle is not over yet," Wang Xiong said as he gazed at the Weasel beast.

    <em>~WOONG~</em>

    A serious expression appeared on Wang Xiong''s face as he withdrew a Guan Dao from his spatial storage treasure.

    This Guan Dao was different from the one he had used a long time ago and was twice as thick. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it were also very strong, and it was easy to tell that it was at least a High Grade spirit weapon.

    There were three tassels hanging off the back of the Guan Dao''s de having the three colors: ck, white and Grey.

    Wang Xiong raised the Guan Dao and spun it in the air, leaving a train of three colors just the same as the tassels.

    With the circle created, Wang Xiong hooked his finger toward it and rotated it.

    <em>~Zing~</em>

    The circle started to spin on a t axis first, but then Wang Xiong stomped his foot, making it spin on a vertical axis as well. In just a couple of seconds, Wang Xiong and Ye Jin disappeared as a blurry sphere appeared around them due to the spinning circle.

    "Kill!" A screeching voice was heard.

    Tim ran at great pace and mmed into the sphere head first.

    <em>~spark~</em>

    Like golden confetti, sparks shot out everywhere due to the collision. This time, Wang Xiong was in a defensive situation and could not move at all. Ye Jin was still reeling in from the impact and looked at herpanion with a concerned expression.

    "Why is he attacking us? We didn''t do anything! Why is senior punishing us?" Ye Jin asked feeling wronged.

    "No!" Wang Xiong shouted in response, stunning Ye Jin.

    She could see the fierce look in his eyes and knew that something was wrong.

    "He isn''t punishing usбн he is protecting us." Wang Xiong replied.

    "W-what? That''s insane." Ye Jin said, finding it all absurd.

    "I know what it seems like. But this is the best solution that could have been used." Wang Xiong said as he gathered more spirit Qi from his Dantian.

    "What do you mean? A solution for what?" Ye Jin questioned.

    "A solution that would keep us safe and hide our link to Senior Lin Wu." Wang Xiong answered.

    Upon hearing this, a thought came into Ye Jin''s mind. She found that thought to be very wrong and couldn''t tell how it would be possible, but at the same time it seemed the most logical answer too.

    "Weбн we were followed, weren''t we?" Ye Jin questioned.

    "Yesбн I don''t know how we didn''t sense them. But they tracked us down all the way here." Wang Xiong answered.

    By this time, Ye Jin understood what had happened and only felt frustrated.

    "What do we do then?" Ye Jin asked.

    "We have to push the weasel as far as possible. As long as he is far enough, he won''t attack us." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Alright! Do we do the same thing as before?" Ye Jin asked.

    "Noбн that won''t work. I''ll hold him off for as long as possible, you take that thing out." Wang Xiong replied.

    Ye Jin''s expression turned serious and she nodded her head. Wang Xiong put his focus on defending and supplying spirit Qi to the spinning ring while Ye Jin pulled out a small ss bottle.

    The ss bottle was transparent, and in it a small piece of flesh was floating in fluid. It was hard to tell what thing the flesh belonged to or what the fluid was, but the number of runs that were carved into the bottle showed that whatever it must be, it was very vtile.

    Such runes were carved to make a stabilizing formation that could restrain unstable materials.

    Ye Jin held the bottle in both her hands and started pouring all her spirit Qi into it. The more spirit Qi that entered it, the more the runes glowed. After a few seconds, the runes reached a peak and the spirit Qi started to enter the fluid, and then the piece of flesh.

    The flesh started to tremble and bulge.

    <em>~kacha~</em>

    At that moment, a single crack appeared on the ss bottle.

    "It''s ready!" Ye Jin hurriedly spoke.

    "On my call!" Wang Xiong instructed.

    "Oneбн Twoбн NOW!" Wang Xiong yelled.

    The ring that was spinning in the shape of a sphear expanded outwards with a surge of spirit Qi and pushed back Tim.

    "GO!" Ye Jin threw the small ss bottle with all her strength and it flew toward Tim.

    Wang Xiong too reacted quickly and mmed the Guan Dao into the ground, creating an ice dome around them.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    The ss bottle hit Tim on the head and broke apart.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Then, like match meeting a keg of gunpowder, the piece of flesh ignited!

    <em>~KABOOM!~</em>

    A massive explosion shook the area, directly burning away the trees and the grass.

    "ARGH!" Wang Xiong grunted in strain as he did his best to maintain the ice dome.

    The rate at which he was supplying it spirit Qi and the rate at which it was melting was almost the same, but it looked like he was faltering.

    <em>~SKREEE~</em>

    Tim seemed to be injured as well and was sent flying like a rocket.

    <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>

    His body broke through tens of trees at once before crashing into the ground.

    But even then, he didn''t stop and created a long gully in the ground. From this, one could tell just how much force was there in the explosion.

    <em>~shatter~</em>

    The ice dome that was protecting Wang Xiong and Ye Jin broke apart as well when the spirit Qi ran out.

 Chapter 636 - Reason For The Drastic Action

    <em>~huu~huu~huu~</em>

    Wang Xiong panted and looked towards the distance, hoping his n had worked.

    <em>~SKREEEEEE~</em>

    An ear piercing screech could be hearding from a kilometer away at that moment. It was familiar to them as they had already heard Tim many times before, but in this instance, it was different.

    "His cry is not one bit weakerбн even stronger actually. Just how durable is this beast?" Wang Xiong couldn''t help but say.

    "How can something even survive that explosion with no scratches? For heaven''s sake, that was a Lava Drake''s Fire sac!" Ye Jin said in shock.

    "Senior Lin Wu had an eye for the talent. There is no way he would have taken an interest in a beast like that and even protected it despite the things it has done. The talent it has is no less than the top experts of us humans." Wang Xiong had to admit.

    "ARGH!" But just as he said this, a loud scream could be heard.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin looked at each other and nodded.

    "Seems like it worked." Wang Xiong said.

    "Hopefully this keeps him away from us, and those that tailed us on toes." Ye Jin replied.

    The two of them could hear more criesing from the forest and knew that there was a bloody battle going on there, possibly. But they didn''t go to check it out. Instead, the two of them retreated to a safer location and hid.

    The ce they were hiding in right now was actually a hole in the ground. If one didn''t look through the copsed trees, they would not know that there was actually a hole this big here.

    "Senior Lin Wu even prepared this for us." Wang Xiong said, seeing the rather spacious hole.

    "Now that we''re here, why don''t you try contacting him?" Ye Jin questioned.

    "Hmmбн let''s see if the link works now. Earlier he had suppressed itбн possibly to make sure that the way we acted was normal." Wang Xiong replied.

    He then closed his eyes and tried to link up with themunication system that Lin Wu had active most of the time. After a few seconds, he finally got through and felt relieved.

    "Senior Lin Wuбн" Wang Xiong called out.

    "Did you two get far enough?" Lin Wu questioned directly, his tone in.

    "Yes. We are currently in one of the holes you made for us nearby." Wang Xiong answered.

    Lin Wu who was hiding a few kilometer away in the ground, furrowed his brows and tried to recall the location.

    "Did I make a hole for them nearby?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He quickly switched though the map and indeed found the hole that they were talking about.

    "Oh it''s there. I didn''t even know I had one there." Lin Wu muttered to himself before responding to the two.

    "And I reckon, you two understood the situation?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "We were confused and lost at first, but I understood after seeing some things." Wang Xiong answered.

    "I seeбн then are you two upset with me?" Lin Wu asked, feeling curious.

    Lin Wu could understand if they felt like that, as anyone who was pushed into a difficult situation like that without an exnation would feel irritated. Plus, the one that he put Wang Xiong and Ye Jin wasn''t just difficult, it was downright deadly.

    ''Tim certainly won''t hold back, it''s not in his nature.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "No senior!" Wang Xiong hurriedly said.

    "Though I did think that it was a test of some kind." Ye Jin too joined in at this point, sensing the connection better.

    "Hmmбн you could say that it was a test too. Not just for me to asses, but for you two to learn as well." Lin Wu said before taking a pause, "I hope you two understood the lesson thates out of this?" he asked.

    "We do, senior!" Wang Xiong and Ye Jin replied in unison.

    "And what lesson is that?" Lin Wu asked, while trying to suppress his chuckle.

    ''I always wanted to y a teacher, hehe.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "That we need to be vignt at all times. We have becent and thought that our enemies won''t act any more just because they have been silent for a while." Wang Xiong answered.

    "And I also learned that fate can twist at any instant, thus being prepared is everything." Ye Jin added.

    "That is truly an important factor." Lin Wu agreed.

    "If Ye Jin didn''t have that Lava Drake Fire sac, I doubt we would have been able to push Tim back that far. Even ourbined attacks were not something that could have as big of an effect." Wang Xiong stated.

    Lin Wu quickly checked the stored memories that the Pentagem had in the two subordinates and got to know what had happened. He had activated the passive recording feature as soon as he distanced himself.

    He didn''t know if there would be more than just some Core condensation realm and Nascent soul realm people spying on them, thus Lin Wu decided to be cautious.

    ''Oh? They certainly came up with some new skillsбн they are even coborative ones.'' Lin Wu thought, feeling rather impressed.

    He could see that the two of them had taken the Taiji Refinement scripture and applied that to some other skill they knew ande up with newer versions of them. Lin Wu let the system gather them and update its data banks for future reference.

    After thinking for a bit, Lin Wu spoke again.

    "Those peopleбн they are definitely from the sect. Which means someone ordered them toe after you two and seeing their numbers, I doubt they had any good intentions." Lin Wu stated.

    "Iбн I know senior. They are most definitely from the Frozen Cliff division. They had backed off from having frontal conflicts with us in the past few years, and I thought they would do the same now.

    But my thought is now proved to be wrong, and it''s evident that they were simply biding their time.." Wang Xiong borated.

 Chapter 637 - How Did The Spies Hide?

    Lin Wu too was surprised by the way how those spies had appeared.

    ''The detection distance was far too close and the time needed to detect them was high too. What happened there system?'' Lin Wu questioned the system.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to thetest analysis, the foes have the effect of a certain formation array that can temporally conceal their tracks and presence. The formation array only works in a certain area and needs for the operators to stay within it for it to express its effects.

    While the system could ovee the masking ability of the foes, it was only possible once they were under a certain radius. This was possible due to the new data extrapted from the Aura Exposure hoop.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s response, Lin Wu was now hundred percent sure that being cautious was the better choice.

    ''These were weaker cultivators and they were still able to hide from us. If they were any strong, I would be in great trouble.'' Lin Wu thought with slight fear.

    Though it also made him wonder why the people of the Frozen Cliff division had not used this tactic before.

    "Do you have an idea of who could have sent them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "It is the Frozen Cliff division certainly. Though cannot hold back anymore, especially now that we have the Di Guan Mines under us as well." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Hmmбн they won''t act without specific orders. Which means the elders can''t hold back either." Ye Jin added.

    Wang Xiong nodded in response and Lin Wu quickly checked the situation of the said spies.

    "Looks like the Frozen Cliff division will be having a little bad luck today." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Is something happening to them, senior?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Your choice of knocking away Tim was the best one. It gave you enough time to escape and also made it in a way that the pursuers won''t be able to follow either." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong felt a bit content.

    "What is happening to Tim, though? Will he be fine?" Ye Jin asked with a little concern.

    Even though she was cursing the beast just a few minutes ago, Ye Jin now understood the reason behind it and felt a bit embarrassed.

    "Oh, he''s fine. That little explosion barely gave him any cracks." Lin Wu replied. "Thoughбн the same cannot be said for those that were following you." He added.

    "I guess we''ll get to see it in a bit." Wang Xiong said with little excitement.

    Lin Wu nodded in agreement and Ye Jin had nothing to add to it, thus just stayed silent. More time passed and finally an hour had gone by. No sounds of screeching or roaring could be heard and it felt like things had selected.

    "Should we check now, senior?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Just give me a minuteбн" Lin Wu said as he started to spread his spirit sense once more.

    In his range of perception, he could see that there was nothing alive there.

    "It is fine now. We will head back." Lin Wu answered.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin left the hole, making their way to the site. Lin Wu did the same, except he reappeared from the ground instead of the water.

    <em>~ssh~</em>

    Lin Wu''s entire body rose from ground and gazed at the damage and destruction.

    "Let''s head there, shall we?" Ye Jin questioned.

    The trio then moved towards the site of conflict.

    <em>~KIIIII~</em>

    And just as they got anymore closer, the cry of a weasel could be heard again.

    "Come out now, Tim. This is enough," Lin Wu called out.

    <em>~KREEE~</em>

    The cry of a weasel rousing from the area could be heard.

    <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>

    A few seconds, the figure of Tim could be seen rushing at them at a great speed.

    Ye Jin secretly flinched seeing Tim and his body. The beast was uninjured for the most part and had only gained some superficial injuries. But other than that, there was a lot of blood that covered his body.

    There were even pieces of flesh and hair hanging off him.

    "What did you doбн" Ye Jin couldn''t help but say.

    "Eat." Tim casually responded.

    Lin Wu ended up being the one that could exin the situation.

    "I''m still curious about something seniorбн Did you know that something like this would happen?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Somewhat I guess." Lin Wu said as he scanned the area with his spirit sense.

    In his range of perception, Lin Wu could see several headless bodies. Some had half of their entire body bit in half while some had a partial part eaten. Regardless, all of those were wounds from which barely anyone would be able to escape.

    Lin Wu double checked it all just in case to make sure there won''t be anyone hiding their cultivation and spirit Qi signals.

    "Senior Lin Wu is wise. But it is indeed good that you prompted us to do this. The ones that survived will certainly bring back the information. The elders will only find out that we barely managed to survive.

    We might even be able to root out the traitors." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Mmhmm. This is a good form of misdirection." Lin Wu agreed.

    The three of them checked the area for a few more minutes before finally sitting down to talk.

    "So what do you think the mindset of the elders was?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I''m thinking they are now in a panic mode. We have suddenly gained control of the Di Guan mines, which we have beenpeting for a long time. Since the bnce was shifted, the elders were definitely looking into make us fail.

    But now with the Senior''s hints, not only did we manage to flip the tail on us, we probably strained their resources even more." Wang Xiong said after thinking or a minute.

    Lin Wu nodded his head in acknowledgment and thought that it was now time to find an even better ce for their meeting.

 Chapter 638 - First Time Teaching

    Lin Wu and his two subordinates had changed their location and were now in an area that was about fifty kilometers away from the site of battle. This was a ce that Lin Wu had already passed by and felt like it was good enough.

    There were little to no strong beasts nearby, with the strongest one being at the peak core condensation realm and there weren''t any important resources here either.

    But what this ce did have was a sinkhole. It was around twenty meters wide and was hidden by a lot of trees and had nts growing all over it. Even if one looked at it from the sky, they would find it harder to differentiate since there were just too many nts growing on its walls and other surfaces.

    From the top, it just looked like a singr green area and the depth was difficult to perceive.

    "I never knew there was a sinkhole like this here." Ye Jin said, finding it a rather pleasant ce.

    "Mmhmmбн it is a little wet, but other than that, it''s rather beautiful." Wang Xiong agreed seeing the various flowers that were growing there.

    The flowers were just normal flowers and thus there was no need for any beasts or cultivators to tread in this area.

    "You two should stay here for a couple of days before returning. Though if Yun Bai contacts us before that, we''ll just talk with him then." Lin Wu spoke.

    "As you wish, senior." Wang Xiong replied.

    With this, the n for staying in the sinkhole was made. While two days was not that long of a time, it was still a bit strange for the two of them to stay here with Lin Wu. It was just a bit awkward since they were not used to being with him for longer periods of time.

    But at the same time, they were curious about Lin Wu and how he cultivated.

    "Ummбн senior." Ye Jin suddenly spoke up.

    "Yes?" Lin Wu responded.

    "Since we will be here together for a whileбн will you be willing to give us some pointers on cultivation?" Ye Jin asked.

    "Yes! I''d love to do this, since we don''t get an opportunity like this often." Wang Xiong chimed in as well.

    Lin Wu had certainly not expected something like this and waspletely lost.

    ''Shitбн Ipletely forgot about the teaching part of the mysterious and powerful senior act.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu''s cultivation was mostly assisted by the system and it was in charge of handling the technical parts. Lin Wu would at most follow the information that was already in his mind and follow that to cultivate.

    Even the information that he had learned from the various cultivation techniques and manuals was mostly surface-level since he couldn''t apply it directly to his body due to not being human.

    This was the issue because of which he left most things to the system. Though Lin Wu did know that once he entered the Dao Treading realm, he would have to actively startprehending the Dao in order to progress and the system would not be able to help him for the most part.

    ''I have toe up with something, or it''ll be awkward.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He was silent for five minutes, which made Wang Xiong and Ye Jin feel a bit nervous, but since Lin Wu didn''t express any displeasure, they decided to wait and see.

    "Alrightбн" Lin Wu finally spoke, relieving the two.

    "But before that, you already know that I am a beast and thus the things that apply to humans don''t particrly apply to me and vice a versa. Thus I won''t be giving you any pointers pertaining to specific cultivation techniques." Lin Wu stated.

    "That isunderstandable, senior. We will be fine with anything that you teach us." Wang Xiong and Ye Jin replied.

    "Very well, I''ll give you some general information then." Lin Wu said.

    The two humans listened to him attentively as Lin Wu started to speak. The thing that Lin Wu started with was the very basics of cultivation, which was the different realms and their meanings.

    He exined all the realms all the way to the Immortal Ascension realm, which was what the two of them knew of until now.

    "Now then, this was the part that you mostly knew of. But I''ll be telling you about the realms that exist above the Immortal Ascension realm." Lin Wu said, exciting the two humans.

    "From what I''ve heard from patriarch, above the Immortal Ascension realm is the Immortal Realm, right?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Indeed, but there is more to it than just that. The immortal Realm is just a basic generalization and there are many sub realms in it. More urately, there are 7 such sub realms.

    All the realms from the Qi refining realm all the way to the Immortal Ascension realm are the sub realms of the Major realm which is called as the Spirit realm. That is the reason why you are all called spirit cultivators or spirit Qi cultivators and the ones that are in the immortal realm are called as Immortal cultivators or Immortal Qi cultivators." Lin Wu replied.

    This was just the start of Lin Wu''s exnation and he then went on to exin about the seven tribtions that epassed the seven sub realms of the Immortal realm. Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were so stunned by all this that they couldn''t even blink their eyes.

    Lin Wu of course, skipped over some things that he literally could not say due to the world''s restrictions, but the information that he had given was already enough to overwhelm the two.

    Wang Xiong was the most intrigued by how someone actually reached an Immortal World. The whole moving through the gates of the Greater and Grand Void both confused and amazed him.

    Lin Wu teaching them this had another effect, though.. The belief that Lin Wu was long lived and had seen all this was now firmly anchored in their hearts.

 Chapter 639 - The Distressed Elders

    While Lin Wu was teaching Wang Xiong and Ye Jin in peace, someone else was currently in distress.

    "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HALF OF YOUR WERE SLAUGHTERED?" Elder Qianshu thundered.

    "T-That''s what happened elder." A person spoke fearfully.

    The other elders in the hall were tense as well and didn''t know what to say. There was just one person who hade to deliver the report since all others were either injured or were taking care of the injured.

    Elder Qianshu frowned and looked at Elder Liewei whose forehead was wrinkled and more were being added by the minute.

    "Tell me everything from the start. This doesn''t make sense." Elder Liewei stated.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    The tired disciple took a deep breath and started his exnation again.

    "We followed Wang Xiong and Ye Jin as we were ordered to, and stayed hidden. We tracked them down to a rocky hill out of the sect and found that they were actually there to find a beast." The disciple said.

    "A beast? What kind of a beast?" Elder Qianshu questioned.

    "At first we didn''t get a proper look since we had to keep away from their sights, but we did feel the spirit qi fluctuations that came from their battle. From that we could estimate that it was a beast at the Nascent soul realm." The disciple answered.

    "A beast at the nascent soul realm this close to the sect?" A brown haired elder said in confusion.

    "Were there any reports of such a beast?" A female elder questioned another elder.

    "No. No such report came to us in the past year. Plus, we do regr patrols in the hundred kilometer area around the sect nearly every day, thus we would have known if there was a beast as strong as that there." A short elder who only had one hand answered.

    "Hmmбн this means that the information about this beast was only known to the two of themбн or perhaps even the Frozen Brook Division." Elder Qianshu said.

    "I doubt that the entire Frozen Brook Divisions knows about it. If they did, our informants would have long since told us about it." The brown haired elder chimed in.

    The elders thought for a few minutes before Elder Qianshu spoke again.

    "Still, it doesn''t make sense that over half of you died. For heaven''s sake! You had two Nascent soul realm cultivators with you too, didn''t you?" Elder Qianshu asked in an irritated tone.

    "We did indeed, Elder. Butбн butбн they were the first ones to die. They were killed in less than ten seconds as the beast directly ate one of them whole and munched away the head of the other." The disciple replied while stammering.

    It was evident that it was hard for him to speak, and the whole incident was rather traumatic.

    "What kind of a useless Nascent soul cultivators do we have? They can''t even contend against one Nascent soul realm beast? Even if it was at the Adult Soul stages, they should have at least been able to retreat." Elder Qianshu said.

    "We would haveбн if it was a normal situation." The disciple replied nervously.

    He saw the inquiring look of Elder Qianshu and exined how they couldn''t sense the cultivation base of the spirit beast and how they were caught off guard by an explosion. The explosion was the main reason why the beast was able to reach them so quickly and attack them.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I don''t know if this is our misfortune or if this was done intentionallyбн" Elder Liewei said.

    Elder Qianshu only furrowed his brows and fiddled a bead in his hand.

    "What about their skills? Did you at least get that information?" Elder Qianshu questioned.

    "That we did yes!" The disciples said before handing the elder a jade slip.

    Elder Qianshu took hold of it and quickly scanned through it. By the time he was done, his expression had eased up slightly.

    "We have this as a constion at the moment. But their skillsбн they are unlike what I''ve seen before." Elder Qianshu stated.

    "Can I take a look too?" Elder Liewei asked to which he was thrown the jade slip.

    After a couple of minutes, Elder Liewei''s expression turnedplex.

    "I can identify some of the techniques as they have a base in other skill of our sect. But one thing is fore sure, they have modified them all. That Wang Xiong is using the inheritance he got in the Millennium forest to change out sect''s skills." Elder Liewei spoke.

    "That bastard was able to increase the power of those skills by quite a bit. Thankfully, we know about it now, or if we had to go against him directly in the future, we would have been caught in a tough situation." Elder Qianshu replied.

    "Elder Qianshu is right. That man has too many secrets that we don''t know of. Even after all these years, we still don''t know about that strange crystal armor he used." The female disciple said in a tired tone.

    "Speaking of that crystal armorбн we never saw him use that again, have we?" the one armed elder asked.

    "No, we haven''t. At first we thought it was some kind of a technique, but after the research we did, we are sure that it is an actual spirit tool and not a construct made by a technique." The female elder replied.

    "That armor can withstand and even redirect tribtion lightning, which shows that it is easily as powerful as a peak grades spirit tool. That is a very strong trump card to hide, so my question isбн why did Wang Xiong not use it when he was being attacked by the beast today?" Elder Qianshu questioned.

    Hearing this, all of the elders were puzzled and tried to think of an answer.

    "Perhaps it has some additional cost that we don''t know of?" An elder sitting at the back said.

    "Hmmбн that would make sense. It probably has a great cost of use that prevents Wang Xiong form using it as needed. We can add this to our records as well.." Elder Liewei agreed.

 Chapter 640 - Lessons For His Students

    The elders of the Frozen Cliff division were contemting in the discoveries and were talking amongst themselves.

    "Wait, we forgot the most important thing!" one of the elders said out loud.

    "What is it?" A female elder asked.

    "Those twoбн did Wang Xiong or Ye Jing return?" Elder Liewei questioned.

    The disciple seemed hesitant to answer, as if he had done something wrong.

    "Weбн we don''t know elders. We escaped after being attacked and did not have the chance to check up on them. The beast was on our heels and continued to chase us. Those that were slow died in that time." The disciple answered.

    "YOU FOOLS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE THEN!? GET OTHERS TO SEARCH FOR THEM! WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING OR IF THEY ARE EVEN ALIVE!" Elder Qianshu yelled.

    "Right away elder!" The disciple quickly ran away.

    The elders looked on with serious expressions and knew that theing time would be a difficult. But they had to soldier on if they were to fulfill their goals.

    Wang Xiong and Lin Wu were unaware of all that had happened in the sect, but they didn''t need to care for it since it was their intention from the start. Getting the Frozen Cliff Division anxious would make it easier for them to make mistakes, and they might even slip up and give them an opportunity to act.

    Two days passed like this and Lin Wu continued to teach his ''students'' things that he knew. The topics that he taught them were not just limited to cultivation either. He went on to tell them about the various beasts he had learned about and the different cultivators along with their histories.

    Lin Wu had already seen the memories of the Skull god enough to know about some prominent figures.

    "Senior all these powerful expertsбн are they still alive?" Wang Xiong questioned.

    "Oh, and how do children differ in the immortal worlds? Are they born mortals or do they already have cultivation bases?" Ye Jin questioned as well.

    "Hmmбн I can''t really tell if those experts are still alive since it has been a long time since I was dormant. Some of the stronger ones should still be alive though and new ones definitely appeared. The cultivation world is ever expanding and new experts will be born every second. The ones that we think are talented are merely a drop in the great ocean that is the Cosmos." Lin Wu answered Wang Xiong first.

    "I seeбн" Wang Xiong said in understanding.

    "As for the children, that greatly varies. There are some peerless experts whose children can be born immortals. Or if not that there are some that will directly breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm in just a few days to a month after being born.

    Most children in cultivation worlds will stay in the Nascent soul realm for a majority of their early childhood since their appearance will be stuck like that once they reach the Adult Soul stage of the cast soul realm." Lin Mu answered Ye Jin.

    "Then do they never turn adults in appearance? Won''t they have to reach the end of their lifespan to get old? Won''t that be too big of an inconvenience?" Ye Jin asked.

    This was a question that Lin Wu himself have had and was confused by at first. But he had gotten the answer for it after a little bit of a search through the Skull god''s memories.

    "The problem of being stuck in the form of a child is a problem only people of lower ranked worlds will have. There are other treasure that can allow them to quickly increase their appearance and age if they need to. Plus, the appearance being stuck due to reaching Adult Soul stage of the nascent soul realm is not an absolute thing. There are other issues that can age them too, for example using self sacrificial techniques." Lin Mu answered.

    "That is rather unique. Seems like the difference between us and the people of higher worlds is very vast, almost that of a star and a spec of dust." Ye Jin said, feeling a little small.

    "Hmmбн while it is indeed like that, people of the lower ranked worlds still have some advantages. Since they have fewer resources, they have to suffer a lot more hardships and struggle to reach the Immortal realm. Thus, when they reach the Immortal world, they are tempered and have stronger mentality than the people there.

    They will be able to function far better and efficiently even if their talent might be lower. That is actually a very lucrative point that the people of the Immortal worlds desire. Plus, it is not like the people of the Lower worlds are not valued.

    The heavens are just and give little gifts to every person in the universe. It is simply that these gifts can be hidden and only show in their descendantster on. The people of the immortal worlds desire this and thus encourage mixing and marrying with the people of lower worlds.

    This improves the gene pool and allows more variety of talented people to be born." Lin Wu exined in detail.

    For this answer, Lin Wu had added his own understanding of gics and breeding he had from his past life. It was a logical answer, yet for a cultivation world, bloodline ''purity'' was often considered important. Thus, to Wang Xiong and Ye Jin it was a new principal.

    "Thatбн so we have such value as well." Wang Xiong said in an intrigued tone.

    "Besides, despite the restrictions of the lower ranked worlds, there are still experts born in them that are many times talented than the people of the immortal realm. They go on to be great individuals that rule over the areas of the Immortal world and may even start their own powers there." Lin Wu added.

    Hearing these words, Wang Xiong couldn''t help but imagine himself in the same position as a great expert or a sect master that ruled over a top sect.

 Chapter 641 - No More Waiting

    After the two days had passed, Wang Xiong received a message from the sect.

    "Looks like they are in trouble now." Wang Xiong informed.

    "Oh? They can''t hold on anymore?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Our people at the sect just told me that the Frozen Cliff Division was looking for us everywhere. They, of course, couldn''t go to our division and ask about our whereabouts, thus they could only utilize their own people.

    This also ended up catching the attention of the others at the sect, including the Frozen ins divisions. While they don''t do anything and interfere in our matters usually, my disappearance is still something they would have to care about.

    After all, if I disappear due to the actions of the Frozen Cliff division, their neutrality would be threatened and they might end up being forced to join the Frozen Cliff division." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Hmmбн so things are going as we hoped for." Lin Wu said with a nod.

    "Then do we wait more or go to the sect now, Senior?" Ye Jin questioned.

    "Yun Bai has not responded yet, so I''ll wait here for now. You two can head on. Waiting too long is not good either and your division might get disturbed as well." Lin Wu answered.

    "Very well then. We shall leave right away." Wang Xiong stated.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and let them leave.

    "Thank you for teaching us the past two days, senior. We are really grateful and will make use of all that you taught us." Ye Jin said in a thankful tone.

    After saying this one bit, the two of them flew away and Lin Wu watched them on the map.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    "That was slightly tenseбн though it went better than I thought. My Dao of bullshitting worked!" Lin Wu said, feeling pleased with himself.

    He had tried his best toe up with things to teach them and thankfully they were okay with anything, even if it was not rted to cultivation. This made his work easier and even helped him revise his own thoughts and knowledge.

    "Now thenбн where the heck is Yun Bai?" Lin Wu said, finding it a big strange.

    ''Should I head on there and check it out myself?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    While he had the approximate location of the Grotto where Yun Bai and his n resided, he also knew that there were some dangerous formation arrays protecting it. Yun Bai had briefly told him about them and how they only allowed those of the Frost Fox demon beast bloodline.

    After thinking for a bit though, he made up his mind.

    "Well, even if I can''t enter that ce, there is no restriction in me just being near it. Perhaps I''ll get to learn something more if I''m closer." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Having made this decision, Lin Wu looked at the beast that was sleeping in one of the corners.

    "Wake up Tim! We''re leaving." Lin Wu called out.

    <em>~KIII~</em>

    Tim groggily shook his head as his ears perked up after hearing Lin Wu''s voice.

    "Leave?" Tim repeated.

    "Yeah, we''re leaving, we''re going to find someone." Lin Wu replied.

    "Food?" Tim questioned.

    "Ah right!" Lin Wu said as he quickly created a new crystal fragment and tossed it to Tim.

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    Tim easily caught it and started munching on it. In less than a minute, he had finished it and got energized.

    <em>~KIKIKIKI~</em>

    His eyes glimmered, and the sleepiness that he had disappeared quickly.

    "Damnбн its like he just downed a triple shot espresso." Lin Wu said, seeing the rapid change in Tim.

    "HEAD WHERE!?" Tim asked excitedly.

    "Wellбн just follow me I guess." Lin Wu said before he flew out.

    Hisrge body startled some of the birds and animals that were living outside of the sinkhole.

    <em>~WOONG~</em>

    <em>~CHIRP~ CHIRP~ </em>

    Lin Wu''s rising body created a gust of wind and so did Tim, who''s speed shook the trees as he passed by them.

    "Now thenбн where is that ceбн" Lin Wu muttered as he gazed at the map.

    He followed the system''s instructions and made his way to an area that was about three hundred kilometers to the south of the sect. With their speed, Lin Wu reached the area in less than two hours. They could have gotten there earlier, but they had to avoid certain areas as there were disciples of the sect or othermoners living there.

    "There it is!" Lin Wu said as he spotted the river.

    The grotto where the Frost Fox demon beast n lived was hidden behind an illusory formation array near this river. The river passed between several hills and carved out a valley between them.

    The grotto was located in this valley and was sensed by the system after a little search.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET DETECTED: Updating map

    NOTIFICATION: Daze Light Illusory formation array detected, re Bombardment Formation Array detected, Great Waterfall Formation array detected.

    бкбк

    "Damn, those are some strong formation arrays. Not even the sect has formation arrays as strong as this." Lin Wu muttered.

    Lin Wu could recall having read about these formation arrays and could tell that they were of the same ss as the ones that were in the Taiji Celestial''s tomb. Which was way beyond the normal standard of this world.

    "How long will it take you to decipher and analyze them, system?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The estimated time period of decryption and analysis is 7 days, 16 hours, and 43 minutes.

    бкбк

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "So even if I want to enter it, it will still take a while." Lin Wu said with a sign. "Best just wait here for him. And maybe try sending a message, maybe it can work at this range." He muttered.

    Tim though, was restless and wanted to do something a bit more exciting than just waiting here. Lin Wu looked at him and knew that he was like a child on sweet coffee.

    "Go and hunt something, just avoid humans. But don''t go close to those hills." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Hunt! hunt! Hunt time!" Tim ran away in excitement just as he received permission.

 Chapter 642 - Yun Bai Leaves The Grotto

    Lin Wu ended up waiting near the grotto for about three days before he finally sensed something.

    "Oh? It''s changing." Lin Wu was woken up from his cultivation as some spirit Qi fluctuations reached him.

    He looked at the location where the grotto was supposedly located and saw the air cracking.

    <em>~flicker~</em>

    "Hmm, so that''s were it exactly is." Lin Wu muttered as he watched it open.

    The cracks kept on expanding until finally a three meter wide hole was created. Nothing could be seen behind it other than just darkness. From this very hole appeared an old man.

    "Yun Bai," Lin Wu called out.

    Yun Bai who had just stepped out of the grotto was rmed, having heard someone call his name. But in the next instant, he found the familiar presence.

    "You''re here?" Yun Bai questioned.

    "I couldn''t contact you, themunication jade slip didn''t work. Thus I had no option but to wait here." Lin Wu answered once Yun Bai came to stand in front of him.

    "Did something happen?" Yun Bai questioned.

    "A lot actuallyбн" Lin Wu answered.

    "Hmmбн tell me everything." Yun Bai requested and came to sit on a rock.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Lin Wu took a deep breath before he began his exnation of all that had happened. From the weasel beast Tim, to the Frozen Cliff divisions action. The more Yun Bai heard, the more cold his expression got.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Seems like they are really not going to follow the rules of the sect in the endбн" Yun Bai muttered.

    "The way they followed behind Wang Xiong and Ye Jin is enough of an offense isn''t it? I meanбн secretly following behind the chief disciple who would likely be the patriarch in the future, doesn''t that point to treason in a way?" Lin Wu suggested.

    Yun Bai didn''t say much to that, but from his expression, it could be told that he was certainly thinking the same.

    "Anywaysбн did you find anything in your n''s archives?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I did indeed." Yun Bai said before taking out some old scrolls that were made from bamboo strips.

    Lin Wu saw it and could tell that they were really ancient.

    "These are the records?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes, it took me a while to find them. I never thought they would actually be one of the few hand written records that we never added to jade slips." Yun Bai replied.

    "Let''s see thenбн" Lin Wu said before unraveling the scroll.

    Each scroll was about five meters long, once opened and had quite a bit of information written on it. Each bamboo strip had at least five to seven lines written on it and thenguage used was an older dialect too.

    "Can you read this? Or do you need me to trante?" Yun Bai asked, seeing as how Lin Wu stared at the scrolls.

    "I understand it, so no need." Lin Wu said as he let the system trante it quickly.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGETS SELECTED: Scanning

    ANALYSIS: Completed.

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    The system finished its work, and Lin Wu saw the analyzed information appearing on a window in front of him.

    There were several different sections of information and Lin Wu started with the one that was first in the window.

    The records told about the history of the invaders and how the things happened. The author of the records was one of the ancestors of the Frost Fox n and had written about what he had seen and experienced.

    Apparently, when the invasion originally urred, there were several alliances of invaders whomonly chose to invade the Ming Dao world. To them, the Ming Dao world was a hidden treasure trove which had gone unnoticed because there had not been anyone impressive arriving from it.

    The Skull god made up a little story, which was enough to get them interested. Besides, the invaders wouldn''t mind even if there wasn''t anything special about the Ming Dao world. To them, it would still be enough if they got the natural resources of the world.

    Of all the invaders, there was a particr group called as the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber. It was this group that brought the Frost Fox n to the Ming Dao world as ves. The Frost Fox n had been controlled by them for a long time before and had been used as soldiers and cannon fodder in many worlds before it.

    To the Frost Fox n, this was just a regr thing, and they had been habituated to it. But what they never realized that all this was being orchestrated by someone they didn''t even know if.

    The invaders that attacked the Ming Dao world would have never attempted it if they knew it was the Skull god who had an eye on it. The Skull god didn''t have a good reputation and if they associated with them, they would be targeted by the righteous powers.

    Plus, they didn''t know that the four guardian beasts had already sent their beacons to this world. They would never attempt an invasion with them being there. In fact, even if the temple had not been established, and the beasts were not summoned, they would still not dare to take over if just the dormant beacons were present.

    It was far too much of a risk that they would rather not take.

    In a way, the Skull god had tricked the invaders, the people of the Ming Dao world and also the guardian beasts. Lin Wu couldn''t help but admire the man on some level. Maniption of that level while also taking a risk on his own was not an easy task to do.

    After the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber arrived, they began their work and first took over a certain area in the Ming Dao world. This area located near to where Lin Wu and Yun Bai were right now.

    ''Hmmбн makes sense that the Grotto has such strong defenses. It was originally made by the invaders as a base for them to use. But after they lost, they abandoned it, allowing the Frost Fox n to take over..'' Lin Wu thought.

 Chapter 643 - The Old Archives

    Lin Wu continued to read and got to learn more about the reality.

    The invaders were winning for the most part due to their overall superiority and advanced skills, but that was until the three ns gained control of the beacons and awakened the guardian beasts.

    That was also why the invaders didn''t resist as much, even if they had the power to. They simply didn''t want to deal with the four guardian beasts.

    There was specifically written that the Leader of the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber cursed to no end when he found out there were already beacons of the guardian beasts here.

    He swore to kill seven generations of whoever it was that spread the rumor about the Ming Dao world being free from the influence of the Four Guardian beasts.

    While they were a bit confused by the fact that only three of them had appeared and there was no sign of the Vermillion bird, they didn''t dare to investigate that. To them, escaping was the most important thing, and they quickly abandoned everything and left the world.

    "Hmmбн so it seems like the Frost Fox n got freed because of the Guardian beasts too." Lin Wu said after he finished reading.

    "You could say that, yes. But at the same time, it was those guardian beasts that made us unable to grow here. If it were not for them, the world would not have considered as outsiders.

    Their appearance has said to have awakened the world''s will and made it rapidly grow." Yun Bai spoke.

    "I see, so they are both your fortune and misfortune." Lin Wu understood.

    Yun Bai nodded his head, and Lin Wu went back to reading.

    This time the information that he was looking at was about what was done with the things that were left behind by the invaders.

    "Just as I thought, the top ns became the top ns for a reason. They took over all that was left behind by the invaders. Them sealing and destroying all those things was just for show and they never actually did that." Lin Wu said after reading it.

    "Indeed. I was surprised by this too. The top ns, not just of this continent but of the other two as well have it." Yun Bai agreed.

    "Then it just means that the agitation jade is something that only the top ns would know about. Which reduces it to just a handful of targets." Lin Wu said after thinking.

    "Indeed. But why do I feel like you know more than just that?" Bai Yun asked, feeling something.

    "Hmmбн I admit I know a bit more. That letter Wang Xiong found from the spy, it mentions a name Weiyuan." Lin Wu replied.

    "And?" Yun Bai inquired.

    "That Weiyuan is actually the eldest son of the Ji n, Ji Yuan. He has an organization of his own called as the Weiyuan Chamber." Lin Wu revealed.

    "THOSE GUYS?" Yun Bai eximed.

    "Oh? Have you had some interaction with them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yesбн" Yun Bai said, as his forehead wrinkled.

    "What happened?" Lin Wu asked.

    "The Weiyuan chamber actually asked the Frozen Cloud sect for somend a long time ago. Of course, they only put in a formal request and there was no demanding nature in it. They were fully willing to buy it at a reasonable price." Yun Bai answered.

    "Hmmбн and I''m guessing the sect denied it?" Lin Wu surmised.

    "They did, of course! I myself rejected it when the patriarch informed me. It would be against the terms that I set with the founder and besides, I would never allow someone else that I do not have control over from existing near the Frozen Cloud sect as it could very well threaten my own n." Yun Bai stated.

    "And what happened after they were rejected? Did they protest?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "No, they did nothing. They simply sent a letter of thanks and we had no interaction after that." Yun Bai exined.

    "And the sect never investigated more about them?" Lin Wu asked.

    "We did after a while yes, and we found out that they had some suspicion dealings with people. They were a new power and were just establishing them, thus we let them be. A lot of new powers need to do someбн Grey things in order to raise their status, which was understandable.

    Plus, the sect still didn''t know who was backing them and thud didn''t want to bring extra trouble to them. We let go of that matter and forgot about it pretty much." Yun Bai replied.

    "Until now," Lin Mu added.

    "Until now indeed. If I knew they would attempt something like this, I would not have let them free." Yun Bai said in a cold tone.

    "And they now have expanded enough to have people all over the continent." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Hmmбн they certainly knew about the hiddenyer in the Di Guan mines beforehand. Otherwise they would not have been trying for so long." Yun Bai replied.

    "I mean, they tried the official route and were rejected, thus they switched to a longer and illegal one. But yeah, the things in the Di Guan mines are definitely enough to make anyone greedy for them." Lin Wu stated.

    "With the earthen Depths obsidian there, it is more than enough for the sects to break out in a war. Which makes me wonder how did they even find out about it? The mineral is very hard to find as it prevents spirit sense." Yun Bai wondered.

    "Well, since Ji Yuan is from one of the top ns, I reckon he discovered about it in some old records? The invaders certainly had better skills that would allow them to find such things hidden away in the ground.

    They may have noted them down but never got to mining them since they had other things to take care of back then." Lin Wu hypothesized.

    "Hmmбн thatbined with the agitation jade would mean that this Ji Yuan has ess to quite a few records. We will have to be careful then.." Yun Bai spoke in a serious tone.

 Chapter 644 - Conversing With Yun Bai

    Lin Wu and Yun Bai talked a bit more about the records before finally the man had a question.

    "Now, where is this beast you brought with you? The weasel?" Yun Bai questioned.

    Lin Wu had told him about Tim and how it had mutated in a different way. He was hoping to see if a long lived demon beast like Yun Bai would have some insight into it as it would certainly help the system too.

    "Ah yes, let me see where he is. He''s out huntingбн because he''s hungry all the time." Lin Wu said as he opened the map and tracked the location of Tim.

    "Oh? He''s not that far." Lin Wu realized.

    His spirit sense quickly extended and went to touch Tim, who was currently munching on a couple of beast carcasses.

    <em>~KIII!~</em>

    Tim was a bit startled by the spirit sense suddenly arriving, but then recognized it. He looked at the corpses and back at the source of the spirit sense, as if debating on something internally.

    <em>~MUNCH~MUNCH~MUNCH~</em>

    Making up his mind, he continued eating and ignored the beckoning.

    Lin Wu who saw this, could only sigh.

    "Give him a minute, he''ll be here." Lin Wu said, and Yun Bai nodded.

    And just as he had said, a minuteter, the sound of rapid steps could be heard and the wind rushed towards them.

    <em>~KIIII~</em>

    Tim came to a stop beside Lin Wu and looked at the neer in front of him.

    "New food?" Tim questioned, making Yun Bai frown.

    "No, not food. He''s an ally. He will help us." Lin Wu answered.

    "Ally?" Tim questioned, while tilting his head in thought.

    "Okay. No food. Ally Bring food." Tim replied.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Ugh, this kidбн" Lin Wu couldn''t help but shake his head.

    "Ahaha," Yun Bai couldn''t help but chuckle, either.

    "You were not exaggerating that all he thinks about is food." Yun Bai said.

    "Indeed. His physique isбн rather unique, to say the least. I don''t know how he mutated like this and can''t really tell what bloodlines he has dormant in his body either." Lin Wu stated.

    Hearing this, Yun Bai stroked his beard and thought of something.

    "Hmmбн you said he was a Copper hide weasel before?" Yun Bai asked.

    "Yes. When I originally met him, he was a copper hide weasel that had eaten an Aquadream Pond Lotus whole and had reached the Nascent soul realm." Lin Wu replied.

    "An Aquadream Pond Lotus!?" Yun Bai repeated, finding it absurd.

    "Yeah, that was why he broke thought so quickly. But I have no idea how it even managed to eat a beast one whole realm higher than him." Lin Wu replied.

    "That is indeed strange. While there are indeed beasts that are naturally stronger than others whenparing their cultivation base, the same does not happen for a Copper Hide Weasel and a Aquadream Pond Lotus.

    The Aquadream Pond lotus, in every aspect, is superior to that of a Copper Hide Weasel." Yun Bai said after thinking.

    "Are you sure that was all that happened?" he asked, continuing.

    "I can''t tell that either. The beast is, as you can seeбн of a low intelligence. It is barely over fifty years old and has certainly not gained enough intelligence. Which is strange as intelligence should increase with their cultivation base." Lin Wu replied.

    "Seems like there might have been some defect in him." Yun Bai said before he tried to probe Tim with his spirit sense but was unable to.

    "His defenses are certainly impermeable to spirit sense. That Earthen Depths obsidian fur and skin are something that no beast should be able to have." Yun Bai said.

    "Which is why he is interesting. There is no way any normal Copper hide weasel should have been able to do something like this. He is strong but at the same time he''s dumb." Lin Wu added.

    "I seeбн" Yun Bai responded, thinking something to himself.

    "Considering many other beasts that I''ve known of and heard of, this weasel certainlyes out on top seeing its apparent talent. I would like to see what secrets are hidden in his body." Yun Bai stated.

    "And I''m guessing you have some way of doing that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I do indeed. There is a certain tool called the ''Ten thousand bloodline pedestal'' in my n. It is originally a tool that beast tamers and traders used to check the bloodlines of beast so that they can get an urate price and asses them.

    We can use it to check what bloodlines this weasel has. Though it cannot analyze every bloodline in the world, it can point to the closest released bloodline from its storage." Yun Bai answered.

    "Oh? There''s something like that?" Lin Wu said, finding it rather interesting.

    "So, will you want to see that?" Yun Bai asked.

    "Of course!" Lin Wu said in agreement. "Lead the way."

    "Alright then, follow me. My nsmen are a bit afraid of humans." Yun Bai said.

    "But I''m a beast." Lin Wu replied.

    "Yeah, a big beast. A big Dao Shell realm beast." Yun Bai stated.

    "Ohбн yeahбн makes sense." Lin Wu said, finding it obvious now that he thought of.

    His presence and aura were enough to terrify most beasts and humans alike. Thus he couldn''t tell why it would not be the same for the Frost Fox Demon beasts either.

    Still, he was looking forward to seeing Yun Bai''s nsmen, since it just meant more data for the system. Yun Bai was an outlier of his n and was the only one who had his bloodline restrictions eased due to the contract with the founder of Frozen Cloud sect.

    Plus, he was also the more talented member of his n and thus was the strongest of them all, making him their patriarch.

    Lin Wu wanted the system to scan and check if the restrictions of the world presented in some way on the other n members.. His agreement with Yun Bai was to help him leave this world and this was a point he would have to consider in that.

 Chapter 645 - Entering The Frost Fox Grotto

    Yun Bai brought Lin Wu to the entrance of the grotto and the two of them stopped there.

    The old fox made a few hand seals before runes appeared in front of him that went and merged into the hidden formation array.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Once that happened, the formation array responded appropriately and a hole opened up. But the hole was only big enough for Yun Bai to pass through.

    "Hang on, the default is set to just this much. I''ve never actually had to open it all the way through before." Yun Bai said, as he made a few more runes and changed the settings of the formation array.

    <em>~flicker~</em>

    The formations lightly flickered like electrical static before finally starting to move. The hole started to expand until finally it was big enough to let Lin Wu pass through it.

    "Enter." Yun Bai said and Lin Wu obliged.

    Tim followed behind Lin Wu, his head looking at everything.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu could feel the very air changing as he appeared in the new area. New things materialized in front of him, though he knew that it was not them materializing but instead the illusion that was hiding them disappearing.

    "Wee to the Frost Fox Grotto!" Yun Bai introduced as Lin Wu finally got to see everything.

    And he had to admit, the ce was certainly enchanting.

    There were hundreds upon thousands of icicles hanging on the roof that flowed in a ce blue light, making it feel like it was daytime inside the grotto. Then there was the moss and grass that grew on the ground along with the many flowers and herbs.

    Lin Wu could even see some huge mushrooms that grew from the sides that were over a feet tall. The spirit Qi in the air was higher than normal as well, and was almost at the same level as that of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    <em>~Chirp~</em>

    Then Lin Wu heard the sounds of the grotto.

    "Huh? There are other beasts here?" Lin Wu asked, feeling surprised.

    "Yes, there are a lot of beasts that live here. Some of them are reared by my n as food. We also farm other spirit herbs, nts and fruits, too." Yun Bai replied.

    Lin Wu was intrigued and quickly looked at Tim.

    "Don''t you dare run!" Lin Wu warned before the beast could act.

    <em>~Crackle~</em>

    Lin Wu quickly created a small crystal and threw it to Tim.

    "Just eat this and nothing else here." Lin Wu ordered.

    Tim didn''t speak anything and simply munched on the crystal while nodding his head.

    Yun Bai watched it all and silently chuckled to himself before continuing onward.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    But just as they stepped a few meters ahead, a few people arrived there.

    "Huh? Patriarch you''re back? Didn''t you just leave a couple of hours ago?" The man who had appeared asked.

    Lin Wu gazed at him and could tell that he was at the Nascent soul realm right away. He too had white hair on his head and face in the form of eyebrows and eyshes. The man had no beard and seemed to be clean shaven.

    Along with him was a younger man who seemed to be barely out of his teens and was at the Core Condensation realm. Then at the side was a stunning woman with rather voluptuous curves.

    ''Damnбн all of them are hot.'' Lin Wu couldn''t help but admit.

    He had to say that they were certainly a lot more beautiful than most humans that he had seen till now.

    And while Lin Wu was gazing at the Frost Foxes, they too were doing the same.

    "Ancestors whiskers! What is this beast!?" The younger man eximed in shock.

    The older man and woman were shocked as well as they watched Lin Wu''s crimson eyes staring at them. There was a pressure exuding from him that made their bones tremble and their fine hair at the back of their necks stand on the end.

    Lin Wu''s sharp fangs and massive body towered over them and were easily a hundred times bigger than all three of thembined. Tim and Yun Bai looked minuscule, standing next to him.

    "This is Lin Wu, the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm and the King of the Millennium forest." Yun Bai introduced.

    "Greetings," Lin Wu too spoke, making sure his voice was ''normal'' and more genial.

    Talking with pretty people makes everyone feel a bit more respectful and Lin Wu was no different, even if he had be a beast. Some aspects of his humanity had yet to leave him and were still intact.

    "Dao Shell realm?" The woman finally sensed Lin Wu''s cultivation base and became even more stunned.

    "Ah, you got that right." Lin Wu spoke in agreement.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The three of them couldn''t help but swallow their saliva. They knew that their patriarch, who was the strongest member of their n, was at the Dao Shell realm and the beast that had appeared was at that level too.

    While they couldn''t estimate what stage Lin Wu was at, the oppressive auraing from him rmed their bloodlines and warned them that he was probably not any weaker than their patriarch.

    "G-greetingsбн Elder Lin Wu." The three frost foxes respectfully said while bowing their heads.

    To them, if their patriarch had deemed someone worthy enough to bring to their n, it meant that they were to be respected. Plus Lin Wu''s cultivation base itself was enough to demand such respect, whether it be from humans, beasts or demon beasts alike.

    "Umm... why did youe back so soon, patriarch? I thought you had work at the sect?" The older man questioned.

    "I didбн but the work that I with was none other than Lin Wu and he met me here. So it just made it easier and saved time." Yun Bai answered.

    "I seeбн I''ll get the others to prepare for elder Lin Wu''s wee feast." The older man replied.

    "Hmmбн alright. Do that." Yun Bai agreed.

    "Ah! Finally, time to eat some good stuffбн" Lin Wu said happily.

 Chapter 646 - Touring The Grotto

    Yun Bai chuckled upon hearing Lin Wu''s words and a thought came to his mind.

    "Hmmбн by any chance do you partake in human cuisine too?" Yun Bai questioned.

    "OF COURSE! They make the beast kinds of dishes that taste really good!" Lin Wu proudly answered.

    "Hahah! I feel the same. Come, we''ll have something to eat. My nsmen have lived here for long and have learned quite a lot of things since they can''t cultivate as well; cooking is one of them." Yun Bai replied, feeling happy.

    ''Is this a dream? Or have I found a kindred spirit?'' Lin Wu couldn''t help but think.

    He secretly pinched himself but couldn''t do anything, his skin was not bby and was instead a hard crystal.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system had analyzed host''s current state and the world around him, and has safely reached the conclusion that this is not a dream.

    бкбк

    The system answered seriously.

    "Ahбн okay." Lin Wu replied, even though he knew that this was not a dream in reality.

    Yun Bai guided Lin Wu and the weasel towards the depths of the grotto.

    "Oh yeah, system scan the area too." Lin Wu said in his mind.

    He looked around and found the area to be ratherrge.

    "Just how big is this ce?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Even though the system was already working on scanning the area, Lin Wu reckoned it didn''t hurt asking the owner of this ce.

    ''If anything, I might get some information that the system cannot pick up just from scanning.'' He thought.

    "The grotto is about half the size of the Frozen Cloud sect." Yun Bai answered.

    "WHAT? Thats quite big!" Lin Wu eximed.

    From what he knew, there weren''t that many Frost Foxes and they probably wouldn''t need this much space to live.

    "Well, it was used by the Thirteen Thunder Chamber as a base and they had a lot of people. In fact, this ce used to be evenrger, but many ces copsed during the attacks back then.

    We even thought that there was a secret entrance to a minor ne here, but I never was able to find it. I reckon it has long since been lost after the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber left the world." Yun Bai exined.

    "I see. But having a minor ne''s entrance here would be really useful if it still exists. There are probably a lot of resources there that can be helpful." Lin Wu said.

    "Mmmhmm," Yun Bai hummed in agreement. "Plus back when I was looking for solution for my n, I also thought of the minor ne." He added.

    "The minor ne for the solution, how?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Well, I wanted to see if my nsmen would be able to cultivate there or not. Since the minor is still a bit separate from the Ming Dao world, I hoped that its restrictions there would also be weaker, thus allowing them to grow stronger.

    And the same for me, if I was able to increase my cultivation base to the Dao Treading realm, I would have been able to explore more options. It was one of the things I was really hopeful for and searched for it for decades." Yun Bai answered.

    "There were no traces of it?" Lin Wu asked.

    "No. None at all. I even felt like there was never a minor ne at all and that it was just a rumor. But then I did find confirmation of its existence in one of the old ledgers of the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber they had left behind." Yun Bai replied.

    "That couldбн have been a good thing to fall back on in the time of need." Lin Wumented.

    He thought about it a bit more and wondered if the system would be able to find the traces of a minor ne like that.

    "System, try and see if you can find that too." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Affirmative." It simply replied.

    Lin Wu and Yun Bai talked a bit more as they continued walking. Lin Wu got to see a lot of the grotto this way and saw the unique ecology of it. There were several different farms that grew various spirit herbs and even normal vegetables.

    Then there were some orchards that were growing spirit fruits, albeit most of them were weaker. Though Lin Wu still felt some strong spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the orchards, which prompted him to think that there was certainly a high grade spirit fruit hidden there perhaps.

    Above the farms and orchards, Lin Wu could see arge formation array that was letting out a warm yellow light. It was one of the few ces where there were no blue icicles, like there were all over the grotto.

    "A Sun Channeling Formation array?" Lin Wu recognized.

    "Indeed. We need this to grow the spirit herbs that need sunlight. The Illuminating Icicles cannot sustain their growth and are also a little too cold for them." Yun Bai replied.

    "And I''m thinking there are spirit stone mines below this, too?" Lin Wu guessed from the high concentration of spirit Qi that was there in the air.

    "Indeed. There is a single high grade spirit stone mine and a mid grade spirit stone mine down there, for a total of two spirit stone mines." Yun Bai admitted.

    "That is a good number for a ce like this. Still, isn''t the concentration of spirit Qi a bit higher here?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He could see the notification of his spirit Qi increasing on the side with his every breath. It was the passive increase, but it was still rather high. Lin Wu could see his spirit Qi stores increasing visibly.

    "We don''t really mine the spirit stones." Yun Bai spoke.

    "You don''t? Why?" Lin Wu questioned feeling confused.

    "Wellбн we would mine it if there was a need. But to be honest, all of my nsmen have reached bottleneck and the limit of what they can cultivate towards. No matter the resources they consume they simply cannot progress.." He answered.

 Chapter 647 - The Welcome Feast

    "For over two centuries now, we have not mined the spirit stones. Plus, even before that, we didn''t have as great of a need for them as just the ambient spirit Qi was enough for them to cultivate normally.

    In fact, I would say, around thirty percent of my nsmen have never used an external resource or even a spirit stone at all." Yun Bai revealed surprising Lin Wu.

    He knew just how big of an aplishment that was and it was not something that many would try.

    "Perhaps only your kind that can naturally live longer can do something like that. Humans and most beasts will simply die from old age if they did that." Lin Wumented.

    "Yesбн that is also something my n is afraid of. If we are found by the humans, our situation would sour." Yun Bai said and looked towards Lin Wu. "You must know how humans areбн how they can beбн after all, you have lived far longer than me."

    "I do indeedбн" Lin Wu said, recalling all the acts that Humans could try.

    "Humans envy that which they cannot have. I do not want to imagine what my nsmen would have to go through if their existence was revealed. I am still fine, since the Frozen Cloud sect is bound to me, but these juniors are not.

    Besides, the frozen Cloud sect is just one of the cultivation sects. I cannot grantee the same for the others that may try something." Yun Bai expanded.

    Lin Mu nodded his head in understanding and felt like gaining power was the right decision.

    And just like this, the three of them reached the main living hall area of the Frost Foxes.

    Lin Wu could see several buildings that were made with the stones that were found in grotto and they were well decorated.

    But the most eye catching thing was therge feast that was already prepared in front of them.

    "They were rather fast." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Our n eats together everyday thus this ce almost never changes." Yun Bai replied.

    There were many of his kin already ready at the long tables that were arranged. Lin Wu shrunk down his size as much as he could to make it a bit easier for everyone and came to one of the tables that were use for him.

    "Well thenбн Let''s begin the feast!" Yun Bai said.

    That was all that was needed for Lin Wu to start eating.

    And just after a few bites, he could see his spirit Qi stores and vital energy stores increasing.

    "Oh? System, show me the host data," Lin Wu ordered, wanting to check it since it had been a while.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 14 years, 0 months, 6 days

    LIFESPAN: 4,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Genesis Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [3,128,158/100,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 25,025,937 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 20,714,042 Units

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+5)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- Second level (Wind attribute spirit Qi Adept)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (31% Meridians converted)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great)(Proficiency: Basic)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (greater) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Sound Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    5. Kin Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    6. Poison Breath (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)

    7. Venom Fang (great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    8. Bloodline Tracer (Minor) (Proficiency: Master)

    Poisons avable-

    1. Basic corroding poison

    2. Tearing Wind Poison

    3. Erupting Radiation Poison

    4. Numbing Poison

    INVENTORY: Broken Spear, Broken metal te, Pink Women''s underwear, Dagger.

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 9,159,658 units

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 2501 units/hour

    WEIGHT: 866,412.80 Kilograms Height 212.8 meters long

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+5)

    3. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    4. Olive Viper King

    5. Southern Tusk Tapirs

    6. Silver Tusk Tapir

    [Extend +65]

    бкбк

    бк

    Servant Beasts

    1. Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole

    STATUS: Vitals Stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    2. Emeraldine Horn Beetle

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    3. Emeraldine Wing Swan

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    4. High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    5. Emeraldine Monkey

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    6. Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    7. Emeraldine Monkeys. (8)

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    SUBORDINATES: 1. Wang Xiong

    Cultivation Base: Adolescent Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    2. Pei Jun

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    3. Tian Xiaoge

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    4. Tian Han

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    5. Tian Chu

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    6. Twin Lights Liger King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    7. Split Thorn Horn Beetle King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    8. Slim Arm Ape King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    9. Demon Spine Ape King

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    10. Ye Jin

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    бкбк

 Chapter 648 - Heading To The Archive

    Lin Wu could see that there were several additions to the host data now, along with a few changes.

    The main addition were of course, the two new subordinates that had been added to the list, Tian Chu and Tian Han. Other than that, themon changes were just the increase of spirit Qi and vital essence.

    Lin Wu had been cultivating passively and sometimes actively these past few days and had increased it. He had also eaten a few spirit beasts during his journey with Tim and had thus gained some more vital essence.

    ''Oh? Seems like I''m fourteen years old now tooбн'' Lin Wu thought, seeing his age.

    He was nearly a week older in addition to fourteen years and couldn''t even tell that it had been that long.

    "Hmmбн so in a way, my birthday was six days ago. Mehбн doesn''t really matter. I''ll have millions more toe." Lin Wu internally said before he focused his attention on eating.

    There were truly arge variety of dishes that the Frost Foxes had made. There were both human and their own native dishes. Since the Frost Foxes were naturally in the humanoid form, they were able to have a moreбн civilized n.

    They had even developed their own cuisine and used some of the native things that grew in the grotto. The most popr thing seemed to be a mushroom that they used a lot and had a cool feeling upon eating.

    "What is this?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Oh that? That''s one of the main crops of our n. It is called as the Icy core mushroom and only grows here in the Grotto. It''s one of the main things that our younger members eat when they are still unable to cultivate properly.

    It contains ice elemental spirit Qi and thus makes it easier for them to digest. Only after a Frost Fox is a couple decades old are they able to cultivate on their own and don''t have an absolute need for them." Yun Bai exined.

    "That''s rather importantбн and you use it in so many dishes too." Lin Wu spoke.

    "We do indeed. It is something everyone likes and thus we make a lot of use." Yun Bai replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and went back to enjoying the dishes.

    If he were to describe the Icy Core Mushrooms, he would say that they had a minty taste along with the texture of a button mushroom. It was rather uniquepared to most, but when used with the other spirit herbs and vegetables, its taste was well bnced.

    Lin Wu even saw a pudding like dish which used the Icy Core mushroom as the main ingredient.

    During the feast, Lin Wu could feel several curious gazes being cast towards him. They were quick to look away whenever Lin Wu looked at them.

    "Have you not told them what we are doing yet?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Noбн" Yun Bai shook his head. "I thought that it would be better to see how things go first and then tell them. I did not want to get their hopes up before that." He added.

    "Hmmбн that''s understandable. But what will you tell them when they ask you why I was here and how you know me?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Wellбн most of them will not dare to question that. And the ones that doбн are smart enough to not ask it." Yun Bai answered.

    "Hmmбн I see. Still, I''d say it''s better if you keep an exnation ready." Lin Wu suggested.

    "I''ll keep that in mind." Yun Bai said and went back to eating.

    Lin Wu did the same, and the feast continued. About three hours passed like this, during which more and more food was brought. By the 30th serving, the frost foxes realized that there was no end to how much Lin Wu could eat.

    Nervous sweat appeared on their foreheads, and they didn''t know what to do. Lin Wu of course, saw it as well but knew that they were too afraid to say anything. Doing a quick sweep with his spirit sense, Lin Wu saw that they were about halfway through the stockpile of food.

    The Weasel was no less of a glutton either, but had stopped after the fifteenth serving and had fallen asleep. Yun Bai himself had stopped after the tenth serving, which served to say that the Frost Foxes had gravely underestimated Lin Wu''s appetite.

    ''I think I should stop and not force their hands this much.'' Lin Wu thought and decided to end it for now.

    "Ahh! That''s was a good meal. Thank you for the feast." Lin Wu said in a pleased tone.

    "We are happy to serve you, senior!"

    "Patriarch never brings any guests, so it is our pleasure and honor to feed his guest."

    Some of the Frost Foxes gave their responses, to which Lin Wu nodded in approval.

    "I guess we can get to doing the task we came here for?" Yun Bai asked.

    "Of course! Let''s go." Lin Wu said and tapped the weasel to wake him up.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The tap was a little hard and Tim was sent flying into the wall.

    <em>~kii~</em>

    Regardless, it still served the same purpose and the weasel beast woke up.

    "Come on, we are going now." Lin Wu spoke.

    Tim didn''t say anything and simply looked on nkly, which just meant his approval.

    "Please show the way." Lin Wu said to Yun Bai.

    He then guided them to a different part of the grotto. Lin Wu could feel that he had passed through several different barriers and formations that were protecting something. The path was long and winding and took them deeper into the ground.

    If before they were on the surface of the grotto, now they were in the underground caves of it. And Lin Wu could see the various runes and patterns that were carved into the walls and floors.

    All of them were written in Dao Script and looked old and weathered.

 Chapter 649 - Ten Thousand Bloodline Pedestal

    Yun Bai came to a halt in front of arge pair of doors. The doors covered the entirety of the passage from the floor to the roof, leaving no gap in between. It wasrge enough that Lin Wu would be able to pass through them even with his full size.

    "These are the archives of my n. Give me a moment to open it." Yun Bai said before he took out a metal te from his spatial store treasure.

    The metal te had the motif of a fox carved on it and looked to be ancient. Yun Bai held it in front of him and injected spirit Qi in to it.

    <em>~heng~</em>

    The metal te floated out from his hand and went to slot into a small section in the middle of the doors.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The doors started to open slowly, revealing what was hidden behind them.

    ''Damn, that''s a lot of books.'' Lin Wu internally said.

    The archives were definitely bigger than most ces he had been to. The only ce that couldpare to it and was bigger than it were the repositories and libraries in the Frozen Cloud sect.

    There weren''t just books, but all sorts of documents and items that could store information. There were jade slips, bamboo slips, formation tes that worked the same as jade slips and also some unique crystal orbs that were new for Lin Wu.

    "Wee to my n''s Archives." Yun Bai sand and brought him in.

    "Where is the Ten thousand bloodline pedestal?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Come this way, it''s a little farther." Yun Bai said, before they walked deeper into the archives.

    This allowed Lin Wu to see just how much was stored in the archives. One thing was clear though, there was just information stored here and nothing else. There were no resources, spirit stones, or things of that sort.

    ''That''s probably stored in a different sectionбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    Finally, they came to an open area that was circr in shape. In the center of that stood a pedestal that was square in shape. There were eightyers to it like a pagoda and had tiny carvings on it that were hard to see.

    At the top of it, there was a ssy stone that silently hovered without any spirit Qi fluctuations.

    "This is the Ten Thousand Bloodline Pedestal." Yun Bai stated.

    "How do we use it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Ummбн let me check." Yun Bai said.

    "Check? You don''t know how to?" Lin Wu asked, finding it surprising.

    "Wellбн I''ve never actually used it before. I don''t think it''s ever been used after the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber left this world." Yun Bai admitted.

    "Huhбн" Lin Wu didn''t know what to say to that.

    "There are some instructions for it, so I''ll just check that." Yun Bai said before he went and ced his hand on the ssy stone that was floating on top of the pedestal.

    The stone lightly glowed and Yun Bai seemed to be reading from it. A few secondster, he opened his eyes and looked back.

    "I know it now. Let the weasele stand inside the circle." Yun Bai spoke.

    "You heard him, go inside and don''t move till I tell you to." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Okay," The weasel said and stepped into the circle.

    "I''ll activate it now." Yun Bai said and pressed the ssy stone into the pedestal.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    Spirit Qi fluctuation came from the pedestal as it showed signs of activation. About ten secondster, three beams of light shot out and struck Tim. The beast was certainly startled, but seeing that they did no harm, calmed down.

    Yun Bai lifted his hand and went back to stand with Lin Wu.

    "Now what?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Now we wait. Depending on howplex and hard to detect the bloodline is, it will take different amounts of time." Yun Bai replied.

    "Will it be able to detect it, though? Normal spirit Qi cannot prate Tim''s body." Lin Wu reminded.

    "It should work. It is not of this world and has a lot ofplex formation arrays that even I don''t know of. Perhaps you might through." Yun Bai said.

    "Hmmбн we''ll wait then." Lin Wu replied.

    ''Scan that pedestal system and see what it has and how it works.'' Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target Selected

    SCANNING: Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    Seeing these two lines, Lin Wu knew that the system will have a slightly hard time in scanning it as well.

    "Mind if I browse through the things here?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Feel free. I doubt there is something that you don''t know here." Yun Bai replied.

    "There is always new knowledge to be found, and it is bad to getcent." Lin Wu stated.

    Yun Bai nodded in agreement and let Lin Wu do want he wanted.

    He didn''t have an aversion to letting Lin Wu checking since he reckoned Lin Wu would know most of these things anyway. To him, Lin Wu was someone from a higher realm and thus would be far more knowledgeable than him.

    As for Lin Wu not knowing about the Ten Thousand bloodline Pedestal, Yun Bai just thought that it was probably not amon tool or that there were multiple versions of it that might have different names.

    Thus, he didn''t doubt Lin Wu.

    "Alright systemбн You know what to do." Lin Wu said in his mind.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Multiple targets selected

    SCANNING: Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu knew this would take a while simply due to the fact that there were a massive amount of documents here. Even with system''s increased speed, there were a lot of things to go through.

    ''Might as well read some things directly while it all works outбн'' Lin Wu thought and extended his spirit sense towards a random jade slip that was ced on a shelf nearby.

    As a surprise to him, it contained the information about a lot of beasts that had been scanned by the Ten thousand bloodline pedestal in the past.

 Chapter 650 - Looking Through The Records

    Lin Wu continued to read through the jade slip and got to know a few things.

    "Huhбн seems like they stored the logs of all that this tool was used on. Interestingбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself, knowing that this will be a great find.

    He soon got engrossed in it and hours passed by. By the twelve hour mark, the system gave him a notification.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    NONFICTION: The Archives have been scanned and analyzed

    бкбк

    "Ah, perfect." Lin Wu said, before turning to look at the pedestal.

    Tim was already asleep and that was entirely fine, as long as he didn''t move from the circle. The Pedestal was still scanning him and it didn''t seem like it was done.

    "Is there any way to tell how far along it hase?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Noбн all we can do is wait. It will tell us when it''s done." Yun Bai answered.

    "I seeбн but does it usually take this long?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "From what I''ve read, it should not. But it might be due to theplexity of the weasel''s bloodline, along with its unique mutation." Yun Bai answered again.

    "That does make sense. Guess we''ll wait more." Lin Wu nodded and went back to reading.

    Since the system had already finished scanning, Lin Wu had a more ready source of information and he found it easy to browse through. There was a lot more information here than he had expected.

    For example, Lin Wu got to know more about the beasts that the people of the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber had gathered and he also got to know of the different bloodlines that existed in this world.

    Then Lin Wu went to the other sections where there was different kinds of information. There was some about the Frost Foxes and how they were a very strong breed of demon beasts with their strongest members being Immortals.

    Lin Wu learned how one of their ns was captured by an individual cultivator of the demonic path. He sealed their cultivation bases and sold them to the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber, who dly purchased them.

    There were actually many ns of the Frost Foxes, and Yun Bai simply belonged to one of the weaker ones that was captured. Once they were captured, they were basically ve soldiers for the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber for the most part, though the female Frost Foxes also served as courtesans due to their beauty.

    Their n, which used to have a poption of a few thousand was reduced greatly after just a hundred years of conflict. Three hundred yearster, they were finally brought to the Ming Dao world to capture and pige it.

    Lin Wu then moved onto the information about the Thirteenth Thunder Chamber.

    "Oh? Now this is interestingбн" Lin Wu muttered as he read some intriguing things.

    The Thirteenth Thunder Chamber was actually part of an even greater organization called as the Great Thunder Chamber. They were one of the bigger organizations of the Immortal world, dabbling in both the white and Grey areas of business.

    They were primarily merchants, but also had some departments that worked as mercenaries and killers. The Thirteenth Thunder Chamber was their department that worked as world raiders and invaded different worlds that were unmarked by the Four Guardian beasts.

    "Seems like the guardian beasts hold a far greater position in the universe than I first thoughtбн" Lin Wu muttered. "System, show me if there is any more information about them." He ordered.

    The system quickly went through the data banks and showed Lin Wu the information he had asked for.

    "Hmmбн let''s seeбн" Lin Wu started to read through it.

    "Damn! They''re the bigwigs of the immortal world." Lin Wu realized.

    He found out that the Four Guardian beasts were one of the top powers of the Immortal worlds controlled arge part of the immortal realm. They were also considered the orthodox power and were often worshiped by a lot of people, which included both cultivators and mortals.

    They were one of the few beast ns that had risen to prominence greatly, such that other races revered them as well. Their power went deep and Lin Wu couldn''t tell how strong their powers truly were.

    The records simply mentioned that most sects of the immortal world were nothing in front of them and even the strongest immortal realm cultivators would not dare challenge them directly.

    Besides, since they were considered to be orthodox, a lot of righteous powers supported them and were in alliance with them. Overall, they were good and protected the weaker worlds from being destroyed.

    The worlds that had their temples were under their banner and anyone that dared to attack them would have to face their wrath. While they didn''t interfere in the internal matters and the normal trades that happened in the world, they would not allow battles on unequal nature to happen.

    Lin Wu could not fully understand why this was or why they had such rules, but he could guess that there was a lot more to them than was written there.

    ''They definitely have some advantage or benefit that they gain from this. I doubt they would protect weaker worlds for nothing. They may be taking tributes or something. Though that doesn''t make sense for the low leveled worlds since they have no interaction with them other than the temples.'' Lin Wu thought.

    There were a lot of questions in his mind about the four guardian beast ns, and this information was simply not enough for him to be satisfied.

    "How about the Skull god, is there any information about him?" Lin Wu asked.

    The system responded promptly and presented him with the information he had asked for.

    "Oho? There are actually records about him." Lin Wu was a bit surprised.

    He read through the records and it was mostly general information that he already knew.. The gist of it was that the Skull god was a wanted criminal and was hunted down by most of the righteous powers of the immortal realm.

 Chapter 651 - The Result Of The Pedestal

    While Lin Wu was going through the records, Yun Bai was mediating.

    He rarely even came to his n and it was mostly once a year or when some problem urred. Nothing unexpected had happened in the past few decades and thus he only did his normal annual visits.

    While the cultivation environment of his n and the peak where he lived at the sect were nearly the same, he still felt a lot better here. Thus, mediating here gave him a sense of calmness and helped him gather his thoughts.

    There was a lot that had happened all at once in thest two months and he hadn''t got the time to process it fast enough. But now he finally got the chance.

    ''The Frozen Cloud sect will be heading for a time of conflict soon enough. I doubt the earlier agreements will stand and if it really ends up in a full on battle, I will have to stand behind who I chose.'' Yun Bai thought.

    While he was more inclined towards Wang Xiong and the patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect, he didn''t know if he would get to do that.

    "Hopefully they never invoke that use or I would have to stand by and watch the sect burnбн" Wang Xiong muttered to himself as he opened his eyes.

    He looked at the rather unstable but talented beast that was sleeping near the pedestal.

    ''Never would have thought I would see such a mutated beast in my lifetime. Grandfather used to talk about his time in the Immortal realm and how there were peerless beasts that started their own sects or even ruled entire worlds.

    Their talent was kinda simr to this, I guess. Even I myself cannotpare to this beast if I consider the age and the speed at which he has progressed.'' Yun Bai wondered.

    His eyes then moved past Tim and went to the massive beast standing a hundred meters away. Lin Wu''s body wasrge enough that his head was still visible behind therge shelves.

    ''And then there''s himбн an enigma that I cannot estimate nor understand. Hopefully, my decision to join him is correct, and he allows us to leave the worldбн'' Yun Bai thought as he let out a long sigh.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    And just as he did that, the Ten Thousand Bloodline Pedestal in the center let out a humming sound. Runes appeared on top of it and it started to shine as well. The ssy stone that Yun Bai had pressed into the pedestal came back up and floated on top.

    "It''s done," Yun Bai said and stopped up.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    "Oops!" Lin Wu said as he turned back and identally touched a shelf.

    It was about to tilt and fall, but he managed to stop it in time.

    "Sorry about that." Lin Wu said and walked towards the pedestal. "So, it''s done?" he asked.

    "Seems like it." Yun Bai replied.

    "Well, let''s see what we find then." Lin Wu prompted.

    Yun Bai nodded his head and went to touch the ssy stone.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The stone let out a bright light and runes appeared in the air. Yun Bai pointed one hand towards Lin Wu and a streak of light went to Lin Wu while another one went to his own head.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DATA TRANSMISSION INTERCEPTED: ept- Y/N?

    бкбк

    "Go ahead," Lin Wu permitted.

    Lin Wu then felt a bunch of information appearing in his mind.

    "Copper Hide Weaselбн Magma Gar Beastбн Sky Wing Wolf? Glitter Gold butterfly?!" Lin Wu saw through the memories.

    By the end of it, he was left utterly confused.

    "Huhбн these bloodlines don''t really make senseбн excluding the first one, of course." Lin Wu spoke.

    Yun Bai had a simr confused expression on his face and didn''t know what to make of it.

    "Seems like the pedestal truly didn''t have theplete information about his bloodline and only pointed to the other bloodlines that were the closest to it. It could only recognize the Copper Hide Weasel bloodline urately." Yun Bai stated.

    "Mmmhmmбн but even thenбн the three bloodlines have nothing to do with weasels." Lin Wu said.

    "They might be linked through distant ancestry. We can''t really assume much. Theplexity of bloodlines is something that many fail to grasp despite being very high in cultivation." Yun Bai replied.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Well we were just trying anyway. At least we know that his bloodline is farplex and also strong in that aspect." Lin Wumented.

    "That''s true. It being unable to be detected only means that the beasts'' he has awakened bloodlines from are either very strong, such that the pedestal has no records, or he has mutated enough to make his own bloodline." Yun Bai stated.

    Lin Wu nodded his head as this was in line with what the System had told before.

    ''The Myriad Obsidian Weasel Bloodline might truly be an original one.'' He thought.

    "Thoughбн" Yun Bai suddenly spoke.

    "Yes?" Lin Wu looked with an inquisitive gaze.

    "Do you want to try out the Ten thousand bloodline pedestal?" Yun Bai asked curiously.

    Yun Bai would be lying if he said that he was not interested in knowing more about Lin Wu and what kind of a beast he was. His aura could actually affect his own bloodline and made him feel rmed when he fought with him.

    This was enough to pull his full interest and desire to know more.

    Lin Wu thought to himself for a bit before nodding his head.

    "Might as well try. I wonder if this thing even has a record of my bloodline." Lin Wu said and went to stand in the circle.

    "I''ll activate it then." Yun Bai said and touched the ssy stone.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The pedestal became active a gain and sent out three beams of light towards Lin Wu. But unlike before, it didn''t stop there.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu raised his brows.

    After the first three lights, it kept on sending more and more lights for a grad total of ten lights.

    "What is happening?" Yun Bai was confused too now.

 Chapter 652 - The Pedestal Explodes!

    Yun Bai had no idea what was happening, as there was no such information in the pedestal about its operation. It should have only sent out three lights, ording to what was mentioned.

    Ten lights were unusual and certainly strange.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    The ssy stone on top of the pedestal started to shine bright and a humming sound came from it. The white light that wasing from it started to change color and soon turned into a darker and darker shade.

    From white it became red, then yellow, then orange and continued going down the color scale until it reached a blue color. But it didn''t stop there either and finally turned entirely ck.

    The ck lighting from the ssy stone was eerie, and Bai Yun felt very ufortable. It was at this point that a few words were heard. They were spoken in Dao Script but could be heard by both Lin Wu and Yun Bai.

    "Forbiddenбн Beastбн Guardianбн"

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    It seemed like more words wanted to be spoken, but before that could happen the ssy stone exploded into smithereens. The fragments of the stone directlybusted in the air, leaving behind no ashes, dissipating into smoke.

    Yun Bai''s jaw dropped while Lin Wu watched on awkwardly. Tim was alert and a bit startled by the explosion, watching it with wary eyes. It was evident that it would attack if it perceived anymore threat.

    "Ummбн" Lin Wu didn''t know what to say here. "Seems like it broke?"

    <em>~step~step~step~</em>

    Yun Bai walked towards the damaged Ten thousand bloodline pedestal and watched with aplicated expression. A few seconds passed before he finally shook his head.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I was expecting too much." Yun Bai spoke.

    "Are you okay with that being destroyed?" Lin Wu asked cautiously.

    "It was very old and probably had damage we could not sense. It probably did not manage to maintain its integrity when trying to scan you. Perhaps doing a difficult scan like that on Tim was already too much for it." Yun Bai replied.

    "Hmmбн that might be it." Lin Wu replied, thinking that it was usible.

    Though he still decided to ask the system, since it did have the data about the Ten Thousand Bloodline Pedestal. After all, the system had already finished scanning the pedestal before.

    "Why did the Ten Thousand Bloodline Pedestal break, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Ten Thousand Bloodline Pedestal could not handle the host''s hundreds of bloodlines and reached a critical error. It works by checking the potential bloodlines present in the body of a beast byparing it with a database.

    It has certain limits in which it couldpare them, since it would eliminate certain bloodlines if some other contractive bloodline is present. It would do so, since those two bloodlines would have a 0% chance of co-existing.

    But in the case of the Host, there is the raw bloodline data stored within him, which was still picked up by the pedestal. Since most of the data from that part wasplete, the pedestal picked them up as fully functional bloodlines.

    This resulted in a critical error and the explosion of the scanner crystal.

    бкбк

    ''Huhбн so I basically bricked its programmingбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having understood this, Lin Wu reckoned that perhaps he should not have used the Ten Thousand Bloodline Pedestal.

    ''Wellбн no use crying of spilled milkбн especially when you don''t even own it.'' Lin Wu thought and looked at Yun Bai, who seemed to have regained hisposure.

    "Though wait, what was that voice that spoke, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He had clearly heard the three words and they were not something that gave a very positive vibe.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Ten Thousand Bloodline Pedestal was malfunctioning and thus gave out a mixed result, which made ite to the conclusion that the host was a forbidden beast.

    Any beast that does not conform to the naturalws is considered to be a forbidden beast ording to the definition. While there are a lot more forbidden beasts, for the Ten Thousand Bloodline Pedestal, this is the inputted definition.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн so it was a dying beep that aputer givesбн" Lin Wu spoke to the system and quickly checked the map to see if anything else had happened.

    Thankfully other than a few random books falling, no damage had urred to the archives.

    "The ssy Stone did explode and burn up far quicker than normal, which exins theck of damage." Lin Mu spoke.

    "Hmmmбн don''t know if I should say we were lucky or not." Yun Bai replied.

    "Regardless of that, we are done here." Lin Wu stated.

    Yun Bai nodded his head and the two of them moved towards the exit.

    "Come on Tim, we''re leaving." Lin Wu spoke, and the beast started to follow him again.

    They quickly left the archives, and the doors of it closed behind them. Making their way to the main area of the Frost Fox n, they were met with the Frost Foxes.

    "Are you leaving now, Patriarch?" the Eldest man questioned.

    "I am," Yun Bai answered. "Our work is done here, and we''ll be heading back to the Frozen Cloud sect."

    "Ah, I see. Thank you for bringing Senior Lin Wu and allowing us to serve a guest for the first time in a long time." The man spoke.

    "I enjoyed your food, too. It is really good and your skills are amazing." Lin Wu praised.

    "I''m happy that senior feels this way. It just means our handwork in learning the cooking skills came to a use." The man replied in a grateful tone.

    It was at this time a thought came to Lin Wu''s mind.

    "You knowбн if some of you want to leave this ce for a bit and live somewhere else for a change of scenery, you are more than wee toe to my forest. I have a ce not smaller than this.." Lin Wu offered, greatly surprising all of the Frost Foxes.

 Chapter 653 - A Proposal For Allies And A Proposal For Foes

    Lin Wu''s offer hade abruptly and the Frost Foxes didn''t know what to make of it. All they could do now was to look at their patriarch''s face that was still as always.

    "Thisбн I don''t know if we can do this senior. While we greatly appreciate it, we cannot make a decision in a short time." The man replied after thinking for a bit.

    "No worries. If any of you feel like it, you can inform your patriarch and head on over to the Millennium forest. I''ll know when you are near it and you will be safe." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Alright, we''ll think of it then." The man said and the other frost foxes started whispering amongst themselves.

    For them, leaving the grotto was not an option, as they had never evenprehended doing that. While all of them had the dream of one day leaving this ce and even the entire world so that they weren''t suppressed anymore, they still hoped to walk out of the grotto just so that they could get rid of their boredom.

    But the world would probably restrain them if they were outside, and they had a good chance of meeting misfortune. Humans would desire them if they encountered them and would probably look to capture them for many reasons.

    Yun Bai didn''t speak anything and looked at the expressions of his nsmen.

    ''<em>~Sigh~</em> I''m useless that I was never able to let them wander around in the world like a normal beast. It is something natural to them and yet, they need to stay confined in here.'' Yun Bai thought to himself as he secretly sighed.

    No emotion could be perceived from his face as it was just calm and neither did Lin Wu sense anything. While Lin Wu knew of the restriction of the world on them, he also knew that it would vary differently for different individuals.

    He also thought that the tomb would be able to prevent the world''s restrains from affecting them if he managed to gain a bit more power and unlock the other capabilities of the Taiji Celestial''s Tomb.

    It was certainly not him wanting the Frost Foxes to be there so that they could cook for himбн

    With this little farewellpleted, the three of them finally left the grotto and flew out into the sky.

    "You don''t mind them leaving, right?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "If they are able to survive outside, I don''t mind. But that is not an option currently. I would be the most happy person the day my n is able to walk in the world freely. So if you can make that happen, it would be the best day of my life." Yun Bai answered.

    "I seeбн once I''ll get back to my ce, I''ll try to see if I cane up with something that can reduce or stop the influence of the world''s restrictions." Lin Wu spoke.

    "You can do that?" Yun Bai asked with raised brows.

    "Well I can sure try. I do in fact know some methods, but most of them need resources we won''t find on this world." Lin Wu replied, stunning the man.

    Lin Wu had not lied about this answer. He actually did know about things that could prevent the world''s restrictions, but those methods needed really strong and unique materials that would be hellish to find in this world.

    Though Lin Wu was also hoping for the fact that the Taiji Celestial''s tomb could help in some other way. There were a lot of encrypted features that he would only be able to ess once he had sufficient cultivation base and the level for the system to make it work.

    The three of them flew non-stop towards the Frozen Cloud sect and didn''t meet any obstacles.

    Lin Wu thought that it was a good time to ask Yun Bai about their next ns.

    "So, what are we going to do after reaching the sect?" Lin Wu asked the man.

    "From what I''ve heard from you and what happened to Wang Xiong and Ye Jin, the Frozen Cliff Division will have to suffer some punishment. And if their involvement in the attack is ever found out, even if they did not attack directly, it would still be a cause for doubt." Yun Bai replied.

    "Hmmбн I see. So the goal is to make use of this and gain as many liberties as possible." Lin Wu stated.

    "Exactly. If things go as well as I hope they might go, we might not have to fight again like this by the time I''m done." Yun Bai replied.

    "That will be a good oue. Though if Wang Xiong needs help, I''ll be there. It won''t take me long to travel from the Millennium forest to the Frozen Cloud Sect now that I have a route ready." Lin Wu spoke.

    Lin Wu had made the direct tunnel when he came here this time and thus it would allow him to travel far quicker.

    "And just in case, I''ll get rid of a few obstacles on the path that might arrive at the time of emergences." Lin Wu added.

    "Oh? Obstacles?" Yun Bai asked.

    "There are a few other beasts that might interfere when I pass by their territories. So it''s best they don''t exist." Lin Wu replied casually, as if he had not just sentenced thousands of beasts to death.

    "Hmm... Alright." Yun Bai agreed, not really finding a fault with it.

    "Thoughбн keep an eye out for others from the Weiyuan chamber, I don''t know if they have actual spies in the sect." Lin Wu warned.

    Hearing this, the gaze of Yun Bai turned serious and he nodded.

    "I will. I might as well take this opportunity that the Frozen Cliff Division has presented us to do aplete audit of the sect. It has been a century since thest one was done. It will help weed out any spies and other people who have their personal interests rather than the sects in their hearts.." Yun Bai said in a cold tone.

 Chapter 654 - Heading Back

    Lin Wu and Yun Bai eventually reached the Frozen Cloud sect and stopped some distance away from it.

    "Time for us to part, then. You can contact me if anything happens. Oh, and themunication jade slip should also work in the grotto now if you ever go back there." Lin Wu spoke.

    The system had already figured out the formation array of the grotto enough that it could allow themunication between it and the outer world.

    "Very well. I''ll keep you informed." Yun Bai said before he flew towards the sect.

    His figure disappeared after a certain distance and Lin Wu watched on for a minute.

    "Let''s hurry Tim. We have a couple of stops on our way to home as well." Lin Wu spoke as he quickly dug down.

    "Hold onto my tail." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Okay," Tim replied andtched onto the end of Lin Wu''s tail.

    Lin Wu''s speed in his drill form was faster than his flying speed and since he already had the tunnel ready, he would be able to cover the distance faster. But Tim would not be able to keep up with him even if Tim had a decent digging speed too.

    Thus, him holding onto Lin Wu was the better option that would save them time.

    Lin Wu quickly transformed into his Drill form while letting some part of his tail more easy to hold on to for Tim. Once that was done he started to move and quickly picked up speed.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    Faint tremors could be felt by some of the beast of the forest, but they didn''t care much since they disappeared in a few seconds as Lin Wu went deeper. Within five hours, Lin Wu and Tim reached the first location where they wanted to take a pause.

    "Hmmбн this should be the area." Lin Wu muttered as he checked the map.

    They were currently in a small area that was sparsely popted by short shrubs. The area had no particr name, but Lin Wu had detected a couple of Nascent soul realm beasts here.

    Since he wanted there to be a quick route between the Frozen Cloud sect and the millennium forest, he had decided to remove as many problems that could prove to be an obstacle.

    One such obstacle was none other than the beasts that would inhabit the areas between the two territories.

    "There they are," Lin Wu said as he found the markers on the map.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The ground started to shake as a bulge appeared in it. The soil parted before therge head of Lin Wu appeared from it.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    The roar of a few beasts was heard as they warily watched the intruder.

    "Come out Tim, time to hunt. Go!" Lin Wu sent out Tim.

    <em>~KIII~</em>

    Tim had no aversions to it and shot out eagerly. He was not one to back down from food and directly went to fight with the two Nascent soul realms beasts. Lin Wu simply watched from the back as Tim killed the beast one by one.

    It took him about half an hour to do this, which was still impressive.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    <em>~Stter~</em>

    Blood Spilled as the second beast was killed, along with a few more that were caught in the impact.

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    Tim didn''t stop a moment and directly started to eat the beasts. In just ten minutes, he had finished the two beasts along with a few more that he had killed. He became a little sluggish and Lin Wu could tell that it will take it a few hours to digest it.

    "Let''s continue." Lin Wu said, and Timtched onto the tail again.

    Lin Wu dug back into the ground and continued his journey. Four more hours passed before Lin Wu entered the area that he was looking forward to.

    "There''s the big guyбн" Lin Wu said as he saw therge marker on the map along with a few words floating above it. "The Four Winged Guna Griffinбн"

    This was the Dao Shell realm Beast Lin Wu had encountered a while ago when he wasing to the Frozen Cloud sect. He had ignored it back then since he was in a bit of a hurry, but now he had the chance to kill it.

    ''It''s surrounded by its kin,'' Lin Wu thought as he saw the markers.

    There was arge marker along with seven smaller markers. Therge marker was the Dao Shell realm Four Winged Guna Griffin, while the others were at the Nascent soul realm.

    "It''s a strong lineupбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    If it were anywhere else, such abination of experts would be enough to cause a lot of havoc. It there was someone in the human kingdoms like this, that kingdom would elevate its power.

    Even a single Nascent soul realm expert was enough to be a strong backing not to mention several of them on top of a Dao Shell realm one.

    "Will have to n a bitбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he thought of some strategies.

    He had already battled against Yun Bai, who could be said to be very close to the Dao Treading realm, and hade out as equal in the end. Thus, Lin Mu was not afraid of losing against the Four Winged Guna Griffin.

    ''A battle is not the issue, but themotion caused by the battle might be a problem. We want to keep things unnoticed for the most part. Even if this area of the Guna ins does not get much traffic, there is still bound to be people that will notice.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He also reckoned that the seven Nascent soul realm Four Winged Guna Griffins might be a bit of a bother while fighting the Dao Shell realm one.

    "Let''s get some more information first." Lin Wu said as he ordered, "scan the beast''s cultivation base system."

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target Selected

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target Identified.

    TARGET: Four Winged Guna Griffin

    CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Genesis Stage of the Dao Shell realm

    бкбк

    "That''s doableбн"

 Chapter 655 - Test And Hunt

    Having found out that the beast was at the Shell genesis stage, Lin Wu knew exactly what to expect now and had an estimate of how much power he would need to use.

    Lin Wu soon came up with a strategy that he had not used before.

    "Time to test out my abilities finallyбн" Lin Wu said as he paced Tim down.

    The underground area was already expanded by him enough that he could coil up there. Tim was already asleep, thus Lin Wu could just leave him here while he fought the beast up on the surface.

    Lin Wu made some points on the map about how he wanted things to go and began his work.

    Lin Wu first dug out a circr radius around the nest of the Four Winged Guna griffins. The diameter of the circle was almost a kilometer, and it was about a hundred meters deep since Lin Wu knew he would alert the beasts on the surface due to the vibrations.

    While the Nascent soul realm ones might not have spirit sense good enough to detect him deep inside, the Dao Shell realm one definitely would be able to do that. Thest thing Lin Wu wanted was for them to just run away when he wanted them dead.

    Even though Lin Wu was fast, he was still not fast enough to catch up with a beast that was born for flying. Even if he might catch up underground, the Four Winged Guna Griffin would be high up in the sky and Lin Wu''s speed would slow down if he flew in the air.

    Thus he needed to prevent them from ever flying away and either tie them down or kill them before that.

    ''Now to make the channelsбн'' Lin Wu thought as he extended his tail to the top while narrowing it down as much as possible.

    In the end, a thin rod that was barely two centimeters wide poked out of the surface. It was a small enough change that the beasts did not notice it and neither did it cause any noise.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "They are busy with themselves. This should make it a bit easier." Lin Wu muttered.

    He then repeated the same procedure several more times until hundreds of such holes were made along the circumference of the circle that Lin Wu had dug out.

    "Alright, part one done." Lin Wu said as he prepared for the next part.

    <em>~HOO~</em>

    He took a deep breath before letting out a ck gas from his mouth.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The ck gas started to spread in the circr area he had dug out and rose to the top. Lin Wu continued spewing out the ck gas until half of the volume of the tunnels was filled with it.

    He had already blocked the tunnel that went towards Tim so he would not be affected.

    Once this was done, Lin Wu checked the map onest time before digging towards the center of the circle. This was where the nest of the Four Winged Guna griffins was, and they were currently asleep.

    It was night time and it looked like they had fed just a few hours ago thus they were contently sleeping. Still, Lin Wu could tell that one of the Griffins was alert despite having its eyes closed.

    It was one of the Nascent soul realm and thus Lin Wu didn''t mind it as much and knew that he would be able to hide from it for the most part.

    "Nowes the more difficult partбн" Lin Wu muttered as he created a small channel all the way to the top.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    The Four Winged Guna griffin that was not fully asleep squinted its eyes and shook its head before opening its eyes. It looked around but did not see anything.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    But a few secondster, it could feel something again and it checked the area again feeling confused.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    Finally, it could feel the vibrations from underground and became alert. It looked towards the source of it, finding them to be rather weak tremors. It was the same as some animal or beast walking around.

    The Four Winged Guna griffins were the overlords of the Guna ins and had no predators thus, they were fearless. To them, if a beast came this close to them, it was either out of a mistake or it was just passing by.

    Still, it was an offense they would not take if it was a human instead of a beast.

    But soon it became even more confused as he saw a very small portion of the soil move.

    "Ek?" It tilted its head in concussion and stood up.

    The other griffins were still sleeping and didn''t mind this much movement. Unless the beast specially alerted them and called out, they will not respond.

    It stepped towards the area where the soil was moving and looked at it closely.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    The soil finally parted and a small object protruded from the soil. But as soon as it appeared, it disappeared back down.

    "Eh?" The beast was even more confused and wondered what it was.

    It used its spirit sense and probed the ground trying to sense of it was some ground beast that had wandered. But the moment it did that, its instincts rmed it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    A faint yellow gas rose from below the beast''s head and was quickly inhaled by it.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    The beast took a deer breath, wanting to let out a loud cry, but this only made it inhale more of the gas. Just as it had gathered enough power to cry out, it felt a weakness spreading all over its body.

    "Viiiбн" A low sound escaped its beak before it copsed back on the ground.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    "EK!!!" the other Four Winged Guna Griffins felt the strange sound and woke up.

    They saw their kin seemingly sleeping on the ground some distance away from them.

    "Ke?" Two of them went to check up on it and nudged it.

    <em>~thud~ thud~ </em>

    But just a couple of secondster, they too fell to the ground.

 Chapter 656 - Hunting The Four Winged Guna Griffins

    <em>~KRIIIIIIII!!!!~</em>

    "WHO DARES!" The scream of the Dao Shell realm Four Winged Guna Griffin could be heard.

    "Welp, seems like I need to improve it a bit more." Lin Wu said as he started to make his way up.

    He knew that the trap he was using might not be enough now and it would be easier to just head on up.

    "At least three of them are out of the fight. That will make things betterбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    The Four Winged Guna Griffin felt the strong tremorsing from the ground and took flight. They pped their wings and hovered above the ground while staring at the being that had just appeared from the ground.

    "ENEMY!" They all shouted in unison.

    Meanwhile, the Four Winged Guna Griffin that was their leader seemed to be very angry. Its eyes were bloodshot and the feathers on its head were standing on their ends.

    "Who are you? How dare you attack me and my kin!?" The Dao Shell realm Four Winged Guna Griffin eximed.

    Right now, only Lin Wu''s head was exposed from the ground. But in a few seconds, his entire body started to rise up from the ground. The Four Winged Guna Griffin that were used to looking down on their prey''s and foes from the sky were stunned.

    They were used to feeling superior high up in the sky, but now they had met a foe who towered over them even when they were flying. Even if the altitude they were at was not that high, being just a hundred meters, but Lin Wu was still taller.

    The Dao Shell realm Four Winged Guna Griffin was about five meters tall and even then his size was not something that could bepared to Lin Wu. Just his head alone wasrge enough to eclipse his entire body.

    "I am simply here to hunt." Lin Wu said before he opened his mouth wide.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Pale yellow gas spewed out of his mouth as the Qi skill Poison breath was activated. He was currently using the Numbing Poison that could paralyze the bodies of creatures. He had used it before as well and that was how the three Nascent soul realm Four Winged Guna Griffin had been knocked out.

    He could use a total of four poisons, but the other three were too damaging to the bodies of the beasts, making it so that he would not be able to eat them properly.

    ''Can''t waste good meatбн'' Lin Wu thought as the poison breath reached the Four Winged Guna Griffins.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    But their leader was no weakling, either. A single p of wing was all that was needed to blow away the gas.

    ''Ughбн should have known it won''t be this easily. Better to use this on unsuspecting foesбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~KRIIII!~</em>

    The Four Winged Guna Griffins let out angry cries as they raked Lin Wu with their ws.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    Unfortunately for them, no damage was inflicted on Lin Wu and they were only deflected back.

    Lin Wu took their chance to spin around and use his tail like a whip. It streaked through the air, creating a tearing sound that hurt one''s ears.

    "SPREAD!" The Leader of the Four Winged Guna Griffin ordered.

    <em>~shun~shun~</em>

    The four Nascent soul Four Winged Guna Griffin split up and Lin Wu''s tail passed through the ce where they were in earlier.

    "You aren''t the only ones that can fly, you know." Lin Wu said before he floated up as well.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    Strong waves of spirit Qi rose from his body, rming the Four Winged Guna Griffins.

    "Another Dao Shell realm beast? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" The leader of the Four Winged Guna Griffins questioned.

    He now knew that his battle was against an equal and not just any other beast. They had only thought that Lin Wu was at the Nascent soul realm and just had arger body since he was suppressing his spirit Qi fluctuations.

    "Like I said beforeбн I''m hunting and you are prey." Lin Wu said as his fangs glistened with a green shimmer.

    <em>~HISS~</em>

    He shot forward and tried to bite onto the Four Winged Guna Griffin in front of him, but they still dodged it.

    <em>~shua~ </em>

    But as a surprise to them, it was just a feint and the true attack from the back.

    <em>~shing~</em>

    <em>~KRIEEEEEEEEE~</em>

    The Four Winged Guna Griffin let out a painful cry as a deep gash was carved into its back that extended up to its left wings. The cause of the injury being a wind de that Lin Wu had shot off from one of his spikes.

    The Four Winged Guna Griffin were not beasts that were proficient in any elemental spirit Qi and didn''t have any particr Qi skills, either. The only thing they had on their side was their raw strength and their speed of flight.

    They were rather agile in air even though they could not use wind elemental spirit Qi.

    Still, Lin Wu could use that due to having learned the Immortal Sky shaker art and the attacks from that were rather fast.

    "You won''t be able to dodge for long." Lin Wu said as he sped towards the Dao Shel realm Four Winged Guna Griffin.

    "You dare think we can be some lowly prey? You will regret this!" The beast replied and flew towards Lin Wu.

    His talons were sharp and wed upon Lin Wu''s face, actually managing to make some surface level scratches.

    "Oh? You can actually put a scratch." Lin Wu said nonchntly, before something different happened.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    A fang extended out from the side of his face, looking strange. The fang managed to prick the Dao Shell realm Four Winged Guna Griffin on his leg and numbed it.

    "WHAT!?" The beast was shocked.

    "Wellбн that will take care of it." Lin Wu said as his used of Venom Fang was sessful.

    He didn''t need to actually bite someone directly to use the skill since Cellr maniption and Cellr crystallization allowed him to move around his body parts to a certain extent.

 Chapter 657 - Fettering Wind!

    <em>~p~</em>

    <em>~p~</em>

    The Nascent soul realm Four Winged Guna Griffins were lost about what had just happened.

    "ARGH!" The leader grunted in pain as blood dripped down his leg from where it was pricked.

    The blood was not the normal red color though. Mixed in it was a strange pale yellow fluid that let out an airy aroma. If one took a whiff of it, they would find themselves feeling light headed.

    "What did you do?" The Four Winged Guna Griffin leader questioned as he felt its leg going numb.

    "Just a little poison to paralyze you." Lin Wu said causally as wind attribute spirit Qi surrounded him.

    <em>~whoong~woong~</em>

    The wind attribute spirit Qi turned into a vortex around Lin Wu and started to pull all the air around him.

    <em>~Huu~</em>

    "Time for a new trick." Lin Wu said as he took a deep breath.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    He then released a dense cloud of poison breath that quickly mixed in with the wind attribute spirit Qi. He didn''t stop releasing it and more and more gathered around him. In just ten seconds, he was covered with yellow stained winds that looked rather terrifying.

    The Four Winged Guna Griffins were retreating more and more, knowing that Lin Wu was preparing a rather strong attack.

    "GET BACK!" The leader ordered as the poison started to spread even further in his body.

    He could feel his meridians slowing down as the poison prated them.

    ''This won''t be good if we can''t run away. This beast is not someone we can fightбн'' The leader Four Winged Guna Griffin thought.

    ''But why would he attack us out of nowhere? Even if he wanted to hunt, there are easier targets around.'' He wondered.

    Unfortunately for him, the tragedy was only starting.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Just as his kin reached a certain distance, an explosion happened.

    <em>~FIZZ~</em>

    A ck jet of smoke shot out of the ground in a circle around them.

    <em>~KREIEEEEEEEEEE!!!~</em>

    The Four Winged Guna Griffins let out cries of pain as the poison started to sting them. Their feathers started to burn and corrode as the poison was rather acidic. Even at a height of two hundred meter''s the poison was potent enough to show such an effect.

    Lin Wu had set this up as an additional trap, just in case the Four Winged Guna Griffin tried to run.

    ''While it''s not enough to kill them, it will stun them for a bit.'' Lin Wu thought as he finished preparing his attack.

    His body glowed in a green light and looked eerie in the yellow winds that surrounded him.

    It was then that a few words were heard.

    "Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Fettering Wind!"

    <em>~WOONG~</em>

    The vortex of wind surrounding him exploded and the winds spread everywhere around him. An area of over a kilometer was quickly covered with the wind and along with it, the Numbing poison.

    Lin Wu had used a significant amount if numbing poison in this attack and had saturated the wind as much as possible without the attack getting unstable and exploding on himself.

    Even if his defenses were strong, he could still hurt himself if any of his Qi skills malfunctioned. And the skill he had used just now was a new one he hade up with.

    "Let''s see if this works as I named itбн" Lin Wu muttered and saw as the Four Winged Guna Griffins involuntarily breathed in the poisoned winds.

    <em>~ack~ack~ack~</em>

    They of course, coughed from the poison, but that was only temporarily as soon the paralyzing effect of the numbing poison set in.

    <em>~THUD~THUD~THUD~THUD~</em>

    In just twenty seconds, the four Nascent soul realm Four Winged Guna Griffin lost control of their wings and fell to the ground. They crashed into the ground loudly and created imprints, as if shacked by heavy weights, proving that the skill''s name was urate.

    Still, they were tough enough that even after a fall this high, no bones were broken. Though a few feathers had been uprooted and could be seen lying around them.

    Their leader was barely hanging on and was sted away from the attack. Despite the poison spread in his body, the leader gritted its beak and tried to fly as far as possible. After a minute, he could no longer p its wings, thus let them spread apart and simply glided in the air.

    While it could fly using the cultivation base as well, the meridians being clogged up due to the poison didn''t help either. Lin Wu''s poison was modified by the system and had its properties modified.

    Originally, it should have only been able to affect the bodies and not the cultivation bases through the meridian. But with the system''s modification and the addition of properties from the Sapphire Qi, it could enter the meridians as well.

    This gave it a dual effect of affecting both raw physical strength and cultivation base, paralyzing the beast more throughly.

    "Futile effort." Lin Wu said as he trailed behind the Four Winged Guna Griffin leader calmly.

    The battle was already in his bag and all that was left for him was to gather all of them up.

    ''Where is this beast going to though? I doubt he''s just flying blindly. I saw him change his direction a couple of times.'' Lin Wu wondered while flying.

    This was also why he had not pounced upon the weakened beast right away and kept his distance. That way, if Lin Wu was heading into a trap, as unlikely that was, he would have a chance to react in time and be safe.

    After about a minute, the Four Winged Guna Griffin leader could no longer maintain flight and crashed into a few trees. Despite its paralysis, it had managed to fly several kilometers away from the original locations, proving that it was still a Dao Shell realm beast and rather resilient.

    But once it crashed to the ground, all was over for him.

    "Like I said earlier, you are my prey, and this was a futile effortбн" Lin Wu said as final words to the beast.

 Chapter 658 - Snacking On The Four Winged Guna Griffins

    Lin Wu got closer to the Four Winged Guna Griffin and checked that he was properly paralyzed. The beast could still hear and sense things, but it could no longer move. This was exactly what he wanted and was perfect for what he wanted to do.

    ''Now to wait and see how effective the poison is. I need to get an urate assessment of it, if I am to use it in the future.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Of the four poisons Lin Wu had, only the Numbing poison was something that the beasts could survive. Ideally, all other poisons will kill the beasts they are used on, unless they have a resistance to it somehow.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Lin Wu wrapped his tail around the Four Winged Guna Griffin and brought it back to where the rest were. He did the same for the other Four Winged Guna Griffin that had gotten a bit far away and ced them there as well.

    "Hmmбн may as well eat a couple and see the taste." Lin Wu muttered as he stabbed two of the Four Winged Guna Griffin that were at the Nascent soul realm with a spike.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    The spike prated their skulls and destroyed their brains, killing them instantly. Lin Wu could sense their Nascent souls trying to escape but were unable due to the meridians and Dantian being blocked by the poison.

    If it were just some other paralyzing poison, it would not have been able to stop a nascent soul from escaping, but with the system''s modification, this was prevented as well, making it a bit more convenient for Lin Wu.

    ''This will prevent some unexpected problems in the futureбн'' Lin Wu thought as he picked up one of the corpses and tossed it into his mouth.

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    His sharp crystal teeth quickly moved like a grinder in his mouth and reduced the entire Four Winged Guna Griffin into minced meat and bone powder.

    A minuteter, a few notifications appeared in front of him.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 1,261,178 units [liquid spirit qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE UPDATED: 25,025,937 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 26,287,115 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 647,121 units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE UPDATED: 20,714,042 Units ->21,361,163 Units

    бкбк

    "A rtively decent increaseбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He savored the taste and found it to be a mix of chicken andmb.

    "Interestingбн it will definitely taste better cooked in the form of a stew or braised." Lin Wu reckoned.

    But just one beast was not enough, and he wanted to try out a bit more.

    He picked up the other beast as well and dropped it into his mouth, quickly reducing it to a mush and consuming it.

    Just like before, the notification sounded and the post was shown.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 3,711,021 units [liquid spirit qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE UPDATED: 26,287,115 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 29,998,136 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 878,746 units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE UPDATED: 21,361,163 Units ->22,239,909 Units

    бкбк

    "Ooбн Almost double the earlier amount, though the vital essence is still less. I think the poison reduces the amount of vital essence they have since it damages it." Lin Wu guessed.

    The first Four Winged Guna Griffin he had eaten was at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm, thus it provided him less spirit Qi and vital essence than the second one which was at the Child Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm.

    Though this gave Lin Wu another idea.

    ''Should I just go around hunting Nascent soul realm beasts? They still provide around a million spirit Qi units.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    But after some thought, he realized that he might invite more trouble that way.

    ''I definitely can''t do that in the millennium forest or near it. Which would mean I would have to hunt around the other areas, but it would mean encountering other humans. And even if I don''t they are probably going to discover when beasts start to disappear all of a sudden.'' Lin Wu thought.

    After thinking for a bit, he realized that in the current time, when he was stillcking information about all that had happened in the past ten years, it was not a good option to try something like this.

    "Though I can probably hunt asionally." Lin Wu said.

    Having had his little snack, he put the system on observing the Four Winged Guna Griffins while he himself cultivated and assimted the spirit Qi in the air. The best way to be undetected was to just cultivate on his own.

    That way, no beasts would be killed and no one would be suspicious. Either way, Lin Wu was decently strong right now and was still growing stronger with his cultivation speed.

    Still, Lin Wu didn''t put the option about hunting other beastspletely out of bounds, either. He reckoned that it was a viable option if he needed power urgently.

    Lin Wu assessed his current cultivation speed and estimated how long it would take him to gather the spirit Qi needed to breakthrough to the Shell Completion Stage of the Dao Shell realm.

    ''I roughly absorb about 100-200 units an hour, soбн I can gain a little over nine million units in a year.'' Lin Wu estimated.

    By any method of assessment, the amount of spirit Qi Lin Wu gained was still massive. If it were any other beast, it would take them several centuries to gain the same amount of spirit Qi.

    The same could be said for humans as well.

    Lin Wu already had about thirty million of the spirit Qi needed to breakthrough to the Shell Completion stage and ording to the amount he gained every year, calcted that it would take him about seven years to reach the necessary amount.

    "Hmmбн seven years. That is a decent rate. I have hurried my way to the Dao Shell realm until now. Perhaps it''s time to focus more onprehending things now.." Lin Wu muttered.

 Chapter 659 - Efficacy Of The Numbing Poison

    The rate that Lin Wu had calcted was of course, a conservative estimate. He would have other ways of increasing his speed, including the consumption of other spirit herbs and materials during this time.

    He might even be killing some humans and consuming them, so the numbers should be increasing more.

    ''Not to mention, I have more than just one Dao Shellбн the other one will need to be nurtured as wellter on.'' Lin Wu thought.

    His avatar was part of the equation as well, but thankfully, it could cultivate on its own as well. Though this was where he would have to divide the resources he had, since he would have to choose between the two bodies to use them.

    Hours passed by like this as Lin Wu continued thinking of his future ns while cultivating.

    <em>~shudder~</em>

    Finally, sixteen hourster, Lin Wu could feel some movement near him.

    He opened his eyes and saw that the legs of the Dao Shell realm Four Winged Guna Griffin were trembling.

    ''Is this the limit of the poison?'' Lin Wu wondered and observed it for longer.

    With each passing hour, the trembling of the beast was getting intense. It looked like the muscles were spasming at once, but after an entire twenty two hours had passed, Lin Wu saw the leg properly moving.

    "That should be it." Lin Wu said as he let the system scan the beast.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Scanning target

    SCAN COMPLETED: Numbing Poison concentration in the body has fallen to 50% of the original dose.

    NOTIFICATION: Half life of the Numbing Poison is approximately 22 hours, 14 minutes for Dao Shell realm beast at the Shell Genesis stage.

    бкбк

    "That''s good to know. Once I get the estimate from the other Four Winged Guna Griffins the system should be able to extrapte the other details." Lin Wu muttered as he moved to kill the beast.

    <em>~SHING~ SHING~</em>

    Two stabs were all it took to end the life of the beast; one to the head and one to the Dantian. The Nascent soul of the Four Winged Guna Griffins was exterminated directly and the Dao Shell started to copse as well.

    "Best store it before it loses the spirit Qi." Lin Wu said before putting it away in the system storage.

    Once that was done, he went to observe the other Four Winged Guna Griffins.

    Thirty eight hours passed before he saw the same series of events in one of the Four Winged Guna Griffins that was at the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Scanning target

    SCAN COMPLETED: Numbing Poison concentration in the body has fallen to 50% of the original dose.

    NOTIFICATION: Half life of the Numbing Poison is approximately 38 hours, 9 minutes for Nascent soul realm beast at the Adult Soul stage.

    бкбк

    <em>~shing~</em>

    Lin Wu immediately killed the beast after that and stored it in the system''s storage. He went back to observing the remaining four beasts and got all of their half lives in theing twelve hours.

    As he had expected, the longest half life was for the Four Winged Guna Griffin that was at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm. The system gathered this data and quickly got to analyzing it.

    An hourter, Lin Wu had the initial estimates of the system

    "Oh? A Shell Completion Stage Dao Shell realm beast would only stay paralyzed for 12 hours while the Shell Expansion Stage Dao Shell realm would stay paralyzed for a little over an hour." Lin Wu read.

    The decrease was rather drastic, though Lin Wu understood that it might be due to the exponentially increasing amount of spirit Qi that the creature would have at those stages. This would allow them to resist it better and eliminate it as well.

    Though when he saw the estimate for the Dao Treading realm beast, he was even more surprised.

    "Why''s the half life like this?" Lin Wu questioned as he read it.

    <em>''Half Life = [1 hour, 19 minutes + (Dao Embryo type and physique variables)]''</em>

    The basic half life was the same as that of the Shell Expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm, but the addition of the unwritten variable was confusing.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: In the case of Dao Treading realm creatures, the half life will greatly vary depending on the type of Dao Embryo they have and their physique as well. Ones with greater resistance to such things will be able to shorten the half life.

    This did not apply in the creatures below Dao Treading realm is because the host is at the cultivation realm as well. As long as the cultivation base of the creatures does not exceed the host''s own by an entire realm, their physiques should not matter.

    Though there are always exceptions and the system will need more data to analyze further.

    бкбк

    "So it''s like thisбн I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Wu nodded to himself.

    He stored thest corpse in the system storage and decided that it was time to leave now. He dug back down into the cave he had made, and saw that Tim was still deep in sleep.

    "That meal must have filled him up pretty good. Though he should wake up soon." Lin Wu reckoned.

    He sped the beast with his tail by transformation it around him so that he would still be able to use his drill form with no problems and continued his journey.

    After hunting the Four Winged Guna Griffins, Lin Wu only stopped twice. Once was to kill a Nascent soul realm beast that lived underground as well and another that lived in ake that was in his way.

    The beast that lived underground was a massive mouse and the one that lived in ake was a fish beast. Both were killed quickly by Lin Wu to ensure there would be no problems in the future and he stored them away.

    By the time it was afternoon, Lin Wu was at the periphery of the Millennium forest.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Finally, I''m backбн"

 Chapter 660 - Back To The Millennium Forest And New Nascent Soul Realm Beasts

    All the former kings and beasts that were at the Nascent soul realm felt Lin Wu''s return to the Millennium forest.

    The status of the king had been limited to just Lin Wu, since there were other beast at the Nascent soul realm now other than the former kings. Though Lin Wu still called them kings, since they were the current leaders of their own kin and Lin Wu presided over them all.

    Since Lin Wu had entered from the southern border of the forest, the first being to notice him was the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The earth parted as the body of the beetle king rose up from the ground.

    "He''s finally back? Wonder where he went and what he didбн" The Beetle King muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu was a Dao Shell realm beast, and to the beetle king it meant that if he had left the forest there must have been a substantial reason behind it. His spirit sense extended but didn''t get too close to Lin Wu, as that would be a bit rude.

    ''If he wanted to, he would stop by the nest, anyway. I don''t need to interrupt him.'' The beetle King thought to himself and retracted his spirit sense.

    He had failed to notice that there was someone along with Lin Wu this time. Though it was not his fault entirely either since Tim the Weasel''s unique physique made it so that he let of no spirit Qi fluctuation and spirit sense couldn''t prate his body either.

    If anything, the others would just think that he was some normal beast, considering Tim was not thatrge eitherpared to most Nascent soul realm or even Core condensation realm beasts.

    Evenpared to Qi refining realm beasts or normal beasts, his side was around the mid level and would not be out of ce. Though what might catch their attention would be his body that was ck and covered in Earthen Depths obsidian.

    In a way, he matched Lin Wu since both of them had crystalline bodies now. Though in the case of Tim, the crystals were just on the surface and not his entire body.

    Additionally, Lin Wu was carrying Tim on his self, thus noticing Tim would be even harder. Tim was nudged in some crystal on Tim''s back, making it so that only his head was out. The beast slept soundly and didn''t care for any movement or disturbance at all.

    Lin Wu was currently looking at the map and getting gauge of where everyone was.

    "Oh? What''s this?" Lin Wu said in surprise as he noticed an additional three Nascent soul realm beasts.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    MAP UPDATED: Markers added

    SERVANT BEASTS: Data updated

    1. Emeraldine Monkeys (3)

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    2. Emeraldine Monkeys (6)

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw that the number of Emeraldine Monkeys that were in the Nascent soul realm had increased. Two of the Emeraldine Monkeys that were t the Peak Stage of the core condensation realm had managed to breakthrough.

    ''They did really well in the two months I was gone, huh.'' Lin Wu thought.

    In addition to these two servant beasts of Lin Wu, there was another beast that had managed to reach the nascent soul realm. This was someone Lin Wu had actually never met in person before and neither had he seen them.

    The beast that had reached the Nascent soul realm was far in the north eastern part of the fifth ring and ording to the system''s scan, was a Lamp Light Liger.

    "Huhбн is it that subordinate of the Twin Lights Liger King that was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm all those years ago? He finally managed to breakthroughбн" Lin Wu wondered.

    If he checked the map, he could barely tell the changes in the beasts below the Nascent soul realm since there were just too many of them. The increase or decrease in the Qi refining realm and Core Condensation realm beasts was hard for him to tell.

    Even with the system''s scan, it would only tell him the estimated numbers, and it could still change on its own. Telling which beast was what was hard to do when they all looked the same for the most part.

    Unless Lin Wu saw them in person or had the system scan them directly, there was little he could do to differentiate them.

    ''The number of Core condensation realm beasts have certainly risen thoughбн should be due to the overall increase in the spirit Qi of the Millennium forest.'' Lin Wu thought.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    He took a deep breath and could see the visible increase in the spirit Qi he had. While it was not as high as the Frozen Cloud sect and the Frost Fox Grotto, it was still slightly higher than before.

    He could tell how the beasts might have benefited from it in the past two months.

    ''If the increase is steady enoughбн the number of beasts with higher cultivation will start to sky rocket until it reaches a teau. Hmmбн need to n some stuff out to prevent problems at that point.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Currently, the beasts would stay in rtively ''peace'' since there were Nascent soul realm beasts that looked over them. This included Lin Wu''s servants and the former kings. But once they too reached the Nascent soul realm, this ''control'' would not be enough.

    There were bound to be some beasts that would have ambitious thoughts and decide to grow their own power. Among the thousands, there was bound to be some that would be like this and Lin Wu didn''t want to take any chances.

    Suppressing such beasts would be the better option, but only enough so that they don''t rebel and not so that they are weakened.

 Chapter 661 - Avatars Two Months Progress

    Lin Wu thought about what to do as he crossed over the fourth and fifth rings of the forest.

    "Hmmбн the best way to solve this would be to have other beasts at the Dao Shell realm that can suppress the Nascent soul realm beasts." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he arrived at the Taiji Celestial''s Tomb.

    While this was the best option for him, he would need the beasts who can reach that. And thatбн was not easy.

    Often, the things that were the best were not easy.

    Though it was not as if Lin Wu had no possible candidates in his mind either. While thinking of this all, he heard a few voices.

    "Master! You''re back."

    Lin Wu turned to look at the sky and saw the two bird beasts, the High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow and The Emeraldine Wing Swan descending from the top of the tomb. His spirit sense quickly scanned them and Lin Wu could tell that they had a slight progress from thest time he saw them.

    ''Cultivation for other nascent soul realm beasts is indeed not as fast as meбн even if they have a partial form of my bloodline, it cannotpare to my own.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Yes, I am." Lin Wu causally replied to the two bird beasts thatnded in front of him.

    "Where did you go, master? I thought you would be back earlier." The High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow questioned.

    "I went to do some workбн and forge some new alliances." Lin Wu answered.

    "New alliances?" The two bird beasts looked on in surprise.

    "I''ll exin the details in a bit once everyone is present in the tomb. There are a lot of things to go through." Lin Wu stated.

    "As youmand, Master." The Emeraldine Wing Swan replied.

    "That Emeraldine Horn Beetle is in the tomb right now and so is the lizard that you allowed to live there." The High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow said.

    "Oh, they are. That saves a bit of a time." Lin Wu causally replied as he teleported into his personal hall.

    The two bird beasts did the same and went to the main hall, where they usually did the meetings. Lin Wu on the other hand, was checking up on the Avatar.

    "Let''s see what kind of a progress you''ve had in the time I was busy." Lin Wu muttered as he gazed at the coiled up avatar.

    Its body lightly glowed as the spirit Qi swirled around it in a harmonic manner. Every so often, it would be pulled into the avatar''s body to be absorbed into the Dantian and further its cultivation.

    "System, show me the avatar''s data and what changes have been made in that time." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Cultivation technique progressed.

    бкUndaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level: 1% increase

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 2,431,633 units (liquid spirit qi)

    бк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [14,726,114/70,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (52% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Fire Resistance (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    DAO SHELL: 1. Normal Dao Shell outline

    WEIGHT: 3,17,173 Kilograms Height 147.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    Seeing the two small but significant changes, Lin Wu was pleasantly surprised.

    "The avatar actually gained over two million spirit Qi units in that time. That''s a decent increaseбн no wait, isn''t that higher than my normal? How did that happen?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The beasts presented some gifts to the avatar in the absence of the host and the avatar ate them ording to the protocols established. This allowed more spirit Qi being gained than the estimated calctions.

    бкбк

    "Huh? Why did they give the gifts?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: would the host like to view the recorded video logs? Y/N

    бкбк

    "Yeah go head." Lin Wu said.

    His vision changed, and he saw how things happened.

    The ones who had given the avatar the gifts turned out to be none other than the two Emeraldine Monkeys who had recently broken through.

    "Oh, so it''s them." Lin Wu realized.

    The two beasts came to the avatar to thank them for giving them the opportunity to cultivate this far and how grateful they were for it. The avatar replied perfunctorily and the two Emeraldine Monkeys retreated, knowing better than to disturb either master for longer than necessary.

    The avatar thus gained two spirit fruits that the Emeraldine Monkeys had specially cultivated. Technically, they were owned by Lin Wu, but he had assigned different portions of resources to be given to the beasts.

    That way, they would stay loyal to him and would also be able to steadily increase their powers. Hence, this situation could be said to be an initial investment returning to him in a short time.

    The log ended there and Lin Wu was back to normal.

    The second change that had happened in this time was the increase in the Undaunted Sapphire Body art.

    ''How did it increase by another percent?'' Lin Wu was a bit confused.

    In the past ten years, the Avatar had gone past his main body''s level, but that had taken ten years. Even with that, the increase would not be more than one or two percent for the entire year.

    "Maybe the avatar was already close to the next percent. Yesбн that must be it. It''s not that I''ve been ckingбн" Lin Wu consoled himself.

    It was strange that he was losing to himself and felt a sense ofpetition.

 Chapter 662 - A Meeting With The Beasts

    Once Lin Wu was done checking in with the Avatar, he looked up how the other servants and subordinates of his were doing.

    <em>~shua~shua~shua~</em>

    Multiple monitoring windows appeared in front of him, showing him the status of all the others.

    Most of his servants that were not in the tomb were making their way towards it, while the ones that were already, teleported to the main hall where he had the meetings. Right now, there were only the beasts there though.

    Lin Wu had not asked the humans since they were still in seclusion.

    ''Hmmбн both of them are close to a breakthroughбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    Tian Xiaoge was almost at the edge of a breakthrough and would probably have her heavenly tribtion in theing week. Pei Jun on the other hand was about to reach the Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.

    While he was not in the same sensitive situation as Tian Xiaoge, Lin Wu didn''t think it was needed to call him in as well.

    "They will understand the information more quickly anyways. It''s the beasts that need more exnations." Lin Wu said before waiting a bit more.

    About five minutester, everyone had gathered in the hall and seemed to be ready.

    "Time to meet themбн" Lin Wu said before he teleported in.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    His body disappeared in a sh of runes and reappeared in front of all the beasts. His servants and beast subordinates looked on in anticipation, wondering what Lin Wu had called them here for.

    "King Lin Wu, Greetings." The former kings greeted.

    Even the Twin Lights Liger King did the same and even seemed to be more respectful than before. The other kings noticed this and were a bit surprised. But after a few seconds understood that if Lin Wu had managed to make him his subordinates as well, it meant the Liger king was already subdued.

    "Wee, everyone. Today I have called you here to tell you about some developments that have taken ce." Lin Wu spoke.

    "What are they, King?" The Beetle King questioned.

    "Well, for startersбн we have a few allies now." Lin Wu answered.

    "Oh? Who are they?" The Emeraldine Horn Beetle asked.

    "The first would be the Frozen Cloud sect." Lin Wu replied.

    "The human sect?" The beasts were surprised.

    "Yesбн well, at least they will be ourplete allies once a few things are sorted out." Lin Wu added.

    "But among them, we have a very strong ally. You all have met him before too." Lin Wu spoke.

    "We''ve met him?" The sparrow beast wondered who might it be.

    There weren''t that many strong beasts they all had seen and if Lin Wu said they were an ''ally'' and not a subordinate, it meant that they had a rtively high status too. The Slim Arm ape king thought over it and could only think of one answer for this.

    "Is itбн that Demon beast? The one that saved us when the Southern Tusk tapirs and their king attacked?" The Slim Arm Ape King questioned.

    "Indeed. That is Yun Bai, the Frost Fox n patriarch, and also the guardian of the Frozen Cloud sect." Lin Wu answered.

    <em>~Gasp~</em>

    The beasts couldn''t help but take in deep breaths after hearing this. Most of them had witnessed the might of Yun Bai and the ease with which he had killed a Dao Shell realm beast had stunned them.

    The Twin Lights Liger King had not seen Yun Bai and neither did he know who he was, but what he did know of was the strong spirit Qi fluctuations that he felt on the day of the battle.

    He could tell that those were not of just any being and whoever they belonged to must have been very strong.

    "He will be our main backing from the frozen Cloud sect for now, but additionally the current chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect is also a subordinate of mine. There are some conflicts going on in the sect, but once they are resolved, the position of Wang Xiong will be all but assured.

    Once that happens, we will basically have the full backing the sect." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing this, the beasts were stunned. They had just gained another expert that was on the same level as that of Lin Wu now. It made them feel a bit pressured, but also safe at the same time.

    "My King, your words implied there were more allies. Who are they?" this time it was the Demon Spine Ape King that asked.

    Lin Wu was a bit surprised seeing the tone and choice of words that the beast had used.

    ''He''s getting his temper in control?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "Yes there are more. While they are weak right now, they might have the potential to be a very strong allyter on." Lin Wu spoke. "They are rted to someone you know as well, Slim Arm Ape King."

    Hearing this, the Slim Arm Ape King raised his brows.

    "Who might that be?" he questioned.

    "Someone from the Tian n." Lin Wu answered, stunning the beast.

    "R-really?" he asked.

    "Yes. While they are part of a Tian n branch, they have the potential to enter the main branch. Plus since they have chosen to be my servants as well, if they seed in their endeavor, we might have the Tian n with us in the future." Lin Wu said contently.

    "H-how did you meet them?" The Slim Arm ape couldn''t help but ask.

    "Wellбн I visited the Tian n''s branch. The one that Tian Xiaoge is a member of." Lin Wu replied.

    The beasts already knew of the humans that were being trained by the ''Monk''ey beast and how they had be subordinates of Lin Wu. Of those, there were two that were currently cultivating in the tomb.

    While the other kings had not seen them nor met with them, they did learn more from Lin Wu''s servants. Plus, since Pei Jun was a nascent soul realm expert as well, they did feel like they needed to know more about them.

    Just being at the Nascent soul realm made Pei Jun be on the same status as some of them. Plus, they didn''t want to be pushed back by some human and hurt their pride as beasts either.

    "Ah! Speaking of the Tian nбн you''ve been to their main branch in the past, haven''t you?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Y-yes. I have a couple of times." The Slim Arm Ape King replied.

    "Then, can you tell me if you know anything about these few things?" Lin Wu questioned before showing him the things he had taken from Tian Han.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the spirit tools could be felt by the beasts and they were a bit surprised, as one of them was quite strong. The sword with the power of a Dao Shell realm expert was taken by Lin Wu as well, and he knew that there was probably some secret hidden in it.

    ''There''s no way someone would just leave it for him for no reason. There is bound to be someone pulling the strings and ying some game.'' Lin Wu thought.

    The Slim Arm Ape King carefully looked through the different spirit tools.

    "I can''t really tell what some of these are, but they look like normal human spirit toolsбн but these twoбн they are different." He finally spoke.

    "Oh? How so?" Lin Wu questioned.

    The two spirit tools that the Slim Arm Ape King had picked out were the Aural Exposure Hoop and the sword with the Dao Shell realm power.

    "I''ve seen this hoop spirit tool before. My master used to have one a long time ago as well. I think it''s one of the spirit tools that the n makes." The Slim Arm Ape spoke. "But this oneбн the small swordбн I know the symbol on it." He added.

    "You know?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yesбн My master spoke of it once. His n has had a lot of experts, but they didn''t really appear in the secr world as per their n traditions. But there are always a few that do not want to follow that and reject the rules.

    Those that do this are often punished, depending on how severe their crime was. Most of the time, it is the weaker members that do this since they feel that they are being pressured by the n.

    But there are a few that are not weakбн it is these ones that the n has a hard time dealing with." The Slim Arm Ape King answered.

    Lin Wu was intrigued by this and wanted to know more.

    "Exin to me in detail, all that you know." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Of course," The Slim Arm Ape King said before taking a deep breath.

    The beasts could feel slight nervousness in the Slim Arm Ape King''s voice and even his aura seemed to be a bit different. It made them wonder what was so different about this information, too.

    "As I said, there were always some that want to oppose the n and do not want to follow the rules about them having to hide. The ones that do this often have great ambitions and want to gain a ce in the world.

    Even if they wouldck the resources that they can get in the n, they still go out. Most of them are pulled back to the n and punished. My master was one of them as well. But then he managed to get the permission to leave the n since he was going to die anyway.

    But not all of them are punished. Some of them manage to evade the n and escape. Of course, this is just temporary and if they prove to be too much, the Strong elders of the n themselves will go and catch them.

    They are at the Dao Treading realm and are enough to deal with most troubles. There are even those at the Immortal Ascension realm, but they don''t appear most of the time. Especially not for matters such as this.

    Though there was an exceptionбн one of the disciples of the sect managed to escape that was not weak. He was in fact said to be the most talented disciple of the Tian n. So much so that the n even wondered if he would be the one that might lead the n to fulfilling the founders'' prophecy.

    But all that was for naught, as he was not exactly as prophesied. This of course, greatly brothered him since his status was greatly elevated before being lowered once the requirements were not met.

    It angered him to no end, and he rebelled. Leaving with a few of his most loyal followers he hid for years. The n tried to find him but it was very difficult. He was after all, the most talented member and had ess to a lot of resources.

    He had taken a significant number of them from the n before leaving as well. Additionally, he had participated in the catching of other n members who had escaped in the past and had experience with it all.

    He knew how the n worked and what their tactics were. This gave him an edge that the others did not have and he evaded them for years.

    The n always kept an eye out for him and his followers, ready to act even if it meant that a part of their power would be exposed to the world. The man was basically gunpowder that could explode at any moment and reveal their legacy to the world.

    They definitely did not want that.

    Finally, after many years of search, they found traces of him and went out to catch him. This time the Immortal Ascension realm ancestor of the sect made and exception andae out himself to subjugate the man.

    No one know''s exactly what happened after that, but the epted result is that the former n member was killed." The Slim Arm Ape King exined in detail.

    "But that''s not all, is it?"

 Chapter 663 - Ghost Of Tian

    "But that''s not all, is it?" Lin Wu questioned the Slim Arm Ape King.

    "Noбн Some years after that, there were some incidents that happened in the Tian n. They were inexplicable and some people disappeared all of a sudden. There was a great upheaval in the n and it went into a panic until the high elders forcibly suppressed it.

    Later it was found that the people had been killed and their remains were found hidden all over the n''s periphery. No one knows how it was done or who did it, but it became a nightmare for them.

    But there was one thing inmon with all of the remains, there was a symbol left on them. It was hidden and very hard to notice. The symbol being none other than the one on this sword." The Slim Arm Ape King answered.

    "I see. and is it linked to the top member that ran away?" Lin Wu questioned further.

    "Yes. This was discovered eventer, as some members were dissatisfied by the n. They decided to follow in the steps of the exiled member and made up stories that he was still alive and had faked his death back then.

    Of course, this rebellious action was met with punishment, but then the members that rebelled next time were far stronger than expected. It was then found that they were in possession of several items that had the same symbol as that sword." The Slim Arm Ape King answered.

    "And what is this symbol called?" Lin Wu asked, feeling very intrigued now.

    "I still remember that I was brought to the Tian n by my master at that time because he had been summoned due to an emergency. That emergency turned out to be none other than more people trying to leave.

    There was word among the nsmen that the Ghost Of Tian was back. That symbol belonged to that person." The Slim Arm Ape King replied.

    "Hmmmбн" Lin Wu didn''t know what to think of this.

    The more he learned about the Tian n, the more strange he found them. Their entire history and the events that they went through seemed to be ridiculous. This gave doubts to some questions in Lin Wu''s mind.

    "Waitбн just how long ago did the top member of the Tian n leave it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He asked this question because he felt like there were simply too many people that had tried to rebel from the n and caused multiple incidents. And seeing how the Tian n tried to stay hidden and low key for the most part, such incidents should be rather well known no matter how much they tried to hide it.

    There were bound to be cultivators that would get whiff of it or suspect something. If something happened so many times in history in a short period of time there would be traces left.

    "The original rebellion happened a long time before my master''s time. While I don''t know the exact time, it is said that there was no Long n back then." The Slim Arm ape king replied.

    "No, Long n?" Lin Wu said as he raised his brows.

    "That means it is over ten thousand years old. The Long n came into existence around that time." Lin Wu stated.

    This was unexpected to him, as it meant that the Tian n possibly had the entire history of all that had happened since the arrival of the invaders and the awakening of the three guardian beasts.

    ''I bet they even know more than this.'' Lin Wu thought.

    This only made Lin Wu that much more interested in the Tian n and he wanted to visit it.

    "Wait! If you''ve gone to the Tian n with your master, you must know its location, right?" Lin Wu asked, realizing it.

    "Iбн actually don''t." The Slim Arm Ape King replied.

    "Huh? What do you mean?" Lin Wu asked, feeling confused.

    "While I did visit it with my master, I wasn''t exactly aware of the path taken. My master would put me in a Beast Storage treasure." The Slim Arm Ape King replied.

    Lin Wu knew of beast storage treasures and had learned about them a while back. They were in the same category of spirit tools as the Spatial storage treasures and were actually even more expensive.

    Since most spatial storage treasure could not hold living beings in them other than some nts, a special spirit tool needed to be made that could support life. This was a veryplex process in involved various formations.

    The Beast Storage Treasures or spirit tools made use of an air gathering formation, an istion array, a pair of heating and cooling formations, along with a lot of reinforcement formations.

    All of thesebined allowed a beast to stay in the spirit tool safely. The istion array prevented the turbulent space inside the beast storage tool from harming the beast, while the reinforcement formations made them tougher.

    Then the air gathering formation and the pair of heating and cooling fomentations were so that the beast could breathe and stay alive there. The air gathering formation would periodically pull air from the outside and make it possible for the beasts to breathe while the heating/ cooling formations changed the temperature of this air.

    Adding all these formations on top of the spatial formations made it a very tall order and there were only a limited number of cultivators that could even make them.

    "Are there others in the Tian n that have beast storage tools or of the n themselves make them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "The n does make them, but they are very rare and few. I think there were less than ten such back when my master was still alive. There was an argument that my master had with one of the members as he asked for the beast storage tool that he used for me.

    He said that the tool was wasted on a weak beast like me and he would make better use of it.." The Slim Arm Ape King answered.

 Chapter 664 - The Forgotten Ally

    Having heard of all that the Slim Arm Ape king had said till now, Lin Wu was sure that the Tian n might have been the biggest yer on the continent right now.

    ''As far as I know, the current top ten sects don''t even have histories as long as the Long n, not to mention the Tian n, which is even older than that. If they have managed to live this long, then they quite likely have ess to forgotten or lost techniques.

    The same could be said for resources as well. Makes sense that they want to keep it hidden too in a way.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Are you disappointed that I do not know the location of the Tian n, my king?" the Slim Arm ape king asked carefully.

    "Noбн that''s fine. I have another way to get there, anyway." Lin Wu replied.

    Having his doubts rified, Lin Wu went back to a topic he had said earlier.

    "How many of you think you are close to reaching the Dao Shell realm?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I am." The Twin Lights Liger King said confidently.

    But that was the only answer that Lin Wu received. This made Lin Wu look towards the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king.

    "You''re at the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm too, aren''t you? Will you not reach the Dao Shell realm?" Lin Wu asked.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Hearing that, the Beetle king let out a sigh of his own before speaking. "I would like that a lot, but no Split Thorn Horn Beetle King has ever reached the Dao Shell realm. I was the first to reach the Nascent soul realm and my descendant is the second.

    Even though the concentration of spirit Qi in the forest is rising, I still cannot cultivate well enough. The bottleneck is more like a wall for me instead and I do not think I would be able to breakthrough in my lifetime."

    Lin Wu didn''t show any change of expression on his face and simply spoke.

    "Just keep up with the cultivation then. Perhaps you might be able to do so sometime." Lin Wu encouraged a little.

    He then turned to look towards the two ape kings who understood what he meant.

    "I will definitely reach the Dao Shell realm and won''t stop there." The Demon Spine Ape King said with confidence.

    "I will be able to reach the Dao Shell realm too with the increased spirit Qi. But it will take several decades or even centuries to do that." The Slim Arm Ape King spoke.

    While he did not say that he would go beyond that realm, it was still a better response than the Beetle King.

    "Hmmбн guess this gives us two beasts that will be at the Dao Shell realm soon then." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Two beasts? Including you, my king?" the Emeraldine Horn Beetle asked.

    "Oh, not me. Other than me." Lin Wu replied.

    "Are you including the Frost Fox Yun Bai?" The Slim Arm Ape king asked, feeling confused.

    At this point, Lin Wu realized he had forgotten something important.

    "Oh, hang on. I forgot to introduce another ally." Lin Wu spoke.

    The beasts looked on in interest but also wondered who Lin Wu was talking about since there was no one other than them in the hall.

    "Are they not here?" The Sparrow beast asked.

    "Nope, they''re here." Lin Wu said as he brought his tail forward and expanded some of the spikes on there.

    The beasts watched as a mass of ck crystals fell out from it. At first, they couldn''t tell what it was and were confused.

    ''Was he carrying it on his back this entire time?'' some of the servants wondered.

    <em>~ki~</em>

    A low growl could be heard as the pile of ck crystals started to twitch. A part of it extended and appeared to be a leg. The weasel unrolled itself and the beast''s finally saw its appearance.

    <em>~Yawn~ </em>

    Tim took a big yawn and opened its mouth wide, his sharp teeth and fangs fully visible. Finally opening his eyes, the weasel looked at the new area and the many beasts that surrounding it.

    "Huh?" Tim was taken aback.

    But then in the next moment, his demeanor changed instantly.

    <em>~KIIIIIIII~</em>

    "HUNTING TIME!" Tim let out a cry.

    The energy within his body thrummed as he shot towards the closest beast that was none other than the Slim Arm Ape king.

    The beast who was currently in the process of being attacked was stunned. The old ape could see the drive in Tim''s eyes and knew that this beast would surely kill him. Even though the beast was way smaller than any of them here, it still seemed to be mighty.

    The Slim Arm Ape king tried to move, but he was far too slow for Tim. The Demon Spine Ape King moved to defend his father, but he was slow as well. The other beasts could simply watch as Tim''s sharp ws were just a meter way from the Slim Arm Ape King''s neck.

    The old ape''s pupils constricted, and he wondered if he would be dying here today.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    <em>~CRASH~</em>

    But before that could happen, something even faster moved. A gust of wind hit his face that was enough to push him back a few meters. The other beasts witnessed what happened and were shocked.

    "I told you not to attack before I tell you so!" Lin Wu shouted.

    Tim was currently pinged below his tail, which had been mmed on top of him. If it were not for the formations protecting the floor, Tim would have probably been buried in the ground.

    "Okayбн Look tastyбн" Tim replied.

    "Don''t do that again and stay at the side. If you move, no more crystal snacks." Lin Wu warned.

    "o_o" Tim didn''t speak and simply stood at the side like a statue.

    Clearly, the threat was rather effective.

    "W-whatбн W-who is this beast?" The Slim Arm Ape King questioned.

    "Well everyoneбн meet Tim.." Lin Wu introduced.

 Chapter 665 - Introducing Tim

    All the beasts looked at the smallest beast in the hall. Tim was many times smaller than almost everyone in the hall. Even whenpared with the Emeraldine Monkeys that were at the core condensation realm, Tim was two times smaller.

    Those monkeys had grown buff in the past few years and had put on a lot of muscles. If they flexed, the rippling veins could be seen under their skin. And that was not all. Even whenpared to the other core condensation realm beasts that weren''t particrly Lin Wu''s subordinates, Tim was still small.

    Though he looked different from the normal beasts too. In fact, his crystalline skin looked far more simr to Lin Wu and his kin than the normal beasts. Thus in that way, he was more like them.

    If it were not for the fact that they couldn''t feel the bloodline trace from Tim, the beasts with the Emeraldine legion bloodline would have thought that Tim was the same and had simply mutated in a different manner.

    After all, the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape was the same and had mutated differently, gaining the white crystal on its forehead and hands. The Emeraldine bloodline was not rigid and allowed the original bloodline of the beast to exist.

    Instead of suppressing it, it adapted to it and promoted the original bloodline while adding its own characteristic to it. In a way, it acted like a catalyst and increased the rate at which the bloodline evolved.

    Something that might have taken tens of thousands of years and multiple generation of beasts was done in a single generation with a single beast. It was simply an astounding existence.

    The beasts were thus confused as to who Tim was.

    A few of them extended their spirit senses, trying to probe Tim and find out his cultivation base. But like many others before, they too failed and were surprised. It was as if their spirit sense had met a thick steel te that could not be broken.

    "Huh? How is this possible?" The Twin Lights Liger King and others had the same expression.

    To them, since Tim was small in size, they thought that his cultivation base should be around the core condensation realm. Though they were still a bit doubtful about it since they had seen him fearlessly attack the Slim Arm ape king.

    No normal beast would attack a beast at the Nascent soul realm unless they knew they could fight them.

    "You couldn''t use your spirit sense on him, could you?" Lin Wu easily guessed.

    "Yes. How is that possible? His body is likeбн nothing I''ve ever seen." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.

    "Of course. He is the first of his kind." Lin Wu replied.

    "Thenбн is he the same as you, master?" The Emeraldine Beetle questioned.

    "Hmmбн you could say that. His bloodline has changed enough that it is now entirely different." Lin Wu answered.

    "Then what is he? And why did I feel the pressure from him when he attacked?" The Slim Arm ape king asked, still feeling a bit nervous.

    "Well, the pressure was justified. After all, he is quite possibly stronger than most of you here." Lin Wu stated.

    "What?!?" The beasts were stunned.

    "I can''t even sense its cultivation base. It''s as if it has nothing. There are no passive spirit Qi fluctuations either. Even his vitality is almost hidden." The Twin Lights Liger King said, finding it to be very strange.

    "Yes, his unique physique allows him that ability. He is what I''ve named, a Myriad Obsidian Weasel." Lin Wu revealed.

    "That is a weasel?" The mole beast looked on fearfully and took a few steps back.

    Lin Wu looked on strangely before remembering something.

    ''Ah, yeah. Weasels hunt and kill moles to eat.'' Lin Wu remembered.

    He then looked at the beasts and thought that he should give them a better exnation.

    "His body has Earthen Depths obsidian in it thus it blocks out spirit Qipletelyбн whether it be his own or others." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Huh? How does he use his own spirit Qi then if it can''t leave his body?" The Demon Spine Ape questioned.

    "That is something I''m not fully clear about either. It has simply mutated in a way that it just works." Lin Wu answered.

    This was the truth, and even the system was still analyzing this fact. Scanning Tim had been a tough task for the system, and finding what was hidden in its bloodline was an even more difficult task.

    Since the Ten thousand bloodline pedestal had given them a part of the information, the system did have some points to go off from, but it was not enough. Plus, Lin Wu thought that the information was not entirely correct as the beasts mentioned in that didn''t match Tim at all.

    They weren''t even the same ss of beast either. One of them was a fish, the Marga Gar beast; and one was an insect, being the Glitter gold butterfly. Then there was the wolf beast, which was the Sky Wing wolf.

    Even though the wolf was a mammal too and came in the same ss, it was still vastly different than a weasel.

    "I seeбн but what is its cultivation base, then?" The beasts all asked, feeling very curious.

    To them, if Lin Wu had brought Tim from somewhere and had even carried him on his body, it meant that he valued him a lot. Plus, the way Lin Wu was treating Tim seemed to be different than them too.

    While they couldn''t exactly tell how, seeing as how Tim didn''t have Lin Wu''s bloodline meant that he was not exactly a servant or subordinate. This only made them even more curios about Tim.

    "He is at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realmбн almost at the very peak." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing this, the beasts were no less than speechless.

    "Howбн H-how is this possible?" The Twin Lights liger king was the most shocked.

 Chapter 666 - A Talented Child

    Lin Wu could understand the reaction of the beast as it was something he had seem multiple times before either. At this point, he even felt like Tim was a something he was brining to a show-and-tell in the school.

    It was fun for him to see the reactions.

    ''Hmmбн I guess it''s like showing others how a pet performs tricks?'' Lin Wu thought.

    It was at this point, that the unmoving Tim finally spoke again, knowing that the others were speaking about him.

    "Me, Tim! Me Strong!" He proudly stated.

    This sentence irked a few of the beasts as a thought came to their mind.

    "A child?" The Slim Arm Ape king, The Twin Lights Liger King and the Split Thorn Horn beetle king all said in unison.

    All three of them were kings of the forest and had many subordinates under them. They themselves had seen many beasts being born and knew how they acted when they were small.

    Even if they could not use their spirit sense on Tim, their instincts could very well tell them that Tim was very young.

    "Ah yeah. You could say that. Tim hereбн is a little over fifty years old." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Five hundred years old?"

    "Fifteen hundred years old?"

    "Five thousand years old?"

    The beasts said, as if they had heard wrong.

    "No, 5-0, fifty years old." Lin Wu reiterated.

    Pin drop silence could be felt in the hall after that. For a minute, no sound was made until finallyбн

    "IMPECCABLE! AMAZING!" The Slim Arm Ape King shouted.

    "Such talentбн isn''t this beyond those ''genius humans''." The beetle king said.

    The Twin Lights Liger King didn''t know what to say either at first.

    "If he is at such a cultivation base at such young age, then he might be the best one among us." He finally said.

    "Indeed." Lin Wu nodded his head. "And he is the second beast that will at the Dao Shell realm." He added.

    "He''s at that point already?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked understanding what Lin Wu meant.

    Even if someone was at the very peak of the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm, it didn''t mean that they could freely breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm. There was a bottleneck that was very difficult for them to pass.

    This was the same for both humans and beasts, and they had to put a lot of effort in crossing it.

    Many beasts put centuries of effort just to loosen this bottleneck. Humans would search out treasured herbs so that they could achieve the same or try out new cultivation techniques in the hope that they were able to breakthrough one day.

    No matter what the method was, everyone wanted to breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm and seeing that Tim was at that point without doing much seemed a bit pressuring to The Twin Lights Liger King.

    "Talent does put one at different starting points." The twin lights liger King muttered.

    He had suffered from a big bottleneck his entire life and was prepared to never breakthrough in his life at all. The restrains of the Tomb were not something he could shake off and if it were not for Lin Wu taking over his position, he would still be the same.

    It was something he was grateful to Lin Wu for but the other beasts could also be said to be in the same situation.

    "Tim will stay here with meбн I don''t trust him enough to let him wander. He can''t control himself and will probably eat things. Pretty much wreak havoc in general." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Fight Fun! Eat Good!" Tim spoke from the side, getting a re from Lin Wu.

    "Yeah that''s a child alrightбн" The Club tailed lizard that had not spoken the entire time muttered.

    She too had been allowed here, as she had decided to join Lin Wu a while back. To her, Lin Wu seemed to have great power and being under him was far better than going back and struggling for resources.

    Here she could get a lot of things with ease, as long as she did some duties. The Leader of the Emeraldine Monkeys had assigned her some duties that she could do and thus she was not freeloading anymore.

    Lin Wu didn''t miss the club tailed Lizard either and wondered what was happening to the new born lizard.

    ''Those stuck to me like glue back then.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He sneaked a peek on a monitoring screen that the system showed to him and saw that the juvenile Club Tailed Lizards were ying in one of the halls. The way they yed was rather unique too.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~hiss~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    <em>~hiss~</em>

    "Huhбн that''sбн unique alrightбн" Lin Wu said after seeing them knock each other around with their tails.

    One of them would m the other with their tail and see how far they sent them hurtling. Then the next one would do that for them. They kept on doing this until they reached the end of the hall.

    Once that happened, they would start the entire process all over again.

    But that was not all Lin Wu noticed.

    "Their cultivation base is increasing quickly too." Lin Wu muttered before getting the system to do a scan of them.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TARGET: Mutated Juvenile Club Tailed Lizard (5)

    CULTIVATION Base: Peak Stage of the Qi refining realm

    BLOODLINES: 1. Club tailed Lizard Bloodline

    2. Olive Viper King Bloodline

    3. Crystal Worm Bloodline

    Innate skills: 1. Venom Fang (Undeveloped)

    2. Heat resistance (Passive)

    3. Crystalline Defense (Passive)

    4. Crystalline Rampart (active)

    бкбк

    The five Juvenile Club tailed lizards had all reached the peak stage of the Qi refining realm, which was a good growthpared to a lot of other beasts. Though it was a bit expected since they had the support of strong bloodlines.

    Lin Wu even wondered if he should let Tim stay with the five juvenile lizards.

    ''They are children in the endбн though Tim might just end up eating them for a snack.. Perhaps in the future then.''

 Chapter 667 - A Test And Scan

    Lin Wu and his subordinates talked for a while more before he finally sent them away.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was going to focus on cultivating for the time being, as he felt a little pressured by Tim. It was understandable since he had been king for such a long time and had now be Lin Wu''s subordinate.

    For him, even if he was a subordinate, he wanted to be a high level subordinate. But now there was Tim, who could very well be stronger than him. Thus he felt like he needed to breakthrough as soon as possible.

    The same could be said by the other servants and they felt like Lin Wu now had someone he cared about more and they couldn''t help but feel a little jealous. They too decided to cultivate harder than before and get stronger and stronger.

    All of this was exactly what Lin Wu wanted anyway, and he was thus happy with how things would go from here. At least he hoped that they would.

    With the beasts gone, there was just Tim left in the hall.

    "o_o" he was still sitting like a statue there without speaking since he had been threatened a few times with his crystal snacks being taken away.

    The crystal snacks were what he called Lin Wu''s crystals. Even though there were beast corpses and other resources with a higher amount of spirit Qi and vitality, Tim still liked the taste of the crystals better.

    Lin Wu thought to himself about something and spoke.

    "Are you hungry?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes." Tim answered.

    "Okayбн" Lin Wu said while narrowing his eyes.

    He took out the corpse of a Child Soul stage Nascent soul realm, Four Winged Guna Griffin, and gave it to Tim.

    "Eat?" Tim asked onest time.

    "Go on." Lin Wu permitted.

    "YEE!" Tim screamed before pouncing on the corpse.

    <em>~Crunch~ </em>

    <em>~munch~</em>

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    Various sounds were heard as Tim devoured the beast that was twenty times bigger than him. Lin Wu was still astounded by the metabolism speed of Tim and even the system was at a loss as it still couldn''t analyze him fully.

    ''Other than me, he definitely has the fastest metabolism.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "You''re scanning all this, right system?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Affirmative." It replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and continued watching Tim devour the corpse. About twenty minutester he was done and was now licking his paws that still had some blood left on them.

    "Hmmбн" Lin Wu furrowed his brows.

    "Any change yet system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Negative." It answered.

    "Let''s continue thenбн" Lin Wu said as he took out something even bigger.

    It was a corpse that belonged to an Adult Soul Stage Nascent soul realm Four Winged Guna Griffin.

    "Eat this too." Lin Wu threw the corpse in front of Tim, who couldn''t stop salivating.

    His pupils went wide in joy as he pounced on the corpse as well and let his mouth do the rest. This time it took him a little longer to finish eating it and thirty minutes passed. Lin Wu finally got a notification from the system and raised his brows.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Detected vitality change in target

    NOTIFICATION: Detected unknown energy signatures from target

    бкбк

    "So it''s like this huhбн" Lin Wu muttered as a theory formed in his mind.

    But this was not enough for him and he wondered if he could push this a little more.

    <em>~lick~lick~</em>

    Tim had gone back to cleaning up the blood from his body, when he heard some really tempting words.

    "Do you want to eat more?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Eat? More?" Tim repeated, finding it a bit unbelievable. "YES!" he shouted out loud enough to echo throughout the hall.

    "Alright, let''s turn up the stakes a little." Lin Wu said as he took out an even bigger corpse.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    In front of him was now the Dao Shell realm Four Winged Guna Griffin''s corpse. Lin Wu''s eyes gazed at Tim, watching how he would react and saw that he did not pounce on it directly.

    ''He''s getting better at control.'' Lin Wu observed.

    Lin Wu then extended his tail and morphed it to have a sharp edge.

    <em>~SLICE~</em>

    He ran it across one of the wings of the beast and cut it clean off.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Lin Wu threw it in front of Tim, with a little heartache and spoke, "eat."

    He quickly put the rest of the corpse away as he wanted to use it himself.

    <em>~drip~drip~drip~</em>

    Tim''s mouth was like a waterfall of saliva and he quickly got to eating the wing too. He didn''t mind if there were feathers or bones, he ate it all. The sharp and hard feathers were like chips to him and he broke them with ease.

    The same could be said for the bones, though he had to struggle for a bit with them and gnawed them to fragments before swallowing them.

    And while was doing this, the system was continuing to scan and analyze Tim''s body. Lin Wu was getting live updates about all that system detected and was rather intrigued by this information.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Energy Signature detected

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    ANALYZING: New Energy signature

    бкбк

    Lin Wu then saw as the system started to build a model of Tim using the energy signature as a reference.

    ''Using the corpse as the fuel, Tim produces as lot of energy. So much so that even his Earthen Depths Obsidian skin cannot stop it fully. This ends up leaking out and the system can now use that to scan him better.'' Lin Wu understood.

    All the food that he ate was metabolized by his body and let out some heat and energy as a effect. It was this very thing that the system was now reading.

    It was like using a spectrometer to measure the emitting radiation from something and analyzing was contained within it using that as a reference. Except in this case, the radiation was the energy signature let out by Tim.

    ''The system sure is good ating up with different solutions.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He continued to watch as Tim finished the wing after about an hour. It was slow since it took him longer to digest what he had already eaten. Plus, the bones and the feathers were also slightly harder to eat even if they weren''t as much of an hindrance.

    But once Tim was done eating, it felt like he had no energy left, which seemed to be ironic seeing just how much he head eaten.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    Tim directly passed out and fell into a deep sleep.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Detected Energy spike!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu narrowed his eyes as he saw a glow within Tim''s body. He looked closer and saw that it looked like his Nascent soul.

    "So it looks like this, huhбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    This was the first time seeing the Nascent soul since when Tim was a still a copper Hide Weasel and Lin Wu could perceive the difference in it.

    "It has certainly changed the shape to match his current form. Plus, the energy within him is rather dense too. Far denser than any other human or beast I''ve seen till now." Lin Wu muttered.

    He watched as the system continued measuring the energy signature until it finally reached a teau and stabilized.

    ''Seems like this is it. Wonder how long he''ll sleep this time.'' Lin Wu thought before teleporting Tim to a different hall.

    "Reinforce the walls of that hall, just in case system." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Affirmative." The system simply replied.

    Done with this little test, Lin Wu decided to focus on himself.

    He took out severalrge logs from his storage and put them in a square manner. He then took out arge metal te, which was something he had taken from one of the buildings a long time back.

    "This should serve as a pan well enough." Lin Wu said as he ignited the logs and ced the metal te on top.

    With a little wind spirit Qi stoking the fire, the pan heated up real quick. And while that happened, Lin Wu went to skin and prepared the corpses that he had. One by one, the corpses of the Four Winged Guna Griffins were yed and butchered.

    He even took out arge bell that he had taken from someone he forgot about and turned it upside down to use as a container. In that, he put in a lot of herbs and spices to make a marinate and put all the meat chunks in it.

    If anyone were to see the liberal use of such precious ingredients, they would be stunned and feel their hearts burning. Each and everything that Lin Wu used was valuable resources that many would die for.

    Yet here he was, using them for marinating as if they were somemon mortal vegetable.

    But Lin Wu didn''t care for the opinion of others and did what he wanted to.

    "All nice and thered up," Lin Wu said as he picked up one of the meat chunks and ced it on the pan.

    <em>~SIZZLE~</em>

    The melodious hiss of the meat being seared was like music to Lin Wu''s ears and he watched it all cook with smiling eyes.

    "Now to try it."

    Picking up a cooked piece he put it in his mouth and almost moaned in joy.

    <em>"Ahh~</em> this is life!"

    Having gotten the taste, Lin Wu couldn''t hold back anymore and put all the chunks he haha prepared on to the pan and started cooking them.

    All the while notifications popped up, showing that he was gaining spirit Qi by the droves.

 Chapter 668 - The Changing Destinies

    In total, Lin Wu had eaten three Nascent soul realm Four Winged Guna griffins and one Dao Shell realm one. He watched as the final notification for the spirit Qi popped up once he had finished eating it all.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 14,142,186 units [Liquid spirit Qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 29,998,136 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 44,140,322 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 2,984,617 Units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 22,239,909 Units -> 25,224,526 Units

    бкбк

    This increase was substantial for Lin Wu and he had gained almost 50% of the spirit Qi that he already had in the spirit Qi storage. Though the increase in vital essence was still less due to the side effect of poison.

    "Damn, this is just too tempting." Lin Wu said.

    He felt a little greedy and wondered if he really should go on a beast hunting spree. But the temptation soon faded away as he remembered the problems he would be bringing along with them.

    ''I meanбн I don''t necessarily have to go on a killing spree. As long as I space them out, it shouldn''t really matter as much.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu knew about how the beings in an ecosystem mattered and if he really did what he was thinking of, it would end up greatly disturbing it. He didn''t want to bring more problems when there was no need for them.

    This would not only threaten the others but himself as well. He had already seen how the Southern Tusk Tapirs had to migrate and couldn''t go to other areas nearby due to them being upied by strong beasts.

    This led to them entering the millennium forest and causing the war. While this was a slightly distant example, a lot more things simr to this could happen as well. He didn''t want a headache where it could be avoided.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "I shouldn''t get carried away. They say cultivation needs patience and a steady heart; I''ve already sped through the cultivation realms rather fast in the past few years. I dunno if I''ve made mistakes in that either entirely." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    This gave him a lot to think about, and he spent a while on that. But in the end, he simply decided to cultivate and clear his mind.

    ''Just keep my eyes on the goal and refrain from the rest.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he circted the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture''s spirit Qi circuits and cultivated.

    Spirit Qi surrounded his body and started being absorbed into it steadily. Lin Wu soon entered the flow and forgot about everything else, being entirely focused on cultivating. This state was hard for him to exin, it was as if everything else faded away and only spirit Qi existed for him.

    Minutes turned into hours, and hours turned into days.

    Lin Wu''s cultivation session was tacitly understood by his servants and they knew not to disturb him in that time. Only when something importance came up would they even do something.

    Plus over the years, they had been getting more and more proficient at handling things. The books and other educational materials Lin Wu had given them were actually being used by the beasts.

    The Emeraldine Monkeys were obviously the ones learning the most and had greater intelligencepared to most beasts. Plus, two of them were even teaching this to the other beasts, bing their teachers and conducting sses.

    The best thing was that they were doing this on their own without actually being ordered to do so. It wasn''t something that bothered Lin Wu thus he didn''t even bother checking it. Additionally it was not something the system would report to him either since it didn''t cause any trouble.

    Lin Wu had alerts set for the system whenever something important or problematic happened. And something like the Emeraldine Monkey''s teaching others was not considered in it.

    In addition to that, there was a new generation of beasts being born in the forest. It was something happening all over the forest and was only sped up due to the increasing spirit Qi of the forest.

    First were the insect beasts being born in the territory of the Split Thorn Horn Beetle king, then there were the other monkey beasts being born in the Slim Arm Ape King''s territory. The strangest thing though, was the fact that they were stronger than the earlier generations.

    Right from the start, they were nourished in higher concentration of spirit Qi, and additional got to consume better resources if they lived in Lin Wu''s influence or his subordinates.

    Lin Wu''s orders to farm and cultivate spirit herbs and fruits had helped the beasts'' progress quite a bit and they were now doing it voluntarily. They were finding the merits in it as they didn''t need to search for them and could get them whenever they wanted in a set location.

    Of course, it was not free and there was a certain price involved. The beasts were not on the level of humans yet, of course, so they either bartered or paid inbor. There was always the need to expand the farms and orchards, thus the beasts could help in plowing the soil, as well as other tasks.

    Even the dung of several beasts was useful, and they could use that as manure to fertilize the soil. As a shock to those beasts, they ended up bing a bit ''richer'' as they could simply sell their own dung in exchange for resources.

    Unknowingly, Lin Wu''s presence had greatly brought forth the state of the forest. The beasts had gotten stronger, while also getting peaceful at the same time. The increased intelligence and knowledge was also allowing them to do more things.

    This wasn''t even his goal originally, but Lin Wu had ended up making something that would soon be a shocking thing for the entire Ming Dao world.. The inhabitants of the forest didn''t know this either and had special destinies to follow.

 Chapter 669 - The Twin Lights Liger Kings Breakthrough!

    A month passed in the blink of an eye since Lin Wu''s return.

    The Millennium forest was mostly peaceful, but soon there was going to be something that would cause an uproar.

    In one of the caves of the Dark Bloom Caverns, a certain beast was on the cusp of a breakthrough.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Breaths that felt like thunder were heard in the cave. At first, someone would think that it was actual thunder, but it was just the way the Twin Lights Liger King cultivated. He was currently lying on the ground as ck and white lights alternated in his eyes.

    At the same time, his chest moved andrge amounts of spirit Qi were sucked into his body. It was obvious that the amount being absorbed was far greater than normal and couldn''t be aplished easily.

    Usually it was the spirit Qi infusion one would experience when they broke through, but in the case of the Twin Lights Liger King, it was different. With each breath that he took, he could feel his bloodline stirring.

    He had not felt something like this in a long time and thest time that he did feel like it was when Lin Wu broke through.

    Back then, all the beasts had a battle of the bloodlines as they resonated together. It was also the first time that the Twin Lights Liger King had been suppressed in a long time. His first defeat after a long time was due to Lin Wu and the second time was also due to him.

    Honestly, he had mixed feeling about it all. On one hand, Lin Wu had taken his throne that he did like somewhat despite the fact that it was what shackled him in the first ce and then on the other hand Lin Wu was also the one that freed him.

    In the end, the Twin Lights Liger King had be a subordinate under Lin Wu as well, along with having some part of Lin Wu''s bloodline within him.

    ''This bloodlineбн how can it do something like this?'' The Twin Lights Liger King wondered.

    His current state was actually caused due to the Emeraldine Legion Bloodline that Lin Wu had given to the Twin Lights Liger King. It was mostly inactive for the Twin Lights Liger King other than the features that allowed him tomunicate and sense others.

    But now, it was showing something hidden which he didn''t know about at all and neither had Lin Wu warned him about it. At first, the Twin Lights Liger King was shooed and nervous about it all, thinking that he might end up harming himself.

    After all, mistakes during breakthrough weren''t umon and the higher one went, the more likely it was that there would be difficulties when breaking through. First of all, cultivation was going against the heavens, thus they liked to test all the creatures that did that.

    But after an hour or so, the Twin Lights Liger King understood that what was happening was not harmful for him. Rather than that, it was beneficial. The Emeraldine Legion Bloodline had seemingly stimted his original bloodline and triggered something unknown.

    He could feel the hidden power rising from his bloodline and strengthening his entire body.

    This increase came in waves and was nerve wracking at the same time. The Twin Lights Liger King had to really focus in order to make the best use of it.

    In his current state, he discovered that spirit Qi was like a moth being attracted to a me. It willingly rushed towards him, only to be sucked into his body.

    In just the past hour, he had gained more spirit Qi than he had gained in the entire past year. It was a stunning discovery and the Twin Lights Liger King didn''t know what to exactly think of.

    Hence, he did the one thing he could, shut off any unnecessary thoughts and only focus on cultivating.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    A humming sound came from his Nascent soul as the bloodline''s effect reached its peak.

    <em>~ROAR!!!!!~</em>

    The Twin Lights Liger King let out an involuntary roar as blinding light shot out from one of his eye while equally blinding darkness shot out of the other. The two were like oil and water, touching and flowing around each other, but not mixing.

    <em>~ROAR!!!~</em>

    The Twin Lights Liger King''s Roar shook the entire cave and echoed within it. It was powerful enough to escape it and spread all around the sky, covering the millennium forest. If the Twin Lights Liger King''s breaths were like thunder, then his roar was like a quake.

    "WHAT IS THAT?!" Several beasts were startled by the sudden roar.

    The stronger ones were surprised, while the weaker ones were downright terrified.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    A very strong wave of spirit Qi spread across several hundred kilometers, reaching the very edge of the millennium forest and even a little further. The source of it was of course, none other than the Twin Lights Liger King.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The beast felt a strange urge and directly broke through the roof of the cave, appearing in the sky.

    <em>~ROAR!~</em>

    He let out a roar as two beams of light shots out from his eyes. In the night sky, they looked like beacons and illuminated it.

    "Huh? Why are there lights in the forest?" A few of the humans that were camping near the edge of the millennium forest wondered.

    From their attire, one could tell that they were normal warriors and not cultivators. Some among them were very curious about it, but then they were hit by the pressure that apanied the spirit Qi wave.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    A few of them directly fell to the ground and their faces turned pale with fear.

    "RUN! RUNNNNNN!!!" They shouted and ran with all their might.

    Back at the forest, a vortex of spirit Qi formed around the Twin Lights Liger King and his pace of absorbing it increased, until finally it happened.

    His nascent soul jumped out of his dantian and appeared above his head.. Then along the side of the Nascent soul appeared an illusory figure of a sphere.

 Chapter 670 - Chaos And Control

    The chaos in the forest was something that was obviously discovered by the former rulers, along with the stronger servants of Lin Wu.

    "Head out! We need to calm the beasts!" The head of the Emeraldine Monkeys ordered.

    "YES!" They all replied before flying out.

    "I''ll check on the insect beasts!" The Emeraldine Horn Beetle spoke.

    "We''ll get the bird beasts in order." The Emeraldine High Wind sparrow and Emeraldine Winged Swan chimed in.

    "And I''ll take care of the rest!" The Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole stated.

    With their duties quickly divided, the beasts split up to get the chaos under control. The same thing happened with the Demon Spine ape, the Split Thorn Horn beetle King and the Demon Spine ape.

    In fact, the Demon Spine Ape king was the first one to act.

    Currently in the north western corner of the millennium forest, the Demon Spine Ape could be seen doing somethings.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    "Anyone else wanna try?" The Demon Spine Ape said in a threating manner.

    In front of him were several hundred beasts that seemed to be terrified and under him was arge wolf that was squished to death. These beasts were mostly the weaker and less intelligent ones that were easily agitated by their instinct.

    To them, speaking was not really useful and direct threats were the better option. This with a little strong arming, The Demon Spine Ape could stop them in their tracks.

    <em>~CRY~</em>

    The beasts let out wary cries, seeing the Demon Spine ape and the former ruler nodded his head.

    "I thought soбн Now thenбн no one is to cross this point and are to return to their nests. The things happening right now will calm down soon enough." The Demon Spine Ape said before flying away.

    Simr scenes happened in other ce, some needing more violence than others. But in the end, Lin Wu''s system worked, and the beasts were finally suppressed. Even if their instincts were telling them to run away, the power of the Nascent soul realm beasts stopped them.

    Plus, their aim in stopping the beasts was not that they were going to go towards where the Twin Lights Liger King was and disturb his breakthrough; no, the beasts were afraid of that beast and were going in the opposite direction.

    But going this way meant that, more likely than not, these beasts would end up meeting humans and will probably kill a few. Additionally, the number of beasts running away would be massive and could easily be perceived as a beast tide, bringing chaos among the humans.

    Lin Wu certainly didn''t want that to happen, and his servants knew that as well. Besides, even if it Lin Wu were not here, the rulers would still not let something like this happens as it would only mean a closer scrutiny by the sects and some ughter to cull the beast numbers.

    By preventing the beasts from leaving the forest, this was prevented and overall safety of the millennium forest was maintained.

    While all this happened though, the one who had originally set such directives waspletely unaware of it. Lin Wu was deep in cultivation and had set the system notifications to be dyed unless something really dangerous happened.

    And for him, chaos like this in the forest was still tolerable.

    In the many meetings he had with his servants and subordinates, Lin Wu had set guidelines on what could be done and what could not be done, along with the various situations that they may face.

    Of course, the system was a great guide in this and simted a few thousands scenario along with the optimum course of action to resolve or suppress them. These were then fed into the crystals Lin Wu made and given to the beasts to be used whenever they felt like they were lost or confused.

    The system named them as ''Administrative Survival Manual (Version 1.0)'', which Lin Wu didn''t really care to change and kept as it is. The Emeraldine monkey beasts had taken to the manual very quickly and were the most versed in it.

    They were also the ones that were to be contracted when problems happened and the servant beasts couldn''t do something. Only the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape was excluded from a lot of the duties due to something else Lin Wu had given him.

    His duty was special and he wouldn''t appear outside the shrine normally either. Additionally, he had to look after the humans that were cultivating there as well. With the current numbers that they had there, Lin Wu had asked Wang Xiong if he would like to send more of them to get the inheritance.

    Wang Xiong had decided that they would do this after the situation in the Frozen Cloud sect actually stabilized. In the mean time, the disciples in the forest were to cultivate and get stronger.

    That way, Wang Xiong would have additional trump cards to y if the problems in the sect increased. Since they would be proper disciples of the sect, they would be free from the restrains and no one could question their rights there, unlike the external people that the Frozen Cliff Division was using.

    Back at the location where the Twin Lights Liger King was, spirit Qi was stirring like crazy. A vast amount of spirit Qi gathered over the Twin Lights Liger King, pulling in spirit Qi from all over the Millennium forest.

    It kept on spinning until it actually got dense enough to be visible. Now instead of an invisible vortex, it looked more like a pale white tornado. At the bottom of the tornado was the Twin Lights Liger King along with his nascent soul.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The Tornado picked up speed and started to deposit the spirit Qi into the air at the side of the Nascent soul. At first it looked like it was disappearing into thin air, but after about five minutes, an illusory figure of a t disk appeared there instead.

    If human cultivators were to see this, they would be stunned as this was a Dao Shell!

 Chapter 671 - Bloodline Benefit

    The Twin Lights Liger King was having a rapid breakthrough which even he had not expected.

    Like with humans, beasts too needed to consolidate their cultivation base and then determine what kind of a Dao Shell they wanted. By default, the shape was that of a sphere, but both humans and beasts could have different shapes if they wanted to.

    But this only happened after a long time as they needed years to decades, just to ponder on the right shape that they wanted. And only after they had done this could they actually channel spirit Qi into the illusory shape to solidify it.

    The Twin Lights Liger King though, took no such pause and directly sped his way to the second stage of the Dao Shell realm, which was the Shell genesis stage.

    ''How can this be possible? Even though I have the confidence of reaching this stage myself, I''m pretty sure it would have taken me at least a decade. But nowбн my bloodline itself has chosen for me.'' The Twin Lights Liger King thought to himself as he focused on absorbing as much spirit Qi as possible.

    The Emeraldine Legion bloodline within him was steadily stimting his original bloodline. This led to it taking control of his body in a way and deciding upon the shape of the Dao Shell automatically.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was confused and didn''t even know how he would be using this Dao Shell or how he wouldprehend the Dao Embryo. With theck of information, he was a bit anxious, but at the same time, since the bloodline itself was directing all this, he also felt a bitcent.

    It was aplex state of self that only the Twin Lights Liger King could understand right now.

    But he also knew something critical: when there was a direct action from one''s bloodline, it was in their best interest to not do anything that might interrupt or cause problems.

    It could lead to many problems, the least of them being injured and the worst being killed.

    Hence the Twin Lights Liger King kept doing what he was and absorbed the spirit Qi. If anything through, he felt that this was ratherfortable as he didn''t need to spend any effort on the Dao Shell.

    "If only all my breakthroughs were this smoothбн" He muttered to himself, a sense of longing present in his voice.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    About ten more minutes passed, after which the tornado of spirit Qi finally dissipated in arge ripple. But at the same time, the Dao Shell of the Twin Lights Liger King was now visible.

    It looked like a twenty centimeter wide disk that was about an inch in thickness. But from this, less than five percent was solid, and the rest was ethereal, showing that the Twin Lights Liger King had just started on his journey through the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm.

    Still, it was no less shocking to him and he stared at this Dao Shell.

    "Is this really true? Have I truly reached this level?" The Twin Lights Liger King couldn''t help but wonder.

    If it were not for the spirit Qi fluctuation of the Dao Shell in front of him and the call of his bloodline to withdraw the Dao Shell into his body, the Twin Lights Liger King would have certainly thought that he was either dreaming or was hallucinating.

    He wouldn''t put him being dead out of the options either as he was often quite close to it when he was still shackled by the tomb.

    <em>~HUU~</em>

    The Twin Lights Liger King took a deep breath and exerted his control over his Nascent soul and the Dao Shell. The Nascent soul first took its position over the Dao Shell, as if using it like a bed before it flew towards his head and disappeared into it.

    "Finallyбн I''ve done it!" The Twin Lights Liger King said with excitement.

    And in this excitement, the Twin Lights Liger King couldn''t help but want to test out his strength. He thus very carefully picked one of the more deste areas with little to no life and shot out an attack.

    It was a simple w swipe, but it was still enough to create long ravines on the ground.

    ''That''s truly the power of the Dao Shell realm alrightбн'' The Twin Lights Liger King thought to himself.

    "CONGRATULATIONS!" Several beasts appeared near the Twin Lights Liger King.

    Most of them being the Lamp Light Ligers with a handful of other beasts that were under the Twin Lights Liger King. Besides, since they had reached a certain level of status, they knew how to chance clout and the Twin Lights Liger King was the perfect target.

    "All Hail The Twin Lights Liger King for his sess!"

    "The Twin Lights Liger King has seeded in breaking through to the Dao Shell realm!"

    More and more beasts appeared and started to shout out his praises. The beasts that appeared first other than the Lamp light Ligers were the core condensation realm beasts that were closer to him and lived in his territory.

    But a few minutester, more beasts arrived; this time they were at the Nascent soul realm.

    "Congrattions on being the first among us." The Slim Arm Ape King spoke.

    "Indeed. While I knew that if it were anyone, it would be you at the start. Now seeing you breakthrough makes me a little proud as well." The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King spoke.

    Even if Lin Wu was technically the first one to have made the breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm a while back, the beasts knew better than topare with him. To them, Lin Wu was just otherworldly at this point.

    "AHAHAHA!" Loud Laughter could be hearding from the distance as a bony and red figure approached.

    "I finally have someone I have a chance at sparring with!" The Demon Spine Ape King eximed.

    But just as the beasts were all greeting the Twin Lights Liger King, something else was happening in the Tomb.

 Chapter 672 - The Weasels Awakening

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    A strange rumbling sound spread throughout the tomb, as all the formation arrays reacted.

    Even Lin Wu who was deep in cultivation, was woken up and felt a little dazed.

    "Huh? Whaбн" Lin Wu muttered in confusion and looked around.

    Walking up from a state like that was simr to being waken up in the middle of deep sleep and the side effects were simr. Though for Lin Wu, the system acted quickly and updated him about what was happening.

    <em>~DING~ DING~ DING~</em>

    Tens of windows popped up in front of him one by one, as notification went off like bells in his ears.

    "Its barely been over a month and what the hell is happening?" Lin Wu said out loud.

    He learned of the chaos of the forest which was soon quelled and the Dao Shell realm fluctuations that were felt.

    "Do a total scan of the forest, NOW!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: ACTIVATED

    MASS SCAN: Selected

    SCANNING: The Millennium forest- please wait a momentбн

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map updated

    NOTIFICATION: New Dao Shell realm signature detected.

    WARNING: Anomaly detected in the tomb!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu''s mind worked quickly as he went through all the things and checked the map.

    "So the Twin Lights Liger King finally broke through, huhбн Will need to see him. But before thatбн what is this anomaly?" Lin Wu said as he saw the shing marker on map.

    Pulling up the tomb''s map ovey, Lin Wu soon found the location where the anomaly was and it was very well known to him.

    "Of course it''s him." Lin Wu said while face-palmingбн well face-tailing to be urate.

    Lin Wu could feel that the formation arrays of the tomb were agitated and some of the defensive ones were activated as well. They weren''t something that should normally activate since they were inside the tomb.

    This was only possible if the threat was inside the tomb. If it was external, the tomb would haven been able to bear attacks as strong as that of a Dao Treading realm creature or perhaps even above in certain condition.

    But for now, Lin Wu needed to deal with it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Runes appeared around Lin Wu as he quickly teleported into the hall where he had left Tim in.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    In there, Lin Wu could feel pulses of energy shooting out from Tim. He still seemed to have his eyes closed, but Lin Wu knew he was not awake.

    "Tim! Can you hear me?" Lin Wu called out.

    But Tim gave him no response and simply stayed as he was. His body was tensed up and his fur was standing on its end, giving him a spiky appearance like that of a hedgehog.

    "System, what are these energy pulses?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s analysis, these pulses are different from the spirit Qi and vital energy, currently being unique to Tim the Myriad Obsidian Weasel. The system has no reference for them and can only estimate that they are increasing in response to the beast''s increasing power.

    бкбк

    Hearing this, Lin Wu furrowed his brows as a few ideas appeared in his mind.

    ''Is it time for his breakthrough already?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He looked towards Tim and furrowed his brows before extending his spirit sense.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The spirit sense soared through the air and headed towards Tim, but just as it was about to get within five meters of him, a wave of energy hit it.

    <em>~poof~</em>

    Like a bubble being blown back, Lin Wu''s spirit sense was deflected.

    "What?!" Lin Wu eximed in shock.

    Thinking that he might have made a mistake, Lin Wu tried to use his spirit sense again, this time even going so far as to increase the power by twice.

    <em>~poof~</em>

    But the result repeated, and Lin Wu''s spirit sense was dissipated before that. This made Lin Wu''s face drop as not only had he lost a part of his spirit sense that he''ll need to refine again, he was now facing something that he might actually not be able to deal with easily.

    "Before just his skin was impossible to prate and now I can''t even get within a certain range. Whatever is happening to him, it is certainly unique." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    After saying this, Lin Wu watched Tim for a few seconds before looking for other solution.

    "System, can you scan him?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The energy pulses are functioning as a restrictive field and the system cannot analyze it thus.

    бкбк

    "Drat! Will need to figure out what this exactly is, and if it is a problem or not." Lin Wu said as he hurriedly thought of things.

    Since he couldn''t touch or get near with his spirit sense and the system was in the same state, Lin Wu thought of taking advantage of an alternative method. He looked at the many formation arrays that were flickering and an idea appeared in his mind.

    "System, use the formation arrays as an auxiliary monitoring formation arrays and see if you can figure out what the problem is." Lin Wu ordered.

    To him, it was evident that the entire formation array of the tomb was being forced by the energy of Tim to act, but what he didn''t know was the other effects of it.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Under the control of the system, the formations started to change their patterns and a few circles made of runes came out from below. These circles rose to the body of Tim and did what they were supposed to.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    But after just five seconds, a crack appeared on the circle.

    "This won''t work eitherбн" Lin Wu said, feeling a bit disappointed.

    Lin Wu tried to use a few more methods that were devised by the system, but all of them failed. It was as if, Tim was the bane of it all and nothing could affect him. It was something familiar to Lin Wu, as even he could do the same.

    Though the requirements for it would be vastly different.

 Chapter 673 - More Trouble Than Worth

    If Lin Wu were still human, he would currently be having sweat drip down his forehead.

    "Ugh, what is this even supposed to mean?" Lin Wu said, feeling frustrated.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    Suddenly, Tim''s body glowed in a yellow light. But this was not all, as the energy pulsesing from him increased as well.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    As a shock to him, the Formation arrays that could defend against his own attacks were now shaking under the force of the energy pulses.

    <em>~WARNING!~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: High threat level detected!

    SUGGESTION: Tim, The Myriad Obsidian Weasel should be ejected from the Taiji Celestial''s tomb as soon as possible or there is a 73% chance of formation failure and a 41% chance of explosion.

    бкбк

    "Explosion? What does that mean? This ce will explode?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling stunned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This hall that the host is currently in will explode. And it will in turn, damage the other formation arrays of the tomb along with the spirit Qi channels.

    бкбк

    "Fuck that! I don''t want this ce to get damaged even more." Lin Wu said as he stared at Tim.

    "Send him out! Activate teleportation formations, NOW!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Some runes appeared around Tim and assembled themselves into a formation, but before they could proceed any more, something happened.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    <em>~SHATTER~</em>

    "What the heck?!" Lin Wu cursed as he saw the partiallypete teleportation formation breaking due to the impact from the energy pulse.

    "Do it again!" Lin Wu said, feeling anxious now.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    The same as before, the teleportation formation cracked before it could bepleted.

    "Shit! This ain''t gonna work. Need to think of something else." Lin Wu said as the system too got to analyzing.

    An idea soon popped up in Lin Mu''s mind.

    ''Will radiation work here?'' Lin Wu wondered before deciding to try it out.

    His innate skill of Radiation maniption activated at full force as Lin Mu controlled some of it to approach Tim.

    <em>~flicker~</em>

    The invisible radiation was seemly impaled by the energy pulses and made to scatter. But it was not enough to make Lin Wu give up. He increased his force and more radiation approached Tim.

    <em>~FIZZ~</em>

    A strange fizzing sound could be heard a the two types of energy shed. But unlike before, this time it didn''t dissipate. The ''holes'' in the ''radiation curtain'' were rapidly being healed by even more radiation.

    "Okay, this works. Now to expand thisбн" Lin Wu muttered, feeling a bit better.

    He then made twoyers of radiation around him and Tim. The firstyer surrounded just Tim, while the secondyer surrounded both him and Tim in arge sphere like shape. Once this was done though, Lin Wu coated his tail with extra radiation.

    "System! Make an opening!" Lin Wu shouted.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    And with that order, a part of the roof directly burst open, revealing the outside area. Something like breaking a part of the tomb was obviously very difficult, and the system could only do it because it controlled it.

    Another reason that Lin Wu was thankful was for choosing a hall that was more on the internal side of the mountain. This way, he could break a hole in the side and wouldn''t need to make arge one that went all the way to the top of the tomb.

    No matter what, it was incredibly inefficient and time wasting venture.

    With the hole open, Lin Wu went for the next step. He coated his tail in ayer of radiation before pushing it towards Tim and wrapping it around him.

    <em>~ng~ ng~ ng~</em>

    <em>~DENG~ DENG~ DENG~</em>

    Various sounds were heard as Lin Wu''s body was struck by many things, including the energy pulses of Tim and the falling debris from the vibrations. Thankfully, these were not of his concern and Lin Wu simply ignored them all.

    <em>~squee~</em>

    Having grasped the beast in his tail, Lin Wu directly hurled it out of the tomb.

    <em>~thud~ Thud~</em>

    A low noise came from the outside and Lin Wu took a look there, seeing Tim''s body rolling down the mountain.

    No matter what, the hall was mid way through the height of the mountain and having someone fall from that height was not good at all.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu too, teleported out of the tomb and went after Tim. He knew that this was simply the first step and more difficult times were about toe.

    His gaze went over to Tim and he saw that, just like before, he wasrgely uninjured. His tough bodypletely blocked all the damage. Or rather, he was the one who inflicted some damage.

    The pulsesing from his body cracked the rocks of the mountain and created gullies in the ground. It also broke and fragmented the trees while killing a lot of unfortunate beasts that had managed to die under his hand.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    Tim''s body suddenly shot up like a cannonball and rose through the forest. His eyes were glowing with a yellow light, while his body had dimmed down.

    "Now what?" Lin Wu said as he too flew up.

    He looked at Tim and could faintly feel a different vibe from him, but he couldn''t exactly tell what had changed. Tim''s expression, that used to be mostly mellow, pissed or uncaring, changed to be that of seriousness.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    His body reached the skies and shone like antern, pulling everyone''s attention.

    It was night time thus it was very eye-catching.

    "Look! What''s that?!" The beasts called out.

    The Twin Lights Liger King and the other beasts that hade to congratte him all looked towards the new source of light in the sky, feeling perplexed.

    "Isn''t thatбн the weasel?" Someone said as the Twin Lights Liger King narrowed his brows.

    At the same time, he had an anxious feeling in his heart.

    ''This isn''t going to end wellбн is it?'' The Twin Lights Liger King through.

    <em>~HUALA~</em>

    His words were like a trigger that opened the flood gates of spirit Qi.

    "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?" All the former rulers said in unison, seeing the phenomenon.

 Chapter 674 - The Sealed Being Breaks!

    Tim floated in the sky as a vortex of spirit Qi surrounded him.

    The entire sky seemed to be shaking from the spirit Qi storm and the earth didn''t seem to be well off either. Such a phenomenon seemed down right wrong for a beast''s breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm.

    Lin Wu and the other beasts that were watching Tim in the sky were stunned and lost for words.

    Even the system was frantically analyzing the situation, but was unable toe to any conclusion.

    <em>~TREMBLE~</em>

    <em>~CRY~</em>

    The cries of the beasts that were on the ground could be heard as it started to quake and shift.

    <em>~CRACK~ CRACK ~CRACK~</em>

    The quakes were too strong for the ground to bear, and fissures directly opened up on the ground, the depths of which could not be seen.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    All of a sudden, the amount of spirit Qi in the air increased by tenfold and it was as if someone had just opened up a spirit stone mine.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Spirit Qi spike detected!

    WARNING: The Taiji Celestial''s Spirit Qi circuits and channels have been cracked!

    NOTIFICATION: Current functional spirit Qi circuits = 67%, Current functional spirit Qi channels = 48%

    бкбк

    Seeing these notifications, Lin Wu was infuriated.

    "FUCK THIS SHIT!" Lin Wu cursed as he gazed upon the ground.

    He had been trying to fix the Tomb so that he could use it for his benefit, but all his progress in these years seemed to have been reset at once. The damage that the system and Lin Wu''s servants fixed over the years had been reverted.

    "NO!!!!!" A very loud scream could be hearding from one beast, pulling Lin Wu''s attention.

    ''The Twin Lights Liger King?'' Lin Wu saw and wondered why he was like this.

    But then he saw where the former ruler was looking toward and his expression turned quite simr to him.

    "THE SEALED BEING!" Lin Wu cried out.

    "GUAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!"

    A terrifying roar came from one of the fissures that had just been opened. All beasts that could fly had ascended to the sky by now and saw what Lin Wu and the Twin Lights Liger King did.

    Within one of the fissures that opened up on top of the Dark Bloom Caverns, an eerie green light was shining. But once they looked closer, they saw that the light wasn''t just anything, but rather a pair of eyes.

    The eyes were acid green in color and the edges of them were leaking a ck fluid.

    "Two hundred millenniumsбн. Two Hundred Millenniums of sufferingбн Seven worlds of travel and finallyбн Finally it is timeбн TIME FOR ME TO RISE! TIME FOR ME TO BE REBORN!" A horrid voice came from the two eyes.

    Just the voice was enough to imbue terror into the eyes of every beast that was currently there with the exception of few. Other than Lin Wu, The Twin Lights Liger King, the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape and Tim, who was upied with himself, all the beasts were frozen in fear.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    A light shone from the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape''s head as the crystal on his forehead created a barrier around him. The Twin Lights Liger King used his own spirit Qi and power to defend himself while Lin Wu didn''t need to do anything and his body was simply unaffected by something like this.

    ''If the sealed being had been able to show its presence like this, the integrity of the sealing formations is probably not great.'' Lin Wu thought as he gritted his teeth and wondered what he should do.

    He had totally not expected Tim''s breakthrough to cause such trouble.

    "Dammit, if I knew this I would have kept him out of the forest." Lin Wu said to himself.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Tendrils of acid green energy that were tinged with ck edges rose from the two eyes and slithered out from the fissure. The great depth of the fissure was like a stone''s throw for them and showed their impressive length.

    The tendrils extended out from the fissure and grasped onto everything that contained even a bit of life. The trees, grass, shrubs and any animals that were within its grasp were immediately killed.

    The tendrils expanded rapidly and drained vitality and spirit Qi from the beasts that were trying to run away. The sealed being was fulfilling its hunger that had been tempered over the many years it was sealed.

    The beasts were mostly helpless, only the ones that could fly being safe for now.

    Lin Wu knew just how deep the seal was located and how much damage must have been caused for a fissure to go that deep. Lin Wu looked at Tim for a moment, wondering just how could he cause devastation on this level just be breaking through.

    "Noбн this isn''t himбн" Lin Wu muttered as he saw the aura of Tim.

    It was vastly different from the childish nature of Tim that Lin Wu had long since be used to. It seemed to have a lordly demeanor in them and everything in its eyes seemed to be below its existence.

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    бкбк

    CRITICAL THREATS DETECTED: Two such threats have been detected!

    бкбк

    Seeing the warning, Lin Wu saw the map showing the two big markers.

    One of them was the sealed being, as expected, but the other was none other than Tim.

    "How the fuck?" Lin Wu wondered if he was watching some protagonist breakthrough and causing chaos.

    But while Lin Wu was looking at Tim, the weasel was looking at something, too.

    "HMM!?" A surprised voice came from the pair of eyes.

    They twitched and rose up from the fissure. But when they were halfway through, they were stopped.

    "CURSES! The seal is still holding on!" The pair of eyes said.

    Seeing that it could note out fully, it simply expanded its tendrils more, trying to obtain as much strength it could in order to break its restrains. But its wishes were suddenly shot down when an imposing pressure descended on it.

    "WHAT?!"

 Chapter 675 - A Fucked Up Situation

    The string of shocks was noting to an end anytime; or so it seemed like to Lin Wu.

    He could feel the aura of the sealed being flicker all of a sudden as if it had been shocked as well.

    "They''re looking at each other? Noбн It''s Tim ring at him." Lin Wu realized.

    Tim and the Sealed being started at each other for a couple of moments before Tim made his move.

    ~HAAAAA~

    A move was not the correct word for it, since Tim simply opened its mouth wide as if he was eating something.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Then as if a vacuum tunnel had been created between Tim and the sealed being, all the green energy it was letting off as tendrils started being sucked.

    "HOW ARE YOUбк?" The Sealed being seemed to be confused, angry and scared at the same time.

    But his feelings were not something Tim cared for and he simply devoured all the energy that was reaching him. His mouth was like the abyss and everything that entered it disappeared without a trace.

    The system showed hundred of error signs as it failed to understand anything that Tim was doing even with the Data banks they had umted till now.

    "I give up." Lin Wu said as he felt sidelined by it all.

    For some reason he had a hunch that all that happened right now was being done by someone way more powerful than him and the orchestration wasplex on most parts. Lin Wu had read enough to know that interfering in things like these was only pulling more trouble to himself.

    "At least I don''t have to deal with the sealed being or I would have no option but to run away." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Both the system and Lin Wu knew the power of the sealed being was beyond their limits. Even the encryption on the being wasplex that would take the system a long time to decrypt.

    And yet, a seal as powerful as that was weakened by Tim''s breakthrough.

    "System, start the conservation protocol." Lin Wu spoke in a low tone.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    COMMAND ACCEPTED: Activating Conservation protocol!

    DEFENSIVE FORMATION ARRAYS: Activated!

    SPIRIT QI GATHERING ARRAY: Deactivated!

    ISOLATION ARRAYS: Activated!

    бкбк

    The moment this was done, arge circle of runes surrounded the entire millennium forest. If one looked form the sky, they would see that it was almost invisible and would not even be seen from the ground perspective.

    The circle of runes was not that thick, being merely a meter thick. Compared to normal fomentation runes, it did seemed to be very dense, but when considering its massive size spanning several thousand kilometer of circumference it was still thin.

    It was this thin circle of runes that created the biggest formation array that Lin Wu and the system had made. It was something that was already the part of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb and could affect the entire forest.

    But this formation array was originally broken and could not be repaired fully. Hence the system made some minor changes that lowered its effect but still made it function.

    Once the circle of runes was activated, any loud noise or energy fluctuations would not go past it.

    The Millennium forest had turned into a dome like cage that isted the things inside. But this was not without its ws. It could only stop fluctuation of energy that were already weakened and it could not stop actual living things from leaving it either.

    But that was all Lin Wu needed for the time being.

    He had never thought that something like this woulde in handy this day. He had originally kept it for himself as a means to hide but now it had to be used prematurely. In fact it wasn''t even fully ready and there were still many parts that the system had to finish up on.

    ~Sigh~

    "Guess I''ll go with the flow now." Lin Wu muttered to himself and looked at his servants and subordinates.

    "EVERYONE! RETREAT TO THE EDGES OF THE FOREST!" Lin Wu ordered.

    ~WHOOSH~

    ~SHUA~

    That one order was enough to break our the beasts that were frozen with fear. Lin Wu had used two of his skills inbination to do this; the Sound Command and Kin Command skills.

    They were two skills that he had not used often, but they were very useful in substations like this, since they forced the beasts that were under Lin Wu''s leadership to listen to him regardless of their status.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SKILL PROFICIENCY INCREASED: Sound Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic) ->Sound Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Novice)

    SKILL PROFICIENCY INCREASED: Kin Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Basic)-> Kin Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Novice)

    бкбк

    The mass use of the two skills on so many beasts at once resulted them in being enhanced.

    ''That''s a nice surpriseбн'' Lin Wu thought as he focused his attention back on the situation at hand.

    The servants and subordinates were steadily making their way to the edge of the forest while Lin Wu stayed where he was.

    He was not particrly worried since he himself could escape this ce at a moments notice. The teleportation range of the Taiji Celstial''s tomb was enough to take him beyond the Deer Wood city.

    Thus it was more important for him to wait and observe what was actually going to happen and hold for the others to leave.

    ''Can''t lose them after all the effort I''ve spent in nurturing them. They all are precious investments. Until they pay back the principle several thousand times more, I won''t let them be wasted.'' Lin Wu thought with a vicious glint in his eyes.

    He himself didn''t realize the strangeness in his personality and kept on gazing at the two things shing in front of him.

    "CURSES! STOP THIS OR I WILL KILL YOU!!!" The sealed being shouted from the fissure.

    But Tim didn''t seem to care for it one bit and kept on sucking all the energy.

    ~HONG~

    A strong burst of spirit Qi came from his body as the illusory figure of the Dao Shell finally appeared above him.

 Chapter 676 - Tim Grows Stronger, The Sealed Being Grows Weaker

    Currently, there were just three beings at the center of the forest. These were none other than Lin Wu, Tim and the sealed being. All the others had either left or had been teleported away by the system.

    But if they were here, they would be stunned to see the scene in the sky.

    Above Tim, his Dao Shell''s illusory figure had finally appeared. The shocking thing was that it was not spherical in shape by default. No, instead of that, it directly appeared in a specific shape that was unlike any.

    It wasn''t some simple shape either; it was a very detailed shape that seemed like it was made perfectly for some specific Dao Embryo.

    Lin Wu who saw it, was shocked as well.

    "Isn''t thatбн A w?" Lin Wu identified the shape.

    It looked like arge ''V'' with five sections in it. If one looked at the other fine sides on it, they would realized that it was shaped in the form of a five fingered w.

    "How does he already have a Dao Shell with a premade shape? Is it rted to his current state?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    But the situation didn''t end there at all. Tim continue to suck the energy that wasing from the Sealed being and started channeling it to the Dao Shell. The Dao Shell quickly started to absorb the energy and began to convert to a corporeal form.

    "Dang! He reached the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm as well. And I thought I would be the only one at that stage for a while." Lin Wu said with astonishment.

    It made him feel both a bit content as well as pressured. As long as he was the strongest being in the forest, he would feelfortable. But once that was not true and there were others above him, he would not feel the same.

    Lin Wu was still fine with the Twin Lights Liger King since he was under his control in the end. But Tim was not the same. Plus, the weasel was also a bit of a wild factor and could do anything out of expectations.

    So far Lin Wu had been able to reel him in, but he didn''t know if the same would be possible if the beast was at the same cultivation base as him. While Lin Wu had fought Yun Bai, who was at the very peak of the Shell Expansion stage, and could battle other like him with confidence, it was evident that Tim was not like that.

    He would be in the same league as Yun Bai, or perhaps even above him in the end.

    All of this was a mystery to Lin Wu, and he didn''t know how things will go.

    ''At least his Dao Shell isn''t that big.'' Lin Wu thought as he looked at the Dao Shell of Tim that was about a meter tall.

    For most beasts that just made their Dao Shell, this would be consideredrge, but Lin Wu''s own wasrger and even the Twin Lights Liger King''s Dao Shell was a bitrger too.

    Nothing firm could be said though since there were far too many variables in all of this that Lin Wu and the system were yet to understand.

    "STOP THIS!!!!" The sealed being yelled as its power kept on being drained.

    It tried to use its tentacles to free itself, but failed at every step. Every new energy tentacle that it created was immediately pulled towards Tim, failing to do anything. Lin Wu reckoned that if the being was still not anchored to the formation array, it would have probably been sucked into Tim''s belly as well.

    This was a horrifying though, as Lin Wu knew just how dangerous that might be. Tim might just explode from something like that.

    "Or notбн I can''t even tell what he is at this point. Though a power source of the Tomb that hassted this long should have a terrifying amount of spirit Qi within it." Lin Wu said and looked towards the sealed being.

    He gave a few orders to the system, namely to scan and see if the system could find the ws in the sealed being while it was weakened. The warnings and error messages popped up non-stop, but the system didn''t stop its work.

    Lin Wu hoped to find some more information or a clue that would help him.

    ''At the very least, I want something that willpensate for the losses we will suffer or have suffered now.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~HONGLONG~</em>

    Tim increased the suction speed as he took an even deeper breath. The clouds were as if terrified and quickly ran away while the trees and ground continued to shake. Dust and debris flew everywhere as it got difficult for people to see things.

    It wouldn''t be unusual for any normal beast or cultivator to go blind here from some stray object striking their eyes. For Lin Wu at least, that was no concern, and he continued to watch with rapt attention.

    He didn''t want to miss even a second of this and was ready to act if his life was threatened.

    ''The sealed being might be weakened, but sealing it again will take some effort. System, get on making a secondary seal.'' Lin Wu ordered, seeing that the scans wereing to no fruition.

    They derived no information from the sealed being. It wasn''t even the encryption that seemed to be stopping, but rather the sealed being itself. The system couldn''t scan it and seemed to find it on a different level than anything it hade across till now.

    Thus, Lin Wu could only wait and watch as Tim continue to drain the sealed being and progress through the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm.

    An entire hour passed by like this until finally it seemed like Tim could no longer do the same.. His Dao Shell was 25%plete, and the Sealed Being was greatly weakened as well, its eyes turning more Grey than green.

 Chapter 677 - A True Big Shot

    "Now what?" Lin Wu questioned, seeing that the situation hade to a stand still.

    The sealed being seemed to be tired and exhausted, yet the anger within its eyes was blearing.

    "DAMN YOU BEAST! I SWEAR UPON MY NAME! I SWEAR UPON TELETH! I WILL DEVOUR THIS WORLD!" The Sealed Being cursed, his voice thundering through the skies.

    If it were not for the isting barrier that Lin Wu had gotten system to set up earlier, it would have been heard for thousands of kilometers beyond the Millennium forest. It won''t be a surprise if the humans were greatly alerted by it.

    And that was exactly what Lin Wu wanted to avoid.

    ''No human will interfere in things unless I want them to!'' Lin Wu thought to himself as his eyes narrowed.

    But the beasts that were still in the millennium forest had all heard the voice and had another reason to have nightmares for a while. The smarter beasts were especially worried as they knew the implications of something like this.

    "Systemбн DO IT!" Lin Wu ordered, not wanting to wait anymore.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SEAL: Initiating

    TARGET SELECTED: Unknown Being

    SEAL PROTOCOL: Activated

    бкбк

    Thousand upon thousands of runes appeared in the sky and flew around gracefully, forming mysterious patterns.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The runes were like fine needles that weaved a around the Sealed being, much to its annoyance.

    "HUMPH! Do you really think such a weak thing can restrain me?" The Sealed being scoffed.

    Its eyes strobed, and two globs of ck fluid shot out from them. The fluid touched the formations that were being constructed and immediately dissolved them.

    <em>~WARNING!~</em>

    бкбк

    SEAL PROTOCOL: Interrupted!

    бкбк

    "Fuck! It can still do this?" Lin Wu said in irritation.

    <em>~SIGH!~</em>

    But just as he said that, a mysterious sigh was heard in his head.

    "What?!" Lin Wu was surprised as he could clearly tell that this was a foreign presence that was not there before.

    <em>~HUALA~</em>

    His eyes were quickly pulled towards Tim as a crushing pressure exuded from him. The pressure was unidirectional and went towards the sealed being. Lin Wu was still started by it and couldn''t help but retreat a hundred meters, just in case.

    "Heбн he''s suppressing him?" Lin Wu was confused.

    The pressure exuding from Tim right now was different from the new aura that he had currently. It seemed as if another presence had appeared within him, taking the total number to three, including Tim''s original self.

    Tim''s eyes gazed upon the Sealed being with a deadly gaze, making it cower and unable to speak.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The sealed being was pressured back into the ground and soon it was pushed back enough that the Tomb''s own formation array had started working.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Tomb sealing formation array online!

    NOTIFICATION: Beginning repairs...

    бкбк

    Lin Wu then watched as the Sealed being, who had been ''partially freed'', was put back into its ''prison''. The entires process onlysted a minute, but each second of it was stressful for him.

    <em>~TREMBLE~</em>

    But it didn''t end there as the ground started to shake again, this time though it was to close to the fissure.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Once the fissure closed, dust settled over the area, but the devastation was not something that would be easily hidden now. The Millennium forest was forever changed and could only heal naturally as the trees regrew.

    "Watchбн" Lin Wu suddenly heard a voiceing from Tim and looked back at him.

    ''He spoke?'' Lin Wu first thought he was hallucinating.

    "Watchбн Overбн Thisбн Childбн" A voice spoke from Tim.

    It didn''te from his mouth, but just seemed to being from the body itself.

    "Who are you?" Lin Wu questioned, wanting to know more.

    He didn''t like to be in blind and knew that Tim was far more unique than he had originally thought.

    "Youбн cannotбн knowбн" The voice spoke once again.

    "Why?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Youбн areбн notбн strongбн" The Voice Replied.

    "Then why should I care about him if I don''t even know who''s ordering me to do this? Why should is spend my effort?" Lin Wu asked, feeling pissed.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    A sigh was heard in response to this and Lin Wu felt his very soul shaking. Both of his Nascent souls'' opened this eyes and the Nascent soul of the unknown bloodline even seemed to be angry for some reason as a scowl appeared on his face.

    "What in theбн" Lin Wu muttered as he saw a pair of eyes appearing in his mind.

    They were illusory and a deep yellow in color, looking like the finest of gas. There were two vertical pupils in them, but the size of them was what shocked Lin Wu. They were bigger than anything he had seen in this world till now.

    Even the things from the Skull God''s memories couldn''tpare to their sides.

    And Lin Wu knew that this was not an illusion. He felt it deep in his soul that this was a fact. He couldn''t tell why, but every bit of his instincts were screaming that the being in front of him was not something he couldpare to at all.

    The two eyes were not just free floating either, they were attached to a head, but Lin Wu could not see the appearance.

    ''So that''s what it means by ''I''m not strong''бн just it''s form is enough to prevent me fromprehending itбн'' Lin Wu understood this fact.

    He also understood that he now had his first ''Big Shot'' encounter.

    ''And I thought the Taiji Celestial''s tomb and the sealed being were somethingбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    While Lin Wu couldn''t estimate the Taiji Celestial''s strength, the strength of the being that had shown its eyes was certainly on the same levelбн or so he thought.

    The two eyes disappeared after a few seconds, leaving behind some lingering words in his mind.

    "Search deepбн to findбн what you seekбн"

    With that, Lin Wu felt his vision return, and he looked back at Tim floating in the sky.. This time though, the aura was the same as the childlike Tim.

 Chapter 678 - An Old Couple

    Lin Wu still found it hard to believe all that had happened.

    But looking at Tim who seemed to be confused, made him confirm that fact that it was indeed all true.

    ''What are you Tim?'' Lin Wu couldn''t help but question himself.

    He was certain that there was a great secret behind Tim''s origin, especially considering the voice that had told him to take care of him. Lin Wu used his spirit sense to check Tim''s cultivation base and found that he was actually at the same level as him in a way.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Seems like I''ll need to hurry up." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he approached Tim.

    "Happened what?" Tim asked.

    "You broke through." Lin Wu replied.

    "Me breakthrough?" Tim said in a confused tone until he checked his own strength. "ME STRONG!!!!" Tim said out loud.

    The Dao Shell above his head thrummed with power before turning illusory and disappearing into his body.

    "Now, now. Don''t get too excited. We have a lot of things to do with the mess that has been made." Lin Wu lightly scolded.

    "Okayбн" Tim responded, calming down.

    ''At least he still obeys. But I doubt he will do the same once he gets used to his new strength.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    With this done, Lin Wu sent messages to all of his servants and subordinates to return. There were a lot of things they needed to get in order and the system needed to fix the damages to the tomb as well.

    Lin Wu knew that theing few days were going to be long and tiring. But what he didn''t know was the fact that the entire series of events in the Millennium forest had sent far reaching waves in the world.

    ***

    Several hours agoбн

    There existed arge pce in the northern part of the Long Continent. Very few people knew of its location and even lesser knew who lived there. The area around the ce was filled with trees and hills, with the ce being hidden between the hills.

    If one went beyond the hills, they would find it impossible to spot the pce as it would be perfectly hidden within the hills. But that was not all as a great formation array too protected it and kept it hidden.

    At the top of the pce, one could see arge statue of a beast wrapping around the roof. The beast looked like a long serpent with four legs and a gaping maw filled with hundreds of teeth.

    Each of its legs had three sharp ws and were grasping at the four corners of the roof. There were long whiskers on the face of the beast and two horns that stood at the top of its head.

    The beast was staring at the sky, as if watching over any danger that maye.

    Currently within this ce, a pair of old man and woman were sitting. Their appearance could bepared to that of a hundred year old mortal and their hair was a bleached white.

    Their faces were filled with wrinkled upon wrinkles and their eyes could almost not be seen due to the wrinkles hiding them.

    If anyone saw these two outside, they would think that they were almost dead. They were sitting on two thrones that were encrusted with various jewels and had the same serpentine beast wrapping around its back and raising its head on the top.

    The two of them were sitting unmoving, as if they were statues, too. If it were not for the faint breathing that could be seen from their moving chests, one would think that they had died already.

    The peace of the old couple was broken by an invisible wave of energy that reached them.

    <em>~COUGH~</em>

    All of a sudden, the two of them let out loud coughs and spat out blood.

    The blood sprayed a long distance, almost reaching ten meters in distance at once. At the same time, spirit Qi started spreading chaotically from the two of them.

    "WHO?!" The old man questioned as he tried to get a grasp of his breath.

    "Not whoбн Whatбн" The old woman said as she too tried to calm her spirit Qi that was going crazy.

    The two of them ate a few pills before finally managing to calm down.

    "How can this be possible?" The old man questioned, confusion visible on his face.

    "We cannot tellбн we will have to find itбн noбн We NEED to find it." The old woman answered.

    "I always thought the day wouldeбн but never thought it woulde during our generationбн" The old man said with a hint of longing.

    "Now is not the time for thatбн we need to tell the n." The old woman replied.

    "Hmm... You''re right, my wife." The old man nodded his head and sent a small pulse of spirit Qi.

    The spirit Qi moved like lightning through the air and disappeared into the distance.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    Within five minutes, strong spirit Qi fluctuations could be felting from the distance, the weakest being at the Dao Treading realm!

    "ANCESTORS!" Several concerned voices called out loud.

    <em>~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~</em>

    Thirty cultivatorsnded in front of the pce as they quickly made their way to the main hall where the old couple was sitting. It could be seen that the pce was empty and devoid of people other than the old couple.

    Yet even then, there was not a mote of dust in the pce and everything was immactely clean, as if servants cleaned it non stop.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    The doors of the hall opened as the thirty cultivators came to kneel in front of the old couple.

    "What are your orders, O'' great ancestors!" The man kneeling at the very front asked.

    If one felt the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the man, they would be astounded to find that they were stronger than the Dao Treading realm!

    Seeing an expert at the Immortal Ascension realm kneeling to someone was a scene that would be unbelievable for most.

 Chapter 679 - The Terrified Long Clan

    The old couple looked at their kneeling descendants and nodded in approval.

    "We have something to tell you allбн and the nбн" The old man spoke.

    "We are ready for anything you say," The thirty cultivators responded promptly with respect.

    "A new bloodline has appearedбн one that can challenge our nбн and the other two guardian ns as well." The old man stated.

    "Impossible!" The man kneeling at the front said in disbelief.

    "I want to deny it as wellбн but it is the truth. The two of us both felt itбн it is a bloodline that is no weaker thanбн rather than that, I''m afraid it might be many times stronger as well!" The old man exined.

    Hearing this, the cultivators didn''t know what to say, finding it all too shocking. For countless years, they had been proud of their n and their holy bloodline. It was a matter of pride that made them stand at the top of the world.

    But today, they heard that there was someone else that could threaten their position. They could only listen to their ancestors and follow what they had decided.

    "What do we do then?" The man kneeling at the front questioned.

    "The first thing is to learn more about this bloodline. We don''t know who or what it belongs to. We don''t even know if it is a human or a beast that has the bloodline." The Old woman answered this time.

    "It shall be done. I''ll send out our members and also ask the others that are already out to start gathering information." The man kneeling at the front spoke.

    "Remember, be careful. We do not want to provoke whoever has the bloodline without a reason either. They can be strongбн very strong, such that our normal nsmen might not be able to survive." The old man added.

    "Of course ancestor." The man replied.

    "As for finding it, begin with reports of any unique phenomenon that might have appeared over the continent. We are sure that something like this caused a great upheaval and there are bound to be others that have noticed it.

    We only felt it because of our cultivation bases and links to the temple. Since you didn''t feel it, that could mean that the distance should be far from our n. But that might not be the same for the locations that were close to the source of the bloodline." The old woman exined.

    "I shall do asmanded." The man kneeling epted.

    "You are the patriarch of the Long n, Long Yiбн make sure no disgracees to us. The Gui and Hu n ancestors have also felt this, no doubt. They might send their people to infiltrate the continent as well." The old man spoke.

    "Don''t worry, ancestor. I shall take care of it. We have already gotten rid of thest batch of spies that came herest year." Long Yi stated.

    "Mmm," the old man nodded before thinking of something.

    "And what about that other thingбн the one from a decade ago? What happened to that?" The old man asked next.

    "We couldn''t find much about it, ancestor. We investigated the great fire of the Dread Coil marsh and also that of the Jiao Dian city, both are definitely linked." Long Yi replied as another thought came to his mind. "And considering our current situationбн I can''t help but feel if it is linked with it too. At that time as well, we felt a faint bloodline resonance." He said with hesitance.

    "I seeбн if they are linked, then it might save us some time as we will have an idea of what it is. Additionally we won''t have to worry about an extra factor. Stillбн if they are not linked and are different things, we will need to deal with it ordingly.

    The one that created the disaster is to be eliminated without fail." The old man responded.

    "Of course, ancestor." Long Yi agreed.

    "As for theбк" The old woman was about to speak something when suddenly her face fell.

    The old man was the same, shocking Long Yi and the rest of the cultivators that were watching them. Feeling the chaotic spirit Qi they couldn''t help but speak.

    "Ancestorsбн Youбк" But before Long Yi could say anything more, he felt a terrifying pressure descend.

    "Whatбн in the worldбн" Long Yi said in disbelief.

    "What''s happening, patriarch?" the Dao Treading realm cultivators asked, wondering why these three were acting strange like this.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    In response to this, the old man waved his sleeves, and from it shot out a scroll. The scroll expanded in the air and unfurled to be arge screen. On it, several hundred of runes appeared, all looking chaotic.

    "This can''t beбн" The old man said in an astonished tone.

    The old woman looked at the information being shown on the scroll and felt terrified.

    "Not oneбн twoбн two more!" She said out loud.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    A thunderous roar could be heard within the heads of each person here as they felt their bloodline boil. Their vision turned ck as an illusory figure appeared in front of them. It was the same serpent that was built on top of the pce.

    It was the representation of their bloodline, the bloodline of the Long n. It was the Three wed Azure dragon!

    But what they saw stunned them. The pride of their n, the Three wed Azure dragon, was currently afraid. It was shivering and fear could be seen in its eyes. The Long n members couldn''t tell why it was so at first, but then they saw something that shook their very souls.

    A dark figure appeared in front of them, the details of which could not be seen. But what could be seen were a pair of yellow eyes with vertical pupils. The eyes were like gems, as if they were carved out of the finest of gas.

    The Three wed Azure Dragon was currently lowering its head in front of this figure that towered over it many times. Compared to the pair of eyes, it was like an ant trying topare with a mountain!

 Chapter 680 - Six Months Later

    Unaware of all that had happened in the world due to Tim and the sealed being''s appearance, Lin Wu focused on the things that were more important to him currently.

    Six months had passed since that day and things had calmed down for the most part. There were a lot of repairs and fixes that needed to be done to the tomb and the beasts were assisting him with that.

    They did this mainly by gathering the materials needed to fix the spirit Qi circuits and formations. This work was something that the system needed Lin Wu to do it physically in many parts and thus he was busy too.

    In these six months, the Millennium forest was all but on a lock down. The nearby humans had detected something had happened in the Millennium forest even though Lin Wu had set up the isting formation and had tried to enter the forest.

    Lin Wu of course knew fully blocking them would only bring in more trouble, thus he gave them a reason to be afraid and stay away on their own.

    About two weeks after Tim had broken through, a group of humans entered the Millennium forest. This group included cultivators at the Nascent soul realm. They hade from the Capital of the Ling Kingdom along with some of its powerful ns.

    They were sent to investigate what had happened since the Deer Wood city and the towns nearby had reported the strangeness of the forest. Lin Wu thought about this deeply ande to a conclusion that giving them a valid threat was better than a hidden threat.

    Hence he asked the Twin Lights Liger King to reveal his power to the humans and repel them once they reached the fifth ring of the Millennium forest.

    And just as Lin Wu had expected, the threat of a Dao Shell realm beast was enough to send the humans feeling without even needing to converse. The humans knew very well about the Twin Lights Liger King being the ruler of the millennium forest for many years.

    The Twin Lights Liger King had even led a beast tide once upon a time when humans had attacked the forest incessantly. That had served as a good warning to them and they had avoided intruding too deep into the forest.

    But once they had seen the fissures and strange spirit Qi fluctuations of the forest, they couldn''t help but wander in deeper. And that was exactly where they met the Twin Lights Liger King.

    A roar and the blinding skill of the Twin Lights Liger King alone was enough to send the humans packing.

    After that, the ssification of the Millennium forest had changed after a long time and the history of it was rewritten. The Ling Kingdom updated its official records and deemed it to be an area of an ever greater danger level.

    Now one of its parts was literally a forbidden zone, while the other was the home of a Dao Shell realm beast. Keeping this in mind, the humans dered that from the fifth ring onwards, there was an imminent threat to life and no human should go there.

    Of course, the warning was more than enough as no weak human, whether they were a mortal or a cultivator would try going against a nascent soul realm beast, not to mention a Dao Shell realm beast.

    In fact, this ended up surprising the nearby sects as well and they too changed their categorization of the Millennium forest, increasing its danger level to higher rank. All the missions that were assigned to the forest also increased in difficultly.

    All this reduced the overall human traffic that the millennium forest would see, and that was exactly what Lin Wu wanted. He didn''t want them to see the fissures and find what was hidden beneath them.

    Just the existence of the fissures was fine since the humans knew about the underground caves for thousands of years and a quake can cause them. But the secrets hidden in the depths were of the greatest importance.

    Additionally, some of the formation array nodes of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb were directly left vulnerable due to the fissures opening over them and even damaging a few. Thus, Lin Wu needed time to fix them and then cover the fissures.

    A lot of beasts that were proficient in digging like the underground insect beasts and other beasts worked tirelessly under the guidance of the mole beast to dig dirt and rocks to fill the fissures.

    Lin Wu himself worked on the parts that were more sensitive and took the assistance of his avatar that split the work in half. While he couldn''t control the avatar directly, he could still let the system give it some simplemands that lightened his work load.

    Tim who was technically the cause behind this all, was made to work too and was digging to do that. He had already gotten a few beatings from Lin Wu as well.

    Lin Wu had realized that while Tim had reached the Shell Genesis Stage of the Dao Shell realm, his control over his strength was not there yet. The Twin Lights Liger King estimated that due to his rtively weaker intelligence, Tim would take a while before he fully learns his new powers.

    This meant that even if Tim was technically stronger than the Twin Lights Liger King, Lin Wu had no problems in handling him. The system had also been working to analyze Tim during this time, along with its bloodline, and hade up with some strategies to fight him.

    Lin Wu of course, used them liberally and made Tim eat dirt on many asions. And on some of the asions, he had to stop Tim from literally eating dirt as he liked it too much. Which Lin Wu then realized the Dirt was a high quality fertile dirt used for growing spirit herbs and beat Tim more.

    But after six months of all this, things were finally getting in orderбн or at least he thought so.

 Chapter 681 - The Great Millennium Formation Array

    "UWAAAA!!! DAMN, I''m tired!" Lin Wu said as he stretched his body.

    He looked at the massive mountain of dirt in front of him and the half filled fissure behind him.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Just one final fissure left, then I''ll finally be able to chill for a bit." Lin Wu said as he checked the progress of the system on the side.

    While he was physically filling in the dirt, the system was working on the side and fixing the runes and inscription of the formations. With this two pronged effort, the work was progressing steadily these past months and now today Lin Wu was close to the end.

    "Let''s just get this over with, the monkeys will be making a feast to celebrate tonightбн hehehe!" Lin Wu said feeling excited for tonight.

    Going behind the mountain of dirt, Lin Wu''s body started to glow as winds whirred around him.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    A vortex of wind shot out from this tail as it pushed the dirt towards the fissure. The vortex spun around itself, making sure that the dirt was fully carried around with it and not spread elsewhere.

    As if Lin Wu was a cement truck and the wind vortex a depositing tube, the fissure started filling up. About ten minutester, the mountain of dirt had almost disappeared while the fissure was filled up.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Finallyбн this is overбн" Lin Wu said as he wiped away an imaginary drop of sweat from his forehead.

    This was thest of the hundred of fissures there were in the Millennium forest and it was a rather sensitive one as well, being located just at the side of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb. Lin Wu had filled it so that there was now an additional area around the tomb if he ever needed to expand it.

    He had simply covered the top area of it with the soil after putting ayer of rocks to hide itpletely. Of course, with the formations fortifying it, it was very tough and would not budge for a long time.

    Lin Wu had made use of some of the fissures in different ways if they were in a position that was usable to them. For example, there was a fissure that extended from the seal where the Sealed being was located all the way to the tomb.

    This fissure was not as big as the one that the sealed being hade out of, but it had stayed open. Lin Wu ended up filling the top half of it while keeping the lower part as a tunnel to travel between the two ces quickly.

    He could still not teleport to the seal''s area directly due to some formations not working and the area being restricted, but now with the tunnel being there, it still allowed him to get there quickly.

    Plus, there was something additional that Lin Wu had discovered in all this. The Dark Bloom Caverns themselves had expanded more than they were before. This was actually something that the mole beast reported to him after he and some of the workers under him found new entrances as far as the second ring.

    Lin Wu got them to modify them and make it so that only they could ess it along with the beasts that he wanted to. Then additional formation arrays were added to increase the security just in case.

    With that, the millennium forest had be even more tough. Lin Wu was truly turning it into his base and his control over it only improved after the fissures. Before the system couldn''t modify some of the formation arrays for the fear or causing inevitable damage, but now that the damage had urred anyway, Lin Wu just told it to make the changes they wanted all this time.

    Thus, in addition to the original scope of the formation array of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, Lin Wu and the system added their own version of a formation array on top with some more features.

    Of course, all this was still under construction and Lin Wu and the other beasts had only gotten the basic structures finished in this time. The addition of most of the formations would be done bit by bit.

    There was also the issue of resources and Lin Wu had already ended up using a lot of the resources he had gathered in his time exploring outside the Millennium forest. He definitely felt the pinch on his pocket even if he might have just gotten a lot of it from other unfortunate being.

    ''Ughбн it just makes me want to go and rob more ces and people. A couple of sects might be enough to replenish what I lostбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he read through the long list of materials they would need to finish improving the millennium forest.

    The name of the n was ''The Great Millennium Formation Array''. And it would span over the entire forest and even beyond it.

    Lin Wu even had some ambition to keep it expanding underground as much as possible until it covered an evenrger area.

    He had seen the memories of the Skull god and things like these were already done by many powers of the universe. Of course, they had the sufficient manpower and resources to handle it, both of which Lin Wucked.

    Even though Lin Wu had millions of beasts that he could order around, they weren''t exactly good with things like formations. Only the monkey beasts and some of the Nascent soul realm beasts could even do anything for that part.

    Thus, most of it ended up falling on Lin Wu himself.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Who told me to be so ambitiousбн I need humans for this! If only Wang Xiong can speed up his takeover, then I''ll have ess to so much more." Lin Wu said out loud.

    Thankfully, he was alone or others would certainly find it strange seeing their king acting in this way.

    But while Lin Wu was thinking about Wang Xiong, the man was doing the same.

 Chapter 682 - Wang Xiongs Wishes And Reality

    "Goddammit! The Broken Cliff Division has finally lost their mind!" Wang Xiong cursed as he looked at the ten meter long report that was just presented to him.

    There were lines upon lines of problems that had started and the issues that they were now having a hard time dealing with.

    "Can''t guardian Yun help us with this?" Ye Jin asked, pointing to some of the things.

    "He can only do so much without arousing suspicion. Don''t forget the elders of both the Broken Cliff division, and the Broken ins divisor already felt strange that he interfered in the meeting six months ago.

    Since that day they are wary about him. Especially since the lower ranked elders had never seen him before." Wang Xiong replied.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "We have power, but we are helpless. If this is not misery, then I don''t know what isбн" Ye Jin said.

    Ye Jing shook her head until a radical idea appeared in her mind.

    "What about seniorбн?" Ye Jin asked.

    "You know very well why we can''t ask him for helpбн his situation is even more sensitive than Guardian Yun." Wang Xiong replied.

    "But didn''t he say that we can always ask him for help if we need it?" Ye Jin retorted. "And seeing our current condition, we need it gravely. Besidesбн if we don''t seed in our ns, we will be letting down Senior anyway."

    Wang Xiong wanted to respond to this but couldn''t find the answer. He knew that his Daopanion was right and they were at an impasse. But at the same time, he felt ashamed of himself.

    He had proudly told Lin Wu that he would handle everything himself. But now he was going against problems he had never thought would exist. He also felt a bit lost because of his old thoughts.

    Originally, Wang Xiong had thought that he simply needed to breakthrough and everything would go well. Then, after he managed to do that, he thought that all he needed was to be the chief disciple and he would be set.

    And that turned out to be wrong as well. Even after Lin Wu helped him out many times, Wang Xiong couldn''t help but feel that he didn''t deserve this all.

    "Will I really need to call him after all this?" Wang Xiong muttered to himself.

    Seeing the pain and restlessness in her Dao Companion''s eyes, Ye Jin felt pained too. Her gaze softened as she approached him and hugged him from behind.

    "I know you feel that you would be breaking your own promise if you are taking the help of others. But know this that it is not a sign of weakness. Rather, taking other''s help makes you wise, since you know when to make use of all resources, whether they be your own power or your allies." Ye Jin spoke in Wang Xiong''s ears.

    Feeling her breath on his ears, Wang Xiong felt a sense of calm. It was the temporary relief he needed to think clearly, and he soon reached a conclusion. A look of determination appeared in his eyes before he spoke.

    "I shall do it thenбн"

    ***

    Back in the Millennium forest, a Great Feast was underway.

    "AHAHAHA! NOW I KNOW WHY HUMANS LIKE THESE CEREMONIES!" The Twin Lights Liger Kingughed out loud, hisughter turning into roars at the end.

    "You are right! If I knew these were this fun, I would have gotten the beasts to make them hundreds of years ago!" The Split Thorn Horn beetle kingughed as well.

    "Now, now. Control yourself, you two! One of you is a Dao Shell realm beast for, heaven''s sake!" The Emeraldine Horn Beetle chided.

    She had no fear of either the Split Thorn Horn beetle since he was her ancestor or the Twin Lights Liger King, since he was at the same rank as her in the end. The beasts under Lin Wu very well knew that as long as they were under him, they were all equal.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    A loud thud could be heard as a water tank sized cupnded on the stony floor, shaking it.

    "Ahh! That hit the spot!" A certain worm said out loud.

    Lin Wu looked at the Emeraldine monkeys with a toothy smile on his face andughed.

    "You guys should have told me earlier that you were making liquor! I would have prepared some recipes that are perfect for drinking!" Lin Wu said in a slightly slurred tone.

    This slurred tone was something only those that were used to his voice would understand. For all others, it would just sound like another group of screeches, perhaps.

    Though the Emeraldine Monkeys that heard these words could only smile wryly.

    ''Just making this wine that could affect those with a cultivation base of Nascent soul realm and Dao Shell realm took a massive amount of spirit grain. With your expectations of dishes, won''t we just end up burning through our entire food storage?'' The leader of the Emeraldine monkeys thought.

    He had long since gotten used to Lin Wu''s demands and how he liked to have his food. After all, Lin Wu had given them a lot of information about how to cook food the ''human'' way and the means to make different dishes.

    While the beasts hade to like the human dishes a lot too, they couldn''t help but admit that a lot of things were simply too difficult for them to make on their own. Some needed a lot of ingredients that were rare and expensive to make that they couldn''t afford with their current situation.

    Still in the past six months, Lin Wu had asked them to regrly make good food that suited to his taste. And that was mostly things that were rich in spirit Qi and made of precious spirit herbs and beast meat.

    It had reached a point where some of them had to leave the forest to hunt for some of the things.

    The leader of the Emeraldine Monkeys couldn''t wait for the humans to finally begin their cooperation so that his work load could reduce.

 Chapter 683 - A Call For Help

    The feast of the beasts continued through the night nicely, but then it was rudely interrupted by Lin Wu''s shout.

    "WHAT?!" Lin Wu shouted.

    The beasts all stopped what they were doing and looked at Lin Wu, wondering what the problem was.

    "What happened, master?" The Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole questioned.

    But Lin Wu did not respond to him, instead he continued to talk to himself.

    "What do you mean, they killed the disciples?" Lin Wu asked. "And what is Yun Bai doing?"

    Hearing those two sentences allowed the beasts to guess who Lin Wu might have been talking to. There weren''t many choices other than Wang Xiong after all. Lin Wu talked to the man for about five minute getting the gist of the situation.

    ''The people of the Frozen Cloud Sect truly like to fuck themselves over, don''t they?'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he analyzed everything that Wang Xiong had told him.

    "Is it a new problem?" The Emeraldine Horn Beetle questioned.

    "Mmбн" Lin Wu nodded his head. "We are needed at the Frozen Cloud sect."

    "What exactly happened?" the Slim arm ape king questioned.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "It''s like thisбн" Lin Wu said before he started to exin the situation to the beasts.

    He would be needing their help with this, thus it was best they knew about it as well.

    The Frozen Cloud sect''s three divisions were now in all out conflict, with some of the elders fighting directly out in the open. Not only that, but some of the disciples in the Frozen Brook division that Wang Xiong belonged to were killed too.

    The Frozen Cliff division had given up on any semnce of facades and were showing their aggression. They even imed that the disciples they killed were traitors to the sect and were involved with other powers trying to take over the sect.

    They even went as far as to im that Wang Xiong was not worthy of being the chief disciples and was used of being a traitor as well. They were all calling for his imprisonment, while some wanted to execute him right away.

    The battles between the disciples were alreadymon, and leaving their respective territories meant that they would end up fighting. Even those that belonged to the neutral camp, the Frozen ins division, were pulled in as some of their members were heavily injured.

    ording to Wang Xiong, they were injured by the spies of the Frozen Cliff division that had hid within his camp and had been pretending to be their members. This had allowed them to pin the me on the Frozen Brook division.

    "Isn''t Yun Bai an influential member of the Frozen Cloud Sect? Why isn''t he doing anything?" The Slim arm ape king questioned.

    "That is the issueбн those elders managed to learn of his restrictions and have sealed him." Lin Wu replied.

    "What?!" The Slim arm ape king eximed. "How can they restrain someone as strong as him? And what about their sect patriarch? How can he let such chaos in the sect go unchecked?" he added.

    "That''s the thingбн the patriarch of the Frozen cloud sect is away and cannot be contacted. Those Frozen Cliff division elders made use of his absence to begin their rebellion." Lin Wu answered.

    "How can a sect''s patriarch leave his sect like this? Where did he get that it''s so important?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned next.

    "He was apparently called for an important meeting among the top sects. It was convened by the Long n, thus everyone invited has to be present therepulsorily." Lin Mu answered.

    Hearing all this, the Twin Lights Liger King and the Slim Arm Ape King both felt that something sinister was brewing. The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape that had been silent all this while finally spoke up at this moment.

    "It would be better if we act soon, my king. It is also your duty as the senior of Wang Xiong to help him when he requests it. Master would have done the same too." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape said in a calm tone.

    "Mmmбн I know. I was going to help him, but before that we need to n it a bit." Lin Wu said, finding the situation a bitplex.

    He knew that jumping into the fray without any intel was a bad idea. He wanted to ask Wang Xiong more, but had already heard that the man was in the dark for now, too.

    ''Even Wang Xiong is unable to leave his territory, while Yun Bai is sealed within his peak. Those elders certainly are resourceful and have someone helping them if they can restrain Yun Bai there.

    Since there is no way tomunicate outside of their areas, the Frozen Cliff Division has the upper hand now. They only need to get rid of Wang Xiong and his subordinates, and that''s all they would need to make the elders of the Frozen Brook division change sides.

    After all, they would do anything to survive. And then by the time the patriarch returns, it would be toote. The supreme elder is looking to usurp his position anyway and ording to the rules of their sect they can challenge the position of the patriarch as long as a majority of the elders support him.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    Wang Xiong had exined to Lin Wu as much as he could and got him up to speed. But Lin Wu still contacted him and asked for a few more details he needed. The system got to recording all the information as well and was already formting scenarios.

    "Ugh! This Wang Xiong should have just told me all this earlier than it would not have been thus much of an issue." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu''s mind ran at great speed as he thought of all that he could do and how he could do it.

    ''The Weiyuan chamber should definitely be involved in all this, so getting some intel on them will be the first step,'' Lin Wu determined.

    With the first step in his mind, Lin Wu now knew what to do. Though Lin Wu was going to head to the Frozen Cloud sect eventually, he knew that he needed current real time information from there.

    "Time to contact those twoбн they will finallye in use." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    "System, contact Tian Han and Tian Chu." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING COMMUNICATION LINK: Tian Han, Tian Chu

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Established sessfully!

    бкбк

    "Master?" The voices of Tian Han and Tian Chu could be heard and those two could hear each other as well.

    "I need you two to do something." Lin Wu spoke.

    "please tell us," Tian Chu quickly responded.

    "Y-yesбн" Tian Han replied as well, his voice stuttering a bit.

    It was evident that he was still a bit shaken from Lin Wu''s power and those memories would trouble him.

    "I want you to go to the Frozen Cloud sect and get me information about what is happening there. Can you do that?" Lin Wu stated.

    "Ummбн I should be able to get the permission to leave the n." Tian Han replied.

    "I''ll do it, don''t worry master!" Tian Chu stated with confidence.

 Chapter 684 - Picking The Team Members

    Lin Wu felt content with the fact that he had chosen to add Tian Han and Tian Chu as his subordinates. Both of them were detached from his current entourage and could do things that these might not be able to.

    Another advantage they had was that they were currently unknown from all ends and there would only be those from the n that knows about you.

    "Will there be any problem in you two leaving the n?" Lin Wu questioned, knowing the special rules of the Tian n.

    "No master. At least not for me. Reaching the Nascent soul realm allowed me to be a junior elder in my n for now and I have a certain level of authority. I can leave the n for a short time without a notice and for as long as I want if I have a valid reason." Tian Chu answered.

    "Hmmбн that''s good. And what about Tian Han?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I''ll have to see if there are any missions currently leading to out of the n. Since it is the Frozen Cloud sect, there are always some missions near it for stronger members of the n. I''ll get one of them." Tian Han answered.

    "Alright, do that and see what you can find. Alsoбн the situation at the Frozen cloud sect is not stable and you might be in danger too. Make sure you are not suspected either." Lin Wu warned.

    "We shall keep that in mind, master." Tian Han and Tian Chu replied.

    "I''ll await the report then." With that done, Lin Wu closed the link and thought about what he needed to do for the next part.

    ''Most of the ns will depend on what kind of intel I get from them. This will take at least three days.'' Lin Wu thought and contacted Wang Xiong.

    "Master? Are youing to help us then?" Wang Xiong asked, a little hope apparent in his voice.

    "Mmбн I wille. But I''ll need to gather some information before that. But that will take me some time and here is the conditionбн how long can you hold out for?" Lin Wu asked.

    "бн" Wang Xiong didn''t reply right away and seemed to be silent.

    Lin Wu too didn''t prod him on and let him think to himself.

    ''There will no use in rushing him, rather it might only cause more troubles.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    After about five minutes, Wang Xiong finally responded.

    "Sorry for the wait senior. I consulted my people and we can easily dy for about five days. And if need be, we can forcibly stop them for another two or three days. But doing that will be the final push and it will severely deteriorate our condition." Wang Xiong exined.

    Lin Wu thought over it and found the time to be reasonable.

    ''Three days for them to find the intel and then two days for me to prepare and leave. It''ll be a narrow time span, but manageable.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu looked at all the beasts that were seemingly waiting for his orders and wondered who to use the beast.

    ''The monkey beasts are out of the question, they are far too important here in the forest. If they are gone, this ce might just return to chaos. Hmmбн that reminds, me now that the Slim Arm ape is under me anyway, I should get more of the monkey beasts and get them mutated.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    His gaze went to the mole beast, the beetle beast, and the bird beasts. All four of them were good choices and had been with him since the start. They were loyal so far and would be ready to do anything he asked of them.

    ''Noбн they are still not strong enough. Simply a few of the disciples of the Frozen Cloud sect if gathered up can kill them. Don''t want to lose them this easily.'' Lin Wu thought before his eyes went to the four former kings.

    ''The slim arm ape king has his value here too. He is the smartest one and has a good idea of control. The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King is strong, but he has far too many beasts under hismand. While the Emeraldine Horn Beetle might be able to control them somewhat, the sheer number of them is still too high.

    Not him eitherбн'' Lin Wu spoke to himself before his gaze went to the Demon Spine ape.

    "You''reing," Lin Wu said.

    "Me? When are we going and who are we killing?" The Demon Spine Ape was ready in an instant.

    "The Frozen cloud sect, to kill some human cultivators of courseбн well not all of them, just the one that we don''t want." Lin Wu replied.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    The Demon Spine Ape King mmed his fists together creating sparks and gave a toothy grin.

    "Good! I''ve been itching for some good action." The Demon Spine Ape King said with joy.

    "I''ming too, I assume?" The Twin Lights Liger King inquired.

    "Mmhmmбн we will need strong power to go against the elders of the Frozen Cloud sect. There will be those at the Dao Shell realm and a couple at the Dao Treading Realm too." Lin Wu replied.

    "I''ll be able to handle the ones at the Dao Shell realmбн perhaps even three at once, but I can''t say much about the Dao Treading realm. Those are a different kind." The Twin Lights Liger King stated.

    "I don''t want that either. I''ll be the one handling them. Though hopefully if all goes as I want it to be, we won''t fight them out in the open and thus we''ll have the element of surprise on our side." Lin Wu replied.

    But what Lin Wu didn''t say to the beast was that he was not going to stay at his current cultivation base either. He was looking to use this opportunity to consume a few hundred cultivators or some resources and boost his cultivation to the next stage as soon as possible.

 Chapter 685 - The Twin Lights Liger Kings Experiences

    If the Twin Lights Liger King knew what Lin Wu was nning, he would be crying tears of envy. Not just anyone could talk about breaking through with such ease.

    Even if beasts could speed up their rate of cultivation by consuming other beasts and creatures, that was still limited by many factors. But for Lin Wu, that simply didn''t apply and he could grow stronger as long as he had the needed spirit Qi.

    ''Though I can''t tell how long it will be the same. Even the system doesn''t know about the changes that can happen upon breakthroughs. I might reach a bottleneck the system cannot predict.

    After allбн I''m the first of my kind and being a pioneeres with many unexpected obstacles and opportunities.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as a glint of adventure could be seen in his eyes.

    The Slim Arm Ape King caught this very well and slightly smiled.

    ''I would know that look anywhereбн it was the same master used to have back when he was not as sickбн But if King Lin Wu has it too, it only means his ambitions are not low.'' The Slim Arm Ape King thought to himself.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was thinking about it all too and tried to recall all that he knew about the Frozen Cloud sect. It was not the first time he would be shing against the members of the Frozen Cloud sect after all.

    Of the hundreds of years he had lived, there had been multiple instances when the Frozen Cloud sect sent its disciples to the millennium forest. While they mostly knew not to enter the fifth ring or to not do overtly problematic things, there were still some instances when they did that.

    It was then that the Twin Lights Liger King had to act. He had even shed against a Dao Shell realm cultivator from the Frozen Cloud sect once during a beast tide. The nearby sects and kingdoms were unable to hold back against the beast ride and thus the Frozen Cloud sect was forced to intervene.

    At first, only the Nascent soul realm elders and stronger disciples fought, but once the battle went on for a little too long, and the number of causalities increased, the elders decided to interfere.

    Of course, the Dao Shell realm elders knew very well that there was a tactic understanding among them and they were not to eradicate all the beasts. After all, they needed to depend on them to popte the forest and replenish the materials that were found there.

    If they killed all the beasts, it would be the same as cutting off their own pockets.

    One could then argue that they could leave the weaker beasts alive and kill the strong beasts like the rulers, but that was also not allowed. As much as the rulers were a problem, they were also the ones that kept a sense of bnce in the forest.

    If they did kill a ruler, the battle for the next ruler to rece the empty seat will cause chaos among the beasts which might go further than just that and affect the nearby people.

    Even the missions that led to the forest would have to be put on pause due to the disciples being threatened even more.

    Killing the strongest of the rulers, the Twin Lights Liger King was not an option. Or ratherбн it would be the biggest mistake they would make.

    The Twin Lights Liger king was an intelligent Nascent soul realm beast. This was something the sects knew very well and thus couldmunicate with him on a certain level.

    It needn''t be the same as that on the human level or that they needed to have diplomatic rtions with him. All they needed was there to be a beast that understood the fear and power of humans.

    After all, a smart beast would prioritize its survival along with benefits. Thus killing the Twin Lights Liger king would cause even greater chaos as he kept the other rulers of the forest in check.

    Those were the rulers that didn''t really have intelligence as high as him. After all, the slim arm ape king was a recent addition to the forest and wasn''t an option back then. And the sects didn''t know him being as intelligent either.

    With all this in mind, the Twin Lights Liger King was attacked by the Dao Shell realm elder and the two fought. The beast showed its power while the Dao Shell realm elder of the Frozen Cloud sect showed his stance.

    The Twin Lights liger king got injured but retreated once the number of beasts in the beast tide dwindled to a low enough number. The Dao Shell realm elder held his hand too and didn''t injure the Twin Lights Liger King heavily either.

    He only injured him enough so that he could recover in a set amount of time and act as a resistance to the other rulers.

    "Thest I fought a Dao Shell realm elder of the Frozen Cloud sect was about three hundred years ago. I wonder if he is still alive." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.

    "Oh? You did? And he left you alive?" Lin Wu questioned feeling curious.

    "That he didбн we even talked for a bit. Of course, he just spoke in human tongue and I listened for the most part. The battle between us was also enough to give me a taste of the Dao Shell realm and made me want to reach it even more." The Twin Lights Liger King answered.

    "Hmmбн good that you have some experience with them. At least you will not be caught off guard and will know about their powers." Lin Wu spoke.

    The Twin Lights Liger King nodded his head and now looked forward to going to the Frozen Cloud sect.

    ''Now that I think of itбн this will be my first time leaving the Millennium forest properly in five hundred yearsбн'' The Twin Lights Liger King thought to himself as a hint of mncholy could be seen in his eyes.

 Chapter 686 - The Final Member Of The Team

    With two members selected, Lin Wu''s gaze went to the one beast that was the most silent in the hall. Or more uratelyбн the only beast that dared to sleep in Lin Wu''s presence.

    This was of courseбн

    "Wake up Tim. We got a sect to burn!" Lin Wu called out.

    <em>~pop~</em>

    Tim the weasel''s eyes opened and a fierce energy exuded from them for a moment, startling all the beasts other than Lin Wu. But soon it settled down and Tim''s normal expression returned.

    "Mmhmmбн Bad dreamбн" Tim muttered before looking at Lin Wu.

    "We go where?" Tim questioned, clearly not having heard him the first time.

    "We are going to the Frozen Cloud sect." Lin Wu answered.

    "Hunting time?" Tim asked.

    "Yesбн this time it is hunting time." Lin Wu replied.

    "Humans?" Tim asked doubtfully.

    He had been scolded by Lin Wu enough times not to eat humans unless he was told to. There had been a couple of incidents when Tim ate a cultivator or two when they reached the third ring of the millennium forest.

    Usually Tim didn''t go that far either, but ended up being attracted due to a certain scent. The scent wasing from the cultivators, and Tim found them to be delicious. Of course, before he could realize, the two humans had disappeared down his gullet.

    Lin Wu still didn''t know who the cultivators that Tim ate were and it was a headache for him. The system''s scans and recorded information only showed the appearance of those cultivators and their cultivation base, which was at the core condensation realm.

    Lin Wu wondered if they were from some sect or power, but they weren''t wearing any robes like that. Not to mention, Tim had eaten them wholeбн including whatever storage treasures or identification items they might have had.

    Thus leaving Lin Wu with nothing to check. He even wondered if this would invite some trouble, since a core condensation cultivator was still important for a lot of powers. They served as their main manpower after all, just above the Qi refining realm cultivator.

    The average cultivator on the Long Continent was said to be in the Qi refining realm, thus anything above that was valued. It wasn''t like the Millennium forest, where due to Lin Wu''s presence, the number of Core Condensation realm beasts and Nascent soul realm beasts had started to increase in number almost exponentially.

    There were more beasts that would be reaching the nascent soul realm in theing few months as well. And this was when Lin Wu hadn''t mutated any in the past six months, due to just how busy he was.

    If he was still mutating more of them, the number of beasts breaking through would be vastly higher.

    But now that Tim heard that they really were going to do what he desired all the time, he instantly became excited.

    <em>~SKREEE!!!~</em>

    A screeching cry of excitement came out of his mouth, forcing the other beasts to close their ears.

    "Dammit! Shut your mouth Tim!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "I''m starting to wonder if we should get one of those human cultivator tools that can temporarily turn you deaf. If we have that, we won''t have to bear his cries." The Slim Arm Ape king said, rubbing his forehead.

    "Yeahбн his cries used to be annoying before, but nowбн they hurt us literally." The Emeraldine Horn Beetle spoke.

    Tim''s power had been increasing overall, and it powered other aspects of his body that he didn''t even know. Just his cry was enough to turn several beasts below the Nascent soul realm deaf or simply knock them out.

    "I might have to get that tooбн I''ll see if we can get some from the Frozen Cloud sect since we are going there anyway." Lin Wu spoke.

    "That''ll be really nice." The Slim Arm ape and several beasts said with gratitude.

    Meanwhile, Tim just looked on awkwardly. =.=''

    With the members selected, all that was now needed for Lin Wu was to wait on the intel. He discussed a few more things with his subordinates and servants before dismissing them.

    "Ummбн King Lin Wu." But one beast had stayed behind.

    "Yes?" Lin Wu responded to the Club Tailed Lizard.

    She had officially joined under Lin Wu''s banner a while back and knew that this was the best choice. Her decision hade after several considerations. Earlier she wanted to return to hernd, but she realized that this ce was many times better.

    Not only was the spirit Qi higher here now, Lin Wu''s power was certainly much more than any beast she had seen. Plus, going back to her territory after this much time would probably end up with her needing to sh with other beasts who would have inevitably taken over it.

    Besides, she had her children now who were still a bit too weak to fight against stronger beasts at the Nascent soul realm. Though in general she was shocked by their growth too and found them to be strange.

    She had long since known that the bloodline her children had would be different from her own, giving them some additional abilities, but the increase in talent was still astounding to her.

    She wouldn''t be shocked if all of her children reached the core condensation realm in a few years. And this was just by them cultivating passively. If they were nurtured on resources, it wouldn''t be unusual for them to reach the Core condensation realm in just a few month''s time or at most a year.

    Then there was another reason why she was averse to leaving.

    Her children liked Lin Wu far too much!

    She was frankly lost and angry about it, since sometimes they even preferred Lin Wu over her, their own mother!

    They would sometimes sneak out of the Tomb and go find Lin Wu, though they would always get caught by the patrolling beasts.. They knew very well about the mischievous Juvenile Club tailed lizards and would escort them back to the hall where they lived.

 Chapter 687 - The Club Tailed Lizard Has Something To Say

    Lin Wu looked at his subject, who he hadn''t talked with much over the years.

    He had let her stay here in the end and epted her as she was at the Nascent soul realm. And every additional nascent soul realm beast was useful to him and the power that he was growing.

    And while he might not admit it to the others, the five Juvenile Club Tailed Lizards were to Lin Wu''s liking too. He would sometime watch them y over the Monitoring screens, serving as some entertainment while he was bored.

    Of course, that was not the only reason he had. There was also the fact that the five Juvenile Club Tailed Lizards were mutated with his bloodline by birth and were possibly the first beasts properly born from the bloodline''s descent.

    They could be considered Lin Wu''s closest kin, even closer than his servant beasts. After all, while they had the Emeraldine Legion Bloodline, it was imnted within them while the Juvenile Club Tailed Lizards were born with it.

    Even the system had predictions that the Juvenile Club Tailed Lizards had a high potential for the future. Lin Wu wanted to nurture them and see how they would grow out to be.

    They would be hisбн ''Ideal Test subjects''.

    After all, his own bloodlines were a bit of a mystery and while the Juvenile Club Tailed Lizards didn''t have the unknown bloodline fully, there were still traces of it mixed with the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm Bloodline in them.

    Lin Wu would see the changes in his own body as he grew in his cultivation base, but having the system analyze and scan other subjects would increase the speed ofprehension even more and give better results in predicting.

    Seeing her stay behind, Lin Wu wondered what she had to say.

    "Iбн Noбн the kidsбн they found something. At first, I was not sure if it was something worth your time, but I think it''s better if you see it." The Club Tailed Lizard spoke.

    "Oh? What is it?" Lin Wu asked, feeling curious.

    He knew the Juvenile Club Tailed Lizards liked to sneak out, but them finding something important was unexpected to him.

    The Club Tailed Lizard tilted her body and from between her spikes fell out a small object.

    <em>~Clink~</em>

    It hit the ground, making a crisp sound. Lin Wu looked at it and found it to be some kind of a metal girdle. But the more he looked at it, the more his brows furrowed.

    ''This thingбн it can stop my spirit sense?'' Lin Wu was surprised.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The Metal girdle floated up under the control of Lin Wu and came to float in front of him.

    "System, scan this." Lin Wu ordered, certainly finding it unique in design.

    While it looked to be made out of a single piece of metal, it was not so. Looking closely, Lin Wu could tell that there were two types of metals that were twisted together before being model like this.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Unknown Metal Girdle

    SCANNING: Please wait a momentбн

    .

    .

    .

    SCAN ERROR: Target cannot be scanned, deflective materials detected.

    бкбк

    "Now this is interestingбн" Lin Wu said.

    By now Lin Wu had learned very well that anything that could prevent the system''s scan was either important,plex, powerful, dangerous and mysterious. Sometimes all five at the same time.

    His instincts were also a bit honed than before and he could at least tell that the metal girdle didn''t seem to be dangerous. He couldn''t even feel any passive spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it, which was something that most objects that the system was unable to scan still emitted.

    "See if you can find anything matching its appearance in the data bank and store it in the inventory for the time being." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    OBJECT STORED: Unknown Metal girdle

    INVENTORY: Pink Women''s underwear, Unknown Metal girdle.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had done another thing in the past few days, which was something pending for a long time. He had cleared out his inventory that had quite literally been filled with dirt, rocks, junk, and scrap.

    Looking at the notification, Lin Wu conveniently ignored a certain other object that he had left behind. It was now a memento and Lin Wu would keep it for years toeбн until there was a right time to use it.

    "Is it something important, King Lin Wu?" The Club Tailed Lizard asked.

    "Yesбн you could say that. Thank you for bringing this to my attention." Lin Wu replied.

    "O-of courseбн this is the least I can do." The Club Tailed Lizard hurriedly spoke. "I won''t take any more of your time then, my king." She said before turning around to leave.

    "Wait," But Lin Wu interrupted her before that.

    "Yes?" She asked, feeling a bit startled.

    "You said your children found that thing, right?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes, they didst week, when theyбн went out." She said, choosing her words appropriately.

    <em>~ck~ ck~ ck~</em>

    "Take these then." Lin Wu said, creating five small crystals from his body.

    "Huh?" The Club Tailed Lizard was confused singe Lin Wu''s actions.

    "Give these to the five. It should help them grow." Lin Wu exined.

    The Club Tailed Lizard of course, knew what these were. Almost all of Lin Wu''s subordinates and servants had seen him using his crystals to feed Tim. While no other beast had eaten it, or was given such crystal, their senses could very well tell the dense spirit Qi and vitality that was contained within them.

    It was safe to say, that these crystals were nothing less than those pills that the human alchemists made. The Club Tailed lizard had the opportunity to consume a few of those pills and knew just how strong they could be.

    "But won''t this be too much?" The Club Tailed Lizard said, finding it a bit too opulent.

    "It''ll be fine. I want to see how much they can grow from this, too." Lin Wu stated. "Take it as a, Hmmбн test.. Yeah, a test for the five kids."

 Chapter 688 - Tian Han And Tian Chu Infiltrate The Sect

    The Club tallied Lizard epted the crystals, albeit a bit hesitatingly. Though on the inside, she felt differently.

    ''How much will they be able to grow with the help of these?'' The Club tailed Lizard thought.

    Having taken them, she took her leave and left Lin Mu to himself.

    "Hmmбн truly strangeбн" Lin Wu muttered as he looked at the system window in front of him.

    The system was currently working on analyzing the metal girdle and was failing in all attempts.

    "This will take a while, won''t it?" Lin Wu said to himself and decided to do some other things while the system continued its attempts.

    Lin Wu had about three days before he would be receiving any information from the two human subordinates of his. Though, Lin Wu didn''t just leave them to themselves and kept an eye on their status in the system window, just in case something happened.

    бн

    And just like that, three days passed in the blink of an eye.

    "We''re ready, master!" the beasts spoke out loud as they gathered in the main hall.

    Lin Wu looked over at them and nodded. He had just received the detailed report from Tian Han and Tian Chu. The moment he got it, he had called upon his subordinates and servants.

    "Let''s see what''s the situation at the Frozen Cloud sectбн" Lin Wu started to read.

    Tian Han and Tian Chu left the Tian n''s branch the very next day, Lin Wu had instructed them to, albeit with different reasons. Tian Chu could leave without a notice since she was an elder already, but Tian Han couldn''t do the same easily.

    Thankfully for him, there was a mission that was perfect for him to take. The mission was actually something that allowed them the easier ess to the Frozen Cloud sect.

    The goal of the mission?

    Inquiring about the whereabouts of Tian Xiaoge, the daughter of the n patriarch.

    Reading this Lin Wu couldn''t help but be surprise.

    ''Oh yeahбн I never told them Tian Xiaoge is here either. Plus, only Wang Xiong knows about the disciples cultivating in the forest.'' Lin Wu realized.

    He had let Wang Xiong stay them here since that was the best option they had. Not only was this good for Wang Xiong since he would have a group of people outside the sect for use, but for Lin Wu too, as he would now have humans for his use when needed.

    Not only that, but since they had passed the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist and even the Taiji Celestial''s trials, they were stronger than many other cultivators of the same level. Not to mention, their mentalities had been refined and their will was many times tougher than the average cultivator.

    ording to the updates he had gotten from the Emeraldine Sky Light monk ape, the human cultivators were steadily improving and it wouldn''t be a surprise if all of them reached the Nascent soul realm at the same time some time in the future.

    That would be a great improvement to Lin Wu''s power and he would be able to start expanding in the human territories even better with their use. Now matter how much he grew stronger, a beast appearing in human territories will always be problematic.

    Even if Lin Wu showed his intelligence and power, they would not be convinced and there would be enmity. It was the innate human instinct to hate what was not them and be suspicious about them.

    Lin Wu couldn''tin about that either, as he was the same. Ever since bing a beast he had found himself getting more and more inclined towards beasts. He could feel a strange closeness that didn''t exist before.

    He could only attribute it to them being his ''kin'' now.

    It was strange for Lin Wu, since he didn''t really feel such innate closeness in his past life when he was human eitherбн or so he thought. His memories were only getting blurry as time passed.

    At first he used to be worried about it, but now he didn''t care as much. Or rather, the worrying feelingбн the sense of losing oneself was gone.

    The mission for inquiring about Tian Xiaoge''s whereabouts and condition was something that had been put out a few months ago by the n patriarch. A few people had wanted to take it, but were rejected by the patriarch due to him finding them unsuitable.

    But when Tian Han applied for it, the patriarch was surprised. He had his ideas about Tian Han and how his intentions were before. Though these few days he and his father had mellowed out and the troubles caused by them had almost disappeared.

    It also helped the fact that guest elder Jigou had not appeared for a long time, thus there was nothing extra troubling the patriarch.

    Having gotten this mission, the two of them set out to the Frozen Cloud sect and reached there in a day. After getting there, they were stopped by the sect''s disciples.

    Tian Chu could clearly perceive the hostility in their eyes, and Tian Han was the same. Not just that, but Tian Han also mentioned that a few of his special spirit tools that were used for investigating were all giving off weird warnings.

    Still, since they had the official letter of the patriarch of the Tian n branch, the sect disciples had to let them in. Once in the sect, they were brought to a more restrained area and were made to wait for an entire day.

    Tian Chu could feel that it was a rude thing to do, seeing as how she was still a nascent soul realm cultivator. The Frozen Cloud sect would never do something like this, usually. The two of them could tell that there was clear hostility in the air and a lot of the members looked at each other with suspicion and enmity.

    It was a tense atmosphere, but also where Tian Han showed his abilities.

    ''The man really managed to butter his way out, huhбн'' Lin Wu was surprised.

 Chapter 689 - The Surprising Report

    While they were restrained in a single area for the most part, Tian Han ttered and told the disciples how much he liked the Frozen Cloud sect and how much he respected them.

    Even showing the intent to join them in the future if the opportunity arose.

    This turned out to be the key that allowed them a lot of things. The moment he expressed his desire, the disciples seemingly did a 180 and turned genial to him. Even going so far as to asking him to join their division, which was the Frozen Cliff division.

    He was told lies upon lies, with some even saying that Tian Xiaoge was a proud member of their division. Of course, the disciples were unaware about the location of Tian Xiaoge, only knowing that a certain number of disciples were missing from the sect.

    This along with Tian Han''s identity as a Tian n member was useful. After all, the Tian n was somewhat of a high status in the area and had trades with the sect. While there might not have been many disciples joining from their n, it was still something.

    Tian Han quicklytched onto this chance and used some bribes, in addition to ttery to get closer to the disciples. Once the things were in the right hand, under the surprised look of Tina Chu, Tian Han was joyfully taken on a tour of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    Leaving her behind to sulk.

    Though it wasn''t all for her. With Tian Han taking the disciples of the Frozen Cliff division away, Tian Chu was left alone. There were only a couple of formations blocking her, which were easy enough for her to ovee.

    She sneaked out and started to gather intel on her own while Tian Han did the same. Plus, since the two of them were always in contact due to the Pentagem, they knew what was happening on the other side.

    Tian Han learned of the situation of the sect, from the side of the Frozen Cliff division, while Tian Chu did so from the side of the other two divisions.

    A lot of locations were shown by the disciples, though the still avoided the more sensitive areas. But Tian Chu got to reach there with ease after she knocked out a Nascent soul realm disciple and took his identity token.

    It worked in her favor that the areas were mostly deste due to the constant hostility in the sect. The disciples stayed within their residence on the peaks, protected from the other divisions.

    If not for that, there might have been a great chance that Tian Chu might have been found out.

    Their searchsted for about a day, before Tian Han was brought back to the area they were originally kept it. The reason being an elder wasing to talk to them about Tian Xiaoge.

    After all, this was the official reason with which they hade to the sect.

    Tian Chu quickly returned as well and the two of them were informed about Tian Xiaoge.

    Upon reading this part, Lin Wu felt like the Frozen Cloud division was certainly scheming deeply now.

    ''They really want to rope in the Tian n and turn them against the Frozen Brook divisor huhбн'' Lin Wu thought after reading it.

    The elder of the Frozen Cliff division told them that Tian Xiaoge was killed!

    And not just that, but that she was killed by none other than Wang Xiong. The elders had long since known who were the subordinates under Wang Xiong before and took advantage of Tian Xiaoge missing.

    Tian Han served his part well and showed great shock while Tian Chu kept up her serious expression.

    The elder told them that the Frozen brook division was the one rebelling against the sect and that they were the orthodox members of the sect. The Frozen Brook division had been left astray by the Chief disciple Wang Xiong.

    "With the patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect being away for the time being, the Frozen Cliff elders had gotten really brazen." Lin Wu muttered.

    Having gained this information, Tian Han and Tina Chu wanted to leave, but not before they were given several documents that they were supposed to give to the Tian n patriarch.

    It was certain that they wanted the Tian n under their influence as well.

    Tian Han and Tian Chu assured them that they would tell this to their patriarch and quickly left the sect. They felt an uneasy air in the sect and knew that if they stayed for long, something dangerous might happen.

    Once they left, and were sufficient distance away, they made the report and messaged Lin Wu.

    Having read the entire report, Lin Wu exined the matter to all of his subordinates and servants.

    "I never thought the Frozen Cloud sect would reach this levelбн" The Twin Lights Liger King spoke after having heard everything from Lin Wu.

    "Indeedбн the matters of humans only get more and moreplex and they scheme against each other a lot." The Slim Arm Ape king muttered.

    "But this also gives us many avenues to act." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape said.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and thought about it. The system analyzed the information too, along with the different areas that had been checked by Tian Han and Tian Chu. Combining that with the map data the system already had, it was able to make some new routes that might be useful.

    Lin Wu then discussed things with the beasts and also told Wang Xiong about all that he had learned.

    "Dammit! The Frozen Cliff division has truly gone far!" Wang Xiong said upon hearing from Lin Wu.

    Ye Jin heard the same, and a hint of coldness appeared on her face too.

    Tian Han and Tian Chu had gained a lot more information than they could gather in the sect themselves, thus it was surprising to the two.

    After an entire day''s of discussion between all, Lin Wu finally came up with a n.

 Chapter 690 - Nice X10

    Lin Wu, Tim and the Twin Lights Liger King were currently making their way towards the Frozen Cloud sect.

    Lin Wu had given several different instructions to his subordinates, each having several duties. He knew that they were going to be of other uses, even if he was not taking them to the Frozen Cloud sect.

    The Millennium forest would be having a change in its image, in theing time and Lin Wu wants dot be prepared for that. And the way to do that was to have his subordinates ready for anything.

    Thus Lin Wu gave them orders to prepare for a few things that might happen in the future possibly.

    ''If all goes wellбн I might be able to create a new identity for the millennium forest.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he flew.

    The map updated in real time and pointed out the different markers on it. Most of them were hidden away by the filters Lin Wu had set and only the most important ones were currently being shown.

    "How far is the Frozen Cloud sect, exactly?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked, feeling curious.

    "At our speed, we should reach it in less than a day." Lin Wu answered.

    Though if he were to use his drill form, he would be even faster and would be able to cover a long distance with ease. After all, he had already removed most of the obstacles that would block him usually.

    "I thought it was farther than that?" The Twin Lights Liger king questioned.

    "It would be if we used the route the humans use. But I eradicated the beasts that would trouble us and charted a route around the more troubling areas." Lin Wu answered.

    "I seeбн so we just have a straight path to follow?" The Twin Lights Liger king asked.

    "Pretty much. There were a couple of Dao Shell realm beasts, that were the main problem, but they don''t exist anymore. As for the others, they are too weak and won''t dare toe near us." Lin Wu replied.

    "Hmm, that''s convenient." The Twin Lights Liger king spoke.

    "Oh wait, there is something we need to avoid; the human cities and other settlements. There are a few thate along the way." Lin Wu added.

    Though what he didn''t tell the Twin Lights Liger king was that if he were to follow the underground path, Lin Wu could pretty much ignore them as well.

    ''Hmm, underground paths are truly the best. At least no one thinks twice about it, whereas for skies, the cultivators will watch out.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The Twin Lights Liger king simply nodded his head and continued to fly. He had originallye from the northern part of the Long continent thus didn''t know much about this part of the region.

    After all, he had been unable to leave the millennium forest ever since he became the ruler and was bound to the formation array of the Millennium forest as one of the pirs that sealed the being.

    Their journey was uneventful, with there being no unexpected attacks or surprises. The beasts that encountered them directly ran away. After all, there were few beasts that would dare to go against three Dao Shell realm beasts.

    Even a Dao Treading realm beast might have to think twice before picking a fight. Additionally, the beasts who were more sensitive to the bloodlines would feel the pressureing from the three as well.

    They were no average beasts after all, with Tim being a literal mystery right now.

    By the time morning arrived, Lin Wu and his team had reached the official boundary of the Frozen Cloud sect. This was the extended one hundred kilometer area that surrounded it.

    Lin Wu had once spent some time here and captured a Frozen Cloud sect disciples for his ess token. Since they were not yet in the actual sect itself, they had no problems. Plus, the reduced traffic from the sect disciples also made it so that they were unnoticed.

    "Wait here, I need to do something first." Lin Wu ordered.

    The two beasts slowed down andnded behind a hill.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Radiation spread out from Lin Wu''s body before surrounding The Twin Lights Liger king and Tim. Since Lin Wu had already imnted the Emeraldine Legion bloodline in the Twin Lights Liger king, he wasn''t really affected by the radiation anymore.

    Though him being able to use it was not possible. None of the beasts that were under Lin Wu could actually use it. This was something that had surprised Lin Wu, as he had thought they would be able to use it eventually as well.

    But that seemed to be not possible for now. Though Lin Wu did have hopes for the Juvenile Club tailed lizards. They were yet to grow and they did have the same bloodline as Lin Wu, even if it was a partial one.

    The Twin Lights Liger king felt the radiation surrounding him like a veil and found it to be strange. This was not his first time seeing it, but it was still a confusing thing for him.

    ''Just how does he do this and what kind of an energy is this?'' The Twin Lights Liger king wondered.

    He could tell that it wasn''t any type of a spirit Qi and must be some other kind of an energy. After all, there were numerous types of energies in the world, spirit Qi and vital energy being just two of them.

    "There we go. This should prevent others from noticing us easily. Additionally, it will stop the detections probes of the formation arrays." Lin Wu spoke.

    Tim didn''t need it technically since his body was able to naturally stop spirit Qi but Lin Wu did it anyway.

    ''There are always some other spirit tools and formations with different methods of detection.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Being prepared for a tough situation was nicer than being ignorant, after all.

 Chapter 691 - A Distracting Reward?

    Lin Wu and the Twin Lights Liger king had been waiting for about an hour here for a certain pair to meet up with them. Tim on the other hand, had taken the opportunity to take another nap and Lin Wu simply let him.

    It was better than him causing trouble anyway.

    "These humansбн are they trustable?" The Twin Lights Liger king questioned.

    "They should be as trustable as any of you." Lin Wu answered with assurance. ''After all, they''ll die the moment they try thinking of betraying me,'' He said inwardly.

    The ones Lin Wu and the Twin Lights Liger king were waiting for were none other than Tian Han and Tian Chu. Lin Wu had asked them to hide some distance away from sect while he and the Twin Lights Liger king reached there.

    The two of them were south of the Frozen Cloud sect and were making their way here, whereas Lin Wu was north of the sect.

    ''ording to the intel given by them, this should be the best ce to proceed from. The Frozen Cliff Division and Frozen Brook Division''s border is just a few kilometers ahead.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He checked the map and saw the position of the two servants. They were rapidly approaching them and would reach them in just a few more minutes.

    And when they finally arrived, the first thing they did was to gasp.

    "What in the name of heavensбн!?" Tian Han said in surprise.

    Tian Chu didn''t say anything, but still took a breath of shock seeing the two others with Lin Wu. While they knew that Lin Wu was bringing some backup, they didn''t expect them to be Dao Shell realm beasts either.

    Even if they couldn''t tell what Tim''s cultivation base was, their instincts were shouting at them that he was no less dangerous than the other two. In fact, he seemed to be even more dangerous than therge Liger beast that stood next to Lin Wu.

    "Greeting''s master," Tian Han and Tian Chu greeted.

    "Did you meet any trouble on the way?" Lin Wu asked.

    "None for now, master." Tian Chu replied.

    "Good. And I''m guessing the two of you are in the best condition and have recovered all spirit Qi reserves?" Lin Wu asked further.

    "Of course!" the two of them replied.

    "Good! Now then, I guess you two should meet the other two members of the team." Lin Wu said as he gestured to the Twin Lights Liger king and Tim.

    "This is Tim, a Myriad obsidian Weasel and this is the Twin Lights Liger king. Both of them are my subordinates and are at the Dao Shell realm." Lin Wu quickly introduced.

    "Greetings to seniors!" The two of them hurriedly replied.

    Since the Twin Lights Liger king and Tim were both above their cultivation realms, they had to be respectful to them. Calling them senior was not wrong, even if Tim might be a few decades younger than them.

    Tian Chu felt awe in her heart at seeing the two beasts.

    ''Master is certainly very strong if he can have such powerful subordinates.'' Tina Chu thought with a glimmer in her eyes.

    Tian Han was the same, but felt a strange pressure instead.

    ''Even Dao Shell realm beasts like them are following himбн what use will I be at my level?'' Tian Han couldn''t help but wonder.

    He was after all, at the peak stage of the core condensation realm and was the weakest of them all right now. It wouldn''t be strange for him to not be considered at all.

    <em>~Growl~</em>

    Tian Han flinched slightly and looked at the Twin Lights Liger king, who had let out a low growl. He could feel the eyes of the Twin Lights Liger king scanning him deeply. While the two beasts couldn''t speak human tongue like Lin Wu, he could tell that therge beast was talking.

    "Are you sure we need this human? Isn''t he tooбн weak?" The Twin Lights Liger king questioned.

    "Well yes. But he isn''t here to fight, anyway." Lin Wu answered.

    "Then what is he here for?" the Twin Lights Liger king asked.

    It wasn''t just the Twin Lights Liger king that had this question, the two humans did too.

    "Ummбн master, what are we here for?" Tian Han asked, hesitatingly.

    "Yesбн I understand me being here, but he is too weak to fight thee for long. With the number of nascent soul realm disciples they have at the frozen Cloud sect, he''ll die in a few attacks." Tian Chu voiced her opinion as well.

    "Well, Tian Han has a different role here. He is going to be the distraction." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Huh? Distraction?" Tian Han said in confusion.

    He could imagine a few ways he could act as a distraction, but he could also think of other better way''s Lin Wu could cause a distraction.

    ''With the three of them, just their presence along is enough to cause a great distraction.'' Tian Han thought.

    "My thought was the same as what you are thinking right now," Lin Wu said with a smile.

    He had easily guessed what was going on in Tian Han''s mind. After all, it was an obvious option that just anyone could guess.

    ''He knows his mind?'' Tian Chu was surprised.

    "You are going to serve as a distraction in another way. And I assure you, it will be a lot shier than us turning up at the sect." Lin Wu spoke.

    "What are you going to do, exactly?" The Twin Lights Liger king questioned, feeling really curious now as well.

    "Well, you can say that his is a reward for you too." Lin Wu added.

    "A reward for me? For doing the work at the sect?" Tian Han assumed.

    "Indeed. And it will serve as the perfect distraction, too." Lin Wu replied.

    Tian Chu tilted her head in confusion as she wondered what reward could serve as a distraction, until a few secondster, it struck her.

    "You will be breaking through to the Nascent soul realm today!" Lin Wu revealed.

 Chapter 692 - The Distraction: Tian Han

    Tian Han had never thought that he would be hearing something like this today.

    He wasn''t the only one shocked either, as Tian Chu and the Twin Lights Liger King were in the same situation.

    "What do you meanбн no wait, you mean like her?" Tian Han said, finding it all a bit too overwhelming.

    "You got that right." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "You want to use the heavenly tribtion as a distraction?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "Yup. What better distraction than that? They are bound to notice it and will wonder who is breaking through. With the state they are in right now, they will be wary about everything and thus will want to know more.

    And considering the location that we are in, it is technically behind the Frozen Cliff division, it''ll make them want to know even more. After all, heavily tribtion are dangerous, not just for the person, but also for others around them.

    There is a reason why sects have tribtion attenuation formations. Without it, the area will be greatly damaged." Lin Wu exined.

    "Thisбн how will you exactly do this?" Tian Han asked.

    While he was happy about being able to reach the Nascent soul realm this fast, he also knew it woulde at great risk. Even if Lin Wu was able to block the tribtion lighting for him, there was still the biggest risk of acting as a distraction.

    There would be an entire secting after him, after all.

    "Well, I infuse enough spirit Qi into you so that you reach the threshold for a breakthrough and then let the heavenly tribtion do the rest of the work." Lin Wu replied, which felt a bit too casual to Tian Han.

    "Wait, let the heavenly tribtion do the work? But that''s not the same as Tian Chuбн didn''t master block the heavenly tribtion?" Tian Han questioned, feeling a heavy feeling on the bottom of his belly.

    "Wellбн yeahбн I won''t be doing that for you. After all, we need the heavenly tribtion to act as a distraction. While it will still be a distraction if I block it for you, it won''t mean anything if I have to stay here to do this.

    Our main goal is to get in there while they are distracted. And to do that, they need to be pulled towards you for a sufficient amount of time." Lin Wu answered.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Hearing this, Tian Han swallowed down his saliva, realizing that his earlier feeling was right.

    ''He want''s me to die?'' Tian Han couldn''t help but think.

    Lin Wu easily guessed what was going on in the man''s mind and chuckled to himself silently.

    "You do have confidence in being able to survive that, right?" Lin Wu asked. "Because if you don''t, then you would have no right to be a nascent soul realm cultivator anyway." He added.

    <em>~Growl~</em>

    "That''s right. If you don''t even dare to go against the lighting, there is no use for you to even try." Twin Lights Liger King agreed as well.

    He was fine with the n, since it didn''t matter to him whether a human was sacrificed. To him, it was all the same even if a few hundred humans died. They were going to kill thousands of them today anyway, thus an extra one would not matter, anyway.

    ''What did that beast say?'' Tian Han could tell that the Twin Lights Liger King had said something, but he could only hear a growl.

    Even from that growl, he could feel something unsettling. As if he was being mocked or something like that.

    "He''ll do it!" Tian Chu suddenly spoke up.

    "Huh? What do you mean I''ll do it? I didn''t even answer?" Tian Han was taken aback.

    Tian Chu looked at Tian Han with a smirk on her face that quickly changed to a frown; as if it were not obvious that she was acting.

    ''You had a lot of fun at the sect alone. Do you really think I''ll let you off Scot free?'' Tian Chu said in her mind.

    Tian Han could feel a chill on the back of his neck and knew that he was basically trapped between a cliff and a beast''s den. No matter which side he chose, he would still be suffering.

    ''Dammit! He''s really a beast in the end. And sheбн she''s no less than him!'' Tian Han cursed in his mind.

    If thoughts could kill, Tian Han would have already ughtered Tian Chu And Lin Mu several times.

    ''Wait, what''s this dangerous feeling I''m getting?'' Tian Han suddenly felt his head hurt.

    He felt as if there was a needle being stabbed there and didn''t know why. But this made him stop his thoughts about cursing Lin Wu and it ended up stopping his pain too. Unaware that both of them were linked, Tian Han simply rubbed his head in frustration.

    "Chop! Chop! We don''t have much time here. Make your decisionбн or not... you''ll be doing it anyways," Lin Wu said.

    ''So you admit it!'' Tian Han wanted to shout it out loud, but knew that it was not the time for it.

    He was the weaker party here and would not be faring well if he went against someone so powerful as Lin Wu. Besides, the killer looks from Tian Chu were already making him unsettled.

    "This woman really wants to get me killed, huhбн" Tian Han muttered to himself.

    "I heard that!" Tian Chu chimed in.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    "Iбн I-I mean, I''ll do it!" Tian Han finally epted.

    ''Fuck it! I might as well breakthrough even if it means I have to suffer a bit.'' Tian Han thought to himself.

    "Good! That''s the best choice for you." Lin Wu stated, ''or rather the only choice for you.''

    Lin Wu then gave a few instructions to Tian Chu and the Twin Lights Liger King before getting ready for it all.

    "You wake up too! Enough sleeping, Tim!" Lin Wu roused the weasel.

    <em>~yawn~</em>

 Chapter 693 - Should He Laugh Or Cry?

    Tian Han sat at the top of a small hill that was located at the back of the Frozen Cloud sect. It was an abandoned hill that had a couple of buildings on it, but they were all broken and signs of battle could be seen there as well.

    Lin Wu looked around and spread his spirit sense, checking the area.

    ''This is one of the areas where the Frozen Cliff division and the Frozen Brook Division had shed before. It''ll be the perfect area to use for a bait.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "What are you waiting for?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned.

    "Just a secondбн" Lin Wu said as he gazed at a certain system window.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    "Now we can begin," Lin Wu spoke upon seeing apleted progress bar.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Tian Chu felt something flying towards her and quickly caught it.

    "What''s this?" Tian Chu asked, seeing the wooden te in her hand.

    "That''s the formation array''s control te." Lin Wu replied.

    "A formation array control te? But for what formation array?" Tian Chu asked, feeling confused.

    Tian Han and the Twin Lights Liger King were the same as they looked at Lin Wu.

    "This formation array," Lin Wu said as a faint wave of spirit Qi spread from his body.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    The wooden formation array te in Tian Chu''s hand slightly trembled and illusory runes appeared around it. Her eyes took on a faint glow as well and could see thousands upon thousands of runes that were all around her.

    They were arranged into multiple formations that all joined up to form arge formation array.

    "H-how?" Tian Chu was surprised.

    The Twin Lights Liger King found this all to be strange and stimted one of his bloodline''s unique abilities.

    His white and ck eyes flickered like a torch and a new view appeared in front of him.

    "Youбн You set up an entire formation array?" The Twin Lights Liger King was rather shocked.

    Lin Wu had been standing still for the most part, and he had not seen any spirit Qi fluctuations other than the normal onesing from Lin Wu. He couldn''t understand how there was now an entire formation array here.

    Tian Han wondered what the three of them were talking about and felt a bit suspicious.

    "You are to use the formation array at the right time when the people of the sect arrive here." Lin Wu instructed.

    Tian Chu could feel the information about the formation array appearing in her mind from the te and knew exactly how to control it.

    Tian Han had a face of realization and understood what Lin Wu was doing.

    "You are going to use a formation array to trap them?" Tian Han guessed.

    "You got that right. You really thought, just you acting as a distraction would be enough? Haha! You are just the bait. Once theye here, they will suffer some true pain." Lin Wuughed, though his aura was oppressive at this moment.

    ''Master is truly amazing. He can set up such a formation array in a short time without anyone even noticing.'' Tina Chu was really impressed, wondering how Lin Wu had aplished something like that.

    ''They don''t need to know that I simply had the system repair and modify the already existing formation array of this hill.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu was not stupid enough to think that just Tian Han would be enough to hold the Frozen Cliff Division for long enough. If he just depended on him, it would be the same as making the members suspicious about it all.

    They would simply return to the sect once they learned of him, while a few of them would stay behind to restrain them. Even if Tian Han would have an increase in strength and there would be Tian Chu to fight as well, there was no way the two of them along would be able to handle multiple nascent soul realm expert.

    After all, there were plenty of nascent soul realm cultivators the Frozen Cloud sect''s Frozen Cliff division could spare. They had increased the number of their members in the past six months and had poached several of them from the other two divisions.

    Not to mention, with the absence of the Patriarch, there was nothing stopping them from using outside help again. Thus, right now, there were several unknowing cultivators disguised as the members of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    While Tian Han and Tian Chu didn''t know who they exactly were, Lin Wu had a hunch that they might be from the Weiyuan chamber or could be some more allies that Weiyuan might have pulled in.

    He would not put the other sects above this either. The Frozen Cloud sect was one of the top ten sects of the Long Continent, but it was not without enemies. There were people from all walks of life that hated them and wished for their doom for many reasons.

    Some might have just been wronged by the sect, while some might just have been rejected by them when they tried to join them. The reasons could be numerous, but the one thing they all had inmon was that they would be more than willing to cause suffering to the sect.

    Though Tian Han had some other thoughts about the formation array. He looked at the te in Tian Chu''s hand and let out a wry smile, not knowing whether he shouldugh or cry at his situation.

    ''He intentionally gave it to her, didn''t he? So that I don''t try to escape beforehand?'' Tian Han guessed.

    <em>~SCREECH~</em>

    "Let''s goo! HUNT TIME!" Tim said impatiently.

    His cry made the two humans flinch, as they were not used to it.

    "Ugh, he can kill others with just that soundбн" Tian Han muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu looked at the weasel and nodded his head.

    "Of course, let''s get started. We have a lot of people to huntбн" Lin Wu said as he raised his tail.

    A sharp spike protruded from its tip and approached Tian Han, who became incredibly still, afraid that one wrong movement might prick his head.

 Chapter 694 - A New Function For The Test Subject

    Tian Han closed his eyes and felt the cold crystal spike touch his forehead.

    ''Ugh!'' he internally grunted as he felt it prick his skin.

    Though the pain stopped in just a moment, as the system started its work. Tian Han didn''t even realize that the spike had gone all the way into his brain and had pierced through his skull.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Then in the next second, he felt like a river of spirit Qi was pouring into his body from the spike.

    ''Thisбн such powerбн'' Tian Han felt as if he was getting high.

    The quantity of spirit Qi being injected into him at this moment was more than what he had gathered in his entire life until now. Not just that, but it was more than what was needed for him to reach the nascent soul realm.

    ''Let see if this new function works as well. He''ll be the perfect one to serve as a test subject.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    This was the reason why Lin Wu was spending some extra spirit Qi on Tian Han even though he could have had him breakthrough in less than a quarter of this amount. After about a minute, the system showed a notification.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI INJECTION: Completed

    PENTAGEM V 2.0: Added new function

    PENTAGEM FUNCTIONS: Updated

    бн

    Tian Han

    Cultivation Base: Pseudo Nascent soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote skill execution

    бкбк

    In just a minute, Tian Han had gone from the Peak stage of the core condensation realm to the pseudo Nascent soul realm. His spirit Qi was already saturated in his core and yet there was a huge surplus of it left.

    Since the spirit Qi had no space to go and Tian Han''s Dantian and meridians were already filled to the point of saturation, it was temporarily stored in the Pentagem. Of course, the stored spirit Qi had some special use.

    The new function that had been added ''Remote Skill execution'' was something the system hade up with. But it was not fully developed and was still in analytical period. Usually when system came up with new updates, it would have already done all the testing and analysis in simted form.

    But all this took a long time and a lot of energy to do as well.

    Then Lin Wu realized that he could use a different method to save time. It was always time saving to use real life subjects rather than simtions to save time and energy when it was viable.

    Thus Lin Wu asked the system if they could just use someone as a test subject. The system simply told him that it was viable, hence Lin Wu decided to take this opportunity to try it out.

    The system did tell him that there were risks to this, but Lin Wu didn''t mind that. That was exactly the reason why he had selected Tian Han. The man was still expendable to Lin Wu ultimately and their current situation was something that would be useful for it too.

    ''It''ll be good to test its power out in an actualbat situation. If Tian Chu can''t do enough with the formation array, this function should be able to handle the rest. Though we don''t know what the effects on its user would be.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Lin Wu pulled back his crystal spike from Tian Han''s forehead and watched as the man''s veins popped under his skin.

    "Will he be able to handle this?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked.

    The beast had many times more experience than anyone here and could tell that Tian Han was in a unique condition.

    "I''ve never seen a human have spirit Qi overload before." The Twin Lights Liger King added.

    "Oh? You know of this?" Lin Wu replied to the beast.

    "I''ve experienced it before. It''s not a good feeling." The Twin Lights Liger King stated.

    "He''ll be fineбн at least I think so." Lin Wu spoke.

    Lin Wu and the Twin Lights Liger King''s conversation was in beast tongue thus Tian Chu couldn''t understand it. But she didn''t care for it anyway and simply focused on Tian Han.

    She could tell that the amount of spirit Qi in Tian Han''s body was massive. It was more than was in her own body right now, even though she was at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.

    ''Does he have that much capacity for spirit Qi? Is his talent really that high?'' Tian Chu had a misunderstanding.

    A few secondster, a serious expression appeared on her face.

    ''I need to be strong for master or I''ll be left behind. I''ll need to cultivate even harder if I have to leave that man behind.'' Tian Chu was motivated.

    Lin Wu didn''t even realize that he had ended up stimting Tian Chu''s goals without intending to do it. And even if he did, it was of no concern to him. But rather, it could even be said to be good.

    Strong subordinates and servants would ultimately be of a benefit to Lin Wu. Especially in the future, when he was going to need a lot of human subordinates that were strong, since he wanted to take hold over the human world as well.

    <em>~WOONG~</em>

    Winds started to blow as clouds gathered up. At first they were the normal white clouds and it simply looked normal, but a few minutester they turned darker before turning a ck.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    Then finally, the first arc of lighting could be seen streaking across the clouds, as if informing everyone of its arrival.

    "Time to go. This should be enough." Lin Wu said as he scanned Tian Han onest time.

    "I''ll take care of the rest, master." Tian Chu said with a determined expression.

    "I''ll depend on you then," Lin Wu said before going some distance and digging down into ake.

    The Twin Lights Liger King and Tim followed him and jumped down into the water as well.. They were going to follow the n Lin Wu had instructed them on.

 Chapter 695 - A Meeting At The Frozen Cliff Division

    In the Frozen Cloud sectбн

    A meeting was currently ongoing in the Frozen Cliff''s division''s main peak.

    "What do you mean you can''t get into the Frozen Brook division''s area, even now?" Elder Qianshu questioned, his tone harsh.

    "We can''t do much, Elder Qianshuбн they have used some unknown barrier formations to lock the entire area down." One of the elders in the hall replied.

    "We the entire formation pavilion under us and you can''t figure out ONE formation array?" Elder Qianshu exploded.

    The elders were all a bit scared and didn''t dare to speak.

    Pin drop silence could be heard in the hall as they all looked at their feet, afraid to meet Elder Qianshu''s gaze.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    At that moment, a sigh was heard. Usually it should have gone unnoticed, but due to the silence in the hall it was heard by everyone. They all looked towards the source and wondered who could be this rude to do this in a situation like this.

    "Do you have something to say? Elder Weizhe?" Elder Qianshu asked, his voice cold.

    He felt disrespected at this point and had already been irritated by the other elders due to the ipetence they were showing. The frozen Cliff division had increased in size by a lot and was now bigger than the Frozen Brook division and the Frozen ins divisionbined.

    It was done by poaching the elders and disciples of the other two divisions. There were many methods they had used, including enticing them with resources. But a majority were brought over with the use of ckmail.

    After allбн the Frozen Brook division had a lot of resources after they managed to get hold of the Di Guan mines. This made it harder for the Frozen Cliff division to use the resources as a carrot.

    But after using some ckmail and threats, enough of the elders switched over.

    "You should know when to be calm, Elder Qianshu." Elder Weizhe spoke with his eyes closed. "Being distrusting and irritated with your people will only make things harder for you." He added.

    "You think I don''t do a good job here, huh?" Elder Qianshu replied.

    "Noбн I think you do a decent jobбн but that doesn''t mean it can''t be better." Elder Weizhe retorted, his eyes still closed.

    Elder Qianshu felt as if a vein would burst in his head if he let the man speak anymore.

    ''Damn this old geezer. Why can''t he just die!'' Elder Qianshu thought to himself and cursed Elder Weizhe in his mind.

    Elder Weizhe seemed unaware of Elder Qianshu''s intentions and emotions, and instead turned to one of the people in the hall.

    "Junior Elder Changming, why don''t you tell the other discovery you had earlier?" Elder Weizhe spoke, this time opening his eyes.

    His eyes were still the same, looking a bit cloudy and zed over. It was evident that the man had lived a long time and was perhaps close to his end.

    The man named Elder Changming was rather young looking and seemed hesitant to speak. His eyes darted between the pissed off face of Elder Qianshu and the calm and old face of elder Weizhe.

    "Humph! What does a junior elder even know?" one of the senior elders of the formation pavilion scoffed.

    To them, if a junior elder like Changming could say something that they didn''t realize, it would just be an insult to them. And in the current scenario, when Elder Qianshu was angry, it would not be a good oue for them.

    "Elder Gunzhi, please let the junior speak first." Elder Weizhe stated, his voice a bit firm.

    Elder Gunzhi seemed to want to say something, but one look from Elder Weizhe shut him up.

    ''Ugh, this old manбн'' Elder Gunzhi scoffed in his mind, but still kept his silence.

    "Go ahead, speak junior elder Changming." Elder Weizhe repeated.

    The junior elder looked at the old man and the others before taking a deep breath.

    "Iбн detected something else when we were analyzing the formation yesterday. In addition to the formation''s durability and strength, I realized there is an additionalyer that was hidden.

    It was also one of an unknown design, but Ipared it with some of the other records we have and learned that it is quite simr to a timekeeper formation." Junior elder Changming spoke.

    "A timekeeping formation?" the elders in the hall were confused.

    A timekeeping formation wasn''t anything special or unique. Rather, it was a low leveled formation that was used to do as its named told: it kept time. It was amon formation that was often used as clocks.

    They could be changed to have different time periods and different units for the time as well.

    "And why does a timekeeping formation even matter? Nothing changes with us knowing about it." Elder Gunzhi spoke, seeing that he had a chance to suppress the junior elder.

    "Let the junior elder exin himself first." Elder Weizhe said again, this time his tone containing a hint of a warning.

    Now feeling a bit more confident, Junior Elder Changming spoke again.

    "The reason why I think it''s important is because it is integrated directly into the mainyers of the formation array." Junior Elder Changming stated. "I think thatбн the entire formation array is temporaryбн it is on a timer and it would stop working once that time runs out. That is also why it is so tough, it is using up arge amount of spirit Qi to hold everything back." He exined.

    Hearing this, the expression of elder Qianshu changed. From his previous pissed expression, it became one of thought. Elder Gunzhi was able to quickly realize what this meant, and a bead of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

    "Is this possible thing?" Elder Qianshu questioned the formation pavilion elder.

    "Thisбн Ummбн Elder Qianshu, can be possible." The formation elders admitted.

    "THEN WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE? POST EVERYONE AROUND THE FORMATION ARRAY! ALL WE NEED TO DO IS WAIT!" Elder Qianshu yelled.

    But just as he did that, something else was heard, that was even louder than him.

    <strong><em>~RUMBLE~</em></strong>

 Chapter 696 - Breaking In

    Unaware that the elders of the Frozen Cliff Division had started their actions, Lin Wu and his two subordinates made their way towards them.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    Faint tremors could be felting from the ground, but by the time they reached the surface, they were mostly gone. This inbination with the chaos that was happening in the sky was enough to make everyone miss it.

    Lin Wu continued to dig and make the tunnel while the Twin Lights Liger King and Tim followed behind him.

    "Just a little moreбн" Lin Wu muttered as he observed the map.

    The system was showing the navigation HUD, which allowed Lin Wu to quickly fight the right path. This was all decided ording to the intel that Tian Han and Tian Chu had given him before and then the system had scanned the sect again to get updated information.

    As a sunrise to Lin Wu, there really were a lot of areas that were unable to be scanned by the system. These areas were under the protection of certain formation arrays that made barriers around them.

    One of these areas was none other than the one protecting the Frozen Brook division''s territory. Their territory wasposed of several peaks, including the main peak of the entire sect.

    It was the peak where the sect patriarch''s residence and the grand hall of the sect was located. This was also why the Frozen Cliff Division wanted ess to it. There were a lot of valuable items there including things that they would need to prove their legitimacy.

    Without them, they won''t be able to seed in the end, even if the patriarch never appeared.

    The second area was the peak where Yun Bai was being restrained. It was none other than his own peak, and the elders of the Frozen Cliff division had sealed him inside.

    ''The founder of the Frozen Cloud sect definitely didn''t trust Yun Bai, since he kept a seal like that. It was made specially to contain him once he himself was gone. It was to let his descendants to control Yun Bai if he ever revolted against them.

    Stillбн that didn''t happen, and these people found out about it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself, deciding to take a look at the formation since it might be something that the system could benefit from.

    After all, there weren''t many formations that would be able to restrain cultivator at the peak of the shell expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm. That too, someone as long lived and experienced as Yun Bai.

    If it were any other seal, the man would have been able to find a way to break through it. But now he was helpless and could only wait to be rescued. Though he didn''t even know that help wasing.

    If it were not for Wang Xiong''s quick actions, he would have still not been able to do anything and it would have been a little toote.

    A few minutester, Lin Wu finally reached his chosen locations.

    "Alright system, do a scan again." Lin Wu ordered.

    They needed to see if the people of the Frozen Cliff division were gone or not. Lin Wu needed for at least half of them to be gone or be divided. Once that happened, he would be able to attack.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN COMPLETED: Map updated

    NOTIFICATION: Targets have moved to the intended locations as predicted

    бкбк

    "Perfect!" Lin Wu said as he saw the change on the map.

    A lot more markers had appeared on the map, possibly from the Frozen Cliff Division, though there might have been some from the Frozen ins division as well. ording to the n, Lin Wu was supposed to kill those of the Frozen Cliff division, but he wasn''t restricted to kill those from the Frozen ins division.

    After all, there was a great chance they would attack him, since he would be killing the others. Lin Wu was arge and terrifying beast for most, humans would fear him by default and attacking him could be considered normal.

    "Is it time?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned, feeling the sudden increase in spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the surface.

    "Yes, it is time!" Lin Wu said as he quickly started to move up.

    <em>~TREMBLE~</em>

    The ground started to shake and the people nearby felt it clearly this time.

    "W-what''s happening?" One of the disciples posted nearby couldn''t help but questions.

    "An earthquake? How can one happen within the sect?" another one wondered.

    "Could it be due to the anomaly there?" A guard disciple spoke, pointing to the dark clouds that were gathered in the distance.

    There were arcs of lightning spreading across the clouds, and thunderps could be heard all around the sect.

    "Waitбн is that a heavenly tribtion? Who''s breaking through at this time?" The first disciple questioned, finding it strange.

    "I don''t think we were informed of this happening. It seems to be in the abandoned territory of the Frozen Brook division tooбн could it be someone from their side?"

    "That would be unusualбк" But before the disciple could finish his sentence, the ground suddenly burst open.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Even though the disciples were standing away from where the ground had burst open, it was still enough to knock them down. After allбн these were just the lower members of the Frozen Cliff division and were only at the Qi refining realm.

    "ARGH!"

    "MY BACK!"

    The disciples were injured just from this and suffered multiple injuries. The stone bricks and soil pelted their bodies.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    A green glowing light appeared from therge hole that had opened up and it was as if arge pir rose up from it.

    "Oh? What have we here? A few small disciplesбн" Lin Wu said as he observed the knocked down disciples.

    Hisrge body was enough to make a few disciples faint just from a look while the others trembled non stop.

    "What in the name of heavensбн"

    "Mбн Moбн MONSTER!!!!" A disciple finally shouted.

 Chapter 697 - Making An Entrance

    Lin Wu started at the cultivators, making them tremble in their ces. And when the rest of his body started to leave the hole, they only got that much scared.

    "There''s more?!" One of the disciples couldn''t help but say as they saw segment after segment of Lin Wu''s body rising from the hole.

    About five secondster, Lin Wu had finally pulled his entire body out, but that was not even the end the disciples were expecting.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Once Lin Wu was out, two more beasts flew out of the hole.

    "THERE MORE BEASTS!?" A disciple said as he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. "ARGH!" The disciple held his chest all of a sudden and fell to the ground, unmoving.

    Lin Wu looked at the surprising scene with raised brows.

    "Huhбн he really died from fearбн now that''s a first for meбн" Lin Wu said after checking the disciple with his spirit sense.

    The Twin Lights Liger King and the weasel came to stand beside him as they too looked at the humans.

    "Are we really going against these? They''re too weak," The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.

    "They''re just normal disciples. Our actual targets are different." Lin Wu said.

    "I seeбн so where do you want me to be?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked.

    "Go guard outside the area of the Frozen Brook division. Kill anyone that wears the robes with that mark on it." Lin Wu replied while gesturing towards the Frozen Cliff division members.

    He also transmitted the location of the Frozen Brook division through their link and the Twin Lights Liger King went on his way.

    "Hunt time?" Tim asked, seeing that he wasn''t asked to do anything yet.

    "Oh yeah, hunt time. Go, go. Feel free to eat anyone with these robesбн oh and also eat those things I told you about before." Lin Wu ordered.

    Lin Wu had given Tim some other orders too, in addition to the normal ones.

    <em>~KRIIII~</em>

    Tim let out an excited cry and a glint shone in his eyes.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    He moved like the wind and swallowed down the disciples that were knocked down in front. Once he did that, he disappeared to somewhere faster than what a normal human could have perceived.

    "Wellбн that''s one part done." Lin Wu said seeing that two two of them were gone for the time being.

    He checked the map to see the locations and the markers, finding a few that he wanted to target some distance away.

    "The Twin Lights Liger King will take care of the few elders that are near the barrier of the Frozen Brook division and Tim will take care of the stragglersбн time for me to begin the next part." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he started to crawl towards the Frozen Cliff Division''s territory.

    His crawling speed was still faster than most cultivators flying speed now since he was at the Dao Shell realm. Along the way, Lin Wu came across a few disciples and scared them too.

    "QUICK! CONTACT THE ELDERS! A BEAST HAS BROKEN INTO THE SECT!" A slightly braver disciple shouted.

    He was at the core condensation realm and was able to bear the pressure from Lin Wu a bit better. For most others, they couldn''t even tell what the cultivation base of Lin Wu was. He was far beyond them and those in the Qi refining realm couldn''t even tell if he was at the Nascent soul realm or not.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    "No, noбн not so quick. Why don''t you y with me a little bit?" Lin Wu said with a smile.

    "It can speak?!!!" The disciples were now utterly terrified.

    Their fear was forever frozen on their faces as they felt their vision darken a momentter.

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    A sickening sound was hearding from Lin Wu''s mouth as bones and flesh were ground into a paste before being swallowed down.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 8,121 units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 44,140,322 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 44,148,444 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн that''ll barely make a dent. But I can''t expect much from these disciples anyway. I''ll need the big shots." Lin Wu said to himself.

    More disciples discovered Lin Wu, but he didn''t really give them a chance to do much.

    <em>~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~</em>

    Wind elemental spirit Qi arrows shot out from Lin Wu''s body, reaping the lives of the disciples in the distance.

    <em>~WOONG</em>~

    More wind blew under the control of Lin Wu and pulled the dead bodies towards his body, before he sucked them into his mouth, consuming them.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 3,121 units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu repeated this wherever he detected disciples near him and started to increase his store of spirit Qi. His first goal was to increase his cultivation base, by consuming as many people as possible along with any resources he maye across.

    Which he did tooбн but he didn''t eat them right away. He stored away the spatial storage treasures for the time being, deciding to eat them when he had collected a significant amount.

    He did take a quick look through the ones he had and there wasn''t much in individual ones.

    ''These are just the low leveled disciples. If I want something good, I''ll need the elders. They should have a small fortune in their spatial storage treasures.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he finally reached the border of the Frozen Cliff division.

    He then raised his tail and touched the barrier in front of him.

    "Let''s make a nice entrance, shall we?" Lin Wu said with a smile as copious amounts of radiation came out of his body.

    <em>~WHOOSH~ </em>

    The radiation spread across the area before starting to spin in a circle. Lin Wu pressed on with his tail and the barrier started to bend. The radiation assaulted it as well weakening it further.

    <em>~CREAK~</em>

    As if a metal te was bending, an audible sound was heard.. The runes on the barrier started to flicker as the formations started to be unstable.

 Chapter 698 - Starting The Slaughter

    <style>#M785277ScriptRootC1274098 {min-height: 300px;}</style>

    Lin Wu''s power was being used at full force, and the effect was clearly seen.

    "Let''s see how long this canst. A sect''s barriers should be pretty strong, and if I can break them like this, I''ll have a new standard for myself." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    Finally, it happenedбн formation arrays of the Frozen Cliff divisor were unable to hold on anymore and finally cracked apart!

    The runes were forcibly pushed away by the radiation and wind and the scene behind the barrier was finally revealed.

    "Oh my?" Lin Wu said in surprise as he saw the line after line of disciples that were seemingly waiting there.

    The disciples who were standing there seemed to be stunned and didn''t know how to react. Lin Wu had broken the barrier far too quickly such that they didn''t even get the chance to report to the elders who had just left the division to go check out the trouble outside. Also, the other disciples that had indeed seen Lin Wu were already dead and in his stomach.

    "Seems like I can start my feast early!" Lin Wu said with a hiss as his mouth opened up wide.

    "RUN!!!" The disciples shouted as they saw the massive beast that had just appeared out of nowhere.

    Since the barrier blocked both sides of it, the people on either side couldn''t tell what was staying on the other side. Of course, there were ways to check who was there, but this authorityid with the elders in charge. There were different setting for it too but in the current situation where the different divisions were at wall it was better to hide both the sides.

    <em>~boom~</em>

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~shing~</em>

    Several attacks were let off by the disciples with the hopes that it might repel Lin Wu, but all of them were useless against him and his crystalline body.

    "Hah! Such weak attacks don''t even tickle me!" Lin Wu shouted, but it only came out as a screech for the disciples.

    <em>~Screech!~</em>

    The disciples felt disoriented and hurt from the screech some of them stumbling unfortunately and being sucked in by Lin Wu''s mouth. The wind spirit qi stirred around him, pulling in all the dead bodies of the disciples and the living ones of those that were a bit too unfortunate.

    Lin Wu saw the notifications for spirit qi popping up non-stop as he continued consuming all of them non stop. The disciples were far too weak to resist and they couldn''t even tell what Lin Wu''s cultivation base was due to the fact that there was radiation surrounding him.

    In just ten minutes, Lin Wu had ended up consuming more than a thousand disciples and now there was no one left near him.

    "Hmmбн that was a nice snack. Let''s see how much we gotбн" Lin Wu muttered and opened up the window for the notifications.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 3,475,567 units [Liquid spirit qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 49,140,322 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 52,615,899 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "Oh! That''s nice. We''re half way there already." Lin Wu said, finding it rather pleasant.

    He checked the map and saw that the number of people on this peak were almost gone. And the ones that were left there were mostly weak qi refining realm disciples.

    "Time to check out another peak," Lin Wu said before he moved to another peak to the side.

    This one was smaller than the previous one and mostly had residences built on it. Lin Wu checked the map and saw that there were a decent amount of disciples here too. The ones that were here was a mix of cultivation bases too.

    ''These must be the disciples that are currently in seclusion and also the ones that are acting as reserves in case they are needed sometimeter.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    But this time, Lin Wu was not as lucky as before.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Lin Wu saw something red flying up to the sky before it exploded into a a burst of light. From this, a bunch of letters appeared that spelled ''help''.

    "Ugh, they caught onбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    Thankfully, the skies were still filled with dark clouds and strong winds blew along with lightning bolts that raced across the clouds. This helped stop the effect of the emergency re from reaching the further areas. Only those that were in the nearby peaks would be able to see it and those that had left toe check up on the heavenly tribtion would not be able to see much.

    In fact, they might not even detect it being used.

    "Time to erase the traces," Lin Wu said as he raised his head and opened his mouth. A green orb of wind attribute spirit qi gathered in it before Lin Wu forcefully closed his mouth, biting down onto the orb.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Another explosion was heard as the green wind attribute spirit qi orb exploded into a beam of wind that erased everything that stood in its path. It was strong enough to make the clouds in the sky change their directions. Thankfully, there were plenty of clouds there or there was a chance that Lin Wu would end up exposing his own location instead.

    "GATHER UP! GATHER UP!" A man who was wearing slightly different robes from the other disciples spoke.

    Lin Wu could tell that the man was a core disciple of the sect due to the fact that his spirit qi fluctuation were not hidden at all.

    "All disciples follow the protocol! Activate the defenses!" The man ordered.

    Lin Wu looked at the man and directly used his spirit sense to probe him. The man felt the foreign spirit sense touching his body and was stunned.

    "W-what?!" he could feel the power within it.

    "You''re at the Infant soul stage of the nascent soul realm, huhбн at least you''ll provide me more spirit qi than others." Lin Wu said before his eyes glowed in a red light.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Under the control of the disciples, another formation array was erected, this one being a bit weaker than the one that was protecting the Frozen Cliff division, but it had greater offensive firepower than it as well.

    "ATTACK!" The core disciples said, still reeling from the effect of the spirit sense probe.

    ''Dammit! Just what kind of a beast is this and how did it even enter the sect?'' The core disciples wondered to himself.

    Unfortunately for him, this was a question that would not be answered for him and his misfortune was only going to increase even more.

    The disciples saw as hundreds of attacks were released by the formation array and a great fire raged. But before they could reach Lin Wu, he raised his tail high up.

    <em>~SWOOSH~</em>

    He swept over the attacks, extinguishing them as if they were nothing, and even broke the formation array in one hit. It was as if he was cutting through paper and the disciples were not safe from it either. A cacophony of cries and shouts were heard as the tail killed all that it touched. Most of the disciples that were in front were killed even before the tail hit them due to the air pressure generated from it.

    The residences were uprooted and most were reduced to smithereens. Their protective array''s and defenses all copsed under the face of absolute power.

    "DAMMIT! DIAMOND MOUNTAIN TALISMAN!" The nascent soul realm core disciples shouted as he threw out a square talisman.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The talisman suddenly expanded into the shape of a mountain and covered the disciples. White runes covered it and provided it structure, turning it into a physical object.

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    Lin Wu''s tail hit the construct and was actually blocked.

    "My, my! Now you''ve shown me something interestingбн" Lin Wu said, seeing the effect of the talisman.

    This was a new thing for him, and he certainly took an interest in it.

    "Scan this system!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Unknown Talisman

    SCAN: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman

    INFO: The Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman is a defensive type of a talisman and is from the group of famous Diamond Mountain Talismans. The one used here is the lowest grade one and can still block a single attack of a Dao Shell realm cultivator. It is a single use talisman and will be expended after it use.

    The Diamond Mountain talismans are valuable talismans and are even used in higher worlds. The Lesser Diamond Mountain talisman can even block the attack of an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator while the Great Diamond Mountain talisman transcends the spirit qi and reaches into the immortal qi, able to block those in the false immortal realm!

    бкбк

    Reading the information provided by the system, Lin Wu was certainly intrigued.

    "Looks like this trip will be a lot more beneficial. I''ll need to check the memories of this guy to see where he got something like this from." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    While he was doing this, Lin Wu was also continuing to attack the Nascent soul realm core disciple. If the disciples could know what Lin Wu was doing, even splitting his attention in doing different things, he might just die from frustration.

    "If one attack doesn''t break it, just take more of them!" Lin Wu stated as he spun around and pped the Diamond mountain from the other side.

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    "Impossible!" The Nascent soul realm Core disciple said in disbelief. "how can this beast be this strong?!"

    <em>~SHATTER~</em>

    The Minor Diamond Mountain Talisman''s construct finally broke apart like ss and dissipated.

    ~THWACK~

    The disciple quickly threw out as many trump cards as he had, but all of them were knocked away like they were just air.

    "N-no.. No!!!" He shouted in unwillingness.

    <em>~SLICK~</em>

    But before he could run, a spike pierced through his chest. His eyes went wide as he stared at therge spike jutting out of his chest.

    ''Is this the endбн?'' he wondered as hisst thoughts.

    But a few secondster, he was thrown into Lin Wu''s mouth and quickly consumed.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 1,272,987 units [liquid spirit qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 52,615,899 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 53,888,886 units [liquid spirit qi]

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 2,983,601 units [liquid spirit qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 52,615,899 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 56,872,487 units [liquid spirit qi]

    DATA NODE: OBTAINED

    DECRYPTING DATA NODE: Initializing

    DECRYPTION: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu felt all the information appearing in his mind at once, but he put it away for the time being.

    "System show me thister. For now, we need to meet some new people. We won''t be alone for long.." Lin Wu said as he saw several markers flying towards his location.

 Chapter 699 - Battling A Few Elders And Wind Shearing Blade

    With two peaks cleared out, Lin Wu only had one of the peaks left. And this was the very peak which was considered as the headquarters of the Frozen Cliff divisor. It was the peak on which the elders gathered.

    Even if some had left to check up on the heavenly tribtion, Lin Wu was sure that they won''t leave the peak unguarded.

    ''I mean if they did, it''ll just make things easier for me anyway.'' Lin Wu said in his mind.

    In a few seconds, the markers reached his position and gazed upon his massive body.

    "A beast?" one of the elders question.

    In total, there were about five elders looking at Lin Wu now.

    "Scan them system." Lin Wu ordered swiftly.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGETS SELECTED: 5 cultivators

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGETS: analyzed.

    NOTIFICATION: Two Adolescent soul stage Nascent Soul realm cultivators, two Adult soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivators and one Shell initiation stage Dao Shell realm cultivator identified.

    бкбк

    "Oh? Just the perfect quantity for me." Lin Wu said with a smile.

    They weren''t too strong nor too weak for him and would provide him with a sufficient amount of spirit Qi as well.

    "Oh hang onбн I know that guy." Lin Wu said upon seeing one of the Adult soul stage nascent soul realm cultivators.

    He jogged his memory and realized that he was the elder who was present during Wang Xiong''s battle with the core disciples in the past.

    While Lin Wu was observing the elders, they were doing the same.

    They couldn''t feel the passive spirit Qi fluctuations from Lin Wu since they were ruffled by the radiation and thus they ended up extending their spirit sense instead.

    "AGH!" One of them grunted in pain as he felt his spirit sense being forcibly burned.

    "Don''t use your spirit sense! That beast is dangerous." The Adult Soul stage nascent soul realm cultivator warned.

    "Tch~ You were quicker than that man." Lin Wu said seeing that the Dao Shell realm cultivator was not the first one to detect it.

    "I-it speaks?!" The elders were surprised.

    "Shocking I know," Lin Wu said with a nod, stunning the elders even more.

    But their shock was only momentary as they became angry after that.

    "You vile beast! You dare tread upon thend of Frozen Cloud sect and kill our disciples?!" An Adult Soul stage nascent soul realm elder said with visible rage.

    "YOU SHALL DIE FOR THIS!" the Dao Shell realm elder yelled as he summoned ance.

    "Oof, can''t you people find some new lines?" Lin Wu said as he raised his tail to block the attack.

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    Sparks were shot out from the impact as thence hit Lin Wu''s tail that was intact. Spike suddenly jutted out from the sides of his tail, reaching all the way up to the hand of the elder, piercing through it.

    "Dammit!" the elder shouted as he let go of thence.

    <em>~drip~drip~drip~</em>

    "Ah! Humansбн so easy to predict these days." Lin Wu said, his toothy smile every present.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Wind elemental spirit Qi wrapped around Lin Wu''s tail before turning into an illusory spear that stabbed towards the elder.

    His eyes went wide as he hurriedly created a shield and retreated.

    "Wind elemental beast?" The other elders noted.

    They were confused like many others upon seeing Lin Wu''s form that was vastly different. The crystalline body that was translucent was something they had never seen before.

    Though one of the elders felt like it was familiar.

    ''Where did I see this before?'' the elder wondered.

    But he didn''t get long to do that as he felt a sharp wind hitting his head.

    "BAH!" The elder grunted in pain as a slick of blood burst out of the side of his head.

    "ELDER WE TAO!" the others said with concern.

    "I''m okayбн" the elder named We Tao said as he held his head.

    His ear was now gone and only bloodied flesh was left behind.

    "I managed to dodgeбн somewhat. The beast is fast, very fast." Elder We Tao said as he quickly ate a healing pill.

    "Oh, I''m just starting. You''re gonna have to do a lot more to keep up." Lin Wu said as his tail elongated.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    A long edge appeared on the side of his tail before it started to heat up.

    <em>~Sizzle~</em>

    The blood on the tail directly evaporated from the heat as the air turned blurry from the heats.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    Wind started to stir on it as well, giving it a dangerous look.

    The elders'' didn''t take Lin Wu lightly this time and used their own skills. One of the elders threw out darts that expanded in the air, another one used a Qi skill that rose the earth from below making it turn into a bed of spikes.

    "Useless," Lin Wu said as he weaved through the earth spikes.

    He was more used to the earth than pretty much anyone here even if he didn''t use the element. He spent a lot of time digging and his body was optimized for it. He could feel the earth move before the skill was even fully activated.

    "How is it doing this?" the elder controlling the earth was confused.

    <em>~clink~clink~clink~</em>

    The darts that the elder had thrown towards Lin Wu were all swatted away like paper straws with a breath of Lin Wu.

    "Elders! With me!" The Dao Shell realm elder said as he created several runes in front of him.

    His hand that was injured had stopped bleeding, but some weakness could still be seen in it. While drawing runes that hand was a bit unsteady. Two other elder came to stand beside him as they made runes in the air.

    The other two quickly understood what the Dao Shell realm elder was doing and pulled out some formation arrayponents.

    Six gs were thrown out while a pir was erected some distance from Lin Wu.

    "Oh? This is new." Lin Wu said finding it different.

    "Frost Heart Entombment Formation!" the Dao Shell realm elder chanted.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The runes all took their ces as a formation started to materialize. The runes turned an icy blue color and the temperature of the are started to fall. Frost started to appear on the ground and the nts froze over.

    The flesh fragments and blood that was left over on the ground was frozen almost instantly as well and Lin Wu could feel the radiation in the air change.

    ''It can actually reduce the radiation''s activityбн'' Lin Wu took note.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Ambient temperature at negative 120 degrees Celsius.

    бкбк

    This was possibly the coldest temperature that Lin Wu had encountered till now. Perhaps only Yun Bai''s skill coulde close to this, but even when Lin Wu fought him he had been protected from it due to the radiation.

    ''How can this formation reduce the activity of radiation when even Yun Bai couldn''t do it?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    The system started to work on analyzing it as well and a few progress bars appeared in Lin Wu''s vision. Quickly dismissing it, Lin Wu decided to finish this up.

    "Won''t be good if I end up losing after talking shit, will I?" Lin Wu said as more radiation poured out of his body.

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    The temperature around his body suddenly spiked, shattering the metals and stone nearby due to the rapid temperature change.

    The edge on Lin Wu''s tail glowed red hot as radiation mixed with the wind attribute spirit Qi swirled around it. Six cylindrical crystals protruded out from the back of the de''s edge as mes ignited on them.

    "I haven''t used this one for a bitбн but it''ll be fun." Lin Wu said as he powered up for the attack.

    "POUR ALL YOUR SPIRIT QI IN IT! WE CAN''T LET THE BEAST DO WHAT IT WANTS!" The Dao Shell realm elder said upon sensing the disturbance in the formation array.

    <strong>"Wind Shearing de!"</strong> Lin Wu said as he swung therge de his tail had transformed into.

    <em>~SLASH~</em>

    The de directly impacted the Frost Heart Entombment Formation''s walls and sliced through it. The cold air was rapidly heated up and made to expand, which only increased the force of the attack.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    As if a powder keg had been ignited, the entire formation exploded.

    "AHH!!!!"

    The elders all cried in pain as they were forcibly knocked away.

    <em>~COUGH~</em>

    <em>~SPLAT~</em>

    The Dao Shell realm elder directly spat out blood from the bacsh, while the others suffered multiple injuries.

    "Huhбн even for a weaker version of that, this is still pretty strong." Lin Wu muttered to himself in surprise.

    The attack he had just used right now was another skill he had made, the ''Wind Shearing de''. It was simr to the Undaunted Sapphire ze cleaver that he had used on Yun Bai, but was far weaker.

    But at the same time it didn''t have as high of a spirit Qi consumption as that attack either. Besides, Lin Wu didn''t need the same level of power either for elders at such a level.

    "Now to end thisбн" Lin Wu said as he flew up and brought down his tail.

    <em>~DENG~ DENG~ DENG~</em>

    Each segment of his tail came down like a meteor, breaking apart the ground and destroying all that was around it. The elders tried to defend and used their trump cards, but it was all for naught.

    One of them was directly smashed into a meat paste, while one was split apart. All in all, they were killed rather quickly and had little chance to survive.

    Lin Wu gazed upon his hands work and smiled.

    "Wellбн time to eat before their nascent souls start to escape."

 Chapter 700 - 80% Through The Way

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu used the wind to suck in all the corpses of the elders into his mouth and quickly ground them down before swallowing them. The nascent souls of the elders that were trying to wiggle out of their bodies were quickly eradicated under the power of his stomach.

    Lin Wu''s body was pretty much a radioactive Nuclear power n and continued to produce more of it while also absorbing the ambient radiation from the environment. While it didn''t necessarily increase his cultivation base, it certainly increased his offensive and defensive powers.

    While it would not be felt much from the outside, the radiation inside his body was in very high concentration and his digestive system also used radiation as one of the digestiveponents, allowing him to breakdown pretty much anything that he ate.

    Whether it be organic matter, metals, soil, rocks, or anything; if it couldn''t be digested by the normal digestion, it would be bombarded by radiation until it was broken down into something that his body could use.

    And if his body couldn''t, the system could still extract it to be usedter on. This was also the reason why Lin Wu had no need to poop anymore.

    It was one of his greatest achievements and he was really happy when the system told him about it. Till before he reached the Dao Shell realm, it was not fully efficient, and he still needed to poop from time to time, but now there was no need.

    Whatever turned into excreta would be further broken down until it turned into smallerpounds. In a way, Lin Wu was pretty much the perfect recycling nt. He had yet to encounter something that he couldn''t digest.

    Though ording to the system there were plenty of things that could harm him if he ate him, the most obvious ones being a poisons of many kinds. Especially the spirit poisons made from various spirit herbs and beasts that could resist even the radiation long enough for them to affect Lin Wu.

    Till now, Lin Wu hadn''t been poisoned that way, but there was always a chance in the future, thus he kept an eye out for it.

    Once Lin Wu ate the Nascent Soul Realm elders, he could feel the spirit Qi surging in his stomach, and once the Dao Shell realm elder was digested, the surge only increased even more.

    A few secondster, several notifications popped up in front of him.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 4,362,917 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    .

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 3,178,268 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    .

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 5,814,269 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    .

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 5,181,146 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    .

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 12,987,121 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 56,872,487 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 75,409,087 units [liquid spirit qi]

    бкбк

    "<em>Wooo~</em> Eighty percent thereбн just need more eldersбн though I might be able to speed through with other things as well." Lin Wu said to himself, feeling the rush.

    "Though it''s really fast by consuming others, the feeling of imbnce thates with its far more apparent nowбн is this what they mean by an unstable foundation?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Even though the system couldn''t detect it clearly, Lin Wu could very well tell the change in his spirit Qi. While it wasn''t exactly ''impure'', his control over it was a bit erratic. And the more he consumed, the more erratic it got.

    He didn''t know how long it would be until his skills would be affected by it as well. So far there was no problem, but there might be in the future. This discovery also made Lin Wu a bit more aware about the ws of cultivating like this.

    ''Since even the system can''t detect these ws, it only means how deep it goes. There are things that are out of the system''s understanding and it might not be possible for it to ever learn that eitherбн'' Lin Wu pondered to himself.

    Lin Wu checked the map which had updated once again and saw that he had pretty much cleared out all three peaks of any good candidates that could be consumed. Two of the peaks were already dead and only one was left, but even that one had just a single elder left and some disciples that didn''t have as good of a cultivation base.

    "Hmmбн" Lin Wu debated on if he should use the remaining resources to breakthrough or to hold on for a bit longer.

    "Best to keep some extra spirit Qiбн just in case something problematic happens." Lin Wu said to himself.

    The extra spirit Qi and vital energy he got were useful in healing himself and restoring his stores of spirit Qi. Thus, it was always the best to have some extra.

    Other than the notifications for the spirit Qi, Lin Wu had filtered out the rest since he didn''t need them right now. This also included the thousand of vital energy notifications he had gotten over the time.

    "Oh, speaking of vital energyбн I should have gotten some more. I haven''t checked on thatбн" Lin Wu said as he opened up the window.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 7,821,126 Units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 26,148,783 Units -> 33,969,909 Units

    бкбк

    "Oh, thats a decent increase. Shouldst me for quite a while." Lin Wu said.

    Unless Lin Wu was injured or taxed his body too much, his vital essence was barely used. Even then, it could regenerate eventually, thus he never had to take any from the storage of the system.

    Most of the times he only needed vital essence during sustained fights where he suffered extra injuries or when he was doing some cultivation which ended up injuring himself.

    There were even times when the System was testing out some of the simtions it hade up with directly on his body. This would either hurt him or cause some damage, but the system would fix it right away as well.

    Often Lin Wu didn''t even know it happened.

 Chapter 701 - Tian Hans Pain And An Audience

    While Lin Wu was ughtering his way through the Frozen Cliff Division''s peaks, Tian Han was suffering through the worst pain in his life.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The dark tribtion clouds in the sky thundered and sent down another tribtion bolt that struck Tian Han.

    "GODDAMMIT!" Tian Han cursed.

    His outer clothes had already been burned off and only his soft protective inner armor was somewhat intact on his body, protecting his dignity.

    "How many bolts has it even been now? Seven? Eight?" Tian Han questioned.

    After the first four bolts, he had been a bit disoriented, but the ones that came after that were only stronger. They increased in intensity as was expected and were even different from the normal tribtion lighting.

    Tina Han didn''t know what variant of the Tribtion lightning he was getting hit with, but it surely didn''t feel good. In addition to that, he had no idea how many tribtion bolts he would be getting.

    Someone that was in the Pseudo Nascent soul realm would usually know this or at least have a hunch about it, but Tian Han never got the opportunity to ponder on it since Lin Wu boosted him rapidly through it all and summoned the Tribtion clouds.

    And now he was in no condition to check anything either. He could only wait for it to pass.

    ''Couldn''t he have at least set up a tribtion attenuation tform? If he can set up such a vast formation array in the matter of minutes, he should be able to do that tooбн'' Tian Han cried to himself.

    ~BOOM~

    Another lightning bolt struck his body, making him trembled non stop and instantly evaporating his tears, leaving behind scorched salt on his cheeks.

    While Tian Han was wallowing in his pain, Tian Chu was hidden in the corner.

    "Fuck! What the hell is this heavenly tribtion? Even the legendary ones mentioned in the books don''te close to thisбн" Tian Chu said to herself as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

    Her hand clenched onto the formation array control token hard, as if afraid that letting go of it would kill her.

    Which it really mightбн

    After all, considering how close she was to Tian Han while he was undergoing his heavenly tribtion, she should have long since been struck by the lightning bolts as well. It was actually the protective formation that Lin Wu had added in addition to the others that had kept her safe all this time.

    ''Master really cares for meбн he even made this protective array for me.'' Tian Chu thought with a slight flutter in her heart.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    <strong>"Aiya!</strong>" Tian Chu secretly shrieked from the sudden lightning.

    She had never told this to anyone, but she was really afraid of thunder. Since it would tarnish her image of being a genius in the Tian n''s branch, she had kept it hidden. She could even suppress it for the most part and was fine with normal thunderstorms.

    But the heavenly tribtionбн well, that was anything but normal. Especially a variant one that Tian Han was going through.

    ''Thankfully, master pushed me to the Nascent soul realm directly and even stopped the tribtion lightning for me, so I didn''t have to suffer. Though I wonder what kind of a tribtion I would have hadбн'' Tian Chu thought.

    She had been at the Nascent soul realm for long enough that she couldpare her strength to others and get a gauge of her own standing. And she could tell that she was far stronger than any average Infant soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator.

    "Master''s abilities are truly profoundбн" Tian Chu said with a hint of longing. <em>~Sigh~</em> "if only he could be a humanбн"

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    While Tian Chu was living in her fantasies for a hot minute, the rest of the audience finally arrived.

    Away from where Tian Han was, arge group of people dressed in the robes of the Frozen Cloud sect arrived.

    "LOOK!"

    "Damn, it really is a heavenly tribtion!"

    "Who would be so brave enough to undergo a heavenly tribtion here?"

    "Forget about being brave. I''d rather say they were very brazen to have picked this ce. How can they use the territory of the Frozen Cliff division without permission? Don''t they know what kind of damage a heavenly tribtion can cause to the area?"

    Such conversations were heard in the entire group as they looked at the heavenly tribtion. They couldn''t really go any closer and only spotted a humanoid figure that was charred ck.

    It was sitting cross legged but its back was slightly hunched. There were also a lot of burn marks all around him, with some parts of the ground being directly melted.

    "Ssss! What strong tribtion lightning!"

    "I know, right? It has barely been ten minutes and there have already been nine bolts of it."

    The disciples certainly felt surprised by this. One had to know that the mostmon heavenly tribtion only had up to three bolts. And even the one with the three bolts was considered good.

    Anything more than that, and it would enter the territory of rare and the further it went, the rarer it would get.

    The ones that reached beyond five bolts were already in the level of a genius and only those with a great talent would ever suffer from them.

    This knowledge was very well known by the elders and they had quite some shock in their eyes.

    "Elder Giza, you are the expert in this field, aren''t you? What do you think this tribtion is?" One of the elders asked.

    The elderly man named Elder Giza seemed to rub his beard a couple of times before replying, "considering we''re already at the ninth bolt, it should be the Nine Spark Tribtion or even the Falling Rise Tribtion."

    "Whoa! Haven''t those two never been recorded in the past five thousand years?" another elder asked.

    "It is possible for it to be something else tбк" but before Elder Giza could finish his sentence, another bolt struck.

    <strong><em>~BOOM~</em></strong>

    "Impossible!" the elders shouted.

 Chapter 702 - Tian Han For Patriarch?

    To the elders, it was impossible that someone of such talent could be present in their world.

    "Who is this person?!"

    "Anyone got an idea? Is he really from our sect?"

    There were many questions they had, but they couldn''t get any answers, even if they were itching for them.

    "Elder Gizaбн its ten bolts nowбн then doesn''t this meanбн" one of the elders who had asked before spoke.

    "Y-yesбн it cannot be the Nine Spark Tribtion or the Falling Rise Tribtionбн neither of those can reach ten tribtion lightning bolts. Iбн I only know of three types of tribtions that can reach ten bolts.

    They are the Ten Thunderp Tribtion, the Scarlet Burst Tribtion and the Night Demise Tribtion." Elder Giza exined.

    "Then which one among those three is this?" The elder asked.

    "Iбн don''t know. It''s not among these threeбн this is entirely different. I can''t find any defining characteristics. For Ten thunderp tribtions there need to be ten thunderps with each bolt.

    For the scarlet burst tribtion, a scarlet light should apany each lightning bolt. As for the Night Demise tribtionбн it needs to happen on the night when a thousand beings have died and right now it''s not night." Elder Giza exined.

    "Seems like we have a new tribtion on our handsбн this will be going into our records." The previous elder spoke.

    "Not just that, the disciple who is undergoing this tribtionбн won''t they be a genius?" a third elder said.

    "But for that, they need to survive this tribtion. Ten Tribtion lightning bolts are not a joke." Someone said.

    Hearing this almost everyone was in agreement. Even if someone didn''t explode the moment ten tribtion bolts struck them, there was still a chance they would dieter on once their injuries intensified.

    "Could it be that the disciple who had the tribtion was unable to move anywhere, and that''s why ended up having it here?" a female elder said after thinking. "I mean, it would make sense since everyone knows they should not undergo a heavenly tribtion in the sect outside of a tribtion tform." She added.

    Hearing this a lot of the elders seemed to be intrigued. They thought about it a bit more and found it to be a reasonable guess.

    "Then won''t this disciple need support in healing? I don''t think they''ll be able to withstand the infusion of spirit Qi that wille after this. Their meridians and body might be too weak and could just explode even if their nascent soul was fully born." The first elder who had spoken stated.

    "Yes! Yes! We can''t let such a talented disciple die. Even if the formation arrays of the sect were damaged a little, it is still fine. Compared to the advantages of a talented disciple like this, that loss is easily redeemable." Someone added.

    Themon consensus among the elders switched to this, and they all started to think the same.

    "But do we know if they are even of our division? For all we know, it could be someone from the Frozen Brook division that might have been hiding out here and were unable to move due to their situation." A doubtful elder questioned.

    "Hmmбн this will have to be decided by Elder Qianshu." Elder Giza said while rubbing his beard.

    Everyone looked at the elder in question.

    Elder Qianshu was looking at Tian Han, his expression still.

    He was closely watching Tian Han''s situation and his eyes didn''t move one bit. He could see the expression of Tian Han as well, that was contorted in pain. His face couldn''t be made out well due to the skin that had been burned and the soot that had covered him.

    His hair had been burned away as well and only heavens would know what he would look like after all the soot and ash was removed.

    "What do we do, Elder Qianshu?" The elders asked again, seeing that Elder Qianshu had not spoken yet.

    "I have made my decision. Once the tribtion fades away, recruit this person into our division at all costs! Even if they are from the Frozen Brook division, we have to get them! He shall be our contender against Wang Xiong!" Elder Qianshu said, stunning all the elders.

    <em>~gasp~</em>

    Many gasps were heard from the elders as well as the few core disciples that were worthy of this information and were standing nearby. To them, this was both a shock in the good way and the bad way.

    The reason why they had joined the Frozen Cliff Division was that they didn''t like Wang Xiong being the chief disciples and also the heir to the sect patriarch''s position. They wanted a directpetition for that position and with Wang Xiong there, they would never get it.

    They were also in a dilemma, as Wang Xiong truly was talented and was progressing very fast. Thus, there was a great chance that even if they did organize apetition, they would still not be able toe out on top and lose.

    But now that someone with an equal or an even greater talent had appeared, they might have the chance to win against the Frozen Brook division and flip the odds in their favor. Even if it meant giving up the chance topete for the position of the inheritor of the patriarch.

    "Thisбн this might truly be the key to winning out conquest!" The elders said out loud.

    "Indeed. Even after we get rid of Wang Xiong and annex the Frozen Brook division, there will still be push back from the current patriarch. Not to mention, we would be in a sensitive situation with the other powers and sects.

    There won''t be ack of mantises stalking the cicada. But this way we will be the oriole hiding behind the mantis." Elder Giza borated, finding the idea wonderful.

    Tian Han waspletely unaware that the enemy had not only considered him an enemy but had even propped him up as their candidate for the sect patriarch heir!

 Chapter 703 - The Shameless Elder Sima

    "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Tian Han cursed to himself.

    "DAMN THIS TRIBULATION! WHO THE HELL EVEN HAS TEN BOLTS OF TRIBULATION LIGHTING!" He continued.

    "I know for sure I''m not that talented!" Tian Han self depreciated. "Five bolts? Six Bolts? Sureбн seven? Maybeбн EIGHT! NINE! FUCKING TEN!!! NO WAY!"

    By the time he said this, he was out of breath again. Withstanding the tribtion had taken a lot of his energy and he was already out of spirit Qi. In fact, other than the Infant Nascent soul that was floating in his Dantian, there was no spirit Qi left.

    Even his meridians had dried up.

    This was theplete opposite of his earlier condition when he was in spirit Qi overload. Now he was deficit in spirit Qi instead!

    Tian Chu who witnessed it all, was no less shocked.

    "Just what did master Lin Wu do? Is his touch really this magical that it can transform that average genius into a top tier genius needing ten tribtion bolts to breakthrough?" Tian Chu said to herself.

    <em>~p~</em>

    She even pped herself to confirm that she was not dreaming and this was real.

    Tian Chupared herself to Tian Han and realized that she was nowgging behind him in a way.

    ''If I remember the feeling back, thenбн I should have had at least five tribtion lightning bolts. But master blocked it off for me.'' Tian Chu thought to herself.

    Butparing herself to Tian Han''s tribtion only made her a little depressed.

    Her face fell but soon changed after looking at the state of Tian Han.

    "That little lice will probably die, anyway. Why do I need to care? HUMPH!~" Tian Chu said with a little flourish.

    Her eyes went to the people of the Frozen Cliff division in the distance and locked onto the rather powerful looking elder in the front.

    "That guyбн isn''t he Elder Qianshu?" Tian Chu recognized.

    She had known of the man since he was rather important in the Frozen Cloud sect. Not only was he a high elder at the Dao Shell realm, but he was also the only son of the Frozen Cloud sect''s Supreme elder!

    Back when Tian Han and she were scouting the sect and Tian Han was being enticed to join the Frozen Cliff division, he was told a lot about the glory of Elder Qianshu. About how he was strong and was the major contender to be the next supreme elder or even the patriarch if things worked out.

    But a few secondster, beads of cold sweat appeared on the forehead of Tian Chu.

    "Damn, if he''s here then the danger just increased by quite a bitбн" Tian Chu realized.

    While she had a trust in the formation array that Lin Wu had made, she just didn''t know if it would be able to go against someone as powerful as Elder Qianshu.

    ''I won''t know until I tryбн I can''t disappoint master eitherбн'' Tian Chu thought as determination appeared on her face.

    She gripped the control token harder in her hand and looked at the sky. The wind was blowing and the clouds had already started to change color. From the previous ck, they were now Grey and soon would return to the milky white color clouds one would normally see.

    "I need to wait for the right momentбн only if all of them are in the limits of the formation will it have the best effect." Tian Chu said as she measured their steps.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The spirit Qi in the air swirled and soon turned into a vortex that spun over Tian Han''s head.

    "The spirit Qi infusion startedбн they should be moving any moment now." Tian Chu muttered, without moving her gaze from the elders of the Frozen Cliff division.

    And just as she had expected, the elders started to move. First, two elders from the group rushed towards Tian Han, a few pill bottles were present in their hands.

    ''Huh? What are they doing?'' Tian Chu was confused.

    A secondter, she heard the elders shouting.

    "HE''S ALIVE! Just injured!" The elder who was tending to Tian Han announced.

    He had already fed a healing pill to Tian Han and was about to feed him another one.

    "Make sure to pause till the burst of spirit Qi is absorbed by his body." The second elder standing there spoke.

    "Of course! Do you think this is my first time doing this? I''ve been an elder of the healing pavilion for three hundred years!" the elder said loudly, hoping that Tian Han would remember it in his mind and establish a good rtionship with him.

    A few more elders reached the location, and checked up on Tian Han, finding him to be weak and injured, but not in a life threatening condition anymore.

    "Hang onбн I know him!" An elder said suddenly, startling the other elders as well as Tian Chu.

    ''Did they really recognize him in that state?'' Tina Chu was surprised as well.

    "Who is he?" The elders asked.

    "Well of course, he''s one of my external disciples that I recruited when I went out for a mission a few years ago. Seems like he finally made his way to the sect." The elder said.

    Hearing this, all the elders were taken aback and so was Tian Chu.

    "What the fuck?" Someone cursed in a low voice.

    "Huh?" The elders looked towards the person cursing and raised their brows.

    It was none other than Tian Han himself.

    "Ahahah! Look! Look! My disciple is awake!" The elder said while thumping Tian Han''s back.

    "Fucking geezer! Stop hitting me, I''ll die again!" Tian Han scowled without fear.

    It was clear that his mind was not in the right ce currently.

    "Hahah! This disciple of mine was born from a courtesan and wasn''t taught manners. Please forgive his tongue." The elder said with a wide smile.

    But seeing this, a few ideas appeared in the minds of other elders.

    "YOU!!! SHAMELESS!"

    "ELDER SIMA! HOW SHAMELESS CAN YOU BE!?"

    "YEAH! HOW CAN YOU JUST CLAIM SOME RANDOM PERSON TO BE YOUR DISCIPLE?"

    The elders finally realized Elder Sima''s ploy to rise in the sect.

 Chapter 704 - Elders In A Frying Pan

    An awkward smile could be seen on Elder Sima''s face as he looked at the other elders who were staring daggers at him.

    "Ahahah! It was just a joke, just a little joke!" Elder Sima hurriedly said.

    "Humph! This is no time to be joking." Elder Giza said.

    "Sorry!" Elder Sima said before standing up.

    His expression quickly changed though, once he was a bit away from them.

    ''You guys would be the same if you got the opportunity. Humph! You''re just regretting I was faster.'' Elder Sima thought.

    If his n worked and Tian Han ended up going along with it, Elder Sima would end up bing the second highest person in the sect, as Tian Han would be the contender for the sect patriarchs position.

    He would pretty much be pushing down elder Qianshu. It was a simple but usable ploy and if it weren''t for the fact than Tian Han was still conscious and responded, he might have gotten away with it too.

    ''Dammit, couldn''t you have been unconscious for longer? I already had the mind bending pills with me.'' Elder Sima thought to himself.

    While Elder Sima was cursing his luck, Elder Qianshu had finally reached the location of Tian Han. He gazed at Tian Han as if he were a gemstone and the greed could be seen in his eyes.

    Tian Han felt a gaze on him and looked up, recognizing the man he was staring at him.

    ''Fuck! He''s already here? Where is the trap that was prepared?'' Tian Han internally thought.

    "TIAN CHU! GET THAT THING RUNNING!" Tian Han shouted through their link.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    And just as he said that, it happened.

    "Huh? A formation array?" The elders were surprised.

    But the surprise was momentary as wary looks appeared on their faces. There were plenty of formation experts here and they could quickly asses and tell that this was no normal formation.

    "How is there a formation here? Wasn''t this ce destroyed back then?"

    "Not just thatбн this ce just endured an entire heavenly tribtion. How are these formations even intact?"

    "You are not asking the right questionбн the right question isбн how did we not detect it?" Elder Giza said as a serious look appeared on his face.

    <em>~SHUN~</em>

    It was at this second that a change urred in the formation.

    Tens of pirs shot out of the ground and trapped the people within them. This included everybody that was within the formation array''s limits, excluding Tian Han and Tian Chu.

    "WHAT!?" The elders were stunned.

    "Finally!" Tian Han said with relief before he stood up.

    "Fuck! My body still hurtsбн" Tian Han muttered.

    The spirit Qi infusion was still ongoing and his spirit Qi stores were slowly being replenished. But it would still take him a while before he would be able to fully heal up and reach his peak again.

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    "What is the meaning of this?" one of the elder shouted and banged his fists on the interior of the pir that he was trapped in.

    "It''s a Hundred Figure Prison Formation array!" An elder identified.

    "How can one of those be here? I''m sure there was nothing like it made here ever before." Someone else said.

    "Don''t you understandбн this was made be someone. Right under our nosesбн" Elder Giza spoke.

    "Who could do this?" A female elder said while trying to breakthrough the pirs confines.

    She was at the nascent soul realm and should have been able to exert enough strength to break many barrier formations.

    "The Frozen Brook Division?" someone suggested.

    "It could be possible."

    "Noбн" It was Elder Qianshu that spoke this time.

    His gaze quickly went to the only free person in the area. Him being none other than Tian Han.

    "The culprit is right in front of us." Elder Qianshu said.

    "What? How can it be him? He was literally undergoing a heavenly tribtion until a moment ago." The female elder said, finding it improbable.

    While the elders discussed this, Tian Han was still nervous.

    ''I better get away from here!'' he thought to himself and started to run away.

    If not for the fact that he had yet to recover, he would have flown away from the Frozen Cloud sect in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately for him, his cultivation base didn''t really allow that right now.

    "Look! He''s getting away!" The elders spotted Tian Han.

    "STOP! Don''t you dare run away!"

    "This is thend of the Frozen Cloud sect! You have to obey ourmands!" The elders shouted.

    "Fuck that shit! You''ll kill me if I stay behind. Who are you even trying to fool?" Tian Han cursed the elders.

    "STOP HIM!" the elders shouted while trying to break the pirs.

    <em>~BANG~ BANG~ BANG~</em>

    The elders started attacking the pirs non stop, hoping to shatter them. With each attack, the formations shook and made Tian Han nervous.

    "WHATEVER YOU ARE GOING TO DO, DO IT NOW! TIAN CHU!" Tian Han shouted through the link.

    And just as he said this, he felt a hot wave of spirit Qi suddenly spread through the area.

    "Huh?" Tian Han stumbled and missed a step due to that, almost falling in the process.

    <strong>"ARGH!"</strong>

    <strong>"AHH!!!"</strong>

    <strong>"UGAAA!!!"</strong>

    <strong>"NOOO!!!" </strong>

    Soon cries of pain and death were heard spreading through the area. Tian Han couldn''t resist the curiosity and looked back. But what he saw scared him to no end.

    "SAVE ME!!!!"

    "I CAN''T DIE LIKE THIS!!"

    Various cries wereing out of the mouths of the Frozen Cloud sect disciples and elders. Those that were weaker among them were currently being burned alive. The pirs they were trapped in were turned into furnaces and started heating up.

    There were runes glowing on the ground below them, releasing a scorching heat. First, only the legs of the people were burned, but then this made them kneel to the ground, burning the rest of their leg.

    Those that suffered it more, directly fell to the ground, being burned to a crisp rather quickly.

    It was as if they were all ced in a frying pan!

 Chapter 705 - A Hidden Trick By Lin Wu

    "WHO DARES!!!!" A thunderous Cry was hearding from one of the pirs that was being heated right now.

    The cry hade from none other than elder Qianshu. He saw as his subordinates and disciples died one after the others, unable to resist the scorching heat that came from the ground.

    He would be lying if he didn''t say that he was confused about how it all happened. Even his senses were unable to tell that there was an entire formation array hidden in here.

    ''How can we be trapped by a single man? That too someone that wasn''t even at the Nascent soul realm till a few minutes ago?'' Elder Qianshu wondered.

    His gaze went to Tian Han, who had taken a pause to check things out. Their gazes met momentarily, Tian Han shudder.

    "FUCK! FUCK!" Tian Han cursed as he burst into a sprint.

    Though right now he was no different from amoner running. Any cultivator would be able to match up with his speed, even those that were at the Qi refining realm. His cultivation base was inoperable until the spirit Qi infusion was over and everything stabilized.

    Not to mention, even if he had control over his cultivation base, his meridians and Dantian were still injured. He would have to heal them first before being able to do much. Tian Han even tried to use some pills, but couldn''t ess his spatial storage ring.

    ''Can''t even do thisбн shit!'' He continued cursing in his mind.

    He couldn''t believe himself that he had actually gone ahead with it all.

    "I should have never taken the mission. I should have never tried anything! I should have just stayed in the n and cultivate in seclusion." Tian Han regretted.

    Unfortunately for him, there was no medicine for regret and he would have to live with the choices he had made.

    <em>~SHATTER~</em>

    And while he was about five hundred meters away from the elders, he heard something break. The sound was crisp, as if a ss had just shattered.

    "HOW?!" a surprised shout was heard by him,ing from the rock in front of him.

    Tian Chu looked at the scene in front of her, feeling anxious and confused.

    "How did he break master''s formation array this quickly?" She questioned.

    "YOU ALL WILL SUFFER!" The elders who were freed shouted.

    "WHO EVER DARED TO SCHEME AGAINST THE FROZEN CLIFF DIVISION WILL PERISH!" Elder Qianshu dered.

    Tian Chu gazed at the scene as the pirs started to break one after the other. And the reason behind it was a long ribbon that was currently flying to each pir and breaking it. If one looked closely, they would see a metal thorn attached to one of the ribbon''s end.

    It was this object that was breaking all the pirs, and thereby breaking the fomentation array, freeing the elders that were trapped in it.

    "You!!! You killed our disciples!" The elders said with rage.

    Currently, only those that had a cultivation base above the Nascent soul realm were alive. All the disciples that were below it were weak or were dead. They had been burned alive by the formation and their nascent souls were also wiped out along with it.

    The elders felt both anger as well as fear towards the formation that had been able to burn even Nascent soul realm experts with such ease that their nascent souls couldn''t escape.

    They knew very well that if put on a cliff, some of their people will choose to self detonate. This should have caused a lot of damage, that should have at least freed a few people in the process.

    And there were elders alive that were attempting that very thing a few seconds before.

    But then they realized that their spirit Qi couldn''t work as fast either. The formation array could quickly burn through their bodies and even disable their meridians and Dantian.

    And that was merely the start. It could also prevent their spirit sense from working properly.

    All in all, it was a dangerous formation that likes of which they had not seen till now. Many of them questioned what the offensive formation that burned them was. Even those that were experts in formations couldn''tprehend them right away and neither could they recognize them.

    They would have never expected that it wasn''t a formation that had existed before this at all. It was something the system had made after analyzing several other offensive formations and thenbining it with the Hundred Figure Prison Formation,posing it into an entirely new formation array.

    It was new enough that Lin Wu hadn''t even given it a name yet.

    Regardless, the elders were filled with blood rage and rose to the skies. They no longer cared if Tian Han was someone they could use, and their value in their eyes had fallen to that of a foe that needed to be killed even at the cost of their own.

    The feud was simply too deep now!

    Who knows what would they have thought if they knew that the other half of their Frozen Cliff division had been eradicated as well.

    "I''ll get everything out of your soulter, but for now you have to DIE!" Elder Qianshu shouted as he threw out a palm imprint.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The palm imprint erged in the air as a icy wave spread from it. Even though it was several meters above the ground, it still managed to freeze the ground.

    This was none other than the Frozen Cloud sect''s pinnacle Qi skills, the Frost Seeking Palm!

    And right now, the target of this palm was none other than Tian Han.

    "SHIT! I''m deadбн" Tian Han said, realizing that he couldn''t outrun it at all.

    Tian Chu who had gotten further away from him, was scared for her life too. After all, it wasn''t just Elder Qianshu attacking. There were others who had seen her by now and sent out several attacks that she wouldn''t be able to resist.

    But just as she was about to close her eyes in defeat, a blinding light came from between Tian Han''s brows!

 Chapter 706 - Blinded!

    "What the hell is happening?"

    No one, including Tian Han, had expected such a sudden change to ur. The light was very intense and even Tian Han had to close his eyes for the fear of going blind. After all, he was the closest to the light source, being literally next to it!

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The light spread out like the re of the sun, burning the eyes of all that looked at it.

    "ARGH!!! MY EYES!!!!" The elders shouted.

    The tried to cover their eyes with their hands but they had already been exposed to the light by now.

    "WHY! WHY IS IT WHITE EVEN NOW!??" one of the elders questioned.

    With their eyes closed, they should have seen a ck scene. But due to how bright the light had been, they had been instantly blinded!

    Even Elder Qianshu, who had the highest cultivation base here, was no difference.

    "DAMMIT! I''LL KILL YOU FOR SUCH TRICKS!" Elder Qianshu shouted with absolute range.

    But what he didn''t know was that the attack had just started.

    In all this chaos, a voice spoke.

    This voice was inaudible to everyone here though, but it was dictating the fate of all that were here.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SUBORDINATE SELECTED: Tian Han

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage Of The Nascent soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote skill execution

    бн

    FUNCTION ACTIVATED: Remote Skill Execution

    SKILL SELECTED: Poison Breath

    NOTIFICATION: The Erupting Radiation Poison Breath has been executed!

    бкбк

    The elders were still reeling in from being caught off guard and only Elder Qianshu was somewhat holding on to his wits. Currently, he was blindly attacking in rage.

    The previous Frost Seeking palm that he had shot out had disappeared, as if a snowke on a hot pan. And now he was sending out more of them.

    "Frost Seeking Palm!" Elder Qianshu sent out several palms one after the other, using up quite a bit of spirit Qi in the process.

    <em>~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~</em>

    The attacks couldn''t really be aimed by the eye, so Elder Qianshu used his spirit sense to guide it. Besides, he still had enough battle experience such that he could guess and remember where Tian Han wasst present.

    The palm imprints soared through the air and urately approached Tian Han.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    But just as they were a meter away from him, they disappeared again!

    "WHAT?!" Elder Qianshu who felt his attack disappear, was shocked again.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    But this was just the start of his shock as his spirit sense was suddenly suppressed.

    "How is this possible? What did he do?" Elder Qianshu said in confusion.

    But the suppression soon turned downright violent when his spirit sense started to corrode.

    "AH!" Elder Qianshu held his head as a sharp headache assaulted him.

    Since the Spirit sense was directly linked to one''s mind for control, any damage to it was presented very quickly and the person who suffered it might get various symptoms. The mostmon symptom was a headache, but the more serious ones could be as bad as going insane or instantaneous copse of one''s soul, leading to death.

    Elder Qianshu had been injured like this before and knew that the best course of action ins situations such as these was to quickly withdraw their spirit sense. And yetбн he found himself unable to do it.

    "NO!!!!" Elder Qianshu shouted as he felt his spirit sense being corroded.

    It was rapidly spreading from the very tip of it to the source, which was his mind. Knowing that this could be very dangerous, Elder Qianshu took a severe step.

    ''BREAK!'' Elder Qianshu gritted his teeth and shouted in his mind.

    <em>~TWANG~</em>

    An almost audible sound was heard. It was simr to the string of a bow or a fiddle breaking under stress.

    <em>~huu~huu~huu~</em>

    Elder Qianshu''s already badplexion became even paler as blood drained from it. This added to his already existing injuries. He took a deep breath and took out a few pill bottles from his spatial storage treasure before pouring all of them down his throat without caring for judicious use.

    ''I''ll get every cent of this back several folds! I swear to the heavens!'' Elder Qianshu swore in his mind.

    The pills were evidently very valuable and strong, acting quickly and healing the man''s injuries.

    Feeling a cooling sensation in his eyes, Elder Qianshu opened his eyes.

    "At least I can see againбн" He said in a low voice.

    His pale face gained color again, but started to get darker and darker. Veins popped up on his forehead as his anger reached a new level.

    "I SWEAR UPON MY HONOR AND NAME, I''LL SLAUGHTER YOU AND NINE GENERATIONS OF YOUR CLAN!" Elder Qianshu proimed.

    He finally looked at Tian Han, who had recovered somewhat as well. While he was still dirty and covered with soot, his face could now be made out.

    "Itбн It''s you!??" Elder Qianshu was stunned.

    He had evidently known of Tian Han. After all, he and Tian Chu had visited the sect to inquire about their n member. And seeing the interest Tian Han had shown in the Frozen Cliff division, Elder Qianshu was informed of it.

    He was the one who had instructed the other elder to lie to Tian Han about Tian Xiaoge''s death.

    "How can it be you?" Elder Qianshu questioned.

    He was informed that while Tian Han was at the peak stage of the core condensation realm; he wasn''t at the cusp of breakthrough, or the Pseudo Nascent soul realm. In fact, any elder at the Nascent soul realm would have been able to sense the presence of tribtion energy around Tian Han if he really was this close to breakthrough.

    After all, it had been barely two days since he had visited the sect.

    While it may not be possible for them to tell who was going to breakthrough in the early stages of the pseudo Nascent soul realm, when the breakthrough was just a couple of days ago, the tribtion energy would be rather intense.

 Chapter 707 - Pain And Terror

    While Elder Qianshu had healed and opened his eyes, Tian Han had done the same.

    Even though his eyes were closest to the source of the bright light, he surprisingly found that he wasn''t blinded. He had heard the cries of the elders and knew that they were suffering far worse than him.

    ''There is a warm energy preventing me from being blindedбн'' Tian Han realized.

    He could feel a warm energying from deep inside his head and spreading to his eyes. The burning sensation of the bright light faded away quickly, and he was able to see again.

    But when he opened them, he saw the confused Elder Qianshu looking at him and questioning.

    "Youбн DIE!" Elder Qianshu''s confusion switched to anger as he sent out more Frost Seeking Palms.

    But just as he executed the technique, he realized that nothing happened.

    "Huh?" He looked at his hands and saw that no spirit Qi was leaving them.

    Instead, he could now see a pale yellow substance around him and all the elders.

    ''What is this?'' Without his spirit sense, Elder Qianshu couldn''t perceive this energy.

    In fact, it had been present here since the moment he had used his spirit sense, but due to it being rapidly corroded, he had not felt it. And only now had it changed from a transparent form to this pale yellow form.

    <em>~THUD~ THUD~</em>

    Several sounds were hearding from the back of Elder Qianshu, forcing him to look there.

    <em>~COUGH~</em>

    <em>~UGH~</em>

    He then witnessed several of the remaining elders copsing onto their knees. Some of them were coughing violently, while some of them had started vomiting as well.

    "MY SKIN! IT BURNS!!!"

    "IT ITCHES! IT ITCHES SO BAD!!!"

    A few of the weaker elders were suffering even worse and started to scratch their skin. They didn''t stop even when blood was drawn and kept on going until their nails were deep into their flesh.

    Pieces of meat and bone were forcefully dug out by the elders, their sense of preservation having fallen many levels.

    They couldn''t think straight and didn''t even realize what they were doing.

    "ELDERS! ELDERS! STOP! I SAID STOP!" Elder Qianshu said, wanting it to end.

    <em>~puff~</em>

    But the things were only half done. More effects started to appear as one of the elders developed pustules on his face. From there, they spread and covered every inch of his skin. The pain he was bearing made him scream non stop.

    "AARGHHHHHH!!!!"

    Elder Qianshu''s eyes darted from one elder to another, witnessing them going through the same phases.

    He turned to look back at Tian Han, a mixture of fear and anger in his eyes.

    "What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Elder Qianshu yelled.

    But while he was yelling, he felt his skin start to itch as well.

    "Noбн" he muttered and looked at his palms.

    Yellow bumps appeared on them and soon started to rise.

    By now, he had forgotten about the enemy in front and his mentality started to dive downwards.

    "No! No! No!" remembering the horrifying scene of the other elders suffering made Elder Qianshu shudder.

    "HOW CAN THIS HAPPENS TO ME! I AM THE CHOSEN ONE! I WAS TO BE THE PATRIARCH!" Elder Qianshu shouted in vain as pustules covered more of his skin.

    The burning sensation started to appear as well, and he was barely able to resist scratching his itch.

    ''Heavens! What even is this?'' Tian Han shouted in his mind, unable to utter a word at the terrifying scene.

    He was no less scared than Elder Qianshu and soon realized that he might be in the same wait.

    "NO! CAN''T BE!" Tian Han panicked and hurriedly looked at his body.

    But after a few seconds of checking, he was taken aback.

    "Huhбн nothing happened?" Tian Han was confused.

    <em>~Humm~</em>

    And just as he said that, the spirit Qi infusion that was urring all this while finally stopped. Tian Han felt his control of his cultivation base returning slightly. While he couldn''t use his spirit Qi as his meridians and Dantian were injured, he could still use his spirit sense.

    Using that, he probed his body and discovered that all his injuries were healing now. Not only that, he also ''saw'' the spot in the center of his brows that was glowing.

    "What is this?" Tian Han said, carefully touching it.

    It felt warm to the touch, but at the same time there was a hard surface there. Tian Han could also feel something brushing his finger, as if air was breezing over his skin.

    "This energyбн it''sing from my head?" Tian Han was confused.

    <em>~step~step~step~</em>

    While Tian Han was wondering about it all, a few footsteps were heard from his back.

    "Youбн What forbidden technique did you use? What kind of a poison is this?" Tian Chu said fearfully.

    She had seen each and every scene from the start to now. In fact, she had seen even more then Tian Han as she had not lost her vision being far away and not looking at the sh of light directly.

    She had seen some kind of a jeting out of Tian Han''s head.

    ''Was he given some other technique or item by his father? Or Elder Jigou? Or anyone else?'' Tian Chu wondered.

    Since Tian Han had that sword which could disy the power of a Dao Shell realm expert, she thought a poison like this might also be a trump card the man had hidden away or obtainedter.

    Tian Han who heard the words, turned to look at his cousin, confusion still apparent on his face.

    "Me? I didn''t do anything." Tian Han said. "I don''t even know what all this is!" He said, feeling a bit frustrated.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Tian Chu didn''t know what to say to this, but deep down she felt that Tian Han was not lying.

    "W-we should leave! We don''t know what else will happen now! We should take this chance to run!" Tian Han hurriedly said.

    <em>~TREMBLE~</em>

    At the same time, they could feel the ground shaking faintly.

 Chapter 708 - Lin Wus Arrival

    Chapter 708 иC Lin Wuбпs Arrival

    The shaking of the ground was prominent enough that Tian Han and Tian Chu had to verify that it wasn''t just more trouble heading their way. And they did see somethingrge appearing from behind the smoke and dust.

    "Now, nowбн Don''t go away, when the climax is just around the corner." A familiar voice was heard as the ground trembled.

    The voice was slightly distorted and felt chilling to Tian Chu and Tian Han. But they still recognized him.

    "MASTER!" Tian Chu gleefully called out.

    Tian Han though, didn''t say anything. He couldn''t tell what his feelings about Lin Wu were right now. He both hated the beast and was also aware that the breakthrough he had right now was because of him.

    ''Though the suffering was not worth itбн'' Tian Han muttered.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    A strong gust of wind blew from the south, dissipating all the smoke and dust that had been spread due to the man''s attacks. And when it was gone, everyone could finally see the towering figure of Lin Wu appearing.

    Lin Wu gazed at the many dead bodies that were injured beyond normal and some that looked incredibly sick. There were also piles of ashes that were mostly gone due to the strong wind from before.

    "Hmmбн this''ll be a wasteбн" Lin Wu muttered, knowing that those that had been burned away were not one''s he''d be able to consume.

    "The others thoughбн should still be consumable." Lin Wu said as he looked at the ones that were dead but were killed by the strange symptoms. ''The effect of the Erupting Radiation poison is far more powerful than I expectedбн'' he thought.

    That''s right!

    The strong attack that came from Tian Han''s head was none other than a Poison Breath that had been charged with the Erupting Radiation poison. He was actually Lin Wu''s true trap against the Elders of the Frozen Cliff division rather than the formation array that he had set up and given control to Tian Chu.

    Rather, Tian Chu was merely supposed to be a dying aspect in the whole n. He of course, didn''t tell her this as he knew that if he did, she might try to do a lot more to show him her worth.

    He had understood her character enough by now that she liked to be on the top, as if she was a top student in a sspeting against all.

    Tian Chu''s role here was to dy the elders long enough that the new function that Lin Wu had added to Tian Han got time to activate. The system had already told Lin Wu that it would take longer than what Lin Wu himself needed to use the skill.

    It was inevitable since he wasn''t the one doing it, and it was being used by someone with a far lower cultivation base than him. The Pentagem in Tian Han''s body was basically pushed to the very limit, trying to execute the skill.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu spread his spirit sense and checked the area while asking the system to check Tian Han.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Tian Han

    SCAN COMPLETED: Data banks updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the system''s notification and nodded while pushing the window away for now.

    "You did good." Lin Wu finally said to Tian Chu.

    "And what about me?" Tian Han asked, feeling a bit left out.

    "You did good tooбн I guess." Lin Wu replied.

    ''You guess!!! I almost died!'' Tian Han shouted in his heart, but didn''t say it out loud.

    Even though he wanted to do that a lotбн

    "Careful master! That man is still alive! He''s Elder Qianshu, the second inmand of the Frozen Cliff division." Tian Chu hurriedly warned, remembering that they still had someone alive.

    "Oh, we don''t need to worry about him." Lin Wu said as he looked at the broken man.

    "No, no, no, no, noбн" the man kept on incessantly muttering to himself, his voice getting hoarser and hoarser.

    His vitality was also falling rapidly and all the healing pills he had taken earlier seemed to be useless now. Not just that, he couldn''t even think straight now and was basically the same as a mentally deranged person.

    ''Did you know that the mental effects would be this severe system?'' Lin Wu questioned in his mind.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s preliminary analytics, the target should have been killed before any such effects could happen. Thus, this was not predicted during the simtion.

    The Data banks have already been updated and new analysis is underway.

    бкбк

    ''Hmmбн I see.'' Lin Wu said in his mind.

    While he was looking at Elder Qianshu, Tian Chu was wondering how it all had happened. Tian Han was the same and touched the center of his brows again, finding something new there now.

    It was hard and felt simr to a scale to him. It had five sides and looked like a pentagon, with its tip pointed downward.

    "Umm, what is this?" Tian Han asked, pointing to the scale on his head.

    Tian Chu too looked at it now and found it peculiar, having a yellow color.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu looked at where Tian Han was pointing and was intrigued.

    He pulled up the data window he had moved away and read the information in it.

    ''He got mutated too?'' Lin Wu was surprised.

    ording to the system''s information, Tian Han''s body and Nascent soul had changed under the influence of the Pentagem. This would normally not happen in the case of humans, but due to theplex situation of his breakthrough along with the massive amount of spirit Qi that Lin Wu had injected when writing the new function had added to it.

    Plus, the execution of the skill had also given his mutation a direction, changing his talent somewhat. Lin Wu quickly peered at Tian Han''s Nascent soul and found that it had taken a sulfur like yellow color.

    While it didn''t match the same shade of yellow as the scale on his forehead, it was still yellow.

    Lin Wu sensed the bloodlines and felt Tian Han''s more prominently than Tian Chu now.

    ''Guess I should answer him. He''s survived it all and managed to win.'' Lin Wu thought. ''Plus, his mutation makes him a bit more special nowбн the system will have a fun time analyzing him more.''

    "Tian Han." Lin Wu spoke, making the man stand at attention.

    "You now have a part of my bloodline in you." Lin Wu stated.

    "Huh?" Tian Han was taken aback. "What do you mean by your bloodline?" He asked.

    "You do know about bloodline assimtion, right? This is pretty much thatбн with some minor changes." Lin Wu replied.

    "How? I didn''t even assimte your bloodline." Tian Han said in surprise.

    "Yeah, Don''t we need bloodline essence crystal for that?" Tian Chu questioned, finding it strange.

    "Wellбн you saw the attack that came out of your head before right? That was a fail-safe I added to you before. An attack that would save you if something dangerous happened. And since it was my own power that was stored there, it affected your body and caused the change.

    Your breakthrough gave it the perfect condition to adapt and assimte it. Even now, you should feel it growing." Lin Wu answered.

    Tian Han was stunned and found it all a lot to take in. Lin Wu understood this and gave him a suggestion.

    "You can wait and ponder on it while I take care of some things." Lin Wu stated.

    "A-alrightбн" Tian Han said, feeling a bit lost.

    He sat down on a fallen rock nearby and thought to himself. Tian Chu was also feeling a bit lost but at the same time a different feeling rose within her heart.

    ''Master''s bloodlineбн I want it tooбн I want master in meбн'' Tian Chu thought to herself, a weird look appearing in her eyes.

    "Hm?" Lin Wu suddenly looked around, feeling a chill on his back.

    ''What was that?'' Lin Wu spread his spirit sense around just to verify that there was no danger nearby, unaware of the woman''s thoughts next to him.

    Finding that everything was fine and there were no enemies close by Lin Wu decided to resume his task.

    "Now thenбн guess I''ll use them while they are still fresh. They''re losing quality by the secondбн" Lin Wu said as he waved his tail.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Wind attribute spirit Qi swirled around his tail before spreading out and affecting the area around it. The dead bodies that were spread around were all pulled along with it before Lin Wu controlled it toe towards him.

    Tian Chu then saw a sight that was terrifying to her again.

    Lin Wu''s mouth opened wide and all the dead bodies were sucked into it all at once.

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    <em>~SQUESH~</em>

    Various sounds were hearding from Lin Wu''s mouth, loud enough to reach Tian Chu''s ears, making her shiver.

    Lin Wu didn''t care for that though and simply looked at the notifications.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 15,169,872 units [Liquid Spirit Qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 3,148,593 units

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 75,409,087 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 90,578,959 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 33,969,909 Units -> 37,118,502 Units

    бкбк

    "Almost thereбн" Lin Wu muttered, seeing the significant increase in his spirit Qi storage.

    ''Though it could have been more if the other bodies were intactбн perhaps I might have even gotten enough for the breakthrough all at once.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    But then his gaze went back to the best dish that was still waiting.

 Chapter 709 - Shell Breaker Thorn Band And Surplus Gains

    Chapter 709 иC Shell Breaker Thorn Band And Surplus Gains

    Elder Qianshu was deteriorating with each passing second and Lin Wu was quite sure that man would be dead in a few more minutes. If it were not for the fact that he was a Dao Shell realm cultivator, that too at the Shell expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm, he would have died like all the other elders.

    ''Though it is surprising that he actuallysted against radiation and could heal from the initial attacks this quick. He certainly had a lot of healing treasures it seemsбн'' Lin Wu thought before his attention went to a certain object that was lying some distance away.

    ''Also that spirit toolбн it is certainly a Peak grade spirit tool, one that is specialized in breaking formations.'' Lin Wu thought seeing the object.

    "System, scan this thing." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: unknown spirit tool

    SCAN COMPLETED: Data banks updated

    TARGET: Shell Breaker Thorn Band

    INFO: The Shell Breaker Thorn Band is one of the peak grade spirit tools of the Frozen Cloud sect. It wasn''t originally made in the sect through and was actually acquired by the sect a thousand years ago from a merchant that hade from the Hu continent.

    The spirit tool itself doesn''t have any direct offensive abilities, but it can break apart formations and arrays. Its power depends on the cultivation base of the user and at its full potential, it is said to be able to break even a sect''s core defensive formation array.

    бкбк

    "This is a nice find." Lin Wu said to himself. "And now it''s mine."

    ''System store the Shell Breaker Thorn Band'' Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ITEM STORED: Shell Breaker Thorn Band

    INVENTORY: Pink Women''s underwear, Unknown Metal girdle, Shell Breaker Thorn Band.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu stored the ribbon with the metal thorn in the investors. He wanted the system to continue analyzing it and gain more data from it. And since it was an authentic peak grade spirit tool, Lin Wu was happy to keep it to himself.

    So far, Lin Wu hadn''t really used any spirit tools or weapons since his own body was way stronger than them. But now he finally had a spirit tool that could aplish something that would take him longer to do.

    ''Even if the system can hack into the formations and break them, it still takes time. In situations where I don''t have much time, the Shell Breaker Thorn Band will be a perfect choice.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The spirit sense brand on the Shell Breaker Thorn Band had already been wiped out by the system. But even before that, it had been greatly weakened due to Elder Qianshu''s spirit sense suffering damage, and now since he was close to dying, it took the system almost no effort to wipe it out.

    <em>~Cough~</em>

    Lin Wu couldn''t even tell which cough of Elder Qianshu was due to the bacsh of erasing the brand and which was due to his body dying.

    "Not like it matters, your end is fated." Lin Wu said as lowered his head and faced the man.

    Elder Qianshu felt a shadow over his head and looked up.

    His eyes went wide as he stared into the crimson eyes of Lin Wu that were bigger than his entire head.

    "M-monsterбн" Elder Qianshu muttered, his voice almost inaudible.

    "That I am indeedбн" Lin Wu said before swallowing the man in one go.

    After he entered Lin Wu''s mouth, not even a single cry was heard. Tian Chu who saw this could only think one thing.

    ''Perhaps dying was the relief that he neededбн after suffering all that.'' Tian Chu thought to herself.

    <em>~DING!~</em>

    Lin Wu heard a notification that was significantly louder than normal. Though it still didn''te close to a warning notification. He didn''t mind it though and felt excited instead.

    "Let''s see the gains, shall weбн" he said as he brought up the windows.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 23,058,128 units [liquid spirit Qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 6,141 units

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 90,578,959 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 113,637,087 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 37,118,502 Units -> 37,124,643 Units

    NOTIFICATION: Spirit Qi Target reached!

    бкбк

    Seeing the gains, a wide smile appeared on his face.

    "Perfectбн this is enough to tide me over and still leave enough for me to use in case of emergencies." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Tian Chu couldn''t hear Lin Wu''s words as his voice had turned back into the beastly distorted form. The system had gotten better at the tranting function and knew when to censor Lin Wu''s words.

    Thus only when Lin Wu wanted others to hear him would they be able to understand him.

    "Master," Tian Chu spoke up.

    "Yes?" Lin Wu asked upon hearing.

    He could feel something in her tone and guessed that she wanted something.

    "Your bloodlineбн can I have it too?" Tian Chu questioned.

    "You want the bloodline too?" Lin Wu asked in surprise.

    He hadn''t told her that she did have the bloodline in her technically. It was just that her body hadn''t assimted it and only a part of its functions and skills that were present in the Pentagem were active.

    "Yes!" Tian Chu said with determination.

    "Hmmбн alright." Lin Wu replied.

    He didn''t mind having stronger subordinates and seeing Tian Han''s surprising mutation, Lin Wu reckoned that Tian Chu might be simr too.

    ''If it''s the same for her too, then maybe the others of the Tian n could be the same. If their talents are really this good, I may as well add more of them under me.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Come forward." Lin Wu spoke and Tian Chu obeyed.

    Lin Wu extended a spike out from his tail and pricked her head, injecting a certain amount of spirit Qi along with another fragment of his crystals. Even now Lin Wu was not fully sure about the mutation process and could only wait for it to work on humans.

    It was not like beasts where he could induce it himself.

 Chapter 710 - The Supreme Elder Awakens!

    Chapter 710 иC The Supreme Elder Awakens!

    While Lin Wu was giving Tian Chu a reward and fulfilling her wish, something else was happening deep in the Frozen Cloud sect.

    In a peak separate from the others in the Frozen Cliff Division, a man was cultivating. He was sitting in a small hall, that was located inside the peak. The peak itself wasn''t that big, and could even be said to be merely a hill.

    From the outside, it looked nothing significant and if someone passed by it, they won''t even find it special. There was no spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it that might interest someone or make them think that it held a great secret.

    But if one entered its depths, they would find that its outer appearance was a mere facade. The inside of it was filled with a massive amount of spirit Qi and below it, one could even find a spirit stone mine!

    There were several spirit Qi gathering and amplifying runes carved in the hall and made up a formation array that was perfect for someone cultivating in seclusion.

    And the one taking benefit of this all was an old man. He looked to be in his nies and had white hair. Though half of his hair was gone and he was balding too. His eyebrows were already gone and he only had a beard left on his face that was tied into a knot.

    Corporeal spirit Qi swirled around him as he breathed and entered his body each time he inhaled.

    The old man had his eyes closed the entire time and who knows how long he had been like this.

    <em>~kacha~</em>

    But then the sound of something shattering could be heard. The sound echoed in the empty hall that was illuminated with the glow of spirit Qi and runes. The old man inadvertently opened his eyes, finding it distracting.

    His eyes looked down at his left handzily at the bracelet with a single bead that was now cracked. But then in the very next second, his eyes went wide. Blood flowed into his eyes and soon they turned bloodshot.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Chilling air leaked out from his body and the entire hall was covered with frost. Not just that, but the frost was strong enough to leak through the formations arrays of the hill and freeze the entire thing solid.

    Almost a minuteter, the old man''s lips moved.

    "WHOOOOOOOOOO DARESSSSSSSS!!!!!" A earth shaking shout filled with sorrow and rage was heard.

    The entire hill shook and the sound spread around the entire Frozen Cloud sect. Even Wang Xiong who was in the Frozen Brook Division and protected by the defensive formation array heard it.

    "What was that?" Ye Jin asked, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand.

    Goosebumps appeared on several disciples'' bodies and an unsettling chill started to spread in the sect.

    Wang Xiong who recognized the voice had a serious expression on his face.

    "The Supreme elderбн" He answered.

    <strong><em>~BOOM~</em></strong>

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    "AHH!" Ye Jin cried out in shock as the ground shook.

    "Careful!" Wang Xiong pulled Ye Jin back as a pir suddenly copsed where she was standing just now.

    "W-what happened?" the other disciples rushed into the hall hearing the cry and the sound of the fallen pir.

    Wang Xiong looked at them and replied in a grave tone, "be preparedбн we are at the end. Get everyone ready to act, this will be our final push."

    "As youmand chief disciples Wang Xiong!" The disciples replied with their fists cupped.

    They quickly left to do their assigned task while Wang Xiong looked out at the sect. There was arge mass of snow that had been shot up into the sky and looked like arge spout of smoke rising into the sky.

    Wang Xiong narrowed his eyes and rubbed the jade slip in his hand.

    "He ising, seniorбн"

    бн

    <em><strong>~BOOM~</strong></em>

    The explosion was even louder than the shout before and could be seen from almost everywhere in the sect. It was different than a normal explosion in which one might see mes and fire.

    In this explosion, there was a burst of Frosty air that spread everywhere. Snow started to fall from the sky and soon turned into a blizzard. And along with all this, strong spirit Qi fluctuation spread to the very edges of the sect.

    They were strong enough that the weaker disciples that were at the Qi refining realm directly fell to the ground.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Tian Han who was pondering to himself was rudely shaken and fell to the side from the explosion and the shout.

    "What the hell was that?" Tian Chu asked feeling the power in the air.

    "Not whatбн whoбн" Lin Wu replied as he looked at the warnings that were popping up in front of him one after the other.

    <strong>~WARNING!~</strong>

    <strong>~WARNING!~</strong>

    бкбк

    WARNING: Dangerous subjects detected!

    EMERGENCY SCAN: Initiated

    EMERGENCY SCAN: Completed

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: The Supreme elder of the Frozen Cloud sect

    CULTIVATION BASE: Dao Treading Realm

    Note: Exact stage under the Dao Treading Realm is unknown!

    бкбк

    Seeing the window Lin Wu''s expression turned serious. His toothy smile disappeared and a stern face spread instead.

    "Tian Chu, Tian Han! Get away from here!" Lin Wu ordered.

    "Right away master!" Tian Chu replied.

    "Wait for a second! What is happening? Who was that?" Tian Han asked finding it all a bit too overwhelming.

    Today was possibly the worst day of his life and he had been going through one twist after the other and they never seemed to be ending.

    "Seems like the final big shot ising." Lin Wu answered. "Now that the son is dead, the father has to take revenge."

    Hearing this Tian Chu and Tian Han understood who Lin Wu was talking about.

    "FUCK THAT! I''m outta here!" Tian Han flew away at a rapid speed, unaware that his control over his cultivation base had improved even more.

    "Wait for me!" Tian Chu said, following behind Tian Han, unable to keep up with his new speed.

    Lin Wu looked at the map and saw the rapidly approaching marker.

 Chapter 711 - The Angry Supreme Elder

    Chapter 711 иC The Angry Supreme Elder

    Lin Wu had known that the true person behind the Frozen Cliff division was none other than the Supreme elder of the Frozen Cloud sect. He was the one who had originally had the conflict with the patriarch.

    Both of them were the contenders for the position of patriarch, but he had not been chosen in the end. But even then, he showed that he had talent and managed to reach the position of the supreme elder.

    He was the second strongest person in the sect, being at the Dao Treading realm. Though some people also had thoughts that the supreme elder was possibly stronger than that too. There were often rumors and people wondered who was truly stronger between the patriarch and the supreme elder.

    A long time in the past, the two of them had fought and the patriarch had won. But now hundred of years had passed and there was a great chance they might have be equal. After all, the patriarch often had to deal with the matters of the sect and didn''t have enough time to cultivate whenpared to the supreme elder.

    After his loss against the patriarch, he had taken a different route. He had lowered his offense against the patriarch and had instead focused on improving the administration of the sect.

    He nurtured his own subordinates that were capable and efficiently ran the sect. This not onlyted him more resources, but also gave him more time to cultivate. It wasmon information that the supreme elder mostly stayed in secluded cultivation, onlying out for important matters that needed his attention.

    The Supreme elders n had evidently worked as he had gained enough influence to split part the sect into three divisions. And now the only question was whether he would have enough time to enact his n.

    While Lin Wu didn''t know all the details, from the history he had gotten from Wang Xiong and the rest he had gathered from other sources, he could understand a few things. The one thing he knew for sure was that killing the supreme elder would be the only way to stop the rebellion.

    As for the Weiyuan chamberбн they weren''t dumb enough to directly appear in the open conflict of a sect. It would get them too much infamy and possibly attract attention from the other sects.

    And for a power that wanted to secretly develop, such infamy was the worst. Thus, even if they might have supported the Frozen Cliff division all this time, they won''t act when there was an open battle like this.

    While they might try to do something after it had all ended, they won''t appear right now.

    "Time to act." Lin Wu said, as his aura started to rise.

    Spirit Qi waves rose from his body, making the area tremble. The remains of the buildings and other rubble moved under the pressure as the clouds in the sky kept on raining snow.

    The system kept in sending more and more warnings, but Lin Wu simply ignored them for now.

    ''Let''s see how Ipare to a true cultivator at the Dao Treading realmбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as his fangs glowed in a strange yellow light.

    Blue lines moved under the surface of his skin, looking like snakes. The sapphire meridians worked hard to produce more and more sapphire spirit Qi and Lin Wu got to preparing his attack.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Finally, the marker reached where Lin Wu was and met him. The two looked into each other''s eyes, assessing their power.

    "There''s no doubtбн it is you who killed my son." The old man spoke.

    Rage was visible in his eyes, and frosty air exuded from every inch of his body. The spirit Qi wavesing from his body were already enough to kill some weaker cultivators at the Qi refining realm just from being in his presence.

    And this was when he wasn''t even attacking anyone. Just the mere pressure had reached a high enough level to affect the flow of natural spirit Qi in the air.

    ''Dao Treading realm is certainly on a different realmбн seems like I didn''t really get to see much from the Aqua Dream Sea Lotus back then.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He had escaped from the Aqua Dream Sea Lotus back in the past, but even that was due to the help of Zhu Tianying. Lin Wu now realized how much of the pressure had been held back by her.

    ''Seems like I might have been a bit mistakenбн though now I have the proper assessment.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he prepared his attack.

    The supreme elder''s spirit sense probed Lin Wu but was stopped by the radiation enveloping his body. But the old man didn''t show any expression of surprise, as if nothing could faze him.

    "Oh? Not many can use spirit sense on me and feel fine after that." Lin Wu spoke.

    The old man''s brows moved slightly upon hearing Lin Wu.

    "So you speak." The old man said.

    "I do indeed. Though you make me interested. Most others that hear me speak are rather shocked." Lin Wu replied.

    "You aren''t the only beast who can speak. I''ve seen a few." The Supreme elder stated. "Thoughбн there aren''t many that would dare to attack the Frozen Cloud sectбн and even less that can enter the sect like this." He continued, his voice filling with killing intent.

    "Haha, I thought I maye and test out your sect. I have to admit, I haven''t seen such exquisitely tasting humans before. Your sect''s elders and disciples certainly had talentбн after all, I could taste it on my tongue." Lin Wu said, irking the old man.

    "You dare insult me and the sect? Killing you will not be enough, it seems. I''ll need to refine your soul and seal it in ice for a thousand years. Let''s see how you like that," the Supreme elder said, feelingpletely infuriated.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    But just as he finished taking, Lin Wu attacked!

 Chapter 712 - Lin Wu And Supreme Elders Battle!

    Chapter 712 иC Lin Wu And Supreme Elderбпs Battle!

    The wind felt like it was tearing as Lin Wu swung his tail. It curved in the air as it shed at the supreme elder.

    "Futile effort!" the old man said before thrusting out with his palm.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Frosty air moved along with his hand, forming a wall of ice and blocking Lin Wu''s attack.

    <em>~CRACK~</em>

    The ice wall shattered, but it gave the supreme elder enough time to dodge it and counter attack.

    The supreme elder extended his index finger straight and poked out at Lin Wu. His finger let out a sharp energy that turned into an illusory spear made out of ice that rushed towards Lin Wu.

    "Oh? You can use this too. So this is the highest form of the Frozen Cloud Heart Cultivation Technique." Lin Wu said.

    The old man didn''t reply to Lin Wu and poked out a few more times.

    This was the Frozen Cloud Heart Cultivation technique, that was the signature cultivation technique of the Frozen Cloud sect. It was themon cultivation technique that was practiced by each and every disciple of the sect, including Wang Xiong.

    There was also the other signature technique of the Frozen Cloud sect that was only restricted to the patriarch of the sect. It was none other than the Forbidden Frost Scripture.

    But even if it was strong, Lin Wu could tell that the level that the supreme elder had reached with the Frozen Cloud Heart cultivation technique was no less than the Forbidden Frost Scripture.

    The ice spears shot towards Lin Wu and struck his body. They could actually pierce through the wind elemental spirit Qi that was surrounding it andst long enough against the radiation to actually touch his body.

    <em>~THUD~ THUD~ THUD~</em>

    Out of the ten ice spears the supreme elder had shot out, Lin Wu was hit with three of them while he dodged the rest.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Lin Wu''s body moved slightly back due to the impact, but he simply shifted his body''s segments to offset the momentum.

    "You are certainly strong." Lin Wu admitted.

    He knew how much force was needed to move his body, which was extremely heavy.

    "But I''m not weak either." Lin Wu said before thrusting out with his tail.

    <em>~WHIRRR~</em>

    His tail was like a drill as the wind elemental spirit Qi swirled around it.

    <em><strong>Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Piercing Twister!</strong></em>

    The wind spinning around Lin Wu''s tail shredded any ice or snow that came near it, sending it away. The rubble and the rocks on the ground were affected by it too, being shot away with great force.

    <em><strong>"Frozen Cloud Heart: Hail Spear!</strong></em>" The supreme elder chanted as he made a gesture with his hands.

    Runes appeared around his hands and flew out into the sky.

    <em>~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~</em>

    The snow kes in the air quickly condensed into solid ice and rainbow down in the form of hail. The hail kept on increasing in length and looked the like spears. By the time they reached Lin Wu, they had already be a foot long in length.

    <em>~KACHA~ KACHA~ KACHA~</em>

    The hail of icy spears reached Lin Wu and hit him. Some of them hit the tail with the whirling wind and were shredded apart into ice shards while the rest hit Lin Wu''s body. While they did no damage, they did slow down Lin Wu enough that the supreme elder got enough time to prepare another skill.

    "Not so fast!" Lin Wu said as he suddenly elerate.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    A plume of me shout out from the spikes on his back, boosting him forward.

    The supreme elder was a bit taken aback and was forced to halt his skill mid way.

    "Damn it!" he cursed before bringing his palms forward.

    Frost appeared on his hands and expanded intorge hands. Now it looked like the old man had giant hands formed from ice.

    <em>~DENG~</em>

    <em>~ck~ ck~ ck~</em>

    Lin Wu''s tail met the icy palms and the sound of ss being ground could be heard. The wind constantly spun and damaged the ice hands while they kept on regenerating.

    <em>~WOONG~ WOONG~ WOONG~</em>

    The wind whirred non stop like a storm, yet the ice hands still managed to stop Lin Wu''s skill in the end.

    The wind faded away as Lin Wu''s skill came to an end.

    "Got you in my grasp now!" The supreme elder said as the ice hands gripped onto Lin Wu''s tail.

    The ice hands were just the right size for Lin Wu''s tail to be fully grasped. The supreme elder twisted his body and exerted strength, and along with it the ice hands moved.

    ''He''s gonna throw me?'' Lin Wu was surprised.

    He actually found his tail being lifted and at the same time, icy spirit Qi prating through his defenses. It was weak before when the other attacks had hit Lin Wu, but now with the ice hands being in constant contact with his body, the effect was far stronger.

    Lin Wu found that even the radiation surrounding his body was not enough to overpower the ice elemental spirit Qi, and it managed to enter his body. They affected his own spirit Qi in his body, and slowed it down.

    "Shit." Lin Wu said as he tried to push the ice spirit Qi out of his body while also trying to break free from the supreme elder''s ice hands.

    <em>~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~</em>

    Lin Wu extended spikes out of his tail''s trying to force the ice hands to let go of him, but he found it hard to do. The grip was far too strong for him to go against just by passively growing the spikes.

    "HAA!" The supreme elder shouted as he exerted more power, finally lifting Lin Wu into the air.

    His head now hung upside down while his tail was up.

    "DIE!" the old man yelled and mmed down Lin Wu into the hill.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    Lin Wu''s body broke into the hard hill as if it was nothing and created a long valley in it.

 Chapter 713 - Icy Battle

    Chapter 713 иC Icy Battle

    The Supreme elder vanished the ice hands with a wave of his hands and stared down at the long valley below him. His expression was still stern despite the fact that he had delivered a strong blow to Lin Wu.

    He didn''t know what beast this was, but knew that it was not weak.

    ''What is its cultivation base? How can I not tell it even after my spirit Qi managed to prate its defenses? And what is the strange energy corroding the spirit Qi?'' The supreme elder had several questions.

    At first he was filled with anger and had almost gotten blinded by it, but now having seen Lin Wu''s power and toughness, he knew that the beast was nothing to scoff at.

    "Come out! Don''t pretend. No beast that can breakthrough my sect''s defenses will die this easily." The supreme elder spoke out loud.

    <em>~Tremble~</em>

    In response to his words, the ground started to shake and the already copsed buildings ttened even more.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Then suddenly, the ground behind the supreme elder broke apart, and from it shot out the head of Lin Wu.

    <em>~hiss~</em>

    His fangs were on fully disy and a yellow glow could also be seen on them. Lin Wu''s eyes glowed in the crimson light, looking likergenterns.

    "Humph! So you were there." The Supreme elder quickly turned around.

    "Of course! T''was but a scratch!" Lin Wu casually said while his jaws narrowed around the figure of the Supreme elder.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    But when he was just a meter away from trapping the Supreme elder in his jaws, he was stopped.

    Two streams of frost continuously pushed him back. These wereing from the Supreme elder''s hands and had a very cold temperature. If this frost spread over iron or steel, it would be chilled enough that even a light tap would shatter it.

    Ayer of frost appeared on Lin Wu''s head and neck, going all the way to three of his segments. Wind attribute spirit Qi tried to shield him from the frost but couldn''t help but be torn apart.

    "You really are worth your title huhбн" Lin Wu said before retreating.

    He knew that attacking like this was not possible and the old man had already taken the opportunity to put distance between them.

    <em>~Crack~ Crack~ Crack~</em>

    The ice on Lin Wu''s body cracked but by bit as the radiation started pouring in and melting it. The rapid temperature change quickly melted it off and removed it. Lin Wu needed to do this urgently since it wasn''t just a problem of having ice on his skin, but rather the fact that this ice would continuously inject ice elemental spirit Qi into his body.

    He had already ended up with some amount of this foreign ice elemental spirit Qi into his meridians, and it wasn''t doing any good for him.

    Lin Wu quickly looked at the warning window that had been shing on the side of his field of vision.

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    бкбк

    HAZARD WARNING: 10% Meridians affected

    NOTIFICATION: Spirit Qi cirction is slowing down, several blockages have been detected

    бкбк

    Seeing this, Lin Wu knew that a battle of attrition against the Supreme elder was the worst thing he could do. The longer he fought, the more ice elemental spirit Qi would leak into his body.

    This was something he was unable to stop even if he tried to. Even expelling it seemed to be impossible in a short time as there was a different aura to the ice elemental spirit Qi. It was like it had a ''will'' and his spirit Qi, did not.

    ''Is this the power of someone in the Dao Treading Realm?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He recalled the information about the Dao Treading realm, how one had to birth a Dao Embryo and ponder on the traces of Dao that were present in them.

    While Lin Wu wasn''t a Dao Treading realm expert yet, he could still see the traces of Dao sometimes. The best example of it was none other than the Tribtion lightning bolts that he had resisted.

    Back then, he was able to not only resist them but also block and redirect them. But that was a method that would not work for him this time.

    ''The tribtion lightning bolts are still a form of radiation and I can somewhat control it due to my Radiation Maniption Innate skill. But I can''t do the same with iceбн I might have been able to heat normal ice, but this is not the same at all.'' Lin Wu understood.

    <em>~SLASH~</em>

    In the few seconds Lin Wu taken to think the Supreme elder had not stayed still. He condensed a sword from ice and swung it towards Lin Wu. This shot out an arc of ice elemental spirit Qi that froze everything in its way.

    Lin Wu of course, didn''t miss it and swung his tail against it while using Immortal Sky Shaker Art and radiation with it. This was the only way he was somewhat able to resist the ice elemental spirit Qi.

    "Looks like I have no choice. I should have updated it before this, but testing this in real time was important tooбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu looked at a window he had kept on pause on the side and selected ''ept'' on it.

    "Do it system!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    TRANSFERRING SPIRIT QI: 94,592,284 units [Liquid Spirit Qi]

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Genesis Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [5,407,716/100,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi) -> [100,000,000/100,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Initiated

    бкбк

    The spirit Qi fluctuationing from Lin Wu''s body suddenly spiked and the Supreme elder felt it as well. Seeing the massive change in the spirit Qi, even his calm demeanor was broken.

    "What?!" The old man said in surprise.

    If onepared the spirit Qi that Lin Wu had before this and now, it would be nearly 100 times more.. This was why the old man was stunned.

 Chapter 714 - A Tough Spot For Lin Wu

    Chapter 714 иC A Tough Spot For Lin Wu

    "I can''t let him do whatever he is doing!" The Supreme elder understood.

    Within Lin Wu''s Dantian, a massive change was happening.

    The ocean of spirit Qi there churned and toiled as the massive infusion of spirit Qi started to pour in. Above this stormy ocean of spirit Qi floated the two Dao Shells and on them sat the two Nascent souls of Lin Wu.

    Right now, both of them had their eyes closed and were calmly sitting in a meditative pose. But when the spirit Qi finally started to pour into the Dao Shell of Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm Bloodline, both the Nascent souls moved.

    The dark Nascent soul which belonged to the unknown bloodline trembled slightly, and his hands twitched. A frown appeared on hies face but he didn''t open his eyes and continued to sit as it is.

    The other nascent soul though, had a slight smile on his face but continued to keep his eyes closed.

    The Dao Shell below him steadily absorbed the spirit Qi pouring into the Dantian. The mostly illusory form of the Dao Shell started to be more and more corporeal.

    Till now, only about five percent of the Dao Shell was actually solid. And on this solid part at the top sat the Nascent soul. The rest of the part was illusory and looked translucent. But now the spirit Qi was rapidly filling in and turning it solid as well.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    But then something happened that shook the Dantian.

    "GAH!" Lin Wu let out a pain filled grunt.

    His body was knocked back and almost fell, but was stopped by his tail that embedded into the ground.

    He had just been struck by a very strong blow of the Supreme elder. Unknowingly, when trying to upgrade his actions had been slowed down and even mobilizing his own spirit Qi was slow.

    "Fuck! This hasn''t happened before!" Lin Wu said in surprise.

    <em>~SLASH~</em>

    The Supreme elder shed again and again, sending out arcs of ice elemental spirit Qi towards Lin Wu. The moved like swords through the air and tore apart Lin Wu''s defenses before striking his body.

    <em>~Crack~ Crack~</em>

    For the first time since the start of the fight, cracks appeared on the surface of Lin Wu''s body.

    "So you can be damaged." The Supreme elder taunted.

    He was sure that his attacks were dealing damage, but nothing was appearing on Lin Wu''s body, making him confused about it all.

    ''The amount of damage I''ve dealt to him directly would be enough to shatter even the sect''s defensive arrays. Whatever that beast is, it certainly has a way to resist this or hide the damage.'' The Supreme elder reckoned.

    And just as he was observing Lin Wu, he saw something that made him furrow his brows.

    "So you can heal tooбн" the Supreme elder muttered, seeing the cracks disappearing just as quickly as they had appeared.

    "Fuck you!" Lin Wu cursed as he stabbed out with his tail.

    A few new warning windows had popped up that had rmed Lin Wu.

    <em>~WARNING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANOMALY: DETECTED

    NOTIFICATION: Foreign Spirit Qi has blocked the host''s meridians in several points, the cost using skills and techniques will be doubled.

    бкбк

    This was not something Lin Wu had expected to happen. Even with just ten percent of his meridians having blocks, the cost of using skills had been directly doubled.

    "Why the heck is this happening now system?" Lin Wu asked, feeling angry.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The blocks in the host''s meridians slow down the cirction of spirit Qi as well as the use of skills, as they interrupt the normal spirit Qi circuits used during the activation of skills.

    In order to not let the host suffer from bacsh and skill interruption, twice the amount of spirit Qi is being used topensate for the block.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu gritted his teeth.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    DAO SHELL PROGRESS: 12% formed

    ESTIMATED TIME OF COMPLETION: 880 seconds

    бкбк

    He looked at the progress of his Dao Shell and saw that even that had slowed down. Before, it was forming at a rate of one percent per second, but now, it was taking ten seconds to fill just one percent.

    This was not a good sign for Lin Wu as he didn''t know if he would be to hold on longer against the supreme elder like this.

    The formation of the Dao Shell was a vastly different process than any other stages he had gone through till now and it was not something Lin Wu or the system could just speed through.

    Even what he was doing right now was against the norms of cultivation. He was doing what people took hundreds, if not thousands, of years to do. Even if someone theoretically had enough spirit stones and other resources to rush their way to the Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm, it would still take them several years to do so.

    After all, it wasn''t just absorbing and filling spirit Qi to form the Dao Shell; it was also stabilizing it and making sure that the body could adapt to it. There was nock of examples of people who made mistakes during cultivation and ended up breaking their Dao Shell apart.

    In the best case, it would cripple their cultivation base, regressing them back to the Nascent soul realm and, in worst cases, it would simply kill them.

    Even with the system handling all the errors, there was a limit to what it could achieve in such a short time. And it didn''t help that there was the foreign ice elemental spirit of Qi slowing him down as well.

    ''Fuck, the more I fight with him, the more ice elemental spirit Qi will enter my body. This will then slow down the process more. I can''t let that happen, I need to buy time somehow,'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    His mind quickly moved to find a solution and he soon found one. He was, after all, not alone here at the Frozen Cloud sect.

    He contacted a couple of hispanions and informed them about what he was doing.

 Chapter 715 - The Beasts Vs The Supreme Elder

    Chapter 715 иC The Beasts Vs The Supreme Elder

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Explosions continued to happen as the Supreme Elder attacked Lin Wu non stop. Lin Wu too, kept on dodging them while also making his way to the Frozen Brook Division.

    "Fuck, this man is getting only faster." Lin Wu cursed.

    He couldn''t fly to the Frozen brook division directly either, as he was sure that the Supreme Elder might get suspicious about it. Thus, he had to pretend as if he was still fighting the man and weave around it.

    But this didn''te with its drawbacks either. Lin Wu still ended up suffering from some attacks.

    While he could indeed heal from them, there was still the foreign ice elemental spirit Qi that prated his body and entered his meridians, slowing down the speed of his Dao Shell forming even more.

    ''I should have put as much spirit Qi into the Dao Shell from the start instead of leaving it forst. I made a mistake!'' Lin Wu regretted.

    Though Lin Wu couldn''t me himself or the system for it either, since it was somethingpletely new for both of them. Neither of them knew that they would encounter someone like the Supreme Elder who could slow down and even block his meridians.

    Not to mention the fact that he had never needed so much time to breakthrough. This was not the first time Lin Wu was trying to breakthrough in the middle of the battlefield after all.

    Thus, he thought that it would be the same.

    ''At least I now know not to make this mistake in the futureбн if I get out of this.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "You beast! Stay in one ce and die!" the Supreme Elder shouted.

    He was getting irritated by Lin Wu''s constant movement. He had already tried to use his stronger attacks, but they would all take longer time periods to get ready and Lin Wu would get away in that time.

    Thus, he too had to act ordingly and used the other skill of his that were fast but didn''t deal as much damage.

    ''At least his body is not fully immune from my Spirit Chilling Frost.'' The Supreme Elder thought to himself.

    Lin Wu was certainly an enigma to the man and he couldn''t help but wonder where such a beast hade out from. And it was an even greater mystery such as to why it would attack the Frozen Cloud sect.

    This was something that would be considered absurd in most cases. The number of times a sect has been assaulted to this extent by a beast could be counted on one hand. Especially for a top ten sects of the Long continent.

    The Supreme Elder could only imagine the loss of face they would face after this.

    ''Dammit, our ranking will greatly fall as well.'' The Supreme Elder realized.

    This only made him more enraged, and he increased the intensity of his attacks. At the same time, he looked around the devastation in the sect and was filled with sorrow.

    ''All that effort, hundreds of years of workбн all goneбн I''ll kill this beast!'' The Supreme Elder thought to himself with determination.

    But just as he was thinking this, he suddenly found himself being forced to close his eyes.

    "Ugh!" The Supreme Elder help up his hand to block the light that was blinding him.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    The roar of a beast was heard echoing in the area as more spirit Qi fluctuation became apparent to the Supreme Elder.

    "What?!" The Supreme Elder was shocked.

    He suddenly found one more spirit Qi signature that was no weaker than Lin Wu appearing in his field of perception. And from the roar, he could tell that it was a beast too.

    <em>~THWACK~</em>

    "Haha! Got you!" Lin Wu said as he pped the Supreme Elder away.

    "What did you get into?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked.

    He was the one who had used his innate bloodline skill to blind the supreme elder temporarily. It had given Lin Wu the chance to attack the old man and buy him some more time.

    "That''s the Supreme Elder I told you about. I want you and Tim to do hold him back." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Hold him back? That man is at the Dao Treading realm!" The Twin Lights Liger King was shocked by Lin Wu''s words.

    "I know that. I don''t want you two to hold him back forever, just for a little while. Give me just five more minutes and I''ll end him myself." Lin Wu exined.

    "Five minutes?" The Twin Lights liger king seemed hesitant.

    With the original n that they had made, the Twin Lights Liger King and Tim were supposed to handle the weaker disciples of the Frozen Cloud sect and Lin Wu would be the one handling the ones that were Dao Shell realm or stronger.

    But now the Twin Lights Liger King didn''t know if he could do something like this. Even if he was rather strong for a Dao Shell realm beast, he still knew his limits. Besides, they couldn''t exactly tell how strong the Supreme Elder was.

    Telling the stage of a Dao Treading realm cultivator was a difficult thing and unless their Dao Embryo appeared it would be close to impossible to estimate. This was due to the fact that their cultivation base was not based on their spirit Qi anymore, but rather theirprehension.

    "Just do it, I know you are capable." Lin Wu spoke. "Tim! Wait, where is he?" he asked.

    "He should be nearby. Thest I saw him, he was eating the corpses." The Twin Lights liger King spoke.

    "Dammit." Lin Wu looked around for Tim and found his marker on the other side of the barrier.

    "Why the hell are you inside?" Lin Wu asked out loud.

    <em>~Kii~</em>

    Tim''s startled cry could be hearding from some distance away. It was obvious that he had heard Lin Wu and from his tone could tell that Lin Wu was not happy with him.

    "Tim I swear,e here right now or no snacks for you!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~KIIIIII!!!!~</em>

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    The sound of the barrier flickering could be heard as the figure of Tim quickly appeared from it. He broke through the barrier as if it was nothing and stood in front of Lin Wu in attention.

    Tim: o_o

    "Okay, now I want you to kill." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Kill? What?" Tim asked.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    And just as he said that, the sound of thunder could be heard.

    <em>~Crackle~ Crackle~ Crackle~ </em>

    But if one looked up at the sky, they would realize that it was not thunder that was making the sound, but rather something entirely different.

    "ALL YOU BEASTS WILL DIE!!!!" The Supreme Elder yelled.

    His hands were extended above his head and copious amounts of ice elemental spirit Qi wasing out of them. The ice elemental spirit Qi gathered into arge ball of ice above him that kept on expanding.

    The ice ball turned into an ice chunk and then into arge ice block. But even then, it showed no signs of stopping.

    "Fuck! It''s that skill." Lin Wu remembered,

    This was the same skill Wang Xiong had used in the trials of the Taiji Celestial long back. Lin Wu knew about its effects very well and how powerful it was.

    ''When Wang Xiong used it, he was barely at the core condensation realm and his skills were not that good either. If it is used by the Supreme Elder who is far more experienced and is even at the Dao Treading realm, who knows what kind of an effect it will be.'' Lin Wu understood.

    The snow kept on falling as well, and the rate of its falling increased as well. Lin Wu and the Twin Lights Liger King soon realized another fact.

    "Is it just me or is the cold air making it hard to control spirit Qi?" The Twin Lights Liger King questioned, as cold sweat appeared on his head.

    "Noбн you''re not alone. It''s being done by the supreme elder. This is his ability. It slows down your control and flow of spirit Qi." Lin Wu answered.

    "Dammit! That is not something I can fight against." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.

    "You need to. Just long enough for me to be ready, then I''ll get rid of him. Even if you are injured it will be fine, I can heal you all." Lin Wu said with confidence.

    The Twin Lights Liger King gritted his teeth, feeling conflicted about it. But in the end, he could only sigh to himself and ept the choice. He was after all, the subordinate of Lin Wu and Lin Wu was his king.

    "Food?" Tim suddenly spoke.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu looked at Tim who''s expression was different

    Tim: *_*

    It was as if there were star''s in his eyes as the Weasel stared at therge mass of ice that was forming in the sky.

    "FOOD!" Tim shouted.

    An idea appeared in Lin Wu''s mind as he spoke, "yeah! That''s food Tim! Go get it! Eat eat! Eat that man too, if you want to!"

    <em>~KREEE!!!!!~</em>

    Tim let out a fearless battle cry filled with excitement as he charged into the sky.

    Lin Wu the looked at the Twin Lights Liger king.

    "Aren''t you ashamed? Even a child is braver than you." Lin Wu teased.

    ''Fuck you! That''s not being brave. That child is retarded!'' The Twin Lights Liger King cursed in his mind, but didn''t say it out loud.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Letting out onest sigh, he too flew up into the sky.

 Chapter 716 - The Supreme Elders Shock And Analysis

    Chapter 716 иC The Supreme Elderбпs Shock And Analysis

    The supreme elder had not expected for the two beasts to charge directly towards him. He could tell that while the Twin Lights liger king was almost on the same level as that of Lin Wu, the other beast that looked like a strange weasel was different.

    He couldn''t even sense any specific aura from the beast and neither was there any spirit Qi fluctuations. But what he did feel from Tim was Killing intent. Pure killing intent, that made the supreme elder feel like the beast charging towards him saw him as nothing but prey.

    "You dare insult me with that look?" The supreme elder found it audacious.

    He lowered one hand from the cier that was expanding above his hand and thrust it towards Tim.

    "Frost Seeking Palm!" it was the same technique that Elder Qianshu had used before.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The palm intent descended like a mountain falling from the sky, its five fingers looking like small hills. Elder Qianshu using the Frost Seeking palm and the supreme elder using it was significantly different.

    Lin Wu who observed it all, could tell that there was a qualitative difference as well as a quantitative difference between the two. Not only had the supreme elder used it far more causally, he had even done it while he was preparing a massive skill.

    The Frost Seeking palm rushed towards the two beasts, and the Twin Lights Liger King was a bit shocked.

    "Dammit, that''s a strong attack from a Dao Treading realm cultivator." The Twin Lights Liger King cursed his luck.

    He could tell the power in the attack was far more than a normal attack of a Dao Treading Realm cultivator. Not to mention the fact that the icy energying from the Frost Seeking palm was easily able to prate his body.

    He felt the core temperature of his body tilting and made him increase the consumption of vitality to maintain it.

    <em>~KIIIIIII!!!!~</em>

    But the Twin Lights Liger King was in for another shock.

    "What in the!?" Even the supreme elder was surprised.

    Tim let out a loud cry and charged into the Frost Seeking Palm head first. Opening his mouth wide, he fiercely bit into the palm.

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    Then a scene unexpected to him happened. The Frost Seeking Palm actually developed a crack!

    "Impossible! How can a beast do this? It should have been knocked away just from the initial impact." The supreme elder was stunned.

    He couldn''t wrap his head around the beast that Tim was. Not only that, but when the supreme elder used his spirit sense to take a closer look, he found that the Spirit Chilling Frost that he had developed after breaking through to the Dao Treading realm andprehending Dao Traces from his Dao Embryo didn''t work at all on Tim.

    "What beast is this?" The supreme elder was confused.

    He tried to rack his memory and recall if he had read or learned about a beast like this ever before.

    ''That one is a Twin Lights Liger for sure.'' The supreme elder managed to identify one of them. ''But this strange weaselбн there is no record of it.'' He added.

    His eyes then went to Lin Wu, who seemed to be preparing for something down on the ground. There were strong waves of spirit Qiing from him, that rmed the supreme elder.

    ''That beast tooбн there is no record about it. It is certainly some kind of a serpent or snake beast.'' The supreme elder thought.

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    While he was thinking all this, the Frost Seeking Palmpletely broke apart due to Tim''s effort and the weasel continued onward without nary a bit of damage on him. The Twin Lights Liger King was relieved from this too and let out a roar.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    The eyes of the Twin Lights Liger King shone in dual lights of ck and white before shooting out beams.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The two beams that were shot out from his eyes were very fast, such that even the supreme elder was unable to dodge them. He tried to defend using another skill and tired to make an ice wall, but he couldn''t match the speed.

    <em>~HISS~</em>

    The supreme elder looked at his injured hand with wide eyes. His flesh was scorched where the two beams of light had struck. Not just that, he could feel that the spirit Qi in that part had disappeared as well.

    "The Purging Twin Lights Beam." The supreme elder recognized the skill.

    Once again, he was surprised by an attack that could injure him at the Dao Treading realm. It made him take the Twin Lights Liger King even more seriously.

    "A Twin Lights Liger King like you is rare. Especially one at the Dao Shell realm. Let me guessбн you are the ruler of the Millennium forest?" The supreme elder identified.

    <em>~Grrr~</em>

    The Twin Lights Liger King could understand the supreme elder''s words, but couldn''t care less about them. It wasmon knowledge that the millennium forest''s ruler, the Twin Lights Liger king, had a breakthrough and had reached the Dao Shell realm.

    While there might have been another Twin Lights Liger King on the Long continent, the supreme elder reckoned that there was no chance that there would be another one at the Dao Shell realm this close to the Frozen Cloud sect.

    But this posed another question to him.

    How or why would the ruler of the Millennium forest attack his sect?

    Not to mention who were the other two beasts with it?

    Both of them were no less weak, or rather were even stronger than the Twin Lights liger King now that the supreme elder thought about it.

    ''A weasel beast that can break through my skill, a Twin Lights Liger beast that can harm me and then that strange crystal serpentбн three strong beasts all having the power at the Dao Shell realm.

    Such a gathering is greatly unusual. There is no way they came here on their own ord..'' The supreme elder analyzed.

 Chapter 717 - Critical Point

    Chapter 717 иC Critical Point

    While the supreme elder was fighting against the Twin Lights Liger King and Tim, Lin Wu was focusing on himself.

    "Shit! Can''t this speed up more?" Lin Wu cursed.

    He frantically looked through the hundreds of storage sections he had and picked out all the healing items or other things that he thought might help him.

    "Fuck it! I''ll take them all!" Lin Wu decided.

    He threw all the pills, pastes, crystals, and stones into his mouth and swallowed them quickly.

    For the first few seconds, Lin Wu didn''t feel anything. But then it happenedбн

    "Goddammit!" Lin Wu grunted in pain, letting out a distorted cry that even startled the supreme elder a little bit.

    He could fell heat, cold, and an electrifying energy rushing in his stomach. It prate his stomach and moved to the meridians before rushing out into the rest of his body.

    The system too didn''t forget to give out warnings.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    WARNING: Potent medical energy detected!

    WARNING: Potent vital energy detected!

    WARNING: Conflicting medicinalponents detected!

    RECTIFYING: Conflict resolved.

    бкбк

    Taking so many things without considering the oue was certainly a crazy thing, and if it was anyone other than Lin Wu, there was no doubt they would have died. Either by exploding into a thousand bits, or melting into a puddle of blood due to the strong toxins made from thebination of conflicting medicinalponents.

    "At least it''s helpingбн" Lin Wu could only console himself.

    He could feel the blockages in his meridians being forcefully being pushed out. It was certainly a painful sensation and felt like someone was grinding down on his flesh with a cheese grater.

    But the effects were worth it for him.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Meridian Blockages at 9%

    DAO SHELL PROGRESS: 50%

    бкбк

    Seeing the notification, Lin Wu felt really pleased.

    "HAHA! Just a few more minutes and I''ll beat his ass!" Lin Wu eximed, which was only understood by the Twin Lights Liger king.

    He felt both conflicted and relieved, but the supreme elder found the exmation to be another distorted cry.

    ''What''s up with that beast?'' the supreme elder wondered.

    He wanted to attack Lin Wu, but found that he was actually being matched by these two beasts.

    Or more entually, it was Tim that was taking all the hits while the Twin Lights Liger King kept on shooting out beams from his eyes.

    "How can this beast be this tough? He seems even tougher than that crystal serpent." The supreme elder was surprised.

    He had seen just how much Lin Wu could withstand and yet, Tim seemed to be the same. Both of them had crystals on their bodies, which evidently increased their power and defenses.

    It made the supreme elder wonder if there was some connection between Tim and Lin Wu.

    ''This is certainly not a coincidence. Even the Twin Lights Ligerбн his attacks have something else hidden in them. A strange energy that can consume my spirit Qi.'' The supreme elder wondered.

    Unfortunately, what he didn''t know was that the Twin Lights Liger King was no normal Twin Lights Liger King. He too was now part of the Emeraldine Legion and contained a part of the bloodline.

    It had even gone so far as to mutate his own bloodline and adapt to it, boosting his capabilities further and adding some nasty effects for his foes.

    This was the first time the Twin Lights Liger King was fighting like this too and was rather surprised by his own capabilities.

    "If I can keep this upбн then doesn''t it mean that I actually have a chance to defeat this man?" The Twin Lights Liger king couldn''t help but question.

    His confidence rose and the doubts he was feeling in facing a Dao Treading realm cultivator like the supreme elder reduced.

    <em>~SHUN~ SHUN~ SHUN~</em>

    He increased his speed of attacks and used spirit Qi wantonly. One beam after the other was shot out as ck and white lights alternated.

    Lin Wu who saw this all, couldn''t help but feel a bit nostalgic.

    ''Those eyes are pretty muchser sters, huhбн'' Lin Wu thought, as a few ideas about making some things came to his mind.

    <em>~KIIIIII!!!~</em>

    Tim was no less fierce and his ws and teeth tore through everything that was thrown at him. Lin Wu knew that his ws and teeth had reached another level after his breakthrough.

    After all, Lin Wu had to face them before too, in the many beat downs he had given to Tim. While he had won every time, Tim wasn''t fully helpless either. He had given Lin Wu enough injuries.

    In fact, his ws and teeth were one of the few things that could actually cut through his crystalline body. It was rather shocking to Lin Wu and if he didn''t have the ability to regenerate, Tim could have very well been the bane of his existence.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "I need to really find some new ways to tame Tim. He''ll certainly be a lot more wild after this incident." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The fight in the sky continued and the two parties had reached a stalemate. The supreme elder couldn''t defeat the two beasts and could only push them back, while Tim and the Twin Lights Liger King kept up their offense, with Tim acting as the Tank and The Twin Lights Liger King the DPS.

    While this was not enough to defeat the supreme elder, it was still enough to make him unable to put his full energy intopleting the skill. The icy flier in the sky had slowed down in its growth and didn''t look to be growing at the same speed as before.

    "Hehehe! Just a couple minutes more." Lin Wu chuckled.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Meridian Blockage at 5%

    DAO SHELL PROGRESS: 76%

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nced at the progress and his toothy smile appeared on his face again. He was already imagining the different ways he would use his skills after the breakthrough and was excited for him.

    The system had already told him that the breakthrough for him would be vastly different than before too.

 Chapter 718 - Shocking Clash!

    Chapter 718 иC Shocking sh!

    The battle of the Supreme elder and the two beasts continued on while Lin Wu steadily increased his cultivation base. He only needed a few more seconds, and he was at the very cusp ofpetition now.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Meridian Blockage at 2%

    DAO SHELL PROGRESS: 98%

    бкбк

    "Just a bit moreбн just a bit more and I can whop his ass." Lin Wu said to himself, feeling excited.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    And while he was waiting, an explosion happened in the sky.

    Lin Wu looked up and saw that the situation had suddenly changed.

    <em>~ROAR!~</em>

    A painful roar was let out by the Twin Lights Liger King and several long gashes appeared on his body. There was frost covering his fur as well, and it seemed like he had been hit really bad.

    But it was not just him that was injured. Even Tim was knocked back from the attack and fine cracks could actually be seen on his body.

    "YOU DAMNED FILTHY BEASTS! I WILL END YOU TODAY!" The Supreme elder dered.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Massive amounts of ice elemental spirit Qi poured into the cier above him and he had finally finished his skill.

    "Take this! GLACIER CRASH!" The supreme elder threw the cier.

    Frosty air emanated from the cier, bringing down the temperature of the entire Frozen Cloud sect by several degrees. Which was understandable since the cier itself was the size of an entire mountain.

    If this fell down, it was likely that the Frozen Cloud sect would have an entirely new mountain peak.

    <em>~KIKIKIKI!~</em>

    Tim let out an unwilling cry as he saw the cier descend upon him. The Twin Lights Liger King was the same, but could barely move now.

    "Dammit! Is this how I will meet my end?" The Twin Lights Liger King cursed to himself.

    He watched as therge cier rapidly descended. The other members of the sect: those from the Frozen brook division, and the Frozen ins division saw the massive cier as well.

    In fact, they had been watching the entire incident from the start to the end and were scared of it all. The initial ughter by Lin Wu was quick and the others hadn''t found out that the sect had been attacked.

    But after the Supreme elder''s outburst, there was no chance they would be ignorant. Wang Xiong and Ye Jin watched with bated breaths as therge cier fell at a great pace. To a person on the ground, it would appear like a slow illusion due to therge size, but it was falling at a great speed.

    "Heavens save usбн" Ye Jin prayed.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    But just when they were about to give up hope, strong spirit Qi fluctuations spread. They were overwhelming for most and were even able to overpower the Supreme elder''s own Dao Treading realm cultivation base.

    "Impossible!" The Supreme elder said in shock.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    A strong gust of wind blew as a voice spoke.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The rumbling of thunder could be heard as well and it felt like a storm was about to descended.

    <strong>"Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Obliterating Tempest!"</strong> Lin Wu chanted.

    <em>~KABOOM~</em>

    In the very next second, the supreme elder felts his very soul shake.

    "Noбн" But before he could speak much, he felt intense pain assaulting his body.

    "AAAAARRHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" The Supreme elder shouted in pain.

    Right now, his body had disappearance within what looked like a storm. Sharp winds and Violent lighting seethed within the storm, constantly attacking everything within and around it.

    The source of this storm was none other than Lin Wu, of course!

    His body glimmered in an emerald light as arcs of lighting dances across his crystalline skin. Wind elemental spirit Qi was joined with Lightning attribute spirit Qi and weaved a mystical show.

    The Twin Lights Liger King was taken aback and took a breath of relief.

    "Heбн he kept up his promiseбн" The Twin Lights Liger King muttered to himself.

    <em>~cough~</em>

    He coughed lightly and tried to stop the bleeding from his body. He couldn''t use any healing skills or items thus could only depend on his cultivation base to stop the bleeding. He knew that expelling the icy energy in his body was not something he would be able to do on his own for now and would have to wait till Lin Wu was ready to help him.

    Tim was surprised too and gazed at the storm in sky. His eyes sparkled along with the bolts of lighting that continued to strike a certain someone stuck in the middle of the storm.

    Tim: *_*

    For the first time, he felt a new emotion. He didn''t know what it meant, but if he asked someone, they would tell him this was what ''Awe'' felt like.

    "Enough waiting around, time to end this." Lin Wu said before he flew up into the sky.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    Dense wind raged across his tail as it started to morph. It elongated and the segments fused into a long singr de. The de only had one edge and the other side of it was curved with ten tubes pointing out of it.

    A blue flowing light entered the de and illuminated the tail while bright red mes sprouted from the tubes on its back. But that was not all, as soon as wind elemental spirit Qi coated the entire de, forming an almost corporealyer on it.

    <em>~SPARK~</em>

    Then lighting started to wrap around the de and burned through the air, giving off the smell of ozone.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Lin Wu elerated his body and shot up into the sky. He continued going up even when the supreme elder and the storm were left behind. His speed was faster than before and in less than ten seconds he was high up in the sky, almost at an altitude of a kilometer from the ground.

    When he finally reached this point, Lin Wu dived down, head first!

    He fell towards the ground like a meteor but looked different with the lighting, wind, and mes raging over his tail.

    Lin Wu rapidly covered the distance as his crimson eyes glowed with delight.

    And just when he was a short distance away from the supreme elder and the storm, he curled up his body. Momentum was exerted and the de like tail cleaved towards the supreme elder.

    "<em>Ster Thundering Wind Splitter!</em>" Lin Wu chanted while injecting more spirit Qi into the new skill he had made.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    A sonic boom urred as Lin Wu used his tail that moved at great speed. It was just like a whip cracking and the change in momentum increased the speed of his tail even more, giving it even greater power.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    The storm that was wrapping the supreme elder was forcefully dispelled from the force of the attack, and the old man was finally revealed. His appearance looked haggard, and most of his robes had been burned off.

    Only the inner armor he was wearing somewhat managed to hold up. Even then, his skin was scorched in many ces and blood seeped out of the hundreds of cuts his body had borne.

    ''How can this be?'' the supreme elder was at a loss.

    He couldn''t understand how a single skill could restrain him and injure him thus much. Not to mention that he found the skill to be familiar as well.

    ''The immortal Sky shaker art? How does this beast know it?! It''s one of the top techniques of the Ji n. This is impossible!'' The Supreme elder thought to himself in shock.

    Unfortunately for him, he would probably never find the answer to that.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    But when he looked at the attack iing towards him, a newfound rage filed him.

    "NOOO!!! I WON''T GO DOWN LIKE THIS!" The Supreme elder let out a roar.

    <em>~SHUA~</em>

    His body let out a strong burst of spirit Qi as arge object appeared from his body. At first it was small and hard to see from distance, but then it started to rapidly expand until it reached a size of about a meter.

    The object was none other than the Supreme elder''s Dao Shell!

    It was in the shape of a long cone and looked rather simple. But at the same time, another object could be seen hidden within the Dao Shell.

    It was long and emanated a bone chilling air. Even looking at it would make one shiver unconsciously.

    This was none other than the Dao Embryo that the Supreme elder had created!

    "No beast at the Dao Shell realm will be able to kill me who is at the Dao Treading realm! It is against thews of nature!" The Supreme elder thought with determination as he swung his hands forward.

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    With that gesture, long cone shaped Dao Shell above him moved as well and quickly appeared in front of him.

    The tip of the Dao shell was pointed towards the attack and reached there just when the de of Lin Wu was a few inches away.

    <em>~CLANG~</em>

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The two attacks met an explosion loud enough to deafen happened!

    Everyone watching the battle was forced to block their ears for the fear of going deaf and some even cried in pain. Those that were a bit unfortunate found their ears bleeding before they passed out unconscious.

    Even looking at the scene was very difficult due to the sheer amount of energy that was emitting from it.

    Lin Wu''s de like tail shed with the tip of the supreme elder''s Dao Shell, ending up in a stalemate.

    <em>~WOOM~ WOOM~ WOOM~</em>

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The wind and lightning restlessly assaulted the Dao Shell while the Sapphire spirit Qi enchanted their effects.

 Chapter 719 - Marinating The Supreme Elder?

    Chapter 719 иC Marinating The Supreme Elder?

    The tip of the Dao Shell was like the tip of a unyielding spear while the de like tail of Lin Wu was like the peerless sword that could split apart the earth.

    Lin Wu hadn''t just made the skill randomly either bybining the different innate skills he had. This time, the Ster Thundering Wind Splitter was a true Qi skill. In fact, it was something that others could use as well.

    This was made bybining the innate skill and the many techniques the system had gathered. Combining the insights of them, Lin Wu had created this skill. Granted, now that Lin Wu was using it right now, his proficiency was at the very lowest.

    It was the same as a novice picking up a sword and doing aplex technique for the first time.

    And yetбн the power of the skill was nothing short of devastating.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    As if a tiger had been awakened, the Dao Embryo within the Dao Shell of the Supreme elder let out a roar. It was strange, and it was the first time Lin Wu was seeing this. Even when the Aquadream Sea Lotus had used its Dao Embryo, the effects were a lot more straightforward.

    Plus the Aquadream Sea Lotus had used it very quickly in the fight while the Supreme elder had held on for very long.

    ''Waitбн doesn''t this meanбн he isn''t actually that proficient with his Dao Embryo?'' Lin Mu realized.

    A few ideas appeared on Lin Wu''s mind as he continued resisting the power of the Dao Shell.

    <em>~Creak~</em>

    But eventually Lin Wu''s de started being pushed back slightly. If it were anyone else, they might have been startled by it and those that were actually seeing it were the same.

    "Dammit! He can''t go against a Dao Treading Realm expert, can he?" The Twin Lights Liger King said, feeling anxious.

    "Hold on Senior! You can do it!" Wang Xiong said, feeling anxious too.

    He held Ye Jin in his hand, who was already shivering non stop. This was not just due to the cold, but also due to the sheer amount of power that was being exerted.

    Meanwhile, a certain someone was standing at the very border of the Frozen Cloud sect and watching the fight with a maniacal look.

    "MASTER IS AMAZING! MASTER IS GODLY!" Tian Chu said, drool sliding down the side of her mouth.

    Her eyes were basically sparkling at this scene, and she couldn''t stop trembling.

    "You mad woman! Why did you stop running!?" Tian Han shouted, seeing Tian Chu''s actions.

    He took a nce at the fight happening in the distance and shuddered.

    ''He''s definitely not some normal beast. No beast should be this powerful.'' Tian Han thought to himself.

    Back at the area of the fight, Tim was watching the entire fight without blinking, his thoughts unknown.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    All of a sudden, one of the hills nearby copsed, unable to bear the force of the attacks.

    "Surrender! And I might leave you a while corpse!" The Supreme elder threatened.

    He felt his confidence returning as he saw that Lin Wu was still unable to push him back.

    ''Using my Dao Embryo now will push be back by years, but all this will be worth it. Just this beast''s corpse will be priceless. Not to mention the bloodline essence that might be extracted from it.'' The Supreme elder thought.

    Lin Wu''s value in his eyes had shot up after seeing his power and talent. A beast being able to use human cultivation techniques and skills was somethingpletely unheard of in the Ming Dao world, not to mention a beast that could battle someone an entire cultivation realm above them.

    ''It even broke through in the middle of a battle. He was surely not at the Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm before this.'' The Supreme elder understood.

    He had sensed the changes in Lin Wu''s spirit Qi fluctuation and that easily put him at least at the Completion stage.

    ''No, not just thatбн considering the sheer amount of spirit Qi he is able to mobilize, he is clearly stronger than most Shell expansion stage Dao Shell realm beings. And if it is this strong at this stage, then just how terrifying will it be at the Shell Expansion stage.'' The Supreme elder thought, feeling a bit afraid of Lin Wu''s talent.

    ''I surely can''t let this beast live!'' He decided.

    "AHAHAHA!" But as a shock to him, Lin Wu suddenly startedughing.

    "You knowбн I can offer you the same. Surrender now and I won''t eat youбн or at least I won''t eat you raw." Lin Wu offered. "Don''t worry, I''ll give you a worthy marinate. I''ll use a secret mix of eleven spirit herbs and spices. I''ll coat you in the eggs of Dao Shell realm beasts and then coat you again the flour of the finest spirit wheat and corn. Finally, I''ll fry you in the oil extracted from the best Spirit olives!"

    "Youбн YOU!" The supreme elder was instantly infuriated. "YOU DARE MOCK ME!!!!!"

    "I''m not mocking you. I''ll really do all that. I even have special chefs who will take care of you and cook you with the greatest of skills!" Lin Wu proimed.

    "AGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The Supreme elder couldn''t take it anymore and poured all of his power into his Dao Embryo.

    But it was at this time that Lin Wu smirked.

    ''He fell for itбн''

    <em>~POOF~</em>

    Lin Wu suddenly opened his mouth and spurted out arge amount of Dark Green liquid. The liquid immediately vaporised and doused the Supreme elder and his Dao Shell in him. His shouting even made it so that he identally ended up breathing in some of the Dark Green Vapors.

    <em>~Cough~ </em>

    <em>~cough~</em>

    The supreme elder couldn''t help but coughharshly, feeling as if he had just breathed in knives into his lungs. This all pushed off his focus and he made a mistake in controlling his power.

    <em>~SPURT~</em>

    He ended up with a bacsh from his power and spurted out blood.

 Chapter 720 - Dual 360 No Scope

    Chapter 720 иC Dual 360 No Scope

    In the thousands of years that he had cultivated, the supreme elder had evener expected that he would be thrown off by the words of an enemy. Not to mention when this enemy wasn''t even a person with a glib tongue,, but rather a beast of all things!

    <em>~cough~ ~COUGH~ COUGH!~</em>

    The Supreme elder continued to cough and every time he did he only spat out more blood.

    "Y-youбн What did you do to me?!" The Supreme elder spoke with difficulty.

    "Well, you know what they say. You gotta prepare the meat and make sure it is well tenderized before you cook it. I''m just getting you ready to be marinated." Lin Wu replied. "I gave you a little pre-marination." He added.

    The Supreme elder found himself at a loss for his words and couldn''t even understand what Lin Wu was saying. They seemed unknown to him, and he just thought the beast was mocking him even more.

    "Iбк" The Supreme elder wanted to curse but suddenly felt sharp pains spreading across his body.

    It was like fine razors scraping across his blood, his meridians and even his heart. It was the worst kind of a pain he had felt and made him understand that he had been poisoned by something terrifying.

    The Supreme elder had not seen Lin Wu use his poisons until now and was thus unaware of them. Lin Wu too had not used them from the start, knowing well that it would be a trump card when used at the right moment.

    "You feel that?" Lin Wu continued to speak. "Feel those cuts inside your body? Those are good. It''s just like when you put in cuts in meat to make sure the marinate prates deep inside. You will taste so goodter."

    "Youбк <em>~SPLAT~</em>" The supreme elder suddenly felt another change in his body.

    The razors that were tearing his insides were now threating to burst out from his body. In fact, a few of them had already shot out from the bleeding cuts he already had. And when he looked at them, he found them to be small des that seemed to be formed from some kind of energy.

    "Oh, don''t worry. The process is just starting. When the entire thing is done, you will be the same as a b of meat that went through a spiked meat tenderizer~" Lin Wu chuckled.

    What Lin Wu had used earlier was one of his four poisons that he had. It was the Tearing Wind poison and was made due to the influence of Wind elemental proficiency Lin Wu had.

    It was a poison that Lin Wu hadn''t really used in a real battle and had only tested it out on some unfortunate subject. The results were rather gruesome and bloody in the end. But the tests also revealed the ws of the Wind Tearing poison.

    The biggest w of the Wind Tearing Poison was that it would only take effect if it actually entered the body of the target. Thus, the best way to use it was with the Venom Fang skill.

    Using it with Poison breath would only made it dissipate easily and even if it touched the skin of someone it wouldn''t do much. In fact, even if it touched amoner with no cultivation whatsoever, they would be fine.

    That was until they breathed it in, of course. Then the result would be entirely different.

    This was also the reason why using it on beings with cultivation base would make it difficult since they could just hold their breath.

    Lin Wu knew this very well and waited until he had the right opportunity. When he saw that even the Ster Thundering Wind splitter was not enough to kill the supreme elder, he knew he would have to finds way to make him drop his guard.

    Making him breathe it in would be the most important thing since he couldn''t exactly move towards the man and bite him in this situation. The Supreme elder, being focused on his skill and being enraged, was the rightbination needed to make him breathe it and also make him suffer from a bacsh at the same time.

    ''The force is already easing up.'' Lin Wu felt it on his tail.

    The light of the Dao Embryo also dimmed down slightly. It would be hard for others to perceive it but Lin Wu could tell that very easily with his radiation perception. Just like the tribtion lightning bolts, Lin Wu could see transparent specs in the Dao Embryo along with the chill of ice that appeared blue.

    The dark blue color of the Icicle turned a shade lighter, showing that its temperature had actually increased.

    Lin Wu also watched the Supreme elder finding that his poison was already at its limits and about to reach the climax.

    The supreme elder struggled to keep up the bnce of his spirit Qi while also making sure that his Dao embryo was working. The poison ravaging his body also needed to be resisted or he might just die from that before Lin Wu killed him.

    But before he could do much, he felt the pain spiking even more. The razors of poison pushed his flesh from the inside before his skin was unable to bear it any more.

    <em>~pew~ pew~pew~pew~ pew~</em>

    As if a grenade had exploded, the wind razors shot out from the supreme elder''s body. They tore though his skin and vessels, turning him into a pin cushion man.

    "AAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" The old man cried out in pain.

    He had never expected today would be going like this and he would be suffering the worst injuries of his life.

    ''Even the fight against Patriarch Bing was nothingpared to thisбн'' The supreme elder couldn''t help butpare.

    But this was the least of his worries, as his misfeature had not ended yet.

    The pain had made him lose focus enough that his control of his spirit Qi wavered.

    Which meant thatбн

    <em><strong>~KACHA~</strong></em>

    "There we go, HAHAHA!" Lin Wu roared upon seeing the Dao Shell finally cracking!

 Chapter 721 - The Supreme Elders End

    Chapter 721 иC The Supreme Elderбпs End

    The Supreme elder couldn''t believe his eyes upon seeing his Dao Shell crack.

    "No! NO! NOOO!!!! THIS CAN''T BE HAPPENING! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!" the man shouted madly.

    Unfortunately for him, no matter how much he wanted to deny it there was no way he could change his fate now.

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    The de didn''t stop there and continued breaking apart the Dao Shell. By the time it was half way through, the integrity of the Dao Shell was fullypromised.

    <strong><em>~SHATTER~</em></strong>

    Then finally, it happenedбн

    <em>~SPLAT~</em>

    The Supreme elder spat out a massive amount of blood and felt the spirit Qi within his body leaking out. His control over his cultivation base started to fall and he knew that he didn''t have long now.

    "Youбн you did thisбн you destroyed my sectбн killed my sonбн crippled meбн" The Supreme elder said unwillingly.

    "Yep." Lin Wu replied.

    He couldn''t care less about a man that was already half dead. If it were not for the vitality of a Dao Treading realm cultivator he would have long since died. Just the poison alone should have been enough to kill him several times over.

    Though it was also important data for the system since it could analyze and learn from this. It would further improve when its results in the future when it derived new things. And the improvement in the techniques would also be a benefit.

    But at this time a surge of madness took over the Supreme elder.

    "I''LL KILL YOU ALONG WITH MYSELF!!! AHAHAHAHAHAH!" The old manughed crazily.

    The Dao embryo that was now left bare open in the air started to tremble and a vast energy surged out of it.

    All others that were watching it were terrified at this scene and knew what the Supreme elder was attempting to do.

    "NO!" The twin lights liger king shouted. "Stop him!"

    Tim didn''t know much and simply drooled seeing the Dao Embryo. As soon as the Dao Embryo was not protected by the Dao Shell, Tim felt a tantalizing aromaing from it.

    "Tasty Iceбн" Tim muttered as he drooled.

    The Dao Embryo was quite literally a icicle so his word''s weren''t really wrong..

    <em>~CRUNCH~</em>

    But the enchanted look in Tim quickly disappeared as he saw a scene that broke his heard.

    "NO!!!! MY POPSICLE!" Tim yelled with surprising vocabry.

    The Supreme elder too was stunned as he saw the absurd scene in front of him.

    "Oof! Too cold. Brain freeze!" Lin Wu said as he rubbed his head.

    "Y-youбн Y-youбн YOU ATE MY DAO EMBRYO!?" The Supreme elder said and felt his head spinning.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    .

    .

    .

    .

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Soon after saying that, his body swayed and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

    "Aannnnndбн he''s dead." Lin Wu said as he felt thest signs of life fizzling out of the Supreme elder''s body.

    Even his Nascent soul directly dissipated due to the massive amount of damage it had sustained along with the multiple bacshes the old man ended up enduring. He didn''t even get to escape with his Nascent soul as Lin Wu had taken away that chance at the very start.

    Even if a beast or a cultivator died and they tried escaping using their Nascent soul, they would end up dying to the ambient radiation that was spread around by Lin Wu. It was an additional safe guard to prevent any enemy from escaping.

    While it would end up causing him a loss of spirit Qi since he wouldn''t get to eat the Nascent soul, it was still the better choice than letting an enemy survive and take revengeter on in the future.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "That was way more stressful than I thoughtбн" Lin Wu took a breath of relief.

    He was truly tired right now. Not just mentally but also physically due to the sheer amount of spirit Qi he had used up in his attacks. Even if he had broken though very recently and should have had arge amount of spirit Qi stores, the skills he had used one after the others were no joke.

    Just the skill that Lin Mu had used from the Immortal Sky Shaker Art, the Obliterating Tempest was enough to consume a quarter of Lin Wu''s spirit Qi at once. It was a skill that could not be used easily and was one of the highest ranking skills among the Immortal Sky Shaker art.

    It was a skill that even Shirong couldn''t use even if his proficiency with the Immortal Sky Shaker art was higher than Lin Wu. Rather in this case it wasn''t a matter of quality but rather sheer quantity.

    Even for an average Dao Treading Realm cultivator the Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Obliterating Tempest would be no less than a full power attack of theirs.

    Lin Wu''s spirit Qi stores were massive right now and could easily exceeded those of Dao Treading realm experts at this point. Though he had yet to get a proper measure for that. The sample size that the system and Lin Wu had for that was very small after all.

    The only two proper scans that Lin Wu had managed to gets in all this time was from the Supreme elder right now and Zhu Tianying when she had broken through. Zhu Tianying was an outlier and had a massive capacity due to her bloodline thus Lin Wu couldn''t really take her as an example.

    Thus in a way the Supreme elder was the first proper subject at the Dao Treading Realm he''s had till now.

    The Twin Lights Liger struggled to stand up and walked towards the corpse of the Supreme elder. He still felt doubtful and checked the old man himself, ensuring that he was dead.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "Heavensбн he''s finally dead." The Twin Lights Liger King took a breath of relief.

    <em>~KIII~</em>

    <em>~thud~</em>

    But just as he finished speaking he felt a strong force hitting him.

    "GODDAMMIT! I''m still injured for heavens sake!" The Twin Lights Liger King yelled as he was sent flying by Tim''s careless tackle.

    "HEYY!!!" Lin Wu shouted seeing what Tim was about to do.

    His tail swiped down and swatted Tim away.

    <em>~PEWWWWWW~</em>

    Tim soared away in the sky, but there was a smile on his face as his eyes curled up in a smile too.

    "FUCK! HE STILL GOT IT!" Lin Wu saw the leg in Tim''s jaws.

    He looked back at the dead body of the Supreme elder and saw the missing leg. Tim had sessfully managed to bite away a leg before Lin Wu could do anything.

    <em>~THUD~</em>

    Tim''s body collided with an invisible barrier and made it flicker under the force.

    <em>~SKREEET~</em>

    His spiky body scraped down the side of the barrier before finally falling back down. But Tim didn''t care for anything and simply finished the leg in his mouth.

    "Delishбн" Tim said onest time before closing his eyes and passing out.

    "And there he goes sleeping againбн" Lin Wu shook his head.

    Even if Tim had only eaten a single leg of the Supreme elder, it was still the leg of a Dao Treading realm cultivator. The weasel beast had only had a Dao Shell realm beast as the highest cultivation base food before and thus this was a little overwhelming for him.

    Though Lin Wu was sure that the beast would be up and running soon enough.

    ''His metabolism will adapt and boost his cultivation pretty fast.'' Lin Wu knew for sure.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Lin Wu could only sigh to himself and let it go.

    "He did work pretty well this time though. I would have given him some part if he waited a bit more anyway." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Tim did deserve the leg ording to Lin Wu since it was Tim who had managed to hold back the Supreme elder for all this time along with the Twin Lights liger king. If not for the two of them holding back, Lin Wu would have been unable to breakthrough and all would haw been for naught.

    Lin Wu looked at the injured Twin Lights Liger King before extending his tail.

    <em>~slick~</em>

    "HEY! AT LEAST WARN ME BEFORE STABBING ME!" The Twin Lights Liger King said, tears almost appearing in his eyes.

    "I''m just healing you. Like I promised." Lin Wu said.

    "Alright, alrightбн" The Twin Lights Liger King replied helplessly.

    "System, get him healed." Lin Wu spoke..

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNING: Target selected

    SCAN COMPLETED: Injuries identified

    WARNING: Unknown ice energy detected in target''s body

    INJECTING VITAL ESSENCE: 624,643 Units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 37,124,643 Units -> 36,500,000 units

    бкбк

    Lin Wu watched the new window that had just appeared. It showed the blockages in the Twin Lights Liger King''s body and also the injuries that it had sustained. With the continuous injection of Vital essence, the system started to guide the beast''s natural healing to recover and regenerate the body.

    The Vital Essence that Lin Wu had was rather pure and thus it would be no less than a top grade healing pill for most people. Additionally it would have no problems such as pill toxins and could be directly used by the body.

    Lin Wu didn''t really use his Vital essence for others since it felt the same as draining his own life to heal others to him. It wasn''t really a pleasant feeling to him. He wouldn''t really use it unless it was really important to him.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Healingpleted

    Note: the target will need to rest for about a month to recover the remaining injuries naturally.

    бкбк

    "That''s good enough." Lin Wu said before taking a look at the Twin Lights Liger who had fallen asleep too.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Looks like I''m gonna have to carry them home this time."

 Chapter 722 - Conclusion Of The Battle, Meeting Wang Xiong And Ye Jin

    Chapter 722 иC Conclusion Of The Battle, Meeting Wang Xiong And Ye Jin

    Watching the two subordinates of his that were in deep sleep now, Lin Wu sighed to himself.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    But just as he did that, he saw the barrier of the Frozen Brook division flickering.

    "Oh? Are they finally ready toe out?" Lin Wu said as his spirit sense spread.

    It easily passed through the barrier, which was alreadying down, and discovered all the members of the Frozen Brook Division that had been observing it all.

    "Well, that was understandable. Though this is certainly a bit more open than I thought. Looks like I''ll have to change the ns a bit." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he saw a couple fly out from the top of a peak.

    The couple came to stand before Lin Wu and bowed deeply.

    "Senior," Wang Xiong and Ye Jin said with immense respect.

    "Thank youбн Thank you for your help." Wang Xiong said, his voice trembling slightly.

    He had witnessed the fight from the very start and knew just how dangerous it all was. The most shocking thing was the revtion from the Supreme elder''s power. They had never expected that he had progressed this far.

    Wang Xiong had learned from his current master, the patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect, and had obviously seen the man''s power. He was stunned to find out that the supreme elder''s power was not that far off from Patriarch Bing''s.

    "Yes. If not for Senior, I don''t know if we could have lived for long." Ye Jing added as well.

    "Mmhmmбн It was indeed necessary. I don''t believe this would end here, though." Lin Wu replied.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong trembled slightly.

    "You mean to sayбн" Wang Xiong said lightly.

    "Yes. There will probably be others that will now interfere. The news about the supreme elder dying and the situation of the Frozen Cloud sect will inevitably leak. Even I cannot ensure that it can be stopped.

    The Weiyuan Chamber will take this opportunity, no doubt. They might even consider this grounds for revenge considering we did just kill their cash cow and ally." Lin Wu exined.

    <em>~ck~</em>

    Wang Xiong clenched his fist, making his bones pop.

    "What do we do then, senior?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Well, the only way to take care of this would be to stabilize the sect first. You trust the patriarch, right?" Lin Wu replied.

    "Yes. He is trustable. And he also has a friendly rtionship with Guardian Yun, so it should be fine." Wang Xiong confirmed.

    "Very well. Then he will have to deal with it. Though the endgame would be to have you take power officially." Lin Wu spoke.

    "I know, senior. But that will take a while. I''ll have to be at the very least in the Dao Shell realm to even be considered for the position. Besides, Patriarch Bing is still in the prime of his life and won''t be retiring from his position anytime soon." Wang Xiong stated.

    "That''s fine. You simply need to strengthen your own position. Even though it was unavoidable and what we did, the loss of the Frozen Cliff division will weaken the Frozen Cloud sect. The number of high leveled cultivators you had have effectively been halved." Lin Wu spoke truthfully.

    With the help of the system, Lin Wu knew exactly how many people had died here and how many he had killed. Even if the lower ranked disciples were still alive, and their numbers were not that far reduced, the loss of elders was not something that could be solved easily.

    If the Patriarch was the backbone of the sect, then the elders were the ribs and limbs. Without them, the sect would be efficiently crippled.

    "Thenбн the other sects and powers will also be acting, won''t they?" Ye Jin said, understanding Lin Wu''s words.

    "Indeed. The main threat wille from them. While the Weiyuan chamber is the problem, they won''t act out in the open. With their mode of action, they would much rather attack with a borrowed knife.

    Them inciting the other powers and sects won''t be that hard either." Lin Wu replied.

    Ye Jin and Wang Xiong''s expressions darkened as they understood the potential future they would have to face.

    "We have to get Guardian Yun out." Wang Xiong spoke after a minute of silence.

    "Yes, let''s do that." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Wait, we need the key from the supreme elder." Wang Xiong replied.

    "A key?" Lin Wu asked.

    "The key to the sealing formation. It should be on the supreme elder. Originally it was Elder Qianshu who held it, but he should have handed it to the supreme elder since it would be safer with him." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Let''s see then." Lin Wu said and pulled the corpse of the supreme elder towards them.

    Looking at the heavily damaged corpse that was missing a leg, Ye Jin shivered. This was the worst condition she had ever seen someone in; even if they were dead right now. She couldn''t help but subconsciously imagine herself in the situation.

    Wang Xiong frisked the corpse and soon found the spatial storage tool that the Supreme elder kept.

    "That''s his spatial storage tool?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    "Yes." Wang Xiong replied.

    "I don''t feel any spatial or spirit Qi fluctuations from it." Lin Wu spoke.

    "That is understandable. This is a peak grade spirit tool, after all. One of the few our sect has." Wang Xiong said while holding what looked like a hair clip.

    It was hidden inside the long hair of the supreme elder and was not seen by Lin Wu. The surprising thing was it was still undamaged even after bearing the coteral impact of Lin Wu''s attacks.

    ''System scan the thing.'' Lin Wu ordered, feeling interested.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Unknown Hairclip

    SCAN COMPLETED: Data banks updated

    TARGET: Deep Holding Mantis Clip

    INFO: The Deep Holding Mantis Clip is a peak grade spatial storage tools having additional functions such as defensive barriers and also a locking formation on it. It is made with thousandfold tempered ck Iron and is very durable.

    It''s capacity is also about a thousand cubic meters.

    бкбк

 Chapter 723 - Deep Holding Mantis Clip And Key To Yun Bais Seal

    Chapter 723 иC Deep Holding Mantis Clip And Key To Yun Baiбпs Seal

    Seeing as how the System already had information about it in the Data bank, Lin Wu understood that it was actually a well known spirit tool.

    Usually Peak grade spirit tools would be very rare and difficult to make. Thus, their numbers would take a while to grow over the years. This would also give the people enough time to learn about them.

    Their sales and production would also be rather high profile and would get a lot of bids on them. After all, the Spirit tool refiner would advertise his creations as much as possible so that he could get back the value of his hard work.

    It would also serve as a way to increase their reputation and skill.

    Thus, other than very few spirit tools that were intentionally kept secret, the rest would be well known in the cultivation world and be recorded in many ces.

    This was especially for important spirit tools like spatial storage tools. They were considered necessary spirit tools that every cultivator should have. Someone might not need a weapon or some other spirit tool, but everyone would need a spatial storage tool.

    And the spatial storage tools that had high capacity were only that much expensive.

    Even for peak grade spatial storage tool, the Deep Holding Mantis clip had rather expansive capacity. Which showed its value.

    "This is something rather goodбн" Lin Wu muttered and checked more information that system had found.

    Switching the windows, Lin Wu saw the origins of the Deep Holding Mantis Clip.

    It was not actually made in the Frozen Cloud sect and was acquired from an independent spirit tool refiner several hundred years ago.

    Wang Xiong tried to ess the Spatial storage tool but was at a loss.

    "Senior, I can''t get though it. Even with the spirit sense brand gone, it is still inessible." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "What!? Is it broken!?" Ye Jin said anxiously.

    "It is just locked." Lin Wu replied. "Let me have a look."

    "Here you go, Senior." Wang Xiong handed the clip to Lin Wu.

    ''System, unlock it,'' Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin then saw Lin Wu touching the clip and making several small runes appear in the air. The runes all spun around the clip before taking ce at a specific spot.

    ''He''s unraveling it on the fly?'' Ye Jin was stunned.

    She could somewhat understand what Lin Wu was doing, and it was rather shocking to her. Unraveling a formation or formation array was not easy and if a cultivator wanted to do that, they would first study what the formtions were.

    Then they would have to verify which permutation andbinations of runes were used to make that version of formation.

    It was all a very long an exhaustive process and only those that were greatly experienced and learned in formations would be able to do what Lin Wu was doing.

    After all, not everyone had ess to a massive Data Bank like the system did.

    Wang Xiong also watched everything that Lin Wu did carefully, not forgetting to learn as much as he could from it.

    He knew just how valuable this little act could be. After all, even the elders of the sect that were proficient in formations didn''t teach like this. Their demonstration was rather lengthy and roundabout.

    While Lin Wu was demonstrating a direct method.

    After about ten minutes, the runes all joined together and turned into a spherical formation that sank into the Deep Holding Mantis clip.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    Once that happened, the clip let out a vibrating sound and settled down.

    "It is done." Lin Wu spoke.

    Feeling impressed, Wang Xiong carefully checked the Deep Holding Mantis clip for the key and soon found it. He didn''t even flinch, seeing the massive amounts of resources that were in the Supreme elder''s storage.

    No amount of resources would be enough to shock him right now after seeing Lin Wu''s battle against the supreme elder and his current demonstration.

    Neither did he desire those resources. To him, all of them belonged to Lin Wu rightfully and he would have no say in it. Even if he was offered them, Wang Xiong would deny them rather than displease Lin Wu.

    "So that''s the key?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes. From the intel we got, this should be the key." Wang Xiong holding a small indigo colored bead.

    Lin Wu got the system to check it just in case and got the confirmation that it really was the key to a formation array.

    "Let''s go then." Lin Wu stated.

    The three of them flew to the peak where the Guardian was sealed and came to stand in sky at the very top.

    "Let''s see if this works." Wang Xiong said and lifted the indigo bead.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The bead automatically floated out of his hand and flew towards the invisible barrier.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    It touched the barrier and several concentric circles of runes appeared around it. The barrier became visible and several chain like processes could be seen inside it. The chains looked like they were anchored to the air and the other end was tying up what looked like a white sphere.

    The white sphere was about three meters in diameter and nothing could be inside it.

    ''One, twoбн sixбн twelve restrains. They actually made such a restraining formation array.'' Lin Wu noted.

    Some of these were even seen in the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, thus Lin Wu knew how powerful they could be. Even with the system''s help, it would take at least a couple of days for Lin Wu to break the seal.

    ''This might actually be stronger than my defenses,'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He understood that such a formation array couldn''t just be made by anyone and would have taken a very long time to make.

    ''This was made especially with the Yun Bai in mind. There is no other way it could be this specific to counter his abilities. There is even a bloodline seal included.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    <em>~HUMM~</em>

    Finally, the bead finished its word and dispelled all the restrains!

 Chapter 724 - Essence Transfusion Technique

    Chapter 724 иC Essence Transfusion Technique

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Once the formation arrays disappeared and the restraints were lifted, the white sphere in the depths of the mountain trembled.

    <em>~Crack~</em>

    <em>~Crack~ Crack~</em>

    Cracks spread over it and copious amounts of Frosty air leaked out from it along with a spirit Qi wave that seemed to be a bit violent. About ten secondster, it finally shattered apartpletely.

    <em>~KACHA~</em>

    "<strong>HRAAAAAAA!!!</strong>" An almost beastly roar was heard as a handsome looking old man came out from the shattered white sphere.

    But even if he was handsome, right now his face was contorted in anger and his eyes were red with fury. Sharp nails could be seen on his hands that were curled up like ws. Long canines could also be seen protruding from the corner of his lips.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were covered in cold sweat and were almost knocked away from the force of the attack, but Lin Wu shielded them. The force was a full power attack from a Dao Shell realm cultivator and would easily kill most people if they felt it.

    "Calm down!" Lin Wu called out.

    Yun Bai who had been perpetually furious for a while, now heard a familiar voice. He looked up and saw a towering figure in front of him.

    "Lin Wu?" The Demon beast finally came to his senses and his anger started to fall.

    "What happened?" Yun Bai asked in confusion.

    "We released you from the seal." Lin Wu calmly spoke.

    He understood that perhaps Yun Bai couldn''t even tell how much time had passed by.

    ''He might have been trying to break the seal non stop since he was sealed. Considering his current appearance, it looks likely,'' Lin Wu thought, seeing the tattered robes.

    Most of the damage looked to be self inflicted due to rebounds that might have happened due to the white sphere.

    "How?" Yun Bai questioned, still feeling a bit confused.

    "WHERE IS THE SUPREME ELDER!?" Yun Bai yelled as he recalled the main perpetrator.

    "He''s dead. You don''t need to worry. The entire Frozen Cliff division''s elders are dead." Lin Wu answered.

    Upon hearing this, Yun Bai''s aura fell down, almost like a balloon fizzling out.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    He fell to the ground, and his aura greatly weakened. His spirit Qi fluctuations reduced, but a lot as well.

    "Guardian Yun!" Wang Xiong called out in shock.

    "System, check him." Lin Wu immediately ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Yun Bai

    SCAN: Completed.

    бн

    TARGET: Yun Bai

    CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm

    VITALS: Unstable

    CURRENT STATUS: The target has signs of severe Qi depletion and has taxed his body''s vitality. The bloodline of the target has also been suppressed for too long and has weakened him over all.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu furrowed his brows upon seeing this. He had not expected Yun Bai to deteriorate this far, even if he had been sealed. It only made him that much rmed about the sealing formation.

    "System, make sure you analyze that formation array and extrapte methods to break it." Lin Wu spoke. "Also, what can be done for Yun Bai now?" he asked.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Yun Bai''s bloodline is weakened, but its source is not damaged. With enough rest and some healing resources, he should be able to recover to his peak in about a year''s time.

    Caution: he should not strain his cultivation base too much or he will risk going into Qi deviation and might even regress his cultivation base.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu raised his tail and touched the tired looking old man.

    <em>~shua~ </em>

    His tail glowed lightly, and Yun Bai suddenly felt a warmth traveling into his body.

    "W-what?" Yun Bai was taken aback.

    He could feel the damage in his body starting to heal. Not just that, he could feel the vitality that he had burned returning as well.

    "What are you doing? This techniqueбн" Yun Bai asked.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin too looked curiously, wondering what Lin Wu was doing.

    Suddenly, Yun Bai seemed to have recalled something and his expression changed.

    "Stop! Stop using this! The Essence Transfusion Technique is no joke! You''ll harm your longevity!" Yun Bai screamed upon realizing what Lin Wu was doing.

    But it was not just Yun Bai whose expression changed upon hearing his words. Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were the same.

    "The essence transfusion techniqueбн?!" Ye Jin muttered in shock.

    "Senior used that?" Wang Xiong was no less shocked.

    Both of them knew what the Essence Transfusion Technique was and its effect. After all, Wang Xiong had experienced its effects once, and Ye Jin was the one who had used it.

    He couldn''t help but recall the withered and old Ye Jin who had died in his arms back in the trials of the Taiji Celestial. Back then, in order to save Wang Xiong, Ye Jin had used the forbidden technique and restored him to his peak at the expense of her very own life.

    The Essence Transfusion Technique was a forbidden technique that used the very longevity of a being and used that to heal and restore another person. It was considered a dark technique and was originally brought by invaders in the past.

    The invaders would teach this technique to their ves and then force them to use it on them so that they could heal. This was one of the reason why there were so many people that the invaders captured.

    They would have entire cities filled with just ves and more ves, whose sole purpose was to cultivate and then use the Essence Transfusion technique on their masters.

    It was a technique that had long since been deemed forbidden by the sects and the three great guardian ns in the past. While traces of it had been mostly removed from the secr world, the sects and the ns still kept copies of them in their records.

    After all, even if it was a forbidden technique, it was one that was very useful. Though it would mostly kill the person who used it.

    It would have been fine if the technique could be stopped after the other person was healed, but that was something only a very strong cultivator could do. But the cultivators who were made to use this technique were mostly weak ones that would die in just a single use.

    "Oh, shut up!" Lin Wu suddenly scoffed.

    "You think this little thing can hurt me? What made you think I''m using the inferior version that you call the Essence Transfusion technique?" Lin Wu spoke.

    "Huh?" Yun Bai and the couple were all stunned upon hearing this.

    "You''re not using that technique, senior?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "No! This is something entirely different!" Lin Wu replied.

    It was then that Wang Xiong remembered that Lin Wu was not like them. In his mind, Lin Wu was a being from a higher world who used to have a far greater cultivation base. So it made sense to him that he might have some other technique that could do the same.

    "What are you doing, then?" Yun Bai asked.

    "I''m just transferring Vital Essence to you and healing you." Lin Wu replied.

    "But isn''t that the same thing?" Ye Jin asked, feeling confused.

    "Nope. The Essence Transfusion Technique uses up your very longevity to heal. I''m using my own Vital essence to heal. The higher form of the Vital Energy that you all are used to." Lin Wu informed.

    The two of them felt enlightened at hearing this and Yun Bai too, was surprised.

    "This techniqueбн doesn''t it still harm you?" Yun Bai asked.

    "I mean, it can. If I use it till I''m out of vital essence." Lin Wu replied. "But that will take a whileбн" he said while looking at the window in the corner of his eye.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    VITAL ESSENCE TRANSFERED: 3,021,964 units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 36,500,000 Units -> 33,478,036 Units

    бкбк

    The three of them had confused Lin Wu''s normal method of transferring Vital Essence to be the Essence Transfusion Technique.

    "They really should change that name. It isn''t really urate. Make it Life Transfusion technique or something." Lin Wu muttered.

    The two names were pretty close and could be easily mistaken by others.

    "Wellбн Thank you for this." Yun Bai said, not knowing what else to say.

    "This will heal some of your injuries. But the more deep seated ones will take a while to heal on their own. And your cultivation base will also need to be stabilized by yourself." Lin Wu replied.

    After about five minutes, Lin Wu lifted his tail and stopped the process.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    VITAL ESSENCE TRANSFERED: 478,036 units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 33,478,036 Units -> 33,000,000 Units

    бкбк

    ''Thereбн I even gave him a little extra to make the number even.'' Lin Wu muttered in his mind.

    With this done, Yun Bai felt a lot better.

    "What exactly happened?" Yun Bai finally asked.

    "It''s a long story. Why don''t you tell this time, Wang Xiong?" Lin Wu spoke.

    "Umm, sure!" Wang Xiong hurriedly replied.

    He then narrated all that had happened after Yun Bai got sealed. Him calling for Lin Wu''s help and the actions of the Frozen Cliff division.

    Yun Bai really didn''t know what to think after hearing that Lin Wu had ughtered pretty much the entirety of the Frozen Cliff Division. Right now only some disciples were left alive but all Elders of it were killed.

    ''I might have done it differently, but in the current situation, there isn''t really a way toin,'' Yun Bai thought to himself.

    Ideally, he would have liked it if the supreme elder, elder Qianshu, and some of the more loyal elders of the division were killed while leaving the others alive.. This way, the sect would not be weakened too much.

 Chapter 725 - Elder Weizhes Acts

    Chapter 725 иC Elder Weizheбпs Acts

    Wang Xiong exined everything to Yun Bai and Lin Wu chimed in from time to time as well.

    All this took about fifteen minutes, after which Yun Bai finally understood it all.

    "Thisбн will take a lot of work." Yun Bai spoke.

    "That might be an understatement." Wang Xiong muttered.

    "Mmmбн there is one thing though: you will have to leave before the patriarch arrives." Yun Bai said looking at Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu looked at the old fox for a moment before nodding in understanding.

    "Why though?" Ye Jin asked.

    "Even if this was all to save you all, he did technically massacre nearly a third of the sect. No matter what, the patriarch will have to act on this and even if he doesn''t want to, he''ll need to at least challenge Lin Wu to reim the lost face of the Frozen Cloud sect." Yun Bai replied.

    "How can that be? If not for senior the sect would have been taken over by traitors." Ye Jin said with concern.

    "That''s just how it is. If he does not do that, the ranking of the sect will fall even worse than it will now. The other sects will simply see this as a sign of weakness and will be even more brazen in their approach." Yun Bai answered.

    Lin Wu had already understood and had a couple of ns to assuage this. Though they will have toeter when the situation stabilizes a bit more. The frozen Cloud sect was something that Lin Wu wanted under him and would benefit him a lot too.

    Thus, it was better to not let it lose too much power and standing. He didn''t want the investment he had made falling in value the moment he got it.

    <em>~humm~</em>

    But just as they talked about this, Wang Xiong felt the jade slip on his waist buzz.

    "Hmm!?" he seemed far more surprised than normal.

    "What happened?" Ye Jin asked.

    "I got a messageбн" Wang Xiong muttered.

    "So? Why are you so surprised? We''ve been getting the reports non stop from the others?" Ye Jin said.

    The other members of the Frozen Brook Division and the elders had already started to prepare for theing days since they would need to begin the recovery work. And as such, they sent the reports to Wang Xiong and Ye Jin about anything important.

    They had not checked them right now since they were with Yun Bai and Lin Wu, but now Wang Xiong was prompted to check it.

    "It''s not thatбн this is not the jade slip we useбн this is the one Patriarch Bing gave me." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Huh? He contacted you!?" Yun Bai spoke, his voice getting a bit hoarse.

    "What did he say? Is heing?" Ye Jin questioned.

    "Yesбн he''s already quite near." Wang Xiong answered.

    "How''s that possible? He went to the Long n for the meeting. Didn''t they say allmunication was restricted because of security purposes?" Ye Jin was confused.

    "Someone went to get himбн Elder Weizhe." Wang Xiong revealed.

    "Him?" Ye Jin and Yun Bai both were surprised.

    "Who''s this guy?" Lin Wu asked.

    "He''s also one of the elders of the Frozen Cliff division." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "So I missed one." Lin Wu spoke, but then realized something. "No wait. There''s no way he got to the Long n that fast. Was he not here in the sect?" he asked.

    "Noбн apparently he left a while ago. We thought he was still in seclusion, but he went out secretly." Wang Xiong spoke.

    Yun Bai furrowed his brows and thought of something.

    "He probably guessed that the Supreme elder and his son would be acting soon. He went to get the patriarch so that it could be stopped somehow." Yun Bai said, his tone a bit doubtful.

    "Hang on, he''s from the Frozen Cliff Division, right? Why did he go to the patriarch? This is against their goals." Lin Wu asked, feeling confused.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "That manбн" Yun Bai shook his head. "He''s stubborn, but still dedicated to the sect."

    "You mean to sayбн he betrayed the Frozen Cliff division?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling interested in this man now.

    "Seems like it. Elder Weizhe was always one of the moreбн milder elders. His stance was also in the middle about the division of the sect. I still don''t know why he didn''t join the Frozen ins division and stayed with the Frozen Cliff division." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Isn''t that obvious? For more resources?" Ye Jin stated.

    "Noбн he isn''t one to go for that. Besidesбн his condition is such that no resources will help him. He''s already at the end of his life." Yun Bai spoke up.

    "He is?!" Wang Xiong and Ye Jin both were shocked.

    Elder Weizhe was actually an important elder in the Frozen Cloud sect and was one of the oldest high elders.

    "Yes, He is actually of a generation before the current Patriarch Bing or even the supreme elder." Yun Bai revealed.

    "What is his cultivation base exactly?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "He should be the same as me." Yun Bai answered.

    "If that is so, then why did he not be the Supreme elder? Rightfully he could have been, couldn''t he?" Wang Xiong asked.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    Hearing this, Yun Bai sighed again and a deep memory shed in his eyes.

    "It''s a long story." Yun Bai spoke, feeling unwilling.

    "Tell me the gist of it." Lin Wu prompted.

    "I guess I could shorten it for you." Yun Bai couldn''t exactly deny Lin Wu like he could with Wang Xiong and Ye Jin.

    "He did actually get selected for the position of the Supreme elder." Yun Bai revealed.

    "He did? But why is he not then?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Partly it was his choice, too. He didn''t want to be one and deal with the great politics thate with it. And on the other hand, he fell to the schemes of the current supreme elder. Fearful that Elder Weizhe might usurp the position again, he secretly poisoned him. But not to kill him, simply to make it so that his cultivation would stagnate.." Yun Bai exined.

 Chapter 726 - Leaving The Frozen Cloud Sect And More Growth

    Chapter 726 иC Leaving The Frozen Cloud Sect And More Growth

    Hearing this information was enlightening for Wang Xiong and Ye Jin. They had not expected there to be such a tragedy behind the mild mannered elder.

    "That''s sad. Did the patriarch not do anything since Elder Weizhe was wronged?" Wang Xiong asked, feeling conflicted.

    "There really wasn''t much to do. Elder Weizhe was the one who told him not do to anything. His reasoning being that it would only strain the sect elder''s rtions more and increase the overall conflict.

    So he simply epted his situation and decided to be at peace." Yun Bai answered.

    "I doubt I could do thatбн there is probably more to it than known." Lin Wu spoke, finding it absurd.

    "There probably is. But since he chose to keep silent, there is not much we can do." Yun Bai agreed.

    "Though now he seems to havee around." Wang Xiong added.

    "Mmhmmбн if he made the decision, knowing full well that he would be breaking off all links to the Frozen Cliff division, it should have been difficult for him." Yun Bai replied.

    "That makes me wonderбн if it will be a relief or more stress after he finds out the truth." Lin Wu said, sending more questions into their minds.

    It was indeed an interesting dilemma to how a man like Elder Weizhe would act.

    ''He is quite an intriguing man. Perhaps he mighte in handy tooбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he went to pick up the Twin Lights Liger King and Tim.

    "I should leave now." Lin Wu stated.

    "Very well, senior." Wang Xiong replied.

    "I''ll handle the patriarch. See how we can work this out? Perhaps we might be able to spin this in our favor without making your positionpromised." Yun Bai said, feeling tired.

    "Even if that doesn''t workбн I still have some ways we can go. Don''t worry, I''ll inform you when the time is right." Lin Wu said and dug into the ground.

    There were already plenty of holes, thus having an additional one was no longer a concern of his. His tail acted like a pincer and grabbed both the Twin Lights Liger King and Tim firmly before it wrapped around them.

    It was like they were now on a train and Lin Wu''s tail was thepartment.

    "Time to head offбн" Lin Wu said as he transformed into his drill mode with some extra modification.

    Since he had the two beasts with him, he wouldn''t be able to go as fast, but it would still be quite fast.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    Yun Bai and the rest of the sect could feel the ground rumble for a few seconds before it calmed down again. The ones that didn''t know this was Lin Wu simply thought that it was due to the damage done to the formations, which was true.

    <em>~Phew~</em>

    "That was a long fight alrightбн also the toughest one." Lin Wu muttered as he took a breath of relief.

    ''Though I did gain quite a bit too.'' Lin Wu thought about his cultivation.

    "System, show me the Updated Host data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 14 years, 8 months, 11 days

    LIFESPAN: 4,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Completion Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,968/???] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 10,637,087 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 33,000,000 Units

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+5)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- third level (Lightning attribute spirit Qi Initiate)[new]

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (33% Meridians converted)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great)(Proficiency: Basic)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (greater) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Sound Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)[new]

    5. Kin Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Novice)

    6. Poison Breath (Lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)[new]

    7. Venom Fang (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)[new]

    8. Bloodline Tracer (Minor) (Proficiency: Master)

    Poisons avable-

    1. Basic corroding poison

    2. Tearing Wind Poison

    3. Erupting Radiation Poison

    4. Numbing Poison

    5. Shackling Lighting Poison [new]

    INVENTORY: Pink Women''s underwear, Unknown Metal girdle, Shell Breaker Thorn Band.

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)

    VITAL ENERGY STORAGE: 0 units

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7,159,658 units

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 3501 units/hour

    WEIGHT: 866,412.80 Kilograms Height 212.8 meters long

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+5)

    3. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    4. Olive Viper King

    5. Southern Tusk Tapirs

    6. Silver Tusk Tapir

    [Extend +65]

    бкбк

    There were several big changes that had happened to Lin Wu that he had not really checked up on before since he was in a ratherбн sensitive situation. But now that he finally got the time, and was traveling back, he reckoned he might as well check it.

    "Oh boy, there''s quite to go through." Lin Wu muttered.

    The biggest change was of course, his cultivation base increasing and him reaching the Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm.

    ''The requirement to upgrade is basically not there now.'' Lin Wu thought. ''Though technically there is no limit to it. I can add as much I want or not.'' He understood.

    Then there was the improvement in his skills and techniques. Several of them had improved, including the Immortal Sky Shaker art. It had finally reached the third stage, which meant that Lin Wu could now use lightning elemental spirit Qi as well!

    Usually being at the initiate stage didn''t really give one the same capability that Lin Wu demonstrated. But in his case, he had a great advantage. Lin Wu was already somewhat used to controlling lightning and his control only improved more due to his main innate skill, the Radiation Maniption skill.

    It gave him better control over lightning and thatbined with his great stores of spirit Qi, Lin Wu could perform a lot better than the average practitioner of the same technique.

 Chapter 727 - Assessing The Gains

    Chapter 727 иC Assessing The Gains

    With the many changes Lin Wu saw in the Host Data it was hard for him to say that he wasn''t happy with them.

    Lin Wu saw that his innate skills had increased in proficiency as well.

    "The skills I got from the Olive Viper King got better too." Lin Wu said as he read the info.

    The Soundmand skill had increased in proficiency due to his genial use and also the creation of the Undaunted Sapphire ze cleaver. The Soundmand skill was used to misdirect the sound making the enemy confused about the attack and misread it.

    It was a small addition, but to those enemies that were hyper sensitive and on the look out for sneak attacks, it would freak them out. They would think that the attack in front of them was fake and the true one might being from the back.

    And even if they didn''t think that, they would still have this doubt in their mind that would slow their response to the attack. Either way, it was useful and it didn''t take much spirit Qi to use either.

    His poison breath had increased in proficiency simply because he had used it so much. The same could be said for venom fang as well. Though Lin Wu reckoned that it was already on the border of being improved.

    "Oh? I even got something new?" Lin Wu said as he continued to read below.

    The line that Lin Wu was looking at was the new poison he now had.

    "System, show me the details about this Shackling Lightning Poison." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    POISON: Shackling Lightning Poison

    INFO: The Shackling Lighting Poison was developed after the host gained the ability to use lightning elemental spirit Qi. It is derived from that and has the ability to paralyze the target on which it is use.

    Additionally, if another creature touches the target, they will be affected by it as well and the poison will transmit to them. They too will suffer the same effects. The number of targets that can be infected depends on the amount of spirit Qi used to power the skill.

    бкбк

    "Oh? So it''s kinda like the improved version of the Numbing Poison." Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    CORRECTION: The numbing poison''s original effect is to dull the foe''s senses. The paralysis effect is the catalytic effect that happens when the foe is poisoned with arge amount of Numbing poison.

    The Shackling Lightning Poison''s primary effect is to target the nervous system of the foes and paralyze them.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн alright. If you say soбн" Lin Wu replied, finding the system''s response a bit surprising.

    ''Was it always this perspective?'' Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    Lin Wu then looked at the different energy sections and was a bit pained.

    "Damnбн I used up so much. It''s like looking at my bank ount againбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    His stored spirit Qi was almost gone and the one in the system''s spirit Qi storage was greatly reduced too. There was just enough for emergencies. Though he still had Vital essence that was more than enough for him to use.

    Then there was the System''s own energy storage that it used for its own consumption and processes. Lin Wu rarely monitored this since the system was set to automatically top it up when it was running out of the energy.

    But this time Lin Wu''s attention was brought to the System''s energy consumption rate.

    "3501 units per hour? That''s likeбн barely three days of energy needs of the system." Lin Wu calcted.

    The difference was ratherrge now and Lin Wu realized that he needed to somewhat monitor this now.

    ''Waitбн is this why the system has be a bit more perceptive?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He thus decided to ask the system directly.

    "System, why did the energy requirement increase? Alsoбн did you unlock more A.I cores?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The energy requirement are naturally increased due to the increased data that is being continually processed. Additionally the host has assigned several tasks that need to be analyzed and sorted.

    Currently the system has seven A.I cores unlocked. Three of them are always active while the other four are in reserve and activated when needed. The use of additional A.I. Cores will increased the energy consumption further.

    бкбк

    ''I seeбн I did keep on giving it tasks. Though I guess the additional cores is a good thing.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Also, if you activate all cores and use them to process the data and tasks you have on going will it speed up the process?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The use of additional cores will certainly speed up the process but it will also increase the system''s energy consumption greatly. If all seven cores are active, the system''s approximate energy consumption will be 23,977 units per hour.

    бкбк

    "Goodamn! That''s a lotбн that''s like seven times what is now." Lin Wu eximed seeing the massive increase.

    He could tell that each core increased the consumption in a matter of multiples rather than a liner increase.

    ''Thoughбн now that I think of it, it should be just enough to match my active cultivation rate shouldn''t it?'' Lin Wu estimated.

    After thinking of it, Lin Wu decided to let the system activate two more cores.

    "System, use two more cores. And inform me when you are about to refill your energy." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ACTIVATING A.I CORES: 5 cores currently active

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 3501 units/hour -> 14,752 units/hour

    бкбк

    Lin Wu now just hoped to see the difference in the system''s capabilities in the future and see what gains he would get.

    Done with it assizing all the changes, Lin Wu continued traveling to the Millennium forest. He was about a quarter of the way there and would reach it till midnight.

    "Am I forgetting something?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ***

    Back at the border of the Frozen Cloud sectбн

    "Are you sure we should wait more?" Tian Han spoke.

    "I''m sure master won''t forget us!" Tian Chu said with confidence.

 Chapter 728 - He Forgor

    Chapter 728 иC He Forgor

    Lin Wu was almost at the border of the Millennium forest when he got a message.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu was a bit surprised, but then when he saw who messaged him, he realized he forgot.

    "Oh, noбн I forgorбн"

    Regardless, he activated the link and talked to Tian Han and Tian Chu.

    "Master, is everything fine? Is it done?" Tian Chu questioned frantically.

    "Ah, yeah! It all went fine. Though there were some issues that needed me to leave right away." Lin Wu answered.

    "What? Leave? You''re not at the Frozen Cloud sect?" Tian Han was shocked.

    "Yes, I''ve left it. You two should leave, too. Wang Xiong is currently taking care of things at the sect but there might be some problems that can happen once the patriarch of the sect returns." Lin Wu spoke.

    "The patriarch? He''s already here with us though." Tian Han replied.

    "With you? WITH YOU!?" Lin Wu was shocked.

    "Yes, we were picked up by him and another elder when they found us near the border of the sect. At first they thought we were intruding on the sect but then we told us who we were being from the Tian n.

    They asked us about all that had happened and we just told them about a great battle that happened in the sect. We denied all involvement and told them that we were about to go to the sect when it all happened." Tian Chu was the one who exined.

    "So that happenedбн" Lin Wu had not expected the things to change this way.

    ''Though this can be good tooбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "The patriarchбн how is he?" Lin Wu asked.

    Tian Han understanding what Lin Wu meant, replied. "He looks calm on the surface, but I can feel the turbulent spirit Qiing from him. He is certainly very upset." Tian Han replied.

    "Hmmбн alright, I want you to keep yourself reserved and only speak to him when called. Otherwise don''t do any extra interaction. You should be able to contact Wang Xiong too and he''ll make sure you two are safe." Lin Wu instructed.

    "We are currently being kept in a different area, but I''ll contact him. We had to wait till we were away from the patriarch as we didn''t know if contacting you will be problematic and we''d get found out." Tian Han replied.

    "The link can''t be discovered by others, though I guess this was a good move either way." Lin Wu said, finding it reasonable.

    He had left without exining sufficiently to the two Tian cousins and it was still good that they were fine.

    ''Though the patriarch picking them up was rather unexpected.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "I think someone ising. We''ll go now, master." Tian Chu said.

    "Alright, keep me informed if something happens." Lin Wu said before stopping the link.

    He then contacted Wang Xiong to tell him about the two Tian cousins as well, just in case.

    "Oh yeah, Senior, I heard of them from Patriarch Bing already. I''ve just sent someone to fetch them." Wang Xiong informed.

    "Ah, so that was your people. That''s fine then." Lin Wu said, finding it relieving.

    "Do you want me to do anything else, senior?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Just make sure the two of them get out of the sect and return to the Tian n. Them staying them any longer might pull the Patriarch''s intrigue. Even if he doesn''t suspect them right now, who knows what he mighte up withter." Lin Wu replied.

    "I''ll do that, Senior. They told the patriarch that they wereing to the sect to ask about Tian Xiaoge. And since the Frozen Cliff division who met themst time doesn''t exist anymore, we can just use the same excuse again.

    No one will know about it." Wang Xiong suggested.

    "Very well, do that. Keep me informed about any changes." Lin Mu spoke.

    "I will senior. Patriarch Bing and Guardian Yun along with Elder Weizhe, have been in a private meeting this entire time. I''ll tell you what the result ister." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Alright." Lin Wu said before stopping the link.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    "Didn''t think it would turn out like this. Thankfully, he didn''t kill them right awayбн I still have a use for the two of them." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he finally reached the Millennium Forest.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Teleportation runes appeared around him and the two beasts he was carrying. The arranged into a formation before teleporting Lin Wu into the tomb.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Lin Wu appeared in the Taiji Celestial''s tomb and released the two beasts that were still asleep.

    "I should keep both of them close by to monitor. Just in caseбн" Lin Wu muttered before sending the two to nearby rooms.

    He could always watch them with the monitoring formations and let the system keep tabs on them.

    ''Thinking of thatбн I kinda need to rest as wellбн'' Lin Wu saw the state of his body.

    While there were no injuries, Lin Wu still needed to recover a lot of the spirit Qi he had used up. The two skills he had used, the Obliterating Tempest and the Ster Thundering Wind Splitter, both took massive amounts of spirit Qi to use.

    In fact, The Ster Thundering Wind Splitter took nearly half of Lin Wu''s spirit Qi that he had in his body. Even the Obliterating Tempest took nearly a quarter of his spirit Qi. Both were skills that were not to be used causally and were decisive ones.

    "I was really cutting it closeбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He also realized that he needed to get used to his new cultivation base and stabilize it somewhat. Since there was no way to breakthrough directly to the next stage by just pouring in spirit Qi, Lin Wu knew it was time for him to go steady.

    Before resting though, Lin Wu informed the other beast subordinates and servants of his that he had returned and that he''ll tell them moreter.

 Chapter 729 - A Dao Treading Realm Corpse And Credit To Give

    Chapter 729 иC A Dao Treading Realm Corpse And Credit To Give

    A week had passed since Lin Wu had returned to the Millennium forest. He had been resting the entire time and was steadily recovering to his peak. Just to restore his own body''s spirit Qi alone took him this much time.

    ''Man, with therge capacity regenerate it all takes some time even if I''m actively cultivatingбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    His body lightly glowed in the hall as he stayed curled up there. Only after he felt that he had sufficient spirit Qi for a while did he decided to call the meeting.

    <em>~HUAAAA~</em>

    Lin Wu stretched his body as the segments ttered against each other.

    "How are the two of them doing?" Lin Wu asked as a window appeared in front of him.

    He first checked the Twin Lights Liger King, who was still asleep. The system showed his vitals on the side and they had certainly improved.

    "He''s gonna need a while more." Lin Wu muttered.

    Regardless, it wasn''t a problem and he could just let the Twin Lights Liger King rest and heal here. The system estimated that he should be fine in a couple of weeks and should also wake up on his own by then.

    "The Weasel thoughбн" Lin Wu muttered as he observed Tim.

    The system couldn''t scan Tim the same way it could with the Twin Lights Liger King, thus the most it could do was surface level observation. While the system couldn''t tell what Tim''s condition was, from the steady movement of his chest and breathing, the system reckoned he was still assimting the energy from the Supreme elder.

    "AH! That reminds meбн I have a promise to fulfill." Lin Wu said as he looked at a certain corpse in his inventory.

    Lin Wu hadn''t eaten the Supreme elder''s body yet as he fully intended onpleting what he had said to the manter. And it would be far better meal anywayбн

    Lin Wu sent out a message to his subordinate and called in a meeting.

    Fifteen minutes passed, after which, they all arrived.

    <em>~shua~ shua~ shua~</em>

    The hum of the runes could be felt as teleportation formations activated one after the other, bringing in all of the beasts.

    "Wee back, master!" The beasts said in unison.

    Lin Wu gave a nod to them before looking at the Emeraldine Monkeys.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    He dropped a corpse in front of them, making them confused.

    "Huh?" That was until they felt the faint spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the corpse that was missing one leg.

    Even if the corpse was dead, they could still feel that it was rather tempting to them. Their instinct told them to eat out, and yet they knew that if they were to do it, they would be greatly punished by Lin Wu.

    "Umm, what do we do with this, master?" The leader of the Emeraldine Monkeys, questioned.

    "I want you to cook it. I''ll give you the way I want you to cook it too. I need it to be exactly that." Lin Wu answered and send him the recipe.

    Looking at the 11 spices and herbs, the Emeraldine Monkey was surprised.

    "Ummбн masterбн is it really fine to use these many previous spirit herbs for this?" The Leader of the Emeraldine Monkeys asked.

    "Of course! This is a Dao Treading realm corpse, so use of these resources is perfect in cooking it!" Lin Wu stated.

    "What?!" the beasts were all in for the shock.

    "Thisбн this is a Dao Treading realm, corpse?" The Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole said in disbelief.

    "Master is truly strong!" The Emeraldine Horn Beetle said with pride.

    "Master is great!" The others beast too joined in on the praise.

    Lin Wu being able to kill a Dao Treading realm cultivator like this while being at the Dao Shell realm was a matter of great pride to them.

    ''With a strong King like this, why do we even need to worry?'' The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King thought to himself.

    ''Perhaps he truly will be the one who brings beasts to a new ageбн'' the Slim arm ape king wondered.

    On the other hand, the Demon Spine Ape King had a hint of excitement in his eyes.

    ''I wonder if I''ll reach the same level one dayбн'' he thought.

    He wanted to be like Lin Wu now, being able to fight a Dao Treading realm cultivator and defeat them while also being a realm weaker.

    ''Yes! I''ll set this as my goal for the future!'' the Demon Spine Ape king decided.

    Various thoughts went through the beast''s minds, but what was allmon was that they felt awed at Lin Wu''s power. It only deepened their respect for him and increased their loyalty to Lin Wu.

    The Club Tailed Lizard felt lightheaded too.

    ''My kids have this bloodlineбн even if it is just a part of it, just how strong will they be in the future?'' She couldn''t help but see a scene in her mind where the five Club Tailed Lizards stood upon a mountain of corpses.

    "I-I''ll get the juniors to prepare this right away!" The Leader of the Emeraldine Monkeys spoke hurriedly. "I shall have it ready for the meal tonight, my king." He added.

    "Oh, wait!" Lin Wu remembered something.

    "Put asides one of the arms." Lin Wu spoke.

    "May I ask why?" The beast asked, finding it strange.

    If Lin Wu had such a precious meal, it would make sense to eat as much of it as possible. Leaving something like an arm won''t be as good.

    "That arm will be the reward for the Twin Lights Liger King. For his help and work that he did at the Frozen Cloud sect." Lin Wu answered, surprising the beasts.

    "What did he exactly do that he is worthy of this?" The High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow inquired.

    "Well he had a part in fighting this man, of course. The Twin Lights Liger King and Tim held back the Dao Treading Realm supreme elder long enough that I was able to prepare my own attack to kill him.." Lin Wu didn''t hesitate in giving some credit.

 Chapter 730 - The Coming Plans

    Chapter 730 иC The Coming ns

    Learning that The Twin Lights Liger King and Tim were actually that capable so as to be able to go against a Dao Treading realm cultivator was stunning to all the beasts here.

    "Thisбн THIS IS AMAZING!" The Demon Spike Ape King eximed. "HAHAHA! I NOW HAVE PEERS WORTH CHALLENGING!"

    To the Demon Spine Ape King, Lin Wu was already beyond what he couldpare against. He had already seen it in the past two times he had tried fighting Lin Wu, and knew that it would be a long shot.

    But the Twin Lights Liger king was also a ruler before and was someone the Demon Spine Ape King thought he could go against. Maybe not right now, but he might be able to in the future.

    As for Tim, the Demon Spine ape king didn''t know what to clearly think about him. All of Lin Wu''s beast subordinates had seen him and knew that he wasn''t as smart or intelligent as them.

    Though at the same time, they also knew the beast was very fearless and absolutely brazen. He even dared to fight Lin Wu and chewed on his tail randomly. Fighting a crazy beast like that was even more dangerous than fighting Lin Wu in a way.

    Thus, the Demon Spine Ape King kept the Twin Lights Liger King as a target.

    The other beasts were all marveling at the acts of the Twin Lights Liger king and Tim though.

    But at the same time, they felt a sense offort.

    ''So if we can do the same or equivalent, we will also get rewards like these?'' The Emeraldine Wing Swan thought.

    The other beasts had simr thoughts and felt a sense of motivation filling them.

    "I''ll get it done as you wish, master." The leader of the Emeraldine Monkeys spoke. "I''ll keep an arm for the Twin lights Liger King."

    "Yes." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    The elder of the Emeraldine Monkeys left with two of the other Emeraldine monkey''s and went to prepare for the dinner feast. He knew that there would be a lot to prepare. After all, it wasn''t just the Dao Treading realm corpse they would be cooking.

    As good as a corpse like that was, the monkey could easily understand that for someone of Lin Wu''s size, it would be the same as eating a single grape for a meal. While the Dao Treading realm corpse would be the highlight of the meal, he would still have to cook a lot of other things to go along with it.

    ''Another feat to get ready. Though it is indeed a matter of celebration.'' The Beast thought as he hurried away.

    With him gone, Lin Wu continued to talk to his subordinates.

    "I also wanted to tell you all that we might get some humansing to us. Depending who they are, we will need to defend ourselves." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Why so, master?" The Emeraldine Horn Beetle asked.

    "I did basically devastate half of the Frost Cloud sect. So they might be the onesing. Though if things work out, they will not. And they will instead be our allies." Lin Wu replied.

    "Do you think there will be other human powers attacking us, my king?" The Slim Arm ape quickly guessed.

    "Indeed. With the Frozen Cloud sect''s condition, the other powers will soon learn about it. They might look to expand their influence and we might be targeted as a result. After all, the millennium forest is the closest forest to the Frozen Cloud sect.

    We have tons of resources growing her and are a ripe fruit for the taking. While the other sects are free to send their people here, the Frozen Cloud sect still gets an advantage due to being close here after all." Lin Wu exined.

    "Hmmбн but we won''t be acting as a ripe fruit, will be?" The Slim Arm Ape King replied.

    "Oh, no we won''t. If anything, we will be a thorny cactus that they will regret ever touching." Lin Wu stated.

    "Humph! No human will dare act arrogant on our watch!" The beasts said with confidence.

    Lin Wu nodded, seeing their response as that was what he liked.

    "But we don''t want to fully antagonize humans, either. Since we will be getting the Frozen Cloud sect under us eventually, we will first start with an alliance with them." Lin Wu added.

    "An alliance? How would that be happening, my king?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape was the one who inquired this time.

    He had a good guess as to what Lin Wu would be doing. After all, he was the one who was looking over the many Frozen Cloud disciples that were in the shrine of the Sky Bright Daoist.

    "The same thing I told you in the past." Lin Wu answered shortly.

    "I seeбн I''ll get the ready then," The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape replied.

    "Mmmhmm, do that. I reckon they should be mostly ready?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes, some of them are also close to a breakthrough." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape replied.

    "Oh? Is that soбн I guess we can improve our approach a bit more then." Lin Wu said.

    "How so?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape asked.

    Lin Wu thought for a bit before speaking, "are you confident in guiding them all to the Nascent soul realm as long as they all get sufficient resources?"

    "Thisбн if they really get a steady supply, then I have no doubt they will all be able to do it." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape said with confidence.

    "Very well." Lin Wu looked towards the other Emeraldine Monkeys. "Provide them with all the things they need." He ordered them.

    "As youmand, master!" The Emeraldine Monkeys responded.

    "I''ll take my leave then, master. I''ll get started right away." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape replied.

    "Yes. It''s best to get started quick." Lin Wu agreed.

    Once the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape was gone, Lin Wu dismissed the other beasts as well.

    ''Now to wait for the dinnerбн Can''t wait to taste Kentucky Fried Supreme Elder."

 Chapter 731 - Kentucky Fried Dao Treading Realm Supreme Elder

    Chapter 731 иC Kentucky Fried Dao Treading Realm Supreme Elder

    While waiting for dinner time, Lin Wu decided to check up on two of the other human subordinates he had. They had been in the tomb for a while now and had been cultivating in seclusion this entire time.

    ''Tian Xiaoge is important too now. With her involvement in the Frozen Cloud sect and the Tian n, it might be good to pay some attention to her as well.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, show me Tian Xiaoge and Pei Jun." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    1. Pei Jun

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    2. Tian Xiaoge

    Cultivation Base: Pseudo Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    бкбк

    Two windows appeared in front of him and let him observe the two humans. They looked to be in the same state as thest time he saw them and were cultivating diligently. Waves of spirit Qi spun around them rhythmically and were steadily absorbed into their bodies.

    "Oh? They are close to a breakthrough, too. Pei Jun should reach the Child Soul stage in a month or so while Tian Xiaoge is about to reach the Nascent soul realm." Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    He teleported to the hall where Tian Xiaoge was sitting, wanting to check her in person.

    ''Just as I thoughtбн there are already signs of the Heavenly Tribtion around her. How long will this be? A week or maybe ten days from nowбн'' Lin Wu estimated.

    He looked at the faint spatial fluctuations that could only be felt once it was observed in detail and could tell that they were getting stronger bit by bit. Having confirmed this, Lin Wu teleported back to his hall without Tian Xiaoge even knowing he was there.

    "Hmmбн now that I think of itбн Tian Xiaoge will be the second one to breakthrough after learning the Taiji Refinement Scripture. No, waitбн She will actually be the first one. I initiated the breakthrough for Wang Xiong and even helped him directly.

    So he is not the ''proper'' subject for it, I guess. And Pei Jun doesn''t even count since he was in the Nascent soul realm even before that." Lin Wu muttered.

    He thought over it for a bit before giving the system some orders. They mainly were to keep an eye on Tian Xiaoge and to get the Tribtion attenuation formation array ready. Lin Wu didn''t know what kind of phenomena would appear with Tian Xiaoge but he just hoped it won''t be anything dramatic.

    ''Thest thing I want is a repeat ofst timeбн'' Lin Wu thought, recalling the breakthrough of the Twin Lights Liger King and Tim.

    They were still recovering from the aftermath of that, and it cost them quite a bit.

    Though Lin Wu wasn''t worried about Pei Jun''s breakthrough, as it was just a minor breakthrough within the realm. It won''t cause any phenomenon and should just be smooth. It was the least troublesome breakthrough quite likely.

    Lin Wu continued to check on all his subordinates and servants, observing what their state of cultivation was. Other than these two, there was no one else that was close to a breakthrough for now.

    And just like this, enough time passed.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    "Master, the Dinner is ready!" The voice of a monkey beast could be heard as it appeared at the end of the hall.

    "Perfect timing." Lin Wu said and went along with the beast.

    Well, it was just teleporting, though.

    The two of them appeared in the dining hall where a vast plethora of dishes were letting of steam.

    "Oh boy, this is gonna be good." Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    "The main highlight is being brought as we speak." The monkey beast said.

    <em>~Creak~</em>

    And just as he did, the doors of the dining hall opened as the Leader of the Emeraldine Monkeys appeared. He held arge tter in his hand, which held golden brown chunks kept on it.

    They let off faint steam as a tantalizing aroma emanated from it.

    "There it is!" Lin Wu said with excitement.

    The tter was set down at the very center of the dishes before the Emeraldine Monkey waved his hand.

    "Please begin, My king. I hope you will like what we made." He said.

    "With pleasure." Lin Wu said as he extended his tail.

    He had already shrunk his body as much as possible so that it would be more ''amodating'' for him to eat. Two spikes came out of his tail and allowed him to use it like a fork.

    Lin Wu picked up one of the golden brown pieces and threw it into his mouth.

    <em>~Crunch~</em>

    Despite the fact that the piece was rather smallpared to Lin Wu''s mouth, the crunchy outer coating was perfect.

    "Now that''s worth the title of Kentucky Fried Dao Treading Realm Supreme elder!" Lin Wu said proudly.

    Seeing that Lin Wu liked it, the Leader of the Emeraldine Monkeys took a breath of relief and smiled. Though his smile was a bit crooked and his canines protruded out of the side of his lips, making him look rather terrifying.

    If a child saw it, they would run to their mother crying.

    Lin Wu continued to eat and tried the other dishes as well, finding them to be good too. Though when hepared the amount of spirit Qi he was getting from finishing an entire dish and just a single piece of the ''Kentucky Fried Dao Treading Realm Supreme Elder'' he realized the difference.

    "Damn, just a few pieces are enough to bepared to several other dishes. Just how much spirit Qi is in this?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    When he had forcefully eaten the Dao Embryo of the Supreme elder, he had gotten nothing from it. It was as if it turned into nothingness in his mouth and nothing was gained.. This let him know that eating Dao Embryo''s or doing anything to them would be useless.

 Chapter 732 - Calorie Gains

    Chapter 732 иC Calorie Gains

    Lin Wu had thought that there would be at least some benefit to eating a Dao Embryo, but it turned out to be nothing.

    ''At least I get to enjoy this increase. Can''tin about this.'' Lin Wu thought as he looked at the system notification. "Wonder what the Calorie ratio for this would be?"

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 62,798,314 Units [liquid spirit Qi]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 10,637,087 units [liquid spirit qi] -> 73,435,401 units [Liquid Spirit Qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 4,569,245 units

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 33,000,000 Units -> 37,596,245 Units

    бкбк

    The increase was rather significant to say the least and Lin Wu had gained enough spirit Qi that he could progress thepletion of his other Dao Shell too. Lin Wu hadn''t forgotten that he still had another Dao Shell that needed to grow.

    Even if he had already reached the Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm, he needed the other Dao Shell to progress further. After all, it was this that allowed him to reign supreme over others on the same level as him, or even those above him.

    ''Besides, I''m at a stage where breakthrough is not at a certain point. I''ll need to figure the rest of it on my own, so I may as well increase my strength as much as I can.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    From this point onwards, Lin Wu would have to first stabilize his cultivation base and then get to working onprehending on how to make his Dao Embryo. And while doing this, he would also increase the size of his Dao Shell. When he sessfully did that, he would enter the next stage.

    "Oh yeah, if I do it soon enough, I''ll be able to upgrade the avatar as well." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    His avatar had been cultivating with full focus and had gained a significant amount of spirit Qi in that time too. While it was not enough for it to breakthrough, Lin Wu didn''t mind waiting.

    He would have been in a hurry before, but now with his main body rtively strong, he could take things steady.

    And while Lin Wu was thinking all this, he finished up with the dinner. All the tters and bowls were polished and not a bit was wasted. With Lin Wu, not even bones would be left behind after all.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    Lin Wu teleported back to his hall and sprawled on the cool floor that was lined withrge carpet.

    "HAAA!" Lin Wu stretched his body.

    "This is the best!" He said, feeling rather rxed.

    He looked around the hall, realizing something.

    "I shouldбн decorate this ce a bit more or somethingбн just the carpet is not that good. Though the carpet needs to be expanded tooбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The carpet was made by stitching multiple beast pelts together. And while it was soft, it wasn''t really even. The thickness varied, and it was also a bit uneven in some parts.

    ''Guess I''ll add it to the list of things I need from the humans.'' Lin Wu noted.

    While lying around, Lin Wu decided to check on his avatar''s progress.

    "System, show me the Avatar''s Data." Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [23,718,114/70,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (53% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Fire Resistance (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    DAO SHELL: 1. Normal Dao Shell outline

    WEIGHT: 3,17,173 Kilograms Height 147.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    Looking at the data, other than the increase in the spirit Qi it had gained from cultivation, the only other difference he saw was in the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art. Its progress had increased by 1%.

    While this 1% seemed measly, one must know that the further one went in a cultivation technique, the slower it got. And 1% increase in a passive manner wasn''t that bad either.

    "Hmmбн maybe I should have held back on the meal a bitбн Could have given the avatar some spirit Qi tooбн" Lin Wu felt a little regret.

    But then, after a few seconds, he forgot it.

    "Bah! The Food was too good to give up on." Lin Wu said to himself.

    After another hour of fooling around, Lin Wu fell asleep. The Fooda was rather pleasant for him and he had some really good dreams in that time. And by the time he woke up, four more days had passed.

    "UGAAAAAA!" Lin Wu stretched his joints again as he looked at the system notification that had been piling up in his sleep.

    Most of them were just general ones about the progress on tasks and spirit Qi gained, but there were a few others that caught his eye.

    "Oh? Wang Xiong tried contacting me yesterday?" Lin Wu then checked the date and realized just how much time had passed.

    "SHEESH! My normal sleep time is really that long, huhбн Guess I pretty much have to give up on that eight hours of normal sleep. Time for 96 hours of sleep time, baby!" Lin Wu said.

    Though he still did contact Wang Xiong after that.

    "Senior? You finally responded. I thought you entered seclusion again." Wang Xiong spoke directly.

    "Umm, I was just cultivating normally and didn''t see for a bit." Lin Wu lied.

    He still cultivated passively when he was asleep, so it wasn''t aplete lie either.

    "Ah, I see." Wang Xiong replied, not questioning it at all.

    "So, what did you have to report?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "The private meeting between Patriarch Bing, Guardian Yun and Elder Weizhe has finally ended.." Wang Xiong answered.

 Chapter 733 - The Promotion Of Elders

    Chapter 733 иC The Promotion Of Elders

    Lin Wu was wondering what the meeting between the Patriarch Bing, Guardian Yun and Elder Weizhe would be about.

    He did have some guesses about it, but he was not fully certain. If it was something to do with the entire sect, Lin Wu reckoned they would have invited the other elders, too. But since only Elder Weizhe was there, it was bound to be something else.

    ''Though considering the elders'' situation right nowбн and me killing half of them, Elder Weizhe is the one with the highest cultivation base.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Oh? What''s the oue, then?" Lin Wu questioned, having made some guesses in his mind.

    "Considering the demise of several elders and theck of power, Elder Weizhe will be immediately promoted to the position of the Supreme elder. Along with this, several junior elders will be promoted to Senior elders as well.

    The core disciples that are at the Nascent soul realm will be given temporary status as junior elders as well. Though if they want, they can be full fledged elders too, but their responsibilities will be equally increased." Wang Xiong answered.

    "So it really is like that, huhбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    His guess had turned out to be urate, but it also meant that one of the ns he had prepared could now be initiated.

    "What do you want us to do now, Senior?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Alrightбн Listen to me carefully, then." Lin Wu said before exining his n.

    After hearing it all, Wang Xiong''s eyes lit up, and he felt excited.

    "Thisбн If it really works, thenбн it will be the perfect oue!" Wang Xiong eximed.

    "Indeed. But it all depends on how well Guardian Yun and you can handle Patriarch Bing. And I don''t think the other elders will take this with no doubts either. Even if they are in the Frozen brook division, such a sudden addition will leave them struck too." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Don''t worry, senior. I''ll make sure Patriarch Bing understands. Besides, I did keep something ready for a situation like this before. While I didn''t think it would be exactly this, I still have something close to it." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Alright, do as you see fit and keep me informed." Lin Wu stated.

    "I will, Senior." Wang Xiong replied before bidding him goodbye.

    ''Hmmбн even if this part is doneбн we still don''t know another important thing. Why was patriarch Bing away from the sect for this long? What was the agenda of the important meeting for which he was called?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Ideally, the patriarch or the head of a sect should not leave his sect easily. At least not in an unstable situation the likes of which the Frozen Cloud sect was in. Lin Wu was not so dumb as to think that Patriarch Bing didn''t know this either.

    "Which meansбн whatever he was called for, was many times important than the stability of his own sect." Lin Wu analyzed.

    ''Whatever the Long n called the meeting for must be severe enough for Patriarch Bing to ignore his basic duties.'' Lin Wu thought as his expression darkened.

    He knew that if the Long n had now acted, he couldn''t ignore it either. If he wanted to grow his power in this world, he needed to be aware of the news and events of the entire long continent, if not the entire Ming Dao world.

    Right now Lin Wu was isted from the other two continents, and thus wouldn''t need to worry about them, but there was still the eventual need to get them under him too.

    Additionally, there was one other thing that had been bugging Lin Wu.

    <em>~Ding~</em>

    бкбк

    QUEST: Hunt and consume the original bloodline beast.

    REWARDS: Bloodline Progression, Skill progression, Cultivation Progression.

    DURATION: Unlimited.

    STATUS: Iplete

    бкбк

    Lin Wu hadn''t forgotten that he still had a big quest that had not beenpleted yet. This was one of his original goals in the past, but he had long since realized finding the beast would not be possible alone.

    With the vast expanse that was the Ming Dao World, it would be the same as searching aбн Single beast in the entire world.

    ''I definitely need toplete this quest. Both by bloodlines were from this beast and are the basis of my power. And this is when what I have is merely a fraction of what this beast has. If I finish the quest, just how strong will I even grow?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    This quest was a long term goal of Lin Wu and the making of his own organization, the Emeraldine Legion, was the means to an end. Though it wasn''t as if he was gonna depend on the Legion for all things, there was also the way to search it on his own.

    "If my cultivation base is strong enough, I should still be able to sense the beast. And if I can''t, the system will surely be able to detect it. The more my cultivation base increases, the better the range of the system will get.

    Considering the beast''s aspects, I know that it can dig and hide underground. Finding it will not be easy, but I have to do it!" Lin Wu said to himself.

    Lin Wu also realized something after seeing the quest again.

    "Now that I think of itбн System you haven''t given me any quests after thatбн not even minor ones. Why is that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system only assigns quests when it deems it absolutely necessary. The quests are only created when they will greatly impact the host. This assessment mechanism changes depending on the host''s current capabilities and powers.

    Since the host was far weaker in the past, the system had to prioritize the host''s survival and make quests that were appropriate for that.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so you are considerate like that." Lin Wu said. "But thenбн Aren''t the quests pretty much just suggestions? The rewards you''ve given so far are just the normal oue of the quests.." He added.

 Chapter 734 - A Year Passes

    Chapter 734 иC A Year Passes

    Lin Wu waited for the system''s answer but received none.

    "So you''re gonna be silent huhбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He knew that the system didn''t answer things that it couldn''t at its current level. If this was him in the past, he would have pestered the system to tell him, but now he knew well to not waste his time and energy in that when he had far more important things to do.

    For now, Lin Wu decided to continue cultivating. He also wanted to let his avatar breakthrough to the Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm too. While he wouldn''t be entering full seclusion, Lin Wu would still cultivate and get the information that the beasts and his subordinates would report to him.

    Now was the time for him to wait and asses the situation rather than freely go around and act.

    And just like this, time continued to pass.

    A year went by in the blink of an eye as the beasts in the Millennium forest continued to grow. Lin Wu''s main body had stabilized its cultivation base, and he had recoveredpletely.

    The same could be said for the Twin Lights Liger King. The former ruler had epted the arm of the Supreme elder with great pleasure and had gained quite a bit from it too. While it wasn''t on the same level as Lin Wu, it was still enough to push him quite far in his cultivation.

    The Twin Lights Liger King had now condensed about thirty percent of his Dao Shell at this point. The process having been augmented due to the arm of the supreme elder.

    Lin Wu had watched the entire process, as he wanted to know just how much this could affect beasts other than him. Especially since Tim consuming the leg had made him fall in a deep slumber.

    A sleep from which he had yet to awaken from.

    If Lin Wu had not known that Tim was fully fine and the system''s assesment was the same, anyone else would have assumed that Tim was in aa.

    On the side of his human subordinates, Tian Xiaoge had finally broken through to the Nascent soul realm as well. While her tribtion was a bit longer there were no unusual phenomena during it and it all went well.

    The same could be said for Pei Jun, whose breakthrough was even smoother. The two of them continued to stabilize their cultivation base for another month after that. Once that was done, Lin Wu summoned them and talked to them.

    The two of them got to learn of the fall of the Frozen Cliff Division which they didn''t even know hade into existence. After all, they had been in seclusion since before the creation of the three divisions.

    Then, learning that the Frozen Cliff division mounted a rebellion, even going so far as to killing the other disciples, the two were shocked to say the least. And when Lin Wu revealed to them that he had massacred the Frozen Cliff division, they didn''t know what to say.

    But they couldn''t help but feel a deeper level of respect as well as fear of Lin Wu. They knew very well what it meant to eliminate half of the Frozen Cloud sect''s elders meant.

    This was not just a matter of concern for the Frozen Cloud sect but rather the other top sects, too. After all, what Lin Wu had done was weaken a top sect by half with just him and two more beasts.

    If the other top sects were to learn of this, they wouldn''t hold back from assuming the worst. To them, Lin Wu would be a threat that would have to be eliminated. He would be a vicious beast that was to be eliminated at any cost.

    Which was also why, as much as Lin Wu desired to grow stronger by consuming other strong cultivators, he had to resist that temptation and hold back for the time being.

    He knew very well that he had been lucky in thest fight. He was simply fighting a single Dao Treading realm expert who was caught off guard. If there were two more of them, Lin Wu didn''t have confidence that he would be able to survive that.

    Not to mention that there was always a chance that the other sects would learn of his powers and abilities, allowing them to form strategies and tactics against him. This would further weaken him even more.

    Then there was the fact that there still were Immortal Ascension realm experts in this world. While they were limited, their existence was still a great threat to Lin Wu. He had zero confidence in going against them.

    Plus, they wouldn''t even need to act. They could simply wave a hand and send out an army of cultivators to mount an offense against Lin Wu.

    If they targeted the Millennium forest, the other beasts wouldn''t have a chance to live for long. Not to mention, Lin Wu would lose the base he had made and the constant support he would get from there.

    The millennium forest provided him with a steady source of resources as well as spirit Qi. And it was not at its full potential either. The spirit Qi in the forest continued to grow slowly.

    The system assessed that the current growth rate of the spirit Qi was about a single percent every year.

    This might seem small, but with the life span most cultivators had, it could be considered very fast. After all, the concentration of spirit Qi in the forest was already far greater than most ces in this continent.

    It was already enough to be considered on the same level as that of a sacred ground of a sect. And it would only grow more. It wouldn''t be long when the millennium forest would be the best ce to cultivate on the continent.

    From what Lin Wu and the system had assessed, the sealed being under the Dark Bloom caverns was the energy source of the entire tomb and also the source of the spirit Qi for the forest.

    The spirit Qi sourced from the being was almost endless, and Lin Wu didn''t know how it could produce so much of it.

    Even if the sealed being was an enigma for now, Lin Wu didn''t mind that and only looked to take advantage of it.

    And just the increased spirit Qi wasn''t the only advantage. With the increased spirit Qi, the growth rate of spirit herbs, fruits and spirit beasts would elerate too. Rarer and better spirit fruits might start growing too.

    As the king of the millennium forest, this would provide Lin Wu with additional means of getting stronger.

    It wouldn''t be unreasonable for Lin Wu to simply stay put in the Millennium forest for several decades and reap the gains slowly while also growing stronger. Though he doubted that would be possible, since the other powers won''t stay still.

    The cultivation world was always moving around and the cultivators would search for fortune.

    The millennium forest was a hunting ground for both beasts and resources, thus there were bound to be some that notice the increase. This would only bring more and more cultivators here, until it attracted the attention of the bigger powers of this world.

    For when that timees, Lin Wu would need to be strong enough to resist them.

    And for that, the Frozen Cloud sect would be his first line of defense.

    Wang Xiong had been giving Lin Wu steady updates and had been working with Yun Bai towards a better route. They were intending on getting the patriarch to ally themselves with Lin Wu.

    But this couldn''t be done directly. Rather than that, they needed a catalyst. And this catalyst was still being prepared.

    "Soonбн soon, they will all be ready." Lin Wu muttered as he gazed at several monitoring screens.

    On those screens, tens of humans could be seen sitting. They were silently cultivating and spirit Qi revolved around them. At the front, a beast dressed in the robes of a monk could also be seen.

    He lightly spoke and gave insights to the human cultivators.

    All of these humans had one thing inmon through, they were all at the Pseudo Nascent soul realm!

    This was the trump card Lin Wu had prepared for an alliance between the Frozen Cloud sect and the Millennium forest. It was an alliance that would turn into subordination in the future though.

    But it was something that the Patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect couldn''t learn now.

    ''Even if they don''t want to, they will still have toe under my protection. They will simply have no choiceбн the temptation will be far too great.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as a smile appeared on his face.

    Lin Wu switched to a different monitor and observed the rest of the beasts in the forest. While no beast had a breakthrough this year, a lot of them had progressed to the Core condensation realm.

    And despite the fact that the hunting of beasts had increased during this time, the numbers had not decreased at all. The birth rate of new beasts was simply far too muchpared to the hunting rate.

    The repair work of the formation array of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb had beenpleted in this time as well by the system. The system was finally on track to reconnecting the old areas that had been broken for thousands of years.

    Little by little, the Millennium forest was progressing and turning into a power that the entire Long Continent would revere.

 Chapter 735 - The Beasts Got Jobs

    Chapter 735 иC The Beastбпs Got Jobs

    "My king! It is time!" Lin Wu was woken out of his trance by a sudden voice.

    Lin Wu''s eyes opened wide as he immediately checked the monitoring screens.

    On the screen, he could see turbulent spirit Qi and spatial fluctuations around several disciples that were sitting and cultivating deeply.

    "So they are finally readyбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    There were thirteen disciples in total that hade from the Frozen Cloud sect, along with the remaining two that were Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge. The two were the first ones to progress out of the rest and now the time for the others hade as well.

    Even if they might have been a bitte, seeing as over a year had passed, it was not a bad time at all.

    "Tell all beasts at the core condensation realm and below to retreat to the fourth ring!" Lin Wu gave out the order.

    The order was transmitted to his servants and subordinates, who quickly acted on his order. Today, droves of beasts migrated from the fifth and sixth ring to the fourth ring. This migration was enough to scare the weaker, less intelligent beasts who were startled into retreating even further.

    If this was not controlled, there was a chance that they might just end up running all the way out of the millennium forest, trigging a beast tide. That was not something Lin Wu wanted, and his servants already knew that.

    The servant of his had their own subordinates and these were already assigned to the second and first ring a long time ago. They would make sure that the beasts of the millennium forest don''t just leave in mass numbers.

    A few of them were fine, but hundreds and thousands was certainly not okay. The beasts that were assigned to the second and first ring were at the core condensation realm. In these areas, humans woulds normallye to hunt.

    Thus if such strong beasts were found there by them, they would be alerted and possibly cause more trouble for Lin Wu. Which was why this duty was chiefly assigned to the insect beasts that could dig and live underground.

    They could monitor the situation and guard the first and second right appropriately. Not to mention they could also act as the first warning system for Lin Mu in case humans mounted an offense or arge number of them arrived in the forest.

    While system could always tell this to Lin Wu, the same could not be said for Lin Wu''s servants. Since Lin Wu wanted to spend time in cultivation, he couldn''t always update his servants about each development.

    Thus, to let them be independent this was another method. With this, Lin Wu could focus on his own cultivation and let the servants deal with the problems before he needed to even interfere.

    So far, the system had been working as expected and now it would be another test for it.

    There were over a hundred core condensation realm beasts watching the first and second right right now. All hidden underground, ready to act whenever needed for them.

    Usually core condensation realm beasts wouldn''t like to be in the second and first ring as the concentration of spirit Qi here was less. But since they were doing a specific job that was important and issued by Lin Wu, they were not left upensated.

    They were given benefits in the form of spirit fruits and spirit herbs that still helped them cultivate. In fact, this turned out to be a job that beastspeted to take, since the gains in this were higher than they would get by just staying in the fourth or third ring.

    For all the beasts below Nascent soul realm, this was one of the best jobs they could get, other than bing fertilizer and manure producers. The ones that made manure were rather rich too these days.

    In fact, a couple of them were even getting smart enough to make their own farms and use their manure to cultivate the farm. They could be considered ''cultivators'' too now.

    Lin Wu jokingly called them Shit cultivators.

    But many of these beasts wanted to be shit cultivators. It was a easy job that paid well, they simply needed to eat and shit out quality manure.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    "Huh? What''s that?" A few humans were hunting on the periphery of the second ring of the millennium forest currently.

    They felt a low rumbling sounding from the depths of the forest. It was very low so only a couple of them heard it, but a few secondster the rest of them heard it too.

    "What could that be?" someone questioned.

    "No way, could it be a beast?" a man guessed as he tightened his grip on the spear he was holding.

    "Just a single beast? Do you think it''s a core condensation realm beast?" a girl wondered.

    "There are no core condensation realm beasts in the second ring, don''t you know?" the man said, doubting the girl''s intelligence.

    "I know that!" The girl said, feeling offended.

    "No, waitбн there can be core condensation realm beasts here. But when they do appearбн that meansбн" another older man said, as he face darkened.

    "A beast tide!" The girl realized.

    Cold sweat appeared in the backs of everyone that was here as they imagined the terrifying scene of thousands of beasts rushing out of the millennium forest.

    They had already known that the millennium forest had gotten far more dangerous than it used to be in the past and the many warnings that had been issued. In fact, the fourth ring was almost deemed a restricted area these days for the benefit of themoners and cultivators.

    Nearly everyone knew that the Millennium forest now had a Dao Shell realm beast, the Twin Lights Liger King. The former rulers reputation was well known and his show of power a year ago was enough to startle most cultivator powers along with the kingdoms.

    <em>~tremble~</em>

    "LOOK! IT REALLY IS BEASTS!" The girl spotted.

 Chapter 736 - An Unexpected Save

    Chapter 736 иC An Unexpected Save

    Several silhouettes of beasts could be seen appearing at the edge of the second ring, just at the limits of the humans'' sight.

    The humans all froze with fear as the watched the beast''s approach them. The number of beasts was way beyond what they had even talked about.

    "Thisбн this isn''t thousandsбн this is hundreds of thousands!" the old man screamed.

    The beasts all ran at full speed, uncertainty and anxiety filling their minds. They were not given anymands, but seeing the stronger beasts from the inner rings appearing in their territory had terrified them.

    One of the humans tried to take a step, but their legs were too weak to carry them much farther.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Just in two steps, the man fell to the ground. His legs turning to lead, he could only watch in despair as the wave of beasts only got closer and closer. Tears started streaking down his face and the same could be said for the rest of the humans.

    "Isбн this our end?" the girl said between her subs.

    The beasts were now merely twenty meters away and this distance could be covered in less than a few seconds by them. There were various kinds of beasts in the tide and some of them very fast, taking the lead.

    In this current situation, there was a herd of Ash Crowned bucks charging towards the humans. They hadrge horns that were ash colored and they galloped at great speed, jumping several meters at once.

    One such Ash Crowned buck was mid air and when he wouldnd, the girl in the front was bound to be trampled.

    <em>~whoosh~</em>

    But just as the deer was about tond, the ground started to shake.

    <em>~TREMBLE~</em>

    This shaking was different from the trembling of ground due to the beast tide approaching. It was far more intense and soon the girl felt the ground underneath her move.

    ''Eh?'' the girl couldn''t help but look down as she felt herself rising up.

    The soil parted as arge body rose from it. It was over three meters in size and was dark brown colored.

    The rest of the humans, the girl''sparison, saw this too and were shocked by what had appeared.

    "A Throw Pulse Cicada?!" The old man recognized.

    "HEAVENS! IT REALLY IS A CORE CONDENSATION REALM BEAST!" another man shouted.

    The beast in question was a dark brown cicada. It had a hard and tough exterior shell that was a bit rough. It had six limbs, with the frontal ones being hooked. But the most gnarly feature of it was its mouth.

    There were three wide mandibles attached to it. These mandibles weren''t like normal mandibles though. They had a webbing that connected all of them.

    The Throw Pulse Cicada raised its head and looked towards the iing beasts.

    <em>~HUUUUUUUUUUUU~</em>

    Arge amount of air was sucked into its mouth in that moment, as the mandibles expanded and its thorax widened as well.

    <em>~FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~</em>

    The webbing attached to the mandibles vibrated rapidly as the Cicada beast breathed out.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    At that moment, spirit Qi flowed into its mandible as a dense sound pulse shot out. The pulsepressed the air enough that the change could be seen with naked eyes. The pulse traveled forth like a cannon and sted apart all the Ash Crowned bucks.

    <em>~st~</em>

    The ones that were in the very front were unfortunate and directly exploded into bits of flesh and bones, while the ones that were further back were knocked away like rag dolls. The attack spread in the shape of a cone, creating a divide in the beast tide.

    <em>~Roar~</em>

    <em>~howl~</em>

    <em>~Chirp~</em>

    The iing beasts were suddenly startled by the appearance of the Throw Pulse cicada and changed their direction, avoiding the ce where the beast was. This was a narrow area, but it was still enough to save all the humans that were behind the cicada.

    The terrified humans were left with even greater shock as they saw the beast tide pass around them without hurting them.

    ''Weбн we''re alive?'' They all thought, unable to move their lips yet.

    <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>

    The corpses of beasts that were caught in the attack of the Throw Pulse cicada fell to the ground, creating noise that scared the iing beasts even more. Some of them were directly hit by the falling corpses and were injured too.

    The humans could only watch as a ughter urred in a moment.

    Just a single attack from the Throw Pulse Cicada had possibly eliminated over a hundred beasts at once while also repelling the rest froming near. Not only that, but the beast was domineering too.

    Spirit Qi fluctuations spread from its body while its beastly aura spiked.

    The beast tide continued to pass by while the aura of the Throw Pulse Cicada kept them away even after the effects of the attack had passed.

    Two minutes passed like this, during which the Throw Pulse cicada stayed still, its eyes gazing at the iing tide straight without moving. The humans couldn''t move either, even if they had gained the ability to move again.

    There were beasts around them till before and now they were in the presence of a core condensation realm beast that had killed hundreds in one blow. They feared that if they moved, they might just end up catching the attention of the beast and it might kill them too.

    Even if they had been saved for the time being, they didn''t know this beast.

    The most shocked was none other than the girl that was sitting on the back of the Throw Pulse cicada.

    "What do I do?" She couldn''t help but wonder.

    She had never imagined in her life that she would get to climb on top of a Core Condensation realm beast like this, even if it was unintentional. She was merely at the early stage of the Qi refining realm, like most of herpanions here.

    Even the old man who was the strongest of them was at thete stage of the Qi refining realm.

 Chapter 737 - More Anxiety After A Moment Of Relief

    Chapter 737 иC More Anxiety After A Moment Of Relief

    The girl and all herpanions were just average cultivators from the Ling Kingdom and hade from the nearby Deer wood city. They didn''t belong to any particr power and had only gathered together toe hunt.

    No one would hunt in the Millennium forest alone anymore and would always go in groups of five or more. This group was even bigger, having ten members.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    But just as she was wondering what to do, the cicada moved!

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The girl swallowed her saliva as she tried to stay as still as possible. The rest of herpanions, on the other hand, couldn''t move either. They were all far too weak to handle the pressure exuding from the Throw Pulse cicada.

    "Phree?" A strange sound could be hearding from the Throw Pulse Cicada''s mouth.

    To the girl, it almost felt like it was tinged with surprise.

    The beast looked at the humans, and then its eyes turned upwards. It could feel someone on top of its body.

    "Phi!" The Throw Pulse Cicada let out another sound.

    Its aura started retreating into its body and the spirit Qi fluctuationing from its body almost disappeared as well. At the very least, they were no longer strong enough to pressurize the humans.

    They all felt dumbstruck at this. The girl was even more so.

    "Ph!" The beast let out another sound and lightly shook its body.

    The girl, as if understanding something, slid down from its back. She carefully stepped back while keeping an eye on the beast, who simply watched them without moving. The girl''spanions tactfully understood as well and stepped back slowly but steadily.

    Once they were about ten meters away from the Throw Pulse Cicada, it moved again. This time though, it went back into the ground, as its legs moved quickly to burrow. In ten seconds, the beast was nowhere to be seen.

    "Did weбн Justбн" a man spoke with confusion, finding it hard to speak.

    "We didбн" hispanion replied.

    "We wereбн saved by that beast?" The girl finally understood.

    "How? That should be impossible?" another girl, a bit older than the first one, questioned.

    The old man, who was seemingly the leader of the group though had a serious expression on his face now.

    "Don''t speak anymore. Let''s leave for now. Whatever happened here is a miracle. Best don''t test your fate anymore!" The old man warned.

    All of hispanions nodded their heads in response, not wanting to stay here. Though the girl who was on the back of the Throw Pulse cicada couldn''t help but think to herself more.

    ''Did that beastбн understand us? If not, then why would it save us and even let us leave?'' this question wouldn''t budge from the girl''s mind.

    She would be thinking this non-stop for theing few days.

    The humans started to move, and so did the girl. They ran as fast as possible, while also avoiding the direction that the beasts had passed over. Thirty minutes passed as they coveredrge tracts ofnd.

    They used all of their spirit Qi, even going so far as to use spirit stones to continually restore their spirit Qi. Normally they would not use their precious spirit stones like this, but this was a matter of life and death, which they certainly had to take seriously.

    They had covered about half of the distance of the Second ring when they felt a change in the air.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    Winds started to blow as the sky darkened.

    "Huh?" they looked up and saw dark clouds covering the entire sky. "Wasn''t it just clear a minute ago?" they were confused.

    The clouds had appeared rapidly and covered wherever they looked. They extended past the horizon and all the way to the depths of the forest as well. Looking in the direction of the Ling Kingdom, they could see that the clouds only kept on expanding even more.

    "What is happening? Is a storm iing?" the second girl asked.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    It was at this moment that they felt a streak of light shing in their vision.

    "Lightning?"

    <strong><em>~RUMBLE~</em></strong>

    And just as they saw that, the loud thunderp hit their ears!

    "EEK!!!!" The two girls were scared and almost fell to the ground.

    The other humans were a bit startled by this too, finding the thunder to be the soundest they had ever heard before in their lives.

    "Is this a storm? How? This isn''t even the season for that!?" one of them realized.

    <em>~sh~</em>

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    But the clouds had nothing for their questions and continued to thunder as faint arcs of lightning continued to streak across them. It was like snakes swimming in the water as the white arcs of lightning weaved in and out of clouds.

    The dark color of the clouds contrasted the bright white color of the lightning, making it seem as if a mystical painting had appeared in the sky.

    The clouds continued to spread while the thunder and lightning showed its dominance. And as this urred, all the humans felt an unsettling feeling filling their bodies. They didn''t know why, but the hair on their skin stood up and anxiety filled their minds.

    The old man''s expression turned dark like the clouds, as he had a moment of realization.

    "Thisбн are we really this unfortunate? We really shouldn''t havee this weekбн" the old man muttered with regret.

    Hispanions heard him and were a bit lost.

    "What do you mean, leader?" someone asked.

    "Thisбн this thingбн these cloudsбн the lightningбн it''s not a stormбн" the old man replied as his lips turned dry.

    "Then what is it?" the girl asked while her legs and arms continued to tremble.

    "Thisбн is aбн Heavenly tribtion," the old man said with difficulty.

    The moment the rest of them heard this, they all felt their hearts fall to their guts.

    "A HEAVENLY TRIBULATION!?" They all eximed.

    <em>~RUMBLE!~</em>

    And with their voices another thunderp echoed, but this time a stronger sh of lightning apanied it.

    Though its direction was different, it fell to the ground!

 Chapter 738 - Multiple Heavenly Tribulations

    Chapter 738 иC Multiple Heavenly Tribtions

    The humans witnessed a sight that shook their souls: A Heavenly Tribtion!

    This was something people of their level would almost never get to see. After all, they were the lowest of the low in terms of status in the cultivation world. Even if they might be above the peasants who had no spirit Qi cultivation, it was still nothing whenpared to the orthodox legacies of cultivation sects and kingdoms.

    Among them, only one person had ever seen a Heavenly Tribtion and it was the old man who was their leader.

    "Why is there a Heavenly Tribtion here? Who would chose to go through it here in the Millennium forest?" a young man that looked to be barely twenty years old asked.

    "What makes you think that it''s a human? Do you forget what this ce is? Did you forget the many beasts that reside here?" Hispanion scoffed at him.

    It was now that the young man understood.

    "A beast? A beast is making such arge Heavenly Tribtion?" the Young man said with disbelief.

    "That is probably it. Thest time I saw a Heavenly Tribtion was in this forest, too. And the one undergoing it was a beast as well." The old man spoke.

    "Do we know which beast it was?" someone asked.

    "Who knowsбн there have been rumors that several Nascent soul beasts have popped up in the Millennium forest in the past decade. The number only increasing more and more." The old man replied.

    "What?! Why aren''t the people of the kingdom doing anything? I thought there were only five rulers in the Millennium forest." A woman asked.

    "Do you think they don''t know this? They knew this way before we did. As for why they don''t want to actбн do you really think even the entire power of the Ling Kingdom can go against the Millennium forest now?" The old man replied.

    Hearing this thepanions of the old man felt a bit lost. To them, the Ling Kingdom''s power was great. Greater than what they could ever experience. Thus they didn''t think that the forest located in it would be powerful than themselves.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    But their confusion was only starting to get deeper.

    <em>~BOOM</em>~

    More and more Bolts of Tribtion lightning started to fall from the skies.

    "Huh? Why are there so many at once?" The old man was confused too.

    "Doesn''t this mean whatever beast is undergoing the tribtion is very talented and powerful?" One of the cultivators who was a bit more knowledgeable, asked.

    "Noбн that''s not rightбн even if there can be multiple tribtion lightning bolts during a tribtionбн they won''te all at once like this." The old man said as his expression turned pale.

    A dangerous thought came to his mind that made him feel chilly.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    He swallowed his saliva as he looked at the tens of Lightning bolts that fell one after the other.

    It looked like it was raining Thunder and Lightning now.

    "Noбн Noбн NO! It can''t beбн HEAVENS! IT''S NOT ONE BEAST ITS MULTIPLE BEASTS!" The old man couldn''t hold back anymore.

    <em>~BOOM~ BOOM~ ~BOOM~</em>

    Thunder echoed non-stop, assaulting the ears of all while Lightning descended like the heavens were angered.

    <em>~thud~thud~thud~</em>

    The humans couldn''t help but copse to the ground at the terrifying sight. Their scalp almost ached from the sounds and sight of the tribtion. Heavenly tribtion was something that was sourced from the very heavens and thus could have profound effects on all cultivators.

    The ones that were weaker would only feel them to be oppressive. This was especially so for those that were in the Qi refining realm. If it was the average heavenly tribtion, they would only feel unconformable in its presence.

    But with the tens of tribtion bolts falling at the same time, it was simply devastating to their minds.

    Their spirit Qi felt like it would tear out through their body and they had to do their very best to control it. Even if this wasn''t their Heavenly Tribtion, they felt like they were undergoing their own personal tribtion in their body.

    The old man was the one with the highest cultivation base among them and could still somewhat hold on. He was the only one who was witnessing everything in detail. The others could only sit on the ground and try to not pass out.

    ''Do the heavens really want us to suffer today?'' The old man couldn''t help but think.

    He recalled the stories he had heard when he was a child. Everyone was told stories about the vicious beasts that resided in the Millennium forest and how terrifying they could be. Each Nascent soul realm beast would be qualified to be the ruler of the forest.

    Their numbers would indicate the power of the forest and the weakness of the humans. The greater it got, the weaker the human race would be. But seeing the numbers increase so quickly all at once was a blow that the old man had never expected.

    ''I need to tell the mayor! This needs to be informed to the royal court!'' the old man thought.

    He had family in the Deer Wood city that he cared for and the growth in power of the Millennium forest only meant greater danger for them. There was also a chance for beast tide that would be more powerful than ever.

    He had already seen an example today, and didn''t want to imagine one that would be lead by Nascent soul realm beasts.

    What the poor old didn''t know was that his fears were all wrong. After all, it wasn''t beasts having a breakthroughбн it was humans.

    Back at the sixth ring, Lin Wu''s crimson eyes stared at the dark clouds above.

    <em>~Boom~ Boom~ boom~</em>

    Lightning fell from the skies and went towards the many Frozen Cloud disciples that were sitting around. But just before it was about to strike them, it would split apart and a part of it would strike somewhere else.

    "Humph! Such Lightning can''t do much when I''m here.." Lin Wu said proudly.

 Chapter 739 - Thirteen Nascent Soul Realm Human Subordinates!

    Chapter 739 иC Thirteen Nascent Soul Realm Human Subordinates!

    Lin Wu gazed at the disciples of the Frozen Cloud sect under him breakthrough though one by one. This was all arranged by him and he knew that the more there were the, stronger the effect would be.

    And not just that, Lin Wu could even feel a synergistic effect between the cultivation of all thirteen disciples.

    ''The system was right, there is indeed a lot more to the Sky Bright Daoist''s technique than we thought. This synergy is not even openly said, and is a hidden aspect of the technique.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    A unified breakthrough like this was originally suggested by the Emeraldine Sky Light monk ape. He had apparently gained some insights that made him think that doing so would be good.

    Lin Wu was of course doubtful of it, even thinking the monkey was a fool. Lin Wu had already seen many types of heavenly tribtions and even participated in multiple of them, despite the fact that they weren''t his.

    He knew very well how dangerous they could be. And when several such cultivators would be breaking through at the same time, the effect would only be many times more dangerous.

    While Lin Wu wasn''t worried about getting injured himself, he didn''t want his base to get injured in the process. This included his subordinates and other beasts along with the millennium forest.

    Tim''s breakthrough and the near escape of the Sealed being were alreadyrge headaches to him and Lin Wu certainly didn''t want a repeat of anything close to that. Even if it was highly unlikely for an event on that level to happen, it was best to stay safe.

    Thus he let the system analyze the scenario and only after it gave the go-ahead, did Lin Wu allow the disciples to breakthrough here.

    Of course, he didn''t let the tribtion attenuation formation array work on its own either. The array wasn''t made to handle multiple heavenly tribtions at once like this and was likely to get damaged if so many people broke through at once.

    This was also why Lin Wu interfered personally. With his progress in the Immortal Sky Shaker art and proficiency with the lightning element,bined with radiation maniptor, Lin Wu was confident in doing the work of the array himself.

    Thus while the array was still working, Lin Wu was lessening its load by diverting a part of the tribtion lightning himself.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    Another lightning bolt filled with the power of heavenly tribtion struck the barrier and split apart before hitting the disciples and ground.

    "Just a bit more and it should be overбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    His gaze went to the several monitors that were floating around him and observed the siltation in the other parts of the millennium forest.

    "Oh? There are actually humans that managed to stay in the second right even now? I thought they''d have all run away." Lin Wu muttered in surprise.

    He had given the order to his beasts to prevent a tide from happening. And in addition to that, he asked them to protect the humans in case they could. While it was not an absolute requirement, Lin Wu reckoned their survival would be good for hister ns.

    Lin Wu even told that he would provide additional incentives to those beasts that save the humans and prevent them from dying.

    A personal guarantee from their king was more than enough for all the beasts to work with great diligence. They would dly give their lives for Lin Wu at this moment and wouldn''t mind doing whatever he asked even without the reward.

    Still, Lin Wu knew the best way to motivate the subordinates now and it was to reward them at some milestones.

    And right on the monitoring screen in front of him was the result of that; a perfect result.

    "Ooo, this could be a nice story on its own." Lin Wu said as he watched the Throw Pulse cicada defend the group of humans from the tide of beasts.

    ''That''s a nice ability that cicada got there, might be good enough to nurture perhapsбн'' Lin Wu took note in his mind.

    He then watched as the humans did their best to escape the forest. The team of humans that was saved by the Throw Pulse cicada weren''t the only humans that were in the forest at this time either.

    There were a few more spread around the forest and most of them had escaped, along with a few that had perished.

    The ones that had perished though were located deep in the third ring, almost at the fourth ring''s border at that time. Which only made them the first target of the beast tide. With the surge of the beasts, which even included Core condensation realm beasts, there was not much of a chance for them to live.

    They were the ones who had ended up dying the first.

    "There''s definitely gonna be a lot of talk in the nearby cities. The sects won''t be able to hold their curiosity anymore eitherбн though it''s all ording to the n." Lin Wu said to himself as the sh of lightning reflected off his crystal body.

    The tribtion was the biggest Lin Wu had ever seen, even when considering the other records and data he had. Though this was more of a quantitative difference rather than qualitative.

    Thus this tribtion wasn''t necessarily the most dangerous one either.

    ''Should be over in a while moreбн'' Lin Wu thought as he continued to redirect the tribtion bolts.

    While it looked like the lightning was raiding all at once and that tens of bolts were falling at once, it was not so. It was actually only thirteen bolts, all falling after short intervals.

    But due to Lin Wu''s control, they were split apart before they even struck the barrier. This made it look like there were nearly a hundred tribtion lightning bolts. Regardless, it was still a very impressive scene that not many would be able to forget.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Data Bank updated

    NOTIFICATION: The cause of the synergy has been found!

    ANSWER: The synergistic effect is ultimately due to the unknown aspect ''Dao''. In a singr heavenly tribtion, this is far too weak to show any effect, but when several of them happen at once, the practitioners can benefit from it.

    бкбк

    Seeing this, Lin Wu raised his brows.

    "This is interestingбн does apply to other techniques too?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: With further analysis and extraption of the data, the system might be bale to replicate it for other cultivation techniques. But for now, it is restricted to just this single technique.

    бкбк

    The system''s answer seemed reasonable to Lin Wu though it also made him wonder about additional hidden properties. But what made him the most irritated was the fact that he wouldn''t be able to take advantage of it himself, as he was already way beyond that point.

    ''Though it will probablye in handy sometime.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    An hour passed by, when finally the heavenly tribtion was fully over and the dark clouds dispersed as well.

    <em>~phew~</em>

    "That was still quite hecticбн" Lin Wu said as he took a deep breath.

    Even he was tired after doing all this. After all, manipting tribtion lightning alone was an absurd fact and him controlling several such was also very taxing on his spirit Qi. Even if he had not used all his capacity, half of it had still been depleted.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    And just as Lin Wu was checking up on the unmoving disciples, he felt a dense wave of spirit Qi spreading around in a circle. It was dense enough to actually make Lin Wu budge slightly.

    "Oh, the spirit Qi infusionбн I almost forgot about this." Lin Wu muttered to himself, as he saw several spirit Qi vortexes spinning in the sky.

    The vortex spun and poured as much spirit Qi into the cultivators who had just broken through.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    The spirit Qi quickly restored the cultivation bases of the disciples and their Nascent souls all appeared out of their bodies. These Nascent souls floated above their heads and absorbed the spirit Qi from the spirit Qi vortex.

    The process continued for about fortifier minutes after which the vortexes disappeared and the disciples all woke up one after the other.

    But when they opened their eyes, they were stunned.

    "W-what?" They said in shock.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light monk ape had directly sent them all here through the teleportation array and had simply told them to breakthrough after that. They had also been instructed a long time ago that if they were lucky they might get to meet a great senior.

    ''Is thatбн the beast senior that the monk told us about?'' Cao Du wondered.

    He was the one who was the first among them to reach the point of breakthrough and also the first one to wake up after the tribtion was fully gone.

    "Comeбн Kneel." Lin Wu spoke, his voice piercing through the heads of all directly.

    The disciples were a bit shocked, but still stood up hesitatingly. They were instructed to watch their manners and to be very respectful by the Monk before and they were intending to follow through with that.

    Even Tian Xiaoge and Pei Jun had told them the same. Since these two were trusted by the disciples, they all did as they were told and didn''t mind that Lin Wu could actually speak.

    "Junior''s pay respects to great Senior!" They all said in unison.

    "Mmmбн Goodбн Time for a reward for you all.." Lin Wu said as he began his subordination process.

 Chapter 740 - Giving A Trump Card And Sending Out The Disciples

    Chapter 740 иC Giving A Trump Card And Sending Out The Disciples

    One by one, Lin Wu imnted the Pentagem into all the disciples. This was the same version that he had imnted into Tian Han in the Frozen Cloud sect and had the new function as well.

    Lin Wu even added the same level of attack as Tian Han had triggered in the sect in all of the disciples. They didn''t know this, but knew that they had gained some power deep in their bodies.

    Still, storing a skill to be used at ater time in so many disciples was not easy and ended up over 75% of Lin Wu''s entire spirit Qi. These were after all, full power attacks of his that would be triggered when certain conditions were met.

    Lin Wu could modify them as needed and also activate them on his own if he needed so.

    "Thereбн now, all of you will have a trump card to save yourselves in the future." Lin Wu spoke after finishing the entire process.

    "What is this great senior?" a disciple asked.

    "Yes, what is it? I can feel the power within meбн" Cao Du questioned.

    "You can just think of it as something that will save you if you end up in a dangerous situation. Though it will only work once." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing this, the disciples were surprised.

    "What level of danger can it protect us from great senior?" another disciple asked.

    "Let''s just say that most Dao Shell realm experts will suffer." Lin Wu stated.

    He didn''t want to tell them that the skill stored in them would poison everything around them. This would work as an additional counter in case any of them revealed this information.

    It would allow them to catch the foe unaware.

    After all, if even they didn''t know what kind of an attack it would be, their foes would be even more lost.

    "THANK YOU SENIOR!" The disciples all said out loud.

    They knew what the weight of Lin Wu''s words was. If even a Dao Shell realm expert could suffer from the trump card he had given all of them, then it was simply a great grace. Any spirit tool or other treasures that could do the same were greatly valued and hard to get.

    The more powerful those tools were the more difficult it was to make them and the expense would increase too.

    If they were back in the Frozen Sect they would have never had the opportunity to get something like this. It was safe to say that at their current cultivation base, Dao Shell realm experts would simply kill them with ease.

    All of them felt excited about the future now. This was because the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape had told them that Lin Wu rewards those that do well. If they could get a reward like this by just breaking through, they couldn''t wait to see what they would get in the future.

    They wanted to do their best and please Lin Wu as much as they could.

    Lin Wu''s tactic of giving credit to the Twin Lights Liger King and Tim had worked out rather good. The beasts and all of Lin Wu''s subordinates were motivated to work harder while also being loyal.

    It was simply a win-win situation for Lin Wu and the others.

    "Senior Jun said that you have a mission for us, senior?" Cao Du finally asked.

    "Yesбн I want you all to go back to the Frozen Cloud sect." Lin Wu replied, surprising them.

    Some of them felt their hearts dropped, as if they were being abandoned. They frankly didn''t want to leave the Millennium forest now. They got to cultivate in a good ce with a high concentration of spirit Qi while also getting valuable guidance.

    No one would want to leave favorable condition like this after all.

    In fact, if it was the point of choosing between the Frozen Cloud sect and the forest, these disciples would definitely chose to leave the sect and just live in the forest.

    They had gotten more benefit here than they ever had in the Frozen Cloud sect.

    "Why are you banishing us senior?" Cao Du asked, feeling a bit afraid.

    "Ahahha!" Lin Wu couldn''t help but chuckle upon hearing this.

    He could guess the thoughts of these disciples and knew that it did feel like he was banishing them.

    "I''m not banishing you. I simply want you to do a mission." Lin Wu rified.

    "I seeбн we shall do as youmand us, great senior!" The disciples said with a determine look on their faces.

    "Alright then. I want you to return to the Frozen Cloud sect and assist Wang Xiong. The Frozen Cloud sect is currently in distress and greatly weakened. Your presence there will help stabilize itбн or at least we hope to." Lin Wu exined.

    "We understand, senior." The disciples replied.

    They didn''t know the full story behind the sect as of now, but Pei Jun had told them that the Frozen Cloud sect had undergone a great chance.

    "Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge will return with you all. They will also exin to you about the sect''s situation in detail. You can also ask them for any other information you want to." Lin Wu stated.

    "Thank you, senior." The disciples said before taking their leave.

    Lin Wu contacted Pei Jun about the disciples and instructed him to get ready to leave soon. Wang Xiong was also told about this and was rather excited now. The return of the disciples was a surprise that the Patriarch was going to get soon.

    It was also a surprise that would decide the next course of action for Lin Wu.

    Depending on the oue of it all, Lin Wu would have a strong ally that will help shield him from the other powers until he grew strong enough to resist them all on his own. It was indeed a tall peak to climb, but Lin Wu wasn''t going to back down from it.

    "Now to wait and seeбн" Lin Wu muttered before he teleported back into his hall.

    What Lin Wu didn''t know was the upheaval he had caused for the human powers around the Millennium forest.

    In all the surrounding settlements, whether they be cities, towns or viges, rms were raised.

    The people were already startled by the terrifying thunder, but when they were told that a beast tide was iing, they were utterly horrified. They all tried to escape, but some were still unable to in time.

    But when they realized that no beast tide came, they were confused.

    The cities sent out their experts to check out the situation at the forest, and were surprised to find out that the beasts were not leaving it. In fact, a strange phenomenon was witnessed.

    Several Core Condensation realm beasts blocked the weaker beasts from leaving the forest. With their powers, it was easy to do so and the beasts were too afraid to act. And once the dark clouds filled with thunder and lightning disappeared, the beasts retreated back into the forest it.

    Today was a day of many surprises and they didn''t know what was more weird.

    The beast tide though, was a matter of concern that mostly boggled themoners. What the higher ups were worried about though was the Heavenly Tribtion.

    "Are you sure all he''s saying is true?" An old elder questioned.

    Currently, a meeting was underway in the Deer wood city. Several n heads were all sitting together along with representatives from the other organizations of the city. This was after all, a matter of great importance.

    "Yes patriarch! We have confirmed the ount from other non rted people too and they seem to say the same. The beasts really did protect us from the beast tide." A guard replied.

    "Hmmбн and The heavenly tribtion?" another elder asked.

    "We didn''t dare to go any further in the forest, elder. But some of the more experienced guards have confirmed that there were multiple tribtions. I rmend we request for help from the Capital.

    We will need a Nascent soul realm expert to check it out. We are far too weak to even attempt that." The guard replied.

    "That is indeed trueбн" the elder replied.

    "Very well, it is decided then. We shall ask for an official intervention from the capital. I shall write to the royal court right away." The old man sitting at the head of the room spoke.

    With this, the meeting ended and a message was soon sent out to the Royal Court of the Ling Kingdom. The news of a massive Heavenly Tribtion, along with the behavior of the beasts, was rming to the royal court.

    The King personally asked a few of his ministers to check it out.

    This was a reasonable response considering the fact that the Millennium forest already had a forbidden area in it and was only getting more mysterious. The rise of the Twin Lights Liger King''s cultivation base was also brought up, which made the ministers even more wary.

    A simr scene yed out in the other kingdoms that surrounded the Millennium forest as well as the sects.. All of them were shocked and confused by the situation and wondered what was the mystery behind it.

 Chapter 741 - The Frozen Cloud Sects Response

    Chapter 741 иC The Frozen Cloud Sectбпs Response

    While the powers around the Millennium Forest learned about the urrences there and the Heavenly Tribtion, the Frozen Cloud sect did the same. They were informed of it as well and were surprised by it too.

    In the main hall of the Frozen Cloud sect, Patriarch Bing was currently being briefed about it.

    "Patriarch, it is confirmed. The Heavenly tribtion indeed happened." An elder spoke.

    "Mmбн I did know that it was a heavenly tribtion, but still getting visual confirmation is good too." Patriarch Bing replied.

    "Indeed patriarch. Though we don''t know what kind of a beast would have such a massive Heavenly Tribtion." The elder wondered.

    "It was not a single beastбн I could tell that the Heavenly Tribtion was not just one, but at least ten." Patriarch Bing stated, surprising everyone.

    "WHAT!?"

    "How''s that possible?"

    "Ten Heavenly Tribtions at once is ridiculous!

    "Yeah, how can the beasts even survive that? One tribtion will affect the other and increase the might too much. They would simply be sted to death."

    The elders were all shook by it and didn''t know how it was possible.

    "I said, at least ten. There are likely to be more of themбн and seeing as the number of bolts was still high, it is very likely that the beasts or whoever underwent the Heavenly Tribtion are still alive." Patriarch Bing stated.

    "Thisбн more than ten beasts reaching the Nascent soul realm at the same timeбн just what has happened in the Millennium forest?" the elders couldn''t help but wonder.

    Even if the Millennium forest had been somewhat of an important in the past, even the breakthrough of the Twin Lights Liger King wasn''t as shocking as more than ten Heavenly Tribtions at once.

    With the size of the Millennium forest, usually a normal heavenly tribtion might not even be visible from the third or second ring. But this time, it had exceeded the limits of any average tribtion.

    The entire Millennium forest was covered with the Tribtion clouds, making it very oppressive for the people living nearby.

    After a little more discussion, a man appeared in the hall.

    "Patriarch Bing, I have something I need to tell you." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Chief Disciple Wang Xiong? What is it?" the elders sitting around asked.

    "Tell me." Patriarch Bing replied.

    "I guess I can tell this to everyone since it is good news for our sect." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Oh? That''s great." One of the elders said.

    "Indeed. About time we get some good news after the past year or troubles." Another elder agreed.

    "Be silent and let the junior speak." This time it was Supreme Elder Weizhe that spoke up.

    He had been promotedst year due to theck of qualified people in the sect. It wasn''t just him getting promoted either and other lower level elders had been promoted as well so that the upper positions could be filled.

    But this was still not enough and the Frozen Cloud sect still needed a lot more elders to be considered normal for now.

    Wang Xiong looked at all the elders that were looking at him with anticipation along with Patriarch Bing.

    <em>~huu~</em>

    Taking a deep breath, he finally spoke.

    "Remember the disciples of our sect that were seemingly lost in the Millennium forest?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Yes, how can we forget?" The elders replied.

    "Yeah, didn''t those two Tian n juniors evene to ask us about one of their members who joined the sect?" another elder spoke.

    "I think her name was Tian Xiaoge. She had quite an identity being the daughter of the Tian n patriarch." A female elder recalled.

    Seeing their responses Wang Xiong nodded his head and continued.

    "Wellбн the fifteen disciples who were lostбн are returning!" Wang Xiong revealed.

    "WHAT!!!!?" This was an even greater shock to the elders.

    They had not expected that the string of surprises stemming from the Millennium forest had not ended yet.

    A couple of the elders though had intrigued expressions on their face, one of them being none other than Supreme elder Weizhe.

    "It wouldn''t have anything to do with the unnatural string of events of the Millennium forest, would it junior?" Supreme elder Weizhe inquired.

    "It might be, you all will get to see it soon. The fifteen disciples should be here any minute now." Wang Xiong replied.

    "If what you are saying is true, then this is indeed some good news. We have lost our numbers and more of our disciples surviving will be a good thing for us." Patriarch Bing stated.

    Wang Xiong looked at the faces of all and could tell that they were generally epting. While the supreme elder expressed a slightly suspicious front, that was his job anyway.

    One of the main jobs of a Supreme elder was not only helping and advising the patriarch, but also to contradict them at times, presenting an alternate opinion. Everyone that held a great position of power knew the importance of those that contradiction and critiqued them.

    They also knew how dangerous a bunch of Yes-men were as well. They would be a downward slope that could cause great damage to oneself. One wouldn''t even know and they would make bad decisions that only sabotaged themselves.

    It was better to have a few that were in the opposition against them.

    This was also why the position of a supreme elder was so high up in the ranking of a sect and why it was usually given to the other contender of the patriarch position. This way a somewhat natural rivalry would be present and opposition would always be there.

    It was simr to how it was important for a political party that ruled the government to have a strong opposition. If they didn''t have this, they would often becent and won''t do their jobs properly.

    They would always have the opposition keeping them in check and if they slipped up, the opposition would be able to denigrate them.. Thus they would always be on their toes, keeping up with the public and doing their jobs as well as possible.

 Chapter 742 - The Return Of The Fifteen Disciples

    Chapter 742 иC The Return Of The Fifteen Disciples

    Patriarch Bing and the rest of the elders waited for the said disciples to arrive.

    They didn''t know what to expect and neither did they know why they were onlying now. Thest they had seen them, they were barely at the Qi refining realm with some being at the core condensation realm.

    Only Pei Jun was at the Nascent soul realm, and him going missing was a loss that the sect did not like. Every disciple that could reach the nascent soul realm was valuable and could be a future elder.

    There were very few of them in the sect anyway and would always be in the minority.

    If there were ten thousand disciples, perhaps one or two from them would even reach the Nascent soul realm. The rest would forever be stuck in the core condensation realm and the few that managed to reach the pseudo nascent soul realm and trigger the Heavenly Tribtion would simply die.

    There were of course a few that managed to trigger the Heavenly Tribtion but aborted it in the middle due to how injured they had gotten. But this would usually damage their foundation and make it so that they needed a lot of resources to correct that path.

    These were resources they wouldn''t have and the sect wouldn''t provide them easily either as they would know about the talent of the disciples already. Using those resources on them could be considered a waste and they would not give them out easily.

    Unless there was a very valid reason for them aborting the Heavenly Tribtion the sect would refrain from nurturing them any further. It was these very disciples that would be outer court elders and deacons.

    They would also take positions such as guarding or doing designated duties in the many halls and specific buildings of the sect.

    "THEY ARE HERE!" Disciples tasked with guarding the hall on the outside announced.

    The elders whispered amongst themselves and soon received several messages on theirmunication jade slips.

    The information they all received was the same: the lost disciples had just entered the sect and were being brought to the main hall of the sect.

    The elders didn''t know why but they were feeling a strange sense of anticipation. Even Supreme Elder Weizhe who had a very calm demeanor seemed to be a bit excited. Though his excitement was only shown through his eyes that were open slightly more.

    "THE DISCIPLES HAVE ARRIVED!" The announcement was finally heard as the door of the hall opened.

    <em>~CREAK~</em>

    The pair ofrge doors made some sound as the ground trembled slightly. When the doors were finally open, the elders could peek at the disciples standing behind them. There were fifteen of them as they were informed and all looked to be good.

    "It really is themбн" an elder who had taught the disciples before muttered in surprise.

    They had long since considered that these disciples were dead, and didn''t even consider investigating more due to the conflicting issues between the three divisions.

    The one thing that hade out of the entire war in the sect was that now the divisions had all united.

    The Frozen Cliff division was fully eliminated with only some disciples left, while the Frozen ins division joined up with the Frozen Brook division considering the change in the situation.

    Wang Xiong had done well after the massacre to manage the sect and help the distressed disciples, even if they were not from their division. This was exactly why the Frozen ins division also supported him and was fine with his position as the Chief disciple.

    Wang Xiong had proved his abilities well enough for most to not doubt him.

    And while he was still a juniorpared to most of the elders here, he still had better mentality than most of them. This was the main reason why Patriarch Bing had chosen him as his sessor.

    And the leadership skills Wang Xiong had shown were rather impressive too for them. At the very least, he qualified to be a leader in the further if not the Patriarch.

    <em>~step~ Step~ Step~</em>

    Tens of footsteps could be heard all at once as the fifteen disciples entered the hall. They came up to the center before cupping their hands.

    "Disciple Pei Jun greets the elders, the supreme elder and Patriarch Bing!" Pei Jin was the first one to greet being the leader.

    "Disciple Tian Xiaoge greets the Patriarch, the supreme elder, and all the elders." Xiaoge joined in as well.

    One by one, all of the disciples gave their official greetings.

    The elders all scanned the disciples from top to bottom and couldn''t help but want to know more. Some were a bit brazen and directly used their spirit senses to check the disciples. But when they did this, they didn''t know that they were in for a surprise.

    ''Huh? They can block out spirit sense?'' The elders were stunned.

    They had not expected such disciples to be able to do this.

    But the surprise was momentary as the elders soon realized another factor that was many times more important.

    "Waitбн if they can block our spirit sensesбн then doesn''t that meanбн" a few of the elders realized something but didn''t dare confirm it right away.

    It was simply far too shocking for this matter to be true and they didn''t want to get the patriarch''s hopes up either.

    "Wee back, juniorsбн" Patriarch Bing replied in greeting, his tone mostly t.

    "And now that you all are here, I would like to know what happened to you all? We thought you were all dead?" The patriarch questioned.

    "Indeedбн if you all were alive and were even able to return to the sect after this entire decade, you should have been able to do so before too right?" Another elder asked.

    This was a difficult question, as it bordered on assuming if the disciples had chosen to desert to sect or do a dereliction of their duties that were not done in these years.

    "It would be way better for them to demonstrate this to you, elders, Patriarch Bing.." Wang Xiong interrupted them.

 Chapter 743 - Thirteen Elders And Three Chief Disciples?

    Chapter 743 иC Thirteen Elders And Three Chief Disciples?

    The patriarch and the elders all watched in anticipation. Being hyped up this far was already a bit too much for them, especially since the more astute among them had already sensed something different from the disciples.

    They couldn''t sense their cultivation bases!

    Patriarch Bing narrowed his eyes as well.

    ''The elders can''t probe the disciples, huhбн Did they gain something like Wang Xiong did?'' Patriarch Bing thought.

    He was, after all, the patriarch of a top ten sect. There was no way something so minor could escape his eyes. He was also the master of Wang Xiong officially and had talked with him enough to learn some things.

    While Wang Xiong seemed to be under some kind of a ''restriction'' that limited the information he could pass on to others, Patriarch Bing could still analyze and derive from that information.

    ''Additionally thatбн Inheritance ground, or tomb or whateverбн that exists thereбн'' The Patriarch remembered.

    <em>~HONG~</em>

    And while these thoughts were going through the patriarch''s mind, several waves of spirit Qi spread from the disciples.

    As soon as they reached the elders, all of them stood up.

    "Thisбн" one of the elders was at a loss for words.

    "Impossibleбн" Another one couldn''t believe his senses.

    "Hoho? Looks like our juniors are no longer so ''junior''." Supreme Elder Weizhe said, as his eyes too opened far more than normal.

    "Let usбн" Pei Jun took the lead.

    "Show all the elders and patriarchбн" Tian Xiaoge continued.

    "Our decade''s worth effort!" The rest of the disciples joined in.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The hall started to tremble faintly as defensive formations were triggered. Runes appeared in the hall, and spread over the walls and floor, reinforcing them and protecting them from the spirit Qi fluctuations.

    The spirit Qi fluctuations were strong enough to possibly make several weaker cultivators faint just from being in its presence.

    It was the pressureбн that came from fifteen nascent soul realm cultivators!

    The robes of all the disciples fluttered under the waves of spirit Qi that emanated from their bodies. Pei Jun took the lead in this and his spirit Qi fluctuation were the strongest, being at the Child soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

    Next came Tian Xiaoge who was at the Infant soul stage of the Nascent Soul realm, but still ahead of the rest of the disciples. The rest of the thirteen were behind her, but among them, there was still one that was in the lead.

    Cao Du was the one who had progressed the fastest and also held the most talent amongst the remaining thirteen. He was in the lead of all thirteen who were at about the same level. Only in the future would they learn just how much of a difference there was between them.

    Rights now they were at the same starting line, but who knows how long that wouldst.

    Or soбн should have been the normal case.

    What the disciples didn''t know was that since they hade under Lin Wu, there was no way they would be limited by their normal potential. With Lin Wu there, and his ''grace'' over them, there would always be ways to progress!

    Patriarch Bing kept a calm expression throughout the entire demonstration, and not one bit of surprise was visible on his face. It was as if he was an ice sculpture who would not change whether it be a flood or a blizzard.

    It perfectly suited his name, and many even wondered if his parents knew about this beforehand. There were also some rumors that his parents had consulted a great fortune teller before choosing this name.

    Whatever it may have been, Patriarch Bing stayed true to his name, and it suited his position perfectly.

    "Seems like the sect did not lose out having you all missing for the past eleven yearsбн" Patriarch Bing finally spoke, his voice low.

    <em>~flutter~</em>

    His robes shook lightly as he stood up. With his position at the head of the hall, he was standing over two meters above the disciples and a cold aura was emitting from him.

    "Elders of the Frozen Cloud sectбн" Patriarch Bing spoke.

    "Yes patriarch!" They all stood in ceremony.

    "Hear my announcementбн from today onwards, all thirteen disciples excluding Tian Xiaoge and Pei Jun will be made into Junior elders." Patriarch Bing dered.

    "As youmand Patriarch Bing! We have no disagreements." The elders replied.

    This was all expected since the disciples had shown their potential. With the current situation of the frozen cloud sect, there was a greatck of elders and the return of these disciples was the same as providing a starving traveler a feast.

    While it may not be enough to fully return the Frozen Cloud sect to its previous status, the numbers were still enough to stabilize them better than before.

    But despite the order that was given, a few here were still unsure of it. The ones being none other than Wang Xiong, Pei Jun, and Tian Xiaoge. Since Patriarch Bing had excluded the two of them, they couldn''t help but feel a bit nervous about what they were to be.

    Tian Xiaoge even wondered if the two of them had made a mistake of some kind and were being kept back because of it. Her mind rushed to tens of thoughts, as she couldn''t help bute up with all kinds of scenarios.

    ''Did we take too long toe? Or is it that the Patriarch doesn''t like us? Noбн that can''t be. We''ve done nothing to offend him. Is it perhaps something else?'' Tian Xiaoge wondered to herself.

    Pei Jun was the same and had such thoughts too, but he was a bit more firm than Tian Xiaoge in his will and was not moved as much as her.

    ''We have no reason to be worried. After all, like Great Senior said, we are the only ones that can save the Frozen Cloud sect.'' Pei Jun thought to himself.

    It was now that someone else moved.

    "And may I ask what ns does Patriarch Bing have for Tian Xiaoge and Pei Jun?"

    ''The supreme elder?'' Wang Xiong was a little surprised. ''He isn''t the one to usually act in situations like these. He much more prefers to observe and only speak when spoken to.''

    The one who had spoken was none other than Supreme elder Weizhe. All the elders couldn''t help but look towards Patriarch Bing for the response.

    They too wondered why the two disciples were excluded from the promotion.

    Patriarch Bing stayed silent for a few seconds, but his eyes didn''t move from the disciples in this time. The ones who were a bit more familiar with him would realize that he was analyzing the disciples at this moment.

    It was his style to throw out certain ims and let the other parties go through them. He would pry apart their fine behaviors with just a single nce and make the best decision that he could.

    Such was the skill of Patriarch Bing of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    "The Disciples Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge are to be directly elevated to the status of Chief disciples!" Patriarch Bing dered.

    "WHAT?!" Wang Xiong couldn''t help but exim.

    "Thisбн Patriarch this is not right." One of the high elders spoke.

    "Yesбн you already have Wang Xiong as the chief disciple." Another elder stated.

    "Doesбн Patriarch Bing want to change the rules of the Frozen Cloud sect?" this time Supreme elder Weizhe spoke up.

    "Yes, we cannot just change the rules like this. Will we be giving up on the tradition of the Frozen Cloud sect so easily?" Another elder said, finding it very unorthodox.

    "Elders, our sect as you all know, is in a very sensitive situation. Weck half the elders we need to maintain our ranks as well as keep the sect running.

    Next year will be the year for recruitment for our sect. If we do not have enough manpower we will not be able to recruit any talented disciples and they will be poached by the other sects." Patriarch Bing spoke, but was interrupted.

    "But master, that doesn''t exin taking Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge in as chief disciples. Wouldn''t it make sense to promote them to elders or even high elders instead?" Wang Xiong was the only person here who had the authority to interrupt the patriarch this way, along with Elder Weizhe.

    No one else would dare to interrupt Patriarch Bing like this, as not only would it be against the mode of decorum, but it would also be a gross negligence of rules. Wang Xiong was basically the next patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect, and Patriarch Bing was his master, so there was no problem in him speaking up at this point either.

    "I was about to speak about that." Patriarch Bing said as he red at Wang Xiong to shut up.

    Wang Xiong quickly understood his gesture and apologized, "pardon me, I spoke too soonбн"

    Patriarch Bing looked back at Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge and continued.

    "As I was sayingбн Tian Xiaoge And Pei Jun will be chief disciples as well as High elders. They will be holding both posts temporarily." Patriarch Bing stated.

    "Huh?" all the elders were confused by these decisions.

    They would understand if they made the two of them into core disciples as well as high elders. This was something that was already being done with some of the elders that were currently present in the hall. They were just core disciples a year ago.

    "Why is this patriarch? I''d understand them being core disciplesбн but chief disciples?" the elders questioned.

 Chapter 744 - Long Continent Grand Sect Tournament

    Chapter 744 иC Long Continent Grand Sect Tournament

    The Patriarch''s words were confusing to all and they waited for him to give an appropriate response. Even Supreme Elder Weizhe was ready to oppose the patriarch if he did not give a solid reason for doing so.

    "The reason I want them to be chief disciples is because of the Long Continent Grand Sect tournament." Patriarch Bing revealed.

    As soon as he said this, a hint of realizing apparel on supreme elder Weizhe. The other elders though were still not fully understanding it.

    "The Long Continent Grand Sect Tournament?" Pei Jun said in confusion.

    "This was one of the topics of discussion inst year''s meeting of the sects. Back then, we were given five spots topete in, but with the incidentst yearбн we were greatly weakened.

    The other sects decided that we didn''t have the necessary strength and were threatening to take away our spots, leaving us with only one. With great difficulty, we managed to let them leave us with three spots.

    Traditionally these spots would go to the chief disciple and the core disciples. But in our condition, they are still indenting to push with lessening our seats. There is a chance that they might still knock off our seats when we actually get to the tournament." Patriarch Bing exined.

    "Waitбн if it is still like this, then what is the merit of making us into chief disciples?" Pei Jun asked feeling doubtful.

    "It is to prevent them from knocking off our spots." It was elder Weizhe who spoke this time. "There is a set of rules that dictate the eligibility of the candidates as well as how the number of seats is to be assigned. There is a certain use in thisбн a use that dictates that the spot for the chief disciple cannot be removed as long as the sect they belong to is in the top ten." He exined.

    Hearing this, Wang Xiong and other elders instantly understood Patriarch Bing''s y.

    "Isn''t thisбн kinda shameless?" Wang Xiong spoke.

    It was a y on the rules of the tournament, but this rested on the fact that the sects only had one chief disciple. After all, if there were more than one in the rank, the meaning of chief didn''t really make sense.

    "It would indeed be so normallyбн but in our situation, we have to try everything. Alsoбн it could be a loss of face if the disciples were not up to the mark of a chief disciple. But I reckon since Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge have aplished the same as what you have, they are deserving of the position." Patriarch Bing borated.

    The elders could fully tell that this was still shameless but they didn''t care. The face of the sect was still at hand and as long as Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge could keep up with Wang Xiong''s power level, it would all be fine.

    "If it''s like this thenбн guess we''ll have to go ahead with it." The elders finally agreed.

    Wang Xiong too didn''t find any opposition with it, even though he found it strange.

    ''Though considering the importance of the tournament, it is understandableбн'' Wang Xiong thought to himself. ''I''ll need to inform Senior Lin Wu about it too, he''ll definitely want to know more.''

    The meeting continued on for another day in which the details of Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge''s duties were given. Then the situation of the sect was revealed to the disciples of the sect openly as well as the addition of the thirteen new elders.

    It was a piece of earthshaking news for the Frozen Cloud sect. The disciples couldn''t believe that overnight they had gained thirteen more Nascent soul realm elders. But when they heard that Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge were promoted to chief disciples in addition to high elders they were absolutely at a loss for words.

    At first, they wondered how this was possible since this was against the rules and tradition of the Frozen Cloud sect. But then Patriarch Bing officially announced the amendment of the sect rules.

    From this day onwards, the Frozen Cloud sect can have three chief disciples as long as they fulfilled certain conditions set by the patriarch. These conditions were not revealed though as they pertained to the secrets of the sect.

    The day was certainly shocking to all the disciples of the sect.

    But they didn''t know that it was only the beginning of many more that were toe in the future.

    Once everything was settled at the sect, Wang Xiong took the earliest opportunity to contact Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu had simply been cultivating in this time and was woken up by Wang Xiong''s call.

    "Senior! I have a piece of big news for you." Wang Xiong almost screamed.

    "Calm down, what is it?" Lin Wu asked.

    Wang Xiong then went on to exin everything that had happened at the sect as well as the fact that the three of them would be participating in the Long Continent Grand Sect Tournament.

    Lin Wu was certainly surprised hearing it all, but the tournament was new information for him.

    ''The system probably has more info, though since he''s already saying it, I may as well ask Wang Xiong.'' Lin Wu decided.

    "What is this tournament tell me more?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "It''s the biggest tournament for cultivators on the Long cloud continent. In fact, the Long Continent Grand Sect Tournament is only a part of the entire tournament which is simply the Long Continent Grand Cultivator tournament.

    There are three tournaments in it all, pertaining to different levels of the cultivators. The lowest ranked tournament is for those cultivators who are not from any sects. The cultivators from different organizations, ns as well as rogue cultivators will bipartite in this.

    Then there is the mid ranked tournament which is for all the disciples of the sects. In this, the normal and average cultivators of the sects willpete. Finally, we have the highest ranked tournament which is only for the chief disciples and top core disciples!" Wang Xiong answered.

 Chapter 745 - Holy Ming Sacred Land

    Chapter 745 иC Holy Ming Sacred Land

    Hearing about the tournament from Wang Xiong, Lin Wu was certainly intrigued.

    ''Them having three separate tournaments is certainly a clever y on their part. This way they can prevent any random dark horses, not from their sects from taking the rewards that were intended for their disciples.

    Since the entire tournament was organized by the top sects, there was little the other powers could do. There was still the Long n above them all, but it didn''t really care for it.

    And neither did the Ji n or the Lian n. All of them had several sects under their control, thus if they truly wanted such rewards they could easily get them without going through the entire thing.

    Besides, some of the rarer rewards of the tournament were given by those ns in the first ce!

    The Long Continent Grand Sect Tournament was still important though as it decided the rankings of the sect which would then decide who gets a say in many resources of the Long Continent.

    The lower the rank of a sect, the harder it would be for them to fully im an area filled with resources. There were often rare treasures and spirit herbs being born and the sects would try to get them.

    Depending on the ranks it would be harder or easier for its members to get them as the others would oppose them ordingly.

    Though in the end, it was all a matter of prestige.

    The Frozen Cloud sect was ranked fifth in the rankings tillst year, but after the massacre and loss of half their elders, they were now considered to be the lowest. While the official ranking would only be changed after the tournament most of the sects and other powers were sure that the Frozen Cloud sect was bound to fall.

    The massacre had alsoe at a very bad time for the Frozen Cloud sect as the tournament was right around the corner. It only happened once every fifty years, and thest time it had happened, Wang Xiong had barely reached the core condensation realm.

    He had participated in the mid level tournament which was for the normal disciples and had been wiped out after the very first rounds. It was there that he had truly learned just how many powerhouses existed in the cultivation world.

    The Long Continent Grand Sect Tournament was in fact one of the motivations for him and had pushed him to gain power at the Millennium forest.

    "This is certainly interesting alright." Lin Wu said after hearing everything from Wang Xiong.

    "Indeed. If all goes well, and I manage to rank in the top five, I''ll get to enter the Holy Ming Sacred Land." Wang Xiong said with excitement.

    Lin Wu felt like he had heard about the Holy Ming sacrednd before.

    "This is the minor ne that is collectively controlled by the sects right?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Oh? You know about it too senior. But yes, it is that. It is filled with dense spirit Qi and is said to be the best ce to cultivate in the entire long continent. It is filled with a myriad of treasures and it is even said that cultivating there for just a year is the same as cultivating for a century outside." Wang Xiong replied with excitement.

    "Is that soбн" Lin Wu said as his eyes lightly glowed.

    ''System, show me all the information you have on the Holy Ming Sacred Land.'' Lin Wu ordered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Holy Ming Sacred Land is a minor dimension located at a secret location only known to the patriarchs of the top ten sects. It has a high concentration of spirit Qi and is kept closed for most of the time.

    Only when it is the time for the tournament will it be opened as a reward. But even then, only the top five winners of the Long Continent Grand Sect Tournament will be allowed to enter it.

    The time limit to stay there is one year and after that, the disciples would be automatically ejected by the formation arrays.

    This is done so as to allow the Holy Ming Sacred Land to regenerate all the spirit Qi that it has lost.

    Additional records state that the Holy Ming Sacred Land is was actually created by the Invaders as a means to rear rare spirit herbs. But waster taken over by the sects and is now jointly controlled.

    It has a record of nurturing future patriarchs. It is said that the ones who enter it will have a 50% chance of bing a patriarch of a top sect in the future. Even Patriarch Bing of the Frozen Cloud sect had entered the Holy Ming Sacred Land in the past.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s information, Lin Wu was certainly impressed. He even wondered if he should enter it himself.

    "Is there any way we can enter it too, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: It is certainly possible for the host to enter the Holy Ming Sacred Land. But the minor ne is under the control of the sects and is constantly under surveince. The host might be able to enter it with no problem, but the sects will inevitably discover them.

    What happens after that only has negative results ording to the system''s analysis.

    бкбк

    "Oh yeahбн that won''t be niceбн" Lin Wu put away his thoughts of entering it.

    "Still, as long as Wang Xiong can enter it, that will be good." Lin Wu muttered.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    SUGGESTION: ording to the host''s n of nurturing subordinates and establishing power, the System suggests that the host support Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge in entering it too.

    ording to the already records, there have been many disciples who managed to reach the Dao Shell realm by the time they came out of the Holy Ming Sacrednd. All those that entered were at the Nascent Soul realm.

    And since all three of them have the help of good cultivation techniques, this result will be inevitable.

    бкбк

    "System, you just spoke my mind!" Lin Wu said with a wide smile.

 Chapter 746 - Willingness Of The Frozen Cloud Sect Disciples

    Chapter 746 иC Willingness Of The Frozen Cloud Sect Disciples

    Several Days had passed since Wang Xiong told Lin Wu about the Tournament.

    Lin Wu had began supporting Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge in this time ording to the suggestion of the system. Of course, this support was mostly in the form of some resources. These were given on top of the resources those two were getting from the Frozen Cloud sect with their new rank of chief disciples.

    It was especially even better since the number of people in the sect had effectively been halved while most of the resources had stayed the same, or even increased in certain aspects with respect to the Guna Mines.

    With this multi-sided approach, Tian Xiaoge and Pei Jun were basically being ''force fed'' and their cultivation base was being propelled. There was no issue of an unstable foundation either, due to the cultivation technique the two of them hadprehended.

    Another thing Lin Wu noticed was that the thirteen disciples who had inherited the Sky Bright Daoist''s technique, the ''Sky Bright Harmony'' seemed to be progressing rather fast. If one disregarded the extra resources Wang Xiong, Tian Xiaoge and Pei Jun got, it would actually exceed their speed.

    On some other aspects, it seemed even stronger than the one that Wang Xiong and the other two had, the Taiji Refinement scripture. This confused Lin Wu, and he asked the system to analyze why this issue was there considering that the Taiji Refinement Scripture was sourced from the Taiji Duan Unity scripture and the technique of the Sky Bright Daoist was an entirely different technique he had made.

    The answer that Lin Wu got was something he had missed in his very question.

    The Taiji Refinement Scripture was merely an inferior ''derivation'' of the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture. Meanwhile, the technique of the Sky Bright Daoist that the thirteen disciples practiced was a plete'' inheritance.

    While it was still a personalprehension that the Sky Bright Daoist had made after learning from the Taiji Dual unity scripture, its pleteness'' was what made it superior.

    But this was just a temporary thing as the three of them could still progress and obtain the intermediate level inheritance of the Taiji Celestial and go even beyond that reaching the same level of inheritance that Lin Wu had and learn the Taiji Dual unity Scripture.

    Regardless of it all, Lin Wu understood that it was only a good thing and it would help him in the long term. He looked forward to their progress in the future and wondered just what achievements they would be able to him.

    Lin Wu also got the system to do an analysis of the ''Sky Bright Harmony'' cultivation technique.

    The technique was different from the Taiji Dual unity Scripture in that it fully epassed the Light element while adding other intricacies that would only be understood when one further cultivated it.

    Lin Wu wondered if he could cultivate it to gain the light affinity as well, but the system''s response was negative.

    It was basically the same as trying to install an obsolete software from a different operating system into aputer that already had thetest version. There were multiple conflicts that made it impossible to cultivate.

    Though Lin Wu also got the response from a system that the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture would allow him to gain the Light Affinity in the future on his own too. Along with the darkness affinity.

    Lin Wu knew that because he had the full inheritance, it was actually harder to progress. In fact, he hadn''t even covered half of the first level of the technique!

    There was a huge qualitative difference between the different levels of inheritances and there was little he could do to cover for that other than diligently cultivating. Even the system couldn''t help him more in this aspect as it was entirely depended on Lin Wu toprehend it.

    In addition to all this support Lin Wu provided to his subordinates, he didn''t forget to initiate the n for the alliance.

    "How is the n going?" Lin Wu contacted Wang Xiong.

    "I''ve already told Patriarch Bing about it, senior. He hasn''t given a concrete response yet as he seems to have some suspicions about the millennium forest and the shrine. But the ounts from Tian Xiaoge, Pei Jun and the others seemed to have alleviated that to some extent.

    Additionally, we let the information out that the new elders only progressed faster due to the inheritance they got in the Millennium forest. We also told them that the inheritance was actually open to more people as long as they were willing to go through some trials." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Oh? And are they willing?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Of course they are! In fact, they are itching to go there. But with the sect''s condition, most of the missions had been halted and the disciples were restricted from going out. The elders feared that the disciples might be targets outside and picked off one by one by the other powers so as to weaken us even more." Wang Xiong exined.

    "Hmmбн get Yun Bai to convince the patriarch. Tell him that the security of the disciples will be guaranteed in the forest. He''ll know how to tell the patriarch." Lin Wu directed.

    "As youmand Senior." Wang Xiong replied.

    With that done, Lin Wu stopped the link and let out a breath.

    "So many things to do, so little timeбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He looked at the many monitoring screens floating around himzily and scrolled through them. Other than cultivating, he only had this pass time that he could do without impacting his cultivating speed.

    Lin Wu had seen a clear reduction in the number of humansing to the forest in the recent days as well.

    ''Seems like the recent happenings have scared the humans tooбн though it is understandable.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Stillбн it makes me wonder what the other powers will do now? What approach will they be willing to take?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

 Chapter 747 - A Coalition Of The Neighboring Powers

    Chapter 747 иC A Coalition Of The Neighboring Powers

    Another month passed while Lin Wu stayed at the tomb.

    In this time, he saw a few humans entering the Millennium forest again. This time though, the humans were not normal. They were far stronger than the average cultivators that entered the forest.

    They were at the Nascent soul realm and had clearly been sent by the kingdoms around the millennium forest, namely the Ling Kingdom, the Pale Marble Kingdom and The Luguo Kingdom. These were the three kingdoms that surrounded the Millennium forest.

    Along with them, there were also other sects that were located in the kingdom''s territories too, but they were all smallpared to the Frost Cloud sect.

    These cultivators didn''te at the same time and were clearly from different powers. They came at different times and there was no coordination between them. Hesitation was obvious in their actions, as they were treading carefully in the forest.

    Most didn''t even go past the second ring, feeling ufortable even there.

    The couple that were braver went up to the border of the third ring, almost into the fourth ring, but didn''t go past that feeling, an oppressive presence beyond that.

    They kept oning every few days, trying to learn about the situation of the millennium forest.

    Lin Wu didn''t care much about them either, as long as they didn''t cause any problems and let them do as they wanted.

    That was until today, when Lin Wu saw something different.

    "Oh? Did they have a new agreement or something?" Lin Wu said as he saw arge entourage of cultivators entering the forest.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Twelve Nascent soul realm cultivators detected

    CURRENT LOCATION: Second ring of the millennium forest.

    бкбк

    The system quickly informed.

    Lin Wu checked the map and saw that the group was moving rather fast this time. Till a few days back, they were very hesitant to enter the inner rings, and approached carefully, but now it was like they were speeding in.

    Lin Wu saw the robes they were wearing and could tell that they were from the difference powers around the forest.

    "The Ling Kingdom seems to be in the lead this time, huhбн they probably had a meeting with the other powers and decided this excursion." Lin Wu guessed.

    He looked at the cultivators wearing the robes of the Ling Kingdom and actually recognized them.

    "Oh? Weren''t those three in the royal court of the Ling kingdom back then?" Lin Wu identified.

    Lin Wu recalled that he had seen them in the court when he was still with Shirong. One of them was a minister while the others were elders with high authority. It was unusual for them to leave the capital like this, as they were powerhouses that kept the kingdom and the king safe.

    ''If the King sent them on this mission, it''s obvious my attempt at fishing them workedбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as a smile appeared on his face.

    He looked at the other nascent soul realm cultivators but didn''t recognize them. Still, their robes were enough to give away their identities. In total, there were two nascent soul realm cultivators from the Pale Marble kingdom and two more from the Luguo kingdom.

    The rest of the five nascent soul realm cultivators were from the smaller sects around the millennium forest. Each sect seemed to have sent one cultivator to represent them. This ''coalition'' was the expedition team they hade up with.

    Lin Wu couldn''t help but praise it a bit. As far as he knew, the three kingdoms did have an alliance but were still a bit against each other. The alliance was merely a facade for peace but in reality, if it were not for the Millennium forest existing between them, the three kingdoms might have ended up fighting.

    Small skirmishes had happened in the past, but the peace was mostly there now.

    The sects were located within the three kingdoms as well, with them having independent territories where they could control as they wanted. This was the agreement between sects and kingdoms all over the Long continent.

    When the nascent soul realm cultivators finally reached the third ring, Lin Wu decided to act.

    "Time to send my own ''team'' to meet up with them. <em>Heheh~</em>" Lin Wu chuckled.

    He quickly sentmand to his subordinates, and they responded almost instantly.

    With that littlemand, the entire millennium forest started to liven up, unbeknowst to the twelve nascent soul realm cultivators.

    After some time, at the border of the third ringбн

    "Elders, are we sure we want to continue? I can''t help but feel an ominous feeling." One of the nascent soul realm cultivators from a sect asked.

    "We''ve already tested the areas the past month, so far we haven''t had any bad encounter. The beasts also seem to be a lot ''calmer'' than before." One of the nascent soul realm cultivators from the Luguo kingdom replied.

    "The elder of the Luguo kingdom is correct. We cannot just keep on doing half hearted excursions. If something is truly wrong with the millennium forest, we need to know it. This is after all our ''backyard''." An elder from the Pale Marble kingdom agreed.

    "There is an old saying, a hidden snake in one''s backyard is more dangerous than a lion on the front door. Even if the beasts are calmer, we need to know the reason for it. The heavenly tribtions that happened simultaneously aren''t something we can take lightly after all." The nascent soul realm minister of the Ling Kingdom stated.

    The other nascent soul realm cultivators couldn''t help but nod upon hearing his words, finding them very wise.

    "Very well, we shall continue." They others said and flew ahead.

    The third ring was crossed, and they entered the fourth ring. And as soon as they went a certain distance in it, they felt the difference.

    "Thisбн what is this spirit Qi?!" The elders were all stunned.

    "Such dense spirit Qi? Has a treasure appeared in the forest?" one of the elders wondered.

 Chapter 748 - Pink Bottom Pear Orchard

    Chapter 748 иC Pink Bottom Pear Orchard

    The fifteen nascent soul realm elders were certainly not expecting such a change to happen in the Millennium forest.

    The humans powers living around the millennium forest did know that the forest had some sources of spirit Qi in it. But due to the threat of the beasts, they never deemed it worth to enter the innermost area.

    It was after all, known that the sixth ring where the rulers of the forest lived was the source of the spirit Qi. The few that had visited it had said that while it was better than the normal spirit Qi density of air, with the threat of the beasts and the harsh condition, it was not worth heading there.

    Besides, the millennium forest brought them more resources in other forms such as beast materials and spirit herbs. So destroying the forest for the spirit Qi rich area wasn''t much of a viable option anyway.

    But nowбн now they were blown away.

    "This spirit Qiбн this is on the level of our sect''s seclusion grounds for the core disciples?" One of the nascent soul realm elders belonging to a sect stated.

    All of them could feel their meridian surging with spirit Qi.

    "This speedбн its over four times than normal for me!" The nascent soul realm elder from the Luguo kingdom said, feeling amazed.

    The fifteen nascent soul realm cultivators all frantically looked around, wondering if there really was a natural treasure nearby. The fully expected that the high concentration of spirit Qi was caused due to some natural treasure and not just an overall increase in the forest.

    To them, thetter was absurd, and there was no chance it would happen.

    Fifteen sets of spirit senses spread around the area, speedily searching for anything that was rich in spirit Qi.

    "THERE!" one of the sect''s elders shouted. "A Pink Bottom Pear!"

    All the nascent soul realm elders looked towards the area he was pointing at and rushed there.

    Lo-and-behold, there it wasбн A Pink Bottom Pear.

    Just as its name suggested, the Pink Bottom Pear was a spirit fruit that had its lower half colored pink, while its top was a ripe yellow. It was a high grade spirit fruit that could help even nascent soul realm experts.

    While it was weaker than the pills at the same level, the best thing about it was that it could be consumed as it is without needing to refine it. Compared to the time and effort spent in refining a pill of equivalent level, a spirit fruit like this was rather good.

    Another plus point to it would be theck of pill toxins as well.

    "It really is a Pink Bottom Pear." The nascent soul realm elders confirmed.

    But they were in for a surprise.

    "NO WAY!" The nascent soul realm elder from the Pale Marble Kingdom eximed. "There are more trees!"

    That man forgot about hispanions and flew in the direction.

    "I''ll keep it for now. We''ll decideter on how to divide it." The nascent soul realm minister of the Ling Kingdom stated.

    Since he was somewhat of a leader here, it was fine with the other nascent soul realm elders. To them, if there was a chance of more resources, it was worth putting the fruit at hand at side.

    The fourteen nascent soul realm elders flew in the direction where the nascent soul realm elder from the Pale Marble kingdom had gone and saw something that left their jaws wide open.

    "HEAVENS!"

    "ANCESTOR''S WHISKERS!"

    They were left utterly stunned at what could only be described as an entire orchard of Pink Bottom Pears. It was as if the one lone Pink Bottom Pear they had seen before was just a random tree that had barely managed to grow out of the orchard.

    Here the Pink Bottom Pear trees were tall and robust. There were tens of ripe Pink Bottom Pears hanging on their branches while there were even more of the fruits that were still unripe.

    They looked at the rows upon rows of trees and couldn''t even imagine how they grew here.

    "How many are there, even?" One of the nascent soul realm sect elders wondered.

    "Ny sixбн ny nineбн hundred and eightбн THERE ARE HUNDRED AND EIGHT TREES!" Someone counted.

    "How is this even possibleбн?" the elders were left stunned.

    A few elders looked at their hands and counted on their fingers before feeling woozy.

    "Thisбн just these trees alone are worth twice the assets my entire Lily sect hasбн" one of the nascent soul realm elders said, finding it absurd.

    He was from a lower mid level sect that was located near the territory of the Luguo kingdom named the Lily sect. They specialized in growing spirit herbs and spirit fruits, mainly and supplied to the nearby powers.

    The estimation of the nascent soul realm elders of the Lily sect was the most authentic appraisal that the others could agree with.

    "We shall divide this all equally!" One of the nascent soul realm elder said hurriedly.

    "Yes! Yes! We have to do it that way!" The others agreed.

    But just as one of the elders was about toy his hand on a Pink Bottom Pear hanging from the tree, the minister of the Ling kingdom shouted.

    "HALT!"

    The elders stopped in response and looked towards the minister.

    "What''s the problem, minister?" The nascent soul realm elder from the Lily sect asked.

    A few others though, had different thoughts popping up in their heads.

    "Don''t tell me the Ling Kingdom want''s to get a bigger share?" One of the sect elders asked.

    The representatives from the Luguo Kingdom and Pale Marble Kingdom too shared a simr expression and looked at the minister.

    "That''s not itбн" The nascent soul realm minister of the Ling Kingdom said.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The other two nascent soul realm elders beside him swallowed their saliva, feeling pressured from the looks of everyone around them.

    If they decided to attack together, there was no way they would be able to survive here.

 Chapter 749 - The Greedy Elders

    Chapter 749 иC The Greedy Elders

    The nascent soul realm minister of the Ling Kingdom weighed his words properly in his mind before speaking, for he knew that the current situation was very sensitive. The cooperative agreement they had made beforeing here could very easily be shattered by the massive amount of resources in front of them.

    The Pink Bottom Pears were worth the assets of an entire sect after all!

    It was not a small amount at all. And if any one power got to monopolize it, they could essentially double their strengths. Of any of the three kingdoms got it, they would definitely raise their power before attacking the others.

    It would only need the fall of one kingdom, for the rest to be helpless.

    The sects were not in the same condition though, as even though they had almost the same level of power or even greater than the kingdoms, the treatises set by the top ten sects and the top three ns was something that could not be broken easily.

    If they did, and it was found out, they may very well be exterminated.

    It was that treaties that allowed the kingdoms to be free and operate independently without the oppression of the cultivation sects. And it was also the same treaty that also allowed sects to exist within the borders of kingdoms as independent powers.

    This would allow the sects to recruit the disciples from the kingdoms'' poption as they wanted without any interference from the kingdoms'' side.

    Since it worked for both parties, no power under it would tolerate the treaty being broken. After all, if it went unpunished, someone else would try it again. And who knows if it would be them who would be targeted next and eliminated.

    It could very well break out into a great war, and that was not something they wanted.

    After the rise of the three guardian ns, no such great war had ever happened. Only small battles between kingdoms were allowed, and even then the three guardian ns had the authority backed by their power to stop it if need be.

    Therefore, the Ming Dao world was rtively peaceful fromrger level conflicts.

    The other nascent soul realm elders all gazed at the minister of the Ling Kingdom, ready to act at any moment. Spirit Qi was already circting within their meridians, their techniques could be executed at any second.

    "You all need to see the bigger picture. All these Pink Bottom Pear treesбн don''t you find it strange?" The Minister of the Ling Kingdom asked.

    "Strange? How?" someone questioned.

    "Has the greed for the spirit fruits clouded your thinking that much?" The Minister was a bit surprised. "Don''t you see? All these trees are growing in an orderбн this is an ''orchard''." The minister stated.

    Hearing this, the greed-clogged cogs in the minds of other elders started to move again.

    "There is no way these trees grew like this naturallyбн especially not with such a high yield. This is a spirit fruit orchard being nurtured by someone." The Minister exined.

    As soon as the elders heard this, rm bells started to ring in their heads.

    ''Fuck! We forgot whose territory we were in!'' the elders realized.

    To the humans living around the millennium forest, the owner of the entire forest was none other than the Twin Lights Liger King. There was no way, such arge amount of spirit fruits would be left alone by beasts.

    "But then, who made this orchard? Did some expert make the forest his personal garden?" one of the sect elders asked.

    To them, it was the only option. They didn''t even think that the beasts could do this, thus a human doing it was the only choice.

    "I can''t tellбн but they must be very strong if they can make an orchard like this in the middle of the forest and no beast is around here to eat the fruits. To any beast, this would be a great temptation, no matter how strong." The minister of the Ling Kingdom said after thinking a bit.

    <em>~p~ p~ p~</em>

    And just as the minister said this, the sound of pping could be heard.

    "Huh?" all the nascent soul realm were surprised by it and looked at each other, wondering who was pping.

    "WHO!?" But seeing that they were not doing it, they understood the sound wasing from some ce else.

    "THERE!" One of the nascent soul realm elder picked up someone in the range of his spirit sense.

    "Good, good, good." Some praise was hearding from the person, but there was certainly a hint of mockery in it.

    "Seems like Minister Ting of The Ling Kingdom is certainly wise. I''m thankful that the king chose you to lead this expedition." The person spoke.

    "Who are you?" The minister questioned.

    All of the nascent soul realm were confused upon the appearance of this person as they had not felt his presence at all. The person was strange looking too. He was dressed in loose robes and had a rather tall and well built figure.

    There was also a hat on his head that hid his face and most of his head as well.

    "A monk?" Someone guessed seeing the hat.

    The kind of hat the person wore was something mostly monks wore when they were travailing.

    "I certainly am a monk." The person said and slowly lifted his hat.

    "WHAT!?" but seeing his furry face, the elders were all stunned.

    "A beast?" The one in front of them was none other than the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape.

    "I am a beast indeed." The beast confirmed.

    The eyes of the elders narrowed as they tried sensing his cultivation base but were unable to.

    "Oh sorry! It was rude of me to restrain this." The beast said as he let his spirit Qi fluctuations spread freely.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    ''Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm?'' The elders assessed.

    "Is this orchard yours?" The minister questioned.

    "It is indeed under my jurisdiction.." The beast answered.

 Chapter 750 - Arrogance And Stupidity

    Chapter 750 иC Arrogance And Stupidity

    Upon hearing the words of the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape, smiles appeared on the faces of the sect elders.

    "Run away now beast, and forfeit this orchard, and we''ll let you live!" they said, much to the beast''s expectations.

    The beast looked at the faces of the humans one by one. He saw that the nascent soul realm elders that belonged to the sects seemed to be the most excited about their prospects, while those from the Luguo kingdom and the pale marble kingdom were a little less so.

    In the case of the Ling Kingdom though, the beast could see some hesitation. At least on the face of the minister. The other two elders were simr to the other sect elders.

    "Just like master saidбн" The ape beast muttered.

    The nascent soul realm elders heard his words but didn''t mind it, other than the minister, whose expression fluctuated a bit.

    "Let me ask you all thisбн Do you not know what this forest is and whose territory you are standing in?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape questioned.

    "That doesn''t matter to us. What matters now is that this is what you have and what we will take inpensation for not killing you." One of the elders from the sects stated rather arrogantly.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    The ape beast shook his head.

    "And here I thought the elders of the human race would have better wisdom than this. The children before, they were far better than you allбн" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape replied.

    "Silence! We will not offer you any more chances. Leave now!" The sects'' elders yelled.

    "Hang on! Perhaps we can do something else!" The minister of the Ling Kingdom hurriedly spoke.

    His actions were surprising for all others, even those that hade with him.

    "What''s the issue Minister Ting?" One of the elders of the Pale Marble Kingdom questioned.

    "Don''t tell me you are scared of this one beast, minister Ting?" The sect elder who had arrogantly threatened the ape beast before spoke.

    "Yeah, he''s merely at the Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm." Another elder chimed in.

    "DAMMIT! Have you all lost your minds!" Minister Ting couldn''t keep his calm anymore.

    ''Can none of them sense the calmness of this beast? I''m having really bad feeling.'' Minister Ting thought.

    The elders were certainly taken aback by the sudden outburst of Minister Ting and wanted to say something but were interrupted. The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape though raised a brow in surprise seeing the minister''s sudden action.

    "His wordsбн Can you all not read between the lines? He never stated that he was the owner of this orchard, but merely taking care of it." Minister Ting stated for them.

    The nascent soul realm elders were finallying on track, but were still a bitcking.

    "Do you mean to say that the Twin Lights Liger King is the owner? Even if he is, that won''t matter, Minister Ting." The elder from the Pale Marble Kingdom spoke.

    "Yeah, we just need to kill this beast. I doubt even the Twin Lights Liger King will even know in that time." The elder from the Lily sect spoke.

    "Once we''re gone from here, none will be the wiser." Another elder joined in.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    But just as they said those words, all the elders felt a faint pressure on them.

    <em>"Is that so?" A new voice suddenly spoke.</em>

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    "WHO?!" The elders were surprised.

    Deep down, they knew that the Twin Lights Liger King was a threat that they wouldn''t be able to go against, but they also knew that the different rulers wouldn''t go in the other''s territory.

    Doing so was just provoking conflict thus, what happened in one ruler''s territory was usually isted. This was of course, only if the said ruler didn''t ask for help. But the elders would never think of a beast doing that.

    Not from another beast that was at the same rank as a ruler. In fact, they reckoned that the beasts would let one ruler die and take over their territoryter.

    If it were not for the greed clouding their judgment right now, the elders would realize the ws in their thoughts. Perhaps only Minister Ting was thinking logically right now. He may have been swayed by greed at the start, but his instincts were screaming at him now.

    They told him to run and never look back.

    "The humans have certainly gotten arrogant. I never expected this from the Luguo kingdom, seeing as we had some genial exchanges in the past." The Slim Arm Ape King who had just appeared spoke.

    His tall body stared from the sky, and disappointment was apparent on his face.

    "The Slim Arm Ape King?" The elder from the Luguo kingdom muttered.

    The Slim Arm Ape King used to have interactions with humans in the past and even exchanged some goods with them. But after the arrival of Lin Wu, all such exchanges had been stopped by him.

    It was simply because they were no longer necessary. All that the Slim Arm Ape king exchange for was some pills that he couldn''t get and a few misceneous goods that he liked.

    These were things that he was used to since his life as a tamed beast in the past and was used to them. One such thing being wine that he had tasted in the past and needed humans to get it from.

    "Another beast! It will be difficult to get the fruits. Look what you did, minster Ting! You wasted our time." The arrogant elder scorned.

    "Still so arrogant?" The Slim Arm Ape King was honestly lost at their attitude.

    "Why are you here, Slim Arm Ape King? Is this other ape beast your kin? If so be wise and go away. You do not want a conflict with us." The elder from the Luguo kingdom spoke.

    "Yeah, on ount of our kingdom having some exchanges with you, we will let this pass." The second elder from the Luguo kingdom added.

    "IMBECILES!" A thunderous voice yelled as an oppressive presence suddenly appeared.

 Chapter 751 - Twenty Three Nascent Soul Realm Beasts!

    Chapter 751 иC Twenty Three Nascent Soul Realm Beasts!

    The elders were now feeling a bit pressured. The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape was still fine for them, as he was not as strong as all of thembined. Even the Slim Arm ape king, whom they sensed was at the Adult Soul Stage of the nascent soul realm was fine.

    They reckoned that even if they did have to fight with him, with theirbined strength, it wouldn''t be a problem. After all, they had three Adult Soul Stage Nascent soul realm cultivators among their ranks right now.

    But the arrival of a third beast only moved that bnce.

    <em>~BOOM~</em>

    The Nascent soul realm elders barely dodged and stepped back several meters as a beastnded where they were standing.

    mes burned on the ground as a beast towering either of the two beasts before started at them. It was also an ape beast, but had a bony spine that was revealed on top of its back. mes burned over his eyes and on his burly fists.

    Hot steam gushed out of his nostrils as the beast red at them in anger.

    "Another ape beast?"

    "Of course it is! They are perhaps the only ones who might have the intellect to make an orchard like this." The elder of the Lily sect surmised.

    "What''s this Slim Arm ape King? Are you perhaps looking to threaten us with your kin?" The elder of the Luguo Kingdom asked, his voice stern.

    "Threaten you? THREATEN YOU!? HOW DARE YOU COME IN OUR TERRITORY AND THINK YOU CAN JUST TAKE WHAT WE OWN!" The Demon Spine Ape King exploded.

    A Violent aura exploded from his body, and pushed back the Nascent soul realm elders that were standing a bit closely.

    "That''s it! We gave you enough chances, time to end this!" The arrogant elder said as he summoned his spirit weapon.

    The other sect elders too readied their skills right away and were about to attack.

    But thenбн

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    An earth-shaking roar echoed from the distance, startling the elders. Some of their skills were forcibly interrupted as the roar was not just sound, but there was also spirit Qi infused into it.

    The expressions of the elders darkened while Minister Ting''s expression fell. Cold sweat appeared on his back and forehead as he realized they may have just fucked everything up.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The ground started to shake as well, and soon two bulges appeared near the elders. The elders hurriedly moved as the ground continued to rise up. The more astute among them felt the new presences and spirit Qi fluctuationsing from them as well.

    <em>~SHRIEK~</em>

    A Large beetle beast appeared and let out a shriek that hurt their ears.

    <em>~SQUAWK~ </em>

    Then a mole beast appeared that looked rather strange, having emerald crystal like ws and fangs. It took let out a threating squeak as its dark ck eyes stared at them.

    <em>~KWEEEEEEE~</em>

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    More sounds were heard as the elders felt more auras appareling by the second. They felt the winds suddenly starting to blow and soon saw two bird beasts appearing in the distance.

    They came andnded behind them, blocking off their path.

    The elders were a bit surprised seeing their appearance as they too had the same emerald colored crystal features in them. Either having feathers, ws, or beaks made out of it.

    <em>~RUMBLE~</em>

    The ground on their side shook as well as more beasts appeared from it. The first that appeared was arge scorpion beast with two stingers. The second that appeared was another beetle beast, but this one had the emerald crystal like parts in its body too.

    <em>~BAM~</em>

    The beetle beast mmed its long horn on the ground, making all the elder''s tremble. They all floated up into the air, realizing that the ground was no longer safe for them.

    But what they didn''t realize that this was just the start.

    <em>~EEK~EEEK~ </em>

    More beast cries were heard as monkey beasts appeared next.

    "Thisбн all of them are nascent soul realm beasts!" The elders were shocked.

    "It really is true! The heavenly tribtions were due to multiple beasts reaching nascent soul realm." One of the elders said.

    "Noбн" An elder from the Pale marble sect spoke.

    "These beastsбн they are at the Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm or above. Even those at the Infant Soul Stage have far stronger Spirit Qi fluctuations than they should if they just broke through." He stated, as a bad feeling rose in his guts.

    <em>~ROAR~</em>

    The Roar they had heard at the start was heard again as a crushing presence approached from the distance.

    <em>~WHOOSH~</em>

    It felt like the air itself was being torn with the beast''s approach and the spirit Qi in the air became chaotic.

    Under the, now fearful eyes of the elders approached the beast they were dreading to see the most, The Twin Lights Liger King.

    The Dao Shell realm Beast nced at the humans with a lofty gaze, as if they were mere bugs to be squashed. His bloody aura forged from many battles of the past had been tempered even more from the massacre at the Frozen Cloud sect.

    Eating the Arm of the Dao Treading Realm Supreme Elder of the Frozen Cloud sect had also pushed the Twin Lights Liger King''s cultivation base further in the Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm, making him that much pressuring to the Nascent soul realm elders.

    The ck and white eyes of the Twin Lights Liger King let off a dizzying force that made the elders loose control of their spirit Qi just like that.

    <em>~COUGH~</em>

    Some of weaker elders directly coughed out blood from that.

    After all, the pressure of a Dao Shell realm expert, whether it be a beast or human was not something weaker being could withstand easily. Especially not when it was being used in an antagonistic way like this.

    "How can this beбн? Twenty three Nascent Soul realm beasts?" One of the elders muttered in disbelief.

    ''It was wrongбн our information was all wrong.. There aren''t just five Nascent soul realm beasts in the forestбн'' another elder realized, much to his dread.

 Chapter 752 - Pressure

    Chapter 752 иC Pressure

    Surrounded by twenty three Nascent soul realm beasts was very ufortable for all the elders.

    Not to mention, there was an even stronger beast, the Twin Lights Liger King who was at the Dao Shell realm staring them down as well. Just the Nascent soul realm beasts were enough to kill them all, adding the Twin Lights Liger King to that was an overkill.

    They wouldn''tst more than a few minutes under the attack of the Twin Lights Liger King and any struggle would just be prolonging the inevitable. The cogs in their minds turned quickly, trying to figure out a way to get out of their predicament.

    Unfortunately for them, their earlier actions had made a lot of possible solutions invalid. Regardless of this though, Minister Ting decided to try.

    "W-wait! We''ll leave. Don''t do anything." Minister Ting spoke hurriedly.

    <em>~GRRR~</em>

    But that was only met with a growl from the Twin Lights Liger King. The beast didn''t seem to be in agreement and looked at the monkey beasts.

    "The Twin Lights Liger King says that why should we let you leave? You lost that privilege when you decided tomit immoral acts." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke.

    The Monkey beasts were the only ones who couldmunicate in the human tongue, thus they were designated as the trantors. All the others beasts would just stay there as a suppressive threat.

    "Don''t you dare attack us! If you kill us, don''t forget that the powers behind us will all act. Even if you all are at the Nascent soul realm and the Twin Lights Liger King is at the Dao Shell realm, thebined strength of our powers is not something you want to mess with." One of the sect elders said.

    "Yeah! If you don''t want all to be wiped out, don''t even think of doing anything to us." The arrogant elder added.

    "SHUT UP!" Minster Ting yelled. "Do you want to mess this up even more?" He shouted.

    "What? Do you want to negotiate with beasts, Minister Ting? Really? BEASTS?" The arrogant elder scoffed.

    <em>~GRRR~</em>

    <em>~SHING~</em>

    But those words were thest that the elder ever spoke. In the next moment, two beams of light struck him and directly bore holes through his head and chest. The arrogant elder''s expression was stuck as it is and he didn''t even realize when he was hit.

    <em>~thud~</em>

    Under the stunned eyes of all the elders, the now dead elder''s body copsed to the ground like a rag doll.

    "Y-Youбн you killed him!" the other sect elders cried in fear.

    "He deserved it! Do you all want to join him, too?" The Demon Spine Ape king roared.

    His sharp fangs and burning eyes were enough to strike fear into the hearts of the elders even more.

    They could only look at the dead body and swallow the rest of their words. They were sure that the beasts would truly attack and kill them.

    "Do you think we care about the powers behind you? DO YOU FORGET WHAT THIS PLACE IS? THIS IS OUR FOREST!" The Demon Spine Ape King dered.

    A hot burst of air came along with his shout, almost pushing back the elders.

    "W-what do you want?" Minister Ting asked carefully.

    He knew that they were far too deep into this and there was possibly no other way to leave this ce alive rather than negotiation.

    ''Damned fools! Now we''ll lose more than we ever gained bying here.'' Minister Ting thought.

    They had set out to find more about the changes in the forest, but now they were going to regret it for all their lives. Ifбн they managed to continue living.

    Some of the sect elders secretly gazed at the dead body of the arrogant elder, wondering if the Nascent soul managed to sneak away or not. But when they checked the body with their spirit sense, they were surprised.

    ''The Nascent soul was eradicated by the same attack!'' They finally understood.

    The Nascent souls were the final trump card of most cultivators and would allow them to survive death once. Even if their bodies were killed, they could live on in the Nascent soul realm form.

    And if they were lucky, they could find apatible body and take over it.

    Their sects even had some people prepared for this very thing. These would either be criminals of the sect or those that were especially picked by the elders. They would have the mostpatible body for them or the closest thing possible.

    Some of these people were even blood rtives of the elders. Many of them that were living freely in the sect didn''t even know that they were merely there to serve as a backup in case an elder lost their body.

    The sects also had many methods to let their Nascent souls escape if they were killed. After all, if an enemy surrounded them and killed their Nascent soul when it wasing out of their body, all that they cultivated for would have been a waste.

    The elders were hoping that the dead elder''s Nascent soul could escape. That way, even if they were taken hostage, the Nascent soul would be able to alert their respective powers.

    They did have a n in case some of them died in the forest. It was a contingency n, and they had never expected that they really needed to use it. They were simply hoping that they could escape from any other trouble relying on their numbers.

    It was why they had picked fifteen members, three times the number of rulers in the Millennium forest.

    But they were mistaken by the old rules that didn''t apply to the forest anymore. They dreaded that they hadn''t found out about it earlier and now they needed to pay a great price.

    ''If they can kill our Nascent souls at the same time as our bodies, we are doomedбн'' A cold feeling went down the spines of everyone here.

 Chapter 753 - Conditions

    Chapter 753 иC Conditions

    "Please tell us what you will take in exchange for letting us leave," Minister Ting continued his effort.

    He anxiously looked at the Demon Spine Ape King and the Twin Lights Liger King. He had seen that the earlier attack hade from the Twin Lights Liger King and knew that they needed to be wary of him the most.

    He didn''t want to be killed while he was looking away, even for a moment. Plus, he could tell that the Twin Lights Liger King was the ''leader'' here.

    <em>~Grrr~</em>

    The Twin Lights Liger King growled at the minister and let the monkey beasts speak.

    "We shall let you leave if you meet certain conditions of our Master." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape stated.

    "What are they?" Minister Ting asked.

    The other elders were too scared to speak and had epted that it was best if Minister Ting dealt with it now. The beasts seemed to be the least angry at him and there were fewer chances of them killing again.

    "Our Master demands that the Millennium Forest be dered an independent territory." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape stated.

    "Huh?" all the elders were taken aback by this.

    "What do you mean?" Minister Ting couldn''t grasp.

    "Just like you all have your kingdoms, this too shall be a kingdom." The Slim Arm Ape King spoke.

    "OUR KINGDOM!" The Demon Spine Ape dered.

    Hearing this, astonished expressions appeared on the faces of all the elders. They had expected them to be ransomed for resources like pills, but they never thought it would be something like this.

    "You want to make aбн beast kingdom?" Minister Ting asked, feeling doubtful.

    "Yes!" The Slim Arm Ape King confirmed.

    "Thisбн this has never been done before. It is ridiculous." One of the elders of the pale marble Kingdom muttered.

    <em>~Grrr~</em>

    The Twin Lights Liger King growled in a warning manner and startled the elder into shutting up.

    "You dare mock us? Do you really want to die that much?" The Demon Spine Ape continued to y his role as the bad cop.

    Minister Ting was honestly lost at this too and didn''t know what to speak. He didn''t even know if a kingdom of beasts was possible. They had never thought that beasts would be able to unite for long enough to make a kingdom.

    It waspletely absurd.

    "So tell us, will you ept our first condition?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape questioned again.

    "Thisбн I cannot confirm a matter like this on my own. Something like this will need the authority of all the kings." Minister Ting answered.

    "You can''t be considering this, Minister Ting?" one of hisparison whispered into his ears.

    "Yes, if the Millennium forest is dered an independent kingdom, how will we get the resources? We still depend on it for a lot of them." The other elder added.

    "We have no choice. The rest will be up to the king''s discretion." Minister Ting replied.

    He then looked at the beasts and nodded his head.

    "Alright, we agree." He stated.

    "Good. Now the second conditionбн We want humans." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape added.

    "Huh?" the elders were taken for a spin again.

    "You want humans? Do you want to eat them?" Minister Ting asked hesitantly.

    <em>~HUMPH~</em>

    "Do you really think we need to ask your permission for that? We need specific kinds of humans." The Demon Spine Ape King scoffed.

    "What kind?" Minister Ting asked, feeling suspicious.

    In response to this, the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape actually took out a small jade slip!

    ''The beast can use a spirit tool?'' the elders were once more surprised.

    As far as themon thinking was among the humans, the beasts couldn''t use any spirit tools or spirit weapons. While some beasts might take fancy to some treasures, they couldn''t really use it.

    Even the higher cultivation leveled beasts that were as smart as humans didn''t use spirit tools or spirit weapons. There were several reasons for it, the main one being that the knowledge of its use was not among the beasts.

    Then there was the other reason being that spirit tools and weapons were simply not made for beasts. This led to a lot of ipatibilities and thus, even if some smart beast wanted to try using a spirit tool, they would simply fail.

    Then there were also some safety features which prevented others from using and stealing a cultivator''s spirit tools. This too, restricted the ess to beasts.

    Thus, seeing a beast being able to use a spirit tool was astounding, since it meant that the spirit tool had been made with the beast in mind. And even doing this was not easy, as each spirit tool would have to be modified ording to the beast.

    Not all beasts had the same kind of spirit sense and it might not work properly with the formations of the spirit tools either.

    Some beasts might not even have the right body part to use a spirit tool in the first ce.

    "Not just a jade slip, the beast even has a spatial storage tool." One of the elders said in shock.

    "What?" the elder standing next to him was surprised hearing this. "Are you sure?" he asked.

    "Yeah, I''m sure I felt spatial fluctuation there for a moment." The elder confirmed.

    Minister Ting heard this too and felt his world view changing.

    ''Just what is happening today? Beasts cultivating spirit fruits? Beasts wanting to make a kingdom? And being able to use Spirit tools? Even have ess to spatial storage tools? How is all this possible?'' Minister Ting wondered.

    He felt like he was in a dream, as all of this was only possible there to him. And yet it was now a reality.

    "Take thisбн we made a list." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape spoke and passed the jade slip.

    Minister Ting very carefully took the jade slip.. His spirit sense came out of his body and probed the thing, while also sneakily checking to see who made this.

 Chapter 754 - Surprising Conditions

    Chapter 754 иC Surprising Conditions

    ''This jade slipбн it is nothing like I''ve ever seen.'' Minister Ting was surprised.

    It seemed to be made from a single piece of a crystal and was not like the normal jade slips. There were no visible runes on it either and he couldn''t figure out the formations hidden in it either.

    ''It''s as if there are no formations in itбн'' Minister Ting through.

    He even wondered if this was a jade slip in the first ce. The material was certainly not jade, thus he didn''t know if it was right calling it a jade slip in the first ce. The slip was made from an emerald green crystal, but he was sure it was not actually an emerald gemstone since it could conduct spirit Qi.

    Normal gemstones couldn''t do something like that. At least not at the start. They would have to be refined by a master refiner before they could be used in any spirit tools of spirit weapons.

    Minister Ting could tell that this crystal slip had not been refined. Refining will leave behind traces that most cultivators could detect. And those who were at the Nascent soul realm would be able to tell them very easily.

    ''Let''s see what the list actually isбн'' Minister Ting decided after realizing that there was no way for him to figure out any more information about the crystal slip.

    Minister Ting was fully expecting the list of humans to be something the beasts would be using as food even if they had denied it at first. But when he actually read it, he was left confused.

    "Huh? Cooks? Weavers? Seamstresses? Musicians?" Minister Ting read one by one.

    Many kinds of upations were mentioned in the list, though what was surprising was that not all of them needed to be cultivators. There were over thirty different entries in the list, with some of them having extra details.

    The other elders were wondering what had made Minister Ting like this and were curious about the contents of the list as well.

    "So then, do you agree with it?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape questioned.

    "Uhбн sure. I''ll convey this to the king." Minister Ting answered.

    He was confused, but a little happy at the same time.

    ''At least it''s not anyone sensitive or problematic. They aren''t even asking for any resources. They just want average humans, huhбн'' Minister Ting thought.

    The kingdoms could very well afford this, though he wondered if themoners would even be able to survive here. With the way they as Nascent soul realm cultivators were being threated, he wasn''t sure if the weakmoners will even survive a single breath from the beasts.

    They might just die from the aura alone if not run away from fear.

    <em>~Sigh~</em>

    ''It''ll be hard to find people willing toe here. This is no different from a death sentence to them perhapsбн and it is still doubtful if they will believe it all. The three kings and the sect leaders might just deem it better to attack the Millennium forest.

    But that might not go wellбн'' Minster Ting analyzed.

    The thoughts he was having were known to the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape and even the Slim Arm ape king. They could very easily guess them now, and their intellect was high from the start.

    Also, since the Slim Arm Ape king had plenty of experience dealing with humans, he knew their expectations and thinking.

    They were already prepared to see somepses in the deal.

    "Now thenбн the third condition.." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    Minister Ting, as well as the other Nascent soul realm elders, swallowed their saliva anxiously. They had no idea what next they would ask for. So far the first condition was the hardest to fulfill, while the second was rtively mild.

    With this vast difference in conditions, they wondered if this third condition will be harsh.

    "The third condition is something that you humans will benefit from too. Or rather than a condition, it would be more urate to call it a deal." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke.

    "Oh?" Minster Ting was surprised. "What is it?"

    "After the Millennium forest is deemed as a Kingdom, we will not be isting and shutting our borders. We shall still allow the humans to enter the forestбн and even gather some resources." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape continued.

    All the Nascent soul realm elders were stunned by these words, as they were literally opposite to the first condition for them. To them, the only reason why the Millennium forest beasts would like to be a kingdom was to be protected.

    They would not want themselves or their kin to be attacked by humans. Or so was themon thinking.

    But a factor like this would still allow them to operate on some level. At least they would not be cut offpletely from the resources that the Millennium forest had. There were still a lot of basic resources that they needed from there.

    And these were things that were either not found elsewhere, or it was simply not viable enough to grow them on their own.

    Minister Ting had some other thoughts after a few seconds, though.

    "What is the limit? I doubt you will allow us to hunt and gather as before?" Minister Ting was still a minister who was skilled at diplomacy and knew how to read between the lines.

    "The extra condition on this is that the humans can only hunt in the first three rings of the millennium forest. Though if they want to hunt in the fourth ring, they can still do so, as long as they pay the toll.

    The toll will be decidedter, after the kingdomse to an agreement." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape answered.

    Hearing this, Minster Ting eased his furrowed brows.

    ''This seems more like a territorial exploitation agreementбн we can deal with this.'' Minister Ting thought.

    The kingdoms had such agreements between each other, for things like mining rights and other such things.

 Chapter 755 - Inheritance Of An Expert As A Bait?

    Chapter 755 иC Inheritance Of An Expert As A Bait?

    By now, the Nascent soul realm elders had rxed a bit and weren''t as anxious as before. While they were still pressured by the aura of the twenty three Nascent soul realm beasts and the Dao Shell realm Twin Lights Liger King surrounding them, they were at least a bit convinced they won''t be killed right away.

    Additionally, the conditions of the beasts were turning out to be far better than they had expected. Other than the first one, thetter two were simpler.

    "Now then, the third condition was something that was made to favor the kingdoms mostly." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke. "But the fourth condition will be something the sects will like." He continued.

    This time all the Nascent soul realm elders from the sects looked at the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape with interest. It was intriguing to some of the beasts to see how quickly the humans adapted to the situation.

    Despite the fact that one of their kin was killed just a few minutes ago, they were already in eptance of it and were even behaving more reserved now.

    "What is it?" Minister Ting asked after ncing at the sect elders for their opinion.

    They simply gestured for him to proceed as normal and were tacitly agreeing to his direction for now.

    "The fourth condition is that the sects can send their disciples to the millennium forest for a fortunate encounter." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape revealed.

    "Huh?" All the sect elders and even the kingdom elders were surprised.

    "What kind of a fortunate encounter is it?" One of the elders inquired.

    There could be many kinds of them, ranging from the birth of a natural treasure all the way to the legacy of a fallen expert.

    "The sect disciples will be allowed to undergo certain trials and if they pass it, they will gain an expert''s legacy." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape replied.

    "AN EXPERT''S LEGACY!" The sect elders eximed.

    There had been many rumors about the millennium forest holding such things, but the ones that were found until now were simply the remains of those that had perished here.

    Thus, the legacies weren''t that good in the end. Even the strongest of the cultivators that had died here were only at the Nascent soul realm in the past. Thus the legacies left behind were by them.

    "Wait, what kind of a legacy is it even? Won''t it be useless if it is imed by the winners?" One of the sect elders asked in doubt.

    This was a valid question, as not all legacies were able to continually reward the ones that found it. Most would be exhausted after just one winner.

    "You won''t have to worry about it. The expert left behind an inheritance ground and the rewards are in the form of cultivation techniques and insights." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape added.

    Hearing this, the eyes of all the elders shined. They too felt like this was far better than before.

    "And before you ask, let me just tell you that the cultivation techniques and insights won''t be any weaker than that of the top sects." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape threw another bone.

    <em>~Gasp~</em>

    The elders were even more stunned than before.

    "H-how can we believe you, though? What if this is all just a trap to take our disciple''s hostage?" Another elder asked.

    Even if this was a very tempting bait, they knew that they couldn''t just take it Willy-nilly. They had learned from the arrogant elders'' mistake and knew to look before they trod.

    "You won''t have to worry about that. After all, you all won''t be the first ones to get it. By the time you return to yournds, your people will tell you about the Frozen Cloud sect and its disciples that benefited from it." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape stated.

    Hearing this, the elders still found it hard to believe it.

    "Waitбн could it be the one that the chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect got?" One of the elders recalled something.

    A decade ago, there had been rumors that the new chief disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect had only risen so quickly because of a fortunate encounter. There were even other people from their sects that hade to the forest in search of it, but all had returned empty handed.

    Some had even made great losses, and the worst were those that lost their disciples here.

    "You can say that." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape neither fully epted it nor denied it.

    Yet, this was enough to ignite the desire within the hearts of the elders. This was perhaps the greatest temptation of it all.

    "What are the limitations of that inheritance? I don''t think you will allow just anyone or any number to try it?" Minster Ting asked further.

    The sect elders nodded in agreement as they too felt it was a little too good. This condition favored them a lot, and they doubted the beasts would be as generous as this.

    ''There is bound to be a con for thisбн'' Some of the elders reckoned.

    "Of course there is. There is always a chance of death in the trials, thus you will have to deal with that on your own. Additionally, all those that want to take the trials will have to present a tribute to our king.

    Oh and another thingбн The trials canst a long time." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape answered.

    Hearing this, they all furrowed their brows and thought it over.

    "C-can the kingdoms send their people for this too?" An elder from the Pale Marble Kingdom asked hesitantly.

    They couldn''t stay still while the sects got such a big benefit after all. The third condition that favored them was rather lightpared to a big thing like an expert''s inheritance.

    There was also the chance that the sects might just grow too strong and overthrow the kingdom within whose borders they lived.

 Chapter 756 - Hidden And Open Value

    Chapter 756 иC Hidden And Open Value

    The question from the Pale Marble Kingdom Elder was rather understandable to all and even Minister Ting was wondering about it.

    "Of course, the kingdoms are free to send their people too. But know thisбн all those that decide to attempt the trials will be unable to leave the forest until they either give up entirely or pass it." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape warned.

    <em>~gulp~</em>

    The dark tone of the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape made the elders a bit hesitant but in the end, they decided to go with it.

    ''A known inheritance ground is still better than an unknown one. At least after the first few attempt it, the others will have a better chance.'' Some of the elders thought.

    It was not umon for cultivators to die on inheritance grounds and it could even be said to be rightful in many cases. The ones that died in such grounds would end up bing a part of the trial in a way since the resources they brought with them would be left behind.

    This acted as an additional reward to the ones that attempted it.

    Of course, this greatly varied depending on the inheritance ground and some werepletely safe. So much so that no one had ever died in it. There were also some grounds that gave everyone who enter a reward for sure.

    This was usually the case for the grounds set up by sects and their ancestors. In this case, the ess to the grounds was what was controlled instead.

    Many inheritance grounds were even downright unpredictable, changing theiryout and rewards randomly. So much so that ones that could be passed by mere Qi refining realm cultivators would end up killing Nascent soul realm ones.

    This was why the value of a known and charted Inheritance ground that was stable was a lot more than an unknown one.

    The fourth condition was nothing but a big bait for the kingdoms and the sect.

    While the elders were thinking of taking advantage of it and raising their own people''s strength, they also thought of possibly taking over the entire forest in the future.

    ''Humph, beasts are beasts in the end. They don''t even know just what kind of a mistake they are doing by giving us this opportunity. We only need to spend a few decades and let out disciples get the inheritance. Once a certain number of them have gained it, nothing will stop us from usurping it entirely.

    There may not even be a need to enter the inheritance ground after a certain point.'' One of the elders of a sect thought.

    The elder was someone who had barely spoken since the start and was also the one who had stayed behind the entire time. He was certainly the shrewdest of them all and even when others were lusting over the Pink Bottom Peaches, he had been looking for danger.

    He had kept up appearances to fool others and had evidently seeded.

    ''The Seventh Edge sect will surely rise in the future!'' The elder thought to himself. ''And I''ll be rightfully called Patriarch Linshe then!''

    The ambitions of elders were hidden for now, but would certainly rise in the future.

    Unfortunately for themбн all of this was already predicted by Lin Wu.

    бн

    In the depths of the Taiji Celestial''s Tomb, Lin Wu was watching everything.

    "HAHAHA! These dumb fucks don''t even know what will hit them." Lin Wuughed.

    All the conditions that he had set were in fact just baits, even though it looked like only the third and fourth ones were like that.

    "They won''t ever want to go back to their sects once they get the inheritanceбн I''ll make sure of it." Lin Wu said as a wide smile appeared on his face.

    The Elders of the sects and Kingdoms continued to ask more questions as an hour went by quickly.

    <em>~GRRR~</em>

    At this point, the Twin Lights Liger King let out a low growl, startling the elders again. They had almost forgotten that they were being watched by such strong beasts and had befortable for a bit.

    But the growl broke them out of that state and reminded them of just how dangerous situation they were in for a while now.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape looked at the Twin Lights Liger King and nodded lightly.

    "This is enough for now. If you all want to discuss more, a proper meeting will be held in the future. For now, you all are to return." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape stated.

    "W-wait! How will we know when the meeting will be?" Minister Ting quickly asked.

    "Keep that crystal slip, we will inform you through it." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape replied.

    Hearing this minister Ting Looked back at the Crystal slip in his hand with a different look. Now that he knew it was not just a basic slip that could store information but also one that couldmunicate, he knew that there was someone backing the beasts.

    He was sure that it couldn''t be another beast as there was certainly a spirit tool refiner involved in the making of the slip. Even if it was not a jade slip, and was made from some unknown crystal, it still seemed to use the same method.

    Or so Minister Ting hoped.

    ''I''ll need to get the others to analyze this. We might just find out who is backing them.'' Minister Ting thought.

    But just as he thought this a voice was heard.

    "Oh, and I wouldn''t tamper with that Crystal Slip if I were you." The Slim Arm Ape suddenly spoke. "Not unless you want to break the protocol of diplomatic respect. That crystal slip will be considered as our ''royal decree''." He added.

    Minister Ting narrowed his eyes upon hearing that as he fully understood the threat as well. By saying that it was a royal decree, the Slim Arm ape fully implied that the Millennium forest will retaliate!

 Chapter 757 - End Of The Discussion

    Chapter 757 иC End Of The Discussion

    Minister Ting nodded his head lightly after hearing the Slim Arm Ape King''s warning. He decided to put aside his thoughts of checking it for now.

    Even he knew that the kingdoms won''t be able to take on the assault of the Millennium forests alone. While they might have fended off many beast tides in the past, a coordinated attack of beasts would be greatly different.

    After allбн now not only did they need to worry about powerful beasts, they needed to worry about powerful beasts that activelymunicated, cooperated with each other while also having human level intelligence.

    It was honestly the worstbination that it could have been for them.

    Instead of considering them as just beasts, they would have to put them on the same level as any other power.

    And that was also what the beasts had asked as their first condition too.

    ''They really are far more clever than I thoughtбн using two pronged methods like this. One pushes us from the front in the form of the condition, while the other hits us back from the shadows.'' Minister Ting thought to himself.

    He nced at the elders and gestured to them.

    "We shall take our leave now then." Minister Ting stated.

    The elders nodded their heads, but a few of them still gave gazes of longing. These gazes were directed at the Pink Bottom Peaches of course.

    "You can keep that one Pink Bottom Peach as a gift. Our king is generous." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape slyly added.

    The elder who was carrying the Pink Bottom Peach, could only avoid the gazes of others and hurry on. He didn''t want to give the others this spirit fruit and wanted to keep it all for himself.

    Though he was also sure that he will have to surrender it to his sect once he got back as their patriarch was sure to ask for some proof.

    ''I''ll have to talk to other sects tooбн there is no way they will hold back from negotiating this.'' The elder thought.

    He was correct in his thoughts as the other elders including Minister Ting was already thinking of ways to extract more benefits from the sect the elder belonged too.

    With the talksing to an end, the elders finally flew away without even thinking of gathering the remains of the arrogant elder who had died before. The sect the elder belonged to will simply have to ept the matter and they will have to inform them about how the elder died along with his conduct.

    After all the elder had threated their lives too, now that they thought about it.

    Some of them who had a slight change of heart after hearing the conditions of the beasts even thought that perhaps if they had kept to themselves from the very start, they might have gotten even better benefits.

    They were of course unaware that their every move was being watched closely. Every fine detail, movement, gesture and twitch was being scanned and analyzed.

    Back at the Taiji Celstial''s Tomb, Lin Wu nced at the reports the system gave him about the elders. Not only were their current thoughts being predicted by the system, it was also giving him information of the elder''s past.

    This was something the system had collected before and Lin Wu didn''t even know it had that. It was certainly a bit fun for him.

    Lin Wu watched as the entire ''discussion'' finally came to an end.

    "System, how is the link working?" Lin Wu asked lightly.

    <em>~DING~</em>

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Transponder Link is working at 100% strength.

    бкбк

    The system replied.

    "Goodбн at least we''ll get to listen to what they say thereбн" Lin Wu muttered with a smile.

    The Crystal Slip with the list that Minister Ting had taken was specially modified by the system. It was better than the normal crystal slips he had made before to pass information and knowledge onto the monkey beasts and also included a way tomunicate.

    Just like any normalmunication jade slip.

    Though to take better advantage, Lin Wu asked the system to make it so that the crystal slip continually transmitted information even when it was not being used.

    Of course, this functionality was still limited for now and it could only transmit the voice of people around it. It couldn''t transmit any actual visualsбн at least not for now without alerting the others around it.

    Lin Wu wouldn''t be arrogant as to think that no one could go around the system''s methods. After all, even the method that the system had used was human made in the first ce. Even with the improvements and changes made by the system, someone well versed in the same could figure it out.

    And Lin Wu knew for sure that the different powers definitely had Formation masters who could do this. Additionally, there was also the fact that transmitting visuals needed higher energy to do so.

    While Lin Wu had no problem providing sufficient energy, the side effect of this was also that the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the crystal slip will be significantly higher than normal.

    And the people protecting the king or other cultivators will quickly detect this. The ones that were a bit warier will figure out the anomaly and might get a formation master to learn why it was done so.

    Even if Lin Wu had asked the Twin Lights Liger King to pass on a threat on his behalf to not tamper with the crystal Slip, there was still the fact that the humans will take action even if it meant offending him.

    After all, if they knew for sure there was a threat to them, they would rather risk the retaliation from the Millennium forest than to let some unknown item spy on them. Such was just the basic self-preservation tendency of humans.

    And Lin Wu knew this the best. After all he was a human tooбн albeit now only his soul was like thatбн

 Chapter 758 - Dropping One Shocking News After The Other

    Chapter 758 иC Dropping One Shocking News After The Other

    After the ''discussion'' that happened between the beasts and the elders of the various powers that were located around the Millennium forest, a great change happened.

    No one had expected this to happen, but the three kingdoms: The Ling Kingdom, The Pale Marble Kingdom and the Luguo Kingdom; dered the Millennium forest an independent kingdom!

    For themoners, this was an absurd piece of new as they couldn''t evenprehend it. For them, the Millennium forest was just thatбн a forest. But now the kingdoms were proiming it to be a kingdom.

    They didn''t even know who was the ruler of this ''kingdom'' and they didn''t know that there were humans living there. They had this misunderstanding that some humans had established a base there.

    The Kingdoms didn''t rify this to themoners for now either. As they themselves knew just how absurd it would be for themoners. And not just that, it could even incite panic.

    After all, to most humans, beasts were beneath them in terms of intelligence. And even the stronger beasts with great cultivation base having the same intelligence level as that of humans were still considered below humans.

    To humans, the beasts were ''Uncivilized'' and ''Uncultured''. At most, they could be equated to savages.

    Revealing such new openly to themoners would not do the kingdoms any good and it could even trigger a mass exodus. The kingdoms certainly didn''t want something like this as it would not only strain their administrative machinery but it might even weaken their economy.

    If that happened, forget about taking advantage of the Millennium forest''s inheritance ground. They might not even have enough resources to take care of their own citizens. If that happened, the sects that were located within their borders might take the opportunity to reap the rewards.

    They didn''t want this to happen, either.

    The sects too, took different actions. They didn''t even let the disciples know about it and simply kept it on the elders'' level. They locked all information down and their disciples were all recalled to the sect as well.

    Thankfully, it was not too strange for the disciples as they simply thought that they were being recalled for the uing Long Continent Grand Sect tournament. While it was a bit early to recall that, it was still an eptable excuse.

    For now, the news about the Millennium forest bing a kingdom had not reached the other kingdoms and powers of the Long Continent. But it was only a matter of time.

    All it took it was two more days after the return of the elders.

    This time the information came from an even more credible sourceбн The Frozen Cloud sect!

    But that was just one of the pieces of shocking news the Frozen Cloud sect dropped. The first piece of the news was that the Frozen Cloud sect now had three Chief Disciples, and that they had fifteen new Nascent soul realm elders in their ranks.

    All the sects that heard this were absolutely stunned.

    The other top sects who heard this were greatly suspicious about it all. After all, they had been nning on pulling down the Frozen Cloud sect this entire time, and now the sect had this new card.

    It could be said that the other top sects had spent a decent amount of time and effort in preparing their n against the Frozen Cloud sect. And yetбн that had been all doused in the waters of disappointment.

    While the Frozen Cloud sect was certainly not back to its peak, they were no longer under the threat of being kicked out of the top ten sects. At the very least, they had regained about 75% of their stability.

    This way, while they might not be able to keep their rank, they would at least not be kicked out entirely.

    Then came the next piece of news from them: The Millennium forest was now an independent kingdom and the Frozen Cloud sect shall be their ally!

    When this was learned by the other powers not around the Millennium forest they were stunned. They wondered if the Frozen Cloud sect had gone insane after their massacre. But since there had been a recovery of their elders'' numbers, it was not exactly right either.

    They tried to obtains more information from their spies and soon learned another spicy piece of newsбн The Millennium forest truly had a great inheritance ground and it was rumored to be the reason behind the Frozen Cloud sect''s rebound.

    This of course, incited great desire among the different sects and they wanted a piece of the pie too.

    But they were in for a shock when the three kingdoms around the Millennium forest echoed the same as The Frozen Cloud sect and the smaller sects within the borders of those kingdoms joined them too!

    In just a matter of three days, the Millennium forest, which was just a forest with a forbidden zone in it for several years, became an independent kingdom. And not just an independent kingdom, but a kingdom with twelve allies!

    Such a progression was stunning to all the sects and kingdoms.

    So much so that when the news reached the Long n, they especially decided to send people to look into this matter.

    The other top ns, such as Ji n and Lian n, did the same. The Lian n was especially excited since they knew the rise of a new kingdom meant new economic projects. Which, with their experience and expertise, only meant more profit.

    But their excitement was dulled when they heard that the rulers of the Millennium forest weren''t some new human powerбн It was beasts!

    This in itself greatly concerned all the powers, and they sent out decrees to the new ''allies'' of the Millennium Forest.

    Lin Wu had been keeping his ear to the ground and had gotten as much information as he could from his sources. The crystal slip that he had given to Minister Ting was kept by the king personally and he got to hear everything that happened there.

    Additionally, he also had Wang Xiong, and his other sources providing him information.

    Tian Han and Tian Xiaoge were a part of it too and gave their side of input as well. Their information mostly consisted of the attitudes of the southern powers that were located beyond the Tian n.

    It was also surprising to the two of them, as they had not expected such a development to happen either.

    It was a route that they had not expected Lin Wu to take. While they knew he wanted to make an organization of his own, this was not just an organizationбн this was an entire kingdom!

    Making a kingdom was not easy in the current times and no new kingdom had been born for hundreds of years.

    And even if one was to be made, it needed approval from the guardian n, as well as the tacit approval from the other powers.

    Without them, the nearby powers of the new kingdom''s location would never let them rise.

    And yetбн this unknown beast king of the Millennium forest had gotten all of it in one go.

    He secured the alliance of nearby kingdoms, then got the sects to join and finally addling one of the top sects to his roster of allies.

    Such progression honestly terrified the more astute schemers of the various powers.

    They couldn''t help but think that there was something wrong with it all, but they couldn''t pick at it from here either. And just as they wanted to see it themselves, they were presented the opportunity.

    The call for a proper meeting was sent out by Lin Wu, the moment he heard the Long n, Ji n, Lian n and other top sects were going toe.

    "Hehehe! May as well them all in one go." Lin Wu chuckled to himself.

    If the other powers wanted to try their hand at the Inheritance ground, he wouldn''t mind it at all. In fact, it would only be beneficial for him the more people joined and passed the trials.

    ''The more they try, the weaker they will getбн they won''t even know as their people will switch teamsбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    It was all a sensitive n, and he needed to proceed rather carefully from here onwards.

    This would be Lin Wu''s first official interaction with the other great powers of the Long continent. But thinking of the ns, he was reminded of something.

    "Hmmбн though I wonder who the Ji n will sendбн will Shironge again?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    If Shirong really came, Lin Wu would be rather happy as he''ll have a strong pawn to add to his list again.

    Shirong was his first great pawn, and he had lost it back then. But now the situation had changed and he could better control the variables. Lin Wu was also not afraid of retaliation as much since the entire Millennium forest was basically arge Formation array.

    With the beasts joining in and the offensive formations activated, Lin Wu was confident of taking down at even Dao Treading realm cultivatorsбн if they came, of course. He knew the Frozen Cloud sect''s patriarch was going toe, and so was Yun Bai.

    He wondered if the top three ns will send Dao Treading realm experts too, or would they just be Dao Shell realm ones?

    ''Perhaps I should make a little show for them tooбн'' Several ideas popped up in his mind.

    It was all exciting for him and he realized just how many ventures were now opening up for him.

 Chapter 759 - The Lian Clans Excitement

    Chapter 759 иC The Lian nбпs Excitement

    The deration of independence by the Millennium forest and sent waves across the entire Long continent.

    At the Lian n''s great hall.

    Several elders dressed in opulent robes were sitting in the long and wide hall. There were tables set in front of them, ced on which were several dishes, fruits, and wine.

    It looked like it was the royal court of an emperor and all the elders were the ministers and other court members. They merrily ate and spoke, while scantily dressed women giggled along with them.

    <em>~Rumble~</em>

    The scene of merriment was brought to a sudden pause as the hall''s doors suddenly opened.

    "PATRIARCH! PATRIARCH! BIG NEWS! BIG NEWS!" Rushed in a man who looked to be in his thirties.

    But he was also very fat and with each of his step, the fatty folds of his body jiggled. It looked like a small meat hill was running and if he started to roll instead, it would probably be faster.

    The elders looked at the fat man who had just entered, and had irked expressions on their faces. But soon they changed their expressions and went back to doing what they were before.

    "Don''t be so noisy Lian Xiaojian," The elder sitting at the head of the hall spoke calmly.

    He gestured to the girl standing next to him, and she lowered another peeled grape into his mouth. If one looked at the small table next to her, they would see that there was a bowl full of grape skins.

    And next to it, there was a pile of grapes. They were plump and dark purple in color, each of them letting out faint spirit Qi fluctuations.

    If these grapes were seen by any average cultivator who was knowledgeable about spirit fruits and herbs, they would realize that these were nomon grapes. They were none other than the rare, Prosperity Grapes!

    Each of these grapes was very hard to grow and most ces where they grew in, only a single grape could grow on a nt. And yet there was a bounty of them here. The grapes were even in bunches, and that showed its quality.

    It was said that the more the number of grapes in a bunch, the higher the quality of them.

    But at the same time, if a person saw the bowl full of peels, they would feel pained. For it was a great waste! Perhaps the peels in that bowl alone contained enough spirit Qi to rival a peak grade spirit stone alone!

    Such opulence was painful for most people to watch.

    <em>~Huu~huu~huu~</em>

    The Fat man panted as he came to stand in front of the elder eating the grape. He caught his breath for a half a minute, during which the elder continue to eat grapes as the girl peeled and fed him.

    Once he had finally caught his breath, the fat man looked up at the elder, who was also equally fat!

    He looked like a hill full of fat that had been squeezed into a throne. Rolls of fat bulged out of the side of the throne, and from below the armrest. If it were not for the fact that the throne was made out of precious materials and was a spirit tool as well, perhaps it would have broken apart already.

    "Father! I have big news!" The fat man spoke to the far elder, who was evidently the patriarch.

    And he wasn''t just any patriarch, but the patriarch of the third ranked n in the entire Long continent! He was Lian Dajian!

    Lian Dajian looked back at his first son as a hint of interest appeared in his eyes.

    "Oh? What could be the news that it would make even you run like this? You barely train otherwise." Lian Dajian questioned.

    "I have big news! Big profit news!" Lian Xiaojian said, as his eyes sparkled.

    "Huh?" The ears of all the elders in the hall perked up, and they stopped what they were doing as well.

    They all looked at the first son of the patriarch, wondering just what it was too. They thought the news must be good enough to make thezy first son, Lian Xiaolian leave his personal pce and run like this.

    "Speak my son." Jian Dajian spoke as he gestured for the girl next to him to pause her task.

    "In the south, the Millennium forestбн They have dered independence!" Lian Xiaojian revealed.

    Hearing this, the brows of all the elders here furrowed.

    "The Millennium forest? Did some power take over it or something?" One of the elders asked in wonder.

    "Thest I heard of it, there was some spirit beast that broke through and scared all the weaklings out." Another elder replied.

    "Oh yeah! I remember now, it was a Twin Lights Liger that apparently managed to reach the Dao Shell realm." Someone else stated.

    "But if that''s so, then how did they dere independence? I don''t think there are many Dao Shell realm experts living around that forest. If some power took over it, they would need to first get rid of the beast." The first elder who had spoken asked.

    "Don''t forget that they can control the beast, too. As long as they tamed it, the result would still be the same."

    "Who knows, perhaps someone was actually behind the breakthrough of the beast. Maybe its master. Someone could have tamed the beast in secret."

    "It''s not that at all, elders!" Lian Xiaojian said, much to their surprise.

    "What is it then?" Lian Dajian asked again.

    "It isn''t some human powerбн but rather the beasts themselves that dered it!" Lian Xiaojian answered.

    "WHAT?!" The elders were all stunned, while the patriarch narrowed his eyes.

    "Take a look at this, father! I got the initial reports from our people there." Lian Xiaojian continued.

    ''This is surprisingly diligent of him.'' The elders all thought.

    The patriarch took the scroll from the hands of his son and unrolled it. The scroll was rather short for most, but if one looked at it, they would find it to be empty. The patriarch injected some spirit Qi and a string of sentences appeared on the scroll.

    His eyes moved from top to bottom as the sentences continued to change and fade. The scroll itself was a spirit tool that could show more information that was visible on its surface.

    The patriarch read the information for about five minutes, after which he put down the scroll. And when he did, his fat face was visible again. But this time there was a difference. There was a wide smile on his face instead.

    "Good! Good! You did good, bringing this quickly." Lian Dajian praised, surprising the other elders as it was rare for him to do so.

    "All elders shall take a look," the patriarch said and flicked the scroll into the air.

    A single finger of his was as fat as three normal fingers and was enough to send the scroll flying.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    The scroll lit up in the air and suddenly runes appeared on it. The runes turned into a long screen on which the same information that the patriarch had read appeared. The elders read through it word by word and soon their expressions turned the same way as that of the patriarch.

    "Ahahah! I ALREADY SEE GOLD!" One of the elder said with joy.

    Lian Xiaojian too, let out a wide smile, but his thick lips and fatty face made it look like it was a Blob fish instead.

    "We have to hurry! If we aren''t the first ones there, we''ll be missing out!" an elder said with impatience.

    "Uncle Ko is right, we need to send our people quickly." Lian Xiaojian agreed.

    "Who do we send, patriarch? Should I head there myself?" One of the elders asked.

    Patriarch Lian Dajian stroked his fatty chin and thought to himself. He looked rather silly doing this, but no one who knew about him would dare to ridicule him.

    He was the patriarch of the Lian n and perhaps one of the five richest people on the entire Ming Dao world! He had taken the Lian n to new highs and made it almost on the same level as that of the Ji n.

    The Lian n was already as rich as the Ji n, which had longer history than them by at least a few hundred years. And still they had managed to reach their level. The only reason they were not on the second rank among the ns was due to the theck of strong experts among them.

    While they had plenty of Dao Shell realm experts and others below them, there were only a handful of Dao Treading realm cultivators in their ranks.

    Though there were still rumors of them having an ancestor who had been in seclusion for over a thousand years now. Even the elders of the Lian n didn''t know if the said ancestor was still alive or not and the patriarch would not reveal it, anyway.

    Besides, as long as it wasn''t something that could bring them profit, it was not worth their time. The reputation and power of the Lian n gave them advantages and brought them profit in an easier way thus that was good enough for them.

    Lian Dajian thought for about ten minutes, which was rather long for the elders as they knew just how prompt their patriarch usually was.

    ''Is the Millennium forest really that good for him to spend this much time thinking?'' some of the elders wondered.

    <em>~pat~</em>

    "Alright! I''ve decided," Lian Dajian said, while tapping the armrest of the throne.

 Chapter 760 - Lian Xiaojians Opportunity

    Chapter 760 иC Lian Xiaojianбпs Opportunity

    The elders of the Lian n watched in anticipation as they waited for their patriarch to speak.

    "Elder Ruanjian will head to the Millennium forest." Lian Dajian spoke. "Butбн Lian Xiaojian shall apany you." He added.

    The elders were surprised, and Elder Ruanjian was even more so. Everyone knew that first son of the patriarch was ratherzy and didn''t like to leave his personal pce. In fact, many didn''t even know what he did there.

    If it were not for the fact that the first son still had some talent for cultivation and didn''t ckpletely in that aspect, they would have just considered him a waste. Though one aspect the first soncked in that the elders of the Lian n disliked the most was business ambitions.

    If it were not for the fact that Lian Xiaojian looked very simr to the patriarch, the elders would have, even though if the Patriarch had been cuckolded. For the Lian Dajian was considered to have the greatest business talent and had taken the Lian n to new heights.

    And yet, his first soncked that. Other than his appearance, there were few things that were simr between the patriarch and his son.

    Though, unlike the elders, the siblings of Lian Xiaojian were very happy with it all. To them, as long as Lian Xiaojian kept doing what he was doing, they would have a better chance at getting the position of the patriarch.

    Lian Dajian had very clearly stated in the past that the position of the heir of the Lian n shall only be handed to the offspring who brought the biggest profits to the n. One didn''t even need to be talented in cultivation for this, either.

    And since he didn''t specify that it needed to be a male child, even the sisters of Lian Xiaojian did their very best to work and learn. Since they could one day be the head of the n too.

    Many of Lian Dajian''s daughters dreamed of bing the first matriarch of the Lian n since so far there had been none. Out of the six patriarchs the Lian n has had till now, all of them were men.

    The daughters of the n were instead used as tools for more profit, often being married of in business deals. This was something even the current daughters dreaded, and they certainly did not want to get married to some slob just because of that.

    They would rather do their best to learn and bright the best business they could to the Lian n.

    Even the patriarch was fine with it and had tacitly said that the daughters who could bring good profit to the n, even if it wasn''t the highest, could choose their marriage partnerster on and wouldn''t need to be married against their will.

    This was the option that his daughters like the most, as many of them knew they had little chance of bing the head of the n. This motivated them to no end and in the current time the one''s brining the most profitsbined in among the patriarch''s children whenparing the daughters and sons was none other than the daughters.

    Though there was also the fact that among the seventeen direct offspring that the patriarch had, ten were daughters and seven were sons. Since they outnumbered the sons, they brought a lot of profits with the many businesses they held.

    Thus, seeing Lian Xiaojian actually showing some ambition was surprising. This made Lian Dajian give his first son a chance.

    "Really, father?" Lian Xiaojian was surprised too.

    He had only did this because he was about to run out of his personal allowance and thought that his father might give him some after hearing of this. But he never expected to be assigned a mission.

    Deep down, Lian Xiaojian too didn''t want to be like the person he was and wanted to do some business. But his siblings had taken the lead and upied most territories, leaving him with only a few avenues that were difficult to get into or would need quite a lot of financial power to get into.

    Thus he had simply given up on his ambitions and had chosen to live a life offort.

    He didn''t know just how much his siblings were jealous of him, though. The patriarch had named his son after him and had thought that being the first son he had, he would just be like him.

    In the past, he had great hope from his son, but it had only turned into disappointment over the years.

    Lian Xiaojian was not that young eitherбн at least not in terms of amoner. He was in fact, over eighty years old!

    No one would be able to tell this at all. With the amount of resources he had consumed, he had reached the Nascent soul realm at the age of forty five. It was faster than most people, but it was entirely built on a mountain of spirit fruits and herbs.

    But even if he had reached the Nascent soul realm at the age of forty five, he had not progressed past the Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm. The limited amount of resources he had gotten over the years had not helped the fact either.

    Since he didn''t do any bushiness, the n didn''t provide him the same amount of resources like in the past. Thus, his speed of cultivation slowed down.

    "Are you sure, Patriarch?" the other elders asked.

    They were really surprised by this decision and didn''t know if it was the best one. But they didn''t outright reject it either as they had developed confidence in Lian Dajian''s decision over the years, as they had almost always been profitable.

    "I''m sure of it. I also want Elder Ruanjian to observe this time more than deal with it directly. I''d like to let Xiaojian work this time." Lian Dajian stated.

    Lian Xiaojian''s small eyes curved like the crescent moon as he smiled in response.

    "I''ll do my best, father!" he said out loud.

 Chapter 761 - Rumors And Secrets

    Chapter 761 иC Rumors And Secrets

    With Lian Dajian''s decision made, the elders didn''t question it and went along with it. To them if the patriarch had made this decision, he probably had additional ns to deal with it if things went south.

    Additionally, there was still Elder Ruanjian apanying Lian Xiaojian thus the concern of the elders was reduced even more.

    Elder Ruanjian was an aplished elder and was the younger half brother of the patriarch. He was among the few of his half siblings that had managed to survive the fight for the seat of the patriarch in thest generation.

    And this was only because Lian Ruanjian had chosen toe under Lina Dajian in the very start of his career. This had not only allowed him to survive all these years, but he had also managed to gain a lot of fortune.

    This was not to say that he had gained all by simply sticking to the patriarch, either. The man himself had quite good business acumen and his personal cultivation was notcking either, being at the Dao Shell realm.

    He held a decent amount of businesses under him and his own children were rather decent too. Because of it all, his line of the n had an overall good reputation. While he may not be the strongest or the best at business among the elders, he was probably the best for the job, bringing a bnce of both.

    "I shall do as the patriarch decrees." Elder Ruanjian cupped his hands in agreement.

    "Good." Lian Dajian nodded his head.

    He then took out something from his spatial storage treasure and threw it towards Lian Xiaojian. The fat man caught it with astonishing agility, and his eyes glinted with joy. He knew exactly what it was the moment it appeared in his father''s hands.

    "Take that, and get whatever you need from the repositories. Prepare wellбн I do not want to be disappointed again." Lina Dajian said in a straight tone.

    "I''ll try not to do that, father." Lian Xiaojian said while cupping his hands and bowing his head.

    "Go now! Don''t waste anymore time." The patriarch urged.

    "Yes, father!" Lian Xiaojian quickly ran away at an even faster speed than at which he had entered.

    It was still no lessical and his footsteps echoed in the corridor for long. Once he was gone the doors of the hall closed behind him and a momentary silence descended in the hall.

    <em>~Sigh</em>~

    Lian Dajian let out a rare sigh and closed his eyes for a bit. And when he opened, he looked towards Elder Ruanjian.

    "Watch him, little brother. I still feel like he can do a lotбн at least I hope so." The Patriarch requested.

    "Of course, elder brother. You can count on me." Elder Ruanjian replied.

    Lian Dajian''s eyes went back to the scroll for a few seconds and his eyes scanned over a sentence.

    "Alsoбн keep an eye out for that inheritance in the forest. I do not think that things will go as easy as we are thinking." The Patriarch spoke.

    This aroused the elder''s interest and some of them couldn''t help but ask more.

    "Do you know something about the Millennium forest that we don''t patriarch?" Elder Ko asked.

    "I don''t know if it is trueбн but there were some old records that I''ve read in the past. They were iplete so I do not know to trust thempletely or notбн but they did mention some surprising things." The patriarch replied.

    The brows of the elders were raised as this was the first time they were hearing about this. They had of course, known quite a bit about the millennium forest. After all, the millennium forest was a source of a lot of resource.

    Even if it was just one among the hundred others, a source of profit was still that.

    But the elders didn''t put the millennium forest that high up in their eyes even if it might have been ruled by five Nascent soul realm beasts in the past and now a Dao Shell realm beast.

    There were many other ces that had stronger beasts, after all.

    But hearing that there was more to the millennium forest, they were intrigued.

    "Is it perhaps linked to the inheritance ground that was in the report?" Elder Ko asked.

    "It could be rted." The patriarch spoke.

    "What exactly was that you read, patriarch?" Elder Ruanjian asked. "I think it''s important to know, even if it is just false information or a rumor. After allбн there is always a hint of truth to a rumor. Who knows if it would help uster?" He added.

    "Hmmбн in one of the records I read, the Millennium forest had a different name." The patriarch spoke. "In one of them, it was called as the Dark Celestial''s Tomb." He revealed.

    "The Dark Celestial''s tomb?" The elders repeated in confusion.

    They had never heard a name such as this before. Though from the name, they could tell that whoever this tomb belonged to must have been strong. Orбн it might have been some self-proimed expert that named it so and left behind a fake legend.

    There was nock of such ''experts''. After all, many people wanted to be famous, even if it was after their death. Some even went so far as to fake their own deaths and make tombs and leave behind inheritances.

    These people would then hide and watch from the shadows. Sometimes they would even participate in the inheritance trials themselves and win it to gain more fame.

    It was very shameless, and yet it could bring quite a lot of fortune. After all, not all those that participated in the trials would win and many would die too. This would leave behind resources that the owner of the tomb would make use of.

    "Yesбн the Dark Celestial''s tomb. Though in another record, it was also called as the Fool''s Grave." The patriarch added.

    Hearing this, a few elders couldn''t help but chuckle.

 Chapter 762 - [Bonus Chapter]Rumors And Secrets-II

    Chapter 762 иC [Bonus Chapter]Rumors And Secrets-II

    The elders were now really feeling that the Millennium forest might just have been another one of the fake legends made up by some ''expert''.

    "Fool''s grave, huhбн" Though among the elders'' there was one whose reaction was different.

    The voice was low and was not noticed by other elders, but Lian Dajian certainly did. His cultivation base was the highest in the hall here and he was at the Dao Treading realm. His sense could pick up even if an ant was trying to sneak in here several meters deep in the ground.

    "Do you have something to add, Junior Elder Kai Li?" Patriarch Lian Dajian suddenly spoke.

    The junior elder in question, stood up in etiquette and cupped her hands.

    "I do patriarch." Junior Elder Kai Li replied.

    ''She really did speak up in the middle of a discussionбн she must be rather sure.'' A few elders thought.

    Currently in the hall, there were elders of two ranks present. The Normal elders and the Junior elders. Of course, the number of normal elders greatly exceeded that of junior elders and there were barely three such junior elders.

    The high elders of the n were not present here as they were perhaps the most busy out of the entire n. They worked directly under the patriarch and were mainly involved in the biggest businesses of the Lian n.

    The high elders didn''t even live in the n most of the times and spent their days working in the biggest of the businesses directly. They were only called back once a year for an annual meeting.

    It would seem like the treatment of the high elders was less than the normal elders as the normal elders got to enjoy at the n, but it was not so. In fact, if any of these normal elders were given the chance to be a high elder they would take it in a heartbeat.

    After all, bing a high elder meant not only did they get to run one of the n''s main businesses, they would also get a higher share of the profits.

    The profit shares of the entire n were fixed and very strict. If it was found that some member was not contributing their share honestly, they would be greatly punished. In fact, the harshest punishment in the n, the death penalty, wasn''t given to those that insulted the patriarch or something simr to that, but rather to those that dared to embezzle money from the n.

    The punishment for that was death, but death didn''te easily. The torture before that was what they dreaded the most, and it was a lesson that had been taught many times over the years.

    After all, a business and profit minded n like the Lian n knew better than anyone just how big of a temptation money was and that greed could make someone do anything.

    Which was why their rules were greatly based on money and profits.

    A normal member of the n needed to contribute 90% of their earnings to the n, a junior elder contributed 80%, a normal elder contributed 70% while a high elder contributed 50%.

    This difference was what dictated just how far a nsman could go. Those with greater personal ie could expand their businesses faster than others and could also improve their cultivation base.

    Though this great ''tax'' also came with benefits to the nsmen, whether they be normal ones or elders. They could get a fixed amount of resources regardless of their overall contribution.

    Also, since they were contributing so much, they didn''t need to do any missions, which was often mandatory for other ns and sects. It was rare for the Lian n to assign a mandatory mission.

    Though this also worked in the n''s favor, as whenever a volunteer mission was given, there were easily hundreds of applicants. As they all knew, this was just a way to make more profits.

    No one wanted to let anyone else get a mission if they could get it first.

    Junior elders were often those nsmen who rose by doing many missions of the n. Junior elder Kai Li was one such person. She was a lowly member of the n at the start, being from a distant branch.

    And yet, she had done her very best to reach this point and bing a Junior elder. She was at the nascent soul realm too, thus it wasn''t like she was weak either. Besides, she had a rather notorious reputation.

    This was due to the fact that she had instincts to detect bad deals. And she had used these to flip these deals onto herpetitors. This had made quite a few people mad as well as scared of her.

    Even the elders were warned of her back when she was still a normal nsmen, but since she hadn''t broken any rules and was still doing her part as a nsman diligently there was nothing they could use her off.

    Rather, it was the people who hadined who ended up getting fined for wasting the time of the elders.

    This simply became another feather in the hat for her and no one dared to easily offend her after that. She had be a junior elder only recently in the past five years and had kept a low image among the elders.

    This was actually the first time she had spoken like this in the middle of a discussion between the patriarch and the elders. Most junior elders would be far too scared to ever do this. And even if they weren''t punished, they would still end up getting humiliated and losing face in front of the patriarch.

    No one wanted this, and they kept their heads low. Which was also what the elders thought Kai Li was doing. But now she had finally spoken up.

    "Patriarch, I think we should consider adding more people to the team that would visit the Millennium forest. The rumor might not be a rumor at all.." She stated firmly.

 Chapter 763 - A Sly Junior Elder

    Chapter 763 иC A Sly Junior Elder

    Hearing her words, the rest of the elders were certainly surprised. While it may have seemed fine, it was still indirectly challenging the patriarch''s words. The elders didn''t say anything though as one might see in another n.

    There would be the ever so eager, ass-kissers, who''d try to kiss up to the patriarch in any way possible. But the elders of the Lian n were different. They simply kept silent and watched on with interest.

    Some even smiled and took bites out of the spirit fruits kept on the tables in front of them; fully intending on enjoying the show.

    If Lin Wu was here, he''d probably do the same and take the elders as fellow snack munching drama enjoyers.

    It would be a battle between the average ass-kisser and the average snack munching drama enjoyer.

    "Would you borate, so why?" Patriarch Lian Dajian asked patiently.

    "I''ve been investigating some things in the past couple of years. They were rted to a deal I was looking to pursue with the auction of the Jiao n''s assets, but I was reaching a dead end with them.

    It was then that I came in contact with a few cultivators who had been to the Millennium forest. They had visited it over a decade ago, and had supposedly witnessed a great battle there.

    The said battle was between beasts, and they were barely able to hide at the cost of a small earth isting talisman. But what they witnessed was perhaps the most shocking thing they said they had ever witnessed.

    They saw that the beasts of the millennium forest were fighting in unison against different beasts. After getting the descriptions from them, we learned that the said beasts were known as Southern Tusk Tapirs.

    The said beasts are natives of the forests south of the Frozen Cloud sect and were being lead by a Silver Tusk Tapir who was at the Dao Shell realm. They didn''t know why this was happening and could only keep on hiding while trying to avoid as many attacks as they could.

    Even then, among theirpanions, over half of them died, leaving only three in the end. These three that survived managed to see the end of the battle. In thatбн they saw a person appearing.

    The person was wearing a white fox mask and executed a single skill that killed all of the beasts, including the Dao Shell realm Southern tusk tapir.

    But that was not all that was surprising. The witnesses actually saw the said person interacting with the beastsбн conversing with them. They couldn''t understand most of it of course, but one of them managed to hear a couple of words." Junior Elder Kai Li said and took a pause.

    By now, Kai Li had managed to capture the attention of each and every elder. The snack munching drama enjoying elders were even more vigorous in their actions, stuffing deep fried spirit boar rinds into their mouths and munching on them.

    A slight smile appeared on the woman''s face but it disappeared quickly as well.

    "Don''t leave us hanging. What did those men hear?" Someone finally asked, unable to bear the pause.

    "Those men heard the white fox masked man speak thatбн He was there to fulfill a promise." Kai Li answered.

    Hearing this, all the elders were surprised and wondered to himself just how much of this was true and how much false.

    "Hmmбн I seeбн and what else do you have? I don''t think you would just believe the words of a few random cultivators, will you?" Patriarch Lian Dajian said.

    "Of course not patriarch. I did several more checks and found out more things. Shall I list them out to rify your concerns?" She questioned.

    "Go ahead." Lian Dajian permitted.

    "The earlier information provided by those three men certainly got me interested in the millennium forest, but I wasn''t going to just take it all as it is. I contacted other sources and learned more things.

    There were some things that were already out in the open and known by even themoners. These were the fact that the Millennium forest had a Forbidden zone and it was created when a meteor fell there.

    The area is deadly and has even killed Nascent soul realm cultivators. From the reports, it is filled with deadly poisons and gases that can even suppress cultivation bases of all that enter it.

    This was merely the first of the many concerning things.

    The second thing I learned linked to this was the fact that the heir of the Ji nбн Ji Shirong actually went to the Millennium forest. Not just that, but he apparently has some arrangements with the Ling Kingdom as well as a minor alliance with the Deer wood city that is close to the Millennium forest.

    Then I thoughtбн why would the heir of the second ranked Ji n go to a ce like this millennium forest. The open reason that I found was that it was to gain allies and to train himself, but I doubted the JI n needed to send their heir for that to a remote ce like that.

    Rather than that, they could very well use their own training grounds.

    But they didn''t do soбн. And the effects were certainly shown. Ji Shirong had a quick rise after that, reaching the Nascent soul realm shortly after that. He then left the Millennium forest as well as the Ling Kingdom, heading to the west.

    He wasst seen near the now forbidden zone, the Dread Coil marsh, and had met up with the leaders there about something.

    And must I remind the elders and the patriarch that there was something really important to us that was lost near the Dread Coil Marsh in the past." Kai Li continued.

    Hearing her final worlds, the eyes of the elders went wide, while the patriarch furrowed his brows. By now, many were already starting to understand where Kai Li was getting at and it was a matter that was rather sensitive to the n.

 Chapter 764 - The Decisions Of The Lian Clan And The Ji Clan

    Chapter 764 иC The Decisions Of The Lian n And The Ji n

    The elders and the patriarch gazed at Kai Li and watched herplete her words.

    "The seventeenth son of the Patriarch, Lian Li wasst heard of there, in the Jiao Dian city. We didn''t know at that time, but a weekter his life bead shattered in the n as well, informing us he was dead." Kai Li stated.

    The expression of the elders darkened while that of the patriarch''s turned colder.

    "And what do you think this meansбн Junior elder Kai Li?" patriarch Lian Dajian questioned.

    "I''m sayingбн what if all this was linked? So many coincidences, all linked to the Millennium forest by some person. It is possible that the source of it all lies in the millennium forest. Perhaps we may even find how the seventeenth young master died there." Kai Li answered.

    The brows of all the elders furrowed as they thought it over. The words of Kai Li seemed a bit far fetched but at the same time they too felt that this was far too much of a coincidence to not be linked.

    "Alrightбн I''ll do what you suggest, junior elder Kai Li. Speak," Lian Dajian asked.

    "I simply ask the patriarch that I be sent along with Elder Ruanjian and the first young master. I shall also bring along a few of my trusted people." Kai Li replied.

    "Fine, do as you will." The Patriarch replied.

    "Thank you for your graciousness, patriarch." Kai Li said while cupping her hands.

    "Go, prepare what you have toбн also guide that son of mine, just in case." Lian Dajian ordered.

    "I will at once." Kai Li said before taking her leave as well.

    Once she was gone, the elders all looked at the patriarch, several questions on their face.

    "Will this be fine, patriarch? Junior elder Kai Liбн she might seem fine, but she has a certain level of notoriety. Additionally, the information that she gave usбн some of it seems suspicious." One of the elders finally asked.

    The patriarch didn''t answer them right away and thought to himself for a few seconds before speaking.

    "Elder Ruanjian will be there to keep an eye on him. Beside, I doubt she will want this to go sideways eitherбн if she wants to live, that is." Lian Dajian stated.

    The elders could all read between the lines and knew that patriarch was perhaps far more aware of them. Maybe there was a chance he already knew what Kai Li had spoken and was merely testing her. Whatever it may be, the elders knew that this matter was decided and it will be the end of it.

    бн

    Simr to the Lian n, another discussion was underway in the Ji n as well.

    Though here, the atmosphere was vastly different. Instead of the rather joyous and merry atmosphere, everything was cold and serious.

    In the grand pce of the Ji n sat an imposing man. He seemed to be middle aged but the vitality exuding from him was no less than that of a youth.

    This was none other than the Patriarch of the Ji n, Ji Shan!

    Sitting in the hall along with him were several other elders and high elders of the Ji n.

    "What are we to do about this then, patriarch?" An elder holding a document asked.

    "Hmmбн I''d like to send someone familiar to that region for this." Patriarch Ji Shan replied.

    "Thisбн if I remember correctly, young master Shirong is the one who had been to the millennium forest before. And not just that but he also has his own alliance with the Deer wood city''s ns along with the Ling Kingdom''s royal family." Another elder spoke.

    "What is he doing now? Has hee out of seclusion yet?" Patriarch Ji Shan questioned.

    "Young Master Shirong heбн he has note out of the seclusion. It''s been about nine years now. Thest he came out was ten years ago, but it was only briefly. He inquired about some things and took some resources before retreating back into the enlightenment hall. He has kept himself holed up in a chamber there." The elder answered.

    "I seeбн" the patriarch muttered.

    The elders all watched pensively as the patriarch thought to himself.

    There were several matters bugging him in the recent times and the Millennium forest was another big matter that had been added. He would have been able to deal with it easily, if it were not for the fact that there was an even bigger matter weighing down on him.

    ''The Long nбн are their words really true?'' Ji Shan thought to himself.

    Some time ago, the Long n had held a meeting in which all the important people of the Long continent, including the patriarchs of the various top sects, and the n heads of the top three ns were called in. The topic of discussion was a great secret, but was also equally important.

    The Long n had stressed this part and had said that the matter could involve the destruction of the Long continent if not taken care of properly.

    They had asked all the powers to contribute manpower and look for a certain bloodline. The Long n didn''t have any concrete way to find it and had merely told them to report to them when something suspicious was found. If that happened, the Long n would send out one of their elders to investigate it.

    Then there was another matter that would happen soon enough.

    This was none other than the Grand Sect tournament of the Long continent. The Ji n had some stakes in it too and even had a few spots in the Holy Ming sacrednd. It was a different thing that the Ji n didn''t need it as often as the sects did, as they had their own sacrednd that they could use.

    More often than not, the Ji n would sell these spots to the sects or other powers for something equal. Though if someone from the n wanted to go there, they could indeed take a spot. Of course, they would have to prove first that they were worthy of this.

    Only if this was done would the Ji n allow one of theirs to take a spot. After all, if someone took the spot, they were also representing the Ji n in front of the other powers.

    If this person was not right for it, they could bring a loss of face to the Ji n and that was not something they would like.

    ''The elders will need to deal with the matters of the Long n and the tournament. The rest will need to do other duties they already haveбн this doesn''t leave many optionsбн'' The patriarch thought to himself.

    He thought of his children and rejected most of them right away. Ji Shirong was the most likely to be his heir and he would like him to do this mission, but he didn''t know if it was a matter good enough to make him leave seclusion.

    Ji Shan had been keeping tabs on his son''s progress and knew that he had improved his cultivation base greatly in the past decade. The goals he had set for him were not onlypleted, but also broken in record time. Ji Shan knew his son''s talent was greater than his own and perhaps he would be able to leave his position to Shirong far earlier than he had originally expected.

    It wasn''t that he wanted to leave the position either though, and it wasn''t his age to do that either. Ji Shan was in the prime of his life and was at the Dao Treading realm. He had plenty of lifespan left and even if it took Shirong another thousand years to reach his level, there would be no problem.

    Butбн he wanted Shirong to reach that point as early as possible.

    This was because Ji Shan didn''t want his n to stay the same. The ns, who merely aimed to maintain their position, wished for their heirs to be equal to them by the time they reached the end of their lifespan. But those that wanted to rise wouldn''t do that at all. Rather, they would want their heirs to be stronger than them and reach the same level as them as soon as possible.

    They would even pass on the position of the patriarch to them, so that they themselves could focus on cultivation and vie for greater resources. Being the patriarch of a top n and also having an Immortal Ascension realm ancestor meant that Ji Shan knew a lot more than what other experts knew.

    He knew of the existence of the immortal realm above and the other worlds that existed. He also knew that their world was not much in face of the many greater worlds. And because he knew all this, he had ambitions. He didn''t want his Ji n to be merely limited to this world. He wanted it to expand beyond the Ming Dao world.

    But to do that, they would have to start from the base. And for that, they needed to conquer thends that existed and defeat the other powers. Only when all this was done could he looked ahead to the other worlds.

    Half an hour passed in his thoughts before Ji Shan finally made a decision.

    He opened his eyes and saw the elders looking at him, waiting for his orders.

    "Call Ji Shirongбн he needs to go to the Millennium forest." Ji Shan ordered.

    "It shall be done, patriarch!

    Two elders quickly went away to inform Shirong, while silence descended in the hall again.

 Chapter 765 - Arrival Of The Powers And The Poor Minister Ting

    Chapter 765 иC Arrival Of The Powers And The Poor Minister Ting

    A few days passed as the news about the Millennium Forest bing independent continued to spread. By now, even themoners knew about it and were very curious about it as well.

    It was also themoners who showed the most varied reactions, with some bing very scared while some feeling excited about the new change.

    Lin Wu too kept tabs on it all and got regr information from his subordinates outside. Wang Xiong had sent out a few Frozen Cloud sect disciples to gather what themoners and other powers around the Millennium forest were feeling about the change.

    After getting these inputs, he wouldpile a report and sent it to Lin Mu regrly.

    "At least they are taking it better than I thoughtбн" Lin Wu said as he finished reading today''s report.

    He would get one every day since more and more people got to know about it. The news spread in an exponential manner and each day more people got to know of it. Lin Wu paid great attention to how this information was received as he didn''t want it to be too negative either.

    ''If it was like that, I might have to make some other adjustments tooбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He looked at the several windows floating in front of him and lightly sighed.

    "The day of the meeting is almost hereбн just two more days to go." Lin Wu muttered

    He then gave out a few orders and monitored the progress on his screens.

    Two days quickly passed, and it was finally the day for the meeting.

    At the western border of the millennium forest, arge group of people were currently waiting.

    "Who else is left toe?" A man wearing the robes of a Ling Kingdom minister asked.

    "ording to our register, two powers are yet to arrive. The Lian n informed us that they were sending people too, and they should be here soon enough. The other one that is left is the Ji n." The attendant informed.

    "The Lian n and the Ji nбн" The minister repeated.

    He rubbed his head upon hearing these names. Both were very strong powers and could suppress their Ling Kingdom with ease. This was honestly the most stressful event that he was ever handling.

    And this came as a minister of a major kingdom. He had to handle several kingdoms envoys as well as the ns that were heading.

    Though he was thankful that not all of the top sects wereing today. If that happened, Minister Ting thought that he might just die from the stress.

    ''The Cang Lan Mountain Sect, The Frozen Cloud sect, The Solitary Blossom Sect and the Chan sects from the top sects. The mid tier sects from the three kingdoms, and finally the three great ns of the Long continent. Such group is already way above my ability to handleбн how am I even supposed to do this all?'' Minster Ting thought to himself.

    ording to the directives that Lin Wu had sent to the King of the Ling Kingdom through the crystal slip, all the powers that were arriving would have to head to the Ling Kingdom first.

    They were to enter through the path that went from the Deer Wood City. Thus, keeping this in mind, the king had informed all the powers of the directives. Thus, an agreement was made to gather all of the envoys here before heading into the forest together.

    And this duty ultimately fell on Minister Ting. The King decided that since Minister Ting had already talked with the beasts before, he was the best for this job. Even though he was simply supposed to ensure that everyone was here and was not mistreated, it was a very stressful task.

    Minister Ting gazed at the various envoys that were here at this moment. Some distance away from the minister stood a small tent. Underneath the tent sat the envoy from the Cang Lan sect, which was also the number 1 top sect of the Long continue.

    Being the first rank meant that they had a great reputation and also power. But only one person had arrived from their sect who was none other than a middle aged elder. The elder was calmly sitting alone in the tent and meditated, not caring for anyone.

    Left of the tent were a few more tents, housing the other top sects. But the biggest tent belonged to none other than the Frozen Cloud sect.

    And the one attending was none other than Patriarch Bing himself. Apanying him were his three chief disciples, who were the most calm here.

    Then on the left side stood an imposing man. He had not chosen any tent and had instead chosen to stand on his own. He had a fierce looking face and sword like eyebrows. His hair was deep blue in color and was the most different out of all here.

    If not for the fact that his eyes were closed, he would probably make everyone shudder with just a look.

    This was none other than the envoy from the Long n, which was also the greatest power of the Long continent. It could even be said that they were the unofficial rulers of the continent.

    Perhaps if it were not for that fact that their duties as guardians prevented them from truly ruling the continent, the Long Continent might have turned into the Long Empire instead.

    The Envoy of the Long n had alsoe along like the envoy of the Cang Lan sect. Though the problem was that no one knew who this person was. If not for the fact that he had shown the official invitation documents, Minister Ting would have been confused as to who he was.

    The aura he cage off was rather fierce too and made one avoid looking at him unconsciously.

    <em>~Shua~</em>

    And just as Minister Ting was taking a look at the people under his care, he could feel the waves of spirit Qiing from the distance.

    "Look! It''s the envoys from the Lian n!" Some of the people working around spotted.

    In addition to Minister Ting, there were a lot of other people to help him out as well as the people that would be attending the meeting. Without them, Minister Ting would never be able to do much.

    These people were mostly from the Ling kingdom, though there were others from the Pale Marble Kingdom and Luguo kingdom as well.

    Minister Ting looked in the distance and saw a golden pnquin flying through the air. The pnquin was filled with gems and carvings of various beasts and birds. It couldn''t be seen who was riding within it, but from its size, it was safe to assume there were multiple people inside it.

    The golden pnquin wasrge enough to fit an entire house inside it!

    Or rather, it was best to say it was an entire house flying instead of a pnquin.

    "Is thatбн the Golden Honor Pnquin?!" A disciple from a mid tier sect recognized.

    "It really is that!"

    "Waitбн if the Golden Honor Pnquin is here, then doesn''t that mean the one riding inside it is a direct heir of the Lian n?" someone stated.

    Hearing all this, the face of Minister Ting grimaced.

    "Kill meбн" he muttered to himself.

    Soon, the Golden Pnquin reached their location andnded on the ground. Its doors opened and from it came out ten people. Three of them were dressed differently than the other seven, who were wearing the same outfit.

    It was evident that the seven were servants of some kind while the three people were the actual envoys.

    Though everyone''s eyes were on a single person.

    "What is thatбн" someone muttered.

    "Is that a manбн or a fat ball?" another person wondered.

    "SHUSH! Watch your tongue! Don''t you feel the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him!?" Hispanion warned him.

    The others heard this too and focused on the spirit Qi fluctuations, understanding that they were rather strong, being at the Nascent soul realm.

    ''The fat man is in the Nascent soul realmбн'' they understood.

    This person was, of course, none other than Lian Xiaojian and apanying him were junior Elder Kai Li and Elder Ruanjian.

    The other seven people were the attendants that junior Elder Kai Li had brought with her.

    They approached Minister Ting, only making him feel more nervous.

    "Greetings minister Ting, I am Junior Elder Kai Li of the Lian n. Let me introduce you to our first Young master, and Elder Ruanjian." Kai Li spoke first.

    Lian Xiaojian smiled and spoke, "thank you for having us over, Minister Ting. I am Lian Xiaojian."

    Hearing this, all the other people were surprised.

    "Heavens! That''s the first young master of the Lian n?"

    "Whoa! I never thought he would be thisбн bigбн"

    There were various words being spoken by the people, clearly stunned by seeing him. But Lian Xiaojian didn''t mind it at all. He was already used to it a long time ago.

    "Humph!" but Elder Ruanjian couldn''t do the same and let out a harrumph.

    The sound was apanied by his spirit Qi and pressured all those that were speaking in that moment. The power of a Dao Shell realm cultivator was displeased and immediately shut all of them up.

    Kai Li smirked lightly and chuckled.

    Minister Ting felt another headache approaching and decided to quickly tend to the situation.

    "It''s an honor having you here, Young Master Lian Xiaojian. Our Ling Kingdom will forever remember this. Pleasee with me. We''ll show you some amodations to wait in till others arrive.." Minister Ting quickly spoke.

 Chapter 766 - Late Arrival

    Chapter 766 иC Late Arrival

    The arrival of the group from the Lian n had sparked another round of conversations among the many people that were present here. These powers didn''t gather so many people often, as there were few opportunities.

    Most of the times such opportunities were during some event or martial gathering and were mostly them fighting andpeting. An event like this where they could ''rx'' and just go out while still meeting others was rather rare.

    Additionally, there were some normal disciples apanying the elders of the sects and kingdom too this time. These were intentionally brought along by the elders so that they may have a chance to learn more about other powers as well as expand the horizons.

    Of course, they will not be entering the Millennium forest with them. All the powers knew that it was incredibly risky, especially since they didn''t know who was the true person behind the Millennium forest.

    The disciples they had brought along were rtively talented and were their future. If something happened to them in the millennium forest, it would be a great loss they would not want to bear.

    Thus instead of bringing them into the forest, they had asked the Ling Kingdom to arrange for a banquet for the disciples so that they may get to know each other while the elders went to the forest.

    The Ling kingdom could only ept this request even if it would be rather stressful. Minister Ting was thankful that this responsibility came upon the other ministers and not him.

    That was also the reason why the other ministers were not here to help him. They were busy setting up the banquet in the Deer wood city. The aristocratic ns of the Deer Wood city were in a tizzy too as this was possibly the biggest high-profile event they had ever had.

    It was even bigger than when the king had visited them once in the past.

    Though the Ling kingdom ministers knew that this banquet was nothing but a glorified babysitting arrangement. The elders would go to work while the young yed.

    Lian Xiaojian also looked around and checked out all the people that were here. He didn''t leave his personal ce that much, and could count on one hand the number of times he had even left his n.

    That was also the reason why many people didn''t even know he existed. They knew that there was a first young master of the Lian n, but they didn''t know who he was or how he looked like.

    Rather than him, the other heirs of the Lian n were more known. Even Lian Li, the sixteenth young master of the Lian n, who wasn''t that good at business, was still known better than Lian Xiaojian.

    Though Lian Li''s talent was even worse than Lian Xiaojian. But it could also be attributed to the fact that he was way younger than Lian Xiaojian, being barely twenty five years old,pared to the overs eighty years old Lian Xiaojian.

    In fact, the difference between the two was enough for Lian Li to be Lian Xiaojian''s grandson.

    Along with Lian Xiaojian, Kai Li was watching the others here too, while Elder Ruanjian kept to himself and didn''t speak anything.

    "May I ask who we are missing?" Lian Xiaojian questioned Minister Ting.

    "Ah! That would be the envoy from the Ji n." Minister Ting hurriedly replied.

    He found it a bit hard to watch Lian Xiaojian while keeping a straight face. The man was simply far too fat to be considered normal. Minister Ting could literally see the indents forming in the ground wherever Lian Xiaojian walked.

    "The Ji n?" Lian Xiaojian was surprised.

    He knew that the Ji n would be attending as well, but was surprised that they were the one to be thest. From what he had heard about the n, they were very strong and prompt.

    "Do we know who ising from the Ji n?" Kai Li quickly caught on, a slight smile appearing on her face, her thoughts unknown.

    "Um, noбн the Ji n simply informed that they would be sending someone. But didn''t tell us who, or how many would being." Minister Ting replied.

    "Oh? That''s unusual of them." Kai Li muttered.

    She too knew the conduct of Ji n and had even interacted with a few members of the Ji n before. Even if they were low ranked members, the conduct was rather disciplined.

    "Any idea on how long we need to wait for them?" Kai Li asked next.

    "They should be here by the end of the day at the verytest. After all, we need to follow the timeline set by the other party." Minister Ting replied.

    "Alright. It''ll be nice to see who the Ji n sends." Kai Li stated, and went to talk to the other elders of the different sects and kingdoms.

    A few hours passed by and the sun was now about to set. The sky had turned orange and was hiding behind the mountains in the distance. The mountains were very small from the location of the Deer wood city since they were hundreds of kilometer within the millennium forest.

    There were a lot of conversations going on between the different powers as the night approached. By now, most had gotten acquainted with each other and the Ling Kingdom''s people had already set up fruits and drinks for them.

    Minister Ting looked at the sky in the distance as a wrinkle appeared on his forehead.

    "Just how long will the Ji n take?" He wondered.

    The n was to send the disciples of the various powers to the Deer Wood city at night, while the elders and other envoys would stay here for the morning. They would talk amongst themselves before it was finally time to head in.

    But this could only be done when all of them were here. But the Ji n was stillte.

    Hours continued to pass by and it was a quarter before midnight.

    "Minister Ting, should we let the others proceed? The younger generation has already been taken to Deer wood city." One of the attendants asked.

    Minister Ting rubbed his forehead, and tried to suppress the headache.

    "What else can we doбн tell them we shall head off now? We can only ask someone to direct the envoy from the Ji n inter." Minister Ting replied.

    "Alright sir." The attendant said before going to inform the others.

    Hearing that they were going to go ahead without all of them being present, some of the elders were surprised.

    "Is the Ji n really going to be thiste?"

    "I know, right? I thought they were always very disciplined."

    The elders talked amongst themselves.

    A few of the elders were not pleased with it either and felt like they had been humiliated by being made to wait this long.

    Which was correct for them since there were some very influential people present here too. There was the patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect, the envoy from the Long n, and the young master of the Lian n.

    Any one of them was already enough for everyone to be respectful, and when all three of were here, anyone making trouble was simply being disrespectful. For some powers, this level of disrespect was enough to kill the offending party.

    "Honored guests, and elders, I''m afraid we will need to begin our journey without the Ji n''s envoy." Minister Ting announced, hoping that this could stop the inmmatoryments.

    All this was happening within the territory of the Ling kingdom after all, and any conflict could easily implicate them. For him, it was best if everything was taken diplomatically and was calm and cool.

    Even if the conflict didn''t involve them, them being the hosting party would still cause them trouble. It was after all, the duty of the host to see that the guests were amicable towards other guests.

    "Alright, that is fine with us." Junior elder Kai Li stated.

    "It is fine with us, too." Wang Xiong spoke in the stead of his patriarch.

    "Okay" The Long n''s envoy said one word without even opening his eyes.

    Some of them were actually surprised that the man from the Long n had been this calm. Many of them wanted to talk and interact with him, trying to grow their circle, but the man was simply too intimidating.

    Wang Xiong had actually tried that already but was ignored right away. Lian Xiaojian was going to do the same, but stopped after seeing the response Wang Xiong got.

    <em>~shua~</em>

    With the decision made, all the envoys left their tents and soared in to the sky. There was still some distance till which they needed to travel before entering the Millennium forest.

    <em>~WHOOSH</em>~

    But just as they were about to leave, a strong gust of wind was felt. At first they ignored it as winds were rather normal this time of the year, but they only got stronger.

    "Look! There''s someone there.." One of the envoys spoke.

 Chapter 767 Face To Give

    The billowing wind was enough to rm the elders and the other envoys. They were experienced enough to know when wind was normal and when it was not. Additionally, the presence of the person in the distance confirmed it for them.

    The elders were a bit alert at first and reasonably so. The spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the person in the distance weren''t exactly calm. Instead, they were turbulent and strong, as if a storm was approaching.

    Finally, the person became clear enough for everyone to see and their eyes narrowed.

    "Who is that?" someone questioned.

    The person in question was tall and had long hair that hung all the way back to his waist. There was a silver cor at the back of his head, holding his hair, while in white robes covered his body.

    His face was calm yet handsome, but exuded a sense of powerful fierceness. His aura was like that of a storm and gave one the feeling of being overwhelmed if they went against it.

    The elders here weren''t weak for the most part, with some being at the Dao Shell realm and the Patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect being at the Dao Treading realm, too. But all of them could feel a sense of danger from the man.

    Wang Xiong too narrowed his eyes but for a different reason.

    ''That auraбн why does it remind me of senior?'' Wang Xiong thought to himself.

    Tian Xiaoge and Pei Jun too sensed the aura and found it to be a bit familiar. They weren''t as used to seeing Lin Wu disying his own and thus couldn''t make the same match urately like Wang Xiong.

    ''That aura isn''t something one can just gain normally by cultivationбн that is gained by ughter.'' Patriarch Bing thought to himself, finding the man to be different from most disciples here.

    From just this assessment alone, he would put the man above most people here. He could tell that the man was superior to most of the elders here, excluding those from the top sects and the ns.

    Even the envoy from the Long n opened his eyes upon sensing the man.

    And when he did so, his pupils could be seen, which were not normal. Rather than being in the form of circles, they were slits like that of a reptile.

    "Stay back, young master." Elder Ruanjian said in a low voice to Lian Xiaojian.

    Junior elder Kai Li who saw this reaction from Elder Ruanjian was intrigued.

    ''For him to act like thisбн the man is not simple.'' Kai Li reckoned.

    Regardless of the reactions of all, one thing wasmon, the man in front of them had caught all of their sights. He was like a lion walking among dogs, dangerous and majestic.

    "Greeting. Pardon me for beingte. I was held up by certain matters on the way here. I am Ji Shirong, the envoy from the Ji n." Shirong spoke.

    Hearing this, everyone finally understood this was the final person they had been waiting for. Minister Ting, who had seen and talked to Shirong before, was stunned.

    "This is young master Shirong? He''s certainly changedбн" Minister Ting muttered to himself.

    Both the appearance and demeanor was vastly different from before for them.<sub> </sub>

    While the elders might have hadints before, they were honestly a bit intimidated toin to Shirong now.

    "Wee, Young master Shirong. It''s a pleasure to meet you again." Minister Ting finally spoke.

    "Ah, it is nice to meet you too, minister Ting. Seems like you have had some progress in cultivation, too." Shirong replied.

    "Ahaha, I could say the same for you, Young master." Minister Ting replied. ''I really can''t tell what stage he''s atбн I can''t sense his base at all. He''s certainly above meбн'' he thought.

    "I think we should hurry on, since it''s already beente due to me." Shirong stated.

    "Of course, let''s continue." Minster Ting agreed.

    The others nodded their heads too, and the entourage continued onwards. Upon entering the forest, they saw the distinctck of beasts.

    "This is certainly strangeбн there shouldn''t be so few beasts." Someonemented.

    "Indeedбн" Shirong said.

    He couldn''t help but reminisce the time he spent in the forest before. That was after all, where a major change in his life happened. He couldn''t forget that and didn''t want to either.

    The things he had seen from that point onwards were rather enlightening to him. Shirong had managed to learn certain secrets that most didn''t know and had some really great ones of his own as well.

    ''I''ll make sure to awaken you again one dayбн'' Shirong thought to himself, thinking of a certain crystal spear.

    While Shirong was thinking to himself, a certain person spoke up.

    "If I recall correctly, Chief Disciple Wang Xiong already knows about the forest and the power inside it right? Then you must know the locations as well?" Junior elder Kai Li questioned.

    Wang Xiong who heard it, looked over to the rather young looking elder. He knew that she was from the Lian n and had to be a bit respectful to her.

    "I do indeed, elder." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Then why don''t you tell us about it? Doesn''t everyone think that knowing more about it would be better. After all this is beasts we are dealing with. As fellow humans, we need to be smarter." Junior Elder Kai Li stated.

    "Elder Kai Li is right." A few others that Kai Li had managed to get acquainted with agreed.

    "I''m afraid I will have to disappoint Elder Kai Li. Even if I had seen it, I am not permitted to speak about it. At least not now." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Oh? Will you not give us the face for such a small matter?" Kai Li asked with a smile.

    "Elder, it isn''t that I don''t want to give face to you or the other eminent seniors here. Rather, I don''t dare not give face to the power inside the forest." Wang Xiong stated inly.

 Chapter 768 Hiding Information And Witnessing It Themselves

    Wang Xiong''s words were surprising to most here. After all, the gathering was of influential powers and not giving them to face for another new power didn''t make sense.

    Kai Li raised her brow, finding it strange to be rejected.

    "You won''t even give face to your patriarch?" Kai Li questioned, feeling intrigued.

    Wang Xiong was about to speak, but was interrupted by none other than the patriarch in question.

    "Junior Elder Kai Li need not waste her time speaking about it. I do not know about it either and won''t force my disciple to reveal it either." Patriarch Bing stated.

    The elders were certainly not expecting this answer from the patriarch and were rather surprised.

    "Oh? Does Patriarch Bing not feel curious, or do you want to keep it hidden for your own gain?" The one who spoke this time was an elder from Chan sect, one of the top sects.

    "It''s not that I want to hide it for my benefit, Elder Ei. But rather that even I don''t dare to offend that power. My disciples have kept a vow to that power and I don''t intend on breaking it for him." Patriarch Bing said, much to the shock of everyone.

    After all, these words were the same as Patriarch Bing epting that he was inferior to the power of the Millennium forest. And at the same time, it also revealed to them that Patriarch Bing knew more than that. At least enough that the man had possibly gained some information about that power before.

    "If patriarch Bing himself says so, then I''ll leave it for now." Kai Li spoke. "But I hope that we won''t be at a disadvantageter on." She added.

    Patriarch Bing didn''t respond to it and simply continued onwards. Wang Xiong and others of the Frozen Cloud sect had already expected to be questioned here today. After all, those there were the ones who had experienced the millennium forest and gained the inheritance there.

    Additionally, the Frozen Cloud sect was the first major sect to provide their support and initiate an alliance with the millennium forest. If there was anyone here that would know the most, it would be them.

    They were already prepared for this and had already prepared enough excuses for them. Wang Xiong had already had a talk with the patriarch and Yun Bai had joined in as well. Both of them had given enough of an idea to the patriarch that offending Lin Wu was not a good idea.

    Patriarch Bing was not convinced for the most part, but when Yun Bai attested to his strength, he had no choice but to ept.

    Patriarch Bing might be proud, but he wasn''t stupid as to think that he was stronger than everyone.

    Shirong listened to it all silently and was intrigued by it too.

    ''The millennium forest certainly changed in the decadeбн was it linked to that too?'' Shirong thought to himself.

    He was frankly upset when he had been called out of seclusion by his father. But after hearing that he was being sent on a mission to the Millennium forest, he changed his stance immediately.

    "Perhaps this is the opportunity I need to awaken it againбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    The group of envoys continued flying through the first and second ring of the millennium forest without any obstacles. There were no beasts in their path, which was surprising to them and made them think if the beasts had all disappeared.<sub> </sub>

    It was only when one of the elders used a spirit tool to sense the beasts in the area did they find out that the beasts were actually moving away from their path. It could certainly be considered a strange phenomenon, but they could only attribute it to the change in the forest.

    Only when they reached the border of the third ring did they find the number of beasts returning to normal. But even then, the behavior the beasts were showing was certainly not normal.

    The beasts did the same as before, giving way to them, but they didn''t leave the area entirely. Instead they ended up standing in two rows with the path they were going on in the middle.

    "What in the name of heavensбн what are these beasts doing?" Someone questioned.

    "Are theyбн weing us?" Lian Xiaojian spoke.

    The actions of the beasts were certainly like that and left little to question.

    "They don''t seem to be afraid of us eitherбн despite the fact that we have Dao Shell realm and Dao Treading realm experts among us." The Elder from the Solitary Blossom sect, one of the top sects, spoke.

    Shirong too was intrigued by it all.

    ''Greater intelligence than before, indeed. But what could cause it? Was there more than just the spear thatnded here?'' Shirong attributed it to that.

    "Not just thatбн these beasts are all at the core condensation realm." Junior Elder Kai Li added.

    A few of the elders had a thought, and they did a little calction.

    "Senior, even if we consider our entire sectбн the number of core condensation realm beasts we are seeing just in these two lines are enough to exceed our entire poption." One of the mid tier sect envoys spoke.

    This certainly roused the curiosity of the others, as they understood so many core condensation realm beasts couldn''t just appear naturally.

    The elders continued onwards and saw the beasts repeating the same thing. The fourth ring was passed like that and when they finally sensed the spirit Qi change.

    "No wonderбн the beasts are getting strong. This spirit Qi concentration is already higher than many sects." Shirong muttered.

    And when they reached the Fifth ring, they understood just how little they knew about the Millennium forest. For they were greeted by a significant group of beasts.

    "Wee, envoys of the human powers." A monkey beast that was dressed in the robes of a monk greeted.

    He was apanied by twenty other beasts, all at the Nascent soul realm.

 Chapter 769 A Dignified Welcome

    While the new envoys here had already heard of the beasts being able to speak, seeing it in person was vastly different. Among the ones who had seen them before, only Minister Ting and one person each from the Luguo kingdom and the Pale marble kingdom were there. Everyone else was new.

    Patriarch Bing raised his eyes and finally understood why guardian Yun had repeatedly told him to keep his demeanor during the visit. He had not expected the millennium forest to have such a power.

    It was already enough to overpower most of the kingdoms and sects around it. Perhaps only the Frozen Cloud sect had power to contest it, but Patriarch Bing didn''t think that after the massacre.

    ''Who is the true being behind them allбн?'' Patriarch Bing thought.

    Yun Bai had given him some hints about it, but had not stated it outright, telling him that if the being deemed it worthy he will show himself to them and if not, no one could force him to reveal himself.

    The rest of them gazed at the beasts, finding them to be quite strong too. Even if they were at the Nascent soul realm and some were below them in cultivation base, there was something to these beasts that stirred a feeling of unease within them.

    Shirong though, was feeling something different.

    ''This auraбн while it is not like thatбн there is still some level of semnceбн'' he thought to himself.

    "Hmmбн seems like everyone seems to be here. Just on time, as nned." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke.

    "And who might you be?" One of the envoys asked.

    The person who had spoken was actually the envoy from the top sect, the Cang Lan sect!

    The beast looked at the old man and gave a little smile.

    "I am merely one of the many subordinates under my king. But my king has given me a name. I am the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape." He introduced himself.

    The elder from the Cang Lan sect seemed intrigued and stroked his beard.

    "An ape beast that is a monkбн interesting." The elder said while he looked at the others.

    He could see four more ape beasts there, that looked the same kind, but still looked different than the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape.

    "And are they the same as you?" The elder from the Cang Lan sect questioned.

    "No, we have been named as the Emeraldine Monkeys by our king." The leader of them answered.

    "Emeraldine as wellбн" Someone muttered, seeing the simrity in the name.

    All the monkey beasts were wearing robes, thus the crystals on their body were not directly visible. Even for the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape only the crystal on his forehead was visible.<sub> </sub>

    "Come, let me take you all to the site of the meeting." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke.

    "Alright, we''ll be in your care." Minister Ting replied.

    He had understood his position here and knew that it was best for him to act as the ''cushion'' between the two parties so as to keep the peace. It wasn''t that he was doing this willingly, but rather he had to do it.

    After all, if the discussion failed and something happened, it was the powers next to the Millennium forest that would be in the most trouble. The others could simply leave and would be fine for the most part.

    The envoys followed behind the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape while the other beasts continued behind them as well. There were various beasts in it, along with the monkey beasts, like bird beasts and insect beasts.

    The ones that were missing here though, were the former kings of the forest. Namely the beetle king, the two ape beast kings, and the Twin Lights Liger King. But even then, there were plenty of Nascent soul realm beasts here.

    Even the Club tailed lizard had joined in this meeting to drive up the numbers. It was possibly her first time acting in a n of Lin Wu''s and she was rather excited about it too.

    A few of the more weak minded envoys that had a lower cultivation base couldn''t help but feel intimidated by the beasts. One of the beasts that was a scorpion, kept on snapping its sharp pincers every so often, scaring the envoy who was at the very back.

    After an about ten minutes of walking, the envoys were brought to the ce of the meeting. This was of course, none other than the shrine of the Sky Brights Daoist.

    It had changed greatly since its older days and had been repaired expanded. Now it had several different buildings within itspound, along with what looked like training and teaching grounds.

    The envoys all looked around, finding it to be rather new.

    "Was this allбн made by them?" Lian Xiaojian wondered.

    This was the question that everyone had. After all, they would never think of seeing this level of architecture from beasts. Even if it might have been and old inheritance ground, they could tell the difference between old buildings and new constructions.

    "This was indeed built by us." One of the Emeraldine Monkeys confirmed.

    The main building of the shrine was built in a different style than the rest and had ancient carvings on it. It was not changed and only some restorations were done so as to return it to the old look.

    The system helped greatly in this, as it had ess to the old records of it. Replicating the same look was merely a matter of time. Of course, the addition of the formation arrays like the past was something only Lin Wu could do with the assistance of the system.

    Regardless of whatever the shrine looked like, a goal had already been achieved; showing the ''cultured'' skills of the beasts.

    Having brought them to the shrine, the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape gestured them to take some seats. The seating arrangement wasn''t bad either, and they were provided with soft beast furs to use as cushions.

 Chapter 770 Tilting The Favor

    "Whoaбн this is rather high quality." Upon sitting on the furs, one of the envoys of the Luguo kingdom couldn''t help but say.

    "Of course. We picked the best for our guests." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape said before giving a look to the other Nascent soul realm beasts.

    They all scattered and it seemed like they had left the humans alone.

    The envoys rxed a bit seeing this, and some event took breaths of relief.

    "Oh? I thought you were going to keep us confined here with those beasts." Junior elder Kai Li said.

    "The others were here as a weing party. How could we disrespect guests on the first visit. I''ve heard the human kingdoms have such customs." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape replied.

    "So you learned about human customs as wellбн that is rather diligent of you. For a beast, you are rather civilized." Kai Li couldn''t help but admit.

    The beast in front of her surely had fur covering his head and body, but his demeanor and manners were perhaps many times better than a lot of aristocrat she had seen. And along with it, she felt a certain level of power from the beast too.

    ''The beast is rather cunningбн having all this power and yet being able to act humble.'' Kai Li was unsure whether she was a match for the beast or not.

    It was hard for her to urately measure the beast''s cultivation base just from the passive spirit Qi fluctuation they were emitting. There was a strange quality to them that made her spirit sense muddled, unable to urately sense it.

    She could of course directly probe a beast, but even she knew that there were limits to testing others. Even if they were beasts, with the current situation where they knew little, it was better to not go over the top.

    "Thank you, though I cannot take all the credit myself. That would go to my king and my master." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape stated.

    "A King and a master? Not the same person?" Shirong caught on.

    "Noбн My King is my King. While my master isбн different." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape replied.

    "And who might that be? To teach such manners and more, it would have to be a human." The envoy from the Cang Lan sect asked.

    "My master was indeed human. And he is also the person whose inheritance lies here." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape revealed.

    Hearing this, the brows of many were raised.

    "A beast like you gained a human inheritance? Does it even work like that?" someone asked, feeling confused.

    It was understandable since no one had heard of beast gaining an inheritance, especially a cultivation inheritance that was not just some natural treasure of a spirit herb. Those were things beasts could use easily and were eptable.

    "Of course. My master''s inheritance is not something that a technique from lowly world like this canpare to." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape said with a wide smile, his fangs visible.

    "Not this world?" Shirong''s ears immediately perked up.

    A spark of excitement appeared in his mind and he forcefully suppressed his expression.

    "Indeed." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape nodded his head.<sub> </sub>

    All the envoys, even those from the top sects and ns, couldn''t help but feel enticed now. They were privy to information that many lower powers were not aware of and knew exactly what those words meant.

    They didn''t doubt the beast either, for the very meaning of a beast knowing about it spoke volumes.

    ''Just as King Lin Wu thought it would beбн a little hint and all of them are baited.'' The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape thought to himself.

    ~p~ p~

    "Bring in the refreshments for our guests!" An Emeraldine Monkey pped his hands.

    ~shua~

    ~thud~thud~thud~

    "Teleportation?" Patriarch Bing almost stood up upon sensing the spatial fluctuations.

    The Lian n and the other top sect envoys were the same, having felt them too.

    "Huh? How are those trays moving?" Under the surprised eyes of all, several trays appeared out of nowhere.

    "Wait, are thoseбн tortoises?" when the trays reached closer, they finally saw that underneath the trays were actually tortoises.

    "Please, enjoy. These are the spirit fruits we grow here ourselves, as well as some wine we brew." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke.

    The envoys all took some spirit fruit, trying them.

    "Wowбн this isбн a mid grade spirit fruit."

    "Not use that, look at this!" someone pointed. "Isn''t this the pink bottom peach?

    The eyes of the envoys went from fruit to fruit, finding various kinds of them, the lowest quality being the mid grade ones and the best ones being the high grade ones.

    Lian Xiaojian''s eyes were almost glowing, seeing therge amount of good quality fruits and his mouth almost watered. He barely managed to hold back with the words of his father echoing in his mind.

    ''I can''t act like that. I need to be a bit more dignified, like the heir of the Ji n.'' Lian Xiaojian thought to himself as his eyes went to Shirong.

    To him, Shirong was perhaps the best example of an heir. Lian Xiaojian could tell from just a look that Shirong was many times stronger than him, and possibly stronger than all of his siblings.

    Even junior elder Kai Li seemed to be inferior to him and only elder Ruanjian might be the man''s match here. Then there was the dignity and handsomeness that Shirong bore, which was greatlycking in Lian Xiaojian.

    Various thoughts and opinion passed through the minds of the envoys here. But one thing wasmon in them. Their inclination towards the Millennium forest was now tilting towards the positive side.

    Just the basic greeting and starting benefits they had shown right now were better than what even top sects could afford. And that was not even considering the inheritance of an expert that was from another world, a greater world than the Ming Dao world!

 Chapter 771 Checking Out The Guests

    While the meeting continued in the shrine, a certain worm observed it with great joy.

    "Let''s seeбн all of them came, and no one rejected it. As for the power that had an open invitation, three top sects came and the top three ns came as well." Lin Wu counted.

    Lin Wu was not expecting such a level of attendance honesty and seeing more than expected numbers was good for him.

    "And the ones who came are rather good tooбн Hehe." Lin Wu said as he gazed at certain people

    His eyes moved from Shirong, to the Lian n''s first young master and then the envoy from the Long n. These three were the ones that interested him the most. Shirong was the most obvious subject for Lin Wu to be interested in since the two were involved for a while.

    Lin Wu had not forgotten about the man and still wanted to extract the benefits he had thought in the past.

    ''I had originally thought of going to him before, but since he''s here, it makes things much easier. I''ll have to prepare a better n for him this timeбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself, a smile appeared on his face.

    The next person Lin Wu was interested in was the Lian n heir.

    "Lian Xiaojian was itбн this should be the eldest brother of that dumb fuck I met back then." Lin Wu said as he recalled the man he had killed in the Jiao Dian city''s outskirts.

    But a momentter, Lin Wu''s brow crystals furrowed.

    "Is he really his eldest brother, though? Man, do they have some other beast bloodline? Perhaps a pig beast bloodline? How the hell is he that fat?" Lin Wu was surprised because of that.

    After looking at him for a bit, Lin Wu spoke again.

    "System, scan that man and see what you can learn." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Lian Xiaojian.

    SCANNING: please wait a momentбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu watched as the system did its work. Since he wanted system to find out the hidden information about the man, it needed some time. The system could give the surface level information like the cultivation base and identity rather easily, but the hidden aspects would need longer time to find.

    About ten minutester, the system finally finished its task.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET: Lian Xiaojian

    CULTIVATION BASE: Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm

    BLOODLINE: None

    PHYSIQUE: Vital House Physique (unawakened)

    VITALS: Stable (Subject is currently constipated)

    бкбк

    "What the fuck is thatst line?" Lin Wu had not expected for the system to ce that in here too.

    Pushing that extra information aside, Lin Wu read the rest of it again, more importantly the physique that had appeared.

    "What is this Vital House Physique system?" Lin Wu asked.<sub> </sub>

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    PHYSIQUE: Vital House Physique

    INFO: The Vital House Physique is a unique physique that allows the owner to stockpile vitality within their body and unleash it all at once. The stockpiled vitality can be used in multiple ways;

    1. it can be used to heal injuries in a pinch.

    2. use as fuel for self sacrificial or potential burning techniques.

    3. Convert the vitality to spirit Qi to restore their power.

    Note: as a side effect of the physique, the owner will get obese and if the physique is not awakened before a certain limit is reached, the owner might die from obesity.

    бкбк

    "Oh? That''s not a bad physiqueбн though the side effects for it areбн understandable." Lin Wu said.

    Lin Wu thought over the physique and wondered if it was worth to add this man as one of his pawns.

    ''I don''t know if it would be viable. I''ll need to know his wants and desires to tempt him. Otherwise it will be useless.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu was a bit confused and took another nce at the data.

    "Do you know a method to awaken the Vital House Physique, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There are three methods of awakening the Vital House physique.

    1. The physique has a very low chance of awakening automatically.

    2. A Vital Ascendancy Pill can be administered to stimte the physique and awaken it. (notes: The Vital Ascendancy Pill is an immortal grade pill.)

    3. The Owner of the physique can be weakened and injured for a prolonged time and the physique can be forced to awaken. (note: depending on the will power of the owner, they may or may not survive this. But the lower the will power they have, the greater the chance of them dying.)

    бкбк

    "Hoho, so the man is fucked all three ways." Lin Wu said, seeing the options.

    The first option was what Lian Xiaojian would have to take normally, the second was one that was out of everyone''s reach for now and the third was an option that would push him to the brink of death and even then there was no chance he would survive it.

    Seeing this, Lin Wu put the man aside for now.

    "I''ll have better options than him. I need ones that are better investments with lower risk." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    His gaze finally went to the third person of interest, the envoy from the long n.

    This was the person Lin Wu was interested in the most because this was the first time he was seeing someone from the Long n. As far as he knew, the Long n''s members rarely left their n unless a specific mission was given to them.

    Thus, unlike the other ns and sects, there was a low chance of Lin Wu meeting them in the outside world.

    Another reason he was interested in them was of course, because of what they represented: one of the three guardian beast bloodlines.

    Lin Wu knew the true story behind the appearance of the guardian beasts on this world and wondered just how well this man''s bloodline would hold against his own.

    "Let''s see now, shall we?"

 Chapter 772 Value Of Jealousy And A Scam Bloodline

    The people attending this meeting were unaware that there was a certain worm beast watching their every move and even probing them without their understanding. Perhaps if they knew, they might be enraged, or some might even be intrigued.

    But for now, they would be unaware subjects of a worm and a certain system''s scans.

    "Scan the envoy of the Long n system." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Long n envoy

    SCANNING: please wait a momentбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu eagerly waited for the scan toplete and listened to their conversation.

    "As discussed, a tribute in the form of spirit stones, spirit herbs, spirit fruits or other equivalent materials can be paid in order to gain ess to the Sky Bright Daoist''s inheritance." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke.

    The talks had been going on for over twelve hours now and most of the people had learned about the shrine and the Sky Bright Daoist. This was basic information that they needed to tell them to get them interested.

    After all, even if they knew this was the inheritance of a great expert, they would be less inclined to try it if it was notpatible with them. After all, not all inheritances would be good for everyone, even if they might be very strong.

    p For example, a sword cultivator might not want the inheritance of a peerless alchemist. It might be different if there was no cost to gaining it, but here not only did they need to pay, there was also a chance of failing the trials.</anda>

    Thus, it was better for them to know what kind of an inheritance it was.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape went a step ahead and demonstrated his own skills a little. Just the appearance of the Light Element was enough to get them entranced. After all, the light element was one of the four heavenly elements.

    But light element along with the darkness element was also a bit rarer to obtain aspared to wind and lightning. Particrly because there were fewer avenues of getting in contact with it.

    It was not to say that light and darkness themselves were rare, no they were omnipresent. Either of them could be found almost everywhere and the only time when one wasn''t found was when the other was in an overwhelming amount.

    The reason was that the cultivators couldn''te in contact with the qualitative aspects of light and darkness that they couldprehend from directly. One could feel the wind and learn from it, giving their spirit Qi the properties and eventually converting it to the wind spirit Qi.

    The same could be done with lightning. This was something almost all cultivators that were a bit talented could get in contact with. After all they would face the heavenly tribtion and get struck with it.

    Feeling the lightning coursing through their body was enough for talented experts to figure out the lightning element and gain it for their own use.

    But this did not apply to the darkness and Light.

    One could ''see'' it, but they could not ''feel'' it.

    Without the help of rare treasures, cultivation techniques, or other fortunate encounters, it was almost impossible to get those two elements. And it was that very reason why they were so coveted.

    As far as the envoys here knew, there was no expert who had learned the light element and acquired an affinity for it before in the Ming Dao world. There had been a few with the darkness element though; it was said that the invaders had a few of them.

    The rarity of it also meant that others would not be able to fight against those that knew those two elements or used skills belonging to that element.<sub> </sub>

    This would give a great advantage if they ever fought as others would not be able to defend as well and quite possibly die.

    Knowing about this very well, the three envoys from the Cang Lan sect, Solitary Blossom sect and the Chan sect were rather jealous of the Frozen Cloud sect. They had after all, heard that the three chief disciples weren''t the only ones that had gained the inheritance. There were thirteen more of them!

    Letting the Frozen Cloud sect have such an advantage was not what they wanted and they were already prepared to send a couple hundred disciples here.

    Though hearing it all, Lin Wu wondered if they would feel even more jealous if they knew that Wang Xiong, Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge had an even superior inheritance.

    That was not something Lin Wu was going to reveal to them easily and would only be there for those that he deemed worthy.

    ''This is going to be my personal pawn factory, after all. Hehe~'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    And just as Lin Wu was watching the conversations, the system finished its work.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET: Envoy of the Long n

    CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Initiation Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    BLOODLINE: Three wed Azure Serpent (Fully Awakened)

    PHYSIQUE: None

    VITALS: Partially Stable- Bloodline Imbnce detected

    бкбк

    Seeing the information of the Long n Envoy, Lin Wu was certainly intrigued. Along with the information shown in the window, there were additional sections to see the details about them as well.

    "Interestingбн so the bloodline they have is not that of a dragon, but a serpent. I get that it can evolve into the Azure Dragon bloodline, but a three wed one? Isn''t that the weaker version? If this is the bloodline they have, then they might be faking more." Lin Wu assessed.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE: Three wed Azure Serpent

    INFO: The Three wed Azure Serpent is a beast that has awakened a trace of its ancestor''s bloodline. It can reach its full potential and turn into the Three wed Azure Dragon Bloodline if certain condition are met.

    бкбк

    "So it really is not the true Azure Dragon Bloodlineбн it is not the Qinglong, it is the Qingshe." Lin Wu concluded.

 Chapter 773 A Successful Discussion

    Having seen the information there were several new thoughts in Lin Wu''s mind.

    Regardless of it all, Lin Wu felt like he needed to see this man in person. After all, without that he wouldn''t be able topare bloodlines, would he?

    The discussion continued as the people determined the more finer terms that were to be followed.

    For example, a quota was set on the number of people that each sect or kingdom could send. This was actually something that was asked for by the sects rather than Lin Wu. To Lin Wu, the more people came here the better it would be. As he would be gaining more resources in the form of tributes as well as having more pawns to use.

    The sects chose this quota since they didn''t want the other powers to go all crazy and send all their disciples here. While it was a far-fetched idea, there was still a chance that some sects might use numbers to oppress the disciples of other sects that came here for the inheritance.

    It was a valid concern and all the sects could agree upon it. The kingdoms didn''t have any opposition and neither did the top three ns.

    With all the terms done, the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape decided to ask them one final time.

    "Now that we are reaching the end of our meeting, I''d like to ask everyone onest time if they have any concerns rting to the inheritance ground." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape questioned.

    He looked around and saw that none of them seemed to be having any doubts.

    "Sir envoy of the Long n, would you like to ask anything? You haven''t really spoken anything." The elder from the Cang Lan sect spoke up.

    So far, everyone had spoken at least once, but this man had not. He would simply nod in response or give a humming response. He had no disagreements and neither did he have any extra words to say.

    It was as if he was mute and couldn''t really speak any words.

    To the other powers who wanted to get acquainted with a person from the Long n, they basically got no chance at all.

    The elder from the Cang Lan sect was the same and wanted the same. And with this conclusion of the meeting, it was the best time to ask him. It wouldn''t be considered offending them either.

    The man finally looked at the people sitting around and opened his eyes, surprising them all.

    ''Huh? Slit pupils?'' everyone had the same thought.

    The man''s eyes were deep blue in color with ck slit pupils. They looked reptilian but still suited his demeanor strangely. He was silent and had a cold aura and it was the perfect addition to it all.

    "I have nothing to add. Thoughбн I do have something else that does not concern the inheritance." The Long n envoy spoke.

    "Please, do speak." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape responded.

    "I would like to meet your Kingбн the King of Millennium forest." The Long n envoy stated.<sub> </sub>

    Hearing this, the ears of every person in here perked up. They all had this same desire in their minds too. A few of them were especially interested, like Shirong and Junior elder Kai Li.

    Patriarch Bing was interested in it too, but he had already been told that he would get a private meetingter. This was told to him by Wang Xiong and Yun Bai, thus he wasn''t as bothered.

    After all, he had made the entire Millennium forest into their ally which was an absurd thing for most. If not for the fact that there was assurance from Yun Bai and Wang Xiong, he would have never even thought of that.

    Especially since the ally had killed half of his sect''s elders!

    "I would like that tooбн or rather, we don''t know who your king is at all." Elder Ruanjian spoke as well.

    The others soon chimed in with the same desire.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape calmly raised his hand and gestured for them to pause.

    "That can of course be arranged." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape stated.

    ? "Really? That''s good." Lian Xiaojian said.

    He too felt curious about this king. They knew it was a beast, but they wondered what kind of a beast could unite all the beasts and even the former rulers. Going so far as to make an entire kingdom out of it.

    "Not everyone will have a chance to meet him right now though. Our king is often deep in cultivation." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape stated.

    "That is fine, I am willing to wait." Shirong immediately stated.

    ''Like heck, I''m going back without seeing him. He might be the key behind everythingбн'' Shirong thought to himself.

    The more he stayed here, the more the feeling within him grew. He had been connected with the spear for a long time in the past and had gotten very familiar with the aura it gave off. And here he could feel something simr to it.

    Not just in his mind, but he could feel it from all the beasts around him. Even the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape in front of him felt the same, though there was still some difference.

    He didn''t know the reason behind it, but the main factor linking them all would be the king.

    "Alright, all those willing to stay can stay. You shall be provided quarters nearby." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape replied right away.

    The ces for humans to stay had already been made a while ago as Lin Wu was fully expecting hundreds if not thousands of them toe to the forest after the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials were opened.

    Back when the disciples of the Frozen Cloud sect were here, it was fine to let them stay in the shrine. But the same could not be said for thousands of them. The shrine could amodate a couple hundred with no problem, but not more than that.

 Chapter 774 A Desire To Meet The King

    There was actually a limit to the number of people that the trial could amodate. Lin Wu had not discovered this before since there was no way to do that. He had only found it out recently when he asked the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape about it.

    He too didn''t know and they ended up using beasts to test it. In the end, it came out that a little over 200 people could take the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials at once.

    Seeing this number, Lin Wu knew they would need a way to let the others stay here. The more they stayed the more Lin Wu could control them. He didn''t just want to use the sky bright Daoist''s trials to control them, but rather the entire forest.

    He had several ways to do it that could be applied in various manners, but the main condition was that they needed to be in the forest.

    "Those that want to stay, need to give their names so that I can inform the king." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape asked.

    He looked towards the first person who had spoken, the envoy of the Long n. The others looked at this person too, since they too didn''t know his name.

    "My name is Long Qingao." The man revealed.

    "So senior''s name is Long Qingao." Lian Xiaojian took this opportunity. "It is nice to meet senior, my name is Lian Xiaojian and I am the first son of Lian Dajian, the patriarch of the Lian n."

    Seeing Lian Xiaojian respond like this, Lian Ruanjian couldn''t help but approve of it inwardly.

    ''At least he is picking up on the cues rather well.'' He thought to himself.

    But the cue turned out to be awkward for Lian Xiaojian since Long Qingao didn''t give him any response and simply closed his eyes.

    Lin Wu who was watching this also saw the system update the man''s information.

    "That fatty has a simr name to his father. Seems like his father has big hopes with him, naming the same as him. From what I remember the current patriarch of the Lian n brought the biggest growth to the n.

    So the fatty has arge weight on his shoulders." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The awkwardness was broken by the others speaking as well.

    "My name is Ji Shirong." Shirong quickly spoke, not wanting to waste any time.

    He was sure that they would be called depending on who applied first. At least that''s how it would work with any audience with an authority figure.

    "I, Lian Xiaojian would like to meet the king as well."

    "And so will I, junior elder Kai Li."

    "Since my young master is staying, I shall stay as well; Lian Ruanjian."

    One by one, the others said as well. Though not all of them decided to stay, it wasn''t that they didn''t want to meet the king, but rather they needed to go back to report to their respective powers.

    Some that were from smaller powers were also not confident of meeting the king. They knew that they would need someone that was higher up in their rankings to meet with the king.<sub> </sub>

    Additionally, they also didn''t want to dy sending people to the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials.

    The people that had decided to stay either had others that would go back without them, like in the case of the helpers that Junior elder Kai Li brought, or like Shirong and Long Qingao, not needing to report back.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape took their names and showed them to the amodation that had been prepared.

    "Oh? This is rather quaint." Kai Li said seeing the courtyards.

    There were several rows of them ready here. There were multiple streets that passed in between them and from a rough estimate, there were at least a hundred of them just in the field of their view.

    Lian Xiaojian looked around the area and found that architecture to be a bitcking.

    ''Still for beasts, this is great. At least it is made ording to humans'' specifications. There is no way they build this for themselves, they knew for sure we would be staying here weren''t they?'' he thought.

    All the courtyards were built with wood and other materials that were found in the Millennium forest and were made by the monkey beasts with a few other beasts providing assistance.

    By now the Emeraldine Monkeys had trained several batches of ck fur monkeys that were carpenters and builders for them. Though they had also been asking Lin Wu to mutate more of them so that they could have even better workers.

    Having mutated themselves, they understood the difference in the intelligence level that they had now and before. They wanted their kin to have the same level as well.

    "I shall inform you when our king is ready to see you." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape announced.

    With that said, soon everyone picked their courtyards and went to rest for the time being.

    The people of the Frozen Cloud sect did the same but the courtyard they had chosen was far from the others.

    "Come patriarch, we have our own courtyard here. It is better than the others." Pei Jun spoke.

    Patriarch Bing was brought to a courtyard that was about the same size as others but far better decorated and refined.

    "This is where I stayed along with Tian Xiaoge and our fellow disciples." Pei Jun informed.

    This was Wang Xiong''s first time seeing it too, so he was intrigued.

    "The spirit Qi concentration here is not bad." Patriarch Bing said.

    "Indeed. The King allowed us to put a spirit Qi gathering formation array here before." Pei Jun replied.

    "You all have met him already haven''t you? How long will he make us wait?" The Patriarch questioned.

    By now he was really curious about the king too. Lin Wu had after all done a damn nice job of pulling everyone''s attention with everything. The performance of the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape was also nothing to scoff at.

 Chapter 775 A Pleasant Stay

    There was a reason why Lin Wu had picked The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape rather than the Slim Arm Ape king who had interactions with humans before. He was simply far too sly.

    And this slyness was what Lin Wu liked, since he too was sly. He wanted to know the secrets of the envoys, to know how to use them best.

    Lin Wu had been listening to everyone with the monitoring formations and no one was the wiser. Of course, his servants and subordinates knew that he had great senses, but even they didn''t know he could hear all their words.

    This was something Lin Wu had kept a secret so that he would always have an advantage. After all, he knew more than ever before just how valuable information could be.

    "They are certainly having some interesting conversations, aren''t they?" Lin Wu said as he listened to the patriarch.

    Lin Wu trusted Wang Xiong, Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge and knew that they would not say anything they were not supposed to.

    "The king shouldn''t make us wait that much. I reckon it wouldn''t be more than a week." Pei Jun spoke.

    "A week, huh... The other envoys might not like that." Patriarch Bing stated.

    "Whether they like it or not, they will have to bear with it. If not, they are free to leave at any time. It''s not like they are being forced to stay here after all. It was their choice." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Hmm... That''s true. Though I wonder if they will do something else instead." Patriarch Bing muttered.

    Lin Wu had decided on making them all wait for a week and asses them in this time. He would listen to their conversation and figure out what made them tick.

    The system would also scan continually and extrapte data for its simtions.

    ''it''ll be fun to see if any of them make a mistake or act out...'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Unfortunately for Lin Wu, nothing of that sort happened even after five days had passed. In fact, the envoys seemed to have gotten ratherfortable with their stay in the forest.

    Since they were not actually restrained to the courtyards, they could go around and take a look. They were in the fifth ring of the forest, thus the beasts here were all intelligent. Thus, there was no chance of a conflict unless they were the ones who did something first.

    The Envoys of the Lian n were particrly enjoying their stay. Lian Xiaojian and Junior Elder Kai Li would tour the orchards and observe the various beasts working. Though Lin Wu wondered if the fatty liked it more because of the fruits that the beasts would give them.

    Of course, they didn''t give them for free either as they would give the beasts something else in exchange. Usually this was some pill or spirit stones. The beasts had learned the exchange of goods well enough in their time with Lin Wu and dly did the exchange.

    After all, the value of things Lian Xiaojian and Kai Li would give was many times the value of the spirit fruits the beasts would give them. To the two, these fruits were a rarity and didn''t mind spending for it.

    Though they were particrly surprised at seeing the open attitude of beasts. They were sure that the beasts wouldn''t interact with them at first, but giving an offering made things easier.

    Of course, this soon spread to the other guests and they too tried doing the same.

    They traded different things, including spirit stones, and got what they wanted in exchange.

    The direct subordinates of Lin Wu, like the mole beast, found out about it and decided to pay better attention to the beasts interacting with the humans. They even gave them a few tips on doing better business.

    After all, many of these beasts were working on the orchards and other fields on their own and would contribute the produce to Lin Wu. It was the same as a king taking taxes from his subjects while the subjects also getting to keep a part of their produce.

    Thus, as long as the sales weren''t in conflict with Lin Wu''s goals, he was entirely fine with it.

    "At least this is serving as a good test for the beastsбн" Lin Wu said, seeing the positive exchanges.

    This was in line with his goal of making the Millennium forest an ''orthodox'' power in the Long Continent.

    As long as there was trade and exchange between various parties with and around his kingdoms, they were bound to get more epting of them.

    Even if Lin Wu''s end goal was of domination, he knew taking the hard route wasn''t always the right choice.

    <o>,m And considering that he wasn''t an all-powerful expert in this world yet, there were still others that could threaten him. Thus, he needed to buy some time till he reached that point as well.</o>

    Though not all guests were interacting with the beasts, some of them chose to stay in the courtyard and simply cultivate. The environment in the forest was rather good, and in some cases even better than what they could get in their sects.

    Hence they took this chance to cultivate as much as possible. The high concentration of spirit Qi even loosened the bottlenecks of a few.

    The opportunity that they got here was something that couldn''t be attained easily in their respective sects. They would need to gain merits or pay an equivalent value to be able to use the spirit Qi rich halls for a cultivation session like this.<sub> </sub>

    Shirong was one of them and simply stayed in his courtyard while cultivating. Patriarch Bing did the same while Pei Jun and Tian Xiaoge stayed put with him. Wang Xiong though went and talked with the other beasts and discussed some matters.

    As much as he wanted toe directly to Lin Wu, he knew it was not the time.

    Wang Xiong was acquainted with several of the beasts thus he had a good time talking with them too. Though only a few could actually talk properly with him. The link that he had as part of the Emeraldine Legion could only trante a part of the words the beasts spoke.

    Lin Wu was still getting the system to improve it so that at least his human subordinates could talk with the beasts properly.

    Finally, seven days ended up passing and Lin Wu decided that it was enough.

    ''Should bring the patriarch in firstбн he was promised the first, after all.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    But he knew that he couldn''t call them in directly since it was actually the Long n''s Envoy Long Qingao who had asked for him first. It would be against the order, thus he chose a different method.

    Lin Wu contacted Wang Xiong and told him that he would be teleporting them into the tomb.

    "Patriarch, it is time." Wang Xiong returned to the courtyard and informed.

    "The king is calling us?" Patriarch Bing asked.

    "Yesбн but we won''t be going there the normal way." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Then how?" He questioned.

    "Just stay calm and wait, we will be taken to him automatically in a few moments." Wang Xiong answered.

    Hearing this, a thought came to Patriarch Bing''s mind, and he understood.

    ~shua~

    In the next second, a teleportation formation appeared around them as runes started to swirl around their bodies. Patriarch Bing watched as the runes turned into a kind of a teleportation formation that he had never seen before.

    It even used runes that were unreadable to him.

    ''Just what is the king''s capabilities if he can do thisбн'' he thought.

    ~shua~

    Back at the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, Lin Wu had already prepared for the patriarch''s arrival.

    He waited in a dark hall, and saw as the teleportation formation appeared there.

    But unlike therger one that had appeared in the Courtyard, this one was much smaller. It was only wide enough to amodate a single person.

    And from it appeared a single person too, being none other than Patriarch Bing.

    The man felt his vision returned and looked around the dark hall. There was barely any light here, and even that came from the faint glow of the formation runes that were already fading away.

    It was at this time that he noticed his disciples were not there with him.

    "Wang Xiong? Pei Jun? Tian Xiaoge? Are you here?" he called out.

    He could have tried using his spirit sense, but had been warned beforehand to not use it wantonly in the location they were about to be sent to by Wang Xiong. Patriarch Bing understood the meaning behind it and didn''t use it.

    But after receiving no response, he wanted to try sensing at least the spirit Qi fluctuations in the area.

    ''Huh?'' but he was stunned to feel nothing.

    "It can''t beбн" Patriarch Bing tried to use his spirit Qi, but found that it was blocked!

 Chapter 776 Patriarch Bings Shock

    Patriarch Bing had not expected his discovery to be like this.

    "Why can''t I sense any spirit Qi at all?" Patriarch Bing wondered.

    Finding it to be like this, he decided to ignore the warning given to him by Wang Xiong and used his spirit sense. But when he did that, his surprise only increased that much.

    "Even my spirit sense can''t work?" Patriarch Bing was shocked. "Noбн it can''t even leave my body."

    He tried to extend his spirit sense out of his body, but found it impossible to do. It was as if there was a barrier surrounding it and had locked in his spirit sense. And since he couldn''t sense any external spirit Qi either, it was the same experience as being sealed.

    ''No, waitбн was I tricked?'' Patriarch Bing had a shocking thought.

    His anxiety shot through the roof as several other thoughts came to his mind.

    ''The king killed the supreme elder thus he has strength equivalent to that of a Dao Treading realm expertбн my disciples teleported with me at the same time but now they are not with meбн I can''t sense any spirit Qi here and neither does my spirit sense work.'' Patriarch Bing analyzed his situation.

    "No wayбн was I tricked into being sealed?" Patriarch Bing said to himself.

    Getting stressed, he tried all methods he could think of. He tried to use his spatial storage tool, wanting to see if spirit stones or pills might work, but was unable to ess it at all!

    ''It really is like thatбн I was sealedбн but how? There were no signs of it. For a seal to work on a Dao Treading realm expert like me, it would have to be very strong. But even then, I should have detected it.'' Patriarch Bing thought to himself.

    The very situation was absurd to him.

    While Patriarch Bing was lost in his thoughts and was muttering to himself, a certain worm was observing him from a short distance away.

    ''What is up with this guy? Why is he acting like that?'' Lin Wu thought.

    He had been observing the man ever since he appeared here, wondering how he would act, but his actions were entirely different. Unaware of Patriarch Bing''s thoughts, Lin Wu decided to reveal himself.

    ~shua~

    A green glow appeared some distance away from Patriarch Bing, pulling his attention.

    "Huh?" the man was shaken out of his thoughts and looked at the light.

    It was certainly bright in this dark hall and allowed him to see something for the first time. Since his spirit sense was unable to work, he was essentially blind in the dark. It was the same for most cultivators and they were blind too without their spirit sense in pitch ck darkness.

    The earlier glow from the runes had faded away as well, thus the man couldn''t even see what he was able to before. At least, the outlines of his body were visible, but nothing after that.

    "WHO?" Patriarch Bing was stunned.

    In his stressed state, he had momentarily forgotten what he hade here for. Plus the sudden shock of losing his ability to sense spirit Qi had also thrown him off the course. Subconsciously, he had already epted that he had been sealed.

    Which was not true at all.

    A pair of crimson red eyes appeared on top of the figure that was letting off the green light.

    "Weeбн Patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect." Lin Wu finally spoke.

    Patriarch Bing''s eyes finally adjusted to the brightness level, and he was able to see better.

    In front of him was arge beast.

    It wasrger than any other beast he had seen before and was almost the height of a small mountain. Lin Wu''s body towered over the man, who was merely a fraction of his height.

    Patriarch Bing, who was not even 1% of Lin Wu''s size, felt a bit pressed by merely ncing at Lin Wu.

    Still, his initial shock quickly wore away as his instincts kicked in. He calmed down and his expression returned to the stillness it used to be like.

    "Are you the one who sealed me here?" Patriarch Bing questioned without fear.

    He knew that there was no use being afraid. After all, a being that could seal him without giving him even a chance to know was already strong enough to kill him. If the being wanted to, it could have already killed him beforehand.

    ''If he has not acted even now, then he might not want to kill me.'' Patriarch Bing thought to himself.

    Lin Wu''s brow crystals furrowed upon hearing Patriarch Bing.

    "Sealed? I haven''t sealed you." Lin Wu replied.<sub> </sub>

    "Why do you need to lie to me? I clearly can''t use any spirit Qi or even my spirit sense here." Patriarch Bing stated. "It is opposite of the environment of the Millennium forest."

    Hearing this, Lin Wu finally understood what the man was getting ah.

    "AHAHAHA!" Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh, for he had missed this too.

    Seeing the loud beastlyughter of Lin Wu, Patriarch Bing was unnerved a bit. It didn''t help that Lin Wu''s voice would get distorted at certain moments, bing very unnatural to hear.

    It frankly gave Patriarch Bing shivers.

    It was very high pitched, like someone was scratching at a ss sheet with a sharp nail.

    "Forgive meбн this is just the effect I have. I forgot to change the area before." Lin Wu finally spoke.

    "What?" Patriarch Bing said, not understanding.

    "Give me a moment." Lin Wu said as he took a deep breath.

    ~SHUA~

    Suddenly, winds swirled in the hall and a strange energy appeared. Patriarch Bing could clearly feel it and found it to be entirely new to him.

    ''What kind of energy is this? Some different from of spirit Qi?'' Patriarch Bing wondered.

    But just as he was thinking about this, he suddenly detected something.

    "Spirit Qi?" Patriarch Bing muttered.

    Patriarch Bing found leftism able to sense spirit Qi again. Not only that, but upon attempting to use his spirit sense, he found that it could leave his body now!

    "The seal was released?" Patriarch Bing said in confusion.

    "That was not a seal." Lin Wu said as he finally finished reabsorbing all the radiation from the hall into his body.

    "Then what was that?" Patriarch Bing questioned.

    "Hmmбн you could call that as my aura I suppose." Lin Wu answered.

    "Your aura?" Patriarch Bing repeated in surprise.

    ''There''s no way that was auraбн can mere aura restrain spirit Qi like this? If that was just aura then what level is this being at when merely his aura can act like a seal?'' Patriarch Bing wondered to himself, a new feeling being formed in his heart.

    "Indeed. That was my aura. It has an effect at suppressing spirit Qi, you could say." Lin Wu replied.

    p This was the effect of Lin Wu''s bloodline and his body. It had the passive effect of turning any ce that he lived in radioactive. Most of the time he stayed in this hall, as it was his private hall.</anda>

    And when he met his subordinates, it was in a different hall. Thus, they weren''t affected by the same radiation. But even if they were, they wouldn''t be affected at the same level and would resist it rather easily.

    And those that had the Emeraldine Legion Bloodline could even absorb the radiation on some level. This was the passive ability that they had gained from Lin Wu too.

    "Now then, it should be a bit morefortable for you, Patriarch Bing." Lin Wu spoke after checking that there was no more radiation left.

    He even went so far as to elerate the speed of the Qi channeling formation so that the air could be replenished with spirit Qi quickly.

    Patriarch Bing felt the air again and found the concentration of spirit Qi rising rapidly. In less than a minute, it reached the same level as that of the Millennium forest. And in another minute, it was already three times stronger than that.

    "Thisбн is already beyond the level of our seclusion hallбн" Patriarch Bing muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu heard his words and smiled a little, disying his sharp fangs and hundreds of teeth.

    What Patriarch Bing didn''t know was that Lin Wu could increase the concentration even more if he wanted to. But he didn''t since there were limitation to it. His avatar was currently cultivating in a different hall and the concentration of spirit Qi was set to the highest level there.

    With the current limitation of the tomb, the arrays could only concentrate spirit Qi on the highest level in a single hall. Lin Wu would only do that for his hall when he was cultivating fully.

    And since he wanted his Avatar to breakthrough to the Shellpletion stage of the Dao Shell realm soon, he let it have all the spirit Qi it wanted.

    "Now thenбн time to discuss some things. Isn''t that what you came here for?" Lin Wu spoke.

 Chapter 777 A Little Pissed

    Lin Wu''s discussion with Patriarch Bing went by rather quickly.

    After all, Patriarch Bing had already learned some things from Yun Bai, and the main reason he wanted to meet with Lin Wu was to confirm it all. And simply having a talk with the beast was enough to fulfill that.

    Lin Wu''s natural radiation had already blown the man away and thus he was already tilting on the side of favor.

    "Now then, since we have finished with your doubt, do you have anything left to ask?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Patriarch Bing seemed to hesitate for a bit before finally speaking. This was the question that had been bugging him for a while.

    "Whoбн noбн what are you? I''ve never heard of any beast like you and neither have I heard of the Millennium Forest having such a secret." Patriarch Bing questioned.

    "Hahaha! So it was thisбн" Lin Wu chuckled, having already guessed this.

    ''I prepared quite a few scenarios for this after all, Hehe~'' Lin Wu thought to chisels as a devious grin appeared on his face.

    Though the grin was indistinguishable from his normal grin. Perhaps only those that were used to seeing him would be able to tell the difference.

    "I am simply a worm that has lived a long time. I had a master, and he sent me on a mission to this world. I am merely performing the duty I was assigned." Lin Wu stated.

    "A worm?!" Patriarch Bing was taken aback. "I thought you were a serpentбн" he muttered.

    "I might seem like one, but I''m notбн I am a Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm and my name is Lin Wu." He fully answered.

    "Indeedбн I''ve never heard of this species or anything that evenes close to the description." Patriarch Bing said.

    "Well, I won''t be surprised if there are no records. After all, I am the only one of my species in existence." Lin Wu stated.

    "What?" patriarch Bing was surprised again.

    To him, any beast bloodline that was as strong as this would have great presence and numbers. Lin Wu had already told him that his cultivation base had fallen over the many years of dormancy and was now recovering.

    The speed of cultivation from core condensation realm to the Dao Shell realm in a mere ten years'' time was not something even the best of them could do.

    "Did your species die out?" Patriarch Bing asked, remembering the situation of Yun Bai.

    He couldn''t help but wonder if the two were simr.

    "Oh no, it''s not that. It''s not that others of my species died out, but rather I am the first one." Lin Wu stated.

    "The first one? And you have no offspring? That''s strangeбн" Patriarch Bing couldn''t help but say.

    Hearing that, Lin Wu''s smile became a bit strained.

    ''Why you littleбн you had to go there huhбн'' Lin Wu thought and felt like teleporting the man to the stratosphere for a bit. ''The mantle would work tooбн'' he reckoned.

    Patriarch Bing suddenly shivered and felt like he was doused with ice cold water. It was strange since he practiced an ice elemental cultivation technique and should be free from effects like that.

    ''Did I have a minor Qi deviation?'' He was sent in a tizzy, not knowing that Lin Wu had plotted his murder for a bit.

    "That will be enough for today, I have others to meet too." Lin Wu said and waved his tail.

    ~shua~

    Before Patriarch Bing could reply, he was teleported away against his wishes. Not being able to resist at all, he felt a little powerless and slight fear rose in his heart once more.

    "That beast is not simpleбн" he muttered upon appearing in the courtyard they were given.

    He looked around and saw that his disciples were there, too.

    "You''re back patriarch." Pei Jun spoke.

    "Where were you three? I was there alone." Patriarch Bing asked, his tone a little strange.

    "Well, we were sent to a different hall. I reckon King Lin Wu wanted to have a private meeting with you." Wang Xiong replied.

    "I seeбн" Patriarch Bing muttered.

    "Is there something wrong, patriarch?" Tian Xiaoge felt the difference in Patriarch Bing.

    "Noбн nothing. It''s fineбн" patriarch Bing said.

    Back in the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, Lin Wu decided to check out the others to take his mind off the conversation earlier.

    "Now thenбн which one to pick?" Lin Wu said as his eyes finally settled on the person he had been wanting to test since the start.

    "It will be you thenбн" Lin Wu decided before sending a message to the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape.

    Upon getting the ordered he quickly went to the courtyard where Long Qingao had been staying in.<sub> </sub>

    "Sir Envoy, the King has called for you." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape announced.

    His voice spread in the courtyard with ease and the man, who was meditating silently in there, opened his eyes.

    Long Qingao stood up and walked out of the courtyard.

    "Pleasee, the King has requested your presence." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape asked.

    The envoy simply nodded his head and followed behind the beast wordlessly. He had been wondering how long the king would take and finally his wish had been answered today.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape brought the Long n envoy through the official path instead of getting him teleported. That was a thing that Lin Wu would only use for some people.

    Additionally, he wanted it to be a trump card to use.

    He didn''t want others to know that he could forcefully teleport them out if he wanted to. While this took more spirit Qi than it would if the users were connected to the formation array, it was still a very good advantage to have.

    Of course, there were limitations to it and Lin Wu would face some resistance as the stronger one''s cultivation base would resist. If someone was already aware that they were going to be teleported, they could resist it and make things harder.

    It was the same thing for Patriarch Bing and if he had been told this beforehand, the man would have actually been able to dy Lin Wu. But the peaceful time over the past few days had made him lose his guard.

    It was something that had worked in Lin Wu''s favor, even though he had not intended it to be like that.

    Long Qingao got to see the official path that had been developed by Lin Wu some time ago. It was paved with stone tiles that looked mostly simr and had tress on both sides.

    ''This areaбн this pathбн all of it is under the control of a formation arrayбн'' Long Qingao sensed.

    There were very faint spirit Qi fluctuationsing from the depths of the ground and he could barely tell that they were due to the runes.

    Eventually he was brought to the front of the Tomb and was left a bit surprised. The piles of beast skeleton had not been moved from there and had been left as a warning; a reminder that it was a ce not to be trod upon.

    ''What is this aura... Why is it so dangerous?'' Long Qingao felt the very air change.

    Looking at the piles of skeleton he knew that a lot of death had urred here over the years. The nonchnce of the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape only made it seem like this was entirely normal.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape suddenly came to a stop at the entrance of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, prompting the Envoy to stop as well.

    "This is as far as I shall go, the envoy will need to proceed on his own further." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape stated.

    "Very well," Long Qingao said before taking a step into the limits of the formation array barrier.

    ~HONG~

    The barrier lightly trembled as Long Qingao faced a little resistance. But then a faint wave of energy passed over his body, allowing him to pass easily.

    ~shua~

    As soon as he was inside the barrier, Long Qingao felt the oppressive pressure.

    "What is thisбн almost like the patriarchбн" Long Qingao muttered.

    He could feel the pressure on his body. It was faint, but discernible.

    Taking a breath, he continued inward and saw the tomb. The archway in the front was inscribed with runes that were unknown to the man, and so were the rest that adorned the hallways of the tomb.

    The more Long Qingao walked, the more pressure he felt.

    Finally, he reached a wide open hall at the end. There was arge circle inscribed in the center of it with runes that were a bit more understandable to him.

    "I''m supposed to stand in it?" Long Qingao guessed and moved.

    ~Shua~

    And as soon as he did, the inscriptions shone in a bright light as runes appeared in the air.

    "Teleportation arrayбн but where is it taking me? Is this not the true location?" Long Qingao wondered.

    He knew a bit about teleportation arrays, as even the Long n had them. And from his understanding, a teleportation array like this should be one intended for long distance transportation.

    In all his wisdom, he would have never guessed that he was wrong.

    While he was correct that it was a long distance transportation array, it wasn''t because it was taking him to an entirely different location, but rather because the array simply covered arge range of areas in the first ce.

    ~shua~

    When the vision finally normalized for the envoy, he felt a crushing aura.

    "Whatбн"

 Chapter 778 Absolute Suppression

    Long Qingao wasn''t a normal member of the Long n. Rather he had a very specific identity there.

    He was the only external n member that had managed to fully awaken his guardian bloodline. With that, he had rapidly risen in status in the Long n.

    All this had happened a long time ago, of course, and over a hundred years had passed since that day. While his rise was quick, Long Qingao had ended up getting stuck at his current cultivation base.

    It wasn''t that he was facing a bottleneck, but rather that his body couldn''t handle his bloodline at all. Since he was an external member of the n, his original bloodline was very thin.

    Normally, a person like him should have never been able to awaken it at all. And yet against all odds, he had done it. It was also because of that awakening that he was in this situation.

    The elders of the n and even the patriarch were at a loss for this and didn''t know what the issue with him was. Long Qingao had found out the danger that his body was facing a while back, it was just that it he hoped that he would be able to ovee it when that time finally came.

    And when it did, he was helpless. Even the ancestors of the Long n ended up getting involved and checked Long Qingao.

    They too couldn''t find any concrete solution. But since Long Qingao was a valuable member of the n, they didn''t want to lose him either. Thus, they took a different approach.

    It was to restrain his cultivation base itself and prevent him from breaking through any further.

    To anyone else, it would be the same as a death sentence, but to Long Qingao it was a way to save his life.

    Back when he was getting his cultivation base restricted, he had felt the auras of his ancestors. It was on an entirely different level and shook his very soul. Merely being in their presence was a tiring experience.

    He couldn''t even look them in their eyes because of the instinctive fear that his bloodline felt.

    That showed the difference between the bloodline concentration of the n.

    "But how? How can the bloodline suppression be on the same level as that of ancestors?" Long Qingao muttered.

    He stood in an empty dark hall wondering this. The next thought that he had was rather frightening to him.

    ''The only way something like this would be possible if... the bloodlines are equal.'' Long Qingao thought.

    "Wee... Envoy of the Long n." A voice echoed in the hall.

    Long Qingao looked up slowly and saw the glowing body of Lin Wu in the distance.

    As soon as his eyes met Lin Wu''s though, he felt his vision darken.

    "What...." Before Long Qingao could do anything, he found himself transported to a different ce.

    Here, he couldn''t feel his body and only felt like his mind existed.

    "Where am I?" Long Qingao wondered.

    ~shua~

    And as if to reply to him, a blue light shone from the area.

    The blue light coalesced and formed into a long figure. Long Qingao saw it and reorganized what it was.<sub> </sub>

    "M-my bloodline?!" Long Qingao was stunned.

    The figure was long like a serpent, but its head had some draconian features. It had four limbs, each of them having three ws, two at the front and one at the back of the limb. The being didn''t have any horns though, only two faint bumps could be seen that were scales that had overgrown a bit.

    This was the figure of the Three wed Azure Serpent!

    It was the representation of his bloodline. But what stunned Long Qingao was that he didn''t know why this had happened at all. He knew that certain bloodlines could resonate, particrly that were strong and on an almost equal level.

    But having that happen here meant an entirely different thing to him.

    ~HONG~

    And just as he thought of this, he saw another figure forming in front of his own bloodline.

    ~shua~

    This time, emerald green light gathered together and formed into a figure that was over five times as big as his own bloodlines. The Three wed Azure Serpent was about twenty five meters long but Lin Wu was many timesrger than that.

    The emerald green figure took form as its details started to appear. Crystals appeared and grew, while spikes extended from the creature''s back. Its body turned into multiple segments when therge head finally materialized.

    The head filled with tens of crystal horns, that looked a bit like a crown!

    Then appeared two red lights that turned into the eyes of the beast.

    "Another serpent?" Long Qingao was surprised.

    He finally understood why this kind of bloodline resonance had happened. Since both bloodlines were those of serpents, something like this was bound to happen. But what happened next was not something he respected.

    ~SCREECH~

    The Emerald green crystal serpent let out a loud, distorted screech that shook his very soul. His bloodline''s figure struggled under the screech and was easily suppressed. A crushing pressure shot from the Emerald Green crystal serpent''s figure and pressed the Three wed Azure serpent bloodline to the ground.

    Just like one would mash a worm into the ground, the green figure rubbed the head of the azure figure.

    "Impossible... how can this be?" Long Qingao witnessed his bloodline being suppressedpletely.

    It was earthshaking for him, because it was against the facts that he had learned.

    It was an epted fact in the Ming Dao world that the strongest beast bloodlines were those belonging to the three guardian ns. There could simply not be any other beasts that could be as strong as them.

    And seeing the scene in front of him, this fact had been shattered.

    Even though Long Qingao didn''t have the true bloodline of their n, which only the patriarch and the ancestors had awakened, it was still enough to go against all bloodlines.

    Only the Hu and Gui bloodline should be able to suppress it.

 Chapter 779 Becoming An Ancestor?

    With Long Qingao''s world view shattered, there was little he could do now.

    "If it can do this to my bloodline, then this bloodline is on the same level as that of the three guardian bloodlines!" Long Qingao eximed to himself.

    ~KACHA~

    With the bloodline resonance battle over and the result decided, the illusion shattered and Long Qingao found himself back in his human body.

    "W-who are you?" Long Qingao asked as he properly observed the figure in front of himself.

    It was the same as that of the bloodline he had seen in the illusion, and seemed even bigger than that. After all, his own body was many times smaller than a real Three wed Azure Serpent beast.

    "Well, haven''t youe to meet me? I am King Lin Wu. The king of the millennium forest." Lin Wu answered with a chuckle.

    ''The system was rightбн it really is the Three wed Azure Serpent bloodline and not a dragon bloodline. Heck it''s not even a flood dragon, I thought it would be on that level at least.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He too had seen everything that had happened during the bloodline resonance battle. It was something he had triggered, after all.

    "You are the king?" Long Qingao replied, but then a secondter he eximed. "YOU CAN SPEAK?!"

    "Of courseбн if I couldn''t, do you think there would be any meaning to meet you or anyone for that matter?" Lin Wu replied casually.

    Seeing Lin Wu''s figure and the strange voice that came from it, Long Qingao didn''t know what to think. From what he knew, only a few beasts that had forms simr to humans could speak like this.

    Otherwise beasts used their own beast tongue, which in itself was ratherplicated. After all, different beasts had different cries and voices. Thus, the way beast tongue worked was by matching certain tones in the voice.

    Though higher beasts could simplymunicate with their minds and spirit senses.

    ''I''m sure it is not that method thoughбн his mouth really does move, so he''s actually speaking all this.'' Long Qingao analyzed.

    Since he was from the Long n, he knew a lot more about beasts than most did. And this included bloodlines and their effects.

    One such thing that he knew was that the beasts could change into humanoid form when they reached a certain cultivation base. While Long Qingao didn''t know what this level was exactly, he did know that one had to be above the Immortal Ascension realm at the very least to do that.

    Thus, seeing a beast without a humanoid form was stunning to him.

    "You don''t seem all that good, child." Lin Wu suddenly spoke, his gaze locked onto Long Qingao.

    Hearing the sudden words from Lin Wu, Long Qingao was taken aback.

    "Child? No one has called me for a long time." Long Qingao couldn''t help but say.

    "Ahaha! To me, you are but a mere child. Not even four hundred years old." Lin Wu casually spoke.

    Hearing this, Long Qingao was surprised as he understood the reasoning behind it.

    "Whatбн who are youбн I don''t mean as a king eitherбн your bloodlineбн" Long Qingao said with some hesitancy.

    He knew that questions like this could be considered rather rude and he didn''t want to offend Lin Wu out of nowhere. Thus, he just hoped that it would be fine.

    "Hmmбн I have an easier way to answer that." Lin Wu said.<sub> </sub>

    "What is it?" Long Qingao questioned.

    "How would you like to see a movie?" Lin Wu questioned, but moved before the man could even answer.

    He then waved his tail as runes appeared around Long Qingao. Then in the next second, they all turned into streams of light that entered his head.

    ~shua~

    Soon, Long Qingao was transported into another illusion. But this time, the illusion was greatly different. Here he saws being born, a ck and white twin creature warring and many more things. Disaster fell, cmities happened and great experts fought!

    He also saw the same emerald green serpent in it, finding it to be working with the strongest being in the illusion. Long Qingao learned the name of the being, being called as the Taiji Celestial.

    The illusion continued, and he got to see a lot of things. And by the time it ended, Long Qingao understood a lot of things.

    ~CLAP~

    Uponing to his senses, Long Qingao immediately saluted Lin Wu with cupped hands and a bowed head.

    "Please forgive this junior for being presumptions, ancestor!" Long Qingao eximed.

    Hearing these words, Lin Wu couldn''t help but raise his brows.

    "How''d this happen?" Lin Wu was confused.

    ''Sure, I made him see some fake illusions, but calling me an ancestor? That''s a bit too much, isn''t it?'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Raise your head." Lin Wu spoke.

    ''Eh, I''ll just go with it for now. Maybe I''ll get another mindless pawn.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Long Qingao finally looked up and felt the pressure disappear.

    ''No wonder it was like thatбн I had offended the ancestor from the start. I should have been a lot more prudent.'' Long Qingao thought, unaware of his mistake.

    "So do you have any questions for me?" Ling Wu asked.

    "No ancestor. All my questions were answered already." Long Qingao hurriedly said.

    If he still had doubts after seeing a live illusion of the past, Long Qingao would deem himself to be dumb. He didn''t want his intelligence to be doubted by a beast that might be older than his n''s ancestors, while also having a bloodline that was on the same level.

    "I see." Lin Wu replied, calmly staring at the man.

    ''Did I go a little too overboard with the movie, maybe?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    This time he had gotten the system to prepare a high budget movie that he could show to his guests. He fully wanted to brag and reduce the standing of others.

    ''Well, since I''m already this far, I may as well try that too.'' Lin Wu thought before speaking.

    "Juniorбн would you like to solve your little bloodline problem?"

 Chapter 780 Broadening Horizons

    Lin Wu''s words were like an illusion to Long Qingao. He couldn''t believe his ears since they were simply too far for him to believe.

    "That... that''s possible?" Long Qingao muttered.

    "Of course, do you not believe me?" Lin Wu questioned, making Long Qingao more anxious.

    "But... even the ancestors couldn''t--" Before Long Qingao could finish his sentence, Lin Wu interrupted him.

    "Do you think your ancestors even know the reality behind your problem?" Lin Wu stated.

    Hearing the firmness in his voice, Long Qingao immediately broke out in a sweat.

    Lin Wu watched the man for a minute in silence before speaking again.

    "What you have is a bloodline imbnce cause by your weak body. If you had strengthened and tempered your body more, this problem would have never urred." Lin Wu spoke. "Tell me... what was the highest stage of body tempering realm that you practiced till?" he asked.

    "T-tenth stage of the body tempering realm." Long Qingao replied.

    ~Sigh~

    "Just as I guessed." Lin Wu said in an all knowing voice, keeping up his act. "The people of this world simply don''t know the benefits of a good foundation. No one cultivates till the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm."

    "The thirteenth stage?!" Long Qingao was startled. "B-but senior... if someone wanted to cultivate to the thirteenth stage, they wouldg behind many of their peers. Not to mention they might just end up exhausting their lifespans before that.

    Our n had a member who tried that. He reached the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm, but ended up dying before reaching the thirteenth stage. And this was even with the increased lifespans that our bloodline offers. Even after a hundred and sixty years, he didn''t reach it.

    No treasures helped him, either. That sort of bottleneck is far too difficult to breach. In the same effort, one could reach the core condensation realm." He exined his side.

    "Hmm... seems like this worldcks basic body cultivation techniques too... can''t even cultivate to the thirteenth stage, what a joke." Lin Wu said, shocking Long Qingao even more.

    ''The thirteenth stage is a joke? Only a basic body cultivation technique is needed? Senior is really from a different world...'' Long Qingao thought to himself.

    But this also gave him renewed hope for his own condition.

    "Then, senior... do you really have a method to fix my condition?" Long Qingao questioned.

    "I do indeed." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "GREAT!" Long Qingao eximed.

    "But I have a condition, of course." Lin Wu added.

    Hearing this, Long Qingao became calm.

    "Of course, nothing woulde free. If even ancestors couldn''t fix this problem of mine, then perhaps no amount of wealth would be enough to fix it in this world." Long Qingao muttered to himself.<sub> </sub>

    "Indeed. And not just in this world. Even if you went to the oldies of the Azure Dragon n itself, you would be unable to do it. The only solution from them would be to cripple your bloodline and wash it outpletely before restarting." Lin Wu casually said.

    But Long Qingao didn''t hear this solution at all. His ears kept on ringing with three words that Lin Wu had said before that...

    "The Azure Dragon n...?" Long Qingao said in disbelief.

    "Oh? You don''t know about them?" Lin Wu asked. "What kind of teaching does your n give when you don''t even know the origins of your bloodline?" Lin Wu scoffed.

    "Umm... it''s not that senior... we do know about the Azure Dragon bloodline, we''ve felt it. But... there is actually an entire n?" Long Qingao questioned.

    "Of course. They are one of the great beast ns of the universe and also serve as the protectors of a lot of the world along with the other three guardian ns." Lin Wu decided to broaden the horizons of this man, deepening his image as a senior.

    Hearing that, Long Qingao felt like he was on clouds..

    "It really exists... IT REALLY EXISTS!" Long Qingaoughed out loud.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu responded nkly, still pretending.

    "Our n thought only the bloodline we had was left. And perhaps others might also have it. But we never knew there were still Azure dragons in existence." Long Qingao exined.

    "I see... this world has indeed been isted for far too long. It is strange... it is also missing the fourth..." Lin Wu muttered.

    Hearing Lin Wu''s words and connecting them with his earlier ones, Long Qingao picked up on it.

    "Wait! There''s a fourth guardian bloodline?!" He exined.

    "Indeed. All worlds that gain the protection of the guardian beasts will have four of them. The Azure Dragon, The White Tiger, The ck Tortoise and finally the Vermillion bird." Lin Wu answered.

    "The Vermillion bird..." Long Qingao furrowed his brows. "I... don''t think I''ve heard of it."

    To the Long n, it would be a great shock if they knew about the fourth bloodline of the Vermillion bird. But this was exactly what Lin Wu wanted and it was a part of his ns for the future. Additionally, he had the proper assets to do that too.

    "I don''t know what happened to this world. But the bloodline of the Vermillion bird didn''t take root and spread into a human n like yours. Plus, the bloodlines your n has is also that of a descendant guardian beast and not the true one.

    The same can probably be said for the other two as well." Lin Wu spoke,

    If anyone from the three ns were to hear this, they would consider it a great disrespect to their bloodline and the one who had said that would be their greatest enemy.

    And yet to Long Qingao, these words were greatly enlightening. After all... the one saying those words mattered too. With Lin Wu here, there was no way he couldn''t believe them. Besides he had already shown him far too shocking things earlier.

    Lin Wu stared at the man and smiled internally. ''Got you in my...''

 Chapter 781 A Solution For Long Qingao

    Lin Wu let Long Qingao digest the information for a bit.

    ''Need to let the fish rest a bit or the line will breakбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    After about five minutes, Long Qingao seemed to have gained a grasp on it a bit.

    "The elders of my n would like to know the information too, senior." Long Qingao said.

    "No." Lin Wu firmly stated.

    "Huh?" Long Qingao had not expected this reply.

    "That information is not yours to be revealed." Lin Wu spoke.

    Long Qingao felt a bit suspicious but then Lin Wu''s image in his mind reflected again, making him think that there was no reason for Lin Wu to lie or hide it from him.

    "May I ask why?" Long Qingao asked carefully.

    "Child, there are powers in this world that can threaten even me. And I''m not talking about your n or the other two. And if they can threaten me, they can very well eradicate your ns." Lin Wu replied, sending Long Qingao into a tizzy again.

    This time, the man thought for ten minutes before speaking.

    "What kind of a danger is it, senior?" Long Qingao asked.

    "Something that can end this world as we know it. It has already awakened tooбн I can sense it." Lin Wu spoke mysteriously.

    "We need to stop it then! If we tell the ancestors, they will surely help!" Long Qingao pleaded.

    "Noбн it will only be more problematic. Until I know where the threates from, it is not wise to reveal it." Lin Wu spoke.

    Hearing this, Long Qingao furrowed his brows. He could tell that whatever the threat was it was not simple or direct.

    "Just what kind of a threat is it, senior? Is it a beast? A human? Something else?" Long Qingao asked.

    "You remember what you saw in the illusions rightбн it is something like that." Lin Wu replied.

    Long Qingao''s face fell, and he felt his body chilling.

    He knew exactly what Lin Wu was talking about. He had seen the actions of Hei and how it could take over worlds and even control its beings.

    ''So that''s what he meant by knowing where the threates from firstбн'' Long Qingao understood.

    "Very well, senior. I shall keep this to myself for now." Long Qingao stated.

    "Mmhmmбн" Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Butбн what is the condition that you have from me? To solve my problem." Long Qingao asked again.

    "It is simpleбн you will need to act as my eyes and ears." Lin Wu replied.

    "Eyes and ears?" Long Qingao raised his brows and knew what Lin Wu wanted him to do.

    "Indeedбн if the threat I''m talking about is true, it is likely it wille from a high ce. Something on the level of your n. Thus, it is best you can keep an eye out for suspicious activities or urrence." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing this, Long Qingao took a breath of relief.

    ''As long as it''s not spying on my own n, it should be fine.'' Long Qingao thought to himself, unaware that it wouldn''t be his choice to make anyway.

    "I ept senior." Long Qingao stated.

    "Good. Then we can begin the process." Lin Wu replied.

    "What are you going to exactly do?" Long Qingao asked nervously.<sub> </sub>

    "Since the issue is from your bloodline getting a bit too strong for your body, we are going to address that. I will be suppressing it." Lin Wu replied.

    "Suppressing it? But wouldn''t that weaken my cultivation base?" Long Qingao asked, feeling a bit doubtful.

    "It will indeed. But it will also give your body a chance to adapt to the bloodline. My restriction will automatically adjust ording to the state of your body, releasing the bloodline.

    Eventually you should be able to adapt to itpletely." Lin Wu exined.

    Long Qingao felt relieved at this and found it to be a better option than restarting his cultivation entirely.

    "Alright senior, that''s fine with me." Long Qingao epted.

    "Stand still then. This will hurt." Lin Wu said as he extended a spike out of his tail.

    ~gulp~

    Long Qingao swallowed his saliva, feeling threatened at the sharp spike. He didn''t know what Lin Wu would do with it, but didn''t think that he would die. To him, Lin Wu needed no false pretense to kill him, when he had more than enough strength to suppress him without even doing anything.

    Lin Wu moved his tail and brought the spike to rest on the man''s forehead.

    ''System, do your thing.'' Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET SELECTED: Long Qingao

    INITIATING PROCESS: Pentagem V.3 Imnt.

    бкбк

    The spike extended a bit more and pricked Long Qingao''s head. He could feel the skin being cut and the bone being touched. It sent waves of fear down his body, but he knew not to fuck up at this moment.

    He gritted his teeth and stayed as still as humanly possible.

    Lin Wu''s spike broke through the skull and reached Long Qingao''s brain!

    At that moment, Long Qingao suddenly felt the pain disappear.

    ''Huh? This is rather strangeбн why don''t I feel anything?'' Long Qingao felt his entire body going numb, unaware that the system had already taken hold.

    He didn''t know how much time passed, but when his senses returned, he found himself standing in front of Lin Wu as the beast withdrew his tail.

    "There you go." Lin Wu said.

    "It''s over?" Long Qingao found it to be a bit astonishing.

    He touched his forehead and didn''t even find any wound or scar there.

    "You should take a look in the mirror." Lin Wu suggested.

    "Huh? Why?" Long Qingao asked, but still took out a spirit axe that had sides polished to perfection.

    Looking at his reflection, Long Qingao almost found it unrecognizable.

    "My hairбн my eyesбн they''re human again?!" Long Qingao eximed.

    "Those were the side effects of your bloodline imbnce, thus they are gone now too. Once your body adapts to the bloodline, you shouldn''t have such mutations again." Lin Wu exined, much to Long Qingao''s pleasure.

 Chapter 782 Calling In Shirong

    Long Qingao was already feeling the changes in his bloodline. The pressure he felt internally had greatly lessened, and the power needed to control his bloodline was also reduced.

    ''The seal that Ancestors put on me... it is gone too...'' Long Qingao noted.

    It was a rather surprising thing to him, as it was not something that could be removed by just anyone. A person would need to have a cultivation base almost on the same level as that of his ancestors for them to be able to remove.

    If anything, this only deepened his belief in Lin Wu.

    "Thank you senior!" Long Qingao said with gratitude.

    "You needn''t mention it. I simply hope that you will be there when I call for you." Lin Wu replied.

    "Of course Senior! I shall be at your beck and call! And as long as it doesn''t go against the vows of my n, I shall never falter in assisting you." Long Qingao stated with determination.

    "Very well." Lin Wu nodded his head with a calm face.

    Though internally he was rather happy.

    ''WOO!!! BABY! THAT''S WHAT I''M TALKING ABOUT!'' Lin Wu rejoiced in his mind.

    After sessfully conning Long Qingao, Lin Wu thought that it was time to send him back.

    ''I still have more people to rope in. And the next one is rather special too...'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "You can leave now. I have to attend to other guests too." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Alright senior." Long Qingao said before taking his leave.

    Lin Wu teleported Long Qingao out of the Tomb directly, much to his shock.

    ''So senior could have done this from the start... I didn''t even detect anything before that.'' Long Qingao felt even more awe for Lin Wu.

    With him gone, Lin Wu gave the order to bring in another person. He waited excitedly as a man approached the tomb after about ten minutes.

    "This will be a rather fun meeting... wonder if you will find anything suspicious, Shirong..." Lin Wu muttered as he saw the man enter the tomb.

    Shirong''s expression was calm, yet alert. He was assesing each and everything that he was passing by and his spirit sense was active the whole time.

    ''As cautious as always huh...'' Lin Wu noticed.

    In the past, Lin Wu had been scared of Shirong finding out about him, but now he didn''t need to worry about it at all. Not only was he stronger than him, but he now had a basic backing that could resist him.

    If not that, he could always escape and bide his time to gain more power. Lin Wu had several ns ready, but he knew that none of them might actually be needed at all.

    ''With the n we have now, Shirong will never think anything else... I''ll give him a legitimate excuse...'' Lin Wu thought to himself as Shirong finally reached the teleportation circle at the end of the corridor.<sub> </sub>

    "So this should be the one that takes me to the throne room?" Shirong said as he observed the runes on the ground.

    He could actually read about half of them, which the others were unable too.

    ''Seems like spending time learning about ancient runes was indeed beneficial.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    After returning to the Ji n, Shirong had understood that there were a lot of mysteries of this world he was in the dark about. Then he also had the spear that he needed to awaken again.

    He didn''t know much about the spear and the method to awaken it, thus he looked for old records that might have some kind of a solution. He was indeed able to discover that the spear could still absorb some spirit Qi and vitality when he offered it dead beasts or anything else like that.

    That gave him some hope, but it was not enough for him and he wanted to learn more.

    This goal of awakening the spear had ended up with him learning as many ancient records as he could and also deciphering them to themon tongue. It was something not many would normally do as it would mean that one was neglecting their cultivation process.

    Even Shirong would not have done something like that, had it not been for the fact that he had the spear as a driving factor. He knew that with the spear awakened, he would progress many times faster than without it.

    Thus, his goal was always to awaken the spear. Additionally, there were also other secrets of the crystal spear that Shirong wondered about. He had already gotten a hint of it in the past when he managed to develop spear intent after watching the demonstration of the skill.

    That had made Shirong think that there were perhaps other skills in the spear, along with more stuff that was unknown to him.

    "Let''s see what secrets this king holds..." Shirong muttered as he stepped into the teleportation circle.

    ~SHUA~

    It activated as hundreds of runes appeared around Shirong. He felt his vision go dark and his body turning weightless. Finding as if he was soaring through the air, he knew that he was being teleported some ce distant.

    Which wasn''t exactly right, rather it was due to just how the teleportation array was made, making others mistake it as a long distance teleportation.

    ~shua~

    Finally, the runes settled and Shirong felt his body stabilizing. He opened his eyes and found himself, to be in a dimly lit room.

    But he also knew that he was not alone here. His instincts were telling him that there was something very dangerous here.

    "King of the Millennium forest, I Ji Shirong, havee to pay you a visit." Shirong announced with confidence.

    Seeing the words of Shirong, Lin Wu couldn''t help but chuckle in his mind.

    ''As cocky as always huh... this will just make it more fun.'' Lin Wu thought as he made his body glow.

    ~shua~

    From the tip of his tail an emerald green light spread all over his body

 Chapter 783 A Little Convincing Needed

    Shirong felt the pressure in the hall and knew that he was being watched. And when the emerald green light finally appeared, he felt a bit rmed.

    Not because he felt danger from it, but because it was familiar to him.

    "That lightбн no wayбн" Shirong muttered in surprise.

    The green light spread from Lin Wu''s tail and moved up, segment by segment. Until finally it reached his head and the two crimson red eyes lit up as well. Shirong found the fierce eyes filled with power gazing at him.

    Seeing the massive figure in front of him, Shirong truly felt a bit overwhelmed. This was the biggest beast he had ever seen and evenpared to therge bird beast he had seen in the Dread Coil Marsh, it was several times bigger.

    Shirong couldn''t even think of any beast in his memory that couldpare to Lin Wu''s size other than a few aquatic beasts and fishes.

    "Wee, Ji Shirong." Lin Wu greeted, his voice trailing in Shirong''s ears.

    Shirong stepped towards Lin Wu, his face a bit nk.

    "Youбн who are youбн noбн what are you?" Shirong said unknowingly.

    ''How is the aura so simrбн no not simr, it''s the same!'' Shirong thought.

    He had held the spear dearly for a long time now and could sense the aura easily. It was as if it was a part of his own body and he could tell it apart very quickly.

    ''Looks like the guy really had some hunchesбн'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    He didn''t show any change on his face though, continuing his act.

    "I am Lin Wuбн The Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm, King of the Millennium Forest andбн the guardian of the Taiji Celestial''s Tomb." Lin Wu answered clearly.

    Shirong repeated the words in his mind, trying to make sense of them. None of those words truly linked with the spear, and he wondered how it all was.

    Lin Wu continued staring at Shirong and saw that the man wasn''t speaking.

    ''Seems like I need to throw a little bait first.'' Lin Wu decided.

    "You seem to have something that belongs to meбн Child." Lin Wu stated.

    "Huh?" Shirong snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing this and became nervous.

    "What are you talking about?" Shirong asked inly.

    "Haha~" Lin Wu chuckled.

    ~whoosh~

    He let off a burst of aura that covered Shirong, making him feel weak.

    "What?!" Shirong was stunned.

    He was well aware of his own strength and knew that suppressing him like this was not an easy task unless the opposing person was many times stronger than him and had a greater cultivation base.

    In his mind, since the millennium forest had just gained independence, even if its king was strong, he wouldn''t be that strong. To Shirong, the king might be at most in the Dao Shell realm.

    This fact was indeed true, but he had not considered that the strength among the beasts greatly varied and then there were also additional factors that could influence it, like the bloodlines.

    But his shock was only starting as he soon felt something else.

    ''The spear! It''s reacting?!'' Shirong could feel the spatial storage ring on his finger turning restless.<sub> </sub>

    Peering within, he saw the spear, which had been dormant all along, glowing and moving around as if wanting toe out. But even if it wanted that, Shirong didn''t want to reveal it this easily.

    It was his greatest secret and he wouldn''t show it to a beast that could be a potential threat.

    Lin Wu widened his smile and increased his power a bit more.

    ~SHUA~

    ~HUMM~

    Suddenly, Shirong''s spatial storage ring hummed uncontrobly and he found his control over it wavering.

    ~HONG~

    Making use of that moment of weakness, the crystal spear shot out of the ring and appeared in the real world.

    "NO!" Shirong shouted anxiously.

    He wanted to take it back, but the pressure exuding from Lin Wu kept him in ce.

    "So it really was in your possession." Lin Wu said.

    Gritting his teeth, Shirong understood that all this had gone too far for him to keep hiding it. He couldn''t pretend anymore.

    "You are speaking as if you knew about it? How do you know about it and why did the spear act like that?" Shirong questioned fearlessly.

    At this point, he reckoned that his secrets were already revealed and there was a great chance he would be killed for that.

    "AHAHAHAH~" But in response to Shirong''s words, Lin Wu onlyughed.

    Lin Wu''s head suddenly came towards Shirong and stopped just a meter from him.

    Shirong finally got to see Lin Wu in detail. Seeing the crystalline body and the green glow, he found it to be the same as that of the spear.

    ''Noбн this is even stronger.'' Shirong could tell the power difference of the spear at its peak and the beast in front of him that was also the king of the Millennium forest.

    "You ask me why I know about it?" Lin Wu spoke. "Of course I would know about it! I AM THE ONE WHO MADE IT!" Lin Wu revealed.

    "WHAT!? IMPOSSIBLE! THIS IS AN IMMORTAL TOOL! HOW CAN A BEAST MAKE IT!?" Shirong couldn''t believe the beast''s words.

    "HAHA! What do you think the spear was made from?" Lin Wu said as he extended his tail.

    ~CRACKLE~

    In front of Shirong, a long spike extended out of the beast''s crystallizing tail. The spike reached the same length as what the spear was when it was still normal, then started to transform.

    The spike''s shape changed and it gained a spear tip at one end as two more spikes extended from its sides. Then a handle formed in the rest of its body and two crimson red lights appeared at the base of its de.

    It was now the same as the original crystal spear that Shirong had.

    "It really is trueбн" Shirong muttered.

    Shirong''s eyes trailed the newly formed crystal spear and assessed every inch of it, finding it to be the same as his memories.

 Chapter 784 Reeling In Shirong

    The doubts in Shirong''s heart faded away upon seeing the spear that Lin Wu had just formed. Shirong knew Lin Wu was telling the truth since the true shape of the spear was only known to him and no one else had seen it.

    All those that had witnessed the spear had either died to it after all. Of course there were some exceptions like Zhu Tianying, but her being a beast, Shirong never considered it in his list.

    With this belief rified, Shirong was far more inclined to believe Lin Wu now.

    Shirong couldn''t move his eyes from the new spear but still spoke, "how did you make it? This one has the same shapeбн but none of the properties. This much I can tell."

    "Of course, it doesn''t." Lin Wu replied. "This merely has the form of the spear and is not a true immortal weapon. At most it would be a spirit weapon."

    "Then how did you make it? I know for sure an immortal weapon can only be made when one is above the Immortal Ascension realmбн in one of the Immortal Tribtion realms." Shirong spoke, his knowledge surprising Lin Wu.

    "Oh? So you know about the Immortal Realms too. That''s impressive." Lin Mu praised. "бнThat will make things easier to exin."

    Shirong looked on in interest, finally withdrawing his gaze from the spear and looking at Lin Wu. He still felt the pressure from Lin Wu, but it was considerably lighter than before. Though the fear that he felt from him was still there.

    "For me to tell you how I made that spear, I must first tell you about myself," Lin Wu said.

    "Please do tell," Shirong said, with great curiosity.

    He was of course not going to give up on learning from a being that was possibly far beyond his understanding. He even wondered if he was going to get knowledge that was beyond this world and provide him a greater understanding of the cultivation.

    "I have existed for far longer than you can imagine. I used to work with my master, the Taiji Celestial. He was a cultivator far beyond your understandingбн belonging to a cultivation realm even beyond the immortal realm.

    He was someone who had a dark past and wanted redemption for his actions. And to do that, he left several inheritances across the universe in thousands of worlds. In doing so, he also stopped the rise of several evil beings that could threaten such world.

    Of course his work didn''t stop there as he would personally act when beings too dangerous for the universe were born. He would also get rid of cultivators that destroyed life unnecessarily.

    And with the inheritances that he spread around, he gained a lot of disciples. Of courseбн gaining his inheritance was not an easy task and one needed to go through tough trials. All those that went through it would gain great power though.

    The inheritance didn''t differentiate between races either. As long as one had a certain level of intelligence they could all take the trial, whether they be a human, a beast, a demon or any other race.

    I was once among thousands of such disciples." Lin Wu exined, stunning Shirong.

    Lin Wu took a pause here as he knew that just words would not be enough for Shirong.

    ''Time for the movie.'' Lin Wu thought as he waved his tail.

    Just like with Long Qingao, several runes formed around Shirong and entered his mind. A great illusion formed in his mind as his consciousness was transported into an imaginary realm.

    There he saw the rise of the Taiji celestial and the different events that happened.

    Of courseбн all of them were modified and changed ording to Lin Wu''s propaganda needs.

    "That''ll take him a bit to go throughбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    The movie that Lin Wu got system to show to Shirong was far longer andplex than the one he had shown to Long Qingao. After all, it was easier to fool the Long n envoy as he had no previous contact with Lin Wu.

    But that was not the same with Shirong. The man had seen a lot more than others and knew greater secrets about the spear which could easily link to Lin Wu.

    Then there was also the fact that Shirong had actually fused with the avatar of the Skull God temporarily. The system had warned Lin Wu that there was a great chance Shirong had gained a part of the memories too.

    But there was no telling which part of the memories Shirong obtained. Thus Lin Wu decided to be extra cautious and covered all the bases, making as many scenarios as possible.

    And it was not as if this was disadvantageous to Lin Wu either. Rather it was advantageous for him and made things easier since he now had an example of an antagonist to paint here. It was even one that Shirong had suffered from too, making it that much better.

    About thirty minutes passed before the movie finally ended.<sub> </sub>

    Shirong''s eyes gained their usual liveliness and he trembled slightly.

    ~THUD~

    He stabilized his footing by using the dormant spear in his hand as a support.

    "That was allбн" Shirong found it hard to express his thoughts.

    He had never expected there to be such a great expanse beyond his world and that there were so many great dangerous.

    From the memories of the Skull god, the system had formted terrifying boogeyman''s that had cultivation bases that would terrify even the ancestors of the Long n, not to mention Shirong.

    Still, it had done exactly the work that Lin Wu wanted and given Shirong enough to think about.

    Five minutes passed as Shirong caught up with his thoughts and somewhat sorted them out.

    "Damnбн this will take a lot more pondering to go through," Shirong muttered to himself.

    "You will have plenty of time to do that on your ownter. For now it is best we continue our conversation." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Of course, senior!" Shirong said, changing the title that he used for Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu noticed the subtle change and couldn''t help but grin.

    ''Looks like subliminal messaging really works.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He had gotten the system to add plenty of his footage into the movie. All his moves and power in it were greatly exaggerated. The system had done its best to extrapte the data from the Skull God''s memories about strong cultivators, but without the real life data it was still not enough.

    Thus Lin Wu turned up the ''CGI'' to 200% and let the system take a page from the great explosion cultivator Michal Bay''s cultivation manual.

    With that freehold, the system used all itsputational AI cores and came up with an award winning movie, that would move the worst critics to tears. Of course, the reason for the tears could be either due to the either sides of the spectrum.

    "As time passed, the Taiji Celestial knew that he alone was not enough to handle the worlds. More problematic worlds started to pop up with threats that he alone could not fight.

    Additionally, personal problems of his rose up as well, making it difficult for him to act personally.

    Because of that, he ended up sending his disciples to the different worlds. We were instructed to make his ''tomb'' and pass on his inheritance to those deemed worthy. The main inheritance belonged to the Taiji Celestial himself, but we were also given free rein to pass out our own inheritance.

    You see, the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial isn''t really a rigid cultivation technique that must be the same for everyone. Rather it is very adaptive and focuses on evolving your own techniques if you''ve had them while also adding new abilities.

    It is the top of the top technique that nothing in this world canpare to.

    All the disciples had their own interpretation of the technique and this ended up with them making many derivations and sub-branches of the technique.

    Stillбн the requirements for passing the Taiji Celestial''s true cultivation technique were far too great and very few could obtain it. And yet, the problems of the world didn''t reduce it at all.

    There was ack of people to address it and several worlds were lost despite the fact there being an inheritance on those worlds.

    Thus we decided to pass out our own inheritance in the world as well. The requirements for them were far lower than those of the Taiji Celestial''s own inheritance and this increased the number of experts.

    While they might not have the same level of power as those that had the true inheritance, it still increase the overall number of experts in the world and made it easier for them to survive.

    The Sky Bright Daoist was one such disciple too and he was the one originally sent to this world to set up the tomb and his own inheritance." Lin Wu exined in detail.

 Chapter 785 Story Of Arrival

    Shirong had already heard a little about the Sky Bright Daoist from the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape when they had asked about the inheritance. After all, they didn''t want to vie for a single inheritance that was not good for them.

    But after hearing that it was from an expert not of this world, they were impressed and ready to do whatever to obtain it.

    And now that Shirong knew that the expert was merely one of the disciples of the Taiji Celestial, he was awed.

    ''Merely the disciple has such power, then what will the master be like?'' Shirong wondered.

    He had already seen some demonstrations of power in the illusion/movie that Lin Wu had shown him and was greatly impressed. He had not expected that there was a way to get a cultivation technique of the Taiji Celestial too.

    But after hearing the words of Lin Wu, that the Sky Bright Daoist was sent to this world, more questions appeared in the mind of Shirong.

    "Senior, if the Sky Bright Daoist was sent to this world, then where is he now?" Shirong questioned.

    "That is something I do not know, either. Even when we were disciples under master, I didn''t have much interaction with him. There were simply too many disciples spread across the universe, and most had never met each other.

    Though if we do encounter someone else, we will be able to detect it. We have a rule to not go against our fellow disciples and even help them if possible. Though that is not mandatory, as there are often conflicts of interest that prevent that.

    The Taiji Celestial was not naive so as to put a mandatory rule like that." Lin Wu answered.

    What Lin Wu had said now waspletely true, and he had not lied to Shirong. This was something he had learned from the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial in the past and even the system had said the same when it had added the information from the tomb to its data banks.

    "Oh? That''s different from I thought." Shirong replied before asking another question.

    "Then how did youe here, senior? I mean, since the Sky bright Daoist had already finished the work assigned by Taiji Celestial here." Shirong said.

    "I was sent by the Taiji Celestial because he had a bad premonition. Experts of their cultivation base can tap into the karma of the world and divine the fates. If they have bad premonitions, it is often true.

    Thus, to attest that he sent several of his disciples to different worlds. I was sent there because he sensed that someone linked to one of his old enemies might arrive in this world.

    Buting to a lower world like this is not possible for immortals or those above them. Thus, to attest that, I had to do some radical changes. I entered a dormant state and sealed my cultivation base.

    Once sealed, I was sent to this world. Though I have no idea when that happened." Lin Wu spoke.

    "What? Then did youe when the meteor fell into the Millennium forest?!" Shirong wondered if that was true.

    But it also made him confused, as it was the spear that had fallen at that time. And looking at Lin Wu''s size, he could very well tell that if he really fell like that, the impact area wouldn''t just be the size it was before.

    ''Noбн if he fell, perhaps half of the Ling Kingdom would have been ttened from the impact.'' Shirong estimated.

    It was not as if there had never been any meteors falling in the Ming Dao world. Over the millenniums there had always been some meteors that fell. And they were always met with great anticipation, as they almost always contained some resources that were unavable in the world or extremely rare.

    The sects and powers of the world would jump on it right away.

    Shirong had even read about a great meteor that fell into the Gui Continent three thousand years ago. It was all recorded in his n, and even the other sects knew about it. After all, there were billions of people who had seen it fall.

    When this meteor fell to the Gui continent, it had shaken the entire Ming Dao world!

    Great Earthquakes happened and massive tsunamis ravaged the coasts. The powers of the Long and Hu continent were jealous that they were unable to get this fortunate encounter, as there was a rule that prevented them from intruding on other territories.

    Still, some couldn''t hold back and went to try their luck, which resulted in a war among the three continents!<sub> </sub>

    It was one of the few wars that had happened after the rise of the guardian ns, as they would usually prevent anything on this level. But since this time they had an interest in this too, they looked away while also trying for some benefits.

    In the end though, it was the Gui continent that came out on top and won. The experts of Hu and Long continent could only return in defeat. Of course, the ones that returned were only the strongest experts that survived the war. All others perished in it as returning from another continent was not easy.

    Then there was also the fact that the meteor that had fallen was not simple either.

    When it had fallen, it had ttened over two thousand kilometers of area and destroyed two entire kingdoms, and four sects!

    With such a great loss, the Gui n wasn''t going to just let others take the meteor. But when they got to it, they found out that the meteor was simply too hard to open. Only after two years of effort did they manage to crack it open.

    What they obtained from it was unknown, but a few years after that, the Gui n had obtained a new Pseudo Immortal spirit tool. Everyone was sure that the new Pseudo immortal spirit tool was either obtained from that meteor or forged from the materials that were present in it.

    It was this very story that had actually made Shirong so interested in the millennium forest and the forbidden zone that had formed in the past. After all, the level of danger the Millennium Forest had seen was many times higher than that of the Gui continent, even though the devastation was contained.

    The deaths of expert in the forbidden zone had made most of the people discouraged from trying. But then Shirong had gone and obtained the fortune from there.

    Hearing Shirong''s words, Lin Wu knew what Shirong was thinking, and he didn''t want him to go on that route.

    ''Time for the changed story,'' Lin Wu thought before speaking.

    "Ahahha~ no, that wasn''t me that fell back then. That was the spear. I definitely came a long time before that. As far as I remember, when Taiji celestial had decided to send me here, there were no Guardian beasts assigned to this world." Lin Wu replied, much to Shirong''s shock.

    After all, he knew the true story behind the formation and rise of the three guardian ns.

    "You came before that? Then that wast over ten thousand years ago!" Shirong eximed.

    It was really shocking to him since he knew that even the Immortal Ascension realm cultivators could only live for five thousand years at most. After all, since the rise of the three guardian ns, there had been more than a dozen Immortal Ascension realm cultivators that had been born.

    A very small amount of them had broken though and ascended to the higher worlds, while most had perished after their lifespans ran out. Even the Ji n wasn''t an exception to it.

    As far as Shirong knew, the current ancestor of the Ji n, his great grandfather, was the disciple of thest ancestor of the Ji n who was an immortal Ascension realm cultivator who had failed to ascend.

    It was actually him who had given the Ji n its foundation and his hard work was what made the Ji n the power today. The current ancestor of the Ji n had only stabilized the power of the Ji n and made it so that there was almost no chance of it falling.

    After all, there were plenty of examples of sects and other ns that had fallen into oblivion after their backing; Their Immortal Ascension realm ancestor died. Many powers would even try to hide this, but after a period of several thousand years passed, and the ancestor was not seen, everyone knew they had passed.

    And yet, Shirong heard from Lin Wu that he was here over ten thousand years ago.

    "Howбн how are you still alive then, senior?" Shirong couldn''t help but question.

    "Haha, even if I had stayed awake the entire time, I would still not have died. Once you are in the immortal realm or above that, ten thousand years is merely a nap. Not to mention I was in a dormant state, thus I wasn''t even using my lifespan." Lin Wu stated.

    Hearing about the dormant state made Shirong greatly curious. After all, if it was something that could be learned, many experts would want it. One could simply use it at the end of their lifespan and let their descendants collect fortune for them.

    Then when it was the right time, they could awaken and use those resources to breakthrough, there by expanding their life again.

    "Is it possible to learn this power?" Shirong asked in a serious tone.

    "Not for humansбн at least not all humans. Only certain beings can do it."

 Chapter 786 Enlightening Shirong

    Lin Wu''s words had poured cold water on the hopes of Shirong, but he didn''t lose hope as he could see the conditions in his words too.

    "How can a human gain this power then, senior?" Shirong questioned.

    "It is not necessarily a powerбн but rather an innate skill. Only people with certain bloodlines or physiques can do that. The dormant state is not a single particr skill either but rather may different such skill that all have the same effect.

    There are even certain immortal tools and formation arrays that have the same effect. Though the difficult and requirements of using such arrays and tools are very high.

    Like I said, it is basically a way of sealing a person of a being. There are some very strong sealing formation arrays that can even freeze the very time itself." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing all this, Shirong was blown away. Such information was something that was entirely unknown in this world and perhaps if it was even known by someone, that person or power would keep it hidden away.

    After all, information was power, and such information was basically a bomb.

    "I seeбн" Shirong muttered, feeling a bit disappointed.

    But soon he returned to the point that he wanted to ask about. The dormant state was merely one of them.

    "If you came such a long time ago senior, then why did no one hear about you or find out about you?" Shirong asked.

    "Wellбн back then there was basically no human cultivator strong enough to find out about it. There were barely any humans at all, if I remember correctly. The entire was filled with beasts and looked vastly different than now." Lin Wu replied.

    "That makes sense. If you came before any humans, and stayed hidden the entire time, there was no way for them to find out about it." Shirong understood.

    "Indeed. Additionally, I had to stay in a dormant state until my cultivation reached a state where the world would not reject me and forcefully send me to the immortal realms again." Lin Wu added.

    "Forcefully send you?" Shirong furrowed his brows.

    "The worlds, or more urately, the realms within which the worlds exist, have restrictions on them. Certain worlds can only have cultivators below the Immortal Realm, some in the spirit realm, and some only allow mortals to exist.

    If a being stronger than that tries to enter it, they would stop them and prevent them from entering. Some might even be more violent and try to eliminate the very being itself.

    But if a being that originally belonged to the world grew stronger, and reached a point where they were beyond the limits of the world, they would be pushed out of the world. That is what ascension basically is.

    And also why most cultivators above the immortal realm cannot enter spirit worlds. Different worlds have different limits and these can change over time. Usually, the more the cultivators the world has and the higher their average cultivation, the higher the level of the world would be.

    Some worlds can have high limits from the moment they are created, while some are born with a very low limit. The lowest leveled world is the world that has no life and no energy either." Lin Wu exined in detail, solving several of Shirong''s doubts.

    But this was merely the start of Shirong''s questions as the more he learned, the more he wondered.

    "I''ve wondered how can worlds stop experts from entering it? I mean, don''t the cultivators get strong so that they can go against the heavens and do whatever they want? Then if they are that strong why can a world stop them?" Shirong questioned after thinking for a bit.<sub> </sub>

    "Well, the answer for that is simple. They are not that strong." Lin Wu stated.

    This was an answer Lin Wu knew after seeing the Skull gods'' empire. The man had captured several worlds and changed them as he wanted. He had also ravaged many worlds without a care and could enter them even if they had restrictions.

    "What?" Shirong had not expected this.

    "They are simply not that strong." Lin Wu repeated. "Even if one reaches the immortal realm, they are not strong enough to go against a world''s will." He revealed.

    "The worlds willбн" Shirong muttered.

    ''The ancestor told us about this onceбн'' Shirong recalled.

    He had read about the world''s will after learning about it from the ancestor a long time ago. There was some information written in a book about the world''s will and how the entire world was actually sentient.

    It was the world that decided how and what happened in it.

    That was also why many religions considered the world as a god or a deity too. The heavens were the absolute and gave birth to the myriad of worlds, while the worlds gave birth to the numerous creatures.

    Such was the order of the universe.

    Though the world'' will was often considered as a myth by many as they never came in contact with it or got the opportunity to see it. But now Shirong had gotten a proper confirmation from Lin Wu, a being that he thought to be beyond this world.

    "So seniorбн just how strong would one have to be to oppose this worldбн the Ming Dao world?" Shirong finally questioned.

    "Now thatбн is a good question. And is something what I wanted to talk to you about too." Lin Wu replied.

    "You do?" Shirong was surprised.

    "Indeedбн that is entirely the reason why I''ve done all that has happened till now." Lin Wu stated.

    Hearing this, the gears in Shirong''s brain turned and everything fell into the ce.

    p ''A beast kingdomбн the inheritanceбн the call for humansбн'' Shirong thought over it all and found that it made sense all of a sudden.</anda>

    "So what is it, senior? What is the reason?" Shirong asked.

    "Like you asked, just how strong would one have to be to go against this world? One would have to be as strong as the Skull God." Shirong''s eyes went wide upon hearing this.

 Chapter 787 An AFK Bot

    Shirong knew about the Skull god very well.

    After all, that being was the reason why he had almost died a decade ago. He was still upset about it and it had only pushed him that much to getting stronger.

    "The skull godбн I''ve had an encounter with him." Shirong replied in a low voice.

    "I know." Lin Wu replied, shocking Shirong.

    "YOU DO!?" Shirong eximed.

    "Indeedбн after all, that spear recorded everything." Lin Wu pointed to the crystal spear.

    Shirong stared at it for a moment before speaking. "Of courseбн how could I forget."

    "And I have to say, you did well there. You foiled the attempt of the Skull god''s avatar ofing back to life." Lin Wu faked some praise.

    Shirong didn''t know what to say to this and felt a bit conflicted.

    "Seniorбн this spearбн what happened to it?" Shirong asked with slight hesitation.

    "You could say it depleted all of its energy by destroying the avatar, purging its traces from your body and then sending you off to a safe ce." Lin Wu replied.

    Shirong looked back at the spear and said, "it did all that?" finding it unbelievable.

    "Yes. It was a failsafe function in case all else didn''t work. And thankfully, it worked. Though it also ended up damaging the spear greatly. Now it is merely a shell of its original self." Lin Wu exined.

    "Then can it return to its original state?" Shirong asked.

    "No." Lin Wu firmly stated. "At least not in this world." He added.

    "Huh? What do you mean, senior?" Shirong asked in confusion.

    "When you got the spear, it was never in its original state. It was damaged from the very start. That spear is far stronger than it looks. This world would not allow a weapon as strong to ever enter it.

    Or ratherбн the spear itself wouldn''t enter a world as weak as this for the fear or damaging it." Lin Wu replied, dispelling some of his doubts.

    "Then how did ite to this world?" Shirong asked.

    "The most likely reason is it came searching for me. But if it did, then it means its original owner must have been dead. With him gone, the spear probably ended up wandering around the universe.

    It has probably taken a long time to reach this world. Since I''m its creator, it instinctive sought me out." Lin Wu replied with the response he had made a long time ago.

    Hearing that it belonged to someone else, Shirong recalled some of the memories that he had shown.

    ''That man in the illusion that taught me spear intentбн that must''ve been the owner.'' Shirong thought.

    "Thenбн can this spear be repaired again?" Shirong questioned, feeling hopeful.

    "Of course it can." Lin Wu said.

    "Really!?" Shirong almost shouted.

    "Yesбн but there are some conditions." Lin Wu said, reducing his excitement, but notpletely.

    "What are they?" Shirong inquired.<sub> </sub>

    "Well first of all, that spear will not be able to reach the very peak of its power, or the original state that I made it in. For that to happen, I would have to reach my original cultivation base too. And that is something that will take a while.

    Being in a dormant state greatly regressed my cultivation base and returned me to my juvenile form. Until I recover my cultivation base, I won''t be able to fully fix the spear." Lin Wu respondent.

    Hearing Lin Wu''s words, Shirong took another look at him.

    ''This is a juvenile form?! Heavens! Just how big is he going to be, then?'' Shirongpletely mistook Lin Wu''s words.

    But it was not like Lin Wu would mind them. Rather, it was the best for him, if Shirong came to his own conclusions. That way, there would be fewer inconsistencies and plot holes in his lies.

    Pushing these thoughts aside for now, Shirong spoke once more.

    "Then what can you do for the spear now, Senior?" Shirong asked.

    "Well, it won''t be on the same level as when you got it. But I can repair it enough to return some of the features." Lin Wu replied.

    Lin Wu had already expected Shirong to ask this and had gotten the system to prepare some potential solutions. Thus he gave out this response right away so that Shirong would know to keep his expectations low.

    "That will be fine, Senior!" Shirong epted it right away.

    It was still better than the state it was in, as he couldn''t even use it at all. Any improvement would be good for him.

    "Hmmбн though there is also a way you can speed up the process of its recovery." Lin Wu said intently.

    "What is it?" Shirong was ready to take anything.

    "You simply need to kill creatures with it. It will absorb a part of their cultivation base." Lin Wu stated.

    "That won''t be a problem!" Shirong answered.

    He was fine with it as he had been intending to do it from the very start. And it was his goal before too.

    But he was unaware that it was all Lin Wu''s ploy to get him to do work.

    ''Heheh! My AFK bot will be ready soonбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as his smile widened a little.

    Though the difference in his smile was unnoticeable to Shirong, as he didn''t even know it was a smile in the first ce.

    "Give the spear to me then, it''ll take a while for me to repair it." Lin Wu said.

    "Sure." Shirong replied and gave the spear to Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu took hold of it and felt excited and curious at the same time.

    ''Wonder how much spirit Qi the spear umted till nowбн the system did say that it should be able to absorb and retain a significant amount.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    ''System, check the spear and scan it for the stats.'' Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    The system gave him a report right away, but when he saw it, his eyes went wide.

    "What in theбн"

 Chapter 788 An Investment With An Explosive Return

    Lin Wu''s words of shock hade out audibly and Shirong had heard them too.

    "Is there a problem, senior?" Shirong asked with concern.

    To him, if Lin Wu had acted like this, then there must be some issue with the spear.

    ''I hope its not too damaged or something.'' He thought.

    "There are some problems yes." Lin Wu nodded his head. "It will take me a bit longer than I originally estimated." He added.

    "I seeбн you can keep it till you are done with it senior. I''ll wait patiently till then." Shirong said, not minding it all.

    After all, he was looking at a wait time of unknown proportions before. At least now he had somewhat of an estimate for it all. Having some answer was better than no answer.

    But he didn''t know that Lin Wu had reacted like that for an entirely different reason.

    ''What the fuck did this guy feed to the spear?!'' Lin Wu screamed in his mind.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET: Crystal Spear

    SPIRIT QI STORED: 45,658,151 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    VITAL ENERGY STORED: 41,684,554 units

    бкбк

    Seeing the little window with some massive information, Lin Wu was absolutely stunned.

    He couldn''t fathom just how Shirong got the fake crystal spear to umte this much spirit Qi and vital energy. As far as he knew, the crystal spear could absorb about 10% of Shirong''s spirit Qi when he cultivated naturally and if it was directly given the chance to absorb, it could take a maximum of 80%.

    That was the peak efficiency of absorption that it had. But even with it all, Lin Wu was sure that Shirong certainly didn''t increase the storage of spirit Qi by simply cultivating.

    After all, if it was just by cultivating, the amount of spirit Qi that Shirong cultivated would have been over 400 million units. And that was a massive amount such that Lin Wu had never obtained that much yet.

    Forget 400 million, simply fifty million would be enough to send someone without any cultivation all the way to the Dao Shell realm.

    ''If he could cultivate that much spirit Qi in ten years, he would have already reached the Dao Treading realm, that''s for sure.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    With this fact in mind, Lin Wu guessed that Shirong definitely used other materials topensate for it.

    Lin Wu had gotten the system to make the spear such that it could still absorb the spirit Qi even if there was no one to control it. Of course, there were certain restrictions on it so that it would not be found.<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu didn''t want anyone else than Shirong finding out about it and then tracing it back to him. Thus, he made the system hide everything very well. After absorption, the spear would condense and store it deep within it, while also walling it off entirely.

    This made it so that no spirit sense could tell just how much energy was hidden within. Though this function was originally intended so that Lin Wu wouldn''t have others finding out that he crystal spear was suspicion.

    Instead of that, the feature came in handy to hide the spirit Qi.

    After all, such a massive amount of spirit Qi was something that would get anyone greedy. It was an amount one would get if they converted the spirit Qi of an entire low or mid grade spirit stone mine.

    With such a high baseline, it was important to keep it hidden. Lin Wu doubted even Shirong knew just how much spirit Qi this little spear contained.

    ''The little investment I made came by over a few thousand percent in returnбн'' Lin Wu thought as his eyes lightly shone.

    He knew exactly what he was going to do with this and it hade had the right time too.

    ''This will speed some of my ns up.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu put away the spear for now and decided to continue his talk with Shirong. There were still many things that needed to be addressed and he needed to fully turn Shirong to his side too.

    "Now thenбн since you are here, do you want to ask me anything more?" Lin Wu prompted.

    "Umm, yes senior." Shirong nodded his head. "You mentioned the Skull god was the threat, and he is the level of threat that can case the Ming Dao world to be in danger. How is that possible?" he questioned.

    "The Skull god you faced there in the Dread Coil Marsh was merely the avatar of the true Skull god. That person has great cultivation level and has ruled over several worlds while also destroying many more." Lin Wu answered.

    "Really? If he''s so strong, then why didn''t hee down to our world directly and sent a weak avatar instead?" Shirong asked, feeling confused.

    "Of course, while he does indeed have the power to go against the restrictions of the Ming Dao world''s will, there is something else restricting him." Lin Wu replied. "Something that you know of."

    "And what is that?" Shirong questioned, feeling curious.

    "The four guardian beastsбн even the Skull god would have to give them face or end up facing opposition from them. He wouldn''t dare to act openly in a world that has the guardian beasts'' base in them." Lin Wu answered, surprising Shirong for several reasons.

    "So theymand such powerбн but wait, you said four guardian beasts? We only have three." Shirong said, finding it to be suspicious.

    "That is something I found unusual, too. The four guardian ns send their beacons to all worlds that they can. But these beacons only awaken when the residents of these worlds reach a certain level.

    But in the case of the Ming Dao world, something unexpected happened. The fourth beast, the Vermillion bird''s beacon, never awakened." Lin Wu exined.

    Shirong''s brows narrowed as he recalled seeing certain statues in the Dread Coil Marsh.

    "I thinkбн I saw the Vermillion bird before." Shirong stated.

 Chapter 789 Threat And Recruitment

    ''Of course, he grasped it quickly. The intelligence is not bad at all.'' Lin Wu thought after seeing Shirong picking up on the old memories and clues.

    "You did indeed. There was actually a great conspiracy behind it all." Lin Wu said before starting his exnation of how the Skull God hatched a great plot to invade the world by borrowing the hand of others.

    He suppressed the Vermillion bird''s beacon and prevented it from fully awakening, thereby weakening the grasp of the four guardian beasts on this world. It was a plot that had been happening for a long time and was mind blowing.

    It was even more so for Shirong, since he knew about the true story of the Ming Dao world. Lin Wu''s words filled in several gaps in his memories and also added more.

    "This is something that would cause a great upheaval in the world if it was known. The great invasion that gave rise to the three guardian ns was actually all orchestrated by the Skull godбн" Shirong muttered to himself.

    Knowing that an unknown power had manipted local powers to rise to the top was uneptable to Shirong. It only made him feel an urge to get strong as soon as possible. He had always wanted to be at the top of the world and go beyond it. Thus, hearing that someone already did that and was close to the sess was not fine by him.

    "What is in it this world, that the Skull God is willing to do anything to get here?" Shirong asked in conclusion.

    He could tell that there was definitely something to this world that the Skull god wanted. In not for that, there was no logic in going against another great power like the four guardian beasts.

    "That is nothing but this ce." Lin Wu stated.

    "This ce?" Shirong finally felt it click. "Of course!"

    "Indeed. The Skull god wants the thing that was sealed in this tomb. And also the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial. After all, his own power came from the negative part of the Taiji Celestial in the past. That is how he grew and gained all that he had. He would want to progress more after reaching a wall." Lin Wu spoke.

    Shirong thought to himself and wondered if or when the Skull God would appear once again.

    "But thenбн the Skull God is not the only threat either." Lin Wu added.

    "It''s not?" Shirong asked, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

    "Noбн rather, there is another one that is already taking root in this world. The shadow cmity." Lin Wu said. "That is the reason why I was sent to this world. To stop it from rising again."

    Shirong knew about the shadow cmity too, as he had seen it in the movie that Lin Wu had shown him. He knew about the dangers and how vtile it could be. It would be hard to find it in the initial stages, but once it spread, it would be impossible to contain.

    "What do we do then, senior?" Shirong asked.

    He could see the big picture and understood that if something like the Shadow cmity truly rose in the Ming Dao world, he would likely perish to it too. And even if he managed to escape it, the power he gained in the world, and all that he had built, would be lost.

    One didn''t want to lose their hundreds of years of investment after all.

    "I have a n to stop it. The kingdom is a part of it, but more wille soon. If you are willing, you can join me." Lin Wu spoke.

    Shirong thought over it for a minute and knew that it was the best option.

    "I agree, senior." Shirong replied.

    "Good!" Lin Wu said with a smile. "But before you can do thatбн you will need a better cultivation technique."

    "Oh? Is my Immortal Sky Shaker Art not good enough? Its a top cultivation technique in this world." Shirong asked.<sub> </sub>

    While he was indeed interested in greater cultivation techniques, he still wanted to know how the one he practiced stacked as. After all, there was also the issue ofpatibility within cultivation manuals.

    One couldn''t just pick anyone, they needed to see if their old cultivation base was evenpatible for it.

    "Ahahah~" Hearing his words, Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh.

    "The Immortal Sky Shaker art might be good in this world, and even in some other worlds, butpared to the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance, it is nothing." Lin Wu said before thinking of something. "Would you like to see a demonstration?" he asked in a teasing tone.

    Shirong didn''t really pick up on that, and thought that Lin Wu simply wanted to teach him something as a senior.

    "Yes, senior! I appreciate any pointers!" Shirong said right away, not wanting to miss out.

    ''Time to blow his mind a little.'' Lin Wu chuckled in his mind before raising his tail.

    At first, his tail simply stood in the air, but then a faint glow appeared on it.

    ~SHUA~

    Suddenly, spirit Qi fluctuations rose from it and a unique aura appeared.

    Sensing it, Shirong''s eyes went wide.

    ''It can''t beбн that''s the aura of the Immortal Sky Shaker Art!'' Shirong recognized it.

    ~WOONG~

    Wind attribute spirit Qi swirled around Lin Wu''s tail and moved in several patterns, some of which were unique to the Immortal Sky Shaker art.

    "Y-you know the Immortal Sky Shaker art?" Shirong asked in disbelief.

    "I just learned it from the memories of the spear." Lin Wu replied casually.

    ''He learned it just like that?! Even I took monthsбн'' Shirong was stunned.

    "Now for the demonstrationбн this is the basic level of the manual, yes?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Y-yes." Shirong nodded his head.

    ~CRACKLE~

    Then in front of Shirong, lightning streaked across the tail of Lin Wu, contrasting with the wind.

    "And this should be the next major level?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Y-yesбн" Shirong said, almost trembling.

 Chapter 790 Shock And Lightning

    Shirong felt like he had seen a new world view today, a new reality, a broader truth.

    ''He progressed to the third stage in seconds?!'' he was truly at a loss for words.

    ~RUMBLE~

    But then Lin Wu showed him something that shook his very soul.

    Shirong watched as the lightning and wind danced across Lin Wu''s tail. The lightning was now moving in a very strange manner. It was almost as if it had be like the water.

    "Can your immortal Sky Shaker art do this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Noбн this level of control on lightning isбн unprecedented." Shirong answered truthfully.

    He knew that while the power of the lightning in front was not that much and he could easily exceed that, the control of it had reached a level that he had never imagined. Even his great grandfather who had cultivated the Immortal Sky Shaker art and was in the Immortal Ascension realm didn''t have such control.

    "This is a little improvement to the original. The Taiji Celestial''s inheritance is all epassing and allows one to learn about the Yin and Yang. If one has control over them, no element is too hard to control." Lin Wu exined.

    Lin Wu''s words were striking to Shirong and made him recall some other things.

    "The tribtion lightningбн" Shirong recalled something that had happened in the past.

    "So you''ve experienced it already. Good." Lin Wu said mysteriously.

    Hearing this, Shirong''s eyes went wide.

    "Wait, it can be done?! Tribtion lightning can really be controlled?" Shirong questioned.

    "Of course. It is difficult of course, but with practice, it can be done. The traces of Dao hidden within the lightning can be ovee." Lin Wu answered.

    Shirong couldn''t help but be impressed. One of the steps in reaching the third stage of the Immortal Sky Shaker art was to absorb a part of the tribtion lightning. It was a very dangerous step and if not for the help of the spear, Shirong would have been unable to do it without a great chance of dying.

    Shirong watched as the lightning swam around Lin Wu, like carps around a pond. The control was smooth and there was almost no perceptible stuttering.

    "Alsoбн with the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance, you will be able to expand to more than just the wind and lightning. Like I''ve said before, it epasses almost everything in the world. The Taiji is the beginning of all and was born from the Wuji." Lin Wu stated.

    ~huu~

    Shirong took a deep breath and was entirely convinced.

    "I shall dly ept the inheritance senior." Shirong stated.

    "Oh you won''t get it just like that." Lin Wu replied.

    "I understand senior. I shall prove it to you." Shirong said without hesitation.

    He wasn''t so naive as to think that he would get an inheritance served on a tter.

    ''The senior is only doing this because he has some karma with me. Perhaps that spear might have been the only reason he allowed me toe here.'' Shirong thought.

    "Good." Lin Wu smiled. "You shall start from the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials like everyone else. If you pass them, you can take the Taiji Celestial''s trials." He added.

    "As you wish, senior." Shirong replied respectfully.

    He was interested in both trials, so it was in his favor either way.

    "Oh, and before you go, I have something more for you." Lin Wu said.

    "What is it senior?" Shirong asked feeling interested.

    "Just stay still and don''t move." Lin Wu stated.

    "Huh?" before Shirong could react though, he saw Lin Wu''s tail moving at a blinding speed.

    In less than a second, a thin spike touched his forehead and he could feel something piercing his head. A sharp pain spread from it but was gone in the very next moment. Shirong felt his vision go dark and didn''t know what was happening.

    During this time, Lin Wu was getting the system to do a proper check and also install the Pentagem.

    "System, scan the man and also get the Pentagem ready." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Shirong

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET: Shirong

    CULTIVATION BASE: Adult Soul Stage Of the Nascent soul realm (suppressed)

    VITALS: Stable

    BLOODLINE: Thunderpool Serpent (unawakened)

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    B. Remote Skill activation

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was surprised by seeing the information that system gave him.

    "Seems like he''s using a technique to hide his cultivation base. He''s atleast Adult Soul Stage but will appear to other one or two stages below. Though the ones at his cultivation stage won''t be able to tell.

    This one is for those experts who are Dao Shell realm or above and probe him. No wonder I couldn''t tell it ulturate at the start either." Lin Wu quickly analyzed.

    He was learning more and more as days passed, and didn''t need the system''s help all the time either.

    But the thing that surprised him the most was that Shirong now had a bloodline.

    ''Where the hell did he get a bloodline from? He certainly didn''t have it in the past.'' Lin Wu was confused.

    "System, what''s that bloodline?" Lin Wu questioned.<sub> </sub>

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Thunderpool Serpent is an extinct beast that has not been seen in the Ming Dao world for over twenty thousand years. It was exterminated before the rise of the guardian beasts and has not appeared since then.

    The Thunderpool serpent has great potential and can reach the Immortal Ascension stage when matured. An infant when born is at the core condensation realm and will reach the Nascent soul realm when it bes a juvenile.

    The Thunderpool serpent is a lightning elemental beast and has a body filled with dense electricity. It is said that it can devour lightning tribtions and the more it devours the more it loses its physical form.

    At its peak, it will turn into true lightning and will not have a physical form.

    бкбк

    The information given by the system was strange to Lin Wu as there was even a picture of the beast on its side.

    "The heck? It''s an eel?"

    In front of Lin Wu was what looked like a slim eel. It was very long and only a finger thick. There were deep blue patterns on it while its teeth were sharp.

    "And this is supposed to be its immortal ascension realm form?" Lin Wu was not expecting it to be small.

    "Affirmative" The system responded.

    "What happened to the point where it turns to lightning at its peak?" Lin Wu asked feeling confused.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: This is not the peak of the Thunder Pool Serpent. While its potential allows it to reach Immortal Ascension realm, it won''t simply let it reach its peak like that. The Thunderpool serpent needs to devour tribtion lightning several times.

    But since below the immortal realm this can only be done during the tribtion of the nascent soul realm, the only way the beast can achieve this is by stealing other creatures'' lightning tribtion.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн rather interesting." Lin Wu nodded his head. "Though the question still stands, where did this bloodlinee from? Did he assimte it himself or something?"

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SUGGESTION: The system can extract memories after reinstalling the backdoor.

    бкбк

    "That still works? Great, do that then." Lin Wu agreed.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INITIALIZING PROGRAM: Backdoor control

    INITIALIZATION COMPLETED: Pentagem linked

    INSTALLING: Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu watched as the system did its work. He knew that the new upgrade to the Pentagem had increased its capacity and that it could do more, but didn''t think that the backdoor function could be used again.

    It was something Lin Wu was only able to use in the past because he had directly linked to Shirong. It was not something that could be replicated easily after that. The Pentagem was in a way an inferior version of it with slightly different functions.

    With each upgrade in its versions, its capacity and capabilities improved as well. Thetest had the extra capacity for an extra program, with it being the backdoor control.

    Lin Wu knew that just the addition of remote skill activation was a big burden. After all, it could allow Lin Wu to execute a full power attack skill, without him being there. Just the storage of spirit Qi needed was massive and then there were also the modtion issues that could arise with conflict of bodies.

    But now the system could add more.

    Lin Wu waited for about ten minutes as the system, finished its work.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INSTALLATION COMPLETED: Backdoor control installed sessfully.

    NOTIFICATION: Scanning Memoriesбн

    EXTRACTING: Data nodes condensed

    NOTIFICATION: Data node extracted

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    With another string of notifications, the system dered the end of its task.

    "Alright, find the reason behind him getting the bloodline." Lin Wu ordered.

    Lin Wu barely had to wait two minutes before the system found the reason.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The subject Shirong used severalbinations of cultivation resources one of which was the fossilized egg of a Thunderpool Serpent. Due to the way it was fossilized, there was no way to tell it was an egg and simply looked like a crystal rich in lightning elemental spirit Qi.

    It also allowed Shirong to rapidly break through from the Child Soul stage to the Adolescent soul stage. The fake spear also has traces of the same lightning elemental spirit Qi from the fossilized egg.

    бкбк

    "I knew it would be something like thisбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    ''The man has been binging on them resources huhбн and even fed the spear a lot of them.'' Lin Wu thought as he saw several more windows showing the memories of Shirong that yed like a movie.

 Chapter 791 Exp Bot Shirong

    After watching everything for a couple of hours, Lin Wu finally understood why the spear had so much spirit Qi and vital energy hidden in it.

    "My man''s been using anything he got, to feed the spear and try to awaken it." Lin Wu concluded.

    Lin Wu had expected for Shirong to try that, but this was way beyond that expectation.

    ''I think he might have broken through if he used those resources on himself thoughбн'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    "Stillбн this works in my favor anyway." Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    He looked to Shirong, who was still in a system induced trance.

    "That should be enough for now. Release him System." Lin Wumanded.

    ~shua~

    p As soon as he did that, a wave of energy spread from Shirong and he opened his eyes.</anda>

    "HAA! HAA! HAAA!" He panted loudly and fanatically checked his body.

    "Whaбн what happened?" Shirong questioned, finding his body to be fine.

    "I felt something in your body earlier that was unusual and checked it." Lin Wu said, much to Shirong''s surprise. "Did you know you have a bloodline?" Lin Wu questioned ording to a n.

    "W-what? I have a bloodline?" Shirong asked, feeling confused.

    "Indeedбн and I don''t mean a human bloodline like your Ji n''s. But rather a beast bloodline." Lin Wu replied.

    Shirong furrowed his brows in response, showing that he truly didn''t know. Lin Wu of course, knew this all, but just wanted an excuse for the two hour long trance that he had put Shirong in.

    "Iбн don''t knowбн I''ve never assimted any bloodline." Shirong said.

    "Wellбн seems like you consumed something that held a bloodline in it." Lin Wu stated. "It has not awakened though, which is why you didn''t sense it either."

    "It''s not awakened?" Shirong was surprised, but then understood. ''No wonder I couldn''t feel it.'' He thought.

    But then a slight discontent appeared on his face.

    "This beast bloodlineбн what is it?" Shirong questioned, wanting to know more.

    He knew about bloodline and did intend on assimting a good one in the future. It wasn''t that he never had any opportunity to assimte a beast''s bloodline. He was from the Ji n and could get as many beast bloodline crystals as he wanted.

    But the issue was to find something that was worth his time and wasplimentary to his cultivation technique. He didn''t want to assimte a bloodline that was not that useful and barely assisted him.

    Thus, hearing that he now had a bloodline suddenly was unexpected for him. He only hoped that it was something good.

    "It is a bloodline of the Thunderpool Serpent." Lin Wu answered.

    Shirong furrowed his brows, not recognizing the beast.

    Lin Wu saw this conflict on Shirong''s face and knew that he was trying to tell what beast it was.

    "Fear not, it is a decent bloodline. And it matches your cultivation technique, too." Lin Wu relieved Shirong.

    "Really?" Shirong was surprised.

    "Yes. In fact, it was the passive effect of the object that gave you this bloodline that you experience a rapid breakthrough." Lin Wu stated.

    Hearing this, Shirong suddenly recalled something.

    "Thatбн purple crystalбн" Shirong remembered.

    "Indeed. You seemed to have assimted the power from a fossilized egg of the Thunderpool serpent." Lin Wu answered.

    "A fossilized egg? Just how old was it?" Shirong questioned.

    "At least twenty thousand years old. It is a beast that has gone extinct in this world." Lin Wu answered.

    Lin Wu then went on to exin some information about the Thunderpool serpent to Shirong, who was d to hear it all. He felt greatly rxed hearing that the bloodline he had assimted was so strong and could even help him absorb lightning.

    "Seems like I was lucky." Shirong said after hearing it all.

    "Indeed." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "But thenбн I still need to awaken the bloodline to make proper use of it. If its dormant like this, it is almost the same as having no bloodline." Shirong spoke before looking at Lin Wu. "Do you know of a method to awaken this bloodline?" he questioned.

    To Shirong, Lin Wu was probably the greatest expert on this world now and possibly the most knowledgeable, too. If Lin Wu didn''t know it, he didn''t know if anyone else would know about it or not.<sub> </sub>

    "I do indeed." Lin Wu replied.

    "What is it, senior?" Shirong asked.

    "Wellбн you simply do what the Thunderpool Serpent specializes inбн Consume Tribtion Lightning." Lin Wu replied, making Shirong smile wryly.

    He had survived Tribtion lightning before, but knew that doing so again without the spear was not an easy task. Then there was also the fact that he would need to find someone else that was having their breakthrough to get the tribtion lightning.

    ''I can get the n to help me out with this, but thenбн there is no guarantee I will survive that. The punishment tribtion lightning is far stronger than normal tribtion lightning.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    He knew there was the Tribtion attenuation tforms, but then they would just weaken the lightning and wouldn''t really help Shirong at all. He would need someone that was undergoing a Heavenly Tribtion without any help.

    "Ahahah~" Lin Wuughed seeing Shirong.

    It was unusual for Shirong to act like this as Lin Wu recalled how he used to behave in the past. Only with Lin Wu who Shirong considered to be a great senior, would he act a bit meekly.

    "Don''t worry. I can help you out with that." Lin Wu spoke.

    "REALLY SENIOR!?" Shirong asked excitedly.

    "Yes. Though it will take a while." Lin Wu spoke. "After all, we''ll need for someone to breakthrough to the Nascent soul realm and make use of their tribtion."

    "I seeбн I shall be eternally grateful for that, then." Shirong cupped his hands and bowed his head.

    "Mmбн for you now, you can focus on taking the Sky Bright Daoist''s Trials. I''ll inform you when someone is having a breakthrough." Lin Wu stated.

    "Alright, senior. I shall wait for that day then." Shirong said.

    "You won''t wait, you will work. Go off now!" Lin Wu shooed him away.

    ~shua~

    A teleportation formation sent the man to the shrine. Lin Wu had already sent a message to the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk about letting Shirong take the trials before and thus the beast was ready with a room for the man.

    Letting Shirong get strong worked in Lin Wu''s favor thus he didn''t mind investing more in him.

    "He''s already shown his worth as an exp botбн he''ll hunt more for meterбн heheheh~" Lin Wu chucked to himself as he imagined Shirong bringing him the spear full of that sweet-sweet spirit Qi.

    It would increase Lin Wu''s own rate of cultivation and allow him to focus onprehending the Dao Traces more too. After all, if he wanted to progress further, he now needed to condense his own Dao Embryo.

    And doing that was not an easy task at all.

    So far, Lin Wu had greatly depended on the system to cultivate and progress fast. But he had reached a point, where he needed to work on his own and use his own self to grow.

    Only afterprehending the Dao Traces that werepatible with him would he be able to form a Dao Embryo.

    Then there was also the fact that he didn''t have a single Dao Shell. He had two of them. Thus, he didn''t know how his breakthrough would exactly work. He didn''t know whether he would have to condense one Dao Embryo or two to sessfully breakthrough.

    ording to the system, just one should be enough, but there was no grantee that it would not work in his favor.

    Then there was also the randomness of the Nascent soul of the Unknown bloodline. For a while it had shown no movement, but Lin Wu didn''t know what it could do.

    "Let''s just focus on one thing at once thenбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself as he looked at his list of tasks.

    He stared at it for a few seconds and saw the next task.

    "The Lian n is the next nowбн" Lin Wu said as he sent a message to the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape.

    The beast did it work and went to get the Lian n''s representatives who were currently roaming around one of the orchards in the forest.

    Lian Xiaojian had started to like the forest quite bit now and eating the spirit fruits while talking a walk in the orchards had be his daily pass time. He had also felt like his bottleneck was loosening the more time he spent in the forest.

    ''Would it be possible for me to build a pce here?'' Lian Xiaojian wondered to himself.

    Apanying him were Kai Li and elder Ruanjian. Elder Kai Li was enjoying her time just like Lian Xiaojian but was also working her machinations cleverly. She was greatly interested in the growth of the Millennium forest and the secrets that it hid.

    She was greatly looking forward to meeting the king of the forest.

    Elder Ruanjian on the other hand, was mostly silent and kept a passive appearance. He didn''t interfere in anything that Lian Xiaojian and Kai Li did and left them to their virtues. He simply followed them along and made sure that no danger came to them; just like had been ordered by their patriarch.

    He was duty bound and would do his very best to fulfill that duty.

    The elder was following his young master when he felt a presence appearing behind them, prompting him to turn quickly.

    "The King has summoned the envoys of the Lian n."

 Chapter 792 Calling In The Lian Clan Envoys

    "Now this is a dark ceбн Can''t say I''m feeling all too well." Lian Xiaojian said.

    The three envoys of the Lian n had been called by Lin Wu and were now walking through the entrance of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb. Of course, they didn''t know this was a tomb and were merely told that it was where Lin Wu resided.

    They didn''t even know his name properly either, with mostly just calling him the king and nothing else. It was instructed by Lin Wu and gave them him feeling of being mysterious and enigmatic.

    "We should be careful, Young master. The runes and inscription carved on the walls and floor aren''t simple." Elder Ruanjian warned.

    "So it really is dangerous." Lian Xiaojian said, feeling a bit cold.

    Kai Li though was mostly calm and looked around freely. By now, she had confirmed some of her assumptions.

    ''So there really is an ancient tomb here huhбн those runes are just like what the old records said.'' Kai Li thought to herself, but didn''t say anything.

    She looked at Lian Xiaojian and Elder Ruanjian for a few seconds before moving her gaze back to the dark depths of the corridor.

    ''A foolish young master and an elder that can only follow his duty. The perfectbination to have for my expedition.'' Kai Li thought to herself.

    It was the best for her, since both of them didn''t really mind her. Lian Xiaojian was simply too inexperienced to say anything, while Elder Ruanjian was more concerned with following his young master and didn''t mind her as long as nothing happened.

    This gave Kai Li some free hand to act and move around. She had already done a survey of the millennium forest in the two weeks they had been here and had learned a few things.

    While the depths of the forest, the sixth ring was restricted, she could still see the many orchards and farms that were built all over. Additionally, she ended up encountering some strange behavior from the beasts.

    She discovered areas that could only be called as fighting areas.

    The beasts would enter there, pay something to the organizing beasts and then fight against each other. The winner would receive some kind of a token and would leave contently.

    Kai Li was actually allowed to enter the arena too after she paid generously and got to witness it all. She even saw some human tactics being used by the beasts!

    She had to admit the beast tournament she saw was far more entertaining that the hundreds of cultivator tournaments she had seen. It wasn''t that the beasts were too strong and used peerless skills, either.

    Rather, it was the unique and different method of fighting that made it more entertaining and fun to watch.

    To Kai Li, this was all full of great potential; potential to make a blinding amount of gold.

    ''And the beast king that could make all this possibleбн now that will be interesting to see.'' Kai Li thought with a smile.

    Just as she thought all this, the corridor they were walking on came to an end.

    "Oh? Isn''t this a teleportation circle?" Lian Xiaojian recognized after reading some of the runes.

    "It is indeedбн and one that is far more powerful than any I''ve seen before." Kai Li added.<sub> </sub>

    She truly was interested now, because as far as she knew, a teleportation array asplex as this was enough to cover a distance past an entire continent. But simrly the energy requirement would be massive.

    ''To just activate a pan continent formation array the creator would need to be at the Dao Treading realm, wouldn''t they? Just how strong would one have to run a multi continent teleportation formation array?'' Kai Li wondered.

    The three came to stand in front of the circle but didn''t know what to do next.

    "Are we supposed to use it?" Lian Xiaojian asked.

    And as if responding to him, the runes on the floor started to glow lightly.

    "Seems like it." Kai Li said as she took the first step.

    "You should be a little more careful, junior elder Kai Li." Elder Ruanjian warned.

    "It doesn''t matter at this point, elder Ruanjian. If the King of the Millennium forest wanted to harm us, he wouldn''t need tricks like this at all. You should be able to tell that much." Kai Li replied.

    As much as Elder Ruanjian didn''t want to admit it, he knew that the junior elder was right. He could tell that the king was not simple at all, and even his entire power would possibly not be enough to stop an attack.

    Lian Xiaojian looked at Elder Ruanjian for a moment before walking into the circle as well. The elder joined them a secondter.

    As soon as all of them were in the circle, the runes activated and a strong wave of spirit Qi spread from it. Elder Ruanjian tensed a bit as he could tell the spatial fluctuations were just a bit too strong for a normal teleportation.

    ''Is this really taking us somewhere within this tomb or somece else?'' Elder Ruanjian wondered.

    ~shua~

    The runes shone brightly before the three envoys felt their senses being cut off. And by the time they returned, they found themselves in another ce altogether. Elder Ruanjian''s spirit sense spread to get an idea about the ce and could not find the borders of the room, telling him that they were in a ratherrge area.

    ''Certainly not a ''room''.'' Elder Ruanjian thought.

    ~SHUA~

    Then in front of them, a green glow lit up, catching their attention.

    "Wee, envoys of the Lian n." Lin Wu finally spoke.

    The three envoys felt scared at therge being that had appeared in front of him. It wasrger than anything they had seen until now and towered over them all.

    "That pressureбн I can''t feel any spirit Qi hereбн no waitбн I can''t mobilize any spirit Qi of my own either." Elder Ruanjian said, only scaring the other two even more.

 Chapter 793 A Business Opportunity

    Lin Wu smirked, seeing that he had aplished his goal rather quickly.

    "Greetings, K-King of the Millennium forest." Kai Li suppressed her fear quickly and ignored the pressure that she felt.

    Lin Wu couldn''t help but raise a brow seeing this.

    ''She certainly got some gritбн'' He thought.

    "Greeting, I am the King of the Millennium forest, Lin Wu."

    "So it is king Lin Wu, please take my respects." Lian Xiaojian cupped his head and bowed, though with his fat ball like body, the bow didn''t seem like a bow and more like a curve.

    The other two did the same as was the etiquette. They would have been a bit disinclined to do something like this for any other king, but Lin Wu''s mere presence told them that he was not one of the weak kings that merely had the title and no power.

    "Now then, I was informed you wanted to meet me for some reason?" Lin Wu asked.

    He truly didn''t know what their reasoning behind it was and was sure that it wasn''t just confirming that he existed.

    "We do have a few reasons, King Lin Wu." Lian Xiaojian replied.

    "And what are they?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Wellбн the first was to see who could be behind the rise of the Millennium forest. Forgive me butбн it ispletely unprecedented." Lian Xiaojian stated.

    "I understand." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Then there is the other reason that we had." Lian Xiaojian added.

    "And what might that be?" Lin Wu inquired.

    "We have a few business opportunities for you." This time Kai Li spoke.

    Kai Li and Lian Xiaojian had discussed a little about it, and Lian Xiaojian had decided to leave the lead in this case to her after seeing Lin Wu. Originally he was to lead it all, but they were still unsure of Lin Wu and his disposition.

    But seeing his form and power, Lian Xiaojian truly thought that it would be better to let someone more experience take the lead. Elder Ruan had the same opinion and was fine with Kai Li doing the talking.

    Lin Wu''s eyes gazed upon the woman with great interest. He had seen her actions in the forest and even knew that she had gone to see the arena. If anything, she interested him more than the other two Lian n members.

    "Go ahead." Lin Wu spoke.

    "We''ve seen the millennium forest and the great changes that have happened in it. The agricultural developments are certainly impressive and the inheritance ground even more so." Kai Li said. "We have heard the conditions to ess the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials and guess that respected King wants better trade and some economic transactions between the kingdoms and other powers?" she asked.<sub> </sub>

    "That will be correct." Lin Wu responded.

    "We have a way to make the Millennium forest gain great profits if the king is willing to make a deal with us." Kai Li stated.

    "Oh? Is that soбн" Lin Wu spoke as he gazed at the three of them.

    Lian Xiaojian slightly squirmed under the pressure, while Elder Ruanjian seemed tense. Only Kai Li was faring better, but Lin Wu could still see her trembling hands.

    "Very wellбн I can consider it. Ifбн you have a full outline and n for it." Lin Wu said after thinking for a bit.

    "We already have it prepared!" Kai Li hurriedly said, anxious that Lin Wu might change his words.

    She knew clearly that the beast in front of him wasn''t stupid and the actions he had already taken in the forest were enough to change its face. Even without them, she was sure that the Millennium forest would gain a lot of fortune in theing years.

    Just the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials alone would be enough to bring in considerable resources not to mention the rest of the treasure pile that the millennium forest was sitting on that they didn''t even know about.

    ''I''d bet my soul, if there wasn''t some great treasure below this ce. Otherwise there is no way the beasts would progress this fast and the spirit Qi would rise to the same level as that of our n.'' Kai Li thought to herself.

    In all scenarios she could think of, the millennium forest had a great chance or rising. Even if some other powers were greedy and tried to take over it forcefully, they''d had to pay a great price.

    And that price had risen by many times in her mind, simply by seeing the power that Lin Wu was demonstrating right now. Kai Li didn''t even need to know for sure just how strong Lin Wu was or what his cultivation base was. Her instincts were screaming at her that they were enough to wipe out a few kingdoms and sect.

    Not to mention, there was now an alliance between the ten sects around the millennium forest, the three kingdoms, and even one of the top sects, the Frozen Cloud sect.

    Just the backing of the Frozen Cloud sect alone was enough to make many people think twice of doing anything to the Millennium forest.

    But with all the red gs that Kai Li could see, she also saw the gold gs of fortune waving in the distance. Despite the mysterious of the Millennium forest, she knew that this ce might be the biggest opportunity she would have to rise in the world.

    ''I''ll bet everything I have on thisбн'' Kai Li thought to herself with determination.

    Lin Wu didn''t know what the woman was thinking, but was happy that they had the n ready.

    ''At least they are efficient. Their image as a great business n is not for just show I suppose.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Alright, show me the n then." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Here it is!" Kai Li immediately took out the jade slip within which the n and its condition were written in.

    "I appreciate the promptness." Lin Wu said as he nced at her.

 Chapter 794 Ruthless Negotiation

    Kai Li felt her grip on the jade slip loosen as wind took it away from her. The jade slip was lifted up by the wind and brought to Lin Wu.

    ''System, scan it and see how we can make it advantageous to us.'' Lin Wumanded.

    He had already seen the actions of Kai Li before on the monitoring screens and knew that she was no simple woman. In fact, the way she could keep up herposure despite being in front of him alone was a proof of her slyness.

    After all, even the envoy of the Long n, Long Qingao was anxious upon seeing Lin Wu and he was far stronger than her.

    Lin Wu could also tell that the Elder Ruanjian was simr to that and was actually ready to act any moment before something happened. He could sense the faint spirit Qi trying to move within the body of the man.

    Unfortunately for him, no matter how much he tried, the radiation was suppressing it all.

    The system scanned the jade slip and soon listed tens of lines in front of Lin Wu.

    ''Hmmбн she did manage to slip some terms that would benefit herter even though they seem good for us.'' Lin Wu read the terms and conditions.

    The system already prepared a second modified list of terms and condition and imprinted them on the jade slip.

    "I''ve modified some of the terms and conditions. If you agree, then we shall go on with this deal." Lin Wu stated before giving the jade slip back to Kai Li.

    ''He read though all that quickly?'' Kai Li was surprised and wondered if Lin Wu simply took a nce.

    ''Though if he didn''t read it properly, he wouldn''t make changes properly either, would he?'' She wondered.

    But when she read the conditions, she was at a loss.

    ''Heavens! He''s even more ruthless than patriarch! 3%?! 3% from 15%? How does one even negotiate like that?'' Kai Li read the profit margins that Lin Wu had changed.

    Lin Wu saw the distress on Kai Li''s face and couldn''t help but smile.

    "Is there an issue?" Lin Wu asked, fully knowing what was happening.

    "King Lin Wu, thisбн 3% is just too lowбн how will we do the work like this?" Kai Li said unwillingly.

    "Oh? So you wish to rip me off?" Lin Wu said, his voice getting heavier.

    "N-no! That''s not it King Lin Wu. It''s just thatбн there will be several more people involved in it that will need to be paid too." Kai Li stated. "Just the transportation costs alone will take up 8% of the cost." She added.

    "What if I can help remove transportations costs all together?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Huh?" Kai Li was confused as she couldn''t think of any way to reduce it.

    The people who transported all the goods would need to be paid and the people who would protect the goods would need to be paid too. And with such high value goods, it would have to be strong cultivators guarding them.

    And that was not something cheap at all.<sub> </sub>

    Even a small group of Core condensation realm cultivators guarding a caravan would need to be paid upwards of thousands of spirit stones. And this cost would only increase the longer and farther they went.

    "How would that be possible King Lin Wu?" Kai Li asked, still unable to think of any method.

    "I shall get my subjects to assist you." Lin Wu proposed.

    Upon hearing this, Kai Li felt it click.

    "The beasts?" Kai Li asked doubtfully.

    "Indeed. They can do the functions of both carrying the goods and protecting it." Lin Wu stated.

    Hearing this, Kai Li''s eyes lit up and she could instantly see the advantages of it.

    "Of course! With the strong beasts guarding it, most people would be disinclined to even think of attacking a caravan." Kai Li spoke excitedly.

    She had not thought of such an option because they had not made use of beasts as strong as this before. It wasn''t that there weren''t tamed beasts having the cultivation base of Core condensation realm and Nascent soul realm in the hands of cultivators.

    The Lian n had their own personal mounts that they reared along with some beasts that carried the carts for the caravan.

    But rearing and controlling such beasts was a difficult task. Especially with therge numbers that Lin Wu was proposing the costs to tame so many beasts and take care of their food would result in such high costs that even the Lian n would be hard pressed.

    It was simr to using a tiger tank to deliver goods. It would be very safe and secure, but the fuel costs and the cost of the driver running it would be very high.

    It was not really a viable option.

    Kai Li also knew that if Lin Wu was proposing this, then the costs like those should not be there for them. She had already seen how the beasts in the forest behaved. At least the ones that were at core condensation realm and above were rtively non-violent.

    At least she thought that they would not attack unless provoked. Which was more than enough for them.

    "So then, do you agree with my offer?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Kai Li didn''t answer him right away, though. There was hesitation present on her face.

    ''Even with 3% it will still bring massive profits. We just need to deal with the sales while most of the logistical costs are being reduced by the beasts being provided by the King.'' Kai Li analyzed the best option.

    But just as she was thinking all this, she heard Lin Wu again.

    "5% I''ll offer you that then. I believe that should be more than enough?" Lin Wu asked.

    "YES! THAT WILL BE ENOUGH!" Kai Li immediately agreed.

    She was already prepared to take 3% but Lin Wu''s offer was a big surprise to her and was like a pie that fell from the skies. There was no way she was gonna waste this opportunity.

 Chapter 795 New Opportunities

    Lin Wu and Kai Li ended up discussing for several hours after this as Lin Wu wanted to go over the other conditions too.

    Some of these changes that Lin Wu did made Kai Li feel like she was not talking with a beast but rather a Shrewd Businessman who had been doing business for a few hundred years.

    Kai Li truly felt like she was not facing a beast but rather their patriarch in a business negotiation.

    It was perhaps the most stressful negotiation of her life until now. But at the same time, she was learning a lot from it too. After all, the details that the system pulled up might beplex to the cultivators and might be mistaken by most, but for a great A.I. like the system, it was a joke.

    It could easily analyze and derive several different conditions instead of the ones that were initially written. Kai Li couldn''t even begin to think just how much experience one would need toe up with uses such as this.

    In her eyes, she had already ced Lin Wu on the same pedestal as the Patriarch of the Lian n who had brought the n to its current heights.

    Then there were some other suggestions that Lin Wu gave in addition to the established conditions.

    It was mostly to do with the transport routes that they would take.

    The Lian n had its own routes that they always took, as it was well charted and had enough support on it. But instead of taking those, Lin Wu suggested alternative routes that were not trade routes at all.

    In fact, they weren''t routes at all and went through wilderness, hills and barrennds filled with dangers.

    Sure, they were shorter than the established trade routes, but if one lost their goods and their lives on it, all of it would just be useless.

    Kai Li thought so too, until Lin Wu enlightened her on the fact that they were now using a different method of transport. His beast subjects would suppress all other wild beasts that stood in their way and drive them away.

    Not to mention there would also be Lin Wu''s aura on them, which alone would keep the stronger beasts at the Nascent soul realm and above away.

    Having heard it all, Kai Li could only see a mountain of gold rising in front of her. She could almost imagine swimming in it already.

    "EXCELLENT! WE SHALL DO AS YOU SUGGESTED KING LIN WU!" Kai Li said with excitement.

    She could already measure that the time needed for them to transport all the goods would reduce by half in many cases and in a couple of them, the time could be reduced to only a ten percent of the original.

    This would give them a supreme advantage over the other merchants and traders. It would also eliminate the need for hiding their trade routes and keeping it secret as others might try to take them too and take away their advantage.

    With the beasts, though, even if the others found out about the routes, it wasn''t like they could do anything. They were more than wee to take the same route, but the death and loss that woulde with that would be theirs to bear in the end.

    Kai Li would be happy if the otherpetitors tried this and died. It would leave the with an even greater monopoly that way and result in far greater profits.

    ''Hehehehehheehheheh~ this will be the deal that will make me a queen!'' Kai Li thought to herself as her eyes glinted with the shimmer of gold.

    While Lin Wu and Kai Li animatedly discussed the deal, Elder Ruanjian and Lian Xiaojian could only stand there and watch it helplessly.

    "How long do you think it will take them, Elder Ruanjian?" Lian Xiaojian whispered.

    His legs were kinda hurting now, as he had been standing for over twelve hours. It wasn''t that he hadn''t thought of sitting, but he didn''t know if that would offend Lin Wu. Thus, he could only bear it and stand.

    Elder Ruanjian looked at his young master and had a lost expression.<sub> </sub>

    "I don''t knowбн discussions like this canst daysбн your father, the patriarch, has a record of twenty days of nonstop negotiations." Elder Ruanjian stated.

    "Thatбн they won''t take that long, will they?" Lian Xiaojian asked, feeling a bit afraid that his legs might just fall off before that.

    Elder Ruanjian wondered if it would really take that long.

    ''They''ve already gone through half the usesбн and if they keep the same pace, they should be done in a day perhapsбн'' the elder estimated.

    "We just need to wait. It should be over eventually." Elder Ruanjian said.

    ''That''s not really an answer thoughбн'' Lian Xiaojian thought but didn''t say anything.

    He nced at the Lin Wu and Kai Li talking and secretly took out a plum that he had hidden in his pockets.

    Since he couldn''t ess his spatial storage treasure due to the restriction of the radiation field, he could only use up his emergency snack stack.

    ~Crunch~

    Lian Xiaojian took a bite, and let off a crunch a bit too loud than he had expected.

    "Ummбн" He stopped midway, his teeth still stuck in the plum and red juice dripping down the side of his mouth.

    Lin Wu and Kai Li stared at him, with Kai Li having an irked expression.

    Lian Xiaojian felt cold sweat appearing on his back and was now stuck in the awkwardness.

    Lin Wu furrowed his brows and recalled something he had thought of before.

    "Oh yeah, I forgot about you two." Lin Wu said.

    "F-forgive me King Lin Wu." Lian Xiaojian hurriedly spoke.

    ~shua~

    But he was then struck with an object.

    "Ow!" He rubbed his shoulder in which the object was now stuck.

    His fatty skin folds had urately gripped the object.

    "What''s this?" He asked and Elder Ruanjian too looked on in interest.

    "Something good. Read that and maybe try practicing it." Lin Wu said as he waved his tail and sent them away.

 Chapter 796 Sending A Young Master Into Depression

    Elder Ruanjian and Lian Xiaojian had not expected something like this and were caught a bit off guard.

    When they came to their senses, they found themselves in a different room. It was much smaller than the hall they were in before, but it was well lit and there was no suppression here. either. But that was not all. There was even some furniture in the room, and it was human sized.

    "Is thisбн a waiting room?" Lian Xiaojian wondered.

    "Seems like itбн at least it''s better than just standing there." Elder Ruanjian spoke.

    Lian Xiaojian looked around the room and saw that there were two exits to it. He walked up to one of them and opened the doors.

    ~CREAK~

    The doors opened with some effort and a long corridor, the end of which could not be seen presented to him.

    ~shua~

    But that was not all, as he could feel an oppressive pressureing from the corridor. It was simr to the suppression he had felt in Lin Wu''s hall.

    "Nope!" Lian Xiaojian quickly closed the doors and stepped back. "Too dangerousбн"

    He went to the second exit, which was smaller. Instead of two doors, it only had a single door. Lian Xiaojian held the handle of the door and tried to open it, but found it to be locked.

    "No way out of here," Lian Xiaojian said feeling a bit uneasy.

    "You can sit down and rest for now, young master. The king will probably call uster." Elder Ruanjian said.

    He was not afraid that Lin Wu would do something to them or junior elder Kai Li, as there was no use for the beast to sneak around. The demonstration that they had seen until now were more than enough to tell him that the beast could kill them with ease.

    Lian Xiaojian nodded his head and plopped down on a rather spacious couch. The couch was made out of wood, and was cushioned with beast pelts, making it morefortable than it looked.

    "This is not badбн" Lian Xiaojian said as he leaned back a little.

    While Lian Xiaojian gotfortable, Elder Ruanjian''s gaze went to the jade slip that was still stuck in Lian Xiaojian''s shoulder.

    "Young master, you should check that jade slipбн no crystal slip." Elder Ruanjian suggested.

    He could tell from looking that it wasn''t made from anymon jade and was simr to the crystals of Lin Wu''s body instead.

    "Oh yeah! I almost forgot." Lian Xiaojian said and pulled the crystal slip out from the fatty skin fold of his shoulder.

    ~jiggle~

    His shoulder jiggled a little as he pulled it out. Holding it in his hand, Lian Xiaojian used his spirit sense to take a look. At first his expression was normal, but a minuteter, sweat appeared on it.

    Elder Ruanjian obviously noticed it and wondered what the issue was.

    "Young master, is everything fine?" he asked with concern.<sub> </sub>

    "Thisбн how can this be?" Lian Xiaojian though, was far more shocked by the crystal slip''s contents.

    "What did you find?" Elder Ruanjian asked, wondering why the man was acting like this.

    "Iбн I haveбн I have an innate physiqueбн" Lian Xiaojian muttered nkly.

    "What?" Elder Ruanjian said in confusion.

    He wondered if Lian Xiaojian had misspoken or something. But seeing his face, he thought it was unlikely.

    "Let me take a look," Elder Ruanjian took the crystal slip from Lian Xiaojian''s hands effortlessly.

    Lian Xiaojian was far too distracted to even maintain his grip on it.

    ~huu~

    Elder Ruanjian took a deep breath and scanned through the contents of the Crystal slip, reading what was inscribed in it.

    "Vital House Physiqueбн ability to healбн use self-sacrificial skillsбн obesityбн possibility of dyingбн" Elder Ruanjian muttered in surprise.

    He couldn''t help but take another look at Lian Xiaojian and matched all the characteristic that were described in the crystal slip. Other than the physical characteristics of the Vital House physique, some unique meridians were also described in it, which allowed one to confirm if one had the physique.

    "Young master, let me examine you. If this is really true, then it will be a great opportunity for you." Elder Ruanjian hurriedly said.

    The elder was anxious, not just because Lian Xiaojian possibly had the physique but that their patriarch might have it too. And what he was concerned about wasn''t whether the physique was strong or not, but rather the conclusion one would reach if the physique was not awakened.

    ''If patriarch has it too, thenбн he might die anytime!'' Elder Ruanjian thought to himself as cold sweat appeared on his back.

    He had followed the patriarch since before the man was even at the Nascent soul realm and was loyal to him. He didn''t want Lian Dajian to die.

    It was something entirely unexpected for him. After all the Patriarch of the Lian n, Lian Dajian was at the Dao Treading realm and at the prime of his life.

    To cultivators, getting fat wasn''t an issue, and themon problems that mortals would face with that kind of body didn''t really matter to them. If they wanted to, they could return to their best physique with ease.

    There were many alchemical pills and other methods that could be used to achieve this.

    Then there was also the fact that Lian Dajian was at the Dao treading realm and had at least a thousand years of lifespan left. Such lifespan was enough for him to continue ruling the Lian n for a long time and ensure its prosperity.

    But now the Patriarch was likely faced with a danger that he didn''t even know existed. And if the information in the crystal slip was urate, there was nothing that could stop him from dying.

    After all, it wasn''t a disease or poison, it was his own physique that would kill him. And the process of death mentioned in it was not pretty either, as one would literally explode upon reaching a certain point.

    Lian Xiaojian was afraid of this too.

 Chapter 797 Potential To Destabilize A Clan

    Lian Ruanjian looked at Lian Xiaojian waiting for the man to respond.

    "O-okay..." he finally said, his voice trembling.

    "Hold on, young master." Lian Ruanjian said as his spirit sense probed the fat man.

    It easily pierced through his skin and met no resistance, before finally entering his Dantian. From there, it followed the meridian pathways and scanned the entire cultivation base.

    A minuteter, Lian Ruanjian''s eyes went wide as he found what he was dreading for.

    "It really is the Vital House Physique..." Lian Ruanjian said in a voice filled with dread.

    Rather than Lian Xiaojian having a physique, he would have much more preferred that he didn''t have it. After all, even if a physique could offer benefits, a drawback like death was definitely not worth it.

    Lian Ruanjian didn''t even mention to Lian Xiaojian that he wasn''t actually worried for him, but rather his father.

    After all, in terms of the Lian n''s stability, the death of the first son would be far more manageable than the death of the patriarch. It would send the stable n into a tizzy, and Lian Ruanjian was sure that the elders would break into a race for power.

    The current heirs would be the same and would do anything to get the position of the patriarch.

    Everything would turn ugly and it would derail the growth that the Lian n was enjoying right now.

    ''With how simr the young master and patriarch are, there is a great chance the patriarch has the physique, too. And he never mentioned to us that he had a physique, which means he doesn''t know of the hidden danger either.'' Lian Ruanjian thought to himself, while his back started to sweat.

    Lian Xiaojian iaojian too heard the elder''s words and was feeling lost.

    "What will I do now, elder Ruanjian? Will I die?" Lian Xiaojian questioned.

    Lian Ruanjian was a bit confused too, but then recalled something.

    "WAIT! THERE WAS MORE TO THE SLIP!" The elder recalled.

    With the shock of the information in the initial part, he had entirely forgotten to check the other half. The fatty had done the same and not checked that there was actually information that could solve his problem, too.

    Elder Ruanjian quickly picked up the crystal slip again and read the other half of the information that mentioned how the Vital House physique could be awakened.

    "It can awaken automatically? No! That''s not something we can rely on..." Lian Ruanjian quickly moved on to the next option.

    But then, upon reading the second option, which was to suffer prolonged injuries, Elder Ruan felt his body getting colder.

    ''To save the patriarch, he''ll need to be hurt first? What kind of a method is this?!'' Elder Ruanjian screamed internally.

    Though after a minute, he calmed down and thought over it again.

    ''It does say that the second method has the greatest chance of sess. The only thing that might prevent it is if the willpower of the individual is weak. If it is strong, then they will manage to awaken their physique.'' Lian Ruanjian thought before taking a look at the fatty.

    ''If it''s the young master... I can''t assure his willpower would be strong enough to survive that. But if it''s the patriarch, then...'' Elder Ruanjian analyzed the options and its viability.

    Lian Xiaojian watched as the elder went silent and pondered on his thoughts. Ten minutes passed like this and Lian Xiaojian could not stay silent anymore.<sub> </sub>

    "Elder Ruanjian, what do I do now?" Lian Xiaojian questioned.

    Elder Ruan woke up from his thoughts and looked at Lian Xiaojian, as a firm look appeared in his eyes.

    "Young master! All hope is not lost! You can survive this!" Elder Ruanjian said with determination.

    "I can?!" Lian Xiaojian was excited but not entirely relieved.

    "Yes!" Elder Ruanjian said before he described the method to Lian Xiaojian.

    The fatty was shocked and didn''t believe it before taking another look at the crystal slip. And once it was confirmed, he copsed to the ground.

    ~THUD~

    "That''s it... I''m dead either way..."

    While the Elder and Young master despaired in the room, Lin Wu was entirely unaware of it.

    He had simply left the system to monitor them, but wasn''t paying attention to them. Lin Wu was also in the dark about the fact that his little act of potentiality roping in a new pawn had caused such a great upheaval for the two.

    After all, Lin Wu didn''t know that what Lian Xiaojian suffered from would be the same as his father.

    This act of his had the potential to destabilize the entire Lian n too.

    Kai Li was also unaware of it all, and animatedly continued to discuss with Lin Wu. The two were now sitting around on the ground, and a plethora ofrge pillows had been spread around for them to sitfortably.

    And at one point, snacks and refreshments had also been summoned by Lin Wu.

    "This is a great suggestion King Lin Wu!" Kai Li said as she took a sip from a goblet full of spirit fruit juice.

    Once her throat was moistened, she continued. "We can probably increase the profit margins even more if we dy the sales and put a gap of at least two weeks between each restock."

    "That might really work." Lin Wu agreed as he threw a few roasted skewers into his mouth.

    Unknowingly, twelve hours had passed since Lian Xiaojian and the elder were sent away.

    ''Never thought I''d have such a great time discussing business... Hmm, perhaps I should have taken business studies in my past life instead of biology...'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Kai Li continued to look through the new uses they had made and was content with it all.

    "Looks like we are all set, King Lin Wu. You can look forward to some big profits." Kai Li said.

    "Let''s hope so." Lin Wu replied causally.

    And just as he said this, Kai Li looked around for herpanions.

    "Oh yeah, I should bring them back now." Lin Wu teleported the Young master and elder back.

 Chapter 798 A Blunder

    Lin Wu watched as Lian Xiaojian and Elder Ruanjian were returned to the hall.

    But what happened next was certainly not something that he was expecting.

    The fatty started at Lin Wu with a bewildered expression before it changed it an ugly crying face.

    ~THUD~

    "What theбн" Lin Wu then saw Lian Xiaojian falling faster than a meteor.

    "BOOHOO!!!! SAVE ME GREAT SENIOR!!!!!" Lian Xiaojian started crying.

    Kai Li watched it with absolute confusion while Elder Ruanjian continued to sweat.

    "What''s happening?" Kai Li couldn''t help but ask.

    "Stand up! I say stand up!" Lin Wu ordered.

    But Lian Xiaojian seemed to be unable to listen to his words. It was only after elder Ruanjian himself pulled him up did the man stop crying.

    "Forgive me seniorбн" Lian Xiaojian apologized.

    "Now tell meбн what is the meaning of this? Why are you crying?" Lin Wu asked.

    ~sob~ sob~

    "D-don''t you know, senior? You are the one that gave me the crystal slip." Lian Xiaojian said between his sobs.

    Lin Wu furrowed his brows as he tried to think what was going on here.

    ''I just gave him the information about his physique and how to awaken it? Why is he crying like this?'' Lin Wu thought, feeling confused.

    Seeing that the conversation was not progressing, Elder Ruanjian decided to interfere.

    "King Lin Wu, our young master''s life is now in your handбкбн tail. You have to save him." Elder Ruanjian spoke.

    Kai Li looked at the two of them, feeling even more confused.

    "What do you mean young master Lian Xiaojian''s life is in danger, Elder Ruanjian?" Kai Li questioned.

    "King Lin Wu gave Young master information about his physique. He has an innate physique and if he does not awaken it, he will die." Lian Ruanjian answered.

    He then passed on the crystal slip to Kai Li, so that she could take a look as well. Lin Wu meanwhile, stood in silence as he started to get a grasp on what was happening here.

    ''They couldn''t haveбн could they?'' Lin Wu wondered if the two of them had made a blunder.

    Kai Li read through the crystal slip and finally understood what the young master was crying about.

    "This is badбн" Kai Li muttered.

    Even she could see the great implications of it. She was even more worried since right now she had the young master of the n with her, and if something bad happened to him, it wouldn''t reflect well on her.<sub> </sub>

    While in this case it wasn''t a direct harm, potential death was a great problem.

    ''It''s not that there is no solutionбн but persistent injury for a long time? Can the young master even survive that? Won''t that just be cutting his life short?'' Kai Li wondered how to go about this matter.

    She looked back to Elder Ruanjian and felt a bit relieved.

    ''Noбн I don''t need to worry about this as much. Elder Ruanjian is the one assigned to Young master, so he should know better. I best focus on the deal instead,'' Kai Li thought to herself.

    She had not understood the further implications like Elder Ruanjian had. Kai Li didn''t think that the issue wasn''t with just Lian Xiaojian but also the patriarch. After all, she wasn''t as acquainted with Lian Dajian as Elder Ruanjian, who had followed him since before he was the patriarch.

    What none of the three knew was that they had made a big mistake. Though it could also be considered a mistake on Lin Wu''s part.

    ''Seems like the wording has got them caughtбн but it''s not all bad.'' Lin Wu thought as a few ideas appeared in his mind.

    He knew that the Young master and Elder Ruanjian had mistaken the terms of death for his physique.

    ''They think that Lian Xiaojian will die if the physique is not awakened, but that is not soбн rather his physique will only kill him if he continues to get fat. Hehehe~ perhaps I really can make a pawn out of him.'' Lin Wu chuckled inwardly.

    He looked back at the crying Lian Xiaojian, whose fat face had only turned worse with the snot and tears running on it. Elder Ruanjian was tensed and his forehead was covered in sweat.

    "Tell me what the issue is." Lin Wu stated calmly, beginning his act.

    Elder Ruanjian took a breath before speaking.

    "King Lin Wu, since you know our young master had an unawakened Innate Physique, you should also know how to save him, right?" Elder Ruanjian inquired.

    "I do, and I added that to the crystal slip, too. You already know the methods." Lin Wu replied.

    "Y-yes, I know. Butбн that method isбн not really something that has a good sess rate, is it?" Elder Ruanjian asked.

    "You could say that." Lin Wu nodded his head lightly.

    Lian Xiaojian only sobbed louder, seeing Lin Wu''s casual attitude.

    "Pleaseбн please save me King Lin Wu! I''ll do everything you say!!!" Lian Xiaojian couldn''t hold back anymore.

    "Y-yes! Please help our Young master King Lin Wu. The Lian n shall not let this go unrewarded. You will be handsomelypensated for it, I assure you of this." Elder Ruanjian hurriedly spoke.

    A slight smile appeared on Lin Wu''s face, but he held it back, for he knew it was not the correct time.

    Kai Li too watched on, wondering what Lin Wu would do.

    ''While the patriarch values profit over most thingsбн Lian Xiaojian still is close to his heart and he even resembles him. I don''t think he would mind paying something to save his life. Besidesбн if the physique is awakened, young master will definitely benefit from it.'' Kai Li analyzed.

    She knew that even if it was not a matter of death, simply the awakening of an innate physique was something that warranted a great cost. Innate physiques could greatly change a cultivator and increase their power.

    If someone could awaken an innate physique, that along would be worth a great cost to pay.

    And as far as Kai Li knew, there was no one in the Lian n who had an innate physique.

 Chapter 799 A Pawn Made From A Mistake

    Lin Wu continued to watch as the Young master cried and cried. His face had turned red by now and his breath was haggard as well.

    "Fine," Lin Wu finally spoke.

    Lian Xiaojian stopped his crying and started at Lin Wu with an expectant gaze.

    "Really!?" Lian Xiaojian said, feeling relieved.

    "Yes, I''ll help you awaken your innate physique." Lin Wu replied.

    "Thank you for your grace, King Lin Wu. If not for you, we would have never known that there was such a danger hidden in Young master''s fate." Elder Ruanjian said, feeling relieved as well.

    "Mmm, but you must also know thisбн" Lin Wu spoke, tensing up Elder Ruanjian and Lian Xiaojian. "That there is no guarantee the innate physique will truly awaken. Not only does it depend on the trial he goes through but also his will power.

    If he has a weak will power, no matter what we do, Lian Xiaojian will die." Lin Wu stated firmly.

    Hearing this, Elder Ruanjian nodded his head. He had read the information and knew of the risks.

    "Some risks are bound to be there in one''s life. And we are cultivators who go against the heavens. Risks are embedded in our path and oveing them is our duty." Elder Ruanjian stated.

    "The Lian n shall not hold King Lin Wu ountable if anything happens to young master Lian Xiaojian." He added.

    "Alright." Lin Wu gave his final agreement. "Lian Xiaojian can stay here for now. I''ll have to prepare for his trial."

    "Of course! I shall wait for as long as you want, King Lin Wu." Lian Xiaojian said, not minding the negatives that Lin Wu had said earlier.

    He was already heading towards a deadly point in life and knew that this was better than nothing.

    Elder Ruanjian nodded as well before speaking. "Then I shall take my leave King Lin Wu and leave Young master in your care. I need to return to the Lian n and inform our patriarch of this matter."

    "Very well. I''ll send you out." Lin Wu replied, not minding his sudden departure.

    Elder Ruanjian looked at Kai Li and had aplex expression.

    "Junior elder Kai Li, seems like I need to leave the rest to you. I hope that you can work everything out." Elder Ruanjian said with a hint of apology.

    "I''ll do my best to fulfill this duty, Elder Ruanjian. You can rest assured." Kai Li replied hurriedly.

    She didn''t mind it at all, and was actually pleased that Elder Ruanjian was leaving everything to her now.

    ''This is the best thing that I could''ve asked for. I will have a better hold on things without Elder Ruanjian gawking at all I do.'' Kai Li thought to herself and barely managed to hold back her smile.

    Though in all this, Lin Wu was unaware that Elder Ruanjian''s urgency to leave was because of an entirely different reason. The need to inform about Lian Xiaojian''s situation was merely a part of it.

    The main reason was the danger that the patriarch was in.

    "Can you send me out, King Lin Wu? I need to head to the Lian n as fast as possible." Elder Ruanjian requested.

    "Sure," Lin Wu casually said, before waving his tail.

    ~SHUA~<sub> </sub>

    Runes appeared around Elder Ruanjian before turning into a teleportation array.

    The elder felt his body turning weightless before his vision turned dark. He felt like his body was rapidly moving, but he felt no air on his skin.

    ''The teleportation array truly is not simpleбн'' Elder Ruanjian thought.

    A few secondster, he felt like he had stopped, and his vision returned as well. And when it did, Elder Ruanjian found himself at an entirely different location.

    "Huh? This ceбн Genai Mountains?" Elder Ruanjian recognized.

    He was a bit stunned as this location was situated north of the Millennium forest. Normally, Lin Wu should have sent Elder Ruanjian to the western side where the Deer Wood city was. But he had not.

    "No wayбн does he know the Lian n is to the north?" Elder Ruanjian wondered.

    While the location of the Lian n wasn''t exactly a secret, the ones who knew about it were mostly people having high status and cultivation base. It would mostly be kings, ministers, sect elders and such.

    And as far as Elder Ruanjian knew, Lin Wu was only new and shouldn''t know about it.

    Putting these thoughts aside for now, Elder Ruanjian flew up and rushed to the Lian n.

    Back at the tomb, Lin Wu watched as Lian Xiaojian stared at him like a bullied child.

    ~Sigh~

    Lin Wu let out a sigh, and spoke. "You can rest for now, I''ll call you when I have things ready. The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape will talk to you about it."

    "Alright, King Lin Wu. I shall wait for you." Lian Xiaojian said, feeling a little happy.

    <o>,m Lin Wu then waved his tail and teleported him back to his courtyard as well. After that, he told the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape about the situation briefly and told him to tend to the fatty for now.</o>

    Having done this all, Lin Wu finally brought his mind back to the matter at hand.

    "Now thenбн perhaps we should conclude our work?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Y-yes, King Lin Wu! I''ll prepare things here for now and also get acquainted with the beasts you are going to send. I''ll also send my subordinates to get the things ready on the other end." Kai Li replied quickly.

    She couldn''t wait to begin her work and her eyes simply yearned to look at the mountains of gold that were in her future.

    "Mmmбн I''ll tell you more when the timees. You can also return to the courtyard for now." Lin Wu said.

    "Then I shall take my leave too, King Lin Wu." Kai Li cupped her hands before Lin Wu teleported her away as well.

    ~huu~

    Done with them, Lin Wu took a deep breath.

    "How many do we have left?" Lin Wu looked through the list of people that wanted to meet him.

 Chapter 800 Winding Up The Meetings

    Lin Wu had quite a few envoys that wanted to meet him and he had let them wait since he wanted different reparteeing for them all. But even among them, there were differences. The people Lin Wu had met till now were the most important ones and the rest were simply an added bonus to him.

    After the Lian n envoys went away, Lin Wu met with the envoy of the Cang Lan sect, the solitary blossom sect and the Chan sect.

    He didn''t talk long with them and the conversation he had with them was rather simr too. Themon reaction he got from all of them was shock and confusion. But this time, Lin Wu didn''t exin too much to them.

    Instead, he took the more mysterious and enigmatic route, making them confused as to what he really was. While the envoys wanted to ask a lot more questions, Lin Wu''s pressure and aura made it hard for them to do so.

    He had not retracted it for them and let them feel it all while talking with them perfunctorily.

    In Lin Wu''s own words, he wanted to keep his ''exclusivity''.

    He knew the value of knowledge and also knew that the three ns would not let this get out easily.

    Lin Wu would have cared more about the sects, if not for the fact that he already had the top three ns in his grasp and also one of the top sects, the Frost Cloud sect. With them in his field, the rest were not really needed for him.

    Even if they could bring him benefits, Lin Wu didn''t want to bite off more than he could chew.

    "At my current state, it is important to solidly the foundation with a few firm supports rather than split it among multiple weaker onesбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Besides, if he ever wanted to expand his reach, Lin Wu would always have the chance to do so. As he was sure that the other sects would not be able to sit still once they understood just how much of a profit the other powers were making.

    "Maybe I''ll shake up the power structure just for fun a bitбн hehehe!" Lin Wu chuckled and wondered just how much fun it could be.

    But at the same time he also knew the dangers that woulde with this. A tall trees catches wind and unless it can withstand it to grow even more strong and wide, it will topple.

    ? Thus Lin Wu would have to struggle to gain a strong base.

    If he faltered and stumbled here, his rise would be all but broken.

    It might even put him in great danger and take away all the advantages he had formed over the years.

    Keeping all this in mind, Lin Wu still took about two days to finish talking with all the envoys. And when he was done, he felt rather relieved.

    ~huu~

    "Is this what the entrepreneurs in my past life felt like?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Pondering on this thought for a bit, Lin Wu''s mind finally went to the thing that he had been waiting for a long time now.

    "HEHEHE! EHEHEHEHEEHEHEHEHEHHEHEH!" Lin Wuughed out loud as a certain fake crystal spear appeared in front of him.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET: Crystal Spear

    SPIRIT QI STORED: 45,658,151 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    VITAL ENERGY STORED: 41,684,554 units

    бкбк

    "Perfect! This will be perfect for it!" Lin Wu said as he looked at the fake crystal spear that he had taken from Shirong.

    It contained a massive amount of spirit Qi that he was going to use for his avatar.

    ~shua~<sub> </sub>

    With just a thought, the avatar which had been cultivating in the private chamber was summoned. The avatar was in the coiled state that Lin Wu usually stayed in to cultivate. It was the natural state that he would sleep or rest in.

    "System, show me the avatar''s data." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [30,126,226/70,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (52% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Fire Resistance (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    DAO SHELL: 1. Normal Dao Shell outline

    WEIGHT: 3,17,173 Kilograms Height 147.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    The avatar had cultivated and consumed quite a few resources over the past months. Lin Wu had especially increased the resources given to the avatar, since he wanted both his bodies to be as strong as possible.

    After all, if his avatar was also strong, he would be stronger overall.

    One of the benefits of the avatar was that Lin Wu had a back up always. If his main body was trapped or captured by someone, he could set it to a dormant state and switch to his avatar.

    This would not only allow him to know of his main body''s situation but also actively allow him to find solutions to escape.

    And just in case something drastic happened and his main body was destroyed, he could switch to the avatar too. While Lin Wu didn''t know what the side effects of this would be, he reckoned it would be better than dying at least.

    Even the system couldn''t tell him what the side effects were as there was simply no precedent for it nor any data.

    If anything, Lin Wu would have to continue cultivating the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture. After all, he had barely scratched the surface with the cultivation technique right now.

 Chapter 801 Splurging The Investment

    Lin Wu could not even be considered to have properly cultivated the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture. There was the issue that the information about it was greatly limited and even the information hidden in the tomb was encrypted that the system couldn''t ess.

    The only method Lin Wu had was to continue cultivating it. And as far as he knew, a cultivation technique on this level would take hundreds of years to show effect.

    The Taiji Dual unity scripture had more than just a basic cultivation method in it. There were many skills, Dao insights, and a lot moreposed in it all. It was just that Lin Wu had not gone into theprehension part yet.

    It wasn''t entirely his fault either, as the Taiji Dual unity Scripture was not simple either. Cultivation techniques like the Immortal Sky Shaker art that were considered top level in the Ming Dao world alone took a few years to learn and decades to getpetent in.

    Even Shirong who was a genius, spent over thirty years practicing it before he had reached his current level.

    Lin Wu on the other hand, was not a genius when consideringprehension talent for cultivation. The system could only help him up to a certain level. It could help him get strong as long as it was material resources and matters.

    But when it came to the intangible such as the Dao andprehending different phenomena and intents, that was not something the system could do. One would have to understand it on their own.

    It was also the reason why the system couldn''t just boost Lin Wu to the Dao Treading realm and he would need toprehend the rest on his own.

    With such a limitation on his current power level, Lin Wu could only think of this method to get stronger.

    ''Once my avatar is nearly on the same level as my main body, once I fuse them both, the strength should be almost on the Dao Treading realm.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    Of course, this Dao Treading Realm level power was considered in terms of Lin Wu and not normal cultivators. He was after all, already strong enough to go against Dao Treading realm cultivators at his current level.

    ~huu~

    "Enough of thinking, time to get into the good stuff!" Lin Wu said as he controlled the fake crystal spear.

    It had more than enough spirit Qi to propel the avatar to its breakthrough and still have some amount left over.

    ''I''ll be just enough for the system to use and modify the spear more. From a fake crystal spear, it will be a true functioning spear...'' Lin Wu thought.

    The fake crystal spear flew and reached the avatar. There it directly embedded into the avatar''s back, as if it were a memory card.

    ~SHUA~

    As soon as it did, the entire avatar glowed in a green light, illuminating the entire hall.

    "Alright system, begin the transfer." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    ----

    SPIRIT QI TRANSFER: Initiated

    TRANSFER COMPLETED: 39,873,774 units (liquid spirit Qi) transferred

    --

    TARGET: Crystal Spear

    SPIRIT QI STORED: 5,784,377 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    VITAL ENERGY STORED: 41,684,554 units<sub> </sub>

    --

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [70,000,000/70,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    ----

    Seeing the transfer had been sessfullypleted, Lin Wu quickly gave the green signal.

    "Time for the breakthrough system!" Lin Wu spoke.

    Lin Wu watched as the spirit Qi wavesing from the avatar rapidly increased. The breakthrough from the Shell Initiation stage to the Shell Genesis stage was rtively quick as it was merely the stabilization of the shape of the Dao Shell while also solidifying a part of it.

    ~DING~

    ----

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm -> Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/90,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    ----

    Seeing that the breakthrough was finallypleted, Lin Wu was feeling excited yet a bit empty at the same time. Though it was mostly because the many zeros that had popped up.

    "At least it''s not as high as back then. Though it''s barely 10% of a difference." Lin Wu muttered as he saw the amount of spirit Qi needed to further upgrade the cultivation base of the avatar.

    90 million was a high number, but with the gains Lin Wu would gain in theing time, it was something he was bound to reach.

    "Hang on... I still have my other Dao Shell in my main to progress too..." Lin Wu recalled, feeling a bit depressed again.

    But his depression was soon wiped out by the feeling of power that was surging over from the avatar.

    "Bah! Nevermind, I got tons of time. I''ll even have an AFK bot now and he''ll help me quite a bit." Lin Wu motivated himself.

    Lin Wu watched the avatar and let it stabilize a bit. About an hourter, the cultivation base had settled down and the worm nascent soul in the avatar also seemed to be a lot more happy.

    But after the avatar''s cultivation base had stabilized, Lin Wu got another crazy idea.

    "Hmm... I haven''t tried fusing for a while now, have I? Should I try again?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He stared at the avatar for a moment before moving towards it.

    "FUCK IT! LET''S DO THIS!" Lin Wu said as the avatar and his main body started to coil together.

    The two soon morphed and the crystals started to meld. Lin Wu felt the spirit Qi within his body surging rapidly as the meridian started to join up as well. It was a exciting as well as painful feeling.

    Once the meridians were all fused, Lin Wu could sense the Dantian shift. The main body''s Dantian was many times bigger than the avatar''s, thus it directly engulfed it and took the worm Nascent soul and Dao shell within it!

 Chapter 802 Stronger Fused Form

    Lin Wu''s body grew with it all and the three bloodlines came together. There was the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm Bloodline, the Unknown bloodline and the fragmented bloodline of the Vermillion bird.

    And when he finished the fusion, he felt a massive power surging within him. Lin Wu felt as if he could rip apart the earth with merely a thought.

    "This feelsбн GOOD!" Lin Wu eximed as he basked in the power.

    A few secondster, he felt a bit morefortable and the aura stabilized as well.

    "System show me the new data." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 15 years, 10 months, 11 days

    LIFESPAN: 4,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Fused Form)

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Completion Stage Of the Dao Shell realm (boosted)

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,968/???] units (liquid spirit qi)

    Secondary store: [0000/90,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 73,435,401 [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 37,596,245 Units

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Unknown (+5)

    3. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- Third level (Lightning attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (48% Meridians converted)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Unity Avatar Technique (Great)(Proficiency: Basic)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (greater) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Sound Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Kin Command (Lesser) (Proficiency: Novice)

    6. Poison Breath (Lesser) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    7. Venom Fang (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)[new]

    8. Bloodline Tracer (Minor) (Proficiency: Master)

    9. me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    10. Fire Resistance (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    Poisons avable-

    1. Basic corroding poison

    2. Tearing Wind Poison

    3. Erupting Radiation Poison

    4. Numbing Poison

    5. Shackling Lighting Poison

    6. Searing Blood Poison [new] (temporary)

    INVENTORY: Pink Women''s underwear, Unknown Metal girdle, Shell Breaker Thorn Band.

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (Human soul)

    3. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Worm soul)

    SYSTEM ENERGY STORAGE: 7,159,658 units

    CURRENT SYSTEM ENERGY CONSUMPTION RATE: 14,752 units/hour<sub> </sub>

    WEIGHT: 1,151,582.80 Kilograms Height 289.8 meters long

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA COLLECTED:

    1. Human

    2. Unknown (+5)

    3. Vermillion bird

    4. Hard Eared Limber Mice King

    5. Olive Viper King

    [Extend +85]

    бкбк

    There was quite a lot of data that had changed with the fusion between the bodies.

    The greatest change was the overall increase in the power Lin Wu had along with his spirit Qi capacity. Then there was the increase in size and weight which was a bit higher than before. In all, Lin Wu was nearly a hundred tons heavier.

    "Damn, my weight finally exceeded the million kilogram markбн" Lin Mu muttered upon seeing it.

    His height, or rather the length of his body had also increased a bit and was closing upon the 300 meter mark. Such size was already enough to tower over the Aquadream Sea Lotus that Lin Wu had faced before.

    The next change Lin Wu saw was in the cultivation techniques he had. The undaunted Sapphire body art in his fused form had increased and about 48% of his meridians were now sapphire meridians.

    In terms of Qi Skills, Lin Wu thought that nothing had changed until he saw the different types of poisons he had.

    "Oh? What''s thisбн Searing Blood Poison." Lin Wu read the line.

    He could also see the specialbel attached to it that said (temporary).

    "What''s up with this system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Searing Blood Poison is the new type of poison synthesized by the system with the fire affinity that the host has in fused form. This poison will only be avable in the fused form as the fire affinity stems from the Vermilion bird bloodline.

    бкбк

    "Ah, I seeбн" Lin Wu was intrigued but understood theplication.

    After all, the Searing Blood Poison needed two things to be made and each of these things were held by one body.

    Though it only got him interested in the effects of the poison.

    "Let''s do a quick trial shall we?" Lin Wu said with excitement.

    He opened his mouth and activated the Innate Skill Poison Breath.

    ~SHUA~

    A red cloud of gas was spat out by Lin Wu, that spread in front of him. The gas quickly increased in temperature when it came in contact with the outside air and seemed as if it wouldbust at any moment.

    Lin Wu raised his brows at it, but was soon met with disappointment.

    ~whoosh~

    Different from what he had imagined, the cloud of red gas dissipated after reaching a certain temperature.

    "Does this one not work well as a breath attack?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Thinking of trying it differently, Lin Wu decided to get a test subject. Taking a quick look at the monitoring screens, Lin Wu scrolled far enough to find a few beasts that were roaming around in the forest.

    These beasts were nothing special and were weak, being in the Qi refining realm.

    "They should be good enough for this." Lin Wu muttered as he waved his tail and summoned them.

    ~shua~

    Runes appeared in the air before transforming into a formation that teleported the beasts into the hall.

    <strong>~CRY~</strong>

    The beasts were startled by this all and let out a scared cry. But then the aura of Lin Wu spread to them and shocked them to no end.

    ~thud~thud~thud~

    And before they could do much, they were overwhelmed by it and fell unconscious.

    "Huhбн that''s newбн" Lin Wu said as he witnessed the knockout without a touch.

    It was a bit surprising to him since he had already reeled in his aura and spirit Qi waves as he knew he would kill the weaker beasts by it. But even after doing that, they were still affected.

    Albeit they were only knocked out this time and were not totally dead.

 Chapter 803 Searing Blood Poison And AFK Bot Preparation

    With the test subjects in the hall, Lin Wu decided to begin the trial.

    "At least them being knocked out will make this a bit easy." Lin Wu said as he lightly pricked one of the beasts with his fang.

    He had to be careful, as even one of his fangs wasrge enough to skewer all these beasts at once. Even with a light prick, the hole that was made in the body of the beast was about an inch wide.

    "Now to wait and watchбн" Lin Wu said and pulled back a bit.

    He didn''t have to wait long either, as just a couple of secondster, the effects presented themselves.

    ~HISS~

    A sizzling sound came from the beast, as its body started to bulge and swell. Lin Wu furrowed his brows and used Radiation perception to check the beast, finding that its body temperature had spiked rapidly and was increasing more and more.

    In less than ten seconds, it reached over a hundred degree Celsius.

    Just this alone had already sealed the fate of the beast as its eyes bulged out and spurted fluids that soon evaporated.

    ~SPLAT~

    The eye ball couldn''t sustain itself and directly burst!

    But that was merely the start as several veins bulged all over the beast, looking like earthworm wiggling underneath its skin. And since the beast didn''t really have fur, but just tough skin, it was even more pronounced.

    ~SPLAT~

    The veins couldn''t hold on for long and exploded as well, shooting out scalding hot blood vapor.

    "Yupбн that''s surely dead alright." Lin Wu concluded.

    Though even if the beast was dead, the effects of the poison didn''t stop there. The poison continued its work and more fluids burst out of the dead beast. Its flesh tore itself apart with the blood vapors shooting out.

    But by the time it was all over, the beast looked like it was a corpse that several carrion birds had pecked apart.

    "Oofбн that is some nasty poison." Lin Wu said, before a smile appeared on his face. "Time to do it again!"

    He repeated the test on the remaining beasts and got simr results. He summoned more beasts, this time stronger ones, and let the system analyze it all. But he had to stop his tests at core condensation realm beasts since there was currently no nascent soul realm beast that he could use for it.

    ''I''ll get to test itter, but for now, this much should be enough.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    "Alright system, did you get all the data?" Lin Wu asked.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Searing Blood Poison data updated.

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    TARGET: Searing Blood Poison

    INFO: This poison is the most effective when directly injected into the body. It will rapidly react with the blood of creatures and cause it to heat up. The poison will ignite the vitality, within the blood and use the blood itself as fuel.

    When a certain point is reached, the blood will turn into hot vapors and expand the internals of the creature. Unless the creature is able to withstand this, it will explode. And even if a beast does not explode, the hot vapors will still spread damage internally and burn the flesh and organs.<sub> </sub>

    бкбк

    Looking at the information given by the system, Lin Wu was thoroughly satisfied.

    "That is certainly worth being a poison I can only use in fused form. The power is decent." Lin Wu said to himself, feeling pleased.

    He pondered on a few methods to use it for a bit before moving on to the other tasks.

    "Best send the Avatar off to cultivate, it still has a set limit to breakthrough thus I can focus some efforts on it too I guess." Lin Wu said before splitting his two bodies.

    ~shua~

    About a minuteter, tworge figures appeared instead of one. Lin Wu waved his tail and teleported the avatar back into its cultivation chamber.

    "Now thenбн what was the next task on the list?" Lin Wu looked through his things.

    "Ah, yes. I have my AFK bot to make." Lin Wu read before summoning the Fake Crystal Spear from his body.

    It was still stuck there when he had inserted into the avatar and there was no difference in it since it was originally his own body part.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET: Crystal Spear

    SPIRIT QI STORED: 5,784,377 units (liquid spirit Qi)

    VITAL ENERGY STORED: 41,684,554 units

    бкбк

    "Will this spirit Qi be enough for the entire process, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Affirmative" The system responded.

    "Good. Begin the work then." Lin Wu ordered.

    And when he did, the fake spear merged back into his tail.

    But this was only temporary, as one of his tail segments stated to morph and move. Unlike normally when the green light on his body moved in a uniform manner, faint patterns started to appear.

    These patterns were dark green in color and looked like they were snakes. They moved from the back of Lin Wu into the tail segment that was morphing and turned into severalplex runes.

    The segment of Lin Wu was about a meter wide, thus over a thousand runes formed on it before they merged into a formation. After turning into a formation, they shrank down and became very small, being merely and inch in size.

    Upon shrinking, this formation took a peculiar shape and looked like a fine insignia instead. It moved along the segment before taking its ce on one corner of it.

    "This is certainly different from beforeбн I know the system said it could use the concept of making a true spirit tool here, and merge it with its own process, but seeing it happen is rather novel." Lin Wu said as he observed everything happen.

    The system had plenty of information and data on how spirit tools and weapons were manufactured, along with the numerous formations that were used in it.

    And it was exactly that information which was being utilized to upgrade the fake crystal spear and turn it into a true spirit weapon!

 Chapter 804 Remaking The Crystal Spear

    Lin Wu continued to watch as rune after rune joined and condensed to be an insignia. About six hourster, over a thousand small insignias were now covering the entirety of his tail''s segment.

    "That''s a lotбн this is not gonna be a normal spirit tool after all, hehehe~" Lin Wu felt amazed at it all.

    He had seen many high grade spirit tools and weapons, even a peak grade one. Though the peak grade spirit tool he had seen was the Deep Holding Mantis clip, which was a spatial storage treasure and couldn''t really be used for offense.

    The thousand small insignias on the tail segment moved and flowed before joining into three clusters. Each of the clusters was filled with a massive amount of spirit Qi and Lin Wu guessed that these were to be the true nodes of the entire spirit weapon.

    "Guess it''s time to do my part." Lin Wu muttered as he activated his innate skills.

    What he was doing here was imprinting a copy of his innate skills onto the nodes. It was simr to how he had the remote skill activation function for his subordinates and servants. But this was far better than that since it had multiple arrays supporting it.

    Not to mention, it was being based off entirely on Lin Wu''s body.

    If Lin Wu tried to put something like this in his servants and subordinates, it simply wouldn''t work.

    It was simr to how one could use a cell phone as aputer, but a supeputer was still needed forplex and high leveled operations.

    In case of the Pentagem imnts, they could execute a skill only once.

    After they were used, it would have to be personally reset and recharged by Lin Wu. But that would not be the case for the spear that the system was making right now. It would be able to continually use the innate skills as long as it had a steady supply of spirit Qi.

    Of course, there were many limitations to it. Such as the fact that the proficiency of it would be greatly less and so will the power. There was a chance to upgrade it in the future, but to do that both Lin Wu and the system would have to be stronger.

    Time continued to pass and twelve more hours passed before Lin Wu was done with this stage. It was rather tiring for him mentally, as he had to put all his focus on this. The system couldn''t do it on its own either, as Lin Wu consciously needed to use his innate skills.

    And the innate skills that Lin Wu had imbued into it were the Cellr Maniption skill and the Cellr Crystallization skills. Each of the innate skill was imprinted into one of the nodes.

    This left the third node empty, but its functions were different. It would not be bearing a skill in it, but would rather be the operative core of it all!

    The reason this spear would be different and be able to bear such a high level operation of his innate skill was due to the fact that it was actually going to be alive. This was also the reason why Lin Wu had left Vital energy within it.

    Being detached from his body, the spear would need that vital energy to stay ''alive''. It would consume a certain amount of it all the time, and Shirong would have to feed it more to keep on using it. Which Lin Wu didn''t think he would have an issue with.

    ''The guy''s been doing it all the time anywaysбн'' Lin Wu thought.<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu was at least thankful that the ability to absorb spirit Qi and vital energy was instinctive to his body. And the same was for the fake spear before. Thus, he didn''t need to do much there. Though the system still improved that and increased its speed and conversion rate.

    "How much is the rate of storage and conversion be system?" Lin Wu questioned after his work was done.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: From anything the spear is made to consume, 20% will be lost during the absorption. Sixty percent will be stored for the host to useter and twenty percent will be transferred to the owner.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн that''s not bad. The earlier percentage of loss was likeбн 40% wasn''t it?" Lin Wu recalled.

    When Lin Wu had learned this before, he had felt his heart ache at the 40% of all that he had lost. He could have gotten nearly double the amount that he had gotten from the spear.

    While the amount he would get would still be the same, about 60%, the 20% going to Shirong will be his long term investment.

    "Hehe! It''s the perfect investment. It will continue to invest into itself and keep on growing without much of my intervention." Lin Wu chuckled.

    Shirong would kill creatures, gain spirit Qi from them, the spear would store it andter Lin Wu would take that. A part would also be given to Shirong, who would get stronger and hunt more beasts and people, further increasing the spirit Qi gained.

    It would be a continual loop and the best for Lin Wu.

    It only made him feel like he should make more of theseter.

    ~Sigh~

    "But even doing that takes a lot of spirit Qi. It''s fine in the case of Shirong since he brought the spirit Qi with him, but for others I''ll have to use my own." Lin Wu said to himself as he watched the system finish up the secondst stage.

    Lin Wu''s current goals were to get the avatar to the Shell Expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm, so he would much more prefer to pull most of his spirit Qi in that rather than other things. And since it was a goal that would bepleted rtively faster too, he didn''t mind it.

    "Oh? Time to shape the thing." Lin Wu said as he started to shrink the tail segment.

 Chapter 805 A Peak Grade Spirit Weapon!

    ~HONG~

    A humming sound was heard as Lin Wu tapped on the new spear in his grasp.

    "Seems perfect." Lin Wu said as he lightly swung it around using his spirit sense.

    He hadn''t really used any spirit weapons before like this, since he had no use for them. His own body was far more powerful than them and it would only be an unnecessary obstacle in his fights.

    But now he had a good reason to try it out.

    Lin Wu gazed at the spear, which was the same as how he had disguised in the past. It was two meters long and had a sharp spearhead with a cross de at its base that shone in a red light.

    There were segments on the shaft of the spear, and it looked like it was carved out from a single b of crystal. The craftsmanship was exquisite and if it was ever presented to the cultivator markets, it would easily fetch a great price.

    Lin Wu infused some spirit Qi into it and watched it quickly increase in size.

    <strong>~SHUA~</strong>

    The spear ripped through the air before hitting a test dummy made from hardwood in the distance.

    ~BOOM~

    The dummy exploded from the force, and its splinters were shot everywhere.

    "Hmmбн the extension and shrinking works normallyбн" Lin Wu said after testing it. "But the regenerationбн"

    He then used his tail and pressed upon the shaft of the spear.

    ~CLANG~

    The sound of something hard being hit was heard as Lin Wu''s tail exacted great force. The spear stayed straight for a few seconds before it finally started to bend. Soon it was bent into a crescent shape.

    "It''s holding nicely." Lin Wu let go of the spear and let it return to its natural state.

    Seeing that there were no cracks on it, he was pleased.

    This was the function of the spear, which was born from the two innate skills. The third node would work to ensure that when the spear bore force that was greater than normal, it would bend instead of break.

    This would prevent it from cracking easily, and even if it did reach that point, the cells would start to repair it right away. This would of coursee at a price of vital energy, but it was better than it breaking entirely.

    "Hmmбн let''s see how the offensive formation circuits work." Lin Wu muttered before holding the spear with his tail.

    It looked rather strange seeing someone as big as him holding the spear. Compared to his size, it was like a straw.

    It would be the same as seeing a bulky and buff barbarian using a toothpick to fight.

    ~shua~

    Wind spirit Qi rose from Lin Wu''s body and was infused into the spear.

    ~HONG~

    And just as he wanted, several runes lit up on the spear and channeled the wind spirit Qi through the circuits naturally present in it. Lin Wu had used a part of his meridians to make these circuits, so they were able to use any kind of spirit Qi and Qi skills without any obstacle.

    <strong>Immortal Sky Shaker Art: Cloud Parting Gale!</strong><sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu used the skill that Shirong had used a while back.

    ~WHOOSH~

    A long streak of wind spirit Qi shot through the air, threatening to rip apart anything in its path. The splinters of wood lying around were ground until they were turned to sawdust.

    "That''s excellent!" Lin Wu could see almost no difference from back then.

    ''Shirong will find this exceeding his expectationsбн even if it would not be able to do the armor and other crazy forms.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He tested out the spear a few more times with different skills and was satisfied by it. He also checked the peak output that the spear could handle and saw that very high. In fact, he couldn''t even reach it with his current power.

    "Even Immortal Ascension realm cultivators won''t be able to strain it, not to mention Dao treading realm onesбн" Lin Wu guessed.

    With such great results, Lin Wu was sure that the spear was easily a Peak grade spirit weapon now.

    "Finally doneбн" Lin Wu nodded his head.

    He put the spear away for now and decided to rest. The time that he had told Shirong was still two weeks away, so he had plenty of days to rest.

    ''If I give him too quickly, he''ll becentбн it might be better if I''mte perhapsбн'' Lin Wu thought and decided to do it.

    "For nowбн a nap will be niceбн" Lin Wu lightly said as heid down on the manyrge pillows that had been made for him.

    Hisrge body could easily sprawl over the pillows and restfortably. And just a few minutes after Lin Wu hadid on it, he had already fallen asleep.

    While Lin Wu took some well deserved rest, the man who was intended to receive the fruit of his work was currently doing something else.

    In the shrine of the Sky Bright Daoist, Shirong sat in a meditative pose.

    ~UGH~

    He shook awake from his calm state and had a frustrated look on his face.

    "This is certainly not easyбн" Shirong muttered as he wiped the sweat off his face.

    "It is not supposed to be easy of course." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape spoke from the back.

    Shirong looked at the strange beast, who had the mannerisms of a human.

    "Stillбн you are doing far better than the others. You have finished three of the trials in less than a week." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape added.

    "Huh?" Hearing this, Shirong was intrigued. "How do I fare against the disciples of the Frozen Cloud sect? How long did they take to reach this point?" he questioned.

    "It took them a couple months on average." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape answered.

    "I seeбн and how long did it take them to finish it entirely?" Shirong asked with a glint in his eyes.

    "Ten years." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape replied.

    "Hmmбн so I have to break that records." Shirong''s gaze sharpened.

 Chapter 806 Sweet Sixteen

    Ten years might not be that long for a cultivator whenpared it to their lifespans, but for Shirong, who had concrete goals and a lot more that he needed to fulfill, that time was long.

    He didn''t know how quickly he would be able to finish the trials, but he was sure that he would do it in less than ten years at the very least.

    "How did the Chief disciples of the Frozen Cloud sect fare? He took the trials too didn''t he?" Shirong asked after pondering on it for a bit.

    "I do not know." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape honestly answered.

    "What?" Shirong was confused. "Didn''t he also gain the inheritance?"

    "He did indeedбн but he gained the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance. Not the Sky Bright Daoist''s inheritance." Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape replied.

    Shirong furrowed his brows and realized that things didn''t match up.

    "If he managed to reach the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance, then should he have taken these trials too?" He asked after thinking.

    "Noбн when he took the Taiji Celestial''s trails, this shrine was still sealed. As far as I know, the King presided over his trial personally back then. And Wang Xiong also had a token of entry for the trial. Thus he had the right to skip it." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape answered in detail.

    Hearing this, Shirong was surprised. He had not expected that there was something like this hidden away.

    ''No wonder he grew so fast and rose up to the position of the chief disciple while he fellow disciples took ten years. He had the ability to skip over it allбн'' Shirong thought in his mind.

    He didn''t feel jealous though. He knew there were fortunate encounters for each person in the world and it was their fate as to what they got. Besides, Shirong had an even better fortunate encounter than Wang Xiong and thus he had nothing to be jealous of.

    ''The crystal spear led me to King Lin Wu who is a great senior and allows me to be close to him. With his guidance I can do even more than that, Wang Xiong.'' Shirong thought with a little pride.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape watched the man with interest and was a bit pleased with his reactions.

    ''The man is certainly cut from a different cloth, just like master saidбн'' The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape thought to himself. ''It will be fun to see how much he strugglesбн'' a grin appeared on his face unknown to Shirong who was focusing on himself.

    "Do you want to start it again?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape asked, seeing that Shirong had not spoken for a few minutes.

    "YES!" Shirong replied.

    "Alright, brace yourself." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape stated before activating the trials again.

    ~huu~

    Shirong took a deep breath before his mind was transported into the fifth trial.

    While Shirong was busy with the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist, Lin Wu continued his rest. The others that were in the forest also did their work, while most of the Envoys left.

    Even the Envoy of the Long n and Lian n left, and only Shirong and Lian Xiaojian were left from the people that hade to the millennium forest now.

    The forest had once again be peaceful, and time passed.

    Two monthsterбн

    "HUGAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!~" Lin Wu''s mouth opened as he let out a loud yawn and stretched his body.<sub> </sub>

    ~Crack~ Crack~

    He segments made cracking sounds in the process, and he felt a lot more rxed. Lin Wu lightly shook his head and looked around.

    "Mmmбн how long has it been?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 16 years, 0 months, 8 days

    LIFESPAN: 4,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Completion Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,021,968/???] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    "Huh? It''s been over two months? That was a bit longer than I expected." Lin Wu said as he saw that he was now 16 years old.

    He had originally nned to rest for just a month, but his body said otherwise and just slept for a month extra. Though there was also the fact that he had not set an rm and the system didn''t have any reason to wake him up either.

    No emergency or disaster had happened in this time either, thus Lin Wu was basically sleeping peacefully. It as also quiet pleasant for him as he could see that it was not all without loss.

    "I got a nice amount of spirit Qi at least." Lin Wu said as he saw the over million units of increase.

    "Though I missed another birthdayбн I''m sixteen again. That was a bad year." Lin Wu couldn''t remember what happened during his teen years in his past life, but he had bad feelings about it even now.

    "Hmmбн what did I do exactly back thenбн why do I feel the urge to puke?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    After a minute of thinking, Lin Wu pushed these thoughts aside and decided to check up on the stuff that had been going on for the past two months.

    "Hmmбн no message from Kai Li. Though she did say that it will take her a while to get he merchants and other people ready. The time she gave me was four months anyway. So no problem there." Lin Wu checked the most important part first.

    Profits always came first, and she was his key to that for now.

    "No message from Long Qingao or Wang Xiong either. Which means stuff is stable on their end. That''s good. No extra work for me." Lin Wu said, feeling pleased at things going well.

    Finally, his mind came to thest person.

    "Oh? He''s progressed fastбн" Lin Wu saw the Shirong was in the Sky Bright Daoist''s Shrine and had already covered 80% of the trials.

 Chapter 807 81st Trial

    Lin Wu decided to observe the man for a bit since he was already in a trial.

    "System, show me the trial." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~shua~

    A new screen appeared in front of him and it showed Shirong standing on top of a tall tree.

    "What is this trial?" Lin Wu wondered.

    "Hmmбн this is the 81st trial?" Lin Wu read the information on the side provided by the system.

    He had not seen all the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist, as there were nearly a hundred of them. And he had also been asleep for the years the disciples of the Frozen Clouds sect had taken them.

    p Lin Wu had only seen some of the earlier trials of them that were rtively easy.</anda>

    Shirong stood on a tall tree that seemed to tower over everything in this world. It was literally so tall that if one looked from its top, all they would see was an ocean of clouds. And if they looked up, what they saw was not the blue sky but rather an endless ck expanse with shining lights that dotted it.

    "Now that is a tall treeбн it''s already tall enough to be in the outer space." Lin Wu guessed.

    Since this was a trial zone, and was in an illusory setting, there actually wasn''t an actual here. Beyond what could be seen, nothing truly existed and thus there was no way for the system nor Lin Wu to estimate just howrge this was or how tall the tree was.

    Thus he simply continued to watch the man stand there with aplex expression his face.

    "How the fuck am I supposed to get down from here?" Shirong cursed.

    He had already taken this trial nearly fifty times, but he had failed it on every attempt. The goal of this trial was for him to get down from the tree and if he did that he would pass it. But nothing seemed to be working for him.

    Not to mention there was also a time limit to this trial.

    If he stayed too long here, he would suffocate and die. If he jumped down, he would find himself burning up and turning to ashes like a meteor. And when he tried to climb down along the trunk of the tree, it would take him so long that he would still die from fatigue.

    Then there were restrictions on him that prevented him from using his cultivation base. Thisplicated this greatly since he couldn''t fly down and neither could he use spirit Qi to dispel his fatigue.

    Right now, all he had was his own physique, which was rather strong and far more refined than most cultivators. But even with a physique like that, Shirong couldn''tst that long and would get tired enough that his body would simply stop working and he''d fall off the side of the trunk.

    "What kind of a tree is this that doesn''t even have branches or leaves?" Shirong said in frustration.

    He would have been fine if there were some branches on it, since he would be able to rest on them, but there were none. He had to hold on tight to the bark and the crevices that were present in it naturally.<sub> </sub>

    Shirong would have thought that the tree was dead since it had no leaves, but then it had no branches either. It wasn''t as if they had been cut off, but rather it was as if they had never grown at all!

    Even the tree top he was standing on was rather narrow, being only a meter wide and was also curved, making it ufortable to stand for long. The first couple of attempts, he had actually slipped and directly fallen off the top.

    Only on the third try did he realize that there was no ground beneath him.

    He had fallen off so fast that the trial didn''t even have the chance to tell him the goal!

    Which had only gotten him even more pissed.

    Having umted many failures and depleting his obvious solutions, Shirong had decided to simply wait and observe everything.

    ''There must be some trick to itбн the trial can''t be impossible.'' Shirong thought.

    This was not his first time facing a trial like this and before this, he had faced three more trials that had taken him nearly a hundred attempts to passbined. But he had still gotten out of them.

    And many times when the solution wasn''t directly apparent, Shirong knew that waiting and observing was the key point.

    ''It isn''t that the solution isn''t there, but rather it''s not the time for it to appear. I need to bide my time.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    While he would suffocate if he simply stayed here. Shirong reckoned he could regte his breathing and conserve the air enough to observe for a little longer.

    Shirong didn''t know that there was someone observing him too. Lin Wu watched the man for a while before finding it to be a bit too boring.

    "Damn, this is taking too long. Just what is the solution for this trial?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ~Ding~

    And just as he said that, the system presented the solution to him on the side. Lin Wu nced at it and was intrigued.

    "Huhбн that''s certainly not easy to do." Lin Wu said after seeing the solution.

    The solution to getting down from the tree was actually just as how Shirong had guessed. He needed to wait for a specific amount of time, after which a current of wind would rise from the bottom.

    He would then need to jump into this current of wind and slow down his fall. It was hard to do and one would have to make sure that they didn''t drift too far away from the tree or drift toot close to the tree prematurely.

    Only when the current was starting to weaken was one supposed toe closer to the tree andtch onto it again.

 Chapter 808 The Reborn Spear

    Shirong continued to wait until finally he saw some movement in the ocean of clouds below.

    "Huh? They are moving?" Shirong saw a small hole opening up in the clouds down below.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Few moments after that, a gust of wind shot up from it!

    Shirong could feel the residual wind from it hitting his face and blowing his head behind.

    "This windбн it''s strongбн" Shirong muttered to himself and analyzed.

    He looked at the clothes he was wearing and had an idea. He removed his outer robes and tied up the sleeves first before tearing the mid seam and expanding the width of the robes.

    "Hopefully this worksбн" Shirong said as a determined expression appeared on his face.

    ~huu~

    Taking a deep breath, he jumped from the tree!

    He soared through the air with nothing below him and finally reached the spot where the wind was the strongest.

    "NOW!" Shirong quickly spread his hands apart and let the robes catch the wind current.

    ~PUFF~

    The robes were instantly inted with the air and puffed up. Shirong''s body tugged on it and started to pull it down.

    "HAHAHA! IT WORKED!" Shirongughed.

    But just five secondster, hisughing face became a frowning face.

    "Fuckбн" the wind current stopped blowing and Shirong rapidly started to fall.

    He once again experienced gravity and the effects of air resistance before igniting and turning to ashes.

    While Shirong had gotten the solution, he had not grasped the timing yet. The time taken for him to make thatnky parachute was too much and he had lost too much of the wind current.

    ~shua~

    The illusion disappeared as Shirong failed the trial once more.

    He opened his eyes in the real world but didn''t have a frown like before.

    "I got itбн next time will be the time I pass!" Shirong said to himself.

    "That might be it, but you will have to wait for a bit." A voice was suddenly heard from behind him.

    Shirong was not startled by the sudden voice though and had already gotten used to it and was rather familiar with it, too.

    "Ape monk." Shirong replied.

    He had started using this title to address the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape as his full name was too long.

    "The King has called for you." Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape informed.

    Hearing this, Shirong''s face lit up, and he immediately stood up. "I''m heading right away!"

    He moved like the wind and left the Shrine swiftly, leaving the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape behind, watching his back with a smile.

    "He is truly on a different level. The kids from before took nearly eight months on this trial." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape recalled.<sub> </sub>

    The Frozen Cloud disciples had discovered the air currents back then as well, but couldn''t help theirpanions much. The reason behind it being that the wind current''s appearance was at different for everyone.

    Even if the first gust of wind appeared at the same time for all, thetter ones had different times of appearing and different durations as well.

    All this meant that they couldn''t simply cheat by knowing the timings.

    Though this was also thest trial that was like this and tested one''s patience and analytical capabilities.

    The ones after these were ones that purely tested one''sbat capabilities. Those were trials that could be sped through as long as one had the right power. Lin Wu knew that this would be the same for Shirong and that he would probably steam roll through most of them.

    Thus, he just decided to get him a little boost before that.

    "The spear will speed that up more. I need to get my AFK bot the right programming, after all. The more optimized it is, the more I''ll benefit. Hehehe~" Lin Wu muttered to himself and waited for Shirong toe.

    It didn''t take long, and soon Shirong was teleported into the hall.

    "Greetings Senior!" Shirong cupped and bowed his head.

    "You''ve done rather well." Lin Wu praised.

    It was a fact, and Shirong had truly exceeded the times needed to cover the trials.

    "Thank you, senior." Shirong simply replied.

    "Here," Lin Wu took out the newly made a crystal spear from the storage.

    Shirong''s eyes fell on the new spear and lit up like amp.

    He lightly extended his hands that lightly trembled and firmly sped onto the shaft of the spear. The cool surface of the shaftbined with the powerful feeling of auraing from it, made him feelfortable.

    ''Finallyбн I can hold you again.'' Shirong thorough to himself, unaware that this spear was an entirely new spirit weapon now.

    "I''ve made some changes to it to make it functional again, though there are still limitations on it. You will learn them once you brand it with your spirit sense once more." Lin Wu spoke.

    Shirong nodded his head and used his spirit sense to put a brand on the spear. He still remembered the first time he had done it and therge amount of spirit Qi that needed it back then.

    ''Wonder how much it''ll take now.'' Shirong thought.

    p But much to his surprise, nothing happened.</anda>

    "Huh? It just branded directly?" Shirong muttered in surprise.

    "The spear is essentially remade at this point, so the brand will be easier to ce. You can discover the rest of the things on your own." Lin Wu informed.

    "Thank you for your grace, senior." Shirong said with gratitude.

    "Mmбн you can head back now." Lin Wu stated.

    "Ummбн Senior." Shirong didn''t leave right away though and hesitantly spoke.

    Lin Wu saw his expression and guessed what he might be thinking about.

    "There is still no beast close to a breakthrough, yet thus you will have to wait for a tribtion longer." Lin Wu said calmly. "I''ll inform you when it''s the time."

    "Then I''ll wait patiently." Shirong replied before teleporting away.

    With him gone, Lin Wu looked at a particr window and looked for beasts.

    "Hmmбн there are three beasts close to a breakthrough. Guess I can prioritize them forter." Lin Wu picked his new servants.

 Chapter 809 Three New Servant Beasts

    Time passed and another month had gone by.

    In this time, Shirong had swiftly covered the rest of the Sky Bright Daoist''s Trials and had passed them sessfully. He was going to enter the trials of the Taiji Celestial, but Lin Wu stopped him for now as he was going to get the bloodline of the Thunder Pool serpent awakened for him.

    Thus Shirong had been waiting or the past week for that.

    For this, Lin Wu had also gotten the beasts ready. First, he picked out three beasts that were closest to the breakthrough and gave them some extra resources. He even mutated them and they all survived, thus giving them a further boost in their cultivation speed.

    And finally, today was the day that they were going to breakthrough.

    "Seems like everything is on point," Lin Wu said as he checked the sky.

    He could already see the dark clouds spreading in the sky and an oppressive aura of the tribtion gathering.

    "System, show me the beasts'' data." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    New Servant Beasts:

    1. Emeraldine Pulse Cicada

    Cultivation base: Pseudo Nascent soul realm

    2. Emeraldine Barren Tail Wolf

    Cultivation base: Pseudo Nascent soul realm

    3. Emeraldine Winged Swan

    Cultivation base: Pseudo Nascent soul realm

    бкбк

    These three were the beasts that Lin Wu had picked and found to be worth nurturing.

    The Throw pulse cicada had good performance in the past mission and Lin Wu found his actions with humans to be decent. He had mutated into the Emeraldine Pulse Cicada and thus he was a good pick for it . Lin Wu was intending the beast to be one of the beasts that will be assisting Kai Li with the transport of goods.

    The Hook Winged Swan was a beast that was the kin of Lin Wu''s earlier servants. This would be his second Hook Winged Swan servant and Lin Wu had taken the beast in since it had been helped on by the first Hook Winged Swan.

    One could even say this might be the first time nepotism was being used in the Millennium Forest Kingdom.

    The Emeraldine Barren Tail Wolf on the other hand hade independently. Or rather, the beast had actually earned this position after fighting in the tournament the beasts regrly held.

    It was originally just Barren Tail Wolf. It was a beast that basically a wolf, but had a hairless tail that looked quite like that of a rat. After mutation, its tail had turned into a crystal tail and thus Lin Wu had given it a name as well.

    The three beasts were all waiting near the Tomb.

    Lin Wu was waiting as well and wanted to see who would be the first one to trigger the tribtion. He knew that they likely won''t be breaking though all at once. But that was what Lin Wu wanted.

    After all, he didn''t just want the breakthrough for them but also for Shirong. Thus the more of them broke though at once, the greater the amount of tribtion lightning would appear.

    Then Lin Wu would be able to use that to awaken Shirong''s bloodline as well.

    Shirong was also waiting in one of the rooms in the tomb and would be summoned with just a thought on Lin Wu''s end.<sub> </sub>

    ~Rumble~

    Soon enough, peal of thunder could be heard in the sky as arcs of lightning shed by.

    "So it is the Emeraldine Pulse Cicada that reached the point first huhбн time to get to work then." Lin Wu immediately teleported the beast to the top of the tomb.

    ~shua~

    He appeared there as well and saw the slightly confused beast.

    This was the first time the Emeraldine Pulse Cicada had seen the top of the tomb after all. It was also a rather ''holy'' ce now for the forest and no beast would go there easily. Only the direct servants of Lin Wu had the authority of going there.

    But what they didn''t know was that the top of the tomb was nothing special or ''holy''. It was simply a ce where the tribtion attenuation tform was set up.

    If there was any ''holy'' ce in the tomb, then it would either be the core of its formation array where all the encrypted information was hidden or the ce where the unknown being which served as the power source of the tomb was sealed.

    "My King!" The Emeraldine Pulse Cicada greeted seeing Lin Wu appear.

    "Just wait there. I''ll guide you and the others." Lin Wu inly spoke.

    "I shall take your lead, my king." The beast said and settled down.

    Lin Wu noddy his head and looked up at the sky. His radiation perception activated and he could already see the Dao Traces of the tribtion appearing.

    "Now to restrain it." Lin Wu muttered and activated his innate skill.

    ~HONG~

    A Shocking aura burst forth from his body and spread all over the tomb and even going past it. The Emeraldine Pulse Cicada was stunned by seeing this and couldn''t help but shiver.

    ''The king is beyond what any beast can think ofбн'' it thought.

    Lin Wu opened his eyes while his body glowed in an Emerald green light.

    "SUPPRESS!" Lin Wu dramatically shouted.

    An invisible wave of energy shot forth from his body and directly reached the clouds.

    In that moment, it was as if the world itself had gone silent. The peal of thunder was choked up and couldn''t be heard anymore. While the Dark Clouds didn''t disappear, the aura of the tribtion was certainly contained.

    ~huu~

    "That was a sessбн guess one tribtion is easy for me." Lin Wu said, feeling pleased.

    He looked at the screens and saw the other two beasts, who were still the same.

    "Hmmбн time to get Shirong here first. The two beasts cane after that." Lin Wu decided.

    ~shua~

    With a wave of his tail, a teleportation array opened up and a man appeared from it.

    Shirong had been cultivating before this and was brought here in the same state.

    "Huh?" Utter confusion was present on his face.

 Chapter 810 Triple Tribulation And Bloodline Awakening

    "Come over here!" Lin Wu ordered.

    "Senior?" Shirong quickly picked up on what was happening and followed Lin Wu''s words. "Is it time for it?" he asked.

    "Yes. The first beast has already triggered its tribtion. The other two will soon. I''ve blocked the heavenly tribtion for the beast and will release it when the other two beasts are ready too." Lin Wu replied.

    "Blocked the heavenly tribtion?" Shirong said in disbelief.

    He looked up at the sky that was filled with dark clouds, but had no signs of there being an impending heavenly tribtion. One must know that a heavenly tribtion was greatly different from a thunderstorm even if they might look simr.

    Especially for cultivators, they could sense the oppressive might of the heavenly tribtion. It was unnerving and would make everyone restless. Weaker cultivators would even faint from it sometimes.

    While those that were unfortunate might get a Qi deviation too!

    But Shirong could not sense any of that from the sky right now.

    He gazed back at Lin Wu and felt awed.

    "Senior''s powers are truly profound!" Shirong praised and cupped his hands.

    "Leave this forter, just go and stand in the circle there. That''s the crux of the Tribtion attenuation formation array. I''ll channel the fractions of the lightning to you there when all three tribtions are ready." Lin Wu exined.

    "Yes, Senior!" Shirong hurriedly did as Lin Wu said.

    Upon entering the circle, he could feel his skin touching some kind of membrane. It was invisible and yet firm.

    Shirong also looked at the runes that were inscribed into the ground and couldn''t help but feel amazed.

    ''I don''t think I''ve seen such runes beforeбн this is far moreplicated than the tribtion attenuation formation array we have at the n.'' Shirong thought.

    Sitting down in the circle, Shirong checked out the rest of the formation array. It had six vertices, all joining to form a hexagon. He was currently at the very center of the hexagon, while Lin Wu was a little off-center from it.

    Then there was a beast that was sitting in one of the vertices.

    "What beast is that?" Shirong wondered.

    He could tell that the beast was definitely linked with Lin Wu since it had the emerald green crystal on its body too. Or more urately, it was the beast''s mandibles that were crystalline.

    ''Its aura is also simr to the other servants that Senior has. This must be a new servant then.'' Shirong thorough.

    In his stay here in the forest, Shirong had learned a few things.

    One of them being the different ranking of the beasts that hade into being. At the lowest tier were themon animals that had no cultivation base. Above that were beasts at the body tempering realm and above them, the rest of the beasts ording to the cultivation bases.

    But above this cultivation ranking, there were some beasts with special rankings.

    These were none other than the beasts that were close to Lin Wu.

    In this separate ranking, the lowermost were beasts that had joined the ''Emeraldine Legion'' and had been ''blessed'' by Lin Wu. They weren''t necessarily direct servants of Lin Wu either and might just work under the other beasts that were under Lin Wu.

    Then above this were the former kings of the Millennium forest, with the Twin Lights Liger King at the top.<sub> </sub>

    And above them, were Lin Wu''s personal servants, with the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape at the very top.

    Shirong could also tell that even among the servant beasts, they had different capabilities and intelligence levels. The Monk Ape was certainly the smartest he had seen and was basically like any other senior that Shirong had met.

    Currently, the beast had a higher cultivation base than Shirong and he was also older than him, thus calling him senior was not an issue either.

    "Ruling over so many powerful beasts is not simpleбн it might even be moreplex than ruling over humans. After all, beasts have different desires and thoughts." Shirong pondered to himself.

    ''And senior doesn''t just rule over beasts eitherбн he has humans under him now too.'' Shirong recalled.

    ~SHUA~

    And just as he was thinking this, Shirong felt spirit Qi fluctuationsing from a corner. He looked towards it and saw another beast appearing there.

    This beast was none other than the Emeraldine Barren Tail Wolf.

    The beast looked far more fierce that''s the Cicada beast and had a sharp expression its face.

    ~SCREECH~

    Lin Wu seemingly said something to the beast in their tongue and the wolf beast went and sat in one of the vertices as well.

    ~RUMBLE~

    A few momentster, the peal of thunder could be heard high above.

    "Here ites," Shirong said as he looked up at the sky expectantly.

    "Oh no, you don''t!" Lin Wu spread the control of his innate skill further and the tribtion lightning that had just started to appear was snuffed out easily.

    Shirong''s eyes went wide as he witnessed it all firsthand.

    "Thisбн not even ancestor can do something like thisбн it''s not just about cultivation base anymoreбн this is above thatбн" Shirong was left speechless.

    He knew just how dangerous it was to interfere with a tribtion. Even if someone was at the Dao Treading realm or even the immortal Ascension realm, they could be hurt by tribtion lightning.

    And if they tried to do anything during one, they might be stuck with punishment tribtion lightning. While there were certain skills and formation arrays that could restrain or suppress a tribtion, they didn''t evene a single step closer to what Lin Wu had done.

    Those skills were often very shy and eye-catching. But Lin Wu''s was very low-key. Merely a gesture and the heavens were silenced!

    A few minutester, Shirong got to see it all again as the third beast was also summoned by Lin Wu.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Lin Wu pressured the tribtion again and controlled the array.

    "Okay, I''m activating the array, all of you get ready!" He warned.

 Chapter 811 The Thunderpool Serpent Bloodline Awakens!

    ~shua~

    Six pir made out of runes rose from the six vertices of the hexagon rune pattern inscribed on the ground. The six pirs were exuding a power that made even Shirong shiver.

    "There''s no way this is just a tribtion attenuation formation arrayбн" Shirong could''t help but say.

    In his lifetime, he had seen several tribtion attenuation formation arrays. And while they seemed powerful, being able to resist the heavenly tribtion bolts, it was not actually beyond the Dao Shell realm level.

    If a formation of the same level was used for sealing, it would not even be able to seal a Adult Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator. This was the best way topare them.

    After all, Tribtion attenuation formations came under the category of sealing and restraining formations.

    ''Just like the system said, the power will increase after the main array of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb is repaired. While it is still damaged a lot, this level of improvement is quite good.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Once the array waspletely activated, Lin Wu began his work.

    ~RUMBLE~

    He looked up at the sky, and loosened his restriction over the tribtion.

    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~

    In just a single attempt, three tribtion lightning bolts shot down from the skies.

    ~BANG!!!~

    All of them struck the tribtion attenuation formation array''s surface at once and were quickly redirected.

    The lightning bolts were first merged together under Lin Wu''s control and radiation maniption before they were split apart again. But from the earlier three bolts, they had be four bolts instead!

    "Let''s start with ten percent of the lightning boltsбн" Lin Wu adjusted.

    The four bolts charged in four spots, heading to the three beasts and Shirong.

    ~ROAR~

    ~SCREECH~

    ~SKWEE~

    The three beasts let out painful cries as their were stuck with the tribtion bolts. But Shirong didn''t even let out a grunt. Rather, his expression didn''t even change.

    "Oh? Didn''t expect that." Lin Wu watched as the tribtion lightning bolt was rapidly absorbed by Shirong''s body.

    Since he already had cultivated the Immortal Sky Shaker art to the fourth level: Lightning attribute spirit Qi adept, which was the highest, his resistance to lightning was also high. That,bined with his earlier experience of being struck by the lightning bolts, made it easier for him to adjust to it.

    ''This is far easier than I remembered it to beбн the pain is also not muchбн'' Shirong thought to himself.

    If he were topare it to something, he would say that being struck with this tribtion lightning bolt was the same as getting a static shock from touching something metallic. The lightning channeled thorough his meridian and disappeared before Shirong could even notice it.

    Lin Wu who was observing him with radiation perception, saw the tribtion lightning bolt disappearing as well.

    ''Hmmбн the bolt was assimted way too fast, even the Dao traces disappeared. Is the bloodline of the Thunderpool serpent already absorbing it?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He then checked on the three beasts and saw that they were doing well. Cracks were already appearing on their core as well.

    "Guess I can keep this output. Time for more!" Lin Wu said as he controlled the tribtion and let three more bolts down.

    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~

    ~BANG~

    Following the same procedure, the three bolts became four and struck the people inside the array.

    This continued for six more times before finally it felt like the beasts were about to breakthrough.

    "Thest one should do it." Lin Wu estimated after checking the cores of the three beasts.

    The cracks now covered about 90% of the core surface.

    ~BOOM~

    Thest tribtion bolt that struck the three beasts was far stronger than before, and the one that struck Shirong was also stronger.

    ~CRACK~ CRACK~ CRACK~

    In that single moment, all three cores cracked, and three infant beasts were born from them. The Nascent souls looked like the infant form of the beasts and greedily sucked in all the spirit Qi from the air.

    ~SHUA~

    Three vortexes formed in the air above the beasts as the spirit Qi stirred in the air.

    ~RUMBLE~

    But despite them having broken through, the tribtion clouds had still not dissipated.

    "This should be the punishment tribtion nowбн my presence and Shirong''s presence is certainly not missed by it." Lin Wu reckoned as his eyes narrowed.

    He nced at Shirong, who was entirely fine. His breathing was normal and so was the spirit Qi wavesing from his body.

    "System scan Shirong." Lin Wu ordered.<sub> </sub>

    ~DING~

    With his order, a window appeared that showed the internal state of Shirong, as well as some data that the system could analyze.

    ''Even after nine bolts, his bloodline is still showing barely any effect. Though the harmony of his body is a bit better?'' Lin Wu read the information on the window.

    Thinking for a bit, Lin Wu wondered if he could actually activate the bloodline in one go.

    "Hmmбн the current intensity was barely tickling him. But it also didn''t impact his bloodline much. Perhaps the punishment lightning can finally fill his bloodline?" Lin Wu decided.

    Linking to Shirong''s mind, Lin Wu spoke.

    "Get ready. I''m gonna increase the intensity. If you''re lucky, you might awaken the Thunder Pool Serpent Bloodline in one go." Lin Wu stated.

    "I''m ready senior!" Shirong immediately responded.

    Originally, he was rather anxious and a bit afraid about the tribtion lightning. He had a bad experience in the past and still remembered the soul stirring pain. But after having taken nine bolts that were basically nothing but light pokes to him, he was a lot more confident.

    Lin Wu didn''t even reply to Shirong after that and directly got ready for the next part. He first teleported the three beasts away to the side of the mountains as they might get disturbed and possibly even struck by the punishment tribtion lightning if things went aware.

    With them gone, Lin Wu could now let the tribtion clouds have their way.

    "Time to open the floodgates!" Lin Wu used radiation maniption and reduced his restraints.

    <strong>~RUMBLE!!!!~</strong>

    A peal of thunder many times louder than before was heard. It sounded like thousands of bells were ringing at once, as if announcing a big execution!

    <strong>~BOOM!!!~</strong>

    A white tribtion lightning bolt that had a tinge of purple in the center shot from the clouds. It directly pierced the formation array and stuck Shirong sitting in the center. Stray bolts spread from his body as he trembled non stop.

    "UGH!" For the first time, Shirong couldn''t help but let out a grunt.

    His head felt like it had just been hit with a pillow. While it might not directly hurt him, it the impact still made his head shake.

    The stray bolts even tried to reach Lin Wu, but a single gaze from him made them turn back and return to Shirong.

    This was normal since the punishment lightning tribtion wasn''t just here for Shirong but also Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu scanned the man again and also checked with his radiation perception.

    ''Even the punishment tribtion lightning is following the same path. Though it is a bit more violent on his meridians. The Dao Traces are also aggressive.'' Lin Wu assessed.

    This was serving as a good opportunity for Lin Wu to actually observe the Dao Traces.

    After all, a normal cultivator or beast mostly got to observe Dao Traces when they had their own Dao Embryo. Very few could actually observe the Dao Traces in the lightning, since only tribtions lightning would normally carry them.

    At least for the average cultivator who didn''t have ess to great and rare treasures of the lightning element.

    The system was also scanning and recording everything for its data banks.

    All this was beneficial to Lin Wu since he couldn''t progress directly anymore. He didn''t need spirit Qi for the next breakthrough, but ratherprehension. Only after he had a certain level ofprehension would a Dao Embryo be born.

    Lin Wu continued to observe and watch as the punishment tribtion lightning bolt was eventually assimted into Shirong''s body.

    "Another one." Lin Wu brought forth another bolt.

    ~BOOM~

    "Another one," One more bolt descended after the previous one was assimted.

    "And another one." Lin Wu continued to call forth more and more bolts from the tribtion clouds.

    It was as if the dark tribtion clouds in the sky had an almost endless supply of these bolts at first. But after Shirong had ''eaten'' fifteen of these punishment tribtion lightning bolts, the clouds had weakened greatly.

    The dark clouds became lighter and were close to running out of juice!

    "Nah! You got at least one more hit in you! I''m gonna juice you dry!" Lin Wuughed.

    It was a fun feeling to challenge one of the natural powers of the world and gave Lin Wu a thrill he had not felt before.

    His eyes glowed brightly and his aura rose wildly as the Tribtion clouds were suddenly frozen.

    "SHRINK!" Lin Wu started to use radiation maniption along with wind spirit Qi to condense the clouds.

    The light tribtion clouds once again became ck, but at the same time their size shrunk by a lot.

    The remnant Tribtion energy within them also started to get concentrated, and when there were barely 5% of the original volume, thest bolt was squeezed out.

    ~boom~

    A thunderp weaker than any before was heard as the lightning bolt struck Shirong.

    <strong>~HONG~</strong>

    And as soon as it was absorbed by his body, a radical change happened.

    Purple patterns that looked like thunderbolts spread all over Shirong''s skin while his cultivation base started to rise!

 Chapter 812 Shirongs Awakened Bloodline

    Shirong''s body was currently letting of startling waves of Qi. His aura continued to rise and an illusory figure was forming above him.

    The figure was deep purple in color and had ck eyes that looked like ink stones!

    At first the figure was very blurry and hard to see, but the more spirit Qi that Shirong absorbed and the more his cultivation base rose, the more clear the figure became.

    About ten minutester, Shirong had already broken through to the Adult Soul stage and was rapidly approaching the peak.

    Lin Wu continued to watch everything, feeling satisfied.

    ''Everything went ording to n this time. I didn''t even need to prepare more tribtions for him. Choosing three beasts for this was the right choice.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    And as Lin Wu continued watching it all, the system finally gave an update.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SUBJECT DATA: Updated

    Name: Ji Shirong

    Vitals: Stable

    Cultivation base: Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm

    Bloodline: Thunderpool Serpent (awakened)

    Cultivation technique: Immortal Sky Shaker Art (Lightning Attribute adept)

    бкбк

    Shirong fully awakened his bloodline and its effects were clearly present now. Arcs of electricity swirled around his body and jumped across his skin. His ck pupils reflected the purple streaks of lightening and looked like gems.

    The bloodline figure of the Thunderpool serpent floated above Shirong as well. It had be clear and was staring towards a certain direction.

    "Oh? It''s actually looking at me?" Lin Wu noticed.

    ~shua~

    A wave of aura emanated from the figure of the Thunderpool serpent and reached Lin Wu. Lin Wu was familiar with this and knew that the bloodline was trying the challenge him. It was something that could happen when strong bloodlines encountered each other.

    The resonance between them could trigger a phenomena that will manifest the figures of the bloodlines. But in the current case, the bloodline figure had already manifested since Shirong had just awakened it.

    The bloodline figure was new and was excited after being ''born''.

    And just like a newborn that was curious, it had no fear either. Other than the bloodline instincts that it had, which would dictate its behavior, it had no pattern of acting. Thus, it did the thing most beasts would do when they encountered other beasts that were just as strong as them.

    Challenging and attempting to intimidate them.

    "Hoho? You''re approaching me?" Lin Wu said as he saw the bloodline figure actuallying toward him.

    Shirong on the other hand, was still in a state of trance and was stabilizing his cultivation base after the breakthrough. The purple thunderbolt patterns were moving around on his skin and once his body fully adapted to them, they would disappear.

    ~hiss~

    A low hissing sound was heard as the purple figure of the Thunderpool serpent red at Lin Wu, who looked like a serpent to it too.<sub> </sub>

    Unfortunately for the bloodline figure, it had made a mistake.

    "Hump! Need a lesson?" Lin Wu scoffed and released his own aura.

    ~HONG~

    Lin Wu was well experienced in the bloodline conflicts by now and needed only a second to send the Thunderpool serpent''s bloodline figure running.

    <strong>~HISSSS!!!!~</strong>

    The Thunderpool serpent was clearly scared and a fear that rose from deep within its instincts warned it, telling it to retreat. And since it was merely a bloodline figure and not a real beast, it didn''t have the intelligence to resist it either.

    It quickly ran back to Shirong and turned into a purple mist that seeped into Shirong''s pores.

    ~MUSH~

    ? Shirong''s skin trembled as the purple mist forced its way into his body. And when it was gone, the purple thunderbolt patterns on Shirong''s skin disappeared as well.

    The arcs of lightning faded away and a calm spirit Qi wave rose from Shirong.

    ~huu~

    He opened his eyes, that faintly sparked with a purple glint.

    "Seems like you seeded." Lin Wu said, seeing the man woke up.

    "Yes, seniorбн and it is all because of you," Shirong said in a grateful tone.

    He knew that if it were not for Lin Wu, he wouldn''t have even known he had a dormant bloodline. And even if he knew, awakening it would have been out of his reach as well. After all, there weren''t many ways someone could control a tribtion.

    Shirong doubted if even his great grandfather would be able to do something like this.

    The only other method he would have would be to interfere in others'' heavenly tribtions and risk harming himself. He wasn''t so na?ve as to think that everything would have gone as smoothly as it had done today.

    It was all because Lin Wu had been regting it and made sure that the ''doses'' of tribtion lightning he got were just the right amount. And only after Shirong had gotten used to it did, he let the rest of the lightning strike Shirong.

    "How do you feel?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I feelбн strongбн like I can wield lightning and break storms!" Shirong said with vigor while literal streaks of lightning swam over his skin.

    He looked at his hands and felt like he could control the lightning as if it was his own spirit sense.

    Shirong thought for a bit before gesturing with his hand and turning the lightning into a string that flew around in the air. It followed his finger and changed form with merely a thought.

    "Seems like you managed to improve the control over lightning again." Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    The improvement was certainly greater than before.

    "Its just some unworthy tricks, senior. I have a long time before I can replicate the feats of your level." Shirong said truthfully.

    After all, Shirong had seen Lin Wu progress in the Immortal Sky Shaker Art in mere seconds. While he had taken years to do the same.

    And now he even had the support of a bloodline to do the same. While Lin Wu could do it all without anything of that sort. Shirong knew the stages they were standing on were vastly different.

 Chapter 813 Setting Up Lian Xiaojian

    After Lin Wu was done with Shirong''s bloodline, he let the man return to the trials.

    This time though, Shirong was going to take the Taiji Celestial''s trials and Lin Wu would not be shortening them for him. Instead, the man was going to go through all of the trials and that too at the hardest difficulty.

    ? Lin Wu had known by now that Shirong had far greater potential than Wang Xiong and was truly a genius by now.

    And while Shirong took the trials, Lin Wu went about his other tasks.

    He cultivated andprehended more on the Dao. He needed to break through on his own after this point and couldn''t do so with the system as a crutch. He didn''t know how long it would take, but Lin Wu was now ready to settle for a few years.

    The other people rted to Lin Wu were also going about their day.

    Kai Li had finished half the contracts that she was supposed to set up with the merchants under the Lian n and would send for the beasts in theing months. The sects and kingdoms that had decided on coboration with the Millennium forest kingdom were also going to send their first batch of cultivators in theing month or two.

    Overall, all that Lin Wu had worked hard to set up was functioning just as intended.

    "Hmmбн am I forgetting something?" Lin Wu furrowed his brows as a feeling filled his mind.

    And just as he felt that he was suddenly reminded of a certain fatty that was anxiously waiting out his days in the courtyard.

    "Ahбн I almost forget about this guyбн" Lin Wu saw Lian Xiaojian in the courtyard.

    The man was stress eating and had a pile of fruits on his side. He had evidently bought all these from the beasts and could be seen in the recordings. The beasts were also pleased with the man since they gave a better price for their fruits than they would get by trading amongst themselves.

    "I should set him for the awakening, too. It''s gonna take a while for him anyway." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He looked through a few windows and picked the ce for the fatty.

    "System, is the n ready?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Vital House Physique awakening protocol has been prepared. The expected sess rate is 54.7%.

    бкбк

    "That''s good enough. Not like it matters to me anyway. It''ll be up to him to survive. If he manages to awaken it, I''ll have another pawn and if he fails, that''ll be it. The Lian n already agreed on not ming me for anything already." Lin Wu said to himself.

    With that done, he waved his tail and activated the teleportation formation.

    ~SHUA~

    Runes appeared in the air and assembled into a formation circle from which Lian Xiaojian appeared.

    ~THUD~

    Hisrge fatty body jiggled like jelly upon mming into the ground. He was lying on a bed before and had appeared in the same state here, expect theck of the spirit fruit tter on his side.

    Lian Xiaojian was mid-way to eating a spirit fruit, and had its juice smeared on his lips and fingers.<sub> </sub>

    "Huh?" Lian Xiaojian was a bit confused at first but then saw the massive figure of Lin Wu, that was over a hundred times bigger than him.

    Lin Wu''s towering body gazed at him and made Lian Xiaojian feel embarrassed.

    He hurriedly tried to stand up but stumbled a few times. About ten secondster, he finallyposed himself and cupped his hands in greeting.

    "G-greetings great Senior!" Lian Xiaojian said, his face still red with embarrassment.

    "Mmmбн do you not want to deal with your problem?" Lin Wu asked seeing that the man had been indulging in eating even now.

    This was even more concerning since the man should clearly know that if he continued to eat and got fatter, he had a greater chance of exploding and dying.

    Hearing Lin Wu''s words though, Lian Xiaojian was startled.

    "N-no Senior! I''m ready to do whatever you ask of me. Please save me!" Lian Xiaojian quickly said, his voice a bit shaky.

    "Goodбн" Lin Wu nodded his head. "Follow me." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Yes, Senior!" Lian Xiaojian walked behind Lin Wu, who brought him to a different hall.

    It took them nearly ten minutes to reach it as well as it was rather far from the hall Lin Wu was located in. Lian Xiaojian looked at the corridor that they had just walked through and saw that it was densely covered in inscriptions that depictedplex runes.

    They were unreadable to him and mysterious as well. Though he could tell that the density of runes in this corridor was a little too high. And was a bit unusual as well.

    The new hall they appeared in was much smaller than Lin Wu''s main hall and the beast had to lower his head by half as the ceiling was rather low.

    "What are we doing here, senior?" Lian Xiaojian questioned.

    "Since you''ve read the crystal slip, I gave you. You should know how to awaken your bloodline, right?" Lin Wu replied.

    "Y-yesбн I know." Lian Xiaojian answered, feeling a bit anxious as he knew the entire thing was rather gruesome.

    "We are here to do exactly that." Lin Wu spoke.

    "But how?" Lian Xiaojian asked, looking around.

    There was nothing in the hall other than more inscriptions and runes carved into the floor and walls.

    "Wellбн your first goal is to escape this hall and open the door we just came through. Then, once you open that, your next goal would be to pass through the corridor and reach my hall." Lin Wu stated.

    "That''s it?" Lian Xiaojian asked.

    "Yup. There will just be some obstacles in your way. As long as you ovee them with strong willpower, you will awaken your Vital House Physique." Lin Wu exined.

    "Alright Senior." Lian Xiaojian could only say this much before Lin Wu disappeared.

    With the beast gone, Lian Xiaojian looked at the door in the distance and decided to take a step.

    <strong>~BOOM~</strong>

 Chapter 814 The Arrangements

    Lin Wu watched the monitoring screens and saw Lian Xiaojian being sted back.

    "So it starts." Lin Wu chuckled.

    What he had got the system to make was arge offensive formation array that would keep on attacking Lian Xiaojian at a certain pace that would automatically be adjusted ording to the man''s state.

    Lin Wu originally wondered what would be the best method to do this and had thought of using beasts. But then remembered that the fatty wasn''t actually weak.

    It was easy to forget, but Lian Xiaojian was also at the Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm and there weren''t many beasts able to match him right now. As for those that could, they were Lin Wu''s direct subordinates and were busy with their own tasks.

    Then there was also the fact that in order for Lian Xiaojian to awaken his physique, he needed to be in a greatly injured state for an extended period of time. It was a difficult task to make it so that the injuries stayed just there.

    If Lin Wu got his subordinates to do that, there was always a chance that they might misjudge and exert a little too much force, killing the man in the process. If that happened, it would all be for the naught.

    Thus to ensure the greatest chance of sess, Lin Wu could only trust on the system to do it. Hence the formation array was made. It wasposed of several different kinds of offensive formations that would attack and injure Lian Xiaojian.

    As for the im that Lian Xiaojian had to open the door and cross the corridor, it was just a gimmick.

    Lin Wu needed to give Lian Xiaojian some concrete goal that he could see. If there was nothing like this, he doubted his willpower would be that strong. After all, Lin Wu was investing in him and would be using a part of the tomb''s spirit Qi supply to power these formation arrays.

    He wanted the return to be something in the future and would ensure that he got it.

    With all set and done, Lin Wu watched the fatty getting injured over and over again. But even after an hour, he wasn''t able to take more than ten steps. But even then, the injuries that Lian Xiaojian had sustained weren''t much more than surface injuries.

    "Even without his physique being awakened, he is still quite tough." Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    After watching the man for a bit more, Lin Wu lost interest and decided to focus on his own cultivation.

    ''Now that most of the things are set, I can return to my growthбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself before curling up on therge pile of pelts and entered a cultivation state.

    бн

    Three months passed by while Lin Wu continued to cultivate.

    The ns he had set up were working properly and his alliances were also in effect. The millennium forest had already received its first batch of the trial takers that would attempt the Sky Bright Daoist''s Trials and they were currently in the Shrine, being watched over by the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape.

    Kai Li had also kept up with her end of the deal and had set up a trade agreement with several of the traders that worked under her and along with the Lian n. Once that was done, she came to the Millennium forest again to enact the second part of the n.<sub> </sub>

    In the millennium forest, the subordinates of Lin Wu were already instructed about what to do when she came here.

    The goods and products that the millennium forest was going to sell off were already prepared for a long time and were kept in storage. The only thing left was for Kai Li to get the beasts that Lin Wu had promised would help her.

    "Who will being with me as per the ns of King Lin Wu?" Kai Li asked the Emeraldine Monkey that was in charge of talking to her in the absence of Lin Wu.

    "They will be here shortly. I''ve already called for them." The Emeraldine Monkey replied.

    "I seeбн" Kai Li nodded and nced at the warehouse that was lying open.

    There were literal piles of spirit herbs, spirit fruits and also beast materials lying there. They were in such a high quantity that Kai Li couldn''t carry all of them in any spatial storage tools.

    This was an issue that most merchant faced and even the rich Lian n was no exception. And in the case of Kai Li, who was technically doing this on her own without the support of the Lian n, she didn''t have the same level of resource.

    She could technically take their support and would get enough spatial storage tools to carry all the goods, but it would mean that she would have to give a part of the profits to the n as well.

    But if she did that, it would be against the agreement she had made with Lin Wu. And she didn''t want to lose that profit either, wanting to keep a lot of it with herself.

    ''I haven''t broken my back making four hundred and six merchant agreements for nothingбн'' Kai Li thought to herself.

    While thinking all this, She was reminded of something.

    "Do you know how young master Lian Xiaojian is doing?" Kai Li questioned the beast.

    "I do not know about that. The king is doing it all himself and thus we are not privy to this information." The Emeraldine monkey replied. "And we do not dare to disrupt his cultivation to ask this, either." He added, just to warn Kai Li.

    "It''s all good. If the king is doing it on his own, then there is no need for me to worry." Kai Li hurriedly replied.

    After all, thest thing she wanted was to offend Lin Wu over it and risk missing out the biggest deal of her life.

    ~TREMBLE~

    And while she was thinking this, the ground started to shake.

 Chapter 815 Kai Li Embarks

    "They are here." The Emeraldine Monkey announced.

    Kai Li heard the beast''s words and snapped out of her thoughts. Turning her neck, she nced in the direction where the vibrations wereing from and sawrge figures appearing.

    A minuteter, she could finally see the beasts.

    "W-whatбн" Kai Li was a bit stunned.

    In front of her, a group of fifty beasts could be seen. Strong spirit Qi fluctuations wereing from all the beasts, with three of them being particrly strong.

    Leading this group of beasts were three nascent soul realm beasts.

    "King Lin Wu didn''t specify thisбн" Kai Li was at a loss for words.

    The Emeraldine Monkey smirked at seeing the surprised reaction of the human and felt a bit prideful.

    "These are the beasts that King Lin Wu has prepared for you. The ones leading them will be three Nascent soul realm beasts. I''ll introduce them to you." The Emeraldine Monkey said before walking towards them.

    The Emeraldine Monkey was at the Adolescent soul stage of the Nascent soul realm, but was smaller than all of these beasts. It was simply how they were built and was not a representation of their true power.

    Most of the core condensation realm beasts were about the same size as that of the Emeraldine Monkey, while the rest were even bigger than him. But thergest were none other than the three Nascent soul realm beasts.

    "This is the Emeraldine Pulse Cicada, the Emeraldine Barren Tail Wolf and finally the Emeraldine Winged Swan. All of them are at the Infant Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm and have already been taught about the human tongue.

    While they can''t speak it like us, they will still understand your words." The Emeraldine Monkey introduced.

    While Kai Li herself was much stronger than these beasts, she also knew that the beasts had their own advantages. Not to mention, she wouldn''t be apanying all the caravans on her own and lending them her strength.

    With the three Nascent soul realm beasts added to it all, she now had a greater level of protection.

    ''With three nascent soul realm beasts, the reputation of our merchant team will be greatly increased!'' Kai Li thought with excitement.

    She could almost see the gold in front of her already.

    Walking up to the beasts, she decided to introduce herself as well. By now she had understood well enough that these beasts were no less than humans and it would be best if she behaved like that with them, as well as extending the same level of courtesy to them.

    "Greetings, My name is Kai Li, a junior elder of the Lian n. We shall now be working together from this day." Kai Li cupped her hands in greeting.

    ~SKREEE~

    ~Howl~

    ~SCREECH~<sub> </sub>

    The three Nascent soul realm beasts cried in response and nodded their heads, acknowledging Kai Li.

    The Emeraldine Monkey observed it all from the back, feeling pleased.

    ''Just like master said, she is certainly a few levels above the humans we meet. She has better sense than them too and is respectable.'' The Emeraldine Monkey felt content.

    He watched Kai Li talking a little with the beasts and telling them what they were going to be doing. Even though the beasts were already instructed about it all, Kai Li reckoned it was best to also give a briefing to the beasts on her own.

    "Does everyone understand now?" Kai Li asked after finishing her exnation.

    The beasts cried and nodded in response and quickly split up as were told, into different teams.

    Kai Li contacted her own subordinates, and they quickly appeared to help load the goods onto the beast''s backs. They had even prepared the harnesses for the beasts that would help in carrying the goods.

    In about two hours, all the goods were safely packed up and loaded onto the beasts'' back.

    Kai Li looked at the five teams of the beasts with a contended smile. Each of the five teams had a specificposition, and half of the beasts in each team would be carrying goods. The rest of them were in charge of protecting the carriers and also scouting out the path.

    ording to Lin Wu''s instructions, various kinds of beasts were used for this. There wererge beetle beasts that were perfect for carrying goods on their backs, swift and fast beasts like deer and wolf beasts that would scout out the area, beasts with strong defenses like armadillos and scaled beasts who would guard in case of an attack and also beasts with offensive capabilities like Lamp Light ligers and more.

    Then there were some bird beasts too, who could scout at long distances.

    Over all, this made a goodposition and Kai Li was pleased with it. Then there were the three Nascent soul realm beasts who would be apanying as well, but only act in certain situations.

    "I believe everything is ording to the agreement and there are no issues?" The Emeraldine money asked.

    "Yes! Everything is as decided and perhaps even better." Kai Li replied.

    "Very well, you can set out whenever you feel like." The Emeraldine Monkey said before taking out an object and passing it to Kai Li.

    Kai Li took the object and looked at it curiously. It was a green crystal carved into a smooth disk. On one side of the disk, a motif was carved that looked like a beast''s head. Then on the other side, a character was carved instead.

    "Millenniumбн" Kai Li read it before looking at the Emeraldine Monkey.

    "That is the official authority token of our Kingdom and can only be issued by King Lin Wu. With that in your hands, you are now the officiallymissioned merchant of our kingdom!" The Emeraldine monkey exined.

    Kai Li felt a bit awed and stored the token away. She was certainly pleased with it and would now have something to show off in the right situationster.

    "I shall take my leave then. I best not let King Lin Wu wait for his profits for too long." Kai Li said with a chuckle.

 Chapter 816 Intermediate Level Inheritance

    ~DING~

    ? The system''s rm could be heard going off in Lin Wu''s ears as he was roused from his state.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu groaned lightly.

    ~YAWN~

    ''Did I fall asleep?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He had been cultivating all this time and was in a deep state of it. It wasn''t usual for him to fall asleep either, as his focused cultivation state was simr to sleep a lot. Lin Wu knew that there was a possibility of this happening, thus he had gotten the system to keep an rm ready for him.

    Though in addition to the rm, there were other reminders set up in the system too. It was to awaken Lin Wu, if anything in the list happened.

    And it was exactly one of those reminders for which the system had awakened him. Lin Wu looked at the window that was shing in front of him.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    REMINDER: Shirong has sessfulpleted the Taiji Celestial''s Trials!

    бкбк

    "He''s alreadypleted them?" Lin Wu was surprised and wondered just how much time it had been.

    Five Months had now passed since Lin Wu had let Shirong take the trials and two months had passed since Kai Li had embarked from the Millennium forest with the beasts. Lin Wu scrolled through all the updates the system prepared for him, like reading a newspaper in the morning.

    "He''s getting the inheritance nowбн seems like he qualified for the intermediate level inheritance right away." Lin Wu saw the system''s notifications.

    Lin Wu had originally thought that Shirong might be able to get the top level inheritance right away, but it turned out to be different from that.

    ''If even Shirong can''t obtain it, then just how strong would one have to be and what level of score would the trials need to reward them with the top level inheritance?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He himself had obtained the inheritance due to his unique situation and the help of the system. By now Lin Wu was sure that Shirong was a great genius even whenpared to those of higher worlds.

    And if even a man like that couldn''t get top-level inheritance, then Lin Wu without his luck would have never gotten it either. In fact, there was a great chance he might not have even been able to get the lowest level inheritance.

    ~shua~

    A monitor window opened up in front of Lin Wu, showing Shirong in it. The man was currently sitting in one of the trial rooms and was covered with sweat. His expression was that of pain and his eyes were tightly shut.

    Ten minutes passed like this before Shirong finallypleted the entire process.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SUBJECT DATA: Updated

    SUBJECT: Ji Shirong

    CULTIVATION BASE: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Immortal Sky Shaker art (Lightning Attribute spirit qi adept)

    2. Taiji Inversion Cycle Refinement Technique (Taiji Celestial''s Intermediate level inheritance)

    бкбк

    "So this is the second level of it huhбн" Lin Wu read about the cultivation technique.

    Now he knew of all the levels of the Taiji Celestial''s cultivation techniques.<sub> </sub>

    Taiji Refinement scriptureбн

    Taiji Inversion Cycle Refinement Techniqueбн

    Taiji Dual Unity Scriptureбн

    Such were the three levels of the inheritance, and each contained different Qi skills. Though the higher leveled ones didn''t give the lowers leveled Qi skills right away, and one needed toprehend them.

    When Wang Xiong had obtained the first level: Taiji Refinement scripture, he had also gained the Qi skill unity returning fist.

    And when Lin Wu had obtained the third level: Taiji Dual Unity Scripture, he had obtained the Unity Avatar Technique.

    ''What Qi skill did Shirong get from the start of this?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu still had to wait for Shirong to finish the entire process to know it. The cultivation technique was the first one to be imparted, and then the information about the Taiji Celestial, as well as a certain understanding of the cultivation and insights, were passed.

    The Qi skill was thest thing to be imparted to the cultivator. Lin Wu ended up waiting for an entire hour before the process was finally over.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SUBJECT DATA: Updated

    SUBJECT: Ji Shirong

    CULTIVATION BASE: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm

    QI SKILLS: 1. Immortal Sky Shaker Art skill set

    2. Cycle Inverting Seal

    бкбк

    "The Cycle Inverting Seal? What is this?" Lin Wu asked the system.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    QI SKILL: Cycle Inverting Seal

    INFO: The Cycle Inverting Seal allows the user to create mystical seals that can reverse anything as long as the user''s power is equivalent or above that of the being it is used on. It can reverse blood flow, invert the Qi circuits and even flip the elements!

    бкбк

    Reading the information of the Qi skill, Lin Wu couldn''t help but feel amazed.

    "This is way better than the Unity Returning Fistбн it''s literally an exponential upgrade." Lin Wu said to himself.

    Though this also allowed him to realize just how strong the Unity Avatar technique was too.

    After all, even if the Cycle Inverting Seal was a very strong Qi skill, it was at most an offensive skill and could only be used on those equal or weaker than oneself. But the Unity Avatar Technique was way beyond it.

    Not only did it give one an avatar simr to oneself that could learn other skills and techniques, it would also give one a way a great trump card. After all, with an avatar hidden away, if one died, they could always switch to it and continue living on.

    There were many experts in the world who nurtured their decedents so that they had a backup n to survive in case their original bodies died. They could use their Nascent soul and takeover the body of their descendants that would have the same bloodline and perhaps even better constitution.

    But all this took a lot of time, effort and nurturing to do so. Not to mention the descendants might resist too.

    But the Unity Avatar Technique had no such problems at all!

 Chapter 817 [Bonus Chapter]Emeraldine Heart Spear

    Soon, Shirong was done obtaining the inheritance and had awakened.

    ~huu~

    Taking a deep breath, Shirong went over all that he had learned in this time. The information was imprinted in his mind and he could see it just like it was a book in his hands.

    "Such profound techniqueбн and this is only the intermediate level inheritance tooбн just what level is Great Senior''s ability at?" Shirong couldn''t fathom.

    Since Shirong had gone through the full trial, he had also gotten to know of the different tiers of the inheritance. While he was a bit disappointed that even with all his effort, he had only obtained the second level of the inheritance, he was still astounded by the technique.

    Both the cultivation technique and the Qi skill that came with it were beyond anything Shirong had ever seen. And while he had not even practiced it yet, he could tell the difference just by a nce at the content.

    "The Immortal Sky Shaker art may as well be a trash manual the beggars sell in the vigerspared to thisбн" Shirong said to himself.

    While he was thinking to himself how ridiculous it had been to consider his original cultivation technique at the top level, a string of runes appeared in the hall.

    ~shua~

    "Huh?" Shirong turned around and saw Lin Wu appearing from the teleportation formation.

    "Great Senior!" Shirong greeted with cupped hands.

    Lin Wu gazed at the man and scanned him from top to bottom. He could see the spirit Qi within Shirong''s body thrumming with power.

    ''He should breakthrough to the Dao Shell realm soon enough with the Taiji Inversion Cycle Refinement technique.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    "So you finallypleted all the trials. Impressive." Lin Wu praised.

    "It was also due to your help, Senior. If not for the spear, I don''t think I would have even been able to get the basic level inheritance." Shirong replied.

    "That''s good." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    The trials allowed one to use all that one had on themselves, as it could fully replicate one''s battle capability. The illusory arrays used for it were the highest level Lin Wu had ever seen until now and the system was in agreement.

    In fact, the system had even used the illusory arrays to improve its own simtion capabilities too.

    "Don''t worry about the inheritance you got through. You can retake the trial in the future and get the opportunity to obtain the highest level inheritance." Lin Wu added.

    "I can?!" Shirong was surprised.

    He didn''t know something like this was even possible since the trial had not told him anything like this.

    And this was right, too. As the trial truly didn''t allow one to retake it, but Lin Wu had the system running it and could make such changes.

    "Yes. Though it can''t be taken just anytime or without preparation. It is best to only take it when you know for sure that you are ready. For context, I''m not sure if even an immortal Ascension realm cultivator can obtain the third level of the inheritance." Lin Wu exined.

    "Is that soбн" Shirong felt a lot more satisfied upon hearing this.

    "Also, you should be close to a breakthrough now. You should adapt to the Taiji Inversion Cycle Refinement Technique and then use that to breakthrough. There shouldn''t be any bottleneck." Lin Wu suggested.

    "I was intending to do that too senior. I can already feel the bottleneck loosen, and I haven''t even used the technique yet. Simply the insights I got from the inheritance alone are enough for me to figure out a solution to the bottleneck." Shirong spoke with excitement.

    "That''s great." Lin Wu casually said, but could see that Shirong wanted to say something more too. "Do you have something to say?" he asked.

    "Ummбн yes senior. But I don''t know if its worth your time." Shirong replied.<sub> </sub>

    "Go on, speak. It''s fine." Lin Wu stated.

    He had just woken up from a nice sleep and was feeling good too so didn''t mind this little thing.

    "It''s about the crystal spearбн" Shirong said, hesitation still in his voice.

    "What is it? Did something happen to it?" Lin Wu asked.

    "No, noбн the spear is fine. It''s just thatбн I wanted you to name it." Shirong replied.

    "Name it? It''s the crystal spear." Lin Wu said.

    "Oh I know, but I reckoned it deserved a proper name now." Shirong replied.

    "Ahбн I seeбн" Lin Wu nodded his head.

    Lin Wu had never given the spear a proper name since he himself was the spear and didn''t think there was a reason to do that. But now that it really was an independent spear, giving it a name seems fine.

    "Alright then, I''ll give it a name." Lin Wu stated.

    "Yes, that will be a great honor for me." Shirong replied.

    Lin Wu thought over it for a bit before speaking, "show me the spear."

    "Here!" Shirong immediately took it out.

    Lin Wu nced at the spear and it automatically floated it up to him.

    "From this day onwards, this spear shall be namedбк ''Emeraldine Heart Spear''." Lin Wu dered.

    ~SHUA~

    A few runes formed in the air automatically and flew towards the spear before imprinting on to it.

    Now on the handle of the spear, its name was forever carved.

    "Emeraldine Heart Spearбн I shall forever cherish it." Shirong said before taking the spear back.

    He caressed the spear''s shaft and nced at the runes that looked elegant.

    ~humm~

    The spear lightly hummed in his hand as if responding to him and calmed down after a big.

    "Thank you for this, Senior." Shirong said, feeling grateful.

    "It was nothing too big." Lin Wu replied truthfully.

    "I shall take my leave then, senior. I''ll prioritize my breakthrough first and then talk to you about the ns after that." Shirong stated.

    "Very well." Lin Wu replied before causally teleporting away.

    Shirong was teleported out a few seconds after Lin Wu was gone too. After all, he was currently in the halls that were only reserved for the trials and weren''t allowed for normal use.

 Chapter 818 A Pending Quest

    Lin Wu returned to his personal hall and wondered what he should do next.

    "Everything is pretty much set now, other than cultivating andprehending I don''t have anything else." Lin Wu said to himself.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    REMINDER: The host still has a quest toplete

    QUEST: Hunt and consume the unknown bloodline beast.

    бкбк

    "OH YEAH! I ALMOST FORGOT!" Lin Wu eximed.

    Lin Wu had gotten strong over the years and didn''t have as much of a drive to find the beast. It didn''t help that there were no clues to the beast, either. Lin Wu wanted to make use of the tomb to find it too, but he was nowhere close to that.

    "Do we have any updates on that end system? How long till the tomb''s formation array is good enough to track the beast?" Lin Wu questioned. "Or can you track it on your own?"

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The tomb''s formation array is still not at the right integrity to work. Repairing it will require higher power supply from the power source, but to decrypt it, the system needs additional AI cores, but for that the host needs a higher cultivation base.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so it loops again." Lin Wu shook his head.

    He wanted to finish the quest to get the rest of the unknown bloodline to get stronger and increase his cultivation base, but to find it, he needed to increase his cultivation base as well.

    ''Looks like I''ll have to either use some other method or simply keep on doing what I am right now.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    It wasn''t like Lin Wu had no other options in finding the beast with the unknown bloodline. There were other people in this world that might be able to assist him in finding it, or at least be able to track where the beast might have gone.

    "No, waitбн I''m missing one point." Lin Wu was suddenly reminded of something as his heart fell. "When that beast was born, it was already at the Nascent soul realm. If wepare the time takenбн what if the beast already increased his cultivation base to a high enough level and left this world?"

    It was a possibility that could not be denied after all.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: It is unlikely for the beast with the unknown bloodline to have left the world as it would either have to reach the Immortal Ascension realm and fly out of the world directly or to exceed it and be forcefully ascended to the immortal realm.

    Either of those will be big enough events and will cause phenomena that will be noticed by the system.

    Breakthrough from the Immortal Ascension realm will cause a great phenomenon and will be visible in the entire world, while simply flying out at the Immortal Ascension realm will also cause phenomenon as the beast will have to break out of the world''s restrictions.

    бкбк<sub> </sub>

    "Hopefully it is like this. Or this quest might just have to wait for a long time." Lin Wu said, feeling a bit relieved.

    Lin Wu gazed at the screens for a while before muttering to himself, ''guess its steady going from here onбн''

    While Lin Wu was at the tomb, there was something else going on in the Frozen Cloud sect.

    "HAHAHA! I KNEW OUR FROZEN CLOUD SECT WOULD ONE DAY REACH THE TOP!"

    "OF COURSE! With Chief disciple Wang Xiong, taking the lead, there was no way we would ever lose in the tournament."

    "Don''t forget, the new core disciples did really well too! If it weren''t for their skills, our sect might have only reached the mid rankings."

    Boisterous conversations were happening in the Great Pce of the Frozen Cloud sect. A great banquet had been organized and everyone was in a celebratory mood.

    The elders of the sect were drinking like there was no tomorrow. Disciplesughed and joked around. Even the cold-faced patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect, Patriarch Bing had a smile on his face today, albeit only a slight one.

    Wang Xiong was also among the many people here and was exchanging pleasantries with the disciples of his sect and the elders.

    "What will you be doing with the prizes Senior?" one of the disciples asked Wang Xiong.

    "Iбн don''t know." Wang Xiong replied.

    p "You don''t know? Won''t you be using the spirit fruit for yourself?" the disciple asked, feeling confused.</anda>

    "I might or might not." Wang Xiong said.

    "Why? Don''t tell me you are thinking of selling it off?" another disciple chimed in.

    "Perhapsбн the spirit fruit won''t have much of an effect on me. It''s not as good for my cultivation technique either. I may as well just exchange it for spirit stones instead." Wang Xiong replied.

    "REALLY?!" The disciples were all excited upon hearing this.

    "Oh? Is that true chief disciple Wang Xiong?" One of the elders sitting nearby asked.

    "Yes, elder Niuzen." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Well, if it''s like that, then I''ll dly ept it. Of course, if I can afford it." The elderughed.

    "Ah, forgive me, elder Niuzen, but there is already someone that has reserved it for themselves." Wang Xiong replied.

    "What a pityбн but if it has been done so, then I cannot interfere. I just hope that the exchange is beneficial for you too. After all, we wouldn''t want you to lose out. Otherwise it wills one a loss for the Frozen Cloud sect." Elder Niuzen said in a teasing manner.

    "It will be a fine elder. I surely wouldn''t make a deal that will make me lose out." Wang Xiong

    Wang Xiong continued to talk to the people there for a while before taking his leave and retiring for the day. But instead of heading back to his residence, he went some ce else.

    "What have youe here for today, Chief Disciple Wang Xiong?" A old elder that looked very close to death spoke. "Shouldn''t you be at the celebratory banquet?" He asked.

    "I''m here to give you something, Supreme Elder Weizhe." Wang Xiong replied with a smile.

 Chapter 819 Rising And Falling Hope

    Elder Weizhe was not expecting a visit from Wang Xiong and had been keeping to himself these days. After all, the man knew better than anyone else that his days were numbered.

    "What do you have for this dying old man?" Elder Weizhe asked calmly.

    "Something that might help you." Wang Xiong said before taking out a fruit from his storage ring.

    Elder Weizhe''s eyes nced at the fruit before looking back at Wang Xiong.

    "Why would you give me this, Chief Disciple Wang Xiong? This is something you have rightfully received as the winner in the Tournament." Elder Weizhe asked.

    "I know you are close to the end of your lifespan, elder. But we cannot afford to lose you now. The Spirit Boon Vermillion Fruit can help you. It also has the effect of replenishing a certain level of vitality." Wang Xiong spoke. The Frozen Cloud

    "I know very well what the effects of the Spirit Boon Vermillion Fruit are, junior. But this will not be of much use to me. At most, it''ll buy me a month or two. But after that I will still be meeting my end." Elder Weizhe said with a sigh.

    "Of course, that would be if I just helped you with the fruit. But I have more than just that," Wang Xiong said, intriguing the man.

    "What else might you have? More fruits will be useless. I''ve already consumed several different spirit fruits that could have extended my life." Elder Weizhe stated.

    "I am not speaking about such fruits, Elder Weizhe." Wang Xiong replied. "And neither am I talking about any alchemical pills or things of that sort." He added.

    "And what might that be?" Elder Weizhe questioned, feeling truly curious now.

    "A moreбн permanent solution. A breakthrough." Wang Xiong said, stunning the old man.

    "That is impossible. My cultivation is stuck not because of a bottleneck but injuries." Elder Weizhe said, his heart wavering.

    As much as he wanted to believe Wang Xiong, he had gotten his hopes crushed several times now. By now, he had epted his eventual end and was at peace with it.

    "I know someone that can help you with all that. I just ask that youe with me some timeter." Wang Xiong stated. "Guardian Yun has already given his approval, too."

    Hearing this, Elder Weizhe''s eyes went wide and new hope appeared in his heart.

    While someone had gained new hope in the Frozen Cloud sect, another influential person had just started to lose his.

    In the Lian n, there existed a small but luxurious courtyard. Its walls and pirs were made out of the finest Spirit wood, while the decorative statues on it were made out of refined gold.

    But that was not all, as there were also a lot of formation arrays ced on it all, making life convenient. The arrays would automatically clean, regte the temperature, make music and a lot more.

    This was perhaps the best residence in the entire Lian n, even if it was not the biggest. A middle-aged man had just appeared in front of it and seemed to be very nervous.

    ~Sigh~

    "Hopefully this works." Elder Ruanjian muttered to himself before taking a deep breath and walking in.

    "Come in." Before he could knock on the door, the doors opened and a voice called.

    "Y-yes." Elder Ruanjian entered and swiftly closed the doors behind it.

    In the main room of the residence sat none other than the Patriarch of the Lian n, Patriarch Lian Dajian!

    But the visage of the man seemed to be a bit weak. If one looked closer, they would find that the man''s cultivation base seemed to be a bit unstable and his aura had withered a bit as well.<sub> </sub>

    "I have brought it patriarch." Elder Ruanjian said respectfully.

    "Show it to me!" Patriarch Lian Dajian ordered.

    "Yes!" Elder Ruanjian took out a palm sized box from his spatial storage treasure.

    The box was rather elegant looking and a fresh fragrance could be felting from it. There were fine carvings on the box as well. But the strange thing was that the letters carved on the box were nothing like they had seen.

    They didn''t belong to the localnguages, and neither was it written in the Dao Script.

    Patriarch Dajian took a breath and waved his hand, causing the box to flow into his hands.

    ~CLACK~

    The hidden lock on the box unlocked under his control and the lid opened up. Sitting inside the dainty box was a pill. But the pill was unlike any alchemical pills one would normally see.

    It was not spherical in shape and was rather misshapen. It looked like a crude mud ball a child might make with their hands, the brown color of the pill also didn''t help. There was also debris embedded into the pill making it look even more like a dung ball!

    But despite all that, the pill seemed to be very fragrant; like bouquet of flowers had been turned into this ball.

    "So this is what the Savages of the Evergreen ind sold us?" Patriarch Dajian asked.

    "Yes, patriarch. I''ve checked everything and it is an authentic pill made by them." Elder Ruanjian replied.

    ~Sigh~

    ''Seeing this pill, who would expect that the best pill makers of the Ming Dao world are actually reclusive savagesбн'' Patriarch Dajian thought to himself.

    He gritted his teeth and picked up the pill before putting it into his mouth.

    ~COUGH~ COUGH~

    ''So bitter!'' Patriarch Dajian thought to himself as he forced himself to swallow it despite his coughing.

    ~SHUA~

    ? A minute after he had finished eating it, a wave of refreshing energy spread throughout his body and filled his meridians.

    "Is it working?" Elder Ruanjian could''t help but ask.

    But then a few secondster, Patriarch Dajian''s face fell.

    "Itбн Failedбн"

    "That can''t beбн this was ourst hopeбн" Elder Ruanjian seemed even more sad. "Noбн we still have a choice." He muttered after a bit.

    "We can''t do that carelesslyбн if other find out, the Lian n will be in danger." Patriarch Dajian replied.

 Chapter 820 Dajians Uncertainty And The Weasel Awakens

    Elder Ruanjian looked at Patriarch Dajian with apprehension on his face.

    "I''ll make sure that no one finds out patriarch. We won''t use any of our usual people nor anyone linked with us." Elder Ruanjian stated.

    ~Sigh~

    "Very wellбн contact the Hu nбн" Lian Dajian replied.

    "Do not worry patriarch." Elder Ruanjian spoke. " If even they don''t have a solution then, perhaps the young master wille in handy. There is still a chance that he might survive this." He added.

    "Hmmбн that beast; this King Lin Wuбн is he really like you described?" Patriarch Dajian asked.

    "Yes patriarchбн he is nothing like I''ve ever seen before. The sense of oppression I get from him isбн beyond you, or even the Patriarch of the Long n. And his aura is simply deadly. All this is merely what I got from his appearance. Talking to him and learning the things he knew were an entirely different level of danger.

    With the knowledge that the likely long lived beast has and the negotiation skills that it showed, I can safely say that he is very experienced with humans. Simply looking at his eyes showed the experience of an old monster." Elder Ruanjian described.

    Patriarch Dajian thought to himself for a bit before speaking.

    "Have you consulted the others about the beast king?" Patriarch Dajian questioned.

    "I have contacted our usual sources, but didn''t get any intel on him. It''s as if a beast like that has never existed. Which is strange since many of these records have been maintained since the time of the rise of the guardians." Elder Ruanjian answered.

    "I seeбн then it may very well be proof that the beast was speaking the truth. It is truly an old monster having existed since before the time of the guardian ns." Patriarch Dajian stated.

    "Though patriarch, there are other sources, we haven''t consulted yet. There is the Hu n and some other record keepers in that continent as well." Elder Ruanjian added.

    "I seeбн but if even that fails, thenбн" Patriarch Dajian didn''t continue after that.

    Some things were simply better left unsaid.

    While Lin Wu knew things were going to be steady, he didn''t know just how long they would be like that.

    Time continued to pass where days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and months turned into yearsбн

    бн

    Three yearster.

    One certain day, the beasts of the Millennium forest all felt a strong wave of aura spreading from the tomb.

    "Huh? Is it master?" The Mole beast wondered.

    He was doing his regr duties of taking care of the orchards and had suddenly felt this.

    "Noбн it seems different." Along with the mole beast was another beast that looked like a mix between a Mongoose and a dog.

    The Mole beast furrowed his brows and tried to sense it in detail and realized that hispanion was right.

    "Yeah, this is not masterбн the aura is a bit different." The Mole beast said.

    Back in the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, Lin Wu woke up from his cultivation trance as well.

    ~DING~

    "Hmm?" Lin Wu opened his eyes and looked at the notification that had appeared in front of him.

    "So he''s finally awake." Lin Wu muttered.

    Lin Wu moved and teleported to a different hall.

    ~SKREEE~

    As soon as he appeared, a loud screech was heard before a ck blur pounced on him.

    "Oh no you don''t!" Lin Wu swiped his tail.

    ~THUD~

    The ck blur was struck with Lin Wu''s tail, but wasn''t sent flying like normally. Instead, it stuck to his tail and refused to let go.

    ~Sigh~

    "Do you really need to do this always?" Lin Wu questioned the beast that was trying to bite his tail.<sub> </sub>

    "FOOD! FOOD!" The Weasel beast shouted as it continued to bite Lin Wu''s tail.

    ''Guess he''s hungry after all this time?'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    "Let go of my tail, I''ll give you other food." Lin Wu said but the Weasel beast didn''t respond.

    ~shua~

    Thus instead of speaking to the beast, Lin Wu waved his tail and withdrew several beast corpses from his storage.

    <strong>~THUD~THUD~THUD~</strong>

    A pile of beast corpses were immediately piled up and caught the attention of the Weasel beast.

    "FOODS!" The Weasel screamed before pouncing on the pile of corpses.

    ~CRUNCH~

    ~RIP~

    ~CRACK~

    Various sounds were heard as the weasel ate all the beast corpses. There were easily over a hundred corpses in it and there were swiftly eaten by the significantly small body of the weasel beast.

    And while the weasel was doing this, Lin Wu decided to check it.

    "System, scan the beast and see the changes." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: target selected.

    ERROR: Scan failed.

    INITIATING PASSIVE SCAN: Please wait a momentбн

    бкбк

    Seeing that the direct scan had failed again, Lin Wu knew that it wouldn''t work on the weasel beast for a while.

    ~SIGH~

    "Guess his unique defense still blocks the system and all spirit Qi." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    By the time the weasel finished eating all the corpses, the system finished its scan as well.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    PASSIVE SCAN: Completed

    Note: The information will be approximate and certain error margins might be present.

    TARGET: Myriad Obsidian Weasel

    CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Expansion Stage of the Dao Shell realm (Possible)

    бкбк

    This was all the information that the system could get from a passive scan, but it was enough for Lin Wu as it showed him that the weasel had grown rapidly again.

    "No wonder it was this hungryбн though it''s a bit strange that it was able to reach the Shell Expansion stage from just a single leg of the Supreme elderбн how did he do it?" Lin Wu wondered.

    Lin Wu was sure that something didn''t add up, but right now there was no way to find that out either. Thus, he just decided to let it be for now.

    "Are you done?" Lin Wu asked, seeing the weasel clean its paws and mouth with its tongue.

    "YES!" The Weasel replied in a lot calmer tone.

 Chapter 821 Three Years Of Growth

    The weasel had been sleeping for a few years now and Lin Wu had been wondering when the beast would awaken. And it finally had woken up today.

    "Took you long enough to wake up. How strong are you now?" Lin Wu decided to ask the Weasel first.

    The weasel though stared at Lin Wu and tilted his neck. "More strong?"

    ~Sigh~

    "I expected too much..." Lin Wu shook his head.

    ''Guess it will be better to let him just show it directly.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Alright then, since you''ve woken up and had a meal, how about doing some exercise?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Exercise?" The Weasel asked.

    "I mean having a little battle." Lin Wu simplified it for the beast.

    "OKAY!" The beast quickly replied.

    ''He''s certainly excited... though he didn''t really back down from fights before either,'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Though now that the weasel was awake, Lin Wu wondered who could actually match him.

    ''There aren''t many that would be able to go against him... even before it was impossible for them.'' Lin Wu thought for a bit.

    He looked through his list of servants, which had considerably expanded by now.

    ~DING~

    ----

    Servant Beasts

    1. Deep Earth Emeraldine Mole

    STATUS: Vitals Stable

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    2. Emeraldine Horn Beetle

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    3. Emeraldine Wing Swan

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    4. High Wind Emeraldine Sparrow

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    5. Emeraldine Monkeys (10)

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    6. Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    7. Emeraldine Monkeys. (11)

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Peak Stage of the Core Condensation realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    8. Emeraldine Wing Swan

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    9. Emeraldine Pulse Cicada

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    10. Emeraldine Barren Tail Wold

    STATUS: Vitals stable

    Cultivation Base: Infant Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a.Detonate

    ...(+15)

    SUBORDINATES: 1. Wang Xiong

    Cultivation Base: Adolescent Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation<sub> </sub>

    2. Pei Jun

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    3. Tian Xiaoge

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    4. Tian Han

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    5. Tian Chu

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    6. Twin Lights Liger King

    Cultivation Base: Shell Expansion Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    7. Split Thorn Horn Beetle King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    8. Slim Arm Ape King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    9. Demon Spine Ape King

    Cultivation Base: Adolescent Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    10. Ye Jin

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    11. Ji Shirong

    Cultivation Base: Shell Initiation Stage Of The Dao Shell realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    ----

    There were a lot of changes in the state of his subordinates in these years and Lin Wu had upgrade all the Pentagem imnts in them to thetest version as well. Many of his base subordinates had progressed in their cultivation and tens more had reached the Nascent soul realm.

    Lin Wu had also gotten more of the ck Fur Monkeys as his subordinates and those that had survived the mutation had be his true subordinates as well. The older group of Emeraldine Monkeys that were at the core condensation realm all had their breakthroughs and were at the Nascent soul realm by now.

    Even in the case of the former rulers of the forest, they had grown stronger. Especially the Demon Spine ape who had finally reached the Adolescent soul stage of the Nascent soul realm. And it was all due to his effort as well.

    Then among his human subordinates there was growth as well, with some that were in the core condensation realm breaking through to the Nascent soul realm.

    The most eye catching among them though, was none other than Ji Shirong. The man had sessfully broken through to the Dao Shell realm after his bloodline was awakened by Lin Wu.

    Shirong had also left the forest a couple years ago and had gone out to do his duties. Before leaving, he had left quite a bit of information for Lin Wu, which included the workings of the Ji n and the things that had been urring in it.

    Though Shirong''s main reason for leaving was that he had been called by the n. He was not given any exnation for why he was called though, and was simply told to arrive at the n as soon as possible.

    Lin Wu hadn''t really checked up on pretty much any of his servants and subordinates in the past two years, thus it was all a bit refreshing for him.

    "Hmm... all of them have grown stronger. Ideally, Shirong would have been the best candidate to spar with the weasel as both of them have around the same level of skill and abilities. But since he''s not here, the only one that cane close is the Twin Lights Liger King as before." Lin Wu went through the information.

    He wondered if the Liger King was close to a breakthrough or not by now.

    ''He should be close to it since he did get a part of the supreme elder to eat before,'' Lin Wu recalled.

    After having thought for a bit, Lin Wu sent out several messages to his servants. He now had even more monkey servants, thus they could do pretty good in managing the forest now.

    The trade between humans and the beast had increased in the past three years, just ording to Lin Wu''s n. Though no human had decided to settle in the forest yet.

    A forest city was part of Lin Wu''s n as it was necessary to normalize the association of humans and beast for better progress.

    This was also why the monkey beasts were so important. Since apes and monkeys were simr to humans, they were far easier to ept for the human cultivators than the other beasts such as insect beasts.

    It was also the reason why the Slim Arm Ape king had be well known among the sects and kingdoms in the recent months.

    But among the higher ups of the said kingdoms and sect, it was the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape that had be famous.

    He had been given the title of Wise Monk Ape unofficially since he was in charge of handling all those that came to take the trials of the Sky Bright Daoist. Additionally, they also got to see his strength when he epted spars from those that came here.

    A few ''elders'' of the sects and kingdoms were not convinced that a beast like him could teach their disciples better thus challenged him. It was safe to say that the battle was ended swiftly and the Monk ape hade out on top.

    This had made him gain several fans among the many disciples that took the trials here.

    Many even requested him to teach them directly as a teacher, but were rejected.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape was also the servant of Lin Wu, who had cultivated the fastest. He was already at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm and Lin Wu was sure that he''d be the next to break through to the Dao Shell realm too.

    Lin Wu conversed with his servants for a bit before deciding on what would be done next.

    "Alright, if we can''t match you with the right opponent, we can certainly increase them. We''llpensate for quality by quantity." Lin Wu stated.

    "Fight Who?" The Weasel asked.

    "You''ll be fighting as many beasts as you can." Lin Wu replied.

    "Reward?" The weasel asked, his eyes already shining with desire.

    Drool appeared on the corner of its mouth as he stared at Lin Wu.

    "I know I know. You''ll get as much as you want to eat if you win." Lin Wu spoke.

    ~SKREEE~

    The Weasel cried in excitement and seemed fully ready to fight now.

 Chapter 822 The Arena

    Arge area had been cleared out in the Millennium forest and on the borders of it, thick trees with trunks as wide as five meters were growing.

    This ce was nothing but the tournament arena of the Millennium forest, the ce where all the beasts of the forest would fight against each other to earn the chance of meeting Lin Wu and receiving his ''grace''.

    Over the years, it had be a very popr and important ce in the forest and no beast that had intelligence that didn''t know about it. Most hade to watch the fights if not participated in one themselves.

    The beasts all needed to use the arena from time to time, as they often had conflicts. And since Lin Wu had put a restraint on open conflicts among the intelligent beasts, the only way they could resolve them was by fighting here.

    This actually served as a better way of letting out their beastly instincts and also not dying. After all, Lin Wu didn''t want all the strong and intelligent beasts to fight to the death. It would only mean reducing the number of subjects he could have underneath him.

    The beast was the perfect to be subjects as they wouldn''t rebel or think of rebelling. They would follow hismands and orders with little to no objections as long as their basic desires were satisfied.

    Best of all, most of the beast had no ambitions other than having tons of food, being strong and having mates.

    Lin Wu''s bloodline could suppress them and make sure they obeyed all his orders and satisfying the other requirements was very easy for Lin Wu now too.

    After all he provided them a stable source of cultivation resources as food. They could grow stronger with that and also try their hand at the arena, winning a chance to meet Lin Wu and mutate.

    As for the part about the mates, Lin Wu left the beasts to their own devices, as he reckoned it was much better to not interfere.

    If it were humans that Lin Wu was ruling over, he would have had to take care of a lot of things, to ensure that they wouldn''t oppose him. And even if they didn''t show it on their faces, there were bound to be many that would scheme in the backgrounds.

    Which was why Lin Wu preferred the beasts much more. But despite all that, he did need the humans for future progress and thus was including them in the ''economy'' of the forest now.

    The arena was going to be on of the bigger ns among them as Lin Wu was intending to make it into a sport. Anyone would be able toe and watch if they bought the tickets. Additionally they would even be able to bet and gamble on their favored fighters.

    This was another reason why he was here today.

    "When Fight?" The Weasel asked.

    "Just wait a bit more. They will all be here soon enough." Lin Wu spoke.

    He was currently standing in the arena a with the weasel and two Emeraldine Monkeys that were in charge of the arena.

    "M-my king, will the arena be able to handle these many fighters? I meanбн I could understand if it was just core condensation realm beasts, but what you are saying isбн" the Emeraldine Monkeys were a bit hesitant.

    "I know your concerns, but it will be fine." Lin Wu replied.

    "But what if it''s destroyed?" The second Emeraldine Monkey asked.

    "Then just let it be destroyed." Lin Wu casually said.

    "Huh?" The Emeraldine Monkeys were surprised.

    It was because setting up this arena wasn''t exactly cheap. The trees surrounding it were the ck Iron Wood Trees. These trees were hard to grow and took a long while as well. And such arge number of them were hard toe by in the entire Long continent.

    If it were not for the fact they the servants of Lin Wu, had gotten knowledge from him about the trees and how to grow them faster, they would have all been at a loss. But even if they could regrow the trees, it didn''t mean that they could do it without a cost.

    Growing even a single tree at an elerated pace needed hundreds of spirit stones and high grade fertilizers. These trees served as a defensive barrier to the arena and ensured that the attacks of the beasts didn''t destroy the rest of the forest.

    After all, the forest was where they lived, and without it, they would be nothing.

    Even the beasts without intelligence avoided damaging the forest too much, as it was engraved into their very bloodline.

    "With the Dao Shell realm beasts fighting, it will certainly damage the area around us. But it will also tell us just how much area is needed for a fight like that. It will be very profitable in the future, after all, how many people get to see Dao Shell realm beings fight?

    We''ll use this chance to get a measure of how much the arena needs to be expanded. After that is known, we will make an even better arena. I''ll personally set up an array that will maintain it and also reinforce it.

    Then it will be a proper arena ording to the human standards." Lin Wu exined to the servants.

    "Ahбн we understand now, master. You are certainly beyond our thinking." The Emeraldine Monkeys said, feeling awed at Lin Wu''s ns.

    "Mmhmmбн you all can just focus on taking notes during it all." Lin Wu spoke.

    "YES!" The two Emeraldine Monkeys replied.

    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~

    And just as they finished speaking, several gusts of wind could be felting from the distance.

    "There they are." Lin Wu said seeing the beasts who he had called for the fight."

    "AHAHAHA! WHO DO I GET TO FIGHT TODAY!" A loud and boisterous voice was hearding from the sky.<sub> </sub>

    The one who had appeared first was none other than the Demon Spine Ape. He was the most excited about the fight, even more so than the weasel. The Demon Spine Ape was someone who had a natural drive to get stronger and didn''t even need an incentive to fight like the weasel.

    ''It was obvious that he would be the first one to arrive.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    ~THUD~

    The Demon Spine Apended on the ground, creating a shallow imprint of his feet in it.

    "When do we fight?" He asked right away.

    "When the others are here." Lin Wu replied.

    "Can''t I just start the fight? The others will get their turn after me." The Demon Spine Ape asked.

    "Oh, you are not fighting alone." Lin Wu replied.

    "Huh? What do you mean?" The Demon Spine Ape was confused.

    "Do you really think you can go against him for longer than a minute?" Lin Wu asked with a chuckle.

    The Demon Spine ape looked at the Myriad Obsidian Weasel, who was dumbly staring at Lin Wu''s tail and drooling.

    "Uhбн yeah. I think I''ll wait." The Demon Spine ape replied after a bit.

    He recalled having been whacked away from a single attack of the weasel before. And this was when the weasel had just broken through to the Dao Shell realm. Now that he had gotten stronger, there was no saying whether the time would reduce even more.

    ~shua~

    A few secondster, another presence was felt from the distance, this time far stronger than before.

    "Why do I need to fight that child?" The Twin Lights Liger King asked just as he appeared.

    "We need to test how strong he is now. He''s certainly had a breakthrough and since we can''t judge it the normal way, this is the only method left." Lin Wu replied.

    The Twin Lights Liger looked at the Weasel who now had a small puddle of drool below his mouth and shook his head.

    "I''ll lose. My instincts tell me that he''ll be able to defeat me." The Twin Lights Liger King admitted defeat right away.

    "Oh, you don''t have the option to forfeit." Lin Wu tly said.

    "Huh?" The Twin Lights Liger King was confused.

    "This isn''t apetition. This is a test. Doesn''t matter if you all lose. What I want to see is how long it takes for you to lose and how strong the weasel is." Lin Wu replied.

    ~Sigh~

    "Seems like we are to be punching bags now." Another voice was heard from the back.

    "You''re here, father." The Demon Spine ape said upon seeing the Slim arm Ape appear.

    ~Rumble~

    "I''m here too." A screeching voice was heard while the ground rumbled.

    "The old beetle is here too." The Slim arm ape said.

    Within ten minutes, more and more beasts appeared and by the end, nearly thirty beasts were standing in the arena.

    Thankfully, the arena was wide already and even with these many beasts'' it didn''t seem crowded.

    Nearly all of Lin Wu''s servants and subordinates that were at the Nascent soul realm and above were here now.

    Even the Club Tailed Lizard and the juvenile lizards were here. Though the juvenile lizards will just be watching from the distance. While they had not learned to speak yet, they could still understand things.

    Additionally, they had broken through to the Core condensation realm a year ago and thus their intelligence had also increased.

    "Good, now that everyone is here, we can start." Lin Wu said in a loud voice.

    "What are we do to exactly?" The Monk Ape asked, feeling a bit suspicion.

    "Wellбн it''s simple. You all attack the weasel, and he will attack you. That''s all." Lin Wu replied.

 Chapter 823 Tims New Vibe

    The beasts were all surprised upon hearing Lin Wu''s words.

    "We are to gang up on the weasel?" The Mole beast asked.

    "Yes." Lin Wu replied.

    "Won''t that beбн a bit too unfair, master?" The Beetle beast asked.

    "Nope. I doubt he''ll get much injured." Lin Wu said without much care.

    "Alrightбн" The beetle beast couldn''t say anything more since her master had given the order.

    "Alright then, Tim stand in the center and the rest surround him." Lin Wu said as he flew to the side of the arena.

    He wasn''t the only one here either as more and more beasts were now gathering. The movement of so many high ranking beasts of the forest had certainly caught the attention of others and they had followed behind them.

    Not to mention there were always some beasts near the arena or those that always stayed in it as they worked here.

    "Whoa! Seniors are gonna fight that weasel?" A beast that looked like a goat with spiked horns said.

    "Who is that weasel beast, though? I''ve never seen him before." Another beast asked.

    "Yeahбн but since he''s so close to the king, he must be important." A fat cow standing nearby said.

    A lot of beasts had run away when Tim had his breakthrough, thus they had not seen him fully. The number of beasts that knew about him was limited now. Not to mention he had been away from the view for a few years now and thus even among the newer servants and subordinates of Lin Wu, barely anyone knew.

    Thus, it was news to them that a beast as strong as this was also among their ranks. It was their fellow servant beasts that informed them about Tim and just how strong he was. They also told them about how he had fought and stood his ground against a Dao Treading realm cultivator, too.

    Hearing all this, the newer servant beasts couldn''t help but feel a bit of an awe.

    As for the other beasts that were watching from the sides, Tim was a confusing beast to them. There were no spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him and they couldn''t probe him either.

    It made it seem like Tim was just a normal beast with no cultivation base. Then there was also the fact that they didn''t really hear Tim talk normally either. Most beasts couldmunicate with each other in beast tongue, but Tim being a little ''slow'' couldn''t do it efficiently or fluently.

    "Everyone ready?" Lin Wu said loudly after getting in position.

    "We are ready, master!" the servant beasts all replied.

    ~SKREE~

    Tim simply let out a fearless cry and got into his battle mode. His ck obsidian fur red up like a hedgehog and his eyes turned sharp. In merely a moment, the atmosphere of the arena changed and all that were inside it could feel it.

    "Oh? This is newбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    There were still no spirit Qi fluctuationsing from Tim, and neither was there a change in his aura. It was something else, something new that the beast had gained.

    The former rulers of the millennium forest were all experience and could tell that the Weasel was certainly not the same as before.<sub> </sub>

    ''This child grows faster than any beastбн evenparable to the King.'' The Beetle King taught to himself.

    "Oh? How are you doing that?" The Demon Spine Ape was rather interested in the ''vibe'' that Tim was generating.

    His own bloodline was battle oriented and naturally aggressive. To the Demon Spine ape getting strong was a great dream. Originally, he would have only thought of the normal ways of getting stronger such as increasing one''s cultivation base.

    Recently, he had been looking into the weapons and skills that the humans used as well. The Demon Spine ape would look down upon the human methods of fighting and using weapons since it was relying on something that wasn''t fully one''s own strength.

    But after the interaction with the humans had increased and more knowledge was obtained by the beasts of the forest, they were learning more and more. Adapting to the new information was a big step in all this and would allow them to grow beyond their usual limits.

    The Demon Spine ape also knew that not all human methods would be something that he as a beast would be able to use. Such as the fact that most cultivation techniques and skills were restricted to the humans only since the spirit Qi circuits and meridians used for them were ording to the human biology.

    But seeing the weasel also use something like this invoked the Demon Spine Ape''s hopes. He could tell that it was something different from just using aura. It was beyond that. And its effects were also apparent. It could lower the morale of the foe with ease.

    If the one going against it wasn''t experienced or strong, they would find themselves reluctant to fight, as they would find the other party too oppressive.

    "System, can you analyze what Tim is doing?" Lin Wu asked.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system cannot analyze, as there is no perceptive value to analyze. The effect induced by Tim is beyond the system''s data banks. More data will be needed to adapt to such forms of effects.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so even you can''t tell what it is? Strangeбн" Lin Wu said, seeing that the effect of Tim was literally unrecognizable by the system for now.

    He looked at the weasel for a few seconds before smiling widely. ''Let''s see how much you have changed, shall we?''

    "FIGHT!" Lin Wu ordered.

    <strong>~BOOM~</strong>

    As soon as Lin Wu called out, the entire arena shook as if a thousand tons of weight had just been dropped on it.

    The newer Nascent soul realm servants of Lin Wu couldn''t even respond to it quick enough and stumbled.

    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~

    "CAREFUL!" One of the senior Emeraldine monkeys said to his juniors!

    But he was toote and in the next moment, six figures were sent flying out of the arena!

 Chapter 824 Tim Versus Emeraldine Legion - I

    The Senior Emeraldine Monkey couldn''t help but feel stunned by this. While the six junior Emeraldine monkeys that were sent flying were newly promoted, their cultivation base wasn''t that far from him, being only one minor realm below.

    Thus if the Weasel could send those junior Emeraldine monkeys flying like this, he could very well do the same with him.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The six Emeraldine monkeys kept flying through the air and had already traveled over half a kilometer away.

    "Won''t be good for them if they don''t stopбн" Lin Wu muttered and waved his tail.

    ~SHUA~

    In the next moment, the six junior Emeraldine disappeared and a string of runes appeared close to Lin Wu, near the observation area of the arena. Since the beasts didn''t really ''sit'' normally, there was no ''seating'' area.

    Instead of that, there were several wide decks set up in a staggered formation all around the arena, with multiple gaps in between so that bigger beasts could simply stand on ground there or movement was allowed.

    The string of runes formed into a teleportation formation and from it the six junior Emeraldine monkeys appeared.

    ~thud~ thud~ thud~

    Six bodies dropped onto the wooden deck, making it creak slightly. Thankfully the wood was tough, or the momentum of the six monkeys would have probably broken it with ease.

    "UGH!"

    "My ribs!"

    "My back!

    The six monkeys cried in pain as visible bruises appeared on their bodies.

    "Oh shut up, don''t be like kids. He didn''t do any permanent damage." Lin Wu chided.

    "M-master?!" the Emeraldine monkeys hadn''t even realized that they had been brought here by Lin Wu.

    They had thought that they had been sent flying too far and had now copsed on the ground. But surprisingly they were next to Lin Wu.

    "Didбн master save us?" One of them understood.

    "Yes. Now just shut up and watch the fight. Maybe you''ll get to learn something. Your injuries will heal soon enough. You guys aren''t just any normal beasts." Lin Wu replied.

    ''We will heal soon?'' the Emeraldine monkeys were confused.

    But just as Lin Mu had said, their injuries started to visibly heal and the bruises became lighter than before.

    "The painбн it''s gone!" One of the Emeraldine monkeys said.

    Enhanced healing was another benefit of the Emeraldine Legion bloodline. This was something that was partially inherited from Lin Wu as being a worm gave one not just faster healing but also regeneration.

    Unfortunately, only the healing part was apparent in the other beasts, and regeneration was exclusive to Lin Wu. Though he didn''t know if this was apatibility issue or a concentration issue.

    The Emeraldine Legion bloodline enhanced while merging with the original bloodline of the beast after all. It didn''t fully became pure. This was also the reason why it could be used by nearly any beast till now and even usable in humans.

    And since it enhanced and transformed the original bloodline, it could also pass on a part of the original skills.

    ''Perhaps I should find another beast with faster healing and regeneration. Maybe another worm or a smander.'' Lin Wu thought of beasts that had these abilities naturally. While it might not be as strong as Lin Wu''s own, them being there alone was more than enough to be improved considerably.<sub> </sub>

    Ten seconds had passed since the six junior Emeraldine monkeys had been sent flying and now rescued. In this time, Tim had weaved around all the beasts and made it hard for them to lock onto him.

    "Seems like we might have to restrain him first." The Twin Lights Liger King spoke.

    "Anyone proficient in that?" the Slim Arm Ape King asked.

    Among all the servant beasts, there were plenty that had abilities and skills that were meant for direct offense or great defense. But there didn''t seem to be anyone that was made for controlling an area or restraining someone or something.

    ~Sigh~

    "I''ll do it." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape said after seeing that none of his fellow beasts could keep up.

    "You restrain it and we''ll being our assault." The Twin Lights Liger King stated.

    "Very well." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape agreed. "But you need to buy me a little time for it." The others nodded in response to this and got ready.

    <strong>~BANG~ BANG~ BANG~</strong>

    The Split Thorn Horn Beetle King moved hisrge body and came to block one side of the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape. And just as he did that, several attacks rained down on his tough shell.

    ~CREAK~

    While his shell managed to sustain the attacks, dents and cracks could already be seen on it.

    "That was a close call!" The mole beast said in shock.

    He had seen the trailing image of the weasel hitting the Split Thorn Horn beetle king.

    "QUICK! DEFEND THE OTHER SIDE!" The Slim Arm Ape King ordered.

    "ON IT!" the Emeraldine Horn Beetle scuttled across the ground and blocked the other side of the Monk Ape.

    While her size had not reached her ancestors yet, the Emeraldine Horn Beetle had certainly increased greatly from before. Not to mention, with the Emeraldine legion bloodline, her defenses were even better than her ancestors.

    ~CRACK~

    But that didn''t mean it could hold back against Tim''s obsidian ws.

    "ARGH!" The Emeraldine Horn beetle cried in pain, feeling the weasel''s ws dig through her shell and cutting her inner chitin.

    Dark green fluid leaked out of the wound, looking rather strange. This was nothing but her blood and was differently colored than normal beasts. Unlike most beasts, insect beasts could have several different kinds of blood colors, and were not restricted to just red.

    "Not so easily!" The Demon Spine ape jumped up and raised his fists, bringing them upon Tim.

    ~KREEE~

    Tim let out a threating cry and met the attack head on.

    ~DENG~

    It felt like a metal gong had been rung, as the Demon Spine Ape''s first banged against Tim.

    But surprisingly, the one being pushed back was none other than the Demon Spine ape!

 Chapter 825 Tim Versus Emeraldine Legion - II

    The Demon Spine ape was stunned at this and tried to exert more force, finding that it was no use.

    ~<strong>SKREEE</strong>!!~

    Tim roared fierily and opened his mouth wide. The many teeth in his mouth were in clear disy and seemed very threatening. The teeth could even shatter and crush Earthen Depths Obsidian and to a certain extent even Lin Wu''s body crystals.

    Thus one could tell that they were even harder than them both and very strong. Anything being caught in them would not be able to survive.

    The Demon Spine ape''s instincts alerted him and he tried to retreat.

    ''If he bites my arm, he''ll be able to rip them off like cloth!'' The Demon Spine ape thought.

    And that was exactly what was about to happen, with Tim''s sharp fangs reaching the demon spine ape''s arms.

    "APE KING HAMMER FIST!" But before that could happen, something else struck Tim.

    ~BAM!~

    Tim was actually pushed back this time, and was knocked a couple of meters away.

    And the one that had knocked him away was none other than the Slim Arm Ape King. Though right now, his arms were nothing but slim. It seemed as if they had been pumped full of air and were at least ten times as thick as before.

    Dense spirit Qi and vitality rolled through the meridians and veins, with all of them bulging visibly. Even the fur of the beast couldn''t hide it, making it seem obvious that the Slim arm Ape King was using all his strength.

    "Don''t lose sight of him!" The Slim Arm Ape King with the not-so slim arms warned.

    ~THIU~ THIU~

    And just as he said that, two beams of light appeared out of nowhere and struck Tim. Knocking him back even more.

    ~REEE!!!~

    Tim cried out in anger and looked in the direction from where the attack hade.

    "Come at me!" the Twin Lights Liger King said, with his eyes glowing in ck and white.

    It was clear that he was the one who had used his innate skill to target Tim. Which had surprisingly managed to prate Tim''s defenses.

    ''Seems like this skill isn''t the same as before. Its ability to prate has increased by many times.'' The Twin Lights Liger King thought to him.

    "I''M READY! EVERYONE GET BACK!" All this had given the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape enough time to prepare his skill.

    ~BUZZ~

    The two beetle beasts didn''t even use their legs and directly lifted their shells, creating a short gust of wind which turned into a steady draft as four wings unfurled. Their flight created a buzzing sound that was rtively harder to hear for normal people, and even more so for Tim.

    As soon as the two beetle beasts were a sufficient distance away, the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape thrust out his palms.<sub> </sub>

    ~HUA~ HUA~ HUA~ HUA~

    He thrust four times, and created light imprints in the air.

    These imprints took the four cardinal directions around Tim and glowed brightly. Tim''s eyes narrowed, and he looked at the four lights with wariness.

    The Monk Ape didn''t stop there and moved his hands around, making several gestures while the crystals on the back of his palm glowed nonstop.

    "Quad Light Shackles!" The Monk Ape chanted.

    With each gesture, the lights morphed ever so slightly and four lines rose from them. The lines all touched each other, forming a pyramid like shape. But the bottom ends of the pyramid were instead attached to the limbs of Tim!

    "BREAK! FREE!" Tim struggled to move.

    Even at his cultivation base, it was not easy to break the restriction of the Quad Light Shackles. It was, after all, a true Qi skill that the Sky bright Daoist had made and the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape had inherited it.

    "Oh? Now this is interestingбн" this was Lin Wu''s first time seeing it as well, and he was rather interested.

    He could at least tell that the skill was ratherplicated, and that was also the reason why it needed time to activate.

    ''If not for the others defending the Monk Ape, he wouldn''t be able to execute this skill in time.'' Lin Wu thought to himself. "Though the fight is not decided yet." He muttered.

    "NOW! WHILE HE CAN''T MOVE!" The Monk Ape shouted.

    "ALL TOGETHER! GIVE IT ALL YOU GOT!" The Twin Lights Liger King ordered.

    "BLAST AWAY!" Someone else shouted.

    Beams of light shot out from the Twin Lights Liger King''s eyes, looking likeser shots. The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape instead punched out several times, as gauntlet imprints shot towards Tim. Each of the imprint was as big as a temple bell and if hit would do considerable damage.

    The Demon Spine Ape ignited his mes at full power and coated his fists with them. He concentrated the fire between his palms before creating an orb of pure fire.

    "DIE!" He shouted as he threw the orb of dark mes at Tim.

    The Slim Arm Ape King on the other hand, took out two meteor hammers from somewhere and infused spirit Qi into them, amplifying their power before throwing at Tim as well.

    The meteor hammers had no staff like handle, but rather a hoop attached to it by a chain. These were actually the Slim Arm Ape king''s personal weapons that he had traded with the human kingdoms a long time ago.

    He hadn''t used them in a long time since he didn''t have the right opportunity, but this was the best one. Then there was also the fact that these meteor hammers could probably only be used this once before they would be destroyed.

    The other beasts didn''t hold back either, with the Emeraldine monkeys infusing spirit Qi into the javelins they had and shooting them at Tim.

    The Two beetle beasts also gathered all the power of their bodies and rose up before ramming the long horns into the ground, creating a long fissure that rushed towards Tim.

    The hook Winged Swan and the High Wind Sparrow created sharp gales that surrounded Tim, andshed at him as well.

 Chapter 826 Giving Their All!

    With the multitude of attacksing at Tim, the weasel did not so much so as even blink. His gaze was sharp, as if none of these attacks mattered at all. Which was probably true, since his body was incredibly tough.

    Even if he was restricted by the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape temporarily, Tim could still move around a little. Though wiggling might be more urate rather than moving entirely. The Quad Light Shackles were truly worth being the creation of the Sky Bright Daoist.

    The first attack to reach him was none other than the light beams of the Twin Lights Liger King. The beams struck several points on his body, and left behind singed marks. The beams contained a lot of energy and force, actually pushing back both Tim and the Quad Light Shackles back by a meter!

    The next attacks to reach him were actually the sharp gales created by the Emeraldine Winged Swan and the Emeraldine High Wind Sparrow. Since these were winds spurred by their innate skills, they were ever present and fast.

    It buffeted Tim from all sides, but couldn''t move him like the attacks of the Twin Lights Liger King did. But they still irritated him and added an extra burden.

    Then the attacks of the two beetle beasts came together while the javelins also rained down from air.

    ~BOOM~

    The ground parted below him, making Tim fall down into it helplessly. And just as he was falling, the javelins also struck him from the top, speeding up his rate of falling even more.

    ~CLANG~ CLANG~ CLANG~

    The javelins hammered his spiky fur, but put no dent on them. But even still, fine scratches could now been seen on his crystal fur.

    Lin Wu''s eyes narrowed upon seeing this.

    ''If this much output is needed to only put a scratch on him, then his defenses might reach the same level as mine soon enough.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The dark mes shot by the Demon Spine ape had merged with the meteor hammer that the Slim Arm Ape king had thrown mid air. The two of thembined had a multiplicative increase in power and struck Tim.

    <strong>~DENG~</strong>

    As if a temple bell had been rung, the meteor hammers mmed against Tim''s body. The spiky fur nged against the metal of the meteor hammers and bore the impact. But even now no damage was inflicted!

    <strong>~RUMBLE~</strong>

    But that was not the end as the fissure that had opened up in the ground started to close back. Trapping Tim inside it, and possibly crushing him.

    <strong>~BOOM~</strong>

    Another sound was heard upon the closure of the fissure.

    "Is it over?" For a few seconds, no sound or movement was witnessed.

    The beasts watched with baited breaths, wondering if they truly had defeated the weasel.

    "Noбн not at all." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape said as his eyes turned serious.

    "What?" the Mole beast asked, but before he could say anything more the ground shook.

    ~TREMBLE~

    Along with the shaking of the ground, a muffled cry came from it.

    ~SKREEE!!!!!!!~

    <strong>~BOOM~</strong>

    The ground exploded as a wave of spirit Qi spilled out from it.

    "Huh? The weasel can use spirit Qi?" The Twin Lights Liger King was stunned.<sub> </sub>

    "Noбн that''s not it." Lin Wu muttered, his radiation perception urately seeing everything.

    The spirit Qi had note from Tim, but rather from the Quad Light Shackles. Tim had forcefully broken apart two of the legs of the pyramid, before biting into it and stuffing it all into his mouth.

    Tim didn''t swallow this spirit Qi though, insteadpressing it even more and releasing it back out.

    It shot out like a st, and tore the remaining part of the Quad Light Shackles while also creating an opening in the ground.

    "That attackбн" Lin Wu recognized the simrity. ''This brat learned how to copy stuff huhбн'' he thought.

    The st of spirit Qi was simr to how Lin Wu did it as well. Except in the case of Lin Wu, radiation and spirit Qi of different kinds would all bepressed together into a orb.

    Thepression done by Lin Wu was also many times higher and the power was simrly high, not to mention its effect. If he were topare it, Tim''s attack was like a doodle, while Lin Wu''s was an entire artwork.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The ground broke apart even more when Tim shot out from it. His eyes were gleaming in an excited light though.

    "Thatбн" the servants of Lin Wu that all saw it knew that it was not good.

    "It''s certainly not rightбн" The Slim Arm Ape King said, already retreating.

    <o>,m The Twin Lights Liger King who had fought alongside Tim, recognized that look of his anywhere and knew what was about toe.</o>

    "EVERYONE DEFEND!" he shouted.

    He flew backwards, but didn''t forget to send out more beams of light from his eyes.

    Tim weaved through the first attacks that had reached him with ease. It wasn''t that he was dodging to avoid damage, but merely so that he wouldn''t be slowed down from the attacks or even pushed back.

    ~SHING~

    The ws of Tim extended, sounding like tens of daggers being drawn.

    ~CRACK~ CRACK~ CRACK~

    The ws dug into the ground, for extra traction as Tim increased his speed more and more. In just a second, he merely looked like a ck blur and had exceeded his original speed.

    Tim was halfway to the servant beasts of Lin Wu when he leaped up.

    ~SHUA~

    His body curled up and started spinning at great speed, ripping through the air.

    ~KACHA~

    Itnded back on the ground, creating a crater and shredding the floor of the arena to fragments.

    Tim''s spikes added extra force as they propelled him forward with each spin. In the blink of an eye he reached the closest target and mmed into them.

    <strong>~HONG~</strong>

    <strong>~BANG~</strong>

    <strong>~SHATTER~</strong>

    As if hundreds of kilos of ss had been shattered, the carapace of the Beetle Kings split apart!

 Chapter 827 Road Roller Tim

    The impact of the attack sent the Split Thorn Horn Beetle King hurtling back. It was as if a Volkswagen Beetle had been struck by a ten axle cargo truck on the highway at great speed and was sent barrel rolling.

    "Fuckбн that might have been too much." Lin Wu cursed.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    Split Thorn Horn Beetle King

    Cultivation Base: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    Functions avable: a. Communication

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    Condition: Critical! Vitals Unstable! Carapace has been shattered and internal organs are damaged. Meridians have also been impacted and the ones in the back are blocked.

    бкбк

    The system quickly gave the status report on the beetle king, confirming Lin Wu''s assumption.

    Lin Wu looked back at the arena as the battle continued.

    The beetle king''s body kept on rolling and only stopped when it stuck the observation decks of the arena. But Tim wasn''t there, instead he had taken advantage of the recoil generated from the impact and changed his direction.

    "CAREFUL! HE''S UP!" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape warned.

    Unfortunately, Tim''s next target was too slow for his speed. His spinning spiky body descended like a meteor and mmed into the next target, burying them directly into the ground!

    ~BOOM~

    Dense spiderweb like cracks spread around the Emeraldine Beetle who had just been entombed by the weasel in a single attack.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    Emeraldine Horn Beetle

    Cultivation Base: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent Soul realm

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Stable

    LOCATION: Avable on map

    FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE: a. Detonate

    b. Detonate

    C. Remote Skill Activation

    STATUS: Vitals Unstable! Carapace Shattered! Internal bleeding detected!

    бкбк

    "Fuck! Her too!" Lin Wu saw that the injury level of the beetle beast.

    ~SHUA~

    He quickly waved his tail and teleported the injured beetles to his side.

    ~SHING~ SHING~

    His tail split into two, and spikes extended from both ends. He stabbed both of them into the bodies of the injured beetles and started healing them. Green blood kept on spilling from the cracks in their carapace while their eyes seemed to be dull.

    Tim had injured them more than what they had been injured in the battle against the Southern Tusk Tapirs in the past.

    "DAMMIT! JUST FOCUS ON DODGING! WE CAN''T BLOCK IT!" The Twin Lights liger king shouted.

    The Split Thorn Horn Beetle king had the best defenses among the former rulers of the millennium forest, and even now it was in the top beasts. The Emeraldine Horn Beetle was even tougher, and yet she had sustained a simr level of damage.<sub> </sub>

    Her level of defense was something that even the Twin Lights Liger King could not break through easily. He would need to use his strongest skill, the eye beams, to make any damage.

    Despite all that, the two of their ''tanks'' were out ofmission.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Tim kept on rolling like a certain fast hedgehog and tackled the Emeraldine monkeys next. Those that were a bit lucky were sent flying instantly and were teleported to the observation area automatically by the system, but those that were unlucky met the same fate as the Emeraldine Horn Beetle.

    Tim steamrolled over them and embedded them into the ground.

    Over ten monkeys were now stuck on the ground, spread eagle, their wits knocked out of them.

    Thankfully, Tim''s momentum had slowed down a bit, or the Emeraldine Monkeys with their lower defenses souls have probably been turned into a meat pancake.

    "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" The Mole beast cursed as he rapidly dug into the ground.

    This was the possibly the best way to avoid Tim, as even he would need to dig with his ws to get to him.

    "I should have gone out with the merchants! At least I would have been saved from the pain." The Mole Beast regretted.

    ~Tremble~

    But just as he was digging, he suddenly felt weightless.

    "Huh?" before he could realize what was happening, his head struck the side of the rock ground, rattling his brain inside and knocking him out.

    On the arena, Tim was holding arge segment of the arena floor. It was exactly the part that the Mole beast was in and was held up by Tim''s ws. Compared to Tim''s size, the segment was ten times as big, and even then, it was nothing to the weasel.

    "FLY!" Tim twisted his slender body smoothly and flung the chunk of earth into the sky.

    The Mole beast inside it gained his consciousness as it was only a momentary loss. But when his eyes saw the rapidly shrinking arena below, tears appeared in them.

    "I should have just stayed knocked outбн"

    ~WHOOSH~

    The chunk of earth fell back like a meteor, mming into a couple of beasts, allowing Tim to reduce his opponents even more.

    "HAAA!!!" Taking advantage of the opportunity when Tim was vulnerable after the throw, the Demon Spine ape lunged at him.

    ''If I''m gonna lose anyway, I might as well lose openly!'' He thought to himself.

    "PEKE!?" Tim''s body twisted back like a lithe python and reacted quickly.

    ~RIP~

    Tim thrust his ws forward as if he was punching and met the five times as big Demon Spine ape head on!

    ~PU CHI!~

    "ARGH!" The Demon Spine Ape cried in pain, feeling the flesh of his fists being torn.

    Tim''s ws had dug into it with ease and even broken a few of his bones in the process. Or instead of broken, it was more urate to say that they were cut cleanly through!

    The Demon Spine Ape gritted his teeth and exerted all his force while also letting the dark mes rage all over his body.

    "Monkey see, monkey fly!" Tim turned his attack into a tackle, mming his head right into the torso of the Demon Spine Ape.

    ~KACHA~

    Several of his ribs broke, while Tim''s spikes tore the flesh as well.

    ~BOOM~

    The Demon Spine ape met the same fate as his former kin and was sent flying to the edge of the arena.

    The rest of the beasts who were watching from the observation area were speechless.

    But among them, the eyes of certain juvenile lizards were shining in awe.

 Chapter 828 Tims Win

    Unknown to Lin Wu, Tim had gained several new fans from this fight. And it had not even finished yet!

    With the Demon Spine ape being knocked away, the Slim Arm ape followed behind in his steps. The father and son were quickly teleported by Lin Wu to the observation area and checked.

    "At least these two are better than themбн still, they will need treatment." Lin Wu muttered to himself before healing the two as well.

    ~SKREEE~

    Tim kept on fighting and defeated all the beasts one by one. A couple of minutester the only ones that were still left in the arena were the Twin Lights Liger King and the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape.

    "Haбн haбн haбн the weasel is certainly on a different levelбн" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape said, his breath irregr.

    "He isбн HAAбн" The Twin Lights Liger King replied while continuing his attacks.

    ~KIKIKIK!~

    Tim dodged the Twin Lights Liger King''s light beams, having understood the trajectories by now. He was learning with each passing minute and was getting better and better.

    "His rate of improvement is really highбн he might not have a good level of intelligence but his battle instincts are next levelбн is this the power of a bloodline?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    Tim weaved through the attacks of both the beasts while dealing his own attacks at the right moment. The Twin Lights Liger King had already developed several injuries all over his body.

    Surprisingly though, the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape was not as injured. Or rather, he didn''t have any surface level injuries and no bleeding either. His injuries were mostly from the impact and shock delivered to his body.

    Then there was also the internal strain he endured and the meridians that were getting tired from using his high leveled skills.

    Lin Wu of course, noticed this and was intrigued.

    "He can actually endure without getting a single scratch? Just what is that skill?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    He watched for a bit before asking the system to scan for it.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET SELECTED: Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCANNING: Please wait a momentбн

    бн

    SCAN: Completed

    SKILL IDENTIFIED: Assigning temporary name

    NAME ASSIGNED: Hard Light Lattice

    INFO: ording to the system''s analysis, Hard Light Lattice is a unique skill made by the Sky Bright Daoist. It uses Light elemental spirit Qi to make attice armor that can block attacks.

    It has a very high damage threshold, but once broken, will not recover in a short time. It also uses up over half of the user''s spirit Qi to use. It is most effective against physical attacks but if they reach close to the limit of its damage threshold, the shock from the impacts will still affect the users internals.

    Long use of Hard Light Lattice also strains the meridians and can cause self injuries if used for too long.<sub> </sub>

    бкбк

    Seeing this information, Lin Wu was very intrigued.

    "Hard Light Lattice, huhбн seems rather unique indeed. Though it is a bit inferior to my own defenses, it seems as it cannot recover quickly." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu''s crystalline body had a high durability and defense. Even if it cracked and broke, he could easily recover by using some vitality. Of course, if the damage reached his meridians, even he would be affected.

    Thankfully, with his Cellr Maniption innate skill, he could move his internal tissues to amodate the meridians and move them around to avoid injuries.

    Still, all this left Lin Wu wondering about why he couldn''t see this skill being used. Even radiation perception hadn''t show him right away.

    ''Oh wait, if it''s light, then I should be able to see it using radiation perception and adjusting it. Maybe the wavelength is different,'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Wanting to test it out, Lin Wu activated the skill and adjusted it finding his field of vision changing in colors.

    "Oh! There it isбн invisible in the visible spectrumбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He could now see ayer on the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape. It looked like there were several small tes, around a palm size joined together and forming into an armor. It wasn''t exactly the shape of the body, but acted more like an umbre.

    It was certainly a different method of defending that Lin Wu had seen.

    ''Hmmбн since I can use radiation maniption and have the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance, I should technically be able to use it too, shouldn''t I?'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He analyzed the skill as much as could, but was forced to stop when the skill shattered!

    No sound was heard when it broke, but the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape spat out blood.

    <o>,m ~Sigh~</o>

    "Come over here." Lin Wu teleported the beast out to his side as well.

    Lin Wu checked the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape for injuries and saw that other than some internal tears and bleeding, the rest of his body was fine. His spirit Qi was greatly depleted though and his meridians were strained.

    While there wasn''t any damage to them, he will still need to rest for a few days to normalize his state.

    "I''m fineбн just tired." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape said, after waking up.

    "That you certainly are." Lin Wu replied and looked back at the arena,

    The Monk Ape had only been knocked out momentarily and was fine as soon as Lin Wu had given him some vitality. Now there was only the Twin Lights Liger King left battling Tim and was losing.

    Till now the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape had been acting as the tank and taking most of the blows, allowing the Twin lights liger King to continue his attacks non stop like a machine gun.

    But without a Tank, a DPS can only go on for so long.

    ~KREEE~

    Tim let out a final cry and rammed into the Twin Lights liger King, knocking him out cold!

    "I TIM! WIN!"

 Chapter 829 Five New Fans

    It was safe to say that the battle had explicitly proved Tim''s capabilities. He was officially the second strongest beast here after Lin Wu.

    "I, Lin Wu, The King of the Millennium Forest dere Tim, The Myriad obsidian Weasel the winner of this battle! He has gone against all my servants ande out as a victor!" Lin Wu announced.

    ~ROAR!~

    ~CHIRP~

    ~SCREECH~

    ~HOWL!~

    Several beast cries were heard in response as the beasts cheered.

    All of them innately liked to battle and knew the disy of strength was the best way to establish authority. Normally, they wouldn''t have epted Tim, especially since the beast also disyed lower intelligence like that of a child. Though technically he was a child even now in beast terms.

    But nowбн now they would see him as a great figure!

    Tim looked around and saw the gazes of beasts at him. He could tell that their gazes were filled with awe and respect.

    It gave rise to a new feeling within his heart, a feeling that he automatically learned was called pride!

    It was as if the information had appeared automatically within his mind too. It was not the first time this had happened, thus he wasn''t surprised either. But felt happy about it.

    Tim finally looked at Lin Wu, who was also looking at him, a desire in his eyes.

    ~WHOOSH~

    He quickly ran towards Lin Wu, almost shattering the observation decks in the process.

    "HEY! Watch it!" Lin Wu stopped the beast before he crashed into the decks.

    It wasn''t that he was worried about them being destroyed and costing him, but there was the fact that there were others here too and they would fall down due to it. Normally it would be fine as beasts were tough, but right now there were a lot of injured beasts here too.

    Even if they had been somewhat healed by Lin Wu, their injuries might exacerbate more if they fell again.

    "REWARD!" Tim stated inly.

    "You''ll get it in a bit, learn some patience." Lin Wu replied firmly. "We still need to return the others to the tomb," he added.

    "Patience?" Tim thought about the word.

    It seemed familiar to him and he had even heard it before. He was soon lost in his own thoughts pondering on the word while Lin Wu set the beasts to the tomb to recover. The other beasts that hade to watch dispersed as well.

    Though a few still stayed, and five among them approached Tim.

    "CHILDREN STOP!" A voice was heard shouting from the back.

    Lin Wu couldn''t help but look and saw that it was none other than the Club Tailed Lizard that had shouted. And the ones she was shouting at were none other than the five juvenile Club Tailed lizards that had a fraction of Lin Wu''s bloodline.

    "WOW!"

    "STRONG!"

    "TIM! FIGHT GOOD!"

    Soon the five juvenile Club Tailed Lizards surrounded Tim and spoke incessantly. Lin Wu, who watched it all, couldn''t help but chuckle.

    "Haha! Seems like you got some fans now." Lin Wu said.<sub> </sub>

    But despite the fact that the juvenile Club Tailed lizards were speaking nonstop, Tim didn''t respond to them. His gaze was nk, and he was still lost in his thoughts.

    "Did he space out or something?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He had seen Tim do this sometimes, so it wasn''t exactly rare. It wasn''t like he could tell what the beast thought, either. The system was helpless with this matter, too. They could only guess the slightly dumb beasts thinking.

    A few minutester, Lin Wu was done with his work and had sent all the beasts to the tomb to heal. There was a higher concentration of spirit Qi there and would help bet beasts recover faster.

    After all he would need his servants to be in top notch condition with all the new tasks he was going to give them. They would have a list of things to do as soon as they were ready for it.

    Lin Wu nced at the Club Tailed Lizard and saw her scolding the children for not listening to her. Despite the fact that they had broken through the Core Condensation realm, they were still kids and would take a while to learn.

    "Let''s return to the tomb as well, Tim." Lin Wu said, but the weasel was still in the nk state.

    ~SIGH~

    Lin Wu let out a sign and waved his tail, teleporting both of them back to his hall.

    "Hey!" Lin Wu poked the weasel.

    "HEY! WAKE UP!" Lin Wu called out. "Don''t you want the reward!?" Lin Wu asked.

    ~EKE!?~

    As soon as Tim heard the word Reward, he sprung up like a rabbit.

    "REWARD WHERE!?" Tim screamed.

    ~WHACK~

    That only got him a p on his head and ttened on the ground.

    "Did you forget to behave again?" Lin Wu said in a stern tone.

    "Okayбн" Tim stood up, this time being a lot more calm.

    Lin Wu nodded his head at this and created a crystal from his tail.

    "Here you go." Lin Wu gave it to the weasel.

    "DELICIOUS CRYSTAL!" Tim instantly jumped at it and started gnawing at it.

    ~chuckle~

    "He''s still the same." Lin Wu said, cating the weasel in a simple reward that didn''t even cost him much.

    It wasn''t that Lin Wu couldn''t give Tim something more, but rather he was a bit wary of doing that right now.

    ''There''s no telling if he''ll enter a dormant state like that again. Then there''s also the fact that he is growing far too fast. If he goes beyond a certain level, I might not even be able to control him.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Perhaps after Zhu Tianying, Tim was the most talented beast he had seen.

    "Noбн not just among beasts, he might be in the top most talents even among the humans. Which is strangeбн just what secret hides within him?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    There were more and more mysteries of Tim that he just couldn''t figure out.

 Chapter 830 Surprise Visitor

    With Tim having been rewarded, Lin Wu didn''t really have anything more to do. He sent away Tim to do his own thing and went back to cultivation. After all, even if he needed to do more things, the beasts were currently injured, and he needed to wait until they were fully recovered.

    ording to the system''s estimations, the beasts will all be healed till the end of the month. Which wasn''t really that long of a time for him since he would be spending it in cultivation.

    But unexpectedly, Lin Wu was interrupted as someone had arrived in the Millennium forest just about five dayster.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    WARNING: Strong Cultivator detected

    CULTIVATION BASE: Dao Treading Realm

    бкбк

    Seeing this, Lin Wu was certainly surprised.

    ''Who might this be? If it was someone that was known, the system would have not given a warningбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Show me the person, system." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    In the next second, a new monitoring screen appeared in front of Lin Wu. And on that screen he could see two men. One of these men was familiar and known to him, being none other than Elder Ruanjian of the Lian n.

    But the second person was very shocking to Lin Wu.

    "WHAT IN THE GODDAMN ELEPHANT IS THAT!?" Lin Wu almost screamed.

    On the screen was arge manбн a veryrge and fat man. He was over two metres tall and equally wide as well. If it weren''t for that fact that he could fly, Lin Wu was unsure if his legs could even walk.

    The man/fat ball flew like a balloon through the air and was traveling towards the center of the millennium forest. They were currently on the second ring right now, but at the speed they were flying would reach the third ring soon enough.

    Lin Wu kept on staring at the fat man and couldn''t tell if this was really a human or not.

    A few minutester, Lin Wu got over his initial shock and calmed down.

    "Hang onбн that faceбн and that bodyбн isn''t thatбн" Another fat man appeared in Lin Wu''s mind.

    Soon enough, all the puzzle''s pieces fit together and Lin Wu realized just who this was. The existence of Elder Ruanjian also helped him in guessing though.

    "Is thisбн the patriarch of the Lian n, Lian Dajian?" Lin Wu finally identified.<sub> </sub>

    "GODDAMN! I thought Lian Xiaojian was fatбн this guy is on a different level entirely! Just like their names, Xiaojian is the ''smaller'' version of his father." Lin Wu said, finding it funny.

    By the time Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian had reached the border of the fourth ring, Lin Wu started to guess why they were here.

    "Could it be because of Lian Xiaojian?" Lin Wu guessed at first.

    He was, after all told that he would be rewarded appropriately if he took care of the n heir. While he had not gotten the reward till now, the business with the Lian n was certainly going well and the profits were being raked in by the droves.

    Kai Li was doing exactly as she had stipted in the contract and was keeping all the terms. Lin Wu didn''t even need to check up on that much, as his servants took care of that. Additional, as long as someone was in the forest, the system would automatically take note of that.

    Thus, even if Lin Wu''s servants took inventory of the goods and profits, the system knew everything moment Kai Li or other caravans would enter the forest.

    And so far, other than a few minor discrepancies in the logistics, no loss had been seen, and neither was there a reduction in profit. In fact, there was only an increase and Kai Li''s contracted merchants had all gotten significantly richer than before.

    So much so that now there were bid wars for her contracts.

    To win a contract, one would have to bid the lowest profit share. Those that took the least amount of profit share from it would be selected. While it seemed like a loss making opportunity for the merchants, it was not so.

    Over the first year, many were unsure about Kai Li''s prospects, but now they were more than sure. After all, there was nothing better to convince someone than showing cold, hard proof of gold.

    If Kai Li was making losses or faking it, there was no way she would be able to afford so many people.

    For the merchants that wanted to join her, even at the reduced profit margins, they would still make a lot more than they would on their own.

    Because of this steady gain, the Millennium forest kingdom was getting richer and none was the wiser. After all, Lin Wu had not done anything to show his wealth yet. The only show of wealth was the inheritance grounds, perhaps.

    ''Hmmбн still, it doesn''t make sense that the patriarch woulde here just to see his son. My original agreement was that I would make his physique awaken, but that has not been done yet.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "No, waitбн do they want to take Lian Xiaojian back, perhaps?" Lin Wu wondered.

    <o>,m It had certainly been three years and Lian Xiaojian was yet to awaken his Vital House physique.</o>

    Lin Wu took a quick look at the screen that showed the fatty and saw him being sent flying again. It was unknown how many attempts he had done by now, but he was still not at the door of the hall.

    Thankfully, Lian Xiaojian was given food and other things at the right intervals such that he was in the very specific condition that was needed for the awakening of the physique.

    Lin Wu didn''t mind that he hadn''t gone past the door either. After all, it wasn''t actually needed for the awakening of his physique. It was simply a visible goal for him so that he would not falter easily.

    And he had certainly been keeping up without stopping.

 Chapter 831 Lian Dajians Visit

    Lin Wu watched Lian Xiaojian for a bit before moving back to the visitors.

    "Hmmбн I''ll get to know about it soon anyway. And it doesn''t seem like they are here for any trouble eitherбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    As long as there weren''t peopleing to pick fights with him, he''d be fine meeting with them. Of course, he wouldn''t do this for each and every person. Otherwise, there would be an endless line of people wanting to meet him, all the way frommoners to kings.

    In order to maintain his image, Lin Wu would only meet those that had a certain influence, reputation or power.

    And thetest visitor had all of that, thus Lin Wu would certainly meet him.

    ''Perhaps he really is to reward me?'' Lin Wu hoped.

    It didn''t take long for Lin Wu to verify this either, as Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian reached the fifth ring soon. There they were met with one of the Emeraldine Monkeys. He was the first one to have recovered, as he was the least injured and Lin Wu had sent him out early.

    At the border of the fifth ring, the Emeraldine Monkey faced the visitor, his expression a bit strained.

    ''Is this really a human? Or is he a beast too? How is he looking like a ball?'' The Emeraldine monkey couldn''t help but think.

    The fat man in question, Lian Dajian also couldn''t help stare at the Emeraldine monkey. It was his first time seeing a beast like that, as the green crystal on his body was rather eye catching.

    ''They might really be useful as jeweleryбн'' Lian Dajian thought to himself, finding the crystals rather elegant.

    It wasn''t that he hadn''t heard about the Emeraldine legion from the reports of Elder Ruanjian, but it was still different seeing it in person. They certainly looked different from any other crystals he had seen until now.

    And he has a businessman had a good eye for things such as this. After all, a lot of his business dealt with them and he needed to be knowledgeable about it all.

    "Patriarch, this is one of King Lin Wu''s subordinates." Elder Ruanjian introduced.

    "Indeed. I''m here to guide Patriarch Lian Dajian to the king." The Emeraldine monkey spoke.

    "Oh? The king knows of my arrival before even informing?" Lian Dajian said.

    "The King knows all." The Emeraldine monkey said before turning. "Please follow me."

    The two of them followed behind the beast while Lian Dajian continued to check everything out. His spirit sense was fully extended and was taking in all the sights. He couldn''t help but feel impressed by it all.

    ''Perhaps he really might be able to do somethingбн'' Lian Dajian thought to himself.

    A few minutester, they were brought to the entrance of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb.

    "This is where our king resides. You will need to continue onwards." The Emeraldine Monkey said before taking his leave.

    "Come on patriarch, it''s rather straight." Elder Ruanjian said, having seen it all before.

    Lian Dajian nodded his head and followed behind him. Along the way, he nced at the many runes and carvings that were everywhere in the tomb.

    "This is certainly different from what we''ve seen till now. I don''t think runes like these are in most of the records, and some are simply unknown." Lian Dajian said.<sub> </sub>

    "Patriarch is correct. I''ve tried finding out more about these runes, but was unable to. They are not only hard toprehend, but the scripts are also different from ours. They are in Dao Script though so we might be able to learn after a while on our own." Elder Ruanjian replied.

    "I seeбн would be good if we can get the king to allow us to do that tooбн" Lian Dajian muttered.

    "Maybe next time, our current visit itself is going to be presumptuous. Who knows if he would even ept." Elder Ruanjian said.

    "That isбн true." Lian Dajian had nothing else to say.

    The two of them soon reached the end of the corridor and the teleportation circle was now visible.

    "We just step in and it''ll take us to the king." Elder Ruanjian said.

    "Hmmбн let''s go then. No use in making him wait." Lian Dajian spoke before stepping into the circle.

    The floor shook lightly with his heavy steps, and the sound was a bit amplified in an enclosed space like this.

    ~SHUA~

    Once both of them were in the circle, the runes started to glow and activated. The two of them felt their bodies turn weightless for a moment, and when it returned, they found themselves in another hall.

    "Weeбн Patriarch Lian Dajian." Lin Wu''s voice was heard clearly.

    The fat man''s already small eyes narrowed even more after hearing Lin Wu.

    ''He might be speaking in ournguage, but his voice is certainly not humanбн it feelsбн unnatural.'' Lian Dajian couldn''t help but think.

    It wasn''t that he was thinking that a beast speaking humannguage was unnatural, as he found the beast from before normal. To Lian Dajian, the Emeraldine Monkey speaking human tongue was the same as a human speaking, it seemed natural.

    But in the case of Lin Wu, he didn''t know, but he got an ufortable feeling.

    ''Hopefully it''s nothing and I''m thinking too muchбн'' Lian Dajian thought to himself.

    Usually, he trusted his instincts, but he couldn''t do the same today. After all, he was here for a specific task and couldn''t really go away. He needed to talk with Lin Wu.

    "King Lin Wu is certainly well aware. You knew I wasing before I was even here." Lian Dajian praised.

    "Hahah~ A mighty figure like Patriarch Dajian is worth paying attention to." Lin Wu replied.

    Lian Dajian couldn''t help but nod in approval, finding the ttery decent for a beast.

    "Well then, might I ask to what do I owe this pleasure? Why would the patriarch of one of the top three ns visit me?" Lin Wu finally asked.

    "Today I''m here to ask for your help."

 Chapter 832 A Request For Survival

    Lian Dajian''s words were not something Lin Wu had expected. He was fully sure that he would be either here to talk about Lian Xiaojian, his reward, or maybe even another business deal.

    "Help?" Lin Wu raised his brows. "Why would the patriarch of a great n need help from me?" he questioned.

    Lian Dajian''s expression turned a bit sallow and Elder Ruanjian''s followed in suit.

    "It is something only you can help me with." Lian Dajian said, a little anxiety in his voice.

    "And what might that be?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "You have already taken in my first born son, Lian Xiaojian in your care and helping him. I have the sameбн issue." Lian Dajian answered.

    "Same issue?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows, but then it struck him.

    ''Hang onбн is it really the case of like father like son?'' Lin Wu was astounded. ''System, do a scan of this guy.''

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET: Selected

    бн

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET: Lian Dajian, Patriarch of the Lian n

    CULTIVATION BASE: Embryo Growth stage of the Dao Treading realm

    BLOODLINE: None

    PHYSIQUE: Vital House Physique (Unawakened)

    VITALS: Stable (Physique breakdown possible)

    бкбк

    ''He really does have the physique tooбн'' Lin Wu was surprised.

    Lian Dajian saw that Lin Wu had gone silent but did not disturb him. He could tell from the beast''s gaze that he seemed to be observing him. He almost felt like the beast could see everything and no secrets could be hidden from him.

    "The vital house physiqueбн you have it tooбн its unawakened as well." Lin Wu spoke bit by bit.

    The fat man weakly nodded his head.

    "Indeed. King Lin Wu could tell my problem in one sight." Lian Dajian said, his tone humble.

    "Please King Lin Wu, you have to help our patriarch." Elder Ruanjian pleaded.

    Lin Wu though didn''t answer them right away. He turned silent, and his gaze turned still as well, making it hard for others to tell what he was thinking.

    A couple of minutes passed by like this, but no answer was heard from him.

    "W-weбн We won''t ask this for free. We shall adequatelypensate King Lin Wu for it." Elder Ruanjian added, unable to bear the silence.

    Lin Wu still didn''t answer them though and kept silent, his gaze still on them.

    Finally, another minuteter, he spoke.

    ~SIGH~<sub> </sub>

    "It can be doneбн but it will be difficult." Lin Wu spoke.

    "As long as it is possible, I won''t mind if it''s difficult." Lian Dajian stated. "I''ll be willing to pay any price as long as it is within my means."

    "It''s not just a matter of priceбн your conditionбн is not ideal." Lin Wu replied.

    "What do you mean?" Elder Ruanjian asked.

    "Unlike your son, who is still rtively young and has not reached the limits of the Vital house physique, you are very close to it. Your body might seem fine out on the outside or even in the inside, but your hidden physique is close to a breakdown.

    I don''t think I need to tell you what would happen when that limit is exceeded." Lin Wu replied.

    "I do indeedбн but I still want King Lin Wu to help me survive." Lian Dajian spoke.

    "It''s not that I''m unwilling, but I need to inform you that your chances of survival are low. They are certainly lower than that of your son. You have gone far too long without the physique awakening and thus it has only gotten harder for it to do it now." Lin Wu replied.

    Lin Wu wasn''t actually lying and was saying this after the system''s report.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTE: The Vital House Physique awakening protocol has a 12.3% chance of seeding for Lian Dajian.

    бкбк

    "No matter how low the chances are, I''m willing to take it." Lian Dajian stated.

    "Hmmбн have you perhaps looked at other solutions from your own end?" Lin Wu asked, feeling curious.

    ''There''s no way he came here just like that. A man in his position cannot be doing this without checking at least multiple other avenues. It has been three years since they knew of the physique thus they should have looked for multiple others solutions.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Weбн we have." Elder Ruanjian spoke. "Unfortunately, none of them were viable or usable in our case." He added.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu replied, wondering if another method could be used.

    "I''ve heard that there is a pill that can help with this. Can King Lin Wu obtain that somehow?" Lian Dajian questioned.

    "If you are talking about the Vital Ascendancy pill, then it can certainly help. But know that it is an Immortal Grade pill and unless the Lian n has links to the Immortal Realm, it will be hard to obtain it." Lin Wu answered.

    "The immortal realmбн" Lian Dajian muttered to himself, his brows furrowing.

    Lin Wu could sense some hesitation in his voice, which surprise him.

    ''No way. Does the n really have some links?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He knew that the Ming Dao world wasn''t actually closed off and experts in the immortal realm coulde and go as needed. They would of course, need to follow the world''s restriction, but they still had the open entry.

    Lin Wu also knew from Shirong''s memories that a few immortals had indeed visited the world in the past, but none hade since the rise of the guardian ns. And if there was any immortal that hade in the recent times, they had either stayed hidden or could not be detected by the experts here.

    "Weбн do have a method to contact some people in the immortal realm." Lian Dajian said, the hesitation getting even more clear now.

    "Patriarch! Thatбн should that even be said?" Elder Ruanjian was a bit startled.

    "There''s no use in keeping that hidden." Lian Dajian said.

    ''Do they have some big link to the immortal realm?'' Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    "So what is it?" Lin Wu asked again.

    "Our Lian n does have some linksбн our founder was actually the descendant of an immortal." Lian Dajian answered.

 Chapter 833 Links To The Immortal Realm

    Lian Dajian information was rather surprising to Lin Wu. He knew that the Long n certainly had links, but there was no such link for the other top ns. Even the sects didn''t have any such links.

    While there had been immortals that had been born in the sects, they had ascended a long time ago. And it was mostly in conclusion, thus the others in the world didn''t know much. If it were not for the fact that the sects publicized these matters themselves, no one would have even known.

    Lin Wu knew that once someone reached a certain point in cultivation and was close to ascending, they would trigger the repulsion of the world. The world''s will would act and the restrictions would loosen up, finally allowing a cultivator in the immortal ascension realm to breakthrough and reach the immortal realm.

    While their final destination in the immortal realm might vary, it was amon factor for most worlds at this level.

    "You n is descended from an immortal n?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Noбн Not an immortal n!" Lian Dajian said. "Just an independent immortal cultivator." He answered.

    "How did it happen then?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but ask.

    "Wellбн my great grandfather told us this a long time ago, and it was even recorded in the forbidden records of the n. The Lian n was actually started by the bastard grandson of an immortal.

    This ancestor of ours supposedly came to the Ming Dao world thirty thousand years ago. Though that time line is something we are unsure of." Lian Dajian exined.

    "Thirty thousand years ago?" Lin Wu narrowed his eyes and tried to recall the memories of the Skull good.

    "The time of the old empires?" Lin Wu muttered.

    "King Lin Wu knows of it?" Lian Dajian was surprised.

    That was a time that was very long ago and barely any records were left from them. After the invasion and the rise of the guardians, the three great guardian ns had mostly wiped out the traces of the past.

    This was said to have been to protect the people of the Ming Dao world, but was sometimes debated to be a selfish move. And Lin Wu knew this truth too. The Guardian ns were ambitious and having been given the bloodlines of the guardian beasts deemed themselves the only ones worth ruling the world.

    Thus, they needed to remove the traces of all the past powers so that there was no way for others to use that and rise up along with them.

    At first, this opposition was very strong, but over the years, it had weakened considerably. And now there were actually two ns that were close to reaching the same level as that of the Long n just in the Long continent itself.

    Lin Wu was sure that the other two continents might be in the same position.

    There had been peace for a long time and prosperity could also be said to be there. Thus, the rise of new powers was simply inevitable.

    "Of course I doбн" Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Patriarch, King Lin Wu might be the oldest being in our world. He is said to havee a long time ago." Elder Ruanjian whispered.<sub> </sub>

    "I knowбн" Lian Dajian had almost forgotten that he wasn''t just talking to a beast king, but rather and old, old cultivator.

    ''An old monster older than anyone in this worldбн just what secrets are hidden in his mind?'' Lian Dajian couldn''t help but wonder.

    "Putting this aside, how exactly would you contact the immortals?" Lin Wu questioned. "I doubt the immortal would respond after such a long separation."

    "We know that too, King Lin Wu. And thus weren''t willing to bet on it. Our ancestor left behind a way to contact the immortal." Lian Dajian answered.

    "And what might that be?" Lin Wu asked, feeling truly interested.

    After all, going to the immortal world was one of his goals, and he had even promised Yun Bai that he would allow his n to escape this world. If he could actually get in contact with people from the immortal world and get some other way to leave this ce, it would be rather nice.

    ''Though there might be other dangers in this tooбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Greed was something most beings had, or would develop naturally. Humans had it innately and would certainly desire something that they liked. Lin Wu was not sure whether the people of the immortal realm would end up coveting what he had.

    After all, he himself was an anomaly and the Taiji Celestial''s Tomb was something that even a great cultivator like the Skull God desired. He didn''t think that he would be safe from the others desiring too.

    ? ''I don''t think I should let them contact the immortal worldбн it could be problematic,'' Lin Wu decided to himself beforehand.

    Lian Dajian was unaware that now he was potentially in danger.

    "Our ancestor left behind a flute. As hisst words he said that if we ever ran into great trouble where the n itself was being threated into non-existence, we are to use it. While he didn''t say who it would reach, he did say it was an immortal." Lian Dajian exined.

    "Our guess is that the flute was something the ancestor was given by his father. And given the status of the ancestor as a bastard child, he couldn''t be seen openly being favored. It might have been the only thing he got from his father." Elder Ruanjian hypothesized.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu muttered. "We could certainly try that." He said.

    "Yes, it is worth a try at least." Lian Dajian spoke.

    "Thoughбн I don''t see why you need me for this, when you could have done this on your own too?" Lin Wu asked, finding it a bit suspicious.

    "Wellбн there is an issue with itбн we don''t know how to use it." Lian Dajian replied.

    "What?" Lin Wu found it ridiculous.

 Chapter 834 A Way To Contact Immortals

    Lin Wu had decided to not let Lian Dajian use the flute to call for help from the immortal world, but he obviously couldn''t show that openly.

    Which was why he thought of getting Lian Dajian to show it to him first and was even willing to work a little to convince him. But he had not expected that Lian Dajian was the one who would ask for Lin Wu to take a look at it.

    "How is it that you don''t know how to use it?" Lin Wu found it hard to believe.

    "Wellбн while the ancestor did say to use the fluteбн he never actually mentioned the method to use it." Lian Dajian replied.

    "Isn''t it just a flute? Can''t you just y it?" Lin Wu asked.

    "If it was that simple, my predecessor would have done it already." Lian Dajian said with a sigh.

    "I''ll be honest, King Lin Wu. This is embarrassing but, my n has had a lot of difficult times in the past and we often tried to call for our ancestors in the immortal realm. But it never worked.

    We yed the flute in as many ways as possible, but nothing worked." Lian Dajian revealed.

    ''I knew it! No way they wouldn''t use something as big as that.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu said inly, showing no expression on his face.

    "Which is why, please help us and take a look at it, King Lin Wu. With your experience, perhaps you might know something more?" Lian Dajian said.

    Lin Wu could tell the man was truly desperate now as his tone was filled with slight embarrassment.

    "Alrightбн I''ll do it." Lin Wu agreed, but internally thought something else. ''HAHA! SAVED ME A LOT OF TIME!''

    "GREAT! I have it right here!" Lian Dajian hurriedly spoke.

    "You were certainly pre-prepared huhбн" Lin Wu said as he looked at the fat man.

    "I have to try my best, after all." Lian Dajian said before taking out a certain pendant from his fat neck.

    The said pendant had disappeared between his fat skin folds and Lin Wu had not even realized it was on his person.

    ''Strangeбн system, did you not discover it?'' Lin Wu asked.

    After all, the system had done a full scan of the man and knew exactly what spirit tools and other objects he had on his body.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The pendant has no spirit Qi signatures, nor is it emitting any particr kind of energy. The system did not deem it worthy of being reported to the host.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн that isn''t entirely wrong." Lin Wu muttered in his mind.

    p This was a setting that he had set himself after all as in the past the system would overwhelm him with tons of information about anyone he scanned. It would even tell him what kind of underwear they wore, what fiber it was made from, and how long it had been worn.</anda>

    It wasn''t really as useful, and Lin Wu only wanted the most important parts.

    Thus, it was normal that the system wouldn''t tell him about a normal object.

    "This is the flute." Lian Dajian said as he tapped on the pendant three times.

    ~SHUA~<sub> </sub>

    The small pendant suddenly expanded and turned into a twelve inch long flute. It seemed to be made out of some kind of a metal and Lin Wu couldn''t recognize it from a look.

    "Hmmбн let me take a look." Lin Wu extended his tail.

    "Here you go." Lian Dajian passed the flute onto the tail.

    "System, do another scan of this flute. Try to get as much information as possible." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Facilitated

    TARGET SELECTED: Unknown Flute

    Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu knew that the system would take a while to scan it all, thus he decided to take a look himself.

    The grey metal flute was about twelve inches long and had six holes on its top. On its ends, only one was open while the other was closed. The string with which the flute was originally hung on Lian Dajian''s neck was now acting as a tassel, hanging from the side of the flute.

    ''Nothing seems to be recognizable just from the naked eyesбн perhaps with radiation perction?'' Lin Wu thought.

    His eyes glowed lightly as he activated his innate skill.

    ~shua~

    His vision changed to a different color and the grey metal flute in his hand took on an indigo color showing that it was a bit cold. But that was normal since the surrounding here were cooler than outside too.

    ''Not in this rangeбн I need to find something elseбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself and controlled his skill to change to a different range of spectrum.

    But despite that, he wasn''t able to sense anything from the flute.

    ''Strangeбн other than the normal background radiation emitted by the flute, it has no other peculiarities.'' Lin Wu concluded.

    He even used his spirit sense and only found it to be a normal object. Ten minutes had now passed by and Lin Wu was still unable toe with it.

    ''Is it really a normal object?'' Lin Wu wondered now.

    Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian had been watching patiently and knew that Lin Wu was trying to analyze the flute. But seeing the glow in Lin Wu''s eyes dim, they wondered if he had learned something.

    "Did you figure out something, King Lin Wu?" Lian Dajian questioned.

    "Hmmбн it is really strange. This thing has no markings, no runes, no spirit Qi or even immortal Qi in it. Other than the fact that I cannot recognize the metal with which this flute is made with, I don''t know how to use it either." Lin Wu answered.

    Hearing this, Lian Dajian''s face turned tight with a frown.

    "Please take your time and look into it deeper, King Lin Wu. I beseech you." Lian Dajian said, not wanting to give up this quickly.

    "Mmhmmбн let me use some other methods." Lin Wu said and waited for the system to finish with its work.

 Chapter 835 A Metal Flute

    The Patriarch of the Lian n was certainly pinning his hopes on the flute. As much as he was ready to do anything to ensure his survival, he didn''t want to submit to someone else. Especially someone with an unknown background like Lin Wu.

    Lian Dajian was an experienced man and knew when and when not to retreat. He also knew how to forge alliances and when to end them. Perhaps he might not have been this wary if there was a human in front of him.

    But that was not so. Rather, what was in front of him was a beast of unknown origin and age. Facing the beast, the experienced man felt like a toddler trying to lie to an ancestor. It was simply absurd.

    ''Not to mention it feels like he can see through me with ease. I''m having a hard time maintaining myposure. There is just a certain level of weakness I need to show him, but it might just be pushed beyond that.'' Lian Dajian thought to himself.

    It had taken him a lot of effort to decided toe here. The Lian n had truly exhausted all of their avenues and now this was the only one left.

    ''If even the flute doesn''t work, then patriarch might have to join young master as well. Young master has been away for three years and now news of his results have been given to us meaning that he might still be in the same situation as before.

    If even three years isn''t enough, then patriarch certainly wouldn''t be able tost that long.'' Elder Ruanjian had his own worries as well.

    He was throughly an elder of the Lian n and worried about it. The devotion he had for the n was rare to see. Even if he might not show it on his face, this was the reason why Lian Dajian trusted the man so much.

    In fact, it could be said that Lian Dajian trusted elder Ruanjian more than he trusted his wives or children. It was also Elder Ruanjian''s words and convincing that he had finally chosen toe here.

    If not for that, perhaps he would have stayed at the n and continued to do it all himself, eventually dying in the process.

    While it may seem like the Lian n was progressing steadily, it was not so. It did seem like that on the surface, but this was all due to the delicate bnce maintained by the patriarch. Once Lian Dajian died, there was no saying what the elders and his heirs might do.

    While their profit driven mindset made it so that the n continued to prosper, it was also the same thing that could be their undoing. Lian Dajian could easily see his children getting into open conflicts and the elders spurring them on.

    Thus, it wasn''t like he could abdicate his position and assign someone there either.

    After all, Lian Dajian didn''t just rule with his business sense, but also his power. He was a proper Dao Treading realm expert and would be able to go toe to toe against most experts of this world.

    Though he was a bit unsure about the beast in front of him, since he couldn''t even tell his cultivation base. Lian Dajian was certainly told that Lin Wu had admitted to being at the Dao Shell realm, but that seemed too weak to be true.

    ''It is certainly a tiger pretending to be a pigбн or in his case a serpent pretending to be a worm,'' Lian Dajian thought.

    And while Lian Dajian was having all these thoughts, the system had just finished its assessment.

    Nearly an hour had passed and the system''s task was over.<sub> </sub>

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET: Unknown Metal Flute

    INFO: ording to the system''s analysis with the data banks as the basis, it has been determined that the flute is a type of a Resonant Warning tool. The method of activation is simply by breaking it simr to a talisman or other such single use tools.

    This will trigger its counterpart to break as well, rming the owner of the tool. The system''s inference is that it establishes a temporarymunication link between the two parties and will alert the original owner about the location of the flute.

    бкбк

    Seeing this information, Lin Wu was a bit surprised.

    ''No wonder they didn''t find anyway to make the flute work. It was not meant to be yed in the first ce. Though I guess it is also faulty product design, and misinformation. Why would the specification that the flute needed to be broken not be passed on?'' Lin Wu had several questions about it.

    Though he was now starting to believe that perhaps whoever was the founder of the Lian n was either too careless or that he actually didn''t know how to activate the flute himself.

    There were too many uncertainties, but Lin Wu knew one thing for sure.

    ''There is no way I can let someone from a higher realm get involved. Not when I''m progressing with my ns so well. And seeing as they didn''t know the actual method of activation, there is a chance that the original owner in the immortal world might not know of these descendants.

    There is a chance that he might juste to check in. But there is also a chance that he might get greedy at the same time. The Taiji Celestial''s tomb brought in the Skull God who was certainly many time stronger than this ancestor of theirs.

    If even the Skull god can be tempted, there is no way others wouldn''t be tempted either,'' Lin Wu concluded.

    But after thinking it all, Lin Wu also didn''t want to just get rid of the flute. Not only would it rouse suspicion of the Patriarch Lian Dajian, but it would also be a bit of a waste.

    ''Hmmбн perhaps there is another way we can go about this?'' Lin Wu thought to himself as a new idea presented to him.

 Chapter 836 A Dead Call

    The flute was possibly a solution to another one of Lin Wu''s problems.

    Lin Wu wanted a way out of this worldter and knew that he would be able to do it after he ascended it, eventually. But that came with the problem that he wouldn''t be able to take Yun Bai and his n.

    Not to mention, Lin Wu now felt like taking some of his subordinates with him too.

    ''It would be far too much of a waste if I have to leave them here. Coming back to this world after leaving would be hard too. After all, there is no way to know where it actually is. And there is also the restriction of the world too, which would make it harder.

    Then there is always the chance that my servants breakthrough and ascended as well, ending up in different ces. That would be too much of a loss.

    "Is it possible to trace these coordinates that the flute would inevitably reach after being broken, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: It is possible, but the owner of the flute will still be alerted.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн I seeбн we need to prevent that from happening." Lin Wu understood.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SUGGESTION: The System can potentially use the seal in the Taiji Celestial''s tomb to mask the presence. It will be able to trace the signal going out of the world, but the returning resonant signal will be blocked.

    бкбк

    "Perfect!" Lin Wu finally felt the pieces fit. "We''ll do that." He said in his mind before looking at Lian Dajian.

    Seeing that Lin Wu had lifted his gaze from the metal flute, Lian Dajian was pleased.

    "Did you figure out something, King Lin Wu?" Lian Dajian questioned.

    "I did indeedбн But there are someplexities." Lin Wu answered.

    "And what might that be?" Lian Dajian asked, feeling a bit anxious.

    Elder Ruanjian also looked on in worry, but was trying to maintain a hopeful attitude.

    "I have figured out the method of activation, but we don''t know if it would still work." Lin Wu replied.

    "Huh? Why so?" Lian Dajian asked hurriedly.

    "Well, as you know that it''s been a long time since the flute was passed on to you from the original owner. Thus, there is a chance that the original owner might not exist anymore." Lin Wu replied.

    "Not exist anymore?" Elder Ruanjian said in confusion.

    "You mean to sayбн they are dead?" Lian Dajian said in unease.

    "Indeed." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "But how''s that possible!? They are immortal!" Elder Ruanjian said in shock.<sub> </sub>

    To this, Lin Wu could only sigh and shake his head, activating his sagely elder mode.

    ~Sigh~

    "The word immortal itself is wrong. What you all think of as immortals are merely cultivators with longer lives than spirit cultivators. Even they can die and have a limited lifespan.

    Only if they ovee all their tribtions and reach the realm beyond the immortal realm can they continue to live on. The sub realms in the Immortal realm are many times harder to ovee too." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing such information about the immortal realm was shocking to Lian Dajian. It made them both excited and uneasy at the same time.

    "C-can you tell us more?" Lian Dajian asked.

    "Okayбн" Lin Wu decided to go ahead with it.

    ''Hehe, after you hear it all, you will be indebted to me and find me even more amazing.'' Lin Wu reckoned to himself andughed in his mind.

    He then went on to exin the seven tribtions the cultivators need to ovee in the Immortal realm and how they only have a thousand years between each tribtion. This meant that they technically only had an average lifespan of eight thousand years in the Immortal realm, considering that they passed all the tribtions.

    Upon ascending to an immortal world after the immortal Ascension realm, they would be False immortals and would have a thousand years to prepare for the tribtion. Within these thousand years, they could attempt to survive the tribtion anytime if they feltfortable.

    But if they didn''t take it before time, it will eventually descend without their control at the end of the thousand year period.

    While Lin Wu didn''t know what the realm above the immortal realm was, he was sure that it wouldn''t be easy to breakthrough.

    After all, even going from the Immortal Ascension realm to the False Immortal realm was an extremely difficult time and needed both luck and effort to go through.

    Having learned all this, Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian felt their world view spinning.

    "Thisбн Thisбн Doesn''t this mean the pursuit of immortality has no end?" Elder Ruanjian felt a little lost and unmotivated.

    "That is simply how its always been. There are realms beyond the Immortal realm and even more beyond those realms. One needs to soldier on with great willpower to survive it all. That is also why cultivation is said to be going against the heavens.

    The heavens would do it all to make you fail and you have to ovee that." With that Lin Wu concluded his ''sagely'' advice.

    This left Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian in deep thought.

    Fifteen minutes passed like this and Lin Wu kept silent.

    ''The longer you wait, the more I know you will be hookedбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    He knew that he had almost seeded his authority in front of the two.

    ~huu~

    Lian Dajian let out a breath, feeling a bit exhausted.

    "Whatever it may be, the immortal realm is far too distant for me. It is better to focus on the present rather than the distant future." Lian Dajian said in the end.

    "That is right." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Keeping that in mind, I would still like to try out the flute. Will Senior help us with that and tell us the method?" Lian Dajian requested.

    "Alright, I will." Lin Wu agreed. "But it will need a little preparation. It cannot be done here just like that." He stated.

 Chapter 837 Activating The Metal Flute

    Lian Dajian was pleased that at least Lin Wu was willing to go ahead with that. Even if there was a great chance that they would not get any response from the flute, it would be stupid to not attempt it at the very least.

    "What do you need, King Lin Wu?" Lian Dajian asked.

    "Wellбн in addition to the issue that the original owner of the flute might not respond, there is another problem." Lin Wu replied.

    "And what is that?" Elder Ruanjian questioned hurriedly, wondering if they might get some more hidden information.

    "It is thatбн the Flute might be unstable. We don''t know if instead of just contacting the owner, it might just explode." Lin Wu answered, much to the two''s shock.

    "What? It will explode!?" Lian Dajian was stunned.

    He had the metal flute on his person for many years now. He never knew that he was carrying a bomb this entire time. Not to mention he himself was a bomb in a way with the Vital House physique staying dormant.

    "Indeed. There is a chance." Lin Wu replied. "We won''t know unless we actually test it out."

    "And King Lin Wu is willing to go ahead with it?" Elder Ruanjian asked.

    "Yesбн we can do it. Just not here. Will need to use it at the right location with proper protection so no harm is done or most of it is restrained." Lin Wu answered.

    "I seeбн then do you need us to prepare a location like that?" Lian Dajian wondered.

    "Not reallyбн I have a ce like that ready." Lin Wu spoke.

    "That''s great! How long till we can go there?" Lian Dajian asked.

    "Right away." Lin Wu simply answered.

    "Really!? That would be perfect." Elder Ruanjian found things to be going a bit better now.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and checked on up on some things before waving his tail.

    ~shua~

    Runes appeared all around them and soon a teleportation circle appeared.

    "This will take us to the secure and safe location." Lin Wu stated.

    A couple of seconds after saying that, Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian''s vision went dark, and they found their bodies turning weightless.

    Soon enough, their senses returned, and they found themselves in a dark ce. This was none other than one of the caves near the seal of the unknown being. Usually Lin Wu would not bring anyone here since it was simply too sensitive of an area, but after having modified several of the areas nearby, the actual chamber where the seal was located was isted.

    In fact, there was now no direct tunnel leading to that chamber, only the teleportation array could take one there and Lin Wu was the only one with that authority.

    "Where are we?" Lian Dajian asked, as he spread his spirit sense out.

    He saw the rocky walls and roof, along with the many bugs and creatures that were crawling around everywhere.

    "This is a secure cave. Anything that happens here will not affect the outside world." Lin Wu informed. ''Even themutation link won''t workбн hehehe'' He said internally.

    Of course, Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian didn''t know that. For them, Lin Wu only meant that no damage would be done. To them, the metal flute could contact an immortal in the immortal realm and never thought that this ce was something that could actually block themunication.

    "I seeбн then shall we begin?" Lian Dajian said.

    "Of course." Lin Wu nodded his head. "Now thenбн brace yourselves." He warned.<sub> </sub>

    Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian nodded their heads and became a little tense.

    Lin Wu brought forth the metal flute and held it tightly with his tail. The two men watched on, wondering how Lin Wu would activate the flute, but then became shocked when the metal flute started to bend under Lin Wu''s power.

    They were rmed and wanted to stop Lin Wu when the Metal flute snapped!

    ~KACHA~

    A clear cracking sound was heard as the metal flute broke from the center. The eyes of the two men went wide, and they were now doubting whether they should have trusted Lin Wu.

    He had deliberately not told them the method since there was always a chance they might deny him that. If they did, they might take the flute back and try it on their ownter. If that happened, Lin Wu wouldn''t be able to do much, ending up with a loss.

    But the shock on the faces of Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian soon changed to surprise as they felt strange energy wavesing from the metal flute.

    ~HUMM~

    It was as if someone had stated ying the flute as airy notes of music were heard chiming in their ears.

    "Itбн it worked?" Lian Dajian had not expected the method of activation to be something as crude as breaking the elegant metal flute.

    Of all the methods they had tried over the years, the basic one about breaking it had never urred to them. For them, the metal flute was a priceless artifact from their founder that should never be damaged.

    It could even be considered a certain level of sphemy on their part, perhaps.

    ~HONG~

    The music of the flute got louder, as esoteric runes appeared in the air, much to Lin Wu''s surprise.

    ''It really was hiding things beyond my perception. Seems like the workings of higher levels is still hard for me to sense.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    And while he was thinking, the esoteric runes in the air changed and morphed into the shape of a in statue. The statue had no features and looked like a in doll.

    <strong>~WARNING~</strong>

    бкбк

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Detected!

    RESONANT FREQUENCY: Detected!

    ANALYZING: Resonant frequency identified

    CREATING NEW PROTOCOLS: Please wait for a moment.

    бн

    PROTOCOL CREATED: Initializing one waymunication protocol

    PROTOCOL COMPLETED: Reflective Communication barrier established!

    бкбк

    The system quickly did its work and the formation arrays of the tomb started to work in secret. Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian were none the wiser as arge dome formed all over the Taiji Celstial''s tomb.

 Chapter 838 No Guarantee Of Success

    Only the former rulers of the millennium forest could sense the change in the Tomb.

    "Thisбн what is Lin Wu doing?" The Twin Lights Liger King woke up from his slumber.

    He was still in recovery but had been woken up due to the bloodline chains that linked him with the seal of the tomb. The other rulers sensed it too, but didn''t fully wake up, merely grunting in pain.

    Thankfully, the pain onlysted a few seconds and faded away once the system was done with its task.

    Back at the cave where Lin Wu, Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian were, the statue formed from runes seemed to be flickering.

    "Is this how we''re supposed to talk?" Lian Dajian wondered.

    The in features of the statue started to fluctuate and move.

    Lin Wu narrowed his eyes and saw that the head of the statue was trying to change and take on a particr shape. He guessed that this was how the owner would talk to the holder of the flute.

    But soon enough, the restriction started working and the rune statue flickered.

    "Huh?" Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian were surprised again.

    ~HISS~

    The sound of static appeared as the music of the flute disappeared. The hissing noise irritated the ears of Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Finally, the statue couldn''t maintain its form anymore and dissipated into the rune which quickly faded away.

    ~CRUMBLE~

    The two parts of the metal flute also turned to dust and blew away with the breeze.

    "T-thatбн that''s it?" Lian Dajian couldn''t believe his eyes.

    He had be greatly excited seeing that the statue had appeared and was looking forward to talking with his ancestor.

    ''Noбн it would have been the ancestor of the founder!'' Lian Dajian remembered.

    But nowбн all hope was lost.

    "It failed?" Elder Ruanjian said, his voice falling.

    "Unfortunate it seems like too much time has passed. As you can see, the flute tried to find its owner but could not. Seems like the owner has either perished to the annals of time or is simply unreachable." Lin Wu stated.

    ~Sigh~

    Amon sigh escaped the lips of Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian.

    "We cannot bend the fates to our willбн what is may stay as it isбн" Lian Dajian muttered to himself.

    "Seems like we have no other choice now, Patriarch." Elder Ruanjian said.

    Lina Dajian nodded his head in agreement, epting the situation. He looked at Lin Wu and didn''t know how to speak next. Lin Wu though, knew exactly what the man was thinking and wasughing.

    ''HAHAHA! IT WORKED!'' Lin Wuughed in his mind.

    ~DING~

    бкбк<sub> </sub>

    NOTIFICATION: Approximate coordinates of the Immortal world have been recorded!

    DATA BANKS: Updated.

    бкбк

    That was exactly what Lin Wu wanted and was pleased that the system had managed to do it sessfully.

    It wasn''t that the system didn''t have any information about the immortal worlds in the immortal realm or other mortal worlds. Rather, it was that the system didn''t have anything to refer the coordinates with.

    It was the same as telling someone to turn left from a tree, but never knew what kind of tree or where the tree was.

    Even if they had the coordinates, unless they knew how to read them or where to ce them, they were as good as useless. But now, Lin Wu had a gained reference point for it. The flute''s resonance link had made a vast link that had been tracked by the system all the way to its end.

    Something like this would have been impossible even if Lin Wu had used up all the energy he had. Only by piggybacking off the resonant signal of the metal flute did this be possible.

    ? But before Lin Wu could take a look at the location, he decided to address the people at hand.

    ''Let''s get them set first. After I''m done, I''ll take my time to learn more about the coordinates,'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    While Lin Wu was thinking all this, he had given Lian Dajian enough time to make up his words.

    "King Lin Wu, would you help me out the same way you have with my son?" Lian Dajian requested.

    "I willбн but I cannot give you any guarantee of sess." Lin Wu stated inly. "You must already know that." He added.

    "I do indeed. I shall be fine with whatever you decide." Lian Dajian said, cupping his fists.

    "Yes! Please help the patriarch, King Lin Wu. The fate of the Lian n depends on this." Elder Ruanjian said freely.

    Both of them knew that it was no use keeping up the facades at this point. They had also seen Lin Wu properly and genially cooperating with them. This was enough to ignite a certain level of trust in their minds.

    Additionally, the information and knowledge Lin Wu had presented for them was also enough for them to now consider him a great senior. They would have started calling him that already, if not for the fact that Lin Wu already had the title of King.

    Thus it was not considered disrespectful anyway.

    "Mmhmmбн why don''t I take you to the ce where your son is? You can talk to him and get to know about the process first. It will take me some time to adjust the entire thing ording to your levels as well." Lin Wu suggested.

    "That will be fine, King Lin Wu." Lian Dajian said.

    ~shua~

    Lin Wu waved his tail once more and teleported the three of them into the hall where Lian Xiaojian was ''tempering'' his body.

    ~BOOM~

    In the hall, Lian Xiaojian was once again sted back and was sent flying all the way into the wall.

    ~THUD~

    His huge and fat body created a loud sound as it fell to the ground.

    "HAAбн HAAбн Haaaбн Thisбн isбн justбн notбн enoughбн" Lian Xiaojian panted.

    Over the years, he had indeed progressed through the hall. And while he was still unable to reach the door, he had still covered around sixty percent of the distance. This was the furthest he had gone before being knocked back.

 Chapter 839 Coordinates Of An Immortal World!

    Lian Xiaojianid on the ground and rested for a bit.

    His energy had been sapped by thetest attempt and he would need to rest for a while before trying again. He had been given these instructions long before and knew exactly to follow them.

    But Lian Xiaojian couldn''t rest too long either. He needed to make sure that his body was constantly under a certain level of stress. If that threshold of fatigue and injuries was exceeded or underwhelmed, he would be unable to have any sess.

    This was something he had learned from the constant battering of the formations. He had realized that the attacks would intensify whenever he was well rested and ease up when he was reaching a certain level of exhaustion.

    If his injuries also reached an extreme level, he would be sent flying back. While the final attack may seem powerful, it inflicted the least injuries and mostly had a knock back power in it.

    This was the protocol that the system had developed and it was said to have approximately a fifty percent chance of seeding.

    Lian Xiaojian rested for a few minutes, before gritting his teeth and standing up.

    "Again!" he shouted, trying to hype himself up.

    "HAAA!!!" Lian Xiaojian let out a battle cry as he charged ahead.

    ~SHUA~

    The runes activated and the formation array started sending out hundreds of attacks at once. Lian Xiaojian dodged them skillfully or endured them front on with his body. Some of the attacks caused no damage to him, while some of them left deep gashes in his flesh.

    "COME ON! COME ON!" Lian Xiaojian kept on running as he finally reached the same point he hadst time.

    That was also the furthest point he had reached in three years.

    ''Today will be the day I break the record!'' Lian Xiaojian thought with determination.

    It was safe to say that this was not his first time doing this, and he had kept up the habit to keep his hopes up.

    "Just a few steps moreбн" Lian Xiaojian grunted in pain as blood dripped from his flesh.

    His limbs were cramping up while his body fleet like it was on fireбн which it actually was a few times.

    ~SHUA~

    But just as Lian Xiaojian was on the precipice of the previous limit, a bunch of runes appeared in the area behind him, giving him a little surprise.

    ~BOOM~

    That moment of surprises was enough to break his focus and send him back flying.

    "AAAAAH!" Lian Xiaojian let out a scream as he flew through the air.

    ~WENG~

    But before he could hit the wall at the very back, he found his body being wrapped with something.

    "Caught you!" A voice was heard as Lian Xiaojian saw a crystal rope binding him from the center.

    It prevented him from mming into the wall and brought him down safely.

    "Huh? King Lin Wu?" Lian Xiaojian said in confusion.

    The crystal rope was none other than an extension from Lin Wu''s tail that had caught him. But when Lian Xiaojian looked at the two other figures standing next to Lin Wu, he was even more shocked.<sub> </sub>

    "ELDER RUANJIAN? FATHER!?" Lian Xiaojian couldn''t believe his eyes.

    When he had entered this hall, he was fully ready to seclude himself and practice till he seeded. While he had certainly gotten thoughts about taking a break, the anxiety of suddenly exploding and dying would quickly kick them away.

    Thus, seeing someone here was a pleasant surprise to him.

    "W-Whatбн what are you all doing here?" Lian Xiaojian couldn''t help but ask.

    He even wondered if he was hallucinating again after getting injured too much. It had certainly happened a few times in the past, and he had be a little doubtful of his eyes.

    ''Are they really here or am I just dreaming?'' Lian Xiaojian wondered to himself.

    "Young master, Xiaojian." Elder Ruanjian said in a weak tone.

    He could see the injuries riddled body of Lian Xiaojian and found it hard to believe.

    "Xiaojianбн" Lian Dajian reciprocated.

    "Your father and Elder Ruanjian are here to meet you and also discuss some things." Lin Wu stated.

    "Oh? What things?" Lian Xiaojian questioned.

    ~Sigh~

    Lian Dajian let out a sigh and exined all that had happened to Lian Xiaojian. How he had discovered that he too had the Vital House Physique and it was unawakened too. Then he told him that since he had a higher cultivation base and had lived for longer, his own chances of awakening the physique were low.

    The father and son talked for about thirty minutes, with Elder Ruanjian chiming in from time to time. But Lin Wu kept his silence and instead checked out the newly gathered information on the system screens.

    ''Whoa! Just how far is this ce?'' Lin Wu was stunned on seeing the coordinates.

    Of course, the literal coordinates were something that would not be understandable by Lin Wu, but the system had skillfully converted it into values that Lin Wu would understand.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    Distance of coordinates from the host''s current location: Infinite

    NOTE: There is a realm barrier that exists between the worlds and the host would need to cross the void to reach the immortal world.

    Distance of coordinates from the realm barrier: 1.2 Light years

    бкбк

    "SHEEEEESH!" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    The location was truly too far from the Ming Dao world. In fact, it wasn''t even in the same realm of existence.

    ''No wonder ascension is needed to reach the immortal worlds. One needs to pass through the void and ovee the realm barrier. Without that, one can wander as much as they want in the space but they would never reach an immortal world.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    With the two realms of existence in different parts of the void, no matter how far Lin Wu traversed, he would never reach an immortal world. Which was why the system had pegged the distance between his current location and coordinates as infinite.

 Chapter 840 Lucky Fatty

    While Lin Wu looked at the system''s screen, Lian Dajian and Xiaojian had just finished their conversation.

    "Thisбн what will you do now, father?" Lian Xiaojian said, his voice a little shaky.

    "The same as you are doing nowбн all other avenues have been exhausted." Lian Dajian replied.

    "Butбн but what if you fail?" Lian Xiaojian couldn''t help but ask.

    "Then I''ll failбн I''ll perish and the responsibility of the n will fall on your shoulders and your other kin." Lian Dajian inly said.

    He didn''t want to say sweet words and sugarcoat the situation. As a great merchant that had a lot of sess and power, Lian Dajian knew not to fall into false pretenses. It would only harm one in the long term even if it did give one hope temporarily.

    "I seeбн" Lian Xiaojian clenched his fists.

    He knew that if his father died, the n would probably end up in chaos. He would have liked to help and fulfill his father''s wishes, but he knew that he was not capable. Not to mention, he himself was in a dangerous predicament.

    Forget about saving the n, he wouldn''t even be able to save himself right now.

    ''No, waitбн if I seedбн King Lin Wu would be able to learn more and the rate of sess for father will increase!'' Lian Xiaojian realized.

    While Lian Xiaojian was a bit naive, he wasn''t a fool. Spending more than three years in this hall and suffering under the attacks of the formation array had allowed him to learn quite a bit about it.

    He had eventually realized that the formation array was not perfect. Whenever he figured out a way to ovee the fomentations, the next ones would get more difficult. The fatty used his brain enough to understand the pattern.

    This eventually led him to believe that Lin Wu was probably adapting it ording to his progress.

    After all, Lian Xiaojian might not be cultivating, but he was certainly getting stronger. The more he went against the attacks, the better his senses became and the better he got at dodging.

    Even with his fat body, his agility was now shocking.

    His speed of running was also a lot more than the original, and his control over his strength had be finer.

    It was a qualitative change in his strength and he had be a lot more ''refined''.

    ~huu~

    Having thought of all this, Lian Xiaojian took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. And when he did, a newfound determination filled them as his aura rose.

    "Xiaojianбн?" Lian Dajian sensed the atmosphere change and looked at his son, his expression a lot more mature than original.

    <strong>~HONG!~</strong>

    And just as he did that, waves of energy spread out from Lian Xiaojian''s body!

    "WHAT!?" Elder Ruanjian was stunned.

    He felt his very blood shake as the auraing from Lian Xiaojian increased. Lian Dajian looked at his son with disbelief.

    ''What is happening?'' he wondered.

    ~WARNING~

    бкбк

    ANOMALY: Detected

    NOTIFICATION: Lian Xiaojian''s vitals are fluctuating!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu snapped out of his mind and looked at the fatty.

    "System, what''s happening? Scan the man!" Lin Wu urged.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Lian Xiaojian

    SCAN: Completed

    бн<sub> </sub>

    TARGET: Lian Xiaojian

    CULTIVATION BASE: Child Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm

    VITALS: Unstable

    BLOODLINE: None

    PHYSIQUE: Vital House Physique (awakening!)

    бкбк

    "What?" Lin Wu was stunned as well.

    "How is he awakening? He isn''t even in the condition specified by the system?" Lin Wu was confused.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s preliminary analysis, Lian Xiaojian has triggered the lowest chance of randomly awakening the Vital House Physique!

    бкбк

    "F*ck! The fatty got some luck!" Lin Wu eximed in his mind.

    He watched on as the aura of Lian Xiaojian continued to increase.

    The system was also continually observing and recording it all, while also analyzing it simultaneously. The possibility of the Vital House Physique awakening like this randomly was so low that the system wanted to record every minute change.

    A rare and random event like this was hard to predict and even a little bit of the information could help the system improve its simtions and analytical ability tremendously.

    <o>,m Lin Wu could hear the notifications popping off in his mind, with the system updating the data banks with every passing minute.</o>

    "What''s happening King Lin Wu? Is he about to explode?" Lian Dajian couldn''t help but ask in fear.

    "Noбн he is awakeningбн Lian Xiaojian is about to awaken the Vital House Physique!" Lin Wu answered.

    "What! Really?" both Elder Ruanjian and Lian Dajian were stunned.

    "Indeedбн looks like your son is very lucky." Lin Wu praised. "But you two should get back. We don''t know what kind of effects this awakening might bring." He warned.

    "Y-yes!" the two of them quickly retreated behind Lin Wu, who swiftly created a barrier between them and Lian Xiaojian.

    Breaking the barrier, Lina Xiaojian''s aura continued to rise while steam also emanated from his skin. The steam was dense and soon covered his entire body. It looked as if a cloud was covering the fatty.

    ~SHUA~

    Five minutes passed by as the steam emitting from Lian Xiaojian''s body filled the entire hall, leaving only the area behind the barrier empty.

    Lian Dajian wanted to check up on his son using his spirit sense, but found it unable to even go past the barrier erected by Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu though, was doing the same with no issues.

    ~HONG~

    Another strange sound was heard, that felt like bellows being blown.

    ~HUALA~

    Finally, Lian Xiaojian''s aura reached a breakthrough and strong spirit Qi fluctuations rose from his body.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The spirit Qi fluctuations were like a gust of wind and blew away all the steam clouds around Lian Xiaojian, revealing his body hidden behind it.

    "What in theбн" All three of them were stunned upon seeing it.

    Lian Xiaojian had slimmed down massively and now looked like a bag of mere skin and bones.

    It was as if he was half a step into the coffin, but at the same time, the vitalitying from him was youthful!

 Chapter 841 Vital House Physique Awakens

    Lin Wu had certainly not expected the fatty to awaken his physique right away.

    "System, scan him again!" Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    ----

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Lian Xiaojian

    SCAN: Completed

    ...

    TARGET: Lian Xiaojian

    CULTIVATION BASE: Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm

    VITALS: Stable

    BLOODLINE: None

    PHYSIQUE: Vital House Physique

    ----

    In just a matter of seconds, Lian Xiaojian had gone from the child soul stage to the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm. This was a very fast breakthrough and Lin Wu couldpare him with himself.

    ~HONG~

    "No wait... it''s not ending." Lin Wu said as he felt the spirit Qi trembling in air.

    Lian Dajian also sensed it and couldn''t help but gasp.

    "He''s going to breakthrough once more?" Lian Ruanjian was surprised like a mouseing across a cat.

    The spirit Qi in the air swirled forcefully and was sucked into Lian Xiaojian''s body. The suction was far to strong for a normal cultivator to bear and tears appeared on Lian Xiaojian''s body as well.

    But just as they appeared, his vitality quickly healed them. This continued in an endless cycle, until the former fatty had gathered enough spirit Qi.

    ~SHUA~

    A Nascent soul jumped out of his body and came to float above Lina Xiaojian''s head. The Nascent soul was unlike the former fatty though. It wasn''t fat like the previous self, and neither was it extremely thin like the current body.

    Instead, it was a slim but athletic body. It was the body Lian Xiaojian would have if he was an Olympic swimmer for decades. This was evidently the best form that the man could achieve and was shown in his nascent soul.

    The Nascent soul opened its eyes and made several gestures with its hands, gathering the spirit Qi swirling around Lian Xiaojian.

    ~HUALA~

    The spirit Qi directly rose above the nascent soul and started to spin under the hand gestures. Bit by bit, its size started to decrease and about five minutester, it had seconded enough to reach the size of a small marble.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Once it was at that point, the Nascent soul held it in its hands and took a look at it. After a moment''s nce, he it into his mouth and smiled contently as if he had just eaten some tasty candy. Having done that, the Nascent soul flew back into Lian Xiaojian''s body.

    "It... ate the spirit Qi?" Lin Wu was confused. ''I thought he was going to breakthrough into the Dao Shell realm... it even gathered the spirit Qi in the manner of making a Dao Shell. But it was not so?'' Several questions appeared in Lin Wu''s mind but he had no answers.

    The system was also hard at work analyzing everything.<sub> </sub>

    ~thud~

    Lian Xiaojiannded back on the ground and opened his eyes, finding everything to be different. It was as if the world had be sharper and clearer for him. Everything was brighter and even in the dim hall he could see things as if they were under the sun.

    But not just that, he could feel a newfound power within his body. It was unlike anything he had felt before.

    Sure, Lian Xiaojian was a Nascent soul realm cultivator before too, but the strength that he felt back then came from the spirit Qi he had cultivated. Now though, it seemed as if the power wasing from his body itself. It was as if the cells themselves were overflowing with vitality!

    "I... Feel Strong... SO STRONG!" Lian Xiaojian clenched his fist.

    ~POP~

    The air within his palm gotpressed and made a little popping sound as it escaped from between his finger gaps. And this was done with just light strength with little effort.

    "Congrattions my son!" Lian Dajian couldn''t hold back and rushed to his son.

    ~SQUEEZE~

    Lian Dajian directly hugged the now skinny Lian Xiaojian and almost buried him into his body.

    The former fatty almost couldn''t believe his eyes, but the power thrumming in his body showed him that it was all true.

    "Congrattions on your breakthrough, Young master Xiaojian!" Lian Ruanjian said in an excited tone.

    After all, he now had several reasons to be excited. Lian Xiaojian reaching the peak of the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm meant that was nowparable to the two other top heirs of the Lian n. The only thing he wascking inparison to them was the businesses and experience with it.

    ''And now that Young master has sessful awakened the Vital House Physique, then Patriarch should have a better chance too, right?'' Elder Ruanjian thought.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Just as they were rejoicing, a low rumbling sound was heard. They all looked towards the source of it and saw that it hade from Lian Xiaojian.

    "AH!!" Lian Xiaojian let out a painful cry.

    "What happened?!" Lian Dajian asked in a concerned tone.

    "I... I..." Lian Xiaojian stuttered.

    "Yes! Speak! Tell us what''s wrong!" Lian Dajian said frantically.

    "I''m... I''m hungry." Lian Xiaojian finally spat out.

    ~CHUCKLE~

    Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh hearing that and found it to be urate for the former fatty.

    "That is reasonable. Your breakthrough was triggered by your Vital House Physique, which used up all the stored energy in your body and converted into spirit Qi. It is normal for you to have pent of hunger now.

    Your physique depends on you consuming energy rich food." Lin Wu exined.

    "Ah! That''s right!" Elder Ruanjian remembered the abilities of the Vital House Physique.

    The owner of the Vital House Physique would store the energy from various materials into their body as fat and would then burn it to release this energy when needed. It could thus allow one to exert far greater power than their actual cultivation base.

    It even had other uses such as forcefully providing a boost to break through a bottleneck, just like Alchemical pills would.

    "Good! GOOD!" Lian Dajian pped his hands. "Let''s get you some food to eat." He said with a smile on his face.

 Chapter 842 The Not So Fat Lian Xiaojian

    "So what do you think, King Lin Wu?" Lian Dajian questioned.

    "It is certainly possible now. I''ll need some time to analyze it a bit more and I might actually have a concrete solution." Lin Wu answered.

    The two of them were currently sitting in therge dining hall in the tomb along with Elder Ruanjian as well as Lian Xiaojian who was busy eating. Havingpleted his breakthrough, the former fatty was famished and thus Lin Wu called upon his cooks to prepare food.

    In just fifteen minutes, food was already on its way and they went to the dining hall which was rather impressive to the Lian n patriarch. While everything was made out of solid rock and stone, he could tell that they weren''t normal either.

    They were all carved with fine runes, all joined up into formations. If something like this was ever sold outside, it would easily fetch a price that might buy one an entire minor sect, perhaps.

    Not to mention the defenses of this ce were no less than of a strong bunker!

    ~MUNCH~

    ~CRUNCH~

    ~CRACK~

    Various sounds of eating could be heard as Lian Xiaojian continued to chow down everything that arrived. The strange thing was that he had already eaten nearly twice his body weight and there was no difference in it.

    More food continued to arrive and the man kept on eating. The food wasn''t cheap either, being made from the meat of core condensation realm beasts as well as valuable spirit herbs.

    A meal of this level was something that perhaps only a n as rich as the Lian n might be able to afford.

    Lin Wu didn''t mind spending this much anyway since he was getting information continually. Or rather, it was the system that was getting it. Since Lin Wu needed to find a solution for Lian Dajian, the best way was to check his son''s condition.

    ''Analyzing the working of the Vital house physique in real time should help speed up the system''s simtions. Seeing as how there is no difference in his body even after eating this much, the digestion speed has certainly sped up.

    While it cannotpare to my own, it is certainly beyond humans and most beasts.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu''s own metabolism was perhaps the fastest he had seen till nowбн if it could even be called that, as it was basically intense radiation bombarding everything he consumed until it was reduced to smaller products that the system could utilize.

    Which was why he could basically eat anything and it would continue to be broken down till it reached a point where the system could allow his body to absorb it.

    Lin Wu continued to watch as the system updated the information screen in front of him every few minutes. About two hours passed before Lian Xiaojian had finally finished eating.

    "Wellбн seems like the vital house physique certainly keeps up to its name.." Lin Wu said as he looked at the changed Lian Xiaojian.

    "Young masterбн has certainly ''grown''." Elder Ruanjian said.

    "I still feel pretty light!" Lian Xiaojian said as he hopped and jogged around.

    He was no longer a bag of skin and bones anymore and had reached a bigger form. He wasn''t athletic though, and was now chubby. Still way less than his original fat form.

    ''At least he''s within the looks of a normal human.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    If Lian Xiaojian were to now go out, he would easily blend into the crowd. His looks were also average, so there was basically nothing eye-catching about him anymore. Perhaps only his cultivation base was now worth remembering for most.<sub> </sub>

    "Are you satiated?" Lian Dajian asked in concern.

    He had seen how much Lian Xiaojian had eaten right now and it was way beyond what his son consumed even when he was fat. Lian Dajian himself wouldn''t dare to think he could eat that much food. At least not all at once.

    "Mmmhmmбн though I think if I try to eat more, I would still be able to eat. I don''t think this is my limit yet." Lian Xiaojian answered.

    p "Is that so?" Lin Wu was intrigued.</anda>

    "Did you learn something, King Lin Wu?" Elder Ruanjian inquired.

    "Perhapsбн" Lin Wu muttered as he continued to stare at Lian Xiaojian.

    The former fatty got a little nervous with Lin Wu''s gaze and looked back at the beast.

    ''Why do I feel even more weak against him now? It''s as if King Lin Wu only got strongerбн noбн he was already stronger. I just couldn''t sense it properly before.'' Lian Xiaojian thought.

    As his cultivation base increased, his sensory capabilities did too, which allowed him to understand the threat that Lin Wu could pose.

    But just as he was thinking this, an idea returned to his mind.

    "C-can you now help my father too, king Lin Wu?" Lina Xiaojian asked in a hopeful voice.

    "I should be able to." Lin Wu nodded his head. "But I need something more." He added.

    "What is it?" both Lian Dajian and his son said in unison.

    "I need some of your blood." Lin Wu answered.

    "Ummбн okay." Lian Xiaojian didn''t mind it as much.

    "What will you do with it?" Lian Dajian asked, feeling curious.

    "Wellбн the method I devised for you is not something originally intended for humans. So I don''t know howpatible it would be. In order to make it a bit morepatible, I need the blood of someone rted to you.

    Lian Xiaojian is both your son and has awakened the Vital House physique, so he will be the perfect candidate." Lin Wu answered.

    "Like how certain alchemical pills are made?" Elder Ruanjian asked.

    "Yes, simr to that." Lin Wu stated.

    "I see." Lian Dajian nodded his head.

    "Well then, give me your hand. I''ll take some blood." Lin Wu ordered the former fatty.

    "O-okayбн" Lian Xiaojian extended his hand, which was quickly stabbed by a thin crystal needle extended from Lin Wu''s tail.

 Chapter 843 A Cure For Another Fatty

    "Ouch!" Lian Xiaojian cried in pain as the needle pricked his skins easily.

    Lian Dajian who was watching it, was surprised as he could see the ease with which Lin Wu had done so. He knew that the defenses of an Adult Soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator might not be as good as that of a Dao Treading realm cultivator, but Lin Wu had pricked his son far too easily.

    ''He might be able to break though my defenses with ease as well perhaps.'' Lian Dajian thought.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    BLOOD SAMPLE: Obtained

    ANALYZING: Please wait a momentбн

    бкбк

    Some amount of blood was taken by Lin Wu and system quickly got to work. The system was faster than before and quickly came up with the solution needed for Lian Dajian. With thepatibility derived from Lian Xiaojian a new protocol was made.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    NOTIFICATION: New protocol created

    PROTOCOL: Hybrid Awakening Protocol (Vital House Physique)

    NOTIFICATION: Create Delivery Device?

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s window, Lin Wu was pleased. But he didn''t give the go ahead right away, he first checked the details of the new protocol.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    PROTOCOL: Hybrid Awakening Protocol

    INFO: The Hybrid awakening protocolbines the data extracted from a specific subject andbines that with the innate mutative effects of the host''s crystals to catalyze the awakening of a target''s physique.

    CURRENT AVAILABLE VERSIONS: Vital House Physique.

    бкбк

    ''Oh? So this is not just for the Vital House physiqueбн others can also be made with it, provided the system has an original sample.'' Lin Wu understood. ''Still, this is rather good. Should be enough for the man.''

    But just as he was about to allow the system to proceed with it, Lin Wu had a devious idea appear in his head again. His mouth ever so slightly widened in a smile, but was unrecognizable by anyone here since they were simply not used to him.

    "Systemбн can we add a Trojan to that?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He had not imnted something like this in any beast or cultivator at the Dao Treading realm before and was wondering if it would be an option. If it could be done, it would certainly help Lin Wu expand his sphere of control.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Pentagem Imnt can certainly be used for it, but it will have to be used in a dual mode. Two such imnt will have to be embedded, one in the brain and one in the Dantian for it to work safely.

    There are also chances or it being rejected when certain functions are activated. This might only be rectified once the system has more real time data.

    бкбк

    "That''s fine. We may as well make use of it. Not like we''ll get another opportunity easily." Lin Wu said and gave the system permission.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DELIVERY DEVICE CREATED: Pentagem Imnt Initialized

    NOTIFICATION: Please insert the imnt manually.

    бкбк<sub> </sub>

    "There we goбн" Lin Wu said, prompting Lian Dajian to look towards his tail that was now morphing.

    "You''re done?" Lian Dajian was sure that it might take at least a few days or more for this.

    "Do you want it to take longer?" Lin Wu asked.

    "N-noбн Certainly not!" Lian Dajian responded, realizing that it was better to be fast.

    "Yes! If it''s done already, then please do it, King Lin Wu." Lian Xiaojian said.

    He too was surprised that it was this fast. Though it only made him feel that Lin Wu was really unfathomable. This thought was mirrored by Elder Ruanjian as well.

    "Alright, get ready then." Lin Wu said as he brought forth his tail that had morphed into a different shape.

    It now had two prongs from which sharp spikes extended. One of the spikes was pointed towards the forehead of the man and the other was pointed towards the Dantian of the man.

    "Will this hurt?" Lian Xiaojian couldn''t help but ask, seeing the fearsome looking spikes.

    They were far thicker than the needle that had pricked him and even that had hurt. Lin Wu could have technically made it painless for him, but decided not to, just to make them feel a little more grateful.

    "Plenty." Lin Wu casually answered, only making the former fatty gulp in fear.

    Though Lian Dajian on whom this was going to be used on was unfazed. To him, this much pain was nothing. He had already gone through far more terrifying conditions. Not to mention, in order to attempt to awaken his Vital House physique, he had tried several methods like alchemical pill all of which had painful effects.

    If he didn''t mind that, he wouldn''t mind this either.

    "Do it!" Lian Dajian stated firmly.

    ~SHING~

    In the very next moment, the spikes extended and pierced into Lian Dajian''s head and abdomen. The pain quickly rose as the spikes went deeper. To Lian Dajian though, the head was not much of an issue.

    The main problem came from his abdomen, as he could feel a rocking pain spread from there. He didn''t even realize when he felt his dantian being breached. His spirit sense though couldn''t move much and he too feared that if he disturbed Lin Wu at this moment, great trouble could arise.

    Thus, he simply gritted his teeth and held on.

    Thankfully, the system was well versed in imntation and was done in just ten seconds.

    ~SHING~

    The spikes were withdrawn and the procedure waspleted.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    IMPLANTATION: Completed

    PENTAGEM: Activated

    NOTIFICATION: Hybrid Awakening Protocol (Vital House Physique) will passively affect the target.

    бкбк

    "How long till it takes effect fully system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s simtions, the imnt should restrain the negative effects of the unawakened physique in less than a week and begin the awakening a month after that.

    бкбк

    "That''s good enough." Lin Wu saidparing it to Lian Xiaojian who took three years.

    ~HUU~

    Lian Dajian took a deep breath as the pain within his body faded away.

    "Is it done?" He couldn''t help but ask.

    "Indeed. It is done and it should start having effect in just a week." Lin Wu informed.

 Chapter 844 Fear Of Calamity

    Hearing that the effects would begin in a week, Lian Dajian was pleased.

    "Really?" Elder Ruanjian asked.

    "Yes. At first, the negative effects of your body will be eliminated, and once it is fully stabilized, your body will begin the awakening process." Lin Wu replied.

    "That''s great! And how long will it take till father''s Vital House Physique fully awakens like mine?" Lian Xiaojian asked.

    Lian Dajian also looked on in interest, clearly wanting to know more.

    "That is a bit hard to say, but I''m guessing a month." Lin Wu stated. "Besides, even if it takes longer, there is no longer the danger of exploding. That will be restrained by the cure." He exined.

    "I seeбн the cure it is the crystal floating in my Dantian?" Lian Dajian asked upon sensing a new object.

    p Hearing this, Lin Wu was surprised.</anda>

    ''He''s the first one that can sense itбн usually they are hidden because of the passive radiation they release.'' Lin Wu thought to himself. ''Guess I still can''t hide it from a Dao Treading realm expert''s perception.''

    But Lin Wu didn''t show the surprise on his face. And it wasn''t like it would be understood by others, even if he did show it.

    "Yes. You can consider it like a pill. It should slowly modte your body''s condition and work to awaken your physique." Lin Wu simply spoke.

    "I seeбн" Lian Dajian replied, not finding any fault with it.

    He truly didn''t feel any threat from the crystal, either. Having probed it with his spirit sense, he only found a calming feelinging from it. Then there was also a faint energy that was spreading from the crystal.

    As for the imnt in his brain, that was not as solid as the one in the Dantian and had already merged into the brain. It basically split into finer crystal that were connected in a matrix through the brain cells.

    This provided a deeper control and would be hard to remove forcefully without killing oneself. Lin Wu now had a failsafe to prevent Lian Dajian from ever acting against him. If push came to shove, Lian Dajian might just find himself without a head.

    Lin Wu talked with Lian Dajian and Lian Xiaojian for a while more before they decided to leave. There was nothing else left for them to do, and the extended disappearance of the n Patriarch wouldn''t be good either.

    But just as they were about to leave, Lin Wu decided to throw in a few more things.

    "Patriarch Lian, since you have an extended reach and influence, could I ask you to look out for something." Lin Wu asked.

    "Of course. Do you need anything? The Lian n will dlyply." Lian Dajian said freely.

    Elder Ruanjian also nodded. "Any resources or herb you want shall be prepared for you."

    So far Lin Wu hadn''t asked them for anything and they had promised rewards after all.

    "It is not some resource I want." Lin Wu stated.

    "Then what is it?" Lian Dajian asked, feeling curious.

    "I would like you to keep an eye out for suspicious beings. Whether it be humans, beasts, or any other creatures. Anything that seemsбн unnatural. Not of this world." Lin Wu spoke.<sub> </sub>

    Lian Dajian narrowed his eyes, finding there to be something more in Lin Wu''s tone.

    "Is it something that poses danger to you?" Lian Dajian asked.

    "Mmhmmбн not just meбн but this entire world." Lin Wu replied, much to the man''s surprise.

    "Can you tell me more?" Lian Dajian questioned.

    "Hmmбн I may as well tell you now. It is one of the reasons why I was sent to this world." Lin Wu answered.

    ''Sent to this world?бн he really isn''t normal.'' Lian Dajian thought.

    Lin Wu then switched to his acting mode and told the story of the skull god and the seed of Hei. And how it could take over beings and get them under their control, with the final goal of sucking the world dry.

    Lin Wu made sure to make it as dramatic and scary as possible.

    By the end of his exnation, Lin Wu left the three listeners with throbbing hearts and cold backs.

    ''Heбн he''s telling the truth.'' Lian Dajian was stunned.

    He had a great instinct for telling if the other person was telling the truth or not. His life as a businessman had only made it sharper. After all, if he didn''t have the ability to tell lies from falsehoods, he would have long since been scammed and killed, perhaps.

    And technically, what Lin Wu had said was ''true'' and he himself had ''witnessed'' it. Albeit through the memories of others and help of the tomb. Still, the details were enough to turn the blood of the three here cold.

    "Heavens! Such a cmity lurks in our world?" Elder Ruanjian was even more anxious now.

    "This cmity, is it yet to awaken or has it already awakened King Lin Wu?" Lian Xiaojian asked nervously.

    "Hmmбн I can sense that it is present in the world. And I couldn''t do so a few years ago. Which only means that it has awakened." Lin Wu answered.

    ~Gasp~

    "Then how long do we have? And do you know where is it?" Lian Xiaojian questioned.

    "I can''t tell how long we have, but it shouldn''t be that strong right now. The shadow cmity will take a while to grow strong. Though if it gets the right support or resources, it might even grow faster.

    It can take a myriad of forms and might be human or beast or something entirely different." Lin Wu answered.

    His words didn''t serve to calm them at all. Lian Dajian particrly wondered if the other ns knew about it or not.

    "Does anyone else know about it?" Lian Dajian asked.

    "The frozen cloud sect patriarch has already been informed. And a few more people I trust know. But this is something that cannot be spoken about easily.

    If the cmity finds out, it might get more difficult for us." Lin Wu warned.

 Chapter 845 Lian Dajians Aggressive Decision

    Lin Wu''s words of warning were taken rather seriously by Lian Dajian and Elder Ruanjian. As for Lian Xiaojian, anything that came from Lin Wu was already taken as gospel.

    They had already left the Millennium forest and didn''t speak a word after having left. The information presented to them was simply too sensitive, after all.

    ''We need to check thisбн there should be some signs that might be present. If the Shadow cmity has already awakened, as King Lin Wu has said, then we need to keep a staunch eye out.'' Lian Dajian thought to himself.

    He could understand what a threat of this level meant. If it was not for the fact that Lin Wu had specifically told them not to tell anyone else, unless he approved of them, he would have directly gone to the Long n.

    The Long n had the greatest duty of being a guardian n and ensure the safety of the world along with the other two ns. A threat like this should be made aware to them.

    ''But who knows if they might get affected tooбн'' Lian Dajian thought to himself.

    But after a while, another idea appeared in his mind.

    ''No, waitбн King Lin Wu should definitely know the Long n would be a good party to inform. Perhaps he has already done that?'' Lian Dajian thought to himself before recalling that the Long n had also sent an envoy to the Millennium forest.

    ''Maybe I should confirm if they had talked about itбн if they have then it will be fineбн'' Lian Dajian thorough to himself.

    The rest of the journey went by like a blur as the three of them continued to ponder on the matters at hand. Then there was also the fact that Lian Xiaojian had just broken through and had also awakened his physique.

    He needed to get used to both and was also focusing on that.

    Lian Dajian was in a simr position and wondered if the effects of the technique Lin Wu used on him were already working. He certainly felt a little less anxious than before, so he thought that it really was.

    A few dayster, Lian Dajian and the rest had returned to the Lian n.

    "The patriarch is back!" The news quickly spread among the elders of the n.

    After all, the patriarch leaving without informing them was very unusual. Thus they were wondering why he had done so, now that he was back.

    The doors of the great hall of the Lian n opened and Lian Dajian walked in with Elder Ruanjian and Lian Xiaojian.

    "Greetings Patriarch!"

    "Wee Patriarch!"

    Various words of formality were spoken upon the entry of the patriarch. But soon, they all noticed a new person there.

    ''Who''s that?'' They couldn''t help but wonder about Lian Xiaojian.

    After all, he looked vastly different from before. But they didn''t ask right away, waiting for the patriarch to speak first. Lian Dajian nodded at them before silently walking to the head seat.

    A strange silence was present during this brief period of time. The elders also found things to be rather strange since even Elder Ruanjian and the new man apanying them had serious expressions.<sub> </sub>

    The throne lightly shook as the heavy body of Lian Dajiannded on it. The fat man looked at his elders and felt a little mncholic.

    ''All this I''ve builtбн my nбн my peopleбн all can be gone?'' Lian Dajian just couldn''t get the threat out of his mind.

    His guts were telling him that this was something he simply could not take lightly. And he trusted his guts the most, as they had brought him where he was in his life.

    "Eldersбн" Lian Dajian spoke, prompting all elders to look towards him respectfully. "I have decided something."

    "What is it Patriarch?" The elders asked, feeling nervous.

    "I have decidedбн that it is time to expand. Expand moreбн expand aggressively." Lian Dajian stated.

    "We are already doing that though, patriarch. Our businesses are flourishing and have a stable growth rate." One of the high elders said.

    "I know our business are doing that, but that is only for our current ones. I''m thinking about new ventures." Lian Dajian stated.

    "And what might that be, patriarch." The elders wondered what the patriarch desired.

    If he was this direct about something like business, then they knew for sure that he must have some great idea.

    "I want the Lian n to establish our own information and intelligence gathering department." Lian Dajian spoke, making many elders raise their brows. "And I''m not talking about ourбн Back pavilion. That is merely for our private matters. I''m talking about a full blown organization." He exined.

    "Thisбн Patriarch, if we do this, it won''t be easy. From the Long n to the kingdoms, nearly everyone will resist this." One of the elders spoke.

    "Oh, I don''t care about that. They can resist all they want. This will be an absolute order." Lian Dajian left no ce for a debate.

    The shadow cmity was dangerous, and he couldn''t investigate it directly. If he got someone to specifically look for it, things might go like Lin Wu had said. They might get in even greater trouble.

    But if he made it so that they were not just collecting information about the shadow cmity, but everything?

    Then things might be a bit simpler.

    As for the opposition from the other powers? That was a joke when it came to the end of this world.

    The Lian n wasn''t so mighty that they could just leave the Ming Dao world. If they wanted to continue living on, even if they might suffer a bit, they had to do this.

    "It shall be done then, Patriarch." The elders responded in unison.

    "Mmmбн and another thing. From today onwards, the millennium forest is our official ally. Make sure that no one offends them, or their king. Anyone that does so will be dealt with me personally!" Lian Dajian said, his eyes gleaming with a sense of pressure.

 Chapter 846 The Next Phase

    Lian Dajian''s voice was stern and invoked a sense of danger in the minds of all the elders. They had not seen the patriarch act like this for ages and, when he had done so in the past, things had not turned out well.

    "P-patriarch... may I ask something?" One of the high elders requested.

    "You may." Lian Dajian permitted.

    "Was... your surprise leave associated with the millennium forest?" the high elder questioned.

    "Yes." Lian Dajian answered, much to their surprise.

    But the surprise was just about to begin.

    "I went to the Millennium forest to meet with the King as well as with the first Heir." Lian Dajian said, not revealing the actual contents of the conversations.

    "Xiaojian!" Lian Dajian called out.

    "Yes, Patriarch!" The former fatty stepped forward.

    And as soon as he did this, the elders'' eyes went wide.

    ''What!?''

    ''That''s Lian Xiaojian?''

    ''How did the fatty get this thin?''

    Several question bombarded the minds of the elders, perhaps even more so than the earlier decision of the patriarch. After all, they knew that Lian Xiaojian was the ck sheep of the n.

    Even if he was the one that looked like the patriarch the most, he didn''t actually have the same qualities other than being fat.

    "Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm?" Some of the elders finally noticed.

    "Wasn''t young master Xiaojian at the Child Soul stage before?" The elders recalled.

    "This is young master?" The high elder couldn''t help but wanting to confirm.

    "Indeed. I am Lian Xiaojian." The former fatty replied.

    ~gasp~

    Several gasps were heard among the elders.

    Lian Xiaojian reaching the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm wasn''t really something that bothered them much. The most surprising thing was still him slimming down massively.

    "The King of the Millennium forest, Lin Wu has done us a favor and helped Lian Xiaojian. Additionally the business and trade agreements made between the Lian n and the millennium forest have been fruitful.

    The ''beast treaty'' was beneficial for us and you all already know the great profit margins that Junior Elder Kai Li has been regrly showing.

    Keeping all this in mind, I have decided to formally induce the Millennium Forest kingdom as our ally as well as a close business partner. I believe that further cooperation will only be to our benefit and will lead to the glory of the Lian n." Lian Dajian further exined.

    Hearing all this, the elders felt enlightened.

    "If it''s like this, then we shouldn''t waste anytime. Should I draw up some more deals, patriarch?" One of the enthusiastic elders said.

    "All elders will look into the information provided by Junior Elder Kai Li when she returns to the n soon and draw up favorable contracts. I shall select which ones to go ahead with." Lian Dajian stated.

    "Oh, and Junior elder Kai Li shall also be promoted. From now on, she is promoted to the position of a full fledged Elder!" Lian Dian added.

    Kai Li had already proved her capabilities and handling more than enough, thus this wasn''t really something out of the ordinary.

    ''Since she could leave a favorable impression on King Lin Wu, she shouldn''t be a bad investment.'' Lian Dajian thought to himself.

    Unknown to Lian Dajian though, the hidden crystal in his brain was already working. He hadn''t even realized that the passive influential effect of the Pentagem Imnt was affecting him.

    Everything that Lin Wu had nned was going well.

    Though he didn''t have a way to check up on it all.

    "System, how long till we can add the video and audio feed function to the imnts?" Lin Wu asked.<sub> </sub>

    ~DING~

    ----

    ANSWER: the system needs extensive scanning and reception range for that to be possible. The video and audio feed functions can certainly be added now, but the range would be limited to a hundred kilometers.

    ----

    "Huh... that''s less than the range of the entire forest. Guess I just need to wait for the formation array to expand." Lin Wu said to himself.

    While he was curious about how things were going with Lian Dajian, he wasn''t too bothered about it. He now had other aspects that he could progress on.

    ''The Long n, Ji n and Lian n... all three have been imnted with my people now. Perhaps it is time to begin the second phase of the expansion...'' Lin Wu thought to himself as his eyes glowed lightly.

    ~SHUA~

    He waved his tail and the Avatar appeared in front of him. It was still cultivating and had been so for the past three years.

    ~Ding~

    ----

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [35,689,548/90,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- First level (Wind attribute spirit Qi initiate)

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (55% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. me Maniption (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Fire Resistance (great) (proficiency: Intermediate)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    DAO SHELL: 1. Normal Dao Shell outline

    WEIGHT: 3,17,173 Kilograms Height 147.31 meters long.

    ----

    The avatar was less than half way to having gathered enough spirit Qi for the breakthrough, but it has also progressed in the Undaunted Sapphire Meridian Body art.

    "Just five more percent till the third level..." Lin Wu muttered to himself. "I''d wait, but... the next phase will speed this up anyway." He said before closing his eyes.

    A secondter, the avatar opened its eyes instead and Lin Wu had taken control of it.

    ~SHUA~

    His body started to morph as the crystalline segments started to disappear. The were soon reced by a chitinous skin that was dark brown and ck in color. In less than a minute, Lin Wu now looked like an entirely different beast.

 Chapter 847 The Organic Forms Changes

    "Even this form has changed quite a bit, eh?" Lin Wu muttered as he looked at the avatar''s form in the mirrored window.

    He was now in his organic form, which was technically his original form. The crystalline form was actually due to his skill, Cellr crystallization being active the entire time. Thankfully, the skill was versatile and after initial activation for transforming, it would stay on passively and wouldn''t need any effort from him.

    Plus, the benefits offered by the crystalline form were rather good too. Thus, Lin Wu almost never had a reason to stay in his organic form.

    "Though nowбн it''s the perfect time to use it." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he observed the avatar.

    The chitinous armor was dark brown in color, with the intecing segment covering being ck in color. His eyes were every different in this form, being stuck deep into the top of his head.

    They were also much smaller than his crystalline form and weren''t red either, instead being a pale yellow in color. There were no pupils in his eyes either.

    His mouth also upied most of his head in this organic form, unlike the crystalline form which had a more ''serpentine'' look.

    ''This really is the more ''worm'' look,'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    And While the organic form was a bit weaker than the crystalline form, the major difference was mostly in defensive capability. The other abilities that Lin Wu had were still there, such as rapid regeneration.

    "Hmmбн I can still use radiation perception as normal, but maniption it is difficult in this form. What other difference is there?" Lin Wu wondered about this organic form.

    He knew that several changes had urred as his cultivation base had grown and he now realized that he was a bit too unfamiliar with it all.

    "Time to do some tests then!" Lin Wu quickly teleported to an empty hall with reinforced walls and began his barrage of abilities and skills.

    Two hourster, he had mostly grasped the difference in the two forms'' abilities and was clear about them.

    "So thenбн the difference basically is that my organic form has an even higher regeneration rate than my crystalline form. At least without the use of the stored energy and the system''s help.

    My speed is also higher in this form, with my weight being about 25% less. My flexibility is higher, but I cannot morph like my crystal form to change shapes and adapt." Lin Wu summarized.

    He thought over them for a bit before realizing that this might not be enough.

    ''If I''ve to use this form for the n, I need to improve it. I cannot use the crystalline form and the organic form is the best chance at it.'' Lin Wu thought.

    After a few minutes, he thought to one of the system functions that he had not used in a long, long time: Bloodline Synthesis.

    Lin Wu had only used it a few times in the past. And even then, he had only used its full capabilities once when he had added the Hard Eared Limber Mouse King''s bloodline to his own.

    Though he has used the ability partially when he had assimted the Vermillion Bird Bloodline fragment.

    The resistance offered by that bloodline carried over in his organic form as well, along with the ability to manipte mes. In fact, Lin Wu''s organic form had small holes all around the rim of his mouth that were covered with a hard membrane.

    These holes could open up and spew out mes. Though their original function was as olfactory organs and enhanced his sense of smell.

    Lin Wu could also move these small holes all over his body, while keeping them hidden and use them as a surprise attack. Cellr morphing on a small level like this was no issue, even in his organic form.<sub> </sub>

    But even with all this, the organic form wascking for the mission it was toplete.

    "Alright system, gather all the Bloodline data and extrapte all the beneficial traits of those bloodlines for the organic form." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TASK ASSIGNED: Bloodline analysis and extraption

    PARAMETERS SET: 165+ Bloodlines selected

    ANALYZING: Please Wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    It was certainly a tall order and even the system didn''t know how long it would take it to finish the task. After all, not only did it need to find the best traits but also ensure that they werepatible.

    Lin Wu would not have done this such bloodline synthesis if this was his main body as he wanted only the best ones to be used for that. Additionally, there was also the issue of the unknown bloodline.

    The unknown bloodline had not reached its full potential yet and only after Lin Mu consumed the original beast that it belonged to would it be fully stable. Thus, until that was done, there was always a chance of unknown bloodline interactions happening that could be detrimental to him.

    But the avatar didn''t have this problem, as it didn''t have the Unknown bloodline. It only had the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm bloodline.

    ''I''ll use the avatar as a sandbox for now. Even if problems happen, it is something that is expendable to me and I can still make a new er on. The cost won''t matter much in the long term anyway.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having set this task, Lin Wu let go of the avatar and returned his mind to the main body.

    "This will take a whileбн I may as well return to cultivating." Lin Wu said as he closed his eyes and began the session.

    It was not until about a yearter did the system finally finish the task that it had been assigned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Data Extrapted sessful!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was woken up from his trance, only to realize that it had been a year.

    "What the fuckбн time is really nothing when you cultivate fullyбн" Lin Wu was left a little speechless.

 Chapter 848 A Year Of Cultivation? And A Surprise Wedding

    Lin Wu had gotten limatized greatly to cultivating for long periods of times. Though his body might also have contributed to it, perhaps.

    "Is it due to my crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He knew that entering a dormant cultivating state with the help of a system was greatly different from doing it on his own. When it was assessed by the system, it was more like he was under general anesthesia.

    But doing it on his own meant that he was simply sleeping that long.

    Which was highly unusual, as his natural sleep even when extended, was at the maximum a month or two. A year was simply too long. And this was considering he was not injured and was in a normal condition.

    "No... that can''t really be it. If it was, the system would have known it too and it would have been in the additional details provided by it. Which leaves us with only the Unknown bloodline..." Lin Wu analyzed.

    ''Just what is the unknown bloodline?'' Lin Wu couldn''t help but question again.

    It was something even the system couldn''t analyze and was blocked from prying further. There was just so muchplexity that the system had termed it as a ''bloodline lock''. Only if Lin Wu further progressed his bloodline or cultivated to a higher realm, would it continue to unravel and reveal its secrets.

    But as of now, that was not really avable.

    ''While it doesn''t really cause a problem for me, not knowing about the bloodline might only pose more danger. If this was one of the functions I didn''t know, what other functions are hiding within it?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "System, show me the host data summary." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    ----

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 20 years, 2 months, 7 days

    p LIFESPAN: 4,000 years</anda>

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Completion Stage Of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [9,104,723/???] units (liquid spirit qi)

    ----

    ''Hmm... that increase is also a bit higher than expected.'' Lin Wu observed.

    "System, how much of an increase is thatpared to my normal cultivation state?" Lin Wu asked, just in case.

    ~DING~

    ----

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s measurements, the host''s longer dormant cultivation state has a higher cultivation efficiency. It is higher by approximately 30% than normal.

    ----

    "Thirty percent... that is big. Seems like it isn''t particrly bad... but the implications of it might be troublesome." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he looked at a particr line in the status scene.

    He was now twenty years old and was close to reaching the same age at which he had died in his past life.

    "I''m almost double my past lives age... and yet it feels strange..." Lin Wu muttered to himself before pushing these thoughts away.

    There were other important things at hand that he needed to address first.

    He looked at the pending notifications and saw thepletion notification.

    ~DING~<sub> </sub>

    ----

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Data Extrapted sessful!

    NOTIFICATION: Initiate new bloodline synthesis: Y/N?

    ----

    "Do it system." Lin Wu permitted.

    ~DING~

    ----

    INITIATING: New Bloodline Synthesis

    NOTIFICATION: Time needed toplete: 12 hours, 30 minutes.

    ----

    "Hmm... more wait... though this is almost nothing. I may as well check up on the rest at this time." Lin Wu said as he looked through his other messages.

    With themunication jade functions directly melded into the system, it was rather easy for Lin Wu to check them. It was the same as having a smart phone and all messages were organized neatly.

    Lin Wu could even filter through them depending on whether he wanted to see them in a chronological order or ording to an order of importance. The order of importance was decided by the system of course, and if there was something really important, it would even wake him up.

    Of course, this was only limited to the great decisions that the system couldn''t analyze or take it on its own. Otherwise, the system would give a proper reply to the messages. The system was the reason why the millennium forest was bing millennium kingdom steadily.

    "Hmm... Kai Li has been to the forest three times sincest year and has asked to meet me, but I wasn''t there. Though she didn''t message anything of importance so it shouldn''t be problematic.

    Then, Wang Xiong also sent a message... He''s getting married?!" Lin Wu was a little surprised

    It was a little unexpected for Lin Wu to see this. As far as he knew, the cultivators rarely married this early on, especially those in the position of someone like Wang Xiong who was the chief disciple and was going to be the patriarch in the future.

    Most cultivators would take someone as a Daopanion but wouldn''t really marry them formally until a long timeter. They considered marriage a deeper and karmic link and wouldn''t do that carelessly.

    For mortals, a marriage was rtively light aspared to cultivators whose future cultivation could be greatly affected by it.

    "This is strange. While he is with Ye Jin for a while now, he hasn''t really said anything about marrying." Lin Wu muttered before a thought appeared in his mind.

    "Hang on... is he even marrying Ye Jin?" Lin Wu wondered.

    He contacted Wang Xiong that very moment.

    "Senior!?" Wang Xiong was caught a little off guard, but didn''t reject Lin Wu''smunication attempt.

    "You''re getting married, I hear?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I am indeed." Wang Xiong responded.

    "To whom, Ye Jin? And why a sudden decision? I thought you and Ye Jin were Dao Companions already." Lin Wu asked next.

    "It''s... Complicated. I''m not marrying Ye Jin." Wang Xiong said, making Lin Wu confirm his doubts.

    ''It really was something extra huh...'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Then who is it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "It is someone from the Cang Lan sect. I didn''t know this, but apparently the Frozen Cloud sect owed a wedding debt to the Cang Lan sect from a long time ago." Wang Xiong spoke.

 Chapter 849 A Wedding Debt

    Wang Xiong''s words were only confirmation Lin Wu''s initial doubts and his guess that there was something additional at y was also confirmed.

    "A Wedding Debt? Why would the Frozen Cloud sect have a wedding debt to another sect, that too the number one ranked Cang Lan sect?" Lin Wu asked further.

    "I didn''t know about it at all at first. And neither did patriarch Bing. We had to literally search the old sect records to find out that it is indeed true. The wedding debt is very old, and ording to the records, was decided during the initial years of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    Frozen Cloud sect was not a top sect back then and was only starting up. Somehow, one of the elders of the Cang Lan sect and the Frozen Cloud sect fell in love and got married. This union turned out to be a beneficial to the factions these two elders belonged to within the sect.

    Thus, they decided that the sects would have a proper marriage alliance sometime in the future. Of course, this was only when the Frozen Cloud sect was still small and not one of the top sects as well.

    ? Being in the top sects means that they would have to negotiate the terms and would probably lose out on some level. Thus, the Frozen Cloud sect had not attempted it and neither had the Cang Lan sect done anything about it since they didn''t desire it either.

    Normally, this debt should have been forgotten and never acted on upon.

    But something happened that made the Cang Lan sect at this time senior." Wang Xiong exined in detail.

    "And what was that?" Lin Wu asked, feeling really curious now.

    "You, senior. The close alliance between the Frozen Cloud sect, and the benefits obtained from the Millennium forest are now too tempting for the Cang Lan sect to resist. They know that obtaining them forcefully is out of the option, so they decided to take a soft approach.

    Something moreбн Diplomatic." Wang Xiong replied.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu replied, finding it a little ttering that his presence alone was causing the powers of the Ming Dao world to act like this now.

    ''Hmm.. If the Cang Lan sect wanted to have some deal they would have sent someone to talk to me directly, but since they haven''t it probably means they don''t want anything particrly as of now but also don''t want me to be out of their reach.

    Having an alliance and not needing it is far better than needing it when they don''t have it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    These were just some momentary thoughts he had, as he soon focused back on the main topic.

    "So the Cang Lan Sect asked your hand in marriage? I thought the original agreement was between elders. Isn''t this a little too high a value for the original debt?" Lin Wu asked curiously.<sub> </sub>

    "That''s what we were confused about, too. Until I asked Guardian Yun about the original elders who decided this. The wedding debt was between the elders whose descendants are now supreme elders or sect patriarchs.

    The current patriarch of the Cang Lan sect and the lineage of the former supreme elder of the Frozen Cloud sect are the parties originally involved." Wang Xiong said in a slightly helpless tone.

    "So the dead supreme elder causes problem for us even nowбн" Lin Wu couldn''t help but shake his head. "And you are the one having to fulfill this role?"

    "Yesбн I''m the only one ranking wise that qualifies for it. We could have used Supreme elder Weizhe''s descendantsбн if he had any. But since he doesn''t we are left with me as the marring needs to be between equal ranked or at least close to that." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Equal ranks? Does that mean you are marrying the chief disciple of the Cang Lan sect?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    ''Wasn''t the chief disciple of the Cang Lan sect a man too?'' Lin Wu recalled the information that he had read.

    "No senior. That''s not possible. The one I''m marrying though is no less in ranking. It is the daughter of the Cang Lan sect patriarch." Wang Xiong replied.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu was now truly surprised. Even if the other person was not the chief disciple, being the daughter of a current patriarch basically meant the girl was no less than a princess. And considering that this was the top sect of Long continent, the girl was way better than most princesses.

    "Hmmбн that doesn''t seem like a bad offerбн Unless there are specific conditions they are setting?" Lin Wu asked.

    "That''s the thingбн they aren''t really asking anything of us, other than to fulfill the wedding debt and forge an alliance. Thus, we can''t give a rightful rejection either. After all, the debt has been on hold for a long time and if we reject now, the loss of face would be the least of our concerns.

    The Long n might have to interfere in such a high leveled issue. The cost we would have to pay for a long standing debt like this would be too much." Wang Xiong exined.

    "Ahh! So that''s their intention huhбн they want you to reject it, or know that you will reject it since you already have a Daopanion. And once you reject, they can ask for judgment from the Long n and get benefits that way." Lin Wu understood.

    "Exactly senior." Wang Xiong nodded his head. "But that is not something we want to happen. I''ve been discussing this with patriarch, and the supreme elder for a long time, trying to find a workaround but there was none.

    In the end, Ye Jin herself said to do it so that we all could have peace. She saidбн she said she was willing to be a concuber." Wang Xiong said, his tone sorrowful.

    "Hmmбн that is generous of Ye Jin to do. And also the smarter decision." Lin Wu praised. "So then, when exactly is the wedding?"

 Chapter 850 An Arranged Marriage And An Alliance

    Lin Wu was only getting more interested in the wedding and wondered when it would take ce. After all, an event as big an important as this would involve multiple parties other than just the powers forging an alliance.

    "The date is not set yet, but it will most likely take a year or more before theye to a decision. Since it''s a great issue of a sect alliance, the other powers will probably be there to witness it along with the Long n who will preside as the authorizing party." Wang Xiong answered.

    "Hmmбн just as I expected. Though if the wedding date is not set and even the official agreement is not made, why did you invite me already?" Lin Wu asked doubtfully.

    "I wouldn''t have bothered senior but Patriarch Bing said it is better if I send the invitation to you beforehand. If I didn''t do it, the Cang Lan sect might have done it and who knows what other stuff they might have thrown in and bothered you." Wang Xiong replied.

    "I seeбн guess that was smart." Lin Wu said, finding it to be better.

    He''d much rather have to talk with Wang Xiong than someone random from a different power. Even if he had talked with the envoy from the Cang Lan sect, that was merely one elder from an entire sect.

    At least in the case of the kingdoms and the local sects, they were nearby and forced to believe Lin Wu. Even with the Frozen Cloud sect, Lin Wu had Patriarch Bing and Guardian Yun Bai under him now.

    He didn''t have the same with the Cang Lan sect and thus wanted to be a bit prudent for now.

    ''Though it might turn out to be an opportunity to add them earlier. I was going to do it anywayбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "So what is going to happen now? You just wait till they decide?" Lin Wu asked.

    "For the most part, yes. But I may have some meetings with the Daughter of the Cang Lan patriarch too." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Oh? You haven''t met her yet?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Well, we are acquainted and met at the tournament in the past. But we haven''t had a formal meeting yet." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Hmmбн guess this is an arranged marriage situation." Lin Wu said before taking a pause. "Well then, keep me updated."

    "I shall, senior." Wang Xiong bid him farewell.

    Having learned of the wedding, Lin Wu was already nning for potential ways in which he could make use of it.

    ''With an event that big, many people would be gathered. Would be the perfect opportunity to make an impactбн A few deaths should only make it better,'' Lin Wu thought to himself as a smile appeared on his face.

    Lin Wu looked at the timer and saw that there were still over eight hours left till thepletion of the task. Thus, he checked other things and talked with his servants.

    The things in the forest were progressing steadily, and more areas had now been built. Not only that, but some humans had actually moved in as well!

    "They sent a list too, lemme check." Lin Wu saw the roster send by one of the Emeraldine Monkeys.<sub> </sub>

    "Hmmбн it''s cultivators from the nearby kingdoms." Lin Wu read their names and other information that was provided.

    A majority had moved here because they were either itinerant cultivators that didn''t have ess to good cultivation areas, or from powers, and had seen the value of the kingdom.

    It was a fact that the concentration of spirit Qi in the forest was higher than other ces and thus it was obvious to make use of it. While there was the factor about beasts attacking them, it was still restrained in the recent times.

    The Millennium forest kingdom was steadily developing an identity that was unique. The factor of safety was also getting established, and the humans didn''t feel as much danger either.

    As long as they could cross the first three rings of the forest, they wouldn''t really be attacked by beasts unless they went into restricted areas.

    Specific paths that were guarded had already been made and if one took these through the forest, they would be safe. Not just that, but these were even watched over by the Nascent soul realm beasts of the forest.

    Thus, no beast would dare to attack without any provocation.

    That was an important use that Lin Wu had added as he did not want the kingdom to be seen as weak and a pushover. If he made it ''too safe'' for the humans, they would take it all for granted.

    He did not want the beasts to get bullied either, and if they were attacked or offended, the beasts had full freedom to strike back. Any repercussion of them were for the kingdom to handle.

    The same could be said for the beasts, but surprisingly no issue had happened from the side of the beasts. Probably because the beasts had an innatepulsion to follow the strong and with Lin Wu being the king, they would not disobey hismands.

    Such was the subordination enforced upon them from their very bloodline.

    Along with this, Lin Wu also saw that the orchards had been expanded once more and were thirty percentrger than they werest year. It was being scaled ording to the increase in the business and was going rather well.

    ''But it''s not all good eitherбн the problems are still there.'' Lin Wu noted the issues happening.

    Basically, the biggest issue was that the lower ranked beasts were unable to keep up with it all. This was in terms of their numbers as well as the many changes that happened.

    "Seems like I''ll need to find a way to increase the birthrate of the beasts. The passive increase from the increased spirit Qi can only go so farбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Bloodline Synthesispleted!

    бкбк

 Chapter 851 The Avatars Transformation

    Lin Wu saw the notification which hade at the right time.

    "Perfect! Start it system!" Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INITIATING: Bloodline assimtion

    бкбк

    Lin Wu observed the avatar and found it to be trembling. Its aura kept on fluctuating and wavering. This continued on for a few minutes until the avatar started to swell in size.

    ''Is this fine?'' Lin Wu wondered but saw no warning from the system, making him think that it was.

    The avatar swelled in size by nearly 50% before it stopped. At that moment though, its surface started to change and became dry.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Chrysalis formation initiated

    VITALS: Fluctuating

    AVATAR INTEGRITY: 98%

    бкбк

    "Oh? So it''s actually forming a cocoon." Lin Wu was intrigued.

    It wasn''t out of the norm though, as among the many bloodlines that had been used by the system, there were several insect beast bloodlines, too. In fact, in addition to the 165+ that the system had used as the major bloodlines, there were actually several thousand more beast bloodlines!

    But those were either too weak and inferior to use, or were just lower ranked versions of the ones the system already had. Thus, they weren''t particrly used as the baseline, but some of their features might still be used in it all.

    Lin Wu had no idea what the newly formed bloodline would be, or what kind of features it would have, but he was certainly looking forward to it.

    His spirit sense scanned the cocoon and felt the tissues within it changing rapidly. They morphed and transformed while a lot of spirit Qi and vital energy was being used at the same time.

    ''This might just use up all the spirit Qi and vital energy that the avatar had. Thankfully, I''m going to be using it for direct consumption after this anyway.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu continued observing the avatar and found a new kind of change.

    ~SHUA~

    The energy fluctuationsing from the avatar changed and instead of just normal non elemental spirits Qi, different elements started to appear.

    The cocoon suddenly lit up in mes before freezing and then it made the earth around it crack. Winds stirred around it for a moment, before a sharp aura rose in the next. Its vitality became vibrant like a forest during spring and then became as still as a rock that had existed for millenniums.

    But among all these changes, there was one that caught Lin Wu''s eyes the most.

    The avatar suddenly dimmed, and it felt like it was disappearing. But this was only momentary and it soon became bright again.

    When Lin Wu saw this, his smiled widened even more.

    "Perfectбн if it really is that, then I''ll have an easier time pretendingбн hahaha~" Lin Wu chuckled.

    The processsted for over six hours, during which several updates were given by system. Lin Wu monitored them closely, hoping that no major problem happened. There were some issues that were a bit damaging to the avatar, but the system managed to resolve them in the end.

    Thepatibility between multiple bloodlines like this was 0 normally. But with the system''s modification, it had reached an eptable level. Still, despite all the simtions it had done, doing it practically was still vastly different.<sub> </sub>

    Thus some problems were bound to arise.

    ~HUA~

    Eventually, though, the process waspleted, and the cocoon became still.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    BLOODLINE ASSIMILATION: Completed

    NOTIFICATION: Chrysalis is now hatching!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu watched on as several cracks appeared on the cocoon.

    ~KACHA~ KACHA~ KACHA~

    The cracks continued to spread and became deeper until a thin membrane was visible. The membrane was blood red in color and was rather sticky and wet.

    "That looks rather visceralбн" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    ~SLICK~

    And just as he said that, the red fleshy membrane seemingly ripped as well and fluids came out spilling from it.

    ~st~

    The thick fluid leaked out from the tears of the membrane and through the cracks in the cocoon.

    ~CRACK~

    Finally, the cracks had spread all over the cocoon and it all crumbled into hundreds of fragments.

    The body of the avatar instinctively moved and shook the flesh and crumbling croon off it, allowing Lin Wu to observe it. He didn''t switch to the avatar directly, as he was warned by the system to first let the avatar stabilize for a bit.

    Even if it looked fine on the surface and stayed the same for a while, there was always a chance it might be chaotic all of a sudden.

    It was simr to testing a new drug. There might be dyed effects that one didn''t know of.

    "Thisбн is certainly differentбн" Lin Wu had few words upon seeing the avatar.

    The avatar''s body had increased in size and was covered in fluids right now.

    ~shua~

    Lin Wu waved his tail and a wave of water poured onto the avatar, washing away the fluids that were covering it. Once that was done, the true appearance was left for Lin Wu to witness.

    The avatar''s dark brown body had bepletely ck now. The segments had also be less apparent, with the chitinous tes on it disappearing entirely. Instead of therge chitinous tes that were more like a carapace, there were now countless small scale like structures on the surface of the avatar.

    The scales were about ten centimeters in size at maximum and less than a centimeter in size at the smallest. But that was not all, as these scales would move and twitch every so often, making it seem like they weren''t fully ''attached''.

    Lin Wu could tell that there was a fundamental difference in them, and they weren''t really scales.

    The head of the avatar was also a bit different now, other than the fact that it was still mostly mouth. The sharp teeth had multiplied in number and several tentacles could also be seen among them.

    In addition to this, tusk likerge teeth now grew from the edges of the avatar''s mouth. Then there were the multiple eyes that were surrounding the mouth''s circumference. Lin Wu counted them and found there to be fifty of them!

 Chapter 852 Composite Innate Skills

    "This is no longer the same form as the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm, is it?" Lin Wu said to himself.

    He didn''t say this because of just a physical change either, as that was something which his bloodline could do anyway. Rather, he said it because the entire aura of the avatar had changed.

    Before it was ''uniform'' as if it was of a single being. Like a single signature made by one person.

    But now it was as if multiple people had made the same overwriting each time. While the signature was supposed to be the same, there were still minor differences, not to mention them being ovepped.

    When sensing the avatar, it didn''t feel like there was one being there, but rather hundreds.

    It was an extremely strange feeling that could not be truly exined, but only exined. And just as Lin Wu was thinking all this, the system seemed to have finished another task.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    UPDATING AVATAR DATA: Please wait a momentбн

    AVATAR DATA: Updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu now wondered just what abilities had been created due to all this.

    "Alright system, show me the updated Avatar Data." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/90,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- Second level (Wind attribute spirit Qi Adept) [updated]

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (52% Meridians converted)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    3. Unnamed Bloodline (System Manufactured)

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Fire Maniption (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    [NEW]

    5. Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Basic) [Composite skill]

    6. Chimeric Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate) [Composite skill]

    7. Chimeric Adaptation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    DAO SHELL: 1. Normal Dao Shell outline

    WEIGHT: 522,782 Kilograms Height 190.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    Seeing the new and updated information made Lin Wu raised a brow.

    Simr to when he had first made the Crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline after absorbing the crystal, the bloodline that he avatar had obtained was nameless. But that was still the understandable part.

    What was not understandable to Lin Wu was the missing innate skill.<sub> </sub>

    "System, wasn''t there the fire resistance skill too? Why did it disappear?" Lin Wu questioned, wondering whether the new bloodline had somehow caused the skill to be unusable or something.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Fire Resistance inane skill is now part of the Chimeric Resistance innate skill. The Chimeric Resistance innate skill is aposite skill made out of several skills. Please expand it into its individual window to see more information.

    бкбк

    "Huh?" This was now entirely new information for Lin Wu.

    But still, he decided to do as the system had said and expanded the skill. It was highlighted on the side, which meant that there was another part to it like many other sections of the system''s sections.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL: Chimeric Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    COMPOSITION: 1. Fire Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    2. Water Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    3. Earth Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Metal Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Wood Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    6. Wind Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    7. Shadow Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    8. Darkness Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    9. Poison Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    10. Ice Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    бн

    INFO: Chimeric Resistance allows the host to have multiple resistance all synergistic by each other. The growth of each individual resistance will be synchronized with each other and their proficiencies will increase together.

    Chimeric Resistance will take significantly longer time and effort to increase in its grade as well as proficiency though.

    бкбк

    "Goddamn! This is on an entirely different level!" Lin Wu couldn''t help but exim.

    The multiple resistances were really powerful and would allow the avatar to basically be able to tank most of the things. Additionally, Lin Wu saw that some resistances which he had passively due to his Crystalline form were now changed to proper innate skills.

    This only meant that now their power had increased greatly and the original resistance of the crystalline form would apply only when it was in that form.

    Still, since all of them were graded at the great level and their proficiency was at the intermediate level, it pretty much meant that any attack within the scope of those resistances will be ineffective unless they were way above Lin Wu''s cultivation base.

    But even this was not fully confirmed as Lin Wu would have to test it all out to know it in detail. The system was also waiting on the actual field data for it to be finalized and could only predict a limited information from the simtions.

    But that was not all, as Lin Wu saw two resistances which had been added to the innate skill unexpectedly.

    "System, how did the Shadow and Darkness Resistance add to this? I don''t think we have any bloodline with a significant impact of those elements." Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Shadow and Darkness elemental resistances were added as an unexpected effect of the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture on some bloodlines that contained partial affinity to these elements.

    The host had obtained the Shadow w beast bloodline in the past, as well had been affected by the Skull god''s avatar in the past. The addition of these two had contributed to the rise of these resistances as well.

    бкбк

    "Wellбн that''s good, I suppose. It''s a surprise for sure, but a wee one." Lin Wu said, feeling pleased with it all.

    Now he at least knew that the avatar would still be rather tanky even when it was not in the crystalline form. Though it wasn''t like he couldn''t just switch back to the form either. But that could be problematic during the sensitive mission that he was going to take on soon.

 Chapter 853 Skills Galore

    Having understood the new innate skill, Lin Wu moved on to the next ones. Seeing Chimeric Resistance only made him a lot more excited about the others.

    He didn''t forget to notice that the Immortal Sky Shaker art had also progressed to the second level. Though that was something expected, since the avatar was probably close to the breakthrough; the new bloodline had only catalyzed it further.

    "Show me the next skill and its information." Lin Wu spoke.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL: Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    COMPOSITION: 1. w Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    2. Tentacle Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    3. Fin Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    4. Thorn Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    5. Spike Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    6. Carapace Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    7. Wing Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    8. Fur Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    9. Membrane Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    10. Eye Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    11. Scale Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    12. Limb Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    13. Internal Organ Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    14. Bone Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    15. Feather Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    бн

    INFO: Chimeric Organogenesis allows the host to create all theponents of the creatures whose bloodlines had been assimted along with several that can be derived. The innate skill allows the generation of both internal as well as external organs.

    The cost of using the skill be greatly vary depending on the kind of organ being made as well as theplexity. This innate skill uses both vital essence as well as Spirit Qi to work, if the hostcks either of them the skill will not activate.

    p Chimeric Organogenesis will take significantly longer time and effort to increase in its grade as well as proficiency though.</anda>

    бкбк

    "Wellбн Damnбн This is even more insane than the one beforeбн I thought ten skills were big, this one has fifteen in it!" Lin Wu was very ted.

    While he could see that the proficiency of this skill was only at the basic level, one lower than Chimeric Resistance, he didn''t mind it. After all, he knew that it will increase eventually even if it took longer.

    Lin Wu would be putting a lot of time in grinding it after all. And seeing the many skills contained within it, he was given tons of ideas. Not only that, but it even improved several precautions that he had decided to take for the n.<sub> </sub>

    "This skill is certainly worthy of being on the same level as that of the crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline''s innate skills." Lin Wu couldn''t help but say.

    Not to mention, some of the things that the Chimeric Organogenesis skill could do were also possible with the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm bloodline. For example, Lin Wu could create the different physical organs like spikes, ws and several things.

    The exceptions were that they were just imitations made out of crystals and not actually proper organs. Though he was sure that this ability of the crystalline form had certainly contributed to the birth of this innate skill.

    Done with this, Lin Wu moved on to the third and final skill that had been added. It was also the only new skill that was notposite.

    "Show me the information Chimeric Adaptation skill system." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL: Chimeric Adaption (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    INFO: The Chimeric Adaptation skill is an innate skill that synergizes with the Chimeric Resistance and Chimeric Organogenesis innate skills.

    It allows the host to add more sub skills, into the twoposite skills after a significant information has been obtained. This would be either through the expansion of the raw bloodline data or through the system''s analysis.

    The addition of new sub skills is limited by the quality of the bloodline and skill. The bloodline that the skilles from should be lower quality than that of the current unnamed bloodline.

    Some exceptions might apply, but these will only be detected after further data is obtained and real world applications are analyzed.

    бкбк

    "Oh, wowбн this just increased the potential of the two skills even more." Lin Wu said.

    He understood that the Chimeric Adaptation innate skill only stood to support the other two skills. Though it held tons of merit for him because it meant that Lin Wu wouldn''t actually have to use the system''s bloodline synthesis and fusion function to obtain new skills.

    It would save both time and energy for him. Not to mention, the issues such as bloodline ipatibility and conflicts would not ur this way.

    "Guess I can say this is a more ''organic'' way of obtaining new skillsбн Hehe~" Lin Wuughed at his own joke.

    Lin Wu looked over at the windows and realized that he could actually expand the sub skills even more and look at their individual information.

    ''Seems like I got tons more to go through,'' Lin Wu thought and started reading through it all.

    The information was rtively simple and overall, the skills did exactly what they were named as. The system had kept its naming logical and concise.

    Though there were still some surprising discoveries Lin Wu ended up making when he read the individual sub skill information.

    For example, he learned that the Thorn Generation sub skill actually meant an actual thorn that a nt would have!

    This was something which had been influenced by the wood resistance sub skill, or perhaps the other way. Regardless, Lin Wu didn''t mind it and was happy with what he got.

    He also noted that some sub skill were very simr, but some were also different despite having simr meanings. Taking the previous example, Thorn Generation and spike generation seemed simr but were not.

    Thorn generation made wooden nt like thorns, but Spike Generation could make them out of various tissues, whether they be carapace, chitin, scales, nails or even hair.

    It was rather versatile and like it was stated, synergised with the other subsoils.

    Then there was the limb generation sub skill and the other sub skills like, w, find, wing generation. All of them were technically limbs, but they had be more specialized on the level at which they could be made.

 Chapter 854 Chimeric Fiend Worm Bloodline

    With the new bloodline and new skill, Lin Wu felt a little overwhelmed. He knew that there was no way to understand them truly without actually using them.

    But before that, he had a very important task left.

    "Now thenбн time for the naming ceremony." Lin Wu muttered as he thought hard about the bloodline''s new name.

    It was something that was important as the names gave off impressions that could shake the hearts of those that heard.

    He had named his Crimson eyed emerald worm bloodline, and it was showing its benefit now as all those that heard it found it awe inspiring.

    But for his new bloodline, he wanted a different effect.

    "This one needs to be fearsomeбн perhaps even evilбн" Lin Wu continued to brainstorm.

    He observed the avatar and saw the different features, trying toe up with something from that.

    ''It is certainly an abominationбн Abominable bloodline? Nah, might get confused with the abominable snowman.'' He thought.

    And after about three hours of thinking, Lin Wu finally decided on it.

    "Alright! The new bloodline will be namedбн Chimeric Fiend Worm Bloodline!" Lin Wu dered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NAME: Selected

    AVATAR BLOODLINE: Unnamed Bloodline (System Manufactured) -> Chimeric Fiend Worm Bloodline (System Manufactured)

    бкбк

    With that done, the avatar''s situation was finalized.

    "Now then, on to the next part. Gotta test drive the body." Lin Wu said before he switched to the avatar.

    Upon shifting to the avatar, Lin Wu instantly felt the difference.

    "Whoa! This is kinda woozy." Lin Wu said as he felt his head spin for a second.

    But the feeling stopped in a minute, and Lin Wu adjusted to it all. He could feel several new parts in his body and the spirit Qi was also flowing through different circuits. He also sensed the vitality permeating each of his cells.

    "No wonderбн I''m hungry!" Lin Wu understood.

    He quickly withdrew the emergency food from his storage and started gorging on it. Of course the emergency food was just beast corpses and some spirit fruits, but it was fine for the moment.

    The avatar''s body was far too hungry to care about the taste. Thought it wasn''t like it didn''t taste bad to him anyway.

    While eating it all, Lin Wu noticed another thing.

    ''I can eat even faster in this formбн guess the tentacles attribute to this.'' Lin Wu thought as he saw the tentacles around his mouth tearing up and picking food faster.

    His teeth were also grinding it down quickly and swallowed it down. And when the food entered his stomach he sensed the new organs.

    "How many stomachs do I have?" Lin Wu discovered that he had more than just one stomach.

    And it wasn''t like they were linked in a series either. But rather they were parallel!<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu counted them and found there to be around ten full sized stomachs and several more smaller ones.

    "Why does the avatar have multiple stomachs system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Each of the stomach is optimized for a specific kind of food type. Your body will automatically sense the right one and route the food to it.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu tested it out in real time.

    He had already seen one of the stomachs being used and knew what kind of food triggered it.

    ''This stomach is taking in beast meat, lets try some spirit fruit and spirit herbs now.'' Lin Wu thought and ate them.

    Surely, in the next few seconds, he saw his body react. After the food entered through his gullet, it went to a small chamber which had multiple valves. The valves were simr to the valves in the heart, but a lot more firm.

    In fact, the coverings of the valves looked like solid metal instead of any organic membrane or tissue.

    In the chamber, his body would sense the food type and open the right kind of valve, allowing the food to travel to that stomach. In the current case, Lin Wu saw the spirit fruits heading to one of the different stomachs, and the spirit herbs to another.

    It was a surprise to Lin Wu.

    "Oh? Aren''t they of the same type? nt based, why did they go in different ones?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Spirit fruits are more optimized for direct consumption and are thus easier to digest. But the spirit herbs are not so and often need some processing for the right absorption. Thus the two stomachs are separate from it.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu felt even more interested in his new body now.

    Lin Wu tested out different kinds of things, even eating soil, stones, metals and other non-food items. Since his crystalline form could digest it, he was sure that this one should be able to do the same.

    His crystalline form digested things by bombarding it with radiation until they were broken down into absorbable forms. But that was more of a molecr breakdown rather than a digestive type of breakdown.

    And just as he had guessed, the effect for the avatar''s bloodline was indeed different.

    The metals and other minerals headed to three different kinds of stomachs, depending on the type of material. There, they were broken down with multiple digestive enzymes and quickly sent to the next part of the guts to be absorbed.

    Since the Chimeric Fiend Worm bloodline made use of multiple aspects of many beasts, it allowed it to use materials that weren''t inherently found or used by beasts.

    Some of these metals directly migrated to his skin and enriched the small scales he had. While some went to his tusks, strengthening them even more.

    Though a majority was sent to the system''s storage that was linked to his body and kept for future. It could be utilized to make many things that were allowed by his new Chimeric Organogenesis innate skill.

    Having made all these discoveries, Lin Wu felt satisfied. And not just that, with the hunger of the avatar satiated, he felt it bing a lot morefortable too!

 Chapter 855 Journey To The South

    Feelingfortable in the avatar''s new form, Lin Wu reckoned it was time to head out. But before doing that, he set his main body to cultivate while also giving some standing orders to his subordinates.

    The Emeraldine Monkeys had be the administrative staff in the forest now and were getting better and better at handling it all. And with their numbers increasing, they could rotate their tasks so that they had enough time to cultivate as well.

    Lin Wu wanted to increase the number of Emeraldine Monkeys even more but there were still the quality restrains. Even now, among the ck Fur monkeys that applied for the mutation, 50% of them would either die or be crippled.

    This number used to be significantly higher in the past, but with the overall increase in the spirit Qi concentration of the forest, the average cultivation base of the beasts increasing as well and their foundations were getting stable.

    Pretty much the only way to safely let them mutate was to pick the ones that were the strongest and came out on top. Lin Wu had hoped that after a lot of mutation data had been umted, the system would have a better time at mutating the monkey beasts.

    After all, the data would be about one specific species and would be a lot more urate than mutating different beasts.

    Lin Wu worked for a couple of hours and let the system finish some final checks before heading out.

    "This is gonna be a long leave, probably." Lin Wu muttered to himself while a teleportation formation appeared around him.

    ~SHUA~

    The runes glowed brightly, and the formation worked at its full potential, sending Lin Wu to the furthest point in the south that was within the range of the formation array.

    ~thud~

    The avatar''srge bodynded and created an imprint in the soft ground. The ce Lin Wu had appeared in was a small swamp located to the south of the millennium forest. It was on the way to the Frozen Cloud sect, but Lin Wu was not going to head there.

    He had simply picked this location to teleport to since it was the furthest.

    "Hmmбн let''s seeбн" Lin Wu opened the map and nced at it.

    The entire map of the Long Continent presented to him, with several locations of interest marked on it along with the general locations such as kingdoms and sects. This was all collected by Lin Wu over the years and now the map was as urate as it could get.

    There might be some small areas that were just unknown to all, but the major areas were now revealed to him.

    The trade agreements with the Lian n hade in handy for this. Since they were traders, they had the best possible maps and even maps that were rtively secret. Lin Wu obtained them all through Kai Li and it was all added to the system''s data banks.<sub> </sub>

    ncing at the map, Lin Wu started to scroll downwards.

    The Millennium forest was located in the south central area of the Long continent. Below it was the Luguo Kingdom and on its borders existed the Frozen Cloud sect.

    From there, if Lin Wu went slightly to the south east, he would arrive at the Tian n''s branch. That was the southernmost location that Lin Wu had ever gone to. And looking on the map, he estimated that this was merely thirty percent through to the lower half of the Long Continent.

    There was a lot more to explore there aspared to the top half, which was filled with the top sects and the top three ns.

    All three top ns, the Long n, the Ji n and the Lian n were located in the top half of the Long continent. Not just that, but out of the top ten sects, seven were located in the top half as well!

    In the southern half, only the Frozen Cloud sect, the Chan Sect and the ck in Sect were located. This concentrated spread of powers had made Lin Wu very confused and he had once wondered why it was like so, but didn''t find any concrete answer for it.

    Even the system only came up with the conclusion that the locations of these powers coincided with the Spirit Stone mines and Spirit Qi Veins. But Lin Wu wasn''t convinced with just that and had a hunch that there was more to it than just that.

    After all these powers were all strong enough to be able to control a remote spirit stone mine, even if they themselves weren''t based around it. And this was something that was already done too!

    ''The southern part of the Long continent certainly hides some secrets. Even the main branch of the Tian n is located somewhere there. And if my assumptions are right, they might be the true strongest power of the Long continent considering they''ve been in existence since before the existence of the guardian ns.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu scrolled through the map for a bit before finale zooming in on a particr part.

    "Here it isбн Tieba city." Lin Wu muttered.

    That''s right, Lin Wu''s target this time was Tieba city, which was considered an ''independent'' city. It was not under the control or rule of any kingdom or sect and wasrge enough to be a small kingdom on its own.

    It was located in the southern part of the Long Continent and Lin Wu reckoned it would be the best ce to gather all the secret and illegal information.

    "A city formed by rouge cultivators and bandits would be perfect for meбн Hehe~" Lin Wu said as he got the system to chart the route.

    Additionally, they would also serve as the perfect nourishment for the avatar and allow Lin Wu to test out its abilities.

    Licking his lips while imagining the feast of the future, Lin Wu began his journey to the south. Tieba city was thousands of kilometers away, after all.

 Chapter 856 Spring Slime Slugs And Chimeric Adaptation Activates

    "Ugh! So stickyбн" Lin Wuined while pulling off globs of a slimy fluid that stretched for quite a bit.

    Around him several corpses could be seen lying around. All of them were beast corpses and were hard to recognize with how much they had been beaten up by Lin Wu. Most were turned into flesh chunks and bone fragments, while some still had half their bodies intact.

    ~sigh~

    "At least I have another bloodline to consume now." Lin Wu muttered as he sucked in all the corpses.

    ~SWOOSH~

    Air was sucked into his mouth like a vacuum as Lin Wu breathed in hard.

    ~SLICK~

    ~smack~

    The various fleshy bits and blood were quickly sucked into his mouth while making icky sounds which Lin Wu just ignored. But once he was done, he felt his body quickly digesting it all and absorbing it.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA OBTAINED: Spring Slime Slug

    INFO: Spring Slime Slugs are beasts that are known for their slimy secretions that they use to capture their prey and defend. They are found in the dense forests of the south and can kill beasts many times stronger than them by overwhelming them with their numbers. Their slime is resistant to physical strain, heat, cold and even corrosive substances.

    The slime of a Dao Shell realm Spring Slime Slug can even trap a Dao Treading realm cultivator whether it be a beast or human. Spring Slime Slugs are thus considered to be a menace whenever they make nests and are almost always avoided.

    бкбк

    These were the beasts that Lin Wu had encounter when he hade out of the ground to take a look. He had been traveling for nearly two days now and had been scanning the entire area, enriching the system''s data banks. If he wanted to he could have rushed his way to Tiena city, but he didn''t want to do that.

    After all one of the goals was to strengthen the avatar as well and he could do that while killing some beasts in the way.

    Lin Wu had been doing that exactly since he could also trigger the new innate skill of the Avatar, Chimeric Adaptation and gain even greater powers. He stopped and killed the beasts that he found to be interesting and so far had killed eight different kinds of them.

    He also discovered that if the beasts were too weak, the effect of his new innate skill was not activated. They needed to be at a certain level and he also needed to consume several of them for the innate skill to work. And these Spring Slime Slugs were the ninth beast that he had stopped to kill.

    But they were also the most bothersome. And it wasn''t because they were strong, but rather because of their strange slime. Lin Wu''s skills didn''t work on the sticky slime and even raw strength was useless.

    He could only use radiation to directly wear it down on a molecr level and then get rid of it.

    ''This is really something that can restrain me if there is enough quantity of it. Good that I encountered it now.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Once the Raw bloodline data was obtained, Lin Wu felt his body stirring with a new power.

    "Looks like this is it." Lin Wu said as he closed his eyes and sensed the new skill he had obtained.

    ~huu~

    Then he took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

    ~SPLAT~

    In the next moment, he spat out a mass of greenish white slime that spread all over the trees and ground in the front. It spread like a and soon started to shrink back, just like a spring that had been released.

    ~CRACK~ ~CRACK~

    The trees that were stuck by the slime were directly uprooted from the ground and pulled towards the center of the slime, clumping together.

    "Oooбн this is nice!" Lin Wu said having used the new skill for the first time.

    ~DING~<sub> </sub>

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL UPDATED: Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    COMPOSITION: 1. w Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    2. Tentacle Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    3. Fin Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    4. Thorn Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    5. Spike Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    6. Carapace Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    7. Wing Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    8. Fur Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    9. Membrane Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    10. Eye Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    11. Scale Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    12. Limb Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    13. Internal Organ Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    14. Bone Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    15. Feather Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    16. Slime Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic) [new]

    бкбк

    "Alright! The first one that actually trigged it all the way to being updated!" Lin Wu was excited.

    Even after eating eight different kinds of beasts, Lin Wu hadn''t seen an update. While he could feel Chimeric Adaption working, it was mostly the passive improvement. But consuming the Spring Slime Slugs had fully added an entire sub skill to Chimeric Organogenesis!

    It was an euphoric feeling to Lin Wu, which he didn''t know if it was natural or wasing from the new bloodline itself.

    ''It is rejoicingбн the bloodline itself is happy?'' Lin Wu found it rather unique.

    The only time he had felt such a ''emotional'' response was from the unknown bloodline of his main body before.

    "If it can act like this then it is truly strongбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    With the new skill of slime generation added, Lin Wu decided to make some of his own upgrades.

    "Just spitting it out like the Spring Slime Slugs is too crude. I can do way better than that." Lin Wu said to himself as he triggered the innate skill once again.

    But this time his body reacted differently. The scales around his mouth trembled before shifting. They bulged out before splitting apart entirely and then protruded outwards, finally turning into two tubes.

    The tubes were covered with some viscous fluid which soon dried up and a proper tube was made.

    ~SPLOOSH~

    Then as if Lin Wu''s mouth had hoses attached, two white streams of slime shot out!

 Chapter 857 Slimy Skills And Reaching Tieba City

    The streams of white slime were very strong and their pressure broke apart the trees further way from him. Not just that, the slime simply didn''t stop there and continued onwards till it reached nearly two hundred meters away.

    ~SLICK~

    The white slime struck to everything that it had touched and started to pull it together.

    ~CLACK~

    ~CRACK~

    Various sounds were heard as trees, rocks and all things that were in the path of the slime were pulled together and clumped together.

    "Ooo, so I can adjust the springiness like this." Lin Wu said in interest.

    The white slime he had shot out was different than the greenish white slime of before which was the default form of the slime. Lin Wu had adjusted it and it had changed it color to be white entirely.

    "Let''s try the other style then." Lin Wu sad as he shot out slime once more.

    ~SPLOOSH~

    But this time the slime didn''te out in a long stream like before. Instead, it shout out in the form of green globules that expanded rapidly in the air and spread around like. The slime waspletely green in color this time too instead of a mix of green and white.

    "So the more green it is, the more it will expand and the more white it is the more springy it will be." Lin Wu noted.

    The green and white were actually the two differentponents of the slime that it wasposed of. With the new innate sub skill of Slime Generation, Lin Wu had not issues in controlling it.

    Lin Wu continued to test out more methods of using it and discovered that he could secret slime from any part of his body. Not just that, but he could even create a slimy membrane armor that would cause anyone that attacked him to stick to it. But at the same time Lin Wu himself would be safe from it as his carapace would have the opposite kind of membrane that would not let anything stick to it.

    ''Let''s call thisбн slime armor, yeah.'' Lin Wu decided on the name.

    He had made slime armor bybining Slime Generation and Membrane Generation and it was a decent skill to keep. Lin Wu didn''t even need much time to activate it and it was almost instantly. All this would serve him really well in a battle and make things easier for him.

    Done with testing his new skill, Lin Wu continued on his journey. A few more days passed during which he consumed more beasts, but didn''t really gain another innate sub skill. Though he might have gained some improvement in the already existing skills.

    Lin Wu also used all his different sub skills to get acquainted with him. Sometimes he would attack using tentacles, sometimes with long ws and other times with long spikes that would shoot out from the ground.<sub> </sub>

    He tested out each and every method that he possibly could during that time and realized that there were far too many permutations andbinations that he coulde up with.

    ''Guess I''ll let the system run the simtions for this.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The system had created many skills before and many of them were rather good in use for battle. The ones Lin Wu came up with were also useful but they weren''t as optimized as the ones made by the system. Thankfully the system could also run simtions on the skills Lin Wu made and improve them further.

    About two weekster, Lin Wu finally reached his intended destination.

    ~Whistle~

    "They weren''t lying when they said the city was almost the same size as a small kingdom." Lin Wu said as he observed the massive city.

    He was currently high up in the sky and was camouging by simply covering his body with ayer of white fur. If anyone observed from the ground, they wouldn''t be able to differentiate him from the clouds in the sky. Additionally Lin Wu''s spirit qi fluctuation and aura was also restrained so that not even Dao Treading realm experts would be able to sense him.

    The city below him was the infamous andwless city named Tieba city.

    It was the only independent city-state in the entire Long Continent and was run by several independent powers that controlled different part''s of the city. Collectively they formed a city council that wasposed of nearly fifty members.

    The city itself was divided into multiple parts and districts, with some of them prosperous and the others not. The differences were big enough for Lin Wu to observe it from the sky.

    The slums and abandoned areas were easy to spot, with their shoddy and failing buildings as well as the dirt and trash that was spread all around. These areas were surrounded by tall walls that were nearly ten meters tall, hiding almost every building in the slum and preventing them from peeking out.

    Then there were the mediocre areas that were thergest in size and most in number. Around 50% of Tieba city wasposed of areas like these and they were filled with all kinds of shops and people. These shops sold everything from the best weapons, and cultivation resources to ves and beasts.

    Anything you want could be bought in Tieba city. After all, nothing was ''illegal'' here.

    One could even kill freely in the cityбн as long as they could bear the consequences of course. If one killed someone, they had to be prepared to be killed as well.

    Tieba city had no official guards and each power had their own guard that protected their interests. Nothing more could be expected from a city like this after all.

    This was seen in the rich areas the best. These areas looked no different than the noble districts of some capital city and had normalw infrastructure in it.

    "Guess this is what they call a potpourri of peopleбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself while waiting for the system to finish its scan.

 Chapter 858 Tieba Citys Unorthodox Security

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    MAP: Updated

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    Soon the system finished its task and Lin Wu saw several strings of data appearing in front of the window that had just popped up. Each line represented an entirely different window that Lin Wu could open by willing it.

    "Let''s seeбн hmmmбн yes, yesбн just as I thoughtбн oh what? Damnбн unexpected." Lin Wu went through each window, learning more about the city and its people.

    The first thing that Lin Wu had checked was the poption of strong cultivators in the city. And just as he had heard there were several Dao Shell realm and Dao Treading realm cultivators in the city.

    Just by a surface scan, the system pointed out the presence of nearly thirty Dao Shell realm cultivators in the Tieba city!

    And when it came to the Dao Treading realm experts there were around eight of them in the city. But Lin Wu knew this was not all as the system had found several areas that were blocking its scan. They were protected by barriers and isting formation arrays.

    ''There are certainly more of them hiding there.'' Lin Wu thought to himself before opening the map widow. "And seeing the locations where the barriers are set up, they are the central areas of the powers that inhabit Tieba city. No doubt theres are many more hidden there. Perhaps the strongest ones stay there." He guessed.

    Along with the human cultivators, Lin Wu sensed beast aura''s in the city to upon reaching it. The system''s scan had given him more information and showed that there were several hundred beasts in the city as well that were kept in the open. Then there were restricted areas where the system couldn''t fully scan, but could sense the presence of beasts due to a bloodline resonance scan.

    "Those should be the ''cages'' where the stronger beasts are restrained. Tieba city is said to be involved in the trade of beasts as well after all." Lin Wu muttered to himself, deciding to take a look there and adding to his list of things to do.

    With the Chimeric Fiend Worm bloodline and its capability to improve further on its own, Lin Wu was now highly interested in consuming various kinds of beasts. Before this he would only be interested ording to the taste of the beasts, but now he was interested in each and all beast.

    After all who knew what kind of a dormant bloodline was hiding in some ordinary or weak looking beast that could be unearthed with the work of the system.

    Having got the gist of it, Lin Wu returned to the ground about fifty kilometer away from the city and burrowed his way back to the city while avoiding the detection formations.

    Tieba city was awless city, but it still had a certain level of security. Though it was not what would casually be considered security.<sub> </sub>

    For example, Tieba city had no barrier that restricted entry into the city limits, but there was indeed a secret formation array that could sense and record each being that entered it, whether it be a human, beast, normal animal or even a bug.

    That''s right! The formation array was set to the highest sensitivity possible so as to detect even normal bugs, flies and mosquitoes that might enter its limits.

    This might seem a little too paranoid but it was apparently done intentionally and was nned after multiple incidences.

    A few decades ago, there was a certain rouge cultivator who was apparently cheated in the city. This cultivator wasn''t that strong physically, but he did have other unorthodox skills that allowed him to wreak havoc. The man had the ability to control a certain type of insects, fleas.

    These fleas themselves were very weak as any normal flea would be, but when these fleas were released into the city and multiplied there massively? They could wreak havoc.

    Not to mention, the man''s skills allowed the fleas to carry certain diseases and one of these disease could turn beasts mad. Even humans that were bit by these fleas would be irritated and have short tempers.

    The effects of these fleas wasn''t apparent right away and took months.

    It all started with small incidents of beasts going out of control and attacking their traders or scuffles between humans out of petty things. But soon these scaled up and turned into massive conflicts of different powers that resided in the city.

    And it wasn''t as if the flea infestation was unnoticed either. The cultivators had certainly been informed of it early on, but they ignored them since these were just normal fleas and couldn''t affect them even if they bit them. Not to mention most of these fleas would be unable to get past the defenses of stronger cultivators.

    But the man''s target was never the strong cultivators, it was simply to induce chaos in the city which he certainly did.

    A year after his n was initiated, Tieba city was in a dangerous state and it was as if a war would break out. It was at this point that the man acted and stole massive amounts of fortunes from the party that had cheated him.

    Not only that, but to add insult to injury he left behind a note that said who he was and not to mess with him again.

    The powers of Tieba city learned from this and upped their security in a way without changing their core values.

    As for the man, he was hunted for years but he became one of the handful that had managed to escape their clutches.

    Lin Wu recalled this little history of Tieba city as he quickly avoided the detection of the formation with the help of the system and entered the city limits. And the area he had entered was none other than the slums.

    "Let''s gather some ''on-ground'' information shall we?" Lin Wu muttered to himself as several tentacles rose from his body and pulled a few unsuspecting victims into the sewers.

 Chapter 859 Gathering Info

    ~Crunch~ Crunch~ ~Crunch~

    ~gulp~

    "And there we goбн that should be enough." Lin Wu said upon eating the thirtieth slum dweller.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA NODES OBTAINED: 30 memory nodes, 5 mixed nodes.

    ANALYZING: Data nodes

    DATA NODES: Analyzed

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    бкбк

    "Perfect." Lin Wu said with a smile and memories started appearing in his mind.

    It was no longer ufortable or painful for him to see memories like this. And he didn''t need the system to buffer them for him either. His mind and soul were now strong enough to bear them without any conflicts or issues.

    Lin Wu simply browsed through the lifetime memories of thirty humans in a matter of minutes.

    "Mmmбн conflicts in the slumsбн the thieves'' guildбн assassination of Suzhou Group''s daughterбн abductionsбн" Lin Wu obtained a ton of information from the slum dwellers.

    None of it was something that stood out for him, but it was still good to know it all. The system had also analyzed it all and cataloged it ordingly.

    A couple of windows were presented on the side of Lin Wu''s field of vision, but he dismissed them for now.

    ''We''ll check after we got more.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he moved on to the next area.

    He had eaten thirty slum dwellers and had picked them from different parts of the slums. A majority of them were just normal humans that either had no cultivation base and were in the body tempering realm or had very low Qi refining realm cultivation.

    Though there were also outliers in it all.

    For example, Lin Wu consumed a Core condensation realm cultivator among them too. It was actually a young woman who was hiding in the slums. Lin Wu had picked all his targets as those that would not be noticed easily and since this woman was hiding in a shack alone with no one around, she was the perfect choice.

    And it was certainly worth it as Lin Wu got some interesting information from her memories.

    She was apparently a noblewoman of a nearby kingdom, but had been conspired against and sold to some ve trader in Tieba city. She had managed to escape the trader, but her cultivation base was restricted due to a poison she had been fed.

    "Perhaps in another reality she might have be a peerlessly beautiful woman who would return after recovering and her cultivation base would surge after being cured. She would then charm the princes of many kingdoms and be a queen, taking revenge against those that wronged her.

    sбн I exist in this reality~" Lin Wu chuckled to himself.

    While entertaining him with thoughts like this, Lin Wu soon reached the next area, which was the mediocre or average area where most of the poption resided. Even the slum had arge poption reaching the millions.

    With how clumped and close it was, it was hard to tell that sometimes. But the system was urate and sensed each and every person in the slums, barring the two areas that were protected by isting arrays.

    That''s right!

    The slums weren''t without their own powerhouses either. In fact, there were three Dao Shell realm experts in the slums, as well as a Dao Treading realm expert.

    Lin Wu was sure that there were more hidden here, especially in the two isted areas. Though the three Dao Shell and one Dao Treading realm, elders weren''t unting their status either.

    The ce they stayed in was simr in scheme to the other buildings of the slums, albeit they were still durable. If one looked closely, they would understand that it was all a facade and the real building underneath the illusory formation was actually normal looking.

    The system had also sensed a lot of spirit Qi and other energy fluctuations from the buildings, prompting Lin Wu to think that it was a ck market or a warehouse of some sort.

    If not for the fact that Lin Wu was still in the process of assessing the entire Tieba city and didn''t want to cause chaos right away, he would have already raided it.

    "My chaos wille after nningбн it will be nned chaos, ahah~" Lin Wuughed at his own pun before checking the map.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Suitable targets have been highlighted.

    бкбк

    The system picked several targets that were the most likely to be unnoticed. Lin Wu went through them and simply chose the one that was closest to him.

    "That one it isбн" Lin Wu muttered as he slithered towards a certain building.

    The building in question looked like amon tea house, but it was filled with cultivators.

    ~CRASH~

    "You imbecile! How many things have you broken this month?" A crass voice was heard in the tea house. "I''ll show you!"<sub> </sub>

    ~thud~

    The man with the crass voice lifted his leg and kicked a servant boy, who was trying to gather the broken fragments of a tea set.

    The patrons of the tea house watched one with interest, as smiles dressed their faces. This bit of conflict was just entertainment to them and they couldn''t help but enjoy it.

    "AH!" The servant boy was stuck and was knocked on his side from the kick.

    The fragments of the tea set pierced his hands and shoulder under him and blood was drawn. The boy had no cultivation base of his own and was merely in the first stage of the body tempering realm.

    "F-forgive me, lord!" The servant boy pleaded.

    "Forgive you!? You dare ask that!" The so-called lord kicked the servant boy again, almost breaking his bones.

    "Enough!" A loud voice was heard from the back of the tea house.

    The so-called lord looked towards the source, while the other patrons wondered what twist would happen next.

    "Oh? Is the young master going to stop me?" the lord questioned the man who had shouted.

    "Are you joking? Take this shit outside, I don''t want my tea time to be disturbed." The man replied.

    "HAHA! I see. Very well, I''ll let the lord have his tea in peace." The so-called lord said before pulling the servant boy from his hair and dragging him out to the back.

    ~tch~

    "I''ve been waiting for the owner to beat up that servant boy for weeks." One of the patrons said while clicking his tongue.

    "I know right! My bet is now useless." Another man on the table next to him said.

    "What bet?" the man asked.

    "You don''t know? We have a betting pool going for a month now. We''re betting on how long it will take for the boy to die and how the tea house owner will kill him." The other man replied.

    "Ah! Can I still join in?" The first man asked.

    "It will be useless now. The terms of the bet were only applicable if they happened in the tea house." The other man replied.

    "What a shameбн" the first man shook his head.

    And while the patrons of the tea house were discussing the fate of the servant boy, he was being dragged to an ally behind the tea house. His face was covered with tears and his lips twitched in pain.

    And yet he didn''t cry out loud, for he knew that only more suffering would present to him if he did that.

    The tea house owner was a ruthless man whom he would have never worked for if it were not for the fact that he was the only one willing to employ him.

    ~thud~

    Upon reaching the end of the alley, the tea house owner tossed the servant boy against the wall.

    The boy felt his head hurt like hell from the impact, while his back felt like it was being torn. At the first level of body tempering realm, his defenses were non existent, thus bearing such a heavy impact was dangerous for him.

    "Hump! I knew I should have killed you the first time to broke my property." The tea house owner said as he pulled out a de from his waist.

    "N-noбн pleaseбн noбн" The boy pleaded as he saw the edge of the de glint.

    "It''s tooteбн or perhaps there was never a chance for you." The tea house owner said with a smile. "Trash like you should have never left the slums." He spat out.

    The boy shuddered with fear as he saw the de reaching his neck. He was frozen with fear and couldn''t resist, even if he wanted to. But he also knew that his strength was nothingpared to the tea house owner who was at the Core Condensation realm.

    If not for the fact that the teashop owner was holding back from the start and wanted to kill the boy slowly, just the first kick alone would have been enough to kill him.

    "Now thenбн let''s have some fun shall we?" the tea house owner said as he rested the de against the servant boy''s neck, slowly pressing and moving it millimeter by millimeters across the neck.

    Blood dripped out from the neck of the servant boy, just like the tears streaming down his face nonstop.

    <o>,m ''Why doesn''t it end quickly!?'' the servant boy screamed in his heart as searing pain spread across his neck.</o>

    The cut on his neck was now three centimeters long, but wasn''t as that deep. The tea homeowner deliberately controlled his strength to not cut off the flesh too easily.

    But now the de was about to reach the boy''s trachea, and when it passed over it, the boy wouldn''t be able to breathe.

    ~Slick~

    ~COUGH~

    But then, in the next moment, the servant boy felt warm blood all over his face and chest.

    His eyes were wide open as he witnessed a long tentacle hanging out of the Tea house owner''s chest.

 Chapter 860 A Servant Boy

    The servant boy was fully expecting to die today, and yetбн the fates had something else in his favor.

    "W-whatбн lord?" The servant boy couldn''t even figure out what words to use and simply kept on staring.

    On the other hand, the tea house owner looked at the tentacle piercing his chest and felt the pain.

    ~COUGH~ COUGH~

    Large mouthfuls of blood were spat out and even included fragments of his organs.

    "Howбн What?" unfortunately before the tea house owner could figure out anything more, life escaped his body and his eyes turned nk.

    He had died.

    ~slick~

    The tentacle moved a little, creating slippery sounds from the blood. It lifted the corpse of the tea house owner up before flicking it to the side, sending it flying into the wall.

    ~THUD~

    The body of the tea house owner mmed into the wall of the alley, leaving a trail of blood on it as it slid down back onto the ground.

    ~EEEK!~

    The servant boy almost let out a scream, but forcefully shut his mouth with his hands.

    While he was merely a servant in a tea house, he wasn''t na?ve. He knew what situations like this entail and also that he was possibly in great danger.

    ''Is this the work of a cultivator?'' was the first thing the servant boy thought.

    He weakly lifted his eyes and peeked at the tentacle that was still moving around in the air. It was about the thickness of a cucumber and was very long. The servant boy couldn''t even see its other end or where it was attached to since it disappeared into the dark depths of the alley.

    These alleys were covered on the top, not allowing any light to enter. This was intentionally done since goods were often brought in through these alleys and even left here for days until it was time to move them into the shops.

    It could also be said that the alleys worked as both a storage area as well as a pathway. Though one end of the alley was closed off where the servant boy was sitting.

    The servant boy sat there in fear for five minutes, not knowing whether he should move or not. His heart screamed at him to run, but his brain told him that if he did so, he might meet the same fate as the tea house owner.

    The thought about someone rescuing or saving him from the abusive tea house owner never came to his mind. It was something utterly ridiculous and no one would do that in a ce such as Tieba city.

    And if someone did try to help others, it was definitely due to some agenda.

    Seeing the tea house owner die in front of him stated it clearly to the servant boy that whoever or whatever did it had no qualms about killing. While killing wasmon in Tieba city, that was mostly for the weaker ones and those without influence.

    The tea house owner was certainly not one of them. He was actually rather powerful and was supported by several powers in the city. If not for that, there was no way he would be able to run a business with such ease even if he had a cultivation base at the Core condensation realm.

    Those that could kill people this strong and influential could only be those that were even more strong and influential.

    ''Did the Tea House owner offend someone he shouldn''t have?'' the servant boy wondered.

    That seemed to be the only possible reason for his demise, ording to the servant boy''s judgment.

    The servant boy racked his head for anything he might have heard in the past. Even if five minutes had passed, there was no saying if the danger had passed or not.

    His street smarts showed their effects and tried to preserve his life.

    ''I need to know what the other party''s objective might be if I''ve toe out of this alive.'' The servant boy thought.

    Since fate had decided to let him live, he no longer had the thoughts of submitting to his death like he had just a few minutes ago.

    And soon enough, a memory appeared in the servant boy''s mind.

    ''The Pink Lotus Theater!'' the servant boy recalled something he had heard a couple months ago.

    It was something he had heard in the passing when he was cleaning cups in the tea house. A couple of waiters were gossiping about how they had seen the tea house owner having a loud argument with the owner of the Pink Lotus Theater.

    The Pink Lotus Theater was one of the entertainment houses of Tieba city and was popr. They provided various forms of entertainment such as ys, poetry, dances and a lot more.

    Of course, women were their main attraction and the courtesans that worked there were said to be among the best in this part of the city.

    It was safe to say, the Pink Lotus Theater was influential due to how many people visited it for their various ''needs'' and how its owner could gather hiswork.

    An argument between two influential ''lords'' of popr establishments was bound to be messy and had finally turned deadly.

    ''That''s it! The owner of the Pink Lotus Theater might have sent someone to kill the owner.'' The servant boy thought.

    But then in the next moment, his face fell as another realization presented to himself.

    ''Why would the killer attack now?'' The servant boy questioned beforeing upon the answer shortly. "If the killer chose this time to attack the tea house owner and left me alive, thenбн he''s intending to use me as a scapegoat!'' he concluded.

    The servant boy''s heart shuddered, and his body trembled. He knew that even if it was impossible for him to kill the tea house owner with his strength, there was no way for him to resist the charges.<sub> </sub>

    He would be made the scapegoat by other powers that would want to take advantage of the situation and fish in trouble waters.

    He had seen this happen many times in the past and it was nothing new for Tieba city.

    ~gulp~

    The servant boy swallowed down his saliva as though his next actions.

    ''I can''t stay here! I need to leave the city right away!'' The boy decided.

    By now, he was sure that the killer had left, possibly letting the natural course of actions run.

    The servant boy''s eyes darted to the back entrance of the tea house as well as the back entrances of several other shops that were along the line.

    Ensuring that no one was there, he stopped up shakily.

    ~huu~

    "Can''t wait any long, someone mighte out here soon. The workers of the nearby shopse to throw out trash around this time too." The servant boy muttered to himself before looking at a trash can.

    It was filled with different kinds of waste and smelled foul.

    "Ugh!" The servant boy felt his body ache from the previous impact as he struggled to pick up the trash can.

    He gritted his teeth and poured the contents of the trash can over the dead body of the Tea House owner. Even if it was not perfect, he would be fine with any amount of time it bought him.

    ''This should cover the scent of blood and the body for a bit.'' The servant boy thought as he looked around again like a startled deer.

    ~gulp~

    His throat moved once more as he started to run.

    The sound of steps in the empty alleyway was apparent, but wasn''t too out of ce either. No one would pay attention to it that easily and it yed in the servant boy''s favor.

    He was running towards the dark reaches of the alley, as that was the only exit out of here that didn''t go through the shops. He might have considered slipping through them, but with the blood sttered on him, there was no way it would not be suspicious.

    But just as he entered the dark part of the alleyway, he felt a chill on his back.

    ~gasp~

    The servant boy froze in his ce as he saw something moving in the dark. It was hard to see, but his eyes that had now limatized to the darkness, could barely make it out.

    ''Thatбн that person hasn''t left?'' The Servant boy thought, feeling scared that he was going to get caught.

    ~rustle~

    Then, as if his thoughts were read, the sound of movement was felt from the darkness. The servant boy closed his eyes in fear, not wanting to see anything. His timidness resurfaced and made him weak.

    бн

    But the fate that he was expecting never happened.

    Insteadбн a voice was heard.

    "Hey kid,e closer." A strange voice spoke.

    The servant boy didn''t respond though, not even registering what the voice was saying.

    "Do you not hear me?" The voice spoke gain.

    This time though, the servant boy mustered some courage and opened his eyes just a little bit.

    ''Nothing happened?'' the boy was confused.

    "Hey! You! Boy!" The voice said, a bit impatiently this time.

    "Y-youбн You''re speaking to me?" The servant boy asked anxiously.

    "Who else do you think?" the voice replied.

    "W-what do you want?" The servant boy asked.

    "Come closer. I won''t bite." The voice stated.

    The servant boy wanted to say no, but felt like if he did that the oue might not be good. Thus, he went ahead and came upon a sewer grate.

    The servant boy peeked into the grate and saw something that made him shiver.

    "Hey kid, want some powers?" A strange being spoke. Its teeth sharp like spikes and two yellow eyes that glowed in the darkness.

 Chapter 861 Feng

    "Hey kid, want some powers?"

    The words that were spoken just now were unexpected for the servant boy. He had imagined a lot of things, but this was certainly not one of them.

    "Huh?" The servant boy didn''t know how to react at all.

    In the first ce, he couldn''tprehend the words. He could of course, understand the meaning of the words themselves, but when they were put together, the context was confusing for him.

    "I asked you if you want powers, kid? Don''t you wanna be strong?" The Strange Being repeated.

    The Servant boy could help but take a breath as he saw the mouth in the sewer grate moving. He was now sure that the voice had trulye from it. The gaze of the yellow eyes felt like needles on his skin and was highly ufortable.

    ''Just what is that thing?'' The servant boy wondered.

    ''Is this guy slow in the head?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He had acted on a whim and killed the Tea House owner. Lin Wu had witnessed everything that had happened and was watching it all like a drama. The suitable target that the system had pointed out for him was none other than the Servant boy.

    Before, the Servant Boy was still in the Tea House, and it wasn''t really suitable for Lin Wu to kill and consume him right then and there; even if he could possibly consume the entire Tea House and leave no witness.

    All that would be too high profile and wouldn''t go ording to his n.

    Thus he waited and watched everything that unfolded next. Lin Wu felt like he was watching a cultivation novel like a live show. It was the ssic start of a weak boy being oppressed and then getting his revenge in the future.

    But things didn''t turn out like Lin Wu had imagined. Which reminded him that while he was in a cultivation world, things wouldn''t always y out the same.

    It was then that Lin Wu thought of something: Why not make it take that route with his interference?

    ''It felt really exciting when I thought of it, but nowбн this guy is too slow. Doesn''t seem like he has the protagonist temte.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he saw the confusion on the Servant boy''s face.

    ~Sigh~

    "At least tell me your name, boy." Lin Wu said, this time in a firmer voice.

    "Iбн Iбн I''m Feng." The servant boy finally spoke, this time finding the question to be a bit normal.

    "Feng? Just Feng?" Lin Wu repeated.

    "Y-yesбн" Feng weakly replied.

    "You don''t have a full name?" Lin Wu questioned as he stared into the boy''s eyes, making him shudder a bit.

    "Yeahбн I don''t. I was an orphan and was never given a name. Even the name if have was just given to me randomly by the other people of the slums." Feng answered.

    Lin Wu continued to stare into his eyes, having nced the truth.

    ''He isn''t lying. Even the system confirmed it.'' Lin Wu was a bit surprised.

    "Well, it doesn''t matter much, anyway. You can take any name you want in the future." Lin Wu spoke casually.

    Feng felt a little calmer by now, and the fear that was filling him was reduced by half. He could at least tell that the thing in front of him didn''t want to kill him.

    "W-whoбн noбн what are you?" Feng asked, mustering a little more courage.

    "Well, can you guess?" Lin Wu replied, wondering what the child would say.

    "Are you an assassin sent to kill the Tea House owner?" Feng asked.

    "Huh?" Now it was Lin Wu''s turn to be astounded.

    Lin Wu had a few terms in his mind already that the boy might call him; beast, monster, devil, demon, these were just a few of the terms that might make sense. But assassin was not one of them at all.

    <o>,m "Why do you think that I''m an assassin?" Lin Wu questioned curiously.</o>

    "You''re not?" Feng was surprised. "I thought that you were an assassin sent by the Pink Lotus Theater." He added.

    ''Pink Lotus Theater? What''s that system?'' Lin Wu questioned in his mind.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Pink Lotus Theater is an entertainment establishment located a kilometer away from here. It was popr among the citizens of this area and is one of the many other such businesses.

    бкбк

    This was the general information that the system had gathered from its scan. This was actually not in the memories of any of the slum dwellers that he had eaten till now. Which showed that if he wanted more information, he needed to consume everyone equally.<sub> </sub>

    Still, it was enough to give him a general idea about the ce. Just by knowing what kind of establishment it was, Lin Wu spected why it would send someone to possibly assassinate the tea house owner.

    "And why do you think the Pink Louts Theater would want to kill the Tea House Owner?" Lin Wu questioned, wanting to understand Feng''s guess.

    "Isn''t it because the Tea House Owner and the owner of the Pink Lotus Theater had a big argument? I heard it with my own two ears." Feng answered.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu replied and thought, ''at least the kid''s got enough of a sense to pay attention to information like this. His guess could very well have been true too. A reasonable one.''

    Lin Wu turned his focus back to Feng and saw him staring at him with a different look. It wasn''t fully calm, but there wasn''t the unsettled feeling on his face either.

    "Well then, I guess I should tell you at least a little about myself." Lin Wu said, catching the boy''s interest.

    "I am someone who can make your dreamse true. Have you wanted to be strong? Have you wanted to take revenge on those that wronged you? Do you want to be a peerless expert? A King perhaps? Maybe the patriarch of a sect, if that''s more your thing?

    I can allow you to do all that. Think of me as the wish granter." Lin Wu spoke, wondering if the kid would believe it.

    "What? Are you one of those spirits from the tales that can grant wishes?" The boy was certainly excited to hear it.

    ''Fuckбн he really believed it.'' Lin Wu didn''t know what to expect now.

    "Yesбн well, not exactly, but I have the powers to do most of it." Lin Wu replied.

    "Thenбн what you were saying earlierбн you can do that?" Feng asked nervously.

    "So you were hearing me." Lin Wu said.

    "Y-yes." Feng said, in an embarrassed tone.

    "I did indeed. So thenбн do you want them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "W-what will I need to do for you?" Feng asked in turn.

    He knew very well that nothing in this world came for free. Especially having lived in a ce such as Tieba city, where the worst of the humans could be found, one learned it all very explicitly.

    If one could offer such powers, then the cost of it must also be great. And one wouldn''t pay a cost like that unless they were getting some benefits.

    "So you do have some critical thinkingбн good." Lin Wu nodded his head. "And to answer your question, you will have to work for me."

    "Work for you? You want me as a servant?" Feng asked.

    He was a servant before, so bing a servant for another much more powerful person didn''t seem like a losing situation.

    "You could say that. Though you will be free to do as you want when you have no task assigned to you. And when I give you tasks, you WILL have to do them." Lin Wu replied, his tone straight.

    "Iбн understand." Feng could feel the oppression in Lin Wu''s voice and didn''t want to imagine the repercussion of failing a task.

    And it wasn''t like he could just reject this and turn away either. Feng could understand it very well that now that he had seen this being, there was no way other than going forward with it.

    Besides, the temptation was far too great for him to resist too.

    Just like Lin Wu had said, he too wanted everything that had been spoken. He wanted to be strong; he wanted to take revenge against many that harmed him, cheated him and humiliate him.

    He wanted to be great, like the legendary heroes, the tales of whom he had heard so many times. He wanted to be like the peerless experts that lived in the cultivation sects.

    He wanted to be immortal!

    "Well thenбн You have to say it yourself. Do you want to be powerful?" Lin Wu asked again.

    "I DO!" This time Feng answered with determination.

    "Excellent." Lin Wu smiled, his sharp spiky teeth making Feng shudder again. "Then we should find a better ce first."

    "I know a ce." Feng spoke hurriedly.

    "Go on then, I''ll be just behind you." Lin Wu replied.

    Feng nodded his head and started to run out of the alley.

    ''Since he''s letting me run like this freely, doesn''t seem like he was intending to kill me.'' Feng now confirmed it in his heart.

    Back in the sewer grate, the head that was talking to Feng retracted. The teeth and eyes on it disappeared, and it turned into a tentacle. It continued to shrink until it reached the body to which it was attached to.

    Tens of eyes opened and glowed in the darkness, outlining the massive body that was hiding in the depths.

    "Seems like this will be interestingбн won''t deviate much from my ns, anyway."

 Chapter 862 The Sus Building

    Lin Wu''s body moved smoothly through the underground sewers.

    He was actually quite surprised by the sewers that ran underneath Tieba city. Lin Wu had seen the map charted by the system and could tell that the sewers extended to nearly every meter of the entire city.

    The only difference was that some of the sewer channels were as small as a few inches wide while the central channels were big enough to contain his entire body.

    ''These are certainly not new.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    From the structure of the sewers Lin Wu could easily tell that they were far older than the buildings of the city. Meaning, they had existed since before the city was even established. This was a bit intriguing since there was no actual recored information about the sewers in the data that Lin Wu had gathered.

    "System, how long ago were the sewers made?" Lin Wu asked.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s scan, the sewers are built upon preexisting channels carved out by the underground streams and rivers. All of these are joined to the main rivers that originate from the central mountains.

    The system estimates that these rivers and streams created these underground channels over twenty thousand years ago and due to a shift in the natural path of the source rivers, they stopped being fed new water.

    They eventuality dried up and stayed buried for a while until Tieba City was established. The people of the city must have noticed the underground channels and turned them into a sewer system as the system has detected several manmade channels in it as well.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн kinda like I expected. After all, there was no reason for them to dig out such arge channel." Lin Wu said, looking around him.

    There were stone walls propping up the stone ceiling that continually dripped with water. A faint stench was spread in the entire area, but Lin Wu could easily block that off. Not to mention, when he had originally entered the area, he had aired it out with his wind spirit Qi and filled it with fresh air.

    Along with that, the passive radiation from his body was basically sterilizing everything in his path and several meters around him as well.

    ''I''m basically doing a service for them by cleaning out the sewers!'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having natural cave form sewers like this also meant that Lin Wu could modify them as he wanted and barely anyone would be able to notice. After all, not only could he dig but also rece the rocks himself if he didn''t want someone to notice.

    And it wasn''t like the higher ups of the Tieba city hadn''t missed on set up security for the sewers. After all, it was one of the obvious ces of interest that could be used by people that might want to harm the city and its people.<sub> </sub>

    The security measures were unless against Lin Wu thought. The formations that he came across were modified to ignore them, while other intentional dangerous such as the natural beasts that lived in the sewers were even more easy to deal with for Lin Wu.

    Simply with his aura as a Beast King, he could force the beasts into submission. The sewer beasts all ran away when Lin Wu approached an area they were in and if they couldn''t leave, they would simply stay in ce and cower until he left.

    Lin Wu didn''t care for them either, much less harm them. Why would he spend effort in sometime that couldn''t bother him even if they tried.

    Thus, it all became very easy for him and the sewers became his temporary base.

    <o>,m With his new innate skills, Lin Wu could keep his body in one ce while letting his tentacles extend everywhere. Granted, the range was still quite less than his spirit sense. But the advantage was also obvious as Lin Wu could morph his tentacles to have different organs like eyes and ears and mouth.</o>

    That was also how he hadmunicated with Feng just a while ago. He had simply converted one of his tentacles into a temporary head.

    Another benefit of it was that his identity was basically unknown, because even if someone saw the tentacles and heads, they would essentially be unable to tell what beast it was in reality.

    They would assume a beast that looked entirely different and of a much smaller size.

    "I''m just loving this new bloodline more and more~" Lin Wu said to himself joyfully as he continued onwards.

    The main channel of the sewer that Lin Wu was in right now, extended all the way through the slums and out into ake outside the city. Thus, he had no issues in following behind Feng who was taking him to some ce.

    About fifteen minutester, the boy finally entered the slums and ran though theplicated routes before arriving at a derelict building that looked like it was an old warehouse converted into a ughter house.

    There were dark stains on the ground as well as rotting matter lying around. There was a stench of blood spread in the building as well, but it felt old and moldy.

    It was obvious that this was not a building that the average person would want to step in. And yet, a weak boy like Feng hade here.

    ''Is he mistaken or is there something more here?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    To Lin Wu, even if Feng had brought him to the slums, there were still better ces to go to rather than a highly suspicious ce like this building.

    "There are certainly a lot of dead bodies rotting hereбн Seems like someone or several people use this as a dumping ce." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He continued observing Feng with his spirit sense and saw the boy stop near the wall of the highly suspicious derelict building. He looked to be a bit nervous and hid near some broken boxes when someone passed from nearby.

 Chapter 863 Weak Boy

    Feng looked around to ensure that no one was watching him before he climbed over the wall. There were two bricks missing from the part of the wall that he had climbed from.

    ''He''s certainly been here several times from looking at the wall. Those were intentionally removedбн'' Lin Wu noted.

    Having jumped into thepound, Feng went to the back of the building and lifted several old rags that were lying next to it. There was wild grass and weeds growing over the edges of the wall and between the torn rags.

    But once the rags were lifted, moldy nks could be seen underneath it. Feng lifted the nks and opened up a gap wide enough for him to pass through. He shimmied his way through the gap and soon arrived in a wide open area.

    This ce was cleaner than the rest of the area, but there were still dark stains here. The air here was stuffy as well, making Feng cough several times.

    "Huhбн the boy had a hideout." Lin Wu was surprised.

    He had intentionally not looked at the system''s map as he wanted to discover the mystery naturally. It was simply a lot more entertaining that way, after all.

    Feng sat down on a box and took a breath of relief, resting his tired body for a few moments.

    "A-are you there?" Feng called out. "Senior, are you there?" he repeated.

    ~CREAK~

    The sound of steel bending was heard in the silent room, scaring Feng for a moment.

    "I''m here alright. Just like I said." Lin Wu''s voice was heard from some distant away.

    Feng quickly turned around and saw a long object rising from the shadows. There was an old pipe rising from the ground that had been broken. The long object was rising from that broken pipe.

    The light from the cracked roof faintly illuminated the long object, revealing it to be some slender and long creature.

    ~gulp~

    Feng swallowed his saliva upon seeing it clearly for the first time. It looked like a snake or some simr creature. But it had two yellow eyes and several sharp teeth in its mouth. It looked unlike any other animal or beast that Feng had ever seen in his life.

    "T-that''sбн you?" Feng was surprised and didn''t know what to say.

    Even if he had seen the eyes and teeth in the sewer grate before, was still a different experience seeing it out in the open.

    Lin Wu''s head in this form was about six inches wide and was basically the size of arge python. It looked quite terrifying frankly, and any normal person would run away screaming after seeing it.

    If it were not for the fact that Feng had confirmed that there was no danger from Lin Wu to him, he would have done the same, perhaps.

    First of all, a talking beast along was an unknown thing for him, not to mention whatever nonhuman creature this was only made it that much absurd.

    ''It certainly is no assassinбн'' Feng thought to himself.

    "H-howбн how are you going to give me powers? Or rather, what powers are you going to give me?" Feng couldn''t help but inquire.

    "Good question." Lin Wu replied. "Let me first check you, though." He said.

    Then, before Feng could respond, he felt a cold and slimy thing touch the back of his neck. He simply froze in ce and didn''t move, guessing that this was what Lin Wu meant by checking.

    ''His head is there and whatever is touching me is here? Just how big is he?'' Feng wondered.

    There was at least a distance of ten meters between him and Lin Wu''s ''head''. Feng guessed that the thing touching him might be some limb and seeing who far it was extending and how it had arisen out of nowhere, he assumed that it was definitely not a beast.

    It wasn''t even anything in the scope of his knowledge.

    While he was thinking all this, Lin Wu was doing his part.<sub> </sub>

    "System, scan him. Do a detail scan." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Feng

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target Analyzed

    бн

    TARGET: Feng

    AGE: 15 years old

    LIFESPAN: 45 years (estimated)

    CULTIVATION BASE: First Stage Of Body Tempering Realm

    VITALS: Stable (Note: Injured in multiple ces, diseases detected, nutrition deficiency detected.

    BLOODLINE: None

    PHYSIQUE: None

    бкбк

    "He really has no secret ability or bloodline or anything?" Lin Wu felt a little disappointed.

    He had gotten the system to do a deep scan, as he wanted to know if there was anything special to the boy.

    ~Sigh~

    "It would have been rather exciting if he had some super secret and strong bloodline." Lin Wu internally shook his head.

    ''Stillбн not like it''ll continue to stay like this. If it isn''t exciting, I''ll make it so.'' He thought to himself.

    Lin Wu looked at the system''s notes and knew that he needed to address this first.

    ''Even if I can heal him directly with vital energy, he still needs the nutrients for it to work.'' Lin Wu thought. ''Also no wonder he''s still at the first stage of the body tempering realm even at his age.

    Normally, even if it was amon farmer or peasant that worked in the fields, he would be able to reach the fourth stage of the body tempering realm by the age of 25-30 years old. One didn''t even need a body tempering manual or technique for it.

    One just needed enough food and exercise for it to happen. And peasants would normally get both of them over time.

    A boy of Feng''s age should have at least reached the second stage of the body tempering realm, but he evidentially hadn''t.

    ''It''s a surprise that he could even run all this distance without fainting. His lifespan is pretty short for a normal human of this world, too. Seems like the injuries and malnutrition are really contributing to it.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    Having figured out the next course of action, Lin Wu got to work.

    "Well first, we need to take care of your stomach."

 Chapter 864 Food To Die For

    Lin Wu needed to get some food into Feng''s belly first before he could treat him. Thus he simply took out some of the precooked beast meat and spirit herbs that he had kept for himself.

    He didn''t mind giving this to Feng, since he had more than enough of it.

    ''Not like the kid will be able to eat much, anyway.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The amount of food he had taken out was not even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth. It was less than a a bite to him. But to Feng, it was different. Or rather, it was entirely opposite for him.

    "Thisбн Thisбн this is for me?" Feng couldn''t believe his eyes.

    It wasn''t that he was surprised about the food appearing from thin air as he knew about the existence of spatial storage tools. He had seen many people used it before since there were tons of cultivators in Tieba city.

    Rather, he was surprised with the quality of the food. All of it looked to be made by the best cooks, and the aromaing from the meat was tantalizing.

    ''It''s even warm! As if it was just made!'' this was even more absurd to Feng.

    He knew a little about how the spatial storage tools worked and knew that while one could store a lot of food in them, the quality of the food would eventually deteriorate. Even if one put hot food in the spatial storage tool, it would eventually turn cold.

    Feng certainly didn''t think that Lin Wu had stored the food just beforeing here. Thus it only made it that much that the food was perfectly warm.

    He looked at the first dish, which looked like roasted ribs covered with a red sauce and couldn''t help but drool.

    "Go on! Start eating." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Y-yes!" Feng didn''t wait a moment after that and almost jumped at the food.

    He picked up rib after rib and bit off the meat from each of them. It was effortless for him and the meat was incredibly tender. The red sauce covering the ribs was rich and a faint sweetness apanied the savoriness of the ribs.

    Feng''s eyes wandered over to the other dishes that looked no less appealing to him. There were spring rolls that were made with spirit herbs and filed with tofu made from high quality spirit beans.

    He picked up one of the rolls and put it in his mouth.

    ~CRUNCH~

    As soon as bit down, a crisp crunch was heard. The coating of the spring roll was perfectly fried and was golden yellow in color. After the initial crunch, Feng felt the taste of the soft tofu as well as the vorful spirit herbs that were mixed into it.

    "MMMHMM!!!!!" He couldn''t help but let out a moan as the amazing vor overwhelmed him.

    "This is so good!" Feng couldn''t believe his luck.<sub> </sub>

    When he had woken up today, he had certainly not expected that he would go through all this.

    First, he made a mistake and the Tea House owner decided to kill him. Then, when he was close to killing him, the shop owner died all of a sudden.

    The perpetrator behind the murder being none other than Lin Wu, who was had now given him all this amazing food. To Feng, Lin Wu was truly like the spirits of the legends that granted the wishes of people.

    The hot food that seemed to have just been prepared only reinforced his assumption that much.

    Feng continued to eat and savor every bite, secretly fearful that all this might just a dream. And by the time he was done, Feng felt like even if he died now, he would be content.

    All his life he had eaten nd and crappy food that had no other function other than to give his body a little sustenance. And even that was not up to the mark, considering the nutritional deficiencies he had.

    The food he had eaten till now did little more than to keep him alive. And if it were not for the fact that he secretly sneaked out some food from the Tea House every now and then, perhaps he wouldn''t have even had the strength to bear the abuses till now.

    While Feng ate, Lin Wu continued to observe him and the system also scanned him actively.

    The food that Lin Wu had taken out was chosen by the system ording to what would be best for Feng. The effects of it were already appearing in the boy''s body too, even if he had not noticed it yet.

    The vital energy from the roasted ribs entered Feng''s cells, invigorating them, while the medicinal efficacies of the spirit herbs in the spring rolls healed the hidden injuries he had sustained.

    Meanwhile, the tofu made from Spirit beans released copious amounts of spirit Qi that drilled into his meridians automatically.

    Something like this would have been dangerous normally as one shouldn''t absorb spirit Qi when they weren''t above the seventh stage of the body tempering realm, but Lin Wu had already thought of it.

    Some of the spirit herbs in the spring rolls had a modting effect on the spirit Qi and made it gentle, such that it didn''t harm Feng''s body. Instead, it irrigated his meridians, removing the blockages in it slowly.

    It was like a slow stream cutting through rocks after a long time.

    While Lin Wu could do this process very quickly if he did it manually for Feng, it was better for his meridians to get limatized to spirit Qi first. This was the optimum n that the system had decided upon.

    About fifteen minutester, Feng had finally finished eating everything and sat on the ground.

    Teeth marks could be seen on the ribs, evidence of how fiercely the boy had eaten it all. Even the tters had been licked clean, and there was not one drop of sauce left anywhere.

    "Now that''s a good eating etiquette." Lin Wu said in approval.

 Chapter 865 Modifications - I

    With Feng finish all the food cleanly, he was now ready for Lin Wu to work on.

    Lin Wu waited for the system to finish analyzing Feng and when it said that Feng was in the right state, he began.

    "We can start now." Lin Wu spoke.

    "What are you going to do, senior?" Feng asked.

    "Repair and modify your body first. The rest is not something you will understand." Lin Wu replied.

    Hearing this, Feng was a little hesitant, which didn''t escape Lin Wu''s eyes.

    "Don''t worry, if I wanted to kill you, I have far easier methods." Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    "O-okayбн" Feng knew there was no turning back now. "We can start." He muttered.

    "Good." Lin Wu nodded his head, and another tentacle rose from the ground. "This will hurt, but for just a moment."

    Feng closed his eyes tightly upon hearing that, not wanting to witness whatever Lin Wu was about to do.

    ''Maybe it''s good that he keeps his eyes closed. The beasts might be fine with it, but the humans are probably gonna be scared.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as a long stinger grew out from the tentacle.

    The stinger was ck and six inches long, along with being very sharp. The tentacle moved and skillfully stabbed into Feng''s chest.

    ~GASP!~

    Feng couldn''t help but breathe in from the pain. His eyes opened due to the shock, but he didn''t look down, closing them back up.

    "Just a second moreбн" Lin Wu said as the system got to work.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Subject connection initialized

    CONNECTION: Established sessfully

    INJECTING: Anestheticpounds

    SUBJECT VITALS: Stabilizing

    бкбк

    A minuteter, Feng''s tense body rxed, and he didn''t feel any pain. But at the same time, he felt very groggy and a heavy feeling swept over him.

    "Iбн" Before he could say anything, though, he fell asleep.

    "There we goбн now I can start the actual process." Lin Wu said as the tentacle withdrew.

    ~CRACK~

    The floor cracked as anotherrger tentacle rose from it. This tentacle was over two meters wide and looked more like another head, as it had a mouth on it.

    ~slick~

    The mouth opened up, exposing its toothless interior. Instead of teeth, there were several more tentacles inside it. But these tentacles were different from normal, having mp like appendages on them.

    The tentacles extended and attached to Feng''s body. Three tentacles attached to each of his limbs, two attached to his waist, four attached to his chest and four to his back, before a wide tentacle covered his entire head.

    Feng''s body was suspended mid air from the tentacles and the entire scene looked like something from a Science fiction horror movie. The only thing missing was arge tank filled with suspicious fluid to put Feng on.

    "This method is new. Wonder what effects it will have. It will be my first time modifying a human to this extentбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.<sub> </sub>

    What he was going to do here was different from anything before. One could say the Pentagem imnts were merely a test prototypepared to what he was doing now. A preliminary attempt before a great experiment.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Conversion nodes Initializing

    CONVERSION NODES: Initialized

    NOTIFICATION: Attempting neural linkбн

    бн

    ATTEMPT 1: Failedбн (retrying)

    ATTEMPT 2 : Failedбн (retrying)

    ATTEMPT 3 : Failedбн (retrying)

    .

    .

    .

    бкбк

    Lin Wu watched as the system gave out one error after the other, but didn''t mind it. He knew that the process was not perfect at all as it was realistically the first true try. Even if the system had run the simtion many times, an actual, practical experiment was bound to be different.

    Feng was a decent subject for Lin Wu as he got a ''defective'' sample that he attempted to ''repair''.

    He could have very well started from a good sample that was not in the state as Feng, but he didn''t want that. He wanted to start from the very bottom of the bottom. Optimize it from the ground up, so that when he did it for the best samples, it would yield an even greater result.

    After all, if he could turn a wed sample into gold, he should be able to turn a good sample into tinum at the very least.

    Two hours passed like this while the system continued to attempt the process over and over again. Feng''s body was stable too, and his vitals were not showing any signs of deterioration.

    Lin Wu had gotten a little bored and thus started to check other things out till then. His body wasn''t here anyway, and it was just extensions of his body that were doing the work here.

    He simply made more such ''observation'' heads and let them spread out in the areas, watching and listening to all that happened.

    More particrly, he was focused on the Tea house, or rather the back of the teahouse where he had taken Feng from.

    "Hmmбн no one actually noticed it even now." Lin Wu muttered, finding it a little absurd.

    In fact, when he looked into the Tea House he saw that the things were going without any issues. Even the waiters and other workers seemed to be a little more happy than normal, chatting amongst themselves.

    "When do you think the owner will be back?" one of the waiters asked as he brought a tray full of dirty utensils.

    "Hard to tell. But Feng hasn''t been back, so it''s possible that the Owner decided to simply go for a drink after ''teaching'' him." The worker inside the kitchen spoke while taking care of dirty dishes.

    "Hmmбн it was bound to happen sometime. Feng has been within the owner''s sights for a while." The other waiter said as he nodded his head.

    "Yeah, better him than us." The worker said as he turned around to clean the dishes.

    Lin Wu who saw all this, couldn''t help but chuckle.

    ''If all of them were like this, then I''ll just make my ns would be so much easier.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

 Chapter 866 Modifications - II

    Half a day had passed since Lin Wu had begun work on Feng.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ATTEMPT 561: Sessful!

    NEURAL LINK: Established!

    бкбк

    "OH! It''s done?" Lin Wu''s attention was brought back upon hearing the system''s notification.

    ncing at Feng, he saw faint glowing lines on his body now. These lines extended from the mps with which the tentacles were attached to his body and were what the system had grown inside Feng''s body.

    With these in ce, the system could begin the next stage now.

    ~shua~

    Another tentacle rose from the wide tentacle''s mouth, this one having an emerald green crystal on its tip.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    IMPLANTING: Pentagem

    PENTAGEM IMPLANT: Sessful

    бкбк

    The new tentacle with the crystal tip had directly entered Feng''s head. No response was shown by his body, despite the fact that there was now a hole in his head. This was the reason why the system had created a neural link between Feng''s body first.

    Because if it did not, even with the Anestheticpounds in Feng''s body, he would have still reacted and perhaps died from the shock. But with his nerves under the system''s suppression, nothing of that sort happened.

    To his body, it was as if nothing had changed and no crystal was jammed into the brain.

    But the system didn''t just stop there, as the tentacle created more crystals and jammed them into multiple parts of Feng''s body.

    By the time they were all done, arge pool of blood had collected underneath Feng''s body.

    If it were not for the food that Feng had eaten before, he would have already died from blood loss. But with the plentiful nutrients in his body, and the stimtion by the system more and more blood was produced to rece it all while cells were stimted to stem the bleeding.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    PENTAGRAM NETWORK: Created

    INITIATING MODIFICATION: Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    From this point onwards, the process was mostly uncharted. The system had only simted till the stage before this, since the next part was something that simply could not be predicted with its current capabilities.

    The reason being that the next process was basically mutation, which could go randomly in any direction. While the system could attempt to drive it towards a certain general direction, it couldn''t steer itpletely.

    Another aspect of it was that each being was unique and different creatures could take different paths in this.

    Thus, every subject could have a very different result. Something which Lin Wu was greatly interested in.

    ''Wonder if the system''s prediction might be true.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Even if the system couldn''t urately predict urately, it could still make potential predictions.

    One such prediction that Lin Wu was greatly interested was that it could actually stimte hidden bloodlines within the creatures. These bloodlines would be far too diluted to actually be detected by the system and won''t evere to light in the life of the creature.

    But under the controlled stimtion of the system, there was a chance they could rise up. Though there was always a luck factor as to what hidden bloodline Feng had.

    The humans had a good breeding potential and grew very fast. This also meant that any bloodline the strong individuals among them had would eventually get diluted to the point where it was basically nonexistent.

    The same could be said for the physiques as well.

    But in the case of physique, the system was far more confident.

    ~DING~<sub> </sub>

    бкбк

    INJECTING: Vital energyбн

    INJECTION: Completed!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu watched as Feng''s aura started to rapidly rise as a copious amount of vital energy was injected into him. This was far greater than the food that he had eaten and it was specifically injected into his body in controlled form.

    Then a few minutester, he started to breakthrough.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET: Feng

    CULTIVATION BASE: Thirteenth Stage Of Body Tempering Realm!

    VITALS: Stable

    бкбк

    "Perfect." Lin Wu said, seeing that the attempt was sessful.

    This was something that needed to be done as the first big modification for Feng. The thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm was hard to achieve normally and barely anyone did it.

    This wasn''t just because it took a lot of resources but simply because it was too time consuming.

    Shirong had done the same a long item ago and it had be the foundation upon which his cultivation had greatly sped up.

    But if Shirong were to see how easily and quickly Feng had broken through, he might have cried from the envy.

    Shirong had spent over thirty years in doing it, while Feng had done it at less than half that. Even if it was with Lin Mu and the System''s help.

    Once this was done, though, another change happened in Feng''s body.

    ~SHUA~

    The spirit Qi in the air started stirring around him and a vortex formed with him in the middle.

    "This should be the start of the natural spirit Qi infusionбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He had seen it before as well when Shirong had gone through it. The spirit Qi started to pour into Feng''s body while his vitality continued to rise. His cells rapidly started to replicate and new cells were born that were better than before.

    The new cells started to attack the old cells and reced them. The recement process was rapid and its outer effects were also visible as blood starteding out of Feng''s skin.

    His hair fell off, and so did his nails and teeth. Then his skin sloughed off, as if he had really bad psoriasis.

    The blood and dead skin mixed before creating a dark and sticky matter that covered Feng.

    "Gosh, it stinks!" Lin Wu shut off his sense of smell.

    ~WHOOSH~

    A jet of water shot out from the tentacles and quickly washed down Feng. Once all the ck impurities were washed off, Feng''s new body was revealed. It was fair and supple like a baby''s skin while also having no blemishes.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET DATA: Updated

    TARGET: Feng

    SPIRIT QI CULTIVATION BASE: Early Stage of the Qi refining realm

    BODY CULTIVATION BASE: Thirteenth Stage of the Body Tempering realm

    PHYSIQUE: Xiantian Physique (Acquired)

    BLOODLINE: None

    бкбк

 Chapter 867 System Synthesized Composite Cultivation Technique

    The Xiantian Physique was a type of an acquired physique. It was, in a way, the most essible and obtainable physique that had one of the lowest requirements.

    It didn''t need someone to have a special luck, or belong to a certain line of experts. All it needed was that one cultivated the body tempering realm all the way to the peak of the thirteenth stage.

    Once that happened, their bodies would reach a state where it could be reconstructed.

    The newly formed body would be the ideal for cultivation and would have a far more stronger foundation than nearly any other person. Not to mention, having a Xiantian physique was the baseline needed for one to continue onwards into higher levels of body cultivation.

    One could say the Xiantian physique was a gateway to bing a true expert, since it didn''t exclude anyone. An expert could even have other physiques and bloodline along with the Xiantian physique and there would be no issue.

    Normally, the case with physiques was that a person could only have one physique. But in the case of bloodline, they could have several. If one were topare it with something, physique would be the hardware, while bloodline would be the software.

    There could be multiple softwares installed in a single specimen of hardware but the opposite was not usually possible.

    It was extremely rare for a person to have multiple physiques, and whenever it happened, the other physique that they had was an acquired physique, with the Xiantian physique being the mostmon.

    In fact, in the higher worlds, many powers made it mandatory for their disciples to at least cultivate a Xiantian physique even if they did not specialize in body cultivation.

    The benefits it brought were simply too many to ignore. Lin Wu had learned all this from the Skull god''s memories and had made it part of his n. After all, if the higher worlds did it, there was a clear reason behind it.

    Not to mention, the system didn''t find any faults with it that conflicted with other things they were intending to do.

    Plus, it also worked towards remolding a ''wed'' sample like Feng.

    "Perfect." Lin Wu said upon seeing the sess of the system.

    ''Not only did he obtain the Xiantian Physique, but he also broke through to the Early stage of the Qi refining realm automatically,'' Lin Wu thought to himself. ''Wonder how others would feel if the knew Feng had reached the Early stage of the Qi refining realm without even seeing a cultivation technique not to mention practicing it, Hehe~'' he chuckled.

    It was certainly an interesting scenario to consider.

    "I might just reveal it ''identally'' for shits and gigglesбн" Lin Wuughed.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Begin data injection? Y/N

    бкбк

    A prompt appeared in front of Lin Wu, asking him to begin the next phase of the modification.

    "Yup, go ahead." Lin Wu permitted.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA INJECTION: Initiated

    PROGRESS: 0.1 %

    .

    .

    .

    DATA INJECTION: Completed

    PROGRESS: 100%

    SCANNER: Activated<sub> </sub>

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET DATA: Updated

    бн

    TARGET: Feng

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: System Synthesized Composite Cultivation Technique Version 1 (unnamed)

    SPIRIT QI CULTIVATION BASE: Second Stage of the Qi refining realm

    BODY CULTIVATION BASE: Thirteenth Stage of the Body Tempering realm

    PHYSIQUE: Xiantian Physique (Acquired)

    бкбк

    In the short time that the system had taken toplete the data injection, Feng had actually reached the second stage of the Qi refining realm. Just from this, one could see how strong the potential of the Xiantian physique was.

    The passive absorption of spirit Qi even without the use of a cultivation technique, had allowed Feng to skip at least a few months of work.

    "With the new cultivation technique, his progress should be even fasterбн wonder how he will bepared to Shirong?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The System Synthesized Composite Cultivation Technique was the embodiment of all the cultivation techniques that Lin Wu had gathered over the years, right from the Peasant Fist art all the way to the Immortal Sky Shaker art.

    The analysis of all the cultivation techniques was a task that Lin Wu had assigned to the system a long, long time ago. And this task was still ongoing, but it wasn''t as if there were no results at all.

    There certainly were, and the System Synthesized Composite Cultivation Technique was the result. It had taken parts from all the techniques and refined it over and over again until they fit in a somewhat optimized manner.

    While this resultant technique couldn''tpare to the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture, it was at least better than the Immortal Sky Shaker art. And could it evenpare to the inferior form of the Taiji celestial''s inheritance, The Taiji Refinement scripture which Wang Xiong and others practiced.

    Though this was something that was not confirmed and the only way to do it was to let someone practice it.

    Lin Wu had been waiting for the right opportunity to test this technique and after a long time it had finally arrived.

    "Hmmбн its name is a little too long, though." Lin Wu muttered, seeing the standard name put by the system.

    While Lin Wu wanted to name it, he didn''t want to just name it randomly.

    ''I need to see its effects first at the very least.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    And Feng was the perfect ''sandbox'' for him to test this out. With the Xiantian Physique putting him at the baseline of the higher ranked worlds, any cultivation technique should show decent effects for him.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    MODIFICATION: Completed

    NOTIFICATION: Beginning decoupling

    NEURAL LINK: Disconnected

    бкбк

    The system slowly put Feng down on the ground and then withdrew all the tentacles back into the wide tentacles. A few secondster, the wide tentacles also receded into the ground, leaving behind no trace other than the wide hole in the floor.

    "Now, to just wait for him to wake up." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He returned to his observations of the city and its people, while Feng got limatized to his new body.

 Chapter 868 Fengs Awakening

    "UGH!" A grunt was heard in the empty underground hall.

    A teenage boy rubbed his head, which was throbbing with pain.

    "Why does my head feel like it''s been smashed under a hammer?" Feng muttered to himself.

    He rubbled his head while his eyes continued to stay closed due to the pain. Feng nursed his aching head for a couple of minutes before he finally felt it reducing somewhat.

    "Haa~ it''s falling a bitбн" Feng let out a breath of relief.

    Slowly, he rxed his tightly shut eyes and finally opened them. Thankfully, there was no bright light in the hall or he might have winced in pain even more.

    "Where am I?" Feng questioned, looking at the weathered and damaged roof.

    "Damn! It stinks!" Feng squinted his nose, smelling the foul odors in the air.

    He had not felt them early on since the pain was suppressing all his senses. But now that the pain started to fade, the rest of the senses returned in full force!

    His sense of smell was just the first one that he found overwhelming. A few secondster he realized that he was seeing far to better than before.

    "Huh? How''s everything so clear? And this roomбн no hallбн its dark and yetбн I can make out things?" Feng wondered.

    "Wait! I''m in the basement of the old ughterhouse!" Feng finally recalled.

    ~step~ ~step~ ~step~

    ~canter~

    ~thud~thud~thud~

    ~drip~drip~drip~

    The next sense to amplify for him was the sense of hearing. Suddenly, he found himself hearing sounds that wereing from far away.

    "Are those footsteps I hear? Andбн andбн the sound of a horse carriage? There are no horse carriages in the slums, though." Feng heard.

    Little by little, he felt his body opening up into the world. Soon he realized that he didn''t just have the five senses, he actually had more than that.

    "What''s around me?" Feng felt like there was something all around him.

    It felt soft and faint to him, almost like water vapor, but at the same time it feltfortable to him. He focused on this feeling and realized that the ''vapor'' he felt around him was actually being absorbed into his body.

    While he couldn''t ''see'' the insides of his body, he could tell that this vapor was entering through the small openings on his skin and going deep into his body. Feng continued to focus on this vapor and after a few minutes, found its final location.

    "My abdomen?" Feng discovered. "Noбн not my abdomenбн its deeperбн MY DANTIAN!" Feng felt like he had an epiphany.

    Having been acquainted with many cultivators, there was no way Feng wouldn''t know about Dantians. He even knew that the Dantian was located in one''s abdomen and that everyone had it naturally.

    The only difference was that not everyone could sense it or make use of it. Those that managed to sense it and figured out its use would be cultivators.

    "If this is my Dantian, then the vapor that is entering my body isбн SPIRIT QI!" Feng figured it out. "But then doesn''t it meanбн I''m a cultivator now?!"

    Feng felt an overwhelming joy assaulting him from all his sides, such much so that he couldn''t help but tear up.

    "I''m a cultivator! I''m a cultivator! I''VE BECOME AN EXPERT TOO!!!" Feng shouted out loud.<sub> </sub>

    "Whoa there!" But to douse his excitement, another voice was heard. "If you say that outside, people might not take it calmly."

    "Who''s there?!" Feng was startled by the new voice.

    The voice was strange to him and didn''t feel human.

    "Did you forget me already?" Lin Wu asked. ''Hmmбн is this a side effect?'' he wondered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The data injection was of high density, thus the subject might take some time to reorganize his memories. The subject does not have amnesia, and no memory has been removed either.

    бкбк

    ''Ohбн that''s fine then,'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    Feng turned around and soon spotted a head rising from the ground. And as soon as he saw the head, he felt a rush of memories. He recalled the Tea House owner almost killing him and Lin Wu killing the man before that.

    He also remembered how he had gotten here and who Lin Wu was.

    "S-Senior!" Feng spoke in a shocked tone. ''Did I just disrespect the great senior?'' he wondered.

    He was afraid of offending Lin Wu, especially now that he had actually seen the proof of all that Lin Wu had said. Having be a cultivator, even if it was just for a few minutes, there was no way Feng wanted to go back.

    His body simply felt far too good to return. And now that his headache had gone away as well, he could think clearly.

    "There we go. Seems like you recognize me now." Lin Wu said in a pleased tone.

    "Y-yes. I doбн I remember everything." Feng replied.

    "Good." Lin Wu nodded his head while his mouth widened into a smile.

    His sharp teeth were in full disy, which did little to calm down Feng.

    ''What is this feelingбн is this what great senior feels like?'' Feng wasn''t afraid just because of Lin Wu''s looks, but rather due to the aura that he was exuding.

    Now that he was in the Qi refining realm and even had the Xiantian Physique, his senses were exponentially stronger.

    ? He could sense the dangerous auraing from Lin Wu as well as the spirit Qi waves that were easily many times the spirit Qi that was within his Dantian. In fact, he felt like he was a small boat in the middle of a storm.

    "Give it a minute." Lin Wu suddenly spoke, much to Feng''s confusion.

    The two waited in silence while Lin Wu still had a smile on his face.

    "Huh? It''s gone?" And just as Lin Wu had said, after a minute Feng didn''t feel the same feeling from Lin Wu.

    While the aura of danger was still there, the spirit Qi waves didn''t feel as strong anymore.

    "You should have adapted to your new body fully now."

 Chapter 869 New Appearance

    Lin Wu had been observing Feng and knew that the boy was still hypersensitive to everything. Since he was not used to the new body, his body was amplifying all that he felt by several degrees.

    Which was the reason why he was so shaken from Lin Wu.

    But after a minute, his body seemed to have adjusted to the sensations and changed the response that was sent to his mind, increasing the threshold needed for stimtion.

    It was simr to giving a child who had never eaten spicy food a chills pepper. Even if it was a mild banana pepper, it would still seem very spicy to the person. But once they ate it a few times their body would get used to it and wouldn''t react so harshly.

    That was the same with Feng, but at least in his case, the adaptation was very quick. This was one of the additional benefits of Xiantian Physique.

    "You should have adapted to your new body fully now." Lin Wu spoke.

    <o>,m Feng looked around and took a breath of relief.</o>

    "Yesбн this feels much calmer nowбн" Feng replied.

    Lin Wu nodded his head and continued to use his spirit sense to check Feng''s body. There was a lot of new information being added to the system with every passing second. Just by existing, Feng was providing lot of experimental data.

    "Why did I feel like that Senior?" Feng couldn''t help but ask.

    "Well, it was like you had no defenses. Since you just took control of the new body, your mind was not used to it. But now it knows how to react and sense." Lin Wu exined in as simple words as he could.

    Since Feng was not integrated into the cultivation world fully yet, he wasn''t knowledgeable about the actual contents and concepts of it. This was the simplest Lin Wu could exin to him.

    "I seeбн" Feng replied, but then a word certainly appeared in his mind.

    "Wait! You said new body?" Feng said in surprise.

    "Indeed. This is no longer the same as your old body. It is aplete recement." Lin Wu replied. "You should be able to tell , just check it yourself." He added.

    Feng looked at his hands that used to have many scars before from the years of abuse, but now they were no longer there. Not just that, but his skin was smooth and had no blemishes.

    "Just my arms are this differentбн what about my face?" Feng wanted to see it but there was no mirror here.

    ~SHING~

    "Here you go." In the next moment, a mirror appeared in front of Feng.

    ''Whoaбн he really has everything.'' Feng''s internal surprise kept on increasing the more he interacted with Lin Wu.

    He took the mirror into his hands and peered into it, observing his face.

    "Whoaбн" Feng couldn''t help but feel stunned by his own face.

    His face was the same as his arms and had not a single blemish. His skin was pale and glowing, looking better than a woman''s. His eyes were a dark brown with long eyshes that would make girls cry out in envy.

    His eyebrows were a little thing as well, and looked more feminine than before. His jaws were smooth and oval shaped, having not a single hair on it. Feng''s nose was also long, and had a thin bridge.<sub> </sub>

    His hair was short, almost like a buzz cut, since it was newly growing out. But from what had already grown, its color was ck, just like his earlier color. The only difference was that it felt a lot softer.

    ~gulp~

    "Whyбн Why do I look like a girl?" Feng couldn''t help but say.

    If it were not for the fact that he could still feel his little brother down below, he would have surely thought that he had turned into a girl. Other than that, the rest of his body''s features were mostly feminine, having no body hair and a slender build.

    ~chuckle~

    Lin Wu couldn''t help but chuckle hearing his words.

    ''I was waiting for his reaction, Hehe~'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He had long since seen the change in Feng and knew that he looked a lot more feminine than before. But this was simply the side effect of gaining the Xiantian physique. Since it basically regrew all the cells of the body and reced the old ones, one''s appearance would be rather neutral.

    This varied from person to person, but for younger humans the effect of the Xiantian Physique was often an androgynous appearance.

    "You''ll look more masculine once you grow a bit more. Training and cultivating will also change your build, so you don''t need to worry much." Lin Wu exined.

    "Iбн I seeбн" Feng found it all mind blowing.

    He looked better than a lot of girls he had seen in the city before. This was a chilling thought for him since he knew what beautiful girls without power or background would face here.

    "Hmmбн you need new clothes, too." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Clothes?" Feng looked at his clothes, that were ripped in multiple ces, revealing patches of his pale skin.

    During the process of modification, his clothes had been torn by the mps and spikes.

    Plus, Feng was a little taller than before too, thus he neededrger clothes now.

    "I do need them, it seems." Feng replied. "And a mask tooбн I can''t let myself be seen like this. I''ll catch too much attention."

    In a city with a mixture of unsavory characters, wearing a mask was not umon. Lin Wu had seen many people wearing masks, face clothes, veins and a lot more here.

    "Ummбн senior do youбк" Before Feng could evenplete his sentence though Lin Wu had already acted.

    A set of ck clothes appeared in front of him, along with a mask.

    "Here you go." Lin Wu said with a smile.

    Feng looked at the mask and picked it up, feeling faint energying from it.

    "Is thisбн a spirit tool?!"

 Chapter 870 An Introduction To The Cultivation World

    Feng had seen several spirit tools before, but this was the first time he could feel them.

    As soon as he felt the energying from the mask, he knew it was a spirit tool. After all, he had already understood that the energy all around him and in his body was spirit Qi. The faint energy fluctuationing from the mask were spirit Qi fluctuations as well.

    "That is correct." Lin Wu spoke. "That mask''s a spirit tool."

    "What does it do?" Feng couldn''t help but ask.

    He had seen the set of clothes and could tell than other than been way better quality than the ones he was wearing; they weren''t anything special. They were simr in quality to the kind of robes the tea house owner wore.

    And in fact, they were from the tea house owner.

    Lin Wu hadn''t forgotten to take the Tea House owner''s spatial storage treasure. It was a simple pendant that hung from his neck and was taken by Lin Wu the moment he had withdrawn his tentacle after stabbing the man.

    There were a lot of things in the man''s spatial storage tool, which was of the mid grade. There were spirit stones, some pills, a lot of coins as well as misceneous items such as clothes and more.

    Of course there were some sensitive items such asnd deed, and other contracts in it too. Lin Wu had taken a look through everything while Feng was still asleep.

    The mask, though, was not something from the Tea House owners storage. It was something Lin Wu had brought with him. He had the mask in his storage for a long time and now it was finally getting a use.

    Over all the mask looked a bit crude, having been carved out of wood. It only had in openings for the eyes and the mouth, and had a band at the back that allowed it to be worn.

    If anything, it looked like a mask that was made by some child as a toy.

    But it was not so. The mask was actually a mid grade spirit tool.

    "It can help hide your spirit Qi and cultivation base. You haven''t gained a control over it yet, so this will be essential." Lin Wu answered the boy.

    "Oh! I see. It will certainly be useful." Feng nodded his head enthusiastically.

    Growing up as an orphan from the slums, Feng knew well enough that keeping a low profile was very useful and would prevent one from getting in excessive situations usually. Even if he had be a cultivator now, he knew that he was weakpared to most experts and needed to grow stronger first.

    Feng thus changed into his new robes and tried on the mask. As soon as he wore it, he felt a slight drain on his spirit Qi, which quickly stopped.

    He didn''t feel a direct difference at first, but a couple of minutester he felt like there was a thinyer of some kind around him. Theyer was immaterial and could only be felt through his mind.

    He focused on it and felt the spirit Qi fluctuations being emitted from his body. The fluctuations spread out from his body and hit theyer, preventing them from going any further.

    If any average cultivator saw him right now, they would only think that he was at the body tempering realm.

    "Can this hide my cultivation from everyone senior?" Feng asked.<sub> </sub>

    "Of course not. Right now, you appear as a normal human with just body tempering realm cultivation to others. But once your cultivation base increases, the baseline that the mask can hide will also increase.

    This mask can hide up to two stages of cultivation. This means that even at the mid stage of the Qi refining realm you will seem like someone that is just in the body tempering realm. And only when you reach the Late stage of the Qi refining realm will you start showing your spirit Qi cultivation base.

    But even then, it will only show you at the Early stage of the Qi refining realm." Lin Wu exined.

    "I understand, senior." Feng quickly grasped it all.

    It was a simple thing anyway and wasn''t that difficult for the boy to understand.

    "Ummбн what am I supposed to do now, senior?" Feng asked.

    He had gained a new body that was better than before and had even be a cultivator, but he didn''t know what was next. Their deal was that he would do certain tasks for Lin Wu and he wondered what it would be.

    "For now, you will cultivate." Lin Wu spoke. "At your current level, you won''t be able to do much and will only die." He added.

    "Thatsбн True." Feng replied. "But then, if I''m to cultivate, don''t I need a cultivation technique?" he asked next.

    "Indeed. And you have that already." Lin Wu stated.

    "I have it?" Feng furrowed his brows, not knowing what Lin Wu meant by that.

    "Try to think for a bit, see if you have some new information in your brain. There should be some new memories there that weren''t there before." Lin Wu answered.

    "I have new memories?" Feng muttered in confusions and closed his eyes, trying to see if it really was like that.

    ~UGH~

    And just as Feng did that he felt a sharp pain in his head, along with a ton of memories that were appearing out of nowhere. The memories described a lot of things, and Feng felt a little overwhelmed.

    The headachested for about two minutes before Feng felt better.

    "Thisбн this is the cultivation technique?" Feng finally found the right information.

    It wasn''t as difficult as he thought, since the cultivation technique was literally the first set of information among the memories.

    "I''ve given you a cultivation technique and other knowledge about the cultivation world as well as concepts that you need to know. From now on, you will cultivate andprehend all the information." Lin Wu stated.

 Chapter 871 The Boys First Task

    Feng nodded his head upon hearing Lin Wu.

    It felt like the right option for him now and he was really excited to know more about cultivation as well. Feng had yearned for this for many years now, after all. Ever since he was a child, he had seen the cultivators do as they pleased without needing to care much.

    He too, desired the same and wanted to be like that. This was one of his biggest desires. But it wasn''t the only one either.

    Feng had no parents and no one to care for. Feng didn''t even know how he had appeared in Tieba city. He had asked the other denizens of the slums, but got no proper answer. After all, in a chaotic ce like the slums, things were hard to keep track of.

    And thus Feng wanted to find out more about himself and his parents. He knew he had to havee from somewhere and he wanted to learn where that was, as it certainly was not Tieba city.

    He wanted to see if he had any other rtives out there and to do that, he needed power and status. After all, the world was very vast and there were many people living in it. To find a few or maybe even a single person out of them was the same as finding a needle in an ocean.

    But Feng had heard that strong cultivators had mysterious abilities. There were some that could even divine the karma and thus help find a lot of secrets. He hoped that he could take the help of a diviner like that, or even be one.

    All that would only happen once he began his journey, though.

    "I shall do as you said, senior." Feng spoke, fully intending to follow through.

    "Mmбн" Lin Wu hummed in response and then thought of something. "Now that I think of it, perhaps I can assign a task for you."

    "Please do! I shall do whatever you say." Feng replied hurriedly.

    "Very well. Then as your first task, let''s set a goal. Hmmбн I want you to reach thete stage of Qi refining realm in a month''s time." Lin Wu stated.

    "The L-Late Stage of the Qi Refining realmбн? In a month''s timeбн?" Feng was stunned by the request.

    While he might not know the details of cultivation, he at least knew the starting realms and how long they took. After all, he didn''t even need to be exined this as it was something he had learned from simple observation.

    He had seen many Qi refining realm cultivators, and they were also the mostmon ones. And from the ones that visited the Tea House, he knew that most Late Stage Qi refining realm cultivators were old.

    Even if they looked younger, many were often in their thirties. As for the young masters, they were nurtured by their respective ns and even had the talent, along with the guidance from an early age.

    ''Can I do that?'' Feng questioned himself.

    Seeing the expression of Feng, Lin Wu knew what the boy must have been thinking. He could also understand the thoughts of the boy somewhat. After all, they were considered to be logicalбн normally.

    "Do you really think your new body canpare with the average person here? HAH! Not a single person would be able to match the talent that your body has right now. I won''t make an inferior choice like that.

    And the cultivation technique I''ve given you is something that will make even the Long n envious." Lin Wu stated loudly.

    Hearing the proud ims of Lin Wu, Feng was a bit stunned, but then a warmth appeared within his eyes.

    ''Of course! I''m no longer the same as before. The abilities of the senior are truly the most mysterious since they can even give me a new body.'' Feng thought to himself.<sub> </sub>

    ? With just a few words, Lin Wu had started changing the life perspective of the former servant boy.

    "YES! I shall not disappoint you, senior!" Feng proimed loudly.

    "Good. I''ll leave for now. I have more things to do." Lin Wu said, seeing that the boy felt a lot more confident now.

    "How will I contact you, senior?" Feng questioned. "You know when I finish the task?"

    "Oh, I will know. And I will contact you when you do so, too." Lin Wu replied.

    "How?" Feng was a little confused.

    ''Like this.'' Feng suddenly heard a voice in his mind.

    "WHAT!?" he was a little startled.

    "I canmunicate with you in your mind. So you don''t need to worry." Lin Wu spoke.

    "I seeбн this is amazing." Feng couldn''t help but say.

    "Oh, there is a lot more that you will learnter on. Cultivation has endless discoveries to make." Lin Wu said before disappearing back into the ground.

    Once Lin Wu was gone, Feng continued to stare at the spot where the ''head'' used to be.

    "Just what creature is he, really?" Feng wondered.

    He was a hundred percent sure that Lin Wu was not a human. Feng wondered if Lin Wu was one of the mysterious spirits or creatures that were intelligent, just like humans.

    There were many such tales spread out in the world, after all. And evenmoners would hear them, thinking of them as fairy tales. But these fairy tales were often true, just hard to verify.

    Feng looked around the empty hall after a couple of minutes of nkness and scrunched his nose.

    "Ugh! I can''t stay in a stinky ce like this. No way I''ll be able to focus." Feng said to himself.

    It was fine before when he was in his old body, as the stink didn''t bother him much and he was used to it. But now with his new body and stronger senses, it was headache inducing.

    Feng quickly left the old building and jumped over the wall with ease, feeling the increase in his strength.

    ''Just how strong is my body now?'' Feng wondered.

 Chapter 872 Strong And Penniless

    Feng was a little surprised by the jump he had just done.

    He was originally hoping to jump just enough to catch onto the top of the wall edge and pull himself up. But instead of that, he had directly jumped over the five meter tall wall!

    And not just that, when hended on the other side, his legs feltpletely fine, as if he had not just fallen from a height of over five meters.

    <o>,m Feng couldn''t help but take a second look at his body.</o>

    ''I need to test thisбн'' Feng thought to himself and picked up a brick lying on the side.

    ~Crumble~

    And with just a little force, the brick crumbled into fragments.

    "This is not gonna be enough to confirm it. I need something tougher." Feng muttered to himself as he went in a certain direction.

    Since he needed a ce to cultivate, he would not stay in the slums and be bothered by the sensory overload that this ce gave him. But if he wanted to find a better ce, it would only be in the other districts.

    And to get a ce like that, he needed money. Money that he did not have.

    ''Should I have asked Senior for some money?'' Feng wondered, but then shook his head.

    "Noбн he''s already helped me a lot, and the help is priceless. If I can''t even get some money on my own, then what is my worth even with all this?" Feng said to himself, finding it all a little humiliating.

    He continued onwards and soon left the slums. No one questioned a masked man running through the streets either, as it was far toomon of a scene here.

    Or rather, they would be surprised if there wasn''t a day that they didn''t see someone like this.

    Upon leaving the slum, Feng didn''t go to the same district where the Tea House was. Instead, he went to a different one that was located in the southern Part of Tieba city.

    "Let''s seeбн it should be somewhere around hereбн" Feng muttered to himself as he searched for a specific ce.

    He had been here once a couple of years ago and his memories were a little fuzzy.

    ''There!'' Feng soon found the ce he was looking for.

    Some distance away from him were multiple shops, all selling various kinds of weapons, both normal and spirit weapons. But among these shops, there was one that was the biggest.

    On its top a board was hung that read: ck Sheep cksmith.

    This was thergest cksmith and weapon buinsess in this district and was rather popr. This was proved easily with the tens of people that were entering and exiting the shop at all times.

    "Hey! Get in line!" A guard standing at the entrance called out, seeing Feng entering directly from the side.

    Since there were a lot of customers, the shop needed a queue to amodate all of them. Even in a chaotic city like Tieba city, there was still a certain level of order which often felt ironic to its residents.

    The people standing in the line didn''t seem angry too. Instead, they had amused expressions on their faces.

    "Look at another one."

    "Do you think we''ll get to see a fight again?"

    "Nah, it''ll hardly be a fight. Look at the guy. He''s not even a cultivator."

    "Yeah, the guard is at the mid stage of the Qi refining realm. He''ll wipe the floor with him."

    The people standing in the line conversed. It was evident that this was a regr urrence and they simply took it as entertainment by this point.

    "Though that guy doesn''t look simple. His clothes are of a good quality."<sub> </sub>

    "Oh, yeahбн maybe one of those young masters hiding their cultivation base?" someone joked.

    "Hah! That would be even more fun."

    "I know, right? And that crude looking mask is some great spirit tool that can hide his cultivation base, which is at likeбн the core condensation realm or something." The people continued to join in on the joke.

    Feng who heard all this, couldn''t help but smile wryly. Thankfully, it was hidden by the mask so no one witnessed it.

    "Hey! Didn''t you hear me? Get in line!" The guard said again, seeing that Feng had not reacted.

    "Oh, I''m not here to buy. I''m here to work. Isn''t the position for pounders always open?" Feng spoke.

    Hearing this, the guard was surprised and so were the people in the line.

    "You want to join as a pounder?" The guard asked, thinking that it was strange.

    He had noticed Feng''s clothes and thought of him as some merchant or other businessman who was looking to cut in line. But he never expected someone wearing clothes like these to work as a Pounder.

    "Yeah." Feng confirmed.

    "Very wellбн follow me." The guard said, and took Feng in through the side door.

    Meanwhile, the people standing in the lineughed even more, finding the situation to be even more fun than they had expected.

    Feng entered through the side door and was brought to an underground area. And as soon as he reached the bottom, he felt the air heat up.

    ~Creak~

    Arge metal door was opened by the guard, and he gestured.

    "Get in!" The guard said before shutting the door.

    ~CLANG~

    Feng was left feeling a little lost, but soon saw a burly man approaching him.

    "Pounder?" The burly man asked, not caring about Feng''s appearance.

    "Yes." Feng said.

    "Grab a hammer from the pile and go to any of the forging rooms. You get paid for each kilogram that you pound." The burly man directed before leaving.

    ~Sigh~

    Feng shook his breath and picked up a hammer from therge pile on the side and randomly picked a room to enter.

    ~WHOOSH~

    ~DENG~ DENG~ DENG~

    And when he did, even more intense heat assaulted him, along with the sound of metal being hit.

    In the room there were tens of workers, hammering chunks of unrefined metal.

    "Let''s get to it thenбн" Feng muttered to himself as he picked an empty spot for himself.

 Chapter 873 Fengs New Life

    ~CLANG~ CLANG~ CLANG~

    "HAAA~ finallyбн" Feng ced down the hammer and tossed a ttened piece of metal into the pile next to him.

    One could already see over a hundred simr pieces of metal in the pile, all hammered in the same way. Some of them even had faint cracks in them, showing the power with which they had been hammered.

    If one looked around, one would see that there were several other such piles in the hall, with many people hammering metal like Feng. The only difference wasбн Feng''s pile was easily three times the size of the average pile here.

    His performance was good enough to catch the attention of a few workers.

    "Is that really a newbie?" One of the workers wondered.

    "Yeahбн the way he hammers is like he''s a professional cksmith and not a mere pounder." The worker next to him answered.

    A Pounder was basically a crude term for a forge servant. These people weren''t exactly cksmiths since they didn''t have the skills of one. Their only job was to hammer crude metal ore and turn them into somewhat t pieces.

    This kind of metal was the mostmon Grey Iron ore and was used for making both normal and spirit weapons. Pounders basically turned them into t pieces so that the cksmiths would save time and could work longer on perfecting the weapon.

    Being a pounder was a job that needed no skill, and many people would try their hand at it for money when they had nothing else to do. It was a job with no requirement other than the fact that one needed some strength.

    There was always a demand for more Grey iron ore sheets, as it was the mostmon metal for weapons and thus there was never ack for the jobs.

    But there was also the fact that this was a tough and tiring job. ttening one piece of the Grey Iron ore gave one 50 copper coins, but it took a long time. An average warrior at the fifth stage of the body tempering realm would take at least an hour to do this.

    And if they worked for eight hours, they would make 400 copper coins or 4 silver coins. This amount was enough for one to feed themselves for a week if they ate cheap food. Of course stronger warriors would be able to work more and make more too.

    And there was no restriction on how long they could work. If they could, they were wee to do it for a 100 hours nonstop.

    Of course, there wasn''t really anyone crazy enough to do that.

    It wasn''t that there wasn''t anyone with that kind of strength and stamina, as cultivators could easily achieve that. But it was the fact that the effort and oue were not proportionate.

    A cultivator who had the strength to work for 100 hours like that may very well do some other job fitting and make 10 times more than that with 10 times less effort.

    But for Feng, who had no reputation or identity that could be used here, it was the best job he could do.

    The workers and the owner of the ck Sheep cksmith didn''t care for the identities of who worked as pounders. It was an entry level job and there wasn''t much to it.

    Though today was the day that they got to see an outlier like Feng.

    He was working in robes and had even covered his face with a mask unlike many others who either worked in light clothes or were even shirtless in these hot conditions.

    Not to mention, even after having worked for over fifteen hours, the boy didn''t seem tired n the one bit while others already had their clothes drenched with sweat.

    "You''re done?" A buff man saw Feng approaching him with a sack on his back.<sub> </sub>

    "Yes, here''s all of them." Feng said before putting the sack down.

    ~CLANG~

    The buff man raised his brows upon seeing the sack and the loud sound it made. He opened its mouth and poured them all out before counting them.

    "197бн 198бн 199бн 200бн 251.. 252бн" The Buff man was a bit surprised. "You really did all this on your own?" he couldn''t help but ask.

    The man didn''t doubt Feng or think that he had stolen these from others, as something like that would have already caused an uproar.

    "Yup. Can I get the payment?" Feng replied.

    "Yeah,e with me." The buff man said talking Feng to the upper floor through a different staircase this time.

    ~Creak~

    The wooden door opened, and a cool breeze blew from it making Feng feelfortable.

    ''I forgot just how hot it was down thereбн this new body is amazing!'' Feng was amazed.

    When he had just entered the forging hall, he was a little ufortable from the heat, but in just a few minutes he had adapted to it, forgetting he was in a hot ce.

    It was a strange thing that he would have never imagined in the past.

    "This pounder needs to be paid." The buff man spoke to a clerk sitting at a desk.

    The clerk was reading something and furrowed his brows upon hearing the man''s words.

    "And why would youe to me for that? Aren''t pounders supposed to be paid by you?" The clerk said with an irritated expression.

    "Yes, but I''m only allowed to do transactions lower than 1 gold coin." The buff man said, not minding the clerk''s irritated face.

    "What? Do you mean to say some pounder made more than that?" The clerk asked.

    "Yes, he did. About 252 pieces." The buff man replied. "And I counted it twice." The man added before the clerk would rebuke.

    "Hmmбн fine then." The clerk didn''t ask anymore and took out several coins from the desk.

    "1 gold and twenty six silver coins. Count them." The clerk said before handing it to Feng.

    Feng counted all of them at a nce and stored them away in a pouch before leaving without a word.

 Chapter 874 Covering The Lack Of Foundation

    "I should have enough for a month now." Feng muttered as he ran through the streets. ''And I definitely can''t work there again. This was just a one time thingбн''

    Making the amount of money that he did today was the same as what many pounders made in a month. While it wasn''t an amount that might catch the eye of the shop''s staff, what it would is Feng''s ability.

    After all, not many would be able to work as he did. At least not without enough power which meant that he had to be a cultivator.

    A cultivator in Tieba city could easily make a lot more money from several avenues. But Feng working as a Pounder would be taken as something suspicious. Doing it once was okay, since it could be taken as a one off thing.

    But if he did it again, it would not be normal.

    Besides. Feng never wanted to do this as a job. It was only to get some cash that he could spend on his immediate needs.

    "Here it is," Feng came to stop before arge building that was spread in nearly a hundred meter wide plot.

    A name board hung on its multiple entrances, which read: White Sheep Inn.

    "While this one is a little expensive, I shouldn''t be disturbed here for a month." Feng said to himself as he stepped into the inn.

    The inn and the cksmith that he had been to earlier sounded rather simr because they were owned by a single n, the Yang n. One of the family members ran the ck Sheep cksmith, and another ran the White Sheep Inn.

    The Yang n was one of the more influential powers of the Tieba city and had their hands in many kinds of businesses.

    The White Sheep in catered to people of all types, whether they be rich or poor. This was also the reason why it had multiple entrances.

    One could take the entrance that suited their budget the most. And each of the entrances was modeled ordingly, too. The one meant for rich people was lined with marble and pots with fragrant flowers were ced along it. The attendants standing on its sides were also beautiful women.

    While the one that Feng was taking was very simple, with a brick floor and wooden pirs. There were no extra decorations and only a couple of tough looking guards stood on it sides.

    But even if there were different kinds of entrances and features in the inn, one thing the inn ensured was safety. Which is why many people preferred the White Sheep Inn in this area.

    Feng could have chosen inn''s that were a lot more cheaper than this, but it would alsoe with its own issues and trouble that might disturb him. This was not what he wanted, as he simply wanted to focus on cultivation.

    Checking into the Inn was a quick process and Feng merely needed to pay the fees for the room in advance and he was given a key. Though no one guided him to his room and he had to go there on his own.

    The quality of service here was non existent here, after all.

    ~Creak~

    The door of the room was rather creaky, and the insides were old. There was a simple wooden bed with a table and chair in the room.

    "At least it''s cleanбн" Feng muttered and sat on the bed.

    He took off the mask and went through the memories in his mind. There were a lot of them, and it took him the entire night to go through them one time.<sub> </sub>

    "There''s indeed a lot to the world of cultivationбн so many realmsбн so many powersбн upationsбн beastsбн ntsбн and a lot more." Feng recalled everything that he had learnedst night.

    Lin Wu had made aprehensive set of information that should ce Feng at least several notches above the baseline for cultivators in the world. He couldn''t have him be ignorant after all.

    But even after going through all the information, there was still the most important part left that of cultivation.

    "The cultivation technique isn''t simpleбн just how many steps are there?" Feng was a little lost.

    While he didn''t need to ''memorize'' the cultivation technique, since it was in his mind, he still needed to get used to it and practice it. But doing so wasplex due to the many concepts he was not used to.

    Such as the meridian paths, Qi circuits, and a lot more.

    Thankfully, he had already reached the early stage of the Qi refining realm due to Lin Wu''s infusion and simply needed to sense the spirit Qi flowing naturally through his body to learn about his meridians.

    Soon he also figured out his natural Qi circuits as well as how to control his spirit Qi.

    If anyone from a sect or other power were to see how quickly Feng was mastering it all, they would be stunned, to say the least. Things like these are too months to learn for even the average disciple of a top sect.

    After all, even children of the top ns started cultivating when they reached a certain level of theoretical understanding. The reason they had an advantage wasn''t just because they had a talent, but because they were taught about the necessary concepts from the very start.

    Now Feng had covered theck of his conceptual foundation in just a matter of two days.

    ~huu~

    "Let''s try this again, shall we?" Feng said to himself, and finally used the unnamed cultivation technique that had been given to him.

    At first he sensed the spirit Qi within him, then the spirit Qi around him. Then following the breathing method prescribed in the cultivation technique, he started practicing it.

    ~WHOOSH~

    But in just a minute, he felt like he was being drowned and water was being poured down his mouth and nose.

    "UGH! What was that?" Feng said, and patted his hand on the bed.

    ~HUALA~

    ~KACHA~

    But then the bed broke under him.

 Chapter 875 The Struggles Of Cultivation

    Feng had not expected the bed to be broken so easily. But the overwhelming feeling of drowning simply made him too anxious and he couldn''t control his strength.

    Back at the ck Sheep cksmith''s forging halls, Feng had already tested out and gotten an idea of his strength. Even without a hammer, he was capable of bending the pieces of ore and even ttening them if he hammered them with his fists.

    It was one of the reasons why he had chosen that ce, as it solved two of his issues in one go.

    But now the broken bed had only increased his burden once more.

    ~Sigh~

    "More of the saved money will end up in thisбн guess I''ll just have to make do with it for the month." Feng muttered to himself.

    Thankfully, the way the bed had broken, it was only the legs that had copsed and not the frame itself. So it had be a floor bed from a normal elevated bed.

    ''Still that drowning feelingбн is that supposed to be normal?'' Feng wondered for a while.

    He even checked his body and verified if all the steps were correct, but couldn''t find any reason.

    "Should I perhaps ask senior?" Feng wondered. "No! I can''t do that. Senior gave me the goal of reaching thete stage of the Qi refining realm by the end of the month and I have to achieve it in any way!" he said with determination.

    With that decided, Feng sat back down in a cross-legged position and started to cultivate ording to the nameless cultivation technique once more. Seconds passed by and Feng reached the one minute mark when the drowning feeling resurfaced.

    ''I must hold on!'' Feng shouted in his mind.

    His mouth and nose felt like they were being filled with water when using the breathing method, but Feng simply held on and kept on doing it.

    By the second minute though, he couldn''t keep up with it and had to stop.

    ~huu~

    Feng let out a breath of exhaustion andid back on the bed.

    "What am I doing wrong?" Feng questioned, but couldn''t find an answer.

    ~Sigh~

    "Again!" Feng tried the entire process once more, this timesting for an additional twenty seconds.

    He took a pause after he was unable to do it, and began it again, repeating this cycle until an entire day had passed.

    "Haaaбн Haaaбн Haaaбн Six minutesбн I can hold onбн for six minutesбн" Feng muttered to himself.

    A day''s world had increased by the time he could hold on from a minute to six minutes. While it seemed like a very short amount of time in terms of a cultivation session, it was still an improvement.<sub> </sub>

    Feng would not have stopped and repeated it all, if not for the fact that his stomach was now protesting.

    ~groan~

    "I need to eatбн" Feng said as he looked at the sky outside.

    It was a little past midnight, and he felt rather ravenous. The energy he had gained from eating all the food given by Lin Wu and the energy injected by him had been expended over the past couple of days and now Feng was in need of more food.

    He left his room and went down to get some food in the tavern area of the Inn. Since there was always influx and efflux of people in Tieba city at all times of the day, finding food here at night was never an issue.

    Most of the establishments in the city worked 24/7 and going there at night was often the same as going in the day. While the traffic was lower in the night, this was greatly different depending on the kind of establishment it was.

    For a major inn like the White Sheep Inn, there was basically no change.

    Feng saw a lot of people in the tavern and found himself a table in the corner. It didn''t take long for a waiter toe to him and take his order.

    But once Feng finished eating, he realized another problem.

    ''Damnбн this isбн not enoughбн it didn''t even put a dent in my appetite.'' Feng thought to himself.

    It wasn''t that the portion of food he had eaten right now was less, as it was something that should easily fill up a warrior at the seventh stage of the Body Refining realm or even most of the Qi refining realm cultivators.

    Feng could, of course order more food, butparing the amount of hunger he had and the money he had left, there was no way he could afford that.

    "What do I do now?" Feng asked himself.

    While he racked his head for ideas, he saw something that caught his eyes.

    A group of men had just walked in with a few beast corpses on their backs. They weren''t any strong beasts, justmon beasts that could be easily found in the surroundings of Tieba city.

    ''Of course! I don''t need to eat the food here. I can now hunt outside the city freely!'' Feng understood.

    In the past he had no strength to speak of, thus even leaving the city was out of question, not to mention hunting beasts.

    Choosing this, Feng left the Inn and made his way to the nearest city exit. He reached it after about forty minutes and left it with no issues. After all, there were no guards that would block him or question him where he was going at this time.

    There were a lot of beasts near Tieba city as it was surrounded by a mixture of terrains, from forests, hills,kes, mountains to even a small desert. Of course, for Feng the closest area was just the forest near the exit he had taken and the beast that inhabited them.

    With his enhanced senses, seeing in the dark was a lot easier and the moon in the sky also provided him with a faint light that helped him even more.

    When morning arrived, a stack of smoke could be seen in the forest, along with the scent of some meat being cooked.

 Chapter 876 The Boogeyman Of Tieba City

    While Feng dedicated himself to the task that Lin Wu had given him, the beast in question was also doing his own thing.

    ~CRACK~

    ~SLURP~

    "And that''s about four hundred." Lin Wu said as he swallowed another human.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA NODE: Obtained

    ANALYZING: Data node

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    "Nice." Lin Wu said as he got more information.

    The past few days had been spent by Lin Wu in simply hunting down the targets that were selected by the system and obtaining more information about the city and its secrets. Additionally, Lin Wu was gaining quite a bit of spirit Qi from this as well, so it was rather pleasing to him over all.

    ~Ding~

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [12,648,963/90,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    All this was the spirit Qi that he had obtained either from eating beasts along the way here, the humans of the city, or the materials that his victims had in their storage tools. For a span of less than a month, this was a really good gain for him.

    ~Sigh~

    "Though I need to take a pause from this for a bitбн the people are getting suspicious now." Lin Wu said to himself.

    It was fine till he was eating the people from the slums and the intermediate areas. But the very next day after he ate a couple of ''nobles'' from the aristocratic districts, the news had already spread.

    Of course, the assumption was that the missing people were either assassinated or kidnapped. It wasn''t something umon in the city. But the way they disappeared was the most suspicious of the people close to them.

    Lin Wu had basically left no traces behind of the ''abductions''. With the assistance of the system, he could pretty much erase all traces of his actions, and even the ones that were left behind were not of much use.

    This basically created a mystery in the noble circle.

    But this mystery was shortsting. Once Lin Mu did the same act tens of times, the nobles became alert.

    And this matter reached the Dao Treading realm experts of the city when Lin Wu ended up eating a Dao Shel realm cultivator who turned out to be the illegitimate son of a Dao Treading realm expert!

    Now it was no longer the mystery of suspicion disappearances, but rather the terror of a bogeyman in the city.<sub> </sub>

    The nobles also realized that the disappearance wasn''t just in their circle but in the lower strata of the city as well. And when they saw the numbers, there being even higher than theirs they were shocked.

    There was no pattern to the supposed disappearance, and the onlymon thing between them was that the ones who were abducted were all alone during the time period of their disappearance.

    There was not much linking to the victims either, and it felt like they were random.

    In just a day or two after this matter blew up, a variety of rumors spread. Including the fact that perhaps a ghost was causing this all and it might be a vengeful one who hade to take revenge on the city.

    "They really like to make up some fun scenarios, huhбн" Lin Wu said as he eavesdropped on the conversation of a few aristocrats in an upscale restaurant.

    There were scantily dressed women dancing on the stage a short distance from their table as well as waitresses that were dressed simrly, serving them.

    "What should we do, lord Cao? We can''t just sit and watch more people disappear." One of the men spoke.

    "Hmmбн what can we even do? Should we just start doing patrols? We can''t do that." Lord Cao replied.

    "Yes, that''s simply out of the question. It would be against the order of the city. At most, we can patrol our own properties." Another man stated.

    Many of the people couldn''t help but nod their heads in agreement, but some had frowns on their face.

    "What''s the issues madam Hun, do you not agree with this?" Lord Cao asked one of the only two women sitting along with them.

    "It''s not that I don''t agree, but I''m more worried about the fact that it is happening now." Madam Hun replied.

    "What do you mean?" A thin and short man questioned.

    "Are you all forgetting the schedule? We all have to prepare for the expedition five days from now." Madam Hun answered.

    "The expedition?" Lord Cao furrowed his brows. "You don''t mean to say someone is trying to sabotage that?" he asked.

    "Maybeбн but whoever they are, they don''t seem to be fullymitted to the sabotage. The only person rted to the expedition they targeted was just one of the weapon suppliers. And they weren''t even that important.

    Plus, they also targeted Master Jingan. If they can take out a Dao Shell realm expert like that with no traces, then they easily hold the capabilities to foil our entire n." Madam Hun exined.

    "Hmmбн that does change the things." The others couldn''t help but find merit in her words.

    "So you think they are warning us somehow?" The second woman in the group asked.

    "That does seem like it Miss Xiaolian. I can''t think of any other reason than that." Madam Hun replied. "After all the condition in which he obtained information about the expedition wereбн rather unsavory."

    Silence descended among the group for a bit and even the servants around them became anxious and retreated. They knew well to keep silent and away from meetings like these unless they were asked for.

    While the nobles talked in the restaurant, Lin Wu who was deep unearth them smiled.

    "Didn''t think I''d find someone like this hereбн" Lin Wu muttered as he observed the woman named Xiaolian.

    "Shirongбн Shirongбн has your enmity with your sister ended yet? I wonder why she''s here?" Lin Wu wondered.

    That''s right, the woman in the group called Miss Xiaolian was none other than Ji Shirong''s elder sister, Ji Xiaolian!

 Chapter 877 Ji Xiaolian And An Expedition

    Lin Wu had not expected to see the woman here.

    He knew about Ji Xiaolian since he had seen Shirong''s memories. The memories he had of his elder sister were rather mostly mundane, but thest he had heard about her, Lin Wu knew that she had opposed Shirong in some ways.

    "Wonder if Shirong knows about this or not?" Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Wanting to know more, he left the avatar under the system''s control and shifted to his main body.

    Back at the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, Lin Wu''s main body opened its eyes after over a month''s cultivation.

    "Hmmбн let''s seeбн" Lin Wu opened up themunication window and contacted Shirong.

    It took about a minute to get to him, but it finally reached him.

    "Senior?" Shirong had not expected Lin Wu to contact him today.

    He was in the middle of some work when Lin Wu''s words were heard in his mind.

    "I wanted to ask you something." Lin Wu spoke directly.

    "Sure, go ahead." Shirong replied right away.

    "Your elder sister Xiaolian, what happened between you two?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Oh herбн well, she tried to get me killed and assassinated several of my subordinates a few years ago. After returning to the n, I got into a conflict with her and won. But ording to the rules of the n,'' couldn''t kill her.

    But she still got punished due to going against the n''s regtions by getting a third party to interfere. Since then, she has been sent to the n''s prison." Shirong answered.

    Lin Wu had not expected this to have happened in the time that had passed.

    ''No wonder he had no opposition for a while. Though this is just one of his siblings, there is still Weiyuan.'' Lin Wu remembered the party that had tried to take over the Frozen Cloud sect.

    But this still didn''t exin the fact that Lin Wu had seen her back in Xiaolian city.

    "Are you sure that your sister is in the Ji n''s prison?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes. She should still be there." Shirong said, but then a thought came to his mind. "Wait, seniorбн did something happen?" he asked.

    "Maybeбн but perhaps you should check up on your sister in the prison. See if she really is there." Lin Wu instructed.

    "I will." Shirong replied, having a bad feeling.

    "Oh, yeahбн use the Emeraldine Heart spear to test herбн to see if it really is her." Lin Wu added.

    Shirong''s expression darkened as he felt that perhaps his sister had really fooled their n.

    "Yes, senior." Shirong said before leaving his residence.<sub> </sub>

    "Interestingбн is it really her or is she using some method of remote control?" Lin Wu wondered.

    With the information that the system had, Lin Wu knew that there were methods of chancing one''s appearance and even controlling someone else. But he didn''t know if those would work from such a long distance or from a ce of incarceration.

    "Let''s see what else we can findбн" Lin Wu said before returning to the avatar.

    ~shua~

    Back under the upscale restaurant, the Avatar continue to listen to all that was happening above. There were certainly a lot more interesting things that had been discussed.

    One of them being the information about a certain expedition that was to happen soon.

    "Isn''t this what those guys were going to take part it?" Lin Wu had some information about this already.

    He had eaten a couple of people that knew about this so-called expedition already.

    "So that''s how it is?" Lin Wu learned a few more details from the mouths of everyone.

    Basically, the expedition was for a new tomb that had been discovered in the south. It was discovered by two kingdoms of the south, the Zhan Kingdom and the Peony ins kingdom.

    The Zhan kingdom was a mid sized kingdom while the Peony ins kingdom was a small kingdom. The tomb that had been discovered was actually under the ruins of a ce that had already been explored a long time ago.

    Apparently, a few people who were hunting for some spirit herbs in the area, ended up falling through unstable ground and ended up at the tomb.

    The tomb was protected by several formation arrays and no one could enter from among them. Thus to get some benefits, they sold this information to an intel collecting organization.

    This organization in turn, sold the information to the nearby kingdoms.

    Of course, the intel collecting organization was run by one of the powers of the Tieba city and thus there was no way they would not up their hands in it too. From the initial testing and research that was done on the tomb, they learned that it should have belonged to an Immortal Ascension realm expert from a long time ago.

    But the danger in entering the tomb was also very high, thus the powers of Tieba city decided to let the two kingdoms deal with it first. Then once they were done dealing with the traps and troubles they would fish in the muddied waters.

    It was a good enough n, since there was no way the two kingdoms would be able to deal with multiple powers of the Tieba city, all of whom were backed with Dao Treading realm cultivators.

    Even for the two kingdoms, they only had a couple of Dao Treading realm experts of their own. And they certainly wouldn''t send those out on the expedition. Thus making things easier for the powers of the Tieba city.

    Of course, all of this was secret and the explorers of the two kingdoms would be eliminated before they made out of it, making it seem like they perished in the tomb.

    After all, no one could be med for unknown tombs like this, and the risk was well known.

    "Ahh! Perfect." Lin Wu said upon hearing their entire n.

    "I can make use of thisбн hehe~" Lin Wu chuckled as a few plots formed in his mind.

 Chapter 878 A Remade Tomb

    "Everyone gather up!" A middle aged man dressed in leather armor ordered.

    "YES COMMANDER!" The soldiers around him replied.

    There were over five hundred soldiers here and they were two different armors among them. It could be seen from that they were of different kingdoms. And yet, the one leading them was a man with no affiliation to either of them.

    And if one looked at the back, they would see that there weren''t just soldiers in this, but also some other people.

    "Why can''t we just go there on their own? These soldiers are too slow." A man dressed in simple ck robes spoke in an irritated tone.

    "Those are the rules that the kingdoms set. Do you want to vite them and end up getting targeted? Don''t forget that even if the soldiers are weaker than us on average themander is still strong." Another man dressed in simr robes replied.

    "Couldn''t we have just gone in secretly before the expedition? I doubt they would even know about us. After all, there are a lot of independent cultivatorsing here in groups." A short woman dressed in a green dress asked.

    "And risk dying to an unknown tomb? No way." Their leader in the ck robes said.

    ~Sigh~

    "Seems like we are stuck with this thenбн" they shook their heads.

    This was therge expedition that the Zhan kingdom and the Peony ins kingdom had organized. They had sent their own soldiers as well as allowed the independent cultivators to join in on the expedition.

    They wouldn''t have done something like this normally, but for an unknown tomb, it was not good to use up all their troops and risk getting them eliminated. Besides, if some of these independent cultivators died in the tombs, it would lessen the powers in the kingdoms too.

    Plus, the kingdoms could use them as scapegoats is something ever happened.

    It was a win-win situation for them even if they might have to share the spoils in the end.

    The level of powers was also quiet varied here. The strongest experts here were at the Dao Shell realm, this being none other than themander. Then there were several nascent soul realm experts from both the kingdom, as well as some independent experts.

    But the majority were still at the core condensation realm and the Qi refining realm.

    Therge expedition group came to a stop near the site of the ruins and set up a camp. It was already close to evening, and the people were tired from the long travel. After all, they had to deal with beasts and other minor troubles along the way here.

    The ruins were far into the forests, and the path wasn''t exactly good. A small group would reach it easily, but not one as big as this.

    And while the group rested in the camp, anotherrge being was waiting deep underground.

    "So this is the tomb huhбн doesn''t seem all that impressive." Lin Wu said as he observed the tomb with his spirit sense.

    He had already checked all the humans with his spirit sense and knew their situation as well as strength. Since they weren''t really going to be an issue for him, Lin Wu decided to check up on the tomb instead.

    Compared to the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, it seemed far too inferior and even the formation arrays that were tough and dangerous for the humans were broken through by the system in a matter of minutes.

    Lin Wu now had full ess to the tomb and could do as he pleased.

    "Let''s see what''s hiding in hereбн maybe it''ll enhance myter act." Lin Wu said to himself and opened up a new entrance to the tomb.

    ~CRACK~ CRACK ~ CRACK~

    A few spikes tore apart the floor of the tomb and allowed Lin Wu to enter it. Even then, he had to shrink his body quite a bit. And this was when the tomb was already quite big. It didn''t seem like from the outside, but the tomb actually spread in several kilometers wide area underground.<sub> </sub>

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    MAP: Updated

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    бкбк

    "Oooбн there''s quite a lot of stuff here." Lin Wu said as he saw all the shines appear on the map.

    "Hehe! Firste, first serve!" Lin Wu chuckled and got to collecting everything.

    There were traps in the tomb, but they were either disabled by the system for Lin Wu or were simply ineffective on his body.

    What fire? What poison? What cosmicallyrge stone balls that crushed you?

    Nothing worked on Lin Wu, and he swaggered through the corridors of the tomb.

    There were a lot of cultivation resources kept in the tomb, along with Qi skills and even a couple of cultivation techniques.

    "Guess this is as generic of an expert''s tomb as it can get, huh?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Having gathered it all, he let the system process the Qi skills and cultivation techniques while he started to change the tomb.

    "Let''s make this a little exciting, shall we?" Lin Wu got to work.

    The formation arrays were modified, while the corridors and rooms changed. New areas appeared and new traps were made, along with some rewards as well.

    "Now to wait and watch hehe~" Lin Wu picked thergest room that was newly created and watched as the expedition group entered through the main entrance of the tomb.

    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~

    "ARGH!"

    "NOO!!"

    Right at the entrance, they ended up losing three people that were killed by the stone bullets.

    "Everyone is to be on alert!" Themander ordered and took the lead.

    They got through the locked door and entered, going through room after room, corridor after corridor.

    With the increased danger, around half of them were dead by the time they reached the final chamber.

    "Haaaбн Haбн haбн" Themander and several others were tired as they came to a halt in front of arge door.

    "This must be itбн after all this time and sacrificeбн" themander muttered.

 Chapter 879 A Mysterious Creature

    Having soldiered on for a long time and reaching the end of the Tomb, the soldiers and cultivators were all tired. And yet, when they saw the final door, they all felt a newfound wave of motivation flowing through them.

    "Let''s open it!" The cultivators said,

    "Wait! We have to check it first!" Themander spoke before turning to a specific group in the back. "Formation masters." He called.

    Four cultivators walked out of the group and checked the door with their different methods. Some used spirit tools, and some used their own skills. Regardless, they all had a frown on their face by the time they were done.

    Themander and the rest saw this and knew something might be wrong.

    "What''s the issue?" Themander asked.

    "Yeah, is there some trap there?" The others asked as well.

    "No... rather there is nothing here... no trap or even a normal formation." One of the formation masters spoke.

    "That''s strange... so far we''vee upon one formation array after the other."

    "Is it a disguised trap?"

    "It''s hard to tell, like this. Plus the material of the door is too dense and our spirit sense can''t pass through it." The formation masters added.

    "I see..." Themander replied, a few thoughts going through his mind.

    "What do we do now,mander?" The soldiers asked while the other cultivators watched on in anticipation.

    "We can''t go back empty handed from here. Go! Open it!" Themander ordered.

    "YES SIR!" The soldiers replied beforeing to stand against therge doors.

    They were very heavy and needed the strength of ten men to move a single door.

    It took quite a bit of an effort, but they mustered it all and finally pushed open the door.

    ~CREAK~

    But when it opened, what they saw terrified their very souls.

    "WHAT IS THAT!"

    "HOLY HEAVENS!"

    "A MONSTER!?"

    In front of them was a massive creature that filled half of the entire hall the were in. One must know, the hall was nearly thirty meters tall in height and over seventy meters wide as well.

    A creature that could fill half this hall was simply too massive.

    "Silence!" Themander ordered horridly.

    The soldiers and the cultivators held their mouth right at that moment but still continued to look at the creature. Only now did they realize that the creature seemed to be asleep.

    ''Shit! Did we wake it up?'' the cultivators that had shouted the loudest wondered.

    For two minutes, there was a pin drop silence in the hall, with many holding their breaths. They were far too fearful to breathe and possibly awaken the creature.<sub> </sub>

    Their eyes scanned it, finding its features to be horrifying. It had long tusks around what seemed to be its mouth and had scaly skin that covered the entire extent of its body. It also had multiple eyes, but they were all closed right now.

    If it were not for the fact that they had lights with them, they would not have even seen the many eye slits on its head that seemingly surrounded its mouth.

    "What is this thing?" Someone whispered lightly.

    "Who knows? Though seeing its long body, it''s some kind of a serpent, maybe?" theirpanion replied.

    A few more minutes passed in silence, but the expedition members didn''t move. Only after ensuring that the creature in front of them did not react at all did they start to retreat.

    "HAAA! HAA! HAAA!" the soldiers took a breath of relief after having left the hall behind.

    Everyone retreated to several corridors away from the ending hall, too afraid toe close to the creature.

    "How can something that big even fit in here?" A man asked themander.

    "I don''t know... but from all the rooms and halls we''ve seen so far, it doesn''t seem like the creature had entered from them. They are far too small to fit it." Themander replied.

    "That thing, is it even alive, though?" A soldier nearby wondered.

    "Didn''t you sense the aura? The mere presence of that thing is enough to terrify me." The man who had spoken to themander replied.

    "Calm down, elder Guo. We need to be careful here." Themander spoke.

    "I apologize,mander." The man named Elder Guo replied. "Still... we need to figure out what that thing is and why it''s here."

    "Isn''t it obvious, its guarding something?" A rogue cultivator stated.

    "Something that big must be protecting something really precious, too. Maybe it is an immortal technique!" Someone chimed in.

    As soon as these words were said, the glint of desire could be seen in the eyes of many.

    "We can''t be careless and just go in. We need to know what that creature is first. We don''t even know how strong it is in the first ce." Themander stated.

    "It can''t be stronger than you, can itmander?" One of the soldiers said.

    "No... it is definitely stronger than me... I feel it." Themander honestly replied, much to their surprise.

    The soldiers all felt dreadful and their desire to continue ahead was doused. But this sentiment wasn''t carried by the others.

    A short distance away from them, a small group of cultivators were talking in hushed voices.

    "Did you see that jade slip too?" A man asked hispanions.

    "Yes... not just see it, the Treasure Insight Compass is going crazy ever since it came in its range." A woman replied and took out apass from her sleeve.

    It was a small metalpass about the size of a palm. But the most interesting part was that it had nine needles instead of just one. And right now, they were all going haywire, pointing at random position.

    "Hmm... if it''s like this then it should definitely be a top grade technique in that, right?" the leader of the group said with a smile.

    "Easily. It might even be an immortal grade technique, maybe. Or something better than that, who knows?" The woman answered.

 Chapter 880 Price Of Greed

    Hearing the confirmation from the woman, the leader of the group was pleased.

    "Good! We''ll sneak inter. Just get everything ready." The leader said and looked at themander in the distance. "As for them, we already have the Powdered Wings of the Mid Night butterfly ready." He added.

    "Mmhmmбн we''ll spread it once they are resting." Another man spoke.

    "Very well. We''ll get started on this once we have some more information." The leader said, before dismissing everyone.

    The members of this group dispersed in the crowd and listened to their conversations, preparing for their n.

    Time passed, and soon it was nightfall. The soldiers and the rest of the expedition members were sleeping while themander and Elder Guo were discussing some matters, unaware that a part of their members was viting orders and intruding in the end hall.

    "That''s all of them." A man said as he lifted his hood. "They should all be asleep for a few hours now."

    "Perfect. Themander and Elder Guo should be busy in figuring things out as well. This should give us enough time to get the jade slip and sneak off." The elder stated.

    The members of his group nodded their heads and walked into thest hall. There was no one guarding it due to the fear that they might awaken the creature inside and thus it was easy to get in.

    The doors weren''t closed either, thus making the process even quicker.

    ~shiver~

    Once in, the small group couldn''t help but shiver seeing the creature again.

    "Damnбн no matter how much I look at it, it makes me tremble."

    "Yeahбн whatever that creature it is, it is certainly strong." The leader said with a nod.

    "How do you think they got that thing in here, though?" the woman asked.

    "I don''t think they got it in hereбн I think this ce was built around it instead." A short haired man replied.

    "Really? They built an intricate tomb with so many formation arrays around a creature like that with no issues? I doubt that."

    "Who know''s what kind of power the person who built this had. Maybe they had subdued their creature andmandeer it to guard their tomb." The leader guessed. "Regardless, we should get to our n."

    "Of course." Hispanions said as they started to approach the creature.

    They were slow at first, watching their every step to ensure no trap was triggered. Even if they had not found any trap initially, there was no confirmation for it. They couldn''t take the risk of dying to a random trap aftering this far.

    Little by little, they approached the creature and five minutester, they were finally next to it.

    ''It is simply massive at this proximityбн just how long is this serpent when it is uncoiled?'' the woman couldn''t help but wonder.

    The leader''s eyes were on the jade slip that was kept on a small altar right below the creature. Others might have missed it, but his sharp eyes would never miss something like this. Not to mention, they even had a treasure insightpass.

    The Treasure Insight Compass was a high grade spirit tool that had a valueparable to that of a peak grade spirit tool. They were very hard to refine, and there were only a few spirit tool refiners that could even make them.

    The one that their group had was something they had found in another ruin a long back. They were an independent treasure hunting group that had been working for many years now and they had still kept their abilities secret.

    "There we go." The leader softly whispered upon grabbing the jade slip from the altar.

    ''There really were no trapsбн'' the others were still surprised by this.

    But while the leader held the jade slip in his hand, he realized that the looks that hispanions were giving some suddenly changed. They changed from that of satisfaction to fear.

    "What?" The leader asked.

    "E-eyeбн there is an eye." The woman said in a trembling voice while pointing.

    "An eye?" the leader turned to look up and saw an eye watching him.<sub> </sub>

    The eye had appeared on the body of the creature and was staring at him without blinking. It was nearly half a meter wide and looked eerie.

    The leader started to step back, ready to run at a moment''s notice.

    It was at this time that a voice was heard.

    "Finallyбн you people made me wait nearly a week." A strange and distorted voice spoke.

    "Iбн I-Its awake!" the cultivators realized.

    ~tremble~

    The body of the creature started to move, and the entire floor shook from it.

    "Well thenбн let''s start, shall we?" Lin Wu spoke as his mouth opened.

    Tens of tentacles popped out from his mouth, wiggling like maggots, even having individual mouths of their own.

    "RUN!" The leader said as he directly used his trump card, increasing his speed by five times.

    ~WHOOSH~

    But before he could even go halfway to the doors, he was caught.

    ~SPLAT~

    "ARGH!" A loud and painful cry was let out by him.

    A long tentacle jutted out of his stomach, holding him in the air.

    "One down, one hundred and ny-two to go." The distorted voice spoke once more.

    ~SCREAM~

    The treasure hunters could no longer hold their voices in and screamed their lungs out.

    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~

    Unfortunately all of them were caught just before they reached the door, the tentacles piercing through their bodies.

    Back where the rest of the expedition members were waiting, amotion started.

    "WHAT WAS THAT?!" a few that were not under the effect of the poison woke up in fright.

    "Someone cried out from the corridor."

    Themander and Elder Guo stopped talking as their faces fell.

    "SHIT!" An expression of rage appeared on themander''s face, knowing that someone had broken his rules.

    ~BOOM~

    A loud sound was heard, and a cloud of dust spread out from the corridors.

    "EVERYONE LEAVE THE TOMB!" themander ordered.

    Unfortunately, only a quarter of the people actually woke up the rest still asleep.

 Chapter 881 The Bearing Of A Monster

    Themander couldn''t risk trying to wake up the ones sleeping and simply ran, Elder Guo doing the same. Both of them knew that there was fouly at work here, as there was no way these soldiers and cultivators would be asleep even now.

    "Dammit! Who dared to sabotage our work?!" Themander shouted in anger.

    Elder Guo also had arge frown on his face, knowing that whoever did this probably had been nning for a long time.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Unfortunately all this was useless to think in their current predicament.

    <strong>~CRASH~</strong>

    The very roof started to break apart and fall, as a massive force hit it.

    "That powerбн Dao Treading realm? No, more!" Elder Guo sensed the energy fluctuations that hade from behind.

    "They awakened that creature!" The Commander understood.

    The two of them continued to run without looking back and soon reached the exit of the tomb. Thankfully, they were far ahead of all others and had managed to escape it before the roof copsed.

    Even they would have a bad time against a falling roof, then it was an area hundreds of meters deep in the ground. Plus, there were still traps and a lot of dangers that would be falling along with the copsing roof after all.

    "Haaaбн HAAбн HAAбн" The Commander tried to catch his breath and looked at the ruins that were atop the tombs.

    The already copsed ruins were now falling into a hole that had appeared in the ground, quite evidently the result of an earlier roof copse.

    ~SCREECH~

    It was at this time that a distorted and ear-piercing screech was heard.

    "What in the name of ancestors is that sound?" Themander and Elder Guo were forced to shut their ears with their hands due to how loud and irritating the sound was.

    "FINALLY!" But a few momentster, when the screech stopped, a coherent voice was heard.

    Even though the voice was still very unnatural, at least the words being spoken were understood well enough.

    "Thatбн" Elders Guo pointed to the dark hole where the ruins once used to stand.

    Multiple yellow lights glowed in the darkness, seemingly oriented in a circle. The two men watched on warily as the circle of yellow lights started to rise. And once they reached a certain height, the light from the moon illuminated the being that the lights were hatched to.

    "That creatureбн it really awakened." Themander said in a stunned voice.

    While he was sure that it could only be that creature that could cause havoc and have strong power like that, seeing it was still a shocking experience.

    It was like watching the statue of a tiger and knowing what it could do, but thenter you encountered a tiger face to face that was hungry and ready to eat you.<sub> </sub>

    Both were vastly different things.

    The two men watched as a massive creature rose from the depths of the hole. It was long enough to tower over them and cast arge shadow that masked them entirely.

    ? They knew this creature as they had seen it down there, but seeing it awake was terrifying. The creature''s multiple yellow eyes gazed at them, while blood and flesh could be seen stuck to its mouth.

    These bits of flesh and bones were being picked apart by small tentacles that were cleaning the creature''s mouth, consuming them. Each of the tentacles had their own mouths, eating the remains.

    This way, not a single bit of the food was wasted.

    Themander and Elder Guo watched in fear and it was as if time had stood still for a few seconds.

    "Over a hundred thousand yearsбн and I finally get to be free!" The creature said out loud, his voice echoing across the forest and bordering on a roar.

    "What is this monster?" Elder Guo couldn''t help but say.

    They were fine with the creature being powerful and terrifying, but seeing it speak as well, they understood that they were in even deeper trouble. It was one thing encountering a mindless monster and another facing an intelligent one.

    "Ah~ You two seem stronger than the bugs before. I should thank you all for awakening me and providing me a good appetizer." Lin Wu said while his mouth opened up wide.

    ''Fuck! They really did awaken it.'' Themander confirmed it for sure this time.

    Lin Wu''s gaze stayed on them, making them unable to move even though their mind was screaming at them to run.

    "Hmmбн I feel a little pleased. How about I give you two a reward?" Lin Wu said much to their surprise.

    "Reward?" Elder Guo said in confusion.

    "Yes~ Isn''t that what you humans call it?" Lin Wu replied. "Am I using the right word? It''s been a while, so thenguage may have changed."

    "That''s correct." Themander actually replied.

    Elder Guo looked at themander with even greater surprise, as he had not expected the man to speak at all. But to themander, he NEEDED to speak. His instincts told him that he had to do this or the consequence might be even worse.

    Besides, he thought if he was going to die anyway, might as well buy more time by talking to the beast. At the same time, he hoped that somehow they would be saved.

    A Hundred more thoughts ran though themander''s mind, all with potential methods to survive this day and escape. And it wasn''t even because that he didn''t want to die, he was already prepared to die the day he chose to join the army.

    But rather because he wanted to warn his mothend. He wanted to warn them about the monster that had been unleashed.

    Over four hundred of years of being in the army had taught him well to trust his guts. And they were telling him that the being in front of them was the worst that could appear in the world.

    It wasn''t a beast; it wasn''t a demon; it wasn''t a viinбн it was a monster.

 Chapter 882 A Chance To Live In Vain

    The Commander of the Zhan kingdom watched the monster in front of him with tense eyes. Elder Guo too stood with him, not wanting to make a move until themander did. Themander was stronger than him, and if even he was waiting, then his running might only spoil things.

    Lin Wu on the other hand, was watching them with an entertained look on his face. Of course, to the humans, it was no less than horrifying.

    "Oh? So thenguage hasn''t changed, it seems. Good! That''ll make things easier." Lin Wu continued his act.

    p ~gulp~</anda>

    Themander swallowed his saliva, trying to build of some courage to speak once more.

    "W-what reward are you offering us?" Themander inquired, his legs shaking like no tomorrow.

    "Ah! A cooperative human, right from the start! This is rare. Thest time I tried to talk, the humans simply attacked or ran away." Lin Wu spoke. "Pity they only listened after I ate three kingdoms~" he added.

    Elder Guo clenched his hands under his sleeves and tried his best to not make a reaction on his face. He could clearly tell that the monster in front of him wasn''t lying or joking. It had truly done that!

    Themander kept his earlier expression and waited for Lin Wu to finish his words.

    "The reward, yesбн you two can get a reward. I offer you twoбн the chance to live." Lin Wu stated.

    The eyes of both men widened at this.

    This was quite literally the thing that they were desiring the most right now.

    "J-just like that?" Elder Guo spoke for the first time.

    "Of course not." Lin Wu said, making the two men flinch. "There is a condition, of course."

    "A-and what''s that?" Themander asked.

    "You two will bring me to your kingdom. Or whatever power you belong to." Lin Wu replied.

    "Might I ask why?" Themander asked carefully, watching Lin Wu''s every move.

    He knew that this was a risky question, but it was one he needed to know.

    "Well you seeбн after being sealed down there for over a hundred thousand years, I''m rather famished. While I''d go and find something to eat anyway, I''d much rather be guided to a feast." Lin Wu exined, only inciting a greater terror in the two men.

    "You want to eat our people?" Themander asked, his expression turning serious.

    "What else do you think I''d do?" Lin Wu replied.

    "There are beasts in the forest and a lot of others things to eat. Why do you want to eat humans?" Themander questioned, knowing that there was no turning back after this.

    "Oh? I never said that I wasn''t going to eat them. All the beasts nts and more, from this point to wherever your people are merely part of the meal. A multi-course mealбн Yes, that''s what you humans call it." Lin Wu answered the worst way he could for the two men.

    Themander gritted his teeth and lightly moved his hand.

    "RUN ELDER GUO! I''LL HOLD IT BACK! INFORM THE KINGDOMS!" Themander yelled while pping away elder Guo with a skill.

    <strong>~BOOM~</strong>

    Arge palm imprint condensed in the air, that sent Elder Guo flying at great speed. Though the man was also injured in it, which was not really that could be cared for right now.<sub> </sub>

    "Tch~ Not obedient anymoreбн ~Sigh~ A hunt would be a good way to start the meal I suppose." Lin Wu said as he opened his mouth wide.

    Tens of tentacles grew out from it, all targeting themander of the Zhan kingdom.

    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~

    ''SO FAST!'' Themander could barely track the movement of the tentacles that wereing towards him.

    He used every ounce of his power to dodge the iing tentacle, and still got nicked in several ces by the sharp teeth that were on each individual tentacle.

    "Futile effort. You should just walk into my mouth and make things easier for yourself, you know?" Lin Wu spoke in a casual tone.

    The tentacles continued to chase themander around, not letting him go past a certain radius.

    "I won''t let you harm our people! The Long n will not let you do that!" Themander shouted.

    "The Long n? HAHAHA! So those snakes built a nest on this world, too?" Lin Wuughed out loud before slowing his attacks and ring at themander. "You know, back when I wasst awake, the main branch of the Long n in the Immortal Realm had to tremble before me!" He said, much to the man''s shock.

    While he could understand the words that Lin Wu was speaking, they were simply too shocking.

    ''The monster said it was awake over a hundred thousand years agoбн the Long n didn''t even exist back then. But it still knowsбн and Immortal realm? It''s not from here?'' There were hundreds of questions appearing in themander''s mind, but none of them were to be answered today.

    ~SLICK~

    A moment''spse was all that was needed for themander to make a mistake.

    ~COUGH!~

    Themander spat out a mouthful of blood and watched the long tentacle that was poking out of his stomach. He could feel his strength being drained by the second and darkness creeping about his vision.

    "Pleaseбн warnбн themбн Elderбн Guoбн" Themander said with difficult before gazing at Lin Wu.

    ~HUU~

    Talking a deep breath that only made him bleed more, themander let out a loud yell.

    "I won''t let you do as you please! DIE!" Themander said as he detonated his Dao Shell as well as his Nascent soul.

    A great energy wave spread from his as his body broke down rapidly from the overwhelming energy.

    ~GULP~

    But before the explosion could happen, a vast abyss consumed him in entirety.

    "Mmmбн Spicy~" This was of course, none other than Lin Wu''s mouth swallowing themander as well as the entire explosion whole.

    Having done this, Lin Wu looked around for a few seconds before disappearing back down.

    But all this had not gone unnoticed. Standing a few kilometers away, a group of people were left utterly terrified.

 Chapter 883 Fear And A Video

    The people of the Tieba City had been watching everything that had happened this whole time. Their original n had been to observe the expedition group and to take away their gains when they finally seeded.

    And if they did not manage to do this, it would still be death for them. After all, it would simply mean that the people were too strong for them to ovee, which they already knew was impossible.

    Originally, they had been wanting to be the oriole that stalked the mantis stalking the cicada. In this case though, the cicada was the tomb underneath the ruins that existed here for many years, while the mantis was the expedition people who came to look for it.

    But shocking to them, the cicada that they were so looking forward to turned out to not be a cicada at all. Instead, it was a monster that ate the mantis and could very easily devour them as well.

    Not just that, but the ''monster'' cicada was a lot more than just that. It was something that could very easily threaten their very existence.

    "W-what was that?" Someone among the people of the Tieba city asked.

    But no answer was heard even after five minutes.

    Everyone had already epted tacitly that it was simply beyond their level to do anything about it and that they needed to inform their superiors about it.

    A dull silence descended among them, none of them able to speak.

    Unknowingly, by the time they reached Tieba city, a new found fear had already settled down in their hearts. It was very mild at first, but had soon be firm over the few hours they had spent in traveling.

    Their return to Tieba city wasn''t taken as normal either.

    Arge gathering was held currently, including all the people who had been assigned to act as ''orioles''.

    The higher ups of Tieba city, who held the greatest power, sat on their seats, their faces nk.

    "Why are you here this early?" one of them questioned.

    "My lordбн Our mission wasбн" the person tried to speak but was unable to.

    The lord waited for a few minutes, but received no response. Seeing this, he turned to the other members of the expedition.

    "What happened?" The lord asked once more.

    "Weбн We encounteredбн something dangerousбн" the second person.

    "Dangerous? DANGEROUS!? YOU SAY?" The lord shouted, making the flinch. "Is something dangerous supposed to bother you? Why do you think we chose you people?" he continued.

    "My lord we know, but the adversaryбк"

    ""Adversary? You say Adversary? Just what kind of a result have you brought us that you call someone an adversary?!" One of the other leaders shouted.

    An oppressive silence spread in the area, but it was soon nullified by the words of a third person.

    "I want to know exactly what happed?" The one who spoke this time was a woman.

    "Miss Xiaolianбн" the others hadplex expressions upon seeing her, but let her do as she pleased.<sub> </sub>

    The people who had been observant of the expedition gritted their teeth and took a deep breath before starting to speak. The people who had been sent on the ''observation'' and ''oriole'' mission had detailed instruction.

    They were to basically follow the expedition people from the Zhan kingdom as well as the peony ins kingdom. The rogue and itinerant cultivators weren''t forgotten either, as there could be some tough contenders among them.

    Of them all, the ones to be watched closely were themander and Elder Guo, as well as a few people that were rather strong among the rogue cultivators.

    They were to observe them all and see how their missions went. Depending on whether they seeded or failed, the people of Tieba city were to eliminate the expedition members, regardless.

    After all, the higher ups of Tieba city knew very well of the power that was there in the Tomb and what could happen if knowledge of it spread. But the end result turned out to be vastly different.

    While the people of the expedition mostly perished, it wasn''t due to the work of the spies. But rather due to the ''monster'' that had awakened.

    It was this very monster that basically confused the higher ups of the Tieba city. For them, this ''monster'' seemed like a beast that had been growing for far too long.

    "My lordбн the monster wasn''t just a beastбн It could speak." One of the spies mustered their courage and spoke.

    "Ludicrous! How can a beast speak!?" one of the lords questioned.

    "My lordбн weбкwe don''t think it was a beast at all." The man answered.

    The anger was obvious on the face of the lord, but he did not act upon it. He knew far better than to do that and also knew that biding his time was the best he could do.

    "Great lords, I took a recording of it all using a spirit tool!" Suddenly, a person at the back shouted.

    <o>,m The person had newly arrived, but the people of the expedition realized him to be one of the lower ss members.</o>

    "How dare you intrude upon this meeting!" The people of the expedition shouted in anger.

    But much to their surprise, the other lords were not feeling the same way.

    "Very wellбн if you have some proof, demonstrate to us. And if the proof is inadequate, you shall be quartered." Miss Xiaolian stated inly.

    While her voice was calm, her intentions were rtively violent. Not to mention it could be seen very clearly in her voice as well as her face.

    Still, the person who had spoken did not seem fazed at all and took out a long pendant for all to see.

    "I''ll demonstrate it for all, my lords anddies." The man spoke and ced the said pendant on a pedestal.

    ~SHUA~

    And as soon as he did, a myriad of lights flickered in the air before turning into a set of images.

    The images moved quickly, turning into a video that showed all what had urred.

 Chapter 884 The Shocked Powers Of Tieba City

    The people in the hall watched the video closely, not missing even a single second of it.

    Their expressions changed several times during the video. Sometimes there was shock, and surprise on their faces, and the other times there was fear and nervousness en it. But along with this, a few people also had expressions of awe on their faces.

    This was strange, and it was union what was going through their minds to show an expression like this. After all, the monster in the video was by all means not something that would be good for anyone.

    And when the video was finally over, the lords of Tieba city were left speechless.

    "That thingбн what do weбн"

    They all looked at each other, wondering if anyone had an idea. Even the Dao Treading realm experts among them seemed to be rmed.

    "M-my lordsбн how should we progress from here?" One of the expedition team members asked.

    They had already experienced the scene in the video first hand, and thus didn''t feel as overwhelmed as these lords. Or rather to them, the video could barelypare to the oppressive pressure they felt there in person.

    It was the same as showing someone a video of a tiger and then seeing a tiger face to face.

    The person''s question snapped out a few of the lords from their thoughts and they furrowed their brows.

    "We need to first asses just how much danger does it pose to us." Lord Cao was the first to take the lead.

    "Lord Cao is right, even if it seems to be rather dangerous from the video, I doubt that''s all there is to it." A few others agreed.

    "First of all the monster''s words. From them we can deduce that it wants to destroy everything that it can. Not to mention it seems to have no fear of the Long n either, despite the fact that it knows about them." Lord Cao stated.

    "Hmmбн not just that, we mustn''t forget that the monster said it was sealed for over a hundred thousand years. If that is true, then it has been in existence for longer than the recorded history of this continent." Another lord added.

    The people were the most concerned about this fact. A being that old was certainly experienced, and possibly something they might not even be able toprehend.

    "I think this point is also a good one. We know for sure that it was sealed. Which means that there IS a way to seal it. Perhaps even kill it." Miss Xiaolian suddenly said.

    Her words got the approval of many as they finally realized that the monster itself showed that it could be sealed. This also gave them a reference to being their search for the sealing method.

    After all, the best way would be to start from the same ce they found the monster in. The unknown tomb of an Immortal Ascension realm expert.

    "Should we send some people to check the tomb? Maybe we''ll find insights into how the monster was sealed. After all, we were meant to get it all anyway, but since nearly the entire expedition team is dead, we don''t have that information." Someone suggested.

    "No, waitбн that might be too risky right now." Lord Cao suddenly said before looking at the people who were at the sight of the tomb. "Did any of you actually see the monster leave?" he questioned.

    After all, in the video, the recording had stopped after Lin Wu went back into the tomb. Anything that happened after that was unknown to them.

    "N-No, Lord Cao. We all left the ce as soon as the Monster wasn''t in our sights. It went into the tomb, so we don''t know if it has left the ce or not." The leader of the mission answered.

    "Then we''ll need to confirm that firstбн" Lord Cao furrowed his brows.

    Picking someone for this job will be difficult, as it wasn''t as if he could just send someone weak and expendable for it. They will quite possibly die before that. And seeing the ease with which the Monster had killed the Dao Shell realmmander of the Zhan kingdom, a Dao Shell realm expert was also out of the choices.

    This was troubling, since the Dao Shell realm experts were the strongest they had on their hands. Anything above that would be on the same level as the Lords of the Tieba City and there was no way they would go out on a dangerous mission like that.

    "Iбн Don''t think the Monster has left the tomb." Miss Xiaolian suddenly spoke.

    "Huh? Why do you think so Miss Xiaolian?" Lord Cao questioned, while others looked on curiously as well.

    "Thinking of it againбн the Monster that killed a Dao Shell realm expert with ease actually didn''t notice the spy team? And it even asked themander and the Elder Guo to guide him? Don''t you all think that is strange?" Miss Xiaolian stated.

    Hearing this, the lords as well as the other lower ranked members were intrigued.

    They realized that they had overlooked this fact due to the shocking actions of the beast as well as its appearance.

    "Do you all think a monster as strong as that wouldn''t be able to find out where the spy team was hiding?" Miss Xiaolian added.

    "That''s right! It should have sensed us!" The leader of the mission said out loud.

    Though it only made others shudder in fear, as they realized that perhaps the monster saw them and still didn''t target them.<sub> </sub>

    "Indeed. But if it did, it should have killed you all. We can easily confirm from its actions that it is hungry and want''s to eat, possibly to restore its condition." Miss Xiaolian borated.

    "That does make sense." Lord Cao nodded his head.

    "Since the monster didn''t eat you all despite its hunger, then there is only one reason left for it." Miss Xiaolian added.

    "And what might that be?" Everyone looked on in anticipation.

    "The monster is weakenedбн or at the very least it doesn''t have senses that are good enough to go past a certain range." Miss Xiaolian answered.

    Hearing this, the lords felt rather surprise. After all, this was something logical that even they should have figured out immediately. And yet they had missed it all.

    "It will be good if the monster has a limited range of senses. It will allow usбн or others to outmaneuver it. Giving us an advantage to trap it or even kill it." Lord Cao said, finding it feasible.

    "Mmmhmmбн" Miss Xiaolian agreed.

    "But doesn''t this also mean that the monster will get even stronger after consuming creatures?" Another lord wearing a mask on his face asked.

    He too was a Dao Treading realm expert and was named Wendi.

    "That is indeed the most troublesome partбн we can''t be obvious in going against this monster and we can''t let it stay around on its own for long, either. After all, Tieba city isn''t that far away and if the Monster''s goal is to eat as much as possible, it would eventuallye here too." Lord Cao said after pondering over his fellow lord''s words.

    This was a dilemma inducing situation that made it hard to choose.

    "So, what do we do now?" The people wondered.

    The lords were silent for a few minutes, unable to pick. Only after five minutes had passed did one of them spoke.

    "I think we should let the others act as a probe for us first." Miss Xiaolian said.

    "The Zhan Kingdom and the Peony ins kingdom." The lords realized.

    "Yes. Elder Guo is most probably alive since he managed to escape even further than where our people were due to themander''s effort. We can simply let the people of the two kingdoms check the situation out first.

    We shall watch from the back while also gathering as much intelligence as we can on the tomb and the monster that woke up." Miss Xiaolian proposed.

    "For a monster as dangerous as this, I don''t think there are no records. There should definitely be something left over." someone said.

    The lords acknowledged this and felt like they had probably just missed it somehow.

    But now that they had the reference for the monster''s appearance, there was a better chance for them to find out about it.

    "Very well, all people of the intelligence shall search for this." Lord Cao ordered to his people.

    "Our intelligence department shall do the same." The other lords joined in as well.

    While they all decided this, Miss Xiaolian looked at a jade slip in her hand. She held it for a moment before a frown appeared on his face.

    "What''s the problem, Miss Xiaolian?" The second female lord asked.

    "I''ll have to leave for now." Miss Xiaolian said.

    "Huh? How can you leave at this time, Miss Xiaolian." Lord Cao asked.

    "Yeah, half of this n was your suggestion, so how could you leave?" the other lords asked as well.

    The semnce of unity and understanding they had earlier had disappeared and they finally showed their shrewd selves.

    To them, if Miss Xiaolian was leaving at a critical juncture such as this, they couldn''t help but wonder if they were being baited or fooled to act.

    Of course, they wouldn''t want something like that to happen. Additionally, they knew about the reputation of Miss Xiaolian and how scheming she really was.

    "I have to leave on some important matters that actually concern our current situation. I''ll also be able to find some information about this monster this way." Miss Xiaolian said.

 Chapter 885 Start Of Chaos

    While the lords of Tieba city scrambled to gather information about the new monster that had appeared, the monster in question was having a meal.

    <strong>~CRUNCH~</strong>

    <strong>~CRACK~</strong>

    "Hmmбн these beasts sure are crunchy." Lin Wu said and picked up another fried meatball.

    The meatball in question was golden brown and emitted faint streams of steam, while a tantalizing aroma spread from it. It was made from the mixed mince meat of the many beasts that lived in the tomb that Lin Wu had taken over.

    Of course, he had not consumed all of them together and had actually kept their corpses forter.

    ''Still, it seems like they took the bait. The n went decentlyбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he gazed at the screen in front of him.

    The screen showed the recording of the discussion among the lords of Tieba city.

    ~GULP~

    Swallowing thest meatball, Lin Wu took a sip of some spirit fruit juice. Though his sip was more like few barrels of it at once.

    "Ah~ That hits the spot!" Lin Wu said in pleasure.

    He was pleased with the cooking abilities of his servants and they were developing decently. Before leaving he had taken a lot of food with him and he was yet to taste all the things they had made.

    Not wanting to finish it all at once, Lin Wu decided to taste some everyday little by little. As for the meatballs that he had eaten just now, they were made by himself.

    "Shame, that they didn''t trigger Chimeric Adaptation." Lin Wu muttered after seeing theck of a notification.

    Evidently, the beasts he had eaten weren''t good enough to trigger the innate skill. But even then, there was still a fractional improvement in his abilities. It might be minute, but with continual umtion, it would eventually be a big number.

    Every little bit counted, especially when they applied to someone Lin Wu.

    What was a fractional increase for him very well might be a major breakthrough for others.

    ? Having a bloodline with great potential might make him strong, but it also made improvement a lot harder at the same time. It could already be seen from therge amount of spirit Qi he needed for his breakthrough.

    If it were any other beast or most humans that had the talent to cultivate to his level, they would need at most a quarter of the amount that Lin Wu needed. Only those with special cultivation techniques or unique bloodlines and physiques might need any more than that.

    Regardless of this all, Lin Wu didn''t mind the extra effort and was satisfied for now.

    "But I''ll be a lot more satisfied when things go ording to the nбн hehe~" Lin Wu said with augh and moved.

    Withdrawing his body, he drilled deeper into the ground and left Tieba city.

    "I have to fulfill my promise, after all. Wonder how well the two kingdoms have prepared." Lin Wu muttered while moving at a great speed.<sub> </sub>

    There was already a tunnel that had been dug to the border of the Zhan kingdom, thus Lin Wu covered it in less than a day. After that point, he had to dig more, but it still took less than half a day for him to reach the main area of the Zhan kingdom.

    Even with its size, the Zhan kingdom wasn''t actually that popted. Most of its area was filled with wilderness and most of its settlements were concentrated in the south western part.

    The area that Lin Wu had covered in this time basically had no human settlements, not even viges. This was because the area was simply filled with numerous beasts. This was good for Lin Wu as he also got to restock his supply of meat.

    Additionally, his goal of finding different kinds of beasts was also going well. Even if a beast might be weak, as long as it was of a different species or bloodline, Lin Wu would consume it.

    But his main course was still going to be the humans for now.

    ''This''ll be a good harvest. Maybe it''ll be just enough for a breakthrough.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he read the scan data on the screen in front of him.

    He was currently underneath a small city that was the outermost city of the Zhan kingdom. There were some viges around it, but Lin Wu couldn''t be bothered to target it for now.

    "Besides, I need some witnesses to spread the tale." Lin Wu reckoned.

    The small city didn''t have much in terms of wealth, but it certainly had a lot of cultivators in it. Perhaps because it was the outermost city that was next to the dense forest, all the experts that wanted to go out for hunting rested here.

    The strongest expert here was merely in the nascent soul realm and was nothing to Lin Wu at this point.

    "Let''s begin then, shall we?" Lin Wu said as he found the best spot to start the havoc.

    In the city, the residents were going about their day, unaware of the cmity that was about to befall them.

    "Fruits for sale! Fruits for sale! Get three for twenty coppers!"

    "The best body tempering manuals in the Zhan kingdom, they''ve been made by a secluded expert and are guaranteed to let you reach the tenth stage in less than a decade!"

    In a busy market square, the merchants and vendors called out their wares, trying to attract customers.

    ~CRASH~

    ~SHATTER~

    "THE HELL! I just got that porcin vase! How will youpensate me for this?" A woman screamed at the young man who had just stumbled into her.

    "This wasn''t my fault! The road in this shitty city is uneven!" The young man didn''t fear the woman at all and simply shifted the me.

    "HUMPH! Don''t even try to give an excuse, if you don''tpensate meбк" but just as the woman was arguing with the young man, she stumbled.

    ~thud~

 Chapter 886 Eradicating Cities

    The woman seemingly lost her bnce and directly fell into the arms of the young man. A faint blush appearing on her face as she felt the firm muscles of the young man.

    ''Now that I look at him, he isn''t that bad. Perhaps I should ask him for a dinner as apensation.'' The woman thought.

    The young man watched on in confusion as the woman suddenly changed her vibe. He was fully prepared to fight her and knew that this was amon method of scamming. It wasn''t his first time and he had seen many others do the same in other towns and cities.

    He was going to voice out his mind, but realized that he had missed something. His eyes nced at the ground and saw that the tiles in the ground were actually moving up on their own.

    "What the..."

    ~RUMBLE~

    But in the very next moment, the ground opened up swallowing them both.

    ~BOOM~

    ~SCREECH~

    An ear piercing screech was heard in the entire city, as arge shadow was casted over it. The citizens all looked towards the source of it all in shock as a dark pir had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

    "No wait... that''s not a pill--" The unfortunate people didn''t even get to speak much before hundreds of tentacles sprouted from the pir before shooting towards them.

    ~CRACK~ CRACK ~

    ~MUSH~

    The humans were directly grabbed by the tentacles and pulled into a bunch before beingpressed into a mass of meat. The victims didn''t even get to scream as the were pierced in almost an instant and death was decreed.

    In less than ten seconds, Lin Wu had wiped out the entire market square of the city.

    "You all will serve as the perfect first meal for me!" Lin Wu said out loud, spreading terror among the humans.

    Those who were away from the market square had seen everything and were shuddering. They witnessed how the vendors and customers were pierced by tentacles and pulled back before being turned to mush.

    "RUN!!!"

    "A BEAST ATTACK! IT''S A BEAST ATTACK!"

    The people didn''t know who or what Lin Wu was of course, and thus the first thing they assumed was that he was a beast. After all, beast attacks and beast tides weren''t umon in this part, and the city had actually had several strong beasts invade them in the past.

    But they never expected the beast this time to be thisrge and strong.

    Lin Wu didn''t care what the humans called him, either.

    ''The more chaos they have, the better it''ll be for me. Inuracy in the information spread will only confuse the powers, giving me more time.'' Lin Wu thought.

    He continued his rampage and hunted the humans down. Or more like his tentacles did the work, while he sauntered down the center of the city. In less than fifteen minutes, most of the humans of the city had already been killed by him.

    In exchange, there was now arge hill of meat next to Lin Wu. It was wrapped with tentacles that were continuallypressing and squeezing it.<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu didn''t kill everyone in the city though. He still needed a few people to live and spread the tale. Even if Elder Guo had lived and probably informed his kingdom, it had only been three days since then.

    It was doubtful if the Zhan kingdom had even learned of it. Or even if it had, they probably didn''t know the details. After finding out about everything, they would still take at least a day to mobilize their forces after all.

    And even that would depend on whether the Zhan kingdom wanted to be on the offensive or if they wanted to stay where they were and defend against the iing monster.

    After having finished the first city, Lin Wu looked at his gains.

    "This is going to be the biggest meatball this world has ever seen!" Lin Wu proimed.

    He then got to cooking, which was nothing but multiple tentacles pointing towards the meatball made out of minced human bodies and fire shooting out if it. A few other tentacles spun the meatball in mid air, making it looked like rotisserie meat.

    After the meat ball was finally cooked, Lin Wu opened his mouth wide and swallowed it whole.

    ~BULGE~

    His body bulged awkwardly as the meatball passed through his neck. While it all looked rather unnatural, Lin Wu''s body was very flexible and this wouldn''t damage it at all.

    Using Chimeric Organogenesis, Lin Wu could easily shift his organs as well as make his skin and scales supple and stretchy. Besides, this was only a temporary state and Lin Wu''s body rapidly started to digest it.

    Harsh digestive juices that would even dissolve the hardest of metals acted on the human meatball, turning it into nutrients, vitality and spirit Qi for Lin Wu.

    ~DING~

    ----

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 13,211,158 units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR DATA: Updated

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [25,860,121/90,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    ----

    Seeing the amount he had gotten, Lin Wu was pleased.

    "For a city mostly full of low leveled cultivators, they gave more than the experts I ate in Tieba city." Lin Wu said with a little surprise. "Though I guess the numbers, I ate now are exponentially higher than then." He estimated.

    The number of people Lin Wu had eaten in Tieba city was only a few hundred, aspared to the over a hundred thousand that he had eaten today. And this didn''t even include the beasts that were in the city, too.

    "Still, this is decent for a small city. A few more should easily be enough for a breakthrough." Lin Wu nodded his head in satisfaction.

    Done with the first city, Lin Wu drilled back into the ground, before moving towards the next.

    And in six more hours, he had eradicated another city. Twelve hours after that, the third city was gone too.

 Chapter 887 Harvest Of Six Cities

    "Wellбн this was a good harvest." Lin Wu said as he observed his gains.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [91,121,074/90,000,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had gone on to rampage in about six cities in the Zhan kingdom in less than three days. This along had given him enough spirit Qi to reach the point of the next breakthrough. But that wasn''t all he had obtained either.

    There were some more things to go through, but he decided to first finish his breakthrough.

    "Alright system, start the breakthrough!" Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INITIATING: Please wait for a moment...

    SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 90,000,000 units (liquid spirit qi)

    CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Shell Genesis stage of the Dao Shell realm -> Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm

    бкбк

    Within Lin Wu''s body, a surge of spirit Qi rose. It swirled within his Dantian before being channeled into his Dao Shell. The Dao Shell, which was only partially solid, started to condense rapidly.

    In less than fifteen minutes, it turned solidpletely and became arge translucent white sphere. There were asionally certain obscure figures appearing on its surface, but they were hard to perceive.

    Opening his eyes, Lin Wu felt his body.

    "Now this is some good feelingбн" Lin Wu said as he lightly stretched his body, making his scales chitter.

    "Show me the updated data, system." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    AVATAR DATA: Updated

    бн

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [1,121,074/????] units (liquid spirit qi)

    AVATAR''S CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Immortal Sky Shaker Art- Third level (Lightning attribute spirit Qi Initiate) [updated]

    3. Undaunted Sapphire Body art- Second level (56% Meridians converted)[updated]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    3. Unnamed Bloodline (System Manufactured)<sub> </sub>

    QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Great)(Proficiency: Intermediate)

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Maniption (Lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Cellr Maniption (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Cellr Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Fire Maniption (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Novice) [Composite skill] [updated]

    6. Chimeric Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate) [Composite skill]

    7. Chimeric Adaptation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic)

    NASCENT SOUL: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    DAO SHELL: Completed Dao Shell (Chimeric) [updated]

    WEIGHT: 522,782 Kilograms Height 190.31 meters long.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu didn''t just have a breakthrough in his cultivation base. He had it in other techniques and skills as well.

    His Immortal Sky Shaker art cultivation technique actually progressed faster than before, possibly due to the influence of the Chimeric Fiend Worm Bloodline and allowed him to reach the third level which was the Lightning Attribute spirit Qi Initiate.

    Even the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art improved a little due to the massive amounts of spirit Qi that his body had gathered. While this was not cultivated specifically, there was still a passive improvement in it by 1 percent.

    This might seem small, but it was ratherrge considering that it became harder to practice this as one went higher in it. Now it was at 56% and Lin Wu needed to reach the 60% mark to fully breakthrough to its third level.

    When that happed, it was likely that he would face a qualitative change in hisbat abilities and even skills. After all, the Undaunted Sapphire Body art allowed one to have Sapphire Meridians which changed the properties of spirit Qi such that it could not be blocked by defenses.

    Lin Wu hoped that when it reached its peak of the fourth stage, his attacks would simply ignore all defensive skills and other forms of defenses. It would be a truly peerless technique at that point.

    Not to mention, Sapphire meridians also had the added benefit of being tougher and stronger than normal meridians. For Lin Wu, who already had far better meridians due to his bloodline, they were enhanced further.

    If Lin Wu was in his crystalline form, line of Sapphire blue light could be seen sometimes. These were none other than his Sapphire Meridians spread all through his body. Though this was hidden in his new organic form.

    The other improvement that he had was in this very new form. Or rather one of the Innate abilities of the Chimeric Fiend Worm Bloodline.

    "I didn''t think Chimeric Organogenesis would actually increase in proficiency this fast even with the warning that it ail be hard to do it being aposite skill." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    This had actually happened back during his chaos in the sixth city. It appeared as a notification and was also the actual reason why Lin Wu had stopped at the sixth city. He had indeed eaten enough humans and beasts, along with some materials, to have aplished this.

    The spirit Qi and vital essence obtained along with it were just a bonus.

    ''Though now that I think of it, I''ve used Chimeric Organogenesis a lot during this time. No wonder it reached the point of increasing in proficiency.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    Regardless of it all, this was certainly of a great benefit to him, and now both his bodies were at the same cultivation base.

    Possibly very close to the same power tooбн

    "Stillбн now that I have no upper limit of expanding my Dao Shell, I can just umte as much spirit Qi as possible. At least until my main body has reached the next level tooбн" Lin Wu reckoned.

    There was still a need toprehend the Dao, which Lin Wu was surprisingly finding easier the more he fought and consumed.

    Theprehension of Dao was something that was not limited to the body he was inhabiting. Thus, even if Lin Wu was in one body, the gain in Daoprehension would apply to the other as well.

    ''The perfect way to kill two birds with one stoneбн no wait it would be three birds, with the third being my growth as a major power.'' Lin Wu chuckled to himself.

 Chapter 888 Panic And Doubts Of The Kingdoms

    A while had passed since Lin Wu''s breakthrough and the start of chaos in the south.

    The Zhan kingdom had officially dered an emergency, and the Peony ins kingdom had joined them for it. But the two kingdoms didn''t just stop there and sent out many notices and decrees to the nearby powers.

    Some were sent as a request to ask for assistance, while some were sent as a warning that a great danger had been released into the world.

    But the way they described these ims was considered as doubtful to most powers of the Long continent. They simply thought of it as a beast or a strong cultivator orchestration this, possibly to gain some benefit.

    Thus a majority of the powers simply stood as they were. A few sent resources as a nominal way of showing some support and very few actually sent their own people to help as a way of defense.

    So far, there was a lot of skepticism around the matter, mostly because it seemed simply iprehensible to everyone that a being like this could exist at all. Plus, considering the lower positions of the two kingdoms, not much attention was paid to them in the end.

    The rulers of the two kingdoms were expecting this since the start though, and didn''t mind it as much. This was simply normal politics and unless they had direct evidence for it all, that proved the existence of the monster, it would be hard to get the help of others.

    As for the deaths and the devastation?

    That simply didn''t matter to the other kingdoms and powers. It wasn''t like this was new in the Long continent. Incidents like these had already happened in the past and were mostly caused by beasts that had been provoked or human cultivators.

    Either of these were things that they would let the victim''s kingdoms handle.

    Besidesбн if either of them fell, the remains of theirs would be gracefully ''taken in'' by the other kingdoms and power.

    Rather than saying that these powers were watching from a position of neutrality, it was more urate to call the vultures. They were simply waiting for the two kingdoms to suffer so that they could peck at their corpseter on.

    Despite all this though, the two kingdoms knew that their call for help being ignored would be heavy for the others. After all, they knew for sure this monster was real and the next time it appeared, they would have the best proof the other powers so desired.

    The lords of Tieba city were also left in terror as the words of the monster were already witnessed by them through the recording spirit tool. The monster had done exactly what it had said it would do.

    They too prepared for it secretly, even going so far as to invite a few rogue Dao Treading realm experts to their city as extra protection. They kept the truth hidden for now, as they didn''t want to lose any advantage they had or reveal their position to the monster somehow.

    The two kingdoms waited with baited breaths, wondering when the monster would attack once more.

    More than a week went by since thest attack of the monster, and there was still no resurgence. The defenses of all settlements had been improved by a lot, with the people of smaller settlements such as viges being moved to thergest one nearby.

    Due to this, the already concentrated poption of the Zhan Kingdom became even denser. The Peony ins Kingdom did the same, but since they were already smaller than the Zhan Kingdom in size, their cities became cramped instead.

    Their citizens were in a mixture of states too, with some even believing it all to be a conspiracy to have theirnds seized. Thankfully, the majority still believed in the words of their kingdoms and didn''t think they would mobilize such arge scale army just for a ploy.

    As for the ones who had actually seen the scene of terror and those who were lucky to escape it?

    They were greatly affected.<sub> </sub>

    Some had gone insane directly, while most were living in terror of their lives. Only a few brave ones had the mentality to resist it all and actually give the important information of all that they had witnessed to the two kingdoms.

    The two kingdoms did everything in their power to prepare for the iing disaster, even going so far as to awaken their ancestors!

    In the end though, all of it was for naughtбн

    After an entire month went by without an attack, even the two kingdoms were wondering if the words of the monster were a lie. The rest of the powers who had been send the notices and decrees merelyughed to themselves as the two kingdoms made fools of themselves.

    The reputation of the two kingdoms fell, and some even started to call them ''The kingdoms that cried wolf''.

    The lords of Tieba City on the other hand, were left in a tizzy. They were the only ones outside the two kingdoms that knew of the reality of the monster and that it truly existed, as well as the fact that it caused the destruction.

    They too had prepared a lot for anybining threat, spending a lot of money in it. But most of it ended up being in loss since there was just no attack in that time.

    And the source of it all was currently sleeping calmly under the very same city.

    ~Rumble~

    A low rumbling sound could be heard in the depths of the Tieba City sewers.

    "WHO? WHAT!?" Lin Wu suddenly woke up from the noise.

    He had been having a nice dream, but now had a rude awakening.

    "What was that system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN COMPLETED: Data obtained

    NOTIFICATION: The test subject named Feng has broken though and has identally caused an explosion.

    бкбк

    "Huh? Oh wait! I forgot about that guy!" Lin Wu suddenly recalled.

 Chapter 889 Forgotten Task And The Yang Clans Guards

    Lin Wu was supposed to meet Feng after a month to see if he aplished his goal, but he had fallen asleep after returning to Tieba city.

    ''No, I would have known if the guy passed way before thatбн'' Lin Wu looked at the system notification log.

    After scrolling through it for a bit, he found it right there.

    "Huh? He actually finished it in 2 weeks?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    The notification was a bit old, which meant that it had popped up and Lin Wu might have just cleared it out without looking much.

    "Oh, yeahбн I was thinking it would take him at least a month, so any notification before that would just be some general stuff that I don''t particrly need to seeбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    It was the same as a notification on a smart phone. One would get a lot of them in a day and most were just useless, even though there was indeed some information.

    In Lin Wu''s case, it could bepared to that of a delivery that had arrived early, but Lin Wu cleared it out thinking it was just some promotional notification from the shopping application.

    ''Seems like my old habit carried overбн the habits seem to linger, but the memories are fading.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He couldn''t fully recall his past life, but certain things from then were still holding firmly in his mind. Pondering on it for a bit, Lin Wu pushed the thoughts away since he had another task at hand.

    "Still, how the hell did he cause an explosion? A breakthrough at his level shouldn''t case thatбн" Lin Wu said as he started to move towards where Feng was.

    It took him barely a minute before he was there. His senses extended, and he started observing everything, wanting to know more before actually acting.

    Above on the ground, a crowd was gathered around and amotion was ongoing.

    "Who would dare to attack the White Sheep Inn?" someone in the crowed questioned.

    "Who knows? Could be anyone from their rivals," another person said.

    Many such people discussed the matters while they observed the scene in front of them.

    Right now, debris and broken parts of the inn could be seen lying around near it. A part of the building seemed to have been blown away, and approximately three floors were affected in the process.

    Some of the rooms were entirely destroyed, while some were still half intact and their interior could now be seen.

    "Only the lowest ranked wing of the White Sheep Inn seems to be targeted, though. Was someone the target of an assassination?"

    "Maybe, but why would they target someone in the lowest ranked wing? Usually people worthy of such an assassination live in the high ranked wings right?"

    "Hmmбн could be someone hiding in that wing, maybe? They might have already known they would be killed, so they hid there to throw off the trail."<sub> </sub>

    "Yeah, but their trick certainly failed if this is the result."

    The people in the crowed continued to converse while the people of the White Sheep Inn were running around, trying to assess the situation. Even if it was just the lowest ranked wing that was affected, that too was only a part of it, the me would still be on their heads.

    After all, even if the other guests of the inn weren''t affected directly, this would still tarnish the reputation of the White sheep Inn as a safe haven for all those that paid. And this in turn would affect the Yang n''s face and they would not take it calmly.

    "NONE SHALL LEAVE THIS PLACE!" Suddenly a shout was heard from the back, startling the crowed.

    "Anyone that dares to leave without getting our permission shall be killed without hesitation!" Another order was spoken.

    The people in the crowd weren''t from a normal city and were furious upon hearing this. In Tieba city, these words were no less than picking a fight or inciting a riot. After all, the people in the crowed were made of a variety of unsavory people that didn''t like to take orders.

    But when they saw who had given out the orders, they stayed put.

    "Damn! It''s the Yang n guards!" The people recognized.

    The Yang n''s guards were dressed in orange robes and had a ck and grey armor on top of it. There was the crest of the Yang n painted on the armor as well as embroidered on the robes of these guards.

    None of the guards were weak either, with the lowest ranked being at the core condensation realm and the highest at the Dao Shell realm!

    Such line up was enough to be part of a kingdom''s army or even an elder''s division in a sect, but now they were simply the guards of a n.

    "Its the Red Bandit! SHIT!" The people in the crowd saw an imposing person.

    This man was dressed in simr robes to the rest of the Yang n guards, but wore a helmed that was painted blood red. It revealed his face though, and ck feather tassels hung from the side of its neck.

    "This bruteбн why him?" The people in the crowd were terrified.

    "When did the Yang n recruit it?" they couldn''t figure out.

    The Red Bandit was an infamous expert in this region. He was said to have killed over three Dao Shell realm cultivators in the past and over a hundred Nascent soul realm experts. Not just that, he had a reputation for spilling blood for the smallest of things.

    But of course, all of his acts had led to him being wanted by quite a few powers, since he had offended them. Finding him under the employment of the Yang n was not something anyone had expected.

    After all, if the Yang n recruited him, they would offend other powers that were against the Red Bandit.

    "Oh? Anyone have a problem with this arrangement? Do you all want to leave?" The Red Bandit said out loud.

 Chapter 890 The Red Bandit

    The Red Bandit gazed at the people with azy face. But then in the next moment, he took out arge mace and mmed it into the group nearby.

    ~DENG~

    "ARGH!"

    "WHY!!!!"

    There were three people in the group and they were the ones who had spoken out about the Red Bandit first. But now they were all but crippled by the man''s mace. Their bones were shattered and limbs bent at wrong angles.

    Blood continually spilled out of their wounds and they barely got to say a word before they all died from it.

    "Anyone else have a problem?" The Red Bandit questioned, this time his voice fierce.

    "N-no!" The crowed replied in unison.

    "Good! Now line up! Everyone will be interrogated and if anyone cannot prove why they were here or what they saw, they can talk to my mace next!" The Red Bandit dered, his Dao Shell realm cultivation base exerting a pressure on everyone.

    Then in the next moment, the crowd moved quickly and lined up urately.

    The Yang n guards began their work and questioned them one by one. Another group of guard cordoned off the area, while a third group looked through the debris around the inn. The third group was in charge of finding clues and anything suspicion that might be there.

    While this happened, a middle aged man walked towards the Red Bandit. This was none other than the manager of the White Sheep Inn.

    "It''s good that you are here, Sir Red Bandit." The manager greeted.

    "Get to the point. What happened here? I want every detail." The Red Bandit stated, feeling irritated.

    He had been ordered toe here when he was in the middle of having fun with his twenty concubines. Being blue-balled made the Red Bandit not very happy.

    Still, he had to follow the orders of his employer.

    ''My bad luck living this close to the White Sheep innбн I should get another ceter.'' The Red Bandit thought.

    "Ah yes!" The manager quickly responded, understanding the man was in a bad mood.

    He dealt with people way stronger than him all the time and was very skillful in his words.

    "Everything was normal until a few minutes ago, when an explosion suddenly happened in the peasant wing. We detected no attacks before that and there seem to be no suspicious movements before that, either." The manager spoke.

    "Hmmбн did anyone just enter before the explosion happened?" The Red Bandit questioned.

    "No sir. No one had entered in thest three hours." The manager replied.

    "What about those that lived there? Anyone suspicious among them?" The Red Bandit asked next.<sub> </sub>

    "There are a few, but some of them were also the ones that ended in the range of the explosions. Other than them, the others that died in it were just the usual kind of trash guests." The manager replied.

    "And those that are alive?" The Red Bandit asked, a cold glint in his eye.

    "They are already detained and will be ready for you whenever you shall ask." The manager replied instantly.

    "Hmmбн send them to the others for questioning for now. I''ll try them myself if they don''t speak." The Red Bandit stated.

    <o>,m "As youmand, sir." The manager agreed.</o>

    The Red Bandit nced at the damaged building and narrowed his eyes.

    "Was the defensive array not triggered?" The Red Bandit questioned.

    "It was sirбн but for some reason, it was unable to withstand the explosion." The Manager said, sweat appearing on his forehead.

    Hearing this, the Red Bandit was surprised.

    ''That array should even withstand several attacks from me. It''s not a normal defensive array and was set up by the sixth elder of the Yang n himself. How is it that it was destroyed by an explosion?'' The Red Bandit pondered.

    The White Sheep Inn didn''t just have a reputation for being safe just due to the Yang n. Rather, it was due to the strong defensive arrays that protected it. Even if a Dao Shell realm expert attacked it, the array would be fine.

    Only a Dao Treading realm expert might be able to break it like this. But if it really was a Dao Treading realm expert, then they would never need to do something like this, as they would be able to offend the n openly.

    Besides, any Dao Shell realm or Dao Treading Realm cultivator that entered Tieba city would be detected by its formation and the powers of the city would keep an eye on them.

    Any sane Dao Treading Realm expert would not want to offend multiple other Dao Treading realm lords of Tieba city as well as the ns that backed them. Even if they managed to escape after that, they would be hunted down for the rest of their lives after that.

    As for someone from Tieba city itself doing this? That was simply out of the question.

    Even if the City was supposed to bewless, there were still certain unspokenws among the high powers of the city. The Yang n was one of them, and offending them like this was not good.

    Especially when the target didn''t even seem to be someone influential. It was the peasant wing that was targeted, and even then the ones who had died were just some ''trash guests'', as said by the manager.

    All of it seemed suspicious to the Red Bandit.

    While the people thought him to be a brute with a muscle brain, it was not so. He was still a Dao Shell realm cultivator and had be so after hundreds of years of experience. He could tell when there was something very wrong.

    And just as he was thinking about the situation, he heard a call.

    "Sir! We found someone here!" The Yang n guards shouted, pulling the Red Bandit''s attention. "He''s alive!" They added.

    Hearing this, the Red Bandit quickly got to where the guards were standing. There, the guards were pulling out a boy out of a pile of rubble.

 Chapter 891 Caught

    The Young boy was dressed in ck robes that were tattered and burned while his face was covered in soot.

    When the Red Bandit saw him though, his eyes narrowed.

    "He''s actually not injured?" He muttered.

    This was very surprising to him since he knew just how strong the explosion must have been. After all it had destroyed the White Sheep Inn''s walls despite the arrays. These were something even he couldn''t break easily, thus a boy surviving it was highly unusual.

    "Get him up." The Red Bandit ordered.

    The Yang n guards picked up the young boy and propped him up straight. One of them went ahead and pped him a few times.

    ~p~p~p~

    "HUH!?" Feng woke up in a stupor as he looked around.

    An expression of confusion was apparent on his face while the others stared at him. Feng looked at them and slowly started recalling what had happened.

    "You boyбн Who are you?" The Red Bandit questioned.

    Feng thought didn''t respond right away. He was still a little lost and wasing to terms with all that had happened.

    ''Shitбн how did a breakthrough cause an explosion like that?'' Feng had no idea what to do now.

    He knew he was in trouble, as destroying the White Sheep Inn was a big problem.

    ~SLAP~

    All of a sudden though, he was pped by a Yang n guards.

    "Did you not hear what was asked?!" The guard shouted.

    Feng was abruptly sobered up as he looked at the imposing man in front of him. He could feel a bloodthirsty auraing from him and knew to be cautious.

    ''The spirit Qi wavesing from himбн he''s very strong.'' Feng understood.

    "W-what?" Feng decided to pretend to be confused for now.

    "Who are you? Tell me this instant or face the consequences." The Red Bandit reiterated.

    "Iбн Iбн I''m Feng." He stated with a little stutter in his voice.

    "Feng? What''s your full name and where are you from?" The Red Bandit questioned.

    "I''m Hei Feng. I''m just a wandering cultivator." Feng made up a name for him.

    He knew using just Feng as his name might be a bit problematic, so making up a name would be better. Besides, his name was rtivelymon, and the surname he picked was alsomon.

    "A wandering cultivator, you say?" The Red Bandit gazed at Feng intently.

    Then in the next moment, Feng felt a strong presence enter his body.

    ''Spirit sense!'' Feng knew what it was.

    He too had refined some spirit sense in the time he had spent cultivating, but his range was quite less being only two meters. It wasn''t really useful in sensing the area around him, but he could at least use it for scanning things in his hand and his own body.<sub> </sub>

    At the same time, it made it easier for him to observe the spirit Qi in the surroundings.

    Feng''s spirit sense followed after the foreign spirit sense that had forcefully intruded in his body and saw that it was checking his Dantian.

    "Early stage of the Core condensation realmбн" The Red Bandit observed the cultivation base of Feng.

    His spirit sense was very rough and was like a rake scratching the ground.

    ~COUGH~

    Feng coughed out a mouthful of blood, having been injured by the rough handling. His core that had been recently formed shook from the foreign spirit sense and became unstable.

    ''Noбн'' Feng had a bad feeling.

    He felt like his core would break apart if the man kept on probing him like this. The Red Bandit had no concern for some random cultivator and didn''t care if his search would injure the other party.

    His only concern was to find out what had caused the explosion and Feng seemed to be suspicious to him. While he doubted the young boy would be able to cause an explosion like that with his own power, there was no telling if someone else had provided him with a tool or other item that could cause this.

    ~cough~

    Feng coughed out more blood as he felt a burning pain in his body.

    The probing of a Dao Shell realm cultivator was something that a normal cultivator might die from if it was done with malice. Him surviving till now was already a bit of a surprise to the Red Bandit.

    "Interestingбн you say you are a wandering cultivator and yet you canst this long." The Red Bandit said as a strange grin appeared on his face.

    The Yang n guards who saw it shivered inwardly, knowing that theirmander had found a new ything.

    Blood kept on dripping from Feng''s mouth as he watched the Red Bandit continue ravaging his Dantian.

    "Why?" Feng questioned.

    "Hm? Why not? Do I need to care for some pest like you?" The Red Bandit replied casually. "But I do wonder how a bug like you can survive this long? Certainly interesting. Perhaps I should take my time with you and see what you are hiding."

    Feng gritted his teeth, knowing that he had been targeted by a ruthless wolf now.

    ''I was keeping to myself and yet he wants to do thisбн?'' Feng was feeling something he had not felt for a long time.

    He had been beaten up and abused a lot over the years, but the only emotion he felt back then was fear and despair. But today he was feeling something elseбн it was anger. He felt angry at the Red Bandit targeting him like this.

    But he also felt angry at himself.

    ''I finallypleted the goal that the senior asked of me. He gave me the opportunity to be a cultivator and now it''s gonna go to waste?'' Feng thought to himself.

    "NO!" Feng shouted.

    "Oh? The little bug wants to resist?" The Red Bandit was amused.

    The Yang n guards alsoughed at seeing this.

    "But do you have the power to resist?" The Red Bandit questioned.

    "He might notбн But I do." A heavy voice suddenly spoke in the Red Bandit''s mind.

 Chapter 892 Threatening The Red Bandit

    ''Who?!'' The red bandit was taken aback by the sudden voice in his mind.

    He was certain that he had not imagined it and it hade from someone. He didn''t have to wait long to confirm it though, as he soon heard it again.

    "Leave the boy and let him go." The voice spoke in the Red bandit''s head.

    The red bandit''s eyes nced around and saw that the Yang n guards and the rest were unaware of the voice. Only he was the one who could hear it.

    "Who are you?" The Red bandit questioned with suspicion.

    ''Communicating like this is not possible for mostбн a spirit tool or a Qi skill? Noбн this is spirit sensemunication?'' The Red Bandit tried to figure out what it might be.

    He had known of several methods ofmunication that were present and he had seen many too. Usually it was done though a tool like amunication jade slip, but this was different.

    The Red Bandit had once heard about certain skills that could utilize the spirit sense to transmit thoughts to others without the need for a Jade slip. This was of course, a rare skill and also a difficult one at that.

    Even he didn''t know if such a skill could be found in the Tieba city.

    While it might seem superior than a jade slip, it actually had a lot of restrictions. The biggest one being its limited range. Unlike amunication jade slip that could work for thousands of kilometer, such skills only worked in a range of at most a kilometer.

    This was regardless of how strong or refined one''s spirit sense was. Anything beyond that would be too distorted and the other person would only hear a jumbled garble, if anything at all.

    "You don''t need to know that." The voice replied. "All you need to know is if you want to continue living, you will do as I say." It stated.

    "Oh? You dare to demand that of me when you don''t even dare to show yourself?" The Red Bandit replied.

    ? For a few seconds, there was silence and the Red Bandit smirked.

    "Just as I thoughtбк" but then the voice started speaking again.

    "The Red Bandit, Real name: Yang Ranran. Illegitimate son of the Yang n''s patriarch. Your mother was the daughter of a rich merchant and was favored by your father. Your father didn''t take you in though and instead married other women from powerful families, gathering power.

    Wanting to keep you away so as to preserve his interest, he never let youe close to Tieba city. You were a nuisance and became a bandit once your mother''s merchant group fell.

    Instead of taking after the merchant group you chose to steal from others. You continued your tyranny in nearby cities and regions, gaining power over the years. Ruthlessly ughtering and killing the people as you pleased.

    This was when you gained the title of the Red Bandit.<sub> </sub>

    You continued this until you finally offended someone you shouldn''t have; the An n. Unable to bear the consequences, you went to your father for shelter and he helped erase your involvement." The voice exined the entire life story of the Red bandit.

    Hearing this, the man was left shocked.

    "Y-youбн how do you know this? Who are you?!" Yang Ranran shouted in his mind.

    All this was secret and no one should know this information other than him and his father. Even his old subordinates had been killed by him before he joined the Yang n like this.

    He didn''t want any trace or link left behind, thus he had done everything in his power to erase it all. The Yang n patriarch too did a lot and had used his power and influence to change the offending party from Yang Ranran to someone else.

    Now the crisis from the An n was shifted away from Yang Ranran, but if he went back to his old life, there was quite a lot of chance they might suspect him. Thus, he had stayed put here.

    "Like I said before, there is no need for you to know who I am. All you need to do is follow my orders and leave the boy." The voice stated firmly. "Otherwise you might just find yourself being targeted by the An n again. And even your father will be unable to protect you." It threatened.

    The An n was one of the righteous ns of the Long continent. While they might not be as strong as the top three ns of the Long continue, they were still quite influential.

    They might not have wealth, but what they did have was martial prowess. If someone offended them, they would go to every extent to exterminate them. Especially when they were someone bad, like Yang Ranran.

    The An n had a reputation of holding up justice and getting rid of crime. Their members were spread across many kingdoms and sects, all of them being military officials or other such figures.

    Because of this, the An n held quite a bit of sway.

    If news got out that the person who offered the An n was still alive and hiding in Tieba city, it would not bid well for Yang Ranran. The Yang n might be able to resist one or two powers pressuring them, but when several kingdoms did that, the entire Tieba city would notice it.

    And it was doubtful whether the other powers of Tieba city would like for the Yang n to protect one illegitimate member to this extent when even their interest were threatened.

    Yang Ranran thought to himself and wondered what he should do next.

    "What if I don''t do as you say? I can just kill this boy that you have an interest in. You can try spreading whatever you want after that." Yang Ranran threatened back, not wanting to back down.

    ~shua~

    It was at this time that he felt a pressure.

    "Don''t think that revealing your secrets is all I''ll do. If I want toбн I can kill you right now!"

 Chapter 893 Yang Ranrans Instincts

    Yang Ranran felt a pressure he had only felt from the high lords of Tieba city. These were all at the Dao Treading realm and were old experts who had lived for over a thousand years by now.

    ''Noбн it''s strongerбн moreбн bloodyбн'' Yang Ranran could sense the malice and bloody aura that was concealed within the pressure.

    He knew this very well. After all, he was named the Red Bandit because of his own bloody aura. But the aura that he was feeling right now was beyond anything he had umted on his own.

    It was differentбн like a long lived beast eyeing its prey.

    Yang Ranran''s instinct screamed at him, telling him to not offend whoever this was. He had fought in the raw world and knew how to judge different foes. And this time, he realized he was up against something entirely on a new level.

    "Wh-whoбн who are you?" Yang Ranran finally asked.

    "That is not something the likes of you should know." The voice replied.

    Yang Ranran went silent for a moment before replying, "I''ll do as you say. I''ll leave the boy."

    "Good." The voice said before Yang Ranran felt the strange link starting to felt.

    "Wait! Why would you want the boy? He''s nothing. You can find a dime a dozen like him." Yang Ranran questioned.

    "That is just what ''you'' think." The voice replied without exining much.

    Yang Ranran wondered if the boy had something hidden in him or held some great mystery.

    ''If there''s such a power backing him, then there is certainly something special about him.'' Yang Ranran thought.

    His mind worked rapidly, and soon an idea presented to him.

    "I''ll take the boy with me." Yang Ranran suddenly said.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu was certainly not expecting the man to still resist after all the threating he had done.

    "Don''t take this the wrong way. I''m talking him with me so that he''ll be safe. I''ll let him go after we are away from the sights of others." Yang Ranran hurriedly spoke.

    "Exin." Lin Wu firmly said.

    "The onlookers have already seen the boy and so have the yang n guards. If I just let go of him here, things will be a lot more suspicious. Not to mention the other powers of the city will also be paying attention to this incident and might take an interest in the boy who survived an explosion that shattered the barriers of White Sheep Inn.

    Someone of your status should know very well what are the chances of someone surviving the an explosion that was at the same level as that of a Dao Treading realm expert''s attack." Yang Ranran exined.

    Lin Wu raised his brow, as he had not thought of this aspect at all.

    "Is this correct, system? About the barrier?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Barrier protecting the White Sheep Pavilion is a defensive formation array that can resist Dao Shell realm experts'' attacks. It can even defend against a Dao Treading realm expert''s attacks for a short while.<sub> </sub>

    бкбк

    "Huhбн Yeah, this will be a bit of an issue. Still Feng surviving this is surprising. But what''s even more surprising is how was he even able to cause an explosion at that level?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Direct Scan needed for analysis.

    бкбк

    "Just as I thoughtбн guess we''ll do as the guy says for now. Besides, not like he can do anything under our watch." Lin Wu muttered.

    Yang Ranran, who had been waiting for Lin Wu''s response anxiously finally heard his voice again.

    "Fine. Take the boy with you. But know thisбн I''ll be watching at all times." Lin Wu stated.

    "Y-yes." Yang Ranran resumed his usual attitude, but let go of Feng.

    "Take the boy with us." Yang Ranran simply ordered.

    "Yes, sir!" The Yang n guards quickly responded and carried Feng with them.

    Feng had a look of anger and frustration on his face as a myriad of thoughts came to his mind. Lin Wu who watched him the entire time, felt like this might be good for him.

    "Perhaps this''ll give him some extra motivationбн maybe even help me mold him the way I want him to be?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu knew very well revenge and anger could be great motivators. At least in the short term. But if the person obtained great benefit and saw progress in that short term, the motivation would transform.

    It might even make them strive to be stronger more and more.

    ''Considering he managed to breakthrough to the Core condensation realm on his own, there is a great chance this might work.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    He continued to watch as Yang Ranran left with a few Yang n guards while the rest continued their investigation. There were still many people left to interrogate and they would probably be working till veryte today.

    "Oh, seems like Yang Ranran was right." Lin Wu saw several targets pop up on the map.

    These were all people that had been marked as important by the system and were considered as the underlings of the different powers of the city. There were only a couple of reasons they had appeared right now, it was to learn what truly happened and if they could get some benefits from it.

    And it wasn''t just the people of the different powers that had this thought, some rogue and independent cultivators and the same thought. These people were braver than the average citizen and didn''t fear the powers as much.

    Though they were certainly wary of the power that the lords of the city held.

    They definitely wouldn''t go and oppose the interest of these powers in open, but if something could be gained without them finding out, it would be the best case for them. Of course, if this was even possible was yet to be seen.

    "Let''s get to Feng. I wonder what the boy did to able to breakthrough this quicklyбн" Lin Wu said as he started to move underground.

 Chapter 894 The Yang Prison

    It didn''t take long before Yang Ranran reached his residence.

    ''This is more of a fortress than a normal residenceбн'' Lin Wu thought as he took a closer look at the ce.

    While he had seen it on the map, seeing it in person was still quite an experience. The residence was about five hundred square meters in size and had several individual buildings inside it.

    The whole residence was surrounded by a ten meter tallpound wall and had formation arrays cast onto it. There were also several guards patrolling the top of the wall.

    The interior of the residence was divided into three kinds of buildings. The first was the main building where Yang Ranran lived with his concubines. The second kind of residence was the barracks where the Yang n guards lived.

    Yang Ranran was technically given the position ofmander in the Yang n guards, thus having these many guards live near him was normal. This allowed him to act quickly in times of trouble.

    An example of this was what had happened today. The Yang n had its businesses distributed all over the city and thus they had several such ''residences'' all over the city, located near their businesses.

    As for the third kind of a building, this was just the servant quarters and facilities, like the kitchen and storage.

    If this was located outside Tieba city, this residence along could be considered a kind of a ce since it had everything that a pce did. There was even a prison built under the residence.

    "There''s barely two people in the prison tooбн" Lin Wu was surprised.

    But then he reckoned with Yang Ranran''s personality it was rare for someone to survive long.

    "Doesn''t seem like they were tortured. They have no injuries." Lin Wu observed the prisoners and found them to be rtively fine.

    While their clothes were dirty and so were their surroundings, they didn''t seem to be imprisoned for something too bad.

    Lin Wu checked the system''s data to see if these guys were some important people.

    "Huhбн no records?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The two prisoners were brought in just a day ago and thus there are no records of them.

    бкбк

    "Interestingбн maybe Yang Ranran has simply not gotten to them." Lin Wu reckoned.

    The two prisoners were locked in different cells and it didn''t seem like they knew of each other''s presence either. The prison cells were reinforced with formation arrays and even a Nascent soul realm cultivator might find it hard to escape.

    As for the two prisoners, Lin Wu found them to be at the peak of the core condensation realm.

    ~CREAK~

    And just as he was watching the two prisoners, the entrance gate of the prison opened.

    "Leave him. I''ll deal with him from here." Yang Ranran said to the guards.

    "Y-yes sir!" the guards hurriedly responded, knowing well enough what was going to happen and they certainly didn''t want to wait and watch that.<sub> </sub>

    Feng was still shackled and was easily carried by Yang Ranran. The boy''s face had turned calm by now and it was unknown what thoughts were going through his mind.

    Yang Ranran carried him like a suitcase and walked all the way to the end of the prison, going past the two prisoners who were visible scared upon seeing the Red Bandit. They almost let out a yelp but held their tongues in.

    Upon reaching the end of the prison, Yang Ranran opened a metal door.

    ~shua~

    He passed through some kind of a barrier before arriving in a room that waspletely different from the rest of the prison. The room was bright and a few whitemps made from illumination pearls were hanging from the ceiling.

    There were bookshelves, show cases as well as a desk and table in the center of the room.

    "The brute has a study? Interestingбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    While Yang Ranran had the appearance of a crude and violent person on the outside, he wasn''t dumb. Rather he was quite smart and there was a reason why he had lived this long despite offending many people.

    His talent was also enough to show that he didn''tck anyprehension ability either. After all, he was at the Dao Shell realm and could easily be the sect patriarch if he ever started a sect.

    Even in top sects, he would have the position of a high elder.

    Feng noticed the change in lightning and looked around with a little difficult.

    ''This isn''t the prisonбн'' Feng realized.

    ~thud~

    Yang Ranran put Feng down and opened the shackles on his hands and feet.

    "Stand up." Yang Ranran said.

    His voice was still firm, but didn''t have the adverse tone to it like before. Feng detected the fine change in this and became suspicious.

    "What do you want?" Feng asked, seeing that Yang Ranran had freed his body.

    "Wait here for a day. You can leave after that. The suspicious of other people should have worn off by then. It''s good that your face is covered in soot, it''ll make it easier to mistake you." Yang Ranran replied.

    "Huh? What do you mean? You''re just letting me go?" Feng was confused.

    "Yes. You can go now too, but the people will be watching the residence. They might just be interested in you as well." Yang Ranran said. "After all, not manye out of my prison alive." He added.

    Feng''s mind worked quickly, and he could roughly grasp the reasoning behind it. He had after all, blown up the White Sheep pavilion, even if it was by ident. Getting out of it scot-free would be a miracle.

    There was still one thing that Feng didn''t understand, though.

    "Why would you let me go though? You were the opposite before." Feng questioned.

    "You should thank your backerбн whoever it is." Yang Ranran said, a hint of anxiety appearing on his face. "Dammit, you should have said what your background was, all this could have been avoided then." The man said, shaking his head.

 Chapter 895 Secret Backing And Regret

    Yang Ranran really felt frustrated about offending someone powerful. Especially when he was already in a tough position and had been kept on a short leash by the Yang n since they didn''t want anymore trouble than this.

    If he knew that Feng was backed by someone powerful enough to restrain him with ease and even know all about him, then he would have let go of the boy the very time he had caught him.

    Feng on the other hand though was surprised and confused at the same time.

    "My backing?" Feng said doubtfully.

    "Yes, your backer has asked you to be freed." Yang Ranran replied.

    Feng felt even more confused as to when this even happened and who the backer Yang Ranran was talking about.

    ''He directly brought me here and didn''t talk to anyone elseбн could it be the senior?'' Lin Wu was the only one Feng could think of as his backer.

    But even if he was a backer, Feng didn''t know how he had gotten Yang Ranran to let him go when the two of them didn''t even talk at all. The anger he had been feeling all this time faded away into confusion.

    This was partly because he could see a hint of fear on Yang Ranran''s face. This was not present before and only appeared once he had talked to him.

    After a minute, Feng determine that it was probably Lin Wu who had done this.

    ''Senior is even more mysterious than I thought. He could get someone to listen to him like this without even others knowing.'' The awe in Feng''s heart for Lin Wu increased even more.

    Hours went by and Feng waited patiently in the study. Yang Ranran was also there, but the man busied himself in some work. He was going through many documents that were piled onto his desk and writing some of his own.

    Feng didn''t want to interact with the man anymore than needed, thus didn''t talk to him. He was quite angry at the man internally. After all, he won''t be forgiving Yang Ranran this easily. He would wait for the right time to have his revenge.

    A hint of coldness appeared in Feng''s eyes, and an imperceptible aura was born within him.

    Yang Ranran shivered unconsciously at that moment.

    ''Is that person still observing me?'' Yang Ranran thought that it was Lin Wu who might have caused this.

    Thankfully, the feeling onlysted for a moment before fading away, which made Yang Ranran think that Lin Wu might just be checking in. With the feeling gone, Yang Ranran focused on the work.

    He was after all, still amander and had to make aprehensive report about all that he had discovered during his investigation. Of course, he would avoid mentioning certain topics, but it was still going to be a long report for him to write.

    Time went by quickly and without Feng saying anything, Yang Ranran also didn''t when it was already daytime.

    ~Cling~

    A small bell that was kept on the desk suddenly rang, pulling Yang Ranran''s attention.<sub> </sub>

    Seeing it, the man frowned before standing up.

    "You should leave now," Yang Ranran said before pushing a shelf aside, revealing a small door. "Go through here, it''ll take you to the sixth district."

    Feng stood up without a word and left the study. Yang Ranran looked at his back with a strange expression.

    ''Something feels different about himбн'' Yang Ranran thought, but couldn''t ce his finger on it.

    Feng didn''t care about what the man thought. After all for him, Yang Ranran was someone that would be one day dead. Whether under his hand or others, it didn''t matter.

    "If senior really saved me, then he must be watching somehow. I should find a ce and wait for him to contact me, like he said he would." Feng muttered to himself as he ran through the underground tunnel.

    The tunnel wasn''t that wide and only a single person could pass though it at once. There was no water in here at least, but the floor was made out of dirt. It was evident that this tunnel might have been made recently.

    Upon reaching the end, Feng found himself on a dead end.

    "No, waitбн there''s a hatch." Feng discovered a square wooden te on the top.

    Tapping on it, he found it to be firmly stuck but once a little force was exerted, the te rose. It was heavy for some reason, and only when it was fully pushed away did Feng discover why.

    "Right under a paved alleyбн" Feng checked his location.

    The opening from where Feng hade out was dug into the ground and the wooden te covered it. The te was then covered with the same stone blocks that paved the roads of the city. This hid it very well and no one would expect there to be a secret entrance here.

    Leaving the small alley, Feng found himself in the sixth district, just as Yang Ranran had said.

    "Go half a kilometer to the east and the take a right from the noodle stall there. You''ll find an old shop with a broken window on the side." Feng suddenly heard a voice in his mind.

    "Senior?" Feng muttered. "I''ming." He quickly said before running.

    The sixth district was a small district and was mostlyposed of lower end shops and stalls. It was a lot better than the slums, but was evidential a lower ss area. Even so, there were quite a few people here.

    ''This should be the noodle stallбн'' Feng saw a small stall with a woman selling some noodles.

    And next to it, there was another road. Taking that path, Feng soon found the old shop that he had been told about.

    "This ce is closed down." Feng noticed the door was nailed shut.

    Peeking to the side, he found the broken window just as Lin Wu had told him. He checked to see if anyone was watching him and climbed in once he was sure no one did.

 Chapter 896 Fengs Condition

    "You''re finally here." A voice spoke in the dark shop.

    "Senior!" Feng easily recognized it.

    ~shua~

    In the next moment, several orbs of fire appeared in the dark shop, illuminating it. The orbs of fire floated and were burning without a fuel.

    Feng was a little surprised by it, but reckoned it was probably the work of Lin Wu. This was confirmed when one of Lin Wu''s tentacles that was transformed into a head rose from the broken floor.

    "Seems like you''ve been progressing steadily. You''ve certainly aplished the task I gave you." Lin Wu said in a pleased tone.

    "Y-yes. I hope I didn''t disappoint you." Feng said with a little nervousness. "I was a bit worried since you didn''t contact me even after a month passed." He added.

    "I was a upied by something, but I knew of your progress." Lin Wu lied without a hitch. "And not just that, you''ve gone beyond what was asked of you and reached the Early stage of the Core Condensation realm." He continued.

    "I was lucky. It just happened and I don''t exactly know how." Feng said honestly.

    It was still unknown to him how the explosion and his breakthrough happened.

    "What do you remember?" Lin Wu questioned.

    Feng then went on to tell him all that had happened in the past two months. He told Lin Wu how he had a hard time cultivating at first and the drowning feeling that he got every time.

    This greatly intrigued Lin Wu, as he was sure this was not calcted by the system at all. Then hearing that Feng actually mustered through the feeling and increased the time he could handle it, Lin Wu was even more surprised.

    "You did good." Lin Wu praised, making Feng feel warm.

    "Though considering the unexpected obstacle you came across, I should check your body for any problems." Lin Wu stated.

    "Yes, senior. I want to know more, too." Feng replied.

    "Very well. Just stand still." Lin Wu said as another tentacle appeared out of the ground, this one a lot slimmer.

    The tentacle moved quickly through the air and touched Feng''s forehead. The moment it did, Feng felt his senses dull, and he entered a strange state. He couldn''t feel his body, nor could he perceive his surroundings.

    It was almost as if he was asleep.

    Lin Wu on the other hand, began his work.

    "System, do a full scan on him and also check his memories." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Feng

    SCAN: Completed

    SCANNING: Memory

    SCAN: Completed

    DATA NODE: Obtained

    ANALYZING DATA NODE: Please waitбн

    DATA NODE: Analyzed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    EXTRAPOLATING DATA: Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    The system actually took longer than usual to scan, which surprised Lin Wu. This was especially because Feng also had the Pentagem Imnt in him, which should have made the process faster.

    "Probably something has changed. Was it due to the cultivation technique or something else?" Lin Wu wondered.<sub> </sub>

    Hearing the ount of how Feng felt while cultivating was intriguing to Lin Wu. ording to the simtions that the system had run, this sort of thing should not have happened.

    ''What Feng experience feels like something that would happen with an iplete or incorrect cultivation technique. There''s no way it should happen with the system synthesized oneбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Then there was also the fact that his breakthrough had caused an explosion strong enough to break a defensive formation array.

    ''If it was a breakthrough to the Nascent souls realm, and the explosion was caused by a heavenly tribtion lightning bolt, it would be understandable. But thisбн is not normal.'' Lin Wu pondered on the matter while the system finished its work.

    A few minutester, he finally got the notification.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA EXTRAPOLATION: Completed

    TARGET DATA: Updated

    бн

    TARGET: Feng

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: System Synthesized Composite Cultivation Technique Version 1.0 (unnamed)

    SPIRIT QI CULTIVATION BASE: Early Stage Of the Core Condensation Realm

    BODY CULTIVATION BASE: Thirteenth Stage of the Body Tempering realm

    PHYSIQUE: Xiantian Physique (Acquired)

    SPIRIT CORE: Mixed Spirit Core (unknown!)

    VITALS: Stable (Meridian changes detected!)

    бкбк

    Right away Lin Wu could tell that there were several unusual things going on with Feng. The system also showed the internals of Feng on a separate window. This showed his Dantian, meridians and the core.

    "The system actually can''t recognize the core?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    He knew that there were actually different kinds of core, and the system even had the data on a lot of them. It even had the data from higher worlds due to the memories of the Skull god.

    And even if something was unknown, it should be able to analyze and specte on what it was.

    Then there was also the fact that Feng''s vitals were stable despite the fact that there was a change in his meridian pathways. Unknown changes like these were often dangerous and led to Qi deviation.

    "Did he mess up his cultivation?" Lin Wu wondered as he directly peered into Feng using his spirit sense.

    He checked Feng''s organs and muscles, finding them to be in a good shape.

    ''They recovered from the injuries Yang Ranran inflicted?'' Lin Wu discovered. "Wait, could the meridian change be due to Yang Ranran''s forceful probing?" he wondered.

    But upon scanning all the meridians, Lin Wu didn''t see any damaging change. They didn''t seem to have been deviated or bent in any way. Instead, it looked like they had naturally grown in this manner.

    "Is his spirit Qi cirction faster?" Lin Wu noticed.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Feng''s spirit Qi cirction speed has increased by 1.25 timespared to before.

    бкбк

    "That''s goodбн but how?" Lin Wu still didn''t understand.

    Lin Wu continued to look further and arrived in Feng''s Dantian. There he saw the lone core spinning silently. The core was about the size of a marble, bigger than the average cultivator.

    But at the same time, it did not look normal. Instead of having the usual translucent white color, it had a prismatic hue to it. As if it was made with ss that scattered the light in multiple colors.

 Chapter 897 Fengs Uniqueness

    Lin Wu gazed at Feng''s core and was amazed.

    "This is certainly something else." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    The core was unlike anything that was recorded in the many books and documents he had gathered. Lin Wu tried to probe the core directly but found it difficult to. It was as if his spirit sense got deflected every time it got close to the core.

    ''Is it defending itself?'' Lin Wu wondered. ''No, that can''t be. He''s in an unconscious state right now and besides, a core shouldn''t be able to stop me from probing it.'' He reckoned.

    After thinking for a few seconds and watching the core, an idea came to him.

    "Is this a passive effect?" Lin Wu observed it for a bit more and realized why his spirit sense got deflected.

    It was because of the flow of spirit Qi around the core. It was like the water current of a river. While it may seem like a river flowing in a single direction, the undercurrent might take several winding routes which were seemingly invisible.

    It was the same case with the spirit Qi here. But now that Lin Wu knew this, getting past it was easy for him. He simply needed to increase the force used with his spirit sense. Usually, he wouldn''t need this much power, but this was a rare case.

    ~shua~

    And once he got past it, Lin Wu felt the core and the energy within it.

    "Thisбн what did this kid do?" Lin Wu was surprised even more.

    He didn''t just normal spirit Qi in the core, he also sensed other elemental spirit Qi within it. There was fire spirit Qi, earth spirit Qi, metal spirit Qi, wood spirit Qi, water spirit Qi, wind spirit Qi, dark spirit Qi and even light spirit Qi!

    The five mortal and four heavenly elementsposed the core, and it was truly shocking.

    While Lin Wu could control the five mortal elements and two heavenly elements, wind and lightning, even he had no control over the dark spirit Qi and light spirit Qi. Thest two elements were something he had yet to fully learn.

    "How''s this possible system?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s preliminary analysis, the system-manufactured cultivation technique has allowed Feng to absorb the different elemental sprint Qi all at once. This has somehow allowed him to condense a unique core such as this.

    бкбк

    "But his core is still different, isn''t it? We have information about other cores that have the seven elements, but his is vastly different." Lin Wu asked.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The uniqueness of the core might be pertaining to the cultivation technique as well as to Feng. The details would only be learned after further analysis is done.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн Guess we''ll continue to wait." Lin Wu muttered.

    He withdrew his spirit sense and waited for the system to finish its work. And about an hourter, the work was finallypleted.<sub> </sub>

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA NODE ANALYSIS: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    NOTIFICATION: Memory yback is now avable.

    бкбк

    "Show me his memories system." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~SHUA~

    In the next moment, Lin Wu felt his vision go dark and he appeared in a familiar ce. It wasn''t his first time watching memories and thus it wasfortable for him. A few secondster, a scene materialized in front of him.

    It was the scene of Feng working in the ck Sheep cksmith as a pounder.

    "Huhбн his fitness is certainly up to the mark." Lin Wu said upon seeing Feng work for a day straight in the scorching heat.

    He then saw Feng move to the White Sheep inn and start to cultivate for the first time. It was now that Lin Wu saw Feng suffer.

    "That shouldn''t happenбн just like Feng said, it''s a drowning feeling." Lin Wu said as he saw the boy gasp for air.

    Feng was like that for a while before he attempted to cultivate again. He went back and forth between resting and cultivating. The more he did it, the longer he could cultivate at once.

    This was the thing that was bugging Lin Wu. ording to the cultivation technique, such a drowning feeling shouldn''t happen at all. Instead, one should feel ratherfortable as the spirit Qi was absorbed into the body.

    The system synthesized cultivation technique was after all, a top grade cultivation technique at the very least, if not above it. It was also something that was made so that anyone could cultivate it regardless of talent.

    p Lin Wu continued to watch Feng''s progress as he extended his ability to cultivate despite the drowning feeling. It increased from minutes to tens of minutes and finally to hours. And along with that, Feng also kept on progressing in his cultivation, reaching thete stage of the Qi refining realm within three weeks of starting and the peak stage in four weeks.</anda>

    After that, the feeling of drowning for Feng had be a block. He couldn''t increase the time he cultivated anymore, and he was stuck at a bottleneck. Feng spent an entire month in trying to ovee it.

    And when he finally felt like it was working, a surge of spirit Qi filled him that directly condensed a core within his Dantian. But that wasn''t all as the rapid surge of spirit Qi also caused the defensive array of the Inn to explode.

    Feng may have been upied with his breakthrough and thus didn''t notice it, but the system could prepare several simtions, having gathered enough data.

    "So that''s what happenedбн" Lin Wu said with an expression of realization.

    The surge of spirit Qi that filled Feng created a vacuum of sorts in the area. It exerted some force towards the Array protecting the White Sheep inn.

    It was the same as taking all the air out of a stic bottle. It would copse inwards.

    And that was exactly what happened, except at the same time Feng sessfully broke through to the Initial stage of the core condensation realm thereby creating an even stronger burst of energy.

 Chapter 898 Reckless Talent

    Having learned about Feng and how he had cultivated to an ''explosive'' breakthrough, Lin Wu was enlightened.

    "Looks like the boy was still hiding a secret, a secret that even he didn''t know he had." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    With the experience that Feng had gone through, Lin Wu could confirm one thing: Feng''s Willpower.

    It was strong enough to allow him to withstand the suffering of drowning.

    The feeling of drowning was in fact the overload that he was feeling, and his body was feeling. The boy went ahead with absorbing all the elemental spirit Qis in a single bout. This was simply not the way the technique was supposed to be used.

    Of course, one was free to absorb or breath in multiple types of elemental spirit Qi at once, but the quantity that Feng did was beyond his limits. It was only a miracle through which he had survived.

    "Noбн the Xiantian physique and the system''s modification probably kept him alive. If it was anyone else they would have simply imploded from the rapid influx of spirit Qi like that." Lin Wu reckoned.

    One could say that Feng had taken the most brutal and crude route to breakthrough. He let go of finesse and pushed through with sheer will.

    That in itself was a kind of talent.

    It might not be the ideal cultivation talent, but it could allow one to exceed their limits and reach new heights. In some aspects, Feng could even exceed Shirong.

    ''Though it might also be hisck of experience that allowed his recklessness to feel like ack of effort.'' Lin Wu analyzed.

    This unique method of absorbing multiple types of spirit Qi at once had allowed Feng to condense a unique type of a core. The powers granted by this core were yet to be seen, but Lin Wu could guess what they might be like.

    The system was already preparing several simtions and, ording to the results of those simtions, the next course of action would be taken.

    ~Sigh~

    "At least we got some good data. Now we know to tell the next test subject to NOT suck all kinds of spirit Qi at once." Lin Wu shook his head.

    In Feng''s case he was lucky that he had his body modified along with the Xiantian physique. This would not be the case for the majority of future subjects. After all, Lin Wu didn''t have the time, nor could he be bothered to modify hundreds of humans like this.

    He was intending to have arge enough number of such subordinates under him that all practiced this cultivation technique. They needed to do this on his own, and his interaction with them would be greatly limited.

    "Only by limiting my interaction would I be able to make a mysterious and powerful image among themбн heheh~" Lin Wu said to himself.

    Done with Feng''s body, Lin Wu let go of him and waited for him to wake up. It didn''t take that long and Feng shook up like a startled cat.

    "HUH!?" He was a bit disoriented and looked around in panic.

    Only when he saw Lin Wu and his strange head did he calm down.<sub> </sub>

    "S-seniorбн Oh yeah, you were checking me." Feng finally recalled.

    "Indeed. I''ve learned quite a bit now." Lin Wu nodded his head. "Seems like you''ve gone beyond my thinking and did something that should have been seemingly impossible." He added.

    "How so? What did I do?" Feng was a bit confused.

    Lin Wu then went on to tell him about his recklessness. How he had done the cultivation equivalent of sticking one''s head into a river to quench their thirst. Except they swallowed water until they fainted.

    "Iбн I almost killed myself." Feng was appalled.

    "That you did." Lin Wu agreed. "Butбн now that you''ve survived it and your body is adapted to it, I don''t see why you should stop doing it." He said, much to the boy''s surprise.

    "Y-you want me to continue doing it?" Feng was confused even more.

    "Yes. Seems like you are suited to that method. While it is unorthodox, it isn''t technically against the guidelines of the cultivation technique. Of course I wouldn''t rmend this to new students." Lin Wu replied.

    "If you say so, senior." Feng agreed with a little hesitation.

    Lin Wu was now interested, and even the system had rmended that they let Feng do as he did. They would not only get a lot more data, but they might even discover some other missing insights into cultivation.

    Then, with the data gathered from Feng, the system would be able to improve the cultivation technique even more. Lin Wu had already decided that the next version of this technique would be given to more ''recruits''.

    Lin Wu talked with Feng a bit more and even gave him some Qi skills as well as Martial skills. These weren''t anything particrly powerful, but they were very neutral in use. Any cultivation technique should bepatible with these Qi skills and martial skills, and Feng shouldn''t have issues learning them either.

    Lin Wu easily had a plethora of high grade skills, but Feng wouldn''t necessarily be able to use them. It was best for him to start low and progress to moreplex things.

    Finally, at the end of the meeting, Feng questioned. "What is my next task, Senior?"

    "Your next task?" Lin Wu thought about it for a minute.

    There wasn''t anything particrly necessary that he needed Feng to do. Even the first task was just given to him on a whim.

    "How about you learn those Qi skills and marital skills I gave you first? Once you''ve done that and can apply them with the cultivation technique, I''ll consider the second task done." Lin Wu stated.

    "Ah, I''ll do that then, senior." Feng nodded his head.

    And just as he was about to leave, Feng stopped and asked, "will there be any problems with me exploding the White sheep Inn?"

    "No." Lin Wu answered. "Though if someone bothers you, just go find that Red Bandit again. He''ll help you for sure."

 Chapter 899 Causing More Panic

    Yang Ranran was unaware that Lin Wu had just put another heap of duties on his head.

    "Haaaaaaaaa~" Lin Wu let out a long yawn and nced at the multiple screens floating in his field of vision.

    Each of the screens showed either some person, or multiple persons from all around Tieba city. These were the people that were important and Lin Wu was fishing for more information from them.

    ''Nothing interesting is happening. They are simply stuck with the chaos I sowed.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    <o>,m The lords of the Tieba city had basically ended up putting a majority of their human resources into monitoring situations all over the south. The Zhan Kingdom and the Peony ins kingdom were their main targets and the thing they were looking for was none other than Lin Wu.</o>

    "Hmmбн if they are looking for this, why don''t I just give them exactly what they want? I''ll get a meal as well." Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    He quickly pulled up the map and picked out a few favorable cities for the next trip.

    "After Zhan Kingdom, it is time for the Peony ins kingdom. After allбн I did promise I woulde after both of them. Hehe~" Lin Wuughed.

    ~tremble~

    The ground shook as Lin Wu quickly dug through it. Since the tunnel was already made, it didn''t take Lin Wu that long to reach the border of the Peony ins kingdom. It was located next to the Zhan kingdom, after all.

    The ce that he was targeting first was a town. There was nothing special about it and it was as generic as a town would be in this area.

    One hourter, the town was no more.

    "One down, three more to go." Lin Wu made his way to the next location.

    This time, the target was a city, and they were quite prepared for an invasion.

    "Hoho, seems like they did take my words seriously." Lin Wu could see two Dao Shell realm cultivators posted in the city, along with tens of Nascent soul realm experts.

    And not just that, but the city also had its defensive formation array strengthened by quite a bit. Still, all this was nothing to Lin Wu as the system easily overrode the array and allowed him stealthy entry into the city.

    The set of events after that could be predicated easily.

    Lin Wu simply appeared in the middle of the city where the town center was and ate a part of the building along with the Dao Shell realm cultivator that lived there. This alone was enough to panic the entire city and send it into high alert.

    The experts posted here reacted and quickly got to attacking Lin Wu, but then hundreds of sticky threads were shot out of Lin Wu''s tentacles, immobilizing them all. And when the second Dao Shell realm expert appeared, he was terrified.

    Lin Wu had covered the entire city in the sticky threads and the Dao Shell realm expert could do nothing but try to escape. And even that failed as Lin Wu simply mmed him with his entire body.

    With the weight of Lin Wu''s body, even a Dao Treading realm expert would be injured significantly, not to mention a Dao Shell realm expert. The man was incapacitated and became an easy meal for Lin Wu, only adding to his spirit Qi storage.<sub> </sub>

    With two locations down, Lin Wu only had two more left.

    But at this time, news about his appearance had already spread around the kingdom. The second Dao Shell realm expert had intentionally dyed so that he could send a distress message.

    Unfortunately, the army of the Peony ins kingdom couldn''tpete against Lin Wu''s speed. Even if the army wasposed of cultivators, theirbined speed would greatly hold them back.

    And by the time they reached the city which was now dead, Lin Wu had already finished the third location, which was another town. The army of the Peony ins kingdom diverted to the third location and by the time they reached it, the fourth settlement had been erased as well.

    The army of the peony ins broke down seeing this, and their morale reached rock bottom. They despaired at the thought that their kingdom might be erased overnight if this pace was kept up.

    But much to their surprise, that didn''t happen. The monster simply stopped and disappeared.

    This greatly confused as well as scared the Peony ins kingdom. They thought that the monster might be resting to digest its ''meal'' and wanted to get rid of it in that time. They contacted the Zhan kingdom, as well as all the nearby powers for support.

    This time they had better ''proof''.

    Lin Wu had allowed a part of his appearance to be captured through a recording tool. If he didn''t do that, the system would have just blocked allmunication jade slip transmission in the area.

    Thus, even if someone recorded him, they wouldn''t be able to send it to their allies.

    The recording soon sent the nearby powers in a tizzy and even one of the top sects ended up receiving it.

    In the Dark ins sect, an emergency meeting was organized.

    "What is it patriarch?" The elders of the sect were confused.

    They looked at each other for answers, but none of them knew the reason why they were called here in the first ce.

    "We have a big problem." The high elder of the sect spoke.

    "What might be so big as to call all of us?" they asked.

    "Yeah, I was in seclusion, too. And so was Elder Bi Kun." A few elders expressed their displeasure.

    It was at this moment that an extremely old looking man opened his eyes. He was sitting at the head of the hall. His head was bald and a hat covered most of it. Even his face was barren with nary a hair.

    "I''m afraid a disaster is upon us. The reports from Zhan Kingdom and Peony ins kingdomбн they were all true."

 Chapter 900 Regretting Not Acting Before

    "WHAT!?" A shout was let out by the many elders of the Dark ins sect in unison.

    All of them had heard of the request of the Zhan Kingdom and the Peony ins kingdom. It was a request for help as well as a warning that a disaster wasing. Of course, most powers were reluctant to help them.

    To the powers, this was simply some enemy of the two kingdoms plotting against them. Even if the two kingdoms fell, the one to benefit would be the surrounding powers as they would slowly annex the remains.

    As for whatever enemy that targeted the two kingdoms, they could care less about it. After all, ording to them, no expert would want to go against tens of powers of the continent at once.

    But today they had been proved wrong.

    "How is that possible?" One of the high elders questioned.

    "We have confirmed reports as well as proof verifying it now. There is no doubtбн all they said is true." The patriarch of the Dark ins sect answered. "Show the recording!" he ordered the hooded man standing nearby.

    "Yes patriarch!" The hooded man came forward and took out a fist sized orb.

    The orb slowly floated up into the air before a white glow appeared from it.

    ~shua~

    The white glow became brighter and expanded past the orb''s body. It turned into a vast curtain of light over five meters wide and three meters tall. For a minute it was nk, but then small flickering lights of many colored appeared on it.

    These lights swam in the white curtain like carps before finally arranging into specific patterns. These patterns then turned into images that started to move.

    The very first image that the elders saw was dark.

    A massive creature towered over a deste city. The buildings and houses in it had copsed and mes could be seen burning everywhere. Blood was also sttered in many ces, but surprisingly no corpses could be seen.

    "Heavens! What is that thing?" The elders were stunned upon seeing the dark being on the curtain.

    It had dark ck scales of varying sizes that covered the entire length of its body that was visible over the ground. There were tens of tentacles that spread out from its body having different characteristics.

    Some of the tentacles had spikes on them, some had teeth on them, while some were simply smooth.

    They then saw one of the spiked tentacles move like a lightning bolt, striking before they could even realize. And when they saw it again, they realized that the tentacle had two corpses strung on it.

    "Isn''t that Jun Lan of the Jun n? He''s at the Dao shell realm." Someone recognized one of the corpses.

    "And now he''s deadбн that too in one move." Another person muttered.

    The elders continued to watch the images in the curtain, but suddenly felt a hint of fear.

    "Ah~ I see I got some spectators. Don''t worry, your turn wille soon." The creature in on the curtain turned towards them and spoke.

    Its words were clearly recorded in it, and considering how it had looked straight towards the hidden recording spirit tool, it was sure that it had intentionally done so.

    ~Shua~<sub> </sub>

    And once the creature finished speaking its word, the images on the light curtain faded away, leaving it nk.

    "That thing can speak?"

    "Speak? It threatened us!"

    The elders were in an uproar.

    On one had they had a new fear in their hearts seeing how the creature had killed Dao Shell realm cultivator with ease and on the other hand they were infuriated with how the creature had taunted them.

    The tone of the creature was vile to them and clearly held contempt for them, as if they were nothing but mere insects.

    "Patriarch! We can''t just take this lying down. We have to dispense justice!" One of the hot-blooded elders shouted.

    "Before you say that, perhaps you should know the rest of the story." The Patriarch said with a hint of helplessness in his voice.

    "What?" the hot-blooded elder asked.

    "There''s more?" the others were curious.

    "This is merely one of the locations it destroyed. There are several more. And from the reports we''ve gotten, it has already killed and consumed seven Dao Shell realm cultivators, forty one Nascent soul realm cultivators and who knows how many core condensation and Qi refining realm cultivators." The patriarch exined.

    Upon hearing this, the hot-blooded elder''s demeanor changed, and it was like he had run out of steam. He shrunk back into his seat and no longer looked as eager as he looked before.

    In fact, he was now afraid that he might be the first one to be picked for an offense if they ever mounted one.

    ''One Dao shell realm expert was fineбн not seven and multiple nascent soul realm cultivators. Forget that, it has already eaten multiple settlement! No way I can go against that.'' After all, the hot-blooded elder was also at the Dao Shell realm too.

    "What are we to do now, patriarch?" The elders were at a loss.

    "What else? We have to do what we should have since the very startбн provided the two kingdoms assistance while we gather more power." The patriarch stated.

    "I understand the sending help part, but how do we gather more people?" A more level-headed elder asked.

    "We have to ask others that can help, of course." The Patriarch replied.

    Hearing this, the expression of a few elders became dark.

    "Patriarch, you don''t mean to say we have to ask the dogs of the Chan set for help now?" A female elder said with a hint of anger on her face.

    "They are our only choice. While we might be able to mobilize the help of surrounding kingdoms, the don''t have sufficient experts to handle this. Anyone weaker would only be a free meal for that cmity." The Patriarch said in a sad tone.

    One could tell from this that the rtions between the Dark ins sect and the Chan sect weren''t really good.

 Chapter 901 Shirongs Opposition

    The meeting between the Dark ins sect higher ups went on for three hours before a consensus was reached.

    The final agreement was to send a formal request to the Chan sect for coboration, as well as the full exchange of information about the cmity. The thought that most elders had was that there was no way information about such a strong being would not be recorded.

    This was the same thought that the lords of the Tieba city had and they were currently in the process of finding such information as well.

    Lin Wu had returned to Tieba city''s underground tunnels after his excursion to the Peony ins kingdom had had decided to pause his ''attacks'' for now.

    ''This should be enough to get them working. Now I just need to keep them on their toes, whenever they feel like the danger is gone, I shall act.'' Lin Mu thought to himself.

    "Thoughбн the gains I''ve had from these are quite goodбн" Lin Wu said as he stared at the number in front of him.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Completion stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [68,154,127/????] units (liquid spirit qi)

    бкбк

    This was a massive amount that would have taken Lin Wu over a year to gather if he cultivated normally. Even his main body only had a greater amount than this due to the fact that it had not only absorbing spirit Qi but also consuming the many spirit fruits and herbs provided by the ''allies''.

    "If it was possible, I''d like to switch this up with my main body tooбн" Lin Wu said with a hint of desire.

    But he knew for his n to go well, it was essential to not let a hint of his involvement get out.

    ''Though it shouldn''t be long before my main body has some big gains tooбн the other sides should soone around.'' Lin Wu thought to himself with a smile.

    Far from the Tieba city, to the very north of the Long continent, there existed a hidden mountain range.

    It was shrouded by illusory formation arrays that kept it hidden from the eyes of everyone. Only a few people could figure out that this existed here and even fewer could even approach it.

    In the center of this mountain range, there existed the Ji n. And currently, an argument was ongoing in one of the many buildings of the n.

    ~CRASH~

    The sound of precious cdon breaking could be heard and waves of spirit Qi apanied it.

    "ENOUGH! I shall not take anymore of your usations." Ji Xiaolian shouted.

    "usations? I have proof, dear sister." Shirong said with a smirk.

    ~thud~

    He threw out a ss orb that fell on the ground in front of Ji Xiaolian.

    ~shua~

    In the next moment, it started to glow, and a burst of runes flew out of it. The runes turned into an illusory screen in the air and images started appearing on them. The images showed none other than Ji Xiaolian herself.<sub> </sub>

    "Fake! This is all fabricated!" Ji Xiaolian shouted and waved her hand.

    ~SHATTER~

    The ss orb crumbled into fragments as the images in the air disappeared as well.

    "Aahaha! That is of no use. I have plenty more." Shirong taunted before taking out three more ss orbs.

    "You!бн" Ji Xiaolian was infuriated.

    She clenched her fist and wanted nothing more but to pulverize her brother but had to hold back.

    "Good. Seems like you still know to act in moderation." Shirong said in a mocking tone. "Unlike the time when you used Nian Yue sect to hypnotize me." He added in a cold voice.

    "Humph! That was nothing. It doesn''t go against the n rules as long as I don''t harm you physically." Ji Xiaolian replied, trying to keep up her demeanor.

    "Oh? Is that so?" Shirong smiled lightly, sending shivers down Ji Xiaolian''s spine.

    ~shua~

    Spirit Qi fluctuations started toe out of Shirong''s body and increased in intensity. First they were only at the nascent soul realm, but then they exceeded that level, reaching the Dao Shell realm.

    "How''s this possible!?" Ji Xiaolian was shocked.

    "Why? You think I was just passing my time idly in seclusion? Did you think I didn''t act against you just because I was in seclusion?" Shirong replied.

    "How can you reach the Dao Shell realm this fast? Even with our ns'' resources, it shouldn''t be possible! Even Father didn''t reach it at your age." Ji Xiaolian felt like all the information she had gathered was wrong.

    "Ah~ That''s where you are wrong dear sister. I never used our n''s resources for this. Well other than some information and knowledge, I didn''t use any actual cultivation resources." Shirong corrected.

    And while Shirong said this, the spirit Qi fluctuationsing from him only kept on getting stronger. At first he was only at the Shell Initiation stage, but now it could be sensed that he was at the Shell Genesis stage!

    "Youбн what did you do? How can you do this?!" Ji Xiaolian couldn''t wrap her mind around this.

    Even with unlimited resources, it should have been impossible for Shirong to aplish this. It wasn''t even an issue of cultivation resources, but rather of being able to utilizing them.

    For example, even if one had a literal mountain of spirit stones, they wouldn''t be able to reach the Dao Treading realm instantly. Sure, they might progress though the Qi refining realm, core condensation realm quickly, but the further they went, the slower the process would be.

    Thus, even if Shirong had the resources, there was no way for him to increase his cultivation base this quickly.

    "Let''s just say I had some extra help in this aspect." Shirong said with a smile and raised his fist.

    ~BOOM~

    The roof was directly blown up and the clear sky above could now be seen.

    "What do you think you are doing!? Do you think the n will allow you to do as you please?" Ji Xiaolian yelled.

    "That''s exactly what I want to see." Shirong said, his face turning dark.

 Chapter 902 How Far Can He Go?

    Shirong''s sudden outburst was out of expectation for both Ji Xiaolian as well as the other nsmen. It was especially shocking for the nsmen since the ce that Shirong had done this was one of the prisons of the Ji n. That too and important one.

    "The Silver Prison! There''s been an explosion!"

    "What!?"

    "Is someone trying to escape from the Silver Prison?"

    "Wait, isn''t the person in Silver prisonбн Second Miss?"

    The nsmen discussed the series of events, clearly feeling stunned by this. There had never been such an incident in the Ji n before. Sure, there were prison breaks before, but those were for the normal prisons and not the Silver Prison.

    The Ji n basically had three kinds of prisons.

    The first was the normal prison, also called at the coal prison. This was where the petty criminal of the n, as well as general rule breakers, were sent for punishment. It was mostly used for those that hadmitted crimes that could be forgiven.

    The second was the high security prison called as the Iron prison. It was used for dangerous experts captured by the JI n as well as their own nsmen who hadmitted grave crimes against the n or other powers.

    Finally, there was the Silver Prison.

    It was also nicknamed as the ''Silver Spoon Prison'' and was meant for the direct members of the n. It was more like a house arrest instead of a prison. Though more restrictions might be added depending on the crime that the person hadmitted.

    Over the years since the Ji n had existed, the Silver Prison had housed less than a hundred prisoners, all of them being members of the direct lineage. More famously, it was often used by the reigning patriarch to imprison hispetitors who had not given up even after he secured his position.

    Basically, it was a prison for political opponents.

    Ji Xiaolian had been imprisoned here for viting thews of the n and directly trying to kill her sibling. But Shirong knew that she had not been serving her sentence properly. With Lin Wu''s information about her presence in Tieba city, he knew that there was something more going on.

    Thus even though he had found out about her over half a year ago, he had not gone after her. Instead, he had been biding his time and gathering more information. Checking the Silver Prison, he learned that there was indeed someone there.

    But it wasn''t Ji Xiaolian herself, but one of her servants that was disguised as her. Doing this was not an easy task, as the Silver Prison was still a prison that was monitored every second.

    Which meant that someone else from the n had assisted her in this. Not to mention, Ji Xiaolian had taken her time and spent a long time outside the Silver Prison. Shirong could only estimate that it had been over two years since Ji Xiaolian had been out of the prison.

    ''Senior Lin Wu was rightбн since I have the power, I have no need to hide now. The best way to solidify my position is simply by suppressing them all.'' Shirong thought to himself as streaks of lightning swam across his body.

    He had been passive for a long time now, gaining power in secret. He had done this because he was afraid of exposing the existence of the Emeraldine Heart Spear, which was an immortal tool ording to Shirong.

    Before meeting Lin Wu, it was in a dormant state and thus needed to be ''fed'' before it would reach its original state.

    But after meeting Lin Wu, Shirong learned the ''truth''. To him, since the creator of the spear himself was here, it wouldn''t matter much, even if it was revealed.

    "I don''t need to be worried about it getting stolen either after allбн haha." Shirong suddenlyughed.

    "Have you gone insane, Shirong!?" Ji Xiaolian yelled at him.

    She could feel his power increasing rapidly, and it had already reached the same level as her.

    ''Even if he reached the same cultivation base as me, how can he break the barriers of the Silver Prison? Those should be impervious to even Dao Treading realm experts?'' Ji Xiaolian was confused and afraid.

    How was she to know that the Emeraldine Heart Spear had allowed Shirong toprehend a lot of things.<sub> </sub>

    "I''ve known about your ''vacation'' for quite a while now. Your work in the Tieba city as well as your mingling with the lords there." Shirong spoke while his cultivation base continued to climb.

    In the sky, a phenomenon had started to present itself.

    "LOOK!" The nsmen that were approaching the Silver Prison were stunned.

    "How is a storm forming?"

    "That isn''t a heavenly tribtion cloud, right?" They were afraid.

    "Noбн if it was, we would have felt the suspension." Some of the more experience nsmen answered.

    "Then what is it?"

    ~RUMBLE~

    Just as they were starting to question it, thunder started shaking the skies.

    "You think the patriarch will allow you to do as you please? Don''t you think you are going too far, Shirong?" Ji Xiaolian questioned, a mix of fear and anger in her eyes.

    "Oh, I''m just starting, dear sister." Shirong said before suddenly disappearing.

    ~boom~

    The floor where hest stood exploded, shooting debris everywhere.

    "Whaбк" And before Ji Xiaolian could even react, she felt a heavy impact on her body.

    ~COUGH~

    She spat out a mouthful of bile, a result of the fist that had just buried into her abdomen.

    "You haven''t seen how far I can go yetбн" Shirong whispered into Xiaolian''s ears before sping her neck.

    "Y-youбн" Xiaolian found it hard to speak and her breath was forcefully stopped in her throat.

    ~BOOM~

    Shirong disappeared along with Xiaolian and reappeared in the open grounds outside the Silver Prison.

    "Look! It''s young master Shirong!" The nsmen quickly identified.

    "No wait! It''s not just him!"

    "Young Miss Xiaolian! Why''s she being handled like that?" The nsmen were at a loss.

    "My fellow nsmen, I have something to say." Shirong said out loud.

 Chapter 903 Punishing The Traitors Of Ji Clan

    Shirong''s words were amplified with his spirit Qi, allowing them to reach every person that was in its vicinity as well as those that were a bit far away.

    Though it wasn''t even needed since a lot of the nsmen were already attracted due to the hugemotion Shirong had caused. The explosion and the storm brewing in the sky were more than enough.

    In fact, the severity and power of the storm had already alerted the elders of the n. After all, they knew that something like this was highly unusual. There was no way a heavenly tribtion was upon them, as they would have sensed it quickly.

    As for a natural storm, it was a highly remote possibility. The Ji n was protected by their great formation arrays from all sides, thus even if a storm did form, it would simply be unable to get through the array.

    But the current storm was quiet, obviously forming within the limits of the great array.

    "What is Young Master Shirong doing?"

    "Is he the one behind thismotion and explosion?"

    The nsmen wondered as more and more of them gathered around the area.

    "Now that all of you are here, I have something to say." Shirong repeated.

    "What is it, young master?" The lower ranked nsmen asked, feeling anxious.

    While they could see Ji Xiaolian in Shirong''s eyes, they did not dare to question him directly about it. They were far too low in the status to even look Shirong in the eyes. Besides, being in the Ji n had taught them better than to put their noses in matters they could avoid.

    "WHO DARES TO DO THIS IN THE JI CLAN!?"

    "Who dares blow up the Silver Prison?!"

    Just a few secondster, a series of shouts were heard as more people approached. This time they were the elders of the Ji n.

    "Elder sister Xiaolian!" And it wasn''t just the elders that appeared either. More of Shirong''s siblings had approached the area.

    "What are you doing Shirong? Let go of your elder sister!" The Elders demanded.

    "Elders, my brothers and my fellow nsmen!" Shirong silenced them with a loud deration. "Today I have something to say to you all." He continued.

    "You think ignoring us will work?"

    "Yeah! Let go of the young miss right away!" the elders demanded once more.

    Shirong''s eyes locked onto the elders who had spoken and they shone in a purple hue.

    "Silence." He pointed at them.

    ~BOOM~

    ~BOOM~

    Two bolts of lightning fell down from the sky, directly striking the elders who had interrupted him.

    "AHH!"

    "NO!"

    The two elders were merely at the peak of the Nascent soul realm and were thus unable to bear the power of the lightning bolt. While they might have survived a heavenly tribtion lightning bolt in the past, this was nothing like that.

    "Anyone that dares interrupt me can go and meet the ancestors!" Shirong dered as fierce winds and lightning stirred around him.

    The elders and nsmen were terrified seeing this.

    "Mad! He''s gone mad!" they were sure.<sub> </sub>

    After all, no one would dare to cause such a huge problem in the middle of the Ji n. Not even the supposed heir of the Ji n could do this. It only caused the nsmen to be lost and sacred.

    "I know all of you must be wondering the reason behind my actions." Shirong said, not wanting to waste anymore time.

    This time, the nsmen kept silent and let Shirong speak. The elders did the same as well, already seeing the consequences of disturbing Shirong.

    "For long I have waitedбн observedбн analyzed. I''ve seen the work of my siblings and elders. And I have to say I am not satisfied with it at all. Not only do they go against thews and regtion of our n, but they dare to lie to the patriarch as well." Shirong stated inly.

    "False! That is all false!" An elder retorted.

    "Yeah! With what proof do you dare to im this, elder brother Shirong?" Ji Feilei questioned.

    Ji Feilei was one of Shirong''s siblings and was fifth in the line for session.

    "Oh, don''t worry. I''ve only decided to do all this after gathering enough proof." Shirong said smugly before he threw out multiple orbs into the air.

    ~SHUA~

    The orbs rose into the sky, forming multiplerge screens that showed a set of scenes.

    "Look! Isn''t that the ninth elder?"

    "And he''s with a baron of the eastern kingdoms." The nsmen quickly recognized the participants on one of the screens.

    "Is that Lord Jiao Han of Tieba city?"

    "He''s with young miss Ji Xiaolian!"

    One by one, multiple scenes started appearing in the sky, allowing everyone standing around to observe it. The screens not only showed some of the higher ups of the n, but also many people that were currently in attendance here.

    "None of this can be proved!"

    "You have fabricated this and are trying to frame us!"

    The elders and Shirong''s siblings proimed.

    Ji Xiaolian who was still in Shirong''s grasp, watched it all with moist eyes. She was truly terrified about everything.

    ''How did he have ess to the meetings of the Tieba City''s lords? That is incredibly secure. Did he actually get those lords over on his side? Or does he have some spies in there?'' Xiaolian had no idea.

    She knew that if Shirong could have ess to not just the contents of theting but also had recorded video evidence of it all, there was no limit to the sensitive information he might have had.

    ''All my workбн all the preparationбн it will all be for naught like this.'' Ji Xiaolian thought.

    But while Xiaolian was thinking all this, Shirong had a smile on his face.

    "My fellow nsmen, as you can see, these traitors of the n do not ept their crimes." Shirong ignored the protests.

    "Thus, I have decided to finish this quickly and with my own hands." He added, his power increasing.

    "Youбн what are you doing?" the elders realized the danger.

    "I''m simply eliminating the weeds from the rootsбн no more hiding." Shirong said before the sky exploded.

    ~KABOOM~

 Chapter 904 How Does Chaos Start?

    The Long continent had been in peace for quite a long time now. People wondered if this peace hadsted too long, or perhaps it was just the calm before the storm. Regardless of their thoughts and expectations, the world followed its own path.

    Still, the number of people that thought a time of chaos was near had started to slowly increase. While there had been small chaotic events like wars between kingdoms, beast tides and even natural cmities, none of them was something that would disturb the entire continent at once.

    In fact, after the establishment of the three Guardian ns, there had been no long scale upheaval. The three ns were also satisfied by this and allowed the rise of other powers as long as they didn''t cause trouble.

    All they cared about was the status quo and that their superiority was maintained. The same attitude was adapted by the other powers of the continents.

    In the case of the Long continent, the powers were mainly divided into four categories. The first was none other than the top ns, which included the Long n. The second was the kingdoms that existed, and the third was the cultivation sects.

    The fourth and final category was the independent organizations such as the Tieba city council and smaller groups.

    A long time back, philosophers had asked how could arge scale chaotic situation be quantified?

    It took a long time, and years went by before they were able toe up with an answer for that. The answer was when all four categories of the powers were unable to stay in peace and hold their positions.

    When that happened, true chaos would descend and the Ming Dao world would face the same severity of the situation it did over ten thousand years ago. It might not be an invasion, but it didn''t need to be.

    And today, they finally felt like it was the early stage of that chaos.

    The entire Long continent heard the news about the monster that had appeared in the south. The said monster was entirely unknown and had managed to cripple two kingdoms in less than six months.

    If it was just this, the other powers of the Long continent would not have been bothered. Rather, it was the Chan Sect and the Dark ins sect that had raised the rm. They not only had definite proof of the monster''s existence, but had also found some ancient records.

    The said records were originally found in an abandoned ruin over two thousand years ago. After being found, they had been lying in the library of the Chan sect, untouched and unread.

    Only after finding out about the monster did they increase their efforts and scoured every bit of information sources did they find out more about the monster. ording to the record they had found, the said monster was called a cmity fiend.

    Its existence predated the existence of the three guardian ns and even the great invasion of the past. That was a period in the history of the Ming Dao world that had basically been forgotten.

    Only faint traces of it could be found from time to time.

    The said record mentioned that the cmity fiend was a world ending monster that hade to Ming Dao world in an unknown age. The humans of that age were but mere savages back then and there was no cultivation knowledge.<sub> </sub>

    It was also deemed as the age of ignorance.

    The cmity fiend freely raged across the Ming Dao world during the age of ignorance until finally a being descended. He was called as a sage and hade to spread enlightenment of civilization to this world.

    But what he witnessed was the cmity fiend ravaging the world.

    Enraged by it, he waged a great battle against it thatsted three hundred days. But despite that long battle, he was unable to truly kill the beast. All he could do was to seal it and hope that someone in the future would be able to stop its existence.

    The battle had greatly weakened the sage, and he had to rest for a long time to recover his strength. But he didn''t just stay in istion, instead he guided the humans of the Ming Dao world and led them to a civilized life.

    He showed them the path of cultivation while they revered him as a god.

    It was only when he had left the Ming Dao world did the humans of the Ming Dao world realize he was no god.

    A few despaired at the departure of their god, but some desired the same power. The path of cultivation shown by the sage spread widely and cultivators started spreading.

    The inheritance left behind by the sage faded away after the humans of the Ming Dao world derived their own understanding from it. Perhaps it was intentional on the sages'' part, but not record of his true inheritance was found.

    Even the people who had descended from his disciples had no memories.

    But there was still something he had left behind. It was nothing but a warningбн a warning for the future dynasties about the cmity fiend that would one daye for them.

    With the spread of this ancient record, the powers of the Long continent were almost sent into panic.

    p They didn''t take it on face value either, getting their elders and ancestors to verify the authenticity of this record. They used divination as well as other secrets technique, only toe to the conclusion that all of it was true.</anda>

    And just as they were about to begin nning for this, another piece of shocking news spread from one of the powers. This power was none other than the Ji n.

    The news was about the ruthlessness of the heir apparent Ji Shirong, who had massacred his siblings and elders along with those who opposed him in one day. Solidifying his position as the true heir!

    And not just that, even the patriarch of the Ji n was epting of it, nullifying the crimes of kin ughter.

 Chapter 905 The Fake Fiend

    "How the fuck did they find something like this?" Lin Wu said in surprise.

    He was currently reading through the new information that had just been obtained by the Tieba City lords. Lin Wu was resting andprehending before this but had been woken up due to the notification of the system.

    In front of him, there were several screens that showed the newly gathered information.

    "So there really was a cmity fiend?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    The information he had taken from the Tieba city lords was about the so called cmity fiend. They were the first ones to find out about it after the Chan sect and the Dark ins sect.

    The spies of the Tieba city had intercepted this information before letting it pass though. They themselves were wondering what kind of a monster Lin Wu was and now that they could let others burden the weight, there was no way they''d spend their own effort.

    It was like a fresh pie that had fallen from the sky in front of a starving bigger. No way anyone would let go of an opportunity like this.

    Thus, even the greedy Tieba City lords let the information spread. And not just that, they even got their contacts and influence to spread the news even further, letting it be known to each and everymoner.

    ''Sheeshбн I originally intended to take my time to spread the fear, but now it seems like they''ve done it for me.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    There was a ton of information that he had to go through as the Tieba city lords gathered more than the records that the two sects had disseminated. They actively searched for any supporting documents for the so called ''sage'' of the past as well as any remnants from back then.

    This information was rather surprising for Lin Wu since he could tell it was not entirely correct.

    "While they might be mistaken due to having no other concrete proof, I certainly have thatбн" Lin Wu muttered before pulling up the information that the Taiji Celestial''s tomb''s array stored.

    The system had recently had a breakthrough with the encryption of the array recently and had obtained more information. This was information about the past of the Ming Dao world, but Lin Wu had yet to take aplete look at it.

    "Hmmбн this Cmity Fiendбн there is no specific description about it in the records that the Chan sect and Dark ins sect obtained." Lin Wu noted. "But, the Taiji Celestial''s tomb clearly describes it being an Immortal cultivator that had gone insane after having Qi deviation." he read.

    ording to the information from the tomb, the so called Cmity Fiend was just a human cultivator from a higher world. He had cultivated an unorthodox technique that allowed him to get strong, but at the cost of his mind.

    He had killed and offended too many people in the immortal world and was pursued by a lot of enemies. In the end, he had to run away and ended up falling into a spatial vortex that put him near the Ming Dao world.

    Being injured and tired, the Ming Dao world was like a ripe fruit for him. And finding that there were basically no cultivators there even made him act without restraints. After all, even if he was greatly weakened, his strength was still great.<sub> </sub>

    To the humans of that time who basically lived as savages, he was no less than a demon god descending on their world. His powers seemed great to them but if a person of the current time saw it, while they might find it to be the peak of this world, it wasn''t something unfathomable to them.

    In fact, if there were Immortal Ascension realm cultivators in that time they might have even been able to restrain them.

    "Even the so called ''sage'' didn''te here for ''enlightening''moners. He was simply pursuing the ''cmity fiend'' as a bounty hunter." Lin Wu continued to read, finding it all funny.

    The ''sage'' wasn''t even that strong of an expert. Sure, he might be strongpared to the standards of the Ming Dao world, but he was just an average immortal cultivator of the Immortal realm.

    The cmity fiend had a big bounty on his head, but due to his power, not many dared to go after him. But this bounty hunter was in lucky and found the man to be in a weakened condition.

    But even then, he had ack of information as the Cmity fiend had recovered a part of his powers till then and gave him a tough battle. In the end, the bounty hunter could only use his trump card and seal the cmity fiend forcefully.

    "HAHAHA! The inheritance he left behind wasn''t even intentional. His storage treasures broke in the battle and ended up being taken by the savages of that time." Lin Wuughed.

    After reading all this, he managed to confirm one thing.

    ''Whoever wrote this record wasn''t a historianбн he was a fucking story teller!'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    Though one thing the record got correct was the timeline of the events. The appearance of the cmity fiend and the sage happened long before the three guardian beasts'' existence.

    "Not just thatбн it appeared even before the Taiji Celestial''s tomb was established and the strange being inside it was sealed." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu had wondered if the strange being sealed in the tomb and the cmity fiend were the same thing. But after seeing the data from the tomb, he could confirm that both were different.

    ''That thing in the tomb is way beyond that cmity, fiend. It''s something that can power the tomb all over these years without being eliminated. It cannot be taken lightly.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He continued to look through the auxiliary information for another hour and updated himself about it all.

    "Regardless of whether the Cmity fiend was real or notбн it is now real and I shall be the Cmity Fiend!" Lin Wu said with a wide smile.

 Chapter 906 Approving Shirong

    Having learned about the Cmity Fiend and the truth behind it, Lin Wu was satisfied.

    If anything, it had only helped make things easier for him. After all, using an established reputation was far easier than making a new one from scratch. The chaos that Lin Wu had caused earlier in the kingdoms,bined with the records of the Chan sect, would serve well to make the powers take it all seriously.

    "Thoughбн it would be a problem if that ''cmity fiend'' is somehow unsealed after all this time." Lin Wu realized.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s analysis of the data, the Cmity fiend is unlikely to have survived. He should have perished over the years as there are no further records of an immortal cultivators appearance in the data obtained from the Taiji Celestial''s tomb.

    бкбк

    "Ah, that makes it easier then." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    He made a few notes and decided to make some changes in his original set of ns. They didn''t deviate much, but the new changes would certainly make things a lot more explosive in the future.

    "Now thenбн onto the next part." Lin Wu muttered as he activated amunication link.

    Far from Tieba city, in the very north of the Long Continent, a man opened his eyes. An emerald green spear made out of crystals was lying on hisp while he sat in a meditative pose.

    His brows furrowed, but he soon heard a voice inside his head.

    "What''s this I''m hearing about you killing all opposition and taking over as the heir of the Ji n?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "S-senior!" Shirong responded with slight surprise.

    "I thought you were going to just take care of your sister first?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I did indeedбн at least that was the original n. And I prepared ording to that tooбн" Shirong replied. "But something changed."

    "Oh? Tell me." Lin Wu replied.

    "I learned just how far the involvement of Ji Xiaolian and my siblings was. I originally wanted to go ording to the rules of the n and had even gotten her imprisoned in the prison, but it seemed like it was all just ruse.

    They wanted to keep on ying me while pretending to follow the n rules. And not just that, they had set up a lot more traps for me as well." Shirong exined slowly.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu said, his tone calm.

    Shirong felt a bit uneasy from this and hesitated before speaking again.

    "Are youбн not fine with this senior?" Shirong questioned carefully.<sub> </sub>

    "Not fine with it? Why would I not be fine with this?" Lin Wu answered.

    "Huh?" Shirong had not expected that.

    "You simply took the best course of action. Since your foes didn''t follow the rules, there was no need for you to follow them, either. Besides, you didn''t suppress them with falsehood or scheming, and neither did you trap them.

    ? You killed them with pure power and eradicated the weeds from the roots." Lin Wu stated firmly.

    Hearing this, a smile appeared on Shirong''s face.

    ''I knew a being like that strong would cower under rules. The path of the strong is the one that I should takeбн only then will I be able to reach closer to him.'' Shirong thought to himself.

    After witnessing the vast expanse of the universe that Lin Wu had revealed to him, Shirong knew that his original goals were far too small. He was like a kid ying in a muddy puddle, thinking he was learning to swim.

    When in reality, he was only lowering his own standards, going against the insects that lived in the puddle.

    His goal needed to be far higher than that. But Shirong also knew his limitations and the time needed to grow. While he had been helped due to the Crystal spear, that was still nothing in front of the being that had made the spear in the first ce.

    He didn''t need to hide the existence of the Emeraldine Heart Spear either, as he now knew the creator itself. No longer having to fear for all this, Shirong decided to do something he had long since desired.

    Thus he cleared out the opposition he had in the n and eliminated most of his siblings that were opposing him.

    The ones that were still alive were those that were either too young to participate in the struggle, or those that had simply stayed neutral. The best example of this was none other than the first son of the Ji n and Shirong''s eldest brother, Ji Yuan.

    That man had not appeared for even a single moment during the entire conflict and wasn''t even in the n.

    But since he had already expressed his desire to notpete from the very start, there was no reason for Shirong to target him either. Lin Wu hadn''t told Shirong about the truth of Ji Yuan either, as there was no need to do that right now.

    ''Considering the state he is in, he might have messed up if he went again Ji Yuan. That guy is still useful to me.'' Lin Wu had already decided to use Ji Yuan as a sacrificeter.

    "Is there anything you want me to do now, Senior?" Shirong asked.

    "Right now?" Lin Wu asked. "Hmmбн tell me about the situation in your n. I heard your father is fine with all this?"

    "He isбн he was in fact, really infuriated after learning how the elders and my siblings were going against the n rules. Thus he had no option but to approve of me." Shirong replied.

    "Thoughбн with a man of his influence, how was it that he didn''t realize what his people were doing?" Lin Wu asked doubtfully.

    Lin Wu was wondering if this was all done under the tacit approval of the Ji n patriarch in the first ce.

    "Father has been busytely. I do not know why and he does not tell us. But he has been staying in his residence for days on end and has delegated most tasks to elders." Shirong stated.

 Chapter 907 The Changing Currents

    Hearing Shirong''s words, Lin Wu would be lying if he didn''t find them suspicious.

    "Wasn''t your father fully focusing on the n just a year ago?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yesбн its strange. But since nothing problematic has happened in this time, the others didn''t interfere in his matters either." Shirong answered. "To be honest, one of the reasons I was confident in getting rid of my opponents this time was because of father not being there." He added.

    "But he did appear, right?" Lin Wu replied.

    "He did indeed. Or rather, he was forced to appear because of my actions." Shirong stated.

    "And you don''t think your siblings and the other elders were acting as they were because of theck of action from your father?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "There is a chance, but I have no way to confirm it." Shirong replied.

    "Hmmбн what about your ancestor?" Lin Wu asked.

    "My ancestor is even less involved in the n now. Other than the time when he talked with me two years ago, he has not interacted with anyone else in the n. Father might have talked with him, but I have no idea about that." Shirong replied.

    After hearing this, Lin Wu had a hunch that there was possibly something going on in the Ji n, but he didn''t know what it could be.

    "I seeбн I guess you should keep an eye on your n for now. A time of uncertainty is upon usбн" Lin Wu said, unsettling Shirong.

    "Uncertaintyбн is itбн to do with ''that'' Senior?" Shirong asked carefully. "I''ve heard about the Cmity in the south. Are they truly linked?" he questioned.

    "I do not know for now. If it is, then that monster is able to avoid my sense''s. All I know is that the Shadow cmity is definitely awakened." Lin Wu answered.

    "I understandбн what should I do then? Should we support the south along with the sects to go against the monster?" Shirong asked.

    He was actually a bit confused and worried about this. All the sects and kingdoms had been given the news about the Cmity Fiend and there were only a few that knew more. Shirong was one of them since he had heard about the Shadow cmity long before from Lin Wu.

    "For now, I would say prepare. Prepare well. Let the sects and the southern kingdoms act first and observe it all." Lin Wu replied.

    "Are you not going to act senior?" Shirong asked curiously.

    "I might, depending on how the situation unfurls. It is not the best for me to act right awayбн My strength hasn''t recovered to a point where I would be confident. I can act in a time of distress, but it would push back my recovery." Lin Wu stated, surprising Shirong.

    "A-alright senior." Shirong could only ept.

    "I''ll contact youter if something arises." Lin Wu said and was just about to cut themunication link when Shirong interrupted.

    "Umm, senior. I was contacted by someone from the Long n. He said that he knows you." Shirong suddenly spoke.

    "Long Qingao?" Lin Wu guessed. ''Seems like he might have contacted Shirong finally.''<sub> </sub>

    "Yes! So you know him?" Shirong asked.

    "Yes, he''s the Long n''s envoy that came to the Millennium forest. Don''t you remember?" Lin Wu replied.

    "I didn''t get his name, and he left without us knowing too." Shirong stated. "And I wasn''tpletely sure about his authenticity too, since he had contacted from an unofficial jade slip. The Long n usually contacts us from a specific jade slip that they gave us." He added.

    "What did he talk to you about?" Lin Wu inquired.

    ''I did tell Long Qingao to watch out and also told him about the human allies I have,'' Lin Wu recalled.

    "He invited me for a private meeting and said that we should talk in person. But I denied him back then since I was working on the Ji n to take over." Shirong answered.

    "Hmmбн you can trust him. Meet up with himter, and once you do, use the samemunication method, you have with me. You should be able to talk to him directly after that without needing to meet him in person." Lin Wu instructed.

    While Lin Wu had imnted Pentagem in both of them, he had not told them that it could be used to talk to each other. To do that though, they needed to meet in person for the Pentagem to resonate.

    Lin Wu hadn''t given the humans direct method tomunicate like he had done with his beast servants, as he didn''t want any unexpected loss of secrecy. In case of the beasts he could fully control them, but the same was not possible for the humans.

    He had alsopartmentalized the information about his ns greatly due to that. The less his different allied factions knew, the better it was for the n to go forth smoothly.

    In fact, some parts of the n needed for some of his allies to act with confidence and go on an offense.

    It was the whole reason he had created the new bloodlines for the Avatar. It gave a legitimate method for Lin Wu to direct malice.

    Lin Wu talked with Shirong for a few more minutes and gave him some additional details and then cut the link.

    ~huu~

    "Perhaps I should make a visit to the Ji nбн the actions of Ji Shan, the patriarch of the n don''t seem to be normal." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ~Sigh~

    <o>,m "At least the others are doing wellбн" Lin Wu said while ncing over the monitoring windows.</o>

    The Millennium forest was progressing as intended, and the beasts were growing well. The numbers of Nascent soul realm beasts were now about to exceed 70 and a couple were even close to the Dao Shell realm.

    In case of his human subordinates, they too were progressing well. Shirong himself had reached the Dao shell realm and was now the strongest among them.

    All that was left for Lin Wu to do was to wait and watchбн

 Chapter 908 Two Years Of Uncertainty And Change

    Two years had gone since the appearance of the Cmity Fiend on the Long continent.

    It had given them a life rocking shock and every person on the Long continent knew about it, right from the top most experts to the lowest peasants. To them, this was a disaster that hade into their lives and they didn''t know if peace would ever return.

    The southern half of the Long continent had been rocked by the Cmity Fiend and several kingdoms and settlement had been attacked. Even the sects had not been spared, the Chan sect and the Dark ins sect suffering the most.

    Even the Frozen Cloud sect had acted against the beast twice in this time and had been forced to retreat. Though their losses were almost nothingpared to the rest of the powers, thereby giving them a good boost in reputation.

    The fall that they had experienced due to their elders being wiped out along with the disciples was almostpletely restored. The gain in the disciples in these two years was also a good thing for them and helped them greatly.

    It wasn''t just disciples either, the other sects and powers also considered the Frozen Cloud sect a major power now due to their alliance with the Millennium Kingdom.

    The kingdom of beasts had changed greatly in these two years. Not only were there now buildings and humans living there, but the forest itself had be lush. Somehow, the forest had started to expand and the tree''s that stayed within a specific radius had grown further.

    The Luguo kingdom, the Pale marble kingdom and the Ling kingdom were a bit rmed by this too.

    At first, they were doubtful of this and didn''t know if the forest was really expanding. But a year ago, they had done an area survey and realized that the area of the forest had expanded by nearly fifty kilometers.

    This was a massive level growth, especially considering that it was in just a year.

    The representatives of the three kingdoms visited the Millennium kingdom and talked to the Emeraldine Monkeys about it. The Emeraldine Monkeys had now be synonymous with the administrative department of the Millennium kingdom.

    Their numbers had further expanded and there were now over a hundred of them in the entire kingdom, watching over multiple tasks. They were also the ones who talked with humans since they were the only ones able to talk in the human tongue.

    Only after they assured that this was a natural change and no beast attacks would happens did the three kingdoms were satisfied.

    After all, the main concern to the three kingdoms was just a beast tide. In terms of the trees and nts growing, it was rather beneficial to them since they could obtain a lot more resources.

    Further capitalizing on this, the Millennium kingdom had given out contracts for logging. The human kingdoms needed to sign this contract if they wanted to obtain timber from the forest.

    With this, the Millennium Kingdom obtained another revenue stream, and the human kingdoms got the assurance of safety. It lowered the cost of good quality wood among them, while stillting profits for the millennium kingdom.

    Earlier, the cost of good quality wood was high since there was a chance of death for the woodcutters. But now there was almost none.

    Of course, there were still beast attacks from time to time, but these were due to the normal beasts that were in the body tempering realm or the Qi refining realm.

    Even the human kingdoms were fine with it since they hunted these beasts and didn''tin about it.<sub> </sub>

    As for how they obtained higher ranked beast materials, such as those form the core condensation realm and higher?

    A new rule was made.

    If a human power wanted them, they needed to have a duel of sorts. This duel could be as simple as just a human cultivator and a beast fighting directly, or as big as a proper battle between two groups.

    Of course, the death that urred in this was to be epted by both parties.

    The only beasts that could not be touched or attacked were those that were directly under Lin Wu. Anyone that attacked them would be met with full scale retaliation from the kingdom.

    Thankfully, no one had attempted this, and the three surrounding kingdoms had also done their best to prevent any such thoughts from arising.

    They knew that they were in the defense here. If the millennium kingdom wanted, a single beast tide was all it would take to bring them to their knees. This was something unsaid, but was duly understood by them.

    The sects that were in alliance with the Millennium kingdom were subject to the same terms, but with some limitations that differed slightly.

    But one thing that all of them experienced was getting richer.

    The resources from the millennium kingdom were not obtainable from elsewhere, at least not at the rates that they sold it at.

    Once such example was Pink Bottom peaches. Only the Millennium kingdom had the method to cultivate them on amercial scale and sell them. Anyone else that attempted that would only be met with failure.

    And it was just one of the many such spirit fruits.

    Another aspect that the Millennium Kingdom had grown was entertainment.

    Therge arena built in it had be popr with humans as well, and even they participated in it. Multiple betting and prize circles had formed due to it with even the Tieba city lords getting interested in getting a piece of the pie.

    Unfortunately, a majority of the revue was monopolized by the beasts and they simply couldn''t find a way to get in.

    Forcing their way in or threatening was even more useless. It had been tried several times now, and those that did had long since turned into beast dung that fertilized the many orchards of the forest.

    And center of this all was Lin Wu, who was silently growing. His strength unknown to all.

 Chapter 909 The Blighted Fields

    Within the Frozen Cloud sect, a meeting was currently underway.

    The main hall of the sect was being used for it, and many people were in attendance. It didn''t just constitute the members of the sect either. There were elders from the many other sects including Dark ins and Chan sect too.

    But what was even more surprising was the fact that kings of the various kingdoms of the south were present in attendance as well. It was rare for these men to leave their castles, not to mention their kingdoms especially to go to a sect.

    It wasn''t really arrogance that made them averse to visiting sects, but rather self preservation. After all, even if they were kings of a kingdom, they weren''t that strong alone.

    Their own strength might barely beparable to that of a senior elder of a top ranked sect.

    If they walked into a sect and by chance, the sect official wanted them to stay behind, they wouldn''t be able to do anything. It would be the same as willingly giving the sects a high profile hostage and the kingdom would be a subordinate to them.

    Things like these had happened a few times in the past and thus it had be a matter of caution.

    Regardless of that though, there were at least eight kings in attendance today.

    With the power of the Frozen Cloud sect, it would be easy for them to subdue them all and take over the kingdoms. But nothing of that sort would happen. The kings knew this too, since they had an even greater danger hanging on their heads.

    If anything, they would much rather give the handling of their kingdoms to the Frozen Cloud sect just so that they would be free from the iing danger.

    "What are the report? We can start from the Peony ins kingdom." The Patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect spoke.

    Patriarch Bing looked older than he used to, evidently due to the stresses he had to bear during these years. It wasn''t just him either. The other elders also had stressed expression on their face.

    The only ones that looked to be rtively calm were the juniors that were in attendance.

    Wang Xiong and Ye Jin were in the hall too, along with many of his subordinates. All of them had grown stronger over the two years and had reached the Nascent soul realm. This had further increased the power of the sect and solidified Wang Xiong''s position.

    "Our fields have grown barren and nothing grows. A strange blight has spread, which prevents any crops from growing. Even out protected fields have been exposed to the same blight, even though they were isted." The King of the Peony ins kingdom spoke.

    "Weбн we don''t know how long we canst at this rate. Our poption has already fallen by a third in this time and if we have no crops to feed out people, we might fall to half soon." He said in a tired tone.

    One could see a mix of sorrow and exhaustion on his face.

    "We have the same blight in our fields too, Patriarch Bing. Though the fields at the very south are still safe." The King of the Zhan Kingdom stated.

    "What about the others?" patriarch Bing looked around.<sub> </sub>

    "Around ten percent of our fields are affected by the blight."

    "Twenty percent for us!"

    "Forty five for mine!"

    One by one, the kings started to voice out their reports. The more the Patriarch heard, the more furrowed his brows got. The same could be said for the elders of the sects, and they didn''t know what could be done.

    Wang Xiong rubbed his beard non stop, unable toe up with any solution.

    ''The blight suddenly appeared six months ago and spread in the blink of an eye. It was even able to get past the barriers that were set up around the kingdoms with ease. It does not react to any medicines used by the elders and is highly resistant to intervention.'' Wang Xiong went over the information over and over gain.

    With the attacks of the Cmity Fiend intensifying over the years, the Blight was the second cmity they had to face. At first it had started like a fungal infection in the wheat crops, but it soon started to affect others, too.

    Before the kingdoms could respond, the Blight had already affected a significant amount of the crops.

    ''The strange thing is it didn''t even start from the Peony ins kingdom and yet they are the ones who got affected the most.'' Wang Xiong thought to himself. ''The distance from the Peony ins kingdom and White Loom Kingdom is over a thousand kilometersбн how can the blight reach there?'' Wang Xiong tried to analyze.

    The first kingdom that the blight had started from was the White Loom Kingdom, which was famous for its cotton production. They supplied a lot of cloth and thread to the other kingdoms and were rtively rich.

    There was arge mountain range between the Peony ins Kingdom and the White Loom kingdom too, with a swamp separating the mountains and the kingdom.

    Wang Xiong didn''t think the wind would the be medium though which the Blight spread to the Peony ins kingdom.

    ? The elders and the kingdoms continued to discuss the issue at hand, and yet there was nothing soliding out of it. Most of the kings were terrified of what would happen in theing months.

    They could have stayed cooped up to protect themselves from the Cmity Fiend, but now that the blight affected their food supply, they couldn''t even do that.

    "So far I understand that only spirit fruits and spirit herbs are safe from thisбн am I correct?" Wang Xiong suddenly stood up.

    "Y-yes Chief disciple Wang Xiong." The kings confirmed.

    Patriarch Bing looked at his disciple, who had outperformed all his expectations; wondering if he had figured something out. "Did you learn something?" he questioned.

    "Yesбн I think I know how the blight is spreading." Wang Xiong stated.

 Chapter 910 Source Of The Blight And A Solution

    Wang Xiong''s words echoed in the ears of all those were present and quickly incited their interest.

    "Truly!?"

    "Are you sure Chief Disciple Wang Xiong?"

    "Please tell us!"

    They all erupted anxiously, wanting the answers.

    "Yesбн" Wang Xiong nodded his head. "I''m cannot so this with a hundred percent certainly, but it can be confirmed quickly."

    "Tell us what you think." Patriarch Bing prodded him on.

    "I think the method through which the blight is spreading is the natural aquifers. If I recall correctly, the cotton fields of the White Loom Kingdom are irrigated by the Southern He river?" Wang Xiong spoke.

    "You are correct, Chief disciple. Ournds are indeed irrigated from the water of the Southern He river." The king of the White Loom kingdom replied.

    "Then, do you know where the river goes after the water passed through yournds?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "The Southern He river splits into multiple tributaries and streams before flowing into thekes that are located alongside the mountains on our border." The king of the White Loom Kingdom replied.

    "Exactly. And where do you think the water from thekes goes? It seeps into the ground and forms an underground aquifer. It should have no problem passing through the mountains and reaching the other side.

    There is a vast swamp located on the other side, which exists due to the constant feeding from the underground springs. It is also this same water that reaches the Peony ins kingdom and then the Zhan Kingdom." Wang Xiong exined.

    Hearing this, the kings and elders had a sense of realization. All of them were thinking of different reasons, but the cause was right in front of them the whole time. They hadn''t thought that water would be the cause, since the animals and humans that drank the same water had no issues.

    "That makes sense. After all the fields of the White Loom kingdom that were affected first were also located downstream." One of the elders spoke.

    "Indeed. The flow of the river might also be why the White Loom Kingdom wasn''t affected on the same scale as Peony ins kingdom. If the blight had started from the upstream, all the crops would have been affected just like the others." Wang Xiong stated.

    "Hmmбн so if we take water as the medium though which it spreads, we should be able to chart out the spread radius." Patriarch Bing spoke after thinking.

    "Why don''t we check it right away?" One of the elders said before standing up. "The map is already open here."

    In the air above them all, an illusory map formed due to a formation was present. Several lines and sections were marked in it, showing the different powers and their territories. This included both the kingdoms and the sects that were within them.

    The elder who had spoken waved his finger and first drew out an outline of the Southern He river. He then traced the areas that were affected by the blight and referenced them with the water sources.

    Five minutester, a new map was present in front of them. The map showed the way the blight had spread and could even show the potential paths it would take to spread further.

    "Thisбн the next location it would spread is Juhe Kingdom!" They realized.<sub> </sub>

    "Patriarch! We need to act quick and isted thends."

    "Yes! We need to send people right away."

    The elders urged the patriarch to act.

    "Wait! We should also ensure that our information is correct. Please send out your people in your respective kingdoms to check this." Wang Xiong suggested.

    "We shall do this then." The kings agreed and took out theirmunication jade slips, quickly sending out orders.

    Now all they needed to do was to wait, till they got the response from their kingdoms. Wang Xiong too contracted his subordinates that were located outside the sect and asked them to gather some information.

    The Juhe kingdom was the kingdom located closest to the Frozen Cloud sect. The only thing separating the two was a forest. If the blight ever reached the Juhe kingdom, it would quickly reach the Frozen Cloud sect too.

    After all, there was no natural barrier like a mountain range to slow down the spread. Not to mention, there was not one but three rivers that passed through the Juhe kingdom and the Frozen Cloud sect''s territory.

    These rivers crisscrossed across arge span ofnd before turning to the east and entering the ocean there.

    They would have never thought that the same rivers which were the reason for bounty would one day be the harbingers of disaster for them.

    Two hours passed like this before the first reply came.

    "It is just like Chief Disciple Wang Xiong said. My people went and inspected thekes in the mountains and used some of the grains to test it. And just as you said, the grains showed signs of blight just a few minutester aftering in contact with the water." The King of the White Loom Kingdom stated.

    After his answer, more replies came in just a few minute intervals. All of them were the same and confirmed Wang Xiong''s guess. Though it only served to make the kings and elders anxious.

    They had seen how the Blight would spread in the future.

    "What do we do now? Even if we block the rivers and iste our crops, we can''t keep on doing that." One of the kings said.

    "Yeah, we will only be able to protect the crops that are already ripe. Without water, the next yield would only perish." The king of the White Loom Kingdom agreed.

    ~Sigh~

    "What can we even doбн our efforts at searching for a solution in old records have all failed. Even the spirit herb experts are unable to resolve this blight." A high elder said in despair.

    The other kings too felt like the solution they had was not enough. If anything, it only slowed their deaths.

    "We might not have a solution, but I know someone who should have one!" Wang Xiong said out loud. "The Millennium Forest Kingdom!"

 Chapter 911 Only One That Can Help

    Wang Xiong''s words were enough to catch everyone''s attention, including the guards that were standing at the doors.

    After all, in the past two years, the millennium Forest Kingdom had be a powerhouse in itself. While it wasn''t at the same level as that of the top ns, it was already someone the top sects considered to be their equals.

    If it weren''t for the fact that the rtionship between the Lian n and the Millennium Forest Kingdom was intentionally kept hidden, the ranking of the kingdom might be even higher.

    The one thing the Millennium Forest Kingdom was now well known for was its massive supply of spirit fruits and herbs. But people often forgot about the other crops that were also being grown there.

    Right from the most basic rice and wheat all the way to seasonal vegetable.

    There was a rumor that the King of the forest liked human food a lot and thus liked to cultivate such crops. It didn''t help that the humans with upations such as chefs and cooks were actually given some benefits when they came to the forest to teach.

    Now that Wang Xiong had stated the name of the forest, the people present here finally realized it.

    "Does Chief Disciple Wang Xiong meant to ask help from the beasts of the Millennium forest?" one of the kings asked.

    "Noбн not just the beasts. The king of the Millennium Forest Kingdomбн King Lin Wu himself." Wang Xiong stated.

    "King Lin Wu!" The people were a bit awed by that name

    The king of the millennium forest was now viewed as someone strong by mysterious. Only a few people had seen him and a few such people were present right here.

    "But will King Lin Wu help us? Wasn''t he said to be in seclusion?" The King of the White Loom Kingdom questioned.

    "He will help usбн though it won''t be for free." Wang Xiong answered.

    The kings pursed their lips and wondered what to do from here. Some of them couldn''t help but look towards Patriarch Bing and the people from the Chan sect.

    Both of them were parties who had met Lin Wu in person before and knew more than the other kings. Even the patriarch and elders of the Dark ins sect had not seen or met Lin Wu before, thus being in disadvantage.

    They actually regretted that they had not sent an envoy back when Lin Wu had given an open invitation. The Chan sect had been their rival for a long time and certainly gained some benefits from the deals with the millennium Forest kingdom.

    Patriarch Bing took a breath and raised his head to padres the people''s questioning gazes.

    "King Lin Wu can be asked to help. But do not forget that he is still a king, and a beast. So far all that he has done... all the trades with humans, opportunities, and moreбн they are all done with benefits in mind.

    On one hand, it is a clear disy that we will not be cheated, but you also cannot expect him to do it free for you." Patriarch Bing stated his opinion.

    Wang Xiong''s lips twisted a bit in displeasure, but he hid it quickly.

    "I agree with patriarch Bing''s words. It is said that King Lin Wu is long lived and certainly has more experience than all of us here. While he might not do it for free, I do not think he will fail us." The patriarch of the Chan sect stated.

    "That is right. King Lin Wu is a great senior and has been on this world longer than all of us." Wang Xiong said, surprising everyone.<sub> </sub>

    "What?!" They were stunned.

    While they all knew of the power of the beast king, they didn''t know this fact at all.

    "Is that true?" the patriarch of the Dark ins sect questioned.

    "I swear upon the heavens and my cultivation base as a guarantee that it is the truth!" Wang Xiong said without hesitation.

    ~SHUA~

    A heavy pressure descended on everyone for a moment and quickly disappeared. All of the people present here knew what a heavenly oath entailed and knew how serious Wang Xiong was.

    "So it is trueбн" Today, another set of powers found out more about the mystery of the Beast King.

    For a few minutes, there was silence in the hall, while they all processed their information. They knew that there was someone who could help us, but they also needed to consider the price they would have to pay for it.

    They didn''t mind the cost either, or rather they preferred that there was some cost to the help. That way, they wouldn''t need to worry about some other schemes or plots being hatched in exchange for free favors.

    "Considering the reputation that the Millennium Forest Kingdom has built, and the identity of King Lin Wuбн I reckon we should ask for his assistance." The King of the Peony ins kingdom was the first to submit.

    His kingdom was in the most dangerous situation, after all.

    "The Zhan Kingdom agrees with this!" The King of the Zhan Kingdom quickly spoke up.

    "The White Loom Kingdom favors this too!"

    "Us too!"

    One by one, all the kingdoms joined in the decision and gave their approval.

    "The Chan sect and Dark ins sect will oblige as well."

    Now the only party left was the Frozen Cloud sect. But their status on this matter was already set from the start.

    "Alright. As the one presiding over this matter, I give it my approval. King Lin Wu of the millennium forest kingdom shall be contacted as soon as possible and a request shall be sent.

    And after we get a reply from the king, we shall inquire about the cost and how it shall be paid." Patriarch Bing stated firmly.

    Seeing that things had gone well, Wang Xiong smiled.

    ''I''ve done my part here, Senior. Your predictions were correctбн they do need you, after all." Wang Xiong thought to himself.

 Chapter 912 Seventeen Dao Traces

    "HWAAAAAAA~" Lin Wu let out a big yawn and stretched his main body. "Damnбн its been quite some time since used this." He said.

    The main body had been cultivating in the tomb the entire time Lin Wu was in the south. The avatar had been his ''home'' for over two years now and had obtained quite a lot of benefits in the south.

    Both his avatar and the main body had grown quite a bit in this time in terms of cultivation base. Since they were at the Shell expansion stage, they basically had no maximum limit for how much spirit Qi they could umte.

    Lin Wu had decided to use it all at once to directly reach the Dao Treading realm when he had a sufficientprehension of the Dao traces.

    ''I do feel like I''m starting to feel itбн that callбн'' Lin Wu tried to recall.

    In the two years, in addition to his ns, he had also focused on deepening his understanding of the Dao Traces. He had managed to actually narrow down a few Dao traces that he had an affinity to.

    "Show the progress with that system." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: A total of 17 Dao Traces have been detected

    RECORDED DAO TRACES: 15 detected

    1. Fire Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    2. Water Dao Trace [Compatibility: 32%]

    3. Earth Dao Trace [Compatibility: 96%]

    4. Wood Dao Trace [Compatibility: 62%]

    5. Metal Dao Trace [Compatibility: 85%]

    6. Wind Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    7. Lightning Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    8. Light Dao Trace [Compatibility: 26%]

    9. Darkness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 11%]

    10. Shadow Dao Trace [Compatibility: 19%]

    11. Spear Dao Trace [Compatibility: 38%]

    12. Beast Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%]

    13. Formation Dao Trace [Compatibility: 40%]

    14. Sword Dao Trace [Compatibility: 32%]<sub> </sub>

    15. Poison Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    UNKNOWN DAO TRACES: 2 Detected

    1. Unknown Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%]

    2. Unknown Dao Trace (Main body) [Compatibility: 100%]

    бкбк

    The window that was in front of Lin Wu right now was the culmination of the system''s work over the years. In the past, it couldn''t do something like quantifying the Dao traces. It could barely even detect them in the first ce.

    But now that Lin Wu had consumed and obtained thousands upon thousands of data nodes as well as other forms of data though books and documents, the system had finally devised a method to do so.

    And not just that, it had actually calcted thepatibility that Lin Wu had with each Dao trace.

    But while doing this, even the system had run into a problem. There were actually Dao Traces that were still beyond its understanding. Or at the very least, they weren''t part of the data banks.

    Among the seventeen Dao Traces that the system had detected, there were two such that they couldn''t be recognized. And not just that, but they were also the ones that had the highestpatibility with Lin Wu.

    What was unique about them though was that the system had determined that Lin Wu''s different bodies had exclusivity to those Dao traces. This was not the same for the rest of the fifteen.

    Theoretically, Lin Wu could make the same kind of Dao embryo in both bodies. But he had learned enough that the doing that wasn''t the best option.

    Additionally, even if he had the potential to form the Dao Embryos from these many Dao Traces, the gains he would obtain from them would still vary. Which was why Lin Wu had a new focus now.

    ''I have to go for those with the 100%patibility. They would provide the best benefits to me in the long run. I can always make the Dao Embryos for other daoster on after all,'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    There was technically nothing restricting one form having more than one Dao Embryo in the Dao Treading realm. If one wanted to, they could dy their cultivation and focus on making another Dao Shell and then birthing a Dao Embryo in it.

    But it would be very difficult ande with a set of restrictions. The biggest one being time.

    Many cultivators simply didn''t have sufficient lifespan such that they would spend extra time in making another Dao shell then birthing a Dao embryo in it. Simply making the Dao shell would be the easy part. Actuallyprehending and understanding the Dao Traces enough to form a Dao Embryo would be the hard one.

    Because of this, most of the cultivators only did something like making another Dao Embryo when they had reached the Immortal realm and had the spare time to do that. Additionally, by that point, their natural ability toprehend things would also increase.

    With the gain in experience after reaching the Immortal Realm, they would find it a lot easier to form new Dao Shells and Dao Embryos. It wouldn''t take as long as it did below the Immortal realm either.

    But in the case of Lin Wu, he was the exception. Not only was his lifespan naturally longer than others at the same cultivation base, but he also had the support of system. He could form a Dao shell right away if he wanted to with the stored spirit Qi.

    All of this could be done with the help of the system. Comprehending the Dao was something that only Lin Wu himself could do. What the system did by tabting this information was only to show Lin Wu what would be the best option.

    ''The two unknown Dao Traces certainly have something to do with my bloodlines. One for the unknown bloodline in my main body and one for the Chimeric Fiend Worm bloodline.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    Because of all this, he was fixated on these two bloodlines. He even felt them ''call'' to him when he focused onprehending them. This happened asionally and Lin Wu felt like when he was fully able to focus on them, he would sessfully form a Dao Embryo and even find out what the Dao Trace''s name was.

 Chapter 913 Official Request For Help

    While Lin Wu was looking over the Dao Traces and pondering on the best ones to optimize for his second Dao Shell, he suddenly got amunication request.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu looked at the notification and saw that it was none other than Wang Xiong contacting him. "Allow it, system." He ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    COMMUNICATION LINK: Established

    Target: Wang Xiong

    Link Strength: Strong

    бкбк

    In the next moment, Lin Wu heard Wang Xiong''s voice in his head.

    "Senior, you were right!" Wang Xiong said out loud.

    "Calm down, what do you mean by that?" Lin Wu was a bit surprised by the shout.

    "The Kingdoms of the south as well as the Chan and Dark ins sect, they are willing to ask you for help." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Oh? What made them do that? They didn''t seem to ask when the Cmity Fiend was troubling them." Lin Wu questioned. "If something that big didn''t trouble them, then what is it this time?"

    "This time they are in a trouble that is bound to cause their downfall if they don''t act. At least the Cmity Fiend is something that only attacks the popce. The rest of them can still hide away and protect themselves.

    Plus the Cmity Fiend is also something that can be repelled with enough power. The same cannot be said for this issue." Wang Xiong answered. "It the unknown blight spreading among their crops."

    "I seeбн I''m guessing even their reserve crops are getting affected by it?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Indeed. At the rate at which the Blight is spreading, it wouldn''t be long before all nine kingdoms, as well as the sects located there, would be affected by it. While the Blight doesn''t affect the spirit herbs or spirit nts, it devastates the normal corps which is needed for themoners as well as lower ranked cultivators." Wang Xiong replied in detail.

    "Mmmбн what more do you know about this blight?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "I''ve prepared someprehensive information since I know you''ve been in seclusion, senior." Wang Xiong said before taking out a jade slip.

    "We''ve managed to confirm that it is spreading through water for long distances and though air for short distance. It started from the White Loom Kingdom and spread to the Peony ins Kingdom because of the underground aquifers that pass through the mountains there.

    But I don''t think that''s all. I think that even if we treat the crops on the surface, the blight might still continue spreading after having infected the underground water. Plus, it isn''t like the kingdoms can destroy all their corps and have nothing forter.

    Because of all this, the kings of the southern kingdoms, as well as the patriarchs, havee to the decision to ask you for help." Wang Xiong recited the proposal that had been prepared.

    "Mmmбн And they are ready to ept everything?" Lin Wu asked for confirmation.

    "Indeed. They are willing to pay any price. We simply need to tell them, after youe up with a solution." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Alright. I''ll take care of it." Lin Wu agreed.<sub> </sub>

    "Good, I''ll inform them right away." Wang Xiong stated. "Also, should I send you the samples of the blight?" he asked.

    "No, it''ll be easier if I just take a look myself. Besides, there might be some chances that the blight might not be in the same condition as in the fields. Making it harder to find a solution." Lin Wu exined.

    "Oh! You will being here yourself?" Wang Xiong was surprised.

    "I will. But just to investigate the blight. As for the solution, I''ll send one of my subordinates. I don''t want to waste time talking with the people there." Lin Wu replied.

    "I understand." Wang Xiong nodded his head.

    "I''ll tell you when I''m ready." Lin Wu said before cutting the link.

    ~HUU~

    "Oh, yeahбн it''s alling togetherбн" Lin Wu smiled widely.

    He scrolled though a few windows before speaking, "the effects are just like the simtions, right system? No issues so far?"

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: There have been some minor deviations, but they are mostly due to the human interference. The cure for the Blight is still the same.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer, Lin Wu felt pleased.

    "It took over a year for the Blight to start working properly, but its all worth it. I''ll be able to extend my ''open'' influence freely over a good part of the south now." Lin Wu chuckled.

    He knew directly doing this was not something that would be taken kindly by the powers on the continent. Even if Lin Wu had good links to the Lian n and the Ji n, it didn''t mean that he could just throw caution to the wind.

    This way, he could assert his influence rightfully and it would even be weed. It would be the kingdoms and sects that would be in his ''debt'' with it too, reducing any unpredictable ''opposition''ing from them.

    The Blight was just amon fungal infection that the corps got in this world. Lin Wu had obtained multiple such pathogenic fungi that affected nts, and got the system to modify them.

    It was actually easy due to the Chimeric Fiend worm Bloodline''s innate ability of Poison synthesis. It considered the fungus to be poison too since there were actually a lot of beasts that used symbiotic fungi as poison.

    Of course, Lin Wu didn''t want it to be too vtile and thus let the system modte its effectiveness. At the maximum level, it was a devastating fungus that would even kill spirit herbs and nts.

    That wasn''t something that Lin Wu wanted, as it could potentially pose great danger to his own orchards and the forest. Even if the ''cure'' was spread quickly, the damage done would still be there and the cost would be paid.

    Hence, Lin Wu got the system to ''weaken'' the fungus such that it only affected normal crops and was ineffective on spirit nts.

    "Hmmбн three days of time should be enough to respond. I''ll get the servants ready for it till then." Lin Wu decided.

 Chapter 914 Cang Ci And Cicada

    Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and Lin Wu finally replied to Wang Xiong.

    "Senior, You''re done?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Yes. I''ve taken a look and made the cure for it." Lin Wu replied.

    "You did? Butбн I didn''t even see you." Wang Xiong was a little lost.

    "I just did it quickly. At least I''ll be done soon now, since I got the cure ready." Lin Wu replied.

    "That is good. But how are you going to send the cure?" Wang Xiong wondered.

    "I''m sending someone to do that." Lin Wu replied. "They will spread the cure both on the surface as well as underground. If we don''t do that, the blight will reappear."

    "I seeбн and who''sing for that?" Wang Xiong questioned knowing that the underground areas where the blight had reached were quiet deep.

    For humans to get there was difficult and if they made any mistake, the ground might cave in burying them. But more than that, the damage to the water systems would be a lot more troubling.

    "A beast and a human. That should make themunication easier for everyone." Lin Wu answered.

    "A beast and a human? Who are they?" Wang Xiong was surprised, thinking that it might be someone currently cultivating in the shrine of the Sky Bright Daoist.

    It saws a reasonable assumption since a lot of humans were now present there. And they also came in contact with beasts often, allowing them to get a better understanding of them.

    "You''ll know when you see them," Lin Wu said before cutting the link.

    "Huhбн guess it''ll be a surprise." Wang Xiong muttered. ''Though it is also better to keep a little confidentiality. After all, this matter is between multiple kingdoms that aren''t allied officially.'' He reckoned.

    Still, just this information along was big. And when Wang Xiong told all this to the patriarchs and the kings, they were left stunned.

    "He already has a cure ready?" King of the White Loom kingdom eximed.

    "Yes. He came and analyzed the blight before making a cure. He''s sending his subordinates to spread the cure. They will start from the Juhe kingdom and go all the way south. Just like we have listed on the map.

    We should meet them in a few days." Wang Xiong exined.

    "Stillбн it didn''t even take him three days to prepare this. It''s a little unbelievable." The king of the Peony ins kingdom said.

    "More than unbelievableбн it''s almost like the cure was already prepared by him." The patriarch off the Dark ins sect said with a hint of suspicion.

    Wang Xiong''s eyes locked on the man, and a slight frown appeared on his face.

    "It is not good to suspect our allies now patriarch Dark insбн Lest we offend them and our trouble doubles." Wang Xiong said in a low tone, expressions his displeasure.

    Hearing this, the patriarch was bit taken aback, after all Wang Xiong''s status was still below him as a patriarch. Even whenparing cultivation base, he was still lower than him and should have spoken with respect.

    But just as he was about to say something, he felt the eyes of Chan Sect patriarch on him. They held warning in them, as if telling him to measure his words twice before speaking them.

    ~huu~<sub> </sub>

    Letting out a breath, the patriarch let go of the matter. ''Only time will tell how things fareбн I''ll watch till then.''

    Wang Xiong''s work didn''t stop here though as he sent out several orders to the various kingdoms under the authority of the kings. The orders basically told the people there to cooperate with the iing beast and human.

    ? It also warned them not to offend them in any way, and not to make any other mistake. With the official seals of the kings on each order, the authenticity was established and messengers took them out.

    Two dayster at the border of Juhe kingdom.

    Wang Xiong and several others were waiting at the side of a river.

    "When will they arrive?" Someone asked.

    "They shouldn''t be far now." Wang Xiong replied.

    He could sense the beasting closer due to the Pentagem imnt in him. He had been told by Lin Wu that themunication methods will work with other beasts under him too.

    But what surprised Wang Xiong was the fact that he didn''t just feel one such link nearing, but rather two.

    "Did senior send two beasts? I thought he was going to send a beast and a human." Wang Xiong wondered.

    ~BUZZ~

    And just as he said that, a buzzing sound could be heard. It wasing from a distance and was very sharp. If one listened to it for too long, they might even get nauseous from it. Thankfully, the people here were all cultivators and wouldn''t be affected that easily.

    "What is that sound?" the kings were surprised.

    "That almost sounds like the sound of a cicada." Patriarch of the Chan sect said.

    Everyone focused on the buzzing sound and felt like the patriarch was indeed right.

    "Look!" Soon they could see a small figure appear in the distance.

    It was evident that the buzzing sound wasing from it and the air seemed to be flickering around it. Only when one focused would they realize that it wasn''t air that was flickering, but rather wings that were pping at a great speed.

    "Is that the beast?" King of the White Loom Kingdom asked while squinting his eyes.

    About thirty secondster, the figure had gotten closer and now they could see a human figure there too.

    "No, not just beast. There''s someone else there." Someone spotted.

    Another minuteter, the figure had be clear and was visible to everyone.

    "It really is a Cicada!" The kings were surprised to see arge cicada beast.

    "Junior Cang Ci greets the Patriarchs and Kings." A young girl sitting on the head of the cicada greeted with cupped hands.

    ''Nascent soul realm? The young girl is at the Nascent soul realm!''

 Chapter 915 Try Dung

    Nascent soul realm cultivators weren''t anything umon or surprising for the kings and patriarchs here.

    What was, though, was the appearance of the Nascent soul realm cultivator.

    The Nascent soul realm was a unique point for the cultivator during which their physical appearance was fixed. They would keep on looking like that until they reached the end of their lifespan, after which they would age rapidly.

    Other than this, one could also age due to injuries and other difficulties.

    But in the case of the young girl in front of them, they were extremely sure that she was really young and not just due to her cultivation. Even without seeing her bone age, they could just analyze her demeanor and estimate that from their appearance.

    ''How old is even she? Sixteen seventeen? Even if she reached the Nascent soul realm recently, this is still really fast.'' The patriarchs were stunned.

    They were the most experienced in this and had seen many young geniuses. Wang Xiong and several more such talented individuals were already present here. And yet, the young woman seems to exceed all of them somehow.

    Cang Ci looked at the unmoving faces of the people and wondered if she had done something wrong.

    "Ah! And this is the Emeraldine Pulse Cicada. He''s my tamed beast partner as well as one of the servants of King Lin Wu." Cang Ci introduced.

    The kings and patriarchs looked at therge beast underneath her and were impressed. The beast was over five meters wide and six meters long. Its wings shimmered in a green hue, while its mandibles were made out of green crystals.

    Even on its carapace they could see several emerald crystal embedded. It emanated a strange aura that they had never felt before. But when they felt the spirit Qi fluctuations, they realized that the beast in fronts of them was not weak either.

    "Adolescent Soul stage of the Nascent soul realmбн" Patriarch Bing noted.

    Any tamed beast that was at the Nascent soul realm was quite valuable and in recent times it had be quite popr to have them. This trend was started by the Millennium Forest Kingdom with their armed beast escorts, protecting the merchant caravans.

    Many aristocrats found it to be a new way of disying their wealth and got several beasts as their tamed beast. Of course, even for them, getting a nascent soul realm beast was easier said than done.

    But what the millennium kingdom had poprized were work contracts for the beast. Thus even if they could hire the beasts, they would only listen ording to what was decided on the contract.

    Unlike a tamed beast, which could be ordered around as long as they were reasonable.

    "Wee. We''ve been waiting for you." Wang Xiong decided to break the ice.

    "Thank you for your wee, Senior Wang Xiong." Cang Ci said with a bright smile.

    She was dressed in a lime green dress and had her hair in pigtails, looking like the first blossom of spring.

    "Are you fromбн King Lin Wu''s ''lineage''?" Wang Xiong asked curiously.

    "Ah no! I''m unworthy of that Senior Wang Xiong." Cang Ci hurriedly replied. "While King Lin Wu has given me his grace, I am not on the same level as you." She stated.

    Wang Xiong iong understood what she meant and nodded his head.

    ''She doesn''t seem like someone famous from before. Senior might have taken her under his wing and let her serve him.'' Wang Xiong guessed.

    "If I may interfere here." Patriarch of the Dark ins sect suddenly spoke.

    "Yes?" Cang Ci looked at the old man.

    "Can we see the cure that King Lin Wu has prepared? We''d just like to dispel our doubts." The patriarch asked.<sub> </sub>

    The others nodded their heads in agreement as they too, were wondering about it.

    "Of course!" Cang Ci nodded her head like a little chick pecking grain.

    She opened the little pouch that was hanging on her waist and put her entire hand inside. She seemingly searched for something before pulling her hand back out.

    ~SHUA~

    A slight breeze came from the pouch before a dark brown object rose. Cang Ci''s hand was mped around a handle that was attached to the object.

    ~THUD~

    Cang Ci put it on the ground, allowing everyone to see the dark brown box.

    "Ugh!" But as soon as they sensed the smell, their noses wrinkled.

    "What is that?" The King of the Juhe kingdom asked while pinching his nose.

    An almost visible stink rose from the dark brown box.

    "It isбн ~ck~ Dung!" Cang Ci said, easily ignoring the smell.

    "Dung!?"

    "Why Dung?"

    The people were taken aback and so was Wang Xiong.

    "It is a special mix of Beast Dungs made under the instructions of King Lin Wu." Cang Ci replied.

    "Pardon meбн but what would dung do for us?" The kings were still lost.

    Some were even worried, wondering if they had been duped. After all, they had agreed to a cost before even knowing what it might be.

    "Wellбн King Lin Wu said that since the blight spreads thorough water, using normal methods like fungicide would not be good. It might kill the blight, but it would also affect the water quality as well as the nearby flora and fauna.

    So instead of that, he found a better solution that will kill the blight and not harm the area either." Cang Ci stated.

    Hearing this, the kings were surprised. They had seen Dung being used as fertilizer often, but never as a pesticide or fungicide.

    "The Dung has unique organisms inside it that will kill the blight. You can say that we will kill the blight by giving it a different kind of blight." Cang Ci added.

    "I seeбн" Wang Xiong was a little lost, but since this was approved by Lin Wu, he had no reason to reject.

    Cang Ci looked at the faces of the leaders and saw that they were still a little lost.

    "Should I start the work? I have literal tons of Dung to spread." Cang Ci said with her cute smile.

 Chapter 916 The Power Of The Emeraldine Pulse Cicada

    Cang Ci quickly got to work with the Emeraldine Pulse Cicada.

    The kings and patriarchs stood there watching as the cicada took flight. Cang Ci spread the Beast Dung over the river. It was strange watching an endless amount of dung raining down from the sky.

    "Don''t quite know what I think about thisбн" one of the kings muttered to himself.

    ~shua~

    Patriarch Bing took to the skies and followed after them, and the kings joined them too. With all of them being at the Dao Shell realm or the Nascent soul realm at the very least, it was no issue for them to fly after them.

    Cang Ci and the Emeraldine Pulse Cicada flew for hundreds of kilometer following the path of the river until they finally reached the border of the Juhe Kingdom. This border was where the river flowed out through the mountains.

    "How are you going to spread the ''cure'' in the underground aquifers?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "He can dig very well. I heard that he lived inside the earth for about a hundred years without ever seeing the sun before." Cang Ci chirped before looking at her partner.

    ~KIRIRIRIRIRI~

    A strange sound came from the Emeraldine Pulse cicada''s mouth before its three segmented mandibles opened up. The mandibles were joined by a thin membrane that was also colored green.

    It then started to vibrate at a high frequency and glowed like a brightmp.

    ~KREKRKRKRRKKRKRKRK~

    "You should restrict your hearing! This is quite unpleasant!" Cang Ci shouted while mping her ears shut with her hands.

    ~RUMBLE~

    The vibrations of the membrane reached peak and turned into loud rumbles that made everyone''s hearts shake.

    ''This is quite strongбн to affect even me.'' Patriarch Bing was surprised by the beast''s power.

    He was sure that he might not even be able to defend against a sound-based attack like this if it was directed at him. It would simply go through his defenses. After all, he could already feel his internal organs feeling the pressure from the sound waves.

    The expressions of the kings weren''t particrly good either, feeling nauseous and uneasy. The lower their cultivation base, the worse they felt.

    Wang Xiong though, stood there with little to no effect. If one looked closely at his body they would see a thin grey member covering it. It looked illusory and was flickering in and out of existence.

    The sound waves were nullified when they hit the membrane and kept Wang Xiong safe.

    ''It''s affecting the Repulsive Yin Coat more than what a direct attack would.'' Wang Xiong was not expecting this either.

    The Repulsive Yin Coat was a skill that he had obtained from the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial. He hadprehended it about a year ago and it was his second strongest defensive skill.

    It was also passively present at all times and would activate when it sensed any force on his body. While it looked thin and fragile, it actually wasn''t. The Repulsive Yin Coat was strong enough to take a head on attack of a Dao Shell realm cultivator and even reflect a part of the force back.<sub> </sub>

    ''Despite all this, though, the girl is standing there with no issues.'' Wang Xiong''s eyes were trained on Cang Ci.

    He found her a little unusual at first, but now he found her a lot more strange. If it weren''t for the fact that there was still the resonance of the links between him and her, Wang Xiong would have been doubtful about her identity.

    Not to mention, he couldn''t even tell what kind of technique Cang Ci cultivated.

    "She has no apparent defenses up and yet she can withstand itбн remarkable." Wang Xiong couldn''t help but admit.

    ~BOOM~

    In the few seconds that the people witnessed the sound waves of the cicada, the attacks was finally read. Concentric waves of green energy shot out from the Emeraldine Pulse cicada''s mouth and hit the ground.

    ~BOOF~

    The energy waves entered the ground, but the aftereffects felt rather dramatic. There was norge explosion, and neither did the ground shake. It was as if a stone had been dropped in a pond and simply sank with shortsting ripples.

    Wang Xiong furrowed his brows, finding it confusing.

    "What happened?" The kings were confused at first until one of the kings sensed something.

    "The groundбн its different." The King of the White Loom Kingdom said.

    Patriarch Bing''s spirit sense extended and entered the ground, finally realizing what had just happened. But before he could say anything, therge cicada moved.

    ~RUSTLE~

    The ground parted like sand and the Cicada entered it with ease. Cang Ci simply sat on the back and shook a bracelet on her wrist. The bracelet shimmered lightly before runes flew out from it.

    The Runes turned into a barrier that prevented any of the earth from touching Cang Ci. With this, the two of them dived into the ground like it was water.

    Watching this absurd scene, the kings were left with a unique expression. Wang Xiong on the other hand, jumped down on the ground. But instead ofnding firmly, he sank all the way to his waist.

    "Indeedбн the earth has turned ''liquid''." Wang Xiong said while pulling himself out.

    The others came down to check it and found it rather interesting. The soil, rocks, and all otherponents of it had been broken down into equal sized particles.

    The Patriarch of the Dark ins sect sank his hand into the ground and picked up some of the dirt. It flowed out through his fingers just like the soil would.

    "This is like the Legendary Earth Swim Technique, isn''t it?" The Chan Sect patriarch spoke in an amazed tone.

    "Mmmбн it is indeed simr." Patriarch Bing nodded his head. "Or at the very least, it utilizes a simr method." He added after thinking.

    "Whatever this technique might be, don''t you all think it''s a little dangerous?" The King of the Juhe Kingdom said in doubt. "What if this was used on the foundation of a castle, or perhaps even a sect mountain?"

 Chapter 917 Subtly Exerting Influence

    The words of the Juhe King were like cold water being sshed on everyone''s faces.

    The expressions of the kings darkened, and a little fear rose in their hearts.

    "Other than the initial loud and screeching sound, this attack has no other traces. I''m sure all of you sensed that the energy wave didn''t even have any spirit Qi in it." The patriarch off the Dark ins sect said.

    "Indeedбн if it was used in a closed spaceбн like the underground, no one will hear its initial activation." The King of the Zhan Kingdom agreed.

    "And not being a physical or spirit Qi attackбн it might not even be registered by an array." The King of the Peony ins Kingdom added.

    Everyone present felt a collective chill going down their spines as the realization downed on them.

    All of them had the same thought, if a beast like this was unleashed on their territories, what was there to stop or even detect it?

    It could very well travel through the ground and sink entire cities to the ground by simply liquefying the ground. While there was a chance that the cultivators might have a chance to escape the copsing buildings, it wouldn''t be the same for mortals.

    Even cultivators at the core condensation realm might be caught off guard if they didn''t fly up in time.

    The biggest damage though would be to the infrastructure. They might rebuild once, twice or even thrice. But if a guerri attack of this kind wasmitted against their territories, they might just be bankrupted before that.

    "Chief Disciple Wang Xiong, you''ve lived in the Millennium Forest for a long time right?" the King of the White Loom kingdom asked.

    "I have indeed." Wang Xiong responded, not knowing what the man wanted to know.

    "Thenбн have you seen any more of such beasts? This Emeraldine Pulse Cicada?" The king of White Loom Kingdom questioned.

    "Thatбн is hard to say." Wang Xiong answered. "There are a lot of beasts in the forest, and I don''t dare say I''ve seen all of them. Not to mention I haven''t been to the forest in a few years now so there is no telling how many of such beasts are there." He exined a bit more.

    "Then, is there a chance that there is more than once such beast?" The White Loom Kingdom''s King asked.

    "There may very well beбн there are indeed several beasts of the same type there. The Emeraldine Monkeys being the best example. Also, I think I''ve heard of some ant beasts too. They are called Emerald Jaw ants." Wang Xiong said, much to the dread of them all.

    The kings looked at each other before looking at the patriarchs of the Chan sect and Dark ins sect.

    "I think I''ll return first." The King of the Jehu Kingdom suddenly said.

    "I have matters to attend too and need to assuage the people in my kingdom." The Zhan Kingdom''s king said too.

    One by one the kings all gave their excuses and flew away.

    The patriarch of the Chan sect looked at their figures disappearing in the distance and sighed. "Seems like we need to re-evaluate the status of the Millennium Forest Kingdom."

    The patriarch of the Dark ins sect simply nodded his head while thinking something. Wang Xiong watched everything happen and now had a good guess.<sub> </sub>

    ''Senior can really sway opinion without even being here. It doesn''t seem like we''ll have to do a lot more to spread his influence.'' Wang Xiong thought to himself.

    <o>,m He turned to look at the spot where Cang Ci and the Emeraldine Pulse Cicada had disappeared to before turning to face patriarch Bing.</o>

    "Should we return?" Wang Xiong asked.

    "Yes, we don''t have anything else to do." Patriarch Bing replied, his face expressionless less again.

    It was unknown what he was thinking, but Wang Xiong was sure his face was simply a facade he was putting on for now. Even he himself was stunned by the performance of the Cicada beast and Cang Ci.

    And this was when he was privy to a lot of things others didn''t know.

    ''The patriarch is probably trying to figure out a way to fight against itбн even if a situation like this is unlikely to arise, he is a person who would be extra cautious.'' Wang Xiong reckoned.

    He took onest nce at the mountains before flying away with Patriarch Bing. The rest of the task was now left for Cang Ci to finish.

    About ten dayster, the kings of the seven kingdoms affected by the blight saw the change in their crops. The fungus simply disappeared and no new outbreaks of the blight urred anywhere.

    From this it was confirmed that the cure or beast Dung in this case had worked.

    With one part of the deal satisfied, now it was turn for the Kingdoms and sects to fulfill their part. Before the end of that very month, several detachments from the kingdoms sect out while a group of envoys were sent out by the Chan sect and Dark ins sect.

    Their destination?

    The Millennium Forest Kingdom.

    Their objective?

    Creation of a new alliance by the kingdoms and strengthening of pre-existing alliance by the sects.

    They came bearing a lot of gifts and even the two kingdoms that were the most affected, Zhan kingdom and Peony ins kingdom sent plenty of them. They cut deep into their coffers and brought out their best that they could offer despite the condition of their kingdoms.

    This news spread around the continent quickly and rmed most of the powers of the Long continent.

    But all this was done by the kingdoms and sects on their own. The cost for the help that Lin Wu had provided was yet to be exacted. In fact, their second goal for this visit was to ask that very thing.

    What did Lin Wu want from them as payment?

    The Beast King in question wasn''t even in the Forest. Or more urately his consciousness wasn''t there. Instead, it was below Tieba city along with two individuals, Feng and Cang Ci.

 Chapter 918 Hidden Expansion

    Deep under Tieba City, Lin Wu had created his own abode.

    The area had been excavated and expanded and several areas had been created inside it. Not just that, but hundreds of tunnels spread from the abode, going all around the city and even expanding beyond it.

    Then there were fourrge tunnels that were meant for Lin Wu''s own use and they lead outside the city. At the center of all, was the main hall where Lin Wu was currently located.

    But this main hall was protected and no one other than Lin Wu could enter it. In order to meet up with other people though, he had made another smaller hall above it, and would simply extend one of his tentacles to act as a proxy.

    And right now, that very proxy was in a meeting with two humans.

    The first was a teenage boy that was dressed in ck and dark blue robes that covered most of his face, only revealing his eyes. He had two daggers hanging on the sides of his waist while a long bow hung on his back. Strangely though, there was no quiver with the bow.

    This was none other than Feng.

    Then on his side stood a simrly aged teen girl. She was dressed in a light green dress and looked rather charming. A smile adorned her face while a bracelet made out of several gems hung from her wrist. Secretly though, she was over the age of thirty.

    This was Cang Ci who had helped the southern kingdoms with the Blight.

    "I''m guessing it went well?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes, master. The mission was a sess." Cang Ci replied.

    "Mmmhmmm, good." Lin Wu said before looking at Feng. "And what about you?"

    "The recruitment is going well and in about a month''s time, we should have our third group ready." Feng spoke. "The training for the previously recruited second group is almostplete and they will wait for their first mission after that." He added.

    "And what about the first group? How''s their progress?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "The ones that were sent out to collect intelligence have all returned, while those that were sent to infiltrate the Tieba City ns areying low. The remaining are all cultivating in the halls." Feng answered.

    "Alright. You can leave for now. I''ve got more to discuss with her." Lin Wu said before dismissing Feng.

    "Yes." Feng cupped his hands and left without a question.

    After he was gone, Cang Ci chuckled and looked at the door.

    "He''s still not used to it, is he? I can tell he''s trying hard to act." Cang Ci spoke.

    "It''ll take him time to adapt. Though so far he''s taken the responsibility well." Lin Wu replied. "After all, for a servant boy to be the head of an organization of cultivators is a huge jump."

    "That''s true, master." Cang Ci agreed. "Thoughбн since you haven''t told him about your two selves, I reckon you don''t trust him yet?" she asked doubtfully.

    "It''s not that I don''t trust him. But rather he has a different role to serve. It is best for him to only know what he needs to know." Lin Wu replied casually.<sub> </sub>

    "Stillбн he''s really something huhбн He''s almost at the Dao shell realm too." Cang Ci said in surprise. "Even I''m at this point only because of your assistance." She added.

    "Yeah, he''s surprisingly the only one who is progressing at that pace." Lin Wu said. "And also the first one to have survived the cultivation technique."

    "How many have been there now, master? I know I''m supposed to be the eighth candidate. But you have more right?" Cang Ci asked.

    "There should be about a hundred now. Though you and Feng are the only ones who actuallyprehended it entirely." Lin Wu nced at a window that was invisible to Cang Ci.

    Hearing this, Cang Ci''s brows furrowed.

    "Even though we cultivate the same technique, why is there a vast difference? I understand that there might be some due to your ''assistance'' with my body, but I can sense the different aura." Cang Ci asked. "Feng''s aura isбн" she couldn''t exin it.

    "Like a hidden dagger?" Lin Wu interrupted.

    "Y-yes." It seems like he poses no danger and yet when you look him in the eyes, you can feel the danger.

    "That is something a little hard to answer. The Chimeric Revolution Cultivation Technique is something that has different effects on different people. At least for those thatprehend it beyond a certain level.

    The one''s working under Feng for example, cultivate it too but theirprehension barely allows them to use 10% of the technique. At that level, their abilities and auras are pretty much the same.

    But you and Feng took it to the maximum and found your own paths in that." Lin Wu exined.

    "I seeбн" Cang Ci replied.

    For a minute there was silence in the hall, as Lin Wu continued to look through the system windows. Cang Ci didn''t disturb him either, as she knew he was thinking something.

    Lin Wu''s behavior of looking at system windows had just been taken as him being in deep thought by most of his servants and subordinates. At this point, all of them were used to it and didn''t find it unusual.

    "Speaking of cultivation, how is your body now?" Lin Wu suddenly asked.

    "It is adapting, Master. My new organs are a lot better than my old ones and even provide me with more strength." Cang Ci said with excitement. "You should have seen the kings of the southern kingdoms and the three patriarchs. They were stunned by seeing my appearance and really thought I was sixteen. They couldn''t figure out my bone age either."

    "That''s good. It should keep them on their toes and raise our reputation." Lin Wu said, feeling pleased.

    "Though senior, I have something to request." Cang Ci spoke.

    "What?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I think I''m ready for the next imnt." Cang Ci answered with determination.

 Chapter 919 Cang Cis Past

    Lin Wu gazed at the girl in front of him and thought about her request.

    ''Hmmбн the system''s scan shows that her body is really adapting well. The initial ipatibility has been mended.'' Lin Wu checked.

    "Alright. We can go ahead with the next imnt." Lin Wu agreed after verifying all the facts.

    "Great! Can you do my right arm this time?" Cang Ci asked.

    "That''s fine." Lin Wu readily agreed. "Come sit." He ordered.

    "Yes!" Cang Ci quickly walked closer to Lin Wu and sat on the ground with her back to him.

    She then slid down the right side of her dress, exposing half of her chest and shoulder.

    "I''ll start now. Get ready." Lin Wu stated before several smaller tentacles rose from the ground.

    Cang Ci closed her eyes and waited for the work to start. The small tentacles first morphed into different forms. One of them took the shape of a sharp de, looking like a scalpel.

    One of them split into two at the tips and hardened, while the final tentacle took the longest to transform. It first shrank a bit and then condensed. Its texture and color changed, turning from ck to white.

    A minuteter, it looked like the arm of a skeleton. Though if one looked closer, they would see fine runes carved on the surface of the bones. They were almost microscopic and could barely be made out with naked eyes.

    Once this was ready, the first two tentacles moved. The scalpel like tentacle stabbed into Cang Ci''s shoulder, making her wince in pain before cutting all the way to her wrist. Then the second tentacle with the two prongs dug into her skin, splitting it apart along with flesh.

    This exposed the bones underneath, allowing Lin Wu free ess. Once that was done, the third tentacle which had changed into a skeleton arm, moved to the exposed bones. The manufactured bones touched the natural ones and started to absorb them.

    Cang Ci gritted her teeth, avoiding making any sound. While it was incredibly painful, she knew it was worth it. She hade a long way and she wouldn''t waver from just this much pain.

    After all, the pain she suffered in the past was a lot greater.

    Cang Ci remembered being pursued by a group of enemies and being pushed to the brink of death. The feeling of helplessness and fear was still fresh in her mind. After all, it had happened just two years ago.

    Back then, she was barely in the core condensation realm and even that was a great achievement for her. She could only hope to think she might reach the Nascent soul realm by the end of her lifespan.

    But all that changed when she was targeted. Cang Ci was originally from a peasant family that owned somend. And when she was ten, her cultivation talent was discovered. In order to allow her to cultivate, her family sold off theirnd and took on loans.<sub> </sub>

    Cang Ci didn''t fail her family and managed to reach the Qi refining realm by the age of sixteen. She then joined a group of local cultivators and did many jobs, like hunting and finding materials.

    In just a year after reaching the Qi refining realm, she had managed to pay off her family''s debt and was free. But she didn''t expect to have been cheated at thest moment and made a scapegoat when she tried to buy an alchemical pill.

    The Alchemical Pill she had bought and consumed was in fact, stolen by the seller. The seller took off, but she ended up bing the scapegoat of the entire ordeal. The owner of the pill was an influential alchemist and forced her topensate.

    Being without a strong background, Cang Ci knew that if the alchemist wanted to force her hand, he could very well threaten her family. Not wanting that to happen, she increased her work and took on more dangerous jobs.

    That was also why she ended up in the Millennium forest when the Twin Lights Liger King was breaking through to the Dao Shell realm. She might have died in the ensuing Beast Tide but was saved by the Throw Pulse Cicada.

    She felt indebted to the beast, which was surprising to her. She didn''t see the beast after leaving the forest, but continued to pay her debt, which only kept on increasing due to the interest.

    Eventually, it reached a point where the alchemist wanted her to sell herself to pay it off. He sent mercenaries after her and ended up getting chased all the way to the millennium forest.

    Cang Ci ended up at a dead end cliff and was forced to fight. By the end of it, she was left on the brink of death, with a majority of her organs being injured and half of her blood gone.

    But just when she was about to give up, a miracle happened.

    The ground split apart and from it rose the Emeraldine Pulse cicada. It reminded Cang Ci of thest time she was saved and realized that the beast was the same too.

    The cicada''s appearance startled the mercenaries, and before they could try to escape, they were crushed by the beast''s attack.

    That was thest thing Cang Ci saw before she passed out. And when she woke up, she found herself in the Taiji Celestial''s tomb. Her body had been healed, but she could tell that there was something different about it.

    Lin Wu soon met and exined the situation. He had basically reced her organs, but there was no saying what would happen.

    Realizing her debt had increased even more, Cang Ci decided to serve Lin Wu.

    She was given power and resources beyond her wildest dreams and became faithful to Lin Wu. In the past 2 years, her loyalty had reached a terrifying level.

    After all, not only had Lin Wu saved her and given her power, but also allowed her to have revenge against the alchemist as well as the pill seller who had made her a scapegoat!

 Chapter 920 Betting On Risks

    While Cang Ci reminisced her old memories to ignore the pain, Lin Wu continued his ''surgery''.

    ''Her body is really getting adapted to itбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he watched the arm bones that he had assimting into Cang Ci''s body.

    It was made with the help of his Innate Skill, Chimeric Organogenesis and was used by Lin Wu to rece the organs that Cang Ci had lost when she was injured two years ago. Her injuries had been really severe, and by the time the Cicada beast had discovered her, she was beyond saving.

    While Lin Wu could heal cultivators using his vital essence, it was only up to a certain limit. He couldn''t make them regrow organs that were lost. At least not for those below a certain cultivation realm.

    Cang Ci was barely at the core condensation realm and thus her natural healing ability wasn''t as good as someone at the Dao Shell realm or the Dao Treading realm. Neither did she have any unique physique or bloodline to help her survive the entire ordeal.

    Lin Wu thought that she would die, but then the system presented him with a new option. It was something that was definitely experimental but since Cang Ci was going to die anyway, Lin Wu decided to go with it.

    The method that the system hade up with was to make organs that were lost and imnt them into Cang Ci. Lin Wu had consumed more than enough humans to easily replicated all organs that they had, so it wasn''t a big problem in manufacturing them.

    The true problem rose when he actually imnted them into her. Due to the fact that they were made by Chimeric Organogenesis, there were still traces of his own bloodline within it.

    Lin Wu or the system couldn''t really remove them no matter what they did. It was simply a part of the innate structure of the organs made from it and couldn''t be modified.

    It was the same as wanting to make water but without oxygen. It simply couldn''t be done.

    Which was why the system had deemed the entire procedure as experimental. Of course, Cang Ci had survived, but it hade at the cost of great pain.

    During the entire time, Lin Wu had to treat the symptoms while her body adapted to the new organs. The new organs also tried to ''attack'' Cang Ci''s body, but Lin Wu suppressed them as much as possible without blocking their natural functions.

    It was the same as organ rejection a receiver might endure after a transnt. To ovee that, they would get immune suppressing drugs.

    While it was different from an immune response, Lin Wu and the system could still suppress it as long as they maintained a certain level of control. The result was Cang Ci''s survival, but also her dependence on Lin Wu.

    She needed to stay within a certain range of Lin Wu, or the imnted organs would start to attack her body again. It was fine at the start since she needed to recover anyway, but once she had recovered, Lin Wu knew just keeping her by his side was a waste.

    So he decided he may as well make use of her properly.

    Make use of her in an experiment he had been running for a while already. It was the experiment with the new cultivation technique he had made. The first test subject was Feng, who had seeded with it and lived.

    This gave Lin Wu hope, and he recruited more humans, giving them the opportunity to cultivate it as well.<sub> </sub>

    Unfortunately, they didn''t survive cultivating the technique. They didn''t die right away though. They even broke through, some reaching the core condensation realm. But that was thest realm they could reach before being unable to endure.

    The core''s they formed were all too unstable, such that when they got even close to the Nascent soul realm, they would spontaneously detonate.

    What was even more surprising was the fact that even though Feng had cultivated the same cultivation technique, his core was different. It was a core of a unique type and was very stable.

    This posed a huge question to Lin Wu, and provided a mountain of data to the System.

    It couldn''t diagnose why the cultivation technique was failing like this. After all, ording to the simtions it had run, the technique was supposed to be working perfectly.

    Feng''s sess had also made Lin Wu think that, but thetter results proved otherwise. It even prompted Lin Wu to think whether Feng really had some secret that the system couldn''t discover.

    Lin Wu repeated the entire process of forming a Xiantian physique for the newer subjects, and let them follow the same method as Feng.

    Yet in the end, they all ended up the same and exploded some time after reaching the Core Condensation realm.

    This process repeated for six times, before Lin Wu realized that there was something hampering him. The system had termed it as the unknown variable. This unknown variable was so influential that even the system''s perfect simtion was disregarded.

    Lin Wu had almost given up, before he found the next opportunity through Cang Ci. Having given her new organs and allowing her to adapt to it, Lin Wu wondered if she would have a greater chance at surviving this.

    He didn''t decide it himself though, nor did he impose it on her. Lin Wu had already learned that personal choice would have an effector the mentality and attitude of a person.

    If a person was given a choice and they picked an option they were fine with, their chances of sess were higher.

    For cultivators, it was even more important since their breakthroughs could depend greatly on will power.

    Hence, Lin Wu gave Cang Ci two options:

    Either stay as she was, unable to go beyond the limit of the Millennium forest.

    Orбн Try her luck and be stronger, able to take revenge on her own terms and go beyond her imagination.

 Chapter 921 Chimeric Revolution Cultivation Technique

    With the options that Lin Wu had presented Cang Ci, she picked thetter without hesitation. She herself knew that staying as she was till then was uneptable to her. And that if she stayed like that any longer she might just suffocate herself.

    Lin Wu first allowed her to obtain the Xiantian physique before giving her the experimental cultivation technique. Here, Cang Ci took a decisive step.

    She directly dispelled her cultivation base, starting anew with the experimental technique.

    In less than ten days, Cang Ci reached the Peak stage of the Qi Refining realm. And in fifteen days, she had sessfully formed her new core.

    Lin Wu let the system scan and analyze the core, discovering that it wasn''t like the one Feng had formed or the other six subjects that had failed. Instead of having a prismatic ssy form like that of Feng or the unstable turbid form of the others, Cang Ci had an opaque green and White core.

    And when the system scanned it, it discovered that there were traces of simrity to Lin Wu''s own body.

    This prompted Lin Wu to figure out that the imnted organs had given Cang Ci the ability to adapt further and survive the effects of the cultivation technique. Of course, this was just the initial assessment and Lin Wu had yet to see the long-term effects.

    But when two months passed and Cang Ci continued to progress rapidly, Lin Wu realized that she had really found a new path.

    The system also finished its new analysis and concluded that the experimental cultivation technique was still wed. But it was wed in the aspect that it didn''t have a set route. It could only allow one to progress if that person found their own method to adapt.

    Feng had done so through sheer will, while Cang Ci had done it through the new organs that allowed her greater adaptation.

    Learning more about the experimental technique, Lin Wu finally decided to give it a name.

    And the name was influenced by his bloodlines. He named it the Chimeric Revolution Cultivation technique.

    It had a myriad of pathways just like Lin Wu''s chimeric abilities and it was a cultivation technique that would bring about a new revolution every time one seeded in it!

    But even if Cang Ci had seeded in it, she was still limited by the range of the forest. Lin Wu narrowed down the cause to his own bloodline resonance. As long as she was within the range of the forest, his bloodline would affect her and keep the organs stable.

    Fixing this turned out to be even simpler than he had thought. In fact, the solution was always with him and he had even used it before.

    A Pentagem imnt.

    Lin Wu imnted on into Cang Ci and she was able to go beyond the forest without any issues. It was only when she broke through to the Nascent soul realm did she reach a bottleneck.

    Her body started to resist the organs and Lin Wu had to put in another Pentagem to suppress the effects.<sub> </sub>

    They continued the research like this and even went ahead with more organ recements. Lin Wu changed the previously imnted organs with new versions. This time, he came up with a radical option.

    Instead of just imnting organs that had the usual functions, he would imnt organs that were further modified with runes and had formations built into them.

    Cang Ci was excited at the chance of bing even stronger and epted it quickly despite that pain it brought her. She would simply remember her past and the humiliation she had endured.

    It helped her ovee the pain and gave her a greater will to survive.

    The new experiment turned out to be a sess as well, and Cang Ci had her organs reced for the second time. But this time, each of her internal organs was covered with runes.

    There were different formations set up on each organ, some even having more than one.

    For example, the heart had a formation that amplified vitality and enhanced the flow of blood. The liver had a detoxifying formation that was used by alchemists and allowed Cang Ci to be immune to a lot of poisons.

    They continued imnting one organ after the other until finally all of Cang Ci''s internal organs were reced. This came at the cost of even more Pentagem imnts, but she didn''t mind it.

    There was also the additional factor of each organ needing a lot more vitality and spirit Qi to function. It was not something a normal human cultivator body could provide, thus the Pentagem imnts helped solve that issue.

    Though since the Pentagem imnts were in charge of channeling additional spirit Qi and vital energy into the new organs, they couldn''t bear any of Lin Wu''s skills in them. There was a limit to the amount of functions they could perform at once.

    Till now Cang Ci''s body had a total of 11 Pentagem imnts in it. With ten working for the new organs and one working as the main processing imnt. And with each new imnt, Cang Ci needed to rest and recover.

    The time period varied, with some imnts only taking a couple of days while some taking weeks.

    Thest Imnt that she had gotten was none other than her heart and had needed her to wait for over a month. Only now did she feel stable enough to ask for the next imnt.

    "And there we go," Lin Wu said while inserting an emerald green crystal into Cang Ci''s shoulder.

    The crystal was small, about two centimeters in length and half a centimeter in width. It was certainly smaller than the usual Pentagram Imnt and was made like this so that multiple of them could be imnted in the body without taking up space.

    ''Reducing the size in exchange for reducing the number of functions was a good choice. I wonder what the final result will be when her entire body is modified.'' Lin Wu thought to himself while a wide smile dressed his face.

 Chapter 922 New Arm, Chimeric Spirit Qi And A Wedding Announcement

    About ten minutester, the ''surgery'' was finallypleted and Cang Ci opened her eyes.

    It was a surgerypletely without anesthesia and thus incredibly painful. Not to mention, it wasn''t something as simple as a cut being sewn but rather an entire arm bone being reced.

    If it weren''t for the fact that Cang Ci had developed a strong will power and an even greater pain tolerance, she might have just died from the pain. It was not something easily endured by any cultivator.

    Lin Wu couldn''t suppress Cang Ci''s pain receptors either. The system had tried that when they did the imnt the first time, but it was in conflict with the adaptation process. If he did that and the pain was suppressed, the adaptation might go in a wrong path and Cang Ci might not realize until it was toote.

    "There, it is done." Lin Wu said.

    Cang Ci looked at her arm that looked the same as it was before. But when she felt it, the difference was profound.

    ~CRACK~

    She clenched her fist, creating a cracking sound as the airpressed within it.

    "For your arm, I added a different kind of a formation. It is unlike the normal augmenting fomentation arrays on your internal organs." Lin Wu informed.

    "A new formation?" Cang Ci wondered what it was like.

    The other formations she had on her internal organs were all supportive ones. But upon sensing the one in her arm, she could tell it was made for offense.

    ~Zzzzz~

    A strange sound was heard before Cang Ci felt her skin erupt in blisters. It looked horrifying but there was no actual pain or difort.

    ~pop~

    The blisters burst apart, revealing a pale whiteyer. Theyer was unlike skin and was hard. There were small spikes on it and covered the entirety of her arm, while on her elbow there was arger spike.

    Her fingers on the other hand, had turned into sharp bone ws. Not just that, but Cang Ci could feel a new set of meridians in her arm now. They wove through the dense boneyer on the top of her arm and channeled plenty of spirit Qi into it.

    "Try it out," Lin Wu suggested.

    Cang Ci took out arge object from her storage ring. It wasrge enough to cover her entire body and was dark grey in color. Spirit Qi fluctuations could also be felting from it and they were rather high.

    The object was actually a High Grade spirit tool in the form of a Great Shield.

    Cang Ci pulled back her bone ws before shing at the Great Shield.

    ~SCREECH~

    The sound of metal being torn apart could be heard as sparks flew. Five w marks appeared on the surface of the Great Shield that was nearly five inches thick. Each w mark was just a little over an inch deep.

    "This isбн amazing!" Cang Ci said in excitement.

    Lin Wu nodded his head in approval.

    "If you amplify it with your spirit Qi, the effect will be a lot stronger. You should also be able to use your Qi skills a lot better with your new arm." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Really?" Cang Ci was impressed.

    She looked at her new arm before activating a Qi skill she hadprehended on her own.

    The Chimeric Revolution Cultivation Technique depended on the person using it toprehend everything on their own. While they could use other Qi skills, as usual, they could also make their own.

    Feng had done this and so had Cang Ci.

    After all, the Qi skills that theyprehend on their own would be a lot stronger than the other Qi skills they learned. Especially when they were used with the unique type of spirit Qi that is formed from the Chimeric Revolution Cultivation Technique.

    Lin Wu had named this new type of spirit Qi, the Chimeric spirit Qi.

    Its properties wereplex and could actually change ording to the user''s own wishes and control. If need be, the Chimeric Spirit Qi could readily transform into any of the five mortal and four heavenly elemental spirit Qis.

    After all as the creator, Lin Wu knew the Chimeric Spirit Qi itself was formed from the amalgamation of multiple types of elements. Though if he were to ssify the Chimeric Spirit Qi, he would ssify it as a derivative type of spirit Qi.

    There were a lot of such derivate spirit Qis, like sword Qi, spear Qi, shadow Qi and so on in the Chimeric Spirit Qi too. At first, Lin Wu wondered if it was limited to the types of elements that he himself knew, but after seeing Feng and Cang Ciprehend new things, he realized that the Chimeric Spirit Qi had great potential that went beyond the basics.

    Lin Wu watched on as Cang Ci executed one of her own Qi skills.<sub> </sub>

    ~SHUA~

    Her bone covered arm and ws glowed in a light green light before it flowed out like strings of silk. The strings of silk formed a dome that was directly attached to Cang Ci''s arm.

    "The efficiency is nearly doubledбн" Cang Ci was even more surprised.

    Usually, this skill needed a lot more spirit Qi to activate, but now it had done so in just half.

    ~BANG~

    Cang Ci knocked on the Great Shield using the dome on her arm and dented it with ease.

    "Amazing... Leaf Silk Shield can actually be this strong." Cang Ci muttered.

    Leaf Silk Shield was the Qi skill that she had created. It was a fast use skill that could make a shield that couldpare to that of a Mid to high grade spirit tool in defense. But now that she used it with her new arm, its power was even greater than that of a High Grade shield.

    Even though her Qi skill was something she knew would grow stronger with her cultivation base, this was still a jump in power.

    Cang Ci suddenly turned around and looked at Lin Wu with intense desire in her eyes.

    "When can I get the next imnt, master?" Cang Ci was feeling impatient.

    The rapid increase in strength was a feeling that could only be described as euphoric. The fact that it came after great pain only seemed to make it that much more attractive to Cang Ci.

    "Uhhбн Remind me a weekter." Lin Wu threw out. "We need to see if there are any more issues. After all, this arm has a different kind of formation, an offensive one." He exined.

    "Ah yesбн I wait till then. I''ll also inform you if there is any problem." Cang Ci said with a smile.

    "Mmhmmбн you can return to your work, then." Lin Wu replied.

    "Work? I''m done, master. Do you have anything more for me to do?" Cang Ci replied.

    ''Oh yeahбн she finished the mission.'' Lin Wu recalled. ''What do I give her now? If I leave her be, she''ll just get impatient even more.'' He wondered.

    The windows in the side of his vision kept on scrolling as Lin Wu tried to find something suitable. Cang Ci knew that Lin Wu was thinking, so she didn''t disturb him and just waited till he was done.

    But when five minutes passed, Cang Ci took out a jade slip. She held it and heard a message.

    "Master, there is news." Cang Ci said, making Lin Wu snap out of his search.

    "What news?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "The news is from Cang Lan Sect. They''ve sent out arge scale announcement to everyone in the Long Continent." Cang Ci said and took a pause. "They are officially announcing the wedding date of their patriarch''s daughter and the Chief Disciple of the Frozen Cloud sect, Wang Xiong." She continued.

    "Oh? They decided to do it now?" Lin Wu had not expected this.

    Originally, Wang Xiong was supposed to get married about a year ago. At least ording to the timeline set when the engagement was set. But all that had to change with the many troublesome issues that rose up.

    The biggest one was the Cmity Fiend and the terror it spread.

    Since it was affecting multiple kingdoms and sects, including the Frozen Cloud sect''s territory, the Cang Lan sect had decided to wait a while more.

    Though Lin Wu knew that the reality was a little moreplex. While the Cang Lan sect made it seem like they were giving some grace time to Wang Xiong and the Frozen Cloud sect, it wasn''t theplete truth.

    Through his informants, Lin Wu had learned that the Cang Lan sect was having its own set of issues. The main one being the choice of the bride.

    The Daughter of the Patriarch was being opposed by the other outstanding female disciples of the sect. They were all women who couldpare to her in cultivation base, even if they might fall back a little in terms of status.

    Wang Xiong''s rapid growth and confirmed status as the next sect master had made a lot of girl''s desire him. He was one of the most eligible bachelors of the Long Continent right now.

    Perhaps only Shirong and the other young masters of the top three ns might be able topare to him.

    Rather than being an elder in the Cang Lan sect, a lot of girls would prefer to be the wife of the next patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect.

    The girls made use of their backers and parents, who were also elders of the sect, to force the Patriarch to give them a chance as well.

 Chapter 923 Official Meeting

    "Wang Xiong really is in demand, huhбн" Lin Wu almost chuckled but held back considering that Cang Ci was here too.

    He needed to maintain a certain appearance after all.

    "Mmmhmm, Senior Wang Xiong can be considered one of the best men to have as apanion right now." Cang Ci agreed too.

    "Your cultivation base is alreadyparable to him. You still want to call him senior?" Lin Wu asked curiously.

    Cang Ci herself had never met Wang Xiong. But aftering under Lin Wu, she had learned about all of his subordinates and servants. Among them Wang Xiong had the status as the first human subordinate of Lin Wu.

    Even Shirong didn''t get this honor, since Lin Wu hadn''t actually made him a subordinate officially.

    "He did join master before me. So I should follow the seniority. Plus, he has done everything master has asked for and served you for longer, so he is deserving of the respect." Cang Ci answered.

    "Hmmmбн I see." Lin Wu got to learn more about Cang Ci''s mentality.

    He had already seen that she was rather loyal and dedicated, but seeing her consider other people was different. Especially considering she was rather ruthless when it came to killing.

    Perhaps it was her own life''s circumstances that had taught her this, or maybe it was the effect of the multiple transnts that affected her. Whatever it may be though, Lin Wu had found Cang Ci to be rather useful and a breath of fresh air among his servants.

    "I think I have a mission for you, after all." Lin Wu said after thinking for a bit.

    "Please, do tell. Master." Cang Ci said with her hands cupped in respect.

    "I need you to go to the Cang Lan sect." Lin Wu replied.

    "The Cang Lan sect?" Cang Ci was not expecting this, but then a few ideas appeared in her mind.

    She continued to listen to Lin Wu''s directions and was even more surprised. But when Lin Wu was done, she had already returned to her calm expression and nodded his head.

    "I shall do as mastermands." Cang Ci said before standing up.

    "Oh, and don''t hesitate to escape if things go south." Lin Wu reminded. "You are worth far more than the mission to me."

    Cang Ci smiled brightly upon hearing this and replied with an "en~"

    After she left, Lin Wu looked at the windows and notifications that were constantly updating.

    "So they''ve finallye to talk to me. Time to meet the ''guests'' then and start the next step of the n." Lin Wu muttered to himself before closing his eyes.

    His consciousness transferred to his main body and gazed at the two Emeraldine Monkeys that were waiting for him.

    "Master," they greeted.

    "Bring them to the guest hall." Lin Wu ordered.

    "At once." The Emeraldine Monkeys said before leaving.

    ~SHUA~

    A teleportation circle appeared around Lin Wu before he disappeared. Upon reappearing, he was in a new hall.

    Tall pirs supported the roof, while bright green and red banners hung from them. The banner''s background was an emerald green color while a pattern with crimson red color was painted on it.

    The pattern was that of a pair of eyes and a set of ring teeth.

    This was the official symbol of the Millennium Forest Kingdom and was also represented on their official documents and seals now.

    At the very end of the hall, there was arge carpet that was made from the fur of hundreds of beasts wovens together. And on this carpet sat Lin Wu. Or rather waited while being coiled up.

    It was his ''throne'' in a sense. Though with a body asrge as his, making a normal throne didn''t really make sense, so he simply had to make do with a carpet.

    This guest hall had been made in the recent two years and was especially made to meet the official envoys and other people that mighte to meet Lin Wu as King. For the past two years, Lin Wu had not been seen and all his orders hade through his subordinate.

    Thus now it was time for Lin Wu to finally dere his presence and officially ept the visit of the envoys of the sects and the kingdoms.<sub> </sub>

    ~RUMBLE~

    A rumbling sound could be heard as the tworge doors at the end of the guest hall opened wide. They were nearly a hundred meters tall in height and were massive for any human.

    And when they opened fully, a group of humans could be seen standing behind it along with two Emeraldine Monkeys.

    A look of surprise and awe could be seen on the faces of the humans at this moment. And as they walked in, the surprise only increased more.

    "The Envoys of the seven kingdoms and three sects of the south are here to pay their respects!" The two Emeraldine Monkey announced in the human tongue.

    The envoys walked in carefully and soon saw therge being sitting at the very back of the Hall. His body could barely be contained within this hall and his head nearly touched the roof.

    "He truly is otherworldlyбн" Someone muttered, seeing Lin Wu.

    "Wee Envoys!" A strange voice greeted them.

    The voice seemed artificial and was trying to imitate human tone, but that only made it seem ''inhuman''.

    "We pay our respects to King Lin Wu!" The envoys all said while cupping their hands and bowing.

    Even the envoys of the sect did the same, which was not something they did for kings or ministers. The only reason they did this was because Lin Wu wasn''t any normal king. He was a beast and a cultivator.

    One that could alreadypare to their sect patriarchbined. And even then, his strength wasn''t truly known. They simply hoped that the time for that would nevere.

    After all, if there was to be a proper assessment of Lin Wu''s strength, it could only be in a true battle. But that could mean many things, one of them being that their powers might be in conflict.

    They could only hope that they would find out about Lin Wu''s strength in some other way. This was actually one of their objectives ining here. Their powers all wanted them to figure out just how much had Lin Wu grown in these years.

    "I am Quan Shijun the envoy of Juhe Kingdom." The first envoy introduced himself.

    "I''m Sha Liao, the envoy of the White Loom kingdom." The next envoy did the same.

    "I amбн" One by one, they all introduced themselves, as was the etiquette.

    While they were doing all this though, Lin Wu was getting the system to assess their strength.

    ''Hmmбн Seven Nascent soul realm cultivators and three Dao Shell realm elders. Not badбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    The seven kingdoms were had sent the nascent soul realm cultivators each. All of them were actually members of their respect royal family and were rather high ranked. They wouldn''t actually do the work of an envoy as that was left to the ministers and other officials.

    But for someone like Lin Wu, they needed someone stronger. If they sent someone weaker, it would only mean disrespecting Lin Wu and humiliating themselves. They wouldn''t want that with what their goal was here today.

    The three sects who had sent their elders were none other than the Chan sect, the Dark ins sect and the Frozen Cloud sect.

    Among all the envoys, the elder of the Frozen Cloud sect was the most calm. In fact, he seemed to even be a little casual.

    ''So this is who Wang Xiong sentбн Elder Chi.'' Lin Wu recalled seeing the man when he had went to the Frozen Cloud sect before.

    Elder Chi was originally from the neutral faction but had joined up with Wang Xiong once the Supreme elder and his faction were eradicated.

    ''Though if I recall correctly, he was only at the Peak of the Nascent soul realm back then. Seems like he has gained some benefits from Wang Xiong.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    In a couple of minutes, the envoys had all finished introducing themselves and exchanged pleasantries.

    "Now then, while I''m pleased with the gifts your respective powers have sent, as well as the new agreements that have been made, I do not know what you all are here for." Lin Wu stated.

    The envoys had actually been in the Millennium Kingdom for a week already and had done the other tasks while waiting for Lin Wu. The other beasts in charge of the administration, such the Emeraldine Monkeys, had taken care of all that, and now only the final task was left.

    "King Lin Wu, we are here today for two things." The Elder of the Frozen Cloud sect took the lead.

    "The first is to formally ask you what you would like as a payment for your help with the blight. And the second is to ask for your help againбн this time against the Cmity Fiend."

 Chapter 924 Two Proposals

    The objectives spoken by Elder Chi were something that was within Lin Wu''s considerations. In fact, the second objective of going against the Cmity Fiend was something that Lin Wu had manufactured after all.

    And the first object was just a fruit of his ''efforts''.

    Both hade from the same source, but they would allow him to expand his scope of influence even more.

    ''The south is mostly under me and now it''s time for the northбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    With the southern part of the Long Continent, exerting his control was easy, since there were only a few powers. Even among them, the three sects from the top ten were quick toe under his fold.

    The Frozen Cloud sect had been under him for a long time, and the other two were the bottom two sects in ranking. With the Frozen Cloud sect submitting, there was no other option for them too.

    As for the seven kingdoms?

    It was even easier. The Blight along had made them fear for their lives. Not to mention the Cmity Fiend, which was already a great trouble. But it was trouble that could move around.

    With the Blight cured, it was time to pay their debt. While they had given a lot of gifts and made beneficial deals with the Millennium Forest kingdom, everyone knew it was nowhere close to being enough.

    Unless Lin Wu stated his price, everything would be useless.

    The envoys all watched with tense expressions as Lin Wu held his silence for two minutes.

    "Hmmбн I''ll begin by answering your second objective." Lin Wu spoke, much to their nervousness.

    ~gulp~

    They swallowed their saliva, wondering if they would get a positive response or not. All their hopes for the future relied on the fact that Lin Wu might help them survive it all. The Cmity fiend had already reached a level that none of them could deal with, even whenbining their strength.

    Then there was the fact that the Cmity Fiend was smart and could just retreat upon facing a lot of danger. It would attack helpless settlements, thus it only made them that much wary.

    "I ept your request. I shall help you fight this Cmity Fiend." Lin Wu said, sending a wave of relief among them.

    "GREAT!"

    "PRAISE THE KING!"

    "WE SHALL BE IN YOUR DEBT!"

    The Envoys were joyous and had not expected their request to be epted this quickly. But they didn''t know that soon, their excitement and joy would be washed away by more fear and anxiety.

    "As for your first objective, I have decided to ask for something as payment." Lin Wu stated.

    "Please do, King Lin Wu. We will do our best to fulfill any of your wishes." The envoys replied right away.

    Lin Wu could see the uncertainty on their faces and decided to make them a bitfortable first.

    "Do not worry, I don''t want anything material from you or your powers." Lin Wu said shocking them.

    "What!?"

    "Really, King Lin Wu?"

    It was normal for them to be shocked. After all, if they had asked any other power of someone like the top three ns, the price they would have to pay might just be half of their entire worth.

    "What is it that you want then, King Lin Wu?" The envoy of the White Loom Kingdom asked doubtfully.

    "What I want from you isn''t resources, but rather assistance." Lin Wu replied.

    "Assistance? We can do that!" The envoy of the Juhe kingdom said with a nod.

    "Yeah, just point us to any enemy and we''ll get rid of them for you." The Envoy of the Dark ins sect said without a care.

    "Mmm, but I don''t just want your assistance to kill someone. Or rather I''m sure none of you or your powers will be able to kill it." Lin Wu replied.

    "Kill it? Is your enemy a non-human?" they questioned.

    "Yesбн and I have certain suspicions that it is rted to the Cmity Fiend." Lin Wu said, making all of them anxious again.

    "What is rted to the Cmity Fiend?" the envoy of the Zhan kingdom asked, feeling helpless.

    "The Cmity Fiend that you are facing might just be one of the pawns of the true Cmity of the Ming Dao world." Lin Wu revealed.

    "WHAT!?" they couldn''t believe their ears.

    "Don''t tell meбн King Lin Wu means there are more of them?" The envoy of the White Loom Kingdom asked with an ashenplexion.

    "I''m afraid that is true. Or at the very least, I hope it is not like that." Lin Wu replied.

    "And what if it is?" someone questioned.<sub> </sub>

    "Then we need to grow strong quickly. The Ming Dao world is still too weak to survive againstrge scale strong invasions." Lin Wu answered.

    "Weбн We''ll inform our people and report to you soon King Lin Wu." The envoys stated, wanting to get this started.

    "Okayбн now then, hear what I have to say." Lin Wu said, before waving his tail.

    ~SHUA~

    A group of runes appeared in the thin air before turning into arge, illusory frame. The frame was like that of an old painting and fine patterns could be seen on it. The frame glowed before its insides turned into a faint white screen.

    A set of images appeared on the white screen, making the people looking at it confused.

    "What is that?"

    "Looks like a weird hill."

    "Maybe a cliff?"

    The Envoys wondered what the image was.

    "That beast you see on the screen is what I want you all to look for." Lin Wu revealed.

    "Huh?" they were certainly surprised upon hearing this.

    "That''s a beast? It just looks like a normal hill."

    ~SHUA~

    Then in the next moment, they saw the images start to move.

    "Wait, the hill is shaking!" they soon saw the ''hill'' rising up.

    And when it rose, they saw therge empty chasm beneath it. One by one, several segments of the ''hill'' parted and ''stepped'' out.

    "Thisбн"

    "It really is a beastбн"

    The envoys were surprised to see it. While the beast didn''t seem to be as terrifying or oppressive as Lin Wu''s appearance. It was still strange enough for them to find it unusual.

    Then there was the size of the beast, which was quite literally the size of a hill.

    "The beast on the screen is possibly many times more dangerous than the Cmity Fiend. In fact, the Cmity Fiend might just be a puppet of this beast." Lin Wu informed.

    "How is this possible, though?" The envoys were confused.

    "Yeahбн how is it that you know about the Cmity Fiend and this hill beast too, King Lin Wu?" they found it weird.

    "The truth isбн this isn''t the first time I''ve seen them." Lin Wu revealed.

    "Wait, you don''t mean to say you were there when it devastated thends thousands of years ago?" They questioned.

    "Well, I didn''t exactly face the Cmity Fiend. Or at least, not this Cmity fiend." Lin Wu answered. "I''ve lived a long time, and been on the Ming Dao world for such a long time I''ve no sense of it."

    Hearing Lin Wu''s words, the envoys got the confirmation for a certain set of rumors that had been making rounds for a few years now. The rumors were that the King of the Millennium Forest was, in fact, an ancient being who had lived for countless years.

    Most thought of it as just a fake rumor, but the true powers of the world were simply doubtful. They had tried to find some information in their records about Lin Wu, but all their searches had ended up in a dead end.

    They barely had any records of the Ming Dao world before the rise of the three guardian ns. Even the information about the Cmity Fiend was only found through great luck and it was not something that could be repeated.

    Of course, there was always a chance that Lin Wu could be lying. But the envoys present here weren''t some newborn calves. They were old foxes who had seen the world and dealt with many people.

    At the very least, they could tell when someone was lying. And from Lin Wu, they only felt the truth.

    "The Cmity Fiend you all have encountered is probably just one of the many recurring cmities of the Ming Dao world. All of these arise from one main beingбн the Shadow Cmity.

    It has tried to spread chaos and destruction across the Ming Dao world many times, but had been prevented by the protective forces." Lin Wu exined.

    ~gulp~

    "King Lin Wuбн Are youбн. part of these protective forces?" the envoys asked.

    "I amбн or perhaps I am thest one. I''ve been here since before the three guardian beasts awakened. I''ve stopped four cmities, and now this would be the fifth one." Lin Wu replied, much to their shock.

    It was all mind boggling information.

    "I know it''s too much to take at once, thus I''ve prepared some contextual records as well as more information about the beasts'' appearance." Lin Wu stated.

 Chapter 925 Spreading News

    The envoys looked at the information provided by Lin Wu, finding it to be detailed in some aspects andcking in some.

    "King Lin Wu, is there no other sketch or video record of this beast?" The envoy from the Chan sect asked. "If you do, we will try to look in our old sect repositories." He added.

    "Yeah, the Dark ins sect will do the same. We found the information about the Cmity Fiend before and we might be able to do the same for this." The envoy of the Dark ins sect agreed.

    "Unfortunately I don''t have anything more than this. Or even if I did it would be useless." Lin Wu replied.

    "Why so?" they couldn''t help but ask.

    "Simply because the appearance of the beast might have changed till then. The image that you have seen right now is that of its juvenile form." Lin Wu replied.

    "Ji-Juvenile?" The Chan sect''s envoy stuttered.

    "That is a juvenile beast?!" they didn''t want to believe it.

    "Indeed. By now I''m sure that it has grown quite a bit." Lin Wu confirmed.

    The envoys were left baffled and wondered how they would be going against this thing. Just the Cmity fiend along wasrge, but at least they knew it was an actual creature that had grown to the maximum.

    This ''Juvenile'' beast they were seeing was already the size of that Cmity fiend. If it grew to maturity, just how big would it be?

    "King Lin Wu, I have a doubt. Forgive me if I''m being a bit stupid butбн why is it that such arge beast has not been seen?" The envoy of the White loom kingdom asked.

    "Yeahбн I think many people should have noticed it." The others chimed in.

    "And ording to the information you provided, it could be above the Dao Shell realm right? If a beast like that passed by any of our kingdoms, or sects it would have been noticed. Either by the elders or the arrays." Elder Chi was confused as well.

    "This is something that perplexes me as well. But know this, the beast is very elusive. There is a chance that it had left the area long before it became strong enough to be noticed.

    Then there is also the fact that it might have just found a ce to hide and stayed there all this time. Oh and don''t forget, it can dig and travel underground too." Lin Wu exined.

    Hearing this the envoys understood a bit more, but the mystery of thisrge juvenile beast was still too big for them to grasp fully.

    "Alright then, King Lin Wu. We shall keep an eye out for this beast." The envoys agreed.

    To them, it didn''t matter that the payment was in this form. Or rather it was actually better for them since they wouldn''t have to expend any physical resources for it. Plus they also learned of another danger that was hidden and now they could be wary.

    They could only wish that they knew of the Cmity Fiend beforehand. If they knew that there would be attacks like that, they could have taken some precautions and saved a lot of lives.

    Lin Wu talked with the envoys for a while more about some misceneous matters before bidding them farewell. The envoys couldn''t wait to get back to their respective bases. One could easily guess that there would be an upheaval after this information would spread in a few days.

    After the envoys were gone though, Lin Wu was still in the hall.

    ~shua~

    A teleportation circle appeared in the front and two beasts appeared from it.

    "The beasts are ready, King." The Slim Arm ape king spoke.

    "The disciples are ready as well." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape spoke.<sub> </sub>

    "Goodбн you can send them out as per the n tomorrow." Lin Wu said before taking a moment to think. "Also announce to the world that the Millennium Forest kingdom will be sending out humans and beasts to support the kingdoms and sects of the south as per their request." He stated.

    An announcement like this was meant to be both a notification and a warning to everyone.

    A notification for those that were wondering why they were doing this and a warning for those that had started to get some nefarious ideas about the Millennium forest Kingdom and it''s inhabitants.

    Having given this order, Lin Wu just needed to wait for a few more days.

    "Things are falling into the right ce nicely..." Lin Wu said to himself.

    The Slim Arm Ape king and the Emeraldine Skylight Monk Ape had already left to carry out Lin Wu''s orders.

    So far there were no one directly opposing the rise of the Millennium Forest Kingdom and neither was there anyone intending to do so. This was what Lin Wu had determined. But this was only possible since they didn''t know that Lin Wu was intending to control the entire Long continent.

    His control over the south would be established as soon as his subordinates were spread out. Even if it might be unofficial, it was still quite big. If it weren''t for the fact that Lin Wu had done this over a long period of time, and made it seem like a passive effect, things might be a lot different.

    ''The best war is the one that you do not need to fight inбн guess that stands true in the cultivation world as well.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He wanted to extended his influence and control all over the Long Continent without anyone opposing him openly. That way, he would have legitimacy on his side and wouldn''t have to face too many conflicts.

    Of course, the scheming and ns he needed to monitor were also rather massive. But with the assistance of his servants and the system, it was all simplified.

    "My own strength also needs to increase. The two Dao Traces I''ve sensed are bing clear slowly. Perhaps they have something to do with my actions?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    The two Dao traces with the 100%patibility were the best ones for him to use and give birth to a Dao Embryo from. Thus Lin Wu was firm on making use of them no matter what. As long as he had the 100%patibility, his progress would be a lot better than that of any other person who was in the Dao Treading realm.

    Lin Wu''s intentions were understood well by the higher ups of various powers once the news spread.

    The smaller powers realized that this was basically the same as sending out an army and exerting one''s dominance. But in this case, the powers on which the dominance was being exerted had already been weakened. Or rather, they were the one''s who had asked for this and had no other choice but to smile and ept all the after effects.

    And just like that tens of thousands of beasts set out from the Millennium Forest kingdom under the guidance of several Nascent soul realm beasts as well as several Human cultivators.

    These Human cultivators truly belonged to the Millennium Forest kingdom now and had dedicated themselves to it. This was due to the fact that they had been given a lot of resources and opportunities to get strong. The strongest ones among them being none other than those that had trained at the shrine of the Sky Bright Daoist.

    They had all been trained personally by the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape and had gained the inheritance of the Sky Bright Daoist. Each of them were at the Nascent soul realm, making them a very strong group. In fact, the number of Nascent soul realm experts in the Millennium forest were now exceeding several kingdoms and sectsbined.

    This ''army'' of the Millennium Forest Kingdom swept through the seven kingdoms and ''protected'' them.

    There were obviously some concerned people among these kingdoms who were worried about letting beasts roam like this. After all, they weren''t just roaming in the wild or the forests, but even in the cities and other human settlements.

    It was simply too scary for the average human to see this scene. Only after a couple of weeks did the humans get used to it. Surprisingly they saw the benefits of the beasts. They could see tangible effects of the ''patrols'' that were being carried out.

    The number of beast attacks on humans had fallen by over 70% and even bandit attacks and other such urrences had fallen by a lot.

    The biggest thing though was the request of the seven kingdoms and the three sects; the request to help them with the Cmity Fiend.

    That request was already being fulfilled, since there were no more attacks happening. The Cmity Fiend did pop up in many ces, but before it could do anything, a swarm of beasts would attack it. Plus in some ces, the beasts could detect when an attack would happen. This alone saved a lot of lives.

 Chapter 926 The Twenty Meter Limit

    ~HONG~

    A massive wave of spirit qi shook the Millennium Forest.

    But this time, there were no beasts being scared nor was there a beast tide due to it. Rather than that, the beasts seemed to be rather calm and were looking at the sky with a hint of excitement in the eyes.

    In the sixth ring of the Millennium forest, several Nascent soul realm beasts along with two Dao Shell realm beasts were gathered.

    "Seems like Master has had another breakthrough." The Emeraldine Horn beetle spoke.

    "Hahaha! For someone like him, are there even bottlenecks?" The Demon Spine Ape kingughed.

    "Definitely not." The Emeraldine Deep Earth mole replied. "Besides, he''s been at the Dao Shell realm for a while. Right now he''s just expanding his Dao shell." He added.

    "Hmmбн You are also at the Dao Shell realm Liger King. How do you think Masterpares to other Dao Shell realm beasts?" An Emeraldine Jaw ant asked.

    This Emeraldine Jaw Ant was the leader of all the other such ants and had joined under Lin Wu a few years ago. Among the many that had obtained Lin Wu''s grace, he had turned out to be the strongest and had be qualified enough to join the ''inner circle'' of the beasts.

    "Hah! King Lin Wu''s Dao Shell realm is entirely different than any other experts. He''s already killed several Dao Treading realm beings while being at the Dao shell realm. That is certainly not normal. Just the number of times he''s expanded his Dao Shell alone is terrifying.

    I might not evenst for a five minutes against him." The Twin Lights Liger King answered.

    Hearing this the newer members of the inner circle were surprised.

    "The difference between foundations is like this. King Lin Wu has made a firm foundation that has be unshakable now. From what I''ve seen, he should have been able to breakthrough to the Dao Treading realm long ago, but he has not done that.

    He is likely looking for the right opportunity and is just reinforcing his foundation." The Slim arm ape king said while sipping some fruit wine from arge jar.

    "All we need to know is that as long as we have King Lin Wu, our future will be secured. Our descendants will have a safe and prosperous life too." The old Beetle king spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

    The Emeraldine Horn Beetle looked at her ancestor with a look of concern. "Ancestorбн is yourбн"

    "Don''t worry. It doesn''t matter how long I live. I''ve seen enough and considering that King Lin Wu is here to take care of us insect beasts, I can pass away peacefully." The old beetle king spoke.

    "Why don''t you ask master? I''m sure he can help you." The Emeraldine Winged Swan asked curiously.

    Everyone knew that the old Split Thorn Horn beetle king was running out of his lifespan. Even if he had consume a lot of resources like spirit fruits and even alchemical pills, he didn''t get better.

    "I don''t want to trouble him. Besidesбн I think it is better for me to end this on my terms. I don''tбн feel the desire to live that long." The old beetle king said in a satisfied tone.

    The others who heard it were confused and only a few could understand it.

    "To live a life of satisfaction and die peacefullyбн that does sound nice." The Twin Lights Liger king muttered while a few memories passed through his mind.

    ~SHUA~

    Just as the beasts were pondering on their mortality the spirit qi in the area turned into a vortex and started to pour into the Taiji Celestial''s Tomb.

    "And there it isбн he''s done it again." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape spoke while the aura on his body flickered.

    If one were to observe it closely they would realize that the aura wasn''t at the Nascent soul realm, but rather at the Dao shell realm!

    That''s right.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape had left all the other beast servants behind in dust and had be the first to reach the Dao Shell realm.

    The Twin Lights Liger king didn''t really count in this since he had always had an advantage of time and age. And neither did the Weasel Tim. Tim wasn''t exactly Lin Wu''s servant nor was he a subordinate.<sub> </sub>

    Most of Lin Wu''s servants and subordinates just considered him to be a child that Lin Wu had taken in. A rather powerful child. Though he was a littlecking in intelligence.

    "Come on, let''s go congratte him." The Twin Lights Liger king spoke.

    ~sigh~

    "I''ll have to begin preparing for another banquetбн" One of the Emeraldine Monkey''s rubbed his forehead.

    The target of their talk, Lin Wu was currently in the tomb and was rapidly absorbing copious amounts of Spirit qi.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DAO SHELL EXPANSION: Completed

    DAO SHELLS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald worm Bloodline Dao Shell (20 Meters)

    2. Unknown Bloodline Dao Shell (20 Meters)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu opened his eyes upon hearing the notification and nced at it.

    ''That''s another thing off the checklist. Now I shouldn''tck on the unknown bloodline either.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "System, show me the updated Host Data." He ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    HOST NAME: Lin Wu

    AGE: 26 years, 7 months, 3 days

    LIFESPAN: 6,000 years [Updated]

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Shell Expansion Stage of the Dao Shell realm

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [11,891,936/????] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 200,00,000 units [liquid spirit qi]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 300,000,000 Units

    бкбк-

    "I still got plenty of spirit qi left over." Lin Wu said but his brows furrowed. "The effect of expanding the Dao shell doesn''t seem to be as useful now."

    Lin Wu had originally thought that the more he expanded his Dao Shell the better it would be. But after going past the ten meter mark, he had sensed that the gains had bing diminished. He didn''t want to stop just there and continued to expand it until he finally reached the 20 meter mark with his first Dao shell.

 Chapter 927 6000 Years Of Lifespan

    Lin Wu had realized that at the 20 meter mark the increase in power he got had reached a teau. Even if he expanded it beyond this, there would be no more gains. The main point of having arger Dao shell was to have a better chance at amodating a Dao Embryo.

    The stronger Dao Embryo''s were often bigger in size and could grow further in the Dao Treading realm too. If one didn''t have a sufficientlyrge Dao Shell, they wouldn''t be able to unearth the true potential of their Dao Embryo thereby making them weaker than their peers.

    Such was themon understanding among the cultivators in many worlds.

    Lin Wu thought so too and went for the maximum expansion of the Dao shell. Even when he felt the diminishing growth rate at the ten meter mark he didn''t stop. He wanted to see if he could exceed the limits and find something new.

    Other''s didn''t have the support of the system or the massive supply of resources that Lin Wu now had. Even reaching the five meter size Dao Shell was considered a great achievement not to mention going past that.

    A majority of cultivators reached bottleneck right there and needed hundreds of years to expand their Dao Shells by even a few centimeters. Only someone like Lin Wu could do this in less than a decades time.

    Upon discovering the cap at the 20 meter mark, Lin Wu reckoned he had to take another route. Thus he started to expand his other Dao shell. It was the Dao Shell that had automatically formed under the influence of the second Nascent soul.

    The source of that Dao shell was from the unknown bloodline and it had actually expanded a little on its own too.

    In fact it had reached the five meter mark automatically without Lin Wu''s effort.

    He thus decided to put more spirit qi into expanding it and ended up expanding it all the way to the twenty meter mark. And once again, he reached the same conclusion.

    A Dao Shell at the twenty meter would indeed reach a cap. Growing it past that was indeed possible, but one would not gain any power from it. It would merely be a change in the physical appearance.

    "Though it was not all without benefitбн My lifespans has increased once more." Lin Wu said while his eyes stayed on the Host Data.

    His lifespan had increased by two thousand years while technically staying in the same cultivation realm. All this only made him confirm that the second Nascent soul from the unknown bloodline did contribute a lot to his lifespan.

    "Wellбн can''tin about that. More lifespan is always good." Lin Wu chuckled.

    "What matters more is how I use that lifespanбн and I want to keep on growing it." Lin Wu said in a low voice while his eyes trailed to another window that had always been floating on the side.

    This window was smaller than other windows and on it only a string of numbers was disyed. It was a countdown.

    <strong>[23 hours, 12 minutes, 15 secondsбн]</strong>

    "Just a little under a day till the wedding." Lin Wu felt a little excited.

    The wedding was none other than that of Wang Xiong. It had been dyed quite a few times by now, first due to the Frozen Cloud sect, second time due to the Cmity Fiend in the south along with the blight and the third time due to the internal conflict of the Cang Lan sect itself.<sub> </sub>

    But now all that had been resolved and the wedding was about to happen.

    Though the reason for Lin Wu''s excitement wasn''t because of Wang Xiong, but rather the event that would be happening during the wedding.

    "I''ll finally get to do a proper action scene, ahh~" Lin Wu smiled widely. "It''ll be a fun day. System don''t forget to record everyone''s expressions." He reminded.

    "Affirmative." The system responded inly.

    Lin Wu started to hum a song and went through a long list of notifications he had not checked due to cultivating. Since most of them weren''t important, the system had sorted them into a separate section.

    In it, Lin Wu saw several messages and updates about various parts of the continent.

    For example in the south,

    The Cmity Fiend didn''t feel as terrifying to the powers of the south now that the Millennium Forest''s army was protecting them.

    The Tieba city had a change in the ruling lords recently and half of the older lords had perished. The cause of this was unknown but many thought it to be internal conflict.

    And in the north,

    The Lian n had grown richer once more having expanded their business due to coborations with the Millennium Forest kingdom. The Patriarch of the Lian n was also said to be getting stronger but no one knew why.

    The First heir of the Lian n had also solidified his position in the n, bing the owner of over two hundred shops all over the Long Continent bringing in a massive revenue.

    Even an elder of the Lian n, Elder Kai Li had be very rich and influential. So much so that, some caller her the merchant queen.

    p The second ranked n of the Long Continent, the Ji n wasn''t behind either.</anda>

    After experiencing an internal massacre in which the heir of the n, Ji Shirong ughtered most of his siblings many had thought that the n''s status would fall. But that didn''t happen. Instead, Ji Shirong now ruled the n with an iron fist.

    He was unofficially the patriarch and was tacitly given approval by the ruling patriarch Ji Shan who had retreated from the main scene of the n. While many found it strange, they simply guessed that it was to give Shirong more freedom.

    And it wasn''t like Shirong wascking in personal strength either, having reached the Dao Shell realm before the age of fifty!

    It was simply unthinkable to the majority of the Long continent and even caught the attention of the Long n elders.

 Chapter 928 The Wedding Commences

    Shirong''s breakthrough was already enough to make the elders of the Long n think of him as a great cultivator. There were even rumors that the Long n''s women were now interested in Shirong.

    It wouldn''t be unthinkable for Shirong to be a marriage candidate for the Long n''s women.

    This was a great thing since the Long n had very strict requirement for marriage. They mostly married within their ns or got external cultivators to join into the n. But the external people who joined up with the n were almost never that ofrge powers.

    This was done so that the power of the n was almost always kept within the n.

    For someone from the top three ns to be considered as a marriage candidate was almost unthinkable for them. But Shirong''s aplishments had made it hard for them to not consider it at this point.

    Not to mention, he was to be the next patriarch of the Ji n and not just any average member of their n.

    Lin Wu who saw this couldn''t help but chuckle.

    "Will I have to set it up for Shirong as well?" Lin Wu wondered. "Nahбн if things go ording to n with Wang Xiong''s wedding, I won''t have to do this again." He reckoned.

    Lin Wu also saw some of the other updates that were in fact rted to him, but he didn''t need to think about them for now. He also answered some of the messages that were pending on his side and sent out a few orders.

    It was now that he got a message.

    "Things are ready on my end, Master." Cang Ci''s voice could be heard.

    "How''s the Cang Lan sect''s Patriarch and elders acting?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "The Patriarch is trying to act normal on the outside, but from the conversations I heard, he is actually quite tense. As for the elders, they''ve dropped their conflicts for now." Cang Ci answered.

    "Good. Though even if they act upter, we can get rid of them then." Lin Wu replied.

    "Of course master. Just give me the order and it''ll be done." Cang Ci said keeping her normal jovial tone.

    "You won''t need to act. Its better if they are killed during the chaos, we will get a better result." Lin Wu stated.

    "As you wish, Master." Cang Ci said before bidding her farewell.

    Lin Wu nced at the countdown and saw that it was half way gone now.

    "I should make my way there too. The Avatar should have reached around now." Lin Wu muttered before a teleporting circle sent him away.

    Thousands of kilometer away from the Taiji Celestial''s tomb, in the north of the Long Continent, there existed the Cang Lan sect.

    Being the number one ranked sect of the Continent, its size itself spoke for it.

    Tens of thousands of buildings were spread across an entire valley while several mountains lined it on both sides. The mountains were covered with buildings too and millions of people could be seen dotting its areas.

    Today was a hectic day for the sect and everyone was rushing to perform the tasks that had been assigned to them.<sub> </sub>

    The sect was decked out in decorations, with red papernterns, banners and streamers hanging everywhere. Green and blue petals could be seen floating in the air, representing the two people that were entering a union today.

    The signature color of the Cang Lan sect was green, while that of the Frozen Cloud sect was Blue, while red represented prosperity.

    Red, green and blue intertwined to make an enchanting scene that made the disciples and guests alike amazed.

    While the disciples of the Cang Lan sect were hard at working, finishing up the final touches, a long line of guests was entering the sect. More could be seen waiting outside the boundaries of the sect, getting verified.

    Carriages pulled by various kinds of beasts, flying boats, flying swords, and many more spirit vehicles were scene as sect after sect arrived.

    Every top sect in the Long Continent along with several mid grade sects were invited for the auspicious event today. In addition to those, the royal families of several kingdoms were also invited.

    Then finally, the representative from the Top three ns were also in attendance today. In fact, they were the guests of honor and were given a high priority.

    From the Long n two elders had arrived, a man and a woman.

    From the Lian n, the first heir, Lian Xiaojian and three elders had arrived.

    Then finally from the Ji n, the one who had attended was none other than the future patriarch, Ji Shirong himself!

    He didn''te along either, having an entire retinue of over ten attendants and three elders with him. Just from this one could see the authority he had started tomand.

    As for the two stars of today''s show, the groom and the bride were waiting in the grand pce.

    The grand pce was decorated to the brim as well, and thousands of incense sticks were burning too. The smoke from the sticks created illusions under the effect of the formations showing various scenes.

    ~step~step~step~

    Loud foot steps could be hearding from the head of the hall as a tall man dressed in borate green and golden robes appeared.

    "Wee! Wee! Wee! I, Cang Anyu offer you my greetings as the patriarch of the Cang Lan sect."

    "Greetings Patriarch!" The guests said out loud in response.

    Some cupped their hands, some bowed their hearts while some directly knelt on the ground, all ording to their status. Though there were a few that had the privilege of simply sitting these were none other than the representative of the top three ns.

    "Now then, without making any dy, I announce that the wedding ismenced!" Cang Anyu announced.

    "Bring in the bride and the groom!"

    Two grand doors on the opposite sides of the hall opened and two pnquins were carried in. One was colored blue and one green.

 Chapter 929 Calm Before The Upheaval

    The gazes of every person were on the two pnquins. Some gazes were filled with longing, some were filled with jealousy, while some were filled with indifference.

    ''So this is Senior''s first human juniorбн'' Shirong''s eyes were on the blue pnquin in which Wang Xiong was sitting.

    He looked at the man for a few seconds before his brows furrowed.

    ''He''s suppressing his cultivation base?'' Shirong discovered.

    Normally, no one should have been able to tell this, as Wang Xiong was using the Taiji Refinement Scripture to hide his cultivation base. Even the spirit Qi fluctuations that were normally present around his body were reduced to make it seem like he was at the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.

    But Shirong and Wang Xiong had one thing inmon. Both of them had Pentagem Imnts in them, which allowed them to sense each other as well as everyone else that had the Emeraldine Bloodline within them or an imnt in them.

    And while Shirong was watching Wang Xiong, the man was doing the same.

    "Ji Shirong hase too? I didn''t expect thatбн" Wang Xiong had no idea that Shirong would being too.

    ? His voice was low, but was heard by the girl sitting in the pnquin next to him.

    "Ji Shirong?" A light an airy voice spoke.

    The curtains on the pnquin were parted, and a pair of eyes looked out. The eyes were dark brown in color and had almond like shape. They gazed at the supposed most eligible bachelor of the Long Continent.

    ''He''s even better than what the rumors sayбн'' Cang Qing couldn''t help but think.

    While she was technically marrying another highly qualified bachelor, Ji Shirong was still a league above him.

    But just as Cang Qing was watching Shirong, she saw him move. "Huh? Who''s he saluting?"

    Cang Qing''s saw Shirong cupping his fists and looking at her direction. She couldn''t help but feel flustered but then heard someone speak.

    "I think Senior Brother Shirong for attending my wedding." Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Ahahah, it is what I should be doing. Besides how could I not attend junior Wang Xiong''s wedding. If I didn''t, Great Senior might not like it." Shirong replied.

    "Ah yes. I just hope he attends the wedding too." Wang Xiong replied.

    "Guess we''ll just have to wait and watch. Great Senior has a lot of things to do after all." Shirong stated.

    Cang Qing couldn''t help but he surprised hearing the conversation between the two.

    ''They really know each other? And that too as Senior and Junior?'' Cang Qing felt her image of Wang Xiong rising by another level.

    Even with the identity as a the future patriarch of the Frozen Cloud Sect, Wang Xiong was still a step below Shirong. But having a friendship between the two would be greatly beneficial.

    After all, this entire wedding was organized for that very reason. It was for benefits and to create a proper alliance with the Frozen Cloud sect. Adding the Ji n would be the cherry on top if it really happened.

    "Bride and Groom descend!" The officiator of the wedding announced.

    With this the formal process of the wedding had started.

    Wang Xiong and Cang Qing got down from the pnquins before several rituals were conducted. This alone took about two hours to finish, but no one was impatient.

    "The Bride and Groom will now worship the heavens and seal their vows!" The officiator spoke once more.

    Cang Qing looked at Wang Xiong and he did the same before the two of them knelt at the soft carpet that was spread out for them.

    "I Wang Xiongбн"<sub> </sub>

    "I Cang Qingбн"

    "Take the Heavens as the great bestower and beseech them to bless us!" They said in unison.

    "Kowtow to the heavens!" the officiator ordered.

    ~thud~

    Both Cang Qing and Wang Xiong kowtowed audibly, letting their foreheads make a sonorous thudding sound.

    "Kowtow to the elders!" the officiator ordered next.

    ~thud~

    They repeated.

    "Now kowtow to each other!" The officiator finally said.

    The two of the faced each other and lowered their heads.

    ~tremble~

    But just as their heads were about to hit the floor, it started to shake.

    The people in the great hall were surprised while the elders overseeing the wedding furrowed their brows.

    Patriarch Cang Anyu was rather anxious and sensing the trembling ground, it only became worse.

    "Find what''s causing this and stop it!" He ordered.

    "Yes Patriarch!" The elders replied.

    Two of them directly took out formation tes and linked to the Great array of the Cang Lan sect, checking if there was anyone suspicious there.

    Another one of the elders directly spread his spirit sense which was further extended through the use of a special spirit tool, allowing him to observe a lot further. The rest of the elders directly left the great hall to check it in person.

    The guests present at the wedding were all whispering to each other now.

    "Whoever dares to do this has big guts."

    "Hah, what big guts? I''d say they are the biggest fools instead."

    "Indeed, doing something like and causing a disturbance during a high level event like this is just foolish."

    "Stillбн what do you think it is? For the ground to tremble like this despite the defensive formation arrays of the Cang Lan sect, it should be significant right?"

    "Hmm, at the very least it isn''t something thats attacking the sect. If that was true then the defensive arrays would have activated no doubt. Perhaps it is some unknown parties fighting nearby and causing this."

    The guests at the wedding couldn''t help but wonder just what might be behind this disturbance. To them, there was no apparent danger as they were technically in one of the safest ces in the world right now.

    Not only were there several Dao Treading realm experts present, but also representatives of the top three ns here. No cultivator would dare to attack this ce while they were in attendance.

    After all, doing that would be the same as not giving them face.

 Chapter 930 Collapsing Sect Barriers

    Wang Xiong and Cang Qing looked around wondering just what was happening. A few of the more powerful guests already had a bad feeling rising up in their stomachs.

    ~STEP~

    ~CLANG~

    The first to stand up was none other than Shirong. The Emeraldine Heart Spear appeared in his hand and hit the floor with a crisp sound. A subtle pressure also started exuding from him, and if one looked into his eyes they would see faint streaks of purple running around.

    "Everyone, should be ready. My intuition says, it is not going to be good." Shirong stated inly.

    Cang Anyu who heard this didn''t feel good.

    "Young Master Shirong, you do not need to be worried. The elders of the Cang Lan sect can handle anything. It would be incredibly disgraceful we would need our guests to act." Patriarch Cang Anyu said.

    "That might have been fine if this was something normal, Patriarch. But you''ve clearly seen that the danger has not been discovered by the formation array nor by the elders." Shirong replied not caring for the man''s opinion.

    "Senior Brother Shirong is right, we cannot just wait like this." Wang Xiong said and was just about to stand up before being interrupted.

    "You cannot act, junior Wang Xiong. Fighting on your wedding day will be a bad omen." The officiator of the wedding, who was the supreme elder of the Cang Lan sect spoke.

    ~step~step~step~

    The other guests decided to join Shirong in preparing and stood up too. This included the elders who had apanied Shirong, the two elders from the Long n as well as Lian Xiaojian with the elders apanying him.

    ''Why does it feel like somethingrge is approaching?'' Lian Xiaojian wondered.

    His Vital House Physique was something that focused on stockpiling vitality and this made him sensitive to vitality as a side effect. For most people he wouldn''t feel much, but right now his senses were telling him that arge mass of vitality was nearby.

    Lian Xiaojian couldn''t tell the direction or the distance, but he certainly knew that it was approaching them.

    Clenching his fists, he circted his spirit Qi.

    With such high profile guests seemingly preparing for a fight, the othermon guests in attendance were worried.

    "If even experts as strong as them are this concerned, then what can we do?"

    "Will the Cang Lan sect tell us what is going on?"

    "Why aren''t the elders able to find out anything yet?"

    Amotion started among the guests and continued to get louder by the second.

    Cang Anyu tried to cate them, but it wasn''t much of a use. Shirong and the others didn''t pay any attention to the guests, only thinking about theing problem.

    ''When was thest time I felt this clueless? It''s certainly been a whileбн'' Shirong thought to himself.

    The Thunderpool Serpent Bloodline within him was stirring too. As if being rmed by something.

    ~huu~

    Shirong let out a breath before looking at hispanions, "get ready and do not hesitate to use everything." He ordered.

    "Yes, Young Master!" The elders replied, readying their skills and weapons.

    ~TREMBLE~

    The ground started to shake with a far greater intensity than before, sending panic among the guests.

    ~BOOM~

    And as if that was not enough, an explosion was heard in the distance!<sub> </sub>

    "What was that?!" Cang Anyu questioned.

    The Elder monitoring the formation array of the sect had a look of shock on his face.

    "Theбн theбн the outer sect barrierбн it has copsed!" The elder said with fear.

    "WHAT!?" Cang Anyu was in disbelief.

    ~BOOM~

    Another explosion was heard, but this time it was apanied by thousands of people screaming.

    "The Inner Sect Barrier has copsed as well!" The Elder reported.

    "How? How''s this possible?" Cang Anyu felt his entire world view changing.

    One must know that each of the barrier was stronger than other. Even the Outer Sect barrier would need an hour of constant attacks from Dao Treading realm experts to damage it.

    And this was when the barrier was just passively working and no offensive arrays were being used along with it to resist the attacks.

    Still, the outer barrier breaking was fine. What was not fine was the Inner barrier breaking just a few seconds after that. Not only was there several kilometers of distance between the two, but the Inner sect barrier was nearly twice as strong as the outer sect barrier.

    It might take Dao Treading Realm experts more than two hours to damage it and break it. But despite that, both of them had been broken in less than five seconds.

    ''I can''t let this happen!'' Cang Anyu gritted his teeth and directly flew out of the great hall.

    "All elders and guard disciples to me!" Cang Anyu ordered.

    ~shua~shua~shua~

    The elders in the hall along with the disciples acting as guards all flew after Cang Anyu and left the great pce.

    ~RUMBLE~

    A deep rumbling sound spread across the entire Cang Lan sect, making the people inside tremble.

    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~

    Cang Anyu and the rest finally saw what was breaking the barriers of the sect.

    "What in the name of heavens is that!?" The elders were stunned.

    In front of them, sixrge white pirs rose out from the ground. Each of the pir was like a sharp thorn that directly ripped through the barrier of the sect and dispelled the formations.

    No matter how many attacks hit the pirs, they weren''t damaged at all.

    ~flicker~

    The barrier of the sect was unable to bear the damage, and the runes flickered non stop.

    ~TREMBLE~

    The six pirs receded into the ground, leaving behindrge holes. Around theserge holes, copsed buildings as well as dead bodies could be seen too.

    Evidently, the damage had been a lot more than the barriers. Thousands of people inside the sect were dead as coteral.

    "WHO DARES ATTACK THE CANG LAN SECT!" Patriarch Cang Anyu was furious now.

    The full pressure of a Dao Treading realm expert was released, and the very air started to shake.

 Chapter 931 Enraged Cang Anyu

    While Cang Anyu seethed at his sect being destroyed, the people inside the great hall were in fear instead. A few of them had also slipped out and seen the situation of the sects.

    To them, something that could destroy the barriers with such ease was certainly not to be taken lightly.

    ~WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~

    Ji Shirong, Lian Xiaojian, Patriarch Bing, the Long n elders as well as all other strong experts among the guests all appeared in the sky.

    "That can''t beбн" Patriarch Bing''s voice turned weak upon seeing therge holes in the distance.

    Shirong picked up something from Patriarch Bing''s tone and was now interested.

    "Do you know something more Patriarch Bing?" Shirong questioned.

    "Those holesбн they are familiar." Patriarch Bing answered.

    "Familiar? How!?" Cang Anyu asked, his anger overflowing.

    "This has happened several times in the south after allбн It''s the Cmity Fiend!" Patriarch Bing answered much to everyones shock.

    "The Cmity Fiend?!" Cang Anyu had never expected that to be the threat.

    "What? How is that possible?" the elders were shocked and confused.

    "Yeah, did the Cmity Fiend retreat and go in hiding?" Some of the informed people in said.

    "From what Ist heard, the King of the Millennium Forest Kingdom sent out his beast army to suppress and repel the Cmity Fiend."

    This had bemon knowledge at this point since the news about it was being spread intentionally by several powers. They wanted everyone to know the achievements of the Millennium Forest Kingdom and let their reputation grow.

    Lian Xiaojian who knew more due to being part of the Lian n, furrowed his brows.

    "The Cmity Fiend was certainly pushed back. After all King Lin Wu is said to have fought it himself before." Lian Xiaojian spoke.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Unfortunately for them, the discussion had to end as the ground shook hard once more.

    ~BOOM~

    Six bone white pir rose from the ground, parting the soil and copsing the buildings around it.

    ~HONG~

    The defensive barrier formation let out a humming sound as it blocked the six sharp pirs.

    "The core sect barrier can''t be broken easily. Even an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator will take a while to get through it." The elders said, but they still felt nervous.

    ~CRACK~

    A cracking sound was heard as the sharp pirs pushed against the barrier. It was like a spear was trying to pierce a shield.

    "Enough! Everyone attack!" Cang Anyu ordered, wanting to destroy the pirs before they did anymore damage.

    "ATTACK!" the elders all activated their skills.

    Some shot forth their spirit weapons, some used Qi skills and rained down fireballs. Some created imprints of various beasts, directly striking the pirs.

    ~Thud~thud~thud~

    ~Bang~bang~bang~

    Numerous attacks rained down upon the six pirs, but they stood there unyielding. Not even a scratch could be seen on them, and it was as if all the attacks were unless against it.

    "AGAIN!" Cang Anyu ordered.

    He brought his hands to the side and made several seals. Complex runes formed around him as a green and blue energy swirled around him.

    The green and blue energy took the form of a vast sea.

    "Immortal Cang Lan Art! Sea of Cang Lan!" the patriarch chanted.

    The sound of a surging sea drowned out the trembling earth as the sea transformed from blue green energy rushed towards the six pirs.<sub> </sub>

    It was as if a disastrous flood had happened and threated to drown out all life. The sea mmed against the six pirs, trying to shatter them.

    ~Ripple~

    "It''s working!" The elders saw the pressure barrier had eased up.

    The six pirs were being forced back from the Sea of Cang Lan.

    "You won''t be able to do as you please in my sect! You shall pay a great cost for this treachery!" Cang Anyu was no less furious than before.

    He poured more spirit Qi into the Sea of Cang Lan, increasing its size.

    ~Boom~boom~boom~

    It was like a sledgehammer striking walls. The six bone white pirs could no longer press against the barrier and were being pushed back. Not just that, but fine cracks could actually be seen growing on the surface.

    ~CRACK~

    As if to answer their wishes, the six bone white pirs actually broke!

    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~

    The six pirs fell to the ground, creating tremors.

    ~shua~

    The core sect barrier stabilized and repaired itself while the six pirs drifted away with the force of the sea.

    The guests watching the scene felt a bit relieved.

    "Patriarch Cang is truly strong."

    "Indeed, the might of a Patriarch cannot be taken lightly."

    The guests couldn''t help but praise.

    ~BOOM~

    Unfortunately for them, this was merely the start.

    "WHAT!?" Cang Anyu turned around and saw an explosion happening at the back.

    "It''s targeting the other side of the Core Sect barrier!" The elder informed.

    ~BOOM~

    In front of their eyes, pir after pir rose, stabbing directly into the barrier. Unlike thest time though, there were twelve pirs.

    With the power doubled, the bone white pirs tore though the barrier and finally dispelled it.

    "No!" the elders shouted seeing this.

    Patriarch Cang Anyu clenched his fists in pure rage. Such damage to the sect was unprecedented and would take a lot of time to repair. Each of the barrier was made from millions upon millions of precious resources after all.

    And this was all just material costs. The people that were lost along with the damage could not be reced after all.

    ~TREMBLE~

    The ground shook again, but this time it was due to the twelve pirs receding.

    "DIE!" Cang Anyu sent the Sea of Cang Lan rushing towards the twelve pirs but they had already entered the ground.

    The sea entered the holes left behind by the pirs but it wasn''t of much use.

    A few secondster, an eerie silence had spread in the sect.

    "Itбн stopped?" They wondered.

    Cang Anyu felt his heart drop at that moment and felt something moving underground.

    "It''s going towards the great hall! Stop it!"

 Chapter 932 The Great Hall Collapses

    The greatest fear that Cang Anyu was that the Cmity Fiend might target the great hall and thus the most important people within it.

    But that wasn''t all either as the Great hall had a lot more to it than just a ce of gathering. It represented the face of the sect and even had a lot of treasure hidden within it.

    If it was damaged or destroyed, the sect will not be able to recover easily.

    "Quick! Quick!" Cang Anyu shouted.

    ~BOOM~

    But just before they were a short distance away from the Great Hall, it copsed!

    ~SCREECH!!~

    A distorted, inhuman screech could be heard echoing across the sect,ing from the rubble of the Great Hall.

    The rubble was pushed apart as a being rose from the ground. It''s body was covered in ck scales of various kinds and had tens of eyes on it head. Its mouth was filled with rows upon rows of sharp teeth and long sharp tusks jutted out of it.

    But that wasn''t all, as several hundred tentacles also rose from between the gaps of its scales. The tentacles were of various kinds too, some having a mouth, some having a sharp spike while some just being smooth.

    The guest finally saw the Cmity Fiend with their own two eyes.

    While many had heard or even seen its portraits before, watching it in front of them was an entirely different experience. After all, a portrait only showed the appearance of a being. It could not capture the aura, scent and presence of a being.

    All of which was overwhelming after gazing at the Cmity Fiend.

    "Thisбн is massiveбн" A few of the guests felt faint just from seeing the towering creature.

    "You!" Cang Anyu had already turned red with anger and was finding it hard to contain it.

    "Well, well, wellбн" Then much to their surprise the massive being in front of them spoke.

    "I knew I smelled something delicious to the north. Didn''t expect to find an entire feast set up for me. I feel honored." The Cmity Fiend spoke, its tone nearly filled with ridicule.

    "Enough! Do you really think you can continue to live on after this! You foul fiend!" Cang Anyu roared.

    "Patriarch Cang is right, you''ve broken all limits! You''ve offended us as well!" The two Dao Treading realm elders of the Long n shouted.

    The old man and woman were passive at the start, but seeing how the cmity fiend had directly targeted the Great Hall, they knew it wasing for them.

    "Ah~ I like it when my prey''s angry. Adds a little extra spiciness." The Cmity Fiend spoke and stared directly at the Long n elders. "I must sayбн I''ve missed the taste of your n''s snakes." It said while a long tongue seemingly licked its mouth.

    "Humph! Offending the Long n is the worst mistake you can make!" The male Long n elder said before attacking.

    He pulled his fingers apart like a w andshed out. Arge w imprint formed in the air and targeted the Cmity Fiend.

    In response, the Cmity Fiend flicked one of its many tentacles towards the w. It rapidly expanded in the air before transforming into a w of its own!

    This w wasn''t illusory and was rather nefarious looking. ck dripping nails tipped the fingers and crimson veins could be seen all over its palm.

    "HAAA!" The male Long n elder increased his force seeing the Cmity Fiend respond.

    He didn''t want the fiend to have any chance of resisting, but he had underestimated it.

    ~CLANG~

    w struck against w and sparks flew.<sub> </sub>

    ~RIP~

    The w Imprint actually managed to rip into the flesh of the Cmity Fiend''s w and dark blood seeped out.

    The guests watching it found it impressive. After all, everyone knew the Long n was the strongest existence in the Long Continent and each of their nsmen was quite strong too.

    The ones here were especially great, being Dao Treading realm elders.

    "Oh? Seems like I need a little more effort." The Cmity Fiend spoke, seeing that its attempt at resisting was failing.

    ~shua~shau~shua~

    Tens of tentacles writhing around his body merged together, turning into an evenrge tentacle. It rapidly rushed at the w Imprint and transformed into a sharp pincer just before reaching it.

    ~SNIP~

    The sound of a scissor closing could be heard as the pincers closed around the w imprint.

    "What!?" The Long n elders were stunned. "How can you stop the Azure Dragon w which can even rip through the defenses of a high grade spirit armor?"

    "Stop? I can do a lot more than that." The Cmity Fiend responded by transforming the pincer into a pair of jaws and directly swallowing the two parts of the w Imprint. "Yum, nothing like some freely used Qi skill."

    "It swallowed it?" the normal guests watching it were stunned.

    ~CRACKLE~

    ~BUZZ~

    ~BOOM~

    But just while everyone was reeling in from the absurdness of the Cmity Fiend''s actions, they saw a lightning bolt strike it.

    ~THUD~

    One of the tentacles was directly sted apart from the middle and half of it fell down with a loud thud.

    "Elders, we''ll need to be a lot more proactive this time." Shirong spoke, his face sharp.

    Arcs of lightning streaked across his body while strong gales were forming around him as well. The Crystal Spear in his hand was simrly covered with electricity and was letting out a powerful aura.

    "Sea of Cang Lan!" the patriarch agreed by directly attacking the Cmity Fiend.

    The blue and green sea surrounded the fiend and made it look smallpared to it. The sea water surged, threating to drown the Cmity Fiend.

    "Junior Shirong is right," The female Long n elder spoke and stood in a narrow stance.

    Her arms were positioned like taut pythons ready to attack while streaks of spirit Qi swirled around them.

    ~cough~cough~cough~

    But just as everyone was getting ready to attack, a bout of coughing was hearding from the rubble.

    "Cang Qing!"

 Chapter 933 Collaborative Attacks

    Cang Anyu watched his daughter among two copsed pirs.

    Cang Qing was also at the Nascent soul realm so it was difficult for her to die from just a copsed building. Thus Cang Anyu had thought that she might have just retreated in that time.

    After all, the Cmity Fiend had appeared from the borders of the Great Hall rather than the center. That was also how it had demolished the building, but directly tilting it on its own structure.

    What they couldn''t understand though was how could the Cmity Fiend do all this despite the presence of strong reinforcement arrays. The walls should be practically imprable or at the very least take several attempts to be destroyed.

    This was entirely different from the Cmity Fiend just pushing it down like a stack of cards.

    "Get back Cang Qing!" Cang Anyu shouted.

    The girl was still reeling in from the copsed and didn''t have the time to register therge being that was very close to her.

    "Oh? What''s this?" The Cmity Fiend noticed Cang Qing within the rubble too. "Seems like an appetizer to me!" It directly opened its mouth and tried to swallow Cang Qing along with all the rubble around her.

    "NO!!!" Cang Anyu shouted, sending for the Sea of Cang Lan to attack the Cmity Fined.

    ~SHUA~

    Shirong borrowed the power of lightning and sped up, directly streaking across to reach Cang Ci.

    ~CLANG~

    "Ugh!" He blocked the head of the Cmity Fiend with the spear, finding the force to be rather great.

    "Young master Shirong!" Cang Qing gathered her wits and realized what was happening.

    Her eyes winded upon seeing the Cmity Fiend, but she also saw the emerald crystal spear that was seemingly stopping it in ce. Shirong looked like a lone ant trying to stop arge chariot.

    ~shua~

    "Great Yin Freeze!" in the next moment, a chant was heard before a chilling wind appeared.

    It swirled around Cang Qing and Shirong, forming Ice wall that blocked of the Cmity Fiend. Since it grew from the bottom, it was enough to push the monster and free Shirong to retreat.

    "Junior Brother Wang Xiong, are you fine?" Shirong asked, seeing the man.

    Wang Xiong had been knocked away when the Great Hall copsed but had managed to defend himself. Looking at him right now, one could see ayer of ice armor covering his body.

    Not just that, but two weapons were also in his hands. His left hand held a sword while his right hand held an ice ive.

    Ice elemental spirit Qi mixed with Yin spirit Qi and infused Wang Xiong''s body, making him look rather menacing. And if one looked closer at his forehead, they would even see a tiny green dot.

    "I''m fine." Wang Xiong replied while gazing at the great adversary. "Cang Qing get back." He ordered.

    "Y-yeah." The girl circted spirit Qi and shook herself out of her stupor.

    ~shua~

    Wang Xiong spun the ive and created a long vortex of icy spirit Qi, protecting Cang Qing from the twisting tentacles that were now trying to get close.

    "Immortal Sky Shaker art: Cloud Parting Gale!" Shirong didn''t wait either and broke into an offense.

    The Emeraldine Heart Spear elongated while green wind spirit Qi covered it. It increased the sharpness and force off the spear, before striking down at the Cmity Fiend.

    ~BOOM~

    The ice dome broke apart under the two attacks while the tentacles were frozen solid by the vortex of icy spirit Qi.<sub> </sub>

    ~SCREECH~

    "It''s working!" The people said upon seeing the Cmity Fiend seemingly screech in irritation.

    Not just that, but it was clearly being pushed back.

    ~RIPPLE~

    ~SPLASH~

    Taking advantage of this, Cang Anyu''s Sea of Cang Lan also came crashing. "Junior Wang Xiong, together with me!"

    "On it!" Wang Xiong replied, controlling the vortex to follow the sea of Cang Lan.

    First the sea covered the Cmity Fiend, then the icy vortex froze it in ce.

    The cmity fiend struggled to move with its lower half of the body frozen in ce, but another attack wasing its way.

    "Immortal Sky Shaker art: Unyielding Tempest!" Shirong executed one of his strongest skills, gathering wind and lightning around his entire body and channeling through the Emeraldine Heart Spear.

    It was as if he had be a thunder god with all the dark clouds gathered around him.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Non stop thunderps could be heard while wind carried the clouds, targeting the Cmity Fiend.

    "Run!" The guests that were nowing out from the rubble of the Great hall were caught off guard.

    They knew if they were anywhere close to this, they might die just from the diffused effects of these skills.

    "Absolute Ice Domain!" Thankfully for them, Patriarch Bing was there.

    A fortress of ice formed between the guests and the battle field, preventing any stray attacks of diffused effects from reaching them.

    The two elders of the Long n also attacked, creating illusory dragons that rushed at the Cmity Fiend as well.

    With so many terrifying and strong attacks beingunched at once, the witnesses felt like apocalypse had descended.

    Lian Xiaojian whose skills did not allow him to participate in a battle like him, stayed behind.

    ''I''m stillcking a lot. I need to be strongerбн'' Lian Xiaojian thought.

    Even though he had awakened his physique and had be a lot stronger, he wasn''t the right candidate to participate in this fight. After all, he was a physical fighter and was more suited to smaller opponents.

    All he could do now was to protect the people that were trying to escape. The others elders were also doing the same, protecting the juniors and weaker cultivators.

    Only the strongest were qualified to fight on the front lines.

    ~BANG~

    Shirong''s thunder clouds struck the Cmity Fiend and shrouded its body within. Countless lightning bolts struck the monster nonstop, while the two illusory dragons also bit at the fiend.

    ~KABOOM~

    Arge explosion was triggered, with all the skills colliding together. Blinding light spread out, forcing many to close their eyes and step back.

 Chapter 934 Attacking For Real

    The force of explosions spread far and wide, covering the Cang Lan sect''s inner court. With the missing barriers, there was nothing to stop the shock wave from proceeding and knocking down the remaining buildings.

    As for the people who were caught in this shock wave?

    A majority managed to survive simply due to the fact that the sect had already triggered a state of emergency and they had all retreated.

    After all, the true emergency started right from the moment the outer court barrier of the sect had fallen. That and the sixrge bone pirs were had also killed quite a few people around where they had appeared.

    This too contributed to many people escaping the sect. Though there were still a significant number of disciples that had yet to leave the sect. This was simply due to the fact that it would be against the rules to leave the sect when it was under distress.

    Right now what they were doing was to assist all the guests in leaving the sect. Only after they were gone, would they try to do so as well.

    "Elders! Protect the juniors!" The patriarch gave out orders to the elders within the sect.

    There were many that had gone out to carry out orders earlier and thus they were perfect the protect the disciples in the outer and inner sect right now.

    The core of the sect though was in a bad state now, having a quarter of itsnd ttened due to the many attacks that had been used here.

    ~SWOOSH~

    Finally, the shockwave dissipated, causing a secondary gale of wind to blow around the sect. The blinding light disappeared as well, allowing them to look at the scene of devastation once more.

    Their spirit senses were also not able to get past the turbulent spirit Qi from the attacks and thus they could only look with their eyes for now.

    "WHAT!?" But when they looked at the area, they were stunned.

    "How is it still fine!?" Cang Anyu shouted.

    ~crack~crack~crack~

    The sound of ground cracking was heard, and a massive figure started to rise from it.

    "That was a nice demonstration, I must say." The strange distorted voice of the Cmity Fiend could be heard again. "But I''m afraid nice is all I can say about it."

    ~RUMBLE~

    The Cmity Fiend spoke before rising its head and body with it. The body continued to rise from the ground, and allowed everyone to realize just howrge it really was.

    "Heavensбн this is truly a monsterбн" The elders said with deep shock.

    From their original reports, the size of the Cmity Fiend was said to be around a hundred and fifty meters. But now that they saw it with their own eyes, it was easily double that.

    "How can it grow this big in such a short time?" Patriarch Bing, who had seen the Cmity Fiend once before, said.

    He had seen the full body of the Cmity Fiend, but this was a lot bigger than that.

    "It really is tough." Shirong said after scanning the monster''s body.<sub> </sub>

    There was not a single trace of injury on the Cmity Fiend, and its aura also seemed to be stronger than before.

    ''How can my attacks not injure it at all? Even Senior Lin Wu praised that it was strong.'' Shirong wondered.

    This was a thought that everyone was having at this moment. After all, the Cmity Fiend had shrugged off multiple attacks from several Dao Treading realm experts. That too at once.

    "Impossible, even Immortal Ascension realm elders will be injured from this." The female Dao Treading realm elder from the Long n said.

    The Long n elders were the best toment on this as they had two Immortal Ascension realm elders of their own. They had the most knowledge about such experts and what they could do.

    After having pulled its entire body from the ground, the Cmity Fiend''s multiple eyes gazed at everyone.

    "Well then, I won''t waste any more time and get started for real." The Monster spoke casually.

    ~ROAR!!!~

    Then in the next moment, the Cmity Fiend opened its mouth wide, letting out an earth shaking roar.

    The roar was different than a normal roar though, as everyone felt like their body was being hammered by hundreds of small weapons at this moment.

    "W-whatбн isбн thisбн" Wang Xiong muttered with great difficulty.

    ''This is a Qi skillбн it''s actually infusing spirit Qi into his roar to damage us.'' Patriarch Bing realized, finding it a little familiar.

    "Stop it!" Cang Anyu shouted before attacking.

    This time, he used a different skill. "Three oceans whip!"

    From his sleeves, three streams of water shot out. If one looked closer, they would see that this water wasn''t actually corporeal and was made out of thousands of small runes.

    Only an expert formation master would be able to recognize that each of the rune was actually in the Dao Script. But to actually understand what the runes meant would need an even greater expert and they would discover that the runes each read Ocean!

    It was the Dao Script Character for Ocean and it wasposed of several smaller characters such as water, drops, flow, waves and more.

    Each sub character was from the Dao of Water and represented one part of it. After all, the Dao Of water gave rise to many derivative Daos and if one managed topose all of them, they would find the true meaning of it.

    But the significance of this was that it showed the cultivation base of patriarch Cang Anyu. Only those at the Dao Comprehension Stage of the Dao treading realm would be able toprehend the Dao Traces at this level of depth.

    As for them, appearing in the skill that Cang Anyu had used only meant that he had already mastered this aspect of his power.

    This wasn''t just any normal skill, it was a Dao Skill!

    A Dao Skill that had had been created due to Cang Anyu''s Dao Embryo!

 Chapter 935 Clash Of Dao Skills And Innate Skills

    "Dao Skill! Patriarch is using a Dao Skill!" the elders standing in the distance all saw.

    "It''s the Three Ocean''s Whip! I can''t believe it. We actually get to see his signature Dao Skill today." The disciples were surprised too.

    If it weren''t for the fact that the entire Cang Lan sect was in a time of crisis, perhaps it would be a good learning opportunity for the sect''s disciples.

    Unfortunately, the Dao Skill was being used in a time of great distress.

    ~RIP~

    The Three oceans whip tore though the air, creating a sonic boom thatpeted against the sound waves of the Cmity Fiend''s Roar.

    At the same time, the sound of a surging ocean could be heard. It mixed with the sonic boom, creating an entirely new sound that most couldn''t even differentiate.

    The Three oceans whip reached the Cmity Fiend in just a few moments, directly targeting its mouth.

    "Die!" Cang Anyu dered.

    But out of nowhere, he saw arge tentacle appearing.

    ~BANG~

    It actually hit the Three Ocean''s whip urately and stopped it in its tracks. The tentacle was seemingly rising from the back of the Cmity fiend''s body and had formed at a breakneck speed.

    "You think mere flesh can stop my Dao skill!" Cang Anyu said with rage.

    "It isn''t just any fleshбн it''s my flesh." The Cmity Fiend seemingly stopped roaring at that moment and spoke.

    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~

    Then under the watchful eyes of everyone, they saw therge tentacle being covered with thick white scales.

    Cang Anyu narrowed his eyes, sensing that his impact had been lessened.

    He tightened his grip on the Three ocean''s whip, and poured a lot of spirit Qi into it, increasing the power even more.

    ~RUSH~

    The body of the three oceans whip that wasposed of illusory water started to circte at a great speed. The blue color of the three oceans whip turned white like a gushing waterfall.

    This was actually a qualitative change. The whip had created a jet like stream of water!

    ~CRACK~ CRACK~ CRACK~

    Under this water jet, the white scales on the tentacle actually started to crack. And as soon as the cracks developed, the water seeped into the gaps, starting to erode it further.

    "Your defenses are not something that we can''t ovee." Cang Anyu said proudly.

    "Impressive." The Cmity Fiend said in a rare tone of acknowledgment. "Guess the human Dao Treading realm experts aren''t as disappointing as I thought." It spoke.

    "Unfortunately for you, water is not of much effect on me." The Cmity Fiend added, a grotesque smile appearing on its face.

    Cang Anyu had a bad feeling, while the others quickly used their defensive skills, thinking that something bad was about to happen.

    ~WOONG~

    Their hunch turned out to be true as a searing heat spread in the area. And along with the heat, a massive crimson me appeared. The me appeared from the Cmity Fiend''s mouth and climbed up his tentacle,pletely covering it.<sub> </sub>

    ~HISS~

    The water in the surroundings started to boil and sizzle, while the nts and trees directly started to burn.

    Only the Three oceans whip which had high resistance due to being a Dao Skill resisted the head. The Absolute Ice fortress made by Patriarch Bing had already started to melt under the heat.

    "Who don''t you all try some of this too? I can''t let you all just wait like this. You''ll get bored." The Cmity Fiend taunted before several more tentacles rose from its body.

    These tentacles were smaller, but each of them had a spout like mouth on it.

    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~

    Each of the spouts acted like the nozzle of a methrower, and fire shot out of them.

    "Run!" Patriarch Bing shouted at Wang Xiong.

    "Get behind me!" Wang Xiong told Cang Qing.

    Right now, only the two of them had good enough skills to keep the scorching heat at bay. Cang Qing was drenched in sweat and was breathing with some difficulty. The hot air was now hurting her lungs.

    Despite being at the Nascent soul realm, her body was still weak against such temperatures. After all, she didn''t have any special physique and neither had she cultivated her body.

    Even with the passive defense that the body gained after reaching the Nascent soul realm, it wasn''t enough to endure this head.

    After allбн The crimson mes were nomon mes at allбн they were from an Innate skill!

    ''How did senior Lin Wu and the other beasts resist this monster?'' Wang Xiong was at a loss.

    He even wondered if they were too weak and were unable to fight against the Cmity Fiend. By now, it wasmon knowledge that the King of the millennium forest had repelled and routed the Cmity Fiend several times.

    "I can''t get lose my focus here. We need to retreat." Wang Xiong brought his hands together and a shield like gesture.

    ~HISS~

    A steaming sound was heard due to the cold and hot air currents colliding.

    Wang Xiong gritted his teeth, speeding up the cirction of his spirit Qi. He was trying to create another ice shield, but the ice spirit Qi would dissipate before he could fully condense it.

    Finally gritting his teeth, Wang Xiong did it.

    "HAA!" An ice shield made from dark blue ice spread out from his hands.

    His palms were directly merged into it though, and spirit Qi was directly being channeled using them.

    "Now! Step back, I''ll watch your back." Wang Xiong said to Cang Qing.

    "O-okay." The girl said, fear visible in her eyes.

    She looked around, hoping that more people would be able to help them, but found none. Everyone was struggling from the crimson mes that kept on pouring on them.

    The Long n elders activated their bloodline skills and enveloped their bodies with Blue Dragon scales, forcefully resisting the mes.

    Patriarch Bing condensed frost on his body, and almost turned into a snowman.

    Meanwhile Shirong put the crystal spear in front of him and circted strong winds around his body, keeping the crimson mes away.

 Chapter 936 A Taunting And Horrifying Play

    The power of the crimson mes was too much, and it took all of their strength to resist the Cmity Fiend. The crimson mes were mysterious and seemed to be able to ignite the very spirit Qi itself if left unguarded.

    It was very dangerous and those at the Dao Treading realm could sense that there was certainly the Dao of Fire involved in this.

    ''Just what is the cultivation base of this Cmity Fiend. From its aura it is very overbearing, from it spirit Qi fluctuations it appears to be weak at time, but then when it attacks it is very strong.'' The Long n elders were confused.

    They had originally thought that the Cmity Fiend had the cultivation base at the Dao Shell realm. They had used several special techniques to confirm this and were relieved that it was merely at the Dao Shell realm.

    It was also this information that had made them drop their guard. After all, to the top sects and top three ns, a Dao Shell realm expert was still something they could easily get rid of.

    It didn''t matter whether it was a man or beast, it would only be a chicken on the chopping block to them.

    And now that they had really faced it, they realized just how wrong they were. The Cmity Fiend didn''t just use Qi skills, it could even use skills that had the Dao Traces contained within them!

    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~

    Under the intense heat of the mes, the moisture in the ground and rocks had already dried out. It reached a point where cracks started to develop in the ground.

    And not just that, the ces that were very close to the crimson mes were already melted.

    Puddles of red hot molten rock could be seen all around the Cmity Fiend. The rubble and broken structures of the Great Hall that were nearby were also melting under the heat.

    The restructure would melt and drip over the body of the Cmity Fiend too. To any normal creature, this should have been very dangerous and perhaps even deadly, and yet to the fiend, it was nothing.

    There was no sizzling sound, no burning smell, no reaction. The red molten substances simply dripped on the Cmity Fiend''s body and slid down from the side.

    "It''s resistant to fire, ice, wind, lightning and waterбн just how is it this tough?" Shirong wondered.

    These were the different kinds of attacks that had been used against the Cmity Fiend and none of them had managed to damage it.

    Instead, the Cmity Fiend seemed to find it funny and pretended to be injured, taunting them again and again.

    "Argh!" While everyone was trying to resist, a cry was suddenly heard.

    Cang Anyu looked at the source and saw that it hade from one of the elders of the Cang Lan sect.

    "Elder Zhou Pei!" Cang Anyu saw the elder''s body igniting. "No!"

    But before he could do anything, the crimson mes had already covered the man.

    ~slick~

    As if that alone was not enough, the Cmity Fiend stabbed the burning elder with one of its spiked tentacles before throwing it into its wide open mouth that still continued to spew fire.

    Everyone felt appalled at this, especially the other elders.

    Elder Zhou Pei was one of the Dao Shell realm elders of the Cang Lan sect and his death was a loss of morale for them.

    "Mmmбн first down, more to go." The Cmity Fiend spoke and stopped the fire.

    "NOW!" Patriarch Bing sent out a wave of icy swords towards the Cmity Fiend while Wang Xiong took the chance to retreat with Cang Qing.<sub> </sub>

    But before they even reached halfway to safety, the ground suddenly split apart.

    "Dammit!" Wang Xiong jumped up, avoiding the fissure.

    ~thud~

    He had a badnding and ended up rolling on the ground. Flying up wasn''t possible because there were already the Cmity Fiend''s tentacles preventing that from happening.

    But while Wang Xiong managed to jump away, the person he was protecting couldn''t do the same.

    "AAAAHHH!" A shrill cry was heard, that shook the hearts of everyone that heard it.

    "Cang Qing!" Both Wang Xiong and Patriarch Cang Anyu shouted frantically.

    The bride to be had been caught by several small tentacles that had risen from the fissure.

    "My, my, guess I get to have some young and tender meat." The Cmity Fiend said with a hint of joy.

    "Don''t you dare!" Wang Xiong spoke.

    "Or what?" The Cmity Fiend replied with nonchnce.

    "If you do anything to her, I assure you that King Lin Wu will hunt you down to the ends of this world!" Wang Xiong warned.

    "Leave my daughter or the Cang Lan sect will also dere you our mortal enemy forever!" Cang Anyu also threated.

    "Oh no, I''m so scared." The Cmity Fiend said in a grotesque but somehow feminine voice.

    The people could only watch in a mixture of fear and confusion as the monster yed with the strong elders.

    "Nah! Not like I want it either way! AHAHAHA!" The Cmity Fiendughed before the tentacles all pulled the tied up Cang Qing.

    "STOP! I ORDERED YOU!"

    ~BOOM~ BOOM~ BOOM~

    Everyone attacked in that moment, trying their best to stop the Cmity Fiend. Unfortunately for them their attacks were useless and did nothing to the monster. It was simply invulnerable to all of them.

    Shirong watched the fear in the girl''s eyes as she was grabbed by the Cmity Fiend. With her mouth gagged up and limbs restricted, she couldn''t even resist. Cang Anyu had tears of rage in his eyes and despair in his heart.

    The feeling of being unable to save his daughter despite being the patriarch of the top sect felt devastating to him.

    The Cmity Fiend cared for nothing though and simply opened its jaw full of teeth, swallowing the poor girl whole. She didn''t even get to let out a cry before her life had ended.

    The horrifying scene left everyone frozen in their ces.

    "AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" but soon after, a heart-rending cry was heard.

 Chapter 937 Cang Anyus Breaking Point

    Cang Anyu felt like his heart had been torn apart seeing his daughter get devoured alive.

    "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU WILL DIE TODAY, EVEN IF I HAVE TO GIVE IT MY ALL! " Cang Anyu roared, his spirit Qi turning darker.

    ~RUMBLE~

    From his chest, a cylindrical object rose. It expanded and quickly be eight meters wide. Strong spirit Qi waves spread from the cylinder, showing that it was a Dao Shell.

    The Dao Shell was translucent white in color like most of themon Dao Shells but the object within it was quite different. The object wasposed of several parts.

    At the top was a t disc to which six long rods were attached using strings.

    ~CHIME~

    The six long rods seemingly moved without any force and let out a sonorous chime.

    "Patriarch! You can''t!" The Supreme Elder of the Cang Lan sect shouted.

    "Even if I die doing this, I will take you down with me!" Cang Anyu shouted.

    He then raised his hand and pped the Dao Shell.

    ~CRACK!~

    With just one hit, cracks developed on the Dao Shell.

    ~CRACK~

    ? Cang Anyu kept on hitting it, and soon the Dao Shell was fully cracked. This made some of the people feel puzzled, but the elders of the Cang Lan sects were scared.

    ~THUD~

    After cracking the entire Dao Shell, Cang Anyu thrust his hand inside and directly grabbed the Dao Embryo, which was in the form of Wind chimes.

    "Infuse!" Cang Anyu controlled the cracked Dao shell to turn into pure spirit Qi which then poured into the wind chime shaped Dao Embryo.

    Hisplexion turned noticeably pale after this, but his aura rose by two folds.

    "He''s done itбн there''s no going backбн" The Supreme Elder felt despair.

    "You demon! You devil! You fiend! I''ll end your existence today!" Cang Anyu dered as his eyes turned bloodshot.

    Holding the wind chimes, Cang Anyu shook them hard.

    ~DENG~

    But unlike thest time, they didn''t have the same sonorous chiming sound. Instead, they felt like hundreds of bronze gongs being hit with steel rods.

    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~

    "Chimes Of Cang Lan: Dreadful Beckoning!" Cang Anyu chanted.

    As soon as he did, a cold and depressing aura spread throughout the entire sect. The sky turned overcast all of a sudden and the winds stopped blowing.

    Shirong, Wang Xiong and the others were lost seeing this.

    "We need to get as far as possible." The Supreme Elder warned them.<sub> </sub>

    "Why? We can''t leave Patriarch Cang alone to deal with the Cmity Fiend." Patriarch Bing asked.

    "You don''t understandбн we will die too if we stay here." The Supreme elder replied.

    "Is thisбн that forbidden Dao Skill?" the male Dao Treading realm elder of the Long n suddenly spoke.

    "You know it?" Shirong asked after retreating.

    "I''ve seen some old records about it in the n." The Long n elder replied. "But if it really is that, then we need to leave this ce right away!" he added in a firm tone.

    That was all that they needed before everyone flew away. They had thought that the Cmity Fiend might try to restrain them, but it surprisingly was not. Instead, it was calmly staring at Cang Anyu, as if wondering what the man was doing.

    ''Does it not feel fear?'' Wang Xiong wondered.

    Whatever technique that Cang Anyu was using, it had made all of them feel dread now. It was as if the very atmosphere was changing and even breathing was bingborious slowly.

    After they were about halfway to the sect''s border, Shirong spoke.

    "What is Patriarch Cang Anyu doing?" He questioned.

    "He''s used a sacrificial Dao Skill. It is something that only someone with his Dao Embryo can use." The supreme elder spoke.

    "That Dao Embryo is called as Chimes of Cang Lan, right?" Shirong remembered reading a bit about them in his n''s records.

    But there were no such mentions of a sacrificial Dao Skill in that. This was also why he was so surprised. As far as he knew, the Chimes of Cang Lan were a Dao Embryo that came from the Dao of Sea.

    It was a derived Dao from the Dao of water and was rather strong.

    "Yes. It is something that only the patriarch of our sect can form. Even if they cultivate the same cultivation technique, others cannot form the same Dao Embryo. This is because the Dao Embryoes with a great burden.

    Bing the patriarch of the Cang Lan sectes with a great duty. If the sect were to face great danger, the patriarch is supposed to end it even if it take this life. This is the determination that is needed to form the Dao embryo.

    The Chimes of Cang Lan are rather strong among the Dao Embryo''s and have several Dao Skills. But the one that Patriarch is using is the final skill, that will use up all his cultivation base and life." The Supreme elder said before taking a deep breath.

    The pressure had increased once more and now it felt like the very air was turning viscous.

    "The Dao skill is called as the Chimes of Death and it isposed of two parts. First is the Dreadful beckon, which will summon a great sea of resentment and dread." The Long n elder was the one to speak this time.

    "Wait, resentment and dread?" Shirong seemed to have realized something. "Doesn''t that touch upon the Dao of Death?" he asked doubtfully.

    "It does indeedбн but only barely. It takes support from the Dao of Sea and changes its form. But this is only in the first stage." The supreme elder replied.

    "Then what happens in the second stage?" Shirong asked, having a bad feeling.

    ~RUMBLE~

    But before anyone could speak, a loud rumbling sound was heard.

    If someone looked at the Cang Lan sect from afar at this moment, they would see a great illusion surrounding it.

    The Illusion was that of a great grey sea!

    "It has begunбн" The supreme elder said with a grave expression.

 Chapter 938 Tides Of Death

    The appearance of the illusory sea was a stunning sight for most.

    Shirong, Wang Xiong, Patriarch Bing, Lian Xiaojian and the Long n elders all watched as the grey sea enveloped the sect. The grey sea was vast and was slowly turning corporeal.

    "We can''t stop, we need to get past this sea!" the supreme elder of the Cang Lan sect urged.

    In response to this, the Long n elder took out a small talisman and threw it out.

    ~shua~

    The talisman glowed and thousands of runes spread out from it, turning into a sail boat.

    "Everyone get in! This will onlyst for a short while!" The male Long n elder spoke.

    That was all it took for everyone to rush into the sailboat. The boat wasrge enough to safely hold about twenty people and yet there was nearly thirty of them on there.

    "I need you all to power it with your spirit Qi," The Long n elder asked.

    "Yes!" No one denied this and everyone started channellings their spirit Qi into it.

    ~WHOOSH~

    In just two seconds, the sail of the boat fluttered without wind and it rose into the sky. Five secondster, it had already reached the speed of sound and was out of the border of the sect.

    Ten more secondster, they were a safe distance away from the Cang Lan sect.

    ~shua~

    At this moment, the Sailboat seemingly turned illusory and dissipated back into runes. No one was injured due to the sudden disappearance of the boat though, as everyone jumped before that.

    After all, all of them were strong enough to fly, so there was no way they would simply fall.

    They all stood in the air and gazed at the Cang Lan sect with shock. Though it would be more urate to call it a sea instead now. The illusory sea had long since turned corporeal and had drowned out all the mountains of the Cang Lan sect and their buildings.

    ~SCREAM~

    ~CRY~

    A mix of screams and cries could be heard from the area around them, too. Wang Xiong observed and found that they wereing from the disciples and guests who had escaped before them.

    Among them, the disciples of the Cang Lan sect were crying seeing their sect in such a state. If they were told yesterday that such a fate would turn their lives upside down today, they would never believe it.

    Everything was going well, and yet now it had been changed.

    "Is thatбн the second stage of the Chimes of Cang Lan?" Shirong asked, seeing the grey sea.

    "Yesбн That is the second stageбн the Tides of Death." The Supreme Elder of the Cang Lan sect confirmed, his eyes red with sorrows.

    "The resentment and dread of the dead shall rise, giving birth to a sea of despair. The sea of despair shall witness more death and call forth the tides of death." The Long n elder narrated.

    Shirong who heard this, narrowed his eyes, for he knew what this entailed.

    ''No wonder the Cang Lan sect could be the number one sect. Such a power is something that could even threaten the top ns.'' Shirong thought.

    If it weren''t for that fact that he could only be used by a single person and only once on top of that, perhaps the Cang Lan sect might have already be the greatest power on the Long Continent.

    Still, Shirong couldn''t understand how the Cang Lan sect found a method to touch upon the Dao of Death. It was something that even the greatest experts were unable to delve into.<sub> </sub>

    ''Noбн there is someone that might have some insight into itбн'' The image of a crystalline being came to Shirong''s mind.

    While they all watched the catastrophe of the Cang Lan sect, within it, the situation was rather different.

    "What is it, you fiend? You don''t feel fear? Or have you been immobilized by it?" Cang Anyu questioned, seeing that the Cmity Fiend had not tried to run.

    In fact, it hadn''t even interrupted him, which he could very well have. They had all seen the various ways that the Cmity Fiend could attack in along with the immense defense that it had.

    But surprisingly, the monster simply let everything happen.

    "If this is your final gambit that you are willing to bet your life on, I''d like to see just how good it is." The Cmity Fiend replied with confidence.

    "Hah! I don''t care what you feel like, just know this you will regret ever being born!" Cang Anyu replied, hisplexion getting paler.

    His aura had started to turn weaker and even his eyes were turning cloudy. If one looked closely, they would see that under his robes, Cang Anyu''s skin had started to wrinkle up and his muscle were withering at a visible rate.

    Even his hair had started to turn white.

    Unknown to Cang Anyu though, the Cmity Fiend was rather pleased.

    ''I never thought I would find something like this here.'' Lin Wu who was currently controlling the avatar, thought.

    As soon as Cang Anyu had initiated his forbidden Dao skill and the dreadful aura had descended, the system had given out several strings of notifications.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: DATA OBTAINED

    DATA BANKS: UPDATED

    бкбк

    This single notification had repeated several times now. As for what the thing it was rted to, it was something rather important to Lin Wu.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Taiji Celestial''s Tomb Encryption at 64%

    бкбк

    ''Haha! Never would have thought that the simr auras would allow the system to decipher the tomb''s encryption further.'' Lin Wu said to himself.

    He didn''t know why, but the skill that Cang Anyu was using and the aura of the being sealed inside the tomb were a bit simr. But that simrity was enough that the system was obtaining plenty of data.

    As for the actual threat from the Dao skill?

    Lin Wu didn''t mind it that much. Or rather, he actually wanted to bear it with his body.

    ''I wonder if Chimeric Adaption will activate once again?''

 Chapter 939 Wasted Sacrifice

    Lin Wu gazed in the distance with his tens of eyes and saw that the sea had fully formed now. There was grey water everywhere and it had drowned out most of the mountains of the Cang Lan sect.

    It was only the Core mountain of the Cang Lan sect on which their Great Hall was built that was above water right now. This was simply because it was the tallest and thergest one of them all.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Finally, it seemed like the Dao skill was finality ready as arge wall of sea water now surrounded the entire Cang Lan sect.

    "Guess we can call this a Tsunami?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Cang Anyu raised his hands high at this moment and roared, "Chimes of Cang Lan: Tides of Death!"

    ~GUSH~

    With that, the tall walls of sea water copsed, turning into a massive ring of Tsunami that was now crushing everything in its path.

    But that wasn''t all. As Lin Wu could see, it was also destroying the vitality of everything in its path. All the nts, animals and life within the Cang Lan sect were being wiped out at a shocking rate.

    "The name is urate at least." Lin Wu said before raising his body tall.

    It directly rose over two hundred meters and was now eye level with the tsunami.

    "Show me your strength! HAHAHA!" Lin Wu then roared out, his voice reaching far and wide.

    Even the people who had escaped out of the sect could hear it clearly.

    Shirong and the rest even felt chills doing down their spine upon hearing that voice.

    <strong>~BOOM~</strong>

    Finally, it happened, the massive Tsunami drowned out the entire core mountain of the Cang Lan sect. The Cmity Fiend''s body disappeared within it and even Cang Anyu could not be seen inside it.

    ~SCREECH~

    ~SCREAM~

    ~CRY~

    But that was not all, as the cries of agony could be heard. It was strange, as there was no one to scream there.

    "Is thatбнing from the sea?" Wang Xiong guessed.

    "Yesбн that sea is an amalgamation of resentment and dread. There are probably the soul remnants of many mixed in it. They are now crying out in despair." The Supreme Elder of the Cang Lan sect confirmed much to everyone''s fear.

    ''The Dead were something that shouldn''t be interfered with.''

    Such was themon consensus among the righteous. But there was still a great power to them, that could not be touched normally. And yet today, they all could see it.

    The power inspired fear and terror, but at the same time, it brought forth bad omens.

    It would be hard to say what would happen tond that was tainted by such resentment.

    Not to mention, there were still thousands of people who had died within it. Some due to the Cmity Fiend, and some due to the Tides of death.

    "The Cang Lan sect will have to bear a great price for thisбн" The Long n elder muttered.

    "Indeedбн this is the same as their legacy being wiped out to some extent." Patriarch Bing spoke.

    "Only time will tell how things goesбн hopefully Patriarch Cang Lan''s sacrifice works."

    While they could wish for this, the reality was turning out to be quite different. About ten minutester, they finally saw the Tide of Death parting.

    "Huh?" Lian Xiaojian felt a fluctuation.

    But then in the next moment, he sensed arge burst of vitalitying from the center of the Cang Lan sect.<sub> </sub>

    "WHAT IS THAT!?" Lian Xiaojian shouted.

    "Impossible!" The Supreme elder was aghast.

    ~ROAR!~

    A familiar distorted roar could be heard and arge heard rose from the middle of the Cang Lan sect.

    "Itsбн it''s alive?" Wang Xiong found it hard to believe it too.

    "Heavens save usбн" Patriarch Bing could sense that the Cmity Fiend seemed to be entirely fine.

    There was no change in its aura and the spirit Qi wavesing from its body only made him think that it was unaffected.

    "We need to call the patriarch and the ancestorsбн we can''t deal with this." The Long n elders decided.

    "Please do." The Supreme elder of the Cang Lan sect stated. "This is no longer something that just threatens the southбн this is a threat to all of us."

    The Long n elders nodded while the male elder took out a jade slip. A momentter though, his face fell.

    "What happened?" The female elder asked.

    "Itбн it doesn''t workбн" The male elder spoke.

    "What?" The female elder was doubtful.

    "The jade slip doesn''t work! There seems to be some interfering." The male elder replied.

    The others were also unnerved upon hearing this.

    "Everyone, try to contact your sects and ns." Shirong quickly spoke, taking out his own personal jade slip.

    They all tried to frantically contact their respective bases, but after a minute, they realized it was no use.

    "It really is blockedбн how is this possible?" Lian Xiaojian said with fear.

    "Is it the work of the Cmity Fiend?" one of the elders of the Cang Lan sect asked.

    "No doubtбн Who else could do this?" Patriarch Bing spoke.

    "There''s only one way. We need to get as far as possible. There should be a limit to this interference." Shirong suggested.

    "Yes!" Wang Xiong agreed. "Do you have any more of the talisman you just used, Elder?" he asked the Male Long n elder.

    "Noбн that was the only one I had." The man shook his head.

    "Cursesбн anyone else have methods to travel fast? We need to send at least once person away so that they can contact others." Wang Xiong stated.

    But before they could discuss much, everyone felt a wave of energying from the distance.

    "It''s looking at us!" Lian Xiaojian shuddered.

    They all saw the Cmity Fiend staring in their direction. And not just that, but its mouth was open along with tens of tentacles that too had mouths.

    "CAREFUL!"

    ~SHUA~

    In the next moment, several ming jets shot towards them. Its speed was faster than they could react.

    ~RUMBLE~

    ~HONG~

 Chapter 940 Lin Wus Entry

    Wang Xiong and the rest felt like death was already upon us. The jet of mes were almost blinding and didn''t give them enough time to defend or escape.

    All they could think of right now was to forcefully endure the mes and try to recoverter. But they knew that was just wishful thinking. After all, there was already examples of theirpanions dying under the mes.

    The crimson mes were powerful and directly burned away their defenses no matter what method they used. It was only a small hope that they had.

    ''This can''t be the endбн I had so many things to achieveбн'' Shirong thought.

    Others had simr thoughts with most of them wanting one more chance or regretting their choices.

    In those flickering moments, they felt like time had slowed down, their thoughts turning into lightning and memories into a flood.

    "YOU DARE!" but just as they were about to give into the despair, a thundering voice was heard.

    The voice was familiar to a few but new to others.

    ~HONG~

    A pressuring aura appeared, opposing the aura that was threating them.

    Wang Xiong force open his eyes while withstanding the blinding mes and saw something that left him stunned.

    ~BOOM~

    The multiple jets of mes were stopped before they could reach them, hitting a green translucent barrier that certainly wasn''t there before.

    "What isбн" The two Dao Treading realm elders from the Long n were confused too.

    Wang Xiong though was happy. Shirong too had a simr expression and a wry smile dressed his face.

    "So he really cameбн"

    ~TREMBLE~

    The ground in front of them shook and suddenly rose. A body equally as massive as that of the Cmity Fiend rose from the ground. Unlike the monster though, this was serpentine but also beautiful.

    Emerald Green Crystals shone, reflecting the light of the crimson mes.

    "Seniorбн" Wang Xiong muttered with awe.

    "King Lin Wuбн" Patriarch Bing recognized the beast.

    The two Long n elders had a look of question which turned into enlightenment in a second after hearing the name.

    ''So this is Lin Wu, the king of the Millennium forest kingdomбн'' The Male Dao Treading realm elder of the Long n gazed at the towering being.

    ''Such strong auraбн and the bloodline powerбн that''s alreadyparable to that of the ancestorsбн'' The female Dao Treading realm elder was awed.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Finally a few secondster, the jet of crimson mes stopped allowing them to take a proper look at the being that had just saved them all.

    "My, myбн I didn''t expect you to be here." The Cmity Fiend''s voice could be heard.

    "And neither did I expect you to be here." Lin Wu replied, his body glowing.

    "Mind you move away? You have my prey behind you." The Cmity Fiend said with nonchnce.<sub> </sub>

    "You can try moving me. Though you should have learned your less fromst time." Lin Wu said as winds started to churn.

    ~SCREECH~

    To this though, the Cmity Fiend responded with an angry cry. It then spat out a white glob that traveled like a cannonball. Half way to Lin Wu though, the ball exploded and turned into a wide sticky.

    ~SHUA~

    In response, Lin Wu spat out his own mes. The mes were simrly scorching hot and when they met the white sticky, they melted it away.

    "You need to try better." Lin Wu said before raising his tail.

    It started to morph under the eyes of everyone and turned into a massive de. Tens of small cylinders appeared on its blunt side while its sharp edge took on a sapphire blue hue.

    Wind spirit Qi and lighting spirit Qi swirled around the massive de, creating a turbulent environment.

    "Stay in my barrier, if youe out you might be caught in my attacks." Lin Wu said to Shirong and the rest. "You cannot fight the Cmity Fiend right nowбн it''s far too powerful for your abilities."

    "Y-yes, Senior." Shirong replied while cupping his fists.

    "Thank you King Lin Wu." The Long n elders too cupped their hands.

    There was no way they couldn''t respect Lin Wu now. Not only had he defend them from the crimson mes that could burn thorough defenses, but he had also done with with ease.

    If that was not enough, the two of them both possess the bloodline of the Azure Dragon. This allowed them to sense other powerful bloodlines and right now they felt like if they didn''t focus they might just end up kneeling right away.

    Such was the passive suppression that was being experted on to them simply by the virtual of bloodlines.

    After all, when a weaker bloodline encountered a stronger one, it would choose to subunit in order to ensure it survival.

    Even if the two Elders were human, the Long n''s bloodline was still that of a beast.

    ~CRACKLE~

    The sound of air popping could be heard and brought the two Long n elders out of their thoughts.

    "Huh? What is that?" The male elder saw arcs of lightning entering the long de that had been transformed form Lin Wu''s tail. "Dao Traces!?" he recognized.

    But that wasn''t all as he saw more a momentter.

    "Windбн Lightningбн Fireбн Earthбн And more?" The Female Dao Treading realm elder counted feeling speechless after a couple of seconds.

    "Heavensбн just how many Dao Traces has King Lin Wu grasped?" The male elder was at a loss as well.

    Patriarch Bing watched everything carefully too. ''Just observing this alone is a great lesson on Dao Traces.''

    ~HUALA~

    While everyone was being awed by Lin Wu''s demonstration, the beast had prepared his attack.

    Nearly a kilometer long energy spread from the de shaped tail, extending its range even more. Jets of mes propelled it forwards while wind and lightning constituted its body.

    A strange sapphire spirit Qi made it so that no defense could stop it while an unknown energy directly suppressed spirit Qi in the air.

    "Undying Sapphire ze Cleaver!" Lin Wu struck out with his tail.

 Chapter 941 Fierce Battle

    Lin Wu''s skill was beyond anyone''s imagining right now.

    ''This is even greater than when he fought Guardian Yun.'' Wang Xiong recalled.

    Back then, Lin Wu''s size was also smaller and the energying from him was also lower. But now, not only had his size multiplied, his aura had reached a new level, allowing his skill to bing a lot stronger than before.

    Wang Xiong also realized there was no way to tell Lin Wu''s cultivation base now. It was all over the ce.

    At first he seemed to be in the Dao Shell realm, but then the spirit Qi wavesing from him were way too high. Then he disyed Dao Traces, which made them think he might be in the Dao Treading realm.

    But it didn''t stop there, and the number of Dao Traces increased with multiple types appearing, making them wonder if this was even in the Immortal Ascension realm. After all, as far as they knew, even those in the Immortal Ascension realm only had one Dao Embryo and thus should be able to use one type of Dao Trace.

    "Has he already be an immortal?" Wang Xiong couldn''t help but wonder.

    "Undying Sapphire ze Cleaver!" Lin Wu''s voice echoed through the skies before his tailshed out.

    The very air was torn apart as the massive kilometer long energy de descended. Wind and lightning weaved, rapidly oxidizing the oxygen in the air, spreading a sharp ozone smell everywhere.

    ~BOOM!~

    Finally, the bnce could no longer be maintained and the very air ignited!

    The Cmity Fiend could no longer be seen in the distance having been downed out in the fiery explosion as well as the mixture of lights that rose due to Lin Wu''s skill.

    It was simply too dazzlingly for one to make out.

    Even the Dao Treading realm experts found it difficult to watch everything. Using spirit sense was also useless as the turbulent spirit Qi threatened to directly break it. They didn''t want that to happen and quickly withdrew their spirit sense back into the barrier.

    "If we were going against that attack, what would happen to us?" One of the Dao Treading realm elders of the Cang Lan sect wondered.

    "Even going against a single Dao Skill is difficult, not to mention one that uses two or three Dao Traces. This is beyond the option of having multiple Dao Traces." Patriarch Bing said.

    "Can this even be ssified as a Dao Skill that this point? A Dao skill is something that forms due to a Dao embryo. But it would only allow one to utilize the Dao Traces belonging to that Dao Embryo.

    This clearly has multiple Dao Traces." The male Dao Treading realm elder of the Long n spoke.

    "There is one method though, isn''t there? One simply needs to have more Dao Embryos." The female Dao Treading realm elder of the Long n replied.

    "That is impossible. How can one have more than one Dao Embryo at the Dao Treading realm? Even making one alone takes centuries of work." The Male Dao Tremain grease elder of the Long n stated.

    "No... there is a way." Shirong was the one to speak this time.

    "What?" his words certainly caught the attention of everyone there.

    "What if the person knew all the Dao Traces since the start? What if they had mastered them all? What if they didn''t need Dao Embryo to control them?" Shirong said, confusing them all.

    Wang Xiong who heard it though, quickly grasped what Shirong meant. ''So he knows it all too...'' ''

    "How would that even be possible?" the Female Dao Treading realm elder questioned. "Unless..." she seemed to have realized something too.<sub> </sub>

    "Indeed." Shirong nodded his head before looking up at the massive body of Lin Wu.

    His attack was still destroying the area and hadn''t stopped despite it being a minute. For a skill tost this long, the consumption of spirit Qi must be rather huge.

    ~whoosh~

    Finally, after thirty more seconds, the energy de faded away and only Lin Wu''s tail that had turned into a de could be seen.

    What could also be seen though, was the devastation. Thend of the Cang Lan sect was mostly gone, having been turned into a wide ravine!

    The mountain had long since crumbled and all the buildings were gone. No traces of any formation arrays or anything else could be seen.

    "Our Cang Lan sect..." The Supreme Elder of the Cang Lan sect started crying.

    While he knew the sect would be all but gone the moment Cang Anyu deiced to use the Chimes of Cang Lan, seeing it truly erased was simply overwhelming. After all, the supreme elder had literally lived here for over two thousand years now.

    Losing one''s home was always hard and especially one that had existed for a very long time.

    It wasn''t just the Cang Lan sect''s physical location being destroyed after all. It was also their foundation, their fortune, their hard work all disappearing.

    From today onwards, it was evident that the number one top sect of the Long Continent would no longer exist.

    It was a heavy feeling for everyone that was witnessing this.

    After all, it wasn''t just Wang Xiong, Shirong, and the elders in the barrier. There were other guests and disciples of the Cang Lan sect who had escaped early on. They too, were watching with reddened eyes.

    "That Cmity Fiend truly brought forth a Cmity on our world. It cannot be allowed to exist." The Long n Dao Treading realm elders said in unison.

    ~shua~

    But just as they were thinking that it was all over, they saw something that made them feel shook.

    "How!?"

    "How is it still alive?"

    They couldn''t believe their eyes.

    In the distance, what looked like a dome of bones was rising. The dome was rtivelyrge, being about a hundred meters tall and three hundred meters wide.

    But what was shocking was the fact that they could tell what these bones were.

    ~RUMBLE~

    A few of the bones retreated into the ground, revealing the head of the Cmity Fiend.

 Chapter 942 Glimpse Of Upheaval

    ~THUD~ THUD ~THUD~

    One by one, more of the bones retreated into the ground, revealing the body of the Cmity Fiend.

    "You really forced me into a shell huhбн" The Cmity Fiend spoke, a hint of anger in its voice.

    "I''m more surprised you''re still alive." Lin Wu said raising his tail once more.

    "Of course, I''ll live a few million years more than you." The Cmity Fiend sprang forth opening its mouth wide.

    A strange yellow ball of energy condensed within it, and the spirit Qi within the area shook.

    "You can try." Lin Wu didn''t stay in ceremony and met the Cmity Fiend''s attack with his own.

    ~CLANG~ BANG~

    Lin Wu''s tail struck the head of the Cmity Fiend, striking against its hard scales. It felt like one was striking a steel te and no damage could be seen on it. But at the same time, the attack had did enough to divert the yellow energy ball to the sky.

    ~SHUA~

    The yellow energy ball missed its target and rose into the sky. After reaching a height of about two kilometers though, it exploded.

    ~SPLAT~

    But the explosion was rather strange. Instead of a loud sound, it felt like someone had burst apart a balloon full of mud.

    The yellow ball of energy burst apart, shooting small globules of yellow energy. This yellow energy rained down on the ground, staining it before a hardening.

    It alsonded on the barrier that was protecting Shirong and the rest.

    "What is that?" They looked at the yellow globules.

    "Thisбн isn''t this the Petrifying Ability of the Mud Rain Bandicoot?" Wang Xiong recognized.

    "That can''t be it. The Mud Rain Bandicoot''s ability works differently. It covers its foes with mud that hardens into stone. It''s not like this." Someone else spoke.

    "Unless, the Cmity Fiend changed it?" Patriarch Bing said with dread.

    ~Gasp~

    "That is not something simple. For that to happenбн how would one even do that?" The Long n elders were confused too.

    The Mud Rain Bandicoot was actually a Dao Treading realm beast that resided in the southern part of the Long Continent.

    It was generally docile and as long as no one intruded on its territory, there was no danger from it. But if someone really dared to do it, the Mud Rain Bandicoot would simply rain down mud from the sky, covering all the intruders with it.

    The mud with turn to stone, forever locking away the intruders within it.

    This gave thend belonging to the Mud Rain Bandicoot an eerie name.

    The Land of thousand statues.

    Even the people of the top sects didn''t dare to enter that area and kept away from it. But seeing this abilitynd in the grasp of the Cmity Fiend left a bad taste in their mouths.

    ''Consuming the Mud Rain Bandicoot actually allowed the Slime Generation to progress further. Now I can actually make petrifying slime too.'' Lin Wu thought, feeling pleased with the Avatar''s abilities.

    There were a lot of skills that had been left in its store that it never got to use. And now that the opportunity hade today, Lin Wu wanted to test out as many skills as he could. This was for both the main body as well as the avatar.

    ~BOOM~

    ~THUD~

    ~BANG~

    The Cmity Fiend and Lin Wu kept on tussling. Their bodies directly shed, and wrapped, trying to hurt each other.

    The Cmity Fiend sprouted spikes on its body, while Lin Wu countered it with his tough crystals.<sub> </sub>

    ~SHUA~

    Fiery breaths were spat out by both the beings, pushing them back.

    ~BOOM~

    The two fire breaths, one yellow one crimson, created a fiery explosion that directly melted the rocks and soil in the area.

    Lin Wu flew up into the sky and controlled the dark clouds.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Arcs of purple lightning streaked thorough the sky while Lin Wu''s emerald body swam though it.

    "Marvelousбн" Was all Shirong could say observing the scene.

    The lightning spirit Qi in the skies started to gather around Lin Wu while the sound of thunderps ran non stop.

    Everyone felt like the god of skies had appeared, about to rain down his punishment.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Finally, it seemed like enough power had been gathered, as the clouds rang loudly.

    ~BOOM~

    Then a thick bolt of lightning fell down, targeting the Cmity Fiend.

    "Heavens! This is even stronger than tribtion lightning!"

    They could see that the lightning bolt was very thick, being nearly ten meters wide. Rather than a bolt, it was more urate to call it a pir of lightning instead.

    And not just that, they could also see that it was using the Dao Traces of Lightning too. This took its power to an entirely new level.

    <strong>~SCREECH~</strong>

    The massive attack struck the Cmity Fiend, making it screech out in pain. Everyone felt their hairs stand on the ends, due to the sheer amount of static in the air.

    ~spark~

    ~Crackle~

    Stray streaks of electricity spread across the ground too, unable to be fully absorbed by the earth. This was a sign that it had reached a level above natural lightning.

    After all, natural lightning would be quickly absorbed into the earth and disappear. Only lightning that had the traces of Dao within it would be able to resist such naturalws.

    The pir of lightning could be seen for hundreds of kilometer and the might of the power was felt by every strong cultivator in the Long Continent.

    Those at the Dao Shell realm felt their skin prickle, while those in the Dao Treading realm felt like the spirit Qi within the sky was shifting.

    As for those in the Immortal Ascension realm?

    They could directly see the Dao Traces in the atmosphere turning chaotic.

    In the most secure area of the Long n, a pair of elders were looking at the sky.

    "What kind of upheaval is this?"

    "It''sing from the area of the Cang Lan sectбн"

    They recognized.

    "Looks like we can''t stay passive anymore..."

 Chapter 943 Watching Half The Continent With One Look

    The two elders in the Long n continued to gaze into the sky, sensing the changes hidden to the naked eye.

    "Looks like the Cang Lan sect has met a tragedyбн I sense death in the air." The old man spoke.

    "Husband, what do you think is the cause behind this?" The old woman asked.

    "The Chimes of Cang Lanбн they have rung once more." The old man replied.

    "The Chimes of Cang Lan. It''s been a long time since I heard that name." The old woman muttered.

    "I warned the second ancestor of the Cang Lan sect that a Dao Skill that touches upon the Dao of Death will only bring for more death. But he ignored it." The old man replied. "And now, his descendant brought forth the demise of his own legacy. At least the ancestor did it away from his sect."

    "Hmm, there must be a reason for this. Why would the patriarch of the Cang Lan sect eliminate his own sect like this?" the old woman wondered.

    Hearing this, the old man furrowed his brows.

    "Long Biro and Long Chi went to the Cang Lan sect for the wedding too, right?" The old man asked.

    "Yesбн but they didn''t inform us of anything happening." The old man said with a hint of concern on her face.

    "Seems like this is more to it then. I''ll have to take a look." The old man said before taking out an exquisite marble.

    The marble was deep blue in color and looked like an eyeball. There was a vertical pupil in the middle as well, with flecks of energy fluttering around it. The old man raised the marble before letting it fly up into the sky.

    ~shua~

    Then, closing his eyes, the old man spread out an invisible wave of energy from body. The energy covered the residence he was in, then went beyond it, covering the entire Long n.

    But it didn''t stop there either. It continued to expand more and more before it finally reached a limit.

    ~HONG~

    At this moment, a blue light spread in the skies while the appearance of the blue eyeball like marble could be seen faintly.

    The blue light and the old man''s spirit sense merged together before expanding explosively.

    Within a span of a minute, the old man''s spirit sense covered half of the entire Long continent!

    With his spirit senses observing everything, the old man focused on the location of the Cang Lan sect. There, he finally saw the scene of devastation.

    "What in theбн" the old man muttered, his eyes still closed.

    "What happened?" his wife questioned.

    "The Cang Lan sectбн is gone. But not just that, thend has been devastated never further. A great battle has been fought." The old man answered as he continued to watch.

    But the more he watched, the more his vision got blurry. It was as if someone was fogging up his view. The old man tried hard to clear it, but the fog simply kept oning back.

    "Something is clouding the vision of the Eye of Azure." The old man said with seriousness.

    "What? Howбн" The old woman was taken aback.<sub> </sub>

    The Eye of Azure was one of their Long n''s three great treasures. It allowed them to monitor the entire Long Continent at once if they joined their powers. But when only one ancestor used it, their range would be limited to half of the continent.

    But this was merely the start of it. The Eye of Azure could even see through illusions. Thus, for something to cloud its vision was a cause for great concern.

    "It''s like the area has turned into a forbidden zone. No, waitбн" the old man seemed to have seen something. "Long Biro and Long Chi are right there!" he spotted them.

    "They are?" the old woman was relieved.

    "They aren''t alone either. There are more people with themбн the Patriarch of the Frozen Cloud sect, the Supreme Elder of the Cang Lan sect, and some juniors." He added.

    ~humm~

    While the old man was observing the scene though, he suddenly felt his blood stirring.

    "Whaбн" before he could do anything more though, he felt his vision being gripped by something.

    He felt like his eyes were forcefully being drawn towards something, or someone.

    "Who could do thisбк" the old man finally saw it.

    There stood arge being with crimson red eyes gazing at him. It was supposed to have been impossible and yet the old man was sure therge being knew he was spying on them.

    ~ROAR~

    Then in the next moment, he heard a roar within his heart.

    ''Bloodline resonance? Noбн bloodline suppressionбн'' the old man was pulled into a nk space.

    ~shua~

    His illusory body shone before an azure serpent rose from it. The serpent had four limbs, with three ws each. Its body was covered in dazzling azure scales, but its eyes were filled with weariness.

    "Someone pulled me here, the ancestor of the Long n?" the old man was astounded.

    He was no stranger to such bloodline conflict, but this was something he should not be in. After all, he was at the peak of the Long n and has the strongest bloodline on the continent. Even in his own n, he and his wife were the one with the purest Long n bloodline.

    For something to cause such a resonance and suspension, it must be as strong as their bloodline if not higher.

    ~HONG~

    But then he saw the air within the nk flicker before twisting. Suddenly a ck rip appeared and from it Emerald Green energy leaked out. The emerald green energy was unfamiliar to the Long n ancestor, but felt dangerous at the same time.

    Pursing his lips, he saw the emerald green energy gathering. It quickly turned into a massive being that was over three hundred meters tall. Its entire body was crystalline and crimson red eyes were present on its head.

    The emerald being red at the Azure serpent, making it quiver in its ce.

    ~CRY~

 Chapter 944 Aftermath And Call

    The old ancestor of the Long n watched as his bloodline trembled under the re of the emerald being.

    "What are you?" The old man questioned.

    The emerald being moved his eyes from the Azure serpent, looking at the old man instead.

    "It''s rude to spy on others. Come meet me yourself." The Emerald being said before forcefully shattering the nk space.

    ~cough~cough~cough~

    The old ancestor of the Long n let out a series of coughs and was forcefully woken up from his irvoyant state.

    "Husband!" the old woman quickly grasped him.

    "Ughбн Looks like we''ll have to pay a visit ourselves." The old man spoke.

    "Visit who?" the old woman asked.

    "Someone who can suppress our bloodline."

    бн

    Back at the Cang Lan sect, the battle had finallye to an end.

    "Is itбн dead?" Wang Xiong said slowly.

    Everyone in the barrier had the same question in their hearts and they watched therge red crater that had been made due to the pir of lightning that had fallen earlier.

    The heat of the lightning had melted the soil and rocks, turning the area into ava pool. Only the crater could still be seen vaguely due to the depth.

    Not just that, but a deep hole was also situated at its center. And theva from the surroundings now poured into it, forming avafall. The depths of the hole were unable to be seen having been plugged with red hotva.

    No one dared to use this spirit sense to check either, knowing the sheer amount of turbulent spirit Qi as well as lingering lightning spirit Qi would simply burn it apart. The internal injury from that would be hard to heal as well.

    ~WHOOSH~

    But just as they were wondering about the conclusion, they felt the winds ramp up once more.

    The clouds parted, and the massive body of Lin Wu descended from it.

    ''He''s the same as before. It doesn''t feel like he''s been through a massive battle at all.'' The Cang Lan sect''s supreme elder thought.

    The Long n''s two Dao Treading realm elders didn''t have much to say, having seen enough that they knew nothing would be enough.

    "King Lin Wu, is the Cmity Fiend dead?" Shirong was the first one to speak.

    ~thud~

    Lin Wunded next to the barrier, creating a depression in the ground. He watched the crater and thevafall without a word for a few seconds before shaking his head.

    Seeing this, the faces of Shirong and others fell.

    "Itбн It''s alive?" Lian Xiaojian muttered in surprise.

    "The Cmity Fiend is alive despite this!?" Wang Xiong found it hard to believe.

    "It is alive, yes." Lin Wu confirmed. "It has managed to escape. Though it is certainly injured." He added.

    "H-how is that even possible? Even an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator would be injured from that." The Long n elders spoke again.

    "The Cmity Fiend is very resilient. Toughness is what it''s specialized in and is also why it has survived for such a long time.<sub> </sub>

    After all, I''ve killed three Cmity Fiends before and yet they keep on returning. Just with different forms. Their kind will not be wiped out that easily." Lin Wu exined.

    Everyone felt despair after hearing this.

    "How can we live in peace if such a being is alive?"

    "How can it even be killed, then?"

    They all wondered.

    "The ancestors! We need to tell the Ancestors!" The Female Dao Treading realm Long n elder said hurriedly. "They must be able to do something."

    The others looked at the elder, hoping that the Long n will really have the solution.

    ~gulp~

    The male Long n elder swallowed in anxiety before cupping his fists.

    "King Lin Wu, I beseech you as the High elder of the Long n. Please talk to our ancestors and find a solution to this." The elder said before bowing his head.

    The others looked at Lin Wu with hope in their eyes, too.

    "Don''t worry." Lin Wu ayed their fears before looking into the distance. "Your ancestors are on their way here right now." He stated.

    "They are?!" The Long elders were surprised. "Of course! They must have sensed the battle." They realized.

    Due to the fact that allmunication had been blocked, they had be disillusioned. They even forgot that with the Cmity Fiend gone, the blockage should have been lifted.

    "I''ll let you all out." Lin Wu said and tapped the barrier with his tail.

    ~shua~

    The barrier that was protecting them disappeared, allowing them to move around the area once more.

    "Ugh!" but as soon as the barrier disappeared, they were faced with the aftermath of the battle.

    The turbulent and rogue spirit Qi assaulted their bodies, making them feel pain. But that wasn''t all as they also felt a strange repressive energy in the area that was restraining their spirit Qi.

    Only Wang Xiong, Shirong and Lian Xiaojian were somewhat able to bear it with a little effort.

    "Ah, let me help with that." Lin Wu extended a spike from his neck that reached all the way to Wang Xiong and the rest.

    ~clink~clink~clink~

    "Pluck a crystal each, it will protect you from the remnant energies here. They are not good for your bodies." Lin Wu advised.

    "T-thank you, King Lin Wu." The elders didn''t even question him at this point.

    They each plucked one crystal from therger spike and feltfort. It was as if a warm membrane covered their bodies and prevented any outside influence from invading their bodies.

    "Thisбн is this a peak grade defensive treasure?" The Long n elders were stunned.

    The effect of the crystal was quite strong and could easilypare to such defensive treasures in their minds.

    "You can say thatбн but these will onlyst for a few days." Lin Wu replied.

    "A few days?" the long n elders were even more surprised. ''And he made them with such ease tooбн truly mysteriousбн Mysterious and strong.'' They secretly thought.

 Chapter 945 The Two Long Clan Ancestors Arrive

    Having heard that the Ancestors of the Long n were on their way, Patriarch Bing and others were surprised.

    Among those present, there were only a few that had actually seen the Ancestors of the Long n. This number was limited to the two Long n Dao Treading realm elders and Patriarch Bing.

    Even for Patriarch Bing, he had only met the two ancestors briefly and not directly. Having only heard their voice and not seeing their appearance. Shirong had not met the Long n ancestors before either. The highest expert he had met was the patriarch of the Long n once before during a visit.

    Everyone only knew that there were two ancestors, a pair of husband and wife. Both were in the Immortal Ascension realm and the strongest experts of the Long continent.

    Other than them, the only other Immortal Ascension realm expert was in the Ji n, Shirong''s great grandfather.

    As for the other Immortal Ascension realm experts, they were either all in deep seclusion or hidden.

    Lin Wu had heard originally that there were about five Immortal Ascension realm experts in the Long Continent. But so far, only three hade into his field of information.

    ''The Long n and the Ji n have Immortal Ascension realm experts, but then what about the final two? Are they really in seclusion?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    As far as he knew, the final two Immortal Ascension realm experts were both independent experts. They didn''t belong to any n or sect. But Lin Wu wondered if that really was true.

    ''Not to mention there is still the Tian n. They definitely have at least one Immortal Ascension realm cultivator right now, if not more in seclusion.'' Lin Mu had not forgotten the true hidden power of the Long continent.

    After all, the Tian n was also one of his targets. A n to add them to the foil was already running parallel to several other ns of Lin Wu. All he needed was more time, and it would alsoe to fruition.

    ''Hmmбн in Ten years at most, I should be stable enough to take the next step.'' Lin Wu estimated.

    Lin Wu continued to wait while looking through his notifications. There were a ton of them that had popped up during the battle as well as before that. And even now, they were still popping up.

    ''The Avatar will need some time to recover. It''s a worthy sacrifice.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    When he had said the Cmity Fiend was injured, he wasn''t lying. The avatar''s body had really been injured by the Lightning pir despite having resistance to it. But all this was necessary to test the limits of the avatar as well as to put up a convincing show.

    After all, Lin Wu wasn''t just faking it for the people that were present here, but for everyone on the Long Continent. Even if he could convince those present here with less effort, it might not work the same on the two ancestors that wereing here.

    Immortal Ascension realm cultivators had better senses and might see through Lin Wu''s tricks. So instead of using smokes and mirrors, Lin Wu did a legitimate battle. This would make it so that there would be nothing left to debate.

    ''Considering they can monitor this far, their capabilities are not to be taken lightly. That was certainly not just spirit sense, but also an assistive Spirit tool. Perhaps even a pseudo-immortal tool.'' Lin Wu pondered.

    All his precautions had worked, and the two ancestors really thought that a great battle had happened. Since it really had happened. Even with their special treasure, there was no w that they could make out.

    ''And seeing that I could trigger a bloodline resonance, they should take me a lot more seriously now.'' Lin Wu smiled to himself.<sub> </sub>

    The system had warned him when the male Ancestor of the Long n had been spying on him. Having known that, all Lin Wu need to do was to exert some pressure and his bloodline would automatically resonate against another strong beast bloodline.

    And just like he had done for Long Qingao, Lin Wu knew the bloodline of the Long n wasn''t pure. It wasn''t the true Azure Dragon Bloodline, but rather a lower ranked Azure Serpent Bloodline.

    ~HUALA~

    A short whileter, a strong gust of wind blew from the west and two streaks of blue light could be seen in it.

    "There''s here!" The two Long n High elders spoke in unison.

    Lin Wu had already seen the approach on the map and wasn''t surprised, but the Patriarch and others were. After all, the time needed to travel from the Long n to the Cang Lan sect was not short.

    Even for a Dao Treading realm expert, it would take at least two to three days. And yet the two ancestors had covered that distance in less than two hours. It only proved to them that the strength of the Immortal Ascension realm experts was a lot more than they thought.

    "Long Biro wees the two ancestors!"

    "Long Chi wees the two ancestors!"

    The two High elders of the Long n bowed their heads.

    "Patriarch Bing of the Frozen Cloud sect wees the Long n ancestors!"

    "Wang Xiong of the Frozen Cloud sect wees the Long n ancestors!"

    ? "Ji Shirong, the first heir of the Ji n wees the Long n ancestors!"

    Everyone other than Ji Shirong and Lin Wu bowed their heads, with Shirong only cupping his hands in greeting.

    ~step~step~

    The old husband and wifended a short distance away from Lin Wu, observing him. They didn''t even pay any attention to the greetings of others, even ignoring their own nsmen.

    "Long Qing greets the King of Millennium Forest." The male ancestor spoke respectfully.

    "Long Fei greets the King of the Millennium Forest." The female ancestor spoke as well.

    Both of them had their hands cupped in salute and were clearly acknowledging Lin Wu''s position as an equal here.

 Chapter 946 Testing The Ancestors

    Lin Wu observed the two Long n ancestors, finding them to be rather calm.

    ''System, scan them.'' Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGETS SELECTED: 1. Long Qing

    2. Long Fei

    .

    SCAN: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    TARGETS: Analyzed

    1. Long Qing

    CULTIVATION BASE: Immortal Ascension realm

    BLOODLINE: Azure Serpent Bloodline (peak)

    DAO TRACES: 1. Wood Dao Trace

    2. Wind Dao Trace

    2. Long Fei

    CULTIVATION BASE: Immortal Ascension realm

    BLOODLINE: Azure Serpent Bloodline(Peak)

    DAO TRACES: 1. Wood Dao Trace

    2. Fire Dao Trace

    бкбк

    Seeing the information, Lin Wu now had a proper assessment of a Immortal Ascension realm cultivator. Not to mention, with the new ability of the system to identify Dao Traces, it even showed the ones that the two were well versed in.

    ''Since they have the Azure Serpent Bloodline which is an impure and weakened form of the Azure Dragon bloodline, they were bound to have the Wood Dao Trace. But seeing the other two Dao traces of Wind and Fire is unexpected.'' Lin Wu thought.

    While he didn''t know what kind of a Dao Embryo the two of them had formed, he could still guess from their Dao Traces.

    ''System what kind of a Dao Embryo do they have?'' Lin Wu asked.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Dao Traces match those from the Long n high elders. All four of them have the same kind of Dao Embryo: The Azure Reverse Scale.

    бкбк

    In front of Lin Wu, the image of a Dao Embryo appeared.

    The Dao embryo was in the shape of a scale. It had five sides and looked like a pentagon, but wasn''t fully one due to its raised texture.

    ''A Dragon''s reverse scaleбн Guess in this case it is a Serpent''s Reverse scale.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.<sub> </sub>

    The reverse scale of a dragon was something that represented its life. If it was damaged or worse destroyed, it would directly affect the life of a dragon, perhaps even killing it.

    And since the Azure Dragon was representative of the Wood Elemental, which in turn represented boundless vitality, it was easy to guess what the Reverse Scale meant in this case.

    The Azure Reverse Scale Dao Embryo allowed one toprehend the vitality of wood and gave one an insight into the mysteries of longevity.

    ''Perhaps this is why the Long n ancestors look better than others.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He had seen several Dao Treading realm elders that looked to be older than these ancestors.

    Even now, Lin Wu could sense the hidden vitality within their bodies. When the time arrived it could very well be unleashed, allowing them to gain even more power.

    A minute had passed since the two Ancestors had arrived and Lin Wu had not spoken anything in response. This created an atmosphere of slight unease, but that was only so for the others. The Ancestors themselves waited patiently, unaware that this was due to Lin Wu revealing their ''secrets''.

    "Hmmmбн The Bloodline of the Azure Dragon has weakened." Lin Wu said as the very first thing.

    The brows of the two high elders were covered in sweat, as what Lin Wu had just said could be taken as a great insult. The others felt anxious too as it felt like Lin Wu was provoking them.

    "Why do you say that, King Lin Wu?" Long Qing asked while his wife watched on.

    "Ever since I woke up, I''ve seen a lot of new things." Lin Wu started to speak. "And I also had some unexpected discoveries."

    "Such as?" Long Qing wondered where Lin Wu was going with this.

    "The awakening of the guardian beasts happened severalter than it should have while the guardians themselves weren''t right." Lin Wu''s words put a shocked expression on the face of the ancestors.

    "Please, King Lin Wu." Long Qing interrupted. "It is better that we continue out talk elsewhere. As such, I humbly invite you to our abode." He requested.

    "Very well." Lin Wu agreed on the surface, but internally he chuckled. ''Just as I thoughtбн they''ve indeed been trying to keep it a secret.''

    Patriarch Bing and Shirong quickly caught on to their words, knowing there was a lot more to this.

    ''Is senior going to pull everything out of the curtains today?'' Shirong who had heard about the true story of the world wondered.

    "We shall head to the Long n. There is a need to spread news about the events of today as well, which should be easy to do so through the means of the Long n, I suppose?" Lin Wu said in a calm tone.

    "Of course. It is a time of need and everyone is wee to our n." Long Fei replied.

    Lin Wu smiled slightly, seeing that they were willing to take others.

    ''If I am to spread this fully, there need to be as many people as possible.'' Lin Wu reckoned. "We may as well invite the elders of the top ten sects too, they are nearby anyway."

    "Sure." Long Qing agreed right away.

    ~shua~shua~shua~

    In just a couple minutes, the rest of the elders had gathered together. They had already sensed the ancestors of the Long n appear, thus wanted to meet up, anyway.

    This just made it easier for them to do so.

    "Alright, since everyone is here, we can head back to the Long n." Long Fei said before talking out a small boat from her spatial storage tool.

    ~shua~

    She threw it out and the boat quickly grew, turning into arge Dragon boat. It was big enough that nearly a thousand people would be able to fit in it, not to mention the bare fifty that were present right now.

    The humans all entered the boat, while Lin Wu simply floated at its side. Long Fei stood at the helm of the boat to control it while her husband flew alongside Lin Wu.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Then in a few moments, the Dragon boat rose into the sky turning into a long stream of light.

 Chapter 947 Arrival At The Long Clan

    In the sky of Long Continent, three streaks of light could be seen soaring.

    One of the streaks was white, one was azure, and one was emerald green in color. All of them were moving very fast and if one blinked they would miss them.

    But if one managed to observe them closely they would see that there were actually people traveling in the three steaks of light. The white streak had arge dragon boat with nearly fifty people, the azure streak was the Long n''s male Ancestor while the Emerald green streak was none other than King Lin Wu.

    Their destination was the guardian of this continent, the Long n''s home.

    At the speeds they were traveling at, it barely took them two hours to cover it all. The people sitting in the Dragon boat could never have imagined that they would travel what was basically a quarter of the continent''s width in one go.

    ''So this I the second Pseudo-Immortal tool of the Long n, the Dragon Boat.'' Lin Wu observed.

    The spirit qi wavesing from the Dragon boat easily showed its ranking and the speed only confirmed it further. One could call this a tactical pseudo-immortal tool and demonstrated the power of the Long n.

    Combining it with the Eye Of Azure, the Long n could monitor the entire continent and if they sensed any trouble, they could send nearly a thousand of their n''s experts at once to rectify it.

    ''No wonder the Long n has managed to stay on top all these years.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    It also allowed him to understand the mentality of Shirong when he had found Lin Wu as a spear. The allure of a pseudo-immortal tool was far too great. There were only seven Pseudo-immortal tools in the entire Long Continent after all.

    Soon the Dragon Boat was above the skies of the Long n.

    The Long n had over a hundred pces, and thousands ofrge courtyards filled with even more residences. All of these were joined with a singlerge ''garden'' which was pretty much a forest at this size.

    This was Lin Wu''s first time seeing the n, and he was quite interested in it. Just from one look, he could see several interesting things.

    ''Just the Arrays alone are enough to kill Several Dao Treading realm expertsбн'' Lin Wu realized.

    "How long would it take you to control the entire n array, System?" Lin Wu asked right away.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system would require 2 hours to analyze the array and only then would it be able to give an urate answer.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн very well. Begin the analysis. We got the time anyway." Lin Wu ordered.

    It wasn''t even that Lin Wu wanted to control the Long n''s arrays specifically. Rather, he wanted the arrays, and the extrapted data that the system would be obtaining.<sub> </sub>

    The more data it obtained, the better it got. Not to mention formation arrays were especially good for the system, as they provided really high quality functional data.

    In fact, it was due to the analysis and collection of thousands upon thousand of formations that the system was able to continue decrypting the great array of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb.

    Plus, the higher and moreplex the formation, the better the data obtained.

    "PREPARE TO WELCOME THE GUESTS!" While the system began its work, amotion started on the ground.

    From the various buildings of the Long n, thousands of members appeared. Each member was a cultivator and not a single mortal could be seen here. And not just that, but from what the system''s scan told Lin Wu, the average cultivation base here was core condensation realm.

    ''The Long n is certainly hiding a lot of things tooбн'' Lin Wu saw several high security areas on the map.

    These areas had especially high defenses and all of them were hidden with illusory arrays.

    In fact, one of such areas was located right next to the entrance of the n. In this area, the servants of the n resided, mostly. Thus, it was a little hard to believe that there would be such a secure area.

    Thankfully, Lin Wu didn''t need to think much about it as the system quickly scanned and told me what was hidden there.

    ''A Dao Treading realm expert hidden right under the noses of the servants?'' Lin Wu saw an old man dressed in the attire of a servant sitting in a rather sober looking house.

    It looked like all the other servant houses, but that was only on the surface. The house was covered with a strong array and actually functioned as a node to the overall n array.

    "The Long n wees the guests!" A unified shout was heard as the members of the n all greeted.

    The scene was rather impressive, seeing so many experts cupping their hands in salute. But everyone knew this was actually a show of force.

    The weing ceremony for guests was nothing but a polite way of warning them that this was the Long n and their strength was not to be messed with.

    ''Its simr to what I did in the Millennium Forest. Though I can certainly take some tipsбн'' Lin Wu didn''t even pay attention to the wee ceremony, instead observing the cements of various formation nodes.

    Each location with a node had a Dao Treading realm expert guarding it and they were disguised asmon members, too.

    "Come, we shall go to the Three Horn Pce." Ancestor Long Qing spoke. "Itsrge enough to amodate King Lin Wu too." He added.

    Long Qing needed to be mindful of the guests after all, especially when they were toorge to fit in most normal ces.

    Lin Wu followed alongside him while continuing to scan everything. The others in the Dragon Boat didn''t mind much either, and were just in awe of the n. After all, for most of them, this was the first time they were seeing it.

 Chapter 948 An Open Introduction

    The Three Horn Pce wasn''t thergest pce in the Long n, but what it did have was thergest open roof garden.

    The entire pce was built around the central garden and all of the halls had an open wall that faced this garden. The Three Horn ce was triangr in shape and had three floors with there being three dragon horn shaped sculptures on their roofs.

    The reason why Long Qing had picked this pce for the meeting was simply because it was the only one that Lin Wu would be able to be to enter. Or more urately, Lin Wu would be sitting in the central garden while being able to join the meeting that way.

    Lin Wu understood that quickly and took his ce in the garden.

    ''It''s just about my size tooбн though I''d be able to shrink too, but they don''t need to know that.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    ? While he could fit in the garden, the same could not be said for the nts and trees in there. They were inadvertently crushed under Lin Wu''s body. These weren''t normal nts and trees either with all of them being spirit herbs and trees.

    Thankfully, the Long n had no shortage of them and could easily afford to rece the entire Three Horn Pce not to mention the nts in the garden.

    "Now that we all are here, I suppose we can begin our discussion." Ancestor Long Qing announced.

    His eyes scanned the hall, watching for everyone''s expression. Pretty much every major power of the Long Continent was located here right now. Straight from the kingdoms, to the sects to the ns.

    Any intimation discussed here would be spread quickly and be disseminated among the masses.

    "King Lin Wu, I''ll give the honor of starting this discussion to you." Ancestor Long Qing offered.

    "Very well." Lin Wu replied.

    Hisrge head basically upied the entire open gallery of the hall and the rest of the people stood on two sides for bettermunication. They watched Lin Wu, feeling a bit nervous as the atmosphere was starting to feel like that now.

    "I shall start with myself then. I understand, while I''ve been active for a few years now most do not know who or what I am." Lin Wu spoke, instantly rousing the interest of everyone.

    Pretty much every power in the Long Continent had heard of the rise of the Millennium Forest kingdom and the beast behind it, King Lin Wu. They had a lot of rumors and facts, making it hard for them to tell what was truth and what was false.

    And while there had been several humans that had met the beast king in person, the information that was obtained from that was still limited.

    There was no ''official'' introduction that had been given by Lin Wu, in his reign as a king.

    Many powers had spent a lot of money in order to search old records as well as spies to get more information. Unfortunately for them, a majority of those searches turned out to be a waste.

    They couldn''t pull out information from the forest either after all, putting spies there was useless as beasts weren''t corruptible in the same sense as humans. While they could be given the greed of food and resources, that only worked to a certain extent.

    Bloodline suppression was not something they would go against. And if they were forced, the humans would have some very angry and strong beasts on their doorstep.<sub> </sub>

    And now that Lin Wu was willing to speak up about himself openly, they wouldn''t have to worry about stepping on any eggshells either. This was the best oue they could have expected.

    "You all might know this already, but my name is Lin Wu. I am a beast called as the Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm and Iбн am not of this world." As soon as Lin Wu said this, it was as if a bomb was dropped on the heads of everyone.

    Even Ancestors Long Qing and Long Fei winded their eyes in surprise.

    Those that knew Lin Wu was not from this world were shocked for another reason.

    ''He really did itбн he admitted to everyone he is not from the Ming Dao worldбн'' Shirong and Wang Xiong thought.

    Ancestor Long Qing and Long Fei were observing Lin Wu closely. Long Qing even went so far as to use a special skill that could detect truth.

    ''He really is speaking truth!'' Long Qing confirmed.

    Of course, Lin Wu''s words were in fact true. The only thing that was that the world he was from wasn''t specified.

    "I came to the Ming Dao world a long time ago, long before the three guardian ns existed." Lin Wu spoke.

    ~gasp~

    Hearing this, the people were taken aback. To most, the three guardian ns were the earliest foundation of history from where they counted.

    The calendar that was currently under use literally started from the 1st year of the guardians. And the years before that were called as per-guardian years.

    Most of the history before the existence of the three guardian ns had be blurry. Thus finding someone who had existed since before the three guardian ns was very shocking to them.

    "I was sent to the Ming Dao world for a purposeбн by my master." Lin Wu said, adding more mystery to it all.

    "Your master?" Long Qing said in confusion. "Who is you master King Lin Wu?"

    "My master is theбн Taiji Celestial!" Lin Wu''s words had some unknown power within them, making everyone that heard it see illusions.

    They saw an image of a great man forming in their minds. The man was great, standing over ten meters tall!

    His facial features could not be made out, as if a foggy membrane was covering it, but what could be seen clearly were his eyes. One of his eyes was ck like the darkest of nights while the other was white like the brightest of suns!

 Chapter 949 Making An Illusion

    ''The illusion is working a lot better than I thoughtбн Even the two immortal ascension realm ancestors seem to be affectedpletely.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He wanted his introduction to be impressive, so had made a lot of preparation for it.

    This even included a special illusory technique that the system had devised after analyzing and extrapting data from thousands of illusory techniques.

    The illusory technique was special in that it didn''t have any offensive capabilities, it didn''t even transmit any fear inducing illusions. This was the prerequisite that allowed it to affect everyone.

    It could bypass the defensive skills and anti-illusion talismans as well.

    It worked bybining several of Lin Wu''s innate skills too. It used the Sound Command innate skill that created the base for it all. Different sound frequencies were added using it, which were the structure behind the illusion.

    Then, Lin Wu''s radiation maniption skill was added which finely controlled the radiation and suppressed the use of any disturbance inducing spirit Qi skills. Next was the Sapphire Qi that was born as a result of having Sapphire meridians.

    This allowed the illusory skill to enhance its ability to bypass defenses greatly making so that even external formation arrays and spirit tools would be unable to stop it.

    Finally, there was the form for the illusory technique itself which made everything operate in unison.

    Another good thing about this illusory technique was that the spirit Qi consumption for it was quite low. For something that could induce illusions even in the minds of Immortal Ascension realm cultivators, this was massive.

    Even using the entirety of a Dao Treading realm cultivator''s spirit Qi stores wouldn''t be unusual to do the same.

    Of course, the condition for such high efficiency was also strict. It needed Lin Wu to be in a state of calm. He could not be inbat and neither could he be agitated. The area he was in also needed to be rtively noise free.

    Only when all these conditions were fulfilled could this be used. And now this meeting was the perfect ce to do that. And the name that Lin Wu gave to this illusory technique was ''Illusion of the Silent Mind.''

    "Let''s add more re to this shall we?" Lin Wu muttered lightly, his voice no longer perceptible to the people present.

    Thin needle like spikes rose from the end of his tail before starting to vibrate. They vibrated at such a high frequency that it was even hard to tell they were vibrating. But these vibrations precisely created the sound frequency that was needed for the illusion.

    Within the minds of everyone, the image of the man with ck and white eyes changed. If before he was ten meters tall, now he suddenly grew and reached the skies!

    ~ROAR~

    He let out an earth rending roar and lifted his arms. One of his arms struck out at the skies, splitting them in half, while the other made a sweeping gesture that split apart the earth.

    The earth which had been split revealed a being hidden inside. It was a mass of darkens that writhed and wiggled. It looked grotesque and gave one an eerie feeling.

    The sky that was split apart revealed endless starlight behind it. The starlight shone on the mass of darkness and made it scream in pain.

    After a short while, the mass of darkness was purged, leaving behind a vast fissure. The skies also closed up, recovering to their normal state.<sub> </sub>

    This scene of the man splitting earth and sky while eradicating the mass of darkness was being carved deep into the hearts of everyone. They couldn''t understand just what the cultivation base of such a person would be.

    It was now that Lin Wu''s voice echoed within their minds.

    "That is my master, the Taiji Celestial. He is a great expert in the universe and is well known. He sent me to this world, the Ming Dao world to fight against his life-long foe, the Shadow Cmity.

    The mass of darkness that he purged earlier was one of the ''avatars'' of the Shadow Cmity. It is a disaster that spreads across worlds, corrupting and devouring all life on them; leaving behind empty husks of worlds." Lin Wu exined.

    ~shua~

    Once his words stopped though, the illusion also ended.

    "Huh?" the people who were under the illusion shook their heads.

    For a couple of minutes, there was silence in the hall as they all tried to warp their minds around what they had just learned.

    "So King Lin Wu is on the Ming Dao World to eradicated one of these Shadow Cmity Avatars too?" Ancestor Long Qing was the first to recover again.

    "Indeed." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Is the Cmity Fiend rted to the Shadow Cmity?" the Supreme Elder of the Cang Lan sect asked impatiently.

    "Yes, it is one of theбн puppets of the Shadow Cmity." Lin Wu answered, only making him more uneasy.

    "One of the puppets? You mean to say there are more?" The Patriarch of the Twin Peak Sword Sect asked.

    His sect was the second ranked top sect, just below the Cang Lan sect.

    "Yesбн you see the Shadow Cmity spreads and corrupts the beings of different worlds. It would change them in its image while also giving them powers.

    In some worlds the Shadow Cmity is even considered a fortunate encounter and many seek it out. Of course, the final fate of everyone is the sameбн the get controlled by it, losing their sense of self.

    The Cmity Fiend is one such being. It is also controlled by the Shadow Cmity, but it still has its sense of self." Lin Wu exined.

    "How can it have it when you just said they lose their sense of self?" Someone asked.

    "Its simpleбн their goals align. The Shadow Cmity doesn''t need to spend effort in controlling the Cmity Fiend when the fiend is willing to follow its orders in the first ce." Lin Wu replied, unnerving them.

 Chapter 950 Taking Vows

    Lin Wu''s words contained some heavy information that made many rethink their understanding of the entire world.

    "This Cmity Fiend alone is a huge pain for us and there are supposed to be more?" One of the kings said with fear.

    "Yesбн I have confirmation for at least one such being." Lin Wu confirmed. "Though there might be more. Or rather the longer it is allowed the exist the more it will spread." He added.

    ~Gasp~

    "Sssssssбн What should we do then?" The kings were terrified.

    Having experienced the terror once, they were traumatized. The other kings of the northern half of the Long Continent weren''t as affected before, but having witnessed it all at the Cang Lan sect, they couldn''t take it lightly either.

    "I''ve already talked about this with the Lian n before and asked for their assistance. But now I''ll open it up for everyone." Lin Wu spoke, making everyone''s expression turn strained.

    "I ask everyone to help find the traces of the Shadow Cmity. I''ll show you the image of the beast that I know for sure exists first though." Lin Wu said before creating a quick formation.

    ~shua~

    In the next second, another screen formed in the air and showed the beast that Lin Wu had been searching for a long time.

    "This beast has not been seen more than once. I''ve scoured the southern half of the Long Continent and it is certainly not there. Either it has managed to seclude itself beyond my senses, or it is in the Northern part." Lin Wu exined.

    Everyone watched the screen carefully, memorizing the appearance of the beast.

    "As the ancestor of the Long n, I Long Qing vow to help you find the traces of the Shadow Cmity as well as this beast." Long Qing was the first to dere.

    "The Twin Peak Sword Sect vows to find the Cmity Fiend, Shadow Cmity as well as the beast, too."

    "The Pr Axe sect vowsбн"

    "The Three Streams sect vowsбн"

    "The Mountain Mist Sect vowsбн"

    "The Solitary Blossom Sect vowsбн"

    "The Quandian Sect vowsбн"

    One by one, every sect among the top sects vowed to help Lin Wu. The kingdoms did it next, and about ten minutester, everyone had agreed to do it.

    "King Lin Wu, considering you''ve lived for a long time, you must have more information about this Shadow Cmity, right? You''ve fought it several times before, after all." The Patriarch of the Pr Axe sect asked.

    The Pr Axe Sect was the third ranked sect in the entire Long Continent and was said to have a produced an Immortal once in the past. Though if it really was a true or just a rumor was debatable.

    "Yes, please tell us more about your past encounters with it. Maybe we''ll be able to figure something out." The Patriarch of the Twin peak Sword Sects asked.

    "I intended to talk about it from the start. There is a lot of history that seems to have been wiped out in the past ten thousand yearsбн" Lin Wu said, making Long Qing and Long Fei a little nervous.<sub> </sub>

    For a minute, Lin Wu stood in silence as if thinking.

    "I''ll start with what was possibly one of the most important changes to this world. And still affects it even now." Lin Wu decided.

    "Something that affects it even now?" the people were intrigued.

    "This is something that affects the guardian ns too." Lin Wu said while looking at Long Qing and Long Fei.

    ~gulp~

    Everyone watched with bated breaths, feeling heavy.

    "I think the Long n might know a little about this already. After all, you should have the legacy of the Azure Dragon n." Lin Wu threw out.

    "Thisбн King Lin Wu, this concerns the secrets of the Long n. It cannot be spoken about easily." Long Qing said with difficultly.

    "Haha! That''s a good joke." Lin Wu suddenlyughed, making everyone confused. "Only in a mortal world like the Ming Dao world would one think that the Azure Dragon n is a secret or information rted to it is secret."

    <o>,m His words were rather piercing to the Long n people.</o>

    "You all might think information rted to the Azure Dragon n is very important." Lin Wu took a pause, "but it is not. Once you leave this world and wander the universe, you will learn just how famous the Azure Dragon n is."

    "The Azure Dragon n is famous?! Really?" The Patriarch of the Long n said with disbelief.

    Being the patriarch, he had ess to a lot more information than pretty much everyone, but even he didn''t know everything. The ancestors had actually kept some major bits of information restrained.

    "They are not just famous, they are household names. But not just them eitherбн there are more." Lin Wu spoke. "The Azure Dragon n, The White Tiger n, The ck Tortoise n andбн The Vermillion Bird n."

    "White tigerбн ck tortoiseбн Vermillion birdбн" The people subconsciously repeated these names.

    "Wait a minuteбн aren''t they?" Shirong quickly realized.

    "The Gui n, and the Hu nбн the other two guardians'' ns of our world. Are they rted to them?" The Patriarch of the Twin Peak Sword sect asked, his expression of incredulity.

    "Indeed." Lin Wu nodded his head. "These four n names I just spoke of are the Four Guardian beasts that protect the Four Cardinal directions. They are present all over the worlds and often make their temples in mortal and immortal worlds." Lin Wu said, blowing everyone''s minds.

    But this was merely the start of his description.

    "Stillбн not every world is equal and receives the same level of attention. While the guardian beast ns do send their members to different worlds, their ranks vary too." Lin Wu said, before looking at the Long n ancestors.

    Their expressions had turned a little green, and it was clear that they were not finding this well.

    "The guardian ns in the Ming Dao world areбн Merely Descendant beasts from those ns."

 Chapter 951 What Is A True Azure Dragon?

    Lin Wu''s words were no less than a bomb to everyone here.

    On one hand, they were revealing a great secret and on the other; they were enlightening to the rest of the powers.

    "The Long n isбн merely a descendant?" The various people muttered.

    They knew by ''descendant'' Lin Wu didn''t mean an offspring, but rather ones with impure bloodlines that had degenerated into a different species. This was amon understanding of beasts that most people knew.

    After all, the legends of snakes and carps transforming into dragons were ever present.

    "I''ve observed your bloodlineбн it is still quite far from the true Azure Dragon Bloodline." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Then King Lin Wuбн have you seen it yourself? This true Azure Dragon Bloodline?" Shirong questioned.

    The Long n was like a huge pir that held up the world. And hearing that it wasn''t even the peak of strength made Shirong reevaluate himself. He wanted to know just what stood above this pir.

    His question pulled the interest of others too, making them look at Lin Wu.

    "Of course." Lin Wu said with a smile.

    "You have!?" Long Qing and Long Fei said in shock.

    Even they, as the strongest experts of the Long n, had never actually seen the True Azure Dragon Bloodline.

    ''The n spirit barely ever speaks to us. This will be a good opportunity to learn more.'' Long Qing had a thought.

    The n spirit was none other than the source of their bloodline. It was the statue of the guardian that had awakened many years ago. The statue contained a beast spirit which had given the Long n their bloodline.

    Despite all the years that had passed, it had still continued to exist. The Long n worshiped it for years and even obtained a lot of their skills and techniques from it.

    But even then, the amount of information about their own bloodline was greatly limited.

    ''The n spirit is too reserved and only wakes up once every hundred yearsбн and even when it does, it only stays awake for a few minutes. This might be the best opportunity we have right nowбн'' Long Fei thought.

    "The Azure Dragon n has worked as a guardian n since times immemorial and has helped countless worlds thrive. There are many that have seen it. And I''ll show it to you today as wellбн" Lin Wu said before closing his eyes.

    ~SHUA~

    Then in the next second, everyone felt a strange aura around them. All the spirit Qi in the air was suppressed.

    ''Is thisбн King Lin Wu''s power?'' the people were surprised.

    Long Qing and Long Fei were rmed at first, but they didn''t sense any offensive intent from Lin Wu. They could tell that he wasn''t targeting them. But then he realized the spirit Qi suppression wasn''t just limited to the air, but their very bodies too!

    ''To suppress the spirit Qi of all here like thisбн there are over fifteen Dao Treading realm experts, for heaven'' ''sakeбн just how vast is his power?'' Long Qing wondered.

    ''What kind of a skill is this?'' Long Fei wondered.

    The best should couldpare thisplete spirit Qi suppression was the Bloodline suppression. But she knew something like that only worked between beasts or those with bloodlines.<sub> </sub>

    There were many here that didn''t have that. And yet, Lin Wu was suppressing all of them equally.

    What the Long n ancestors didn''t know was the fact that this was actually radiation that was covering the area!

    ~HONG~

    A few secondster, they all felt like a bell had rung in their minds. The bell was loud and almost shook their souls. It took them a minute to realize they were acutely in an illusion as a scene formed in front of them.

    They were seemingly standing in front of a grand temple that was the size of a massive mountain. It was toorge, bigger than anything they had ever seen in the Ming Dao world.

    And the bell that they heard was hung on top of this temple!

    ~ROAR~

    But when they looked up at the temple, they heard a roar that scared them out of their wits. Their Nascent souls felt like they would jump out of their bodies and run away.

    "HEAVENS!" Then they saw itбн

    From the temple rose arge being. It was nearly five hundred meters long and was covered in Azure scales. Its head was like that of a camel but had two straight horns on top of it.

    In its mouth there were hundreds of sharp teeth, while two long whiskers hung from below its nose.

    Its eyes were dark blue in color having ck slits for pupils.

    There were four limbs on its long serpentine body, with each limb having five ws.

    This was the greatest difference between the Long n''s bloodline and the true Azure Dragon bloodline.

    A true dragon had five ws!

    The bloodline of the Long n merely had three ws. At that point, it was merely a serpent with low concentration of Azure Dragon bloodline.

    Those with a decent concentration had not three, but four ws on them.

    The appearance of the Azure Dragon was shocking and would be forever engraved in their hearts. Simply one look was all it took for them to memorize it. It was hard for them to look away from it, their eyes glowing in awe.

    Unfortunately for them, the illusion faded away at this moment and they returned to the hall.

    "Noбн" Long Qing and Long Fei said in a longing tone.

    They had felt their bloodlines within their bodies stir upon seeing it. It was as if it was trying toe out and pay respects to the Azure Dragon in the illusion!

    It was too powerful!

    ''Hehhe! Didn''t think the rectified illusion made from the fragmented memories of the Skull god would be this effectiveбн'' Lin Wu chuckled in his mind.

    The Skull god had seen the True Azure Dragon and their temple before, so it was perfect for Lin Wu''s show.

 Chapter 952 Hidden Revelations

    With the illusion dissipating the two Long n elders were left longing for more.

    The others who had seen it though, felt their hearts continue to race. It was a soul-stirring scene and they couldn''t help but wonder just how strong it would be in person.

    ''If just an illusion can give this level of aura, a true dragon would be simply crushing in realityбн'' Shirong thought to himself.

    At the same time, he felt a new desire. He wanted to see these beings and interact with them, possibly getting to even fight them one day. His eyes shone while a slight smile appeared on his face.

    "So it really is like thatбн" One of the kings muttered.

    Lin Wu looked around, feeling satisfied by his ''work''.

    "It isn''t just the Azure Dragon n either, the other ns, the Hu n and the Gui n both are formed from a descendant beast too." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Hang onбн King Lin Wu, you said there were four legendary guardian beastsбн but we only have three." Wang Xiong noticed.

    "Yeah if those three correspond to the Azure Dragon, ck Tortoise and White Tigerбн then where is the Vermillion Bird?" Lian Xiaojian spoke up.

    "This is something that I wanted to tell you all about too. It is actually quite important." Lin Wu said before turning to the Long n Ancestors.

    Everyone became tense upon hearing this and waited with bated breath.

    "There was in fact a fourth n." Lin Wu spoke.

    "What? Really?" Everyone was surprised.

    "Impossibleбн" Long Qing said, his tone truly surprised.

    Lin Wu had originally thought that the three ns might have really suppressed the existence of the fourth beast so as to keep their superiority. But after years of search, he and the system had long since confirmed the facts.

    It wasn''t actually the ns hiding it; it was the Skull God''s work. He had halted the rise of the Vermillion bird n before it was even created. Thus only leaving behind three ns.

    Of course, his n had been halted since his avatar was eliminated twice before. Once by the priestess of the Vermillion sect and the second time by Lin Wu himself. Granted the second time, the Skull God''s avatar was taken by surprise.

    Still, the Skull God had aplished what he had set out to do.

    "The Vermillion Bird''s descendant n was supposed to exist on the Ming Dao World too. Unfortunately, it was wiped out before it could truly established." Lin Wu continued.

    "Wiped out? How did it happen King Lin Wu? And who could do something like that?" the Patriarch of the Pr Axe sect questioned.

    "Here''s where the difference between the three ns and the Vermillion bird''s descendant came. Unlike the three ns who discovered the sacred statues, the Vermillion bird''s descendant statue was actually found by a sect." Lin Wu started exining.

    "A sect?" Long Qing furrowed his brows, trying to recall the old history.

    "Yes, a sect. It was called as the Vermillion sect and it existed right around the same time when the three ns were formed." Lin Wu continued.

    "Vermillion Sectбн Vermillion sectбн WAIT! Is it the Vermillion sect that was located in the region of the Dread Coil Marsh?" Long Fei was the one to speak this time.

    "So there are records of it''s existence." Lin Wu narrowed his brows.

    "One, there is one record." Long Fei said before waving her hand.

    ~SHUA~<sub> </sub>

    Runes appeared in the air before flying away rapidly. Five secondster, a small teleportation circle opened right in front of Long Fei and a scroll appeared from it.

    She unrolled the scroll, revealing the content inside. Most of the information was written in an older script, and had faded away, but it was still legible.

    "This is the only record. I remember reading it, but it was never thought to be important." Long Fei replied.

    While Lin Wu quickly scanned it with the system, immediately obtaining all the information from it, the others had to actually read it.

    "Ummбн what are these words?" Lian Xiaojian asked, unable to read.

    "I can''t read it either."

    "Me neither."

    Several of the kings spoke up. It was evident that this old script was unknown to a majority.

    "I''ll trante it for you all." Long Fei said before reciting the scroll.

    It stated that there was a great gue that spread in the past. The gue was considered a forbidden disaster and had given rise to the Dread Coil Marsh. But few knew that the source of it was actually the sect that was located there.

    The sect was named none other than Vermillion Sect.

    "Thisбн How is this not known?"

    "So that was what happenedбн" Shirong muttered.

    He had after all been there and experienced it all.

    "You know about this don''t you? You went to the Dread Coil marsh before it turned into a ming area." The patriarch of the Twin Peak Sword sect questioned.

    Shirong had kept most of the information to himself, for several reasons. But now he wondered if it could be revealed.

    "Senior Lin Wu, thisбн" He thus looked to Lin Wu for permission.

    "It''s alright. I''ve already confirmed all the facts. We can now safely reveal it all." Lin Wu permitted.

    The two''s exchange was seen with a suspicious gaze, and many thoughts rose in their minds.

    "It''s like thisбн I went to a mission in the Dread Coil marsh andбн" Shirong started to narrate his experience while keeping some parts hidden.

    The more they heard, the more shock they felt. The rise of a hidden power willing to take over the world was simply too dangerous.

    "All this happened, and you never told your n? And neither of us?" Long Qing narrowed his eyes in displeasure.

    "This was a gross negligence. You should not have hidden this." Several of the Patriarch''s agreed with it.

    "I ordered that." Lin Wu stated inly.

    "What?" they all looked at him in confusion.

    "I had him keep it a secret, since we didn''t know how far the Shadow Cmity had spread."

 Chapter 953 The Descendant Of The Vermillion Bird

    While many Terre displeased with Shirong keeping such sensitive information hidden, they couldn''t do much when it was Lin Wu who had ordered that.

    "Like I''ve said, the Shadow Cmity can control others and corrupt their minds. Which was also what the worshipers of the Skull God were doing in the Dread Coil marsh. They were controlled and were trying to control others too.

    It would have been devastating if they actually had people controlling the sects or ns. Thus it was best to keep it secret until I knew for sure they weren''t that spread." Lin Wu stated.

    The people fell silent hearing this. All of them could understand the implications of such information and how sensitive it could be depending on the scope of infiltration.

    "Thankfully, it seemed like the Shadow Cmity had failed to do much. The Skull god had only gained a fraction of his powers." Lin Wu said, reliving them all.

    The more he exined, the better they felt. At the same time though, they felt in awe about Lin Wu.

    ''He has been conducting so many things since the past twenty years?''

    ''King Lin Wu is truly capableбн''

    Many were stunned by the list of things Lin Wu had done to ''protect'' the Ming Dao world and prevent the Shadow Cmity from rising.

    "Still, despite me foiling the n of the Skull god, it isn''t enough. That was merely one of the Shadow Cmity''s pawn, now it had two more." Lin Wu continued. "Perhaps even more."

    "What was the fire that spread in the Dread Coil marsh then?" The two ancestors asked.

    This was something that Shirong didn''t know either after all. His memories had been modified and he had a limited perception of things back then after fainting.

    "Thatбн was the work of the Vermillion Bird n''s descendant." Lin Wu dropped another bomb.

    "Their descendant? But wasn''t the Vermillion Sect wiped out?" they were confused.

    "The sect was wiped outбн but the descendant left behind other means of recovery. All you need to learn is that the Descendant of the Vermillion bird awakened and came to wipe out all traces of the Skull God.

    The reason why the Dread Coil Marsh burned was also due to its actions." Lin Wu exined.

    "Then fire at the Jiao Dian cityбн" Lian Xiaojian recalled his brother''s demise.

    "Indeed, that was the work of the Vermillion bird''s descendant too." Lin Wu confirmed.

    ~GASP~

    "How could it do that? How could it kill so many innocent people?" The king of the Bing Kingdom was also present here.

    The Jiao Dian city was located within the Bing kingdom and thus they had directly suffered from it. For a long time, they were unable to find the culprit with it justing down to some unknown beast.

    And now they learned that it wasn''t just some strong beast, but a guardian beast!

    "How can a guardian beast that is supposed to protect, massacre living creature without a care like that?" The King of the Ivory Heron kingdom asked.

    They were located right next to each other and were close.

    "The answer is simpleбн the Skull God had actually controlled the Jiao Dian city. It was their secret beast and they were going to use it to expand into the human powers. And when they were found out, they infected everyone with a dangerous gue.<sub> </sub>

    The same kind of gue that turned Dread Coil Marsh into what it is today. If it was not stopped, it would have covered the entire Bing Kingdom." Lin Wu answered.

    The Bing Kingdom''s King stumbled upon hearing this, as cold sweat appeared on his back.

    Finding out that your kingdom might have just been exterminated just like that was not a pleasant feeling.

    "So there was simply no option?" They others asked.

    "Indeed." Lin Wu confirmed.

    The room fell silent after this, as everyone pondered over the information they had just been given. After two minutes, Long Qing spoke up once more.

    "Then where is the Vermillion Bird''s descendant? Did it enter a dormant state?" Long Qing asked, while others looked on curiously too.

    Frankly speaking, the Vermillion Bird''s descendant was the same as their sacred n spirit. But in the case of the Long n, it mostly stayed dormant and would only awaken once every hundred years.

    Thus finding an active one that was fully awake was surprising to them.

    "The sacred n spirits of the Hu n and the Gui n are the same too. They only awaken once every hundred years, during the grand meeting of the three ns." Long Fei added.

    "The reason why the Descendant of the Vermillion bird is awake is because it isn''t in spirit form like your ns. It is an actual beast that awakened its bloodline before turning into the descendant." Lin Wu exined. "As for where it is?"

    Everyone held their breaths in anticipation.

    "It is also searching for the traces of the Shadow Cmity independently." Lin Wu finally answered.

    "So it is like thatбн no wonder we didn''t find out about it." Long Fei said.

    "It had definitely left for the other continents." Long Qing stated.

    Lin Wu too nodded his head, knowing that Zhu Tianying had really left the continent. Originally she had gone out to find her origin, but recent scans by Lin Wu had confirmed that she wasn''t on the Long Continent anymore.

    And considering she could fly, there was a great chance she was in the Hu or Gui continents.

    "Speaking of n spiritsбн I''d like to see yours." Lin Wu requested.

    "Huh?" Long Qing was taken aback, but quickly calmed himself.

    "I''m sorry but that cannot be done. The n spirit is still in its slumber." Long Qing stated.

    "Oh, I don''t mean to talk to it. I just said, I want to ''see'' it." Lin Wu rified.

    "Why?" They asked.

    "I want to see if there is a reason for their condition. Ideally speakingбн they shouldn''t need to enter dormancy like that. I''ve never heard of the guardians doing something like this in other worlds." Lin Wu replied.

 Chapter 954 Requesting To See The Clan Spirit

    The request to see the n spirit was something that would never be tolerated if it came for anyone else on the continent.

    It was a very sensitive matter and even in the Long n itself, only a few could see the true statue of the n Spirit. In the Long n, the two ancestors, the Patriarch and the supreme elder along with the older high elders could directly worship the n spirit.

    The rest of the n merely worshiped the secondary statues that were made a long time ago. While the statues that were located in the guardian temples were all tertiary statues made for mass worship.

    The ssification of how they were divided into grades was solely based on the formation arrays that linked them.

    The entire hall full of people gazed at the two ancestors wondering if they would permit this. The two ancestors needed to truly consider Lin Wu. After all, he was quite likely to be older than their own n spirit.

    "Alright... King Lin Wu can meet him." Long Qing stated.

    "Good." Lin Wu was pleased.

    "Just give us a little time to arrange it. The abode of the n spirit can''t be essed directly." Long Fei exined.

    "That is fine with me. We can continue our discussion in the mean time." Lin Wu replied.

    "I''ll go do it then." Long Fei said before taking her leave while Long Qing stayed behind to discuss.

    There were a lot of things that Lin Wu wanted to convey to the people present here. With so many powers of the Long Continent here, it was the best opportunity to influence them and pull them under his camp.

    ''They shouldn''t resist now...'' Lin Wu thought to himself after about two more hours of talking.

    "Considering the threat of the Cmity Fiend and the Shadow Cmity in general, I think everyone should be able tomunicate with me quickly." Lin Wu spoke. "Some among you already have that." He added.

    "Of course!" The king''s in Lin Wu''s camp quickly agreed.

    To them, Lin Wu was their saviour and the closer they could keep him the better. And what better option to do this than to have a direct line to him. As for those that didn''t have this direct link, they were definitely interested.

    "That would be convenient." The other kings said as well.

    "Take this then." Lin Wu brought his tail forward before several small spikes extended from it.

    The ones who were at the battlefield earlier had seen Lin Wu do something simr to this and were wondering if he was doing the same.

    ~Chink~chink~chink~

    One by one, several small crystal tes started forming. These were different from the ones they had seen before and looked to be a lot more detailed.

    The shape of the crystal te was Heptagonal and had the crest of the millennium kingdom on it. And when that crest wasbined with the crystal te itself, it acutely looked somewhat like Lin Wu''s own head.<sub> </sub>

    "Everyone has gotten a te?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yes, King Lin Wu." They all said.

    "Good. Every leader should keep the te close to them. You can use it to directly contact me. Additionally that te will alert you to danger, as well as block an attack from someone at the peak of the Dao Treading realm." Lin Wu exined.

    "What? Block an attack?" The kings were especially surprised.

    After all with what Lin Wu had given to them was the same as a high grade defensive talisman at this point.

    "Yes, it can block one attack from a peak Dao Treading realm being. After that is used up, it will need a day to recharge." Lin Wu rified. "Or... if you want to speed that up, you can also use it as a normal defensive spirit tool and supply it with spirit Qi."

    "This... isn''t this already a high grade spirit tool at this point?" Even the Patriarchs of the top sects were stunned.

    It wasn''t that they didn''t have such tools themselves, but rather the way they had just been given these.

    ''And he even made them with such ease... it looks like he can just continue to make those...'' some of them thought.

    Ancestor Long Qing held the crystal te in his hand and checked it with his spirit sense. He was rather intrigued by it and wondered how it was made.

    ''It is certainly made from the same crystals, king Lin Wu''s body is made of, but... how can it have such functions without any runes or formations?'' Long Qing wonder.

    While he wasn''t a proper formation master, his long life and experience had allowed him to see many of them. Thus without even learning them intentionally Long Qing was still as good as someone who had learned formations with dedication for hundreds of years.

    Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried, his spirit sense just couldn''t enter the crystal te. And when he tried to inject some spirit Qi, it was instantly absorbed.

    ''Just what kind of runes are used in this? Or are there even runes? Not just that, its spirit Qi capacity also seems to be veryrge.'' Long Qing realized after his inspection.

    Simr thoughts went through the minds of others who had obtained this crystal te. Among those present, there was nock of true Formation masters, but even they couldn''t peer into it.

    The crystal te was like an imprable shield that wouldn''t let anything inside. If anything, they felt like their own spirit sense would break if they continued to force this.

    Lin Wu looked around and felt pleased by this.

    ''Hehe, this is just the first step in my bribes. I got even better giftsing up, soon no one will be able to resist.'' Lin Wu chuckled internally.

    He wasn''t the only one like this either as Shirong felt rather special in all this.

    ''These people just have one little thing from senior and they feel happy. Meanwhile, I got a true Immortal weapon!'' Shirong stroked his ego.

 Chapter 955 Bamboozling Them All

    While the people felt pleased by the crystal te Lin Wu had given them, they remembered something.

    "K-king Lin Wuбн I have a doubt." The King of the de Pine kingdom spoke.

    "Please feel free to speak." Lin Wu replied.

    "We all witnessed the battle at the Cang Lan sectбн and have seen the power of the Cmity Fiend." de Pine Kingdom''s ruler spoke. "Patriarch Cang Anyu and many others did their very best in going against it."

    "That''s true." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "And yetбн they couldn''t even put a scratch on the Cmity Fiend." The king said, with trembling hands.

    The other people who heard this, felt the memories return. They recalled the despair and fear they had felt before.

    "I fear that even if we do encounter the cmity fiend and contact you, we may not have enough time to defend ourselves. The sect''s might be able to resist, but our kingdoms aren''t that strong." The King admitted.

    The other kings too nodded their heads, not caring for face. They all knew, face was useless in matters of life and death. There would be no benefit in pretending when all of them were in the same boat.

    "Hmmбн I can offer you the same formation arrays that I did for the southern kingdoms." Lin Wu replied.

    "Y-yes, we know of that. You already spoke about this earlier, but what I want is something different." The King hesitated.

    "Something different? What is it that he wants?" Wang Xiong muttered in wonder.

    "Thisбн This may be a shameless request, butбн Can you provided us weapons that can actually resist and maybe even injure the Cmity Fiend?" The King requested.

    As soon as Lin Wu heard this, his face turned stern.

    "A request like thisбн is not something simple. You do know this right, King?" Lin Wu said in a serious tone.

    "O-of course! We know it is not something easy. And I''m sure all of us will not be stingy with the cost. At the very least, I''m willing to pay as much that is needed to make something like that." The King of the de Pine kingdom hurriedly replied, afraid of offending Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu''s stern expression didn''t help anyone ease at all either.

    Shirong felt like it was too much for the kings to ask something like this.

    ''Humph! Does he think they are cabbages?'' Shirong scoffed internally.

    But unbeknownst to everyone, Lin Wu''s true emotions were vastly different.

    "AWWWWWW! YEAH! THAT''S WHAT I WANTED BABY!" Lin Wu shouted in his mind.

    He tried his best to keep his expression serious and had to give this task to the system, or he might just break out inughter.

    ''And here I was thinking I would need to wait longer and threaten them a bit more. Instead, the King of the de Pine kingdom asks for it himself. And others have the same thought too.'' Lin Wu felt like his n was working really well.

    Five minutes passed like this in silence, while Lin Wu maintained his expression. To others, it felt like Lin Wu was deeply debating this, but in reality he was holding himself back from dancing around.

    Only after Lin Wu felt like he had gathered his will did he decide to speak. But just as he was about to, Ancestor Long Qing spoke up.

    "Please forgive him, King Lin Wu. I understand the King might have stepped out a little too much." Long Qing tried to cover for the King of the de Pine kingdom.

    "Noбн it''s fine." Lin Wu replied, making them feel relieved.<sub> </sub>

    ''As long as King Lin Wu is not offended, this is still fine.'' They all thought.

    But then, Lin Wu''s next words threw them for a surprise.

    "I''ll make the weapons for all those that need it." Lin Wu stated.

    "What?" The king''s were stunned.

    "What!?" Shirong said in disbelief.

    He who had just thought he would be having the exclusive weapon now felt like cold water was being poured on him.

    "Really!? You would be willing to do that King Lin Wu?" Long Qing asked doubtfully.

    "I will, yes." Lin Wu confirmed. "Of course there will be costs to it. They will not be easy to make." He said before looking at Shirong.

    "Take out the Emeraldine Heart spear." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Y-yes, senior!" Shirong immediately replied.

    ~SHUA~

    ~CLANG~

    The elegant crystal spear that shone like a gemstone appeared in the hall. The lights from thenterns reflected off of it, making it look rather mesmerizing.

    "This spearбн" A few people, such as the Supreme elder of the Long n, had seen Shirong use it before against the Cmity Fiend.

    "Didn''t this spear actually manage to push back the Cmity Fiend for a while?" they recalled the battle.

    "This is the spear that junior Shirong used to battle the Skull God''s avatar before?" Long Qing identified from the description.

    "Indeed." Lin Wu spoke. "Why don''t you tell them what it is?" he suggested.

    "This is the Emeraldine Heart Spear. I found it in the Millennium Forest''s forbidden zone several years ago when the meteor fell there." Shirong did as he was asked. "And it is anбн Immortal Weapon."

    "What!?" the kings of Ling Kingdom and the Pale Marble kingdom were stunned.

    They had never thought that something like this would be found there.

    Long Qing was even more shocked as an immortal weapon was a very dangerous as well as valuable thing. If any immortal weapon appeared in the Ming Dao world, it would easily cause a great war between all the powers.

    It would cross the continents and might just lead to the fall of the entire world.

    "And this spear was made by King Lin Wu." Shirong added, stunning them all.

    "You made this?" Long Qing''s eyes went wide, with a few fine scales appearing around them.

    He was shocked enough that he couldn''t control his bloodline! Even his bloodline was shocked!

    "More urately, it used to be an Immortal Weapon. It was damaged and right now it is onlyparable to a Pseudo-Immortal Weapon."

 Chapter 956 Weapons For All

    Lin Wu''s words were no less shocking to the people present than what Shirong had said.

    Even a Pseudo Immortal Weapon was already something that could cause a war. The Long n also had them, but only three such were in their ownership. Two such being the Eye of the Azure and The Dragon Boat.

    "When I made this spear, I was a lot stronger. It was a true Immortal Weapon and could do a lot more than it can now. But after I arrived on this, I entered a slumber. I don''t know what happened to it in that time, but eventually it wandered the space and arrived here." Lin Wu said the same story he had told Shirong.

    "T-thenбн you can make more of them?" The King of the de Pine Kingdom asked, his excitement bordering on anxiety.

    "I obviously can''t make something on the level of an Immortal Weapon, and while I can make something simr to what Shirong has, it will be a weaker version. Even if the Emeraldine Heart Spear is a Pseudo Immortal Weapon right now, it once used to be immortal and the materials are the same." Lin Wu replied.

    "So peak grade weapons are still possible for you?" Long Qing saw that as no less amazing.

    "Yes. As long as I have the resources, there is no issue. And since they will be made from my own crystal, they will be able to pierce the defenses of the Cmity Fiend for sure." Lin Wu replied.

    "King Lin Wu, will they all be spears or can you make other weapons too?" Someone from the Pr Axe sect asked.

    The patriarch of the sect also looked at Lin Wu in anticipation.

    While one might take a peak grade spear anytime, if they had the option to choose, they would rather take a weapon which they were proficient in. After all, many people had cultivation techniques that were entirely built around them.

    The Pr Axe sect being a good example. All their Disciples used axes and their cultivation technique emphasized on nurturing Axe Intent. And being the third ranked sect, it could be see that they were quite strong too.

    For someone who had used axes their entire life, giving a spear would be the same as making them start over again.

    "I can make any weapon. Though the extra skills I add to them might have to be modified ordingly." Lin Wu replied.

    "This is great!" The Patriarch of the Pr Axe sect eximed.

    "If you can really do this King Lin Wu, we''ll be willing to provide all that is needed." The kings and the Patriarchs were ready.

    "Alright. You can send over people with the needed weapon list first to the Millennium Forest. We''ll see about payment after that." Lin Wu stated.

    "We shall do that then." The people were a lot more pleased after hearing this.

    Lin Wu had already helped the Southern kingdoms before, thus his work was already authenticated and trusted. Plus, they had already seen the crystal tes that Lin Wu made so they were sure he could make other spirit tools too.

    "You should also send them back for repairing and maintenance as needed. With the Cmity Fiend being involved, I don''t doubt they will get damaged, eventually." Lin Wu added.

    "Of course, that''s no issue." They replied.

    With all thisbined, the people were greatly excited.

    And it wouldn''t be wrong to say that Lin Wu was excited as well.

    ''AHAHAHA! Now instead of just Shirong, I''ll have a whole army of humans gathering spirit Qi for me!'' Lin Wu almost wanted tough out loud.

    But after about a minute, Lin Wu realized his excitement was still there.<sub> </sub>

    ''No, waitбн this is differentбн'' Lin Wu felt like something was changing within him.

    It was a strange feeling that he couldn''t quite exin.

    ''System, do a scan. See what the issue is,'' Lin Wu ordered just in case.

    "Affirmative." The System replied and got to work.

    The notifications started appearing in front of Lin Wu, showing his vitals and more data. But none of them seemed to be out of the ordinary.

    ''I''ll wait for it to finish and seeter.'' Lin Wu dismissed the window.

    The discussion about the weapons and more continued for another hour before Long Qing finally got the message that they were ready.

    "King Lin Wu, we can head to the ancestral temple now." Long Qing stated.

    "Alright." Lin Wu said before following after the man.

    No one else other than the two left the Three Horn Pce, though. This was going to be a private event for only Lin Wu.

    Flying out from the Three Horn Pce, Long Qing brought Lin Wu to the very ends of the Long n''s territory. This area was hidden under additional arrays and even the system had not detected it till now.

    ''So there still are things the system can''t find right awayбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Even though the scan range of the system was far wider now, it still didn''t detect the Ancestral Temple that was about 150 kilometers from the Three Horn ce.

    Upon arriving, Long Qing raised his palm and spoke something silently.

    ~shua~

    Arge dome shaped barrier made out of dense runes was revealed before a opening appeared on its surface, allowing them to pass through.

    "So this is the Ancestral Templeбн it surely is uniqueбн" Lin Wu had been wondering how Long Qing was going to let him ''inside'' the temple, considering his size.

    But seeing the temple, he realized why.

    ''The temple isn''t a closed buildingбн it''s an open roof temple and doesn''t even have walls.'' Lin Wu thought as he observed therge hundred meter tall statue in the very center.

    The statue was that of an Azure Serpent with three ws, just like Lin Wu had seen in the bloodline.

    And at the base of the statue stood Long Fei, along with a few more elders of the Long n.

    "Wee King Lin Wu." The Patriarch of the Long n greeted him.

 Chapter 957 The Guardian Clan Spirit

    In addition to Long Fei, the Patriarch of the Long n was also present there.

    He was apparently the great grandson of Long Fei and Long Qing, the two ancestors. Despite this though, he still looked like an old man in his sixties.

    Just from this alone one could tell that the two ancestors had lived for a long time.

    ''The system approximated that their age is more than four thousand, so it does make sense. The Patriarch also seemed to be more than two thousand years old.'' Lin Wu quickly got the reports.

    "Greetings." While Lin Wu thought all that internally, he warmly spoke to the man.

    "Pardon us if it took long, but we need to go through this procedure to allow others in. The Ancestral Temple needs the bloodline input from me and the two ancestress to open." The Patriarch exined.

    "That''s no issue. We didn''t have to wait that long." Lin Wu replied casually while gazing at the statue that had an invisible barrier around it.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Active Barrier discovered.

    SCAN: Failed

    ANALYZING: Barrier is found to be a Qi skill rather than a formation

    p ACCESS: Denied</anda>

    бкбк

    ''It actually blocked the system''s scan againбн'' Lin Wu looked at the notification window.

    "Does it need the three of you to open the barrier around the statue, too?" Lin Wu questioned curiously.

    "A barrier around the statue?" Much to Lin Wu''s surprise, the Long n''s ancestors were confused.

    "Yes, there is one around the statue." Lin Wu replied before releasing a bit of radiation.

    ~SHUA~

    The radiation interacted with the barrier, forcing it to show its appearance as a faint yellow glow covered it.

    "What?" The Patriarch of the Long n was confused.

    "Weбн never knewбн" The two ancestors said in shock.

    ''So even they can''t detect it, no wonder.'' Lin Wu understood.

    From this alone, he understood that the barrier was definitely being maintained by the n spirit itself.

    "How did we never know? Did the n spirit talk about this before?" The Patriarch asked the ancestors.

    "Noбн never. Plus, we never went close enough to touch the barrier." Long Qing replied.

    "We learn new things every day." Lin Wu said before getting closer.

    And by closer it was just him moving his head and watching the statue closely. His body alone towered over the statue, thus it was needed.

    ~HUALA~

    But just as Lin Wu was doing that, a wave of energy spread out from the statue. An azure glow covered it before forming detailed features on the statue.

    "The n spirit is awakening!" The Patriarch eximed.

    ''How did it wake up at this time? It barely responds to us and even that''s in time of emergencies.'' Long Qing was surprised.

    Lin Wu was intrigued and pulled his head back, letting the statue do whatever. He also saw the barrier around the statue disappear.

    ''Must be a barrier it makes while dormant. Orбн I just woke it when I interacted with the barrier.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    It didn''t take Lin Wu long to get his answer, either.

    "Who dares awaken the great guardian Azure Dragon!" A booming voice could be hearding from the statue that had now taken on a detailed appearance.

    The illusory eyes on the statue opened and first saw its nsmen below.

    "Why did you wake me up!" the Statue questioned the ancestors and patriarch.<sub> </sub>

    "W-weбн We didn''t." The Patriarch uttered with fear.

    "I did." Another heavy voice was heard and a shadow fell over the statue.

    The statue looked up and saw arge head gazing at it.

    "W-who?" The statue said in great confusion, having not expected this.

    "I said, they didn''t wake you up, I did." Lin Wu reiterated.

    "What gives you the right to wake up a guardian Azure Dragon!" The statue quickly flipped out of its confusion.

    Lin Wu narrowed his eyes, seeing this, finding the behavior erratic.

    "You aren''t one." Lin Wu inly stated.

    "YOU DARE!" The statue roared, making the Long n members panic.

    "What''s that to do with anything? You''re a descendant and have an iplete bloodline." Lin Wu didn''t waver at all.

    There was no fear in his tone either, which only affirmed the belief in the Long n members that Lin Wu was higher in seniority.

    The only reason Lin Wu got this confidence was due to the information the System had just obtained.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET: analyzed

    .

    TARGET: Azure Serpent King

    CULTIVATION BASE: Immortal Ascension realm (Sealed)

    BLOODLINE: 1. Azure Serpent Bloodline (100%)

    2. Azure Dragon Bloodline (1%)

    VITALS: Unavable

    .

    NOTE: The body of the Azure Serpent King does not exist. The spirit inhabiting in the statue is its nascent soul that has been fused with its True Soul.

    бкбк

    ''So this is how the guardians workбн they don''t have actual bodies and are simply souls imnted into statues.'' Lin Wu understood.

    At the same time though, the cultivation base that the statue had also given him confidence. If it was just in the Immortal Ascension realm, Lin Wu didn''t think it would be able to do anything to him.

    ''Though its cultivation base might be higher. Only after being sealed is it at the Immortal Ascension realm. And considering it has lived for over ten thousand years, it has certainly gone past the normal limits of a cultivator.'' Lin Wu thought.

    While the Azure Dragon''s and just dragons, in general, had longer lifespans than humans and beasts of the same cultivation base, Lin Wu was sure this was already bordering on the extreme for this.

    Which also made him think about the method that might have been used to seal it here.

    ''The seal might also be what makes it stay alive this long.'' Lin Wu thought.

    ~SHUA~

    But while Lin Wu was thinking this all, the Long n members were all forcibly teleported away by the statue.

    "Oh? Don''t want your secrets to be revealed?" Lin Wu asked inly.

    "Who are you? No one should know this on Ming Dao world." The statue asked instead.

    "What if they are not of this world?"

 Chapter 958 Revealing Secrets And Leaving The Clan Spirit Speechless

    Lin Wu''s words were enough to make the statue go silent.

    And after about thirty seconds, the statue understood what Lin Wu meant.

    "You aren''t from the Ming Dao world?" The statue questioned.

    "Noбн I am from the Immortal realm." Lin Wu answered.

    "An invader?" The statue said lightly.

    "No, I''m not. If anything, I am the opposite." Lin Wu said before a wave of energy rose from him.

    ~shua~

    Two streaks of lights, one ck one white rose from his body. The statue became alert at the moment, feeling danger from it.

    ''Yin and Yang spirit Qi?'' It quickly identified.

    But then it saw the two opposite colored spirit qi''sing together. The spun and shifted around each other before forming a circr pattern. This pattern continued to morph until it turned into something that most cultivators would know.

    It was the Yin and Yang Symbol.

    But that wasn''t all the statute understood. The aura that wasing from it was different and gave off a signature feeling.

    "This spirit Qi signatureбн the Taiji Celestial?" The statue recognized.

    "At least you know this much." Lin Wu said with a chuckle.

    "But how? There were supposed to be no traces of the Taiji Celestial here." The statute was confused.

    "Oh, you were just mistaken. The Taiji Celestialбн My master established one of his ''tombs'' on this. And it has existed here for a long timeбн since before the so-called beacons of the guardian beasts were even awakened." Lin Wu spoke, making the statue feel surprised.

    "Impossible! How could we not know about this?" The statue was doubtful.

    "Humph, if you weren''t staying dormant all the time, you would have known." Lin Wu scoffed. "And you would also know about the invasion attempt that had been made before." He added.

    "What invasion attempt?" The statute questioned, its eyes red up.

    "The Skull God, does that name ring a bell?" Lin Wu asked.

    "No." The Statue denied.

    "How about the Shadow Cmity?" As soon as Lin Mu said that, the statue''s expression changed.

    "Yesбн you do know about it, don''t you?" Lin Wu smiled.

    "What about the Shadow Cmity?" The statue asked, trying topose itself.

    "How unbing of you as guardiansбн You don''t even know the many attempts that had been made by the Shadow Cmity. Even the invasion during which you three were awakened was orchestrated by the Shadow Cmity." Lin Wu replied, maintaining his smile.

    "That''sбн" The statue found it hard to believe.

    But Lin Wu then went on to exin all that had happened. The statue didn''t believe this at first either, but it took little effort for it to simply check the Long n''s records.

    Since the Long n had a responsibility of keeping a detailed record of all that happens on the Long Continent, the statue simply essed that. Being the n spirit, it basically had no restrictions whatsoever.

    His authority was the highest after all.

    "Preposterous, trying to hide from me??" The statue was quite agitated by the end.

    "Being angry now is useless." Lin Wu retorted. "You can''t do much in that state anyway can you?" he asked.

    The statue was taken back by his words. ''It can''t be? How can he know that?''

    "Youбн W-what are you talking about?" The statue pretended to not ept it.

    "You condition. You are sealedбн and not just that you seem to be separated from the grand array of the guardians as well." Lin Wu said calmly.

    "That''s not true." The statute denied.

    "Haha! You can''t even ess the temples of the guardians can you?" Lin Wu had already seen through it all.

    The more time he spent there, the more time the system got to analyze. Earlier too, Lin Wu had opted to wait at the Three Horns ce for this very reason. He wanted to let the system analyze and ess the formation array of the Long n.

    And just a while ago, the system had finished that task, having gained ess to the entire Long n''s formation array.

    Now if Lin Wu wanted to, he could disable the array or even make it self destruct. If that was done, at least half of the Long n''s members should perish in that. The array was after all very strong.

    It wouldn''t be wrong to call it the strongest array on the Long Continent if he excluded the Taiji celestial''s tomb.

    Only the array around the abode of the n spirit was something that was independent from the rest of the n array. It was also simr inplexity to the Taiji Celestial''s tomb.<sub> </sub>

    But that was now all a thing of the past, as the system had analyzed it all. Lin Wu could now see all the secrets that were hiding within the Long n.

    And this included the secrets of the n spirit as well.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS COMPLETED: Long n Grand Array

    LONG CLAN GRAND ARRAY: ess obtained

    DEFENSIVE ARRAY INTEGRITY: 100%

    SUPPORTIVE ARRAY INTEGRITY: 90%

    COMMUNICATION ARRAY INTEGRITY: 50%

    бкSub-array: Inter-worldmunication array (offline)

    бкбк

    The Defensive and supportive arrays were the main arrays of the Long n and were only based in their territory. But the Commutation array was thergest array in the entire long continent.

    If onepared the sheer area that it took, it was even bigger than the Taiji Celestial''s tomb array. It spread all over the continent and even went past it linking ups various areas.

    The main function of this array was to link up with the many guardian temples that were present all over the world. It also allowed the guardians tomunicate amongst themselves.

    But hidden within this, there was a sub-array. This was also what Lin Wu had been looking for a long time.

    ''While I managed to get coordinates for an immortal world from the Lian n''s treasure, this inter-world array will give me direct coordinates to the entire Immortal Realm.'' Lin Wu felt joyous.

    But that wasn''t the extent of his joy. What excited him most was thest part of the notification.

    "Forget the other guardiansбн You can''t even contact your elders in the higher world, can you?" Lin Wu teased.

    "How do you?" the statue was stunned at this point, finding it hard to figure out everything.

    "Like I said, the Taiji Celestial''s tomb has been here for a long time. We have old records that you don''t know of. Not to mention, I''ve been here for several thousands years as well." Lin Wu causally replied. "Since before you guardians awakened." He added.

    The Statue had no words to say after getting all the secrets revealed like this.

    An awkward silence reigned for about two minutes, which Lin Wu initially brewed. After this though, the statue could no longer hold himself from asking.

    "What is it that you want?" The statue questioned.

    "I want to knowбн everything. Why you can''t contact the other guardian beasts, why you are in charge of this world being descendantsбн as well as to why you stay dormant for years on end." Lin Wu answered.

    "And don''t try to give me excuses. I''ve been to the other guardian temples in the immortal word, they do not function like you. The guardians do not keep on staying dormant and hiding.

    They actively bestow skills and techniques upon others." Lin Wu added.

    The statue inwardly sallowed its saliva feeling intimidated by Lin Wu. For the first time in ten thousand years, it actually felt like there was someone beyond it. The other guardians were the only equals for it till now.

    "Iбн Iбн I don''t knowбн" The statue uttered.

    "What do you mean you don''t know?" Lin Wu raised his brows.

    "This worldбн everything was wrong since the day we awakened." The statute started to speak.

    "We were supposed to have woken up the moment the humans discovered all our beacon statues. But for some reason, that never happened." The statue was about to say more but Lin Wu interrupted it.

    "Wait, you mean to say all FOUR statues needed to be discovered for you all to awaken?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes. Discovering any one of us would reveal the location of the others and thus they should all be discovered. But for some reason that never happened.

    Even when we were forcibly awakened by the humans, we couldn''t figure out what had happened." The statue replied.

    "Couldn''t you have talked to each other when you there awakened?" Lin Wu asked.

    "We couldn''t, we barely had any time. After awakening we pushed back the invaders and killed the rest. But doing that drained all of our energy and we were forced to enter dormancy.

    On our second awakening we only had enough energy to pass on the inheritance to the humans. And by the time we awakened for the third time, three hundred years had already passed by." The statue replied.

    "Themunication arraysбн they were broken by that time but weren''t broken before?" Lin Wu realized.

    "Yes. I could still sense the other guardians, on my first and second awakening. But on the third, I could not."

 Chapter 959 Catalytic Information And Venerated Guest!

    The Statue''s words all but confirmed for Lin Wu that the link had been broken intentionally.

    "Just as I thoughtбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    "You knew about this?" The statue asked.

    "I had a hunch, but couldn''t confirm it before. But now that you''ve said this, it is quite obvious." Lin Wu replied.

    "And what about the fourth guardian, the one that should be from the Vermillion bird n?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Thatбн I never sensed it. It was the reason why we never awakened at the start. All four statues weren''t triggered." The statue answered.

    "And you didn''t tell others about it either?" Lin Wu asked doubtfully.

    "I thought it would be better to not say. The four guardian ns have amon understanding not to interfere in each other''s territory or matters unless asked. This falls in the same thing.

    Besides, if the guardian from the Vermillion n hasn''t awakened and there was a problem the Vermillion bird n should have taken care of it." The statue replied.

    Hearing this Lin Wu was a bit surprised.

    ''I didn''t know there was such a thing between them. I thought they all freely exchanged information between them.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    But at the same time, he also realized with the brokenmunication array, there was a great chance the vermilion bird n had not found out about this either.

    "You said you had a hunch about what happened?" The statue asked doubtfully.

    "It''s the same as before. The Shadow cmity." Lin Wu stated inly. "One of its ''inheritors'' by the name of Skull god had sent an avatar here. This happened before you had awakened."

    "So he had manipted everything?" The statue had anger in its voice.

    "Yes. While I don''t have the entire scope of information. If the Skull god prohibited the four statues from being discovered and then broke the arrays, it would basically cripple you all." Lin Wu replied before taking a pause.

    "Even your current conditionбн needing to enter a dormant state. Isn''t that simply because you aren''t able to gather enough energy?" Lin Wu inquired.

    ''He knows this too?'' The statue''s shock had only grown.

    "Yes, the reason why I need to enter a dormant state is to gather energy. There is barely any Immortal Qi in this world which makes it hard." The statue replied.

    This was another part that Lin Wu was greatly interested about. He wanted to know just how the statues worked and existed. Their functioning was somewhat of a mystery to most people.

    Even the Skull god had no idea about it, despite the fact that he had seen several of their temples.

    "Your cultivation baseбн it was in the immortal realm before?" Lin Wu questioned after thinking for a bit.

    "It wasбн once upon a time." The statue spoke with a hint of sorry.

    "What happened then?" Lin Wu asked further.

    "Well, I died." The statue said much to Lin Wu''s surprise.

    "Died? Then how are you here?" Lin Wu asked feeling confused.

    "All beasts that have bloodlines belonging to the Azure Dragon n are given an offer. If they die, they can pledge themselves to the n and be guardians in the various worlds.

    Their nascent souls and true souls will be bound to the statues turning them into what you''ve seen." The statue replied.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Update

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    .

    .

    .

    .

    бкбк

    The moment the statue said that the system went on a notification binge. It had just obtained a critical piece of information which had solved a lot of mysteries. As for the ones that were stuck in simtion, they were resolved too.

    ''Goddamn! That was a huge update for just that much information.'' Even Lin Wu had not expected there to be such an effect.

    And it was simply not stopping.

    At first it was just data being extrapted, but soon the other tasks such as formation decryption and more were progression too.

    This bit of information was the catalyst that had been missing all this time. And now that it was avable, it brought forth an explosive effect.

    Not wanting to make the statue suspicion though, Lin Wu maintained his expression.

    "And I''m guessing it is the same for other guardian ns as well?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yesбн all ns have a simr concept. This is why they can have so many temples and cover all the worlds." The statue replied.

    "But then why are you not like the others? You only have a fraction of the Azure Dragon bloodline." Lin Wu asked next.

    "This is rted to the offer of the n as well. For us descendant beasts, or those with faint bloodlines the chance to be a guardian also allows us to progress our bloodline.

    Those with proper bloodlines are appointed to immortal worlds, while descendants like us are appointed in the mortal worlds. And if we manage to grow the n here while also serving them, the world would reach a point where our bloodline would evolve.<sub> </sub>

    This is the chance for which we all strive." The Statue exined.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    DATA EXTRAPOLATED!

    .

    .

    .

    .

    бкбк

    ''Fuck! Ignore this for now system.'' Another string of notification started popping up after getting this information.

    One thing Lin Wu understood was that directly getting information from a guardian directly was quite beneficial.

    The two continued to talk more, and Lin Wu learned a few more minor things. Though the statue was disinclined to talk about the Azure Dragon n itself. There was a bloodline restriction on it that prevented it from saying anything secret.

    Lin Wu didn''t pry much from here either, knowing that there would be no results.

    ''Still, just this alone is enough for me to n a lot furtherбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "What are you intending to do about the Shadow Cmity now?" the Statue asked. "I won''t be able to do much in my state."

    "I''ll take care of it. You can just recover for now." Lin Wu said.

    ~SHUA~

    "I think that''s my limit nowбн I need to rest." The statue spoke, its glow getting dimmer and dimmer until it faded away.

    Lin Wu gazed at the statue for a couple of minutes before confirming that the guardian was truly unresponsive.

    "That was greatбн" Lin Wu smiled widely. "Not only I got a lot of information, I also have a free pass from the guardian."

    ~HUALA~

    The barrier around the statue started to form again, and the outer barrier flickered as well.

    "King Lin Wu!" The voice of Long Qing could be hearding from afar.

    Lin Wu turned around and saw the old man rushing in with the others.

    "W-what happened?" Long Qing asked.

    "Your n spirit and Iбн We talked." Lin Wu replied, making them feel uneasy. "Don''t worry, there were no issues."

    "There aren''t?" Long Qing said.

    "We were scared being sent out forcibly by the n spirit." Long Fei stated.

    "There were some matters which could not be discussed with you here. Even with you being the Long n''s people." Lin Wu said in a serious tone. "They are way beyond your qualifications."

    "We understand." The ancestors and the patriarch cupped their hands in eptance.

    They weren''t dumb and knew that the matters discussed might have something to do with the immortal world. Only those that were from an Immortal world would be qualified to discuss such matters.

    Telling those below the immortal realm about matters such as these was often considered taboo.

    "King Lin Wu, did the guardian say anything more?" The patriarch asked.

    "Quite a lot, actually." Lin Wu said before exining the ploy of the Skull god.

    The more they heard, the more their expressions fell. They had never thought that their world had been given such a blow without anyone ever finding out.

    "To be able to suppress even the guardiansбн this threat cannot be averted." The patriarch was scared.

    Despite the fact that they were among the world''s strongest cultivators, they all felt the feeling of helplessness.

    "Your guardian has depleted his energy and might not wake up for a hundred years now." Lin Wu stated.

    "Thisбн Seems like we''ll have to rely on you then, King Lin Wu." The patriarch replied.

    "Noбн" Long Qing shook his head, surprising the others.

    "King Lin Wu is from a higher world as well and can speak on equal terms with the n spirit." Long Qing said in a serious tone. "From this day onwards, King Lin Wu shall be our n''s venerated guest." He stated.

    As soon as he said this, the expressions of everyone changed. This was a massive decision and would probably shake the entire Long Continent.

    ''My, myбн I won''t deny an offer like this,'' Lin Wu inwardly chuckled.

    "You really want to do this?" Lin Wu questioned for rification.

    "Yesбн Senior!" Long Qing replied with respect.

    "Senior Lin Wu is now our venerated guest!" they all said in unison.

 Chapter 960 Humanoid Mimicry

    Bing the Venerated Guest was not something Lin Wu had expected today.

    ''It is a surprise sure, but a wee oneбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he watched the all Long n members salute him.

    That''s right, after Long Qing dered that he was a venerated guest, he gathered the entire n to do a proper ceremony for Lin Wu. This was after all, a major matter and they needed to let all n members do it.

    Lin Wu was now someone on the same level as their n spirit, someone with whom they owed their bloodlines too. Thus they needed to treat him with the same respect and gratitude.

    The gratitude part was even deeper, as they all heard from Long Qing that Lin Wu had been fighting the Shadow Cmity for longer than their n had existed. Some even realized that their n might not exist if the Shadow Cmity had not been suppressed regrly.

    The Long n even went so far as to organize a banquet for Lin Wu. They already knew that Lin Wu liked human food from the many trades that were made and the huge influx of chefs to the Millennium kingdom, hence they did their best.

    Literally thousands of dishes were prepared inrge portions. For a beast asrge as Lin Wu, consuming hundreds or thousands of beasts was like an appetizer, so the banquet food also needed to be in massive quantities.

    Some of the people from other powers also joined this banquet. Though this was mainly those that were directly involved with Lin Wu or were his subordinates like Shirong, Wang Xiong and Lian Xiaojian.

    The rest of the Patriarchs and Kings left the Long n since they still needed to carry out Lin Wu''s orders. Not to mention, they had some preparation to do as well if they wanted the weapons manufactured by Lin Wu.

    To arm the many people they had, they first needed to analyze the kinds of weapons they used as well as the appropriate costs for them. These were going to be expensive, thus only the strongest experts of the powers would be getting them.

    And to determine who was the strongest, the power went ahead and organized tournaments within their borders. This was the quickest and fastest way to gather people while also giving them an excuse to recruit new blood.

    Still, not everything was bright and happy.

    There was a big tragedy that needed to be addressed as well. The tragedy of the Cang Lan sect.

    Since the Frozen Cloud sect was to be the sect of the groom, they still needed to mourn as per the traditions. While Wang Xiong and Cang Qing weren''t married fully, the rituals were almostpleted.

    If they didn''t do this, it would look bad to the other power. Even Lin Wu rmended them to follow all the normal traditions.

    Ye Jin, who had once been sad about Wang Xiong marrying someone else, was now happy. Of course, she didn''t show it on her face and didn''t say it outright either. That would simply be disrespecting the dead.

    The biggest gain from all this though, came to Lin Wu in the end. And it didn''t seem like it was the end of it either.

    A few days had passed since he became the Venerated Guest of the Long n. Lin Wu had returned to the Taiji Celestial''s tomb to recover. While it looked like he was fine on the surface, he was actually not.

    The battle had depleted both his and the Avatar''s spirit Qi stores as well as injured them. Due to his innate skills, it was easy to hide the injuries, but the truth was both his bodies were around 30% injured.

    Thankfully though, with his fast healing and endless resources, it didn''t take Lin Wu that long to recover.

    It was now that he visited something the system had informed him about at the Long n.

    "Now thenбн just what is that strange feeling I''ve been getting?" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He browsed through the logs and saw that the system had obtained quite a lot of extrapted data over the subsequent days. It had managed to decrypt more of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb''s formation array from that and obtained further information.

    It was like a feedback loop and pleased him greatly.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL: Updated!

    бкбк

    All of a sudden, Lin Wu saw a new notification appear.

    "Huh? Which innate skill?" Lin Wu looked at the next notification and saw that it was actually his avatar that had gotten this.

    Closing his eyes, Lin Wu quickly switched over to the avatar.

    The Avatar was currently under the Tieba City which had basically be its base. Lin Wu had made it return there as soon as the battle was over, not even stopping to recover.

    It was very important since Lin Wu reckoned there was a great chance that the Long n would interfere. And that was exactly what had happened. Thus, the avatar escaping was of the prime importance.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL UPDATED: Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Novice) [new]

    COMPOSITION: 1. w Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Tentacle Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    3. Fin Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    4. Thorn Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    5. Spike Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    6. Carapace Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    7. Wing Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    8. Fur Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    9. Membrane Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)<sub> </sub>

    10. Eye Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    11. Scale Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    12. Limb Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    13. Internal Organ Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    14. Bone Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    15. Feather Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    16. Slime Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    17. Humanoid Mimicry (Great) (Proficiency: Novice) [New]

    бкбк

    Chimeric Organogenesis was one of the Innate skills of the Avatar that had increased in proficiency a while back. It had risen from basic to novice. While it seemed like such an increase was slow, one must not forget that it was aposite skill, and upgrading its proficiency was a lot more difficult than normal skills.

    Lin Wu saw that a new sub skill had been added to this.

    "Huh? Humanoid Mimicry? Give me the full data window." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INNATE SUB-SKILL: Humanoid Mimicry (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    INFO: The Humanoid Mimicry skill will allow the host to emte the features and aspects of any humanoid creature. This includes demons and beasts that have taken human form as well as normal humans themselves.

    Note: Due to the beast bloodline''s dominance and the host''srge size he cannot transform into a human entirely.

    бкбк

    This was another thing that Lin Wu had not expected to gain during all this.

    "How did this happen?" Lin Wu looked through the old logs and realized that this was actually the result of several things.

    Lin Wu had assimted thousands of bloodlines to form the Chimeric Fiend Worm Bloodline and this included humans as well. He had also consumed a lot of humans over the years, triggering the Chimeric Adaptation a few times.

    The final catalytic change happened when he consumed Cang Qing. As soon as that happened, it was like a bottleneck had been loosened.

    "Hah! Never would have thought, she would be the one to give me this." Lin Wu was certainly amazed.

    The new sub skill seemed to be a little underwhelming, but Lin Wu decided to try it out first.

    A tentacle rose from his body and started to morph. First, a bulbous mass formed on its end, which then split from the bottom. Two long arms spouted from the top while legs sprouted from the bottom.

    Slowly, the features became more detailed, and a face appeared on the head. Hair then grew out from it, and clothes appeared on it automatically as well!

    And about ten minutester, a human was formed!

    "Whoa! That really is pretty urate." Lin Wu observed it from all sides. "Though it does have a big w." He added.

    The human wasn''t an ''independent'' being. It was merely a puppet that was attached to Lin Wu, quite literally.

    From the back of the human, a tentacle was connected to Lin Wu''s body. The human would not be able to exist without it.

    ''The consumption of spirit Qi is also quite high, and it also needs simrly high amounts of vital essence to make.'' Lin Wu thought.

    It was a skill that didn''t have much in terms of offensive power and was mostly for a disy.

    While it did seem like a weak skill, Lin Wu could easily think of hundreds of uses for it.

    "Haha! This will make some ns really better." Lin Wuughed out loud, his voice echoing in the tunnels.

    The ''human'' turned around and faced Lin Wu, before his lips moves.

    "It will surely be fun." The human spoke.

    ~HONG~

    As soon as that was said though, a strange pressure spread in the area.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    WARNING!: Anomaly detected!

    WARNING!: Analysis failed!

    WARNING!: Hostile Presence detected!

    бкбк

 Chapter 961 A Voice Of Unknown

    The system''s alerts were enough to send Lin Wu into a fighting state. Over hundreds tentacles appeared from his body, all having different kinds of tips. Some being spiked, some having mouths, while some in the shape of spouts.

    Spirit Qi swirled around Lin Wu as well, while his aura turned sharper.

    "Where is it system?" Lin Wu questioned, unable to see it on the map.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Anomaly is not in this ne.

    бкбк

    Reading this, Lin Wu narrowed his eyes.

    ''Did I catch the attention of some hidden expert?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    For to escape the system while also targeting him from another ne only meant that it was a lot more stronger than him.

    "Who?" Lin Wu called out.

    For a few seconds, there was no one responding making one think that there was nothing. But the pressure that Lin Wu still felt confirmed that there was indeed someone targeting him.

    As for why? He didn''t know that yet.

    ''Luckily I''m in the avatar at this time, I can detonate it and return to the main body.'' Lin Wu already initiated the self destruction process.

    There was a terrifying amount of energy contained within the Avatar along with an even greater amount of radiation. This was further optimized by the system to ensure that the explosion would rip apart the very space itself.

    And the copious amounts of radiation would ensure that even an immortal would be affected by it. Lin Wu had long since known that radiation affected not just spirit Qi but also immortal Qi.

    This was the conclusion the system had inferred after years of analysis.

    Thus in a battle against someone Lin Wu couldn''t win against, he could at least force them to retreat using massive amounts of radiation.

    ''Though there is a chance it might trigger a nuclear winterбн wonder if this world had an ice age before?'' Lin Wu thought to himself, not really afraid of the threat.

    The avatar gave him the confidence to go against stronger foes as it was essentially a second life for him. Plus, even if it was destroyed, Lin Wu would be able to make one again.

    He had more than enough spirit Qi stored up for it anyway. In fact, Lin Wu had kept enough reserve spirit Qi to make around five more avatars. Plus, with the amount of data the system had, he would be able to make the Chimeric Fiend Worm once more.

    There would be no loss of his progress either and could be sped through simply by pouring more spirit Qi into it. With no bottleneck, the entire process could even be called rather fast.

    But soon Lin Wu was brought out of his thoughts as a voice echoed within his head.

    "Someone dares to tread upon my Dao?" The voice spoke.

    While it seemed like it was threating, its tone was quite calm forming an antithesis for Lin Wu.

    "Who are you?" Lin Wu questioned not seeing the person or being.

    "Oh? You don''t even know me and still dared to tread on this Dao?" the voice seemed a little surprise.

    "What do you want?" Lin Wu asked, not bothering with the voice''s words.<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu did pick up that the voice was interested in the Dao that he was ''treading'' upon, which was most likely to be one of the two unknown Daos he had the 100%patibility with.

    "Hmmбн since you can do this, let me see if you are qualified to tread on my Dao." The voice replied, disregarding Lin Wu''s inquiring. "Oh? The Five mortal and Four heavenly elemental Daos are within the scope of your understand already? Interestingбн Sword and Spear Dao as well?" The voice''s surprise seemed to be increasing.

    This time Lin Wu kept silent, wanting to see just how much the voice could understand about him.

    "You have the Beast Dao too? That''s unusual, since the Sword and Spear Daos don''t really fit with it. The other elemental Dao''s can beplementary to it, but not the Beast Dao." The voice continued to observe.

    Soon though, its tone changed.

    "And thisбн can it really be that?" The voice now had a hint of excitement and fear to it. "You actually managed to tread upon that Dao as well? AHAHAHA!" The voiceughed out loud.

    "You know about my two unknown Daos?" Lin Wu now felt like this voice wasn''t really hostile to him.

    "Ah, yesбн you don''t know its name either. It does make sense, no one has been able to grasp that Dao for a long time. A Dao that old is often forgotten, but never erasedбн" The voice replied. "Stillбн if you have managed to grasp all this, then you are qualified to tread on my Dao. I permit you!"

    "Permit me?" Lin Wu said in a confused tone before feeling a new aura within him. "Huh?"

    All of a sudden, a new term appeared in his mind. While it was new, Lin Wu also felt like it was innately known to him. It was as if he was simplyбн remembering it.

    "Dao of Assimtionбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    "Yes, yesбн you''ll feel it soon. Hahaha! I''d have loved to have you as my disciple. You''re almostparable to me back when Iprehended this Dao." The voice now seemed to be happy.

    "Disciple? What?" Lin Wu had not expected this.

    "I''ll offer you this. Surviveбн The Karma of my Dao and then one day I may take you in as my disciple." The voice answered. "And the other Dao should be known to you soon as well. You treading upon my Dao should be enough of a trigger for it to manifest as well." It added.

    <o>,m "It will trigger the other Dao? Wait! Who are you?" Lin Wu questioned, but received no answer.</o>

    He could only watch as the pressure from the voice disappear.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The hostile anomaly has retreated.

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    .

    .

    .

    Unknown Dao Trace: Identified!

    Unknown Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%] -> Assimtion Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%]

    бкбк

 Chapter 962 Dao Of Assimilation And Dao Of Upheaval!

    Upon seeing the system''s new notification, Lin Wu was surprised at first. But then everything clicked into ce.

    "No wonder I couldn''t figure out what it was and neither could the system. It was being restrained by someone else." Lin Wu muttered in understanding.

    He had enough understanding of the cultivation world and knew that certain exemry figures could make their own Daos. This allowed them to dictate if others could learn the Dao or not as well.

    Thus others would have to first obtain their permission before being able to even learning its name. Such were the nomologicalws that could restrain one regardless of their location and strength.

    "With this the Avatar should be able to reach the Dao Treading realm, butбн the Main body is stillбк" Before Lin Wu could even finish his sentence, another memory interrupted him.

    Just like a few moments ago, a new term appeared in his mind. It seemed like it was always there, just that Lin Wu was unable to see it.

    "The Dao of Upheaval!" A thunderous voice boomed in Lin Wu''s voice.

    As soon as that was heard, the system was very prompt in its work.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    UNKNOWN DAO TRACE: Identified!

    Unknown Dao Trace (Main body) [Compatibility: 100%] -> Upheaval Dao Trace (Main body) [Compatibility: 100%]

    RECORDED DAO TRACES: 17 Detected

    1. Fire Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    2. Water Dao Trace [Compatibility: 32%]

    3. Earth Dao Trace [Compatibility: 96%]

    4. Wood Dao Trace [Compatibility: 62%]

    5. Metal Dao Trace [Compatibility: 85%]

    6. Wind Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    7. Lightning Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    8. Light Dao Trace [Compatibility: 26%]

    9. Darkness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 11%]

    10. Shadow Dao Trace [Compatibility: 19%]

    11. Spear Dao Trace [Compatibility: 38%]

    12. Beast Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%]

    13. Formation Dao Trace [Compatibility: 40%]

    14. Sword Dao Trace [Compatibility: 32%]

    15. Poison Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    16. Assimtion Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%] [new]

    17. Upheaval Dao Trace (Main Body) [Compatibility: 100%] [new]

    .

    .

    .<sub> </sub>

    NOTIFICATION: The host is now eligible to break through to the Dao Treading realm.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu didn''t speak for a few minutes, basking in the information that had just been obtained.

    Then five minutester, he finally reacted.

    "AHAHAHA! HELL YEAH!" Lin Wu shook his body while his tail iled around with the hundred or so tentacles dancing.

    The thing that he had been waiting for so long had finally happened. Lin Wu could have reached the Dao Treading realm long ago as long as he used one of the Dao Traces he had grasped to birth a Dao Embryo.

    But he had waited patiently, hoping to uncover the two unknown Daos that had the highestpatibility with him. He didn''t know why they hadpletepatibility with him, either.

    After all, even the other Daos that were highly rted to him, like the Beast Dao, were still not at the 100%.

    Lin Wu had once asked the system if it could assess thepatibility of others with the different Daos and it could. This was also how he had seen thepatibility of the Long n ancestors.

    But when seeing the percentage ofpatibility, Lin Wu was a little lost.

    Even someone like Shirong, who had the Thunderpool Serpent Bloodline, had a variant nascent soul that had absorbed heavenly tribtion lightning as well as having cultivated the Immortal Sky Shaker art only had apatibility if 90% with the Lightning Dao.

    And despite that, he was quite strong with it. This only showed to Lin Wu that the percentage ofpatibility had more than just the body and understanding as requirements.

    There were certain unknown factors contributing to it. And today, he had finality grasped what that was.

    ''If a Dao is someone''s personal Dao, they can restrain others from learning it. And considering that I had 100%patibility with two such Daos can only mean one thing. The fewer people there are practicing it, the higher the upper limit ofpatibility.'' Lin Wu understood.

    The voice had said that the other Dao was also something that was long lost.

    "If the Dao of Upheaval is lost, then it doesn''t have any practitioners. As for the Dao of assimtion, that voice is probably the only one." Lin Wu muttered as more thoughts appeared in his mind.

    After fifteen minutes, he had calmed down, though.

    He opened up one of the windows and called for someone.

    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~

    Ten minutester, a set of footsteps could be heard.

    "You called for me, Master?" The voice of a girl could be heard.

    "Yes Cang Ci." Lin Wu replied, looking at the girl who had not changed since theirst meeting.

    "I''ve been waiting or you to call me. The resources we obtained from the Cang Lan sect have already been ced in the storage. You can collect them when you please." Cang Ci informed.

    This was something that Lin Wu had told Cang Ci a while back, before the wedding had even started. He had sent her to the Cang Lan sect to spy on them and obtain the information of their resources.

    Lin Wu wanted to know where all the hidden stashes were, as well as how they were secured.

    Then once the time for the wedding came, the Cmity fiend would make its appearance, causing damage to the entire area. But secretly, the resources would be quickly transported away by Cang Ci and the Emeraldine Pulse Cicada.

    This was the secret mission she had carried out sessfully.

    After all, there was no way Lin Wu would demolish a sect with such a long history and riches. It would be too much of a waste.

    But to others, it was simply a tragedy, with the inheritance of the Cang Lan sect being erased.

    "You did good work, but that''s not why I called for you." Lin Wu replied.

    "Then what is it, master?" Cang Ci asked, while tilting her head.

    "I''ll be breaking through soon. I would like you to put the city and the rest of Tieba territory into lockdown." Lin Wu ordered.

    Hearing this, Cang Ci''s eyes widened, but she quickly replied, "at once, master!"

 Chapter 963 The Upheaval Totem

    Lin Wu didn''t know what kind of effects his breakthrough to the Dao Treading realm would have on the are thus he reckoned it was best to keep any trouble to a limit.

    Putting the city on Lock down would ensure that no one would cause an unnecessary disturbance. Though Lin Wu also had isting arrays set up in the city for himself, he still found this to be the better option.

    After Cang Ci left to carry out his orders, Lin Wu switched back to his main body. He needed his main body to be higher than his avatar after all.

    "The forest will also need to be under a simr lock downбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself and sent out several messages.

    Within minutes of his arrival in the tomb, the Millennium Forest underwent a subtle change. The sounds of beasts reduced greatly, while their movement was also restricted. Several open trade areas of the kingdom closed up, making the humans visiting the kingdom confused.

    But they didn''t question or make anymotion. They simply returned to the areas they were assigned to be in.

    In the current time, there was no one that would dare to make any trouble in the Millennium Forest Kingdom. Doing so would only mean their doom. Not only would they be dealt with strictly by the beasts, when they left the kingdom they would still be ostracized by the other parties.

    No one would want to associate themselves with someone that caused trouble in the Millennium Forest kingdom or offended the beasts there. The kingdom brought great business and supplied a lot of resources to all over the continent now after all.

    ~huu~

    "Let''s get this started thenбн" Lin Wu muttered as he verified everything onest time.

    "Start the breakthrough system!" Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DAO TRACE: Selected

    NOTIFICATION: Upheaval Dao Trace shall be used for breakthrough to the Dao Treading realm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Upgrading!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu felt his vision go dark almost instantly when the upgrade was started. It was rather different from his previous breakthrough and he couldn''t sense anything happening around him.

    ''This is newбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    ~SHUA~

    But then a few momentster, he felt his mind shake.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Then in front of him, several motes of light manifested. These motes of light were dark red in color and had a ck and grey edge to them. Lin Wu instinctively knew what they were upon seeing them.

    "Dao Traces of Upheavalбн" Lin Wu identified despite seeing them for the first time.

    The Dao Traces were seemingly appearing out of nothingness, but Lin Wu knew it was not like that. They were in facting from his own body.

    ''Were they always in there?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    The Dao Traces continued to increase in number and it took around an hour for them to start the next process. By now a significant amount of them were present and could easily cover tens of meters of area.

    ~HUALA~

    The Dao Traces started being sucked to a single point in the air before spirit Qi started pouring into that point too. All the Dao Traces that were scattered were now concentrated around a single point.<sub> </sub>

    This led to the formation of a dark red sphere with ck and grey edges. It was thirty centimeters in diameter and had a strange aura to it. If one looked at it, they would feel very anxious and uneasy.

    And if they continued to stare, they might even breakout in a panic attack.

    ''The Dao Embryo should be forming soon right?'' Lin Wu wondered why it was taking so long.

    But no longer how much Lin Wu waited, there seemed to be no change.

    "Did itg out?" Lin Wu was confused now.

    This was his longest breakthrough yet, and he wondered why it was not progressing along.

    He gazed at the sphere of Dao Traces and pondered on it. Unknowingly he got lost in it.

    Ten minutesбн twenty minutesбн forty minutesбн two hoursбн four hoursбн eight hoursбн twenty four hoursбн

    Lin Wu lost his sense of time and nkly stared at the Dao Traces, until finally his spoke again.

    "The Dao of Upheavalбн bring forth disruption, disorder and chaos. Observe the beings suffer and reap their sufferingбн" Lin Wu muttered as an understanding formed in his heart.

    ~HONG~

    Finally, the dark red sphere that had not moved for an entire day showed some activity.

    It started topress and took a rectangr shape. The rectangle expanded, bing thicker before a pattern formed on it. With this the shape was finalized and the Dao Embryo started to transform.

    It took on a darker shade of red than before. The Dao Embryo now looked like a stone tablet that had been sttered with blood for a longtime. The blood had coated it over and over again, while also drying up and turning a dull grey in color.

    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~

    But then a surprising change urred, cracks formed on the stone tablet!

    It looked like the stone tablet had been struck by a sledgehammer. It stayed in the damaged state for a while before a gold aura appeared around it. The aura seeped into the tablet and filled the cracks that had formed earlier.

    Now it looked like the blood weathered tablet had gold cracks on it.

    ~SCREECH~

    The sound of something sharp scratching against stone could be heard at that moment. It looked like something invisible was carving something on the stone tablet. The scratches though looked like brush strokes as a character was being carved into the stone tablet.

    The character wasplex having over a hundred strokes easily. But once it was done, Lin Wu could finally read it.

    "Upheavalбн The Upheaval Totemбн The mottled stone signifies the passage of time, the blood signifies conflict and the gold is the fortune obtained in it all. Such is the upheaval totem." Lin Wu chanted lightly.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    <o>,m CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Completed.</o>

    бкбк

    Lin Wu opened his eyes, and the scene in front of him faded away.

 Chapter 964 The Helix Of Assimilation

    "That was certainly quite differentбн" Lin Wu spoke as he sensed the changes within his body.

    Inside his Dantian, the new Dao Embryo had already taken ce within the Dao Shell. The window floating in front of Lin Wu also confirmed that he had indeed broken through.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    AGE: 26 years, 9 months, 1 days

    LIFESPAN: 8,000 years [updated]

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Embryo Birth Stage of the Dao Treading realm [updated]

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [????/????] units (liquid spirit qi) [updated]

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 300,000,000 units [liquid spirit qi] [updated]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 400,000,000 Units [updated]

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)

    DAO EMBRYO: Upheaval Totem Dao Embryo (Dao of Upheaval) [updated]

    бкбк

    A lot of changes were visible in the window.

    The first change being the fact that Lin Wu had gained another two thousand years of lifespan. He already had a longer lifespan than an average expert at the same level, but now it was exceeding even more.

    "I already have more lifespans than a First Tribtion Immortal don''t I?" Lin Wu realized.

    When one reached the Dao Treading realm, they would usually have four thousand years of lifespan. Reading the Immortal Ascension realm would add another two thousand years, taking this to a total of six thousand years.

    This was the maximum lifespan one could normally have in the spirit cultivation realm. But if one managed to breakthrough and bing an Immortal, they could continue to expand their lifespan even more.

    Bing a false immortal granted a cultivator an additional thousand years before they would have to undergo their first immortal Tribtion. And once they did that, they would get another thousand years.

    Combining all this gave one a grand total of eight thousand years. If immortals saw Lin Wu and learned of his lifespan, they might just have Qi deviation from jealousy.

    ''And this will only continue to get exaggerated, won''t it? I haven''t even formed the second Dao Embryo for my unknown bloodline''s Dao shell.'' Lin Wu thought.

    The second Nascent soul and Dao Shell was what was giving Lin Wu additional lifespan thus he was intending on taking full advantage of that.

    "But I don''t even know what Dao Trace would be used for the unknown bloodlineбн Maybe I''ll learn it after I progress the bloodline more." Lin Wu pondered.

    The next change was the requirement for spirit Qi turning iprehensible. This was something Lin Wu had already guessed since the Dao Treading realm didn''t depend on spirit Qi in the first ce.

    As for the increase in his spirit Qi and vital essence storage? It was all obtained from the Cang Lan sect.

    "I haven''t even gotten to the resources eitherбн there will be a lot more to takeбн Heheбн" Lin Wu chuckled.

    The spirit Qi and vital essence he had right now was just the leftover amount. In fact, Lin Wu had used quite a lot during the battle as well as to recover his injuries. Despite all this, he had stille out on top with a profit.<sub> </sub>

    "This''ll be perfect for the initial stock of the weapons. It''ll be the perfect investment, that''ll pay for itself soon enough." Lin Wu was really happy with the deal that had been made.

    It basically ensured that he would never run out of spirit Qi and vital essence for theing years.

    All the kingdoms, sects and ns will be hunting out using his weapons, which would give him more spirit Qi and vital essence.

    "And since I don''t need to make the weapons give spirit Qi to the user, like in the case of Shirong, I''ll make a huge profit." Lin Wu smiled widely.

    If Shirong heard this, he would be rather relived too as he would still be the only special person with a pseudo immortal weapon that could help increase his cultivation base directly.

    Though in all this, Lin Wu realized he had forgotten something.

    "Wait, show me the monitors for the forest, system." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    In the next moment, hundreds of monitoring windows appeared around him. Lin Wu carefully scanned through them finding no trouble. He even went so far as to rewind to older recordings.

    "Huhбн there were actually no outer signs of my breakthrough." Lin Wu was truly surprised.

    After all, each of his breakthroughs had been wild and created a hugemotion. But this time, no one even knew that he had broken through. The breakthrough was so covert that even the isting barrier of the tomb was not triggered.

    Lin Wu didn''t know the reason behind this, but he reckoned it had to do with the way how his Dao Embryo was formed.

    "Hmmбн doesn''t seem like I need to stabilize my cultivation base here either. Guess I can get the avatar to speed up as well." Lin Wu decided.

    He quickly switched over to the Avatar and got to work.

    "Alright system, initiate the breakthrough for the Avatar as well!" Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DAO TRACE: Selected

    NOTIFICATION: Assimtion Dao Trace shall be used for breakthrough to the Dao Treading realm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Upgrading!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was fully prepared this time and was ready to see his vision darken. But it simply didn''t happen.

    "Huhбн guess that was unique to the main body." Lin Wu muttered as he sensed the change happening in his Dantian.

    Inside it, the Dao shell was trembling. Prismatic looking Dao Traces were gathering within it and were continuously changing shapes. There was no long wait time for the avatar as the Dao Traces transformed almost instantly.

    ~SHUA~

    The Dao Traces first formed a t triangr tform and then from it, a helix like pir rose. The pir reached a height of sixty centimeters before finally stopping. The helix like pirs'' supports were dark grey in color while the prongs that connected them all were prismatic in color.

    Lin Wu felt a new set of information appearing in his mind about the Dao Embryo.

    "The Helix Of Assimtionбн"

 Chapter 965 A Streamlined Path

    The Dao embryo that Lin Wu had just formed was named ''Helix Of Assimtion.''

    Lin Wu also understood how the Embryo worked or what its function was. Unlike the previous Dao Embryo, the Totem Of Upheaval, he obtained a lot of information.

    ''The difference is quite drasticбн or is this due to the fact that I was specifically permitted by that unknown being?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    In fact, Lin Wu got what was basically a manual for progressing the Helix of Assimtion.

    "Huhбн the process is rather straightforwardбн pretty much what I have been doing all this timeбн" Lin Wu said upon going through the instructions.

    In the Dao Treading realm, one needed to grow their Dao embryo while alsoprehending the Dao from it. The methods to growing the Dao Embryo were varied and not everyone had the same method.

    Many people even searched for thousands of years while being stuck at the very first stage. But to Lin Wu, it was as if it was handed on a silver tter.

    The method was simpleбн he just needed to consume other beings. Whether they be animals, beasts, nts and all creatures. Heck, they didn''t even need to be living things in some cases.

    As long as it was something unique and/or had energy, it would help progress his Dao Embryo. And the growth of the Dao embryo would also increase hisprehension of the Dao automatically.

    It was a streamline method and would be perfect for Lin Wu.

    "It''s almost as if this was made for meбн no, waitбн I''ve been following this pattern since the start so it''s obvious for it to have appeared to me." Lin Wu corrected himself.

    He was the one who had created the ideal conditions for this Dao to have presented to himself after all.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    AVATAR CULTIVATION: Embryo Birth Stage of the Dao Treading realm [updated]

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [????/????] units (liquid spirit qi) [updated]

    BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

    2. Vermillion bird (Fragmented)

    3. Chimeric Fiend Worm Bloodline (System Manufactured)

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (Beast soul)

    DAO EMBRYO: Helix Of Assimtion Dao Embryo (Dao of Assimtion) [updated]

    бкбк

    The changes in the Avatar data were simr to those of the Main body. The main difference was simply in the Dao Embryo it now had.

    "So the breakthrough is finallypletedбн" Lin Wu didn''t feel that different from before.

    ''Hmmбн perhaps I need to trigger the Dao Embryo to feel it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The Dao Embryo, Helix Of Assimtion wasn''t really something that directly contributed in offense or defense after all. It provided more of a passive support, allowing Lin Wu to grow stronger faster.

    Thus he couldn''t just ''activate'' the Dao Embryo''s Dao Skill to see its effects.

    "Now that I think of it, isn''t the Totem Of Upheaval still a mystery to me? I don''t even know its actual function or the Dao skill that came with it." Lin Wu realized.

    The unknown being had called it a lost Dao, and Lin Wu wondered if it having no other practitioners actually influenced the amount of information learned.<sub> </sub>

    ~Sigh~

    "Doesn''t matter. I''ll just have to learn it on my own. This is what normal cultivators do anyway." Lin Wu didn''t think he was at any disadvantage.

    And while thinking about this, another thought came to it.

    "Hang onбн did my breakthrough cause any trouble?" Lin Wu wondered and checked the monitoring screens. "Huhбн nothing? Really?" he couldn''t believe it.

    "System, were there really no changes in the area due to my breakthrough?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s breakthrough have been highly contained naturally and did not cause any external effects. No one knows that the host has broken through other than the servants and subordinates that share the Emeraldine Legion Bloodline.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн well this can be an advantage I suppose. I can continue to keep my cultivation base a mystery to others." Lin Wu reckoned.

    Lin Wu spread his spirit sense, grasping all that was happening within Tieba city at once. The city had already be his ''base'' a few years ago and was firmly under his control.

    Or rather, under the control of the ''Shadow lord'' as he had been unofficially called.

    The soldiers Lin Wu had raised along with Feng were the ones controlling the city now. Cang Ci had also contributed to it all, being Lin Wu''s main executive here. She was the only one that knew of Lin Wu''s two identities other than some of his beast subordinates.

    Because of this, Cang Ci''s duties were also quite vast having to do work for ''both sides''.

    "I should call her nowбн I can make some changes in the n." Lin Wu muttered and sent a message to her.

    ~step~step~step~

    Rushed footsteps could be hearding from the distance just a couple minutes after Lin Wu had sent out the message.

    "Master!" Cang Ci called out upon seeing Lin Wu. "Youбн feel different."

    "I do?" Lin Wu couldn''t tell the difference in his own aura like this but it seemed like others could. "How so?" he questioned.

    "You feel likeбн likeбн a vortex? Like you would sweep away everything with you." Cang Ci answered.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu found it to be somewhat urate. ''Guess this is the change from my Dao Embryo.'' He reckoned.

    "Did you finish your breakthrough already?" Cang Ci guessed.

    "I did indeed." Lin Wu nodded his head. "And as a virtue of that, we can now make some improvements."

    "Congrattions!" Cang Ci said with a bright smile. "And what do you have in mind for improvements?" she asked.

    "You said once before that we have several people willing to join us, but they need to see a figurehead?" Lin Wu asked in turn.

    "Y-yes. They want to see the so-called Shadow Lord." Cang Ci confirmed.

    ~SHUA~

    "Wellбн tell themбн they can meet him if they want to." Lin Wu said while a person formed next to him.

 Chapter 966 A Puppet

    "Master, thisбн" Cang Ci almost couldn''t believe her eyes.

    There was now an entirely new person standing next to Lin Wu. The strangest part was that this person was merely a tentacle a few moments before.

    "I am the Shadow Lord, and I shall rule the Tieba City. HAHAHAHA!" The ''man'' spoke only making Cang Ci feel uneasy.

    "How''s that for a puppet?" Lin Wu asked.

    "So this is a puppet?" Cang Ci felt relieved.

    "Yes, you can say that." Lin Wu confirmed.

    ~phew~

    Cang Ci took a breath of relief, making Lin Wu raise a brow.

    "What''s wrong?" Lin Wu asked finding her actions a little strange.

    Cang Ci wasn''t one to get irked by gore or blood. And this wasn''t like that at all. Thus it made Lin Wu wonder what was wrong.

    "You don''t feel it master?" Cang Ci replied with a question instead.

    "Feel what?" Lin Wu was only getting more confused.

    "This puppet of yoursбн the aura it exudes is different from yours. It is moreбн Evil." Cang Ci answered. "Evil enough that it makes me want to run." She added.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu turned the puppet around and observed it.

    The puppet''s face was that of a handsome man. His brows were sharp but broad like sabers, and his eyes were ck. The hair on his head was long and reached all the way to the waist. At the same time, azy smile was hanging on his face.

    It was a face that Lin Wu had seen a long time ago.

    It was the face of Hei, the man whom the Skull god had taken over in the past. It was the same man who had brought upon the downfall of the Vermillion sect.

    ''I picked this face as it was the perfect match for a position like the Shadow Lord. But to think it could actually exude an aura like that too?'' Lin Wu suddenly realized that his innate sub-skill had a lot more to it.

    "Hmmбн Give me a minute." Lin Wu said before closing his eyes.

    He went through his memories, faces of many people appearing in his thoughts. From these thousands of faces, Lin Wu finally picked one.

    Then, the face of the puppet started to change quickly turning old.

    Now the face belonged to that of an old man who seemed to be in his sixties. His cheeks were sunken in and his eyes were dull. It seemed like he was on the verge of death and had been starved for weeks on end.

    "How''s it now?" Lin Wu inquired.

    "Now it feelsбн Weak?" Cang Ci replied.

    "I see, so a beggar is weak." Lin Wu went through the faces once more, changing the puppet''s appearance.

    "How about now?" Lin Wu asked again.

    This time, the puppet had taken on the appearance of a young woman dressed in a long dress. She looked to be in her early twenties and had slim lips.<sub> </sub>

    "Cang Qing?" Cang Ci identified the face that was once Wang Xiong''s betrothed.

    "Yes. How does her aura feel like to you?" Lin Wu asked.

    "It''s basically the same as her. It feels like she is really here." Cang Ci replied.

    Hearing this Lin Wu felt enlightened.

    "So it really is like thatбн" Lin Wu had a sense of understanding. ''The Humanoid Mimicry sub skill doesn''t just copy their appearance, but also their demeanor and aura. This is far beyond just a replica.''

    This also allowed him to figure out another aspect of the skill.

    ''No wonder it takes so much spirit Qi to use. It''s not just forming a body, but an entire personality and aura at the same time.'' Lin Wu noted.

    ~SHUA~

    The puppet changed its appearance and returned to being Hei.

    "From now on, this will be the official appearance of the Shadow Lord." Lin Wu stated. "You can call those that have been wanting to meet him." He added.

    "I''ll do that yes. Also I think, the lords who have already epted your rule might also be interested in doing the same." Cang Ci replied.

    "Of course. You can call them all. And don''t forget to let some people spread rumors about a new lord in Tieba city too." Lin Wu instructed. "We need to stir up the conflict after all."

    "It shall be done as per your wishes." Cang Ci agreed right away.

    But then she looked up at the puppet and furrowed her brow.

    "Master may I suggest that you do something about the ''attachment''." Cang Ci pointed to the tentacle that connected the puppet to Lin Wu''s body.

    "I can''t really do anything about that. It needs to stay attached to me." Lin Wu replied.

    "Then you can just hide it some other way." Cang Ci replied. "Maybe under the long robes like the Emperors wear in tales?" she suggested.

    "Ah yes! That''ll work well." Lin Wu epted.

    ~RUSTLE~

    In the next moment, the clothes on Hei''s body started to writhe and squirm. The elder robes of the Vermillion sect changed their appearance, bing ck before the bottom part started to end.

    It covered the tentacle that attached to the body and continued to extend for nearly ten meters before stopping.

    Now it looked like the puppet was wearing a very long cape.

    "That is much better." Cang Ci nodded her head. "I''ll go inform the lords and our future subordinates now." She said before taking her leave.

    While she was gone Lin Wu took the time to practice controlling the puppet. Making it walk, and run was the same as using his own limbs, but it led to the robes being shifted, allowing the tentacle to be seen.

    "Hmmбн I best keep this stuck." Lin Wu then simply connected the robe to the tentacle directly.

    After all, the clothes that the puppet wore was Lin Wu''s body too. Even if they looked like fabric, they were not that. Lin Wu could control them in any manner he wanted while also changing its properties.

 Chapter 967 A Secret Meeting

    In the Tieba city, a rather tense atmosphere was present.

    To themoners of the city, this seemed like a hidden conflict, but to the higher ups it was different. Groups of cultivators from various parts of the city were currently gathering around a rather deste looking building.

    Hushed voices could be heard, as they conversed amongst themselves.

    "Hey, is this really the building they called us to?" Someone questioned.

    "The location matches the one mentioned in the notice." Another person checked.

    "Stillбн isn''t this rather suspicious?" the first person asked.

    "What do you mean suspicious? This is Tieba city, if this is suspicion here then the entire city is suspicious." Someone joked.

    "Also, what was this building even used for?"

    "I inquired and apparently this used to be a ughter house once. But now its just part of the slum."

    "A ughter house, huhбн does seem appropriate for someone like that lordбн"

    ~CHIME~

    While the discussions continued, the sound of faint chimes could be heard. Some of the more sensitive people noticed it immediately, but the others were yet to realize. It wasn''t until a young woman appeared did they stop talking.

    "M-miss Cang!" The people recognized the woman.

    "I see that everyone is here on time. Perfect!" Cang Ci smiled, sending shivers down the spine of many men.

    All of them had looks of fear and anxiety on their face, and only the older experts looked calm. It was evident that Cang Ci held some reputation in their circle, and it was not the good kind.

    "Now then, please follow me." Cang Ci inly stated.

    ~gulp~

    Many of the people couldn''t help but feel even more nervous. Only the old elders among them seemed to be able to maintain theirposure.

    ~Creak~

    The old gate of the ughter house creaked, its hundred year old hinges crying out in protest. The inside of the building was revealed, looking to be rather clean but still empty.

    "Huh, there''s nothing here?" the people couldn''t see anything or anyone there.

    "No one should stand outside. Everyone please get into the building." Cang Ci ordered.

    "Y-yes!" The people replied before hurrying into the building.

    ~DENG~

    Once everyone was in, the gate automatically closed making them tremble slightly.

    "The lord will meet you shortly," Cang Ci said before making a symbol with her hand in the air.

    ~SHUA~

    This activated an array that was hidden in the ughter house all along.

    "What? A teleportation array?!" This time even the elders were taken aback.

    This was especially due to the fact that teleportation arrays were thought to be restricted in the city. But not in the sense that they couldn''t be made, but rather the fact that anyone that made it would be discovered.

    The consequence for it varied too. From being ignored all the way to being killed. All this depended on the power and standing of the person.<sub> </sub>

    The issue that the elders had right now, was the fact that they were higher ups of the city. If there was any new teleportation array built in the city, they should have known about it or at least been alerted.

    ''How did they hide from the city''s monitoring array?'' the elders couldn''t figure it out.

    Unfortunately for them they didn''t get to see if for more than a few seconds. Soon they were teleported away to an unknown location. In some ways, it was scary to the elders. After all, the strongest among them was at the Dao Treading realm, and yet they were being sent away helplessly.

    ~SHUA~

    Somewhere under the Tieba city, a teleportation circle appeared. And from the circle, all the people who were previously in the ughter house appeared.

    p ~thud~thud~thud~</anda>

    Those that were unable tond properly, fell to the ground. Though there were also those that were simply too shocked by the sudden teleportation and couldn''t recover in time.

    "What is this ce?"

    "Where are we?"

    "Are we even in Tieba city or its territory?"

    The ''guests'' had a lot of questions, but no one to answer them as of now.

    "Silence, watch your mouths and observe instead." One of the elders scoffed.

    With that warning, they quickly zipped up their mouths. They finally looked around and saw that they were in arge structure of some kind.

    The walls and roof were all made out of stone bricks that were definitely carved a long time ago, while the floor hadrge granite tiles.

    "Granite? This isn''t even from our territory." Someone recognized.

    "How could someone move such arge amount of granite here like this?" the people could see that the granite flooring easily covered several hundred square meters of area.

    The cost of such granite in Tieba city''s territory would reach a decently high level.

    "Not just that, isn''t this Ebony Scale Hard Granite?" One of the more knowledgeable experts recognized.

    ~GASP~

    "Isn''t that used in makingrge defensive castles?" The people were stunned.

    "Yeah, Ebony Scale Hard Granite is perfect for making structures and can easily bear hundreds of defensive formations being carved onto them. Furthermore, it conducts spirit Qi perfectly due to the natural veins present in it." A middle aged man exined while kneeling on the ground and observing it.

    After taking in the appearance of the structure, the group decided to walk towards the other end.

    "Let''s continue. The lord is probably waiting ahead."

    ~step~step~step~

    Thebined sound of hundreds of steps echoed in these halls for the very first time.

    A couple minutes,ter they all reached the next hall of the structure. The hall was veryrge, easily being five hundred meters in area. Tall pirs propped up its roof while banners with a strange motif were also hanging from them.

    The motif on the banner was that of a spiraling helix with a crown on top.

    And at the very end of the hall, they saw a wide wooden screen, on which the silhouette of a man sitting could be seen.

    "Ah, I see the guests are finally here." A voice was heard, sending chills down their spines.

 Chapter 968 The Devilish Shadow Lord

    An eerie silence was filling therge hall.

    The ''guests'' couldn''t help but feel cold on top of it, as an oppressive aura spread.

    ~Creak~

    The sound of a chair being pushed was heard, and the silhouette behind the wooden screen stop up.

    "Wee, my guests. I heard, you''ve been desiring to meet me." A man''s voice could be heard.

    The voice was a mix of enticing while also being unnerving at the same time.

    The weaker guests were too scared to speak anything, so the elders decided to take the lead.

    "Thank you for granting us this meeting. I am Lord Cao." An elder introduced himself.

    This was the same lord Cao who was once in a cooperative rtionship with Ji Xiaolian, the elder sister of Ji Shirong.

    "Ah, yes. Lord Cao, I know of you." The man''s voice was heard again and his steps drew closer.

    ~THUD~

    Finally, the silhouette reached the wooden screen and opened its doors.

    He was dressed in extremely long ck emperor robes. But these robes weren''t embroidered like what a normal king''s or emperor''s robes would be like. Instead, they were in ck and instead had red ents on it.

    The shoulder straps were red in color and the insides of the sleeves were red as well. The robes covered the man''s feet too, making it hard to tell if he was standing or floating in the very air.

    But the most eye-catching part wasn''t the clothes of the shadow lord; it was his face.

    In simple words, it could be described to be the perfect mix of elegance and evil. He had a chiseled chin, but his eyebrows were sharp and broad like sabers. His long ck hair hung just below his waist, looking like an inky waterfall.

    The Shadow lord pupils were pale red in color and felt like a deep abyss that might suck those that stared into them for too long.

    Then in the center of his eyebrows there was a symbol.

    This symbol was none other than the same symbol that was hanging from all the banners in the hall. It was the spiral helix with a crown on top of it.

    "You can call me the Shadow Lord." The man standing between the doors spoke.

    But no one responded to his words immediately. They felt a little too lost watching him.

    ~COUGH~ COUGH~ COUGH~

    Then a few secondster, the weaker guests directly coughed out some blood. Even the stronger guests looked a little pale.

    ''Just what is this manбн his appearance alone is enough to give us minor bacsh?'' The elders were taken aback.

    They quickly selected one word as an assessment for the Shadow lord: Dangerous!

    Even if they had heard about his acts and his power. It had all been through a third person. They had never seen him, nor knew of his appearance until now.<sub> </sub>

    "Ah, I apologize about that." The shadow lord spoke, seeing the guests cough. "This was one of the reasons I avoid meeting others. You seeбн they can''t bear to see me at times." He said with azy smile.

    "N-noбн No need to apologize Shadow Lord. We were the ones who insisted on a meeting." Lord Cao replied, trying to maintain hisposure.

    The death of Ji Xiaolian had made his position fall quite a bit, and hiswork had also been torn apart. This had now made Lord Cao rather desperate to find some support. Thus when he had heard about the new lord in the city that had quickly taken control of many parts, he was very interested in him.

    And now, his old hesitance was already gone.

    ''I knew my intuition was not wrong! This is a powerful person to stick with!'' Lord Cao thought in his mind.

    "Now then, is there anything specific you all wanted to ask me?" The Shadow Lord questioned.

    "Wellбн many of us wanted to witness your grace in person. But we did have some minor inquiries." Lord Cao answered.

    "Oh?" The shadow lord raised a brow.

    "If the Shadow Lord may permit us to convey our inquiries?" another lord requested.

    It didn''t take long for them to quickly take on a submissive attitude. The aura and demeanor of the shadow lord was working perfectly well.

    "You may ask." The Shadow lord permitted.

    "Thenбн Shadow lord if I may ask, what is your goal?" Lord Cao asked. "I mean, I know our goal in Tieba city is to gain power and fortune. But I reckon someone like you and your strength should have no issues gaining power openly in the Long Continent." He exined.

    "So this is itбн" The Shadow lord smirked. "You see, I can definitely do what you are saying. And I have tried too."

    "Tried?" some of the people were confused.

    "Yes, tried. And I met certain obstacles." The shadow lord replied.

    "What kind of an obstacle would stump someone as you?" the lord wondered.

    "Like you said, your goal is to gain power and fortune. My goal is the same. It''s just that my scope is widerбн I prefer to keep my sights on the entire Ming Dao world." The Shadow lord stated, making everyone gulp. "I''d like it best if it was my personal property."

    ''That is borderline sphemousбн'' many thought.

    After all, Shadow Lord''s words could easily be considered going against the guardian ns of the Ming Dao world.

    "I see that the Shadow Lord is rather ambitious. So is the obstacle the other powers of the continent?" Lord Cao quickly grasped some unsaid points.

    "Indeed. I reckoned it would be best to start with one of the strongest powers of the Long Continent. And I even seeded. But at thest moment, someone interfered with my work." The Shadow lord answered.

    Just this alone was enough to turn everyone pale. They knew very well what the shadow lord was talking about.

    "The Cang Lan sectбн you don''t mean to sayбн" Lord Cao stuttered.

    "Yes, that was my work. Or more urately, the work of an ally: The Cmity Fiend."

 Chapter 969 Tempting The City Lords

    Lin Wu couldn''t help but be pleased upon seeing the faces of all the Tieba city lords and other high ranked people.

    ''They''ve already seen the power of the Cmity Fiend in person before, so this should make them convinced.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    This was the second part of his n to spread his influence beyond the Long Continent. Right now, he could be said to have almost full control over the Long Continent, but if he wanted to expand it beyond that, he needed an external threat.

    The Shadow Lord was the pawn he would use for that, and the Cmity Fiend would be the sword in its hand. Together they will be his means toplete control.

    ''Hopefully with that I can find that beast and finallyplete the unknown bloodline in my body.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    That was his ultimate goal for this world and would allow him to truly reach the peak. And while Lin Wu was thinking about all this, the people present in the hall were still reeling from the information.

    The words of the Shadow Lord, the puppet of Lin Wu were enough to send shivers down the spines of all.

    There was no one that didn''t know of Cmity Fiend now and the tragedy of Cang Lan sect was very fresh in all their minds. Even if Tieba city was independent and didn''t submit to the other powers, they still needed to consider their standing when the top sect gets eradicated.

    ~gulp~

    "The.. The... The Cmity Fiend?" Lord Cao asked with fear.

    "Yes, the Cmity Fiend. It is my ally. Our goals are aligned and so are our intentions." The Shadow Lord replied calmly.

    "My lordбн this isбн" Lord Cao didn''t know what to make of this.

    The Cmity Fiend had already been dered a massive threat and was possibly the greatestmon enemy for the entire Long Continent.

    "I know, it might be a bit surprising. After all, you and the other lords had a little misfortune with the Cmity Fiend before." The Shadow Lord stated.

    "You know of that too?" one of the other lords said in surprise.

    They had locked down this information and the Shadow Lord didn''t exist back then either. So it was confusing for them.

    "Of course. I know everything. If I don''t I would not bepetent." The Shadow Lord said with a hint of arrogance.

    The lords and other people in the hall couldn''t bring themselves to talk anymore. Silence fell in the hall for five minutes, each second feeling long and heavy to the people there. They wanted to end it and leave, but they didn''t dare to offend the man in front of them.

    Lin Wu too stared at them, not letting them rest at all.

    ''I think this should be enough silent torture for them all. Time to throw them a bone, hehehe.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Since you all have shown your willingness to join me in my pursuit, I shall offer you some reward as well." The Shadow Lord spoke up.

    Hearing the word reward made everyone''s eyes light up. After all they weren''t exactly saint''s here and the only reason they were even bothered about the situation was due to the fact that the Cmity Fiend was simply too dangerous.<sub> </sub>

    Even people with questionable morals like them needed to think twice before associating with a literal disaster like the Cmity Fiend. They had not forgotten its words either. The monster had sworn to consume everyone and it had done exactly that.

    ? They would not trust a monster like that, but now that there was another ''person'' allied with it, they felt a little relieved. They subconsciously thought that the Cmity Fiend wasn''t as distant.

    "May I ask what that might be, Shadow Lord." Lord Cao inquired. ''We''ve alreadye under him, there is no way we can turn back so I may as well see what we''re offered.'' He thought.

    "I offer you something simple, yet precious. I offer youбн Strength." The Shadow Lord replied before pointing with his left hand.

    ~SHUA~

    A teleportation circle appeared and from it, a man came out. He was dressed in ck robes, and a mask adorned his face.

    "Let me demonstrate it with a sample." The Shadow Lord spoke while gesturing with his hand.

    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~

    The masked man stepped closer and came to a stop before Lord Cao.

    "Lord Cao, you are at the Dao Treading realm and thus should be able to tell the cultivation base of this young man, shouldn''t you?" The Shadow Lord questioned.

    "Yes, I can of course." Lord Cao replied.

    "Then please do and tell me your assessment of him. He will also not resist, so you can check in detail." The Shadow Lord instructed.

    "Alright." Lord Cao quickly used his spirit sense and probed the masked man''s body.

    As soon as it entered his body though, Lord Cao sensed the surging spirit Qi and vitality within the man.

    "Such energy!" Lord Cao almost eximed.

    He continued his search and saw the man''s Dantian that was filled with strangely colored spirit Qi. But what he also saw was the Nascent soul floating in the Dantian.

    "Nascent soul realm?" Lord Cao muttered before his eyes went wide. "Noбн Nascent soul realm at the age of twenty five!?" he finally realized what the Shadow Lord was asking.

    "Indeed. This young man is in the Nascent soul realm. Since you''ve seen his bones, you can verify that he is indeed twenty five." The Shadow Lord replied.

    The others too checked and were shocked to find that this was true. A Nascent soul realm cultivator at the young age of twenty five wasn''t unheard of, but it was very rare.

    Even in Tieba city, they had a few individuals like this, but those were nurtured using lots of resources in the first ce.

    "What I offer you, is cultivation techniques that will put top grade techniques of this world to shame." The Shadow Lord finally revealed.

 Chapter 970 Hooking Them In

    "You will offer us this cultivation technique?" Lord Cao asked, still finding it unbelievable.

    "Yes. And not just that. For the lords here who have been stuck at your current bottlenecks I have something too." The Shadow Lord replied. "I can help you breakthrough further. You can reach the Immortal Ascension realm too." He added.

    As soon as the three Dao Treading realm city lords heard this, their throats went dried. But then their hearts started to pump fast and an irresistible temptation rose within it. They had exhausted their potential years ago, and only yearned to let their ns progress.

    But now that they had an offer to break through again, there was no way they would give that up.

    "We ept!" Lord Cao had no reason to reject it.

    ''Even if we had to associate with the Cmity Fiend, this is all worth it. Besides, it is better to side with the winning party.'' Lord Cao convinced himself.

    They didn''t care that they would be going against the entire Long Continent by doing this anymore.

    "Good." The Shadow Lord smiled. "I''ll give you all the cultivation technique. You can pass it on to your people and juniors. Let the grow strong first." He instructed.

    "W-what about us Shadow Lord?" one of the city lords asked.

    "You all can cultivate it too, the only difference is that it will take you longer as your bodies will take time to adapt to it. But once you have, I can assist you all in breaking through to the next realm." The Shadow Lord replied.

    Hearing this they felt satisfied. Being Dao Treading realm cultivators, they knew that switching a cultivation techniques wasn''t easy. The further one reached using a cultivation technique, the harder it became to switch.

    In some cases, it could even cause Qi deviation. Many times cultivators were at a loss even after finding a high ranking cultivation technique. Their past cultivation would sh with their new technique, effectively making it junk.

    Thus finding a suitable technique was very important. And the Shadow Lord''s words had just relieved that trouble for them. After all, just watching the juniors cultivate such a high ranking cultivation technique would have left them a little too jealous.

    "I shall impart it to you now." The Shadow Lord stated before lifting a finger.

    ~SHUA~

    Before they could even react, several streaks of smoke shot out from the Shadow Lord''s fingers. The smoke entered their forehead and they felt a sharp pain.

    ~UGH~

    A mix of cries and grunts were heard. The weaker cultivators fell to their knees and even the three city lords who were in the Dao Treading realm had to clutch their heads in pain.

    Ten seconds passed before the pain finality subsided. Everyone felt new memories appearing in their mind, and in these memories, there was information about the new cultivation technique.

    ''The Shadow Revolution Techniqueбн'' Everyone learned of the name.

    This was actually a weaker version of the Chimeric Revolution technique that Feng and Cang Ci practiced. Lin Wu had the system modify it so that it would be more stable and not make one explode.

    But despite that, its cultivation speed was still quite fast. It wouldn''t be unusual for a body tempering realm individual to reach the Nascent soul realm within a couple of years.

    And if one went ahead and used some ''unorthodox'' means they would be able to speed this up even more.<sub> </sub>

    "This is truly profoundбн such a technique is possible?" The three Dao treading realm experts had seen many cultivation techniques and manuals before.

    And yet, this one was the most shocking to them. The methods described in them were deep andplex. But despite that, they realized they were able to understand it fully.

    ''This can''t be normalбн is this due to the method Shadow Lord used to impart it to us?'' Lord Cao wondered.

    He had never seen or heard of such direct memory transmission before. He felt as if he had been learning this cultivation technique for many years.

    "We thank the Shadow Lord for your grace!" Lord Cao took the lead in thanking him.

    His voice was filled with gratitude and others quickly joined in as well.

    "We thank the Shadow Lord for your grace!"

    "We thank the Shadow Lord for your grace!"

    "We thank the Shadow Lord for your grace!"

    Their voices echoed in the hall, getting louder with each praise.

    ''Good! Good! Rejoice and spread the cultivation techniques to your people. Andбн then be sacrificed to my crystal weapons.'' Lin Wu chucked in his mind.

    This was his main goal behind giving such a strong cultivation technique to them. Since he was gathering more and more spirit Qi, he couldn''t just rely on beasts to do that.

    Plus the powers of the Long Continent would be getting aggressive soon, having to go with the Cmity Fiend. There was no way Lin Wu would let all of them target the lone Cmity Fiend.

    Even if the Cmity Fiend could deal with them all, the gains from that for him will be quite less. The efficiency would be low and the yield would be one time.

    But if Lin Wu spread a strong cultivation technique among the humans, he could then use them as a source of more energy and Qi.

    ''Grow fatter quickly with my ''fertilizer''бн'' Lin Wu internally said to his ''cattle''.

    He would be raising the humans, then letting them be ughtered by the crystal weapons. The spirit Qi absorbed from their bodies would then be returned to Lin Wu''s main body.

    It was the perfect sustainable farming method, in which he only needed to provide the tools. Once that was one, others would farm for him and then give him all the fruits.

    "Go on then, do what I''ve told you." The Shadow Lord spoke.

    "Do you not have any other orders for us, Shadow Lord?" Lord Cao questioned since Lin Wu had only given them a reward with no task.

    "For now, just focus on yourselves. Oh and also see if you can get others to join. If not, I''ll get rid of them."

 Chapter 971 Shadow Legion And Crystal Armament Bearer

    More than a year had passed since the tragedy of the Cang Lan sect.

    On the side of a mountain range, a battle was currently underway.

    "Don''t let them run!"

    "Kill them all!"

    "In the name of the Shadow Lord!"

    Several Nascent soul experts dressed in ck robes were fighting against what looked like a kingdom''s army. There were several Nascent soul realm cultivators in the army too, but their numbers couldn''tpare to those dressed in ck robes.

    "Dammit! The bastards of the Shadow Legion are too much!" One of the Nascent soul realm experts of the army cursed.

    Tens of their soldiers were being killed at every minutes, and the number showed no sign of falling.

    "Fall back! Fall back!" Unable to continue, themander decided to order a retreat.

    But it seemed like his decision hade toote.

    ~SHING~

    Several spirit weapons flew through the hair, targeting themander.

    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~

    Themander pped out with his palm, breaking apart the wind and blocking the weapons.

    "Shit! They are far too strongбн" Themander cursed. "But I won''t go down this easily." He fought back, sending out wind palms after wind palms.

    "Humph! Do you really think you can go against the Shadow Legion this easily?" one of the experts of the Shadow Legion taunted.

    Then in the next moment, he brought forth his palms together, condensing dark green energy within it. This energy looked to be Wind elemental spirit Qi, but there was something else mixed into it.

    "That''s not goodбн Yin Winds!" The moment themander saw the enemy prepare this move, he knew they were leaving no chance for him to survive.

    ~SHUA~

    The Shadow Legion expert shot out the Yin Winds, turning it into a dangerous viper. It rushed towards themander and left him unable to respond in time.

    ''I can''tбн'' Themander felt like death was just a moment away.

    ~BANG~

    But just before he could be struck by the Yin Winds, he felt an explosion ur in front of him.

    "Ugh!" the explosion send him flying back and the Shadow Legion expert was simrly sent back flying too.

    ~thud~

    Both of themnded in the distance, and quickly tried to recover. In a battlefield like this, even a moment''s pause could cause one to die. This was the same for the Commandeer of the army.

    "Huh?" But when he opened his eyes and saw the scene in front of him, he was left stunned. "Heбн He blocked it?" Themander couldn''t believe his eyes.

    In the distance stood a man exuding the spirit Qi waves of a Peak Nascent soul realm cultivator. But that wasn''t all, as he also had a weapon in his hand. It wasn''t until themander saw the weapon in the man''s hand didn''t figure out who it was.

    "Armamentбн A crystal armament bearer!" Themander eximed. "It''s A Crystal Armament bearer! The kingdom has sent reinforcements!" he proimed.

    The other soldiers who heard his voice were stunned but soon rejoinder.

    "HAHAHA!"

    "AHAHAHA! A Crystal Armament Bearer! It really is a Crystal armament bearer!"

    The soldiers were really excited to see this.<sub> </sub>

    The man holding the crystal weapon looked at themander and soldiers, giving them a nod of approval.

    "Shadow Legion! You''ve done enough!" the man spun the crystal armament in his hand.

    It was in the shape of a hammer and looked rather heavy. But at the same time, rich energy flowed around it, making it look rather dazzling.

    "Curses! A Crystal armament bearer is here." The experts of the Shadow Legion cursed, but didn''t falter. "Everyone focus on the crystal armament bearer! Kill him first!" the leader of the Shadow Legion experts ordered.

    "YAHHHH!" The Shadow Legion''s experts lunged at the hammer wielding man.

    Various attacks were thrown, while a myriad of lights flickered. Spirit Qi roused and winds blew.

    The battle was tense, but the hammer wielding man seemed to be on top. His hammer could sh with all the Qi skills and still be fine. But for those that used the Qi skills, all they felt was the bacsh from it.

    No matter what kind of skills they used, all of them were blocked or deflected.

    It was hard to imagine that the same group of people who were so easily suppressing the army were now being pushed back.

    Five minutester though, the first mortality was witnessed. "HAAA!"

    ~SPLAT~

    The Hammer wielding man smashed apart the head of a Shadow Legion Expert. One proper strike to the head was all it took for a Nascent soul realm expert to die.

    "He did it!" The soldiers felt their morale rising.

    They too continued to fight against the weaker shadow Legion members, and were now pushing them back bit by bit.

    "Don''t let them escape! All of them shall die today!" themander of the kingdom''s army quickly gave out orders.

    With that, the Shadow Legion, which was on the winning side all this time, became the loser.

    ~SPLAT~

    ~BANG~

    ~BOOM~

    The Crystal Hammer wielder killed four more Shadow Legion experts, not even letting their Nascent souls escape.

    "Just a little bit more. They are almost all goneбн" Themander muttered.

    "ARGH!" but just as he thought that things were turning in their favor, a mishap happened.

    The man wielding the hammer was struck by a long bone spear that had appeared out of nowhere.

    "What!?" Themander was stunned.

    "Youбн" the hammer wielding man felt his body being weakened.

    "You''ve killed four of our members. Take this as an honor that we''ll be dying together." A Shadow Legion member had his arm stabbed into the hammer wielding man''s chest.

    This arm was what the long bone spear had been formed from.

    "EVERYONE GET BACK!" the hammer wielding man shouted.

    "Watch out! He''s going to explode!" themander warned.

    ~KABOOM~

    And just as he did that, they saw the Shadow Legion expert blowing himself up. The hammer wielding man''s body exploded along with it, leaving behind no other trace than then Crystal hammer.

    "Heбн he''s deadбн" the soldiers were stunned.

 Chapter 972 Complimenting Dao Embryos

    The battle had been too much of a roller coaster for the soldiers of Pale Marble kingdom.

    They had been mobilized to their northern border after receiving news about the Shadow Legion''s activity. Upon reaching there, they discovered the Shadow legion''s members transporting a shipment of spirit stones.

    This could not be allowed and a battle broke out, but they never expected the Shadow Legion to have sent several Nascent soul realm experts to guard this shipment. After all, the cost of a Nascent soul realm expert was already quite high.

    High enough that the spirit stone shipment might not even pay enough for half a Nascent soul realm expert. And yet, over ten such Nascent soul realm experts were ready there.

    The Pale marble kingdom''s army quickly ended up in a passive state and barely managed to turn the tide with the appearance of a Crystal Armament bearer.

    The Crystal Armament Bearers were a new league of experts that hade into existence in the past year. This was all due to the work of King Lin Wu of the millennium forest kingdom.

    The main goal of the Crystal Armament Bearers was to go against the Shadow Cmity, and in turn the Shadow Lord. Just like Lin Wu had warned them a long time ago, the Shadow Cmity had started to spread its influence and now had many people under its control.

    These people became the Shadow Legion and worked under the Shadow Lord who was supposedly the leader of them all.

    The Shadow Legion mounted an offense against the orthodox powers of the Long continent, whether they be the kingdoms, sects or local powers. They never went for an all out war though, instead choosing to do targeted attacks and weaken said powers.

    Their strength was alsomendable, having obtained the ''blessing'' of the Shadow Lord. Their Qi skills and cultivation techniques made it so that they were very hard to defeat normal.

    To match one expert of the Shadow Legion, one needed three or four normal experts of the kingdoms. Such was the matchup that lead to their losses.

    Only the Crystal Armament bearers could go again the experts of the Shadow Legion on an equal level and defeat them.

    Yet despite this all, today another Crystal Armament bearer had fallen. A Shadow Legion expert decided to detonate his Nascent soul and kill the Crystal Armament bearer with it.

    "He''s deadбн" the soldiers who witnessed it all couldn''t help but feel despair.

    The bodies of the two were sted to smithereens and no fragment could be seen. The only thing that remained was the Crystal hammer that silently absorbed the energy from the air, unknowing to anyone.

    "Enough! We''ll retreat for now!" One of the Shadow Legion experts gave out the order.

    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~

    And with that battle came to an end, albeit with the death of several experts.

    The army of the Pale Marble Kingdom had managed to win today, but at a great cost too.

    "What do we do nowmander?" one of the captains in the army asked.

    The nascent soul realmmander gazed at the battlefield, and saw the flickering crystal hammer.

    "Collect the hammer. We need to end it back to the Millennium Forest kingdom. The Crystal Armament bearer''s kin will also need to be informed." Themander spoke.

    "Yes,mander!" the captain said, going ahead to carry out the orders.

    ~Sigh~

    "Just when did this became normal?" The Commander muttered to himself. ''Just a year ago things were supposedly turning calm. But now this Shadow Lord and Shadow Legionбн when will the Ming Dao world know peace?'' he wondered.

    Unfortunately for him, this scene was something that would repeat many times over theing months and years. It wouldn''t be the first loss for the Shadow Legion and neither would it be thest win for the orthodox powers.

    Though perhaps they had one sce in all this.<sub> </sub>

    It was the fact that every battle, every fight and every conflict was being watched and recorded.

    And the one doing this was none other than Lin Wu himself.

    "Ahh~ there we go. Another sessful battle." Lin Wu muttered seeing the battle concluded on the monitoring window.

    He then switched over to another window, ticking off another item on it.

    "There we goбн that''s the third conflict of the month. Two more and we''ll have reached the harvest quotaбн" Lin Wu spoke seeing the host data window.

    On that, a line showed the amount of spirit Qi Lin Wu had now.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    AGE: 28 years, 0 months, 29 days

    LIFESPAN: 8,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Embryo Growth Stage of the Dao Treading realm [updated]

    -Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [????/????] units (liquid spirit qi)

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 420,000,000 units [liquid spirit qi] [updated]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 500,000,000 Units [updated]

    NASCENT SOULS: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (human soul)

    2. Unknown bloodline (human soul)

    DAO EMBRYO: Upheaval Totem Dao Embryo (Dao of Upheaval)

    бкбк

    In the past one year, Lin Wu had obtained a rather tasteful harvest. Not only had he obtained over a hundred million units of spirit Qi, but he also had another hundred million units of Vital Essence now.

    Though this wasn''t his only gain over the year.

    Lin Wu''s cultivation base had also increased to the next step. Reaching the second stage of the Dao Treading realm, the Embryo Growth Stage in such a short time was unexpected, but Lin Wu understood why it progressed so fast.

    "The Helix of Assimtion and the Upheaval Totemбн One grows by absorbing others and the other grows by witnessing the chaosбн the two Dao Embryosplement each other perfectlyбн" Lin Wu said with joy.

    It wasn''t that long that he learned how to grow and progress his Dao Embryo.

    He simply had to use his Avatar to cause conflict and consume beings, while the main body would progress by observing it.

    These were the conditions of progressing the two Dao Embryo''s and they formed a feedback loop for each other.

 Chapter 973 Safety And Monitoring Measures

    With an almost perfect coordination between his Dao Embryo''s and their properties, Lin Wu basically had no bottleneck for a long time. Though this also came with its own issues.

    ''The Dao Skills aren''t reallyбн direct...'' Lin Mu recalled.

    For the Helix of Assimtion Dao Embryo, the Dao Skill that came with it innately was simr to Chimeric Adaptation. It basically allowed its user to strengthen their bodies the more kinds of creatures they consumed.

    It was a supportive Dao Skill and could not be used directly in battle.

    For the Upheaval Totem Dao Embryo, it was even moreplex. So much so that Lin Wu had yet to fully understand it himself.

    "I understand that it can strengthen me when there is Upheaval around me, but what does that exactly mean?" Lin Wu wondered to himself.

    At the very least, since Lin Wu knew how to grow them, he was fine with it all. He didn''t necessarily need to depend in Dao Skill either way. Plus, he was thinking of making more Dao Embryo''s in the future.

    ''One for each Dao Trace that had apatibility with meбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Then there is also the unknown bloodlineбн it hasn''t formed its Dao Embryo yet." Lin Wu didn''t forget it.

    Ever since he had reached the Dao treading realm, the unknown bloodline''s Nascent soul had been silent. It sat over the Dao shell and didn''t move nor did anything. It was if it didn''t even exist.

    <o>,m If it weren''t for the fact that Lin Wu could still sense it absorbing spirit Qi, he would have thought it had disappeared.</o>

    ~Sigh~

    "No use thinking about it too much. So far it has grown on its own, so it''ll do the rest automatically. If not, I''ll just have to wait till I find that beast." Lin Wu said to himself before switching to another window.

    Since his goal was to create an ''Upheaval'' he needed to monitor all his ns closely. Only when there was the perfect amount of input on multiple ends would he get the perfect mix of chaos.

    In front of Lin Wu, there were nearly a hundred screens floating.

    Each of the screen showed a different ce and different people. Some of these people were Lin Wu''s subordinates and servants, while some were people that he had given his crystal tes too.

    All of them were able to send back a data feed and had basically expanded Lin Wu''s scope of control and monitoring.

    "Hmmбн looks like the next set of crystal armaments will be arriving soonбн" Lin Wu could hear the chatter of people.

    Whenever these crystal armaments arrived, it would be a pleasing day for Lin Wu. He continued his work and passed the time until finally the crystal armaments were sent to the Millennium Forest kingdom.

    With the new merchant lines and safe routes set up by the beasts, the transport of high priority goods and messages was very fast.

    ~SHUA~<sub> </sub>

    A teleportation circle opened up and from it appeared an Emeraldine Monkey.

    "My King, the humans have sent over the Crystal Armaments for ''repairs''." The Emeraldine Monkey spoke. "I have also added the list of changes they want for the next users." He added.

    "Good, you can leave them here." Lin Wu was rather eager to start his ''work''.

    The Emeraldine Monkey cupped his hands before taking his leave.

    "Finallyбн time for a little snackбн" Lin Wu tapped on the storage treasure that the beast had brought, taking out all of its contents.

    The storage treasure was a special version of spatial storage tools that had been developed by the Lian n along with cooperation from Lin Wu. These storage tools were modified to have higher security and defenses.

    If anyone that was unauthorized to have it, tried to open one, they would most likely die. There were several Qi skills stored in the spatial storage tool and could even kill a Dao shell realm cultivator.

    In fact, the security was so high that it didn''t even need escorts to be transported. The only reason why they still did so was because other materials would also be transported along with them.

    Lin Wu had gotten the system to research quite a bit to make the perfectly secure storage treasure. In addition to the offensive skills stored in them, they also had a permanent tracking formation within.

    The owner could use this to track, and Lin Wu could track all of them too regardless of ownership.

    Plus depending on how sensitive the goods being transported within them were, its security level could be adjusted too.

    For example, it could be made to explode if it left the body of the person that was transporting it. This would ensure that only authorized people could touch them or carry them.

    There had already been a few examples of thieves trying their hands at getting their goods. And every time, they had met with a very bad end.

    In the best case they would explode and die from the storage too and in the worst case they would face an army of experts as well as beasts.

    There were some versions that had a ''taunting'' feature built into it. It was basically a type of pheromone that would make beasts turn violent.

    So if anyone unauthorized had the stolen storage tool on them, they would be ''stained'' by this pheromone.

    Once that was done, it didn''t matter even if the stolen storage tool changed hands. They would keep on getting chased down by beasts no matter where they went. The worst part was that it didn''t just apply to cultivator beasts, it even applied to normal animals, insects and bugs.

    Thus finding anyone that had touched a storage tool would be easy. They would be constantly surrounded by a swarm of bugs, bees, mosquitoes and more animals.

    It might have just been one of Lin Wu''s most nefarious designs.

    "Let''s begin our snack time then, shall we?" Lin Wu picked up the first weapon and swallowed it.

 Chapter 974 A Volcanic Island

    ~Crunch~ Crunch~ Crunch~

    The sound of ss being crushed was heard as the crystal armament was ground down in Lin Wu''s mouth.

    Since they were part of Lin Wu''s body and were originally made from them, there were no issues in Lin Wu consuming them.

    In fact, he could have directly absorbed them by touching too, but eating was a lot faster.

    As for the repairs that were supposed to be done for the armaments?

    Lin Wu just got the system to synthesize more weapons from his body''s crystals.

    There was no actual repair needed since he could just make more of them in the blink of an eye.

    ~CLINK~CLINK~CLINK~

    New weapons started appearing from Lin Wu''s body and were neatly stacked on the side automatically.

    And by the time he was done making the new weapons, his ''snack'' had also finished.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI OBTAINED: 6,000,000

    VITAL ESSENCE OBTAINED: 3,000,000

    .

    HOST DATA: UPDATED

    SPIRIT QI STORAGE: 426,000,000 units [liquid spirit qi] [updated]

    VITAL ESSENCE STORAGE: 503,000,000 Units [updated]

    бкбк

    In just a few minutes Lin Wu had obtained what was essential a few months worth of cultivation gains.

    "Ahh~ Initiating this n was the best thing I''ve doneбн" Lin Wu said feeling satisfied.

    With such a stable gain and growth, there was little Lin Wu needed to do. As long as he spent his time hiding, he would umte arge amount. And this was exactly what he intended to do.

    ''Just a few more yearsбн I''ll keep on umting as much as I can. At least until my Dao Embryos reach their limitsбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself and went back to work.

    While Lin Wu continued his routine work, there was a group of individuals that had be interested in him.

    Of the southern coast of the Long Continent, nearly a thousand kilometers in the ocean there existed a group of inds.

    From the distance, these inds were covered in dense mist and other than a faint outline, nothing could be seen. Only when one reached close to it would they realize that the inds weren''t just dead.

    Hidden within the mists there rose a tall mountain. But the top of this mountain wasn''t in rock, but ming red!

    Dark smoke rose from it while a scorching heat could be felt when one was near it.

    This was an active volcano!

    Normally there should have been ack of life around a volcanic ind such as this, but it was the opposite here. There were plenty of trees and nts growing all around, forming a neat circle around the base of the volcano.

    The long rivers ofva flowing from the mouth of the volcano gave it a rather beautiful look. But this beauty came with danger and no beast dared to approach it.

    Despite the danger though, one could see a group of buildings built around theva rivers. Not just that, but there was one building that was directly built in a pool ofva. For it to not be burned by this showed the strengths of the defensive arrays.

    These buildings weren''t empty or abandoned either. The heat here would have been enough to make a normal human pass out in seconds, and even a core condensation realm cultivator would find it hard to stay there for more than a few minutes.

    And yetбн there were actually people inhabiting them.<sub> </sub>

    ~step~step~step~

    A set of footsteps were heard approaching the main building located in theva pool.

    ~CREAK~

    The person opened a pair of doors and entered,ing to a kneeling posture.

    "Master." The person spoke and lowered his head.

    Fifty meters away from him another person was located. This person was not wearing any robes on his upper body and had left it naked. His skin was a strange ash grey in color, while red and ck tattoos spread over it.

    The tattoo covered his back, chest and neck, ending at his jaw.

    The man''s face was simrly ash grey in color, but looked very old. It seemed to be a man in his 90s.

    The deep wrinkles along with the ash grey skin, made it feel like he was a corpse covered in ash, rather than a living human.

    ~HUU~

    But then the man''s chest moved, letting off a heated breath filled with smoke.

    ~gulp~

    The man kneeling on the doorstep swallowed his saliva, finding his throat getting drier by the second. Ayer of sweat also appeared on his back and forehead. The entire room was filled with smoke from the man''s breath, making it hard to see anything.

    ~whoosh~

    But then a minuteter, another breath sucked it back in.

    Once all the smoke was gone though, the man with the ash grey skin opened his eyes. Only one eye could be seen on his face though, with the left eye socked being empty.

    Even the right eye that seemed to be intact was a dull grey in color with cloudy spots on it.

    "Masterбн" The man kneeling at the door step spoke with deep emotion.

    "Haaбн Howбн Longбн Hasбн Itбн been?" The one eyed man questioned in a raspy voice.

    "Seven hundred and eleven years." The kneeling man replied.

    The one eyed man stared at the kneeling man, his cloudy eye having no proper focus.

    "Bring meбн" the old man ordered, not finishing his sentence.

    "Y-yes!" but the kneeling man didn''t need a full order to understand the intentions.

    He quickly stood up and approached the one eyed man before talking out arge drum. The drum was burning hot, and redva could be seen inside it. The man extended his hand over the drum and took out a knife.

    ~SLICK~

    He then slicked open his hand, letting blood spill into theva.

    ~HISS~

    A sizzling sound was heard and a burning smell filled the air.

    ~THUD~

    Then, at some point the old man grasped the drum, directly tilting it towards his face.

    ~GLUG~GLUG~GLUG~

    He consumed the entire drum ofva before wiping his face.

    "That''s betterбн I was parched."

 Chapter 975 Eight Hundred Years Of Calm And Thirty Years Of Change

    A scene like this was not something that everyone would get to see often.

    It was also something that many would not believe happened. After all, evens or a Dao Treading realm cultivator, hotva was something dangerous to consume. They might be able to touch it with no issues, but consuming it will most likely hurt them.

    And yet, there was this one eyed old man that seemed to be unaffected. Not just that, but even seemed to be rather satisfied with theva.

    The other man standing there was a little unnerved, but tried to maintain his expression.

    "Now then, what is it that you are here to inform me?" The one eyed old man questioned.

    "Master, there have been some rming changes these years." The man answered, making the old man raise his blind eye''s brow.

    "What kind of changes would make you wary? It''s not like the ''n'' has found us, have they?" the old man asked.

    "No, masterбн I don''t know how to fully ssify this, butбн it might be worse." The man spoke, swallowing his saliva in nervousness.

    "Something worse than the ''n''?" the old man muttered in wonder.

    "All I can say is that a new power has been created in the Long Continent. And this power has already spread its influence all over the continent, even having close ties with the Long n, JI n and the Lian n.

    The cultivation sects are already under its grasp too, and so are the kingdoms of the continent. They are also getting very rich with their trade." The man rified.

    "What kind of power can do this?" the old man was truly surprised now.

    "Not just that masterбн this power is actually a Kingdomбн a Kingdom of beasts!" the man finally revealed.

    "A kingdom of beasts? Now that isбн astoundingбн" The old man had certainly not expected something like this. "How and when did this start?" he asked next.

    "It is hard to tell, but the formation of the kingdom and its rapid rise happened in the recent ten to fifteen years. That''s something we know for sure." The man replied. "As for how they grew this fast, it can all be attributed to the ruler of the Kingdom."

    "Who is this ruler?" The old man was really interested.

    "His name is King Lin Wu, and he is the beast king of the Millennium Forest Kingdom." The man answered.

    "The Millennium Forest is now a kingdom, huhбн that was unexpected. How did the Ling Kingdom, Pale Marble Kingdom and Lugan kingdom react?" the old man asked.

    "Wellбн they had little to say under the power of the forest. The beasts of the forest have changed a lot and have taken on human tendencies. They have made their own civilization in the forest and even host humans.

    Not to mention, they now supply a vast variety of resources to the sects and kingdoms of the long continent. Their trade partnerships with the Lian n and various other powers hasted them a great fortune." The man exined.

    The old man was getting more and more interested in this.<sub> </sub>

    "Did you not try to check them out? I doubt you would have waited patiently." The old man stated.

    "Weбн did try. But all the ''specters'' we sent ended up dying. They weren''t even able to report in time. If not for their lifemps dying out here, we would have not even found out about their deaths." The man answered. "Whatever the Millennium forest kingdom has done for security is not simple." He added.

    "Hmmбн what''s their strength?" the old man inquired.

    "The main power of the Kingdom is their high leveled beasts. These beasts are part of the so called Emeraldine Legion which are directly under the King. Their lowest cultivation base is at the Nascent soul realm and the higher leveled ones are at the Dao Shell realm." The man replied.

    "But that''s not all there is to it, is there?" the old man guessed.

    "Noбн this is just what they show on front. I''m sure they have Dao Treading realm beasts among them too." The man replied. "Of course this is just the subordinates of the king. The king himself isбн strong."

    "Just strong? No specific cultivation base?" the old man was doubtful.

    "That''s the thingбн we can''t assess it at all. Its all over the ce. Originally we had thoughts that the king was at the Dao shell realm, but then he disyed capabilities that were way beyond the Dao Treading realm.

    And couple years ago the Long n made and official alliance with him, even giving the King the status of a ''Venerated Guest''.

    There are rumors that King Lin Wu is an Immortalбн or used to be one. There are other staggering rumors that are simply impossible to confirm and yet his current acts prove that they might be true." The man answered, only making the old man confused.

    "I have the entire report prepared here, please take a look master." The man handed a jade slip to the old man.

    The old man held it for about an hour, going through all the information. The more he learned, the more shocked he got.

    "Cmity Fiendбн Cang Lan sect''s endбн and Shadow Cmityбн" The old man muttered the main points that had pulled his interest.

    For a while, absolute silence was present in the room. The man stood there silently, not daring to disturb the old man.

    ~Sigh~

    "Eight hundred yearsбн for eight hundred years there was no change in the dynamics. And now in less than thirty years such a huge change happened? Not to mention, the return of the Shadow Cmity, I thought there was no one left that knew about it." The old man muttered to himself.

    "So it really is the same Shadow Cmity?" the man was surprised.

    "Indeedбн it is the same Shadow Cmity that turned me into the Ghost Of Tian." The old man confirmed.

    "What should we do now master?" the man asked.

    "Find the Shadow Lord."

 Chapter 976 An Emergency Message

    No one knew that someone long forgotten had be interested in the current events.

    And neither did Lin Wu knew, that there would soon be someoneing to pay him a visit.

    For Lin Wu, the days went by normally and another year had passed without much change in his routine. The spirit Qi and vital essence he had collected over the past year had increased once more, and his cultivation base had also been progressing.

    "Hmmбн Seems like going past the Embryo Growth Stage of the Dao Treading realm will take a long time." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Even with the boosted upheaval caused by the Avatar, there was still a slowdown in his progress.

    ''Then there is also the fact that I''ve consumed most types of beasts that there are on the Long Continent.'' Lin Wu realized another factor.

    The progress of the Helix of Assimtion depended on him consuming various kinds of beasts, nts and unique materials. Lin Wu had already reached a certain limit on the types of beasts he could consume.

    The avatar basically spent it free time wandering around the Long Continent, and consumed all kinds of beasts as well as nts. As for materials, they didn''t have much of an effect.

    Lin Wu reckoned they would have to be very unique and strong to give any noticeable growth to the Dao Embryo.

    "At the very least, the Upheaval Totem is still growing due to the constant battles in the continent." Lin Wu analyzed.

    Having understood this, Lin Wu realized that he had reached a point where the Long Continent might not be enough to provide him what he ended.

    "Looks like I''ll need to speed up some of my nsбн" Lin Wu reckoned.

    He had already intended to go to the other two continents, but he had thought it would take him a longer time. But now that moment hade earlier.

    ''Though I can''t do it carelessly. I can quite definitely send the avatar over, but doing that will make it harder to expert pressure on the people of the Long Continent. The Shadow Lord needs to be here for it to all work properlyбн'' Lin Wu continued to think.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Iing Emergency Message!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was suddenly brought out of his thoughts by a notification from the system.

    "Huh? This message." An emergency message was something only Lin Wu''s own subordinates could send.

    Even the so called ''Emergency talismans'' he had given to the kings and other people didn''t really count as an emergency for him. They were more like work calls for them since the target of those calls was none other than the avatar.

    And with Lin Wu''s influence increasing over the years, there wasn''t anyone that would dare to go against him. This was also why an emergency message like this was quite serious.

    His expression turned colder in that moment and he opened up the message. A frantic woman''s voice was heard in that moment.

    "Master! One of our shadow legion''s squad was attacked and captured. I went after them but wasn''t able to fight against the captorsбн they are stronger than me. I don''t know who they are either, but they are not saying anythingбк"<sub> </sub>

    The voice belonged to none other than Cang Ci and the message had cut off abruptly.

    "Seems like she was knocked outбн she''s not dead, that is sure, or the system would have given a direct warning. Also, the safety functions in her imnt didn''t activate eitherбн interesting." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Cang Ci was someone that was rather strong among his subordinates. With the many imnts that she had taken from Lin Wu, her raw physical strength alone couldpare to that of a peak Dao shell realm cultivator.

    Her own cultivation base had also reached the Dao shell realm a while back, and whenbining her physical strength and the cultivation base, her strength could easily contend against a Dao Treading realm cultivator.

    "For her to be captured like this, the captors should be at the Dao Treading realmбн and there have to be several of them to suppress her." Lin Wu analyzed the situation.

    He knew better than to act right away and took to thinking more.

    ''It is not someone from the sects or ns attacking her eitherбн there aren''t enough of them to do that.'' Lin Wu knew of every operation that was going all over the continent.

    Cang Ci herself was away on a different kind of mission. She had been sent to the southern parts of the Long Continent for gathering various beasts and nts that the avatar might have missed.

    Since the avatar needed to be in the Tieba city for the Shadow Lord, Cang Ci was the only one who could carry out that mission. And to make it a lot more efficient, she had brought along a squad of the Shadow Legion members, all of whom were at the Nascent soul realm.

    Such an entourage was something that even the kingdom''s armies would think thrice before attacking. Not to mention, their goal wasn''t to go out openly, simply to find beasts and nts.

    Thus, the chances of an open conflict happening were unlikely.

    "Looks like I''ll have to take a look personallyбн at least it gives a reason for the Cmity Fiend to act." Lin Wu muttered before closing his eyes.

    ~shua~

    His consciousness transferred over to his avatar and its eyes opened.

    "System, where is Cang Ci''sst location?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TRACER ACTIVATED: Markingst known location on map

    ROUTING: Fastest Route Calcted!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu gazed at the man and saw her final location during the emergency message to be in one of the smaller forests of the souths that were near the coast.

    "Time to see which power is trying to y around this time." Lin Wu said before moving into one of his many tunnels.

    This tunnel directly led to the south and was basically an expressway for him to travel.

 Chapter 977 Heading To The South

    Lin Wu rushed through his underground tunnels and covered thousands of kilometers of distance in less than a day. His efforts to building these tunnels were finally showing him the benefit.

    They were now his personal expressways that could allow him to go anywhere in the Long Continent. Of course, he was also intending on expanding them beyond it, but he simply hadn''t had the time to do it.

    After all, he only had two bodies to use and tons of work to do.

    ''Teleportation Array will still be the fastest. The Tomb''s recovery is going well, but it still needs a lot of work. At this point it''s more of a matter of time.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Even the matter of energy supply for the tomb had been mostly solved. Right now the tomb''s array could supply the entire forest a continuous supply of energy at the basic level. As for the more energy intensive uses, like teleportation and security arrays, they were being supplemented.

    "At the very least, the spirit stone mine source crystal from the Cang Lan sect areing in handyбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    After the Cang Lan sect had been erased, Cang Ci had taken away all the hidden resources. But the spirit stone mines still existed there, it was just that they were hidden by Lin Wu. He came to take them at ater date.

    The Cang Lan sect alone had two peak grade spirit stone mines along with a few more lower grade mines for a total of eight. This was a massive number and ording to the information Lin Wu had obtained before was inconsistence.

    The sect had actually hidden their true wealth that was in the form of the mines. All this now belonged to Lin Wu now and the source crystal were nted deep under the Millennium forest kingdom.

    They were nurtured ording to the most optimum method the system had devised and had already turned into a spirit stone mine. The only difference was that, instead of multiple spirit stone mines, it was a singrrge mine.

    If he wanted to make multiple mines, he would have to wait hundreds of years. With the system''s method, a single mine could be made in just a year or two with multiple source crystals.

    Thankfully though, the spirit stones in these mines weren''t really going to be use in the normal way. They were never going to be mined, instead they would be directly supplying energy into the array.

    This ended up providing enoughpensating energy that Lin Wu didn''t really need to worry about the tomb now. Even the repair process was mostly automatic, with the array having it integrated in its origin.

    It was one of the many worries of Lin Wu that had been swept away.

    ''But now more problems surfaceбн guess this was bound to happenбн'' Lin Wu thought while his body glinted with a faint light.

    ~SHUA~

    Changing his direction, he rose into the sky.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The surface of ake rippled for a moment before arge body shot out from it. This being none other than Lin Wu.

    "This is as far as the express tunnel goes. I''ll have to fly the rest of the wayбн" Lin Wu followed the route on the map and continued onwards.

    Lin Wu was currently in a forest that was barely three hundred kilometers away from the coast of the Long Continent.<sub> </sub>

    "For someone to take them all the way here is unusual. There are no sects here and even the southernmost kingdom ends its border far behind." Lin Wu muttered.

    For all senses, this area was free of all influence and had no kingdoms or sects ruling over it officially. There were not many such areas in the Long Continent and the southern coast was one such part.

    The main reason being that there were several Nascent soul realm beasts here, along with a few Dao Shell realm beasts. There was even rumored to be a Dao Treading realm beast, but people never found it.

    Though in reality it had long since been consumed by Lin Wu too. That was also when he was originally expanding the tunnels here. But even then, Lin Wu hadn''te this far out.

    "Well, at least the coast is rather niceбн" Lin Wu said, taking a look at the vast beach.

    The sand was yellow with countless sea shells mixed in it while the water was crystal blue in color. The only thing spoiling the scene was the beasts roaming around.

    There wererge crabs the size of a dog scavenging the sand, while birds asrge as cars flew around pecking at them.

    In the distance, one could even see arge rock, moving across the coast. But if one got closer, they would realize that this was no rock but arge snapping turtle!

    "No wonder humans don''t live hereбн they would just be a meal." Lin Wu said to himself before soaring past the coast and into the ocean.

    The beasts below scuttled away, being scared by Lin Wu''s presence. The mere aura he exuded was enough to knock out Qi refining realm beasts and freeze core condensation realm beasts.

    Thankfully, he was fast and the beasts didn''t need to suffer it for long.

    <o>,m ''They really went this far into the oceanбн there are no records for this areaбн'' Lin Wu went through the data that the system had.</o>

    Other than the central ''Y'' ocean area between the three continents, the rest of the ocean was barely explored by the people. Even when the invaders arrived in the past, they hadn''t really gotten around to exploring the oceans.

    As far as Lin Wu knew, this might also be where the most life on this world might exist.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN COMPLETED: 23 Dao Treading realm beasts detected!

    бкбк

    "Just as I thoughtбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    He had asked the system to scan the maximum range possible for it and filter out Dao Treading realm beings. And this was the result.

 Chapter 978 Strengths Of The Ocean

    Just by entering the ocean, Lin Wu had discovered more Dao Treading realm beasts in one nce than there were openly in the top ten sects. This alone showed just how mismatched the powers of thend and sea were.

    ''Perhaps if it weren''t for the fact that these beasts didn''t prefernd, they would have already taken over itбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    But this also gave him another thought.

    "Maybe I should take a snack break once I''m done saving Cang Ci and the restбн some grilled fish with sea salt might be goodбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself while traveling across the ocean.

    He wasn''t as fast as he was underground and also slowed down a bit consciously. After all,, he didn''t know what kind of dangers hid in the ocean, and he didn''t know much about the abductors either.

    ''So far no Immortal Ascension realm beasts at leastбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    While he could very well fight an Immortal ascension realm beast or cultivator, Lin Wu would like to avoid that if possible for now. Being in an uncharted territory was a matter of caution after all.

    A few hourster, Lin Wu finally came upon the location on the map. A long stack of smoke could be seen from the distance and upon getting closer one would find a group of inds with onerge ind in the center.

    "A volcanic ind?" Lin Wu raised a brow.

    So far in the Long Continent, he had only seen two volcanoes and both of them were a lot smaller than this volcano. From the Data that system had obtained, they knew that most of the volcanoes of the Ming Dao world were scattered on the Western coast of the Hu continent.

    This as also one of the reasons why the Long Continent was the most stable continent of the Ming Dao world. It didn''t have as many natural disasters as the other two continents. The Hu continent had volcanoes and also had earthquakes.

    In the case of the Gui continent, it was prone to blizzards due to the fact that nearly two thirds of it was covered with snow and ice. All this information had made Lin Wu feel like perhaps he had been lucky to be born here.

    "Stillбн for a volcano thisrge to be here, along with peopleбн highly unusualбн" Lin Wu didn''t know who might chose to stay here.

    Even for cultivation sect''s this wasn''t a suitable location. The system''s scan had already shown that there were no spirit stone mines nearby, and neither were there any major arrays set up on the inds.

    "System, do a full scan." Lin Wu ordered.

    He wanted to see just how many people were hiding there and where Cang Ci was.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN: Completed

    <o>,m AREA: Identified</o>

    MAP: Updated

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    DETECTED: Two Immortal Ascension realm cultivators detected!

    бкбк<sub> </sub>

    In just a few seconds, the system had finished its work and gave out its results.

    "Immortal Ascension realm cultivatorsбн no wonder they could abduct themбн" Lin Wu narrowed his tens of eyes.

    He looked at the rest of the data and saw that there were multiple buildings all over the ind group with the main ind having only onerge building. Not just that but it seemed to be built directly in ava pool and wasn''t burned.

    This was just the infrastructure, in case of manpower the system had detected several Dao Treading realm cultivators and Dao shell realm cultivators.

    "Eight Dao Treading realm cultivators and twenty-one Dao Shell realm cultivatorsбн adding the two Immortal Ascension realm cultivators, they are alreadyparable to the Long nбн" Lin Wu was surprised.

    Simply having one Immortal realm cultivator would have put them at the second position in the Long Continent, but they had two. It seemed highly unusual for a power like this to be hidden away like this.

    "Unlessбн they are hiding due to someone?" Lin Wu guessed.

    Regardless of this though, he knew he had to make some preparations. Just barging in might not fare well.

    "Let''s get some things set up firstбн that volcano seems perfect to be blown up." Lin Wu already got the system to point out the ws and more data in the volcano.

    ~WHOOSH~

    In the next moment, Lin Wu directly dived into the ocean-going straight down to the ocean floor. If he wanted to take the best advantage of the topography, it would have to be done a little more secretly.

    And while Lin Wu was doing all this, something else was happening in the central building on theva pool.

    Inside it, the one eyed old man sat at a table. On the table several tes were kept, but the dishes in them didn''t really seem like ''food''.

    Instead, the tes were filled with different kinds of stones, rocks, coal, and the bowls were filled withva.

    But this was merely the start of the weirdness.

    Opposite the one eyed old man was none other than Cang Ci. She had a confused expression on her face while she observed the man in front. On her side was another man who had a stiff expression.

    "We''ve done as you asked, Master." The man standing next to Cang Ci spoke.

    "Mmmбн I see that." The one eyed old man muttered.

    He lifted a bowl ofva and took a sip, before putting it down and gazing at Cang Ci.

    "Dao Shell realm before the age of thirtyбн A body with toughness that I''ve never seenбн and bones that areбн Unnaturalбн" the one eyed old man spoke one by one. "And a woman as the Shadow LordбнTrulyбн the unorthodox path seems to be returning to its peak."

    Cang Ci didn''t mind her cultivation base and power being revealed as much as thest sentence of the old man.

    "Shadow Lord?" Cang Ci almost chuckled. "Did you think Iбн am the shadow lord?" she asked.

    "With such high talent as yours, only you seem to be worthy of that title." The old man replied.

 Chapter 979 Eruption!

    The one eyed old man''s words seemed rather hrious to Cang Ci.

    "Ahahaha! Really! Really!" Cang Ciughed this time, making the man next to her tense.

    "Is there something wrong?" The Old man questioned, finding the reaction unasked for.

    "Wellбн I don''t know if you are stupid or just had bad luckбн" Cang Ci replied. "But I.. Am not the Shadow Lord."

    The one eyed man furrowed his ashy brows, before looking at the man who had brought Cang Ci in.

    "Impossible. You were there at several of the Shadow Legion''s operations, as well as are respected by several of the stronger Dao Treading realm cultivators." The man spoke.

    "That I amбн but that doesn''t mean I am the Shadow Lord. I''m not even a fractionpared to master." Cang Ci replied, before turning to the Old Man. "I don''t know what you want with me or the Shadow Lord, but you''ve made a great mistake." Her voice turned cold.

    "A mistake? Are you trying to threaten me?" The one eyed old man questioned.

    "Trying? I''m simply stating the facts." Cang Ci answered. "Besides, you want to meet the Shadow Lord right? Wellбн I don''t think you will have to wait long." She added.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Shortly after Cang Ci said this, a rumbling sound was heard.

    ~TREMBLE~

    The building and the ind started to shake while thevake rippled as well. The one eyed old man narrowed his eyes and his spirits sense covered the entire group of inds at once.

    "What in theбн" the man standing next Cang Ci found it all to be strange. ''How can our ind shake like this? Even the Volcano is under Master''s controlбн'' he wondered.

    The one eyed old man stopped up at that moment, raising his hand.

    "SUPPRESS!" he shouted.

    ~WOOM~

    A pressure exuded from his body, covering the building and the volcano. It forcefully exerted control over the rumbling volcano, trying to silence it.

    "Master, what''s happening? How can the volcano do this?" The man was confused.

    "Someone has removed the old brand on the volcanoбн they erased my brain without me knowingбн" The One eyed old man said, confusion and doubt on his face.

    "How can that be possible? You''ve had your brand on the volcano for hundreds of yearsбн" The man was stunned.

    "Ah! Seems like master is here already." Cang Ci said with a smile.

    Her words served little to ease the man''s anxiety and made him wonder if he had made a mistake brining her here.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Despite the old man''s efforts though, the volcano showed no signs of calming down. The people located on the many inds all gazed at the volcano. Everyone had an expression of confusion and anxiety on their faces.

    "What is happening?" they all wondered.

    In the main building, the one eyed old man''s expression turned strained.

    "Activate all the barriers! I can''t hold it anymore!" the old man ordered.

    ~BOOM~

    And just as he did, the volcano exploded!

    ~BOOM~

    The other man hurriedly took out a formation te and activated all the defensive barriers on the buildings of their inds. The people on the other inds also acted quickly, supporting the barriers with their own cultivation.

    They understood by now that something unexpected had happened. The volcano which was under the control of their master for all this time had actually managed to erupt.<sub> </sub>

    ~ROAR!~

    But their worries were only starting, as a thunderous roar was heard.

    The roar was enough to mask the eruption of the volcano and pulled their attention towards it.

    "WHAT IN THE NAME OF HEAVENS IS THAT!?" They shouted.

    From the mouth of the volcano rose a fountain ofva, but there was also something else in it. A long, dark monster was rising from it too. The monster wasrge enough to nearly fill the mouth of the volcano and towered over the inds.

    It had arge mouth filled with thousands of teeth, and tens of eyes were also present on its head.

    Several tentacles and spikes covered its body, while a dangerous aura spread from it. All those that looked at the monster felt like their minds would be pulled into it and devoured!

    ~HONG~

    A crushing pressure spread from the monster, directly shaking all the barriers of the inds.

    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~

    Cracks stated to appear on the barriers, unable to bear the pressure of it all.

    ~KACHA~ KACHA~ KACHA~

    Finally, the barriers broke apart one by one.

    "No!"

    "Deploy your own defensive skills!"

    The people on the inds scrambled to defend against the rainingva. The drops ofva burned wherever they fell, and the ocean water sizzled non-stop. The buildings that were made with rtively strong materials started to burn as well, with only those made with stone standing.

    "ARGH!"

    Still, there were a few that were unable to avoid the fallingva. Their bodies were struck with a glob ofva, their defenses breaking almost instantly.

    This man was a Nascent soul realm cultivator, and should have been able to defend against a glob ofva with rtive ease, and yet he had his defenses broken. It seemed rather unusual.

    "Don''t let the Earth Fire energy seep into your body! Expel it at all costs!" A shout could be heard from the main building.

    The one eyed old man looked at Cang Ci, who seemed to be smiling gently.

    "Wellбн Seems like Master arrived a lot sooner than I expected." Cang Ci said without a care.

    The man standing next to her gritted his teeth and grabbed into her.

    "Don''t you dare make any move, or I''ll end your life!" he warned.

    "Ahah! You are the one who should be worried about that." Cang Ci''s said without fear.

    ~SHUA~

    And just as she said that, the winds blew strongly, turning into a gust.

    ~KACHA~

    The barrier surrounding the main building shattered as well!

    ~THUD~ CRACK~

    Then in the next moment, they felt something striking the building before the roof was ripped apart.

    "Are you the one who invited me?" Arge head peeked through the roof.

 Chapter 980 A Strange One Eyed Old Man

    The sudden appearance of Lin Wu was not expected by them at all.

    After all, the one eyed old man and his subordinate were thinking about the Shadow Lord appearing, not the Cmity Fiend himself.

    "Thisбн The Cmity fiend?!" The One eyed old man was taken aback.

    "Master," Cang CI spoke with joy.

    Lin Wu took a look at Cang Ci, finding her to bepletely fine physically but he did find a seal of some kind ced on her body. The seal was hidden and could not be seen by naked eyes.

    Even for spirit sense, it might be rather hard to perceive.

    ''Is this why themunication link was cut off system?'' Lin Wu asked.

    "AFFIRMATIVE." The system replied.

    ''I seeбн the seal can block the messages but can''t block the tracker function. Guess that is good.'' Lin Wu thought.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Seal identified!

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    INFO: The seal used on Cang Ci has simrity with the shadow cmity''s restrictions.

    бкбк

    "Huh? How''s that possible? Unlessбн" Lin Wu turned his attention to the one eyed old man.

    His appearance was strange even for Lin Wu''s standards as he seemed to be covered in ash. But that was not all, as Lin Wu''s radiation perception revealed a lot more than just that. He could see a lot of energy hidden within the man.

    ''This isn''t just vital energy or spirit Qi eitherбн this is something elseбн something hot.'' Lin Wu realized.

    With his radiation perception, nothing that was in the form of an energy could be hidden. Especially raw energies like heat and radiation.

    ''This man is not normalбн His organs have changed entirely and the amount of energy within him makes him feel more like a furnace insteadбн'' Lin Wu assessed.

    Thisbined with the simrity of Shadow Cmity that the system had told him about made Lin Wu think that this man certainly had something to do with it all.

    ''May as well ask him directlyбн'' Lin Wu thought and stared at the one eyed old man.

    "Youбн Why do you have traces of the Shadow Cmity on you?" Lin Wu questioned directly.

    Though much to Lin Wu''s surprise, the one eyed old man showed an unexpected reaction.

    "You knowбн you know! You really know!" The one eyed old man eximed.

    Lin Wu would have furrowed his brows at this if he had any in this form. Cang Ci too seemed to be confused and wondered if the old man had lost his mind.

    ''Thoughing face to face with master does tend to have that kind of an effectбн it won''t be the first time either.'' Cang Ci remembered the time when some of the weaker experts had gone dumb after seeing Lin Wu and his power.<sub> </sub>

    To her, this was an entirely justifiable reaction.

    "What did you intend to do with my subordinate?" Lin Wu asked instead.

    "Wait! Aren''t you the Cmity Fiend? Isn''t she supposed to be the subordinate of the Shadow Lord?" The man standing next to Cang Ci questioned, finding it all strange.

    "The Shadow Lord is one of my avatars." Lin Wu simply stated.

    "Of Course! It all makes sense! Why would the heir of Shadow Cmity need someone else on the same level as him!" The one eyed old man still seemed to be in his own world.

    "You should answer my questions soon, or I''ll sink this entire chain of inds into the ocean." Lin Wu said, making the very air tremble with pressure.

    ? "Yes, yes!" this time the one eyed old man was rather eager. "I''ve been wanting to meet you." He said.

    "Meet me? Why?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I want your helpбн We are of the same lineage, but Iбн made some mistakes and now am in aplicated state." The one eyed old man said, his tone bing a little serious.

    Lin Wu nced at the old man again, quickly piecing together bits of information and forming a vague picture.

    ''Did he gain some sort of inheritance of the Shadow Cmity too? Or did ite from some ce else?'' Lin Wu wondered but then spoke up. "Is it to do with your body?"

    "Yes! Everything to do with my body!" the one eyed old man replied.

    "Master, can I first get rid of this guy?" Cang Ci asked, pulling Lin Wu''s attention.

    Lin Wu gazed at the man who was still holding onto Cang Ci and made him shudder.

    ~THUD~

    In the next moment, the man felt like his body had turned limp and he toppled over.

    ~THUD~

    "Thank you master," Cang Ci while kicking away the paralyzed man.

    "You certainly have the entire inheritance! I''ve never seen such a skill before." The one eyed old man said in amazement.

    He didn''t seem to mind that his subordinate had just been paralyzed and kicked away like trash. Instead, he was marveling at the skill that Lin Wu had just shown. In reality, it was just some paralyzing poison.

    Lin Wu had consumed so many poisonous and venomous beasts that even he didn''t remember them at this point. The system had optimized the poisons while merging the best parts of them, making entirely new toxins that were a lot stronger and effective.

    He had used one such paralyzing poison that was rapid acting. Lin Wu had been spreading it from his body the entire time but only activated it when Cang Ci had called for it. The system''s modification made it possible for Lin Wu to individual control all poison particles.

    With his higher level controlled on poisons, he could make it so that others would be safe even when it was all around them. They wouldn''t breathe it in either, making the use rather safe even onrge scale.

    "You still haven''t told me everything." Lin Wu looked back at the one eyed old man.

    "Ah yes! Let me start from the beginning then. I am the thirty-sixth generation heir of the Tian nбн Also known as the Ghost Of Tian."

 Chapter 981 Tian Guisha

    Lin Wu had heard the name Ghost of Tian a long time ago and didn''t expect to hear it now. The first time he had heard about it was from none other than the Slim Arm Ape king.

    The topic had rose out of the weapons Lin Wu had confiscated from Tian Han, one of the branch members of the Tian n. More specifically, it was on a short sword that held the power of a Dao Shell realm cultivator within it.

    ''But ording to the Slim Arm Ape King, the existence of Ghost Of Tian is very oldбн older than the Long n.'' Lin Wu recalled. ''Does this mean he really is older than ten thousand years?'' he wondered.

    Normally the lifespan of an immortal Ascension was about six thousand years. But the old man had already lived longer than that. Even if he had used some rare pills or methods to extend his lifespan, reaching more than ten thousand years was already several times more than the limit.

    "The Ghost of Tian? You?" Lin Wu looked at the man. "From what I know, the Ghost Of Tian originally appeared over ten thousand years ago. Even before the existence of the Long n. How can you still be alive?" he questioned.

    "You certainly are quite knowledgeable. You know even thisбн" The one eyed old man said with a hint of mncholy. "But that is true. I am more than ten thousand years oldбн" he confirmed.

    Lin Wu watched the man, observing if he was speaking lies, but the system confirmed that all he said was truth.

    "You''re really speaking the truth." Lin Wu muttered.

    "Of course. I, Tian Guisha, have no need for lies after all these years." The One eyed old man stated.

    "So your name is Tian Guisha? Ghost of Tianбн how urate.." Lin Wu said feeling a little amazed. "Still for you to be alive even after all this timeбн what did you consume to extend your life this far?" he asked.

    "Iбн made mistakeбн it was the inheritance of the Shadow Cmity that I wronglyprehendedбн" Tian Guisha spoke with slightly hesitance.

    "Tell me from the start." Lin Wu ordered, wanting to know more.

    The old man would serve as a good reference point for all that had happened and he might even be able to find out what happened to the Long n back then. Additionally, the system might also be able to gain a lot of data.

    "You already know that I was one of the talented members of the Tian n. Or more urately the thirty-sixth heir. But despite that, I didn''t want to follow the rules of my n.

    I found them to be ratherбн obsolete." Tian Guisha spoke before taking a pause, his expression of frustration.

    "The Tian n is a strange existenceбн our founder was a madman who believed in prophesies and decided that the Tian n will be a great n in the future as long as we stayed in the Ming Dao world.

    He made rules that forced our n to stay hidden and still asked us to pursue strength.

    What use was the strength when we couldn''t even show it to others? Why did we need to stay hidden all the time?" Tian Guisha voiced out in anger.<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu could tell that the man had really been holding it back for long. But also realized his old assumption was urate.

    ''The Tian n founder really was a bit crazy. Talented but crazyбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "I couldn''t take itбн I reached the Dao Shell realm at the age of two hundred and was the most talented member of the Tian n. There was no way I would stay at the Immortal ascension realm for all my life." Tian Guisha stated.

    "But wait, doesn''t the Tian n have immortals too? I''ve heard about that." Lin Wu asked, feeling doubtful.

    "It does. But do you know how they became immortal?

    They were either forcibly taken away by expert''s from other worlds, or ascended automatically due to the conditions being right.

    This went against the rules of the Tian n, thus they eventually developed methods to prevent that from happening. This urred just a few years before I was born. They had made a bloodline seal that would prevent all Tian n members from bing immortals." Tian Guisha revealed.

    "A seal that can prevent one from bing immortal?" Lin Wu found it rather absurd.

    After all, ideally no cultivator would want their cultivation path to be restricted. Especially one that had great talent. The work of the Tian n seemingly went against themon sense of the entire cultivation world.

    "What did you do then? Other than the rebellion of course." Lin Wu asked.

    "I left the n and sought out a way to break the seal. I wandered thends, searching old tombs, inheritance grounds and anything of simr importance. This did lead to a great harvest, allowing me to find cultivation techniques better than many others from my n.

    There were some left behind by traveling immortals and some that had ended up on the Ming Dao world by sheer ident.

    But none of these were good enough to ovee the seal on my bloodline. I continued wandering across thend, even crossing the continent and going to the Hu and Gui continents.

    It was finally on the Hu continent that I found a clue to ovee the seal. I found a small relic that had some information stored in it. From that I learned that there were beacons of some great beasts spread around the Ming Dao world.

    They hade from other worlds and were left for fortunate people to find. As long as one managed to awaken the beasts in them, they would have the opportunity to gain their bloodline.

    This would effectively solve the bloodline seal I had. There would be no reason to care for the seal if I simply reced the entire bloodline." Tian Guisha said.

    "The beacons of the four guardian beastsбн" Lin Wu recognized.

 Chapter 982 Mortal World Rebirth Technique

    So far, Lin Wu had managed to link up Tian Guisha''s story with the information that he had obtained from the Spirit of the Long n.

    The system was also filling in some of the gaps, where it could and making a new timeline for the entire world. After, all this was all data before the guardian beasts had ever awakened.

    This could be easily considered as lost history.

    "Yes. The four guardian beasts." Tian Guisha nodded.

    "So you know there are four and not three like right now." Lin Wu asked. "By any chance did you have something to do with it all?"

    "Noбн while I did covet the beacons, I never got close to it. And neither did I have anything to do with the fourth beast never awakening. As far as I know, a man named Skull god was the one who interfered in it.

    When I was still searching for the old tombs, I had a few interactions with his subordinates. They were also the ones who sold me information sometimes.

    While I knew that he was interested in those beacons too, I didn''t know that he actually wanted to destroy them." Tian Guisha answered.

    Lin Wu let the system observe the man for lies, but found none even now.

    "So how is it that you were pronounced dead?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Well, I did dieбн but I managed to revive." Tian Guisha replied. "You see, in my travels I found an inheritance that belonged to Shadow Cmity. It seemed to havee from the same ce the Skull God was from.

    I don''t know how it ended up here, but I found it in the form of an old book. It described a technique that could allow me to metamorphose my body. But there were a lot of missing parts to it, so I never used it back then.

    My travels left a lot of traces, which my n finally discovered. My own grandfather set out to find and kill me, which he eventually did." Tian Guisha said, his one eye red.

    "But you survived?" Lin Wu said in acknowledgment.

    "The same technique which I didn''t want to use before saved me. My body had been destroyed by my grandfather and only my Nascent soul had managed to escape. I knew if I continued to stay in the form of a Nascent soul, I won''t survive.

    And finding a new body was impossible to since the bloodline restriction carried over to my soul as well. After all, the n wouldn''t leave the loophole of someone switching out their Nascent souls into new bodies and then cultivating to immorality.

    They made it so that all bodies would reject our souls." Tian Guisha exined, only making Lin Wu feel that the Tian n was downright insane.

    ''Why would a n go this far to suppress their own people?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "Since I couldn''t find a new body, I reckoned I would simply have to make one. The inheritance of the Shadow Cmity described a method to metamorphose one''s body, but it didn''t teach one to make it.

    Instead, I cobbled together bits and pieces from other techniques I had gathered over the years. This gave me the method I used to make an entirely new body." Tian Guisha spoke with a little sorrow.

    "And what method was that?" Lin Wu was greatly interested in this.

    After all, making a new body was rather simr to the avatar that he had. But it was a lot more refined and allowed him to have it at the same time as his main body. Lin Wu could only imagine the amount of data it would provide to the system''s data banks.

    "The method involved using the natural energies of the world itself to forge a new body.It used the inheritance of the Shadow Cmity to form the body, but used several other cultivation techniques to gather the energy required to do so.

    Finally I utilized some puppet and soul techniques to fix my nascent soul into that body while also making it have my natural soul brand.

    I called it the Mortal World Rebirth Technique." Tian Guisha revealed.

    As soon as he did, the system set off a string of notification.

    ~DING~<sub> </sub>

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    .

    .

    .

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    .

    .

    .

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    .

    .

    .

    бкбк

    "Mute this system." Lin Wu pushed away the notifications.

    ''There isn''t even any specific mnemonics or details of the technique, just some basic outline and even then it is enough to trigger multiple data updates. This is certainly a lot of information.'' Lin Wu was impressed.

    He was even thankful on some level that Cang Ci and the rest were kidnapped.

    "Butбн everything didn''t go as I had thought. The ws in the technique I made were rather bigбн" Tian Guisha revealed.

    "Is that how you ended up with a body like this?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yesбн the natural energies I used to form my body wereбн the energies of deep earth, more specifically the Earth Fire. I ended up consuming an entire Earth Fire vein inside the Ming Dao world.

    But this lead to some kind of a bacsh from the world as well as my own soul. It couldn''t fully transform into a human body and ended up with what I have right now.

    My body is made partly of earth and fire, with only the outer appearance that of a human." Tian Guisha finally revealed.

    "No wonder you have so much heat inside youбн" Lin Wu muttered in understanding why radiation perception showed the old man as a glowing hot spot. "But it allowed you to live all this time right?" he questioned further.

    "Yes. But it also forced me to restart my cultivation. The biggest demerit of this body is that I cannot use normal spirit Qi to cultivate. Not just that, but I cannot use alchemical pills, nor consume any spirit herbs or spirit fruits.

    I cannot have any normal human food either. All I can consume is the energy from deep earth, which is contained in theva and rocks of this volcano."

 Chapter 983 Past History

    Hearing Tian Guisha''s condition, Lin Wu felt a little pity for the old man.

    He didn''t know if he would be able to bear it if he couldn''t eat all the good food and snacks there were in existence. It wouldn''t be too far to say that one of the reasons why Lin Wu hade this far had been due to the motivation of food.

    Without it, Lin Wu might have just given up at one point. And it wasn''t even just food either, not being able to use normal cultivation resources along made this very difficult. Lin Wu had the opposite characteristic of this, he could basically consume any type of resource.

    The system could automatically process it, and his crystal body was hardy enough to digest and absorb anything. And if he really needed to, he could even digest something by breaking it down to the very atomic level.

    If he didn''t need a specific kind of a molecule, he could keep on bombarding it with radiation until it reached the smallest form possible at that point.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    бкбк

    The system''s notifications continued to pop up again, having obtained more data that was even more detailed.

    "Hmm, I understand what happened to you and how you formed this body. Butбн what did you do after that?" Lin Wu questioned. "I heard you came into conflict with your n again." He asked.

    "I did indeed. I fought with the four Immortal ascension realm ancestors of my n, killing two of them in the process. But I got injured in the process, forcing me to retreat again. Thankfully, even if I''m physically injured, all I need is energy from this volcano to return to my peak.

    Though there are limitations tooбн Since I cannot use normal spirit Qi, I need to return to this ce to replenish it. This ultimately means I cannot leave for long. Most of my work was left to my subordinates, some of whom are now descendants of my originalpanions from the n and some that I picked along the way.

    Myst conflict with the n had allowed me to gain a new understanding of the continent too. But since then, I haven''t gone out myself. All my work has been done though my subordinates." Tian Guisha answered.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu felt like it might have been one of the reasons why the Tian n was willing to let in the external members from their branches into the main n. But it also made Lin Wu wonder about the ancestors themselves.

    "Wait, you said you killed two immortal ascension realm ancestors, so how many are present now?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "The ones I killed were my grandfather and another ancestor. This left the n with two immortal ascension realm ancestors, but then during the eight hundred years I was in seclusion two more have be ancestors." Tian Guisha replied. "I learned all this from my subordinates that go out to survey from time to time." He added.

    "Is that so? Hmmбн" Lin Wu then recalled of a certain object he had gotten a while back. "Then is this yours?" he asked and took out an object.

    ~shua~

    A small sword appeared in front of him and floated in the air. This was the same sword that Lin Wu had gotten from Tian Han and the Slim Arm ape had said it had the symbol of Ghost of Tian on it.

    "Thisбн" Seeing the small sword, Tian Guisha narrowed his eyes. "It is certainly from my peopleбн but not directly my own. The symbol on it is my crest." He said.<sub> </sub>

    "How did you get it though?" The old man wondered.

    "So you don''t know either? Huhбн" Lin Wu had not expected this.

    Though after thinking for a few more moments, Lin Wu recalled that it might be due to the subordinates of the Ghost of Tian.

    "By any chance, did your subordinates carry out a survey mission in the Tian n branch south of Frozen Cloud sect?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Thisбн I don''t know." Tian Guisha said, before turning to the paralyzed man. "But he surely does."

    "Is that so?" Lin Wu looked at the paralyzed man that was knocked to the corner and exerted his will.

    ~shua~

    The poison within the man''s body was neutralized and a wisp of energy also entered him, allowing him to recover his consciousness.

    "HAAA!" The man woke up startled.

    Even if he had been freed from the paralysis, the pain was still there. His body was quickly covered in cold sweat, but upon seeing his master there he calmed down.

    "Jifen, did you carry out a mission near a branch of the Tian n?" Tian Guisha questioned.

    "Weбн weбн we didбн" The man named Jifen said between breaths.

    He was still in pain, thus finding it a bit hard to speak. But since it was his master asking, there was no way he could deny it.

    "Tell me about it in detail." Lin Wu ordered.

    Jifen looked at Tian Guisha in slight confusion but then saw him nod. "Do as he asks." Tian Guisha acknowledged.

    "We did indeed go there. It was one of our routine missions we do every ten years. That was the secondst mission we didбн just before the one in which we learned of your existence." Jifen replied.

    "Hmmmбн but then how did thise into the hands of a junior of that Tian n branch?" Lin Wu questioned while showing him the small sword.

    "Huh? This sword? I thought I left it for the n members as a guide." Jifen replied.

    "So you did give it to him?" Lin Wu inquired.

    "Well, I meant it for anyone in the branch n. This is something we have done for a long time. Someone finds the guiding item and thene to find us. It''s how we get new blood to join us." Jifen exined. "One of the junior elders of the Tian n, Jigou also joined us like this. He now acts as our spy in the Long Continent."

 Chapter 984 The Spies Of The Ghost

    Lin Wu recalled the name that Jifen had just spoken.

    ''Isn''t he the guest elder who took an interest in Tian Han?'' Lin Wu thought.

    He had heard from Tian Chu that the man was a bit strange. Tian Han had also said that Junior Elder Jigou had gone to Tieba city back then. Lin Wu didn''t have much information on Tieba city so he didn''t get to investigate the man after that.

    Though in the recent years when he took over Tieba city, he had gotten Cang Ci to look up some information. But even then, he didn''t have much luck, only learning that the man had left the city long time ago.

    Even his goal ofing to Tieba city was unknown, since he didn''t really involved himself in any ns or powers.

    "Tell me about this Jigou? Did he go to Tieba city some years back after going to the Tian n branch?" Lin Wu questioned Jifen.

    "Yes. Like I said, he works as a spy for us. He''ll move around as per his identity and obtain information from all over." Jifen answered.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu felt a little satisfied that one of the older mysteries had been resolved.

    Granted, it wasn''t anything major, at least he now knew where it all fit. Plus, it also gave him a little progress on other ns.

    ''Seems like I can just change the n of letting Tian Han and Tian Chu joining the Tian n main branch. I may as well directly let them practice the Chimeric Revolution technique.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    In order to explore and learn more about the Tian n, Lin Wu had intended to make use of Tian Han and Tian Chu. Both of them were at the Nascent soul realm now and had be the stars of their n.

    Sending them to the main branch of the Tian n would be the most obvious option for them. This would make it so that they would be nurtured in the best way possible. Lin Wu would make use of this and make them his spies in the Tian n.

    But now, he didn''t think that it was of much use.

    ''The Tian n seems more like a prison now. Their rules make no sense for the most part.'' Lin Wu thought.

    And now that Lin Wu had the oldest member alive of Tian n in front of him, it was even better.

    "So what is it that you want from me?" Lin Wu questioned the one eyed old man.

    "Iбн want your help in rebuilding a human body." Tian Guisha spoke. "I searched a lot and learned that there should be an inheritance of the Shadow Cmity that might help in this. There were some vague texts about it." He exined.

    "Oh, you do?" Lin Wu was surprised about them knowing this.

    "Yes. We even know where it is located. It''s in the home of your enemy, the Millennium Forest Kingdom." Tian Guisha stated. "We even did a mission there a while back. Jifen tell him about it."

    Lin Wu was surprised by this again, and wondered when they had done something like this.

    "A few years back, I had indeed asked some of our members to scout out the Millennium Forest. But none of them returned. I was going to send stronger members at the Nascent soul realm and above, but then learned the changes in the forest.

    The rise of the new King, Lin Wu and the alliances with many powers had made it risky for us." Jifen exined.

    After hearing this, Lin Wu was now sure of his assumption.

    ''It really was themбн'' Lin Wu looked at the inventory of the system.

    ~DING~<sub> </sub>

    бкбк

    INVENTORY: Pink Women''s underwear, Unknown Metal girdle, Shell Breaker Thorn Band.

    бкбк

    There was one item that had barely any information about it and it was the Unknown Metal girdle.

    ~shua~

    "Is this from your subordinates too?" Lin Wu questioned, taking out the metal girdle.

    ~ng~

    The metal girdle fell onto the table with a crisp sound, allowing everyone to take a closer look.

    As far as Lin Wu remembered, some of the beasts in the forest had detected intruders and had eaten them all.

    ''No, waitбн it was Tim that had done that. He ate them all.'' Lin Wu recalled.

    "Thisбн it is indeed ours. It''s an old ess token." Jifen confirmed feeling surprised. "But it seems to be broken. All the formations and runes in it have been wiped out." He added.

    "Where did you find this?" Tian Guisha was confused too.

    "Some of my own people found it in the ownership of a few beasts. Seems like your people did end up as a meal for the beasts of the Millennium Forest." Lin Wu replied.

    ~Sigh~

    "So it really was like that." Jifen muttered.

    Lin Wu continued observing the two, as a few ns appeared in his mind.

    ''Hmmбн they can perfectly fit in it all as long as I make some changes. I might even be able to elicit a response from the Tian n and get them under my n. Keeping them as they are would be too much of a wild card.

    Who knows if the immortal from their n woulde and help them out when my influence spreads more.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "You are right." Lin Wu spoke after a minute of silence.

    "There really is an inheritance like that?" Tian Guisha was surprised.

    "Indeed. There is an inheritance that allows one to rebuild a body. But it''s not exactly of the Shadow cmity." Lin Wu spoke. "Instead, it is of the Taiji Celestial. The Shadow cmity''s own inheritance is sourced from a part foe the Taiji celestial''s inheritance." He revealed.

    "Thisбн" Tian Guisha had a surprised look on his face along with a hint of recognition.

    "So you know of the Taiji celestial too? That makes it easier." Lin Wu said.

    "Yesбн I''ve read about him in old texts from other worlds." Tian Guisha nodded his head.

 Chapter 985 An Immortal Ascension Level Pawn

    Lin Wu had not found that many traces of the Taiji Celestial on Ming Dao world other than the tomb, which had left him wondering if there really were others.

    All the information about the Taiji Celestial that Lin Wu had passed on to others was true, but its spread was fabricated by him. Thus, hearing that there really were other records left him a little interested.

    "And where did you find these records?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "I found them during my travels. Most of them though I found on the corpses of the dead invaders." Tian Guisha answered.

    "That makes senseбн" If it was people from the other worlds having this information would be considered normal.

    But thinking this gave Lin Wu another idea.

    "Did you perhaps gather all these texts and documents? And didn''t let any other power have them?" Lin Wu guessed that this might be the biggest reason behind the existence of the Taiji celestial staying a secret.

    "Yes. I wanted to find a solution to myself, so how I could I let others have it." Tian Guisha stated.

    ''Well seems like he unknowingly helped me out. This allowed me to control the narrativeбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself, feeling pleased.

    Tian Guisha though was a little impatient and asked again, "how do we find this inheritance then? How will we rebuild my body?"

    "Like I said, the full inheritance is in the Millennium forest, under the control of the King. If we want it, we''ll need to deal with him first." Lin Wu replied making the man, think deeply. "Think of it this way, we now have themon enemy." He said after a minute.

    "That''s trueбн" Tian Guisha found that to be rather urate.

    He needed a new body, and the cmity fiend had an enmity with King Lin Wu. What he wanted and what the Cmity Fiend wanted was under the grasp of the same being.

    "I''ll ept your request, but you''ll have to help me out too. Since you have partial inheritance of the Shadow Cmity, I''ll consider you an ally, being of the same lineage." Lin Wu started his act.

    Hearing this, Tian Guisha was moved. For thousands of years, he had been worried, but now he finally had a direction.

    "I''ll do my best to help you out." Tian Guisha replied.

    Cang Ci who had been watching from the side, was internally impressed.

    ''Master added a strong ally just like thatбн he''s truly wiseбн'' Cang Ci thought.

    She was one of the few people that knew of both aspects of Lin Wu, whether it be the king of the millennium forest kingdom or the cmity fiend. She didn''t mind working for both the aspects, as Lin Wu had already earned her eternal gratitude and loyalty.

    Knowing both the aspects also meant that she had a better view of Lin Wu''s goals, the biggest of which was being the highest power of the Ming Dao world. She could also understand that the best way to do this was none other than to control both sides of the conflict.

    It was the most efficient method and would also help him eliminate some of the more ''problematic'' issues within the world.<sub> </sub>

    While Cang Ci was thinking about all this, Lin Wu spoke to her.

    "Cang Ci, work with your squad and gather all the information they have umted in the form of documents and texts." Lin Wu sent this thought theirmunication link. "Tian Guisha, I''ll have my subordinate Cang Ci, coordinate with you and your people." He said this openly.

    "That is fine." Tian Guisha said. "I''ll do whatever it takes to fulfill our goal."

    "The main thing we need to do is make a front against the united powers of the Long Continent. The Long n and the Ji n both have Immortal ascension realm experts, who will be the main adversaries on the human side.

    I''ll have you deal with them, while I deal with the King Lin Wu." Lin Wu stated.

    "I''m fine with that." Tian Guisha agreed. "It''s not my first time going against the Long n anyway. I''ve fought their ancestors before." He added.

    "You have?" Lin Wu was curious.

    "Yes, but not the current ancestors. I''ve fought their second and third generation of ancestors. The current one should be the fourth." Tian Guisha borated. "So I know how their techniques work. They are indeed strong through." He added.

    "What about the Ji n''s ancestor?" Lin Wu asked. "I''ve heard they had an immortal too?"

    "I don''t know much about them. They had their rise when I was still in seclusion. The immortal that they had is also unknown. As far as I know, their original ancestor that ascended in the past had always stayed in seclusion." Tian Guisha answered.

    "I seeбн" The ancestor and Immortal of the Ji n were people that Lin Wu had little information about.

    Even with Shirong being under his influence, he couldn''t obtains much information due to it all being strictly segregated. Even being the heir of the n and acting patriarch didn''t allow Shirong ess to it all.

    Lin Wu reckoned that he might just have to make a visit himself.

    ''Though now, it might be better to make use of my new pawn for it. Test out the watersбн'' Lin Wu smirked internally.

    But thinking about this also reminded Lin Wu, that they weren''t the only people that might oppose him. After all, these were just the powers of one continent, there were two more on which he would need to establish himself.

    "Have you been to the Hu and Gui continents?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "I have." Tian Guisha nodded. "But a long time ago. I''ve explored a good half of the Hu continent, but didn''t see much of the Gui Continent. We also have some spies there too, but we don''t get information from them often." He added.

    "Hmmбн What can you tell me about them?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I don''t know about the recent situation, Jifen will know more." Tian Guisha replied.

 Chapter 986 Situation Of The Hu And Gui Continents

    Lin Wu looked at Jifen with his several eyes, making the man shiver. No matter how long it had been since he had been in the presence of Lin Wu, the feeling of terror just couldn''t be removed.

    The man had been a subordinated of Tian Guisha for hundreds of years and was fine with him even if the Ghost of Tian wasn''t fully human now. But Lin Wu wasn''t like that. He had no human appearance, and his aura was too much to bear.

    Not to mention the fiend had paralyzed him with just a single look, which terrified him greatly.

    ''For it to do this to me, a Dao Treading realm cultivator with just a lookбн just how strong is it? What is its cultivation base?'' Jifen wondered.

    "Jifen!" but soon he was knocked out of his thoughts by Tian Guisha''s call.

    "Ah yes!" he hurriedly replied.

    "Tell the Cmity Fiend about the situation in the Hu continent and the Gui Continents." Tian Guisha ordered.

    "The situation in the Hu continent is a little strange as of now. Ourst contact with the spies there was over a hundred years ago. After that though, all our contact has failed. They should have contacted us at least 10 years ago ording to the general time, but they have failed to do so." Jifen answered.

    "No contact? And you can''t establish contact from your end, either?" Lin Wu asked.

    Even Tian Guisha seemed to be doubtful about this. "This has never happened before. They were always prompt to contact us. In the past two thousand years, it has never been so that they missed a regr report."

    "This is certainly suspiciousбн do you think the spies were caught?" Lin Wu asked.

    "That is doubtful. There is no reason for them to be caught, and all of them are in positions where no one can truly restrain them. All of our spies are either at the Dao Treading realm or the Dao Shell realm." Tian Guisha replied.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu was rather impressed. Dao Shell realm and Dao Treading realm experts were already very high up in the rankings of the world. Whether it be the Long Continent or the Hu Continent, it would be the same.

    "Tell me more about the Hu continent first. What are the powers there?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Simr to Long n, the Hu continent is run by the Hu n. But different from here, they rule the Hu continent directly. In the past five thousand years, they suppressed all individual ns and sects, taking over them or assimting them.

    In all senses, the Hu n has be the total ruler of the Hu continent." Jifen answered.

    ''This is not what the information I have statesбн'' Lin Wu was taken aback. "Strangeбн I''ve heard quite the opposite." He said to them.

    "The Hu n has indeed kept it hidden. They make it so that the ns and sects exist on the surface, but all of them have been taken over by them. It is all a facade to keep the Long n and the Gui n fooled." Tian Guisha was the one who spoke this time.<sub> </sub>

    "So this is why you said your spies cannot be suppressed?" Lin Wu guessed.

    "Yesбн all our spies are external members of the Hu n. So there is no chance of them being pressured." Tian Guisha confirmed.

    "So you didn''t think of sending anyone over to the Hu continent either?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "Sending someone to the Hu continent isn''t easy. Our travel routes are hard to use without proper precaution." Jifen replied, making Lin Wu interested.

    "And what are these Travel routes? I haven''t sensed any teleportation arrays on the ind here. Do you go through the sea?" Lin Wu casually asked.

    "We do have teleportation arrays, but they aren''t here." Jifen shook his head. "They are scattered on multiple inds that are spread between here and the Hu continent. Some of these need to be reached though the ocean, while some can be covered using the teleportation arrays."

    "So it is a long ry of arrays you use? But where did theye from?" Lin Wu asked.

    "These are old arrays left over from the time of the invaders. They had used it and were its makers as well. Most of them have broken down and cannot be repaired, so we use those that still work and cover the rest of the distance through the ocean.

    But this isn''t safe most of the time. Only when the currents are in favor, can we travel through the ocean, otherwise the storms and beasts would prove to be deadly. Only master can travel without any issues among us." Jifen exined in detail.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu had expected there to be old relics from the time of the invaders to be left behind, but he didn''t think their influence was spread all the way there.

    "And what about the Gui continent? What''s the situation there?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "The Gui continent is rather calm. We still get reports from there and thest report stated no particr development out of the normal." Jifen replied.

    "Hmmбн what''s the power structure there?" Lin Wu questioned, wondering if it was simr to Hu or Long ns.

    "The Gui n has given free rein for the other powers to grow on the Gui continent. In fact, they don''t even leave their own territory most of the time. And when they do, it''s usually one of the external members going out for some mission. The core of the n is almost never seen.

    Even in our spies, they haven''t seen any core members for over three thousand years. Though since nearly seventy percent of the Gui continent is frozen or covered under snow for most of the year, the pces where the powers can grow are also less.

    The Gui continent has the smallest poption among the three continents, perhaps only a quarter of what we have on the Long continent." Jifen answered in detail.

 Chapter 987 Path To The Gui Continent

    Lin Wu knew that the Gui continent was rather cold, but he didn''t expect for the Gui n to be this reclusive.

    It could be said that they wentpletely opposite to the way the Hu n was operating.

    ''Seems like Long n took the middle approachpared to the Hu and Gui n. They seem a little true to their names tooбн Bold like a Tiger, and Shy like a Turtleбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    But this didn''t stop Lin Wu''s interest in the Gui n. Their seclusion seemed to be a little too much.

    "So there are no conflicts that happen between the Gui n and the other powers?" Lin Wu asked.

    "There is not much chance of that happening. The Gui n''s territory is inessible to others. It is located deep in the Frozen ciers of the north. Getting lost there is easy, and the Weather is cruel.

    There are even fierce beasts living there that kill and eat all they encounter. With theck of prey, they take whatever they can get.

    And if we consider the political side, there aren''t any issues between the Gui n and other powers either. Not to mention, Gui n trades their signature goods with others which is why they don''t fight with them." Jifen exined.

    "I see, so they aren''t just interacting enough for that to happen." Lin Wu finally understood just how much of a hermit the Gui n truly was. "And how do you get to the Gui n?" he asked next.

    "There are two routes to the Gui n. The first is another array that is located in the northern coast of the Long Continent. But it is highly damaged and is unsafe to use. There is a significant chance that the destination might end up getting changed. We haven''t used this array for a long time.

    The next is the Ocean Route. We can directly take a ship or even fly over to the Gui continent. While there aren''t as many inds on the way there, there are still plenty of icebergs that float by.

    They can be used to rest as long as we take proper precautions." Jifen exined in detail.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu knew he had to have the location of the teleportation arrays. Even if they couldn''t fix them, he knew the system should be able to do that. Not to mention, if he managed to connect it to the tomb''s array, it would expand his scope of movement a lot more.

    "Alright then, I''ll also want the coordinates of all the Teleportation arrays." Lin Wu ordered.

    "As you wishбн" Jifen didn''t want to even think about making the Cmity Fiend.

    He quickly recorded the location of the arrays on a jade slip and passed them onto one of Lin Wu''s many tentacles.

    ''System scan this and plot out the locations.'' Lin Wu ordered in his mind.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    JADE SLIP: Obtained

    DATA NODE: Obtained

    ANALYZING: Data node

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    MAP: Updated!<sub> </sub>

    бкбк

    The system quickly read the data and charted it on his map.

    ''Now let''s see just how far they areбн'' Lin Wu switched the map from a local setting to a world setting and saw the area shrinking.

    In just a few seconds, the ind he one wasn''t even a dot on the map. Nearly a thousand kilometer west from his current location there was another ind. This was a lot smaller, but it was also the one with the first Teleportation Array.

    ''Just enough distance for me to cover on my own. If I can link that up with the tomb''s array or even add a supplementary array to it, I''ll be able to resume from right there.'' Lin Wu decided.

    But along with this, Lin Wu also saw a dot that he had almost forgotten about.

    "Who is the second Immortal Ascension realm cultivator here?" Lin Wu questioned, as he had sensed two of them at the start but now the second one was nowhere to be seen.

    "Ah the second one is a beast too. A Magma Carp that lives in the volcano below us. It probably ran away after you appeared here." Tian Guisha replied. "It can swim in the magma tubes and moves around."

    "Is it your tamed beast?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Noбн we just have somewhat of an alliance. Ites to feed here sometimes." Tian Guisha answered.

    When Lin Wu had gone to the site of meteor crash a long time ago and jumped in theva, he had wondered if there wereva fishes. And today, he got his answer.

    ''Guess there really are all kinds of beasts in the world.'' Lin Wu thought to himself wondering if he should take a closer look at the Magma Carp.

    Deciding against it for now he looked at Tian Guisha for a moment and spoke, "I''ll take my leave now. I''ll leave behind my subordinates to coordinate the rest."

    "Very well." Tian Guisha nodded. "But before you goбн I want to ask something." He interrupted Lin Wu.

    "What?" Lin Wu responded.

    "The King of the millennium Forest, Lin Wuбн Just how strong is he?" Tian Guisha asked. "The reports we got are highly varied with the earlier ones putting him at the Dao shell realm and some rumored ones putting him at the Immortal realm." He added.

    "The Cmity Fiend is the only one who fought him directlyбн you, so what is your assessment?" Jifen also felt curious.

    Lin Wu thought about how to answer them for a minute. He didn''t want them to be too scared and neither did he want them to be too calm about his other aspect.

    ''I need to find the perfect bnce between the twoбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    "We have indeed battled and in that aspect I can say that we are almost evenly matched." Lin Wu spoke.

    "B-but didn''t you retreat during the fight at the Cang Lan sect?" Jifen asked but the felt like he might have overstepped.

    Lin Wu gazed at the man, making him tremble again.

 Chapter 988 A Supplementary Teleportation Array

    ''Shit! I shouldn''t have spokenбн'' Jifen regretted his decision but then heard Lin Wu''s voice again.

    "I did retreat, but not because I was not able to fight against Lin Wu. But rather because the two ancestors of the Long n wereing over as well. Fighting against three foes would be a tough task for meбн at least for now.

    I still need to recover my former cultivation base. But do know this, if you go up against Lin Wu alone, you won''t survive. The only way is to keep him upied and his territory disturbed." Lin Wu exined in a calm yet imposing voice,

    ''So even the beast king is that strongбн'' Tian Guisha felt good that he had decided to hear this all first.

    ~SHUA~

    Having said his part, Lin Wu didn''t wait even a moment and flew off at a blinding speed. Tian Guisha and Jifen were left watching while Cang Ci was already working on the task that Lin Wu had assigned her.

    She knew exactly what Lin Wu wanted and she would do all that as in her power toplete it.

    ''Master certainly has a knack for gathering pawnsбн'' Cang Ci smirked and took out several jade slips.

    "Release my subordinates, we have work to do." Cang Ci ordered Jifen freely knowing that the man would not dare to resist now.

    Far to the west of the volcano, Lin Wu was currently soaring through the sky.

    "That went better than I had originally expected, that''s for sureбн" Lin Wu was pleased with the situation.

    Originally he had thought that he would have to fight some new enemies to rescue Cang Ci, but it turned out to be an opportunity to obtain a ton of information as well as gain a strong pawn.

    ''With Tian Guisha, I might be able to free up some part of my work. Though I''ll still have to leave behind the avatar in Tieba city. If it''s not there, there are chances of things going awry. Plus, I''ll be able to switch back whenever neededбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    For now he just decided to head to the teleportation array. About two hours passed by before Lin Wu reached the ind.

    "There it isбн" Lin Wu saw the ind that was barely a hundred meters in size.

    It was even smaller than his own body!

    "Even if someone passed by here, there would be no way for them to know that there is an array hidden here." Lin Wu reckoned.

    Hended at the coast of the ind and spread his spirit sense, quickly finding the array.

    "It''s well camouged that''s for sure." Lin Wu discovered that the array wasn''t made in the usual way.

    Instead, it was made by utilizing the natural topography and structure of the ind. Even for an ind as small as this, it could be turned into an array, if one was smart enough and had high proficiency with formations.

    "Analyze this system." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET: Selected

    SCAN: Completed

    ANALYZING: Teleportation array

    ANALYSIS: Completed

    .

    TARGET: Damaged Teleportation Array

    Array Integrity: 39%

    Avable Functions: Teleportation

    Teleportation Destinations: 1 Avable, 3 Unavable

    Energy Supply: 0% (needs spirit Qi)

    Repairs: Possible

    .

    Note: The Teleportation array can be repaired to about 75% of its functionality and will allow the host to teleport to a further destination.

    бкбк

    "That''s good. And what about linking to the tomb? Is that possible?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк<sub> </sub>

    ANSWER: A supplementary array can be used to link up with the tomb, but the energy consumption will be higher.

    бкбк

    "That''s fine. Just start on it." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Affirmative."

    The system began its work immediately and a wave of energy spread from Lin Wu''s body. It entered the array and stimted it.

    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~

    Several runes started to form around Lin Wu''s body and automatically went to merge with the Teleportation array''s old formations. The parts that were broken and damaged were being repaired at a visible rate.

    Thankfully, the damage to the array was mostly due to the natural withering of runes over time. This was only possible because the array was made using the natural topography and didn''t need any additional materials.

    Though even if it did, Lin Wu had more than enough materials to fix it in the storage.

    While the system did its assigned task, Lin Wu went through the information he had obtained from Tian Guisha. More particrly about the cultivation technique he had made.

    "Hmmбн I certainly can''t use it directlyбн will have to separate out some of its parts and then amodate it in the Chimeric Revolution Technique. The revival ability can be useful when they have no body leftбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    ~HUALA~

    About half an hourter, the system had finished repairing the teleportation array to the level it was possible.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    REPAIRS: Completed

    Array Integrity: 75%

    Teleportation Destinations: 2 Avable, 2 unavable

    Energy Supply: 100%

    .

    CONSTRUCTING: Supplementary connecting array

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the log finding it strange that even at 75% integrity it only worked for 2 destination.

    "Shouldn''t it be at least 3?" Lin Wu looked at the destinations on the map. "Ah, so the other two can only be essed at 90% and 100% mark." He understood.

    Lin Wu continued looking through the data while the system finished the supplementary array. This time it took the system nearly three hours before it was done making it.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SUPPLEMENTARY CONNECTION ARRAY: Constructed

    INITIALIZING: Connectionбн

    CONNECTION: Found!

    ESTABLISHING LINK: Taiji Celestial''s Tomb Array connected!

    TELEPORTATION DESTINATIONS: 3 Avable, 2 Unavable

    бкбк

    "Perfect." Lin Wu saw the new destination that was added.

    It was none other than the tomb.

    ''I''ll switch over to my main body and let the avatar return to Tieba city on autopilot.'' Lin Wu thought before activating the array.

    ~SHUA~

    About a minuteter, the array flickered and Lin Wu''s giant body appeared from it. Whit the tworge bodies, the ind was all but hidden.

    "Alright system, send the avatar back to Tieba city and activate relevant protocols." Lin Wu ordered.

 Chapter 989 A Long But Rewarding Journey

    ~WHOOSH~

    With Lin Wu''s order, the avatar flew away while he switched to his main body.

    His main body had been in ''seclusion'' for everyone and only a handful knew that Lin Wu was in fact monitoring everything that was happening on the Long Continent.

    ''And depending on how things work out, I might be able to extend it to the Hu Continent as wellбн'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    The faster he extended his scope of observation, the easier it would be for him to further his influence.

    "Plus, with these teleportation arrays scattered along the inds, the system might be able to make a proper ry. It should help with the Tomb''s Teleportation array too." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu adjusted his body on top of the ind''s teleportation array before activating it.

    "Take me to the furthest ind." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TELEPORTATION ARRAY: Activated!

    DESTINATION: Selected!

    бкбк

    ~SHUA~

    Several runes appeared around Lin Wu''s body and quickly turned into a teleportation circle. The circle descended from the top of his body, teleporting it away. Just ten secondster, Lin Wu''srge body had disappeared.

    The isted ind once again regained its silence with the only sound being the waves crashing on its coast.

    Lin Wu thought was having a new experience now.

    "Oh? What''s this?" he realized that he was in a dark space of some kind. "Wait a second, this ceбн" he then saw the faint shes of light that were going past him.

    It was at this point that he finally realized where he was.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host is in a teleportation channel and is currently being sent to the next location. The host will reach the selected location in 5бн 4бн 3бн 2бн 1бн

    бкбк

    By the time the system finished giving its answer, Lin Wu had already arrived at the next destination.

    "Huhбн So that was a teleportation channel. Which means the area past itбн the shing lights must have been the lesser void." This was the second time Lin Wu was seeing the lesser void directly.

    Thest time he had seen it was when Shirong''s spatial storage ring had shattered due to Lin Wu''s actions and had torn open a hole in the spatial fabric. It was a rather chaotic situation back then, but this was a lot more stable.

    ''Though I guess this is my first proper interaction with the voidбн I also got to experience the faint fluctuations during the travelбн'' Lin Wu recalled the sensations.

    The teleportation was brief, but it certainly gave Lin Wu enough to think of.

    ~Sigh~

    "Let''s just continue onwards shall we?" Lin Wu said before rising into the sky.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ? SCANNER: Activated<sub> </sub>

    SCAN: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    MAP: Updated!

    CHARTING ROUTE: New route plotted

    бкбк

    The system automatically did its work and pointed out the path that Lin Wu needed to take.

    "Hmmбн the next ind is rather farбн" Lin Wu realized this after seeing the map.

    Considering the travel distance, it was easily over five thousand kilometers away. Not to mention there would be a lot of dangers along the way. Even the route that the system had charted was temporary and might need to be changed depending on the obstacles.

    "No wonder they had a hard time getting across. A ship would certainly have a hard time getting past this tract of the ocean. Only an Immortal ascension realm cultivator would be able to fly that far." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Even at his maximum speed, it would take at least three or four days. And this was if he could maintain that speed.

    ''It''s best to go at a steady pace. Plus I''ll also gather some aquatic beast''s along the way, expand the data banks more.'' Lin Wu decided to shoot two birds with one arrow.

    ~SPLASH~

    This time Lin Wu didn''t fly, but dived into the ocean instead.

    "System, track all the beasts of significance." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Targets have been marked on the map.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nced at the quite literally thousands of markets and smiled.

    "Hoho, this will be a good harvest. I''ll also be able to get a set of beast corpses for the avatar tooбн" Lin Wu''s avatar needed as many unique beasts as possible to grow its Dao Embryo after all.

    On this day, the aquatic beasts of the Great Ocean found a new predator roaming in their territory. It woulde like a glowing green blur and disappear into the dark depths. No matter what beast came across it would end up dying within its maws.

    Entire schools of fish beasts,rge swarms of shrimp, and prawn beasts, all started to disappear within its mouth.

    It didn''t matter what the cultivation base of these beasts was either. Nascent soul realm, Dao Shell realm, and even Dao Treading realm aquatic beasts were killed and consumed.

    Lin Wu''s harvest was great and he obtained a lot from it. Not just in the form of spirit Qi and Vital essence either, but other resources like rare materials found only in the depths of the ocean.

    He found several spirit herbs, spirit fruits as well as ores and crystals that were used for making spirit tools. Lin Wu gathered them all and didn''t leave behind even one of them. But this also meant, that his time of travel had extended quite a bit.

    It took Lin Wu nearly ten days before he reached the ind he had set out to reach.

    ~RIPPLE~

    Near the coast of a ratherrge ind, the water rippled. The ripples were small at first and were drowned out by the waves, but soon they became sorge that even the waves were broken.

    ~SPLASH~

    Finally, a few secondster, a massive crystalline body rose from it. Ocean water dripped from it while it glistened under the sunlight.

    "So this is the indбн it''s rather big." Lin Wu narrowed his eyes as his spirit sense spread around. "And, seems like there used to be people living on it too."

    Lin Wu could sense several old and dpidated buildings on the ind.

 Chapter 990 Speeding Past The Islands

    It wasn''t the first time Lin Wu was seeing buildings like these either. He felt that they were actually a bit familiar, even having simr runes and carvings on them.

    "Didn''t I see them in the old ruins in the Pale Marble kingdom?" Lin Wu recalled.

    He had seen such buildings when he had gone searching for the Vermilion Bird''s Bloodline crystals. It was also then that he had met Zhu Tianying for the first time.

    "Are these rted to the same old people?" Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the system''s analysis these old ruins have simr structure to the one''s found in the Pale Marble kingdom. But they seem to have been inhabited by a different type of people. It is quite possible that the ruins made in the Pale marble kingdom might have been left behind by them as well, but were taken over by theter settlers.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн I see. And since these ruins have the Teleportation Arrays build by the invaders of the past, it is quite likely that all those ruins were also made by them. Now it makes sense." Lin Wu guessed.

    He looked at the map and saw the teleportation array about ten kilometer deep into the Ind. This was certainly thergest Ind he hade across so far and it had a lot of beasts on it too.

    ''May as well gather more ''data''.'' Lin Wu thought.

    Since they were new beasts he had not seen before, it was best to expand his scope of knowledge. Plus it didn''t matter if these beasts were weak, all he needed was to keep them for the Avatar.

    There were also some spirit herbs growing here that were rtively valuable. Since they had not been touched for quite literally hundreds of years, they had plenty of time to grow to maturity.

    Of course, to Lin Wu these herbs wouldn''t do much but they would very well serve to expand his already massive fortune.

    After about two hours, Lin Wu had gathered all he needed from the Ind and could now head to the Teleportation Array.

    "Scan the array system and see if it can be linked to the rest." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Damaged Teleportation Array

    SCAN: Completed

    ARRAY INTEGRITY: 56% Functional

    ARRAY ENERGY STORAGE: 8%

    ARRAY FUNCTIONS: Teleportation- 1 Destination avable, 1 unavable

    REPAIRS: Possible

    Note: Extra resources will be needed.

    бкбк

    "Oh? This one needs other resources?" Lin Wu saw the list, finding it to be reasonable. "Fine, do it system. And also connect it to the tomb''s array." He ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    REPAIRING: Teleportation Array

    INITIALIZING: Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu watched as several items such as Spirit stones, spirit jade fragments, beast hide and more resources flew out of his storage. System quickly got to work on them and started making the things needed for the repairs.

    The beast hide was cut apart into triangr pieces about six inches in size. These pieces were then infused with spirit qi and new runes were written on them.

    Once the runes were all inscribed the triangr beast hides were pierced with a long sharp piece of Spirit Jade. Combining these two a formation g was prepared.

    Of course, using beast hide and spirit jade to make Formation gs was a little too much, but with an old array like this, it was the best course of actions. Normally though, formation gs were made using fabric on which runes would be painted on. The ink used for this was made from beast blood and some other spirit herbs.

    It was the more affordable method, but the system had taken the high ss method instead.

    The formation gs flew out into specific ces on the ground and embedded themselves into it. Next the spirit stones rushed into the nodes of the array and powdered it up.

    A few more materials took their ces and in about thirty minutes the Teleportation Array was repaired.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Initializing Array link

    ARRAY LINK: Established

    NOTIFICATION: This ind is now essible through the Taiji Celestial''s tomb.

    бкбк

    "Good. Let''s move onto the next location then shall we?" Lin Wu quickly activated the array and picked the furthest location.

    A minuteter, his body disappeared and passed through the spatial channel once more. Lin Wu paid a lot more attention this time since the time he spent here was very less.

    He could sense the strange energy here that was different than anything he had felt before.

    ''The Spatial Element is part of the Three Primordial elements rightбн so it should be possible to grasp it tooбн'' Lin Wu could see the great merit in learning it.

    But he didn''t know how to go about it. Even the system would be helpless unless it had data to work on, and as of now, Lin Wu had note across any data of this kind.

    He hadn''t met or seen any beasts that had an affinity to the Spatial element and even the most talented humans he met so far weren''t able to use it. It made Lin Wu wonder, just how difficult it might bepared to the four heavenly elements.

    "If I can grasp it somehow, I might be able to find a way out of this world without needing to ascend. This will allow me to take others with me as well." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    In the time that he had spent thinking all this, he had already returned to the Ming Dao world and was now on another ind.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    MAP: Updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw the new markers appear on the map and began his work again. This process repeated for several more inds as Lin Wu got closer and closer to the Hu Continent.

    Eventually though, he reached the final ind on the list.

    "No more arrays from here, I''ll need to fly the rest of the way." Lin Wu rose to the sky.

    But he didn''t even get to go farther than a kilometer before he heard a warning.

    ~BOOM~

 Chapter 991 Encountering The Aquadream Ocean Lotus!

    Lin Wu could feel a familiar wave of energying from the distance while a warning notification popped in front of him.

    ~WARNING~

    бкбк

    Notification: Threat Detected!

    .

    .

    .

    бкбк

    in Wu didn''t even need to read the full notification to know who had appeared.

    "Well, well wellбн look who we have here," Lin Wu turned around to find arge nt rising up from the sea.

    It had blue and green stalks with several flowers growing from it. Its roots were long and reached the depths of the ocean. But that was not all as a strong pressure was exuding from it as well.

    ? ~ZING~

    In response to his words though, a sharp jet of water reached him.

    ~HISS~

    But before the jet could even reach him it evaporated.

    "That won''t work now, Aquadream Sea Lotus." Lin Wu spoke watching the nt re at him.

    Even without eyes, Lin Wu could feel its ''gaze'' on him.

    "System, do a scan on it." Lin Wu ordered, finding the nt to have gotten a little stronger than he remembered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Aquadream Sea Lotus

    SCAN: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    .

    TARGET: Aquadream Ocean Lotus

    CULTIVATION BASE: Immortal Ascension Realm

    Note: The Aquadream Sea Lotus has broken through and reached its next stage.

    бкбк

    Seeing the information, Lin Wu was now sure of it.

    "It really is the same oneбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus was the first strong adversary Lin Wu had faced in the past. Perhaps it were not for the fact that there was Zhu Tianying with him, it might have meant his demise.

    The Aquadream Sea Lotus had evidently tracked him down somehow.

    ''Did it ce some trace on me?'' Lin Wu wondered

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Aquadream Ocean Lotus has used the bloodline signature of the host to track him. There is no direct trace ced on the host and the Aquadream Ocean Lotus has used itsprehension of Water Dao to sense the host.

    бкбк

    "No wonderбн it was already close to a breakthrough back then." Lin Wu understood and pped out his tail.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The tail morphed in a seconds and turned into a long saber before being covered with ayer of blue sheen.

    The speed of the tail exceeded that of the Lotus and shed at one of its many vines cutting it apart.<sub> </sub>

    ~SKEWEEEE~

    The Aquadream Ocean Lotus let out a painful scream as a green fluid spurted out of its chopped ''limb''.

    "See, not so durable anymore." Lin Wu taunted feeling pleased. ''The Sapphire Qi''s piercing ability is perfect for this.'' He thought.

    ~RAAAAAA~

    The Aquadream Ocean Lotus roared in anger and raised six of its flower buds. The flower buds opened up, disying the sharp teeth hidden within them. They were like circr saw teethe and could cut thorough metal.

    ~CLING~CLING~CLING~

    But when the Flowers tried to bite Lin Wu, they realized what they had bit wasn''t metal. It was as tough as a diamond and made the razer sharp teeth break down.

    "Hah! So the breakthrough didn''t really do much for your physical abilities." Lin Wu was now feeling fearless.

    ~SLASH~SLASH~SLASH~

    With another swipe of his tail he chopped off the six flowers while spraying out a line of fire. The fire seared the chopped ends of the Lotus and made it unable to recover.

    "Six down, hundred more to goбн" Lin Wu could sense several more toothed Lotus Flows appearing from the depths of the ocean.

    He didn''t feel anxious at all though. Instead for him, this was now going to be a practice run for going against Immortal Ascension realm beings. Lin Wu did have confidence to do it, butcked direct experience.

    And now the perfect foe for that had appeared. It was one that was rtively durable and someone that he would have to fight eventually.

    ''Plus the bloodline of the Aquadream Ocean Lotus should be rather strong tooбн I''ll keep the corpse for the Avatar.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    ~SKWEEE~

    The Aquadream Ocean Lotus didn''t care anything about Lin Wu and was simply desiring to end him.

    "Let''s finish this quickly thenбн" Lin Wu said while gathering the power within his avatar.

    With just a thought the spirit qi in the area gathered.

    ~GUSH~

    The wind brought forth more cloud which soon transformed into something that looked like an Immortal Tribtion.

    ~SHUA~

    Once it was gathered, Lin Wu controlled it and brought forth arge storm.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Lightning crackled in the sky while thunder roared across thend.

    ~BOOM~

    A Lightning bolt fell from the sky, startling the Aquadream Ocean Lotus for a moment. That was enough for Lin Wu to execute the technique.

    ~SHUA~SHUA~SUA~

    The lightning was skillfully controlled by Lin Wu and was turned into a target seeking missile.

    ~HISS~

    The Aquadream Ocean Lotus hissed in dislike and retracted the other flower heads and leaf heads that had extended out from it. Lin Wu let it do this as he was intending to end the beast quickly.

    The blue glow of the surface was seen again, tearing apart the Aquadream Ocean Lotus''s ''appendages''. It kept on roaring andshing out at Lin Wu, but it was unable to do much

    "Just a bit more," Lin Wu muttered as he gathered a very special surprise in his mouth.

    Ten flower heads rushed at Lin Wu too, wanting to kill Lin Wu, but by the time it reached him, the number of tentacles were holding had reached a hundred.

    Lin Wu''s Split appear into four sections and killed whatever in front. Each section was like a giant knife and chopped apart the lotus with ease.

    ~SPLASH~

    Slowly overpowering the Aquadream Ocean Lotus, Lin Wu killed the rest of its appendages.

    "Huh? It''s not done?" Lin Wu was confused.

    ~SLICK~

    Finally he stabbed the Aquadream Ocean Lotus only to find out that there were other core in the beast/nt''s body.

    "Time to consume it thenбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He tore off several flowers before chowing them down!

 Chapter 992 Killing The Aquadream Ocean Lotus

    Lin Wu consumed the parts of the Aquadream Ocean Lotus he had managed to chop off. He simply swept them all into his mouth and let this stomach do the rest.

    ~SKWEEE~

    The Aquadream Ocean Lotus seemed to be squirming and its body was trying to regenerate again. Due to being a nt type beast, it had a naturally high regeneration. For someone like it, there was no such thing as losing a limb.

    It could keep on growing them eventually and even if the entire nt was chopped in half it could recover. The only thing that was stopping it from turning into 2 independent nts was the fact that there was just a single Nascent Soul.

    <o>,m Thus the part of its body that had its Nascent Soul would live on and recover into the full being.</o>

    Lin Wu observed the Aquadream Ocean lotus below the water and realized that it was actually trying to certain part of its body.

    "Is that the real core of its body?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ~RIPPLE~

    His gaze seemed to have been detected by the nt and it didn''t take it kindly.

    ~SHUA~

    A blue orb appeared from the depths, shining like a bright beacon.

    "Can''t hold back anymore?" Lin Wu saw the Dao Embryo rising from the water.

    The ocean water was pulled along with the Dao Embryo and gathered it into arge barrier that protected the Aquadream Ocean Lotus.

    ~SLASH~

    Lin Wu shed out at the water barrier, finding it to be weak.

    ~BUBBLE~

    But when his tail pierced into the water barrier, it could only got a few meters in. The further he went the harder it got for Lin Wu to push it.

    "So this is the increase in its power." Lin Wu decided to take it differently.

    He could sense the power of the Aquadream Ocean Lotus retuning as streams of water elemental spirit qi were absorbed by it.

    ''I can''t let this fight prolong. Its in its elemental habitat and will be able to continually recoverбн I need to take that away from it.'' Lin Wu soon thought of a solution as his body glowed.

    A web of green energy spread through Lin Wu''s crystalline body showing the energy coursing through it.

    "Let''s see if you dare to stay in water after this," Lin Wu opened his mouth wide and sprayed out a yellowish green liquid.

    ~HISS~

    It made a hissing sound when hitting the water, but dissolved into it really quickly too. The color of the ocean water started to change, quickly taking on a urea like yellow color.

    ~SKIREEEEEEE~

    The effects of the venom were shown almost instantly as the Aquadream Ocean Lotus raised one of its living flower heads and screamed out.<sub> </sub>

    "A nice little nuclear venom cocktail for you at no charge~" Lin Wu chuckled.

    The liquid he had spread was none other than the Erupting Radiation poison that Lin Wu had acquired a while back. Other than in a few key battles, he had not used it much.

    It had the property of umting radiation within itself and then reacting with the victims body before exploding out. And since the Aquadream Ocean Lotus was using the water to obtain his Water elemental spirit Qi, Lin Wu reckoned he may as well turn it into poison.

    The Aquadream Ocean Lotus iled around, making the water ssh as high as an entire kilometer. Just from this alone one could realize just how strong the nt really was.

    Being at the Immortal Ascension realm its natural powers had reached a great level. It was no shock that it could endure after so many of Lin Wu''s attacks. And with the supply of endless water spirit qi, it could quite likely fight for months straight.

    "Now try sipping some water, I assure you it will get you high, Ahahah!" Lin Wuughed and continued injecting more and more venom into the ocean water.

    In just a minute, Lin Wu had tainted nearly five kilometer of ocean yellow.

    The bodies of dead aquatic animals and beasts started to flow up to the surface. But these didn''t seem to be entire corpses and looked to be badly melted.

    It looked like they had been dipped in a vat of acid and left out to dry.

    ''Seems like the poison is starting to work. If I get a direct bite in it, I''ll definitely be able to kill it quickly.'' Lin Wu didn''t stop analyzing the battle.

    This was the strongest foe he was facing and it was in his best interest to strengthen his own understanding of different fighting styles. To Lin Wu, the best battle was one that didn''t need to be fought and the second most favorite was one in which he breaks down the foe to the very core.

    "Let''s see what you have hiding thereбн" Lin Wu opened his mouth wide and gathered a small orb of energy.

    It looked to be green in color, but others were mixing into it as well.

    "HAA! DIE!" Lin Wu finished gathering the energy and bit down on the orb.

    ~BOOM~

    The orb opened up, shooting out a stream of different energies. Green, yellow and purple mixed into a beam showing the different types of the energies

    Green was was the Wind Spirit qi, yellow was the pure radiation and purple was the lightning Lin Wu had added in thest.

    ~CRACK~

    Thebination of all had a power that the barrier and core couldn''t bear at all. It evaporated a part of the ocean water while pushing away the rest.

    The beam of three colors energies reached the depths of water, targeting the core of the Aquadream Ocean Lotus.

    ~SKEWEEEE~

    The Aquadream Ocean Lotus let out a painful cry that felt like death.

    "There we goбн" Lin Wu continued channeling the energies, making sure that the beam of energy reached the very depths of the nt beast. Lin Wu wanted to directly crippled its existence and gave it his all.

    ~KACHA~

    Finally, the defenses of its Dao Shell couldn''t bear it either and ended up shattering.

 Chapter 993 Reaching The Hu Continent

    The three colored beam pierced into the Dao Embryo of the Aquadream Ocean lotus, erasing its existence in mere seconds. Faint traces of Dao traces lingered around it as it was being erased by the powerful beam.

    The Nascent soul of the Aquadream ocean Lotus couldn''t withstand the bacsh and was killed as well. And along with that, the life of the Aquadream Ocean Lotus came to and end.

    "Haaбн HAAбн" Lin Wu panted as he gazed at his handwork.

    Torn and burned parts of the Aquadream Ocean Lotus were scattered all around him. Some floated on top of the ocean surface while some had started to sink.

    Greenish blue blood also stained the water, making it look eerie.

    "At least it''s dead nowбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He checked the map for any other dangers before quickly sucking all the water around him into his mouth. This also pulled the torn body parts of the Aquadream Ocean Lotus into his mouth, allowing him to replenish his stores.

    It was more than the amount of energy he had expended in the fight and was quickly adding more to his body.

    ''Need to store a part for the avatar as wellбн'' Lin Wu had kept half of what he had consumed for the avatar.

    He hoped to let it breakthrough, or at least progress its Innate Skill, Chimeric Adaptation.

    ''Perhaps it might allow the Dao Tracepatibility for the water element as well.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu rested for a bit and let his body recover from the injuries that he had sustained. Having a crystalline body meant that he was very durable, but he could still get injured.

    The only thing was that the injuries weren''t visible as easily. They would often end up umting internally and the system would continually repair them.

    Only when Lin Wu felt like he was fully recovered did he fly off. His destination was the Hu continent and was not that far now. Lin Wu soared across the sky without stopping while continually scanning the area for anything interesting.

    About four hourster he finally saw a veryrgendmass.

    "That should be the Hu continentбн" Lin Wu said observing the long rocky coast that was dotted with hundreds of trees.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    MAP: Updated

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    NOTIFICATION: Detection array found!

    бкбк

    ''I knew there would be something to check for people entering the continent. Especially for the Hu continent which has the Hu n ruling as the sole powerбн'' Lin Wu thought as he let the system take care of the array.

    By keeping a track of who entered the continue, the Hu n would have an easier time maintaining their hegemony. The system soon finished its work and allowed Lin Wu to enter the borders of the Hu continent.

    "Hmmбн doesn''t feel that different." Lin Wu said as he sensed the different energies and auras in the area.

    He had thought that there would be some different kind of a feel to the Hu Continent, but it seems like he was just mistaken.<sub> </sub>

    "Hmm, one of the major geographical difference is that the Hu continent actually has several Volcanoes. I should take a look there since they contain a lot of materialsбн" Lin Wu thought to himself.

    There was another thing that Lin Wu wanted to look for in the Hu continent.

    ''That beast might be here tooбн if it is not here then Gui Continent would be the only other option left.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He would be fine if it were these two entire continents. Lin Wu just hoped that it wasn''t hiding in the ocean somewhere.

    ''Not knowing much about it makes it difficult to estimate where it might go. There is no saying what its behavior is like. Not to mentionбн with its size and appearance it should have most likely caused quite an uproar if it was seen.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    MAP: Updated!

    NOTIFICATION: Marking points of interest on the map.

    бкбк

    "Oh? It''s done already." Lin Wu looked at the map seeing quite literally over a thousand markers appearing at once.

    These were categorized into several types such as strong beasts, spirit herbs, materials, unique ces, humans and settlements. Lin Wu just filtered out all the beast below the Dao Shell realm and did the same for the humans.

    "That''s quite a small numberбн are there so few strong cultivators here?" Lin Wu said after seeing the filtered results.

    The number of Dao Shell realm beasts was barely five and there was just a single Dao Treading realm expert in the area that the system had scanned.

    "No Dao Treading realm beasts and No Dao Shell realm human cultivators, hmmmбн seems strange." Lin Wu nced at the map finding that all these markers were actually concentrated on a single location.

    "A cityбн It''s rtively big as well." Lin Wu could see a human settlement roughly on the western side of the map.

    There were other smaller settlement too but none of them were big enough to catch his attention, only this one city seemed to be the biggest one among them all.

    "Well them, let''s take a look." Lin Wu dived straight into the ground and drilled hundreds of meters down before making his way to the city.

    This was his fastest mode of travel and would allow him to move around stealthily. It also made it so that he could nick all unique beasts he saw on the way for the avatar.

    These were weaker beasts, but would certainly contribute to the growth of the Helix of Assimtion.

    If anyone saw it, they would see a blur rising from the ground and snatching the beasts. The would disappear into the ground never to be seen and not even a hole would be left behind.

    For some people it could even be called as downright terrifying.

    The path to the human city was rtively straight and Lin Wu only made detours when he sensed something interesting on the way there. But despite all this, he reached it by the end of the day,

 Chapter 994 A Strange City

    Upon reaching the Human city, the first thing Lin Wu discovered was theck of formation arrays.

    "Huh? Why aren''t there any arrays here?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    Other than the small formations that were used personally by the people, there were no city level arrays here. It almost looked like the city was a mortal city having no sign of an array. It could also be said to be highly unprotected.

    ''Anyone can sweep the city apart without there being arrays. They don''t even need to be that strong, even a Core Condensation realm cultivator would be able to do itбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself, realizing that there might be more to it.

    Thus to look deeper, he nced at the other characteristics of the city.

    The first thing he noticed was that the majority of the people in this city seemed to be mortals.

    "Nearly 95% are mortals with cultivation base under the qi refining realm." Lin Wu found this astonishing.

    ''Even without any cultivation techniques, they should have been able to reach the Qi refining realm at the very least due to the sheer concentration of spirit qi hereбн'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    Plus Lin Wu also knew of many cultivation novels that were spread around in the Ming Dao world. These were low leveled manuals and were basically avable for free. But they weren''t good either.

    If anyone used them, they might only be able to reach the mid orte stage of the qi refining realm at the maximum. But these techniques would still allow one to enter the qi refining realm.

    "It''s not even that the people are not talented here eitherбн I can already sense several people that are at the ninth stage of the body tempering realm and a couple at the tenth stage as wellбн" Lin Wu knew exceeding the eight stage of the body tempering realm was quite difficult without a proper body tempering manual.

    It only lead him to believe that someone might be intentionally restraining their cultivation bases or there was something strange at y here.

    Lin Wu continued to look around and soon found his first cultivator. He seemed to be at the Qi refining realm and was even at the very peak of it.

    "That''s decent I supposeбн rather highpared to the others." Lin Wu continued looking for more and soon discovered the rest of the cultivators.

    He soon recognized a pattern in all of them.

    "These seem to be the guardsбн only the guards have a cultivation base here?" Lin Wu realized that the reason behind it all might have just been the person he hade looking for here.

    He found several of the core condensation realm experts too but they were part of the guards as well. As for the Nascent soul realm experts, he found none.

    The next strongest expert was at the Dao Shell realm, whom he detected to be hiding in the main building located at the very center of the city.

    The building was rather vast, having several courtyard attached to it, a central mansion built with a rock garden and finally arge tower attached to the back of it. No matter what angle one looked at it from, the would know that this ce belonged to a big shot.

    "So here''s where all the formation arrays went to," Lin Wu saw a couple of city protecting level arrays defending just this single ce.

    But that was not all, as when he tried to peek in, his spirit sense was actually blocked by the arrays as well.<sub> </sub>

    "Oh, this is a little too well built for this ce. Would be a shame if it crackedбн hehe," Lin Wu directly used his spirit sense and poked a hole in the array without a care.

    To him, whatever the kind of an expert was hiding inside, he couldn''t hold a candle to the Aquadream Ocean Lotus Lin Wu had killed just a day ago. With that experience on his belt, Lin Wu now had quite a lot of confidence in holding up against other experts.

    Plus he had seen Tian Guisha and the two Long n elders as well. In all, he had witnessed four Immortal Ascension realm experts and killed one. And while his fight with the Aquadream Ocean Lotus was a little chaotic, it was mostly due to the fact that Lin Wu was caught off guard that too in the habitat of the creature he was fighting.

    If Lin Wu was gonna fight the Long n ancestors or even Tian Guisha, he would have a lot more confidence since he would know exactly how to target and weaken them.

    Hence with this confidence, he barged into the residence of the local overlord.

    ~SHUA~

    His actions were disyed rather brazenly as the runes of the array were forced to appear in the air.

    "Look! What''s happening to the City Lord''s Mansion!"

    "Why is it glowing?"

    "I don''t feel goodбн I think we should leaveбн"

    The citizens chatted amongst themselves as they saw the changes. But then a few secondster, all of their jaws dropped.

    ~SHATTER~

    "WHO DARES!" A loud shout was hearding from the mansion as the aura of a Dao Treading realm expert appeared.

    ~WHOOSH~

    In the next second, a man that seemed to be in his early thirties appeared above the mansion. He was dressed in yellow and red robes looking rather gaudy. But that wasn''t all as the man was also decked in gold jewelry that seemed to cover his arms, neck and even his hair.

    The man was a walking showroom of jewelry. It was almost as if he was scared that people wouldn''t know he liked gold.

    "A Dao Treading realm cultivator at the Embryo Growth stage, interestingбн" The bejeweled man heard a voice in his head at that moment before a cold feeling covered him.

    "W-who?!" The man looked around frantically, not being able to detect anything at all.

    "Let''s talk face to face then, shall we?" in the next second the man plummeted from the sky like a dead rock.

 Chapter 995 City Lord Kulung

    The fall of the Dao Treading realm city lord was witnessed by everyone that was around that area.

    It was evident that this would be remembered by the residents of the city for a long time toe. But they would still wonder how this had happened or what was behind this.

    After all, once the city lord fell out of the sky, he disappeared into the ground, nowhere to be seen.

    In reality though, the city lord was currently being dragged through the ground and was quickly brought nearly three hundred meters deep.

    The man was questioning his life and was utterly lost.

    "What is happening? How the hell is this possible? Who can do this?" The man kept on asking himself.

    ~THUD~

    "ARGH!" Finally, his descent seemed to havee to a halt as hended hard on his back.

    But upon falling he realized another thing.

    "Why do I feel pain?!" The city lord had another riddle on his mind. ''I''m at the Embryo Growth Stage of the Dao Treading realm, I shouldn''t feel pain from something this little with my strengthбк'' but as soon as he thought about his strength he realized something.

    "My cultivationбн my qiбн why is it suppressed?!" The man was now scared.

    ~tremble~

    Just as he was about to cry though, he felt the floor beneath him tremble. It as dark inside and the man couldn''t see due to his spirit sense being suppressed as well. It only made him a lot more nervous and he started to shiver.

    "W-whoбн Who''s there!?" The man questioned while looking around frantically.

    ~shua~

    Then a few secondster, he saw a two glowing red orbs appearing in front of him. The orbs wererger than his entire body and seemed to contain a hidden might.

    "What in theбн" Before the man could even begin toprehend it, he saw a stream of green light traveling from the ground and reaching all the way to the two red orbs.

    ~gulp~

    A few momentster, the man swallowed his saliva in fear as the body of Lin Wu came in full disy. His two crimson red eyes gazed into the city lords own, making him feel like a little rabbit.

    "W-hoбн noбн W-whatбн What are you?" The city lord asked while stuttering.

    He could not believe his eyes and was hoping that he was just hallucinating.

    ''A creature this bigбн this strongбн how can there be one?'' The man had already started to pray to his ancestors.

    "Not so loud now, are we?" Lin Wu chuckled as he continued to gaze at the city lord, obtaining bits and pieces of information from this alone

    The first thing Lin Wu discovered was the fact that the city lord seemed to have an unstable foundation. It was something that he would usually see in those cultivators who over relied on alchemical pills to boost their cultivation base.

    The city lord had gone silent and couldn''t bring himself to say anything. The sheer size of Lin Wubined with his aura was like a mountain that weighed on his head.

    It made him unable to speak, thus Lin Wu could only question the man first.<sub> </sub>

    "Well then, this is how it will go." Lin Wu began to order. "I''ll ask, you answer and if you don''t, you get eaten." He stated.

    The city lord heard his words but did not respond even now.

    "Do you understand?" Lin Wu asked again, but the man did not move.

    ~SLAP~

    Next time though, Lin Wu used wind qi to form a hand and p the man tightly across his face.

    "I asked, do you understand!?" Lin Wu said sternly this time.

    "I DO! I DO! I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING!" The city lord broke out of his stupor.

    "Goodбн now tell me what ce is this first." Lin Wu questioned.

    "This is Third Yun city. It is a city under the control of the tenth heir of the Hu n and is one of the many that he controls." The city lord quickly answered.

    "Hmmбн Third Yun city. And who are you?" Lin Mu questioned.

    "I am the city lord assigned by the Tenth heir, City Lord Kulung." He answered again.

    "I see, then tell me Kulung why are there so few cultivators in the city? And why is it that you have six Dao Shell realm beasts in your residence?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Thatбн the only cultivators that are allowed to exist in the region are those that are in the employment of the tenth heir in any capacity. Most of them are just minor guards or captains.

    As for the beasts, the are the sacrifice I''ve prepared for my master." City Lord Kulung stated.

    "Sacrifice? For the tenth heir?" Lin Wu asked in doubt.

    "Yes! All heirs demand tributes and sacrifices from their vassals and underlings. It shall be our turn soon enough." Kulung replied.

    "But that doesn''t exin theck of natural cultivators in the city. Why are there so few?" Lin Wu asked again.

    "That''s becauseбн all themoners are to pay the spirit qi they cultivate as a tribute. If they don''t they will be killed." Kulung stated, making Lin Wu a little surprised.

    ''I didn''t think there would be a way one''s spirit qi could be used as a tributeбн'' Lin Wu was surprised.

    But this also presented several questions to himself.

    "And what do you do with this tribute?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "All the spirit qi we obtain from themoners is given to the six beasts that I rear. These beasts are Qi sapping ticks and consume qi as their food. They will drain it from themoners and it will then be sent to the tenth heir as a tax." The man answered.

    "And what about you? I''m sure there''s more to it isn''t there?" Lin Wu asked doubtfully.

    "As the city lord, I can keep a part of the tributes for myself." He replied, while trembling. "It''s also the reason why I can cultivate so fastбн"

 Chapter 996 Qi Sapping Ticks

    Learning about the scheme of the City Lord Kulung made Lin Wu feel a little amazed.

    ''So there are indeed method like these tooбн not only can they prevent a rebellion from happening, they can also keep on growing their own strengths.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "And what are the thoughts of themoners?" Lin Wu questioned, "do they not dislike this?"

    "What are meremoners to question the will of the Hu n heirs? They will do what they are told. In exchange, they get protection and their livelihood is secured." City Lord Kulung answered.

    "Hmmбн I see." Lin Wu indeed didn''t see much trouble in the city.

    The level of crime seemed to be below average and there wasn''t any shortage of food either. The people seemed to be mostly satisfied too. One could say that other than the people losing their spirit qi, they were actually doing decently.

    But Lin Wu knew that just this much information wouldn''t be enough thus he kept on asking more details to the man.

    From him, he learned that this method of administration wasn''t actually that rare and it wasn''t just the Tenth Heir that was doing this either. In fact, all the heirs had such cities under them and would gather tributes in the form of spirit qi.

    At the crux of all this though were the beasts called as the Qi Sapping Ticks.

    These were originally a type of a parasitic beast that wouldn''t get too strong. They had little to no intelligence and would live by their natural instincts. And like City Lord Kulung had said, derived their nutrition mainly from the qi they sapped from the people.

    The thing was though, normally a Qi Sapping Tick wouldn''t even be able to suck more than ten wisps of spirit qi. Just that alone would be enough to swell them up and kept them fed for over a month.

    But the Qi Sapping Ticks that the City lord raised were special. Not just those, but all the Qi sapping ticks used by the Hu n were the same. They had been bred especially for draining and umting spirit qi.

    Over many years, they had finally gotten them to reach a point where they could umte spirit qi equivalent to that of a Dao Shell realm cultivator. This didn''t actually mean that they were at the Dao Shell realm though.

    In fact, their bodies were very weak and even a child could kill them. The same applied to their intelligence too, it was the same as normal ticks. Thus controlling them was rather easy for the Hu n.

    And the method to do so was kept safely within the hands of the heirs.

    Just this alone was not all though as the actual method of ''Harvesting'' the spirit qi from these Qi Sapping Ticks was secret too. If someone tried to forcefully take the qi by killing them, they would get nothing. The spirit qi umted within their bodies would simply dissipate.

    In order to protect these ticks, they were kept in secured spaces and under great protection. After all, they were quite literally the cash cows of the ruling power. In fact, Kulung wondered just how did Lin Wu even sense them as they were supposed to be hidden away.

    No spirit sense should be able to detect them due to the isting arrays.<sub> </sub>

    "Hmmбн You said these are tributes for the tenth prince? So when do you pay them?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "Theбн Qi Sapping Ticks are almost ready. We let them gather spirit qi until all of them reach the Dao Shell realm. Very rarely do we let them umte spirit qi until they reach the very peak of the Dao Shell realm. At that point they be unstable." City Lord Kulung replied obediently.

    He had no idea what kind of monster he was facing and had given up on knowing more. By now, he just hoped that he would get to live and not turn into a meal for the monster.

    ''Its aura is inhumanбн it doesn''t seem to be like any other beast I''ve seen or heard about eitherбн Heavens! Now that I think of itбн isn''t the bloodline aura of the Tenth prince weaker than this monster too?'' City Lord Kulung was having some terrifying thoughts.

    The more he thought about it, the more he felt like the monster in front of him was some ancient being that had awakened.

    On the outside though, he tried to keep a straight expression and made it seem like he was doing his best to answer. He didn''t want to offend the monster and get eaten after all.

    After a few more questions though, Lin Wu asked something that made the man have a bad feeling.

    "Tell me, how does the tribute go? Do you send the ticks to the tenth heir or someonees over?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Well, it depends on just how fat the ticks are. If they have umted too much spirit qi, they are unsafe to transfer. At that point, the tenth heir will have toe down here himself. But our ticks are not at that point.

    They can barely be considered to be the equivalent of Shell Genesis Stage of the Dao Shell realm." Kulung replied.

    "Is that so? Well that makes things easier." Lin Wu smiled widely sending shiver down the city lords spine. "Tell the Tenth Heir toe over. Tell him that the ticks are fat to the point of bursting." He ordered.

    "Thatбн that cannot be done." Kulung felt like his premonition was turning true by the second. "I mean, we need to send proof that they really are at that level. Without proof the tenth heir will note here." He exined.

    "Oh, don''t worry about that. You truly will have fat ticks." Lin Wu said before looking up.

    ~RUMBLE~

    The ground shook and six holes appeared above them.

    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~

    And from these six holes fell in the Qi Sapping ticks!

 Chapter 997 Fattening The Ticks

    Kulung was stunned by the sudden fall of the Qi sapping ticks.

    One must know, these ticks were very important to him and their security and safety was entrusted to him by the tenth heir. If anything happened to them, it would be his life that would be on the line.

    It had already been established that the ticks were weak despite having spirit qi that was equivalent to that of a Dao Shell realm expert. They could very well die from a fall like this.

    Kulung didn''t even care to think of how Lin Wu had aplished something like this. As far as he knew the ticks were kept in a secure room protected by arrays. And now they had been brought down through a crude hole.

    "No! They can''t be injured!" Kulung shouted in fear.

    ~WHOOSH~

    But just when the ticks were about ten meters from reaching the ground. A swirling wind gathered under them and slowed their fall. It acted like a cushion and they gentlynded on the ground.

    ~Phew~

    "They''re safeбн" City Lord Kulung took a breath of relief upon seeing that the Qi Sapping ticks were fine.

    ~CHITTER~

    The six Qi Sapping ticks chittered in confusion and fear. They had been brought here all of a sudden and were startled. Not to mention, they saw arge being such as Lin Wu standing in front of them.

    To them, Lin Wu was a great beast that they had never seen before. His aura was something that was really oppressive to them and they didn''t dare to make a single noise after realizing this.

    Even if they had low intelligence, their instincts were enough to recognize when they were in front of a superior.

    For Lin Wu too, with the time he had spent as a beast king even if it wasn''t him fully acting as a king, he had already developed a kingly aura. This was something that could not be gained easily either.

    Just this aura alone could prove that Lin Wu was a king.

    ~thud~thud~thud~

    The six Qi Sapping ticks prostrated in front of Lin Wu, not daring to move at all. Their abdomens were very fat and about four meters in size. But their heads was merely fifteen centimeters wide.

    Just this alone showed just how much Spirit qi they had absorbed.

    "System, scan these ticks." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Qi Sapping ticks

    SCAN: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    .<sub> </sub>

    Target: Qi Sapping ticks (Mutated)

    INFO: These Qi Sapping ticks have been bred and mutated in such a way that their qi storing ability has been greatly enhanced. At that same time though, their intelligent has been inhibited so as to keep them subjugated.

    бкбк

    Seeing the info, Lin Wu felt like the way the Qi Sapping ticks stored the spirit qi might be a little simr to himself. He utilized the system''s storage to keep a free stock of spirit qi that could be used in a variety of ways.

    ''Hmmбн they might serve as some useful samples.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Even the system had marked them as highly valuable samples for the Avatar and Lin Wu knew that they were bound to give some benefit.

    "But first, let''s fatten them up shall we?" Lin Wu gazed at the six Qi Sapping ticks making them shiver.

    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~

    Then in the next second, six thin needle like spikes rose from his body and gently pricked the bodies of the six ticks.

    ~SHUA~

    A few secondster, a wave of spirit qi rose from the six Qi Sapping ticks and their energy fluctuations started to rise rapidly. Kulung who was watching it was left stunned.

    "Thisбн how''s this possible? All of them are at the equivalent of Shell Completion stage already?" he couldn''t believe his eyes.

    One must know, it took several months to even over a year to get the qi sapping ticks to the Shell Initiation stage of the Dao Shell realm. And raising them every minor stage up from that was very difficult and it wouldn''t be unusual for it to take years after that.

    Even with his efforts, he had never managed to raise a qi sapping tick to this level.

    "It''s not stopping?!" But the city lord saw that the spirit qi fluctuations only increased further.

    And along with that, the size of the Qi Sapping ticks grew too. All of them were now six meters wide and bulged absurdly. Their legs were pulled so far up that they couldn''t even walk. All they could now do wasy on their bellies and stare nkly.

    "There we go," Lin Wu said after sensing that all of the Qi Sapping ticks were now at the equivalent of the Shell Expansion stage of the Dao shell realm. "Is that enough?" he asked the city lord

    "Enough! Enough! That''s more than enough! Anymore and they''ll explode!" The man frantically said while his face turned red from the nervousness.

    It wasn''t just the qi sapping ticks either. He was more stunned by the way Lin Wu had done it.

    ''That was no trickбн this creature really poured all that spirit qi into the ticks. Heavens! Just how much does it have? All thatbined would be enough to make at least three to four batches of ticks.'' Kulung thought to himself while his fingers curled in nervousness.

    By this point, he knew that whoever he was facing, it was not a normal being. There was no way for him to estimate its cultivation base and Kulung could only hope that he survived this.

    "So then, time for you to do your part." Lin Wu spoke up. "Call the tenth heir." He ordered.

    "Y-yes! I''ll do it right away!" Kulung said before taking out a spirit tool.

    The spirit tool was in the form of a crocheting needle and had a tassel attached to it. He first walked to each of the ticks and touched them with the needle. And when he did, the bead attached to the tassel would glow lightly and a few runes would appear on them.

 Chapter 998 Waiting For The Tenth Heir

    Lin Wu watched Kulung worked and could guess that he was recording the information from the Qi Sapping ticks.

    ''So this is how they send a proper report. They actually have specialized tools for it. No wonder he said that the tenth heir wouldn''te without it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He knew just how much spirit qi he had poured into the qi sapping ticks and ti was an amount that was tempt nearly any cultivator. Forparison, if this much spirit qi was given to mortal humans with no cultivation base, they could cultivate all the way to the Peak of the Dao Shell realm with it.

    And this wasn''t just for a single person, but rather three to four.

    Usually a cultivator wouldn''t even have this much spare qi with them. Even if they did, transferring such arge amount might just end up regressing their own cultivation base.

    This gave rise to another question in Lin Wu''s mind.

    ''Since the people in the city have been doing it for such a long time, are there any side effects of their spirit q getting drained so many times?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    He took note of it and decided to check while he had the chanceter.

    Lin Wu watched as Kulung finished gathering the information using the spirit tool. Once that was done, he took out a normalmunicator jade slip and touched the tassel to it, transferring the information over.

    ~shua~

    Themunication jade slip glowed lightly before a transmission was sent out.

    "Now we wait." Kulung stated.

    "How long does he usually take to reply?" Lin Wu asked.

    "There is no saying. As the tenth heir, his duties are actually quite vast. He looks over the administration of several regions and holds the fourthrgest territory overall in the Continent." City Lord Kulung replied.

    "The fourthrgest?" Lin Wu found it to be quite big.

    After all, they were talking about an entire continent. Even if it was just fourth in number, it was on arge scale. One could even say that the tenth heir was the king of the fourthrgest kingdom in a way.

    ''I may as well check on the people thenбн'' Lin Wu diverted his attention and used his spirit sense to probe themoners of the city.

    They had all run away from the city lord''s mansion now, fearing for their lives. The guards were the ones gathered around the ce. They were talking amongst themselves, anxiety and fear present on their faces.

    It was clear that they were worried about what had happened to the city lord.

    They didn''t dare toe close to the mansion either though, fearing the worst.

    Lin Wu didn''t pay much attention to them and simply observed the citizens. He let the system do a detailed scan on them, while he just waited. A few minutester, the system had finished scanning most of the people and had its conclusion.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS: Completed

    CONCLUSION: ording to the system''s analysis, the humans of this city have no side effects from getting their spirit qi drained. But this is only possible due to the fact that almost all citizens had their spirit qi drained before they reached the qi refining realm.

    Because of this, there was no bacsh that they had to endure. On the other hand, if it was a qi refining realm cultivator or higher that had gone though the same, they might end up having internal injuries after a few cycles of draining.

    ording to the simtion that had been run, the chances of qi deviation will rise by 4% after every draining cycle.

    бкбк<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu found this to be quite interesting as this was actually an inferior version of his own draining method. He had been using the Pentagem imnts and the crystal weapons to drain spirit qi from everyone that held them.

    And yet, there was no long term damage to them. In fact, they couldn''t even realize that their spirit qi was being drained. It as simply the perfect and clean method.

    ''If anything, this should help gather more data for the systemбн'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    "It''s here!" Lin Mu was suddenly brought out of his thoughts by shout.

    Opening his eyes, he gazed at city lord who was holding onto the jade slip. He had an expression of incredulity on his face as if he had just received some shocking news.

    "What''s here?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Theбн the reply from the tenth heir is here." Kulung replied.

    "That was fastбн it hasn''t even been an hour?" Lin Wu checked.

    "It''s really unexpected for him to reply this fast yesбн but that''s not all," Kulung spoke.

    "What else? Did he say when he''sing over?" Lin Wu questioned, hoping that it wouldn''t be too long.

    "The Tenth Heir had said that he''ll be here by tomorrow." Kulung answered.

    "Tomorrow? Was he already in the area or something?" Lin Wu found it a little suspicious.

    "He didn''t say, he simply told me to prepare for his arrival." The city lord replied, a look of hesitation appearing on his face.

    "Speak," Lin Wu could tell that the man wanted to say something else.

    "M-my lordбн the city lord mansion. We need to do something about it. The Tenth heir would be highly suspicious if he found it in this state." Kulung said with nervousness.

    "Ah that. I''ll take care of that, you go and make sure that the guards and others are fine too." Lin Wu ordered. "I want none to know of this."

    "It shall be done!" Kulung epted right away.

    "Mmm." Lin Wu turned his attention to the city lord mansion and got to work.

    ~shua~

    ~Rumble~

    The earth started to rise and the holes were filled. Not just that but the broken arrays also started to repair themselves under the system''s control. The people that were watching from afar were left stunned.

    The guards were alert but felt confused.

    "How''s everything being repaired?" they couldn''t understand.

    ~SHUA~

    "Everything is fine now."

    "City lord!"

 Chapter 999 The Tenth Heir Arrives

    The appearance of the city lord was a great relief to the guards.

    They had no idea what they would do or what they should even do with the sudden disappearance of the city Lord. In fact, the fastest way they could even contact the other cities would be through the city lord himself or the emergency contact slips kept in the mansion.

    They had even tried their personal jade slips but none of them worked as all were being actively blocked by the system under Lin Wu''s orders.

    If the city lord had not appeared, the only other option they would have was to psychically run to the nearest town and ask for help from there. But doing that was difficult and it would take them at least two days to reach it.

    The Third Yun city was located rather far after all. It was originally a frontier outpost but then was transformed into an entire city under the guidance of the Tenth Heir of the Hu n.

    But with the restrictions he had ced, it made it so that the city would be utterlypromised without the City lord being there. It was hard to say if it was intentional or not, but now that the man was back, they didn''t need to think any more.

    "What happened city lord?" The guards questioned.

    "Yeah! We were worried!" they expressed their concern.

    "There was a little issue with our guest, but it is resolved now." The city lord spoke.

    "A guest?" they said in confusions.

    "But didn''t the arrays copse for some reason?" They whispered amongst themselves.

    "That''s not right. In fact, the arrays were damaged for some unforeseen reason and the guest hade to help us. There is no need for you to concern yourselves with it now.

    Just ensure peace in the city as the Tenth Heir will be arriving soon." The city lord ordered not wanting them to continue this discussion.

    He had been ordered by Lin Wu to keep things normal so as to not alert the Tenth Heir and he was fully intending on doing that.

    ''I don''t know what he is going to do to the Tenth Heir, but I can''t guarantee my head of I don''t act with himбн'' City Lord Kulung thought.

    While the city lord got the guards in order, Lin Wu was looking into the data that the system had given him on the Qi sapping ticks.

    "Hmm, these ticks are spirit beasts but not fully. This limit on them is also quite deep and keeps them from truly breaking through." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He was wondering if he could modify these ticks and fully transform them into spirit beasts. He was interested in their ability to storerge amounts of spirit Qi after all.

    ''There is bound to be some good use for them. And I also wonder just what kind of change they will experience if I mutate them too.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    The emeraldine legion bloodline had great potential to strengthen the original characteristics of the beast. This made Lin Wu curious about what kind of mutations would happen in the Qi sapping ticks who had already mutated once before.

    "The Hu n''s records about this process will also be quite useful for the system." Lin Wu reckoned.

    He continued to read more information from the window and let the city lord do his work.

    To Lin Wu waiting was now as easy as blinking and he could pass time and not even realize. Thus by the time the system notified him, the next day had already arrived!<sub> </sub>

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Dao Shell realm cultivator detected!

    бкбк

    "Oh? Is our Tenth Heir already here?" Lin Wu looked at the map and saw that a new marker had appeared.

    Though Lin Wu was a bit surprised by the fact that it was simply at the Dao Shel realm.

    ''Hmmбн with all the Qi Sapping Ticks they have bee using, shouldn''t they be at the Dao Treading realm already? Why is this Tenth Heir only at the Dao Shell realm. Even his subordinate the City Lord Kulung is at the Dao Treading realm.'' Lin Wu wondered.

    To him it seemed a little strange for him to be just at that level.

    "Nevertheless, let''s take a look when he gets here." Lin Wu said to himself before ncing at the Monitoring window.

    "The Tenth Heir of the Hu n has arrived!"

    "Allmoners are to kneel!"

    The guards of the city gave out orders and themoners all followed immediately. To them, the arrival of someone as high as the Tenth Heir was simply surreal. This was the first time they were actually seeing him in person.

    They had known that he hade to the city before, but it was never openly and only the City lord had the chance to meet him.

    Usually just the lower ranked officials under the Tenth Heir woulde over.

    The arrival of the Tenth heir could bepared to that of a King visiting some distant border city.

    In the skies above the Third Yun City, a man dressed in ck and white clothes was standing. His robes were white and ck tiger stripes were imprinted on it. He wore silver ornaments on his wrists, while a pair of jades hung from his waist.

    A dignified aura hovered around him and a fierce look was present in his eyes.

    If anyone looked at him, they would think that arge tiger was gazing at them instead.

    This was the Tenth Heir of the Hu n, Hu Dagao!

    He was the fourth strongest heir and was a strong contender for the seat of the patriarch, but he was also very versed in business and administration allowing him to grow his territory to the point of being fourthrgest size.

    "Greetings, Tenth Heir!" The City Lord appeared above his mansion and bowed his head. "We are greatly honored by your presence today!"

    "Mmmбн Take me to the Mansion." Hu Dagao only spoke a few words.

 Chapter 1000 A Trap For Hu Dagao

    Hu Dagao was feeling strange today.

    On one hand he was excited that the Six Qi Sapping ticks under the care of city lord Kulung had reached the very peak of the Dao Shell realm, but on the other hand he was also confused as to how it was possible.

    As far as he remembered, Third Yun city had never had such arge harvest. After all, the poption of the city was mostlyposed ofmoners. While it was on part due to their policies of draining them of qi, the people were still of a low talent.

    He would have found it normal if it was just one or maybe two qi sapping ticks that had reached the peak, but with all six of them reaching that level, he didn''t know what to think of it.

    ''Did he sacrifice several Dao Shell realm cultivators to the ticks?'' Hu Dagao wondered.

    Other than this, he didn''t know what other method could be used to nurture the qi sapping ticks to this level. After all, the qi sapping ticks weren''t fed using other resources like spirit stones, herbs or fruits.

    Using those resources to fatten them up would be against the very concept of course.

    The main reason the qi sapping ticks were developed by his n was to have another source of usable qi. His n had devised methods that could refine the qi stored by these ticks and turn them into pills.

    These pills could then be utilized for many things, whether it be cultivating or as currency. And since spirit stones were technically limited by the mines, they could use these pills as an alternative for that.

    Hu Dagao followed along with Kulung and was soon brought to the mansion. There were already servants prepared for his wee and started an entire ceremony. Hu Dagao simply went through the ceremony mechanically, not truly caring for it.

    He wanted to see the qi sapping ticks the most after all. He could have rushed, but he knew showing such expressions outwardly was not in his favor.

    "That''s enough, just bring me to the Qi Sapping ticks now." Hu Dagao ordered.

    "Of course, Tenth Heir." City Lord Kulung cupped his hands before bringing the man to a secret area in the mansion.

    This area was protected by the strongest formations possible for them, and no one could get in without being detected.

    ~SHUA~

    Kulung lifted the security measures and entered the area first. Hu Dagao followed after him and soon saw the six Qi Sapping ticks lying on the ground.

    They were located in a secured hall and nearly a quarter of the hall was upied by the Qi Sapping ticks. They had grown very fat and were huddled together.

    Hu Dagao walked closed and touched the six ticks, verifying everything with his own senses.

    "They really are saturated to the maximumбн" he said finding it a bit surreal. "How exactly did you aplish this?" he questioned.

    "You can say that we had a fortunate encounter Tenth Prince. The six Qi Sapping ticks were actually nurtured by a great expert personally." Kulung answered making the man feel a little uneasy.

    "Who would be willing to sacrifice their own spirit qi like that?" Hu Dagao couldn''t help but question.

    After all, the amount fed to the qi sapping ticks would be enough to nurture several Dao shell realm experts. If even a Dao Treading realm expert tried to feed them, he wouldn''t be able to feed them to this level without regressing his own cultivation base.

    No one in their right mind would do that, especially an expert that was proud of their strength.

    ? Kulung watched the tenth heir feeling quite nervous himself. He had intentionally said words like these as he had been instructed to do so by Lin Wu himself.<sub> </sub>

    One could tell that this was simply trying to provoke the Tenth Heir.

    ''What am I supposed to do now?'' but now Kulung had reached the end of his directions.

    He didn''t know what to say to the tenth heir.

    "And why would they do something like that too?" Hu Dagao said next, an unnerving feeling filling him.

    "To get an excuse to meet you of course," All of a sudden, Hu Dagao heard a strange distorted voice.

    It was cold and heavy, not feeling human at all.

    ~SHUA~

    It was at this point that a pressure descended in the hall.

    ~SKWEEE~

    The Six Qi Sapping Ticks screeched in fear, while Hu Dagao circted his spirit qi to hold up to it. Kulung was the only one who seemed to be unaffected, but it was simply because he was not being targeted.

    Hu Dagao immediately noticed and smelled foul y.

    "Kulung! You dare to scheme against me?!" Hu Dagao was no fool and knew that he had been lured into a trap.

    "I''m sorry Tenth heir, but there is little I can do here too." City Lord Kulung said with a wry smile.

    "You! Damn you!" Hu Dagao cursed before utilizing his cultivation base.

    His own aura rose and defended against the pressure in the hall.

    "Great Hu ws!" Hu Dagao said explosively as two ws appeared in front of him.

    They were spirit weapons and very strong ones from the spirit qi waves they emanated. And not just that, they also seemed to have a hint of their own aura too.

    It was hard to tell what kind of metal they were made from, but simply looking at them made one feel prickles on their skin.

    "My, my, Peak Grade Spirit weaponsбн Didn''t think someone like you would have them." The voice spoke again in a mocking tone.

    "Show your face! You will pay for trying to scheme against me." Hu Dagao said as he equipped the Great Hu ws.

    "Very well then, show me how you are going to make me pay? With those little ws of yours?" The voice mocked again.

    Hu Dagao didn''t hold back and attacked with the Great Hu ws, tearing the hall''s wall down.

 Chapter 1001 Declawing

    Lin Wu had wanted to test the Tenth heir and taunting him was a good way to make him reveal his secrets.

    While it might seem a little excessive, it was not like Lin Wu was in any trouble. He had already killed Immortal Ascension realm Aqua Dream Ocean lotus earlier and had a lot of confidence now.

    Even if the Ancestor of the Hu n were to arrive, Lin Wu would be fine. He had learned from the Long n ancestors about the other Immortal Ascension realm experts of the Ming Dao world.

    At least the ones that were openly known.

    The Hu n had only one Immortal ascension realm ancestor, but there were supposedly two more immortal ascension realm experts on the Hu Continent. The only thing was that the identity of the two immortal ascension realm experts was lower.

    As for the Gui n, there were two Immortal ascension realm experts in their n with one being the ancestor and one being the patriarch.

    But this was just the older generation of seniors. What Lin Wu wanted to know about was the younger experts. The heirs of the n would set the standards that would be followed in the future after all. Thus the stronger they were early one, the stronger their n would be.

    This was especially the case for the Hu n which had turned into the sole ruler of the Hu Continent.

    ~BOOM~

    The Great Hu ws of Hu Dagao struck the walls of the hall, copsing them in one hit. All the reinforced arrays failed at stopping the attack, making Lin Wu raise a brow.

    ''The Spirit tool can ignore defenses?'' Lin Wu had seen the way it had passed through the arrays.

    It didn''t just break them, but ignore them all together striking the walls directly. After all, the walls were reinforced enough that they would endure the attacks of a Dao Treading realm cultivator too.

    ''No wonder he can be the fourth strongest despite being at the Dao Shell realm. His strength transcends the realm.'' Lin Wu thought.

    But even if Hu Dagao had done this, he couldn''t find out who was targeting him.

    ''Where is this pressureing from?'' Hu Dagao had his spirit sense spread around but he couldn''t detect anything.

    It was covering an area of over two hundred meters and made it too vague for him to tell where it wasing from. He thought that knocking down the walls would make it easier, but it just made it even more vague.

    "I''ll just demolish this ce with you in it!" Hu Dagao was even more angry and started shing out with the Great Hu ws.

    The spirit weapons shone in a white and Grey light sending out long shes that tore through rock and wood the same. With the inner walls of the hall gone, the only thing holding the roof up was the support pirs at the corners.

    But now even those pirs were broken apart.

    ~CRUMBLE~

    Eventually the roof couldn''t hold and copsed crushing the Six Qi Sapping ticks underneath it. Of course Hu Dagao and city lord Kulung were fine due to their cultivation bases.

    A cloud of dust covered the area from the copse and masked the vision of all.

    ~WHOOSH~

    But Hu Dagao simply swung his ws again, sting away the dust with it.

    "Still noting out?" he said in anger.

    ~sigh~<sub> </sub>

    "You almost killed the Qi sapping ticks, I was going to use themter." The voice was heard by Hu Dagao.

    This time though, it was filled with dissatisfaction.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Then, the ground started to shake. Hu Dagao felt therge presence moving and his eyes went wide.

    ''It wasn''t that it was vaguely spreadбн the presence is really thatrge!'' Hu Dagao realized.

    ~CRACK~

    And finally the ground cracked apart before arge object rose from it. Emerald Green crystal shone under the sunlight while a pair of crimson eyes red at Hu Dagao.

    "Very well, you asked for me and I''ve obliged." Lin Wu spoke his voice a little distorted.

    It made one feel highly ufortable and Hu Dagao understood why he found it inhuman at first.

    It was because it truly was inhuman.

    "A beast? Noбн what?" Hu Dagao couldn''t tell what Lin Wu was.

    There was no beast like this in any book he had read and the way Lin Wu talked also made him confused. As far as he knew the only beasts that could talk in human tongue were either humanoid like monkey and ape beasts or were long lived.

    Their n spirit was also a beast but could talk in human tongue.

    And Hu Dagao having the bloodline of the Hu n meant that he was also sensitive to other beast auras. But Lin Wu''s aura was simply being hidden by the system right now.

    "Let''s cut your kitty ws first, shall we? I don''t want you to throw another tantrum." Lin Wu said before a strange energy spread from him.

    It directly pushed away all the spirit qi and Hu Dagao felt like his body could no longer absorb any spirit qi.

    "What is this?" The man was rmed as he city feel the strange energy prating his body too.

    It even infected the Greta Hu ws, making them turn dull. The unique aura on them was suppressed and soon they looked like they were mottled.

    "WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Hu Dagao shouted in fear and anger.

    The Great Hu ws were his personal weapons and had been nurtured by him for many years. He had literally used his blood in refining them and fed it with his aura and spirit qi.

    He had hoped that one day the Great Hu ws could turn into Pseudo Immortal weapon. If he managed to do that, he would have the best chance at bing the Patriarch.

    But now, all of it was for naught.

    All the effort he had put in the ws, all the spirit qi and resourcesбн all were wasted.

    The Great Hu ws turned into mortal weapons from Peak Grade Spirit weapons!

 Chapter 1002 Redundant Choice

    The loss of the Great Hu ws was a great blow to Hu Dagao.

    After all he had put his blood and sweat into nurturing them for many years. In fact, the Qi Sapping ticks that were under his authority were all being raised for his Great Hu ws in the first ce.

    If he wanted to he could breakthrough to the Dao Treading realm a long time ago. But instead of that, he had chosen a path of absolute stability. He wanted to make his foundation very deep and also wanted to discover his own unique Dao Embryo.

    The Hu n had two main Dao Embryos that most of the n had. These Dao Embryo''s either belonged to the Dao of Metal or the Dao of Sharpness.

    The first Dao Embryo belonged to the Dao of Metal and was called as Tiger Striped Coat. It embodied the toughness of the Dao of Metal and looked like the skin of a white tiger.

    The second Dao Embryo belonged to the Dao of Sharpness and was also a pair of ws. They were called as the Deep Shear w Dao Embryo and embodied the sharpness of the White tiger.

    The two Dao Embryos were not just the mostmon in the Hu n but were also very strong. Even the past three patriarchs of the n had these Dao Embryo and no other Dao Embryo in the n couldpare to it.

    It wasn''t that there weren''t others, but they often ended up being quite inferior to these two as there was a long line of research behind them. Hu Dagao could have very well picked either of those two to progress and would have broken through easily too.

    But he had not.

    With the path of seeking his own Dao Embryo, he had to wait a lot. But at the same time he also knew that he needed strength. Thus he made the Great Hu ws and chose to nurture them.

    He would use them to hold his position while fighting above his level and when he finally had the chance to breakthrough, his strength would improve once more.

    After all a peak grade spirit weapon would only be stronger in the hands of a Dao Treading realm expert.

    "Youбн you broke themбн" Hu Dagao almost felt his heart copse.

    ~THUD~

    It was at this point that he was struck on the side of his body by arge hammer like tail.

    ~WHOOSH~

    His body was sent flying and mmed into a building nearby, making it copse.

    ~COUGH~ COUGH~

    Hu Dagao spat out several mouthfuls of blood along with a few teeth.

    "Y-youбн Howбн what areбн" Hu Dagao felt a great pain all over his body.

    His control over spirit qi was also wavering and he felt like it was being taken away.

    "Ahбн what a pity." Lin Wu shook his head as he saw the Hu n heir wallow in fear. "I thought I would get to see a better show. Guess I was just overestimating youбн" he mocked.<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu looked at the damage that had been done around the area and also the people in the area.

    ''They shouldn''t be able to leave or spread the news of thisбн'' Lin Wu had already set up arrays that would prevent anyone from leaving and the system was blocking allmunication.

    All of this was important to keep his presence on the Hu continent a secret.

    ~tremble~

    The ground trembled as Lin Wu''srge body moved towards Hu Dagao. The man had a weak gaze and several scratches could be seen on his face as well. Blood covered his neck and torso, havinge from all the wounds he had sustained.

    A mere p was enough to make him unable to fight now.

    A long shadow was cast over the man, making him look up weakly.

    "Whatбн do you wantбн with me?" Hu Dagao questioned knowing that if he was to be killed it would have happened already. "Why did you trap me?" he asked.

    "Hmmбн you can say that I''ve some interest in the Hu continent. And in order to cover them, I reckoned the best way was to make use of the local hegemony. The Hu n is that, isn''t it?

    And youбн the local hegemon of this area?" Lin Wu replied casually.

    Hearing all this, Hu Dagao had a few questions rising in his mind, with the main one being that who Lin Wu was and what did he as ''interest''.

    But before he could ask again, Lin Wu spoke. "So, you can say that it is in my interest that the Hu n listens to me. But as they are right now, that is doubtful."

    "The Hu n will never heed you. Even if you kill me, the n will not yield." Hu Dagao stated knowing that at this point it was safer for the n to give up on him.

    "Oh, I know that." Lin Wu said stunning both Kulung and Hu Dagao. "In fact, I''m counting on it."

    "So why do it like this?" Hu Dagao asked again.

    "It was the most straightforward way. Plus you just happened to be the tenth heir which would put you quite high up in the ranking of the Hu n. Besides, I don''t have to die either." Lin Wu replied much to Hu Dagao''s disbelief.

    The man wondered how he would be getting through this and had almost started to expect death. But this answer made him think otherwise.

    ''There''s no way he is lying either. If he wanted to kill me, he would just do it right away. There must be a reason to spare meбн'' Hu Dagao reckoned.

    "I''ll tell you this, if you listen to meбн you''ll live. And if you don''tбн you''ll still live." Lin Wu said confusing the man.

    "What?!?" Hu Dagao found the options redundant.

    "The difference between the two is that, listening to me will allow you to still have your freewill. But if you don''t listen, I can just enve you." Lin Wu dropped the bomb.

 Chapter 1003 Branding Hu Dagao

    With the two options that were presented to Hu Dagao, it was clear that the first was the only one that was good.

    The second one would turn him into a ve and leave him with no free will of his own. At first, he wondered if it was worth resisting but several thoughts made him think otherwise.

    "I''ll give you a minute to think. But after that, I''ll act on my own." Lin Wu stated coldly.

    Kulung could feel the deadly aura within Lin Wu''s voice and knew that it was far greater than it was when he had faced him and even battled him. Albeit it was just briefly.

    While Hu Dagao didn''t know just what method Lin Wu would be using to enve him, being an heir of the Hu n, he knew no less than five methods that could work even on Dao Treading realm cultivators not to mention he who was just at the Dao Shell realm for now.

    Even with his bloodline, resisting it was not a fully assured option as he could feel that the being in front of him could suppress the bloodline as well with no regard to its rank.

    With such choice presented to him, it didn''t take Hu Dagao to make his choice.

    "Iбн I''ll cooperate!" Hu Dagao answered.

    "Ah, good. Ten seconds early too." Lin Wu nodded his head before peeking at the invisible system screen that was currently giving him a string of updates. ''Seems like the imnt is ready tooбн''

    "I shall being now." Lin Wu spoke, making the men confused.

    "Begin what?" Hu Dagao asked.

    "I''ll be imprinting my brand on you." Lin Wu replied.

    "Brand? But I thought you said you will not enve me if I cooperate?" Hu Dagao questioned in doubt and fear.

    "That I did indeed. And I am not enving you. The brand will merely keep me informed of your presence as well as your immediate environment. You will still have your freewill." Lin Wu assuaged his fears.

    ~gulp~

    Hu Dagao swallowed a mouthful of saliva, knowing that even if Lin Wu was enving him now, there was no turning back from this. He hade too far for this to be stopped. There was no oneing to rescue him either.

    ~SHING~

    Then in the next moment, a spike extended from Lin Wu''s body and touched Hu Dagao. It''s speed was too fast for him to react and even Kulung only saw it when it was already on Hu Dagao''s forehead.

    ''That was too fastбн if he wants to kill, he doesn''t need much to doбн'' Kulung thought to himself as goosebumps covered him.

    What he didn''t know was theplex process that was currently running in Hu Dagao''s body.

    ''Alright, system get the imnt running. Same as always.'' Lin Wu ordered in his mind.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET SELECTED: Hu Dagao

    INITIALIZING: Pentagem Imnt

    NOTIFICATION: Bloodline restrain detected within the target.

    NOTIFICATION: Bloodline restrain has been dispelled.

    COMPLETED: Pentagem Imnt has been sessfully installed.

    бкбк

    With that done, Lin Wu could now see a new window appear next to him.<sub> </sub>

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET: Hu Dagao

    CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Expansion stage of the Dao Shell realm

    BLOODLINE: The Wide w Tiger Bloodline

    PHYSIQUE: None

    BODY CULTIVATION: Eleventh Stage of the body Tempering realm

    WEAPONS: Great Hu ws (Peak Grade spirit weapon) (Broken)

    SPIRIT TOOLS: Spatial Storage Bracelet, White Tiger Pelt robes (High Grade Spirit tool)

    бкбк

    Lin Wu was interested seeing the bloodline that was mentioned by the system.

    "Huh, Wide w Tiger Bloodline? So this is the descendant bloodline that the Hu n ended up withбн" Lin Wu was a bit surprised.

    He had seen several tiger beasts so far and even then he had not expected such a bloodline to be close to one of the Four Guardian bloodlines, the White Tiger Bloodline.

    ''No wonder they just call themselves the Hu n instead of the Baihu n. Even in their pride they don''t dare take that surnameбн'' Lin Wu rednecked.

    He didn''t know whether this was the Hu n being ignorant or smart, but at the very least they hid their original bloodline quite cleverly.

    ''This seems to be amon trend for the three ns in the Ming Dao world. The Long n as the Azure Serpent bloodline, the Hu n has the Wide w Tiger Bloodline, the only one left is the Gui nбн they definitely don''t have the ck Tortoise Bloodline. I wonder what they might have,'' Lin Wu pondered to himself.

    "Wellбн I''ll just see it when its time. For now I''ll just deal with the goals in front of meбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself, his voice being heard by Kulung too.

    The words were rtively vague so Kulung couldn''t grasp the full meaning, but he could at least tell that Lin Wu had sensed something that had interested him.

    ''I just hope, I can be safe.'' That was the only thought the man had for now.

    ~SHING~

    A few momentster, the spike that was embedded in Hu Dagao''s forehead was withdrawn and the man woke up quickly. There were no traces of an injure and it was as if Lin Wu had never touched him at all.

    It was a strange thing for Kulung to see as well, but he just attributed it to many of Lin Wu''s abilities.

    ''Feels like nothingбн'' Hu Dagao touched his forehead and didn''t feel any pain.

    He even discovered that his body was now free to act and his control over spirit qi had returned too.

    ''The brandбн where is it?'' Hu Dagao tried to search for it within his body.

    He scanned his Dantian first but didn''t find it. He then scanned his organs and still didn''t find it. A minuteter he had checked the entirety of his body and there was still no sign of the brand.

    "It''s of no use. You are far too weak to sense my brand." Lin Wu chuckled.

    ~gulp~

    It only made Hu Dagao more tense as he realized that this was only getting moreplex.

 Chapter 1004 Investigation By The Hu Clan

    The brand made by Lin Wu was astonishing to Hu Dagao.

    ''For him to hide a brand like this and even evade the bloodline restrain that the Hu n puts on everyoneбн Only the ancestor might be able to do thatбн'' Hu Dagao felt like the being in front of him might be an Immortal Ascension realm being.

    But at the same time, he had a hunch that it might not be correct either.

    ''It can''t really be the immortal realm right? How can there be immortals in the Ming Dao world?'' Hu Dagao questioned the reality.

    As far as he knew, there had not been any immortals in the Ming Dao world for a long time. The era of immortals had passed, and it had been over ten thousand years since thest mention of immortals.

    While there were rumors that immortals would visit the Ming Dao world, they were hard to believe. After all, even Hu Dagao could tell that there was nothing that could interest the immortals toe to a world like this.

    ''People want to leave this world for better ces, why would someonee back to a run-down world like this?'' Hu Dagao thought to himself.

    Regardless of whatever the reality might be, he did know one thing. He could not take Lin Wu lightly and needed to be very careful with him.

    ''I cannot slight him at all. Forget me, he even dares to challenge the Hu n with no issues, my poor life is nothing to him.'' He reckoned.

    At the very least, he could only pray to his ancestors and ask for forgiveness for what he was going to do.

    ~Sigh~

    ''If the ancestors were in my position, I''m sure they would do the same too.'' Hu Dagao was now moving from the stage of denial to the stage of eptance.

    By doing this, he coped with his situation and resolved his mind. The loss of his weapons and status was a big blow that needed to be resolved in some way after all. All this was clearly visible to Lin Wu, but there was little he cared about.

    ''As long as he follows the orders, it doesn''t matter what he thinks.'' Lin Wu thought without caring for the man.

    "What do I do now?" Hu Dagao questioned, wondering what his first set of orders might be.

    "Hmmбн" Lin Wu thought over it for a minute before asking something that had bothered him before. "How were you able toe here on a day''s notice? Don''t you live far away from here?" he questioned.

    "That is because I was simply nearby due to an investigation mission." Hu Dagao answered.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu raised a brow.

    "What kind of investigation mission?" Lin Wu asked, knowing that if it involved an important heir like Hu Dagao, it must not be simple.

    "I do not know it entirely either. But the Hu n received reports about some strange tremors happening in this region. They had sent people to investigate earlier too, but they didn''t find much.

    But thenter, we learned that there were more reports. But this time the statements were of people disappearing. Normally we wouldn''t care if people at this level disappeared, but one of those that disappeared was also a Dao Shell realm cultivator.

    More people were sent to investigate this time, and the rank of the mission was raised in importance." Hu Dagao said in detail.<sub> </sub>

    Lin Wu carefully listened to it all and let the system record it.

    "Did you know of this?" Lin Wu asked Kulung who was standing like a statue on the side.

    The city lord was quite fearful now and wanted to be as safe as possible.

    "I''ve heard of the tremors, but I don''t know of the disappearance." Kulung replied horridly.

    Lin Wu could tell that the man wasn''t lying, and he truly didn''t know more than that.

    ''It''s probably the Hu n pulling some stringsбн'' Lin Wu looked at Hu Dagao, which the man seemed to have understood.

    "This information was considered sensitive and was kept hidden from outsiders, Senior." Hu Dagao quickly replied.

    "I guessed soбн" Lin Wu nodded his head. "So what was the result of this investigation?" he inquired further.

    "Ah yes! This time the results were concerning for the n. Out of the ten investigators that were sent by the Hu n, two had disappeared too. The eight that returned couldn''t figure out what had happened and could only tell that they had faded away in air." Hu Dagao answered, surprising Lin Wu once more.

    "Disappeared into thin air? Spatial interference?" Lin Wu wondered if there was someone doing this.

    "Y-yes!" Hu Dagao nodded his head, feeling a bit stunned.

    ''He managed to grasp it all with just a few wordsбн he truly is very experiencedбн'' the image of Lin Wu in Hu Dagao''s heart rose again.

    ~huu~

    He took a deep breath and decided to take the initiative to speak further.

    "Our n elders thought the same and thus they decided to send me here, as it was an area under my administration. They wanted me to personally verify what the issue was and to record all signs of the spatial disturbances or fluctuations." Hu Dagao exined.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu was now interested in this matter too. ''For it to be able to use spatial abilities, it must not be anything simple.'' He reckoned.

    Though it also made Lin Wu a bit wary. He knew just how dangerous space could be and would be able to harm him too. It was one of the things he needed to be wary about as much as possible.

    ''I should get the system to investigate itбн maybe it''ll be able to decipher some clues,'' Lin Wu hoped.

    With this done, Lin Wu decided to move ahead with the original n. He looked at Kulung and spoke, "get the city under control again, and don''t let themoners spread anything."

    "It shall be done!" Kulung quickly left to do his duties.

 Chapter 1005 The Structure Of The Hu Clan

    <h2 style="font-size: 22.4px;">1005 The Structure Of The Hu n</h2>

    Now that even Hu Dagao was under the control of Lin Wu, Kulung had nothing to worry about. After all, with their status, themoners would not amount to anything at all. Especially when there was a monster like Lin Wu watching over everything.

    While Kulung took care of the city''s situation Lin Wu continued his dialog with Hu Dagao.

    "Tell me everything about your n, its members, as well as the cultivation methods." Lin Wu ordered.

    This was the first set of information that he needed to obtain so that he could further rify his steps. After getting this, Lin Wu would be able to figure more about the Hu continent as well as link it to the missing history of the Ming Dao world.

    With the interfering of the Skull God in the past, it was obvious that arge part had been erased.

    ''Seems like the memories I obtained from the avatar of the Skull god truly were just a fragment of the whole. He has done a lot more than what I learned so far.'' Lin Wu understood.

    Hu Dagao started from his n and its members first.

    The overall structure of the Hu n was simr to that of a sect. At the lowest level were the servants, who were either from the servant families that belonged to the Hu n, or had joined the Hu n in order to gain some fortune for themselves.

    With the Hu n being the ruling authority in the continent, there was nock of cultivators throwing themselves to be the servants of the n. In fact, it wasn''t umon for some big merchant or lord of an area to just be a servant of the Hu n.

    Then above the servants were the external branch members of the Hu n. These were the people that were spread around the continent and were in charge of administration of provinces. Even if they were called provinces, these were in fact the territories of the former kingdoms that used to exist.

    The external branches controlled the provinces and ensured that everything was ording to the will of the superiors.

    Then above the external branches was the main branch of the Hu n. This was located in the primend of the Hu n and was also called as the sacrednd of the Hu continent. This had people that were directly linked to the founders of the Hu n and the original ancestors.

    They were differentiated from the external branches by the virtue of their bloodline purity. Hu Dagao said that there were special spirit tools that could determine the bloodline purity of one''s body.

    The ones in the external branches were all those that had married outside of the n many times or those members whose bloodline purity had fallen naturally.

    Hearing this Lin Wu wondered just how much inbreeding happened in the main branch of the Hu n. But then he learned that the Hu n actually had methods to resolve that.

    There wasn''t much inbreeding and the Hu n had already developed methods to keep their bloodline pure even while marrying outsiders. Women and men of the main branch could marry talented outsiders and the bloodline of their offspring would still be good enough to stay in the branch.

    They would then nourish these children with special treasures and let them cultivate the techniques of the n that could help nurture their bloodline. In addition to this, the children could then be married within the n to their distant cousins.

    This would prevent any bad characteristics from appearing and still keep the offspring strong.<sub> </sub>

    But above the main branch, there was still something stronger. There were thousands upon thousands of members of the Hu n, but the core members were just a little over a hundred.

    The core of the n consisted of the ancestors, patriarchs, grand elders, high elders, as well as the direct heirs of the n. Hu Dagao was one such member and thus his authority was quite high.

    In fact, he could directly order any provincial branch of the Hu n if he chose to do so.

    This was also how he had expanded his scope of control over the Hu continent, directly bing the fourth strongest heir despite being tenth in the age ranking.

    Coming to this part, Lin Wu inquired about the other heirs that were stronger than him.

    And it was a little entertaining for Lin Wu to hear about this too.

    Apparently, the strongest heir wasn''t the first heir, but the second one. And not just that, but the second heir was actually a girl. She was the eldest sister of Hu Dagao and was over six hundred years old as of now.

    She had also reached the Dao Treading realm and was quite strong.

    The second strongest heir was the first heir. He was the eldest brother of Hu Dagao and was also in the Dao Treading realm.

    Then there was the third strongest heir, which was the fifth heir. He was also the most reclusive of all heirs and was apparently out searching for some fortune for about thirty years.

    Above the heirs, there was the patriarch of the Hu n, Hu Dagao''s father.

    He too was at the Dao Treading realm and was at the Dao Comprehension Stage. He was twelve hundred years old as of now.

    Finally above him, there was the Ancestor of the Hu n.

    Hu Dagao had never seen the ancestor in person and wasn''t rted to him directly either. The same could be said for the patriarch.

    Apparently, the ancestor of the Hu n was some great, great, great uncle of the current patriarch. The direct line of the ancestor had lost their talent, and thus another line was now the ruling line.

    In addition to all this, Lin Wu also got to learn more about the cultivation technique of the Hu n. It was pretty much on the same level as that of the Long n, and Lin Wu reckoned they were equally matched in this aspect.

 Chapter 1006 Old Research

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    бкбк

    Hu Dagao finally finished his exnation after two hours. Lin Wu was pleased with all the information he had gotten from it, and it had helped rify some of his doubts as well. The system had several notifications too and had managed to add more data to its Data banks.

    This was always a wee thing and Lin Wu only wished it would happen more often. And this wasn''t the end of the information either, as there were more things Lin Wu wanted to ask Hu Dagao.

    "Tell me about the Qi Sapping Ticks now. How did your n raise them?" Lin Wu questioned again.

    "The Qi Sapping ticks are one of our n''s biggest achievements in recent times. It has allowed us to increase our wealth greatly and also speed up the cultivation of our member. Plus it allows us to refine a lot more spirit tools and pills too since we don''t need to depend on the Spirit stones as much." Hu Dagao felt proud when he said all this.

    "Our n had originally stumbled upon some old documents from a ruin. At first we didn''t know what the ruin was, but after more observations, we determined that it was a ruin left behind by some people who hade from other worlds.

    The ruin contained a lot of information about cultivation and various methods of refinement. But in all this, there was one document that was vastly different. It was a document about beast research and how they could be made stronger.

    It looked to be a crude document for the most part since it was hand written, which made us think that this was an iplete work of an expert.

    Our elders spent several years researching the document which theorized methods of mutating various beasts.

    Since our n too descends from a beast, they were greatly interested in it. After all, there were several methods that involved the improvement and mutation of bloodlines too. Upon learning this, our n spent a lot more resources on it.

    They tried to find more such documents, but it wasn''t a sess. Thus, they searched the entire continent for more such ruins.

    We found several such ruins, but none of them held the information we wanted.

    This ended up in a slump for us, and several decades passed. During this time, our elders had continued their work with the research and had finally devised a few methods that were actually working.

    One of the main test subjects they used was Qi Sapping ticks, since they were quick to breed and easy to control.

    We never thought that what was just supposed to be an experimental subject would turn out to be our biggest sess.

    The Qi Sapping Ticks were mutated to the point where their ability to absorb Spirit Qi had reached a massive level.

    The earlier versions were unstable, but over time, we managed to raise ones that could be rtively stable. We also devised methods to refine these Qi Sapping Ticks into pills that could be used almost the same as spirit stones." Hu Dagao exined in detail.

    Lin Wu listened to it all and the system gave several notifications that it had obtained improvements too.

    ''If just surface level exnation like this is giving system improvements, just how much will actual research documents help it?'' Lin Wu wondered as a hint of desire appeared within his heart.

    Since it considered beasts and their mutation, it was something that could be directly helpful to him. After all, the system had the ability to do the same, but on a far greater level.

    Lin Wu continued to listen to Hu Dagao as the man revealed the methods of refining the Qi Sapping ticks. This method killed them and all the Qi within their bodies would be refined into pills.

    The only difference was that this refinement wasn''t done in a pill furnace.

    Rather, there was a special formation array that had been devised for it.<sub> </sub>

    "Do you have this array with you?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Iбн do." Hu Dagao took out a hexagonal formation te from his spatial storage tool.

    Lin Wu could see dense runes carved into it as well as several patterns that were painted on the bottom. It was abination of different methods of formation creation and was something Lin Wu had seen before too.

    ''Its an old method that they don''t use as much now. Seems like they have derived it from the invaders too.'' Lin Wu had easily guessed that all the research documents hade from the invaders of the old time.

    The ruins were the biggest sign of those, and it wasn''t unusual for them to be more of them here. After all, Lin Wu hade across them in the Long Continent as well.

    Lin Wu and Hu Dagao continued to talk for several more hours.

    An entire day passed before Lin Wu finally felt satisfied with his gains and dismissed Hu Dagao. The man was rather exhausted and was filled with gratitude for the break that was given to him.

    ''This much should be enough for now. If I want to gain more, I''ll have to head to the sacrednd of the Hu n itself.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    But before doing that, there were still some things that needed to be taken care off. For example, the city that was still in a little trouble. Kulung had already sent out orders and calmed the situation, but it would take some time for the damage to be repaired.

    "I''ll test out the refinement array on the ticks first then. It should give the system more data." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He took out the formation te that was given to him and spoke, "System, analyze this."

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Formation te

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET: Analyzed

    .

    TARGET: Qi Sapping Tick Refinement Array

    STATUS: Fully Functional

    NOTE: The system can replicate the array now.

    бкбк

    Seeing all this, Lin Wu smiled widely.

    "Perfect."

 Chapter 1007 Unique Refinement

    The system had perfectly learned how to replicate the array on its own. This was supposed to be one of the best-kept secrets of the Hu n and not even the branch members were supposed to know about this.

    But now Lin Wu had gained full control over it and could do whatever he wanted with it.

    Still, he didn''t let the system make an array right away. He first wanted to see how the original array worked and let the system record information from it first.

    ''There is always a chance for there to be a mistake. Best that it have concrete observations before I go for my own method.'' Lin Wu thought.

    "Alright system, use the te for refinement." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~SHUA~

    Lin Wu watched as the array was set up.

    Since it was made in the form of a Formation te, the activation was very quick. Thousands of runes appeared from the te and assembled themselves into formations. These formations then arranged themselves ording to the array, and it was finallypleted.

    "Now it''s turn for the ticksбн" Lin Wu turned his attention to the six Qi Sapping ticks that were sleeping nearby.

    Since they were very skittish, Lin Wu had simply used some of his poison to knock them out. This way they wouldn''t move too much and end up injuring themselves. After all, they were saturated to the point of bursting and could explode from just some minor damage.

    Lin Wu didn''t want to waste them this quick.

    ''Getting more of them will be difficult too. The methods and materials needed to breed them are closely guarded within the Hu n. Even for the Heirs, they need to officially apply for them before they are granted more of them.'' Lin Wu pondered over it.

    He needed to make the best use of those that he had with him, and use them sparingly.

    "Though with the system''s efficiency, I think I''ll have a couple of spares left overбн" Lin Wu guessed.

    ~roll~

    He gently pushed one of the Qi Sapping ticks into the array and let it start its work.

    ~SHUA~

    The array flickered before several small runes turned into threads. These threads wrapped up the fat Qi Sapping Tick, and now it looked like it had turned into a cocoon. The threads kept on increasing and the cocoon got thicker.

    Five minutester, the cocoon had reached twice the size it originally was.

    ~SQUEEZE~

    It was at this point that the second step of the process started. The cocoon was squeezed from all sides as binders formed from runes wrapped it. The binders tightened around it and the cocoon waspressed.

    This process took about thirty minutes before the cocoon had been shrunk to the size of a watermelon. This was a great difference from its original size and the most surprising part was the fact that Lin Wu could still feel vitality from it.

    ''The Qi Sapping tick is still alive on some level?'' Lin Wu had not expected this.

    ~POOF~

    But just a few secondster, he heard a pressing sound. The life signs of the tick were wiped out, and the watermelon sized cocoon shrunk even more.<sub> </sub>

    ''So this is the point where the tick diesбн maybe improvement can be made to thister.'' Lin Wu analyzed on his own.

    It wasn''t that this method was for the refinement of the Qi Sapping ticks. Rather, Lin Wu was more interested in the other applications that would be derived from it. Thus, it was best for it to be as stable as possible.

    Lin Wu watched as the Array continued its work and was now on its third step.

    ~HUALA~

    Suddenly, a me ignited within the array. This me burned the cocoon, but the energy within it was being contained by the still present binders.

    "This process was certainly derived from pill refinement. But the binders and cocoon method makes sure that there is no need for a pill cauldron." Lin Wu took note.

    ~POP~

    Ten minutes passed like this before a popping sound was heard. Eight pills shot out from the orb and were quickly captured by the array.

    ~HUMM~

    At this point, the array started to shut down, having finished its work.

    Lin Wu waved his tail, and the pills were pulled towards him. He observed the pills while the system scanned them too.

    They were in white in color and there was no mark or pattern on them. He reckoned if they were sold off in the market, no one would be able to figure out how they were made or what they were.

    "There isn''t even a trace of the Qi Sapping ticks left in this." Lin Wu''s spirit sense also probed it, finding nothing. ''Seems like the refinement has reached a point where it can fully move all traces.'' He thought.

    And when he looked at the system''s analytical log, his thought was confirmed. All the traces of the Qi Sapping tick had been burned away by the mes during the third step.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    ANALYZING: please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nodded his head in approval and could already see more notifications appearing as the system started to improve the process.

    ''Maybe I can even turn this into a pill refinement manual. The alchemist should probably like it a lot. They are always after more methods after all.'' Lin Wu chuckled, wondering how much he should sell it for.

    There would be nock of people wanting to buy it in the Long Continent. Plus, it would suit his image as an old ''senior'' imparting knowledge that had been long lost to the juniors of the current age.

    "Haaбн so many ways to profit, so little time." Lin Wu let out a breath before looking at the monitoring screen. "But I''ll make time for all of them, hahaha."

    Lin Wu pulled up the map and started to make a new route. His next destination was going to be a rather sensitive one and he needed to n better.

 Chapter 1008 Investigation Site

    A few days had passed since Lin Wu had suppressed Hu Dagao.

    Third Yun city had mostly recovered in this time and the people had also returned to their normal life. With Kulung acting personally, there were no issues of the people being troublesome.

    Thus Lin Wu got to spend a rtively ''peaceful'' time in the city. Of course, he was hidden in the cave that he had made underground and was basically nning for theing events. He had gotten to understand more about the Qi Sapping Ticks and had also consumed one of them.

    The system had added the raw bloodlines data for it and Lin Wu had also preserved the rest of the Qi Sapping ticks for the Avatar. It was bound to help his Dao Embryo.

    "This should be enough for now. I don''t think I can do anything more, the rest can only be executed." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He then contacted Kulung and Hu Dagao, summoning them back in the cave.

    In just a minute, both of them had rushed back to the cave.

    The past few days had been anxiety inducing for Hu Dagao and he had always been worried about what Lin Wu would tell him next. But as more days passed, and he wasn''t contacted, he started to feel if he was forgetting or something.

    But now that he had finally called him, the anxiety had returned.

    "You called for us, Senior?" Hu Dagao and Kulung said in a nervous tone.

    "Mmhmm, it is now time to leave." Lin Wu said inly.

    "L-Leave?" Hu Dagao stuttered.

    "Yes, leave. I am done with my tasks here. It is now time we head onwards." Lin Wu said while looking at the two. "Hu Dagao wille with me, while Kulung will continue to stay here. You will contact me if there is any unexpected news." He ordered.

    "Y-yes senior." Kulung had no objections to it.

    "Where are we going though, Senior?" Hu Dagao questioned.

    "The ce that you were investigating." Lin Wu answered. "You haven''t finished it officially right?" he asked.

    "Noбн I rushed here after hearing about the Qi Sapping ticks, so I never even finished the investigation. The initial report has not been sent either." Hu Dagao replied quickly.

    "Good. It''ll make things easier for me." Lin Wu was intending to see the suspected Spatial Disturbances.

    He wanted to see just what is it that could make something like this happen, and if he could make use of it somehow.

    ''At the very least, it will be good for the system.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The two of them left directly by flying out. This time Lin Wu didn''t need to worry about anyone seeing them since they array around the mansion had been upgraded by him. The illusory array could prevent anyone from seeing the scene inside the array making it easier for all of them.

    "Now then, where is the location exactly?" Lin Wu questioned his new servant.

    "I-I''ll guide you, Senior!" Hu Dagao flew ahead.

    He didn''t want to make Lin Wu waste his time, so tried to be as fast as possible. Lin Wu easily kept up with him, flying just a short distance behind him.

    Still, if someone saw the scene, they would surely thing that Lin Wu was chasing down Hu Dagao to eat him. His body was simply too massivepared to Hu Dagao, and it looked like a hill was flying across the sky.

    With the two of them flying at maximum speed, they reached the site of investigation in less than ten hours. Lin Wu could have technically reached here faster, but he took his time as he could still hunt some beasts on their path.

    Even if Hu Dagao got far, Lin Wu was able to catch up with him whenever. This helped him collect more data and beasts for the avatar forter. All the beast corpses were stored in the storage and the number had now reached over three hundred.

    All of these were unique beasts, and Lin Wu wanted as much variety as possible.

    He also collected some rare materials and spirit herbs that were detected on the path, but there weren''t as many of them. Especially the ones that could still help the avatar in improving its Dao Embryo.<sub> </sub>

    ~THUD~

    Lin Wu''s massive bodynded on the ground, creating a depression on it. Hu Dagaonded not that far from Lin Wu and was a bit tense.

    "Hmmmбн you said you investigated this ce a bit before right?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Y-yes. I hade here for about a day before I was contacted by Kulung about the ticks." Hu Dagao hurriedly answered.

    "And what were your observations in that one day?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "None. I didn''t find anything in that time. The Spatial Detection tools that the n provided me haven''t sensed anything yet." Hu Dagao replied.

    "Oh? Interestingбн" Lin Wu looked at the area which looked rtively mundane.

    It was usually calm and there didn''t seem to be any signs of a battle either.

    ''Looks like a normal forest with some hillsбн'' Lin Wu first used his spirit sense to check the area, but didn''t detect anything usual.

    "System, scan the area in detail." Lin Wu ordered next.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ? SCANNER: Activated

    SCANNING: Please wait patientlyбн

    .

    .

    .

    SCAN: Completed!

    MAP: Updated!

    DATA BANK: Updated!

    NOTIFICATION: Spatial disturbance detected!

    бкбк

    Seeing the scan results, Lin Wu quickly switched over to the map.

    There were a few markers on it, that were designating the locations of the spatial disturbances.

    ''These seem to be very faintбн no wonder they couldn''t be detected easily.'' Lin Wu realized before looking at Hu Dagao. "Take your the spatial detection tool that your n gave you." He ordered.

    "Y-yes!" Hu Dagao didn''t question it and took out what looked like a small bead.

    "Come with me," Lin Wu took Hu Dagao six kilometer away from where they were.

    And upon reaching there, Hu Dagao felt the bead in his hand tremble.

 Chapter 1009 Spatial Traces Underground

    The bead was a special type of Spirit took called as the Void Tracing Bead.

    It was able to sense the Spatial disturbance by sensing the traces of spatial energy that usually came from the void. Whenever there were spatial disturbances, a faint amount of energy from the void would leak into the world.

    This was often too small for a normal cultivator to sense and thus many people would just miss it. The same could be said for Lin Wu too as his spirit sense was unable to pick up on it.

    But the system was a lot more urate than that and wouldn''t miss any signs. And thus it had recognized it quickly and marked the results on the map.

    And now that Hu Dagao had used the Void Tracing Bead, it was proven.

    ~HUMM~

    The translucent white bead trembled in the man''s hand before flying up automatically. It hovered in the area where the traces were the strongest and changed color. From a translucent white color, it became a light grey instead.

    Seeing this, Hu Dagao furrowed his brows.

    "What does that mean?" Lin Wu questioned the man.

    "The Void Tracing Bead will change color depending on the level of spatial disturbance that is caused. Grey is the lowest level of it." Hu Dagao answered.

    "The lowest level? Hmmбн I don''t think people would be pulled into the void at that point." Lin Wu said after thinking for a second.

    "Yesбн such level of spatial disturbance are not umon. But there is certainly no way for someone to disappear. At least not so many people." Hu Dagao confirmed.

    "Let''s check the other areas then." Lin Wu brought Hu Dagao to the different spots one by one.

    But no matter which spot they checked the results were the same. Only the lowest level of Spatial Disturbance was found.

    "This is wrongбн how can people disappear despite it being such a weak disturbance? Even the remnant distractedness from a heavenly Tribtion are several times stronger than this." Hu Dagao said feeling confused.

    Lin Wu could understand his confusion and asked the system to widen the scope of search.

    ''There were tremors too right? Perhaps there is something underground?'' Lin Wu let his spirit sense enter the ground while the system also scanned again.

    For five minutes, there was no change. But then finally, the system detected something.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Spatial disturbance detected!

    MAP: Updated!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the map and changed to the undergroundyer on it. There he finally saw another site of disturbance.

    "No wonder it wasn''t detected earlierбн it''s over four kilometer deep underground." Lin Wu muttered.

    At this point, most experts with strong spirit sense would also not sense it. After all, the deeper one went, the harder it got to use spirit sense.

    ''System, is the disturbance on the same level as here?'' Lin Wu questioned in his mind.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The system cannot urately judge it, but preliminary assessment shows that it should be stronger.

    бкбк

    ''That''s all I needed.'' Lin Wu turned his attention to the ground and directly started digging.<sub> </sub>

    ~TREMBLE~

    Hu Dagao was taken aback and was sacred. He saw Lin Wu''s move at a very fast speed and directly bore through the ground. In just five seconds, his entire body had already entered the ground.

    ''What is he doing? Is he leaving me?'' Hu Dagao wondered as the hole got deeper and deeper.

    After a minute, he couldn''t even see Lin Wu in there, only darkness. But then about five minutester, he heard a voice in his mind.

    "Come in, I found something more." Lin Wu ordered Hu Dagao.

    "Coming!" Hu Dagao didn''t hesitate and directly jumped into the hole.

    Even if it was dark and deep, the man didn''t care as he knew the true danger was Lin Wu himself. And neither did he think that Lin Wu wanted to harm him in this way, as there were far easier methods of doing that.

    Hu Dagao continued to fall and reached the bottom of the hole in less than a minute. Since he was a peak Dao Shell realm expert, he wouldn''t sustain any damage from a ''fall'' like this and could just slow down before touching the ground.

    "It''s darkбн" Hu Dagao squinted his eyes.

    ~SHUA~

    But then in the next moment, a green glow illuminated the entire area, allowing him to see everything. The green glow hade from none other than Lin Wu after all.

    Hu Dagao looked around and discovered that he was actually in arge cave system. He could tell that it was a naturally formed cave and wasn''t made by Lin Wu right now.

    ~drip~drip~drip~

    The sound of water dripping could also be heard and Hu Dagao felt the moisture in the air too.

    ''There''s probably an underground river here.'' He thought to himself.

    "Come over, it''s here." Lin Wu said calling him to one of the caves.

    Hu Dagao ran towards there and soon felt the Void Tracing Bead tremble again.

    ~SHUA~

    It flew out of his hand and hovered in a specific spot.

    ~humm~

    Then a few secondster, it started to change color. And when it did, Hu Dagao''s eyes went wide.

    "R-redбн it''s redбн" Hu Dagao muttered in astonishment.

    "What does red mean?" Lin Wu asked the man.

    "Redбн is the second highest warning level. If it is at this point, it means a portal to the void was opened here. There is only one level higher than this and that is the ck level. At that point, it just means a crack in the space has appeared." Hu Dagao answered while feeling anxious.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu felt like he hade across arge clue.

    ''Let''s check it in detail shall we?'' Lin Wu gave out an order to the system.

    ~RUMBLE~

    And when he did, hundreds of runes flew out of his body, directly imprinting onto the air.

    Hu Dagao who saw this was stunned.

    ''What is he doing?'' He wondered, but then five minutester, his jaw fell open.

 Chapter 1010 Opening A Spatial Portal

    Hu Dagao was the tenth heir of the Hu n and thus had ess to a lot of information that most people could only ever dream off.

    He even knew about the various concepts that were rted to the space as well as the existence of the differentyers of the Void. This also included information of how Teleportation arrays and such worked.

    Of course, this was all just theoretical information and wasn''t the same as being able to use it.

    But just this awareness alone was something extremely rare in the Ming Dao world. It could be said that Hu Dagao was on the same level as Ji Shirong if one considered their knowledge base, with Shirong exceeding by a little due to his interactions with Lin Wu.

    As such, Hu Dagao realized what Lin Wu was doing in front of him.

    "Thisбн how is this possible?" Hu Dagao muttered in astonishment. ''He''s making a Spatial formation just like that? No precious materials, no stabilizing tools, no spirit stones eitherбн'' the man felt his reality being flipped.

    As far as themon understanding of cultivators went, any kind of formation or array that dealt with Space were veryplex. They could even be considered as one of the most difficult formations to learn and even the best formation masters struggled with it.

    Those that could use such formations, needed year of practice as well as hundreds of supportive materials to make them.

    But here there was Lin Wu, making a Spatial formation as if he was making a simple illumination talisman.

    Watching him work, Hu Dagao almost felt like making formations was an easy task. It didn''t seem like Lin Wu was struggling at all; the runes were simply popping out of his body and automatically arranging themselves into formations.

    Hu Dagao knew that runes could be drawn in the air using one''s spirit sense and he wasn''t shocked by that part. What he was shocked was the fact that each of the runes was precise and could move automatically.

    Such high level of skill wasn''t even seen in the best formation masters in the Ming Dao World.

    At the very least, Hu Dagao knew why Lin Wu had been able to fool him as well as the arrays of the city.

    ''With skills like these, the arrays of the city are dog shit!'' Hu Dagao thought to himself.

    ~SHUA~

    Ten minutes passed as Hu Dagao continued to watch Lin Wu. It was now that the formation was fully constructed.

    The space in front of him started to flicker, before a thin line appeared. This line was pitch ck, and as thin as a hair. But then a few secondster, it started to widen as a portal appeared in the space.

    "It really is a spatial portal!?" Hu Dagao had never seen one like this before.

    He did know of teleportation arrays and how they worked, but this was different from those. This was a Spatial Portal that would lead one inside the void. Portals like these were almost never used as there was no need for them.

    In fact, for many this portal could actually be considered a great danger as falling into one would be quite dangerous. There weren''t many cases of people being able to return from the Void, without great luck or help.

    And thus, most people never made Spatial portals like this.

    Even making a stable spatial portal was a tall task. More often than not, spatial portals like these were identally made in the process of something else. And when that happened, they would be very unstable and could suck everything that was within its periphery.

    The best example would be the Spatial Storage Ring that belonged to Shirong. Lin Wu had caused it to break unknowingly, and it had ended up tearing a hole in the void.<sub> </sub>

    After all, most spatial storage tools were functionally portals to a fixed space. This fixed space was like a bubble created in the minor void.

    And when it was broken, the portal that would form due to it could end up in the lesser void.

    Having known all this, Hu Dagao was quite scared.

    He took several steps back and was ready to run at any point. But much to his shock, the portal didn''t do anything.

    "Huhбн It''s stable?" Hu Dagao couldn''t believe his eyes.

    "Of course it is." Lin Wu scoffed before taking a look at it.

    The portal was about two meters wide in size and was swirling gently at its borders. Lin Wu could sense the spatial disturbance that was arising from the portal as well as the Spatial energy that was somewhat leaking from it.

    ''Let''s check what this is hiding nowбн'' Lin Wu extended his spirit senses inside the portal facing no restrain.

    If it were any other expert, they would be very careful in using their spirit sense to probe a spatial portal like this. After all, if they made a mistake, their spirit sense would be severed and they themselves could end up bing crippled.

    But with Lin Wu''s reinforced spirit sense, this was nothing and he could freely let his senses roam inside the portal.

    ''System, begin your scans as wellбн'' Lin Wu ordered internally.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated!

    TARGET SELECTED: Lesser Void Portal.

    INITIALIZING: Please wait a few minutesбн

    бкбк

    The system''s own sense entered the portal and searched it for anything of significant. The main point of significance was none other than the traces left behind by the suspicious being. But even if Lin Wu found something unrted, he would still be fine with it.

    He also knew why it was so easy for him to open a portal like this here.

    ''The space here has been made weak due to some reasonбн Seems like it might the work of someone or somethingбн'' Lin Wu guessed after seeing the spatial fabric.

    Lin Wu had to wait for about ten minutes while Hu Dagao simply walked farther from the portal. No matter how far he was, he still felt unsafe.

 Chapter 1011 Clues To The Unknown Bloodline Beast

    Lin Wu waited patiently while Hu Dagao kept on getting more anxious for fifteen minutes. It was now that Lin Wu heard the sound that he had been waiting or this entire time.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed.

    ANALYSIS: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    MAP: Updated!

    NOTIFICATION: Traces of a beast have been detected.

    бкбк

    Seeing this Lin Wu knew that he might have hit the jackpot.

    "Bingo!" Lin Wu switched over to the system''s detailed list and saw the system''s Analysis.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DETECTED: Beast trace

    INFO: The beast traces has a 70% simrity with the host''s own signature. From further assessment, the system has determined that it belongs to the Unknown bloodline of the host.

    бкбк

    As soon as Lin Wu saw this, his eyes went wide. His aura fluctuated as well while his presence grew heavier for the others.

    "It really is itбн I''ve been awaiting the clues for such a long timeбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    This beast''s traces belonged to the Unknown bloodline beast, that was the aim of the system''s quest.

    It was also the beast that Lin Wu needed to find in order to further his own bloodline as well as strengthen it. But Lin Wu knew it was not going to be easy. Especially after knowing that the beast could open portals like this.

    ''Looks like that beast is using these portals to sneak around and hunt others. This might also be the reason why it has been able to escape the monitoring of all the people. Otherwise they should have been able to get at least some information about a beast like this.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as his expression grew serious.

    But even if he had found the clues he had been searching now for years, he knew he couldn''t rush in.

    Forget about the true location of the beast, what Lin Wu first needed to know was just how strong the beast truly was.

    "System, what is your assessment of the beast''s strength?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: ording to the preliminary analysis of the traces as well as the beast''s ability to open space portals, the system had determined that it is likely to be at the Immortal Ascension realm at the very least.

    бкбк

    "At the very least? You mean it could be an immortal?" Lin Wu raised a brow.<sub> </sub>

    He knew that immortals could technically exist in the Ming Dao world, but they would have restrictions ced on them. But with the beast in question, Lin Wu didn''t know if it was circumventing them somehow.

    ~Sigh~

    "I''ll need to prepare a lot moreбн" Lin Wu knew for a beast that could simply escape into the void. Fighting would not be easy.

    Even if Lin Wu had the strength to battle it, the beast could very well jump into the void and escape. Following after the beast would be a bad choice too as Lin Wu wouldn''t have the same advantages as here.

    ''I''ll need to first figure out where the beast is or where it can go. If I know that, I''ll be able to set a trap for it that can prevent it from entering the void.'' Lin Wu knew of several arrays that could restrict the space.

    After all, the Taiji Celestial''s tomb had several such restrictions ced on it.

    Though these were mostly there to prevent the sealed being inside it from ever escaping. That was another one of the enigmas that Lin Wu had yet to solve.

    The system would be able to replicate an array like that, but it would need preparation and it couldn''t be moved once it was made.

    ''It alles down to one thing againбн Knowledge and intelligence,'' Lin Wu realized.

    He also knew that in order to cover this aspect, he needed to gain control over this area, too.

    ''If I have dominion over the Hu continent, I''ll have covered more than half of the Ming Dao world. I''ll do the same for the Gui Continent and then I should be able to gather the intelligence about the beast for sure.'' Lin Wu nned in his mind.

    His determination only grew more and Hu Dagao who was standing in the distance, only felt pressured.

    To him, Lin Wu had spoken several times, but he didn''t understand any of it.

    ''Whatnguage is he speaking?'' Hu Dagao didn''t know at all.

    To him Lin Wu''s words seemed to be a mix of weird and distorted sybles and screeches.

    What Hu Dagao didn''t know was the fact that this was the automatic censoring of the system. With that set, there was no way Lin Wu would say something unknowingly and reveal sensitive information.

    If Lin Wu wanted to actuallymunicate with others, he''ll have to actively think of doing so. Only then would he actually be speaking legitimately.

    A few minutes passed as Lin Wu was lost in his thoughts, and Hu Dagao simply waited silently. The Void Tracing Bead in his hand had already turned ck, and he had noticed that.

    ''This isn''t something I can solve at allбн the n needs to be informed about it.'' Hu Dagao could somewhat guess that even Lin Wu was concerned about the being behind this.

    ~Shua~

    Finally, the spatial portal closed up, and Lin Wu gazed at Hu Dagao.

    "Come on, we''re done here." Lin Wu stated.

    "We''re done?" Hu Dagao almost took a breath of relief but didn''t do so, as he didn''t want to offend Lin Wu identally.

    "Yes, we''re done. I know the cause behind it all." Lin Wu replied, much to Hu Dagao''s surprise.

    "You do?!" The man didn''t expect this.

    "We now have amon goal." Lin Wu replied. "The cause behind it is a beastбн a strong beast." He revealed.

    "A beastбн that can open spatial portalsбн no wait, a second beast." Hu Dagao muttered in a mixture of fear and shock.

    He had never thought that the mission he had been assigned by the n would turn out like this.

 Chapter 1012 A New Expansion Plan

    In the Central region of the Hu continent, there existed a city.

    It was massive and was considered as thergest city of the entire continent. And yet, it wasn''t the capital of the Hu Empire.

    This was a city called as Second Light city.

    Millions ofrge buildings dotted itsnd, while eighteen rivers merged into sixkes within it. Each of thesekes had elegant gardens around them while several pces were redacted within theke itself.

    These sixkes were termed as the Six Royal Lakes, and held the six pces of the branch families of the Hu n.

    They were considered as the headquarters of each of the branch n and held their high ranked members.

    This was also the reason why the city was called as the Second Light city. It only housed the headquarters of the branches of the Hu n. The True Capital of the Hu empire was thousands of kilometer north of the Second Light City and was the most secure ce on the Hu continent.

    And right now, under the Second Light City, arge being was resting.

    A few hundred screens floated around him, showing the scenes from all around the city. One could see the insides of the six royal ces, variousrge mansions belonging to influential experts as well as hidden areas of the various ns.

    Nothing was hidden from the monitoring of the System and Lin Wu could see everything.

    "Hu Dagao certainly did some good work." Lin Wu was pleased with the efficiency of the man.

    His work was fast, and he carried out orders to the T.

    The man had also recovered a part of his confidence he had lost after battling Lin Mu. But now that confidence was presented in a different way. His ambition had also returned, but it had been twisted as well.

    If before, Hu Dagao wanted to be the strongest by nurturing his Greta Hu ns and tempering his bloodline, now he was looking into expanding his power by following Lin Wu. He had already been convinced by Lin Wu''s vast array of skills and knew that there was none other that could match him.

    Hu Dagao even had thoughts that Lin Wu might have already exceeded the Immortal Ascension realm and was either from outside the Ming Dao world, or a special existence like their n spirit.

    Even as a direct Heir, Hu Dagao hadn''t actually seen their n Spirit before and had only heard about it from his family. In fact, other than a few elders of the older generation, and the patriarch, there was no one else that had the qualification to see the n Spirit.

    Though when it was time to worship the n spirit, there were times when some of the heirs could see its image. Those who could do so, would gain some insight and some might even improve their bloodline.

    Just from this alone, Hu Dagao was impressed by the abilities of the n Spirit. And now he was facing someone that might be equal or even stronger than their n spirit!

    It couldn''t help but make him that much more excited.

    Right now, the man was within one of the six Royal Pces and was sitting with several other people.

    "HAHAHA! Senior Brother, you graced us with your presence. How long has it been since we met?" One of the men sitting in the hall asked.

    There were several small tables set in front of each person, and each table was filled with tens of dishes. Servants were also going around, serving wine and various liquors to the people present in the hall.

    "I think thest time I came here was thirty years ago." Hu Dagao said while taking a sip from a wine cup.

    "Of course! Of course! It was during cousin Chu''s birthday." The man replied.

    "It is nice that you''vee to meet us though. We''ll make sure that you have noints from us at all." A woman sitting nearby replied.

    "This is already quite good, Junior Sister Jie. I''m pleased with all that you''ve done." Hu Dagao said with a smile that hid a lot.

    No one in the Hall knew that true reason why Hu Dagao had visited them.

    While they knew that Hu Dagao had arrived in the Second Light City, they didn''t exactly know why at first. Then they heard that he was visiting each of the n branches and that he was greeted with great fanfare.

    This made the people of the third branch rather nervous as they wondered if they had been looked down upon.<sub> </sub>

    The Hu n had Six branches, and each branch had their royal pce here. But even then, the influence of each branch was different. The First branch was at the top, while the fifth and second branch were tied below it.

    The fourth branch was third in ranking, while the third and sixth were tied at the bottom.

    The two nspeted against each other to rise, and if they got a patron from one of the Heirs it would be really good for them.

    This could already be seen from the First, fifth and second branch.

    Each of the branches had a strong heir backing it. Hu Dagao was the only one who hadn''t done it so far as he had taken a different route in expanding his influence. After all, if he directly backed a branch, he would also have to split some benefits with the elders who were within it.

    These elders might be from a branch, but they weren''t weak. There were Dao Treading Realm experts among the branches and Hu Dagao needed to pay some respect to them.

    It was not the same as Kulung, who was beneath him despite being in the Dao Treading realm. These were elders who held the bloodline of the Hu n and were his own family. Thus, he still needed to think about respecting them.

    But this also stemmed from the fact that Hu Dagao was nurturing his strengths in a different path before.

    Now that he had Lin Wu backing him, things had to change. Especially after the mission that had been given to him.

    He continued to chat with the people in the banquet and fed them plenty of sweet words. They did the same, and the party continued for several hours. It wasn''t untilte at night that it came to a conclusion.

    This was also the time when the most important matters would be decided by the involved people.

    "What do you think then, Senior Brother? Our people have discovered a few good mines, and think that it might be good to start excavating.

    Some even think that there might be a high grade spirit stone mine somewhere below the metal ores." Hu Chao asked.

    He was the heir of the third Branch of the Hu n.

    On the Hu continent, this was already a very high status and if he went out, people would be bowing to him. It wouldn''t be wrong to call Hu Chao a prince either.

    But in front of Hu Dagao, who was a direct heir and descended from the Patriarch of the Hu n, this status was nothing.

    Not to mention, Hu Chao also had a lower cultivation base and weaker bloodline.

    If Hu Dagao wanted to, he could suppress the man merely by exerting his bloodline pressure.

    The man in question though, sat silently with a calm expression on his face and didn''t answer. The hall was mostly empty at this point, and only three people were left in it. These three were the highest ranked members of the third branch''s younger generation, with Hu Chao being the highest.

    The other two were Hu Jie who was Hu Chao''s sister, and Hu Pei, who was his cousin.

    They sat nervously while Hu Dagao seemed to be pondering on their offer. They needed a lot of money to do the projects that they had just spoken about. And even if they were very high ranked in their branch, they simply didn''t have the assets needed to carry out these projects.

    After all, these were their private projects that would be helping them build their own strength. They couldn''t take the help of the n, as it would mean offering a higher share to the n.

    But if Hu Dagao could help them in private, it would be a lot better. They wouldn''t have to offer as big of a share and would also be able to build a good rtion with a direct heir.

    Five minutes passed in silence as the three members only got more anxious.

    "Alright." Hu Dagao finally spoke.

    "Haha! I knew Senior Brother would not disappoint us." Hu Chaoughed in joy.

    "We''ll make sure that Senior brother does not regret his decision either. Thirty percent share of the mines will be yours to take when we have it running." Hu Jie stated.

    "That''s great. And I''d like to take our cooperation further." Hu Dagao said before taking out three green crystal tes. "Take one. We''ll keep in contact."

 Chapter 1013 Hu Dagaos Good Work

    Hu Chao, Hu Jie and Hu Pei each saw the crystal tes, finding them to be rather elegant and finely made.

    "What are these, Senior brother?" Hu Chao questioned finding it to be different than most Spirit tools he had seen so far.

    "They aremunication spirit tools. These are some special ones and can work without any interference all over the continent. It doesn''t matter where one is, or what kind of are they are in, they will still work." Hu Dagao answered, making the three feel even more amazed.

    "There is actually amunication spirit tool of this level?" Hu Pei said in surprise.

    "This is amazing. Senior brother certainly has a lot of wealth." Hu Jie ttered.

    "Such craftsmanship, I can''t even tell how this was refined or what this is made out ofбн" Hu Chao looked at the crystal pte closely.

    It was emerald green in color and was made out of translucent crystal. It wasn''t heavy either and seemed quite light. But the faint spirit Qi fluctuationsing from it showed that the spirit tool wasn''t weak.

    Hu Chao felt like it should be a high grade spirit tool!

    Even if they were in the Hu n, giving up high grade spirit tools like this wasn''t cheap. Especially ones with specialmunication features like these crystal tes if these were sold in the market outside, they would easily a couple hundred high grade spirit stones.

    Or if they were given to other spirit tool refiners to study, the cost might be even more.

    Regardless of whatever it was, the three branch members were thoroughly impressed by Hu Dagao.

    ''Senior''s n is truly impressiveбн merely the basic tools he make are already enough to blow away the minds of those that see it.'' Hu Dagao thought after seeing the expression of the Hu n members.

    This wasn''t the first time he was seeing this either. Or rather, this was the sixth time as he had done the same in the other five branches!

    That''s right!

    Hu Dagao was ying on all sides and was roping in all of them, while offering benefits to everyone.

    Normally doing this would be a big mistake and would be no different from dropping an Axe on one''s foot. Even if one disregarded the diplomatic skills that would be needed to maintain so many cooperations betweenpetitive parties, just the financial pressure from it would be too much for Hu Dagao to bear.

    But with Lin Wu''s support, he had nothing to worry about.

    Before sending him off, Lin Wu had quite literally dropped a small hill of spirit stones in front of him. These were the initial funds that would be used to rope in the branches under him.

    "Here''s something to get the project started up." Hu Dagao said before quickly taking out a storage pouch.

    "Thisбн" Hu Chao quickly recognized the storage pouch that was especially used for spirit stones.

    He took the pouch from Hu Dagao before taking a peek inside with his spirit sense. And when he did, his eyes went wide.

    ~Gasp~

    ''So many high grade, and even peak grade spirit stonesбн these will be more than enough to fund forty percent of the operation!'' Hu Dagao was gasping for air, as his face turned red with excitement.

    He was not hoping to get his funding this fast. After all, even for Hu Dagao, carrying such arge amount wasn''t a good choice. It would have been a lot more reasonable for him to return and then dispatch some funds for themter on.

    But now that Hu Chao had been given the funds, there was no reason for him to deny them.

    ''I''ll be the biggest fool ever, if I deny this pie that has fallen in myp! The fortunes are clearly favoring me!'' Hu Chao praised his luck.

    Hu Pei and Hu Jie looked interested in the pouch too, but Hu Chao didn''t show it to them for now. He gestured with his eyes, for them to wait for now.

    ~CLAP~

    Hu Chao stood up and cupped his hands in a salute, before bowing his head.

    "Thank you for trusting us this much, Senior Brother. I swear on my bloodline, that I''ll do my best in making our coboration a sess." Hu Chao stated with confidence.

    "Good. I''ll be looking forward to it." Hu Dagao smiled lightly before standing up.

    "Farewell Senior brother!"

    "Farewell Senior brother!"

    Hu Jie and Hu Pei saluted him respectfully as well.

    Hu Dagao gave them a light nod before taking his leave. He had a slight grin on his face the entire time, and his heart was even more happy.

    "The first part of the mission is nowpleted. I just need to return to senior now." Hu Dagao muttered to himself after leaving the pce.<sub> </sub>

    He flew above the royalke and quickly came to a secluded part of the city. Here he slid into an alley before lifting arge stone tile and jumping down.

    This was one of the many secret tunnel entrances that existed all over the Second Light city, and were only privy to the core members of the Hu n. Even the branch members didn''t know about them, even though they lived in the city.

    Hu Dagao had informed Lin Wu of them, and they had be their base for the time being.

    ~STEP~STEP~ STEP~

    The man walked in darkness with ease and reached a wide open area after ten minutes.

    Unlike the rest of the tunnels, this area was well lit and arge being could be seen inside it.

    Hu Dagao cupped his hands and was just about to say something when he was interrupted.

    "You''ve done well, Hu Dagao." Lin Wu said upon his arrival.

    Hu Dagao didn''t really need to tell anything to Lin Wu as everything was within his scope of observation. The man didn''t even know the level of surveince that Lin Wu had spread over the city.

    Each of the crystal tes that he had asked Hu Dagao to spread in the branches were all spying spirit tools. Of course they were designed by the system and no one would be able to detect that they were being spied on.

    And the crystal tes truly did have the function of working asmunication tools.

    Everything that Hu Dagao had told the branch members was true, and the crystal tes really were a very high quality version of a jade slip.

    With all of the crystal tes distributed among the branches, Lin Wu would now be able to know everything that happened. Whether it be conversation, actions, or more, all of them would be recorded by the tes and transmitted to the system.

    And the system would be continually analyzing it all and making changes ording got it.

    The Data bank was also getting updated rapidly, and they were umting a lot of information that wasn''t there before. After all, the crystal tes could even scan all the documents that were within a few hundred meter radius.

    All Lin Wu needed to do now was wait here for a few days, and obtain a massive amount of data.

    Hu Dagao had no idea about the scope of operation that Lin Wu was running. To him, all that mattered was to follow his orders and make sure he didn''t mess up. As long as that was done, he hoped to survive ande out on top, better than all his siblings.

    "Ah, it was nothing Senior. I just did as I was ordered to." Hu Dagao said humbly. "I''m pleased that you are happy with my work." He added.

    "Mmhmm, I am indeed pleased." Lin Wu nodded his head. "And as such, I think a reward is in order." He said, surprising Hu Dagao.

    "Aбн R-reward?" Hu Dagao was not expecting any rewards for a while.

    All he hoped for was to stay alive and safe. But now that he was getting offered one, he wasn''t one to deny it.

    "Yes, a reward." Lin Wu spoke before raising his tail. "I think you will like it quite a lot."

    ~SHUA~

    From Lin Wu''s tail, several curved spikes appeared. The spikes twisted and curled before taking a particr shape.

    Five spikes came together before joining in a fist like shape and this happened twice.

    ~CLINK~ CLINK~

    After they were formed, they shrank and detached from Lin Wu''s tail.

    "Take them." Lin Wu directed the man.

    Hu Dagao who saw them was stunned.

    The two objects in front of him were none other than ws. They looked simr in shape to the Great Hu ws that he used to have, but he could tell these were a lot more special.

    He stepped forward carefully before extending his trembling hands.

    ~HUMM~

    As soon as he held the two ws in his hands, he felt a great power coursing through his body. This power came from the ws, and he felt a stream of information appear in his mind as well.

    "Thisбн isбн GREAT!"

 Chapter 1014 Rewarding Hu Dagao And Next Step

    Hu Dagao could feel the power of the ws.

    They were crystal ws and seemed superior to the Great Hu ws he had nurtured for many years. It felt a little humiliating too on some level, as the Great Hu ws which he had nurtured with his blood couldn''tpare to weapons which seemed to have been made causally.

    He had intended for the Great Hu ws to reach the Pseudo Immortal rank and be his main weapon while he himself grew his cultivation base.

    And yet, he had failed after just a little effort from Lin Wu. It had made him realize just how much true strength mattered. It was better to submit to the strong, rather than struggle to gain strength on his own, which might still fail in the future.

    But this was not all, as Hu Dagao could sense the rank of the crystal ws too. They were easily peak grade spirit weapons, and that was not the end of it. From the information that had appeared in his mind, he knew about their functions too.

    ''This powerбн with spirit weapons this strong, I will have no problem battling Dao Treading realm experts!'' Hu Dagao felt great confidence within him.

    The information that had appeared in his mind told him that the Crystal ws could not only absorb spirit Qi from the foes that he attacked with it, they could even transfer it to his body, allowing him to regenerate.

    And if he killed someone with them, arge amount of their spirit Qi would be absorbed providing him an even greater boost.

    "This abilityбн it is simr in function to the Qi Sapping ticks, but this can be directly used in battle." Hu Dagao muttered to himself.

    The Qi Sapping Ticks were raised for harvesting spirit Qi but they were made for a long-term cultivation. The Crystalline ws on the other hand could directly provide him with a boost in strength.

    Lin Wu heard Hu Dagao and knew that the man had already assessed the capabilities of the ws.

    ''I''d be disappointed if he couldn''t with his talent. It isn''t actually low.'' Lin Wu had seen the man''s Dantian and body.

    Both of them were in good condition and could definitely grow a lot more. On some level, Hu Dagao even had an advantage in talent over Shirong due to the fact that he was a direct heir and had the bloodline of the Hu n.

    Though if they really fought now, it would be hard to tell simply due to the fact that Shirong had been under Lin Wu''s ''care'' for quite some time now. Even the Thunder Pool Serpent Bloodline had been awakened for him and thus he could actuallypare with the Wide w Tiger Bloodline.

    "They are called as Emeraldine Heart ws. They can also repair themselves if they get damaged." Lin Wu informed Hu Dagao.

    "The Emeraldine Heart wsбн I''ll remember that." Hu Dagao felt like the name was good.

    "Alsoбн depending on how well your performance isбн I''ll upgrade them for you." Lin Wu threw out another carrot.

    "Upgrade!?" Hu Dagao was stunned. "You can upgrade them further?"

    "Yes. I''ll turn them into a Pseudo-Immortal weapons." Lin Wu replied. "Even making them Immortal weapons might not be that farбн but you''ll need merits equivalent of that." He added.

    ~gulp~

    Hu Dagao swallowed his saliva hearing this. He knew just how big this was.

    ''If he can casually make peak grade spirit weapons, and even upgrade them further onбн he is certainly not in the spirit realmбн he truly might be an immortal!'' The image of Lin Wu only kept on rising in Hu Dagao''s mind.

    This was also Lin Wu''s intention as he wanted the man to work as hard as possible.

    After having ''raised'' several of his subordinates and servants Lin Wu knew exactly how to make them motivated. After all when they were motivated, they could also make more people motivated.

    This would raise the overall progress and give Lin Wu even more benefits.

    "I''ll make sure to never disappointed youбн Master." Hu Dagao quickly changed the designation he had been using.

    "Mmmбн go on now. There''s still some things to do, aren''t there?" Lin Wu replied casually.

    "Of course. I still need to coordinate the projects. Once they are done, I''ll report back to you." Hu Dagao said before taking his leave.

    And once he was gone, Lin Wu pulled up another window.<sub> </sub>

    On it, one could see several guards standing in front of arge door.

    "There it isбн this should be the one." Lin Wu controlled the monitor and shifted the view into the door.

    ~shua~

    Once the view shifted inside, he could see the circr room hidden within. Ten pirs held up the room and each of the pirs had thousands of runes carved on them. The floor had several intersecting patterns on it, all of which were linked up with the pirs.

    "Is this the one, System?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Intercontinental Teleportation Array

    STATUS: 100% Integrity

    FUNCTIONALITY: 33 teleportation destinations are avable

    бкбк

    "Bingoбн That will be our entry point." Lin Wu smiled widely, his sharp fangs poking from the corner of his mouth. "Seems like we can get the next step started faster than expected."

    Lin Wu left his temporary base for the time being and dug in a certain direction. A few minutester he had arrived at his intended destination.

    "It should be right above thisбн Let''s tap in," Lin Wu raised his tail and extended a spike from it.

    The spine directly pierced through the ground and continued to rise for over four hundred meters before stopping.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Formation Array detected!

    CREATING LINK: Please wait a momentбн

    LINK: Established sessfullyбн

    LINK INTEGRITY: 100%

    INITIATING CONTACT: Please wait a momentбн

    CONTACT: Sessful!

    бкбк

    "Good, good. Begin the takeover system!" Lin Wu ordered.

    ~humm~

    With Lin Wu''s orders, hundreds of runes formed before being injected into the Teleportation Array that was on the surface above.

 Chapter 1015 Investments And Progress

    Lin Wu''s n was progressing steadily and the Teleportation Array was quickly being taken over.

    He was intended to hijack it and let the system make a secondary array for his own use. He would make use of the infrastructure of the preexisting array, and further link it to the other arrays he had established.

    ''Once all of them are linked, I''ll be able to make a ry between Second Light City and The Taiji Celestial''s Tomb.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    While the ry would be quite long, and even consume quite a bit of spirit Qi, it was still a viable option to Lin Wu. After all, it would cut down the travel time needed to reach the Hu Continent by quite literally months.

    With the multiple teleportation arrays linked in a ry, he would be able to reach the Second Light City in just a day. Even this duration was due to the fact that some of the distant arrays were on inds that he would need to physically cross.

    With the establishment of the teleportation ry, Lin Wu would also have a lot more maneuverability.

    "The unknown bloodline beast is also likely to be here. It would be a shame if I miss it, due to being in the Long Continent and be unable toe." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Besides, the more his influence spread over the Hu Continent, the more resources he''ll be able to obtain too. He was intending to turn Hu Dagao into an Angel Investor and take over as many sources of ie as possible.

    He would then channel these back into the Taiji Celestial''s tomb and further improve it. After all, if the tomb was back at its full functionality, he''ll be able to teleport anywhere in the Ming Dao world at a moment''s notice.

    ~Sigh~

    "So many things to do, so much timeбн" Lin Wu chuckled to himself and let the system continue its work.

    And to not waste any time, he also read through all the new data he obtained. More particrly Lin Wu was reading the various cultivation manuals that the system had gathered. While he wouldn''t be using them, he''ll at least be able toprehend more about cultivation himself.

    After all, at the Dao Treading realm it was more important for him to improve hisprehension of the Dao Traces. Only then would he be able to improve his Dao Embryo and reach the next level.

    Lin Wu had started to move on from just relying on the system and wanted to actually improve his ownprehension ability too.

    He didn''t sense this, but his personalty was starting to develop more and he was also getting stable on his own.

    Days continued to pass like this and the teleportation array had long since been taken over by the system and the process of linking it to the rest of the teleportation ry was alsopleted.

    Lin Wu had simply been spending his time cultivating and reading.

    Hu Dagao on the other hand had be very active in the political circles of the Second light Cities. The investments he had made with the six branches had turned out to be very effective and several of these projects were already starting to show promise.

    In fact, the third branch that Hu Dagao had invested at the veryst turned out to be the first ones to turn in the profits.<sub> </sub>

    The investment project had been a metal ore mine that was suspected to have a high grade spirit stone vein underneath it. This preliminary guess turned out to be true, and they really did end up discovering a spirit stone vein.

    Even if one disregarded the High grade spirit stone vein, the returns from the metal ore alone was also quite good. All these ores were used in the refinement of spirit tools and weapons and could be sold for a decent profit.

    Thirty percent of this profit directly went to Hu Dagao, and the rest went to the third Branch heirs.

    As for the investments in the other branches, they were either investment for the cultivation of spirit herbs, nurturing experts, or trade of spirit tools. Some of these would take longer to bear fruit, while some were faster like the trade of spirit tools.

    It was a great surprise to the people watching this all, to see the six branches actually working in a semnce of harmony. But it wasn''t like this from the start. They were a bit displeased that Hu Dagao was working with all of them at once.

    But after his intensive convincing and assurances to boost the investment, the six branches yielded and continued their coboration. And after seeing that there was indeed no issue, they were fine with keeping the status quo.

    Of course, Hu Dagao''s actions had not been missed by the main branch of the Hu n either.

    One mustn''t forget that the branches of the Hu n were also backed by the other direct heirs of the Hu n.

    Hu Dagao was ranked fourth in power and influence, and his elder siblings were surprised by this sudden change.

    And two such siblings were currently in a meeting far in the private courtyard in the Sacred Capital of the Hu n.

    A man and woman sat in a luxuriously decorated courtyard.

    ~ck~

    The woman ced the lid on the teacup and lightly shook it before pouring out some tea for herself.

    "Little brother Dagao has be really active these days hasn''t he?" Hu Shui spoke, her voice a little raspy.

    "He has indeedбн even managing to make coborations with all six branches." Hu Peiliang replied, his expression straight as if not affected by anything. "But he has touched upon our pockets too, hasn''t he?"

    "He has indeed, elder brother." Hu Shui nodded her head in agreement. "It is a little surprising too, since this started right after he returned from the assigned mission." She added.

    "It was about the disappearance and tremors, wasn''t it?" Hu Peiliang asked.

 Chapter 1016 Schemes And Return To Long Continent

    Hu Shui took another sip from her cup before speaking.

    "Yes." Hu Shui replied. "The report has also been sent to the elders."

    "And what did the report mention? Did you happen to see it, junior sister?" Hu Peiliang questioned, his face as calm as ever.

    "The initial suspicions of the elders turned out to be trueбн the report by junior brother Hu Dagao confirmed the existence of a being that is able to traverse the space. The disappearances of the people living there as well as our own people were caused due to this." Hu Shui answered.

    "Mmmбн Still it is a bit unexpected the junior brother was able to confirm all this." Hu Peiliang said, a hint of intrigue in his voice.

    "Why do you say so, Elder Brother?" Hu Shui inquired.

    "As capable as Junior brother Hu Dagao is, I still don''t think it is to the extent where he''ll be able to decipher the existence of a being that can traverse space. Even the elders would have a hard time doing this, even with specialized tools." Hu Peiliang replied, expressing his doubt.

    "That isбн indeed, a bit strange." Hu Shui could see the disparity.

    After all, even for the Hu n, traversing the space and void was something that was quite far from them. It was hard to say if even their ancestors would be confident in being able to do that, or if they even had the ability to do it.

    "As for the beingбн it surely isn''t human, so we can only assume it is a beast. Do you really think a beast of that level is something that our junior brother will be able to deal with?" he asked next.

    "Not at all." Hu Shui shook her head. "But if he didn''t encounter it, I don''t see any reason for him to have any trouble." She added.

    "That''s trueбн but it doesn''t have to be." Hu Peiliang replied, surprising Hu Shui.

    "What do you mean, elder brother?" Hu Shui questioned.

    "Junior brother''s actions are quite suspicious. Even if they are not, we will make them be." Hu Peiliang spoke. "Think of it this wayбн Hu Dagao, returns from a mission, gives a detailed report about there being a being that can traverse space.

    Then he goes to second light city and makes several coborations with the six branches.

    He even invests a significant amount of wealth in their projects, wealth which we both know is not from the n." Hu Peiliang borated.

    Hearing all this, Hu Shui finally understood and nodded her head.

    "Elder Brother surely is capable. With a y like this, I wonder how long Junior brother will be able tost." Hu Shui chuckled.

    "We''ll see how it goes. For now, we just need to make sure that people learn about his sudden rise in capabilities. It would be best if the elders think there is someone external supporting him too." Hu Peiliang fleshed out his scheme.

    Hu Shui continued to listen and felt quite pleased with it all. She couldn''t help but think that her elder brother was too smart.

    ''No wonder he''s the first ranked heir among us allбн it was the best decision for me to ally with him.'' Hu Shui thought to herself.

    But if someone else were to find out about this, they would be stunned.

    After all, on the surface, Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui were both inpetition. They were first and second ranked among all the direct heirs!

    It would be fine if the other heirs did this, but Hu Shui was just below Hu Peiliang. She had no reason to ally herself with him and yet she had done that very thing.

    Though the most shocking thing was the fact that this was a secret that no one knew. One could even call it a clever y, as everyone would be caught off guard by this alliance.

    The schemes of the two top heirs ran deep as they weaved their plot.

    Hu Dagao though was unaware of this and was busy carrying out Lin Wu''s orders. Though even if he did know, he wouldn''t care much. In fact, he would simply scoff at his siblings and pity their fate.

    Lin Wu too wouldn''t bother with all this and trusted Hu Dagao more. After all, with the support that he had provided the man, there was no need for him to assist him faro mere two Dao Treading realm experts.

    Instead of that, Lin Wu was busy finishing up his ry project.

    "Phew! Finally it is done!" Lin Wu looked at the notification window.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Teleportation Ry has beenpleted!

    ARRAYS LINKED: 23

    STATUS: Online

    бкбк

    Seeing the window, Lin Wu was pleased.

    "Time to head back for a bit, and initiate the third step of the nбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before sending a few messages to his subordinates.

    It had been a while since he had sent them any message and had only been receiving reports.

    And since there was nothing problematic mentioned in the reports, he didn''t need to interfere either. It was actually a bit surprising to Lin Wu that everything was progressing smoothly in the Long Continent.

    "Alright system, activate the array and initiate the rest of the ry as well." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~<sub> </sub>

    бкбк

    TELEPORTATION ARRAY: Activated

    TELEPORTATION RELAY: Initialized

    STATUS: 3 arrays synced, 20 unsynchronized

    бкбк

    "That''s good enough, they should be done by the time I reach thereбн" Lin Wu said before moving into the teleportation circle.

    ~SHUA~

    Hisrge body disappeared in a sh of light, leaving behind a small cloud of dust.

    Thankfully, it was all done deep underground, otherwise there might have been a hugemotion from this.

    Lin Wu was traveling through a Teleportation Channel at this moment, the lesser void zooming past his vision.

    ''It''s always intriguing to see the voidбн does the unknown beast feel the same?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    His time in the Teleportation Chanel was short though and he soon appeared on an abandoned ind that was filled with ruins.

    ~SHUA~

    Within a few seconds of his appearance, the second teleportation array activated and sent him into a teleportation Channel again. Lin Wu repeated this several times, jumping through array after array until finally he was in the very south of the Long Continent.

    ~DENG~

    Hisrge body made a depression on the ground and crushed several unfortunate trees and beasts around him.

    "Hmmбн need to improve the uracy here. Making a proper junction will help." Lin Wu muttered.

    The ce he had appeared, actually didn''t have a teleportation array. Instead, it had made use of the Tombs'' array and teleported him at the closest ce that could be linked up with the other arrays.

    "System, get that sorted since we''re here." Lin Wu ordered the system that quickly got to making another teleportation array.

    Since this teleportation array was built within the Long Continent and was simply meant to be a junction between the tomb''s teleportation array and other rys, it was fast. The system finished it in less than five minutes, leaving the array buried in the ground.

    Even if some cultivator passed by here, they wouldn''t be able to tell that this ce held a teleportation array that could potentially take them to the Hu continent!

    Of course, even if they did find out, there was little chance they would even be able to operate it. After all, the amount of spirit Qi needed to run it was simply massive. Only someone with colossal stores of spirit Qi could run multiple teleportation arrays in a ry like this.

    And even for Lin Wu, the drain was actually significant.

    It was almost the same as using a very powerful attack that could injure an Immortal Ascension realm being.

    "Alright, next step; the Taiji celestial''s tomb!" Lin Wu activated the newly built array, shooting away to the tomb within seconds.

    The great hall of the Taiji celestial''s tomb had been empty for over a year now, but its owner had finally returned.

    ~HUMM~

    The teleportation circle lit up as Lin Wu''s crystalline body appeared.

    "Wee Master!"

    "Wee Master!"

    "Wee Master!"

    "Wee Master!"

    Four greetings were heard the moment Lin Wu had returned.

    ''They surely are quite promptбн'' Lin Wu gazed at four of his subordinates.

    The ones who had greeted him were none other than the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape, The Head Emeraldine Monkey, Cang Ci and The Club Tailed Lizard.

    It was evident that they had rushed here after receiving Lin Wu''s message that he was returning.

    "Mmm, it''s pleasing to see you all here." Lin Wu replied.

    "It is our pleasure to see you after this time, master." Cang Ci was the most enthusiastic of them all.

    Lin Wu nodded his head before speaking, "I''m guessing you all must have questions as to where I was all this time?"

    "Yesбн we knew from Cang Ci that you went to the south, but didn''t know what happened after that." The ''monk''ey beast questioned.

 Chapter 1017 Capable Subordinates And Progress

    Lin Wu listened to the questions of his subordinates one by one, most being simr to what the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape had asked.

    In general, all of them were wondering about the same thing.

    Where had Lin Wu gone and what was he doing?

    Cang Ci had been in charge of Tieba city and knew that Lin Wu''s avatar was safely cultivating there. Thus she wasn''t worried that something had happened to Lin Wu. All she could think was that he was doing something unknown to them,

    "I''ll tell you all then, I was in the Hu Continent." Lin Wu revealed.

    "The Hu continent!?" Cang Ci and The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape had shocked expressions.

    The Head Emeraldine Monkey and the Club Tailed Lizard had confused expressions though. After all, unlike Cang Ci who was in charge of the Tieba city had was controlling a lot of intelligence, and the Emeraldine Sky Light monk ape, who was always reading and learn, the other two didn''t have the information.

    The head Emeraldine Monkey knew quite a lot of things, but it was still limited to the functioning of the Millennium Forest kingdom and the tomb. As for the Club Tailed Lizard, she was even weaker in the scope of knowledge.

    She was mostly involved in taking care of the minor matters of the tomb and spent most of her time inside.

    After her children had grown a bit, she basically had nothing to do. They didn''t need her to take care of them and would wander around the forest doing whatever they could.

    She on the other hand, didn''t have much cultivation talent and had barely reached the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm.

    The Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm was now the average cultivation base of most of Lin Wu''s subordinates and servants. There were several who had reached the Dao Shell realm and many more that were close to it.

    Lin Wu didn''t mind theirck of their information though and decided to exin it anyway.

    "Yes, the Hu continent. It is located West of the Long Continent, and one of the three continents of Ming Dao world." Lin Wu replied.

    "You really managed to reach there master? I thought Tian Guisha said the teleportation arrays aren''t stable?" Cang Ci had been in charge of coborating between the ghost of Tian and the tomb, thus she knew a bit more.

    "Yes, I fixed the arrays and have somewhat linked them with the tomb. We can now head to the Hu continent." Lin Wu answered.

    ~Gasp~

    Cang Ci was surprised by this as she knew the implications of this.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape was also intrigued and was already having several thoughts.

    The other two could only stand there, not knowing what to do. It couldn''t be helped as they weren''t exactly involved in matters like these. They didn''t have ambition either, thus it didn''t ur to them why this information was valuable.

    "Since master hase after more than a year, I''m assuming you wish to expand your influence there too?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape questioned.

    "Wish?" Lin Wu chuckled. "I''ve already started on that aspect." He answered.

    "I seeбн I should have expected it." The beast nodded his head.

    "How is the progress going master? Do you need help? I''ve got a few good seedlings among the people we recruited in the Shadow Legion. They are not just strong but also smart." Cang Ci quickly said.

    "I do. In fact, I already have a preliminary n ready." Lin Wu stated before taking out a crystal slip. "Take a look, these are the materials that are in abundance there as well as the materials that theyck." He spoke.

    Upon hearing this, Cang Ci already knew what to do. She quickly went through the crystal slip and picked up on the important materials. She then cross-referenced them with the materials and resources present in the Long Continent.

    In less than twenty minutes, Cang Ci had another list ready.

    "Here you go master, these are the resources and materials that will be the best for us to trade. The profits should be good enough for us to generate a steady stream of ie and reinvest in increasing the production." Cang Ci very professionally said.

    Lin Wu was impressed by this subordinate of his and knew that it was a good choice to recruit her. She had more than doubled the scope of Tieba city''s scope and also involved the Ghost of Tian in it.

    Combining all of them, it wouldn''t be wrong to say that they might be the second strongest power in the Long Continent now. Of course, the first was none other than Lin Wu himself.

    Still, even if this was the case, Cang Ci was weak cultivation wise. But this was onlypared to Lin Wu and Tian Guisha. She was at the Dao Shell realm and could easilypare to several talented heirs of the top ns.

    ''All this is good, most of the items are already stockpiled and the rest can be prepared. Hmmбн I''ll need to establish a proper supply line between the two continents first.'' Lin Wu read the jade slip and prepared his own set of ns.<sub> </sub>

    After ten minutes of easement, Lin Wu spoke again.

    "This is good. But I''ll also need to make a more efficient supply line between the two continents. The current Teleportation Ry will not be good for the long term." Lin Wu stated. "I can take the first few shipments myself, but thetter ones will need others to transport it." He added.

    "Of course, master. I''ll make sure to train the juniors well." Cang Ci replied.

    "Mmm, you''ll also have someone else too coborate with from the Hu continent. They''ll be our direct line to invest there." Lin Wu spoke, surprising her.

    "Oh? If they can do something like this, they must be important right?" Cang Ci was greatly interested.

    "You can say thatбн it''s the tenth direct heir of the Hu n." Lin Wu revealed.

    "WHAT!?" Cang CI was now absolutely astonished.

    After all, she knew what the Hu n was like and their influence in the Hu continent. Having spent time at Tian Guisha''s hideout, she knew that the Hu n had taken a different route than the Long n.

    They had be the overlord of the entire continent and ruled it with imperial might!

    A direct heir was no different from a prince.

    And since the Hu continent had no sects or other kingdoms, the power of a prince was far greater than normal. She couldn''t evenpare it with others, since there was no other example at all.

    "Yes. He''s be a subordinate too, and will be carrying out my will there." Lin Wu confirmed. "Soon you two will have to work together. I''ll bring you over the in the next visit." He added.

    "It will be my pleasure, master." Cang Ciposed herself and cupped her hands.

    "Now thenбн what else has happened in the time I was gone?" Lin Wu questioned.

    While he could take a look at the reports in the system, he felt it would be a loss to not listen to a direct report from his subordinates.

    ''It feels a lot more properбн'' Lin Wu thought, though it might have just been his vanity.

    "The fights between the Shadow Legion and the united powers of the Long continent are going well. I''ve maintained a 55:45 ratio for the wins between both sides." Cang Ci reported first.

    "That''s good. We need to keep them on their toes for now, only then will they be ready for the final step." Lin Wu was content with this.

    The next to speak was the Head Emeraldine Monkey.

    "The developmental progress of the Millennium Forest is going well. Two new arenas have been established and our revenue has increased by ten times. We are also getting requests from several kingdoms to rent the arenas for their own tournaments.

    Thus we were thinking of adding an arena, especially for renting out." The beast reported.

    "Hmmm.. That''s good. And your idea of adding another one is good tooбн though, you can add two more instead of just one." Lin Wu suggested.

    "We shall do that then, master." The Head Emeraldine Monkey replied.

    After this, the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape also had some interesting information to share.

    "Two months ago we got some visitors from the Frost Fox n." He informed.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu recalled the time when he had invited them to stay over.

    He had liked their cooking, as well as thought that they would be good over all in administrative works.

    "They said, they''ve decided to work for master as well and hoped that he would guide them." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape stated.

    "I seeбн and where are they now?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Since we didn''t know when master was going to return, I decided to let them enter the Sky Bright Daoist''s Trials." The beast answered.

 Chapter 1018 The Talented Frost Foxes And Works Of The Forest

    "You let the enter the trails?"

    Hearing the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape''s words, Lin Wu was a bit surprised.

    While he knew that the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials were open to everyone, sending in the members of the Frost Fox n might be a bit too much. With the restrictions they had on them, their progress was going to be quite slow.

    Lin Wu didn''t even know if they would be able to pass some of the trails as they were directly based on cultivation ability. If one was always stuck at a certain level, passing those trials might not be possible either.

    Not to mention, these trials came on pretty early as well.

    "Yes, I did, master." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape replied. "They are actually doing quite well." He revealed.

    "They are?" Lin Wu raised a brow before activating the array of the tomb.

    ~shua~

    In the next second, a screen materialized in front of him that showed the scene of the trial.

    "They''re on the thirteenth trialбн" Lin Wu observed that they were in the middle of a battle right now.

    It was just an illusory battle but the Frost Foxes were taking it very seriously. Each of them fought valiantly and their skills were also quite strong. At the very least, Lin Wu could tell that the descendants of Yun Bai weren''tcking in their battle skill.

    Lin Mu then scrolled back and checked the recordings of their previous trials. The ones that he was focused on were those that involved one''s cultivation ability. That was the part where the frost foxes were the most disadvantaged after all.

    They were limited by the Ming Dao world''s restrictions and would not be able to break through. Most of their members were destined to halt at the Core condensation realm and only a handful would be able to reach the Nascent soul realm.

    Only Yun Bai was the one who could reach the Dao Shell realm, and even that was because of the contract he had made with the founder of the Frozen Cloud sect all those years ago.

    It was here that Lin Wu saw something surprising.

    "Wait a secondбн how''s this possible?" Lin Wu was confused by the oue of this trial.

    The trial in question was basically a test to see if one could figure out a way to breakthrough to the next major realm. Of course this was in an illusory realm and anything that happened here would not be real.

    But at the same time, it would give one a lot of experience as it would almost be the same as real life.

    The time flow was elerated in this trial, so one could spend tens of years in a matter of minutes here. It would allow one to have an easier time breaking through in their real lifeter on.

    Lin Wu had originally thought that they wouldn''t be able to progress past this trial, but surprisingly they passed it very quickly.

    It was at this point that Lin Wu understood the reason.

    ''Of courseбн this is the Sky Bright Daoist''s trials. There is no such thing as the world''s restrictions here. The Frost Foxes can actually reveal their full potential here.'' Lin Wu realized.

    He also went through their other trials and found all of them to be a bit impressive. Some trials took them longer time, but they had still managed to pass it in the end.

    "This is goodбн The Frost Foxes will get to learn more about their bloodline and bodies. Let them continue the trials then." Lin Wu stated.

    "Of course, master." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape agreed. "Also, if they do pass all the trials, should we allow them to take Taiji Celestial''s trials?" he asked.

    "Hmmmбн send them to me once they are done. I''ll decide after that." Lin Wu replied.

    He was fine with them taking the Taiji Celestial''s trials but doubted they would be able to fully pass it. The Frost Foxes were innately of the ice element and would not be as suitable to practice the Taiji Celestial''s techniques from what Lin Wu could understand.

    It was fine if they were humans, but they were not. They had a bloodline that dictated their potential after all.

    ''If they do manage to seed, they''ll get the inheritance of the Taiji Celestial, if not the Sky Bright Daoist''s inheritance isn''t bad either.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He then discussed a few more matters with his subordinates and took decisions for the Millennium Forest.

    Next was the long list of pending meetings that were on the backlog sincest year. There were a lot of people that had been desiring to meet Lin Wu, but had been told to wait due to his ''seclusion''.

    Of course, these people wouldn''t be rude and quickly epted it. Some of them returned to their homes, but there were a handful that had simply decided to stay in the Millennium Forest Kingdom.<sub> </sub>

    It was a novel cepared to the human kingdoms after all, and to many cultivators, it felt new. Some were enthralled by its activities, while some were enchanted by the food that was avable there.

    Unknowingly, the Millennium Forest Kingdom had taken on the ir of a tourist destination.

    There were even disciples of sectsing over to y after paying a lot of merit points in their sects. They would take up ''missions'' that would assign them to the Millennium Forest kingdom or around it, just so that they might have a reason to visit.

    The ones who had desired to meet Lin Wu though, weren''t disciples. They were instead elders or other high ranked people who could represent various powers and hade to discuss deals and trade agreements with the king.

    Of course, Lin Wu''s subordinates could also deal with these matters, but there were still many that wished to meet the king personally.

    The cost for this was also significant, otherwise there would be nock of tom, dick and harry''s that wanted to meet Lin Wu.

    Lin Wu didn''t deny them this either and properly met with all of them.

    They were bringing him favorable deals, so why would he deny them?

    Besides, it only helped to further expand the scope of Lin Wu''s influence and was beneficial to his ns.

    He was also very fast and finished several meetings in less than three hours. As for the others who had returned to their homes, they were called back again. Lin Wu''s subordinates had sent out messages that the King was out of seclusion and would be meeting as many people as possible.

    This made several of them rush back, and they would probably arrive in a day or two at the max.

    "I''ll do some other tasks in the time being." Lin Wu spoke to Cang Ci and the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape. "And if some do end up arriving early, just make them wait." He added.

    "As you wish, master." The two replied.

    "Mmmбн I''ll be in Tieba city for a bit." Lin Wu said before activating the teleportation array.

    ~SHUA~

    The teleportation circle materialized around him and sent his body traveling through the void.

    A few secondster, Lin Wu was now under Tieba City.

    "Oh? Looks like the Shadow Legion finished the renovation here tooбн" Lin Wu looked around the long and wide halls.

    These used to be crude and made from solid rock, while the floor was dirt. But now, the Show Legion had worked on it and everything had been made properly.

    The floor was paved with stone tiles carved with repeating patterns, while the walls had been smoothed out. A level of symmetry was also established, making the hall look like the grand hall of some sect or kingdom.

    And at the very back of it, there was none other than the Avatar.

    It had been cultivating her for over a year now and had grown a bit.

    Lin Wu nced at the Avatar data for a moment and didn''t even mind the increase in the spirit Qi. To him, the gains in spirit Qi didn''t matter as much due to the sheer amount of it that he would get every year from his ''cultivators''.

    Instead of that, what Lin Wu was interested in was the Dao Embryo of the Avatar.

    "Hmmбн The Helix of Assimtion is almost the same as before. Guess without more creatures to feed it, the growth will be minimal." Lin Wu muttered to himself before taking out several of the stored beast corpses.

    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~

    In just a few seconds, a mountain of beast corpses was formed in front of the avatar.

    There were over a thousand different types of beasts in it, that ranged from Qi refining realm all the way to Dao Treading realm!

    There were even parts of the Aqua Dream Ocean Lotus mixed in it, that Lin Wu had especially saved for the avatar.

    Then there were a few fat Qi Sapping ticks on the side too.

 Chapter 1019 Avatar Feeding Time

    "Hopefully these will be enough to provide significant support to the Avatarбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself before switching over to the Avatar.

    ~shua~

    The avatar opened its eyes as the tentacles around it swayed.

    "Hmmmбн I do feel a little stronger in this body." Lin Wu could sense the difference from thest time he was in the body.

    The avatar had been cultivating in the underground caves of Tieba city this entire time and was the ''Cmity Fiend'' that everyone was fighting against. Lin Wu had managed to blow up the threat quite a bit and now there were battles happening every few weeks.

    Though the Shadow Cmity hadn''t appeared for quite some time in a battle. It had just been the people of the Shadow Legion that were fighting. But even that was enough to make everyone nervous.

    After all, the members of the Shadow legion weren''t weak at all and could easily fight those above their cultivation realm. Not to mention they were fearless and would battle till they died.

    This made them very dangerous as losing focus for even a second would end up in their deaths.

    Then there was the very irritating feature that made them very fearsome.

    Upon their deaths, all the Shadow Legion members would explode, taking their attackers with them. This explosion would be quite strong and not many had managed to survive it.

    The people of the alliance were still trying to figure out the best method to resist it as it was simply too fast for them to react. For now, the only method they had was to have some life saving method that could take the impactof the explosion.

    Still, this only worked up to a certain limit.

    The explosion of a Core condensation realm Shadow Legion member could kill a Nascent soul realm expert, and a Nascent soul realm experts detonation could kill a Dao Shell realm expert.

    The alliance could provided various tools and items to make their experts resist this. But this was only unto the Dao Shell realm. If the explosion was stronger than that, they didn''t have many options left.

    After all, any spirit tool or talisman that could resist the attack of a Dao Treading realm expert was very valuable. Plus, it was hard to make and very few suppliers were in existence.

    Of course, there was always the King of the millennium forest who could supply such tools at an astonishing speed. Their cost was also low, and the kingdom and sects were very thankful to Lin Wu for it.

    Though what they didn''t know was that these were all mass produced and Lin Wu only need an hour or so to make enough of them for an army of ten thousand experts.

    There was a lot of trickery involved and the system had greatly contributed in it.

    With such an advantage, there was a chance that the Shadow Legion''s morale would fall too. Which was why it was important for the avatar to be present in Tieba city.

    That way, the members of the Shadow Legion would have their ''leader'' with them and they wouldn''t lose focus as quickly. Not to mention they could stille and ''talk'' to the Cmity Fiend and obtain his ''grace''.

    Though Lin Wu also knew that he soon needed to make the Cmity Fiend act up.

    ''After consuming the copses, it should be good enough time to make an appearance.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he started to eat the beast corpses.

    Thirty minutes was all it took for him to finish eating all the corpses. The string of notifications that appeared in front of him were also ignored for the time being as he was just focused on eating.

    There were also some spirit herbs that he had obtained in that time. He even ate the rare and unique materials that had obtained during his journey and they were able to contribute to the growth of the Dao Embryo.

    "There we goбн" Lin Wu finished eating and felt the surge of energy within his body.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Spirit Qi obtained xx xx units.

    NOTIFICATION: Vital Essence obtained xx xx units.

    .

    .

    .

    .

    INNATE SKILL PROFICIENCY UPGRADED: Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Novice) [Composite skill] -> Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate) [Composite skill]

    .

    .

    INNATE SKILL PROFICIENCY UPGRADED: Chimeric Adaptation (Great) (Proficiency: Basic) -> Chimeric Adaptation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    бкбк

    There were hundreds of Spirit Qi and Vital Essence notifications, which Lin Wu just ignored and focused on the most important ones that had appeared at the bottom.

    "Finally!" Lin Wu eximed in joy.

    His innate skills were the hardest to upgrade and it was especially so for the ones that were aposite skill. The difficulty of upgrading aposite skill was several times higher than that of a normal skill.

    After all, it was the same as upgrading multiple skills at once and training them as well.

    Thankful Lin Wu had managed to do it for the Chimeric Organogenesis Innate skill.

    ''Though it does make sense for it to upgraded since I''ve been using it for a long time. Plus the beasts I ate should have added quite some variation to it.'' Lin Wu thought before checking the skill''s full window.

    ~DING~

    бкбк-

    INNATE SKILL UPDATED: Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)<sub> </sub>

    COMPOSITION: 1. w Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Tentacle Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    3. Fin Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    4. Thorn Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    5. Spike Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    6. Carapace Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    7. Wing Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    8. Fur Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    9. Membrane Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    10. Eye Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    11. Scale Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    12. Limb Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    13. Internal Organ Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    14. Bone Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    15. Feather Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    16. Slime Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    17. dder Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice) [New]

    18. nt Bark Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice) [New]

    19. nt Stem Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice) [New]

    20. Sap Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice) [New]

    бкбк

    "Just as I thoughtбн" Lin Wu was surprised by seeing four new sub skills being added to the Innate skill.

    But when he looked at them closely, he was a bit confused.

    ''dder Generation? How did this appear? Shouldn''t this already be a part of the Internal Organ Generation?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The dder generation sub skill was specifically created after the host consumed several beasts that have specialized dders for various functions. This includes the air dders from aquatic beasts, fluid dder from the Aqua Dream Ocean Lotus, as well as the spirit Qi dder of the Qi Sapping ticks.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s answer Lin Wu finally understood.

    ''Though I didn''t except the Qi Sapping ticks to have a dder tooбн I thought they were using their stomachs to store the spirit Qi. Guess I was just wrongбн'' Lin Wu thought before taking a look at the Qi sapping tick''s data that was in the system''s data.

    There his doubts were rified, and he saw the internal anatomy of the Qi Sapping ticks. It turned out that while the Qi Sapping ticks did consume spirit Qi by eating, and it reached their stomachs, it was the next step that was different.

    Instead of continuing onwards, it would be guided into a different organ that looked simr to the stomach. This was what the system had termed as the Spirit Qi dder.

    ''On some level this can be considered a second Dantian too, can''t it?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    But he could also see the weak points of it, as the spirit Qi stored within it couldn''t be utilized the same way as the spirit Qi in Dantian would be. At the same time, it exined the strange state of the Qi Sapping ticks.

    While they would have the aura of an expert equivalent to the amount of spirit Qi they had consumed, they didn''t have the strength. In fact, even a mortal child could kill them.

    All this was made possible by the presence of the Spirit Qi dder.

    But this was just the first sub skill that had been made.

    Lin Wu was no less surprised by the three that came after that.

    "What theбн Bark generation? Stem generation and even sap?" Lin Wu was not expecting features of a nt appearing for him since he was a beast. "Where did thesee from system?" he questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: nt Bark Generation, nt Stem Generation, and Sap Generation were all formed after the consumption of the Aqua Dream Ocean Lotus. Though there was also the contribution of various spirit herbs, fruits as well as other nt resources like wood that the host had consumed.

    бкбк

    "Huhбн so the Aqua Dream Ocean Lotus acted like a sort of a catalysts for thisбн" Lin Wu grasped.

    Still it was unexpected for him and he wouldn''t deny some new skills that had been added.

    ''I should test them out tooбн'' Lin Wu created a new tentacle and then activated his innate skill.

 Chapter 1020 Plant Benefits?

    "Hmmбн this is rather good." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he gazed at his new tentacle.

    Though it might be more urate to call it a branch now.

    It looked like a branch was now growing out of Lin Wu''s body and looked just like a tree branch. It had rough bark on it and was irregrly shaped.

    Lin Wu tried to move it and found it to be a bit stiff.

    ''Hmmбн this thickness of bark isn''t good for moment.'' Lin Wu realized before controlling his innate skill again.

    The bark shrank down and became half as thick as before.

    ~Creak~

    This time Lin Wu could move the branch a lot better, though creaking sounds also apanied it showing that the wood was being strained.

    Lin Wu continued to do a few more tests, such aspletely removing the bark and only using nt Stem Generation. It made for a very flexible branch that could even be turned into a vine.

    At that point, its function was almost the same as Lin Wu''s tentacles.

    But in all this, Lin Wu realized another thing.

    "While I may be able to generate bark and stemsбн I can''t make leaves." He saw an important part being unavable.

    Lin Wu then thinned the branches and made them a lot more narrow.

    "I can emte the roots at least, but they won''t function as one." Lin Wu was thinking of the various ways he would be using the new sub skill addition.

    His avatar had a great advantage in disguising and thus adding more variations was only beneficial to him.

    Lin Wu could easily imagine creating an entire forest, and then ambushing enemies once they were inside it. Since the branches and stems he made exuded no beastly aura or and seemed the same as nts, it was very easy for him to disguise.

    ''Though I need to get the Leaf Generation skill tooбн then there is also the flower generation and maybe even fruit generation?'' Lin Wu thought of the various sub skills that could appear.

    He wondered if he should seek out more nts or nt beast hybrids to further enhance hispatibility. And when he thought of this, he was suddenly reminded of something.

    "Hang on a secondбн didn''t I have something like that?" Lin Wu recalled something he had collected when he had found Tian Chu and Tian Han.

    ''The Millennium Parrot Bamboo Eggsбн they are technically a nt hybrid too, right?'' Lin Wu recalled.

    These eggs could give birth to a bamboo spirit, which would be very beneficial to the growth of spirit herbs and more. Lin Wu had collected several of these and had kept them in the tomb to be incubated.

    Since they had a very low chance of hatching, Lin Wu had simply focused on numbers, hoping that at least one or two might be hatched.

    "Though none of them have hatched so farбн" Lin Wu looked at the monitoring window that had just appeared.

    On it he could see several tens of Millennium Parrot Bamboo Eggs that were being incubated in an array that provided them with plenty of wood elemental spirit Qi as well as some water elemental spirit Qi.

    These two were beneficial to them and the system had said that it would increase the chances of them hatching.

    But even after all these years, none of them had hatched.

    "Hmmбн should I wait for them?" Lin Wu debated for a minute, but then shook his head. "Never mind, I''ll have more chances in the future. And it''s not like I''m desperate for the new sub skills." He said to himself.

    If anything, the Bamboo Spirits might bring him a lot more benefits than what consuming them might bring.

    "There should also be other such nt hybrid beasts right, system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNING: Data banks

    SCAN COMPLETED: Data found

    .

    .

    .

    DATA: nt beast hybrids

    1. Sun Tipped Crane

    2. Grass Mane Monkey

    3. Purple Crested Orchid

    NOTE: All the above beasts are relevant to the Mind Dao world and have been seen before.

    бкбк

    Seeing the results, Lin Wu was a bit disappointed.

    "Just three such beastsбн they''re rare I guess." Lin Wu muttered to himself as he checked the detailed information about the beasts.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TARGET: Sun Tipped Crane

    INFO: A crane beast that absorbs sunlight through its feathers. It can reach Dao Shell realm and is asionally seen in the western valleys of Hu Continent.

    .

    TARGET: Grass Mane Monkey<sub> </sub>

    INFO: A rare type of monkey beast that has grass growing from its neck. It used to live in various ces in the Long Continent as well as the Hu continent, but was driven to extinction due to constant hunting by the invaders in the past.

    The grass growing on its mane is a potent wood elemental tonic and is useful in stabilizing alchemical pills during refinement.

    .

    TARGET: Purple Crested Orchid

    INFO: A deadly nt beast found in the frozen hintends of the Gui Continent. Its flowers are carnivorous and its venom is strong enough to kill even Dao Treading realm of cultivators and beasts.

    бкбк

    After reading the information of the three beasts, Lin Wu knew which ones he could go for first.

    ''Hmmmбн The Sun Tipped Crane seems like the one I''ll most likely be able to get first. I''ll get Hu Dagao to search for them. The same will be done for the Grass Mane Monkey, though I should also give a simr order for the Long continent.'' Lin Wu thought about it.

    "As for the Purple Crested Orchidбн it isn''t exactly rare and does have a specific location for it so it isn''t gonna run away. I''ll get to it when I''m on the Gui continent." Lin Wu decided.

    With this done, Lin Wu quickly sent out his orders. The first people to get the orders were his subordinates in the millennium forest.

    Lin Wu though, told them to see if they could find several of the Grass Mane Monkeys. If they could find at least a pair, Lin Wu would let them increase their numbers before consuming one of them.

    ''Plus, it would be good to increase the number of monkey beasts in the forest. They are quite adaptable after all.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    The second one to get the next order was Hu Dagao. He too was told to see if he could find Grass Mane Monkeys, and was also told to note for the appearance of a Sun Tipped Crane. The man was very prompt and only sent one word in reply, "affirmative."

    It made Lin Wu think of the system for a moment and made him chuckle.

    Done with this, Lin Wu observed his Dao Embryo.

    The Helix of Assimtion still seemed to be growing and the effect from the consumption of the beasts and other materials was still running.

    "This should take a few more hours to stabilize." Lin Wu reckoned.

    After all, the Dao Embryo was an independent existence and wouldn''t be as fast as system in showing response.

    Lin Wu simply read through other information in this time and let it all happen. But after three hours or so, he felt something new.

    "Mmm?" he suddenly felt like he could sense something new around him. "What''s this?" Lin Wu narrowed his eyes as his radiation perception activated.

    He could sense the various energies around him and in all this, he saw something that seemed to be colorless. But after modting his perception a bit, he quickly saw that it was green in color.

    "Dao Traces?" Lin Wu guessed. ''Wait a secondбн could it be?'' he realized something.

    "System, pull up the Dao Tracepatibility." He ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    RECORDED DAO TRACES: 17 Detected

    1. Fire Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    2. Water Dao Trace [Compatibility: 45%][Updated]

    3. Earth Dao Trace [Compatibility: 96%]

    4. Wood Dao Trace [Compatibility: 86%] [Updated]

    5. Metal Dao Trace [Compatibility: 85%]

    6. Wind Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    7. Lightning Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    8. Light Dao Trace [Compatibility: 26%]

    9. Darkness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 11%]

    10. Shadow Dao Trace [Compatibility: 19%]

    11. Spear Dao Trace [Compatibility: 38%]

    12. Beast Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%]

    13. Formation Dao Trace [Compatibility: 40%]

    14. Sword Dao Trace [Compatibility: 32%]

    15. Poison Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    16. Assimtion Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%]

    17. Upheaval Dao Trace (Main Body) [Compatibility: 100%]

    бкбк

    "Just as I thought!" Lin Wu saw the changes in hispatibilities.

    Thepatibility of both Wood and Water Dao Traces had risen. And Lin Wu had a good reason to believe it might be due to the Chimeric Adaption Innate Skill upgrading.

    "Hmmбн if I keep this up, will it be possible to make all of them reach a high level?" Lin Wu wondered as a new desire rose within him.

    He already knew the kind of benefit he had by controlling several elements, thus he could only imagine what kind of benefit he would have if he had Dao Embryo''s of all types!

    "Looks like I need to research more in this directionбн"

 Chapter 1021 A Long Winded Marriage Alliance

    After having fed the avatar and doing some reading, Lin Wu teleported back to the Taiji Celestial''s Tomb.

    Back there, he had several tasks waiting or him such as the many meetings that had been pending for a year.

    "Oh? Two of them are here already? Looks like they really rushed." Lin Wu could see the updates on the system window. "Send them in," he said to his subordinates.

    A few minutester a man and a woman came to see Lin Wu. He had never met them before and thus his appearance was quite imposing to them. Thankfully, the two seemed to have been prepared beforehand and didn''t make any awkward mistakes.

    They were members of a merchant group from the north and were here to discuss some coborative terms with Lin Wu.

    This had be a norm now and everyone wanted to have deals with the Millennium Forest Kingdom. In fact, any business that didn''t have a connection to the Millennium forest kingdom, whether it be direct or indirect was considered low ranked now.

    Kai Li had started it originally and spread the name of the Millennium Forest kingdom. Now everyone wanted a piece of the pie, even if they only got some crumbs.

    Lin Wu didn''t turn them away either as it helped spread his influence further. Plus, it acted like a soft pressure on the powers of the kingdoms, making them know that he was still present and ''active''.

    No matter what world it was, leaders of any kind of organization, whether it be a business or political needed to interact with the others. They needed to make their presence known as that would help maintain their image.

    This was exactly what Lin Wu was doing and did so for theing week as more and more people came to meet him.

    It turned out to be a total of twenty three parties that wanted to discuss various matters with him. And out of the twenty three, only two were sent back dejected as Lin Wu did not ept what they hade to ask.

    It was also a matter that left him a bit too confused.

    "They want marriage alliances?!" Cang Ci eximed.

    "What exactly was its context?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape asked.

    The two of them hade to see Lin Wu after the conclusion of all meetings and were dropped this piece of news.

    "Yesбн which is strange." Lin Wu replied.

    "Who wanted that?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape questioned.

    "The Wide Crag Kingdom and the Duke of Steel Frost Ind." Lin Wu answered.

    "Huhбн The Wide Crag Kingdom is one of the smaller coastal kingdoms of the north, but it still makes sense. But the Steel Frost Indбн isn''t that ake ind?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape recognized.

    "That''s right." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    Both of these powers were quite smallpared to all the others that Lin Wu had met so far. But despite that, they were the first ones to give a proposition like this first.

    After all, for something like a marriage alliance the ones who should have contacted first should be someone from the top sects or the bigger kingdoms. It seemed unusual for smaller powers like these to meet Lin Wu about this, especially after knowing his power.

    Lin Wu looked at the map and also some information that the system had about them.

    The Wide Crag Kingdom was as the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape had said and was one of the coastal kingdoms of the north. It was small, and didn''t have much share in the powers of the continent.

    They didn''t have as much wealth either and their main business was fishery. But even that was limited since there were plenty of beasts in the ocean reducing the amount of catch they could get.

    Then there wast the Steel Frost Ind.

    This was a peculiar existence since the area around the ind wasn''t exactly under the rule of any kingdom. It was simply too distant for that and the one ruling was a duke. It was even smaller in influence than the Wide Crag Kingdom.

    Though what was special about it was the fact that the Steel Frost Ind was located in arge salt-waterke. Thiske was located at the northeastern tip of the Long Continent and to reach it, one needed to cross a long and narrow mountain range.

    This was also the reason why there hadn''t been any attempt by the kingdoms or other powers to expand there.

    Though these two powers did have something inmon, both of them could be considered northern powers and hade to meet Lin Wu together as well.

    "What kind of marriage alliance did they propose, Master?" Cang Ci wondered.

    She knew that no one would be proposing an alliance with Lin Wu as the suitor, thus it must have been someone else that they were intending it to be for. But even then, it seemed a bit strange as the Millennium Forest Kingdom was a kingdom of beasts.

    ? While there were human members in it, there was no need to propose a marriage alliance like this officially for that.

    "They wish for me to adopt either of their children." Lin Wu replied.

    "Huh? How''s that a marriage alliance, then?" Cang Ci was doubtful.

    "That''s just the half of it. First, they want me to adopt one of their children and then get them married to either party." Lin Wu revealed.

    "Soбн the Wide Crag Kingdom and the Steel Frost Ind want an marriage alliance between themбн but they want you to be the parent?" Cang Ci found it to be too convoluted.

    "Exactly." Lin Wu confirmed.

    This was a strange situation for him, as he wasn''t even angry about his time being wasted. He was simplyбн baffled.

    "Hmmбн for them to do something like this would be too audacious. Did they offer something in exchange?" the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape could think a bit further.

    "They sure didбн theirnd and themselves."

 Chapter 1022 Rapid Upheaval And Emergency Message

    "What?!" Cang Ci eximed upon hearing Lin Wu''s words before hurriedly apologizing for her actions.

    Lin Wu didn''t mind her actions and knew that he was reacting like this too internally. He had simply managed to control it a lot better due to having the system.

    "How muchnd did they offer?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape narrowed his eyes.

    "All of itбн Basically, the Wide Crag Kingdom and Steel Frost Ind wouldn''t exist if that alliance went through. They would be part of the Millennium Forest Kingdompletely." Lin Wu replied.

    "Thisбн" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape had several thoughts appear in his mind, and none of them were about the advantages of the deal that was offered.

    This offer might seem really good for Lin Wu, but at the same time, it rang a bell of concern for Lin Wu. He knew for a deal this good, there must be a catch hidden somewhere.

    There was no way he would be stepping into it blindly and would want to be careful. Especially now that he knew there were more hidden powers in the Ming Dao world.

    There was no saying if there were more of them hidden in the Long Continent too. The Ghost of Tian was already a big yer hidden away for a while. If more were added, Lin Wu would have to adjust his game ordingly.

    Cang Ci had several thoughts go through her mind too and she only snapped out of them after Lin Wu spoke.

    "Cang Ci, I want you to investigate them and see what''s going on in theirnd. It seems a little too unusual for them to put an abrupt request like this, especially at the chance of offending me." Lin Wu stated.

    "Yes, master." Cang Ci nodded. "I''m thinking that someone else might have put them up for this." She added.

    "That does seem likely. Using a borrowed de to inflict damageбн It could be the Weiyuan Chamber? They''ve gone silent after the Millennium Forest kingdom rose to power and master disyed his might at the battle of the Cang Lan sect." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape guessed.

    Hearing this Even Lin Wu was wondering if it could be them.

    ''It would be perfect ording to their image. They''ve done this several times in the past.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    And while this seemed like a far-fetched attempt at establishing contact with Lin Wu, there was no saying how far the Weiyuan chamber was willing to go.

    "Ji Yuan is the only elder sibling of Shirong that is still living. He had wiped out all the otherpetitors for the position of heir, thus there is a chance he could be behind it." Lin Wu spoke after thinking for a bit.

    "Can you also investigate this for me? It might be time we put an end to the Weiyuan chamber." Lin Wu stated, his voice a bit cold and firm.

    "Of course, master." Cang Ci replied in a serious tone. "It shall be done at once." She said before taking her leave.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape also left to do some work, leaving Lin Wu alone for the time being.

    "Stranger things areing into beingбн I''ll just have to wait and seeбк" Lin Wu suddenly felt a change within his body.

    His spirit sense quickly dived into his Dantian and observed the situation there.

    "Huh? The Totem of Upheaval is growing?" Lin Wu saw his main body''s Dao Embryo glowing and increasing in size.

    His Dao Embryo had been steadily growing all this time due to the work of the Shadow legion and the conflicts that were rising. But the growth he was seeing right now was a little too sudden and rapid.

    ''I don''t think I did anything to cause this?'' Lin Wu wasn''t displeased with it, but it did leave him confused.

    He went through the things he had done recently and quickly struck off the meetings from it. None of them were big enough to cause a change like this.

    "It''s definitely not the marriage alliance either, they haven''t even left the forest yet." Lin Wu wondered what could have caused this.

    Just as he was thinking about all this though, Lin Wu got an emergency message.

    "Huh? Hu Dagao?" Lin Wu quickly pulled up the message.

    ''I''ve been trapped, culprits unknown, I don''t know where I am and I cannot move either.'' Was the content of the message.

    Hu Dagao knew for an emergency message the content needed to be concise so he formted it correctly. This was also due to the fact that the message would be traveling a very long distance and depending on the restrictions it could get distorted.

    After seeing this, Lin Wu knew for sure it was the cause behind the rapid growth of the Dao Embryo.

    "He is trapped? Despite the weapon I gave him?" Lin Wu had not expected this.

    With the weapon in Hu Dagao''s hands, he was strong enough to go against several Dao Treading realm experts. Not to mention, the man also had several other life saving measures with him too.

    ''Whoever trapped him must have done it in one go, leaving him no opportunity to act. And since he''s immobilized, he cannot use the Emeraldine Heart ws either, he won''t be able to escape on his own.'' Lin Wu quickly analyzed the situation.

    Since there was rapid growth of the Totem of Upheaval, it was clear that disappearance of Hu Dagao must have caused a big uproar in the Hu continent. And since he was acting ording to Lin Wu''s wishes originally, he had ended up getting the feedback to his Dao Embryo.

    Lin Wu fell silent for a few minutes after this.

    His expression was cold and his thoughts unknown.

    "Hmmбн very well, since the upheaval is already triggered, I may as well add more fuel to the fire." Lin Wu said before calling Cang Ci back and switching to his Avatar.

 Chapter 1023 Missing Hu Dagao

    It had not been that long since Cang Ci had left, so it was a bit confusing for her.

    "Is there an issue, Master?" Cang Ci questioned.

    She also didn''t forget to notice that Lin Wu had switched over to his other body.

    "There is yesбн Seems like we need to hurry to the Hu Continent." Lin Wu replied.

    "Hurry?" Cang Ci could guess the possible reasons. "Someone interfering with your ns there?"

    "Indeed." Lin Wu nodded his head. "You should leave the previous orders to the others, for now juste with me." He stated.

    "Of course, master. The newly trained juniors are capable enough to carry out orders like these. Plus, we already have some people stationed in the north." Cang Ci replied.

    "Good. That''ll make things easier. Once this is done, you can bring over the others to the Hu continent." Lin Wu stated before activating the teleportation array.

    Since it was a ry, it took two minutes to fully activate. Cang Ci also looked around finding the array to be a lot different from the ones she had seen before. They were intricate and there seemed to be energy fluctuations stronger than normal.

    ~SHUA~

    Finally the array activated, and the two of them disappeared.

    "Huh? What''s this ce?" Cang Ci said in shock, as she appeared in the teleportation channel.

    "That is the Lesser Void and we are currently in a Teleportation Channel." Lin Wu answered.

    "How are we seeing this? Isn''t teleportation supposed to be instant?" Cang Ci asked.

    "It is for shorter distances or for stronger arrays." Lin Wu said as they reached the end of the channel.

    ~SHUA~

    Cang Ci felt the scene change again and found herself on a new ind.

    "Thisбн" But before she could say much, the next array activated and teleported them again.

    She saw the lesser void again, but this time she stayed in it for an even shorter time.

    They repeated this procedure several times until finally for thest teleportation they had to take a longer pause.

    "Are we there already?" Cang Ci asked feeling a bit confused.

    The area she was in seemed to be rtively vast and she didn''t know if she was on an ind.

    "Not yet. One final array left which will take us to the Hu Continent." Lin Wu replied.

    "So we''re not on the continent yet?" Cang Ci had thought they''d be there already.

    "No, this is an ind in the ocean. The final stop before it links upбк" By the time Lin Wu ended his words, they had been teleported again.

    Cang Ci looked at the Lesser Void in detail this time, finding it both beautiful and scary at the same time.

    Thankfully by now, she didn''t feel as afraid and could still tolerate it.

    ~THUD~

    But when she finally arrived at the final destination, she stumbled to the ground.

    "Iбн don''tбн feel soбн goodбн" Cang Ci said, feeling incredibly queasy.

    She hadn''t felt like this since she was a mortal child and it was not a good feeling.

    "It happens the first time." Lin Wu spoke. "You''ll be fine in a few minutes." He added.

    "Iбн seeбн" Cang Ciid on the ground, not wanting to move for a bit.

    Her stomach felt like it was churning and even her head was spinning. If not for her cultivation base, she might have just fainted at the very start.

    And while Cang Ci recovered, Lin Wu asked the system to analyze where the message hade from.

    "Do we have a location for Hu Dagao?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: An approximate radius of possible presence can be determined by the system, while thest known location can also be given. But other than that, the system cannot determine the exact location of Hu Dagao.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн is that so? Get the scan running then. In the meantime, we''ll check up on hisst known location. There should be some clues there." Lin Wu decided.

    After a few minutes, the system gave the results.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    ERROR: Target not found!

    POSSIBLE LOCATIONS: Please check the map for detailsбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu furrowed his brows upon seeing the failure. He knew that the man was alive since he still turned up on his list, but the system could still not find it.

    ''Just what level of restrictions were used for the system to be unable to detect them even now?'' Lin Wu was now a bit concerned.

    As far as he could tell, there was someone with decent strength or skills doing this. Otherwise, it was quite difficult to escape from the system''s detection.

    "I''m okay now, master." Cang Ci was also ready by now. "What are your orders?" she asked, sensing Lin Wu''s mood.

    "I want you to go and search for the clues of this man," Lin Wu handed a crystal slip to Cang Ci.

    She quickly looked through it and grasped the appearance of Hu Dagao. There was also more information about the city they were in, as well as the structure of the powers.

    "Second Light Cityбн I''ll take a look around, master." Cang Ci said.

    "Mmhmm, do that. Meanwhile, I''ll check thest known location of Hu Dagao." Lin Wu said before tunneling away.

    ording to the system, the man was possibly in a radius of five hundred kilometers east of Second Light city. Lin Wu quickly rushed there and began his search.

    His spirit sense was spread fully, and the system was also scanning all the time.

    "For him toe hereбн what could be the reason?" Lin Wu wondered.

    This ce was far from Second light city and that was where the man had been living for a while now.

    ''Could it be to look for the Sun Tipped Crane?'' Lin Wu doubted that, as there were way better methods of checking.

    Hu Dagao didn''t need to go out to search for them after all and could simply use his n connections or pay to get it investigated. Thus for him to be here, there must be some bigger reason.

 Chapter 1024 Wandering Head Bandit

    Lin Wu manually searched the area for nearly a day but had no conclusive results.

    He did find some traces of Hu Dagao being there, but these just confirmed that he had indeed been there at a point. They didn''t point to where he might be or who might have taken him.

    "This is too suspiciousбн there should be at least some more clues. It''s quite certain that they''ve been cleaned out deliberately." Lin Wu muttered to himself. ''For someone to clean traces to this extent, they had to have been professionals. Normal cultivators wouldn''t have skills like this.'' He analyzed.

    "Master, I may have found something." It was at this point that Cang Ci sent out a message.

    "Right on time. I''m heading back." Lin Wu replied before making his way back to the Second Light city.

    Upon reaching there, he found Cang Ci waiting for him in the underground hall.

    As one of the direct subordinates of Lin Wu, Cang Ci had authority to use the arrays made by him. This was added by him as a default setting and didn''t need any modifications. Thus it was easier for all of his people to coborate and work together in various ces.

    As long as an array was set up by him, or was made with his instructions, it would have all these permissions set up.

    "What did you find?" Lin Wu asked right away.

    "The Second Light City is currently in a tense situation due to the disappearance of Hu Dagao." Cang Ci replied.

    "Oh? So the people here know about it?" Lin Wu found it strange, since no traces were found.

    "Yes." Cang Ci replied, her tone a little anxious. "It seems like Hu Dagao had been sent an open threat. Someone said that they''ll capture him and kill himter." She revealed.

    "Huh? Someone would dare to do that?" Lin Wu found that to be a bit ridiculous.

    Even if he forgot the strength of Hu Dagao, he still had the Hu n backing him. He was a direct heir after all.

    Anyone openly threating to harm a direct heir like that would be met with the fury of the entire Hu n. No one would dare to do that in the Hu continent.

    And yetбн here there was.

    "Do they know who did it?" Lin Wu questioned next.

    "Yesбн it''s actually a notorious cultivator with the title, Wandering Head Bandit." Cang Ci answered making Lin Wu tighten his body.

    "Who''s this person?" Lin Wu asked Cang Ci first.

    "He''s basically an itinerant cultivator and is infamous for taking many rich and powerful people hostage. He would demand arge ransom and if someone didn''t pay, he would just kill the hostage, regardless of their status.

    It is unknown what his cultivation base is, but he hasn''t appeared in the open for nearly forty years now." Cang Ci spoke what she had learned.

    Hearing this Lin Wu couldn''t help but confirm his thoughts. ''Definitely someone professionalбн''

    "Is there any information about it system?" Lin Wu asked the system next.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SEARCHING DATA BANK: Please wait a momentбн

    SEARCH: Completed

    DATA: Found

    .

    TARGET: Wandering Head Bandit

    CULTIVATION Base: Unknown

    INFO: The Wandering Head Bandit has been known to have impable escape skills and is said to be very versatile. He has terrorized various cities of the Hu Continent in the past, and has targeted members of the Hu n as well.

    Though the members of the Hu n he targeted were minor members or external members.

    Thest time he had appeared, he was almost caught by the Hu n, but managed to escape even then. At that time he vowed that he would take revenge against the n, but didn''t return.

    бкбк

    "Until nowбн" Lin Wu read the information in the system, knowing that there was something missing there.

    It couldn''t be helped after all the information system had was only that which could be obtained from the people or documents around them. The Wandering Head bandit was a person who was elusive in the first ce so it was normal for him to not leave behind any traces.

    But what bothered Lin Wu most was the fact that the man who had disappeared for forty years appeared now suddenly and targeted Hu Dagao out of everyone.

    Even if he had targeted members of the Hu n before, they were nothingpared to a direct heir.

    From this it could be understood how tense the Second Light city was. After all, the me might end up falling on the six branches of the Hu n. The main n would scold them about not having good security despite being the second ranked city in the entire continent.

    "After getting this threat, did Hu Dagao not do anything?" Lin Wu asked.

    "He is said to have scoffed and didn''t care for it. To him, there would be no one stupid enough to do something like that. And yet it happened." Cang Ci replied.

    "Waitбн how do the people know he was kidnapped?" Lin Wu asked since he knew thest location of the man.

    If he was kidnapped there, the people here shouldn''t know that at all.

    "Well, he was kidnapped in front of several people." Cang Ci stated.

    "Impossible." Lin Wu shook his head. "Hisst traces were found outside of Second light city." He exined.

    "I don''t know master, but there are plenty of evidences. You can take a look too," Cang Ci gave Lin Wu the crystal slip back which had all the data in it.

    Lin Wu went through it and understood something.

    "That is not Hu Dagao at allбн" Lin Wu said, making Cang Ci nervous.

    "What do you mean, master?" she asked in doubt.

    "The one that was kidnapped in Second Light City wasn''t Hu Dagao at all. His traces were in the forest a thousand kilometer away. Thus whoever was kidnapped was pretending to be him." Lin Wu replied, making his doubtful.

    "You mean to say, it was a ploy against Hu Dagao?" Cang Ci asked.

 Chapter 1025 A Fake To Steal The Real

    After seeing the information provided by Cang Ci, Lin Wu was sure of one thing.

    Whoever was behind this wanted the people of the Second Light city to know of Hu Dagao''s disappearance and also mark the return of the Wandering Head Bandit. But considering that he had found the true traces of Hu Dagao out of the second light city, he knew this was also a misdirection.

    "They want to divert the attention of the Hu n to the Wandering Head Bandit. After all, the actual location of his disappearance was in the forest a thousand kilometers away. By doing this, they would be able to confuse the Hu n for long enough that they would have fulfilled their goal." Lin Wu exined. "Whatever that goal might beбн"

    Cang Ci thought over it and found it to be possible. Even if it was a little unusual, she believed in her master''s judgment.

    "What do we do now, master?" Cang Ci questioned.

    Lin Wu thought over it for five minutes beforeing up with a n.

    "Firstбн I want the identities of all those that had seen Hu Dagao in person before his disappearance." Lin Wu replied.

    "I have them already." Cang Ci handed another jade slip to Lin Wu.

    "Hmmбн this will do." Lin Wu memorized them and also got the system to track them in the Second Light city.

    "What''s next?" Cang Ci asked.

    "Nextбн We make a little show. They want the Wandering Head Bandit to bear the me right? Well, I''ll make him take the me for more than just Hu Dagao''s disappearance." Lin Wu stated.

    ~Slick~

    Cang Ci then saw another tentacle extended from Lin Wu''s body. It started to twist and morph before quickly turning into a scarred man wearing a long bandit robe. He looked exactly like the person in the reports.

    "The Wandering Head Banditбн You intend to lure out the original?" Cang Ci asked.

    "If they can kidnap a fake Hu Dagao, I can also make a fake Wandering Bandit kidnap real people." Lin Wu replied. "Let''s see how the original likes that."

    Lin Wu intended topletely mess up the ns of those plotting. He didn''t care if this worked in their favor or not, he would benefit from the chaos either way.

    ''It''ll be the perfect time to add more bloodline data to the data banks as well as nourish the Helix of Assimtionбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Saving Hu Dagao was an afterthought, and he would let the opportunity present itself. At the very least, Lin Wu knew for sure that the man was alive. If something more happened to him, the vital status in the system would change and alert Lin Wu.

    ''Bloodline Tracer should be able to sense Hu Dagao too, but since he only has the imnt and not the bloodline, the range will be limited. I''ll have to expand the scope of my searchбн'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    With the n made, Lin Wu gave some instructions to Cang Ci and started his work.

    "Alright system, mark the suitable targets on the map and hijack all the arrays around them." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN: Completed

    MAP: Updated

    TARGETS: Identified

    FORMATION ARRAYS: Detected

    INJECTING TROJANS: Please wait a momentбн

    TROJAN INJECTION: Completed!

    бкбк

    In less than twenty minutes, the system had finished its work and Lin Wu was ready to enact his n.

    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~

    Tens of his tentacles rose from his body and drilled into the roof. The first target was rtively close to his location and he didn''t even need to get to it. His tentacles dug through the solid ground and quickly reached the surface.

    There, they halted for a while before turning in a specific direction.

    Lin Wu controlled the tentacles to avoid most people and their senses and quickly guided them to a certain building. At the back of the building, one could see a rather vast garden.

    In this garden sat a man dressed in the robes of a rich merchant.

    He was drinking a pot of fragrant wine that was being warmed on a gentle me.

    "Ah~ The Three Peony Peach Wine is the best. Thankfully I managed to get thest shipment before it left the city." The man said in pleasure.

    He waited for the wine to reach the perfect temperature before picking up the bottle. It was a dainty-looking bottle and seemed to be made from high-quality ceramic.

    The man then took out a brown cup that was painted with the images of various flowers and poured out the warm wine gently. Only when the cup was filled halfway did he stop and put the bottle back down.

    "To the pleasures of life," the man toasted to the sky before taking a sip.

    "To the Pleasures of life," but then a secondter, he heard another voice.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Huh?" The man almost spat out the wine, but forcefully swallowed it not wanting to waste even a drop.

    ~COUGH~COUGH~COUGH~

    Only after swallowing did he dare to cough. His eyes turned red due to this, and it took him ten seconds to calm down his lungs.

    "Who?" The man looked around for the source of the voice.

    ~ck~

    But he didn''t expect the voice to havee right from his side. He looked there, only to see a scarred face man pouring out his precious Three Peony Peach wine!

    "You can''t have that!" The man said in anger.

    "Ugh! Learn to share a little." The scared face man said before quickly downing the wine in one go.

    "YOU! How dare you! Who are you and how did you get in!?" The man shouted. "GUARDS! GUARDS!"

    "Ah perfect! I just wanted a little audience." The scarred face man spoke.

    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~

    Not even five secondster, several people flew into the backyard.

    "My lord what''s the issue!?" The guards questioned upon arrival.

    But they quickly saw the suspicious-looking man next to their lord.

    "Get him! He''s trespassing and stealing!" The lord ordered.

    "YES!" The guards quickly rushed towards the scarred face man.

    "Ahaha! This will be fun." The scarred faced manughed before waving his hand.

    ~SHING~SHING~SHING~

    "ARGH!"

    "No!"

    The guards that were the closest to them were quickly hit with several daggers. They seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and injured them.

    Some stabbed into their chests while some stabbed into their limbs. Only the guards that were at the very back were still okay.

    "H-how!?" The guards were surprised by this attack. ''How did he get through our armors?'' they couldn''t figure it out.

    All of them were wearing tough armor, that could endure the attack of a Nascent soul realm cultivator with ease. Not to mention, all of them were at the peak of the Nascent soul realm as well.

    Combining the two defenses, even a Dao Shell realm expert shouldn''t be able to harm them in one hit. And yet, here there was someone right in front of them.

    "Youбн Who are you?" The lord was now scared.

    Seeing his ''elite'' guards get injured like this, he was stunned.

    "W-what do you want?" the lord took a few steps back.

    Hearing this the scarred faced man smirked, "What do I want?"

    The man stepped closer, his robe trailing on the ground, hiding something sinister underneath it. The darkness of the night and the dim light from the stove in front only made it harder to take a proper look at his body.

    The lord trembled while the guards were about to act again.

    "What I want isбн You." The scarred faced man said before lunging towards the lord.

    "No!" The lord was scared and tried to retreat.

    "Protect the lord!" The guards shouted and rushed ahead.

    Unfortunately for them, they were very slowpared to the scarred faced man. The man moved like a blur and quickly grasped the neck of the lord. "There we go." Exerting a little force, the lord was knocked out cold.

    "Let go of the lord!" the remaining guards were at a loss and could only say this.

    They understood that they were outmatched, but didn''t know why someone was doing this. After all, they understood that the person in front of them was a strong expert, but if there was really someone like this targeting their lord, there was no reason to act like this.

    They could have openly fought them and still be fine.

    "Who are you?" one of the more wary guards asked, as he stayed put in his ce.

    He didn''t care if he would lose his job or life, he still needed to get something from the person in front of them.

    "Hmm, you are smart." The scarred face man replied. "So I''ll give you an answer." He added, making the guards raise their brows.

    "I amбн The Wandering Head Bandit! And I''m here to kidnap your lord." The scarred faced man stated. "Soбн let it be known to all. I''ll being for others soonбн"

 Chapter 1026 Incessant Kidnappings And Unreasonable Demands

    In the Royal ce of the first branch of the Hu n, chaos could be seen.

    "What do you mean Lord Pei Shao was kidnapped?"

    "Huh? His son is gone too?"

    "We are also getting reports that the three merchant representatives from eighth district are gone too!"

    The people of the n were in a frenzy trying to sort through the information. They were getting multiple reports of people going missing or being kidnapped.

    The most shocking thing was the fact that it was all witnessed openly and even the kidnapper had shown his face.

    "WANDERING HEAD BANDIT!" The First branch head of the Hu n roared in anger.

    This wasn''t a scene that was exclusive to the First branch of the Hu n either. In fact, all six branches were getting simr reports and along with them, they were getting ransom requests too.

    Of course, some of these were sent to them directly, while some were sent to the family of those that were kidnapped.

    What made them the most confused though was the fact that they couldn''t track the culprit at all.

    It was clearly a way to mock them, and it was like pouring salt into an open wound.

    After all, the tenth direct heir of the Hu n had been kidnapped just a few days ago, and now more people were going missing. It had angered the branches of the Hu n to no end and now they were at a point where they couldn''t do anything.

    A couple more days passed like this, as they tried to solve this on their own, but what the branches didn''t realize that it only made things worse.

    "It''s not good, branch headsбн" A high ranked elder of the second branch brought a report.

    All the six branch heads were currently sitting together in a hall, showing just how dangerous the situation had gotten. These branch heads would usually cultivate on their own, and left most matters to the new heirs or the trusted elders.

    But now the matter had reached the point where their own positions were getting threatened, forcing them to take decisions personally.

    "What is it now?" The fourth branch head rubbed his forehead in frustration.

    The constant kidnappings had given him a severe migraine that he had never felt before. He never expected that he would experience a mortal''s illness in his lifetime.

    "Several juniors who had gone to investigate the Wandering Head Bandit have disappeared." The second branch elder reported.

    "What?" the other n heads said in shock.

    So far they could understand that the Wandering Head Bandit was mocking them by kidnapping their subordinate and servants. It was a way of provoking them after having kidnapped their tenth direct heir.

    But now that their own junior members were being kidnapped, it showed that the goal of the Wandering Head Bandit was far greater than they had initially thought.

    "Alsoбн the First branch Heir, Young master Hu Xinghai has gone missing as well." The Second branch elder added.

    ~KACHA~

    Upon hearing this, the first branch head directly shattered the armrest of the chair he was sitting on.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "This damned Wandering Head Bandit!" The first branch head shouted.

    Anger roiled in his eyes, and he did his best to hold it in. He knew that if he lost hisposure right now, he would be falling into the enemy''s ploy to provoke them. A minuteter, the man swallowed a calming pill and took a deep breath.

    ~HUU~

    "Is there a ransom request for my son?" The first branch head questioned.

    "Y-yesбн There are ransoms for all of them." The Second Branch High elder gave a sheet to the first branch head.

    The first branch head looked at the sheet and read it. A lot of details were written on it, which made the man grit his teeth in anger.

    ~RIP~

    After reading the sheet, it was ripped apart into fine pieces as sharp metal spirit Qi was released from the first branch head''s hands.

    "Fine! If it is a war that he wants, a war he''ll get!" The first branch head stated.

    The other branch heads were stunned by this sudden change in the first branch head.

    "What was the ransom demand?" They asked.

    "That Wandering Head Banditбн He wants us to give the First Royal pce to him!" The First branch head said with anger.

    "Audacious!" hearing this, the others were simrly angry.

    One must know that each of the six royal pces was worth was basically aposite spirit tool, and couldpare to a peak grade spirit tool. And when all six of them werebined, its might could even reach the Pseudo Immortal realm.

    There was no way they could give even a single royal pce to the Wandering Head Bandit.

    Not to mention, it wasn''t theirs to give in the end. It belonged to the core of the Hu n and was only given to them as branches. If they wanted to, they could snatch it back whenever or lock them out of all the arrays.

    "What are the other demands for the juniors?" one of the calmer men, the third branch''s head asked.

    "Here they are." The second branch high elder handed a long scroll this time.

    ~SHUA~

    The third branch head unforced the scroll, finding it to be nearly three meters long. There were a lot of demands written on it, along with the names of all those that had gone missing.

    "Thisбн this is worse than robbery! He may as welle and ask for our lives!" Even the Third Branch head couldn''t keep his calm. "He''s asking for entire spirit stone mines as well as spirit herb orchards!" he revealed.

    "A fiend! An oundish Fiend I say!" The sixth branch head cursed. "We should''ve contacted the core of the n right away." He spoke.

    ~SIGH~

    "Seems like we really do need to contact the patriarchбн at this point, things will only get worse." The Fourth Branch Head spoke with anxiety and disappointment.

 Chapter 1027 The Backing Of The Wandering Head Bandit

    Lin Wu''s efforts at sowing chaos were working a little too good.

    In just two weeks he had sent not just the Second Light city into chaos, but even the Core of the Hu n was now shaken.

    But among the core, there were two members who were especially shaken.

    In arge and luxurious private courtyard, these two were currently sitting.

    These were none other than Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui!

    "Elder brother, we cannot let this continue on any longer." Hu Shui spoke, distress in her voice.

    "You think I don''t know that?" Hu Peiliang retorted but his expression was still.

    "I don''t mean that, Elder Brother. But that we need to stop the fake Wandering Head Bandit." Hu Shui replied.

    "Of course! But how are we to find out where or who it is? All the efforts by the branches were failed." Hu Peiliang said, a hint of frustration appearing on his face.

    Thest two weeks were distressing to Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui.

    Much to their surprise, the Wandering Head Bandit had made his reappearance and had started to kidnap people left and right. Not just that, but he was extremely brazen and demanded tall ransoms, which simply could not be paid.

    So far there were no people that had been returned by the bandit. After all, there was no one who could pay the ransoms that were set by him.

    Some did try to trick him by saying that they were paying ransom and use that opportunity to capture him.

    But this only backfired on them as they got kidnapped too. And the newly kidnapped people had their ransoms doubled!

    Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui now doubted the reality.

    "Should we sent out the Wandering Head Bandit? It''s obvious that the fake, is trying to lure out the real. He''s spoiling the image and reputation of the true Wandering Head Bandit." Hu Shui suggested.

    "Who''s the fake and who''s the real Wandering Head Bandit? The fake seems to have a skills way beyond the real oneбн do you think he can go against him?" Hu Peiliang questioned.

    After all, the Wandering Head Bandit was one of their trump cards.

    The truth about the Wandering Head Bandit had been hidden by the two siblings for a long time.

    In fact, the real Wandering Head Bandit had been working for them since the start. All the things he had done was ording to their orders and everything was well coordinated.

    There was a reason why the man had not been caught ever before and why he could always escape the Hu n by the hair''s edge, he was working for the Hu n members from the start!

    He had inside information as to who needed to be kidnapped and who needed to be killed.

    With his skills, the Wandering Head Bandit was a useful trump car for Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui. They could get rid of small obstacles or weaken their opponents secretly by making use of the man.

    This was also why they had ordered the man to enter hiding forty years ago. He had picked up too much heat from the Hu n, and there was a chance the high elders of the core might act.

    Thus to save their trump card for future, they ordered him to go into hiding.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Only now did they bring him out, as there was a new thorn that had been causing trouble for them.

    This was none other than their younger sibling Hu Dagao. His recent expansion and investments within the six branches were against the interests of the two heirs and were touching upon their profits too.

    It was clear that the tenth heir needed to be taken care off.

    But it could not be done in the usual way, not to mention they had also learned the Hu Dagao had grown stronger in this time.

    "We went so far as to use a Spatial Sealing Formation and the Bronze Imprisonment mirror for Hu Dagao, there is no way we can continue to take losses." Hu Peiliang spoke.

    "Should we kill him now elder brother? Even if his life bead breaks in the n, it should be fine since we can just me the Wandering Head Bandit for it now." Hu Shui replied in a cold tone.

    Hu Peiliang thought over it and hesitated before shaking his head.

    "Noбн if we do it right now, it is very likely the patriarch might make a move himself." Hu Peiliang stated. "Rather than that, we need to first see who is it that''s ying with us. They clearly know that the Wandering Head Bandit they are using is the fake." He added.

    "Yes, with skills like that, they have no use to make the expert look like the Wandering Head Bandit. If it was a demonstration of power, they could have done it openly. But their actions are clearly targeted against us." Hu Shui said after analyzing.

    "Whoever it might be, I don''t think they are alone either." Hu Peiliang replied. "We need to take the steps carefully."

    "Yesбн I''ll send out the Wandering Head Bandit then. As long as he can bring out the real mastermind behind it, it''ll be worth even if he dies." Hu Shui said without a care.

    "Mmhmm, do it." Hu Peiliang said before standing up. "I''ll go check on father. I don''t trust the elders to keep him cated for long." He exined.

    "Of course." Hu Shui agreed.

    The two of them divided their duties and went to do their tasks.

    Of course none of them were aware that the perpetration behind it all wasn''t even targeting them mainly. His main goal was to create simple chaos, that would give him plenty of chances to grow.

    ~GULP~

    Deep below the Second Light City, the sound of somethingrge being swallowed was heard.

    "There we goбн that should be enough Hu n members." Lin Wu said with a deadly smile on his face.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    RAW BLOODLINE DATA OBTAINED: Wide w Tiger Bloodline

    бкбк

 Chapter 1028 Capturing The Real Wandering Head Bandit

    The Wide w Tiger Bloodline was descended from the White Tiger Bloodline and was rtively strong. At the very least, its contribution to the avatar was decent enough for Lin Wu to feel the progress.

    "This is going wellбн I should have expected thisбн" Lin Wu observed his Dao Embryo and saw it grow once more.

    The Helix of Assimtion had absorbed thousands of bloodlines at this point and Lin Wu was sure that the improvement would be reflecting in the avatar soon enough.

    ''Its just like the time when it absorbed the beasts earlier along with the Aqua Dream Ocean Lotus. It needs some time to assimte it all.'' Lin Wu waited for the effects to appear.

    After about four hours, he sensed the change.

    "Hmmбн let''s see." Lin Wu looked through the data but didn''t see any changes in his innate skills. ''Guess that was expected. It won''t improve this fast. It had just increase a while back.'' He thought.

    But that didn''t mean that there was no improvement.

    "System, show me the Dao Traces now." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    RECORDED DAO TRACES: 17 Detected

    1. Fire Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    2. Water Dao Trace [Compatibility: 45%]

    3. Earth Dao Trace [Compatibility: 96%]

    4. Wood Dao Trace [Compatibility: 86%]

    5. Metal Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%][Updated]

    6. Wind Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    7. Lightning Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    8. Light Dao Trace [Compatibility: 26%]

    9. Darkness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 11%]

    10. Shadow Dao Trace [Compatibility: 19%]

    11. Spear Dao Trace [Compatibility: 38%]

    12. Beast Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%]

    13. Formation Dao Trace [Compatibility: 40%]

    14. Sword Dao Trace [Compatibility: 35%][Updated]

    15. Poison Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    16. Assimtion Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%]

    17. Upheaval Dao Trace (Main Body) [Compatibility: 100%]

    18. Sharpness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 50%][new]

    бкбк

    "So there it isбн" Lin Wu saw that thepatibility of two of his Dao Traces had been improved.

    These being the Metal Dao Trace and the Sword Dao Trace.

    "It makes sense for the Metal Dao Trace''spatibility to improve since the Wide w Tiger in innatelypatible with it, but the Sword Dao trace improved too?" Lin Wu was a little surprised.

    But he could only attribute it to the Metal Dao Trace being closed to the Sword Dao Trace.

    "But there''s a new addition tooбн" Lin Wu didn''t forget to see the Sharpness Dao Trace that had been added.

    Not only had an entirely new Dao Trace been added, but it was also at 50%patibility from the start!

    "Now this is a wee additionбн" Lin Wu wouldn''t mind more of the Dao Traces being added.

    In fact, he would prefer if there were more of them. After all, the more there were, the better his skills would be in the future and the cultivation speed as well.

    Plus, the Sharpness Dao Trace was something that Lin Wu could directly make use of.

    Several of the skills he had made, such as the Undying Sapphire ze Cleaver, were basically in the form of a de that used a sharp edge. If he could utilize the Sharpness Dao Trace, he would be able to improve the power of the attack too.

    "This was certainly added due to the Wide w Tiger Bloodline." Lin Wu knew that the Hu n formed two types of Dao Embryos with one belonging to the Sharpness Dao.

    Thus it made sense for the Compatibility to jump to 50% right from the start.

    With such a harvest, Lin Wu was tempted to ''farm'' a little more.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    But unfortunately for him, there were a few events that would now need his attention.

    "Master, they seem to have finally acted." Cang Ci sent a message.

    Lin Wu instantly connected to her and replied, "What did they do?" he asked.

    "The Wandering Head Bandit has appeared in Danching City." Cang Ci replied.

    "Danching city?" Lin Wu quickly checked the map and saw that it was located about two thousand kilometer northeast of the Second Light city.

    Upon seeing this, Lin Wu knew that they were trying to lure him away from Second Light city. So far the activity of the fake Wandering Head Bandit had been in the Second Light city, thus by making the real one appear, they were clearly pulling his attention.

    It would help them stabilize the situation in the Second Light city while also tracking who was behind all the kidnappings.

    "When did the real Wandering Head Bandit appear?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "The report came just three minutes ago. He was very recently spotted." Cang Ci replied.

    "Alrightбн seems like it''s time to catch the real culprits." Lin Wu stated.

    While he knew that the Wandering Head Bandit had only captured the fake Hu Dagao, Lin Wu also knew that he would be able to get clues to the real one from him.

    Besides, there was no need for him to ''interrogate'' the man. Lin Wu didn''t have to care whether the man was asked to misdirect him.

    ''As long as I eat him, his memories will be mine anyway. No secret can hide from the system.'' Lin Wu smirked as he activated the teleportation array.

    ~SHUA~

    A minuteter, he had appeared in another city that was located a thousand kilometers away from the Second Light City. This wasn''t Danching City and was just the closest city that Lin Wu could teleport to.

    From here, he simply dug his way to Danching city, reaching it in less than an hour.

    While this seemed like more than enough time for the Wandering Head Bandit to have escaped, Lin Wu knew they wouldn''t be doing that.

    Since their goal was most likely to lure out the fake Wandering Head Bandit, they would be leaving behind traces so that the real could be tracked this time. Or perhaps they might even make him appear from time to time.

    It didn''t matter to Lin Wu though, as he could simply scan to search the entire city at once.

    "And here we areбн" Lin Wu spread his spirit sense and observed the city above him.

    It was several times smaller than Second Light city and thus he could easily cover it entirely with his spirit sense. Lin Wu looked for the signs of the Wandering Head Bandit and soon found it.

    "My, my, they are quite brazen, aren''t they?" Lin Wu saw the man sitting openly in a tea shop.

    The shop was empty other than a very nervous looking waiter and the real Wandering Head Bandit.

    The area around it had also been cleared out, and the guards of the city had made a secure perimeter. They didn''t allow anyone to enter, though the area had already been evacuated.

    "Its interesting that they don''t try to capture the man eitherбн guess they are waiting for someone stronger to appear?" Lin Wu didn''t know if some stronger expert had been asked toe over, but he also guessed that the guards might have been directed to act this way.

    Lin Wu listened to their conversations and confirmed it in a couple of minutes.

    "Sure enoughбн They have orders from above to not engage. They are to just create a secure perimeter and observe all those that are in it." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    It also allowed him to know that someone influential might be involved in all this too.

    ''If they can give orders to the city guards, they must be several steps above the city mayorбн'' Lin Wu couldn''t sense anyone stronger than Dao Shell realm in the city.

    That was more than enough to confirm his suspicions that someone from outside might be doing this all.

    "Wellбн no use in specting when I can get the answers myself." Lin Wu said to himself before moving towards the tea shop.

    The avatar arrived several hundred meters below the shop and its tentacles started to rise up from his body. They dug through the ground before appearing in an alley.

    They quickly transformed into the fake Wandering Head Bandit and Lin Wu controlled it to walk towards the tea shop.

    ~step~step~step~

    The door of the tea shop was wide open, allowing anyone to see inside and outside as well. This made the sound of the new person''s steps very clear.

    "Huh? Who woulde here nowбк" The waiter who was forced to serve was stunned upon seeing the man standing in the doorway.

    His head snapped to look at another man sitting at the table. The same man who had basically held him hostage here with just a look.

    "How''s this possible?" the waiter couldn''t believe his eyes and rubbed them several times.

    It didn''t matter much though as the newly appeared man walked towards the only upied table.

    He pulled a chair before taking a seat.

    Now it looked like someone had ced a mirror on the table as two identical people were sitting on it.

    "That disguise skill is certainly impableбн" The real Wandering Head Bandit spoke as he took a sip of his tea.

 Chapter 1029 Resolving A Soul Restraint And Giving A Chance

    The Real Wandering Head Bandit had not even sensed when the fake one had arrived.

    With his skills, knowing who was around in an area of a couple of kilometers was nothing. But despite that, he had not sensed the man in front of him. If not for him appearing openly and seeing with his own two eyes, he knew that there was a great divide between the two.

    "For someone like you to have appearedбн and even taken my nameбн I can only take that as apliment." The Real Wandering Head Bandit spoke.

    Lin Wu watched the man in front of him, finding his behavior to be a lot different than what was described in the report.

    "Hmmбн you are quite strangeбн Your reputation says something else and your behavior is something else too." The fake Wandering Head Bandit stated.

    "Ahah, yeah that is indeed true." The Real Wandering Head Bandit.

    "So it''s all an act?" the fake Wandering Head Bandit questioned.

    "That is true as well." The real Wandering Head Bandit nodded his head. "My whole existence, is a fabrication. I''m merely a pawn created by a great yer." He revealed.

    "Oh? Saying this openly?" Lin Wu was surprised now.

    "In front of such ability, I don''t think there is much use in hiding." The Wandering Head Bandit replied. "Originally I had the thoughts of testing you out, but from what I''ve nced atбн it was a foolish thought." He shook his head.

    "I certainly overestimated myself, but my owners did even worse, hahaбн" The manughed in self-depreciation.

    "So what was the goal today? It can''t just be to lure me out, can it?" Lin Wu questioned the man.

    "Luring you out was the first step yes. But I doubt we can go beyond that." The Wandering Head Bandit answered. "I can''t even sense your cultivation base, and with your disguising abilities I doubt you will have an issue messing up the owner''s n." He said feeling a bit depressed.

    Lin Wu understood the situation that the Wandering Head Bandit was in by now.

    ''So he was under the control of someone right from the startбн he never had an option of his own, huhбн Interesting.'' Lin Wu felt like there might be an opportunity here.

    "What do you think is going to happen now?" Lin Wu asked the man.

    "Now? I don''t knowбн I die?" The man spoke without much fear.

    Seeing that the man had alreadye to terms with his situation, Lin Wu felt like he had an even greater chance at turning this.

    "What if I told you, you don''t have to?" Lin Wu spoke, surprising the man.

    "I''m guessing this is in exchange for information about the people behind me?" The Wandering Head Bandit asked.

    "Partly, but yes." Lin Wu replied.

    "I''m afraid that won''t work. The people behind me are powerful. They have restrictions ced on me that prevent me from ever revealing it. And if someone forces it through some method, my soul will automatically detonate." The Wandering Head Bandit revealed.

    "Oh? Is that so?" Lin Wu was intrigued. "System, scan him." He ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: Wandering Head Bandit

    SCAN: Completed

    .

    TARGET: Wandering Head Bandit

    CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Expansion Stage of the Dao shell realm

    BLOODLINE: None

    PHYSIQUE: None

    VITALS: Stable

    .

    NOTIFICATION: Soul Restraining Formation Array has been detected!

    бкбк

    ''So there really is oneбн Can this be dispelled system?'' Lin Wu inquired.

    "Affirmative." The system replied mechanically.

    "Goodбн Looks like I can fix that." Lin Wu spoke out loud.

    "You can what?" The Wandering Head Bandit was confused.

    "What would you say if the restriction on your soul was removed?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "If it is removedбн Then I''ll be willing to do work for youбн but not forever. I''ve been a servant for far too longбн I want to be free." The Wandering Head Bandit answered.

    "That''s enough for me." Lin Wu replied before ordering the system in his mind. "Remove the formation system."

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    FORMATION DETECTED: Soul Restraining Formation Array

    ANALYZING: Please wait a momentбн

    ANALYSIS: Completed

    DISPELLING ARRAY: Please wait a momentбн

    бкбк<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    The Wandering Head Bandit suddenly felt an unknown presence covering his body. It was shocking to him since it had passed through his body''s defenses as if they were just air.

    Even if he knew that he was greatly outssed against the person in front of him, he never thought it would be at this level.

    But that was merely the start of the shock that Wandering Head Bandit was about to receive.

    "AHH!" As a minuteter, he felt a sharp and stabbing pain in his chest.

    It was as if the pain transcended his flesh, directly piercing his soul!

    ''Is this the end?'' The Wandering Head Bandit thought that the restriction on his soul had been triggered.

    But a few secondster, he felt different.

    "The painбн is gone?" The Wandering Head Bandit felt like his body had suddenly be lighter.

    Not just that, but his mind also felt a lot free and even his vitality seemed to be bubbling.

    "What is this?" The man couldn''t believe his senses.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ARRAY: Dispelled

    NOTIFICATION: Soul Restraining Formation Array has been removed.

    бкбк

    Seeing this Lin Wu looked at the man.

    "There you go, I''ve freed you." Lin Wu spoke.

    "What?!" The Wandering Head Bandit was left stunned. "How is that possible?" he knew something had covered him, but the thought that it could remove the formation on his soul was simply unbelievable to him.

    After all, he knew just how difficult andplex the formation was. He wasn''t the only one who had it on his soul either. He knew of several other people in the same situation as him.

    They too were the servants of his owner and some had also tried to struggle. They had tried to get the restrain removed, but all of them had failed. Some were even stronger than him, and yet they had perished to the formation.

    By now there had been too many bad results, thus the Wandering Head Bandit didn''t think that there was a way out at all. Even his owners couldn''t remove the restrictions that were ced on him.

    It was a one-time thing and would be permanent.

    The only way for it to be removed was to die.

    And yetбн that fact had just been overturned.

    The gobsmacked Wandering Head Bandit looked at the doppleganger in front of him and fell to his knees.

    ~THUD~

    "Thank youбн I don''t knowбн" The man struggled to find words to speak.

    While he had spoken willfully before as he had no hope of his restraints being removed, now that they had really been removed, his thoughts changed.

    "You don''t have to do much, just tell me who''s behind you." Lin Wu stated.

    "Of course." The Wandering Head Bandit nodded his head. "It''sбн Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui." He revealed.

    "Them?" Lin Wu knew the two names.

    After all, they were big shots and were none other than Hu Dagao''s elder siblings.

    "The number one and number twoбн huh, so they are coborating?" Lin Wu spoke.

    "They are indeedбн they always have." The Wandering Head Bandit stated.

    "But aren''t theypeting for the position of the patriarch?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "That is merely a facade." The Wandering Head Bandit shook his head. "The two of them have been in cahoots for a long time." He added.

    "I seeбн that does make sense." Lin Wu nodded his head. "So they are also the one''s who kidnapped Hu Dagao?" he questioned.

    "They did indeed. In fact, the real Hu Dagao was kidnapped way before I was made to kidnap a fake one." He answered.

    "I seeбн and do you know where the real one is?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "Noбн I don''t know." The Wandering Head Bandit replied.

    Lin Wu knew the man wasn''t speaking a lie too. ''It would be too foolish of the two heirs to let their servant know of something like this. So this is true.''

    "But I do know someone who''ll know." The Wandering Head Bandit added.

    "Oh? You do?" Lin Wu raised a brow.

    "Yesбн it''s the Duke of the Bai Yang Province." The Wandering Head Bandit answered.

    ? Lin Wu had heard of the man and knew who he was.

    The Duke of the Bai Yang Province was actually an external elder of the Hu n who had been granted the position of a duke after contributing greatly to the Hu n.

    ''Now that I think of itбн the are that Hu Dagao was kidnapped in alsoes under the limits of the Bai Yang Provinceбн'' Lin Wu looked at the map and confirmed.

    "Looks like I''ll have to pay this duke a visit." Lin Wu muttered.

    "You can''t go there carelessly. Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui will be on alert now. It is likely they will have prepared for it." The Wandering Head Bandit warned.

    "Oh, I''m counting on that." Lin Wu smoke with an eerie smile that gave chills to the Wandering Head Bandit.

 Chapter 1030 The Calamity Fiends Debut In The Hu Continent

    Having learned about the schemers from the Wandering Head Bandit, Lin Wu decided it was time to make a return.

    As much as he would like to drop in at the duke''s ce, Lin Wu still needed to get a few things in order first.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: 12 Dao Shell realm cultivators detected!

    NOTIFICATION: 1 Dao Treading realm cultivator detected!

    MAP: Updated!

    бкбк

    It was at this point that the system sensed several new people appearing at the edge of the city. Lin Wu looked at the map and saw they rapidly approaching their location.

    "I guess it''s time to leave now." Lin Wu spoke, realizing that these might be the people that Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui had sent.

    "How will we do that? They have set up a barrier array in advance. The people who have just arrived are in charge of supporting it." The Wandering Head Bandit had also sensed the new people at this time.

    "You don''t have to worry about that." Lin Wu said before a powerful aura rose from him.

    The Wandering Head Bandit who felt it almost copsed.

    ''Its not justing from himбн itsing from everywhere!'' the Wandering Head Bandit couldn''t understand why.

    Normally the aura or even spirit Qi waves shoulde from a single source. But in the current case it looked like the very earth was erupting with it.

    ''Just how strong is he? He''s not at the Dao Shell realm at all, is he? And this doesn''t seem to be the Dao Treading realm eitherбн Immortal Ascension realm them?'' the Wandering Head Bandit couldn''t wrap his head around it.

    He wasn''t the only one feeling this either as the people stationed around the tea shop were experiencing it too. In fact to them, it was as if a storm was whipping up.

    Winds swirled around the tea shop, turning into a vortex.

    "EVERYONE GET BACK!" The guards ordered knowing that the situation was getting out of hand.

    ~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~

    Several new cultivators appeared at this point. Their spirit Qi fluctuations were stronger than the guards, making them feel a bit relived.

    "Retreat and form a second perimeter a kilometer from here." The man at the Dao Treading realm spoke.

    "Yes, sir!" The guards replied without even caring who the person was.

    They had been informed that some experts will being to help them eventually and thus there was no reason for them to bother about it. Besides, there was nothing more they wanted than to get away from here as soon as possible.

    To them, the longer the stayed here, the more danger they felt.

    ~RUSTLE~

    ~SHATTER~

    But before they couldn''t even begin their n something unthinkable happened. The vortex spinning around the tea shop let out a burst of energy that expanded in the blink of an eye.

    "WHAT!?" The Dao treading realm expert shouted.

    "Senior! The array has been broken! It''s been broken already!" A Dao Shell realm expert rushed to inform.

    "How''s that possible!? That was a barrier array that could restrain even a Peak Dao Treading realm expert!" The Dao Treading realm senior was stunned.

    "We don''t know Senior. But the array was broken before we could even do anything. The wind''s are directly tearing apart the runes." The Dao Shell realm expert reported.

    "Dammit!" The Dao treading realm senior cursed.

    He had thought that this mission was a sess with all the preparation they had done. Not only had a good amount of resources been poured into this, but a lot of manpower was also used to make sure it worked.

    And yet, all this had resulted in a failure.

    The Dao Treading realm senior now had to make a hard decision.

    He gritted his teeth before making up his mind.

    "Forget the original n! We have to charge in! We cannot let the culprit escape." The Dao Treading realm senior ordered.

    "Y-yes." The Dao Shell realm man responded.

    "Call everyone over! We are going to ambush them all at once!" The Dao Treading realm senior added.

    "At once, senior!"

    ~RUMBLE~

    But they didn''t know that this was merely the start of their trouble.

    A faint rumbling sound filled their ears, sparking a hint of fear in their minds. It was as if their instincts were whispering to them about the misfortune that was iing.

    ~TREMBLE~

    But despite that, they simply didn''t have enough time to react to it.

    The rumbling was only the precursor as the very ground started to tremble and shake.

    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Cracks spread all over the area and continued to expand. Within moments, the cracks had turned into fissures that spanned for hundreds of meters.

    ~Crumble~

    ~copse~

    The buildings of the city too started to sumb to the disaster, falling into the fissures or simply copsing to the ground.

    Windows shattered, bricks fell, pirs copsed and roofs crumbled.

    No matter where one looked all they could see was a scene of devastation.

    And in all this, the cries of the inhabitants could be heard too. The tens of thousands of criesbined into a horrifying echo that will gue the minds of many for years toe.

    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~ BOOM~

    The disaster showed no sign of getting better though as the sound of explosions was heard.

    "What is that!?" Several people spotted giant pirs rising from the ground.

    These pirs were over fifty meters tall and looked like they were made from bones!

    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~

    More of these pirs kept on rising from the fissures and soon the entire city was dotted with them.

    By now the people who were sent to capture the fake Wandering Head Bandit werepletely lost. They couldn''t understand how a capture missing had turned into something like this.

    ~SPLAT~

    "ARGH!"

    "NOO!"

    "GET AWAY! GET AWAY!"

    In all this, a new set of trouble spread. The people that were around therge bone pirs were stabbed by spikes that had suddenly risen from the pirs.

    It was as if the bone pir knew where everyone was an specifically targeted them.

    "RUN! EVERYONE RUN!"

    Absolute pandemonium descended on Danching city, marking the day people would dread for centuries toe.

    And as if that was not enough the giant bone pirs started to move as well. The ones that were located on the periphery of the city moved inwards, while the one''s that were in the middle started to move in a circr path.

    If one looked at it from the sky, they would see that the Danching city had over thirty bone pirs dotting it. Twenty of them were located at the periphery and formed an almost perfect circle with the rest of them located between the center and edge of it.

    The Dao Treading realm senior watched everything happen with confusion and terror on his face.

    ~RUMBLE~

    The ground shook and cracked as the Bone pirs uprooted everything. Hundreds of lives were reaped in seconds and the number only kept on rising.

    The bone pirs kept on sprouting more and more spikes, impaling all those that were nearby. And with how they were moving, the people couldn''t escape out of the city either. All of them were being pushed to the center, not even realizing that they were being herded.

    ~CLACK~CLACK~CLACK~

    After a certain distance, the bone pirs gave rise to long spurs that joined up with the other bone pirs. It almost looked like arge wall was forming and the Danching city was beingpressed within it.

    With the bone wall at the border and the moving bone pirs in the center, it was almost as if the entire Danching city had been turned into arge grinder.

    Buildings, roads, humans, beasts, everything was being crushed in it, leaving blood and dust behind.

    "Iбн I can''t die here!" The Dao Treading realm senior felt a terror like he had never felt before.

    ~WHOOSH~

    He directly flew up, intending to escape the city that way.

    ~SHING~

    But as if the bone pirs had detected that, a bone spear wasunched at him.

    The spear traveled at a great speed, and stabbed into the man''s leg.

    "ARGH!" The Dao Treading realm senior cried in pain, but continued to fly.

    He knew he was greatly outmatched here and that Danching city was done for. He didn''t care about his duty or responsibilities, all he cared for now was to escape this hell that had risen.

    ~KABOOM~

    And when the man was at the edge of the city, he heard an explosion that wasrger than any before.

    He turned around and saw a scene he would never forget.

    A colossal being rose from the center of Danching city. It towered at over two hundred meters and had a horrifying appearance that sparked the most primal fear in his heart.

    Hundreds of tentacles covered the being''s body while thousands of teeth filled its gaping maw. Several tens of eyes dotted its ''head'' and a bloody aura spread from its entire body.

    "Whatбн isбн thisбн"

    "People of the Hu continentбн Know my nameбн For I amбн THE CALAMITY FIEND!"

 Chapter 1031 Impending Fear

    Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui were unaware of the chaos that was about to descend upon the empire they were expecting to inherit.

    They didn''t know that the cause of it was also rted to their actions. Though the end result of them losing the empire was always going to happen, regardless of their interference.

    The thing that had changed was the amount of suffering they will have to bear during this.

    And right now, the two were residing in their manors while the news of the chaos was about to reach. Though it wouldn''t be long till they got it.

    A member of the Hu n was currently flying through the sacrednd of the Hu n. After a few minutes, hended near arge manor that was surrounded by cherry trees that were in full bloom.

    The man looked haggard, but didn''t dare to rest even for a moment.

    "Halt! This is the personal residence of Second Miss Hu Shui!" The guards standing outside the residence shouted. "State your purpose!"

    "Please let me in quick! I bring grave news for the young miss!" the servant said while taking out a sealed scroll.

    The guards looked at the scroll and saw the insignia on the scroll. And when they did, their expression changed to that of anxiety,

    "Go in!" The guards permitted. "Inform the young miss as well." He said to another servant that was standing nearby.

    ~Creak~

    The doors of the residence were opened, allowing the servant in. He was guided by the other servant and brought to the second miss.

    "What is it?" She questioned upon seeing the haggard looking servant.

    His Qi seemed to be in a disarray, and his vitality was fluctuating as well. One could tell that he had expended a lot of energy and perhaps even used some self damaging skills to rush here.

    "S-second missбн I bring grave news!" The servant stuttered before taking out the sealed scroll.

    Hearing this Hu Shui narrowed her eyes and took the scroll.

    ''That seal?'' Hu Shui was a bit surprised.

    She quickly cracked the seal and opened up the scroll. Her eyes scanned the content, while her expression changed from calm, to anxious to a bit fearful.

    "How''s this possible?" She muttered in disbelief.

    "I was personally sent by the Duke, second miss. Everything in the scrolls is true." The servant spoke nervously.

    ''The Eldest brother needs to know about this quickбн if this has happened, then this is no longer something we can handleбн'' Hu Shui thought to herself as a foreboding feeling rose in her heart.

    Then, without waiting a moment, she flew up and rushed to Hu Peiliang''s residence.

    Since they were the direct heirs of the Hu n, they were given independent residences in the sacrednd of the Hu n. Though independent residences were just an understatement of how muchnd they were given.

    For example, the building that Hu Shui lived in was just one of the courtyards among many she had. And all of these courtyards were encased in a singr boundary wall. If onepared thend that this ''courtyard'' upied, it could easilypare to a small city.

    And each of the thirteen direct heirs had one such courtyard.

    Though those that were stronger such as Hu Peiliang, Hu Shui and Hu Dagao all had morend than just this. Just like how Hu Dagao had the Third Yun city and its surrounding region under his control.

    And since these ''courtyards'' were this big, they were located at a sufficientlyrge distance as well.

    It took Hu Shui nearly fifteen minutes flying at her maximum speed to reach Hu Peiliang''s residence. The distance she had crossed in that time was no less than a few hundred kilometers!

    Unlike the servant though, she was not stopped and directly flew into the core of the residence.

    Hu Peiliang had also sensed her presence and was already waiting in the open. He saw her expression and knew that something was wrong.

    "Elder brotherбн Things have gone awfully wrong." Hu Shui said, her hoarse voice trembling slightly.

    "Show me." Hu Peiliang took the scroll from her hands and directly read it.

    "A monster that proims to be the Cmity Fiend has appeared in Danching city. The city has fallen and nearly all its inhabitants have been massacred." Hu Peiliang read it before using his spirit sense to check the image that was imprinted in the scroll.

    ~shua~

    As soon as he did that, the scene of the devastation appeared in front of them.

    One could see the crumbling city with the tens of Bone Pirs crushing it. Countless spurs extended from it, impaling the inhabitants of the city while a massive monster rose from its center.

    The monster was dark and had an appearance that suited its name.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Just by looking at this image, Hu Peiliang could tell that the being was not normal.

    "The Cmity Fiend?" Hu Peiliang no longer has his expressionless in face.

    Now it was showing a hint of trouble.

    "How can this happen now, elder brother?" Hu Shui asked in confusion.

    "I don''t knowбн" Hu Peiliang replied. "But it is unlikely to be unrted to the fake Wandering Head Bandit. It simply cannot be a coincidenceбн" he added.

    "Y-yesбн The one who sent the news was the duke and the image in the scroll was also a memory from the Dao Treading realm expert we sent." Hu Shui said while her fists tightened.

    Hu Peiliang couldn''t begin to fathom how it had ended up like this. It seemed simply too absurd for the events to lead to this.

    "Hu Dagaoбн he must know moreбн" Hu Peiliang spoke in a low voice.

    "Do you think this is actually rted to him?" Hu Shui asked.

    "Most likelyбн his sudden investments and growth in strength cannot be exined otherwise. The appearance of the Cmity Fiend could also be a show of powerбн perhaps by the person backing him." Hu Peiliang was no stupid person and could quickly analyze the situation.

    He had been finding Hu Dagao''s activities strange from the start and new that they were not normal. There was no way for him to aplish all that without some support.

    "Do you wish to question him?" Hu Shui asked.

    "We have to. There is no other choice." Hu Peiliang replied.

    "But going into the minor ne will be difficult. If you enter the seal will weaken considerably." Hu Shui stated.

    "We have to take that risk." Hu Peiliang said with slight unwillingness. "If we don''t get to the bottom of this, the losses we''ll have to suffer will be far too great."

    Hu Shui''s lips trembled, but she knew that what her elder brother had said was correct.

    There was far too less they knew about the Cmity fiend and with the massacre of the Daching city, this matter was no longer limited to them. Their plot and schemes couldn''tpare to the fall of an entire city.

    Now the situation had reached a point where the patriarch will be getting involved. And once that happened, both of them knew that the subsequent investigation will lead to them.

    "Should we speak to father?" Hu Shui asked with fear on her face.

    "Not nowбн" Hu Peiliang answered. "First, we need to see what we are up against. The matter about Danching city can certainly not be suppressed. Father should know about it soon enough. But it will still take him some time to get all the facts." He exined.

    "That''s trueбн But then we''ll have to rush. We won''t have that long." Hu Shui replied.

    "Yesбн I''ll leave right now. You should get the rest of the things in order." Hu Peiliang instructed.

    "Yes, elder brother." Hu Shui said before watching Hu Peiliang fly away.

    For the first time since Hu Shui had met her elder brother, she was seeing hisposure break.

    He had always been stone faced, and she had thought that nothing would ever phase him. But now there was finally something that could make him move.

    "The Cmity fiendбн just what are you?" Hu Shui muttered to herself.

    She stayed in the residence for another minute, contemting on something before leaving.

    Hu Peiliang was also in a simr state and a thousand thoughts were going through his mind. Unfortunately for him, he could not resolve them at all.

    ''Hu Dagao is the only source of clues right now.'' Hu Peiliang concluded.

    He only wished that he could reach him quick enough and regretted that he had sealed him so far away.

    With that in mind, Hu Peiliang took out a talisman that emitted strong spirit Qi fluctuations and stuck it to his back.

    ~HONG~

    In the next moment, the talisman flowed and hundred of runes spread out from it. The runes assembled into two wings on his back before pping with great force.

    ~BOOM~

    Hu Peiliang shot forth at a breakneck speed in the next moment, covering tens of kilometer in a single p.

 Chapter 1032 Eliminating Duke Bai Yang

    While the news about the Cmity Fiend was just reaching the Hu n, the being in question was currently on his way to another city.

    And apanying him was another person, it being none other than the Wandering Head Bandit. The two of them were traveling underground with Lin Wu basically carrying the man like a sack in one of his tentacles.

    "Tell me more about the Duke." Lin Wu asked.

    "His name is Hu Yang and he is an external elder of the Hu n. He isn''t actually a directly member of the Hu n, but had actually married into the n. Before this he was named Bai Yang and belonged to the Bai n.

    After being granted the title of the duke, he changed the name of his province to Bai Yang and elevated the Bai n to a high position. Though most of this was due to the grace of Hu Peiliang as he had granted him the opportunities to show his abilities.

    He is at the Dao Treading realm and practices techniques of his n as well as the Hu n." The Wandering Head Bandit exined what he knew.

    He had quite a lot of details about the man, including some fine details like what kind of food he liked and which concubine he slept with on which day of the week.

    ''Its a little much, but guess he just worked hard.'' Lin Wu thought to about the Wandering Head bandit.

    Apparently when the man was asked to ''take a break'' from being the Wandering Head Bandit, he was put on the intelligencework that Hu Peiliang had established. Because of this he had a lot of information about various powers and experts of the Hu Continent.

    ''Seems like I got lucky with him tooбн he''ll be of good service.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    While he hadn''t put a Pentagem imnt in the man yet, Lin Wu could easily verify the words of the man with the help of the system. He knew that the man wasn''t lying at all.

    He had be tired of serving Hu Peiliang and had long since dreamed of being free. And now that he was, he was willing to do a lot to stay that way.

    ''I''ll get Cang Ci acquainted with him. That should make the process of gathering information a lot more efficient.'' Lin Wu decided.

    By the time the Wandering Head Bandit was done talking, they had entered the Bai Yang Province.

    ~RUMBLE~

    The ground split open near some mountains and Lin Wu rose out of it along with the Wandering head Bandit. They directly soared high up into the sky and gazed at the city in the distance.

    "That''s the capital of Bai Yang Province, Yang City." Wandering Head Bandit confirmed.

    "Alright, let''s see where our little duke isбн" Lin Wu ordered the system in his mind.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN: Completed

    MAP: Updated

    TARGET FOUND: Marking on map

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw theyout of the entire city appear on the map as well as the location of the duke. He was the only Dao Treading realm cultivator in the entire city thus he stood out like a torch in the night.

    But that wasn''t all that the system detected.

    "Oh? Our little friend is nearby too?" Lin Wu saw another Dao Treading realm marker on the map.

    It was heading to the east and seemed to have left the city not long ago.

    "Let''s say hello to him again." Lin Wu said much to the Wandering Head Bandit''s confusion.

    "Who are you talking about?" he asked.

    "You''ll seeбн" Lin Wu sped to the location of the second Dao Treading realm marker.

    Chu Feng had not expected his mission to go this way. Not only had he failed in capturing the culprit, he had also witnessed the destruction of Danching city. He had witnessed the monster that had appeared and was left scarred.

    "The Cmity Fiendбн just where did this monstere from and why did he destroy Danching City?" Chu Feng couldn''t understand it at all.

    Being one of the subordinates of Hu Peiliang, he had ess to a lot of information and as far as he knew there was no mention of a being like this. From what the Cmity Fiend had done, Chu Feng reckoned that it was at least at the Immortal Ascension realm.

    ''There is no other way it could do all thatбн a power like that is not obtained at the Dao Treading realm. Even if I try, I would not be able to replicate the same level of destruction.'' Chu Feng thought.

    The image of Lin Wu was carved into his mind, and he kept on recalling the scene again and again. It wouldn''t be wrong to say that this could turn into a Heart Demon in the future.

    "So you want to know why I destroyed Danching city?" A voice was heard by Chu Feng making him shiver.

    It was a voice that he hoped to never hear, and he wondered if he was hallucinating it.

    "W-what!?" the man looked around frantically while his face turned pale.

    But he didn''t see anything around him.

    "Up here." The voice spoke again, making Chu Feng raise his head fearfully.

    "Noбн whyбн how?" The man couldn''t gather his thoughts, finding his mentality to be crumbling.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You don''t need to know." Lin Wu said with a grotesque smile.

    There was no other way as his Avatar had no other way to smile.

    "W-what do you want?!" Chu Feng questioned.

    "To free you from your fear." Lin Wu answered.

    "What? How?" Chu Feng didn''t even know why he was asking this.

    His mind was simply unable to bear it and he was saying the first thing thate to him.

    "By freeing you from your suffering." Lin Wu said.

    Not even a second had passed since Chu Feng heard it before a tentacle rushed towards him. A gaping mouth appeared on the tentacle and quickly swallowed the man while he was frozen in fear.

    ~gulp~

    The Wandering Head Bandit who witnessed all this was terrified too. The speed at Lin Wu had moved as well as the fear that his inspired was simply on another level.

    ''Even Dao Treading realm experts can''t move in front of him. What will I do if I were to go against him?'' The Wandering Head Bandit found himself to be quite lucky.

    If Lin Wu didn''t see the potential in him, perhaps he would have met the same fate too.

    Of course, he didn''t know that it was the exact n that Lin Wu had originally. Though thankfully he was still a bit ''reasonable'' and let the man speak first.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SPIRIT QI: Obtainedбн

    VITAL ESSENCE: Obtainedбн

    DATA NODES: Obtainedбн

    ANALYZING DATA NODE: Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    While the system analyzed the memories of Chu Feng, Lin Wu decided to go ahead with the original goal.

    ''Since he was leaving the city, he should have already given the news about me. That goal is now fulfilled.'' Lin Wu had intentionally let the man go, as he had wished for him to spread his name.

    It would help him grow the totem of Upheaval and strengthen his Main body. Plus the iing foes will serve as a source of nutrition for his Helix Of Assimtion. The two Dao Embryos formed an almost perfect feedback cycle that made things quite easier for Lin Wu.

    The Wandering Head Bandit watched as Lin Wu directly flew to Yang city.

    Lin Wu had left the Wandering Head Bandit behind to watch intentionally, as it would serve to instill more ''enthusiasm'' within the man, and make him serve him more willingly. Which was quite urate, as the man now feared Lin Wu a lot more than he did Hu Peiliang.

    And this fear only increased as he watched the bone pirs rise in Yang City too.

    The screams of the inhabitants echoed for tens of kilometers while the ''bone grinder'' crushed the city.

    The Duke wasn''t even given a chance to see Lin Wu, as he had directly consumed the part of the residence where the Duke lived.

    More data nodes were obtained and the system quickly got to processing it. And by the time Lin Wu was done with the city, the process had beenpleted.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA NODES: Analyzed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    NOTIFICATION: Hu Dagao''s location has been found!

    MAP: Updated!

    бкбк

    "Oh? So that''s how they trapped and hid Hu Dagaoбн" Lin Wu was a bit impressed. "At least the location isn''t that far."

    Hu Dagao had been trapped in an independent space that had been opened up by a special sealing talisman. And the location of this independent space wasn''t that far from the Bai Yang province either.

    "Come, we have another ce to go." Lin Wu called for the Wandering head Bandit.

    "Y-yes, seniorбн" The man subconsciously changed the way he addressed Lin Wu.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The two dug back into the ground, making their way to the location of Hu Dagao.

 Chapter 1033 The Trapped Hu Dagao

    In the middle of a dense forest, a man arrived.

    He wore a robe that had a white tiger pattern, while an aura of sharpness emanated from him. On his face thee was an expression of tenseness, while on his back two wings that seemed to be condensed from runes were seen.

    ~KACHA~

    Afternding on the ground, the wings behind the man''s back shattered.

    "Can''t believe I had to use the Great Wing Talisman for something like thisбн What a shameбн" Hu Peiliang shook his head.

    The Great Wing Talisman was a high grade talisman that was very difficult to refine. It could provide a great speed boost to a cultivator and could be used for both support during a battle as well as a life saving trump card.

    One could use it in a battle to explosively increase their speed and finish off their foe, or using it when facing an overwhelmingly strong opponent to escape.

    Even in the Hu n, there were only a few such Great Wing Talismans and the method of refining them was only known to two people in the entire n. One was their ancestor, and the other was their patriarch.

    The Great Wing Talisman which was supposed to be one of Hu Peiliang''s life-saving measures was now turned into a quicker way of traveling. Of course, if he was not forced in his current situation, he would not have used it.

    "Hu Dagaoбн you better have some information. Otherwise you will have no worthбн it will be better to have you dead than alive." Hu Peiliang muttered as a dark expression appeared on his face.

    Originally Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui didn''t intend to get rid of Hu Dagao. After all, the Hu n had the life wisps of all its members and for direct heirs, it was heavily monitored.

    The only reason why the Hu n''s patriarch hadn''t acted himself after to Hu Dagao''s disappearance was because his life wisp hadn''t gone out. If it went out, it meant that he had died and then the patriarch would have no option but to act.

    Even for Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui dealing with that would be very difficult.

    But now that there was a new monster causing havoc on the continent and even challenging the ruling power openly, Hu Peiliang had an excuse. To him, if Hu Dagao had links to the Cmity Fiend, he would be able to avoid trouble by shifting me.

    He could simply im to his father that he had suspected Hu Dagao to have been behind it and thus imprisoned him. While he would still get punished, it would be nothingpared to what he would originally get.

    And if Hu Dagao didn''t know anything about the Cmity Fiend, Hu Peiliang could simply kill him and let the monster take the me. Either way, he would be able to avoid the ire of his father.

    ~Sigh~

    Letting out a breath, Hu Peiliang walked towards the depths of the forest. At a certain point though, he seemingly passed through a transparent membrane that was suspended in the air.

    Even if one used spirit Qi to sense it, they would find it very difficult to detect this membrane. This was the highest quality istion array that was within the means of Hu Peiliang. It could even prevent an Immortal Ascension realm expert from sensing it, unless they were very close.

    ~shua~

    After passing through the istion array, Hu Peiliang appeared in what looked like a small hill. The hill was about fifty meters tall and a hundred meters wide. Such a hill would not stand out anywhere and could easily merge with the backdrop of the forest with how many nts and trees were growing on it.

    But this was merely an illusion.

    Hu Peiliang took out a token and held it up to the hill.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ~HUMM~

    The token let out a wave of energy that covered the hill within moments.

    ~SHUA~

    Then the hill started to flicker before ''melting''. And when it was fully melted, one could see six pirs appear. Each of the pirs was densely covered in runes and it was difficult to tell what they meant.

    Hu Peiliang walked up to the six pirs and ced the token in the middle of all of them.

    ~HONG~

    As soon as he did, the token lit up before releasing a string of runes. These runes activated the six pirs, making the runes on them glow with power.

    "Activate!" Hu Peiliang infused spirit Qi into the six pirs, controlling the formations on them.

    A few secondster, the six pirs released a ray of light, each that connected in the center. The six rays of light created a t mirror like a disc in the center that continued to expand until it reached a diameter of two meters.

    Spatial fluctuations could be felting from the t disc and one could now tell that it was actually a portal!

    ~huu~

    "No option but to walk in nowбн" Hu Peiliang took a breath and entered the portal.

    The portal flickered as Hu Peiliang walked in. He felt his vision go dark for a moment before finding himself in a new ce.

    The location was a gloomy grey in color, with the asional glimmer of strange lights moving around.

    ''So this is what an independent minor ne looks likeбн'' Hu Peiliang could tell that he was basically standing in a pocket of space that was floating in the void.

    Below him there was darkness, and around him there was darkness too. There was just a thing greyyer that separated this ce from the rest of the void and also illuminated it a bit.

    And in the center of this location, a man was chained.

    The chains were made out of runes as well and locked his arms, legs, and head in ce.

    ~step~step~step~

    The sound of steps could be heard in the gloomy space, awakening the chained man.

    "Who is it?" Hu Dagao''s voice could be heard, anger suppressed within it.

 Chapter 1034 A Mistaken Identity?

    Hu Dagao had been trapped in this ce for a while now and had been very frustrated.

    This was the first time he had ended up in a situation like this. Not only did it feel irritating to him, it was also humiliating since there was no one that actually came to see him. Even if he was trapped, there must be a reason for it, or so he had thought.

    But seeing that no one came, it made him think that his captor might have found him to not be worth his time.

    It was even worse than the time when Lin Wu had suppressed him.

    ''At least Master Lin Wu had given me a chance to fight. The trap is pathetic! Not even daring to face me!'' Hu Dagao thought.

    And now that he had finally heard someone appear, he could barely hold his anger back.

    If not for the fact that he was chained up and facing the other way, he would have already pounced on the person who had appeared.

    ~step~step~step~

    But the person did not answer him at all, simply walking around him and standing in front of him.

    "You... HU PEILIANG!" As soon as Hu Dagao saw the face of his elder brother, he exploded with anger.

    If not for the chains restraining him, his aura would have easily covered the entire area while the spirit Qi waves might have whipped up gales!

    "Junior brother... I see that your seclusion here hasn''t calmed your temper much." Hu Peiliang replied, not caring about the man''s bearing.

    "YOU DARE SAY THAT TO ME!?" Hu Dagao shouted while pulling on the chains.

    They were being stretched tightly and if not for being a peak grade formation array, it might have already been broken.

    "Tsk~ Tsk~ Tsk~" Hu Peiliang shook his head. "You never managed to gain a calm demeanor. Perhaps this seclusion was not good enough for you." He taunted.

    "Calm demeanor? Remove my restraints and let me show you what demeanor I''ve gained!" Hu Dagao responded while trying to circte his spirit Qi.

    "Hmm... I might actually do that." Hu Peiliang said, surprising Hu Dagao a bit. "But... you will have to answer some of my questions."

    "Bah! What questions?" Hu Dagao replied while spitting at the man.

    Hu Peiliang easily dodged it, keeping his expression the same.

    "Tell me... Who are you assisting and who is backing you up for the investments you have made?" Hu Peiliang asked directly.

    Hearing this, Hu Dagao raised his brows before his lips twitched.

    "Hah..." A chuckle escaped his lips. "HAHAHA!" but soon the chuckle turned into a full blownughter.

    "What''s so funny? Why don''t you tell me too?" Hu Peiliang asked.

    "He has appeared, hasn''t he?" Hu Dagao spoke. "No wonder you came to see me... you have no option left, do you?" he questioned.

    "And who''s this ''he'' you are talking about?" Hu Peiliang said while trying to keep an expressionless face.

    "Oh? Pretending to not know?" Hu Dagao grinned. "Well then... let me refresh it for you... Massive body... Crushing Power... An Aura that overwhelms..." he said one by one.

    ? This time, Hu Peiliang couldn''t maintain his expression and broke his calm.

    "Looks like you know him then..." Hu Dagao spoke with a smile. "Now you should know the trouble you''ve caused." He said in a mocking voice.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Hu Peiliang''s lips twitched, but he kept silent.

    "Tell me... what did he do that forced you toe here? Stopped some business? Broke a supply line? Or copsed a mine?" Hu Dagao was curious.

    "Business? Supply Line? Mine?" Hu Peiliang was now finding it a bit ridiculous. "You fool... I do not know what kind of a mistake you''ve made allying yourself with that... monster."

    "Oh? So a being that is beyond your thinking is a monster now?" Hu Dagao retorted.

    "Beyond my thinking? That monster has massacred Daching city and erased it from the face of the empire!" Hu Peiliang said out loud, losing his cool.

    "Huh?" But Hu Dagao gave a response that was unlike the expected one. "That''s not possible..." he muttered.

    "Oh, but it is... He proims himself to be the Cmity Fiend." Hu Peiliang revealed.

    "The Cmity fiend?" Hu Dagao was confused now. "That''s not... him."

    Hu Peiliang thought that Hu Dagao was pretending at first, but then he took a look at the bracelet he was wearing.

    ''He''s not lying? The bracelet is now showing a reaction... but he was saying the truth about the massive being...'' Hu Peiliang felt like something was wrong.

    "Tell me in detail what that being looks like." Hu Dagao said next.

    Hu Peiliang didn''t answer this time, and simply took out a scroll.

    ~SHUA~

    A momentter, the image of the Cmity Fiend could be seen as well as Danching city that was on the verge of being eradicated.

    Hu Dagao was stunned seeing this.

    "That''s not him... that''s not master." Hu Dagao said.

    Hu Peiliang looked at his bracelet again, confirming that Hu Dagao really wasn''t lying.

    ''If he isn''t lying... and the cmity fiend isn''t his backer, then... who is his master?'' Hu Peiliang was now confused.

    A hundred thoughts ran through his mind before he locked onto his initial goal.

    "Seems like I''ve reached a dead end... doesn''t matter though." Hu Peiliang spoke, his expression turning cold. "No matter what, the result will have to be the same." He then took out a saber pointing it towards Hu Dagao.

    "What are you doing, Hu Peiliang?!" Hu Dagao questioned. "Ready to kill me already?"

    ~RUMBLE~

    It was at this time that the entire minor ne shook. It was quite small in the first ce, thus its movement felt very pronounced to the two inside.

    Hu Peiliang was taken aback and looked around, unable to figure out what was happening.

    ~KACHA~ KACHA~

    Suddenly cracks appeared all over the minor ne, astonishing Hu Peiliang.

    He felt danger and was intending to escape when he felt the entire area shifting.

 Chapter 1035 Rescue!

    "What is happening?" Hu Dagao was confused and startled.

    Hu Peiliang was in the same state but he could tell that something was happening to the entire ne.

    ''It can''t beбн how''s the ne moving?'' Hu Peiliang had the ess token to the ne and thus could sense more.

    And what he learned was not good, something was affecting the ne from outside!

    ''Who can even do that? This is a peak grade Spatial sealing arrayбн Even ancestor wouldn''t be able to interfere from the outsideбн'' Hu Peiliang was puzzled and afraid at the same time.

    After all, something that could affect the minor ne from the outside must have skills to do so. And something like this would be quite strong.

    ''I need to get outбн if the ne copses with us here we''ll end up in the void!'' Hu Peiliang knew there would be noing back if he got lost in the void.

    He quickly sprinted towards the exit, intending to jump out.

    But just when he was about a meter away, he saw the entrance disappear.

    "What?!" Hu Peiliang was stunned.

    "My, myбн A peak grade spatial sealing array, I didn''t expect something like this here." A voice spoke.

    Hu Peiliang couldn''t recognize it but found it to be quite cold and bordering on distorted. It certainly didn''t feel like it belonged to a normal human to him.

    But Hu Dagao had a different reaction to it.

    "MASTER! I''m here!" Hu Dagao shouted!

    Hu Peiliang''s eyes went wide when he heard his brother''s words. "Master?!"

    ~KACHA~

    Then in the next moment, the ''wall'' of the minor ne shattered!

    ''It''s overбн'' Hu Peiliang thought.

    The minor ne was like a pressured container ced deep in the bottom of the ocean. If there was a crack, the water would rush in and destroy the entire container. There would be no going back from that.

    But much to Hu Peiliang''s surprise, that didn''t happen.

    ~shua~

    Instead, he saw arge head rising from the crack. It was entirely crystalline and glowed in an emerald green light. At the top of it were two crimson red eyes that gazed at the two of them.

    "Seems a little cramped in here," Lin Wu spoke as he looked around in the minor ne.

    It really was quite smallpared to his size and he could only enter partially with his head and neck. If he went any deeper, he would end up copsing the entire ne at once.

    Right now, the system was maintaining the integrity of the ne and was preventing it from copsing entirely.

    "Master, they are the one''s who trapped me here!" Hu Dagao shouted.

    He was still chained up and couldn''t actually see Lin Wu as he was facing the other way.

    "Ah, I see." Lin Wu gazed at Hu Peiliang directly, making the man shiver. "It''s only fair that you get restrained too, right?" he said.

    "W-what?" Before Hu Peiliang could even react, he felt a strange energy pouring into his body.

    The energy by passed his defenses and quickly entered his meridians.

    "Iбн can''t feelбн My spirit Qi?" He couldn''t belove his senses.

    Hu Peiliang was at the Dao Treading realm and there was no way he should lose control of his own spirit Qi. Even if he was restrained, it should just have been a physical restraint. He wouldn''t be able to use skills and circte spirit Qi.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But now, it felt like the spirit Qi within his body wasn''t even his!

    The unknown energy spread from his meridians into his Dantian and even shrouded his Dao Shell and Nascent soul!

    ~THUD~

    Hu Peiliang felt an unprecedented sense of weakness filling his body such that he directly copsed. His fingers trembled as he struggled to gain control, but it was no use. The paralysis was only getting stronger.

    "Now let''s get you free. This ce won''tst long." Lin Wu spoke.

    ~SHING~ SHING~

    Two spikes rose from Lin Wu''s head and directly cut the chains that were made out of runes. With thebination of radiation and Sapphire Qi even formation based defenses were not able to withstand Lin Wu''s attack.

    ~THUD~

    Hu Dagaonded on his feet and felt his limbs. He stretched his body and turned his neck, finding them a little stiff.

    "That feels goodбн But I know something that''ll feel a lot better," Hu Dagao looked at the copsed man nearby.

    ~SLAM~

    He kicked Hu Peiliang hard, sending him flying into the wall of the ne.

    "GAH!" The man spat out a mouthful of blood, unable to defend.

    "This''ll be funбн" Hu Dagao approached his brother, intending to deal a little more damage.

    "Not now, we have to go." Lin Wu interrupted the man.

    "Yes, master." Hu Dagao quickly stopped.

    "Pick him up, he hasn''t lost his value yet." Lin Wu instructed.

    "We''re taking him with us?" Hu Dagao had thought that they''d be leaving Hu Peiliang to die in the minor ne.

    "Yesбн He''s a lot more useful alive than dead." Lin Wu replied before pulling his head back. "Now jump out before the void eats this ce up." He warned.

    "Of course!" Hu Dagao quickly picked up Hu Peiliang and slung him over his shoulder.

    ~SHUA~

    He then leaped out of the crack, appearing back in the Mind Dao world.

    "Huu~ the air here is certainly a lot betterбн" Hu Dagao felt refreshed.

    ~thud~

    He let Hu Peiliang slide off from his shoulder and fall to the ground without a care. He looked up and saw the massive body of Lin Wu standing there.

    ''Waitбн why does he seem a bit smaller?'' Hu Dagao found the size to be different.

    But he didn''t question it openly, simply regarding it as one of Lin Wu''s abilities. It wouldn''t be anything shocking after the other abilities he had demonstrated, after all.

    ~SHUA~

    The entrance to the Minor ne closed up automatically at that point and Lin Wu ensured that there would be no danger to them.

    "What do we do with him now, master?" Hu Dagao asked.

 Chapter 1036 Enslaving Hu Peiliang

    Lin Wu looked at the paralyzed Hu Peiliang and extended his tail towards him.

    ~SHING~

    A crystal spike extended out of it before stabbing into the man''s back. Being paralyzed, the man didn''t even see the iing threat, and neither did he feel any pain. The only thing he felt was that something had entered his body, but he didn''t know what.

    Hu Dagao raised a brow and watched Lin Wu do his work.

    About a minuteter, Lin Wu withdrew the crystal spoke and spoke, "he''ll be of good use to us as a ve."

    "A ve?" Hu Dagao recalled the time when he was given a choice.

    He could either choose to follow Lin Wu out of his own free will, or would have to do the same unwillingly. He had decided that it was much better to follow than lose his freewill, thus he was spared from this.

    But seeing the entire process with his own eyes, he felt a little stunned.

    "Yesбн since he''s gone against us, he''ll have to pay for it." Lin Wu replied. "And now you''ll have an easier time finish up your tasks." He added.

    Hu Dagao watched as his elder brother started to move on the ground. Hu Peiliang struggled for a minute before managing to stand up again. It was clear that Lin Wu had released him from the paralysis.

    Hu Peiliang looked at Lin Wu for a couple of seconds as an expression of terror appeared on his face. Then in the next moment, he quickly fell to his knees.

    ~THUD~

    "This servant pays his respect to master!" Hu Peiliang said out loud.

    Hu Dagao who saw all this was astonished at first. But then a few secondster, he burst outughing.

    "AHAHAHA! EXCELLENT! THIS IS EXCELLENT!" Hu Dagao circled around the kneeling Hu Peiliang.

    He could sense the change in the attitude of his elder brother and knew that the man wasn''t the same as before.

    ''He has really changedбн Master has done itбн He can really turn anyone into his ve!'' Hu Dagao felt a mix of awe and fear. ''It was my best decision to follow him.'' He thought.

    "You shall follow Hu Dagao''smands from now on. Do as he says." Lin Wu ordered the new servant.

    "Yes master!" Hu Peiliang replied.

    "Mmmбн now tell me what you have been plotting all this time." Lin Wu questioned.

    "As youmand, master." Hu Peiliang said before starting to narrate everything.

    Lin Wu''s words were a little too broad and Hu Peiliang ended up revealing all that he had done in the past few years.

    He spoke about the fact that he and Hu Shui had been in cahoots from the start and that the ranking of the four top heirs was intentionally maintained by them. They had suppressed other direct heirs from rising and only allowed Hu Dagao and another one of their siblings to continue.<novelnext></novelnext>

    To them, Hu Dagao''s earlier work before meeting Lin Wu was good enough, thus they tolerated his existence in the top four heirs. But with the addition of Lin Wu, the actions of Hu Dagao started to infringe on the interest of Hu Peiliang.

    This prompted the man to get rid of the monkey that was causing trouble for him.

    But Hu Dagao''s actions had been too open and had been noticed by the n as well. It didn''t help that the report that he had sent about a beast that could traverse the void had also rmed the n.

    This only made the patriarch and other elders pay more attention to him, thereby making it harder for Hu Peiliang to deal with him. And since killing him was out of the option for the fear of rming the entire n, Hu Peiliang decided to imprison him.

    They had intentionally used a spatial sealing array so that they could eventually me the death of Hu Dagao on the same beast that he had reported about. It would be a self-satisfying excuse that they had carefully formted.

    Granted, this n had to change with the arrival of the Cmity Fiend.

    This had basically thrown a wrench into their ns, prompting them to be a lot warier than before.

    Unfortunately, even this went down in shambles as Hu Peiliang failed at going against Lin Wu right from the start.

    Lin Wu also learned that if there was one person that Hu Peiliang feared the most, it was his father, the Patriarch of the Hu n: Hu Dandan.

    The two of them listened to a lot of things that Hu Peiliang had done, and every secret of the man was revealed. They also came to find out about therge fortune that Hu Peiliang had hidden away over the years.

    Learning about this, Lin Wu was very happy.

    ''This saves me some time, haha! I can just use his hidden fortune to trade with the Long Continent. And here I thought, I''ll have to wait for Hu Dagao to set up the shipments first.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as a smile appeared on his face.

    After Hu Peiliang was done speaking, Lin Wu looked at Hu Dagao.

    "Go with him to the Hu n. Pretend as if you were saved by him and that Hu Peiliang had been trying to find you from the start." Lin Wu instructed.

    "Alright master. But what do we do about Hu Shui?" Hu Dagao questioned.

    "It''s easy to deal with her." Lin Wu said before creating a crystal spike from his body. "Take this and stab it into her chest." He told Hu Peiliang.

    "Yes, master!" Hu Peiliang took the crystal spike.

    "Will this enve her too?" Hu Dagao guessed.

    "It will indeed." Lin Wu nodded his head. "Once this is done, report to me all the news that will being in a while."

    Hu Dagao raised his brows upon hearing this. "Is it rted to the Cmity Fiend he talked about?" he asked.

    "Yesбн the Hu continent will know about it soon enough." Lin Wu replied. "I want to know everything that your father discusses."

 Chapter 1037 The Immensity Of The Scheme

    Having gained a few loyal servants, Lin Wu''s work in the Hu Continent would now be a lot easier.

    He sent away Hu Peiliang and Hu Dagao to do their work and went in another direction. Lin Wu changed his form while underground and returned to being the Cmity Fiend. This was the reason why Hu Dagao had thought that Lin Wu Seemed to be smaller than usual.

    It was simply because he was using his avatar.

    His avatar could still revert to the crystalline form after all and this helped him flip the odds in certain situations. Plus, it was easy to throw off the attention of people if he did this.

    Another reason was that just like Long Continent, he needed two camps on the Hu continent. One would be the ''righteous'' camp, which would be the Hu n and its other subordinate parties.

    And the second would be none other than the Cmity Fiend and its Shadow Legion. He needed the conflict to be steady and long. That way he would gain the most and both his Dao Embryos would keep on growing.

    ''Now to add the first recruit of the Shadow legion for the Hu divisionбн'' Lin Wu made his way to the ce where he had left the Wandering Head Bandit behind.

    He obviously couldn''t let the man know more than he should, and thus had left him behind some distance from the location of the minor ne. The man had noints and obediently waited for Lin Wu''s return.

    It had also given him the much needed time to organize his thoughts and analyze what he was going to be doing.

    ''Now that I''ve decided to follow himбн there is no going back from thisбн'' The Wandering Head Bandit thought to himself.

    He was now riding on the back of a tiger and there was no getting off from it. He had to stick through it and follow to the end.

    Just that in his case, it might be a bit worse since the tiger wasn''t a tiger but rather a massive monstrosity that ate tigers as snacks.

    ~Rumble~

    And just as he had finisheding to terms with his situation, he felt the ground rumble. In the next second, the ground split open and Lin Wu''srge body appeared from it.

    "Come on, time to get you acquainted with my other people." Lin Wu spoke right away.

    "Other people?" The Wandering Head Bandit thought over it momentarily before nodding his head. "Alright."

    Lin Wu extended a tentacle and wrapped it around the man before tunneling back into the ground. The Wandering Head Bandit couldn''t even tell how fast they were going due to Lin Wu''s grasp, but he also realized that he was being protected.

    ''At this speed, even I would get injuredбн this protection is strangeбн'' The Wandering Head Bandit was surprised and amazed.

    After an hour had passed, the man had another thought.

    "Where are we going?" The Wandering head Bandit couldn''t tell the direction underground after all.

    They were at depths where his spirit sense couldn''t even reach the surface, making it impossible for him to make sense of the route.

    "Second Light City." Lin Wu answered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Second Light City!?" the Wandering Head Bandit had not expected this at all. "But that''s the seat of Hu n''s branches!"

    "Yes." Lin Wu replied without any concern.

    "Won''t that be troublesome?" The Wandering Head Bandit was confused.

    "No. The best way to hide is to hide right under their noses." Lin Wu answered.

    The Wandering Head Bandit couldn''t help but agree. Though the scale at which Lin Wu was doing, it was something that would not be possible.

    He himself was quite proficient in disguises and had done his fair share of infiltration, but that was still considerable since he was a human and could adequately assimte into the humans.

    But for Lin Wu?

    He couldn''t fathom how it would be possible.

    ''Even with his ability to make a human puppetбн he is simply toorge. Just the array around the city would detect him and within moments the entire force of the Hu n would be at our heels.'' The Wandering Head Bandit wondered.

    Still, he knew his thoughts were just something that didn''t need to be turned into questions. For they would be answered soon, regardless. All he had to do was to waitбн

    And when the Wandering Head Bandit really saw it, he couldn''t help but be overwhelmed.

    "Sacred Heavensбн The arrayбн it heeds hismands?" The Wandering Head Bandit couldn''t help but utter.

    Him and Lin Wu had just arrived at the Second Light city and were clearly underground. The man knew that this truly was the Second Light city since he knew the underground tunnels of the city.

    There were sewers and aqueducts that had been part of the city for ages and even he had used them before.

    But now he saw them being transformed. There were new areas that he didn''t know exist, as well as the fact that there were runes everywhere.

    The biggest surprise being none other than the fact that the array that was newly set up in the tunnels was perfectly integrated with the city''s array. But the string of surprises was just starting.

    The Wandering Head Bandit was brought to the central area where Lin Wu had made his ''base'' for the time being. This area was even more exaggerated as the Wandering Head Bandit saw tens of formation screens floating around.

    "Thisбн That''s the second branch of the Hu n! And that''s the Royal pce of the first branch! And thatбн the mansion of merchant association head?" The Wandering Head Bandit saw the view of several sensitive locations.

    A hundred thoughts flowed through his mind and made him realize something.

    ''He isn''t just a monster with his strengthбн he is also a monster with his intelligenceбн such surveinceбн this can bring down all the branchesбн'' The Wandering Head Bandit finally started to grasp the immensity of the scheme.

 Chapter 1038 Cui Tufei And His Shock

    Having seen the scope of control that Lin Wu had, the Wandering Head Bandit was now fully convinced of the power that the being held.

    With that, he decided to fully dedicate himself to Lin Wu and follow his orders. He had survived his broken fate and now had a chance to follow a being with capabilities that even exceeded the Hu n itself.

    And while the Wandering Head Bandit watched the many screens, a teleportation circle suddenly activated on the side.

    ~shua~

    The Wandering Head Bandit turned to see and saw a woman appearing from it. She seemed to be rtively young, looking to be in her early twenties. But from his experience he could tell that she was not simple at all.

    "No, waitбн Dao Shell realm?" the Wandering Head bandit sensed the cultivation base of the woman. "Shell Expansion Stage too!"

    "Is this the new person you were talking about Master?" Cang Ci asked while looking at the man.

    "He''s the Wandering Head bandit. You two will be working together now." Lin Wu replied. "He''ll be your intelligence expert in the Hu Continent." He added.

    "Oh? I see." Cang Ci smiled. "This''ll make it easier to teach the new seedlings too." She added.

    "You can bring them over in the next turn. We''ll need to expand soon enough and you''ll need the help too." Lin Wu stated.

    "Thank you master." Cang Ci said with gratitude.

    She then turned to the Wandering Head bandit and asked, "so what is your name? Or do you want us to just call you the Wandering Head bandit?"

    "My name?" The Wandering Head bandit raised a browбн "I don''t have oneбн I was born a servant and after that I was taken in by the Hu n''s heir. The Wandering Head bandit is all I have as a name." He answered.

    "Guess we''ll just have to give you a name then." Cang Ci said before turning to Lin Wu. "Will you do the honors, master?"

    "Hmmбн" Lin Wu thought over it for a bit beforeing up with one. "Your name shall now be Cui Tufei." He stated.

    "Cui Tufeiбн Alright, from today I am no longer the Wandering Head bandit but Cui Tufei!" The man epted the new reality.

    "So what are we to do next master?" Cang Ci asked after the little ceremony.

    "For nowбн we have two great pawns in our hand. So we shall let them man our fields, while we set things up in the back." Lin Wu told Cang Ci about Hu Peiliang being turned into a ve and more.

    The two of them discussed theing ns and Cui Tufei listened to everything intently. The more he heard, the more surprised he got. The ns Lin Wu had for the Hu Continent would be devastating for the Hu n and if they truly seeded the guarding n would be but a little guard dog for Lin Wu.

    But in all this, Cui Tufei was confused about one thing. Lin Wu and Cang Ci seemed to be discussing something about brining in supplies from Tieba city.

    ''I don''t think there is any city named that in the Hu Empireбн'' Cui Tufei tried hard to think.

    This was until they said something that stunned him.

    "The Teleportation ry will be finished in two weeks. Once that is done, the link between Long and Hu continents should be good enough for us to do better travel." Lin Wu stated.

    "Yes master." Cang Ci nodded her hand and recorded some points in her crystal slip.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Waitбн Long continent?" Cui Tufei said with surprise. "What do you mean Long continent?"

    "THE Long continent, one of the other continents in Ming Dao world." Cang Ci responded.

    "Youбн that can''t beбн You managed to make a teleportation array linking the two continents!?" Cui Tufei was stunned.

    "Yesбн master did." Cang Ci said while looking at Lin Wu. "We came from there after all."

    At first Cui Tufei had thought that Lin Wu was just some old being that had been hidden in the Hu continent for a long time and was forgotten in history. But now that he had heard that he hade over from the Long Continent, a lot of things started to make sense to him.

    It was as if a veil was lifted from his eyes and all the things started to fit together.

    "Master are youбн From the Long n?" Cui Tufei asked in doubt. "And here to expand their scope of control?"

    "AHAHAHA!" Upon hearing that Lin Wu burst intoughter unable to hold himself back.

    "That''s hrious." Cang Ci chuckled as well.

    Cui Tufei looked at the two, unable toprehend what was happening.

    "Amбн am I wrong?" he asked.

    "You asked if master belongs to the long n? Hahaбн it''s the other way round." Cang Ci replied. "The Long n belongs to HIM!"

    ~gulp~

    Cui Tufei swallowed his saliva in nervousness. He decided to just be silent and digest all the information he was getting.

    ''If I ask questions again, I fear I might just die from the shock.'' He thought to himself.

    Lin Wu stoppedughing too and went back to discussing ns with Cang Ci.

    There were a lot of things that were on his ne and finishing them would take a few years at least.

    But now that he also had Hu n slowly entering his grasp, things would inevitably get faster.

    ''A couple years should be enough for me to nurture the Dao Embryos to the maximumбн and if I can find the unknown beast in that time as well, things would be a lot better.'' Lin Wu pondered.

    Once the Long n and Hu n were under him, the only power left would be the Gui n.

    ''The Gui n should be the easiest considering their solitude. I''ll be a lot stronger when going for them too.'' Lin Wu smiled to himself, looking forward to the future.

    The people of the Hu n knew nothing of the storm that would be descending on them in some time.

 Chapter 1039 Two Years Of Terror On The Hu Continent.

    Two years had passed since the Hu continent learned of the existence called as the Cmity Fiend.

    The being had brought forth terror that was unknown to the continent. Those that were a bit more knowledgeable about it couldn''t help butpare it to the legends of the past, the time when their world had been invaded.

    And now that a being like this had reappeared, the resistance was equally great.

    Upon the first appearance of the Cmity Fiend, Danching city was eradicated. On its second appearance, two more such cities were erased. It was around this time that the follower of the Cmity Fiend appeared as well.

    They called themselves the Shadow Legion and raided several smaller settlements as well as important areas like mines, spirit herb orchards and more. The Hu n''s branches had acted, but they were still putting all their effort into it.

    It wasn''t until the third appearance of the cmity fiend that they had to change their stance, as this time the Second Light City itself was attacked.

    Thankfully, the second light city was the base of the Hu n branches and could resist the being. Though the attack had certainly put them on high alert and show them just how serious the threat really was.

    And thus, the Hu n''s core took the lead in resisting the Cmity Fiend. Its members, including the top heirs, took part in this, mounting several attacks against the Cmity Fiend as well as its followers.

    The number of battles reached the high tens before a delicate equilibrium was achieved.

    By now, the Hu n had learned how to fight against the Shadow Legion and could deploy their people at any moment. They had also developed strategies against the Cmity Fiend, with formation arrays being the main method of resisting it.

    It was said that the immortal ascension realm expert of the Hu n was even willing to act, but whenever he was about to, the Cmity Fiend would retreat. This put the n in a frustrating situation and the patriarch was highly stressed.

    Though in all this, he hade to see the worth of his heirs.

    Hu Peiliang, Hu Shui and Hu Dagao had all shown great skill in handling the situation and had led several battles against the Shadow Legion as well as the Cmity Fiend. It had made the patriarch feel better about choosing from them, as they were now tested by the fires of a battle.

    With such achievements, the patriarch increased the support to his heirs. This increased support also meant an increase in resources which allowed all three of them to progress quite fast.

    Hu Peiliang was already in the Dao Treading realm before that, but at the Embryo Growth Stage. With the increased resources, he had reached the Dao Comprehension Stage.

    Hu Shui on the other hand, was only at Embryo Birth Stage and broke though to reach the Embryo Growth Stage.

    Hu Dagao though, had the greatest progress among them, directly going from the peak of the Dao shell all the way to the Dao Comprehension Stage!

    Such progress was astonishing for the entire Hu n as well as the other powers. They were now sure that Hu Dagao would have a high chance of being chosen as the next patriarch. Despite starting offte, he had overtaken his elder sister and was now toe to toe with his eldest brother.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But what the Hu n patriarch didn''t know was the fact that his cherished heirs were now standing in front of the very being that he hade to hate the most.

    "Seems like the scheduled battle went well?" Lin Wu spoke while looking at the three siblings.

    "It was all ording to your n, master." Hu Dagao stated.

    "There was no chance it would go wrong. I personally monitored it all." Hu Peiliang said in a slightly mechanical tone.

    Hu Shui though said nothing, her eyes looking a bit dull.

    "Hmmбн good. Just keep on doing as per the n and inform Cang Ci about any discrepancies." Lin Wu said, feeling pleased on taking the three on.

    ''Adding Hu Shui was better than killing her after all. Making her a ve made it possible to do even more operations.'' Lin Wu praised his judgment.

    Shortly after he had turned Hu Peiliang into a ve, he had gotten the man to bring Hu Shui over as well. It was easy for the man to fool his sister, as she had already been working with him for a long time.

    And upon bringing him to Lin Wu, she didn''t have long to react before she was restrained and enved.

    Among the three siblings, only Hu Dagao had free will left and the other two were just a little more than puppets. Though Lin Wu had asked them to behave as they did before bing ves, so as to not arouse any suspicion from the others.

    The gains Lin Wu had from ''employing'' the three Hu n heirs were not small either. His Dao Embryos had grown faster than ever and were now at a point where Lin Wu didn''t even know if his current activities were enough to progress them.

    He had reached a sort of a bottleneck and there wasn''t much he was able to do to increase it.

    ''The Totem of Upheaval has basicallye to a halt in terms of its growth. The normal conflicts do nothing to it, and the battles only nudge it slightly. Only the Helix of assimtion is still growing, but that is merely due to the beasts that are avable.

    Even that is reaching its limit.'' Lin Wu knew he would soon reach the limits of what this world could provide too.

    And all this was when he was still at the Dao Treading realm. It wasn''t as if he couldn''t breakthrough either, in fact he had already touched upon the threshold of the Immortal Ascension realm!

    The only reason he wasn''t progressing was because he felt like something wascking and unless it was found, he wouldn''t feel satisfied.

 Chapter 1040 Tim Awakens

    In the Millennium Forest Kingdom, a certain weasel was sleeping.

    The said beast had been asleep for years, and many people had almost forgotten than it had even existed. Though the higher ups of the millennium Forest kingdom would never forget the day that the beast had broken through to the Dao Shell realm.

    The chaos that was caused to the forest was massive and the being they saw on that day was also terrifying.

    But it was now a thing of the past, as prosperity and growth was all that the Millennium Forest had seen or the past few years. The inhabitants of the forest had grown and even humans had settled in the forest now.

    Though no one knew that all this was going to be given a little shake soon.

    ~kiiii~

    The Myriad Obsidian Weasel, Tim roused from his slumber of several years.

    His eyes twitched and his jaws opened in a yawn before he rolled to the side.

    "Needбн Foodбн" Tim said as a look of hunger appeared in his eyes.

    He was currently in one of the many chambers of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb and had been ced there especially by Lin Wu.

    ~SHUA~

    And for the same reason, special considerations had been made in the creation of this chamber''s arrays.

    "Deploying Food" A strange mechanical voice spoke, perking up Tim''s ears.

    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~THUD~

    In the next moment, corpses of beasts started appearing all around Tim along with other things like spirit herbs and fruits.

    "Food?" Tim didn''t believe his eyes at first. "FOOD!" but once the scent of the food hit his nose, he knew it was real.

    ~KIKIKIKI~

    He let out an excited cry and jumped onto the beast corpses. Chewed through bone and flesh the same, finishing all of it.

    ~Crunch~

    ~Crack~

    Corpse by corpse, Tim consumed all that was given to him, despite his size being quite small.

    He was still just a couple meters in size and was small for his cultivation base. But if anyone underestimated him due to his size, they would be making a great mistake. If anything, he was like a powerful cannonball that could decimate everything in its path.

    About an hourter, Tim had finally finished eating all the food that was given to him. It left him satisfied and gave him a boost of energy that he didn''t have at first.

    ~SHUA~

    But that was merely the start as this burst of energy triggered something else.

    ~KI III!~

    Tim let out a loud growl as he raised his head to the sky.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Detected that the Myriad Obsidian Weasel has triggered a breakthrough!

    TELEPORTATION ARRAY ACTIVATED: Sending the target to secure location!

    бкбк<novelnext></novelnext>

    Before Tim could react, the mechanical voice spoke again, and he was sent to another ce in an instant.

    The ce where he had appeared was none other than the top of the mountain, which was also the top of the tomb. This ce was originally the Tribtion Attenuation tform, but waster modified by the system under Lin Wu''s demands.

    Its functions were expanded and now it also functioned as a breakthrough securing array.

    It provided protection to the creature breaking through, while also preventing the energy fluctuations and other phenomenon from damaging the area and beings around it.

    ~HONG~

    But despite that, the breakthrough of Tim could not be restrained by the array.

    A wave of energy spread from his body, and his aura expanded once more.

    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~

    A few momentster, three teleportation circles appeared around the Breakthrough Securing Array''s periphery. And from these circles, appeared three beasts.

    "So he has awakenedбн" The first to speak was arge ape beast with white and green crystals on its body.

    This was none other than the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk Ape!

    "Should we inform master?" A sparrow beast spoke in a scared tone.

    The Emeraldine High Wind Sparrow still had trauma from the past when it had been chased and beaten by Tim. So he couldn''t help but be wary after it was breaking through again. There was no telling what chaos it could cause, after all.

    "You think he doesn''t know?" Arge Liger beast with ck and white eyes replied.

    This was the Twin Lights Liger King who was the former ruler of the Millennium Forest kingdom. But now he was one of Lin Wu''s many subordinates and also one of the members of his beast subordinates.

    Though now he had fallen behind in terms of cultivation base and was merely at the Shell Completion Stage of the Dao Shell realm. The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape, and several of Lin Wu''s human subordinates had all exceeded him.

    Among the beasts though, his cultivation base was still rtively higher.

    ''Looks like it has already left me behindбн'' The Twin Lights Liger King could sense that Tim''s cultivation base was at the peak of the Dao shell realm.

    It had grown in the time he had been asleep and was now reaching the next realm.

    ~RUMBLE~

    It was as if thunder was roaring within Tim''s body while massive amounts of Spirit Qi poured into it.

    ~HUALA~

    A minuteter, a small sphere rose out of his body. It was pale white in color and was about the size of a fist. It rose above his head before expanding rapidly into a ten meter wide sphere!

    "His Dao Shell has also reached a big sizeбн" The Emeraldine High Wind Sparrow spoke.

    "That was bound to happen. Master had already said his bloodline was unique." The Emeraldine Skylight Monk Ape stated.

    "Stillбн that just means it''ll be a bit troublesome, won''t it?" The Twin Lights Liger King replied.

    ~BOOM~

    And as if on cue, trouble arrived. An invisible energy condensed around Tim and his Dao Shell that directly broke apart the arrays that had been set up.

    "This doesn''t seem goodбн" The Sparrow beast was ready to teleport away.

    "Go! Alert the forest. I''ll try to contain this for now." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape ordered the two.

 Chapter 1041 Great Pressure

    The subordinates of Lin Wu had already experienced Tim''s breakthrough before and knew just what kind of a chaos he could cause.

    Even if several beasts and humans had broken through to the Dao Treading realm in the forest by now, Tim was a wild card that could not be predicted. The system had considered all this and made a special protocol that was to be followed in case of another breakthrough.

    But despite that, the breakthrough securing arrays were still broken due to the effect of his breakthrough. It was unexpected, but not overwhelming as the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape was ready to take the lead.

    After sending the Twin Lights liger King and the Emeraldine High Wind Sparrow away, he got to reinforcing the arrays.

    "Sky Light Pailing!" The ape beast made seals with his hands and threw out an orb of light.

    The orb of light was condensed from Light Spirit Qi and was quite powerful. It was hard to tell just how condensed it was as looking it was the same as staring straight into a shlight.

    One might be able to look for a few seconds, but any longer and their eyes would start to hurt.

    The orb of light was short above Tim and exploded into an intricate. The covered the entire area that was upied by the array and started to merge into the remnants of it. The next turned rigid and took a dome shaped form.

    But this was merely the start as the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape kept on pouring more and more energy into the light. He needed to make sure that it wouldn''t break and made it as tough as it was possible at his level.

    "Hopefully this will hold until Master is hereбн" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape didn''t know if this would work or not, but he needed to be ready.

    ~SHUA~

    And while he was maintaining the, Tim was absorbing massive amounts of spirit Qi. It formed a vortex around him while also drawing some invisible traces of Dao around him. His Dao shell also rose from his body and took its ce above his head.

    The Dao Shell spun non stop while invisible Dao Traces kept on gathering around him.

    The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape who could barely sense them was stunned.

    "This auraбн" The ape beast felt like there was a great being in front of him.

    But at the same time he knew it wasn''t fully true. It was hard topare the aura of the being he was feeling and the form of Tim.

    ~HONG~

    Though a point came where he had no choice but to believe it. It was as if the sound of war drums was heard and a small circle appeared in the Dao Shell. It was dark in color and it was hard to tell what it exactly was.

    But the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape could feel like the small circle held the might to crush everything in the world and withstand all that it came across.

    ~KRIIIIIII~

    Tim let out a proud growl as if he was standing up to the might of the world itself.

    ~CRACK~CRACK~

    This resulted in the power of his breakthrough increasing once more and straining the dome shaped that was formed by the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape.

    "What''s happening?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape was taken aback.

    He didn''t know how the pressure had suddenly risen.

    ''Even if it''s due to a Dao Embryo, this kind of an increase is unusual.'' The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape thought.<novelnext></novelnext>

    If there were experts with a lower cultivation base here, they would be inexplicably affected and might end up dying. The entire forest could feel the appearance of a new type of an aura, scaring those with weak hearts.

    "What''s happening there?"

    "Why did the beasts all gave orders to retreat?"

    "Is there something bad happening?

    The humans of the millennium forest weren''t sure about it all as they had never seen something like this before. Fof the past few years they had all been living peacefully with rtive low conflict.

    But now they could feel the oppressive aura in the area, making them think of the time when Lin Wu had demonstrated his might by defending against the Cmity Fiend.

    Some people even had the misconception that Lin Wu was the one breaking through.

    ~SHUA~ SHUA~

    Two teleportation circles appeared behind the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape, from which two people appeared.

    The first was none other than Cang Ci who quickly threw out several formation gs and started making runes. The second person though was the patriarch of the Frost Foxes, Guardian Yun Bai!

    "Entombing cier!" The old fox used his Qi skill, summoning endless frost that covered the cracking light dome.

    It reinforced it and prevented it from breaking any more.

    "Six Directions Confinement Seal!" Cang Ci had also finished setting up the barrier.

    With the power of these three beingsbined, the pressure of Tim was restrained by half.

    "Where is master?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape asked nervously.

    "He''sing. He was upied by something." Cang Ci replied hurriedly while keeping her control on the seal. "He said he want''s us to hold Tim back while he returns." She added.

    Hearing that the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape shook his head. "If only it was that easyбн" he muttered.

    ~RUMBLE~

    It was at this point that a new transformation was seen. The thin circle within Tim''s Dao Shell suddenly erged and gained more features. The base ring first got thicker before several jagged spikes appeared on its top.

    The spikes looked like they were made from dense tungsten that would not break.

    And when it grew more, the auraing from Tim intensified.

    ~HUALA~

    Another teleportation circle opened up as the massive body of Lin Wu appeared. He gazed at Tim who was moving again.

    "Unyielding! Will! Crown!" Tim seemingly spoke as his grasp of the Dao Treading realm rapidly increased.

 Chapter 1042 Another Dao Treading Realm Beast

    "Seems like the preparation were still not enough for himбн he has to cause trouble every time he wakes up huhбн" Lin Wu said while observing Tim.

    He could feel the pressureing from Tim rising as the Dao Embryo took form within his Dao shell. Watching it though, Lin Wu was unsure of what it was or what Dao it belonged to.

    ''Any guesses on what it is system?'' Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Dao linked to the Dao Embryo is not within the system''s database. The Dao Traces are also unrecognizable and haven''t been recorded yet.

    бкбк

    "No luck hereбн Seems like we''ll just have to wait and watch." Lin Wu muttered.

    At the very least, he was sure that the Dao Embryo was in the form of a crown.

    It was at this time that Tim''s body started to grow. From its original size, it directly grew to ten meters. At the same time his stiff crystalline fur grew longer and harder. But what was surprising was that within the ck fur a hint of gold was now appearing.

    "What is that?" Lin Wu narrowed his brows.

    Lin Wu watched as a golden line appeared on the back of Tim. It was thin at first but soon became about twelve inches wide. At the same time, this golden line of fur grew longer than the rest, directly turning into spikes that lined the beast''s spine.

    Tim''s ws also grew longer and sharper while his pupils turned golden with vertical pupils.

    ~HUALA~

    Tim''s aura hadpletely transformed now and he gave a new feeling.

    Just by looking into Tim''s eyes, Lin Wu could tell that the beast had grown not just in size, but also intelligence.

    ~SHUA~

    Finally, ten minutester the breakthrough had fullypleted. Tim''s bodynded on the ground while the rest of the beasts watched warily. The Dao shell with the Dao Embryo was still floating above his head.

    The Dao Embryo was a rugged crown that was made from some dark metal. It gave one a feeling of domination and unyielding willpower. No matter who looked at it, they would find it hard to resist it.

    "You sure like to cause trouble all the time." Lin Wu said, approaching the beast.

    Tim looked at Lin Wu for a moment before looking away.

    "Sorryбн" The beast said much to Lin Wu''s surprise.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu did a second take, wondering if the beast really was the same. "This is the first time you''ve said thatбн looks like you really have gotten smarter." He said with surprise.

    "Tim Smart! Tim get strong!" The beast replied, still referring to himself in third person.

    "Guess something things won''t change as quickly." Lin Wu shook his head.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Still, the fact that the beast had improved in both cultivation base and intelligence was a good thing for him. At least, Lin Wu would be able to make better use of Tim for the uing ns.

    ''He might actually be of a good use nowбн he''s ''abilities'' might handy with some stuff.'' Lin Wu thought to himself. "Though there is some clean up that needs to be done before that." He spoke.

    ~SHUA~

    Several runes rose out of Lin Wu''s body as the spirit Qi moved automatically and turned the runes into formations. The formations then flew around and arranged themselves into arrays that fixed the damage that had been done.

    The area was rapidly being mended and in just five minutes, everything had been restored to how it was originally. Even the Breakthrough Securing array was now fixed.

    Of course all of this was due to the work of the system and ''restore point'' it had made.

    Once a restore point was made, the system would be able to utilize rapid forming arrays to revert an area to its original condition. Of course this was reallyplex and if anyone else tried to do it, it might even take them years to do so.

    But for the system that could run hundreds of simtions simultaneously, this was nothing.

    Plus Lin Wu had such a great supply of energy that there was no need for the system to ''economize'' its work. It could work at the full potential and do things a lot more efficiently.

    This was one of the gains Lin Wu had obtained in the past two years. His supply of resources had simply increased exponentially with two continents under his effective rule.

    "What are we to do next Master?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape asked, seeing that Lin Wu had fixed everything.

    "Hmmбн For now just calm down the forest and assuaged the residents." Lin Wu replied.

    "Any specific reason we should give them? Or should I just tell them that someone has broken through?" The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape asked next.

    "Someone broke through of course! We need to publicize it as much as possible to raise our status." Lin Wu said with a smile. "Tell them the Millennium Forest Kingdom now has another Dao Treading realm beast!"

    "As you wish master." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape replied and left to do its job.

    ~Sigh~

    The old fox demon, Guardian Bai Yun looked at Tim and couldn''t help but sigh to himself.

    "The younger generation always leaves the old behindбн" he muttered, though internally he thought something else. ''If only my n was the same. Instead the younger generation is stuck in weaknessбн''

    Lin Wu clearly heard the man''s words and knew his disappointment.

    Many of the Frost Fox n''s members were now part of the Millennium Forest kingdom and worked for Lin Wu. And while they had grown stronger, the maximum cultivation base they had reached was the peak of the Nascent soul realm.

    This was despite the fact that many of them had sessfully obtained the inheritance of the Sky Bright Daoist.

    Their skills had exceeded their cultivation level, but they still couldn''t get past the limits that the world had set upon us.

    This was a problem that even the system was unable to ovee yet.

 Chapter 1043 Questioning Tim

    Lin Wu briefly thought about it all, but knew that this was a long term goal he needed to fulfill.

    ''It all depends on whether I am able to get out of this world first. If that is possible, I should be able to do the same for them too.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    With that said, he went to the main hall of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb and brought Tim along. He needed to have a chat with him as well as see what changes had taken ce.

    ~SHUA~

    Two teleportation circles brought them to the main hall, that was currently empty. It had been upgrade once more and now it looked no different from a royal pce. The only thing was that the hall was devoid of anyone else.

    And this was its usual state to as Lin Wu mostly stayed in his personal chambers and would be in a state of cultivation. If not that, he would be in the control of his avatar and causing some mayhem in the Hu continent and the Long continent.

    The image of the Cmity Fiend had be firm in both the continents and it was now a name synonymous with terror. There was almost no one that hadn''t heard of it and knew how powerful it was.

    "What are the changes in your body you can tell me about?" Lin Wu decided to take a direct approach first.

    It would not only get him information from Tim, but would also allow him to asses the change in the beast''s intelligence.

    Tim tilted his head and thought over Lin Wu''s words before speaking.

    "I''m at Dao Treading realm." Tim answered.

    "Yesбн that was already established. What else?" Lin Wu prodded him on.

    "Iбн have golden fur?" Tim replied, but looking at Lin Wu''s face realized it wasn''t what he wanted. "I''m bigger?" he said next.

    ~Sigh~

    Lin Wu shook his head knowing that while the beast had grown a bit more intelligent, it still wasn''t to the point where he could be considered ''normal''.

    "You Dao Embryo. You know what it is?" Lin Wu questioned directly.

    "Yes!" Tim nodded his head.

    "And how do you know about it?" Lin Wu wanted to know more.

    He knew that Dao Embryo''s would be known instinctively when one formed them, but there were many variations to this. Plus, there was the fact that the Dao Embryo that Tim had formed was something unusual.

    It wasn''t its form, but the feeling it gave one. Lin Wu and the system couldn''t identify which Dao it belonged to as the Dao Traces around the Embryo were simply unknown to them.

    "My Dao Embryo is called as the Unyielding Will Crown." Tim revealed. "I just know about it and information about it appeared in my memory." He added.

    "I seeбн then do you know what it can do?" Lin Wu asked.

    "It makes me strongбн very strong!" Tim simply stated.

    Lin Wu raised a brow but didn''t know what to say. Tim''s answer wasn''t exactly incorrect, but it certainly was vague.

    ''Guess we won''t know until he actually uses itбн'' Lin Wu thought about taking Tim out for a huntter. ''But I should still take a closer lookбн'' he nced at Tim.

    "Can you show me your Dao Embryo?" Lin Wu asked. "I want to observe it." He waved arge crystal in front of Tim.

    "Okayбн" Tim didn''t reject it as he saw the crystal that was ready as a snack for him.

    "Alright then," Lin Wu tossed the crystal to Tim who quickly started munching on it.

    ~SHUA~

    And while he did that, Lin Wu directly used his spirit sense to probe Tim''s body. His spirit sense entered the beast''s Dantian and quickly reached the Dao Shell that was floating in the center of it.

    Tim''s Nascent soul had also changed a bit, having taken on a golden hue. It''s aura was also a bit different. It felt familiar to Lin Wu, but he couldn''t ce his finger as to where he had sensed it before.

    ''System, do a full scan of Tim.'' Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк<novelnext></novelnext>

    SCANNER: Activated

    TARGET SELECTED: The Myriad Obsidian Weasel, Tim.

    SCAN: Completed

    NOTIFICATION: Partial Analysis possible.

    бк

    Target: Tim

    Cultivation base: Embryo Birth Stage of the Dao Treading Realm

    Bloodline: Myriad Obsidian Weasel

    Dao Embryo: Unknown

    бкбк

    Seeing the results of the system, Lin Wu knew that the scan wouldn''t work for the Dao Embryo directly.

    ''Will direct contact work, system?'' Lin Wu asked.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Direct contact with the Dao Embryo might allow the system to do a deeper analysis.

    бкбк

    ''Guess I just need to try thatбн'' Lin Wu thought while ensuring that Tim wasn''t resisting.

    If he did, there was no saying what kind of problem could ur.

    ~huu~

    "Here goes nothingбн" Lin Wu took a deep breath and proceeded.

    His spirit sense first touched the Dao Shell of Tim. It was halted by it, but Lin Wu exerted a little power using the Sapphire Qi of the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art. It allowed him the ability to pierce barriers and the Dao Shell was no exception.

    With the growth in Lin Wu''s cultivation, the Undaunted Sapphire Body Art had also grown and reached a new level. At this point, he could evens apply it to his Spirit sense, allowing it to go past barriers with ease as well.

    ~SHUA~

    As soon as he did that though, the Dao Embryo within the Dao Shell trembled. It sensed Lin Wu''s presence and released a pressure.

    It slowed down the Spirit sense, but Lin Wu simply used more power and forced his way through. A minuteter, it finally reached the Dao Embryo and contact was made.

    ~HONG~

    The moment he did that though, Lin Wu felt the familiar aura again.

    ~WARNING!~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Unknown anomaly has been detected!

    бкбк

    "SHIбк" before Lin Wu could even curse though, he felt his consciousness being pulled away.

    He didn''t know how much time passed, but when he regained his ''vision'' Lin Wu found himself to be in a strange ce with swirling colors.

 Chapter 1044 A Multitude Of Figures

    "Where are we system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    He couldn''t tell where he was, though it certainly seemed simr to the time when the system had simted the memories of others for him. But the feeling he got from this was a lot different.

    "Huh? System?" Lin Wu called out again seeing that he had gotten no response.

    He tried to call the system several times but was unable to. This was strange as Lin Wu knew even in his soul form the system should be able to talk to him. After all, the system was directly attached to his soul.

    There was no reason for it to not be working like this.

    ''Whatever it is, it''s either suppressing the system or I''m not in the same ce as the systemбн'' Lin Wu realized.

    Both of the options were quite dangerous. After all if something could suppress the system or separate Lin Wu from it, it meant that it was very strong. At the very least, it should be many times stronger than an immortal.

    Though in all this Lin Wu had forgotten to notice one thing.

    "Hang onбн" Lin Wu looked at ''himself''.

    And when he did, he was left stunned.

    "Thisбн I''m back in my Human body!?" Lin Wu couldn''t believe it.

    He had never thought that he would ever be back in it. While his Nascent soul was still in the human form, Lin Wu had actually never inhabited it. He couldn''t get the same feeling as being back in his body.

    But now he could truly feel that he was back in his body.

    "How''s this possible though?" Lin Wu couldn''t understand.

    He knew that there was something else that he was missing.

    ~HONG~

    And while Lin Wu was adapting to his old self, he suddenly felt the very air shake.

    It sent waves of energy through his human body as well while his hands couldn''t help but tremble from it. It filled him with a hint of fear as well as anxiety. But having lived as the Worm King, Lin Wu now had a better grip on himself.

    It didn''t take long for him to calm down and look at the situation in a calm manner. Several years of living as a beast king as well as the domination of two continents had filled him with the confidence that he did not had in his past life.

    ~shua~

    A few secondste the swirling colors in front of him change and a scene appeared. Or more urately, a certain beast appeared.

    "Tim?" Lin Wu recognized.

    Tim was in his newrger size with the gold fur on his back. He looked at Lin Wu for a moment before standing still, as if it had turned into a statue.

    ~SHUA~<novelnext></novelnext>

    Then in the next second, another figure condensed next to Tim.

    "The original form of Tim, when he was still a Copper Hide Weaselбн" Lin Wu saw.

    Before Lin Wu could guess what was happening though, another figure appeared next to the first two.

    "What''s that?" Lin Wu wondered as he saw another beast there.

    The beast looked like a badger but was quite big. Even bigger than Tim''s current form. A few secondster, another figure condensed next to the figure out a badger.

    "A Hawk?" Lin Wu furrowed his brows.

    After the hawk, another figure condensed. This time though, it wasn''t a beast. It was humanoid and had dark brown skin.

    Its skin was rough and cracks could be seen in it. One could also tell that it was quite thick, but how thick that was unknown. The humanoid creature was of a form that was unknown to Lin Wu too though.

    "Some kind of a different humanoid race." Lin Wu assumed.

    By this point, Lin Wu was starting to somewhat understand what was happening here. But he couldn''t fullye to a conclusion. He continued observing and saw several more figures appearing one after the other.

    Some of them were beasts, some looked like humanoid creatures, some were demons, and some looked like a mix of weird hybrids. Their sizes varied greatly too, with some as small as amon cat all the way to asrge as a small hill.

    A few minutes had passed and by now about thirty five figures had appeared. But when the thirty sixth figure appeared, Lin Wu was surprised.

    "A Human?" Lin Wu saw a young man who looked to be in his early twenties.

    He was rtively handsome and was wearing a battle robe. Looking at his body, one could tell that he was a person attuned to battle and was quite skilled. An aura of unyielding could also be felt from him.

    "Is thatбн supposed to be Tim?" Lin Wu wondered.

    The reason he thought this was due to the fact that the man''s features actually matched with the other humanoid creatures and demons. They might have varied a bit due to the difference in race, but they were still simr.

    ''How are all these figures linked to Tim? Are they supposed to be him? Or are they the bloodlines that are contained within him?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    His analysis so far was that these were all bloodlines that were contained within Tim. They might be highly diluted, but they were still present in him somehow.

    "Noбн it can''t beбн" Lin Wu was left shocked when he saw the Thirty Seventh figure.

    It was thergest out of all of them and was easily eight or nine hundred meters tall. Its body was covered with yellow scales that shone with might. It had four long limbs, each of which had five ws and a long scaled tail that looked like it could crush mountain.

    Then there was its head.

    Long fangs filled its mouth, while several horns sprouted from its head. Two ck and yellow eyes red at Lin Wu, filling him with a mix of fear and anxiety.

    "A Dragonбн A Yellow Dragon?!" Lin Wu eximed. "He has the bloodline of a true dragon too!?"

 Chapter 1045 The First Incarnation Of Tim

    Lin Wu knew what True Dragons were from the memories of the Skull God. They were the peak of what Dragons could be and all the other dragons had descended from them.

    For example, the Azure Dragon of the four guardian beasts was also a True Dragon. But it had several other bloodlines of dragons that had descended from it that were not true dragons.

    They were either flood dragons, or were wed pythons who were yet to reach the full potential of their bloodline.

    The same was the case for Tim. Lin Wu had thought that even if he did have a dragon bloodline, it shouldn''t be this pure. After all, he had too many bloodlines within him and they had been diluted over time.

    Thus having a pure True Dragon bloodline within him was a long shot. But now here he was proven wrong with the figure that was existing in front of him.

    "Human." Suddenly the Yellow Dragon spoke.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu was taken aback. "You can speak?"

    "Of course I can." The Yellow Dragon replied before looking at the rest of the figures.

    ~Sigh~

    Lin Wu then heard the dragon sigh, before shaking its head.

    "So it''s been thirty six reincarnations alreadyбн" The Yellow Dragon spoke with a hint of sadness.

    "Thirty Six Reincarnations?" Lin Mu furrowed his brows not understanding the Dragons''s words.

    The great beast seemed to be lost in its thoughts for a moment before its expression changed.

    "There''s no use regrettingбн" It muttered. "Now that it hase to this, I may as well take the chance to pass it onбн" The Yellow Dragon spoke before looking at Lin Wu.

    This made Lin Wu tremble, as the gaze of the Yellow Dragon was quite strong. Even being a Beast King did not make him resistant to it.

    "Human, since you are here, I reckon you must be behind this situation." The Yellow Dragon said.

    "This situation? You know what''s happening?" Lin Wu asked.

    "I guess I should just exin it. I don''t know how long we have here." The Yellow Dragon raised his left w and pointed it at the figures that were next to it.

    ~SHUA~

    A wisp of energy shot out of it and pierced through all of the figures. This caused the figures to dissipate and absorb into the wisp of energy before returning back to the Yellow Dragon..

    "This should give us some more time." The Yellow Dragon spoke. "Even if it cuts away other pathsбн" he whispered.

    Lin Wu grew nervous at this, and had understood that perhaps his initial assumption that these figures were all bloodlines was wrong.

    ''If it''s not bloodlines thenбн is it what the Yellow Dragon said?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    "Human, you should know that this ce is called the Soul ne." The Yellow Dragon revealed.

    "The Soul ne?" Lin Wu couldn''t recall any instance of having heard of something like this.

    There was no information in the Systems database, and neither was there anything in the Skull god''s memories either.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "This is a ce where Souls can exist freely. Remember about this ce well, as you''ll need to rely on it in the future. Though this ce has more functions than just thatбн" The Yellow Dragon stated.

    "More functions? Like what?" Lin Wu questioned, feeling intrigued.

    "The Soul ne is the only ce where a soul can relieve its past memories. The past reincarnations, the past linksбн everythingбн can be revealed here." The Yellow Dragon answered.

    Hearing this Lin Wu was truly shocked. He could understand just how strong the implications of a ce like this could be.

    ''Isn''t this basicallyбн where the Protagonists could get their cheats?'' Lin Wu thought to himself. ''Having the memories of past reincarnations could be one of the greatest benefits one could get.''

    "But of courseбн this is not the True Soul ne but just a miniature version that was sealed within the soul that you entered." The Yellow Dragon revealed.

    "The soul that I enteredбн I''m in Tim''s soul?" Lin Wu replied.

    "Tim?" The Yellow Dragon raised its brow. "So that''s the name I go by in this reincarnation, huhбн Unexpected I''d take on this nameбн" he seemed to be surprised too.

    "Wait your nameбн YOU ARE TIM!?" Lin Wu shouted.

    "Yesбн or more urately I am what he used to be." The Yellow Dragon replied. "I am the first incarnation of Tim." He revealed.

    "The first incarnationбн" Lin Wu found it hard to rted the two creatures. "The difference isбн massive." He muttered.

    ~Sigh~

    "I guess you''ve seen the ''bearing'' my current reincarnation has." The Yellow Dragon stated.

    "''Bearing'' that''s one way to say itбн" Lin Wu found it a little incorrect.

    "Intelligence then." The Yellow Dragon didn''t seem to mind the w.

    "Yesбн Intelligence." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Then, do you wish to know why I am like that now?" The Yellow Dragon questioned.

    "You ask me if I want to how a Dragon like you turned into a dumb Weasel?" Lin Wu spoke. "I''ve been asking that question to myself since I met Tim." He added.

    "Very wellбн the short answer is that I was cursed." The Yellow Dragon answered.

    "Cursed?" Lin Wu was surprised. "A strong dragon as you? I know I can''t tell your cultivation base, but it was at least above the Immortal realm."

    "Immortal realm? Haha, I guess you can say that." The Dragonughed. "Though it is better you find it yourselfter."

    "So how is it that you turned out like this?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Back when I was still a dragon, I was considered a great genius. One of the shining stars of my timeбн The First Heir of the Great Yellow Dragon nбн as well as the son of the Yellow Dragon Emperor." He answered.

    "What in theбн" Lin Wu didn''t expect him to be such a big shot.

    He knew about the myths of the Yellow Dragon Emperor quite well. After all, humanity was said to have been guided by a descendant of the Yellow Dragon Emperor.

 Chapter 1046 Huang Weisheng

    Hearing about the identity of Tim''s original incarnation, Lin Wu was quiet shocked.

    After all, he wasn''t just any dragon, but the son of the Yellow Dragon Emperor himself!

    As far as Lin Wu knew, the Yellow Dragon Emperor was already considered a god in several legends. And this wasn''t the case where cultivators were called ''gods'' or ''deities'' but rather actual gods that had been worshipped by these very cultivators from times immemorial.

    Even in the memories of the Skull god, there were plenty of mentions of the Yellow Dragon Emperor and the Yellow Dragon n.

    ~huu~

    Taking a deep breath Lin Wu calmed himself down and looked at the Yellow Dragon.

    "Soбн What is your name and how did you end up cursed?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "My name was Huang Weisheng. As for how I was cursed, I offended someone enough that they cursed me." The Yellow Dragon answered.

    "Thatбн doesn''t really make sense. How can someone afford to curse the Son of the Yellow Dragon Emperor?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "What if the person cursing is on the same level as the Yellow Dragon Emperor?" Huang Weisheng replied.

    "Thatбн does make sense. But still, your father should have still resisted right?" Lin Wu wondered.

    "He didбн the curse that I suffered was actually the lesser punishment." Huang Weisheng stated.

    "This was a lesser punishment?! Then what was the original one?" Lin Wu couldn''t believe it.

    "Eradication of my soul and removal from the cycle of reincarnation." Huang Weisheng replied.

    ~gasp~

    Lin Wu could only imagine the level of cultivation needed to do something like that. He knew that even if someone was killed and their nascent soul was destroyed, their True Soul would still exist. The only thing would be that it would depart from the world of the living and enter theherworld, eventually reaching the cycle of reincarnation.

    If one wanted to break this order, they needed a lot of skills and a high cultivation base. One could technically dy it, but truly erasing the existence of a soul was the same as going against thews of heavens.

    "You must''ve really offended them for them to exact this level of punishment." Lin Wu spoke.

    "You can say thatбн" Huang Weisheng seemed hesitant. "It''s a thing of the past, it''s best not to dig up old Karma that has passed." He said after taking a pause.

    "Alrightбн Still for your punishment to have been turned into a curseбн what exactly is it?" Lin Wu inquired. "It isn''t just something as simple as a decrease in intelligence, is it?" he could guess.

    "Indeed." Huang Weisheng nodded before waving his w and creating a thousand runes in an instant.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The runes turned into a formation screen that showed an illusion.

    "The curse was supposed to break my ''Providence''. I who was born as the one of the geniuses was cursed to be mediocre. I was cursed to suffer different forms of mediocrity and would continue to do so, until I had sufficiently ovee them." Huang Weisheng spoke as the illusion started to form.

    Lin Wu saw as the Dragon Form of Huang Weisheng turned into a wisp of soul before being sent into what looked like an endless river. This river flowed for a long time, before a drop from it sshed out and appeared in a world.

    It was invisible to all beings and entered into the belly of a human woman.

    "And as the first trial of mediocrity, I was reduced from the high and mighty Dragon prince to a lowly child of a mortal peasant." Huang Weisheng revealed.

    Lin Wu saw the life of Huang Weisheng''s human reincarnation at a rapid speed. He could see him cultivating to be an immortal before he eventually perished and was sent into the cycle of reincarnation.

    In the second reincarnation, he was born as a demon.

    "In the second trial of mediocrity, I was lowered from the righteous Yellow Dragon n to the race of the Demonic Path." Huang Weisheng stated as the illusion showed his life as a demon.

    He didn''t live long in this, and was eventually killed by a cultivator of the righteous path. The cycle of reincarnation repeated, and he was reborn as a beast this time.

    One by one, Huang Weisheng exined the different forms that he was born as well as the trials of mediocrity he had to endure. This continued until he finally reached the thirty sixth reincarnation, which was the Copper Hide Weasel, Tim.

    "In thetest reincarnation, the trial of mediocrity I am meant to endure is that of Intelligence." Huang Weisheng spoke.

    "But Tim''s intelligence is improving in this. It''s certainly better than when I met him the first time." Lin Wu replied. "Why''s that? It''s quite different from your past reincarnations." He asked in doubt.

    "Indeed. I think the reason is that I am at the end of my trails." Huang Weisheng replied. "Which means that I should be able to recover it entirely in this one."

    "No wonderбн" Lin Wu muttered. "Is that also why the Soul ne was opened?" he questioned after thinking.

    "That''s probably why. All that you see right now was done by my father. While he couldn''t fully stall the curse, he still managed to find ways to help me. He sealed memories in my true soul that would not be erased, even upon rebirth. They would merely stay sealed until the right time came." Huang Weisheng exined.

    Lin Wu nodded, as he could now understand the reasoning.

    "Waitбн your father interfered in your punishment and added some thingsбн" Lin Wu suddenly recalled something.

    ''Back when Tim had broken through to the Dao Shell realm and the sealed being had broken, though, another presence had assisted in sealing it again. It had also spoken to meбн'' Lin Wu recalled the pair of eyes that he had seen.

    The eyes had shone like yellow gas and looked quite imposing.

    "Now that I think about itбн they are almost the same as your eyes." He muttered.

 Chapter 1047 A Warning And Final Words

    "Hmm?" Huang Weisheng raised his brows upon hearing Lin Wu''s words. "What''s the same as my eyes?" he asked.

    "Do you have ess to the memory when Tim reached the Dao Shell realm?" Lin Wu asked instead.

    "I shouldбн" Huang Weisheng closed his eyes for a second before the scene in the illusory screen started to change.

    It showed the time that Tim had broken through the Dao Shell realm as well as the process of sealing. Eventually the voice of the imposing presence was heard in it too but the two ga like eyes could not be seen.

    They were only projected into Lin Wu''s mind and had not actually appeared.

    "That voiceбн" Huang Weisheng seemed to be stunned too.

    "I also saw eyes that were simr to yours. But they were quite imposing and strong." Lin Wu stated.

    Huang Weisheng went silent for a minute before speaking, "that wasбн my father."

    "It was really your father that spoke to me?" Lin Wu had never imagined that he would have spoken to the Yellow Dragon Emperor himself.

    "There''s no doubt about it. There''s only one being in the universe who has this voice and it''s my father." Huang Weisheng said in an emotional voice. "Looks like he is still looking after me."

    "That''s what he told me to do as well." Lin Wu replied. "Take care of Tim."

    "I guess he is still waiting for my return." Huang Weisheng spoke.

    "How long has it been since you were cursed and forced to reincarnate?" Lin Wu questioned feeling curious.

    "Even I don''t know that. Other than the lives I lived, the time spent in the river of reincarnation is unknown to me. It can be as short as a few seconds between my death and rebirth, or even millions of years." Huang Weisheng answered.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu understood there was no way to rify this. "But since your father spoke to me, it should mean he''s still alive right?"

    "Of course. At his cultivation base, even a billion years wouldn''t be much." Huang Weisheng replied.

    ~huu~

    Lin Wu took a breath and organized the information in his mind. In all this, he understood one thing very well.

    ''If I do as the Yellow Dragon Emperor has asked me to do, I''ll have a great backer in the future. Not to mention, Tim''s potential is also very great and will be of a great help to me.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    ~SHUA~

    The Soul ne started to flicker at this point, and energy fluctuations could now be felt.

    "Looks like our time is running short." Huang Weisheng said while taking a look around the Soul ne. "Now that you know all this, I should also inform you of a few other things." He spoke.

    "Sure, tell me what you need me to do." Lin Wu replied enthusiastically. "Do you need me to take revenge?"

    "There isn''t much I ask of you to do. And especially not revenge." Huang Weisheng replied. "Though I will surely tell you the name of the person who cursed me."

    "You''re telling me his name, but don''t want to take revenge against him?" Lin Wu was a bit confused.

    "I''m telling you his name as a warning. Forget offending that person, you shouldn''t evene into his notice." Huang Weisheng warned. "You shouldn''t speak his name out in the real world either as he''ll know. There is great karma attached to his name and it will burden you too, if you speak about it."

    "Alright, I''ll keep that in mind." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Then know that his name isбн Daoist Three Fates!" Huang Weisheng uttered.

    And when he did, Lin Wu felt like his soul was rocked. The name of the person seemed to contain a might that even knowing about it felt heavy to Lin Wu. It made him feel uneasy and it took a few seconds for the feeling to wash off.

    "How can it affect me even here?" Lin Wu was surprised.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That''s just how dangerous he is." Huang Weisheng stated. "Now, for the next thing, I want you to let Tim develop as he is. If my guess is correct, he''ll automatically develop his bloodline. All he needs is a little protection and guidance." He asked.

    "Sure, I''ll do that." It wasn''t any different from what Lin Wu had been doing anyway.

    "Good." Huang Weisheng spoke before his form started to fade. "My time is up now."

    Lin Wu had a lot of questions in his mind, but didn''t have the time to ask them now.

    "I hope to see you in the future againбн" Huang Weisheng said before he fully disappeared.

    ~SHUA~

    Once the dragon was gone, Lin Wu felt the entire Soul ne destabilizing.

    After a few more seconds, Lin Wu''s vision darkened and he felt his body turn weightless. An unknown amount of time passed before he found himself back in his body.

    ''I''m backбн'' Lin Wu thought as he checked his body.

    "System?" Lin Wu called out.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Connection between the Host and the system was broken for forty five seconds.

    NOTIFICATION: No analysis is avable.

    бкбк

    "Just as I thoughtбн still, that felt like hours and it was only forty five seconds." Lin Wu muttered.

    It truly felt like an otherworldly experience to Lin Wu, and he even wondered if he had imagined it all.

    ''System, scan my recent memories and analyze them all.'' Lin Wu ordered right away.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: New Memory sets found!

    ANALYZING: Memory sets

    ANALYSIS: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw several information windows opening up in front of him. They not only reyed all that he had seen but also the details of every life that Huang Weisheng had showed him.

    While all of it had been shown at a fast speed, the system could still analyze it and obtain a lot of information from it.

    ''Looks like this was a jackpot tooбн'' Lin Wu could already see the system upgrading its Data banks.

 Chapter 1048 The Yellow Dragon Clan

    There was information from different worlds and races that Lin Wu had not seen so far in the scenes that Huang Weisheng had shown him.

    Overall, the information that Lin Wu ended up obtaining was even greater than the memories of the Skull God!

    "Ahahah! This was great!" Lin Wu was pleased with his gains.

    The system was already optimizing the older tasks that it was running such as optimizing bloodline as well as analyzing various techniques. One of the main tasks that Lin Mu had given the system was to optimize the Chimeric Revolution Cultivation Technique.

    It was something that would be the culmination of several cultivation techniques and Lin Wu intended for it to be one of his assets. The benefits that the technique offered were plenty.

    After all, not only could Lin Wu used it himself he could also let his subordinates learn it and grow. Just the growth that the members of the Shadow Legion had shown were quite impressive.

    There was nock of Nascent soul realm experts among them and many of them had rapidly progressed in their cultivation due to the weakened version of the Chimeric Revolution Cultivation Technique.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    TASK UPDATE: Chimeric Revolution Cultivation Technique

    NOTIFICATION: The cultivation technique has been further stabilized. Chances of Qi deviation and explosion have been reduced by 30%.

    бкбк

    In just an hour, the system had already shown Lin Wu the improvements.

    "Good, good." Lin Wu couldn''t help but be pleased.

    He looked at Tim who was seemingly in a trance. The weasel had been like this since Lin Wu had returned from the Soul ne. He reckoned that it might have something to do with the awakening of his original incarnation.

    "Thoughбн his Dao Shell and Dao Embryo have certainly changed." Lin Wu took a look and saw the w shaped Dao Shell having be wider.

    The Undying Will Crown Dao embryo within it had also be a lot bigger and the aura exuding from it was also strong.

    The shape of the Dao Shell as well as the crude look of the Undying Will Crownplemented each other, even if they didn''t seem to fit well perfectly.

    ''Was his original Dao Embryo supposed to be something else?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    Tim had a premade Dao Shell that had automatically appeared when he had broken through to the Dao Shell. But now the Dao Embryo he had formed didn''t seem to match the shape perfectly.

    In fact, even if Tim''s Dao Shell was just a basic sphere, it would still be able to contain the Dao embryo within it with ease.

    ''Since there are no problems so far, I don''t think it''ll be an issue.'' Lin Wu reckoned after thinking.

    Even the system didn''t find any problems with it all and assured Lin Wu that it would be fine.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Stillбн the son of the Yellow Dragon Emperor huhбн that''s a true big shot." Lin Wu found it surreal.

    He had given a promise to take care of Tim, and now intended to do that. For all he knew, the benefit he would get from this in the future would be great.

    But it made Lin Wu wonder about the Yellow Dragon n.

    "System, have youpiled the data about them?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    Target: Yellow Dragon n

    INFO: The Yellow Dragon n is one of the True Dragon ns and oversees the Immortal Court as well as the Four Guardian beasts. They are said to be the head of the Four Guardian beasts and represent the element of Earth.

    They only interfere when a serious situation urs. Their reputation is great and several other Dragon ns are respectful to them. The rankings between them differs, but the Yellow Dragon Emperor is the head of the entire n and rules above them all.

    бкбк-

    Reading the information, Lin Wu was a bit surprised.

    ''So the Yellow Dragon n is thestponent of the elements huhбн Wood belongs to the Azure Dragon n, Metal for the White Tiger n, Fire for the Vermillion Bird n and Water for the ck Tortoise n. I wondered why the five mortal elements each didn''t have a representative beast. But it seems like there really was one.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Thoughбн now that I think of it. In the books I''ve read in the past, there were mentions of the fifth beastбн the one that ruled of the center." Lin Wu could recall a few old memories.

    From what he could recall, the Four Guardian beasts protected the cardinal directions, while the fifth beast, stayed in the center. It was also the representation of a ruler, an Emperor and administered control over all.

    ''Guess that is how the Yellow Dragon n came to be and rules over the four guardian beasts.'' Lin Wu reckoned. "Though they don''t have their own temple, and nor do they have a statue. That''s a bit strange." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He looked through more information that the system had sifted through but couldn''t find anything concrete about why the Yellow Dragon n had no statues or temples.

    In the end, Lin Wu could onlye to the conclusion that the Yellow Dragon n didn''t follow the same methods as the four guardian beasts. As for why they did this, it was something that he could only find outter.

    "But for now, this is enoughбн" Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He let the system continue its analysis while letting Tim stay as he was. In the mean time, Lin Wu sorted through the messages he was getting and resolved a few of the issues that had happened in that time.

    Most of the things were simple and merely needed slight input from him, but there were a few important matters that would need his interference.

    "Oh? They found the nt beasts?" Lin Wu noticed a new message that had arrived.

    It was about the nt beasts that Lin Wu had asked the Hu n to search for as well as his subordinates here. They had finally been found!

 Chapter 1049 Consuming The Sun Tipped Crane

    Leaving his Main body in the Taiji Celstial''s Tomb, Lin Wu switched over to his avatar that was currently in the Hu Continent.

    The message he had received was that Hu Dagao had finally gathered all the nt type beasts that were found on the continent.

    The original order that Lin Wu had given was to find three kinds of nt beasts.

    The first was the Sun Tipped Crane and was a beast that lived in the western valleys of the Hu Continent. It was quite rare and even with the resources of the Hu n, it had taken nearly two years to find it.

    Though that could also be attributed to the fact that a lot of the Hu n''s resources were currently stuck in going against the Cmity Fiend. So Lin Wu could technically me himself for the slow progress.

    Though he didn''t really mind it as much since he was in no hurry.

    The second nt beast that he had sent out an ordered to be searched for was none other than the Grass Mane Monkey. It was a beast that was found in both Long continent and the Hu continent, but was said to have been hunted to extinction.

    "Hmm.. They found the Grass Mane Monkey''s in the Hu continent too. Seems like they truly were eradicated from the Long Continent." Lin Wu looked through the information that his subordinates had sent.

    Apparently a small tribe of the Grass Mane Monkey''s was found far to the north of the Hu Continent. But the most surprising part was the actual location of them.

    "They were actually in a minor neбн Looks like it was left behind by one of the former sects." Lin Wu read the information.

    The sects had long since been abolished by the Hu n thousands of years ago, but still there were many inheritances and secrets of these sects that had been missing. The discovery of the current minor ne was also due to luck.

    The people of the Hu n had been surveying the northern parts of the Hu continent for the traces of the Shadow Legion and had ended up discovering this minor ne. If it had not been for that, perhaps this hidden minor ne would never be found.

    "Entering the minor ne is easy but exiting is not. Only a few people managed to return with the news while the rest were trappedбн Seems like I''ll have to enter myself." Lin Wu reckoned.

    He didn''t just wish to consume the Grass Mane Monkeys though. He also intended to bring them over so that he could let them prosper in his kingdom. Lin Wu had seen the benefits of the ape and monkeys beasts and wanted to add more of their species to it.

    "Well then, no use waiting around." Lin Wu directly activated the teleportation array and arrived in his underground base of the Second Light City.

    In the past two years, it had been greatly expanded and developed, allowing many people to train and live here. Of course, most of this had been done under the guidance of Cang Ci and thus the progress was very good.

    ~SHUA~

    "Master!" Several members of the Shadow Legion were waiting for Lin Wu''s arrival and kneeled to greet him.

    Lin Wu looked at them and recognized a couple of them to be Cang Ci''s direct subordinates in the Hu continent.

    "Where is the Beast?" Lin Wu asked right away.

    "We''ve prepared them for you, master." The man standing at the front said before turning to the back, "bring it over!" he ordered.

    ~STEP~STEP~STEP~

    A few secondster, three more people arrived, but this time they were carrying arge tter with them.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu looked at the corpse of the bird beast that was ced on it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    From it''s look, Lin Wu could tell that it was ughtered not long ago and was fresh.

    "Leave it with me." Lin Wu stated.

    "Yes, master!" The people of the Shadow Legion replied before taking their leave.

    Over the years, Cang Ci had drilled Lin Wu''s habits into their minds, and they knew exactly how to behave with him. Though it was also a bit to do with Lin Wu''s persona of being the Cmity Fiend which was fierce.

    His normal personality was rtively fine and didn''t cause others to behave in these ways.

    "Let''s taste it then, shall we?" Lin Wu looked at the Sun Tipped Crane corpse that was ced on therge tter.

    The beast was over three meters wide and seemed to have been in the Dao Shell realm before its death. Most of its body was covered with white feathers, but the tips of its wings were golden yellow like the sun.

    Its beak though was brown and looked like it was made out of some kind of wood while its long neck was green like tender vines.

    Lin Wu spread his immortal sense and could detect the wood elemental Qi within the beast, too.

    ~CRUNCH~

    In the next moment, Lin Wu opened his mouth wide and consumed the entire corpse in one go. It was quickly ground by the thousands of teeth in his mouth and reduced to a mince. His stomach worked quickly and started digesting and absorbing it.

    Several notifications popped up showing the Spirit Qi and vital energy that he had obtained from the Sun Tipped crane, but it wasn''t interesting to him. Over the years, he had obtained such a massive amount of spirit Qi and vital energy that he knew using it all up would be a tall task.

    Rather than them, his goal was something else.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DAO TRACE: Updated!

    Wood Dao Trace Compatibility: 86% -> 90%

    ? бкбк

    "Goodбн" Lin Wu was pleased with this gain.

    He could also feel his Chimeric skills working, but there was no new gain in it as of now.

    "I need to consume more." Lin Wu decided to move to his next target. "Let''s not wait any moreбн"

    He quickly activated the teleportation array and went to the closest location to the minor ne.

 Chapter 1050 The Minor Plane

    Reaching the minor ne was not much of an issue for Lin Wu who easily traveled underground.

    The said ne was hidden amongst several mountains and its entrance was quite small too. But for Lin Wu and the system, finding it was just a joke. A single scan was all it took for the system to show Lin Wu its exact position.

    "Hmmбн if it is here among the mountains, that means a sect used to be here, right?" Lin Wu looked through the database to see if there was any information, but couldn''t find anything.

    ''The Hu n did a thorough erasing of all history of sects, for sureбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    The entrance of the minor ne was hidden in a narrow crevice that Lin Wu very easily widened.

    ~CRACK~

    ~CRUMBLE~

    The crevice was forcefully shattered, allowing Lin Wu''s body to pass through it easily.

    "What''s the scan saying for this system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS: The Minor ne is unstable and the spatial channel leading to it is turbulent. This makes it difficult to return once one has entered.

    SUGGESTION: A spatial stabilizing array can address the defect of the minor ne.

    бкбк

    "Very well, let''s do that." Lin Wu epted.

    ~SHUA~

    In the next second, a few thousand runes formed around him and were quickly being inscribed all over the area. They were inscribed on the walls, and even the very air. Fifteen minutester, the array waspleted and the runes faded away.

    ~HONG~

    A spiraling portal became visible at the end of the crevice and started to let out energy fluctuations.

    "It''s definitely unstable for sureбн since no sect has maintained it, it has fallen to this state. If a sect was still here, it would have hundred of formations stabilizing it." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He moved towards the portal and was quickly pulled into it.

    ~SHUA~

    Lin Wu felt the familiar weightlessness as well as the pull of the Spatial Channel. At the same time, he saw the flickering motes of light around him in a dark expanse.

    ''The Lesser voidбн'' Lin Wu only saw it for a few seconds before finding himself in a new ce.

    ~THUD~

    Hisrge bodynded on the ground, creating a depression in it.

    "Scan the area system." Lin Wu ordered right away.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN: Completed

    MAP: updated<novelnext></novelnext>

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    TARGETS FOUND: Grass Mane Monkeys

    NOTIFICATION: Marking target on map.

    бкбк

    Lin Wu opened the map window and saw the vast expanse of the minor ne. ''It''s actually decently bigбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    From what he could see, the Minor ne was around a thousand square kilometer in area. Though most of it was just covered in forests and hills. And while there werekes in it, there wasn''t anyrger water body.

    Even the biggestke seemed to be just a hundred meters in size. It just so happened that the Grass Mane Monkeys were also located near thatke.

    ''From the information I got earlier, there aren''t any strong beasts here. The strongest is said to be at the Nascent soul realm and there are no Dao Shell realm beasts.'' Lin Wu recalled. "I guess the minor ne restrains them from breaking through furtherбн" he said before moving towards theke.

    Lin Wu basically faced no obstacles in his path as all the beasts were scared away by his mere presence. He was also looking to see if there were any new beasts here, but all of them were the same as the rest of the Hu continent.

    ''I guess only the Grass Mane Monkeys are the unique beast left here. But even that''s because they were hunted to extinction outside.'' Lin Wu thought.

    A few minutester, Lin Wu arrived near theke.

    Hisrge body cast a shadow over the entireke, as well as the forest around it. After all, Lin Wu was even bigger than theke.

    ~KIKIKIKI~

    As soon as he appeared, the sound of the monkeys could be heard.

    Lin Wu quickly locked onto them, but didn''t attack them. He could see that they were quite scared and seemed to be hanging among the trees.

    They actually weren''t that big, being even smaller than the ck Fur monkeys from the Millennium Forest. It seemed to be a tribe of them and tree were about fifty of them present right now.

    ''Hmmmбн One of them seems to be at the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm, but the rest are all at the Core condensation realm or below.'' Lin Wu''s spirit sense quickly grasped their situation.

    "W-who are you?" A few secondster, arge Grass mane monkey walked out of the trees.

    He was the biggest one amongst them and seemed to be their leader. He was also the one with the highest cultivation base.

    "Are you the leader?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Yes, I amбн but who are you and what do you want with us?" The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys'' questioned.

    Lin Wu could tell that the beast was quite scared, but was holding on due to his identity as a leader. After all, the leader knew that there was no way they could escape from Lin Wu if he had reallye here to harm them.

    But since he just seemed to be hovering in the air, he felt that there was still hope.

    ''First the humanse and kill my kin and now thisбн just what is happening to this ce.'' The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys thought.

    "I am Lin Wu. The King of the Millennium Forest Kingdom." He spoke. "And I''vee here to offer you shelter and opportunities."

    "Millennium Forest Kingdom?" The other Grass Mane Monkeys were confused upon hearing the name.

    After all, they had never left this ce, and thus didn''t know much about the Hu continent.

    "Are you from the outside world?" the leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys questioned.

    "Yes I am. I''ve heard that this ce was discovered and that your tribe lived here." Lin Wu answered.

 Chapter 1051 Taking The Grass Mane Monkeys

    "Youбн came here to seek out our tribe?" The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys narrowed its brows and became nervous.

    "I did indeed." Lin Wu replied. "I am here to ask you to join my kingdom."

    "Your kingdom? Why should we leave our home and join it?" the leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys asked carefully.

    So far he had seen that, Lin Wu didn''t seem to be violent and forcing them. Since he was still talking, the leader thought that there was a chance for a proper conversation.

    "There are several reasons, but I think the one that''s the most concerning for you is the location of this minor ne. Your home has been exposed, and I don''t think you want more humansing here, do you?" Lin Wu replied.

    "Thisбн" the leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys swallowed its saliva.

    It was the thing he had been concerned about for a while and was confused as to what they would do. The humans who hade were quite strong and had killed a few of their kin while they were unable to do anything to them. "I can smell the scent of blood. How many of your kin were killed?" Lin Wu questioned even if he already knew.

    "Eightбн they killed eight of our kin." The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys answered.

    "Hmmбн do you wish for this to happen again or do you wish to take revenge?" Lin Wu replied. "I can offer you the strength needed to exact your vengeance." He said with a smile.

    "How can I believe you?" leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys said with a little courage.

    "Why don''t I just show you?" Lin Wu said before a wave of energy spread from his body.

    ~HUMM~

    A pressure exuded from his body that made all the Grass Mane Monkey''s feel weak.

    "Enough! Enough! We yield!" The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys hurriedly replied, knowing that the bloodline suppression from Lin Wu could easily kill them.

    ~shua~

    Lin Wu quickly withdrew his aura and let the Grass Mane Monkey''s rx.

    Once the leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys was calm too, he looked up to Lin Wu and asked, "what do we need to give you in return? You aren''t doing this for free, are you?"

    "I do want something." Lin Wu replied. "Give me the corpses of those that were killed. That''s all."

    "Just the corpses?" The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys was surprised.

    He had thought that Lin Wu wanted a lot more, but if it was just corpses, he didn''t mind.

    "You''re fine with that?" Lin Wu asked.

    "Yesбн we assimte with the forest after our death anyways." The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys said.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Oh?" Lin Wu decided to take a look and spread his spirit sense.

    Some distance from theke, he saw a small grove where corpse of the Grass Mane Monkey''s were lying around. They were covered in vines and it looked like the forest was trying to reim them.

    ''Hmmбн this might be due to the potent wood Qi within their bodies. It is quite useful to the forest after allбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    "Just the corpses are enough for me. I''ll guide your tribe to my kingdom." Lin Wu stated. "Don''t worry, you''ll find several other beasts of your kind there too." He added.

    "Beasts of our kind?" The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys was a bit confused.

    "Yes, monkey beasts and ape beasts." Lin Wu replied. "In fact, they are among my highest ranked subordinates." He added.

    "I seeбн" the leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys was now looking forward to it.

    "Gather your tribe and anything else you need. We''ll depart as soon as you''re done." Lin Wu ordered them.

    "Alright." The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys was convinced by this time.

    And while the Grass Mane Monkey''s got ready, Lin Wu let the system do a deep scan on the area. He wanted to see if there was anything else that could be of use to him.

    ''Hmmбн at least there are some useful materials here. I may as well take them.'' Lin Wu decided and left for a bit.

    He quickly drilled into the ground and followed the system to get the minerals. These could be used to make spirit tools and weapons, as well as for arrays. It took Lin Wu an hour or so to gather everything of value in the ne and return to the tribe of the Grass Mane Monkey''s.

    "We are ready." The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys said before pointing to the corpses of their dead kin that were ced onrge leaves. "You can take them."

    Lin Wu simply nodded his head and stored the corpses in his storage. He didn''t think eating them in front of the Grass Mane Moneys would be good. He wanted them to be cordial to him after all, as it would be a lot better than having enmity.

    ~SHUA~

    Once that was done, Lin Wu withdrew a rock tform from his storage.

    "Everyone get on this." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~KIKIKIKI~

    The leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys got his kin to jump onto the rock tform, which then started to float under Lin Wu''s control.

    The rock tform was actually a replica of the rock tform that Lin Wu had gotten from the temple of the Vermillion sect a long time ago. It wasn''t the only replica either, as Lin Wu''s subordinates had several such tforms with them.

    They were used as transportation tools and were rtively easier to make. The system had optimized the arrays used to make the original tform and made it so that most formation masters could now make them.

    Lin Wu was also intended to turn it into a transportation tool that could be sold by his kingdom. It could be a very good source of ie too. He had handed this task to his subordinates and the contract for sale was given to none other than Elder Kai Li!

 Chapter 1052 First Teleportation Experience For Monkeys

    Elder Kai Li had been phenomenal in helping Lin Wu and his subordinates in expanding their business.

    The ring deals he had made with her had been further expanded and now she had the exclusive rights to distribution for a lot of items that could not be found in the Long Continent.

    And since they were being sold by a human, people didn''t find it as suspicious either. After all, even if the millennium Forest Kingdom was now legitimate, there was still a level of doubt that the people would have about it.

    Then there was also the fact that the number of productsing from there was simply toorge for a single newly formed power to hold. They didn''t know that it wasn''t justing from the kingdom, but also from the Hu Continent.

    Because of this, Kai Li was important as a distributer for Lin Wu.

    Her Status in the Lian n had risen like a bamboo shoot, and she was already considered as a high elder by now. If it weren''t for the fact that her cultivation base was still a bitcking, she might have already been made a Supreme elder.

    Though it didn''t matter to her now. As the influence and wealth she held was many times more than what being an elder of the Lian n would get her. At this point, the status of the elder was just an additional feather in her hat.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The rock tform soared across the air and quickly made its way to the exit of the Minor ne. And upon reaching it, Lin Wu let the system ensure that the rock tform could pass through it with no issues.

    ~SHUA~

    The Grass Mane Monkeys felt the change in their weight as well as felt the darkness cover them. The weaker ones were scared, but thankfully the time spent in the lesser void was just a few seconds and they were out quickly.

    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~

    The Grass Mane Monkeys with lower cultivation bases, copsed from the aftereffects of the Spatial Travel while those with higher cultivation bases felt nauseas.

    "Thatбн was ufortable." The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys spoke.

    "It''s like that the first time for everyone. You get used to it." Lin Wu replied. "Don''t worry, you''ll get plenty of practice now." He added.

    "Practice? How?" The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys asked in doubt, while a scary thought appeared in his body.

    "This is just the first one. We have several more to go." Lin Wu said with a smile.

    "Whatбн" The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys could only hope that he could hold on.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The rock tform soared across the skies of the Hu Continent and Lin Wu controlled it to reach the nearest location from where he could use the Teleportation ry. In this time, the Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys felt the chance in the spirit Qi of the area.

    "The spirit Qi is denser hereбн" The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys muttered.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Of course it is." Lin Wu replied. "The ce you were in before was merely a small pocket of space. It didn''t have any significant source of spirit Qi, thus the concentration there was quite low." He exined.

    Usually, a minor ne would be used as the sacrednd of a sect or other power since it would be small, but also contain spirit stone mines. This would cause the spirit Qi to get concentrated and make it a good ce to cultivate.

    But it just so happened that the minor ne that the Grass Mane Monkeys lived in was without a spirit stone mine. While there were other materials in it, the spirit Qi it got was mostly from the natural appearance.

    It was a miracle that the beasts in it had even managed to reach the Nascent soul realm. The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys was even more impressive since he had managed to cultivate all the way to the Adult Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm.

    ''Though that might have been due to their affinity to the wood element. Even if they don''t have the normal spirit Qi, they can still make use of the wood elemental spirit Qi that is produced by the many nts there.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    An hourter, the rock tform finally reached the location where Lin Wu could activate the teleportation array from.

    "Alright, we''re here. Everyone hold on, as it''ll be a bit ufortable." Lin Wu stated and activated the array.

    ~SHUA~

    Therge teleportation circle appeared around the Rock tform and let it enter a teleportation channel.

    ~SHUA~

    Once in the channel, the Grass Mane Monkeys felt the disorientation that was caused due to teleportation. The first teleportation jump was short and took them to the Second Light City''s underground area.

    But they were only there for a mere second before the second jump happened, which took them to the border of the Continent. This was a long jump and left a lot of the monkey''s sick.

    Thankfully, those that had passed out wouldn''t get any worse, and things actually became easier for them. It was the Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys and the core condensation realm monkeys that were in the most trouble right now.

    Still, they managed to hold on and the third jump started.

    Multiple jumps happened, after which they felt like it was getting better.

    "This doesn''t feel as bad nowбн" The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys spoke.

    "Mmhmm, you should have gotten used to it." Lin Wu replied. "We aren''t that far from our location either." He added.

    "That''s goodбн I''m looking forward to how our new home will be." The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys stated.

    He had already seen how the spirit Qi was better aftering out of the minor ne, thus he was now wondering how good a kingdom of beasts would be. From what Lin Wu had promised them, it was several times better than what they had felt before.

 Chapter 1053 The Next Continent

    After a while, the final jump happened and the rock tform finally arrived in the Millennium Forest kingdom.

    ~HONG~

    The Arrays of the tomb activated automatically, and let the rock tformnd in the designated ce.

    Lin Wu had let them appear in a specific area for the teleportation ry. This was set out for his subordinates and other people that might be sent through the array. This was also why it was located outside of the tomb.

    It was better for the security and privacy.

    ~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~RUSTLE~

    Not even a secondter, the sound of trees rustling could be heard as several strong beasts appeared.

    The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys felt their cultivation bases with ease as they were doing little to hide it.

    "Heavensбн just how strong are theyбн" The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys could feel that each of these beasts was above his cultivation base.

    In front of his eyes stood around eight monkey beasts, two ape beasts, two bird beasts and a single human woman.

    "Wee King Lin Wu!" everyone greeted with cupped hands.

    "Mmmhmmбн" Lin Wu gave a little nod before speaking. "These will be our new kin, please show them the way of ournd and get them adapted to it." He instructed.

    "At once." They replied and a few of the beasts stepped forward.

    The first beast was none other than the Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape, and along with him were a couple of Emeraldine Fur Monkeys.

    "Ah! My king you''ve brought more of our brethren." The Emeraldine Fur Monkeys spoke seeing that the beasts he brought were more monkeys.

    "Yes, they are from a tribe of Grass Mane Monkey''s and were said to have been extinct a long time ago. I''ve decided to protect them and provide them a better home." Lin Wu stated.

    "Our king is as benevolent as ever." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape spoke.

    The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys observed the ape and monkey beasts and found that they had some simrities with Lin Wu.

    "Those crystalsбн how do you also have them?" the Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys questioned.

    The other Grass Mane Monkeys also saw the newly appeared beasts and looked at the curiously. Not only were these monkey beasts several timesrge than the, they were also quite strong.

    "Ahaha, don''t worry it is all the grace of our king." An Emeraldine Fur Monkey replied. "As long as you show your worth, your tribe will also have a chance to obtain this grace." He added.

    "Indeedбн though for now, it is important for you all to get settled here first. You need to grow stronger before you are able to bear the grace of our king." The Emeraldine Sky Light Monk ape informed.

    "Alrightбн I''ll look forward to it." The Leader of the Grass Mane Monkeys said before he was guided away by the others.

    Once they were gone, Cang Ci approached Lin Wu.

    "Weren''t you going to eat them, my king?" She questioned.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I didn''t have to. I obtained what I needed to without that." Lin Wu said withdrawing all the corpses of the Grass Mane monkeys.

    "Oh? Seems like you had some luck." Cang Ci replied.

    "Yeah, the intrusion by the people of the Hu n made it easier for me to act. I basically didn''t need to do much and the grass mane monkeys were ready." Lin Wu stated.

    "That''s good." Cang Ci said before looking in the direction that the Grass Mane Monkeys had gone in. "Do you have anything particr you want them to do?" she asked.

    "I noticed some peculiar things about them. They have a high affinity with the wood element." Lin Wu stated.

    Hearing this Cang Ci could already guess Lin Wu''s thoughts.

    "I see, I''ll get them tested and see if they are suitable to the work of taking care of spirit herbs." Cang Ci spoke.

    "Good." Lin Wu responded. "And rting to this topic, how are the Millennium Parrot Bamboo Eggsing along?" he questioned.

    "So far none of them have hatched, but we''ve sensed some changes in a few of the eggs. Their vitality has increased in the recent days." Cang Ci answered.

    "Oh? That''s good." Lin Wu replied. "Hopefully they can hatch soon. We''ll be able to improve our production of spirit herbs a lot more with their assistance."

    "I''ve read up about the bamboo spirits, and if we can obtain even one of them I reckon we would be able to increase our spirit herb cultivation by at least 50%." Cang Ci informed.

    "That''ll be a good gain. Make sure that they are all fine and report to me about any issues." Lin Wu stated.

    "Are you heading out already?" Cang Ci questioned.

    "Yesбн I''ve got another target to cover. I''ve got two so far." Lin Wu answered.

    "The Purple Crested Orchid?" Cang Ci easily guessed. "You''re ready to go to the Gui Continent?" she was a bit surprised.

    "Yesбн I don''t think there''s any use in waiting now. Our work on both Hu and Long continents have already be solid. The image of the Cmity Fiend is engraved into the hearts of the people, and there''s only so much that I can gain from it now." Lin Wu replied.

    "Hmmбн so Gui continent is now needed for further growth." Cang Ci held her chin. "Do you need any assistance my King? Or are you going to go alone? She questioned.

    "I won''t be heading out alone this time." Lin Wu responded.

    "Oh? Who are you brining?" Cang Ci thought that Lin Wu wanted to bring an army directly this time.

    "Just oneбн I''ll bring Tim with me." Lin Wu answered.

    "Tim? That weasel?" Cang Ci had not expected this.

    "Yesбн he''s improved and I''m intending to make some use of him." Lin Wu replied.

    "Very well. I wish you the best on your mission." Cang Ci wouldn''t debate Lin Wu''s choices after all she had absolute confidence in his choices.

 Chapter 1054 Plant Upgrade

    Cang Ci had known that Tim was quite strong and had actually managed to hold up against all of Lin Wu''s subordinates before. He was very fast as well as very resilient. If anything, Cang Ci reckoned that Tim might be the strongest subordinate that Lin Wu had.

    "Mmhmm, watch over the rest while I''m gone. It''ll take a while I think, as I''ll need to manually establish all of the teleportation arrays to the Gui Continent." Lin Wu spoke. "Though our contacts should still work, so that won''t be an issue." He added.

    "Very well, my king. I''ll ensure that there are no issues by the time you return." Cang Ci said with determination.

    Lin Wu then bid his farewell to Cang Ci and went to the Tomb.

    "Let''s see how much we can improve with this." Lin Wu muttered and took out all the corpses of the Grass Mane Monkeys.

    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~

    All of them fell in front of him and he swept them up into his mouth with a little flick of his tail. The wind was under his control, and quickly sent the corpses into his mouth.

    ~CRUNCH~

    The corpses were quickly grinded by his thousands of teeth and a new taste appeared in Lin Wu''s mouth.

    "Oooбн Minty!" Lin Mu was surprised by the taste of the Grass Mane Monkeys.

    This was the first time he was finding the flesh of some creature was being minty.

    ''This can pair well with so many dishesбн'' A few thoughts that could pose a great danger to the Grass Mane monkey tribe appeared in his mind, but they were quickly suppressed. "Nah, they have more value alive. Besides, the grass on their necks should probably be behind this taste. That is something that can be harvested with no harm." Lin Wu said to himself.

    What he didn''t know was that for a few seconds there, every Grass Mane Monkey had felt a great terror in their hearts. But it had faded away as quickly as it had arrived. They would never know that they had almost been deemed as a side dish for Lin Wu.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DAO TRACE: Updated!

    Wood Dao Trace Compatibility: 90% -> 94%

    бкбк

    "Oh? It actually managed to go up this much?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    While it might look like a gain of 4% wasn''t that much, but for Lin Wu it was. After all, he had consumed thousands if not hundredths of wood elemental materials, and creatures before any change had happened for him.

    It had taken several years of consumption for the number to reach his currentpatibility level. And now merely the consumption of a few beasts was making it jump.

    Though it made Lin Wu wonder if it was to do with the qualities and abilities of these beasts.

    ''The Aquadream Ocean Lotus was simply too strong which is why I got the improvement, but for the Sun Tipped Crane and the Grass mane monkeys it should be their ability of absorbing sunlight as affinity to wood respectively.'' Lin Wu recalled the information he had read.

    The Sun Tipped Crane could scabrously absorb sunlight and replenish its strength. This allowed it to fly nonstop for many months, and even hunt for a simr time simply by relying on the sun.

    This was actually the reason why the Hu n had a hard to finding the beast, since it would simply hide high above the clouds for months on end. The ability to absorb sunlight was something that nts used, and it was unknown as to how the beast had developed it.

    Then there was the Grass Mane Monkey which had a high affinity to wood and naturally contained a lot of wood energy. They could also use the nts around them and absorb the wood elemental energy from them to cultivate.

    This was how the leader of the Grass Mane Monkey''s had managed to reach the Adult Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm despite having low spirit Qi concentration in the minor ne.

    ~SHUA~

    But just as Lin Wu was thinking over this all, he felt a change in his body.

    His innate skill of Chimeric Adaption and Chimeric Organogenesis seemed to be reacting at this moment.

    ''Looks like I''ll have a good surprise soonбн'' Lin Wu thought and let his body revert to the organic form.

    He had transformed it into the crystalline form since he was using it as the Worm King Lin Wu and needed others to see the good side. But now that it was done, he could revert it to the form of the cmity fiend.

    ~DING~

    бкбк-

    INNATE SKILL UPDATED: Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    COMPOSITION: 1. w Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    2. Tentacle Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    3. Fin Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    4. Thorn Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    5. Spike Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    6. Carapace Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    7. Wing Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    8. Fur Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    9. Membrane Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)<novelnext></novelnext>

    10. Eye Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    11. Scale Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    12. Limb Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    13. Internal Organ Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    14. Bone Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    15. Feather Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    16. Slime Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    17. dder Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    18. nt Bark Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    19. nt Stem Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    20. Sap Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice)

    21. nt Leaf Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Novice) [New]

    бкбк

    "It''s finally there!" Lin Wu looked at the new sub skill that had finally been added.

    It was one of the things that had been missing for a while and Lin Wu was wondering when he would get it.

    Lin Wu raised his tail and a vine suddenly sprouted out of it. The vine grew to a few meters in size and then a few secondster, tens of leaves started to grow on it.

    The leaves were of different shapes and sizes too, with some being as small as a mint leaf and some as big as palm leaves. But that wasn''t all as Lin Wu continued to experiment with the leaves, changing them beyond what was normal.

    From the basic nt leaves, Lin Wu soon started to form leaves that belonged to spirit herbs and nts. And from there, he further modified them into leaves that had special properties.

    There were leaves that were burning, leaves that sparkled with lightning, leaves that were dripping with water and some that seemed to be swirling with darkness. Each leaf was different and seemed to contain a different element within it.

    ''This skill is a lot differentбн'' Lin Wu realized.

    So far there hadn''t been any other skill that allowed him to add elements to his parts as good as this.

    "Looks like developing nt skills seem to be rather fruitfulбн haha!" Lin Wu chuckled at his own joke.

    Though one thing that Lin Wu understood was the fact that nts seem to have the greatest adaptability in harmonizing different elements. On its own, it wasn''t that impressive, but to Lin Wu, this could easily be the basis of a great ability he might be able to maketer on.

    Even the system was running analysis on it as he was thinking about this, and many simtions were running too.

    Lin Wu ended up ying with his new skill for about an hour before he finally remembered that he had another thing he was supposed to do.

    "Ah! Tim. I need to take him tooбн" Lin Wu decided to just teleport the beast to himself.

    ~SHUA~

    A teleportation circle opened next to him, and the figure of Tim appeared from it. The spiky strip on his back seemed to glowing in a yellow light while a few rocks seem to be floating in front of its ws.

    ~THUD~

    But perhaps due to being disturbed by Lin Wu, the rocks copsed and the glow faded away as well.

    "Oh? What happened?" Lin Wu wondered what the weasel was doing.

    "I learned how to control rocks!" Tim replied coherently.

    "Rocks?" Lin Wu raised a brow. "Show me." He asked.

    "Okay!" Tim nodded its head and raised its ws once more.

    ~SHUA~

    His back started to glow in a yellow light once more, but this time a trail of energy seemed to be traveling down its ws. This energy then came out from them and coalesced to form the rocks.

    ''He''s actually condensing pure earth elemental spirit Qi into a solid form?'' Lin Wu could see what Tim was really doing.

    The words that Tim had used to describe the act was a weak description for it.

    In fact what he was doing was nothing less than astonishing.

    Four brown rocks swirled in front of Tim''s ws, each of them releasing a heavy feeling of earth.

    ''These are basically the equivalent of Peak Grade Spirit stones!'' Lin Wu understood. ''And not just spirit tones, but earth elemental spirit stones!'' he was impressed.

    The value of something with such pure energy was quite high and its uses were many too.

 Chapter 1055 To The Frozen North

    Lin Wu watched Tim ''y'' with his ''rocks'' and didn''t know what to think of it.

    ''Pure Earth Elemental spirit stones like these can''t even be formed by refinement. And yet he can make them casually like thisбн The bloodline of the Yellow Dragon is truly strong within him. Even if has only started to awaken, it is still strong enough to do something like this.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The Yellow Dragon was a beast of the earth elemental and had absolute mastery over it. Tim awakening it had only shown a fraction of what was possible for the bloodline.

    "That''s good." Lin Wu praised Tim.

    "It''s good! Yes." Tim agreed and took thepliment.

    "But that''s enough for now. We have some work to do." Lin Wu stated.

    "Work?" Tim looked up at Lin Wu.

    "We are heading out. To a new ce." Lin Wu replied. "Don''t worry we''ll get to have some fun too. You''ll get to fight plenty of beings and eat too." He didn''t forget to tempt the former dragon prince for a good measure.

    "YEAH!" With Tim sufficiently excited, Lin Wu could now begin their journey.

    ''Alright system, teleport us to the northernmost part possible.'' Lin Wu ordered.

    ~SHUA~

    In the next second, the teleportation array activated and a circle appeared under Lin Wu and Tim.

    The two of them appeared in a teleportation channel, and were quickly sent to the other end. The teleportation was done in a single jump and was under the control of the Taiji Celestial''s tomb''s main array, thus it was very efficient.

    It was unlike the many rys that Lin Wu had to set up in the Hu continent which took longer.

    A couple minutester, the teleportation waspleted and Lin Wu and Tim appeared in the middle of a frozen Mountain range.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Strong winds were blowing and snow covered wherever one''s gaze fell. The trees in this area were all coniferous and had adapted to the cold. Even in the bone chilling cold, they still had their leaves and were standing bravely.

    "So this is the Northern Mountainsбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    This was actually Lin Wu''s first timeing to this area. Despite having be the main power of the Long Continent for a couple of years now, Lin Wu still hadn''t seen all ces of the continent.

    After all, he now had his subordinates that could take care of tasks like exploration and other missions. Thus the need for Lin Wu to leave the tomb was quite less. And even if he did go out, it was in the form of the Cmity Fiend and that too in the Hu continent.

    "Hmmmбн" Tim though seemed to be confused.

    He looked around for a bit before licking the snow.

    ~MUNCH~

    But licking wasn''t enough for him and he took arge bite, ending up biting into a rock that was buried under the snow.

    ~CRUMBLE~

    Though for Tim, the rock may as well be a cracker as it crumbled under his jaws.

    "Water?" Tim said as he felt the snow melt in his mouth.

    "Yeah, it''s snow." Lin Wu replied. "You''ve seen it before remember?"

    "But that was small. This is big." Tim replied.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Lin Wu furrowed his brows for a second before realizing that Tim hadn''t actually seen a proper snowy region before. Even the Frozen Cloud sect that was specialized in ice techniques wasn''t exactly covered in snow.

    And while Tim had seen snow and ice, it was mostly during battles and was due to various skills that were used.

    "Guess this will be a learning experience for you then." Lin Wu stated.

    Tim sniffed a bit, snow sticking to his whiskers and nose.

    "Can''t smell well." He said.

    "Ah yeah, the cold should make scents harder to sense." Lin Wu nodded his head. "Althoughбн for you it should still be possible." He realized something.

    ''What''s the temperature system?'' Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The current ambient temperature is -50 degrees Celsius.

    бкбк

    "No wonderбн If it was just normal cold it should have not affected Tim. But at this point, most scents should have been suppressed by the cold." Lin Wu understood. ''But what''s surprising is that this is just the outskirts of the Northern mountainsбн and it''s already this cold.'' He thought.

    From what Lin Wu knew, the coldest ce on the Long Continent was in the northern eastern tip of it and that was exactly where they were going.

    The position of the northern eastern most tip had the same longitude as the far depths of the Gui continent. And Gui Continent was known for its cold, thus one could imagine just how cold the northern most tip of the Long continent would be like.

    "Now that I think of itбн That kingdom should be here too right?" Lin Wu recalled the kingdom which had proposed a marriage alliance to him two years ago.

    It was a strange proposition that hade just before Hu Dagao had been kidnapped. Lin Wu had asked Cang Ci to look into it and had wondered if Weiyuan chamber was behind it.

    ''But thetter reports confirmed that they were actually doing it independentlyбн'' Lin Wu thought.

    The proposition of the Wide Crag Kingdom and the Steel Frost Ind given to Lin Wu was of a long winded marriage alliance and in exchange Lin Wu would get theirnd. They would have officially be property of the Millennium Forest Kingdom.

    Of course, nothing had been done after that and Lin Wu had simply not given them an answer.

    And since they hadn''t asked again either, Lin Wu simply didn''t think of it again.

    "Though, now I wonder what happened with them." Lin Wu felt curious.

    "System, show me the Wide Crag Kingdom and the Steel Frost Ind. Plot a route through them as well." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    MAP: Updated

    NOTIFICATION: new route has been marked

    бкбк

    Lin Wu looked at the map and saw that the Wide Crag Kingdom wasn''t that far from their location. It was also on their way to the northern most tip.

 Chapter 1056 The Wide Crag Kingdom

    Lin Wu and Tim continued towards the Wide Crag Kingdom and arrived at its border in just half an hour.

    Even from here though, the two of them could see the main part of the kingdom.

    "So that''s the Wide Crag Kingdomбн truly urate to its name." Lin Wu muttered.

    The Wide Crag Kingdom was one of the smallest kingdoms in the Long Continent and it was onlyposed of one main city that was also the capital, along with several small towns and viges.

    Far in the distance, Lin Wu could see the Wide Crag Kingdom''s Capital: Cragfall.

    It was located right next to the ocean and was built along the edge of a long cliff. The cliff spanned for over twenty kilometers and the city was also spread in a longitudinal manner. On the other side of the cliff, there was the crashing waves, while on another there were snowy ins.

    "Scan the area, system." Lin Wu ordered right away, wanting to see what kind of powers were there in it.

    He had once suspected that the Weiyuan Pavilion might be involved in this, but hadn''te across anything so far. But he still wished to be careful, and wanted to see if there were any hidden powers in the Wide Crag kingdom.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    MAP: Updated

    бкбк

    Lin Wu saw several new markers popping up on the map, showing the different cultivators that were present in the Cragfall city. Their numbers weren''t that high, being less than three thousand while the strongest among them was merely at the Adolescent Soul Stage of the Nascent soul realm.

    "That might be the king." Lin Wu muttered, seeing that the Nascent soul realm expert was located in thergest building in the city.

    "Let''s check it out from a bit closer." Lin Wu continued onwards, while Tim followed along with him.

    After traveling for a couple of kilometers, the city became clear to them. After all, the constant snowfall was making it hard to see things.

    There, Lin Wu could finally see the so-called royal pce of the Wide Crag Kingdom.

    "This royal pce is smaller than the mansions of severalmon noblesбн" Lin Wu was a bit surprised. ''But then, considering the condition of this kingdom, it makes sense it''s a bit low quality.'' He thought.

    ~Eek~

    While Lin Wu was observing the Cragfall city though, Tim seemed to have found something else. He raised his head and stood on two legs while looking around. His whiskers shifted a few times before he locked onto a certain location and burst forward.

    "Now where''s here going?" Lin Wu sighed.

    He was just about to go after Tim, when he heard a bunch of screams.

    "AAAAH!"

    "BEAST!"

    "SAVE ME!"

    Tim seemed to have stumbled upon some humans. Lin Wu immediately rushed after him, as he could tell from the screams, that they were of children. Lin Wu reached Tim''s position in just ten seconds and saw the scene.

    Tim had caught four kids that seemed to be between the ages of ten to fourteen. They were scared to no end but were uninjured. Tim had merely caught them with his ws and was holding them up in the air.

    "What''re you doing?" Lin Wu''s voice could be heard.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With the snow, the visibility was low, so the children could only see Tim in front of them. Thus, when they heard the strange distorted voice, they were shocked. They looked towards the source of the voice and could see a vague silhouette that towered over them.

    It was simply massivepared to their size and they couldn''t even see its top.

    "Heavens it''s a monster!бн Grandpa! Father! Uncle! Save me!" one of the kids cried out loud.

    The other kids were too scared to even scream now, and were silent.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The silhouette in the snow became clear as it got closer and Lin Wu''s figure finally became visible to them.

    The kids had first thought that Tim alone was a big beast, but now they hade across a beast bigger than they had ever seen before. It was simply unfathomable to them and monster was the only way they could describe it.

    "SAVE US!!!" The kid cried out again, but this time he also pulled out a pendant that seemed to be hanging from his neck.

    He held the pendant and it automatically activated.

    ~SHUA~

    A light glowed on it before a streak of energy escaped the pendant.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Communication transmission detected. Should it be blocked? Y/N

    бкбк

    ''Noбн let it go. I wanna see whoesбн'' Lin Wu was now intrigued.

    By now Lin Wu had understood that the children in front of him weren''t simple. Just the fact that they were out in freezing cold like that was strange. After all, even if they were cultivators, it was still something that was too much for them.

    Though Lin Wu could see that they were wearing some special kind of robes. Not only were they thick, but they also had spirit Qi fluctuationsing from them.

    ''But that kidбн the pendant is a high grade rming Talisman.'' Lin Wu identified.

    Something like that was not something just any child would have. Even core condensation realm cultivators might find it difficult to buy one of those.

    Thus Lin Wu waited but did inform Tim to not do anything to the kids. Though he wasn''t doing anything in the first ce, he had simply caught them since he had found them to have appeared without being sensed by Tim.

    ~SHUA~ SHUA~

    And surely, just a minuteter, several streaks of light could be seen approaching from the distance.

    "WHO DARES TOUCH MY GRANDSON!" A loud shout could be heard.

    Lin Wu looked towards it and couldn''t help but smile.

    "Just as I thoughtбн The king himselfes." Lin Wu muttered, not worried at all.

    In a few seconds, all of them had arrived and finally witnessed Lin Wu as well as Tim.

    Seeing the colossal being in front of them, their drive had fizzled out.

 Chapter 1057 A Meeting Of Kings

    By now most of the powers of the Long Continent knew of Lin Wu''s appearance as almost all of them had sent envoys to meet him.

    Even for those that had not seem him personally, the verbal ounts as well as sketches made by the others were more than enough to contain his appearance within. They all knew of the colossal beast that was Lin Wu.

    The only Beast King that had obtained the approval of all the great ns.

    Thus when the King of the Wide Crag Kingdom saw the massive figure, he knew something had gone wrong.

    "Hello there," Lin Wu spoke in his signature distorted voice.

    The voice held no emotions, and yet all those that heard it felt a chill go through their hearts. The chill from it was stronger than the snowy winds around them.

    For about ten seconds, absolute silence had descended in the area as no one dared to move. All those that hade to rescue the child had seen their king stand there silently too, knowing that he was thinking something.

    What they couldn''t see from the back was the King''s reaction. He had great shock on his face, and was actually stunned.

    After about half a minute though, he gathered his wits and his expression quickly becameposed.

    "What are you gawking about!? Kneel and greet the King of the beasts! The King of the Millennium Forest Kingdom! The Bane of Cmity! Lin Wu!" The King of the Wide Crag Kingdom said out loud.

    He then quickly cupped his hands and bowed his head in official greeting.

    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~THUD

    In the next second, all those that had prepare fell to their knees.

    "We pay our deepest respects to King Lin Wu!" They shouted out loud while bowing their heads.

    The child who was being hung from Tim''s ws was also stunned now. He had been in utter fear for a while and had called for his family to save him. But now that they had acted like this, he didn''t know what to think about it.

    After all, he was barely just twelve years old and even if he was a cultivator, he still had the tendencies of a child.

    "Ah, so you are the King of the Wide Crag Kingdom?" Lin Wu spoke.

    "Yes. King Lin Wu. I am Yun Guiren, the King of the Wide Crag Kingdom." The man introduced himself.

    Yum Guiren was dressed in thick robes simr to others, but his were clearly of a higher quality and meant for a king. The robes were a mix of Indigo blue and white and had the crest of the Wide Crag Kingdom on it.

    But other than that, the man wasn''t wearing a crown or any other kind of head jewelry which seemed a bit strange. Though he did have what looked like several bone and stone nes around his neck.

    Lin Mu took noticed of all this, wondering why that might be.

    "Is this your Grandson?" Lin Wu questioned after a few moments.

    "Y-yes!" Yun Guiren replied. "I ask for your forgiveness if he has offended you in any manner." He hurriedly spoke.

    "We''ll punish him throughly, King Lin Wu. If only you could release him." Another man who had simr facial features to the King spoke.

    "Ahahah!" Hearing this, Lin Wu couldn''t help butugh. "The child has done nothing." He said, making them a bit relieved.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Let them all down, Tim." Lin Wu ordered.

    Tim lowered his ws and dropped the children on the ice.

    The kids were still surprised by the fact that they werepletely fine and that the beasts had not done anything. It couldn''t be helped that they didn''t recognize who Tim or Lin Wu was after all. It was normal to be scared ofrge beasts that had suddenly appeared.

    "Thank you, King Lin Wu!" King Yun Guiren cupped his hands in gratitude again.

    "Thank you for your graciousness, King Lin Wu!" The others also said in unison.

    Lin Wu noticed that the man that looked simr to Yun Guiren was the one leading the rest in greeting him.

    ''He''s definitely rted to the king. His son perhaps?'' Lin Wu guessed.

    Looking around in the group, Lin Wu founds a couple more men that looked simr to the king.

    ''So the kid really did call for his family members. They all came tooбн'' Lin Wu understood.

    "May I ask, to what do we owe this pleasure to?" King Yun Guiren questioned, framing his words carefully.

    He had not forgotten that their request from the past had been rejected and thus there was no telling what Lin Wu''s attitude about it was going to be like. Plus his unannounced visit to his kingdom was certainly surprising.

    "I just happened to be passing by, and decided to pay a visit." Lin Wu replied. "Why? Am I not wee?" he asked, scaring them all.

    "Of course not! King Lin Wu will always we wee in our humble kingdom." King Yun Guiren hurriedly replied.

    "Yes! Yes! Why don''t we head to Cragfall city, King Lin Wu? We can have some warm refreshments and talk peacefully there." The man that looked simr to the king suggested.

    "You are?" Lin Wu inquired.

    "I am Prince Yun Fei." The man introduced himself.

    "So you are King Yun''s son." Lin Wu nodded his head in acknowledgment.

    "Yes, he''s my son and the father of that child." King Yun Guiren informed.

    "I see." Lin Wu nodded his head. "Very well, let''s go to your city."

    "Great! I''ll inform them of your visit." Prince Yun Fei said before taking out amunication jade slip and sending a message.

    King Yun Guiren took the lead, while Lin Wu and Tim followed behind them.

    ''I wonder how they intended to amodate usбн'' Lin Wu knew that there weren''t any buildingsrge enough to hold him.

    They might be able to hold Tim, but certainly not Lin Wu who was several hundred meters long.

 Chapter 1058 A Transforming Castle

    Lin Wu and Tim were soon brought to the Cragfall city and got to see it from up close.

    The Cragfall city was built along the long cliff that bordered the ocean coast. It was about a hundred meters tall and the waves from the ocean could hit some parts of it. There were also some parts that were covered with rocks and had several boats lined up on it.

    Then there were these long cranes that were attached to the side of the cliff. They were used to move the catch of the day from the ocean that were brought by the boats.

    There were alsorge lifts that could move entire ships up and down the tall cliff.

    One could tell from this just how dependent on the sea the Wide Crag Kingdom really was.

    This was also the reason why the Cragfall city spanned for kilometers along the cliff. Several of the viges were also located in a simr way and one could even say the entire coast of the Wide Crag Kingdom was covered in settlements.

    While the Wide Crag Kingdom wasn''t the smallest of the kingdoms on the Long Continent, it surely was the narrowest one.

    Lin Wu also checked the people that inhabited the city, finding them to be tougher than the other humans he had seen. This wasn''t the toughness that was obtained by training though, but rather the kind of toughness that one gained simply due to living in harsh environment.

    ''Having lived in this cold ce, most of the humans here seem to have high resistance to cold and their affinity to the ice element as well as water element seems to be higher than normal. It''s not exceptionable but it''s certainly not the same as other humans.'' Just a single look was all it took Lin Wu to figure out the condition of the humans.

    Having done experiments on the members of the Shadow Legion and improving the different cultivation techniques as well as get bloodline tests that he had done over time. This had improved his understanding of humans as well as their innate talents.

    "Here we are King Lin Wu. This is the royal pce of the Wide Crag Kingdom." King Yun Guiren gestured to thergest building of the entire city.

    Even if it was thergest building though, Lin Wu had seen many other buildings in other ces that were bigger than this. Not to mention they didn''t even belong to kings, but rather use some low nobles.

    ''They seem to have gone for substance over style.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    While the pce wasn''t too luxurious, it was certainly built rather solidly. Not only were there decent number of formation arrays set up, they seemed to be of a higher quality than he had thought.

    ''These don''t seem to have been made by themбн Formations like these would need at least a Dao Treading realm cultivator to make themбн not just that either, the resources needed to make them are also quite expensive.'' Lin Wu started to see the reality of the royal ce.

    It was a lot more than met the eye.

    He now understood that the foundation of the Wide Crag Kingdom might be deeper than he had originally thought.

    ''So they are a fallen power, huhбн'' It wasn''t unusual for there to be kingdoms or sects that were used to be strong once upon a time.

    Their people might have fallen in power, but their foundation were still strong. This was also the reason why they had managed to exist all this time and had not been wiped out by the other powers.

    But understanding this, put another perspective in front of Lin Wu.

    ''They still have their foundation, thus why would they want to offer theirnd to me?'' Lin Wu wondered before looking at the king. "I don''t think I''ll be able to enter this." He spoke.

    "That won''t be a problem, Kin Lin Wu. We can still amodate you." King Yun Guiren said before raising his hand and making a few seals.

    ~SHUA~

    As soon as he did, several arrays activated around the area.

    pж┴зсdж┴ зл?ж═и║|,зуи░зо Lin Wu narrowed his eyes, but did not found it to be any kind of an offense. The system hadn''t warned him of any danger which meant that this wasn''t meant to attack.

    ~RUMBLE~

    He soon received his answer as he saw the area around the castle rising up. The rock parted and six pirs rose from the boundary of the castle. Then, arge segment rose vertically from the cliff, forming what looked like the base of an auditorium.

    The cliff''s segments kept on rising, until an entire auditorium had been formed with the castle facing its inside. The castle''s top too opened up, with a throne and several seats rising along with it.

    ''What''s the analysis on this system?'' Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The castle is a peak grade Formation array that is made up of several subsidiary arrays. It can transform the castle into a peak grade spirit tool as well, giving it offensive and defensive abilities.

    The current form seems to be the defensive form and is meant to guard from the threatsing from the ocean.

    бкбк

    Seeing the system''s analysis, Lin Wu finally understood why the Cragfall city was built like this and why the castle was small.

    ''They had condensed everything into as small as possible to reduce the amount of area they would need to defend. Then the transformed castle can form arge barrier against attacksing from the ocean.'' Lin Wu was impressed by this.

    It was the first time he was seeing a fully transforming array that could directly affect buildings like this outside of the Taiji Celestials tomb. There was the ruins of the Vermillion Bird sect, but they had been damaged too far to be considered valid now.

    Perhaps in the past they might have been one of the greatest examples of a transformative formation array fortress.

 Chapter 1059 The Wide Crag Kingdoms Predicament

    With the castle having transformed fully, Lin Wu stood within the auditorium that had been formed form its newly risen walls.

    They now had a ''proper'' ce to converse with someone of a high identity like Lin Wu.

    "Bring in the refreshments for King Lin Wu!" King Yun Guiren ordered before turning to the beast king. "While they arrive, may I ask what are you here for King Lin Wu?"

    "I just happened to be passing by and thought it might be a good opportunity to visit your kingdom as well." Lin Wu answered inly. "I recalled your emissaries visiting me in the past too."

    "Ah yesбн I regret that we could not give you an offer that would be up to your standards." King Bai Guiren replied.

    He knew that the status between the two had only widened in the past two years. The identity and power of Lin Wu had greatly risen, having been solidified not only in the resistance against the Cmity Fiend, but also in the supply of precious resources.

    The Millennium Forest Kingdom now supplied Spirit herbs, spirit fruits, beast materials, as well as allowed people to utilize the inheritance that''s as located within its borders. It had brought a level of prestige that was unseen so far in the history of the world.

    After all, there had never been a beast kingdom before this, thus everything that Lin Wu did was setting a standard for generations toe. And since he was making the human kingdoms and sectsck in several aspects, the impact was even greater.

    Though for Lin Wu too, the alliance offer of the Wide Crag kingdom was confusing.

    "It is not exactly that." Lin Wu replied to the man.

    "Pardon?" King Yun Guiren was confused.

    "It isn''t that I rejected your offer because I did not like it, but rather because I could not understand the reasoning behind it." Lin Wu replied.

    "The reasoningбн" Hearing this King Yun Guiren became silent.

    Lin Wu could now tell that there was some deeper reason behind their choice.

    "Also which son did you intend to let me adopt? The one I see here seems to be married already." Lin Wu asked curiously.

    "Ah! It is my third son. He has the best cultivation talent out of all my children and has been spending his time in seclusion since then." King Yun Guiren answered.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu checked his map and was sure that there was no other son of the king here. There was the second son, but he was in the crowd as well, but he didn''t seem to be as eye catching. "Where is he?" he questioned.

    "My third son, Yun Ren lives in seclusion in the Frozen mountains. He''s spent the past two years cultivating and fighting beasts." King Yun Guiren answered with a hint of sorrow.

    "So he''s not hereбн makes sense." Lin Wu nodded his head. "Stillбн you haven''t mentioned the reasoning behind it." He asked again.

    ~SIGH~<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    King Yun Guiren let out a long sigh before nodding his head.

    "I guess, there is no need in hiding it now." King Guiren spoke before looking at Lin Wu. "You must''ve seen the condition of my kingdomбн it isn''t ideal."

    "That''s true. It is cold and the number of resources here are also less." Lin Wu agreed.

    "If it was just that it would be fine. Our ancestors have been living here for thousands of years. It is all that we know." King Yun Guiren stated. "If it was just that, I wouldn''t have asked for an alliance. The issue was that even the minimum of what we need to live here is now falling." He revealed.

    "Oh? How so?" Lin Wu asked feeling interested.

    "Our kingdom is reliant on fishing as our main source of food as well as ie. But in the recent years, that has be quite difficult. The number of fishes in the ocean here have fallen and the danger has increased too." King Yun Guiren exined. "Of course, we tried to resolve it on our own. This wasn''t the first time it had happened, and in the past too there were a few years that were simr to this. But thenбн that beast appeared." He stated.

    "What beast?" Lin Wu furrowed his brows.

    "The Cruel Helm Octopus!" King Yun Guiren said out loud, a mix of frustration and sadness in his voice.

    Hearing the name, Lin Wu found it to be a bit familiar.

    ''Where have I heard that before? System, check on that.'' Lin Wu ordered in his mind.

    And while he thought that, King Yun Guiren continued speaking.

    "The Cruel Helm Octopus was a beast that was said to be a myth in our kingdom legends now. It has not appeared for over two thousand years and was the reason why the Cragfall city was built like this. All these arrays are for its defense against the Cruel Helm Octopus." King Yun Guiren exined.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu was quite surprised.

    ''No wonder the walls face the ocean and are tall. Its defensive mode should be meant to defend from the beast.'' Lin Wu thought but then spoke. "And this beast attacked your city? Were you not able to repel it?" he asked next.

    "We did indeed." King Yun Guiren nodded. "Thest time it had appeared was a year ago and we had barely managed to repel the beast. But it came at the cost of the array. It has grown and we can no longer repair it. We have no masters that have the skill for it.

    The offensive arrays that were part of it all were destroyed in the defense again and only a fraction of them are now left. If the Cruel Helm Octopus appears again, we won''t be able tost against it." He exined in detail.

    Listening to all this, Lin Wu started to understand their predicament. But it had not resolved the original confusion for him entirely.

    "I get all this, but then why the alliance between the Steel Frost Ind too?" Lin Wu inquired. "What is their side in all this?"

 Chapter 1060 Offering Help To Wide Crag Kingdom

    King Yun Guiren looked at his people that were also listening to it all and took a deep breath. He could see the sadness on their faces, as everyone knew the predicament their kingdom and their ally was in.

    "The Steel Frost Ind is also in trouble and iscking resources. But their trouble stems not from a living creature, but the unusual phenomenon that has been urring in theirnd. It has prevented them from cultivation properly and even growing crops has be impossible." King Yun Guiren spoke..

    "The Steel Frost Ind and the Wide Crag Kingdom have been allies for thousands of years now, and it was even said that our ancestors hade from the same line. We have been trading with each other since then too.

    We would provide the Steel Frost Ind with fish for food, and they would give us the unique spirit herbs that grow in theirnd. It allowed both of us to benefit and thus we wanted to take it further." King Yun Guiren said before taking a pause.

    "But that was not enoughбн even if you two made the new alliance, it would still not be resolving the core issues." Lin Wu interjected.

    "King Lin Wu is certainly wiseбн yes, it was out pathetic attempt at taking shade under your strength." King Yun Guiren admitted. "We hoped that by establishing a marriage alliance between us two allies and having you as their adoptive father, it would grant ournds new life."

    "Even if you would have to hand thend to me?" Lin Wu asked with a raise brow.

    "Yesбн We''ve seen King Lin Wu''s actions over the years. We know that you are trustworthy. You''ve brought forth prosperity and growth to not just your kingdom but others too. Plus the top ns of the Long Continent trust you, so how can we not." King Yun Guiren stated without regret.

    King Yun Guiren''s response was enough for Lin Wu to understand that they simply wanted their kingdom to go to someone that would not put it in a bad spot. From the work of Lin Wu so far, there had not been any losses to any party that was involved with him.

    Or at least that''s what was known on the surface.

    ''Guess my efforts in building a positive reputation for the Millennium forest kingdom and myself has worked outбн good, this''ll make things easier then.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Having understood that these people really wanted his help, he decided to offer it.

    "I see. If it really is like that, then I don''t see why I shouldn''t help you all out." Lin Wu stated.

    "Whatбн Really?!" King Yun Guiren had not expected this.

    After having lost hope two years ago, he had not thought that Lin Wu would turn up at their doorstep and not just that, but would also offer his help.

    "Yes. I''m willing to take care of your problem." Lin Wu nodded his head.

    "Thisбн" it wasn''t just King Yun Guiren that was stunned by this.

    The others that were watching this were emotional as well. After all, their kingdom had been under danger for a long time now.

    "King Lin Wu is truly benevolent and merciful!" The people shouted out loud.

    King Yun Guiren looked around at the reaction of his people and his son, feeling a bit dizzy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He took a deep breath to calm himself and looked at Lin Wu.

    "King Lin Wu, if you really do help us, I shall hold up my original offer. Thisnd shall be yours if you save it." King Yun Guiren said with determination.

    In a way, the Wide Crag kingdom didn''t really have an option. If they didn''t take Lin Wu''s help right now, they would be devastated eventually. And if that happened, the other powers were free to take over theirnd.

    Rather than being killed and having their thousands of years of legacy extinguished, they would rather have someone else rule over them. Though in their mind, Lin Wu''s actions over the years were a saving grace, making them feel a lot better about it.

    "Then, I swear upon my name that I shall help the Wide Crag Kingdom and will also help it prosper!" Lin Wu dered.

    "All hail King Lin Wu!"

    "All hail King Lin Wu!"

    "All hail King Lin Wu!"

    And just like that, the fate of another kingdom had been changed.

    Lin Wu watched the reactions of everyone, expecting that there must be some that were regretting this or were not pleased with it. But surprisingly, the system did not sense any negative thoughts towards him.

    While the system couldn''t read minds directly, it could still figure out if someone had bad intent towards Lin Wu. Of course it was not something that was 100% effective, but for cultivators of this level, it would not be possible to hide.

    Only those with great control over their bodies and mind would be able to fool the system''s perception.

    "I''d like to begin the work right away." Lin Wu suddenly said, making the people fall silent.

    "R-right away?" the people said in doubt.

    "Are you sure King Lin Wu? We don''t know where the Cruel Helm Octopus is. It woulde over to attack on its own." King Yun Guiren said with hesitation.

    As much as he desired Lin Wu''s help, he also knew that sending someone into the ocean to search for a strong aquatic beast like that was no different from a death sentence. And while Lin Wu had the reputation for being strong, there was no telling what the ocean held.

    After all, even the Immortal Ascension realm experts were careful of the ocean. The number of aquatic beasts that reached a simr number was unknown and there were still well know beasts like the Aquadream Ocean lotus that were considered disasters.

    "Don''t worry, I have my ways." Lin Wu assured. "But you can tell me more about the Cruel Helm Octopus to help me learn about it more." He asked.

 Chapter 1061 Cruel Helm Octopus

    Seeing that Lin Wu was still willing to help them, King Yun Guiren decided to answer all his questions.

    "I''ll do my best, King Lin Wu." The man spoke.

    "Well then, can you start by telling me the cultivation base of that beast?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "That is hard to tell, King Lin Wu." King Yun Guiren said with a frown.

    "Why so?" Lin Wu wondered.

    "Well the thing is, the beast often attacks from far. And none of us dare to approach it to sense its cultivation base." King Yun Guiren replied.

    "I seeбн but then didn''t you say that your kingdom has been experiencing attacks for several years now? You should have a decent idea by now right?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "We did indeedбн two thousand years ago." King Yun Guiren said making Lin Wu raise a brow. "You see, the Cruel Helm Octopus has been in this part of the ocean for a long time now. Back when our ancestors lived here, there was no sign of the beast." He started to speak.

    "But then something changed?" Lin Wu guessed.

    "Indeedбн there are several theories behind it. Some say that a stronger beast appeared in the Cruel Helm Octopus''s territory and pushed it out. Some say that the food in its territory ran out and the poption of beasts fell, thus requiring it to hunt further." King King Yun Guiren replied.

    "Hmmmбн from what I''ve heard your kingdom used to supply a lot of fish in the past right? I think one of the types of fish beastsбн Blue Scale Smelt was it? Was only found in these waters." Lin Wu thought of something.

    "Yes, we did supply the rest of the continent with the Blue Scale smelt. It is a delicacy and fetched a good price. As long as we were able to fish it, our kingdom always had supplies even if the winters were harsh here.

    Our ancestors had fished in these waters for generations and were used to the harsh life here. Even we grew up eating the Blue Scale Smeltбн at least I did. But my son''s generation and the ones did not have that chance.

    The arrival of the Cruel Helm Octopus was the reason behind it all. We could no longer go further out in the ocean, due to the fear of that beast. And as years went by, the beast also continued to expand its territory.

    And now it hase so far that even fishing at the edges has be difficult for us.

    We often have to retreat because the Cruel Helm Octopus scares away other aquatic beasts towards us. While these beasts aren''t as strong as the Cruel helm Octopus, they are still strong enough to kill our people. Some of them are even at the Nascent Soul realm, making it difficult for us to fish without clearing out the waters.

    There have been times I''ve had to go myself to drive away these beasts." King Yun Guiren exined in detail.

    "Hmmбн I see." Lin Wu developed an understanding of the condition of the Wide Crag Kingdom.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He could see the reason for them sticking to this ce and not leaving, despite the threat of the Cruel Helm Octopus.

    "And what about the Cruel Helm octopus itself? It also attacks the city right?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "Yes. asionally ites all the way here and attacks us. Thankfully, the arrays of Cragfall city were made exactly for that. They were erected by our ancestors in the past, and havested all this time.

    Unfortunately, they''ve grown weak over time with the damaged piling up. We can''t repair them either, because most of the skills used in making them have been lost." King Yun Guiren replied.

    "Huh? You didn''t ask other formation masters to repair this?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    "We didбн several times. They even came to help us, but after seeing our arrays they had difficulties. They were made in a traditional method of our people which has now been lost." King Yun Guiren said in a sorrowful voice. "Thest formation master that knew of the ways was my granduncle who unfortunately passed away in an attack from the Cruel Helm Octopus as well." He added.

    "Did no one else learn it from?" Lin Wu was surprising they had not passed the information down.

    "There were several students of my great uncle. But they didn''t get to learn sufficiently before my uncle passed away. What''s remained of the array is because of those students too. They''ve done their best but they stillck core skills that are needed to truly repair the array." King Yun Guiren stated.

    "I understand nowбн" Lin Wu knew that he could fix the array himself too if needed, but that would not solve the core of the issue. "The Cruel Helm Octopus was unable to harm the array before wasn''t it?" he asked next.

    "Yes. Back in the time of my ancestors, there was no beast that could harm it. But over time, the beast grew stronger too. It was said that back when the array was made, the Cruel Helm Octopus was already a Dao Treading realm beast." King Yun Guiren answered.

    Hearing this Lin Wu was now sure.

    ''That beast has been ying with them all this timeбн it''s surely at the Immortal Ascension realm and is just teasing them. If it wanted to it would have broken this ce long ago.'' Lin Wu knew.

    Since beasts could raise their intelligence, they could also gainplex emotions. One of them being the ability to hold grudges for a long time.

    ''The Cruel Helm Octopus is intentionally torturing them for the actions of their ancestors.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    As for why the beast had not attacked and destroyed the kingdom outright, Lin Wu could also guess why.

    ''If it had attacked and destroyed this ce, there was no way the Long n would ignore it. Those two ancestors can easily eradicate a single beast, even if it goes deep into the ocean. It was afraid of them.'' Lin Wu grasped.

 Chapter 1062 Strongest Subordinate And Array Repair

    King Yun Guiren continued to talk about the Cruel Helm Octopus for a while and Lin Wu understood most of the things by now.

    "Alright, that should be enough." Lin Wu spoke.

    "How will you be dealing with the Cruel Helm Octopus though, King Lin Wu?" King Yun Guiren questioned.

    "Oh, I won''t be dealing with it." Lin Wu replied much to his surprise.

    "Huh, what? Didn''t you sayбн" King Yun Guiren was now confused.

    "Someone else will do it instead." Lin Wu said while looking at Tim.

    King Yun Guiren followed his gaze and saw that Lin Wu meant the beast he had brought along with him. The man had paid attention to Tim at the start, but had ignored him after bringing Lin Wu here.

    To him, Lin Wu was a lot more important than some other random beast he might have brought along with him. Being a beast king, it was well known that Lin Wu had many beast subordinates, and seeing that Tim had followed Lin Wu''s orders, he had thought the weasel was just one of them.

    But that was greatly different than asking a subordinate beast to deal with the Cruel Helm Octopus.

    After all, even if Lin Wu had strong beast subordinates, there was still a limit to how strong they could be.

    At least this was what King Yun Guiren and many others thought, not knowing it was quite wrong.

    "Yes, he''ll handle it." Lin Wu confirmed. "He is Tim, the Myriad Obsidian Weasel." He introduced.

    "Butбн Will heбн I don''t want to offend King Lin Wu, but will he be able to match against the Cruel Helm Octopus?" the king asked in doubt.

    Several other people had the same question in their mind. To them Tim didn''t look as threatening as Lin Wu. Not to mention, the energy fluctuationsing from Tim were naturally restricted due to his unique body.

    In fact, they couldn''t even tell the cultivation base of Tim.

    "Ahaha! It''s fine." Lin Wu chuckled in expectation. "He might not seem like it, but he''s my strongest subordinate." He revealed.

    "The Strongest Subordinate!?" Several people said out in shock.

    Tim had been sleeping for a long while and had not done anything in public technically thus information about him was greatly limited. This was Lin Wu''s method of raising Tim''s identity and letting it be a bit normal.

    After all, Tim was anything but normal and if people were used to him, it would be better in the future.

    Lin Wu could even send out Tim to do some tasks if need be. The current situation was going to be a trial for him.

    "Yes, he is my strongest Subordinate. His powers are quite strong, even if it does not seem like it." Lin Wu replied. "Don''t worry, you''ll get to see it yourself perhaps." He added.

    ~huu~

    King Yun Guiren took a breath to calm down and nodded his head.

    "Very well, we''ll trust in you King Lin Wu." The man spoke.

    "Mmhmm." Lin Wu hummed in response before looking at the system''s screen.

    ''How''s the search going system?'' Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Traces of an Immortal Ascension realm beast have been found. The probability of it being the Cruel Helm Octopus is 98.4%.

    бкбк<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''That''s plenty good. Mark it on the map and we''ll get to it.'' Lin Wu stated.

    Having ordered that, Lin Wu saw a new marker appearing on his map.

    "Let''s get to work then, shall we?" Lin Wu said, before raising his head.

    "You''re heading out, King Lin Wu?" King Yun Guiren asked.

    "I''ve found the Cruel Helm Octopus." Lin Wu answered.

    "Already?!" King Yun Guiren couldn''t believe his ears.

    "Yesбн he isn''t that far actually." Lin Wu said while ncing at the map.

    The marker was inching towards their direction now.

    "It''s here?" The people were stunned. "We need to get the others ready!" They said hurriedly.

    "It''s fine." Lin Wu said instead before tapping his tail on the ground.

    ~SHUA~

    A wave of energy spread out form his body, while thousand of runes formed around him. The runes attached themselves onto the Formation array of the Cragfall city and started to change the array.

    "The array! It''s being fixed?!" King Yun Guiren had never thought that he would ever see this happen in his lifetime.

    He had gotten many formation masters to take a look at a great expense, and yet it was to no avail. And now the beast king Lin Wu was fixing it.

    King Yun Guiren would have never thought that a beast would be so proficient in formations.

    The people watched as the entire array started to change and many new sections appeared in it. The reach of the array also expanded, soon covering the entire length of the Cragfall city.

    It was originally like this, but over the years, the outer edges of the array had copsed causing it to shrink in size. This was also why the defenses of the city were stronger in the middle, as the castle was the core of it.

    But with Lin Wu and the system''s modification, the array was strong no matter what angle it was attacked from.

    ~RUMBLE~

    About five minutester, the array was fully repaired and took on a new look.

    The people here had seen the array for several years and could clearly feel the difference. It wasn''t just a visual difference either, since the energy fluctuations of the array had greatly changed as well.

    "The ancestors will smile in the afterlife if they could see thisбн" King Yun Guiren muttered in joy.

    ~CRASH~

    Just as the array was fully repaired, the sound of arge wave could be heard. The ocean rolled and crashed into the cliff side.

    "LOOK!" The people pointed to the ocean.

    ~SPLASH~

    The ocean shifted, as arge body rose from it. It was over fifty meters wide and looked to be covered in ck carapace of some kind.

    "Right on timeбн There''s our Cruel Helm Octopus." Lin Wu said. "Well then Timбн I choose you!"

 Chapter 1063 Tim Versus The Cruel Helm Octopus

    Lin Wumanded the Weasel to fight therge Octopus.

    "Can I eat it?" Tim asked before going in.

    "Sure, you can eat a portion of it." Lin Wu didn''t mind giving some to Tim even if he wanted to try some deep fried octopus and octopus balls too.

    He was also pleased to see that Tim was asking for permission now, before directly doing something.

    ~SPLASH~

    The Cruel Helm Octopus seemed to be rather enraged too. Itsrge tentacles rose from the water, causing riptide to spread around the coast. The tentacles looked rather gnarly too, having barbed hooks around the suction cups that were present on it.

    If they wrapped around something or someone, they would easily tear their flesh even if they were to let go on their own. The tentacles were made to deal damage and the hooks on them were very sharp too.

    It was even said that some fishermen used these hooks for fishing and were quite prized. The people of the Wide Crag Kingdom used them once upon a time, but now it was simply not possible due to them weakening and the beast getting stronger.

    ~SCREECH~

    The Cruel Helm Octopus let out an ear tearing screech that sent waves across the ocean. The aquatic beasts living within the water were terrified from it, fleeing for their lives at a moment''s notice.

    Those that were weaker directly died from the high pitched noise, floating up to the surface of the water before being washed away by the waves.

    Seeing this King Yun Guiren and several other people frowned.

    A single screech of the Cruel Helm Octopus had killed all fishes around their coast, directly reducing what they would be able to fish for theing time. And not just that, even if they went deeper they would have a harder time fishing due to the stronger aquatic beasts retreating too.

    One could see from this, just how problematic the Cruel Helm Octopus was even if simply let out a cry.

    ~SCREECH~

    But the cry of the Cruel Helm Octopus was matched by another fierce cry. This one hade from none other than Tim and seemed to be even more oppressive for some reason.

    The king watched as the Weasel fearlessly flew towards the Cruel Helm Octopus. And as he approached the oversized octopus, his aura rose like never before. It was as if a volcano had exploded at that moment.

    ~SHUA~

    A wave of energy spread from Tim, as his body shone in a yellow light.

    His ws gathered energy while his eyes locked onto the Cruel Helm Octopus.

    Lin Mu watched as Tim effortlessly collided with the head of the Cruel Helm Octopus.

    ~DENG~

    As if a brass bell was struck, the hard bodies of the two beasts shed.

    ~CREAK~CREAK~

    But Tim didn''t stop just there, his ws directly shed onto the hard surface of the Cruel Helm Octopus''s head, creating deep cuts in it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Cruel Helm Octopus was named this as its head was covered in a tough armor that couldpare to iron that was tempered hundreds of times. This was a natural carapace that it had developed and the higher its cultivation base went, the tougher it would get.

    And since this Cruel Helm Octopus was in the Immortal Ascension realm, the carapace on its head could easilypare to that of a High grade Spirit Armor.

    ~SCREECH~

    The Cruel Helm Octopus let out a cry of anguish as deep blue blood spilled out of its head. This was the first time it was getting injured in a long time and was not used to it. Not to mention, the beast was even more pissed at the fact that it was being outdone by a beast that wasn''t even ten percent of its size!

    ~KREEE~

    Tim continued to rip the Cruel Helm Octopus'' head carapace apart while running across the surface.

    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~

    Of course, the beast tried to stop Tim and used its tentacles. Unfortunately for it though, Tim was far too fast for it to catch and the octopus only ended up hitting itself. The sound of its tentacles striking the hard carapace was heard for tens of kilometers as the people in Cragfall city were rmed.

    Tim ran circles around it, avoiding every tentacle with ease.

    He even went as far as taking a few quick nibbles, leaving holes on the tentacles.

    The barbed hooks were nothing to the sharp teeth of Tim, being crushed like twigs.

    The Immortal Ascension beast could only suffer while it utterly failed at fighting a beast that was not only smaller than it but also lower in cultivation base.

    "Thisбн this is just ying aroundбн" King Yun Guiren muttered in disbelief.

    The others that watched the battle from the distance were also stunned. They simply could not believe their eyes.

    The beast that had troubled them for thousands of years now was easily put in a miserable state.

    This continued for about ten minutes as Tim whittled down the Cruel Helm Octopus. By the end of it, the aquatic beast was left in a sorry state. Its strong carapace was nowhere to be seen, and it looked like scrap metal was hanging from its head.

    Deep blue blood covered every inch of its body while also staining the ocean.

    A strong fishy smell spread from the blood too, making it hard for one to breathe without wrinkling their noses.

    Two tentacles were also floating around, having been torn off by Tim during the battle. Thousands of bite marks could be seen on the Cruel Helm Octopus'' body too, having been gnawed on by Tim.

    "End it quick Tim! I see what you''re doing. All that you''ve eaten right now will be deducted from your final share." Lin Wu called out the weasel who was trying to be clever.

    "Fineбн" Tim responded before rising high up in the sky.

    ~HONG~

    He curled his body while the sharp spiky fur jutted out. Then, with great force, it dived straight through the head of the Cruel Helm Octopus!

 Chapter 1064 End Of Thousands Of Years Of Enmity

    The Cruel Helm Octopus was already battered and weakened. Its spirit Qi had been exhausted and his vitality was low.

    At that point, it couldn''t even keep up a defense against Tim and its skull caved in.

    ~SPLAT~

    But once the armor was broken, its flesh was easy game. Tim continued tearing through it and came out all the way from its beak!

    ~SPLASH~

    A massive wave spread out from the copse of the Octopus while Tim flew back out from the water.

    ~RIIIIIII~

    Tim let out a cry of victory as a burst of aura spread from him. All those that felt his aura at that moment, saw an illusion. To them, it was as if a great conqueror was present there, having in a beast.

    It seemed rather strange, as the conqueror was none other than another beast.

    But Lin Wu who saw the illusion, knew that the conqueror was none other than one of Tim''s past reincarnations.

    ''So this is what Huang Weisheng meant by the effects will start to show.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Lin Wu still didn''t know exactly how Tim''s past bloodlines will reflect, but from what he could see now, it was possibly a partial representation of the bloodlines. Of course, not all of them will appear, as the weak ones will simply get wiped away.

    Only the truly strong ones will stay intact and show their prominence.

    "Heбн He wonбн he really won!" The people of the Wide Crag kingdom who were watching though couldn''t care less about the illusion.

    To them, it didn''t matter if it was a beast who had killed the Cruel Helm Octopus or a conqueror. All that mattered to them was the fact that the Cruel Helm octopus was finally dead. The being that had been threatening their existence for literally thousands of years was finally dead.

    ~SHUA~

    But just as they were all rejoicing, a faint wave of energy spread from the corpse of the Cruel Helm Octopus. A momentter, a translucent figure flew out of its corpse.

    "Finish your work Tim." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Can I eat it?" Tim asked first.

    "You may as well have it. The Nascent soul will dissipate anyways." Lin Wu permitted.

    "YAY!" Tim directly pounced on the Nascent soul, not even letting it adapt to its surroundings.

    Tim directly opened his mouth wide and swallowed the Nascent soul whole. The Cruel Helm Octopus''s existence was truly erased now, with only its corpse left behind as proof that it ever existed.

    "Let''s get this finished then." Lin Wu waved his tail, generating gusts of wind.

    The wind swirled and collected all the severed body parts of the Cruel Helm Octopus and brought it to the shore. Once there, the wind turned into a cyclone and quickly lifted it up onto the cliff and then to the snowy ins behind the city.

    "There we go." Lin Wu said, having finished his part of the deal.

    "Can I have more now?" Tim asked right away, drool already at the corner of his mouth.

    "You can have four tentacles, but no more." Lin Wu answered, much to the beast''s excitement.

    ~WHOOSH~<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Tim immediately flew away to im his spoils while Lin Wu got to talk to the King.

    "There you go, it''s done." Lin Wu said to King Yun Guiren.

    The man seemed to not havee to terms with the situation yet. It took the shaking of several people for him to finally gather his wits.

    "Y-yesбн it''s actually overбн" Despite seeing the proof right in front of him, the man had a hard time believing it.

    Only when he went to touch the corpse did he confirm it.

    "AHAHAHA! ITS DEAD! THE DEVIL IS DEAD!" The kingughed out loud.

    "THE CRUEL HELM OCTOPUS IS DEAD!"

    "THE CRUEL HELM OCTOPUS IS DEAD!"

    "THE CRUEL HELM OCTOPUS IS DEAD!"

    It didn''t take long for the chants of its death to spread throughout the Cragfall city.

    "King Lin Wu, you shall forever be our saviour. Noбн Not just you, The Myriad Obsidian Weasel shall be out patron too!" The king proimed.

    "All hail King Lin Wu!"

    "All Hail the Myriad Obsidian Weasel!"

    Lin Wu basked in the praises of all, while Tim didn''t care at all. The weasel was pleased by simply having more food to eat. Right now, he was busy stuffing his face with some fresh octopus sashimi.

    It didn''t take long for him to finish the portion that was allotted to him either.

    "King Lin Wu, I have a request." The first prince asked with hesitation.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu looked down at the prince, who seemed to be rather anxious. "What is it?" he didn''t mind listening to them.

    After all, Lin Wu had basically obtained an entire kingdom now. A few minor requests were basically nothingpared to that.

    "Can we keep the hooks from the Cruel Helm Octopus'' tentacles?" the prince asked.

    Lin Wu then recalled that these hooks used to be prized for fishing in the past and were really sturdy.

    "Sure. It''ll help improve your fishing industry again, right?" Lin Wu agreed.

    "YES! Thank you King Lin Wu!" The prince and others were really happy hearing it.

    Their generation had only heard about the stories of their elders, about how they used the barbed hooks of the Cruel Helm Octopus to catch aquatic beasts. But ever since the beast grew stronger, that was no longer possible.

    And now that the aquatic beasts had been driven away by the Cruel Helm Octopus'' attack, fishing would only get harder. It would take a year or so before the ocean beasts might finally return to near their city.

    "King Lin Wu, we''ll prepare a banquet for you. Please stay over for another day." King Yun Guiren requested.

    "Sure, that won''t be an issue." Lin Wu said before looking at the Octopus corpse in the distance. "Thoughбн can you cook that for me?" he asked next.

    "Of course! It''ll be our greatest pleasure and vindication as well!" The king agreed right away.

 Chapter 1065 A Banquet After Many Years

    The echo of songs and cheers could be heard throughout the Cragfall city as a massive banquet was held.

    For the first time in several years, the Cragfall city was having a banquet of this level. Before this, evenmon celebrations like birthdays were not done due to theck of normal resources.

    After all, even obtaining food was bing tough for the people and they were already buying a lot of it from the other kingdoms. If things kept on going as they were, it wouldn''t take long for them to bepletely bankrupt.

    But now, Lin Wu''s arrival had made it possible for them to not just survive but flourish.

    The death of the Cruel Helm Octopus alone would have been enough, but Lin Wu was going beyond that and had offered to provide them a steady supply chain. After all, this kingdom was now his own and it didn''t make sense to let the people suffer.

    It would be the same as letting his own livestock die.

    Lin Wu was not about to make a loss like that.

    As the banquet progressed, the people got drunk and stuffed themselves with food. Lin Wu too got his portion of the food, which was the biggest one.

    "Looks good." Lin Wu said as he gazed at the various dishes that had been prepared for him.

    The Cruel Helm octopus had been prepared in the form of several dishes, ranging from deep fried tentacles, to octopus balls and pancakes. Its head on the other hand, was grilled to perfection and was smelling rather tantalizing.

    "Please, King Lin Wu." King Yun Guiren gestured for him to start. "We hope that you will enjoy this."

    Lin Wu gave a nod before starting to eat.

    It had taken hundreds of people of the Cragfall city to cook such a massive amount of meat at once. And yet, they had managed to do it properly in the end.

    ''They are rather skilled in making octopus huh... Guess that makes sense since fishing is their main industry.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he started eating.

    He enjoyed every dish and savored every bite of it.

    But this was merely the start of his enjoyment, as the System notification also started to pop up. Lin Wu was gaining a lot from eating the Cruel Helm Octopus.

    Lin Wu ignored most of themon notifications that showed the Vital Energy gain and Spirit Qi gain as he had such arge amount of it stored that he didn''t really need to worry about it.

    Not to mention, he also had a steady supply of it due to the people ''farming'' it all for him using his weapons as well as the regr battles over time.

    His Chimeric skills were hard at work and was quickly improving it. Lin Wu confirmed that eating an Immortal Ascension realm beast provided the best benefits.

    It didn''t take long for the smaller notifications to be swept away by a major one.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL PROFICIENCY INCREASED: Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Novice -> Intermediate )

    INNATE SKILL UPDATED: Chimeric Organogenesis (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    COMPOSITION: 1. w Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    2. Tentacle Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    3. Fin Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    4. Thorn Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    5. Spike Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    6. Carapace Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    7. Wing Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    8. Fur Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    9. Membrane Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    10. Eye Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    11. Scale Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    12. Limb Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    13. Internal Organ Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate) <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    14. Bone Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    15. Feather Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    16. Slime Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    17. dder Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    18. nt Bark Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    19. nt Stem Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    20. Sap Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    21. nt Leaf Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

    22. Sucker Generation (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate) [new]

    бкбк

    "Ahahah! Not only did the Proficiency increase but a new sub skill was added too!" Lin Wu was pleased.

    He could already feel his body improving internally. While he already had the tentacle generation skill, it wasn''t exactly the same kind of tentacle as that of an octopus of a squid. It was a in tentacle with no suckers.

    But now that Lin Wu had consumed the Cruel Helm Octopus, it had allowed him to develop the suckers as well.

    ''Looks like it isn''t just the suckers from octopus either, the skills have umted all different kinds of suckers, from octopus, squid, jelly fishes, remora fishes and more.'' Lin Wu looked into the details of the skill, finding it to be rather varied.

    This was to be expected though, after all the Chimeric Organogenesis only gave a new sub skill when a sufficient variants of it were umted. And in the current case, it was evident that the gain had been big enough to trigger proficiency increase as well.

    But this was not the end of notifications.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    INNATE SKILL PROFICIENCY INCREASED: Chimeric Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Intermediate -> Expert )

    INNATE SKILL: Chimeric Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    COMPOSITION: 1. Fire Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    2. Water Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    3. Earth Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    4. Metal Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    5. Wood Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    6. Wind Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    7. Shadow Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    8. Darkness Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    9. Poison Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    10. Ice Resistance (Great) (Proficiency: Expert)

    бкбк

    "Another one!" Lin Wu got even more excited.

    Chimeric Resistance was one of his important defensive skills. It was the entire reason why he could simply tank most of the attacks. It prevented him from being affected by several different elements.

    ''This had not upgraded for a while tooбн it took the longest time. Guess the Cruel Helm Octopus was finally enough to trigger the upgrade.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He reckoned that this was not the end though, and that he would be getting more gains soon.

    ''Let''s finish all this up first.'' Lin Wu thought.

 Chapter 1066 Traveling To Steel Frost Island

    Soon, Lin Wu had consumed all of the Cruel Helm Octopus and its final effects were showing themselves.

    Lin Wu could feel the change to be rather faint, but it was still there.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    RECORDED DAO TRACES: 17 Detected

    1. Fire Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    2. Water Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%] [Updated]

    3. Earth Dao Trace [Compatibility: 96%]

    4. Wood Dao Trace [Compatibility: 86%]

    5. Metal Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    6. Wind Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    7. Lightning Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    8. Light Dao Trace [Compatibility: 26%]

    9. Darkness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 11%]

    10. Shadow Dao Trace [Compatibility: 19%]

    11. Spear Dao Trace [Compatibility: 38%]

    12. Beast Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%]

    13. Formation Dao Trace [Compatibility: 40%]

    14. Sword Dao Trace [Compatibility: 35%]

    15. Poison Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    16. Assimtion Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%]

    17. Upheaval Dao Trace (Main Body) [Compatibility: 100%]

    18. Sharpness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 50%]

    бкбк

    "Just as I thought. The final improvement was in the Dao Traces." Lin Wu muttered.

    Hispatibility with the Water Dao Trace had risen by 30%!

    It was certainly a massive increase and while it didn''t reach the extremes in the 90''s it was still rather good. With this, Lin Wu would be able to sense the water element a lot better and would even be able to add several skills rted to it.

    ''Even a slight improvement in the Dao Traces is good, after all.'' Lin Wu thought.

    No one noticed the improvement in Lin Wu, as it was simply impossible for them now. Even an Immortal Ascension realm cultivator would not detect something like this. After all, the system could hide all energy fluctuations now.

    The banquetsted all night, but Lin Wu was mostly done with it. He stayed within the auditorium for the most part, and let the others do as they pleased.

    Tim was also asleep out in the snow, and had turned into a small hill with all the snow piling up on him. Though the cold didn''t really bother the weasel and he slept soundly after having consumed the meat of the Cruel Helm Octopus.

    "He''ll probably improve again." Lin Wu muttered as he saw the light appearing in the distant sky.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Dawn was about to arrive.

    Lin Wu watched the sun rise and based in its warmth before deciding to leave. He simply flew up and sent a message to King Yun Guiren that he''ll contact them againter. He didn''t want to take more time talking to them thus decided to take this approach.

    "Wake up Tim." Lin Mu called out, but the beast didn''t move.

    ~THUD~

    Lin Wu then smacked the weasel, copsing the snow hill and sending the beast flying away. Tim flew for a couple hundred meters before he finally opened his eyes and calmlynded on the snow covered ins.

    "We''re leaving?" The beast asked.

    "Yup, let''s go. Time to see how the Steel Frost Ind is doing." Lin Wu said before rising up again.

    ~KIII~

    Tim let out a low cry before flying alongside Lin Wu.

    The system had already charted out a route for Lin Wu to take and ording to it, it would take them a few more days to reach the location. Lin Wu didn''t mind it of course, and took this opportunity to look for more beasts and other materials along the way.

    In all, it took them about five more days before they finally arrived at the mountains that surrounded the Steel Frost Ind.

    They were currently standing on top of one of the mountains and were looking over in the distance.

    "These are certainly the tallest mountains in the Long Continent." Lin Wu said as he gazed at the clouds underneath him.

    There was ayer of clouds that might be over a kilometer thick. It prevented anyone from seeing what was below, and the only other locations that were visible were the handful of mountain peaks that were simrly tall.

    "This doesn''t really allow to see. Not much of a vantage point." Lin Wu said, while Tim simply watched on with no expression in its eyes.

    "Let''s make this clear then, shall we?" Lin Wu said before he raised his tail.

    ~SHUA~

    Wind spirit Qi gathered around it while a dense amount of spirit Qi poured into it. Lin Mu also used his innate skills and transformed the shape of his tail into a wide fan.

    Once that was done, he wrapped around the peak, and aimed his fan like tail at the clouds below.

    ~WHOOSH~

    With a single stroke, Lin Wu sent such a strong gust of wind that it wiped away all the clouds that were below. The clouds were sent flying forward at a great speed.

    But Lin Wu didn''t just stop there. He kept on waving the fan like tail and sent forth gusts of winds that were possibly on the level of hurricanes!

    ~whistle~

    "Now that''s a great view." Lin Wu let out a whistle as he gazed at the stunningndscape below.

    Hiding behind the nket of clouds was a snow coveredndscape that easily stretched for hundreds of kilometer. And in the distance, once could see what looked like a sheet of frozen water.

    Lin Wu knew this was theke that housed the Steel Frost Ind.

    "So this is the Circle Peak Lake." Lin Wu muttered. "It''s almost the size of a small sea, in a sense."

    Theke had a diameter of over a hundred kilometer too, thus it wasn''t that far to call it a small sea. Though thiske was currently frozen solid, allowing one to talk over it.

    And at the center of thiske stood none other than the Steel Frost Ind. The ind wasposed of a small mountain, around which arge stone castle was built. And at the base of the castle, several small viges and towns could be seen.

    This was the only legal independent city-state in the Long Continent, the Steel Frost Ind that not many ever got to see.

 Chapter 1067 A Persistent Storm

    Lin Wu looked at the Steel Frost Ind for a couple minutes, before deciding to head there.

    The two beasts flew towards the Ind and were met with several people staring up at the sky. It was clear that they had been drawn out due to the sudden change in the weather. After all, Lin Wu had blown away what was basically a snowstorm.

    "Look! Beasts!"

    "Alert the guards!"

    The people in the Steel Frost Ind didn''t take long to react and quickly got into battle stations. Though once Lin Wu got close enough, the people realized that he was no normal beast. After all, there weren''t many other beasts like Lin Wu that had a crystalline body.

    "HALT! Lower your weapons!" Soon a loud order was hearding from the top of the castle.

    The voice was heard clearly by every person on the Steel Frost Ind, and it spread to each corner of the ind. It was evident that the person who had given out the order had used his cultivation base to amplify his voice.

    Lin Wu had sensed the spirit Qi fluctuations already and knew that the person was at the Dao Shell realm.

    ''Interestingбн they''re certainly stronger than the king of the Wide Crag Kingdom.'' Lin Wu had not expected this.

    ~SHUA~

    Lin Wu finally saw a middle aged man appearing on the top of the castle. He was wearing a steel armor that had unique rune markings and was wearing a thick bear fur cape.

    "I, Geng Zi the lord of the Steel Frost Ind greet Beast King Lin Wu of the Millennium Forest kingdom!" The middle aged man said out loud.

    He made sure that his voice reached each person on the ind. This served two purposes.

    The first was that it gave respect to Lin Wu, and the second was that it ayed the fear and anxiety of the inhabitants of the ind. After all, the appearance of tworge beasts with unknown cultivation bases was bound to cause unrest.

    Lin Wu observed the man, and did a quick assessment of him.

    ''He seems to be totally fine. His cultivation base is also stable and he has no hidden injuries.'' Lin Wu assessed.

    He did this to see what was the difference between the Wide Crag Kingdom and the Steel Frost Ind.

    After all, both were powers of roughly the same level, but the Steel Frost Ind was just an independent city-state unlike the other which was a kingdom. At the same time, the lord of the Steel Frost Ind seemed to have a higher cultivation base than King Yun Guiren.

    At first Lin Wu thought that this lord might be older than the king, but that turned out to be wrong. The lord of the Steel Frost Ind was actually younger than King Yun Guiren and also had a higher cultivation base.

    Not just that, but the overall condition of his body seemed to be good too.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Greetings, Lord Geng Zi." Lin Wu spoke in a calm tone, making the man feel a bit relieved. "I see that I''ve caused a little troubleing here."

    "It''s nothing King Lin Wu. I am pleased by your presence." Lord Geng Zi replied. "Or rather we must thank you for giving us this clear sky today." The man said with gratitude.

    "I just wanted to take a clear look at this ce, so I did a little clearing." Lin Wu said nonchntly.

    "Well, I still need to thank you for that. It has been bothering us for a while now." Lord Geng Zi said in a tired tone.

    "Oh?" Lin Wu didn''t miss out on that, wondering if this was behind the Steel Frost Ind''s situation.

    "We''ll talk more. You cannd in our training grounds." Lord Geng Zi suggested.

    "Sure." Lin Wu epted and went around the castle,nding at the empty training grounds that were big enough for both him and Tim.

    With that done, Lord Geng Zi went to therge balcony that was located on the side of the training grounds. It was used for observing the guards while they trained and also gave one a great view of the Circle Peak Lake beyond it along with the mountains.

    "I aming here after visiting Wide Crag Kingdom, Lord Geng Zi." Lin Wu decided to lead with that. "I''ve helped resolve their problems with the Cruel Helm Octopus and I''m here to do the same for you." He directly offered.

    Hearing this Lord Geng Zi was stunned, but then a wide smile appeared on his face.

    "HAHAHA! I have to greatly thank you for this King Lin Wu." Lord Geng Ziughed.

    Lin Wu then told Lord Geng Zi about the agreement he had made with the Wide Crag Kingdom and that they were now under him. Lord Geng Zi didn''t take long to ept the same offer and was d that he would still get to lead his people here.

    "So can you tell me what the thing troubling you is? It''s not another beast is it?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "Noбн if it was a beast at least we would have been able to put up a resistance against it. But what we''re up against is the force of nature." Lord Geng Zi answered.

    "Force of Nature? You mean that snow storm?" Lin Wu questioned in doubt.

    "Yesбн that Snow Storm has been persistently troubling us for years now. It wouldst for months on end, and would only clear up for a day or two before resuming. It would cause non stop snow fall, as well as hail on some days.

    It ruined a lot of the spirit herbs were were raising as well as our harvest of Spirit Snow Berries have been stopped for the past two years." Lord Geng Zi exined.

    "Hmmmбн can''t you just forcefully dispel it yourself? Even if you are at the Dao Shell realm, you should have enough power to at least clear out a part of the clouds." Lin Wu asked next.

 Chapter 1068 The History Of The Steel Frost Island

    Lin Wu didn''t know why Lord Geng Zi hadn''t taken the matters into his own hands. Even if the man wasn''t able to do it directly with his own strength, there were still formation arrays and other spirit tools that could be taken help of.

    "Of course, I''ve tried that. But this storm is strange. It is very thick and returns quickly even after I try to blow it away several times." Lord Geng Zi replied. "It is only you who has managed to clear out the entire Circle Peak Lake like this." He added.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu was now even more confused.

    "And you took help from other powers too?" Lin Wu inquired.

    "I did indeed. The storm is too persistent. Even if we wipe away a part of it, it will soon return." Lord Geng Zi spoke. "It was never like this in the past. This is something that only started in the recent decade." He stated.

    "I seeбн" Lin Wu furrowed his brows. "Snow storms aremon though here, right?" he asked.

    "They are indeed. But none like this. The snow from this storm has extremely chilly energy that prates all crops and herbs. Most of them die due to it and even my people are easily frostbitten if they are not careful." Lord Geng Zi answered.

    "This happens to cultivators too?" Lin Wu asked further.

    "Yes. Even they have a hard time dispelling this cold energy." Lord Geng Zi replied.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu knew that it was not simple.

    "Strangeбн" Lin Wu looked around, trying to see if there was anything unusual here but could not.

    ''System do a deep scan of the area first.'' Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    AREA SELECTED: Circle Peak Lake

    SCANNING: please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    While the system did its task, Lin Wu decided to talk to the Lord about the details.

    "Tell me how it all started." Lin Wu stated.

    "Like I said, this first started nearly a decade ago. A snow storm appeared, that simply didn''t go away for a month. We were confused since the storm hade during the summer time, when there are no such storms.

    Even if our climate is freezing in the summers, there still aren''t storms like these. The cold clouds blowing in from the ocean are stopped by the mountain peaks after all and pass around it, rather than covering ournd.

    We found the storm to be strange, but still got through it. It didn''t have the same cold energy like before, thus we just thought of it to be some random weather event.

    But as the year passed, such unexpected storms becamemon. And the more time passed, the longer they got.

    Eventually they started to get colder and the strange cold energy appeared. It killed our people, our crops and our livestock. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    I searched for its causes but was unable to find anything after all these years." Lord Geng Zi narrated in an emotional tone.

    Lin Wu carefully listened to it all, and wondered just how it all could have happened.

    ''It happened ten years ago, so this is very recent aspared to the Wide Crag Kingdom''s problem. Hmmбн this urred right around the time I also started to expand my scope of power.'' Lin Wu tried to see the time line.

    The system also assisted him and showed him a record of all things that had happened all around the world in that time duration. Lin Wu tried to see if there were any links or information about this weather phenomena, but did not find it.

    "What do you think, is the most likely cause system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Considering all the parameters and the localization of this snow storm, the system concludes that this is the side effect of a Natural treasure that might have appeared in this area. It should belong to the ice element and is causing this storm.

    бкбк

    Seeing this, Lin Wu found it to be likely.

    "Have you thought about there being a natural treasure being born here?" Lin Wu asked Lord Geng Zi.

    "I did think about that. The sudden change in the weather did seem like something that could be caused due to that, but my searches still came out to be empty. If there really is such a treasure, it must be really well hidden." Lord Geng Zi replied.

    "Seems like I''ll have to take a deeper look then." Lin Wu said before activating his Radiation Perception.

    His gaze pierced through the thick ice below them, and tried to look for anything suspicious.

    ''If Lord Geng Zi was unable to find it even after all this time, it is bound to be under theke.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    The Circle Peak Lake was well known to be frozen all throughout the year. In fact, it was said that ever since the people of the Steel Frost Ind settled here, thiske was always frozen.

    They were said to havee from an ind in the ocean originally.

    They shifted here after their ind started to sink due to a natural cmity and moved to the Long Continent. After struggling to pass through the mountains, they eventually reached the Circle Peakke.

    Of course, in their time, theke was hidden underneath thickyer of snow thus they didn''t even know it was ake. To them, the ind at the center was the same as a oasis that had food for them.

    They eventually settled here and grew to find out that they were actually located over ake.

    Ever since then the people of the Steel Frost Ind simply stayed here and were only discovered in the recent two hundred years. They were very new inhabitants of the Long Continent and were thus given freedom for the most part from the other powers.

    Even the Long n approved of them being a indentation city state and didn''t mind their existence. After all, the Steel Frost Ind didn''t really have much that would interest the other powers.

    Plus their location ensured that no one was interested ining so far.

 Chapter 1069 A Salt Water Lake

    Lin Wu looked around theke with his Radiation perception turned to the max.

    But despite that, he was still unable to see the bottom of theke.

    "Strangeбн" Lin Wu muttered.

    At his cultivation base, his Radiation Perception was strong enough to pierce through kilometer of solid rock. But now, it was unable to see through theke.

    "How deep is theke?" Lin Wu questioned the lord.

    "Weбн don''t know." Lord Geng Zi answered.

    "You don''t?" Lin Wu was surprised.

    "We''ve excavated several chunks of theke and have even built storage in it, but we still haven''t hit the bottom. Even my senses can''t go below a kilometer." Lord Geng Zi answered.

    "A Kilometer deep? That''s a bit too much for ake, isn''t it?" Lin Wu said, thinking that this might not be a normalke.

    He was reminded of his experience with the Aqua Dream Sea Lotus. He had found the nt beast when he had met Tim for the first time and the beast had appeared in ake that was attached to the ocean from underwater channels.

    Lin Wu wondered if it was the same for thiske too.

    "The easiest way to confirm is to check the salinity." Lin Wu reckoned.

    Salt would usually be removed from the ice when water froze, and only a very small amount of it would actually be left in the frozen sea water. Lin Wu got system do to a quick salinity test, which showed him that there was actually no salt in the ice.

    "It''s all fresh water ice?" Lin Wu was confused at first, but then recalled the history of the Steel Frost Ind. ''Wait, thiske has been frozen for a long time. The freshwater ice probably rises up with the salt water being left deep. Also with the snow that falls and getspacted, the level of ice would never actually decrease.'' He thought.

    The Circle Peak Lake was like a cross between Sea Ice and a cier.

    This allowed Lin Wu to form a hypothesis that the reason behind the unique situation of the Steel Frost Ind might also be underneath it all. Lin Wu was sure it wasn''t anywhere on the surface or in the mountains, as the system had already ruled them out in the scan.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    NOTIFICATION: A potential anomaly has been found.

    бкбк

    "It did find it, good." Lin Wu looked at the map and saw a new marker appearing.

    The marker was located severalyers deep, showing that it was indeed underneath theke.

    "Seems like I know where the source of this weather is, Lord Geng Zi." Lin Wu spoke to the man.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "You do?!" The man was stunned at the speed at which Lin Wu had found it.

    "Yesбн it''s under theke." Lin Wu revealed. "That is also why you''ve been unable to find it."

    "I seeбн but if its under theke, that basically means we won''t be able to do much to it." Lord Geng Zi replied. "Even I was unable to break the ice after a certain point. It bes extremely dense, plus new ice is formed soon after." He added.

    "That''s ording to what I thought too. Thiske isn''t actually a fresh waterke." Lin Wu stated. "It is actually a saltwaterke that is connected to the ocean."

    "We would have never thought that. All these years we were sure that it was a freshwaterke since the ice tasted normal." Lord Geng Zi was baffled.

    Though Lin Wu knew this was to be expected. After all, even if cultivators were quite strong, many stillcked the knowledge about certain scientific principles.

    "Don''t worry, I can still get to the bottom of theke." Lin Wu assured with confidence.

    "If you really can solve our problem, we''ll be forever grateful to you King Lin Wu." Lord Geng Zi stated with emotion.

    Lin Wu gave a little nod, before checking the location on map and preparing a route.

    "I''ll get started on it then. No use in waiting." Lin Wu''s task was something he was extremely used to.

    "Drilling is something I''m an expert it." Lin Wu stated. "If I proim to be second, no one can im to be first in this world!"

    With that deration, Lin Wu transformed his tail into a drill shape and gathered Sapphire Qi in it. He first coated it with the piercing Sapphire Qi then infused Fire spirit Qi in it, to further melt the ice.

    Soon, Lin Wu''s crystal tail was glowing in a mix of Blue and red lights. The two lights swirled as his tail started to turn.

    Lord Geng Zi watched with awe as Lin Wu rose his tail high before stabbing it straight into the ice.

    ~SCREECH~

    An awful screeching sound was heard as Lin Wu''s tail effortlessly drilled into the ice. Everyone on the Steel Frost Ind heard the screech and got a headache from it.

    Thankfully the noise didn''tst long, as Lin Wu''s tail had already gone a over two hundred meters deep. Now all they could hear was the rumbling of the ground that was apanied by faint vibrations.

    Lin Wu continued to drill and let his entire body enter the hole he had made. The chilly ice was nothing to him and he could effortlessly continue his work.

    Lord Geng Zi followed down the hole, once Lin Wu had gone over five hundred meters deep. His body was quite wide, so it was no issue for the man to freely descend through the hole.

    They kept on going deeper, and at the two kilometer mark Lord Geng Zi started to feel incredibly cold.

    "This coldбн this is the same chill as that of the snow storm!" Lord Geng Zi said out loud. "Not just that but its a lot stronger here."

    "That just confirms that whatever is causing the weather is down there." Lin Wu''s voice trailed over to the man''s ears.

    They continued to go deeper, but after a certain point Lord Geng Zi couldn''t endure the cold.

 Chapter 1070 Dark Ice And Air Pocket

    The cold in the depths was strong enough to pierce through the defenses of the lord.

    Despite his cultivation base he was unable to endure the chill which was stunning as even freezing temperatures were bearable by those at the Nascent soul too as long as they actively defended against it.

    This proved that the chilly energy from this area was not just simple cold. It was on another level.

    ''Interestingбн it can actually pierce through defenses simr to the Sapphire Qi.'' Lin Wu took note.

    Even the system whirred into work and quickly started analyzing it. The more data it gathered, the better its chances at improving the Undaunted Sapphire meridian Art after all. It was also one of the cultivation technique that was unable to be integrated into the Chimeric Revolution technique.

    It was simply at a different level and could not meld well with the others. The system had told Lin Wu that it needed a lot more data to do so, whether it be from external sources or by Lin Wu''s own cultivation and improving of the technique.

    "I''ll take care of that," Lin Wu spoke to Lord Geng Zi.

    The man was surprised at a coat of energy surrounding it. It was rather warm and easily cut off the chilly energy that was entering his body.

    "Thank you, King Lin Wu." The man said with gratitude.

    He knew the horror of this chilly energy. It was difficult for even him to expel it, especially at the rate that it was entering here. If he was exposed to it for any longer, he might have reached an irreversible point and ended up sumbing to it.

    ''Hmmбн So Radiation can still block it. That''s good.'' Lin Wu noted.

    The energy that was coating Lord Geng Zi was none other than Lin Wu''s radiation. He had only used a limited amount to make a thin coat around the man. With his current proficiency of the Radiation Maniption innate skill, this was simple.

    But to Lord Geng Zi it was quite stunning. As he realized his spirit Qi couldn''t get past this coat either.

    "Iбн can''t use my spirit sense?" Lord Geng Zi was stunned.

    "That''ll have to be for now. My skill blocks energies from both sides." Lin Wu replied.

    "Ahбн I see." Lord Geng Zi nodded his head.

    Feeling relived that he hadn''t lost his ability to use spirit sense, he continued after Lin Wu.

    A short whileter, they finally reached a new level of theke.

    "The iceбн It''s turned dark." Lord Geng Zi was baffled.

    Lin Wu saw it too and found it unusual. His sprint sense tried to enter this new type of ice, but was blocked after just a few meters.

    ''System does your senses work for this?'' Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Possible

    SCAN: Completed

    NOTIFICATION: A new mixture of energy has been found!

    ANALYZING: Please wait patientlyбн<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    бкбк

    "At least you can still analyze it." Lin Wu was fine with that.

    He continued to drill through the ice and continued downwards. The temperature had continued to fall and was below 100 degree Celsius. Lin Wu reckoned this was the lowest temperature he had encountered so far that was naturally present.

    ''Perhaps only the skills of Patriarch Bing and Guardian Yun Bai can reach this level of cold.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    By now, drilling had be a bit slower as even Lin Wu found the ice getting tougher.

    ''It''s not just the iceбн that energy in it is also resisting the drilling.'' Lin Wu noticed.

    He focused his senses on the ice when it was drilled and discovered that the energy contained within the ice was actively trying to refreeze the ice while also trying to slow down Lin Wu''s tail itself.

    If not for the Sapphire Qi, Fire Qi and radiation coating Lin Wu''s tail, it would have already entered Lin Wu''s body.

    Still, Lin Wu didn''t stop and continued drilling.

    ~CRUMBLE~

    A new sound was heard and Lin Wu suddenly felt like he had struck air.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu noticed that there was no ice after this point. "An air pocket?"

    He checked the depth and discovered that he was over 3500 meters deep now.

    Lord Geng Zi couldn''t tell why Lin Wu had stopped and didn''t know that they had encountered a new area either. After all, there was Lin Wu''srge body blocking the way.

    "What''s the issue, King Lin Wu?" Lord Geng Zi questioned.

    To this, Lin Wu didn''t respond but simply descended further. Just a few secondster, Lord Geng Zi saw a vast empty space below them.

    "What in the name of heavensбн" The man was stunned.

    There were shimmering lights floating in the air as well as a few that were spread on the ground.

    "Just how big is this?" The man couldn''t tell.

    The shimmering lights could be seen all around them, with no end to be seen.

    "This is much bigger than the entire Circle Peak Lake. I reckon this extended northwards to the ocean." Lin Wu could see this in the system''s map.

    This area was over nine hundred kilometers, and this was just what was within the system''s current range. It was likely to be a lot bigger, but couldn''t be seen due to the interference.

    "How did we never know thisбн Wait! If this is arge holeбн then why is theke above this? Shouldn''t it have fallen?" Lord Geng Zi couldn''t figure it out.

    "This seems to be an air pocket." Lin Wu replied. "Its hard to tell when or how this was created. But the water should have filled this part too. I can sense more ice below us and it extends to the north." He exined.

    Lord Geng Zi didn''t know what to think of that, and was lost in thought. Lin Wu continued to descend and soon reached the floor that was a mix of ice and rocks.

    This was the first time he was seeing something that wasn''t just solid ice.

 Chapter 1071 Ice Light Lichen

    Lin Wu and Lord Geng Zi now stood in a vast space that was illuminated by shimmering surfaces.

    "What is this ce?" Lord Geng Zi questioned looking at the shimmering lights.

    Lin Wu was wondering the same and extended his Spirit sense to take a quick look at them. The first that he checked were the shimmering particle that were floating in the air. The system was also scanning it and would be ready soon.

    "Spores?" It didn''t take long for Lin Wu to identify them.

    While they were glowing, their actual structure was simr to many other spores that Lin Wu had seen.

    ''These are not fungal spores for sure.'' Lin Wu could tell from the structure after a deeper look.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Ice Light Lichen Spores

    INFO: Ice Light Lichen is a special kind of lichen that only grows in freezing temperatures. It is a rare type of Lichen and is used for making alchemical pills as well as a cultivation resources.

    Due to temperature needed for its growth, the Ice Light Lichen is mostly found in frozen worlds or in the pr regions of thes.

    бкбк

    "Lichen Sporesбн So that''s why they seemed different." This was Lin Wu''s first time finding a lichen like this that had turned into a cultivation material.

    He looked through the extended details of the Ice Light Lichen and found that it had quite the varied uses even among the alchemical pills and cultivation. It could make special life preserving pills that could prevent one from dying at thest moment by freezing themselves.

    Then there was the direct use as a ice elemental cultivation tonic, that would be quite useful for those that practiced techniques of that element as well as beasts that were of Ice element.

    Lin Wu turned his gaze to the shimmering surface below and saw the Ice Light lichen properly. It had the same form as normal lichen except the fact that it had a beautiful blue light that emitted from it.

    The shimmering effect was seen as the light flickered from time to time.

    ''Electroluminescent Lichen huhбн Guess I still got a lot of things to see.'' Feeling amazed by it, Lin Wu knew that this was a good discovery. ''Considering the uses of the Ice Light Lichen and the sheer amount that''s present here, the Steel Frost Ind will now have a good import.'' He thought.

    But in the end, the true benefits from it wille back to Lin Wu. After all, the conditions of his agreement were that the Steel Frost Ind would being under his reign after he helped them out solve their problem.

    Lord Geng Zi had been looking at Lin Wu, wondering what the beast was thinking about. At the very least, he could tell that Lin Wu had already identified what this material was.

    "What is all this, King Lin Wu?" Lord Geng Zi asked.

    "You have a great opportunity, Lord Geng Zi." Lin Wu replied positively. "This is Ice Light Lichen which is an excellent cultivation material." He revealed.

    "Ice Light Lichen?" Lord Geng Zi furrowed his brows and tired to remember anything about it, but couldn''t do so. "I''ve never heard or seen this before." <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "That is expected. This isn''t something that should be found here normally." Lin Wu the told Lord Geng Zi a bit about the lichen as well as the conditions for its growth.

    After hearing it all, Lord Geng Zi quickly understood that the frost energy here might be the reason why it had managed to grow this much.

    "So is this what is behind the chill?" Lord Geng Zi couldn''t help but ask.

    While he could see the financial prospects of having this, he also knew that if the Ice Light Lichen would harm them, it would not be reasonable to harvest them every time. After all, it was only due to Lin Wu''s protection that he was actually managing to stay alive right now.

    The chilly energy was still permeating the air and the dark ice was a testament to that.

    It was this very dark ice that formed a contrast to the Ice Light Lichen, making its blue glow even more beautiful.

    "While the Ice Light Lichen is indeed a material of the Ice Element, it isn''t behind this chilly energy." Lin Wu replied much to the man''s surprise. "Though the growth of the Ice Light Lichen to this extent is certainly due to the chilly energy."

    "Then what is causing the chill?" Lord Geng Zi was confused.

    "That is yet to be foundбн but we shouldn''t be far from it." Lin Wu spoke.

    His radiation perception was still active and he could see a clear gradient around him. Deeper toward the northern section, Lin Wu could see several ''colorless'' parts. These colorless spots were small, but couldn''t escape Lin Wu''s keen eye.

    And just as he found that, Lin Wu heard the system''s notification.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS: Completed

    UNKNOWN ENERGY: Identified

    INFO: The cold energy dispersed in the air is a mixture of Vital essence, along with Yin and Ice elemental Qi. Its unique ratio has led to the formation of a new kind of energy that matches the records of the Skull God. This energy is called as the Dark Frost Energy and is one of the energies that the Skull god''s main body could use.

    бкбк

    Having learned this Lin Wu finally realized why it felt a bit familiar yet different.

    ''So it was from the Skull god''s repertoireбн did he nt whatever exists here too?'' Lin Wu couldn''t help but wonder.

    After all, the memories of the Skull God''s avatar weren''t exactlyplete and there were still many things that he had done in the past.

    It was also possible that what Lin Wu was sensing here was not rted to the Skull god at all.

    "Let''s see what''s the real cause behind the troubles of the Steel Frost Ind." Lin Wu said while taking note of the new kind of energy.

 Chapter 1072 Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia

    Lin Wu and Lord Geng Zi went towards the source of the chill and soon came across arge nt.

    "What in theбн" Lord Geng Zi was stunned upon seeing it as well as the visible energy that was exuding from the nt.

    In front of them was arge nt that was nearly twenty meters in size. And on top of this nt grew a flower that was half of its size. The nt''s stem was a mix of brown and green simr to any normal nt, but the flower on top of it was different.

    The ten meter wide flower was a mixture of ck and dark blue color. It had several petals, each being nearly a foot wide and dark blue in color. Its central part had a spout like appearance and was the part from where the chilly energy was emanating.

    There were ck veins that went all around its base and joined up in a circr form at the peduncle.

    Lin Wu found the flower to be a bit familiar to one of the flowers of his past life.

    ''A Rafflesia flower?'' Lin Wu could see several features that matched the appearance of an actual Rafflesia from his past life.

    But he was sure that this was nothing like it. Not only was the color and appearance different, the sheer amount of energy emitting from it was also huge. It wasn''t just the Dark frost energy either that Lin Wu found surprising, but the Dao Traces that were mixed within them.

    These Dao Traces were what Lin Wu had seen as the ''colorless'' parts with his Radiation Perception.

    "What is this system?" Lin Wu wondered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER ACTIVATED: Target Selected

    SCAN COMPLETED: Target Identified

    TARGET: Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia

    INFO: The Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia is a long lived nt that is a unique existence. The stem of the nt is rich in vitality but when it flowers, the flower is chilly and emits Dark Frost Energy from it.

    The Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia''s flowers can grow to ten meters in size and when they reach maturity they would start to emit Ice Dao Traces as well. This is one of the few nts that is sought after by cultivators of the Ice Dao and they meditate near it to gainpression.

    бкбк

    ''Hohohoбн Looks like I''ll be having more gains than I thought.'' Lin Wu was already desiring to consume the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia.

    But before he did, he noted the words of the system.

    "The cultivators mediate near it but not consumeбн is there a specific reason why, system?" Lin Wu questioned knowing that there must be something more to it.

    ~DING~<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    бкбк

    ANSWER: the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia flower is extremely toxic to cultivators and will kill them due to the dense Dark frost energy within it as well as the Ice Dao Traces that are emitted from it. This is also the reason why it''s called ''Lifeless''.

    NOTE: The host can safely consume the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia flower as the same conditions do not apply to the host, due to having a different physique.

    бкбк

    "I seeбн that''s perfect then." Lin Wu was happy with this.

    He read through more details that the system had analyzed by now and learned that as long as the stem of the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia was left intact, the flower could actually regrow after years.

    And once the flower was removed, the emission of the Dark Frost energy should also fall, allowing for the concentration of it in the area to reduce and the condition of the Steel Frost Ind to improve.

    "This is what''s behind your troubles Lord Geng Zi." Lin Wu said before telling him what the flower was.

    Though Lin Wu kept a few parts of the information hidden such as the fact that it could be used to deepen one''sprehension of the Ice Dao. He simply presented the flower as a deadly nt to the man.

    "How do we solve this King Lin Wu? And if we remove this, will the Ice Light Lichen be gone too?" Lord Geng Zi inquired.

    "The temperature here will be maintained due to the Dark Frost Energy that has already permeated the ice above so the Ice Light Lichen will keep on growing for a long time. And I''ll simply get rid of the flower head, while keeping the nt intact.

    That way, it''ll grow over the years and replenish the Dark Frost Energy concentration here. I''ll also add some arrays that''ll maintain the bnce between the two, while also improving safety for your people." Lin Wu presented the solution.

    Hearing all this, Lord Geng Zi''s eyes lit up, and he nodded his head in approval.

    "Please do as you''ve said, King Lin Wu. I can''t wait for my people to have a respite from this Chill." He said with emotion in his voice.

    "Of course." Lin Wu replied before approaching the flower.

    The concentration of the Dark Frost Energy was quite high here, and even Dao Treading realm cultivators might have been frozen form it by now. Lin Wu and Lord Geng Zi were coated in a denseyer of radiation which was preventing the Dark Frost Energy from invading them.

    But even then, the radiation was being eroded over time and Lin Wu had to keep on replenishing it. While he wouldn''t run out of it anytime soon, it was still interesting to see something like this that could actually challenge it.

    ''At least I was the one who found and will take advantage of it rather than others.'' Lin Wu thought to himself as he changed the shape of his Tail.

    It took on the shape of a long sharp scalpel that shone with a sapphire colored light.

    Lin Wu didn''t add any other elemental Qi to it as he didn''t want that to affect the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia. Sapphire Qi was rtively neutral so wouldn''t cause any interaction while also allowing him to cut with ease.

 Chapter 1073 Two New Dao Traces

    Lin Wu line up his tail against the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia flower, ensuring that it would avoid the nt stem.

    ~SLICK~

    Then in one swift motion, Lin Wu''s tail cleaved through the base of the flower, separating it from the stem. As soon as that was done, the flower emitted a wave of energy, as if trying to protect itself, but Lin Wu quickly contained it by surrounding it with radiation.

    From afar it looked like a green sphere that was containing the flower within. Lord Geng Zi who saw it couldn''t help but find it rather beautiful. But at the same time, he knew that this was one of Lin Wu''s skills as the energy within it made the man shiver.

    With the flower contained, Lin Wu quickly stored it away stopping the chilly waves of energy.

    "There we go." Lin Wu said before turning to Lord Geng Zi. "That should solve your issues."

    "T-thank youбн Thank you so much, King Lin Wu." The man said with great joy. "And as promised, the Steel Frost Ind shall now be a vassal of the Millennium Forest Kingdom!" Lord Geng Zi proimed.

    Lin Wu chuckled internally, before releasing a wave of energy.

    "You should return to the ind for now. It''ll take me a while to set up the arrays. I''ll inform you when I''m done." Lin Wu stated.

    "Of course! My people will be greatly pleased, my King." The lord said changing the way he addressed Lin Wu.

    "My barrier will protect you till you leave theke. So don''t worry about the remaining Dark Frost Energy." Lin Wu added, making the man relieved.

    "I''ll wait for your news then, my King." Lord Geng Zi said before taking off.

    He left through the hole that they had entered from, allowing Lin Wu to begin his work.

    "Let''s set up a barrier first." Lin Wu''s body glowed as hundreds of runes rose from it.

    The runes linked up and turned into a barrier formation that prevented anyone from entering the area.

    "Hmmбн this ce needs a proper name tooбн" Lin Wu thought over it beforeing up with one. "Since it''ll be used for growing Ice Light Lichen, let''s just call it Ice Light caverns." He decided.

    With that done, Lin Wu let the system take over.

    ''The rest of the arrays will take more time. The system can handle that.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He now wished to do something else.

    ~SHUA~

    The Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia Flower appeared in front of him once more, as the concentration of Dark Frost energy rose once more. The Ice Dao Traces also started appearing, making the ce colder.

    "No use in waiting. Let''s just consume it and see the benefits!" Lin Wu said with a wide smile.

    That wide smile turned into a wide open maw that swallowed the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia Flower in one go.

    ~CHOMP~

    "It''s rather stiff and crunchyбн'' Contrary to its fleshy appearance, the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia Flower was actually more like ice in texture.

    Lin Wu''s thousands of spike like teeth quickly got to grinding it and his stomach got to digesting it as well. The poisonous effect of the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia Flower was still there, and while it didn''t harm Lin Wu, it did slow down the speed of digestion.

    It wasn''t an issue to Lin Wu though as he had more than enough time.

    He let his body do the work and waited for roughly six hours before the digestion waspleted. At the same time, several strings of notification popped up as the energy of the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia Flower flowed through his body.

    His innate skills of Chimeric Adaptation and Chimeric Resistance worked in unison, assimting the properties of the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia Flower. It took him a few more hours, but the system finally showed him the results.

    He could also feel it directly within his body as he could now sense the cold energies around him.

    "Just as I expectedбн" Lin Wu could guess very well what he had obtained.

    ~DING~<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    бкбк

    RECORDED DAO TRACES: 17 Detected

    1. Fire Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    2. Water Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    3. Earth Dao Trace [Compatibility: 96%]

    4. Wood Dao Trace [Compatibility: 86%]

    5. Metal Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    6. Wind Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    7. Lightning Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    8. Light Dao Trace [Compatibility: 26%]

    9. Darkness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 15%] [Updated]

    10. Shadow Dao Trace [Compatibility: 19%]

    11. Spear Dao Trace [Compatibility: 38%]

    12. Beast Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%]

    13. Formation Dao Trace [Compatibility: 40%]

    14. Sword Dao Trace [Compatibility: 35%]

    15. Poison Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    16. Assimtion Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%]

    17. Upheaval Dao Trace (Main Body) [Compatibility: 100%]

    18. Sharpness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 50%]

    19. Ice Dao Trace [Compatibility: 40%] [New]

    20. Yin Dao Trace [Compatibility: 10%] [New]

    бкбк

    The final improvement though turned out to be a lot better than he had guessed.

    "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Lin Wu watched as the number of Dao Traces that he waspatible with directly increased by two.

    Not just that but he could also see an improvement in the Darkness Dao Trace. While it was a small increment of just 4% it was still something that he wouldn''t be sad about. The greatest gain though was the two new Dao Traces he had obtained.

    "I expected the Ice Dao Trace, but the Yin Dao Trace too? Isn''t that supposed to be one of the more esoteric Dao''s that is hard to sense?" Lin Wu was shocked.

    Even if he had the Taiji Celestial''s inheritance that wasposed of both Yin and Yang, actuallyprehending their Dao''s was way more difficult than actually using their elemental Qis.

    This was the reason why Lin Wu had been unable to detect its Dao Traces so far. But the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia Flower had solved that too.

    "Looks like I''ll be able to improve my cultivation speed even more. And the Chimeric Revolution cultivation technique will also be improved." Lin Wu understood.

 Chapter 1074 A New Vassal

    Lin Wu watched the data window for a few minutes and realized another thing.

    "I stillck the Yang Dao Trace though. Once I have that, the speed of cultivating the Taiji Dual Unity Scripture should improve greatly." Lin Wu muttered, vowing to find something that could allow him to gain the Yang Dao Trace as well.

    After all, only when the Yin and Yang were in unity would the Taijie into being.

    ''Though its a shame that the Chimeric Resistance skill wasn''t upgraded.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Considering the potency of the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia Lin Wu had hoped for it, but it didn''t happen in the end. Though he could also attribute it to needing more variation in elements with increased potency.

    Having obtained the upgrade, Lin Wu fleet better and decided to focus on what his ns would be for the Ice Light Caverns.

    ''It will certainly be a ''farnd'' for us and will supply the Ice Light Lichen. So I should also get the arrays to bepatible with it.'' Lin Wu thought to himself and looked at the work that the system was doing.

    There were hundreds of runes being formed every minute and they would merge with the formation that was being developed. Once a single formation was built, it would merge with others, turning into a full scale array.

    It took about a day before the entire array was ready.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Ice Light Cavern formation array has beenpleted.

    бкбк

    "Perfect." Lin Wu said looking at thepleted array.

    ~SHUA~

    Next he created a crystal te, that would be used as the controlling formation te for the entire array.

    "This should allow them to manage the array." Lin Wu said before sending a message to Lord Geng Zi.

    The man didn''t take long to appear, and rushed to the caverns. After all to him, there was nothing more important than this. In the one day that had passed since Lin Wu got rid of the Dark Frost Lifeless Rafflesia flower, the chill in the Steel Frost Ind had already reduced.

    While it wasn''tpletely gone, it was significantly less than that.

    "King Lin Wu!" Lord Geng Zi greeted upon seeing therge beast who was surrounded by arge formation array.

    Geng Zi couldn''t help but feel even more impressed after seeing this. He merely took a single look at the array and knew that it wasn''t something that could be built in just a day.

    ''If he can do this in just a day, just what level are his formation skills?'' Lord Geng Zi wondered.

    "Ah! You''re here." Lin Wu spoke, seeing the man. "Take this." He extended the crystal te.

    "What''s this?" Lord Geng Zi asked.

    "Its the formation array control te. It''ll allow you to monitor and control the Ice Light Caverns." Lin Wu replied. "There are several more functions on it that you can look through in your own time. It will also serve as an rm if anything happens to the Ice Light Caverns." He added.

    "I seeбн thank you for this, King Lin Wu." Lord Geng Zi said with gratitude. "The Steel Frost Ind will be forever grateful to you and shall be the vassal of the Millennium Forest Kingdom from today onwards!" he proimed.

    "Have you talked to your people about that?" Lin Wu asked curiously.

    "Of course! They were pleased and were excited." Lord Geng Zi replied.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I seeбн I''ll also send over a few envoyster to discuss some deals with you. We''ll also set up a supply chain and a trade route so you can start taking benefit." Lin Wu stated.

    "That will be great!" Lord Geng Zi was excited.

    "Let''s get to the surface. I still have one more thing to do." Lin Wu said before flying up.

    Lord Geng Zi followed after him, and the two of them quickly reached the surface of theke. There hundreds of people were already waiting for him.

    "ALL HAIL KING LIN WU!"

    "ALL HAIL KING LIN WU!"

    "ALL HAIL KING LIN WU!"

    The moment they appeared, the people of the Steel Frost Ind broke out in cheers, chanting out praises of Lin Wu.

    "See, they are really pleased, King Lin Wu." Lord Geng Zi stated.

    "Indeedбн I feel pleased." Lin Wu said before looking for Tim.

    The weasel wasn''t that far from them and seemed to have made a cave of his own.

    "TIM!" Lin Wu called out.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The weasel came out of the cave and stood near Lin Wu. Fragments of ice could be seen stuck to his whiskers and fur, showing that he was eating the ice.

    "You were eating the ice directly?" Lin Wu raised his brows.

    "Yesбн It had some energy. Though it gave me a headache." Tim replied.

    "I don''t think the energy was the reason for your headache thoughбн" Lin Wu said before looking at the people who were looking at him in anticipation.

    "People of Steel Frost Ind, you are now also part of my kingdomбн as such you are also MY PEOPLE!" Lin Wu dered.

    "YEAH!!!"

    "WOOOO!"

    The people shouted loudly, their voices traveling for miles.

    "And as such, I cannot watch you all struggle here. Thusбн I''ve decided to set up a teleportation array as well!" Lin Wu announced.

    Upon hearing this, the crowd went utterly silent. After all, there was nock of cultivators in the crowd and they knew what the teleportation arrays were. They also knew just how difficult and expensive it was to set up one.

    "Reallyбн King Lin Wu, won''t that be too much?" Lord Geng Zi couldn''t believe it.

    "Yes. All my people need to have a fast method of having support. Thus the Teleportation array is a must!" Lin Wu answered. "And don''t worry about the cost, I''ll set it up myself."

    "Thank youбн" the man didn''t know what else to say.

    Lord Geng Zi got the people to leave, while Lin Wu prepared the array. It took him two more days, but it was finally done.

 Chapter 1075 Leaving The Steel Frost Island

    With the Teleportation array set up, Lin Wu sent a message to Cang Ci as well as his other subordinates, instructing them that the Steel Frost Ind was now also under their rule.

    Cang Ci quickly responded with the n that was already prepared by her. She said that she would be sending the relevant people right away and that they will get the things in Steel Frost Ind started at once.

    ''They only get better as time goes by,'' Lin Wu was pleased with the work of his subordinates.

    He couldn''t help but feel like he would need a lot more if he were to expand his influence. After all, he had already taken over two continents, and the third one would soon be added to it.

    "And this is just the Ming Dao Worldбн I don''t think I''ll give up on my people here. It would be too much of a waste to just leave like that." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    Originally, he had promised Guardian Yun Bai that he would find a way to get the entire Frost Fox n away from the Ming Dao world. But now Lin Wu reckoned he would have to find a bigger method of doing so.

    ''Ascending myself won''t be an issue, as it is just a matter of time. But bringing others along will be a difficult thing. I can always help them reach the immortal realm too, but the ascension after that would throw them in different ces.

    Plus, there is no guarantee whether they would survive or not. I need a sure shot way of bring them along and keeping them with me.'' Lin Wu pondered on it while the teleportation array started to activate.

    The people of the Steel Frost Ind watched on in awe as thousands of runes filled the skies, turning into arge array circle. Once the circle waspleted, a sh of bright light filled everyone''s vision, making it hard to see.

    Even Lord Geng Zi had a hard time seeing and when the light faded away, tens of people were now standing there along with a bunch of beasts. The humans looked to be rather strong with the weakest being at the Core Condensation realm, but the beasts that had arrived were all at the Nascent soul realm at the very least.

    Among them there was arge cicada on the back of which sat none other than Cang Ci.

    "My King!" Cang Ci called out, seeing Lin Wu''s majestic body.

    "This is lord Geng Zi, you should get acquainted." Lin Wu spoke, introducing the two.

    "So you are Lady Cang Ci. I''ve heard a lot about you." Lord Geng Zi cupped his hands in greeting respectfully.

    "Oh? You''ve heard of me?" Cang Ci was a bit surprised.

    "Of course! Your work is known quite well in the Long Continent now. Even this far out, I''ve heard about you through the news." Lord Geng Zi said with a smile.

    "Ahaha, that is normal. Cang Ci certainly does a lot of work for me and is one of my most trusted subordinates." Lin Wu praised as well.

    "I am ttered, my king." Cang Ci lowered her head while a slight blush appeared on her face.

    She couldn''t help but feel warm after hearing Lin Wu''s words.

    They talked for a bit more while Lin Wu gave some instructions as to what as to be done. He told her about the Caverns as well as the Ice Light Lichens within it. Cang Ci immediately formted a n and knew how best to utilize it all.

    Lord Geng Zi was stunned upon seeing how fast they could get the work done.

    He reckoned even if it was some other royal adviser, it would still take them weeks toe up with something concrete like this. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''In front of King Lin Wu''s subordinates, all others seem like a joke. What use are those schrs who spend decades preparing when even beasts can do better jobs than them?'' Lord Geng Zi found it a bit ridiculous.

    The discussion ran for about an hour after which the people that Cang Ci had brought along quickly spread around to do the work. They cooperated with the people of the Steel Frost Ind and got to work.

    Lin Wu, on the other hand, decided that it was time for him to depart.

    "I shall take my leave now, Lord Geng Zi. I still have a long journey ahead of me." Lin Wu stated.

    "Of course, I shan''t take any more of your priceless time." Lord Geng Zi replied.

    He had seen just how much Lin Wu could do in a few hours. With the formations that Lin Wu could set up in that time, he could very easily earn arge amount of fortune. This alone spoke of just how much his time could cost.

    Even a single minute was worth hundreds of spirit stones, if one thought practically.

    "Mmm, I hope to see you againter." Lin Wu said while also taking a look at the system map.

    The system had already scanned ahead and charted out a path for him.

    "Tim! Let''s go!" Lin Wu called out to the weasel.

    ~KI~

    Tim, who was seemingly talking with the other beasts, quickly responded and arrived at his side.

    "We leave?" Tim asked.

    "Of course. Our work here is doneбн Plus, we got tons of fishing to do on the way there." Lin Wu hadn''t forgotten that they had an ocean to cross, quite literally.

    Tim''s eyes lit up after hearing that, and his excitement was palpable.

    "FISH! WE GO FISH!" Tim said out loud before directly turning into a blur.

    "And there he goesбн" Lin Wu shook his head before letting out a chuckle.

    ~WHOOSH~

    He too flew off, creating a small storm behind him. The two beasts disappeared into the sky, parting the clouds in half. Lord Geng Zi and his people could only watch with respectful eyes as their savior left them.

    "Shall we get to work now, too?" Cang Ci said with a smile.

 Chapter 1076 Hitting The Height Limit

    It had been a few hours since Lin Wu and Tim had departed from the Steel Frost Ind.

    "Things are definitely getting hard to see here." Lin Wu muttered.

    There were a lot of clouds as well as mist covering the entire expanse in front of him. They hadn''t even reached the Ocean and it still felt like the moisture in the air was rising. Which was strange since it should have fallen due to how cold it was.

    ''The temperature is already below freezing. How''s the mist still present?'' Lin Wu was a bit surprised and couldn''t help but take a look using his Radiation perception. But all he saw was a mass of blue covering his entire field of vision. "A mix of Dao Traces and Water elemental Qiбн Strange." He muttered.

    Usually there shouldn''t be these many Dao Traces in the air. Something like this would be normal if there was something emitting it. But right now, Lin Wu was high up in the sky.

    "Let''s see how far up it goesбн" Lin Wu said before rising up.

    Tim couldn''t follow after him, as even he had limits to how far up he could fly. Thankfully, the beast had gotten smarter and wasn''t bothered when Lin Wu was gone. He could still sense him and simply followed the same path.

    A few minutester Lin Wu was already at the maximum height he could go.

    "So this is the limit of flying for cultivators, huhбн" Lin Wu said as he looked up.

    The sky above him was no longer blue, but had turned dark like the night sky. Endless expanse of stars could be seen, while the yellow sun outshone everything. If a normal human were to reach this height, they would have certainly been blinded by the sun.

    But to Lin Wu, this was nothing. In fact, the increased radiation here was rtively pleasant to him.

    ''I can''t seem to rise any moreбн as if something is blocking me.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    It was a strange feeling, as there was nothing solid above him. And yet, he couldn''t rise by even a single inch.

    "What''s the current altitude system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The host''s current altitude is 141575.94 Meters above sea level.

    бкбк

    ~WHISTLE~

    "Now that''s highбн" Lin Wu was surprised by this.

    As far as he could recall, he should be in the Thermosphere if this was still the Earth. Of course, he had never been to the Thermosphere in his past life, but he could still tell that it was quite simr.

    If anything, the radiation here was simr to how he had read. But Lin Wu knew it wasn''t the same as Earth.

    "Considering the size of the Ming Dao world, it is a far bigger than Earth. ordingly, it''s atmosphericyers should also be different. And yetбн It doesn''t seem like it." Lin Wu muttered as he thought about it.

    The gravity here was still as strong as before, and yet he couldn''t break out of the orbit. Lin Wu had been looking for a way to leave the world after all. Guardian Yun had researched about it too, and was unable to find any viable solution.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Many cultivators had tried to fly out of the Ming Dao world, but were stuck.

    "Is it only possible to do so in the Immortal Ascension realm?" Lin Wu wondered if he could push the limits of this.

    But no matter how much strength and energy he used, he simply could not break through this restriction.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANALYSIS: The host is facing a restriction from the Ming Dao world''sws. With the host and system''s current capabilities, it is impossible to remove them.

    бкбк

    In the time that Lin Wu had spent trying, the system had also finished its work of analysis.

    "So that confirms itбн Or rather this is the first time we''ve confirmed the worldws in person. And faced itбн" Lin Wu was a bit amazed. ''But the question about the Mist is still not solved.'' He looked below him and saw the mist.

    The altitude he was at didn''t have the mist, and he could see the space above him. But the mist was still present below him. It mingled with the clouds, making it look like a nket of blue and white covering the world.

    "I may as well continue onwards." Lin Wu kept on flying at this height while sensing the changes.

    The patch of Dao Trace rich mist only stopped when Lin Wu had traveled for nearly three hundred kilometers. Now Lin Wu could see the clouds as well as the vast ocean underneath him. And floating in the ocean wererge chunks of ice

    "We''re officially in the Northern Oceansбн" Lin Wu confirmed on the map.

    He took a look back at the area of mist and shook his head.

    "There are still some mysteries in this world." He muttered and started to go down.

    Soon enough, Tim joined up with him, having a few corpses in its grasp.

    "Where did you get those?" Lin Wu raised a brow.

    "I caught a few flying through the mist." Tim spoke while munching on the beast corpses.

    Lin Wu could see a mix of birds and fish beasts in it. Some of them even seemed to have been at the Nascent soul realm

    Doing a quick scan with the System, Lin Wu realized that most of these were the native beasts of this area.

    ''I guess some snacks wouldn''t hurtбн'' Lin Wu too decided to catch a few beasts on the way.

    Their journey was still quite long, and reaching the final destination would take a while. Lin Wu ended up gaining a few more bloodline data entries as the days continued to pass.

    The ice bergs kept on increasing in numbers as they went further north. The temperature seemed to have reached a minimum as well, no longer decreasing. Though Lin Wu could tell that once he went further, it would drop more.

 Chapter 1077 Reaching The Gui Continent

    It took Lin Wu and Tim nearly a month to travel during which they faced several storms and weather phenomena. Lin Wu also got to fight more beasts in the ocean and expanded his scope of data banks.

    The regr consumption of the new beasts was replenishing his Spirit Qi stores as well as letting him obtain some new materials. He reckoned, some of the beast materials he had found would not be found elsewhere, or even if they were, their cost would be high.

    After all, they were quite deep in the ocean and not many would be able toe this far.

    Even for Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators, freely traveling here could be risky and they wouldn''t be that idle either. For most, breaking through to the next realm was important and they would strive to do it most of the time.

    The month''s travel also gave Lin Wu some time to think about his ns.

    ''Once I''m done with the Gui Continent, all that would be left is to find the Unknown beast. That should help elevate my bloodline even more.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    And while he was doing this a vast expanse of frozennd could be seen growingrger with every second.

    At first, Lin Wu was a bit unsure whether it was just an ind, but now that he had gotten closer he was sure that it was his destination.

    "Looks like we''re almost there Tim." Lin Wu spoke.

    "Gui Continent?" Tim asked.

    "Yes. Which means more things for us to explore." Lin Wu replied. "As well as to eat." He didn''t forget to add the thing that mattered the most to Tim.

    "YES!" Tim was easily excited.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Unable to hold back Tim sped up, eager to reach the continent. Lin Wu did the same and quickly caught up to the Weasel.

    A few minutester, they finallynded on the coast of the Gui Continent.

    "Now then, let''s seeбн" Lin Wu first did a visual inspection of the area around him.

    Even without the system''s help, he could already sense several beasts that were living there. Most of them were weak, with the strongest beast at the Nascent soul realm. But even this beast was underwater and not on thend.

    "Alright system, do a full scan." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCANNING: Please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    Knowing that the system was doing a scan of the maximum range possible for it, Lin Wu didn''t mind waiting.

    "Let''s take a stroll," Lin Wu spoke, causing Tim to follow after him.

    The presence of the two beasts was enough to terrify all other beasts in the area, thus they didn''t meet any of them that wanted to fight them.

    "Go catch one pair of all the beasts you can find Tim." Lin Wu ordered the weasel.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    "On it!" The order was pleasing for the Weasel who would never back down from a hunt.

    Thirty minutes was all it took for Tim to have caught one pair of all kinds of beasts that were in the area.

    "Hmmбн let''s see." Lin Wu observed the beast corpses, finding 31 unique beasts that he had never seen before. "You can take one half." He said to Tim, who was already drooling.

    ~CRUNCH~

    The weasel quickly jumped at the opportunity and started munching on the corpses. Lin Wu did the same, quickly adding the beasts'' raw Bloodline Data to the system. Though no new notification popped up since most of the beasts were too weak to affect him.

    ''This has be a marathon now. I either need a really strange beast to give a direct improvement to the Chimeric Fiend Worm Bloodline through its Innate skills.'' Lin Wu thought. "Perhaps the Purple Crested Orchid might be the only one that helps me improve." He muttered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    MAP UPDATED: Please Check the relevant window for more information.

    бкбк

    "Finally done, eh?" Lin Wu quickly opened the map and saw a lot of new markers.

    The topography of the region was disyed clearly.

    While Lin Wu had some map data about the Gui Continent due to the help of the Ghost of Tian, it was still a bit rough. The data obtained by the system through its scanner was highly urate and would be more detailed than any other maps.

    Lin Wu filtered through the map markers, checking out the settlements in the area first. He hadnded on the South Eastern coast of the continent, and was in the more remote parts.

    "The poption here is really sparseбн No human settlement in this area at least. The nearest one seems to be aboutбн seven hundred kilometers away." Lin Wu noted.

    The information provided by the Ghost of Tian was a bitcking in that aspect, as it had mostly noted information about the major settlements. But here, Lin Mu could see smaller settlements as well that only harbored mortals or weaker cultivators.

    Though in general, Lin Wu confirmed one thing.

    "The people of the Gui Continent seem to be mostly split in smaller settlements. This should be what they meant by having a more n or tribal-oriented society." Lin Wu reckoned.

    In addition to the settlements, Lin Wu also checked who was the strongest cultivator in the region.

    "A Dao shell realm cultivator at the Shell Expansion stage, and two more at the Shellpletion stage." Lin Wu quickly pinpointed the cultivators that were seemingly concentrated in one area.

    He ignored the other settlements, as they were spread apart and had a low poption density. What Lin Wu wanted was more information and he would have a better chance of finding it in the bigger settlement.

    And what better ce than a city that seemed to have three Dao shell realm cultivators and several more Nascent Soul realm cultivators?

    "Icy Swan Cityбн let''s head there then, shall we?" Lin Wu decided.

    Having set his destination on the map, Lin Wu and Tim continued onwards.

    Icy Swan City was over 1500 kilometers from their current location though, and would take some time to reach.

 Chapter 1078 Debut In The Gui Continent

    Lin Wu and Tim stood at the edge of a broken mountain, their presence hidden from everyone as they gazed at a distant city

    This was none other than Icy Swan City and was one of the major cities in the Gui Continent. Since most of the continent had no central ruling authority, most of the continent was divided into independent settlements.

    There were basically no kingdoms on the continent either, with most of the settlements being ruled by strong ns or elders. The same was the case for the Icy Swan City which seemed to have three great elders ruling over them.

    These three great elders were none other than the Dao Shell realm cultivators.

    ~SHUA~

    Lin Wu''s spirit sense quickly covered the entire city, observing all things that were happening in it. The cultivators within it were blissfully unaware about the two beasts that were now watching them.

    Though the beasts that were within the city were showing some signs of unease. Lin Wu and Tim might have restrained their presence, but the deeply ingrained instincts of the beasts were not so easy to be ignored.

    To them, it was as if a disaster was on the horizon.

    A few of the residents noticed this too.

    All of them were wearing thick fur coats and had tough leather boots and gloves on. Even for cultivators, the cold here would be difficult to endure without such clothes. And even if they could endure it, their strength would be rapidly sapped.

    Perhaps only those at the Nascent soul realm would be able to stay here freely without such clothes. But even they would wear such clothes simply out offort and habit. Lin Wu had already taken notice of all this beforehand too.

    "Why are the Iron Horn Goats so timid today?" A person watching a beast pen asked.

    "I don''t know. They''ve been like this since the past hour." The cultivator who seemingly ran the pen replied.

    ~BAAA~

    The Iron Horn Goats seemingly felt something and suddenly huddled together.

    "Thisбн you don''t thinkбн" The person who was watching the pen from the outside was surprised.

    "A blizzard might be approachingбн" The cultivator running the pen replied.

    "Do we need to report to the elder council?" the other person asked.

    "If the Iron Horn Goats have noticed this, the elders should have noticed beforehand too. We shouldn''t have to worry." The cultivator replied.

    "Hmmбн Guess I should return home early then." The other person said before leaving.

    None of them knew though, that the elder council was entirely unaware of this.

    Having observed enough, Lin Wu decided to approach using his old method.

    "Wait here Tim. I''ll call you when needed." Lin Wu said before drilling into the ground.

    He quickly made his way to the Icy Swan City and stayed underground.

    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHUA~

    Hundreds of tentacles sprouted from his body and drilled out of the ground while staying hidden. The tentacles were very small and wouldn''t be easily noticed. After all, Lin Wu didn''t wish to disturb the cultivators here already.

    He first wanted to get all the information that was in the city, before making up his mind about what to do next.

    His tentacles collected whatever Lin Wu wanted covertly, while his Spirit sense was reading the various documents and books that were in the city. Lin Wu was particrly looking for information about the Purple Crested Orchid as well as the Gui n.<novelsnext>I think you should take a look at </novelsnext>

    But so far he was out of luck, as there was no proper information about them yet. All he found was the stuff he already knew about.

    ''They only have general information about them. Even the Long Continent and Hu continent had this information.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    The location of both objectives was a mystery.

    Only the members of the Gui n could find it, and the Purple Crested orchid was said to be hidden in the Frozen hintends.

    "They say frozen hintendsбн but what do they mean by that exactly? Literally, every ce is like that." Lin Wu said with displeasure.

    He wondered if he''ll just have to manually search for them.

    ''The information given by the Ghost of Tian is also limited about how to get to the Gui n. They are simply too isted and probably use an array to hide their true location.'' Lin Wu pondered.

    After an hour of search, Lin Wu had basically exhausted all that was present in the city information-wise.

    ~Sigh~

    "Looks like I''ll have to resort to a different method nowбн" Lin Wu said as he eyed the Dao Shell realm elders.

    He reckoned if there was anyone, it would be the elders that would know more.

    ''Considering this is a more tribal society, they might have limited such information to the elders rather than spreading the documents about it.'' Lin Wu thought.

    With this in mind, he decided to go ahead with one of his spare ns.

    "Looks like it is time for the Gui Continent to know about the Cmity Fiend." Lin Wu muttered as he nned the best way for his debut.

    It was his first time appearing on the Gui continent, thus it needed to be stunning.

    The people of the Icy Swan City were unaware of the disaster that was brewing underneath them. For an hour, they had peace, but after that, they felt the change.

    ~TREMBLE~

    The ground started to shake, while all the beasts in the city panicked all at once.

    "What is this!?"

    "An avnche?" Someone wondered.

    But when they looked at the mountains, they seemed to be fine and no snow was falling.

    They didn''t think it was an earthquake either, as they were very rare in this part of the continent.

    ~TREMBLE~

    ~CRACK~

    And a few secondster, they finally got their answer.

    The earth split open as a massive being rose from it. Its dark carapace contrasted against the white snow, while its hundreds of eyes gazed at them. Its maw was lined with an uncountable number of teeth that threatened to reap their lives just from a look.

 Chapter 1079 Icy Swan Citys End

    Chapter 1079 Icy Swan City''s End

    Lin Wu''s appearance as the Cmity Fiend was always something that struck fear into the eyes of all those that watched it.

    He spent extra effort in looking even more terrifying.

    ~SCREECH~

    A monstrous screech echoed across the entire Icy Swan city, forcing people to shut their ears.

    "ARGH!"

    "MY EARS!"

    Those that were close to therge monster were affected the most, their ears bleeding immediately. The ones who were cultivators could endure it a bit better, but the weaker ones and mortals simply went deaf from it.

    "So, many, humansбн." But perhaps those who went deaf had it better, as an inhuman voice was heard a few secondster.

    It forced everyone to look up at therge creature who was also looking at them. Hundreds of eyes opened up on its body, gazing at the people of the city. Its eyes looked jaundiced and struck unease in the hearts of all those that looked at them.

    "I thought I would starve in this frozen ce, but seems like I just found a banquet!" The creature said out loud, terrifying the humans that had been shocked silent.

    "RUNNNNNNNN!" Even cultivators screamed in instinct, running away.

    If the sheer appearance and word of the creature weren''t enough to terrify them, the Qi fluctuationsing from the being were more than enough to do the same.

    The Cmity Fiend was not holding back and showed its Dao Treading realm cultivation base.

    Most cultivators in the city couldn''t even bear being in the presence of someone like this and knew they would be killed if they even thought of going against it.

    Perhaps only the Elders of the city had any hope of going up against something like this.

    "I like it when my prey runs~" The monster said before hundreds of tentacles sprouted out of its body.

    The tentacles snaked around the city in the blink of an eye, attacking the people. Some of the smaller tentacles directly stabbed through the bodies of the cultivators as arge bone spike grew from them, while therger ones had fanged mouths on them.

    These mouths either chomped onto the heads of the people, or directly swallowed them whole!

    Not even a minute had passed and thousands of people had already be the meal for the monster that had appeared in the city.

    Whether it be the humans or the beasts, all faced the same fate.

    "YOU MONSTER!"

    "YOU DARE!"

    "STOP RIGHT THIS MOMENT!"

    Of course, such arge disaster wasn''t something the elders of Icy Swan City would miss.

    They soon appeared in the sky, shouting out in rage.

    The Three Elders of the Icy Swan City were bald old men with long beards. Their heads were covered in thick furred hats while various ornaments hung from their beards.

    Simr to most others, they were dressed in thick clothes that were made from beast furs. With how the climate was here, there weren''t many opportunities to grow any fabric yielding nts here.

    Thus beast fur and leather was the main source of clothes here.

    "Ah! Herees the main course!" but much to their surprise, the creature was not the least bit afraid.

    It openly mocked them while gazing at them. But then again, the being was simply too big and hard to be intimidated.

    "Let''s start this, shall we?" The beast said before directly attacking the elders.

    ~SCREECH~

    Another screech was let out by the creature before it rushed towards the nearest elder. Its mouth was wide open and ready to swallow him whole.

    "HAAA!" Of course, the elder wasn''t one to go down without a fight and retaliated.

    He swung out his palm, creating arge illusory tail that seemed to erge to ten meters in the blink of an eye. The tail emanated a chilly aura and was clearly made from Ice elemental Spirit Qi.

    ~SLAM~

    The tail struck the creature sessfully, creating a burst of frost that covered the creature''s entire head.

    "HA! SERVES YOU RIGHT!" The elder saw that his attack worked and felt a lot better.

    The monster''srge mouth was frozen solid and it seemed to have halted.

    ~KACHA~

    "WHAT?!" but his relief was short lived as the ice seemingly cracked in the next moment.

    ~SHATTER~

    "You need to try harder," The creature said before six spike tipped tentacles rose out from its mouth.

    "Whaбк" And before the elder could react, the six spiked tentacles tore through his body.

    The tentacles were smaller than all others, being only a finger thick. But that also meant that their speed was a lot faster. The elder didn''t even have a moment to react before he was stabbed.

    "AAHHHHHH!" But that was only the start of his suffering as the tentacles also started draining his vitality and Qi at the same time.

    ~CRUNCH~

    But a secondter, his cries were stopped and his body turned into a mush. The tentacles had rapidly pulled him into the monster''s mouth, ending his life.

    "Mmmhmm, a bit chill, but still good." The monster said before tens of its eyes locked onto the remaining two elders, who were watching with horror. "Come on, I like it when you struggle a bit."

    There were already people running away from the city who heard his voice. Even in the panic, they could understand his words and The creature''s words served little to help the elders, as they had already realized they were up against something unbeatable to them.

    "EVERYONE RUN! ASK FOR HELP FROM THE GUI CLAN!" the second elder imbued spirit Qi into his voice and shouted out loud.

    There were already people running away from the city who heard his voice. Even in the panic, they could understand his words and knew that the City was now doomed.

    Lin Wu didn''t mind it at all, as this was exactly what he had wished to happen.

    ''Go, spread the news of my appearance. That''ll make it easier to find the n.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    Though he also didn''t miss the words of the elder that entailed the Gui n being contactable in some way.

    Lin Wu didn''t know if he wished for people to just stumble upon the people of the Gui n somehow, or if there was a concrete way of contacting them. Whatever it might be, he''ll be finding it out soon enough.

 Chapter 1080 A Strange Finding

    Chapter 1080 A Strange Finding

    The system was already gathering information from the elder that Lin Wu had just consumed and was ready to give it.

    "Let''s eat all of them first though." Lin Wu muttered to himself before continuing his attack.

    His tentacles flew at a blinding speed, blocking the two elders that were trying to run away. They tried to defend, but their attacks were useless against the tentacles that looked to be impervious to heat and cold.

    A few secondster, the two elders sumbed to the tentacles and were promptly pulled into Lin Wu''s mouth for quick processing.

    "There we goбн Now just to add a few more people." Lin Wu targeted half of the Nascent soul cultivators of the city and devoured them all.

    As for the other half, he let them go as he knew they would have the best chance at spreading the news of his arrival.

    About ten minutester, Icy Swan City had be deserted.

    Those that were lucky enough to be at the outskirts of the city managed to escape in time, while those that were close to the center mostly ended up being consumed by the monster that had appeared.

    Overall, about ten percent of the City''s poption managed to escape.

    Of course, if Lin Wu wished to, he could easily chase them down and eat them. But he wanted them to run as far as possible and spread the news of his arrival.

    "Now to gather the spoils of war." Lin Wu smiled before calling out. "Tim! Come over!"

    ~WHOOSH~

    ~CRASH~

    The weasel seemed to be bait too overenthusiastic and ended up overshooting hisnding. With his speed, he crashed into eight buildings in a row before stopping.

    ~Sigh~

    "Guess that''s just eight more broken buildings added to a hundred more." Lin Wu shook his head.

    "I''m here!" Tim shook off the dust from him and came to stand in front of Lin Wu.

    "Look for anything that seems strange to you. And I don''t mean food or obvious cultivation things." Lin Wu ordered.

    "Okay!" the weasel replied and quickly went off to scour the city.

    ''With his unique senses, perhaps he might be able to find something I missed,'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    With Tim being the reincarnation of a Yellow Dragon, Lin Wu was hoping to have some luck on his side.

    And while Tim did that, Lin Wu also started gathering the useful items from the crumbling city. He stored the cultivation resources in the Spatial Storage while also gathering all the documents. While the system had already scanned and gathered the information from And while Lin Wu''s tentacles gathered all this, the system was also ready with the information from the dead elders as well as all the them, Lin Wu was intending to pass the documents to Cang Ci.

    She was now handling administrative things, and thought it would help her.

    And while Lin Wu''s tentacles gathered all this, the system was also ready with the information from the dead elders as well as all the others that he had consumed.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Absorbing Data nodes!

    бкбк

    In the next second, Lin Wu felt a surge of information and memories in his mind. The system had already sorted them out, thus it was easy for Lin Wu to go through them. The most important ones were ced at the very start, allowing him to see them quickly.

    ''Oh? So there is indeed a way to inform the Gui n.'' Lin Wu learned. "A blue token, huhбн" he muttered, seeing the appearance in his mind.

    He turned to look towards the residence of the elders and his spirit sense quickly found the said object.

    ~WHOOSH~

    One of the tentacles extended and effortlessly bypassed the barrier that protected the said token. It was kept in a small stone box that was carved with a few tribal motifs.

    "Let''s seeбн" Lin Wu opened the box and saw the small blue token lying in it.

    The token was in the shape of a tortoiseshell and had the character for ''Gui'' imprinted on it.

    "System, scan it." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    Target: Token

    Scan: Completed!

    Info: The token is a one waymunication tool and can be used to contact the Gui n in emergencies.

    бкбк

    Seeing the information though, Lin Wu was a bit confused.

    "If they could contact the n this way, why didn''t they do it now?" Lin Wu wondered.

    After all, it didn''t make sense for the elders to ask the people to inform the Gui n themselves.

    But a momentter, another window popped up in front of Lin Wu. The system already knew the reason for that.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Gui n has been put under lockdown for the past year and all contact has been cut off. The only way to contact them is through a few Gui nsmen who are still spread outside. The reason for the lockdown is not known, though.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн no wonder." Lin Wu muttered. "System, can you find the location of the Gui n through this token?"

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Themunication has been blocked by the Gui n, thus the exact location cannot be tracked. But a wide area can still be estimated.

    бкбк

    "Mmm, do that then. We''ll be getting our answerter anyways." Lin Wu replied.

    While the system worked on that, Lin Wu finished up gathering all the items. It took him about thirty minutes, after which Tim also came up to it.

    "Did you find something?" Lin Wu asked, seeing the beast.

    "This," Tim put down an object that was about the size of a small shield.

    "Huh?" Lin Wu looked at the object, which was a bit t.

    It looked like it was made from metal, but Lin Wu could tell it wasn''t.

    "What is this?" Lin Wu scanned it with his spirit sense and realized something surprising. "What! My Spirit sense can''t detect it?" he was shocked.

    Despite the object being right in front of him, his immortal sense simply passed through it, as if the object didn''t exist!

    SCANNER: Activated

    "System, scan this!" Lin Wu ordered right away.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCANNING: please wait patientlyбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu felt strange as it had been a long time since the System had been unable to scan an object.

 Chapter 1081 Clue To The Unknown Beast

    Chapter 1081 Clue To The Unknown Beast

    There were very few objects that the System was unable to scan. All of them were those that were either not from this world, or beyond the database that it had. And this was a very rare instance, especially after the system had obtained data from not just the Skull God, but also the libraries of the Guardian n. Thus, Lin Wu was very interested in what this unknown object could be. While the system did its work, he too observed it closely, wondering if there were some clues as to what it could be. Since his Spirit sense could not pick up on it and simply passed through it, he observed it through other means.

    First, he just took a simple look at it with his eyes.

    The object looked like a circr te that did not have a perfect circle shape. Rather it was a bit oblong and oval in shape as if someone had smoothed out the corners of a hexagon. It wasn''t fully t either when Lin Wu observed it from the side.

    It looked to be t, but there was a slight curvature to it. The te was about one centimeter thick and was also rtively light. It had a te grey color with some ck mixed in. The te was lightest in the center and got darker as one got to the edges.

    ~tap~tap~

    In order to figure out the material. Lin Wu tapped on it and heard a dull metallic sound. ~shing~

    Next he created a sharp w from one of his tentacles and tried to scratch the object.

    ~CREAK~

    A creaking sound was heard, but there was no scratch left behind on the te.

    "It is certainly hard and toughбн for my ws to not leave a markбн have to try harder." Lin Wu muttered and used greater pressure.

    ~SCREECH~

    This time, he finally left a mark on the te, though it was rather shallow. It looked the same as when someone had scratched some dry skin, leaving a faint mark.

    ''This amount of force would be enough to break refined ck Ironбн Whatever this te is made of, it is not normalбн'' Lin Wu confirmed.

    Done with his physical tests, Lin Wu moved on to more visual tests. But this time around, he used his Radiation perception!

    ~shua~

    His vision changed and he gazed at the unknown te.

    "Wait, a secondбн" But much to his surprise, the te seemed to be ''invisible'' in his Radiation Perception too. "No waitбн its not invisible, it''s simply absorbing all the Radiation!" Lin Wu understood.

    And just as he came to this conclusion, the system also finished its work.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed

    ANALYSIS: The unknown te has 93.88% simrity to the unknown beast. The host''s carapace has a 67% simrity to this te!

    CONCLUSION: There is a 99.6% chance this is a carapace fragment from the unknown beast!

    бкбк

    As soon as Lin Wu saw this, his hundreds of eyes went wide.

    "That beast?" Lin Wu became still for a moment before a wide smile finally appeared on his face. "Finallyбн more clues to that sneaky rat!" he eximed.

    Lin Wu had been looking for the unknown beast for years and still had the quest he needed to finish. He knew that only by consuming the beast would he fully unlock the potential of his bloodline and lead it to the next level.

    And after seeing the properties of the carapace fragment, Lin Wu was sure he would get some new abilities by doing this too.

    "If this Carapace Fragment is here, it means someone must have picked it up. And if they managed to pick it up, it only means the beast was hereбн" Lin Wu said, his mind racing with thoughts.

    He had already searched the entirety of the Long Continent and the Hu Continent. He had people informing him of all that would happen on the twonds, as well as any sign of such a peculiar beast. And since the beast had spatial abilities that allowed it to enter the void, it made chasing after it very hard.

    Lin Wu had lost its tracks in the Hu Continent and had been looking for them ever since.

    ''Looks like this visit to the Gui Continent is turning out to be even better than I thought.'' Lin Wu felt pleased and made a new target in his mind.

    He knew that if he were to find the unknown beast, the best way to obtain information was none other than the main n of the Gui Continent. The guardian Gui n!

    "The two goals match, but I''ll still need to obtain information from the Gui n in a different way. I don''t think they''ll give it to me readily, even if they have it." Lin Wu muttered. "Just means the Cmity Fiend needs to terrify the n more!" he said before flying into the sky.

    ~WHOOSH~

    "Wait for me," Tim followed after Lin Wu and the two continued their search.

    Lin Wu decided to find the Purple Crested Orchid, while waiting for more news about the Gui n. He knew the survivors would spread the news about the destruction of Icy Swan city soon. He hoped that the members of the Gui n would hear this and report to their n.

    And once they did, Lin Wu would be able to find them out too. ''I''ll strike the other settlement on my way. Perhaps I''ll find clues to either of my goals.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    In theing month, Lin Wu and Tim wreaked havoc across the Gui Continent.

    They destroyed city after city, town after town, consuming their inhabitants while also taking away all the wealth and resources they had.

    But the most surprising part was that the number of survivors actually rose as the attacks went on. Lin Wu intentionally let them survive and escape so that the terror of the Cmity Fiend would spread more and more.

    And after the month of attack, the Cmity fiend seemingly disappeared, and a time of unsettling calm arrived.

 Chapter 1082 The Gui Clan

    Chapter 1082 The Gui n

    Somewhere in the Gui Continent there existed a colossal cier.

    From the middle of this cier rose a mountain range, that looked like a giant spine if one looked at it from afar. It was totally covered by snow, and as such, it was very difficult for one to make out that the area was any different from the rest of the continent.

    There was simply a vast expanse of white everywhere, with the grey rocky mountains that could be seen popping in between the snow. It looked rather mundane and no one would be able to tell that this area was very special.

    Or rather, it was the most important area in the entire Gui Continent.

    This was none other than the location of the Gui n!

    More urately, the entire area was a disguise for the true location of the n. The Gui n existed below the colossal cier and the mountain range. If one could look through it all, they would see that the cier was actually a dome covering the n''s home.

    The scene below the cier was unlike anything one would expect from a frozen hell like the Gui Continent.

    Vibrant green trees spread along the valley formed by the mountain range that rose from the middle of the cier. Rivers ran down the mountains, streaking through the valley before finally pooling into severalkes that were present below.

    Flowers, grass and an abundance of fruits surrounded thesekes along with tens of buildings. There were courtyards, training grounds, temples, pavilions and more spread across the entire valley and thendscape. The Gui n had created a paradise hidden within this frozen wastnd and no one knew about it other than a handful few.

    In the center of this area stood a giant building. Its roof was shaped like a tortoise shell, while its four supporting pirs looked like the legs of a tortoise. From its back rose a snake''s head that gazed at the valley, while on its front one could see a giant tortoise head. It had a sharp mouth, that seemed to be snapping at the sky, as if wishing to eat the clouds.

    Its eyes held a deep wisdom, and yet a hidden might could be felt from it.

    ~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~WHOOSH~

    Three peoplended in front of the tortoise shaped building. All three of them were old, with one of them being a woman and the rest men.

    They were dressed in ck and blue robes, with the pattern of a tortoise shell on their backs. Among the three, the woman was the strongest and had a cultivation base at the Immortal Ascension Stage. Whereas the two old men seemed to be at the peak of the Dao Treading realm.

    "Are you sure we should answer this, Ancestor?" One of the old men questioned.

    "We have to. There have been far too many requests now." The old woman answered.

    "The Patriarch is right, there are always requests. It doesn''t mean we can just open up the n again." The second old man replied.

    "This isn''t like before. We have had hundreds of requests in just the past week. Only our members can request for help at this moment. Even if we have been put in a disadvantage, we have to answer them now." The old woman who was the Ancestor of the Gui n spoke, a look of disappointment on her face. "Are you going to keep on hiding n Patriarch?" The Old man questioned, looking deep into the eyes of the first old man.

    The patriarch furrowed his brows before looking at the other man. "Supreme Elder, we''ll open it for one minute. Once we have checked what is the issue, we''ll close it." The patriarch stated.

    "As you wish, Patriarch." The Supreme Elder said before raising his hand towards the tortoise building.

    ~SHUA~

    A stream of runes spread from his hand and entered the head of the building.

    This caused the eyes of the Tortoise to glow and a wave of energy spread from it.

    ~HISS~

    The snake head at the back of the tortoise opened its eyes and started to move. It rose into the sky and continued to do so until it reached the doom ceiling of the entire n. There, it passed through the solid cier, ice melting as it passed through it with ease.

    It quickly rose above the colossal cier and even reached the top of the mountain peaks that went through the center of the Gui n.

    ~HUMM~

    Once it reached here, it opened its mouth which caused hundreds of streaks of energy to shoot towards it. They came from all directions and looked like they had been waiting for a long time.

    The energy streaks rushed into the mouth of the snake before it quickly started to retreat back into the cier.

    The hole in the cier froze automatically, leaving no trace behind. And once the snake head had turned to its normal position, the eyes of the tortoise projected a formation screen in front of the three old people.

    ~SHUA~

    Lots of information appeared on the formation screen, which the three could see.

    "What in theбн Heavens save us!" The Supreme Elder was utterly shocked upon reading it all.

    ~gulp~

    The patriarch swallowed his saliva after seeing it, while the Ancestor let out a sigh.

    "We haven''t even recovered from the previous threat and now a new one has arrived." The ancestor spoke, her face showing fatigue.

    "A monster named Cmity Fiend is wreaking havoc across the continentбн Icy Swan City, Frozen Gourd City, Sharp Hill Cityбн" The Patriarch read the names one by one. "All goneбн they''re all gone." He said feeling scared.

    "Over a hundred cities and thousands of townsбн wiped out." The Supreme elder counted feeling the blood leaving his face.

    "Our solitude has cost the continent its lifeбн We can no longer hide." The ancestor spoke. "OPEN THE CLAN! IT IS TIME FOR A WAR!" She dered.

    Unknown to them, tens of kilometers away from the Gui n, their adversary was waiting.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

 Chapter 1083 Location Of The Gui Clan And A Snail

    Chapter 1083 Location Of The Gui n And A Snail

    "Finallyбн" Lin Wu looked at the notification that had just popped up.

    He had been searching for the Gui n for a while now and had little luck. Even with the help of the system searching constantly, they were nowhere closer than they were a month ago.

    But today, something seemed to have happened causing the system to finally detect where they were.

    "Where are they system?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    MAP: Updated!

    Notification: Adding new marker on map

    Notification: Charting new route to the Gui n

    бкбк

    Lin Wu watched as the map window opened in front of him. On it, he saw his own position first which then zoomed out and showed the new marker west of where he was right now.

    "Huhбн haven''t we been there before?" Lin Wu recalled. "High Spine cier." He read the other marker that was present.

    The older marker coincided with the location of the Gui n.

    "So that''s where they were hiding." Lin Wu narrowed his eyes. "But how did you not detect it till now system?" he asked.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The protective measures of the Gui n were lifted momentarily and several data streams were received by them. The system traced these data streams which hade from Gui n members previously marked by the host and determined it from that.

    бкбк

    "So they finally decided to take a look outside huh. Time for us to pay a visit then." Lin Wu said with a smile. "Tim!" He called out.

    ~RUMBLE~

    The ground shook for a few seconds, before it burst part.

    ~KREEE~

    Tim rose out of the ground, carrying a beast corpse in his mouth.

    "What did you dig out?" Lin Wu nced at the beast that looked like a Snail of some kind. "A snail?" he was surprised.

    "It was deep in the ground. There''s ake there." Tim answered.

    "Hmm, must be a cavern filled by the melted snow over time." Lin Wu muttered before taking a deep look at the Snail.

    He was certain that he hadn''t seen this beast before. It had a deep blue shell and exuded faint spirit Qi fluctuations even now. Not to mention, it had a chilly air surrounding it that froze anything that it touched.

    Even Tim''s body had a thinyer of Frost covering it.

    Of course, it wasn''t enough to affect him, but it showed the snail wasn''t weak.

    "System, scan it." Lin Wu ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    Scanning: please wait

    бкбк

    Lin Wu used his own Immortal sense to check up on the cultivation base of the dead snail and discovered that it was actually a Dao Treading Realm beast.

    "Interestingбн It has a very strong chill inside it tooбн Water elemental Dao Embryo as well." Lin Wu looked through all the secrets of the beast as if they wereid bare.

    And a few secondster, the system finished its work as well, unraveling the identity of the beast.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCAN: Completed!

    TARGET: Identified!

    бк

    Target: cial Shell Snail Queen (Juvenile)

    Info: This is beast that is close to turning into an adult cial Shell Snail Queen. They are strong water elemental beasts that also have a natural chill within their bodies. Upon turning into an Adult, the cial Shell Snail Queen cany millions of eggs.

    All of these eggs would hatch into more cial Shell Snails which would then be able to rule over an entire pr ice cap of a world. They live under ice and often stay hidden for thousands of years, only getting discovered when the ice sheets shift.

    бкбк

    "My, my, didn''t expect to find something like this here" Lin Wu knew this was a great find and would help in his growth as well as progress. "You did well Tim." He gave credit. "We eat?" Tim asked.

    "We will eat." Lin Wu nodded.

    There was no way he would wait in eating a beast that would strengthen him further.

    Lin Wu quickly cracked open the shell of the cial Shell Snail, and split the meat with Tim. Of course, he took the major part of the meat and also chose to eat the shell which would be inedible to others but good for him.

    And once Lin Wu finished eating it, he felt the change in his body. The properties of the cial Shell Snail were being adapted by him and the system soon updated him about it.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    RECORDED DAO TRACES: 17 Detected

    1. Fire Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    2. Water Dao Trace [Compatibility: 60%] [Updated]

    3. Earth Dao Trace [Compatibility: 96%]

    4. Wood Dao Trace [Compatibility: 62%]

    5. Metal Dao Trace [Compatibility: 85%]

    6. Wind Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    7. Lightning Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    8. Light Dao Trace [Compatibility: 26%]

    9. Darkness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 11%]

    10. Shadow Dao Trace [Compatibility: 19%]

    11. Spear Dao Trace [Compatibility: 38%]

    12. Beast Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%]

    13. Formation Dao Trace [Compatibility: 40%]

    14. Sword Dao Trace [Compatibility: 32%]

    15. Poison Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    16. Assimtion Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%] 17. Upheaval Dao Trace (Main Body) [Compatibility: 100%] бкбк

    "Huh, that one snail was enough to increases to 60%? That''s almost twice of what I had before this." Lin Wu was impressed.

    This only meant that he control over water element and resistance to it would improve.

    ''Considering the Gui n is of the Water Element, this is bound toe in handy.'' Lin Wu thought to himself. It was favorable to him, and prepared him for the conflict.

    "Well then. Lets pay a visit to the Gui n, shall we?" Lin Wu said while Tim finished licking the remnants of the flesh from his ws.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Lin Wu flew in the direction of the Gui n and Tim followed behind him. The ce was to the west, and it took them a few hours to arrive there.

    But now the Gui n had already been rushing and getting ready for the iing war against the Cmity Fiend.

    They were greatly worried, not knowing that a ''Guardian'' wasing to save them.

 Chapter 1084 Knocking On Door Of The Gui Clan

    Chapter 1084 Knocking On Door Of The Gui n

    Lin Wu was already thinking of all the ways that he could pull the Gui n in the fold with him. He had already done that with the Long n and the Hu n, and as such he didn''t think it would be that hard.

    ''The only thing will be to trickбк no, convince the guardian spirit as well.'' Lin Wu thought to leftism.

    The guardian spirit was the only thing that could realistically threaten Lin Wu and as such it was important to get it on board with him. Though having talked with the other two guardian spirits, Lin Wu didn''t think it would be as problematic.

    ''They did say the Gui Spirit is much more passive.'' Lin Wu remembered.

    The n spirit was why the Gui n functioned as it did. It wasn''t too ambitious and did not extend its rule over the entire continent. Instead it chose to let the other minor ns and powers to rule their own cities and settlements. The Gui n would only do business with them as the top n.

    Perhaps this was also why the Gui Continent also had the least amount of conflicts among the three in the Ming Dao world. And also why they mostly went unnoticed.

    But that didn''t change the fact that they were one of the top three ns of the Ming Dao world and held the most power.

    If they were threatened, they would use their all andsh back at those who offended them. It had happened in the past and it could happen again.

    This point was also what had been striking Lin Wu''s thoughts.

    ''For the Gui n to go into lockdown suddenly for nearly a yearбн there must be something significant that happened.'' Lin Wu reckoned. ''Otherwise, it doesn''t make sense for them to do this. And even if they did, they shouldn''t have sealed allmunication channels like that.'' ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The host is 100 kilometers from the target location!

    бкбк

    And just as Lin Wu was thinking all that, the notification appeared.

    "Guess I''ll get to learn all that in person." Lin Wu muttered and looked back at Tim. "Don''t cause any trouble, we want to appear ''normal''бн as much as we can." He warned.

    "Okay," Tim said with a little screech.

    "If you behave, you''ll get snacks. I''m sure the Gui n has some unique food too." Lin Wu threw in a treat.

    "ALRIGHT!" Tim said with a lot more enthusiasm.

    With this secured, Lin Wu locked onto the target which was hidden deep inside the unassuming cier. If not for the fact that Lin Wu had absolute confirmation that the Gui n was down there, he would have never expected it. ~shua~

    Lin Wu even used his Radiation Perception to check and realized that it would get too muddled to see. And when he focused a bit more, he sensed some peculiar things.

    "That thick ice and Qi makes it harder to make it out. There''s even some additional radiation mixed in there in a couple of ces," Lin Wu muttered to himself, as he checked it all out.

    ~Whoosh~

    Lin Wu flew over and finallynded at the top of the ice dome. It didn''t move even slightly under his weight, which just showed how tough it was.

    ''I''m sure there''s many more formations strengthening this.'' Lin Wu wondered how he should proceed from here.

    He knew he could easily just drill into there, but that wouldn''t exactly be nice. It was more likely for the Gui n to take that as an attack and retaliate. "Let''s seeбн Time for some good ol'' knocking then." Lin Wu said before raising his tail and tapping on the cier.

    Of course, his taps whenpared to his size were more like hammering.

    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~

    Inside the ice dome, the Gui n had an abrupt awakening. "What is that noise?" The Gui n members were shocked.

    "Is it from the war preparation?" Some of them wondered.

    The ancestor and the patriarch of the Gui n had announced that a war was near and they needed to be ready. And as such most of the n had been mobilized ording to that, with many members running around frantically preparing for all that was toe.

    But they had never expected a voice to be heard next.

    ~SCREECH~

    ~STATIC~

    "Ahem! Mic check, testing, testingбн 1,2,3бн testing, testing." A strange voice that bordered in inhuman was heard throughout the Gui n. Above the surface, Lin Wu looked at the system screen.

    "Is the link to the formations working?" Lin Wu asked the system.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: Formation link sessful. Amunication channel has been established.

    бкбк

    "Good. Now to call them." Lin Wu said with a smile and gave a few knocks.

    ~KNOCK~ KNOCK~

    "Hello, I am Lin Wu, the king of the Emeraldine Legion. Can the patriarch and elders of the Gui n please respond?" Lin Wu said in a polite enough time. "I am standing outside. Can you please lift the dome? It is kinda cold outside." Lin Wu''s words were a shock to every member of the Gui n. They could not understand what was happening, but the loud knocking soundsing from the roof were certainly concerning to them. Concerning enough, that Lin Wu caught the attention of the higher ups of the Gui n.

    And this was exactly what he wanted.

    "What is happening?" The Grand Elder of the Gui n looked at the Patriarch and the Ancestor.

    Currently, the higher ups of the Gui n were sitting in arge hall, and had been nning the uing war. But they had never expected the arrival of a guest above their n.

    "Check it." The ancestor ordered. "For someone to call us like thisбн They are not simple." The old woman understood.

    "Yes!" The patriarch nodded his head and activated the formations, creating a formation screen in front of them.

    ~SHUA~

    And on the screen, they all saw the image of arge creature that was a mix of beauty and terror.

 Chapter 1085 Astonished Gui Clan

    Chapter 1085 Astonished Gui n

    The Gui n watched with wide eyes as an otherworldly creature stood at their doorstep.

    It was a massive creature that seemed to be at least a hundred meters long on the formation screen. Hundreds of sharp fangs could be seen in its mouth, while its red eyes and patterns shone on its crystalline green body. Each segment of its body seemed to be carved out of an emerald green crystal that shone with pure power.

    None of them knew what kind of beast it was, but taking a mere look at it stirred their souls.

    "W-Whatбн What in the name of heavens is that!?" The elders of the Gui n shouted in utter shock.

    Even the Patriarch and the Ancestor couldn''t help but gulp in unsettling anxiety.

    "Hellooooooo~! I know you guys are in there." But much to their surprise, the strange creature kept on speaking. "I''vee here to warn you, as well as to help your n against a great danger. The Long n and the Hu n have sent me." The creature mentioned.

    "The Long n and Hu n?" the Supreme elder was stunned hearing the names of the other two great ns.

    "What should we do patriarch?" The n elders wondered.

    "It seems like a dangerous creature. We need to defend ourselves!" Some of the more scared elders stated.

    "Silence. It has not attacked us yet." The Ancestor said firmly.

    Unlike the others, while she was taken aback by therge creature, she wasn''t scared silly. She still had her wits and knew better than to make a decision in hurry.

    "I am here to warn you of the Cmity Fiend. It is going to attack you, just as it did the Long continent and the Hu continent." The strange creature suddenly said. "Or ratherбн I think it already has attacked your n before this. It certainly has wrecked the Gui continent from what I''ve seen so far." It added.

    "The Cmity Fiend!?" All the elders were shocked upon hearing that name.

    Even the patriarch and Ancestor narrowed their eyes as they heard the very same name, that had been sent to them as a warning by hundreds of their n members. They had described in detail, about the hell that had been unleashed by the Cmity Fiend on the Gui continent.

    They knew exactly how many cities and settlements had been eradicated by the malevolent being.

    "What should we do, Ancestor?" The Patriarch asked.

    The old woman was silent for a minute before finally responding.

    "We will go meet it." The Gui n Ancestor stated. "Ancestor! That is utterly dangerous!" the elders protested.

    "It is still better than sitting here like ducks. Even if that creature is dangerous, do you think anything would change if we didn''t go out? In our state, just handling one monster is enough, not to mention two." The old woman scoffed at the cowardice of her n.

    The elders all went silent while the patriarch thought about her choice.

    "Very well, we shall go meet the creature." The patriarch agreed after a few moments of deliberation.

    He too, understood the situation they were in, and that the n would not be able to handle too many adversaries. With that said, the Patriarch, the ancestor, and a group of high ranking elders left the Grand Hall and went to meet the guest.

    Lin Wu of course knew that he was being watched, as the system had already informed him of an observation formation being active.

    "How''s the progress on essing the arrays, system?" Lin Wu asked.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Fomentation array takeover at 78%!

    бкбк

    "Perfect." Lin Wu said feeling pleased.

    This was his n b, in case the Gui n did not respond to him. He would not break the dome, instead getting it to open from the inside with the help of the system. It was the same in the end and would result in lesser damage. It was the least offensive way he could think of to get the Gui n to talk with him.

    Thankfully, he didn''t have to do that, and he sensed the cier moving slightly.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: 11 cultivators have been detected!

    бкбк

    "Looks like they''re finally responding." Lin Wu said as he followed the system''s marker.

    He soon found a small hole opening in the cial dome. Of course, the hole was only smallpared to his size. It was still nearly four meters in size, which was quite big for humans.

    ~SHUA~SHUA~SHAU~

    And from the hole came out several people, whom Lin Wu recognized to be the members of the Gui n.

    "Ah! Greetings!" Lin Wu said with a wide toothy smile, unnerving the elders.

    "Who are you?" The old woman took the lead, showing her experience as the ancestor.

    "You must be the Ancestor of the Gui n, considering you''re at the Immortal Ascension Realm." Lin Wu replied. "Like I said earlier, I am Lin Wu. The King of the Emeraldine Legion as well as the ally of the Long n and the Hu n." He introduced.

    "Do you have any proof of that?" The ancestor asked.

    "Of course." Lin Wu replied with a smile. "I believe this should be more than enough." He said, before creating some runes in the air.

    The elders were surprised to see a beast use runes like this but then saw that the runes had turned into a formation screen.

    ~SHUA~ SHUA~

    And on that screen, appeared the Ancestors of the Long n as well as the Hu n. But that wasn''t all as the scene changed again, and it showed Lin Wu meeting with the Long n guardian and the Hu n guardian.

    "Heavensбн it is true." The elders were stunned.

    Even the patriarch and the Ancestor were surprised that all that Lin Wu had said was true.

    "Now that we''ve established some rapport. I think we should have a serious talk." Lin Wu said, his smile disappearing. "Your n and the Gui continent are in danger." He warned. "We knowбн We''ve already been attacked before." The Ancestor of the Gui n admitted.

 Chapter 1086 Past Invasion Of The Gui Clan And Location Of The Orchid

    Chapter 1086 Past Invasion Of The Gui n And Location Of The Orchid

    The Ancestor of the Gui n brought Lin Wu and Tim to the depths of the n. They had opened up an alternate path for them so that they could enter without scaring the other members of the n.

    Even if the Ancestor and the Patriarch knew that Lin Wu wasn''t here to harm them, they still did not want to take the chances of scaring their members and lowering the morale further.

    They brought Lin Wu to an open area that was behind the guardian temple of the n, which was empty and big enough to amodate Lin Wu''srge body. However he did make things a bit easier for them and shrunk down a bit so that he wouldn''t be seen from afar.

    "Now then, can you tell me what happened?" Lin Wu asked the Ancestor of the Gui n.

    ~sigh~

    "It happened over a year ago." The old woman spoke.

    The expressions of the other elders also fell, looking rather dejected. It wasn''t hard to tell that they had suffered quite a few losses in it.

    "Our n has a forbidden area where we grow Spirit herbs and spirit fruits. It was originally entirely ours, but a few hundred years ago, a damned nt grew there and took over the entire area.

    As such, the area where we could grow the spirit herbs and fruits was greatly reduced. Still, I was enough for us to harvest it at least once a year.

    But when our members went to harvest this time around, they were ambushed by a terrible beast. We have no idea how or when it got there, but it was very strong.

    The entirety of our n''s defensive arrays were activated and yet it broke through them all. About ten percent of our members died before a miracle happened.

    Arge meteor came flying through the sky and struck the unknown beast, taking it away with it.

    With that chance, we didn''t dare to wait and quickly activated all the defenses of the n and put it on lockdown. Since many of our arrays were broken, we had been repairing them all this time and could not risk letting others know." The Ancestor of the Gui n exined.

    Hearing this, Lin Wu couldn''t help but narrow his eyes as a few points caught his interest.

    "What was that nt that took over the growing area?" Lin Wu questioned.

    "A damned, Purple Crested Orchid!" The Grand Elder uttered with disgust.

    "The Purple Crested Orchid!?" Lin Wu''s eyes lit up.

    He had never thought that what he had been looking for was actually hidden in the forbidden area of the Gui n in the first ce.

    ''Though now that I think of it, it does make sense. No wonder I could not find it anywhere and the information on it was so low.'' Lin Wu thought before another thought came to him. "This ice dome made from the cier, it wasn''t this big before was it?" he asked.

    "It wasn''t. We had to extend it and cover the entirety of the n''s territory to protect ourselves. We did not wish to risk it." The Patriarch answered.

    "And was this forbidden area open before?" Lin Wu asked next.

    "It was indeed." The Patriarch nodded.

    ''So the intel we had was indeed correct. The Purple Crested Orchid was located in a frozen hintend and was witnessed by others. But since the Gui n raised their defenses, it was hidden behind the cial dome.'' Lin Wu understood.

    The ice dome also had the ability to dull his radiation perceptional as well as avoid the system''s scans. But once even a single gap was exposed, it wasn''t that hard for it to find the n right away.

    "Seems like I have an offer for you." Lin Wu spoke with a smile. "I shall help your n not just against the unknown beast and the Cmity Fiend, I''ll also get rid of the Purple Crested Orchid for you." He offered.

    Hearing that, the Gui n members were surprised at first, but then found in unbelievable.

    "Why would you help us?" The Ancestor asked.

    It was normal for them to be doubtful, as no sane person would easily believe that there wouldn''t be a cost to this.

    "The Purple Crested Orchid will be helpful in raising my strength. As for the Unknown beast and the Cmity fiend, they are my old foes and I have sworn to end them.

    Besides, I am an ally of the guardian ns, and as such, the same applies to the Gui n too." Lin Wu stated.

    "Weбн will be grateful for your help." The Ancestor of the Gui n spoke in an emotional tone.

    "But we need to hurry." Lin Wu urged. "The unknown beast might not appear soon, but the Cmity Fiend sure will. As such, it is best I get rid of the Purple Crested Orchid as soon as possible." He exined.

    "Of course!" The ancestor agreed. "I''ll take you to the forbidden zone." She said.

    "Great, let''s go." Lin Wu didn''t even wait a moment and went along the old woman.

    Tim on the other hand, followed behind them silently, keeping his promise. Plus, he felt like he was going to get his reward soon enough.

    A short whileter, Lin Wu reached the forbidden area.

    It was frozen in some parts, while grasses grew in some parts along with various herbs and nts. In the barren and coldnd of the Gui Continent, it was certainly a refreshing site.

    "This is as far as I can go. The poison of the Purple Crested Orchid is dangerous even to me. That damned nt has reached the Dao Treading realm too." The Ancestor stated.

    "It''s fine. I''ll take care of it." Lin Wu said before heading in with Tim.

    At the same time, he sent a signal to his avatar so that it would start hearing towards the Gui n.

    After all, he had warned them about the attack of the Cmity fiend and had promised to protect them.

 Chapter 1087 The Purple Crested Orchid

    Chapter 1087 The Purple Crested Orchid

    While the Gui n thought they were being protected, Lin Wu was busy with the arrays of the n.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Gui n array takeover at 71%

    бкбк

    The system had gotten working on the arrays of the n the moment they had entered the ce.

    After all, Lin Wu was quite interested in their cial dome too. Its defenses were quite strong, since they could not only prevent Lin Wu the system from peeking in, but even that unknown beast had managed to not damage it much.

    When it had attacked them, it had done so from the inside in the first ce. If not for that, the Gui n could have just turtled in their dome and stayed protected until the unknown beast decided to move away.

    Lin Wu didn''t know why the Unknown beast had decided to stay there, but he knew it would be dying soon.

    ''I absolutely have to fulfill my ''promise'' to the Gui n.'' Lin Wu thought internally, with a smile.

    The Gui n had no idea that their protector and invader were going to be the same. Of course, it was best they stayed in the dark, as it was the best result for Lin Wu.

    ~HISS~

    Shortly after Lin Wu had entered the forbidden area, a hissing sound was heard. It felt like pressurized gas was leaking out from a container, but Lin Wu knew it wasn''t that simple.

    "My, myбн Poison gas right from the start?" Lin Wu said as he looked at the hazy area in front of him.

    The entire area was covered in a purple colored mist, and barely anything could be seen behind it. The sound of the leaking gas was alsoing from behind the mist.

    "Unfortunately for you, this doesn''t work on me!" Lin Wu whipped out with his tail which had transformed into the shape of a fan.

    ~WHOOSH~

    One sweep with Wind spirit Qi infused into it was all it took to clear out all the gas, and reveal what was hiding behind it.

    ~KUWHEEEEEE~

    A giant nt was revealed behind it. This was none other than the Purple Crested Orchid that Lin Wu had been looking for.

    It had tens of flower heads, with one being thergest one. Each of the flower heads had sharp teeth and a long ck tongue that seemed to be dripping with poison as well,

    The area around the nt had long since turned ck from the poison and anyone that stepped into it would end up dying within seconds.

    Even for Dao Treading Realm cultivators, this was deadly and Immortal Ascension realm cultivators would barely be able to hold out against it. If one did not have specific skills that allowed them to resist poison, they would simply perish by taking a breath.

    Lin Wu''s spirit sense scanned the beast and estimated its cultivation base to be at the Dao Comprehension Stage of the Dao Treading realm.

    "Seems like you''ve been freeloading off the Gui n for quite some time. You''ve grown decentlyбн perfect for harvesting now." Lin Wu smiled and shot towards the Purple Crested Orchid.

    ~KUWHUUU~

    The Purple Crested Orchid did not intend to take it passively and counterattacked.

    All of its flower heads except for the main one shot towards Lin Wu, while vines rose from it and tried to wrap around Lin Wu.

    ~SHING~

    Unfortunately for the vines, as soon as they tried to touch Lin Wu, sharp des rose from his body, cutting them with ease.

    ~SIZZLE~

    Corrosive fluid dripped from the cut vines, which also sshed onto Lin Wu''s body. But to him, resisting it was simple enough.

    Hispatibility with the Poison Dao was quite high too after all. And his tough body has long since be immune to most poisons. Lin Wu had consumed enough materials that contained various kinds of poison in order to develop immunity to it.

    "Nowбн DIE!" Lin Wu opened his mouth wide enough to engulf the entire flower head as well as the main stalk of the Purple Crested Orchid in one go.

    The nt was barely able to resist for a moment before its life was consumed by Lin Wu.

    The Dao Embryo and Dantian of the Purple Crested Orchid were located in the main stalk of the nt and were directly consumed by Lin Wu.

    "You can have the rest, Tim." Lin Wu let the beast have his promised meal.

    ~KIIIII~

    Tim didn''t hesitate for even a moment and jumped in to eat the remaining flower heads and vines that were now lying on the ground limply.

    ''Time to digest thisбн'' Lin Wu coiled up and let his body absorb everything.

    The system was also working to analyze the Purple Crested Orchid and was updating the data.

    A few minutes passed as his body started to adjust to the new nutrients. And soon enough, the system notification was heard.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    DATA BANKS: Updated

    RECORDED DAO TRACES: 17 Detected

    1. Fire Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    2. Water Dao Trace [Compatibility: 60%]

    3. Earth Dao Trace [Compatibility: 96%]

    4. Wood Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%] [Updated]

    5. Metal Dao Trace [Compatibility: 85%]

    6. Wind Dao Trace [Compatibility: 90%]

    7. Lightning Dao Trace [Compatibility: 75%]

    8. Light Dao Trace [Compatibility: 26%]

    9. Darkness Dao Trace [Compatibility: 11%]

    10. Shadow Dao Trace [Compatibility: 19%]

    11. Spear Dao Trace [Compatibility: 38%]

    12. Beast Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%]

    13. Formation Dao Trace [Compatibility: 40%]

    14. Sword Dao Trace [Compatibility: 32%]

    15. Poison Dao Trace [Compatibility: 98%] [Updated]

    16. Assimtion Dao Trace (Avatar) [Compatibility: 100%]

    17. Upheaval Dao Trace (Main Body) [Compatibility: 100%]

    бкбк

    "Hohoбн this was better than I thought." Lin Wu looked at the Wood Dao Trace and the Poison Dao Trace that had reached almost the maximum it could go.

    98% was the highest any of his Dao Traces had reached, other than the two that he had used to make his Dao Embryo.

    And once Lin Wu was done absorbing it all, his avatar had also reached the Gui n.

    "Time to fulfill the promise." Lin Wu said and in the next moment, a loud sound was heard.

    ~BOOM~

 Chapter 1088 The Gui Clan Guaridan Spirit

    Chapter 1088 The Gui n Guaridan Spirit

    "What''s happening!?"

    "What was that!?"

    The Gui n had another rude shock as the entire ce shook.

    ~BOOM~

    But it did not stop there and more explosions were hearding from the top.

    "Ancestor! It''s that monster! It''s the Cmity Fiend!" The Patriarch of the Gui n shouted as a formation screen disyed what was happening outside.

    A colossal being with a gaping abyssal mouth filled with teeth and hundreds of tentacles seemed to be hammering on the dome of the Gui n.

    "So that''s where the rats have been hiding!" A heart wrenching screeching voice was heard.

    The voice matched the appearance of the creature, making everyone m their hands on their ears. It was simply too loud and those that were weaker felt their ears bleed. If there were mortals here, they would have long since turned deaf.

    "How is it able to bypass the defenses!?" The Elders were astonished.

    Seeing this the ancestor and the patriarch became greatly nervous.

    "If the Cmity Fiend can do this, it just might be able to break through the dome!" The Grand Elder felt fearful again.

    ~ROAR~

    But before the elders could panic anymore, they heard a powerful roar.

    The roar suppressed the screech of the Cmity fiend and actually managed to stabilize the area. Some of them who heard it even felt a bit of courage thanks to it.

    Of course, this was none other than one of the Audio skills of Lin Wu. He had simply modified kinmand and added his Qi to control the oppressive Qi of the Cmity Fiend.

    But this was only possible because Lin Wu was controlling the avatar and knew exactly the kind of frequency it was using.

    ~SHUA~

    "What beast is that?" Soon the Gui n members all saw the giant body of Lin Wu soaring above them.

    He directly passed through the ice dome which lifted automatically to allow him outside.

    ~BOOM~

    And in the next moment, he collided against the Cmity Fiend.

    "I''ve been waiting for you!" Lin Wu said out loud, starting his performance.

    "You again!" The Cmity Fiend responded with anger, clearly showing that the two had great enmity. "I''ll kill you this time!" it exploded andshed out with hundreds of tentacles.

    Lin Wu on the other hand responded with a sweep of his tail that was draped in fire and thunder.

    ~SHA~SHA~SHA~

    The thunder and fire burned through the tentacles of the Cmity Fiend, forcing it back a few meters.

    "Damn you!" The Cmity Fiend cursed as the two continued to fight.

    The Gui n ancestor, patriarch and the other elders watched as Lin Wu fulfilled his promise. He fought valiantly against the Cmity Fiend.

    "Just what is their cultivation bases?" The patriarch of the Gui n wondered.

    "I can''t estimate it." The Ancestor shook her head. "But I know for sure I would not be able to go against either of them." She admitted.

    "Thank the heavens we have King Lin Wu to help us." The Grand Elder couldn''t help but say while the other elders nodded in agreement.

    ~ki~

    While they were watching all this though, they heard a sound and turned around to see another beast approaching.

    "Is that the beast that came with King Lin Wu?" Some of the elders hadn''t seen it properly and as such were surprised.

    Lin Wu hadn''t exactly introduced Tim to them as such they were left wondering what it was.

    Though looking at Tim they did find him peculiar.

    "Wait... It''s a Dao Treading Realm beast?!" The Patriarch suddenly realized.

    The eyes of the other elders went wide as they had not expected Tim to be that strong either.

    "Me, Tim! Me Strong!" The Weasel suddenly spoke in the human tongue.

    Though his voice was a bit awkward, the elders still understood him.

    "Yesбн" The Ancestor could only say that much.

    ~KABOOM~

    And while the elders were distracted by Tim, the fight outside had reached its climax. A giant beam of energy hit the Cmity Fiend and sent it flying into the sky.

    It soon turned into a dot and disappeared in the horizon.

    "I''LL BE BACK!!!!!!" Only the voice of the Cmity Fiend could be heard, after it had been sent flying.

    With that, the battle had ended, and Lin Wu made his return.

    A few cracks could be seen on his body, and the energy fluctuationsing from him were also a bit erratic. It didn''t take much for the elders to understand that he was injured too.

    "Are you okay, King Lin Wu?" The Ancestor asked with concern.

    "I''ll be fine." Lin Wu replied in a slightly tired tone. "But the danger is not over yet." He added.

    "That cmity fiend isn''t dead yet, right?" The Patriarch asked with anxiety.

    lightsжнж╧vel "Indeed. I''ll need to chase it down. It had been evading me all this time, but I should be able to track it now." Lin Wu replied.

    "That''s good." The elders felt relieved.

    "But before that, I need some more information. I need to talk to the Gui Guardian spirit." Lin Wu stated. "The other unknown beast that attacked your n also needs to be eliminated. It can pose a higher danger than the Cmity Fiend." He warned.

    "Of course." The Ancestor understood just how strong that beast was. "I''ll take you to meet him. We''ll have to awaken the spirit ourselves." She added.

    "Mmhmm," Lin Wu nodded his head and followed the ancestor into the temple.

    The others stayed outside and stood in specific positions. Only the Patriarch followed along the Ancestor and was going to help her.

    Once they were inside the giant tortoise shaped building, Lin Wu saw the statue of the Gui beast inside. Just like the Long n and the Hu n, it contained the spirit of the beast.

    "Guardian! Please heed our voices!" The Ancestor and Patriarch chanted before several runes appeared all around them.

    The statue also glowed and soon enough, the beast spirit of the Gui rose from it!

    "Ancestor Leng, Patriarch Lihan... You''ve awakened me already?" The Gui Spirit spoke in a groggy tone.

 Chapter 1089 Location Of The Unknown Beast

    Chapter 1089 Location Of The Unknown Beast

    "Guardian, we have a guestбн someone of your stature." The Ancestor spoke. "It is King Lin Wu." She introduced.

    lightsжнж╧vel The Gui spirit finally opened its eyes and saw Lin Wu.

    And the moment the two looked into each other''s eyes, bloodline resonances happened.

    The Gui Spirit was frozen in ce, while a giant figure of Lin Wu appeared in its mind and easily suppressed it with the sheer presence of its bloodline.

    ~gasp~

    It abruptly roused from its stupor, feeling terror within its heart.

    "Leave us!" The Gui Spirit ordered.

    "Yes, guardian!" The Ancestor and Patriarch replied, letting them have some privacy.

    ~shua~

    Once they were gone, Lin Wu spoke.

    "So you are the Guardian spiritбн You seem to be much weaker than the other two." Lin Wu spoke and showed the illusory images of the other spirits.

    The Gui spirit looked at them and realized that Lin Wu had indeed met them.

    "I had to use up too much of my power to protect the n. The cial Gui Dome is not something I can use easily." The Gui Spirit stated.

    "So that''s why the Gui n was so hard to find." Lin Wu finally understood why his and the system''s senses were unable to get through it.

    It was literally the power of a guardian beast!

    "What have youe here for?" The Gui Spirit asked.

    "To help of course." Lin Wu replied. "I am here to get more information about where the unknown beast could have gone. I''m sure you have more information than the other n members." He stated.

    "Help? Why would you help us?" The Gui spirit asked.

    "Because it''s my duty as the Disciple of the Taiji Celestial!" Lin Wu dered.

    "The Taiji Celestial!" The Gui spirit clearly recognized the name and knew what it entailed. "If it''s youбн then it just might be possible." It muttered.

    "Exactly. Now tell me where that unknown beast could have gone." Lin Wu asked again. "I know you guardians can sense the entirety of the continent if you put your mind to it."

    "Yesбн but if I do that I''ll go into an uncontroble slumber. I won''t be able to defend the n." It stated.

    "You won''t have to worry about that. I''ll be here to defend it. Just do your best and try to sense where it is." Lin Wu gave his word.

    ~huu~

    "Very well." The Gui spirit decided to trust Lin Wu.

    After all, Lin Wu had already proven his reliability and power. If not him, then who?

    The Gui n didn''t exactly have too many options at this point. If Lin Wu helped them out, they might be able to avoid any more of their members dying.

    ~HONG~

    The entire body of the Gui Spirit glowed as a wave of energy spread from it. The wave of energy extended at a blinding pace and covered the entirety of the Gui Continent in just a couple of minutes.

    The eyes of the Gui spirit turned hazy as it sensed all the beings within the continent.

    ''It''s energy is certainly being drained fastбн For a skill that has better range and sensitivity than the system''s, guess it makes sense that the energy drain is great.'' Lin Wu thought to himself.

    He waited in silence for a couple of minutes, before the Gui Spirit finally spoke.

    "Found it!" The Gui Spirit shouted. "I never thought it would hide thereбн" it said in disbelief.

    "Where is it?" Lin Wu asked narrowing his eyes.

    "That beast is hiding in a forbidden area I sealed thousands of years ago. It is filled with baleful energy and can wear down anything that enters it. Even Dao Treading realm cultivators will get exhausted before getting sick and dying a horrible death." The Gui spirit answered.

    "Give me its location. I''ll handle the rest." Lin Wu said, having a few thoughts about the forbidden area.

    ~SHUA~

    The Gui sprint then transferred the exact location into Lin Wu''s mind, allowing the system to pick on it.

    "I''llбн Leaveбн the restбн to you." The Gui spirit said before it returned to the statue.

    ~shua~

    All the runes disappeared and the temple returned to its normal calm state.

    With the Gui spirit sleeping, Lin Wu was now free to act.

    "System, where''s our target at?" Lin Wu questioned.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    MAP UPDATED: New location has been added: Bale Dread Valley!

    NOTIFICATION: Plotting route to Bale Dread Valley!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu nced at the map window and saw that the Bale Dread Valley was at the far northern edge of the Gui Continent.

    ''Didn''t we pass by here?'' Lin Wu realized.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: The Gui spirit sealed the area in a simr cial Gui dome like the n and as such it was undetectable by the system.

    бкбк

    "Hmmбн makes sense." Lin Wu nodded. "That unknown beast can use Spatial abilities. It can probably just bypass the defenses that the Gui spirit set up. It might also be how it managed to enter the Gui n earlier." He muttered to himself.

    Lin Wu was sure that simr to him the Unknown Beast also seemed to be consuming different beasts and materials. The beast''s presence in the Gui n was definitely due to the Purple Crested Orchid.

    ''Perhaps it was also consuming the poison here and intended to eat the nt, but the Gui n found it before that.'' Lin Wu reckoned.

    Whatever it may be, Lin Wu knew he''d be finding out more soon enough.

    "Let''s head out." Lin Wu said before leaving the temple.

    "King Lin Wu," The Ancestor and the Patriarch met him.

    "I''ll be leaving right away. The Gui Spirit helped find the location of the unknown beast. I''ll get rid of it and also deal with the Cmity Fiend if Ie across it." Lin Wu stated.

    "We''ll be grateful for you, King Lin Wu." The Patriarch said while cupping his hands.

    "It is fine. This is merely my duty." Lin Wu said with a slight smile. "Come, Tim. We got a beast to hunt." He called.

    "KILL!" Tim shouted with excitement.

    ~WHOOSH~

    The two beasts quickly flew out of the Gui n.

 Chapter 1090 Bale Dread Valley

    Chapter 1090 Bale Dread Valley

    While Lin Wu and Tim were flying towards the Bale Dread Valley, a few thoughts were going through the crystalline worm''s mind.

    ''That meteor that hit the unknown beastбн just what was it?'' Lin Wu wondered.

    None of the Gui n members nor the Gui Spirit seemed to have an idea about it. And when Lin Wu checked the recordings from the n''s formation arrays, he too could not tell much.

    Even the system''s analysis was a failure, as there was simply not enough information to go off on. At most the system, simply guessed that the meteor might have been a strong Qi skill that struck the unknown beast.

    "Am I not the only one that''s hunting it?" Lin Wu questioned himself.

    But he didn''t know who else could be strong enough to hunt that beast, not to mention have a reason to do so. And whoever they were, they had managed to track down the unknown beast faster than he and the system.

    Thetter was what surprised Lin Wu the most.

    ''The mystery only gets deeperбн'' Lin Wu thought to himself. "Regardless of that though, I have to be prepared." He stated.

    The power of the unknown beast was certainly great and Lin Wu did not wish to take any chances. As such, he decided to use all his power which meant using the avatar and fusing it with his main body.

    After an hour of travel, Lin Wu finally met his avatar and merged it with his main body.

    ~RUMBLE~

    Thebination of the two bodies created waves of power, that made the entire area tremble.

    "This should be enough to fight the beastбн" Lin Wu said, his voice crackling with sparks.

    Energy stirred within his crystalline body and could be seen in the form of several colors that coursed through it.

    It was as if a rainbow was flowing through Lin Wu''s body, with each color being a type of Qi and more energies mixing together.

    This was the peak of what was possible for Lin Wu to use.

    With the two bodies fuse, Lin Wu was now ready to fight the beast and sped up even more.

    ~BOOM~

    The air was ripped apart, as Lin Wu boosted his speed to the very maximum. He couldn''t wait to fight the beast he had been hunting for since the start. It was an old quest and today he was going to finish it at all costs.

    A whileter, Lin Wu finally reached the location of the Bale Dread Valley. Of course, the valley didn''t look like a valley at all and simply looked like a t ice field.

    But below all that snow, there was a thickyer of ice that had been created by the Gui Spirit.

    "Hmmбн I can''t look below it. This is definitely the right ce." Lin Wu said after observing with his Radiation perception.

    Having confirmed that Lin Wunded on the ice sheet and began drilling into it.

    ~SIZZLE~

    He used fire Qi and also some of his radiation to heat up the ice, letting his tail drill through it with ease. Even if it was a skill that had been used by the Gui Spirit, it had long since weakened without constant maintenance by the beast.

    Lin Wu quickly maderge enough hole and entered the Bale Dread Valley. Tim followed behind him through the hole and was rather curious about it all.

    "WAIT!" Lin Wu quickly stated, upon looking at the valley. "Tim, you''ll have to stay out of here." He said in a serious tone.

    "Why?" Tim was confused.

    "This areaбн it isn''t filled with Baleful Energyбн it is filled with radiation!" Lin Wu finally realized why the Gui spirit found it so dangerous too.

    The spirit had confused heavy radiation with Baleful energy, but that was understandable as their effects often ovepped.

    "The area will weaken you if you enter." Lin Wu stated. "Stay outside, and attack if the beast tries to escape." He added.

    "Okayбн" Tim decided to go with Lin Wu''s instructions.

    Lin Wu proceeded alone and got a proper look at the valley.

    There was no vegetation here, and neither was there any ice or snow. The area was hot despite there being no fire. It was just a constant radiant heat that wasing from glowing yellow crystals that were jutting out of the base of the valley.

    Looking at the yellow crystals, Lin Wu was sure they were not from this world.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated

    SCAN: Completed!

    TARGET IDENTIFIED: Yellow Bale Melt Crystals

    INFO: A very dangerous crystal often found in meteorites and has heavy radiation and other corrosive energies. Wherever itnds, it can turn the area into a wastnd as well as harm all those that live there.

    NOTE: The Yellow Bale Melt Crystal are harmless to the host.

    бкбк

    "Guess there are other things like this that contain radiation along with baleful energies tooбн Seems like the Gui Spirit wasn''t exactly wrong." Lin Wu muttered to himself. "Now where is that beast?" he looked around.

    For that beast to be here, Lin Wu knew it was because of these crystals. It was possibly consuming radiation which also made it simple for Lin Wu to find it.

    ~shua~

    He simply activated his radiation perception and followed the flow of Radiation in the air. It was moving to the back of the valley, which was going toward a depression. As Lin Wu got closer, it didn''t take much for him to realize that this was made artificially.

    "This was definitely dug outбн" Lin Wu narrowed his eyes as he looked at the dark depths of a hole.

    All the radiation was flowing out of the crystals and flowing down the hole.

    "Wellбн Time for sleeping beauty to wake up." Lin Wu said and opened his mouth.

    ~HONG~

    Nearly twenty percent of Lin Wu''s energy stores were activated and gathered in his mouth. An orb of iridescent energy formed, which contained all the elemental qi that Lin Wu possessed.

    "Let''s see how you like a Radiation Cocktail!" Lin Wu fired a beam down the hole.

 Chapter 1091 Facing The Archnemesis

    Chapter 1091 Facing The Archnemesis

    The Beam of energy lit up the hole as it reached the bottom in an instant.

    The hole was nearly a kilometer deep and Lin Wu finally saw what was its bottom. But that was only for a moment, as the energy beam struck the beast and exploded.

    ~KABOOM~

    A blinding explosion filled the entirety of the Bale Dread Valley. Its power was massive, so much so that the ice dome started to crack, while all the Yellow Bale Melt crystals shattered!

    ~KIIIII~

    Tim who was waiting outside was also blown away by the explosive wave. Though thankfully it wasn''t enough to injure him. Not only was the explosion dulled by the ice dome, but the beast was also tough enough to take it.

    The explosionsted for about ten seconds, after which the light finally died down.

    But even after that, the area continued to glow, for it had been turned into a moltenva field!

    "Wakey! Wakey! BITCH!" Lin Wu shouted. "I''ve been looking for you for years!"

    ~GIRIRIIRIRIR~

    A strange cry was heard before movement was felt.

    ~WHOOSH~

    Then in the next moment, Lin Wu saw a creature rising from the moltenvake.

    The Creature was as big as Lin Wu and was just as terrifying in looks as his Avatar.

    "Man, you''re one ugly motherfucker!" Lin Wu couldn''t help but say. "I forfeit the award of the Ugliest creature ever to you." He taunted as the beast grew furious.

    The beast in question was an amalgamation of several different creatures.

    Its upper body was bulkier than the rest of its body and had three different pairs of limbs on it. The first pair looked like that of a crab''s pincers, the second pair looked like sharp ws a mantis would have, while the third pair were long and slender like that of a scorpion''s pincers.

    Below the three pairs of limbs, it had long spider like limbs that were spiked at the end. There were ten such legs and below that its body narrowed down before turning into a long centipede like shape. And at the end of this, there was a long barbed stinger, that was dripping with venom.

    The beast''s head didn''t have a proper head, and one could only see thirty eyes on the top of its body that were attached to individual tentacles.

    Below these eye-tentacles was its mouth that had sharp teeth simr to Lin Wu''s avatar and also had a pair of tusks along with a long tongue that seemed to also function as a proboscis.

    The beast''s entire body was covered in a tough carapace that was simr to that of Lin Wu''s organic form, but yellow and green glowing patterns also flowed through it. And between the joints and segments of the unknown beast, one could see throbbing red flesh.

    Lin Wu''s surprise attack seemed to have done a number on the beast, as its body was covered in several injuries. Greenish yellow blood dripped from its wounds and caused the ground to sizzle wherever it fell.

    ~GIRIIIIIIIII~

    The unknown beast cried out in fury and rushed at Lin Wu. Radiation poured out of its body, while mes and wind covered its crab like pincers.

    "Seems like we developed simr skills, huh." Lin Wu had a hunch about this, but now it was confirmed. "BUT YOU''RE STILL LACKING!" The worm retaliated.

    Lin Wu''s tail transformed into a long de and was coated with thunder, fire and wind elemental spirit Qi. And if that was not enough, Lin Wu also added Sapphire Qi to increase its piercing power, while releasing his venom from points in the de too.

    ~CLANG~

    Lin Wu''s tail and the two crab like pincers of the beast met, causing a shockwave to be created.

    ~BOOM~

    Theva under them was pushed apart, as a gully formed from their sh.

    ~SLICK~

    But just as they were in a stalemate, the unknown beast opened its mouth and stabbed with its proboscis like tongue!

    ~CRACK~

    And much to Lin Wu''s surprise, it actually managed to pierce into his body!

    "Ugh! Guess you haven''t been cking either." Lin Wu said as he tried to push the proboscises out of the side of his head.

    ~WARNING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Unknown venom has been detected! The host does not have immunity to it!

    бкбк

    Seeing the notification, Lin Wu knew this was going to be his strongest adversary. His immunity to poison was now being matched with a stronger poison.

    ~SHING~

    Still, Lin Wu ejected several razor sharp shards from his neck, which forced the proboscis of the unknown beast out.

    ~DENG~DENG~DENG~

    The Unknown beast wasn''t going to back down from that either, and used its tail with a barbed stinger to attack Lin Wu. The stinger poked at Lin Wu''s body, leaving holes and cracks in it.

    ~CRACK~CRACK~CRACK~

    "ENOUGH!" Lin Wu sted the beast back with a beam of Lightning and Fire Qi, allowing him to put some distance between them.

    Lin Wu wished to take this chance to reassess his situation, but was shocked by a presence appearing behind him.

    "Whaбк" Before Lin Wu could even speak, two sharp ws struck him from the back.

    ~BOOM~

    Lin Wu was sent crashing down into theva.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Spatial Fluctuations detected!

    WARNING: The target is utilizing spatial teleportation!

    бкбк

    "Dammitбн" Lin Wu gritted his teeth, as a long crack appeared in his crystalline body. "Initiate recovery!" he ordered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    RECOVERY: Restricted!

    WARNING: Poison in the Host''s body is preventing regeneration and healing!

    бкбк

    "Shitбн it only gets worse." Lin Wu looked at his body, which was leaking energy from the cracks.

    ~slick~

    Lin Wu partially changed his body into an organic one, as it offered him better control over particr parts.

    He then used Chimeric Organogenesis to create patches of skin that would cover the wounds and then created new armor over them to prevent them from getting hit again.

    His form now looked like a mix of crystals and flesh,pletely unlike what he had shown before.

 Chapter 1092 Help From An Old Ally

    Chapter 1092 Help From An Old Ally

    Lin Wu had taken on a new hybrid form to battle his enemies.

    Four long fangs jutted out from the side of his teeth, while a crown of green crystals rose from his head. Hundreds of tentacles also rose from the gaps in his crystals, filling them further.

    His tail became more flexible, with a crystalline de with a sharp tip attached to it.

    Several tentacles also rose from the sides of the tail that had sharp spear like ends that were dripping with all kinds of poisons. Each and every part of Lin Wu''s body was exuding power and lethality.

    "Time to take this seriously." Lin Wu said in a hoarse voice before rushing towards the unknown beast.

    ~GIRRRRRR~

    The beast also did the same, but just as they were about to collide, the beast disappeared!

    Lin Wu only saw the unknown beast''s body turning into a sliver and entering into a hole in the air.

    "It''s teleporting againбн" Lin Wu''s senses were fully extended. ''System, is it possible to track it?'' he asked.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SCANNER: Activated!

    NOTIFICATION: Trying to find the targetбн

    бкбк

    Lin Wu didn''t dare to lose his focus here either, and was ready to react at all times. It was highly likely the beast was going to sneak attack him.

    ~GIIIR~

    And sure enough, the unknown beast appeared from the top. It drove at Lin Wu and hammered him with its crab like pincers while also shing at him with the second pair of limbs.

    ~HONG~

    Lin Wu decided to take it head on and took this chance to wrap himself around the unknown beast.

    "Now you can''t get away, Hahaha!" Lin Wu didn''t know if the beast could teleport even now, but it was best to restrain it this way.

    ~THUD~THUD~THUD~

    But the beast tried to use its third pair of scorpion like pincers and snip off the tentacles that were binding Lin Wu to it.

    Those pincers were sharp and managed to cut off several of them and it freed itself.

    "Fuck!" Lin Wu cursed as he saw the unknown beast disappear again.

    ~BOOM~

    Then a couple of secondster, Lin Wu''s body was struck by a long whip of energy which was basically the unknown beast''s tail coated in radiation and other energies.

    ~WHOOSH~

    This sent Lin Wu flying into the sky and out of the Bale Dread Valley.

    ~SHUA~

    The unknown beast simply teleported again and appeared at a location where Lin Wu was about to reach.

    ~THWACK~

    It hammered Lin Wu with its pincers again but the beast jolted it with a thunder bolt.

    This temporarily paralyzed the beast, which allowed Lin Wu to get closer again.

    ~KIIIIII~

    It was at this point that Lin Wu''spanion also decided to join in.

    ~CLANG~

    Tim dug his ws into the back of the beast, while also biting its tough carapace.

    "Nice Tim!" Lin Wu said while attacking the beast with his tail that had now turned into a drill. "Let''s see how you like this!"

    Sapphire Qi flowed through his drill tail as he jabbed it into the beast''s body.

    ~CLANG~

    The beast though tried to block it with its spider like legs, and brought them together.

    ~RUMBLE~

    The legs were tough and managed to stop it in its tracks, but a few secondster, one of the legs was ripped apart.

    lightsжнж╧vel "Hahaha! That''s just the start!" Lin Wuughed.

    The three beasts tussled in the air, and created havoc across thend. Their collisions made new valleys in the continent, while also mowing down mountains at the same time.

    Minute after minute passed, as the battle reached a stalemate.

    Both Lin Wu and Tim had sustained multiple injuries by now, but the unknown beast was the same.

    ~GIRIIIIII~

    But just as Lin Wu felt like they were getting an advantage, the beast decided to escape!

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: High intensity spatial fluctuations have been detected! The target is likely trying to attempt a long distance teleportation!

    бкбк

    "OH NO YOU WON''T!" Lin Wu certainly didn''t want to lose the beast now.

    There was no telling how far it would escape this time, especially now that it knew Lin Wu was hunting it.

    ~HUALA~

    Before Lin Wu could lose any more hope though, a miracle happened.

    A scorching heat could be felting from the side, and soon a bright red meteor struck the unknown beast!

    ~GIRRRRRRRRR~

    The unknown beast''s teleportation was interrupted by the sudden impact, and blood was sttered everywhere.

    "What?" Lin Wu was surprised by this but soon felt arge presence above him..

    ~PIIIIIIIII~

    A sonorous cry was heard, as a giant ming bird appeared above him.

    But looking at it, Lin Wu realized that the bird was actually an energy construct. The actual power wasing from the center of it.

    "Thisбн" There Lin Wu saw a woman.

    She was dressed in a long Vermillion dress and wore a thick cloak filled with orange feathers.

    Lin Wu felt a familiar energy signature from the woman. And when their eyes met, he realized who she was.

    "Zhu Tianying!" Lin Wu eximed in shock.

    "Took you long enough." Zhu Tianying replied.

    "How are youбк" Before Lin Wu could ask any more though, the ming woman interrupted him.

    "We''ll talkter, first we have to get rid of that thieving bastard!" She cursed looking at the unknown beast.

    "Thieving bastard?" Lin Wu wondered what the beast had stolen from her.

    Whatever it might be, it was clear that she was furious.

    "I''ll restrain its movement, you deal the finishing blow!" Zhu Tianying said and raised her hand.

    ~PIIII~

    The illusory form of the vermilion bird around her extended its wings and pped them, causing a rain of meteors to fall from them.

    "Scorning Vermillion Rain!" Zhu Tianying roared.

    ~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~

    The meteors targeted the unknown beast, allowing Lin Wu the chance to attack it again.

    "Perfect!" Lin Wu smiled. "TIM! GIVE IT YOUR ALL!"

    ~KIIIIII~

    "Undying Will crown!" Tim directly summoned his Dao Embryo and utilized its power.

 Chapter 1093 A Legendary Day

    Chapter 1093 A Legendary Day

    The Undying Will crown Dao Embryo filled the weasel with unyielding power and he fearlessly rushed at the beast.

    ~CRACK~TEAR~CRUSH~

    Tim''s ws ripped through the carapace of the unknown beast, while Lin Wu prepared the strongest attack that he could.

    "I''ll end it in one goбн" Lin Wu mustered the Dao Embryos within his body, awakening their skills.

    The Upheaval Totem Dao Embryo released its Dao Traces, allowing Lin Wu to exceed his capabilities.

    This caused his cultivation base to directly break through to the next realm!

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    CULTIVATION BASE: The Host has reached the Immortal Ascension realm!

    UNKNOWN ENERGY: Detected!

    NOTIFICATION: An unknown energy has been identified as Immortal Qi!

    бкбк

    The Upheaval Totem appeared on Lin Wu''s head and announced its presence.

    The catalytic effect of it was enough to cause Lin Wu''s body to overflow with energy. Immortal Qi was rapidly being produced in his body, having been converted from the spirit Qi.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    CONVERTING: Spirit Qi is being converted into Immortal Qi!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu basked in the feeling of overflowing power in his body and also the newfound immortal Qi.

    ''So this is immortal Qiбн it is certainly on a different level than the spirit Qi.'' Lin Wu could feel that its potency was simply immeasurable at this point. "But it will workбн Let''s see how an attack powered by Immoral Qi works!"

    Lin Wu''s entire body glowed in rainbow lights as all the elements started to pour out of him.

    He then shot toward the unknown beast, leaving behind a long trail of glowing energy behind him as if he were aet!

    The sheer amount of energy that he was exuding could be felt all across the Ming Dao world, with all the ancestors of the three guardian ns as well as other hidden experts feeling it.

    Lin Wu was moving towards the unknown beast at a crazy beast, having covered a kilometer in a mere second.

    Tim was still ripping away at the beast without a care for himself, and would have gotten caught in the attack.

    "Sigh~ You still need better practice with this." But a voice suddenly spoke in his mind and pulled him away.

    The illusory image of a yellow dragon appeared momentarily around him and allowed him to get away quickly.

    ~WHOOSH~

    With Tim gone, Lin Wu crashed into the unknown beast taking him into the sky with him.

    ~BOOM~

    The sheer amount of energy radiating off Lin Wu''s body was changing the atmosphere of the Ming Dao world. But at the same time, the energy was pouring into the unknown beast, wrecking its body.

    Lin Wu had picked a straightforward way of killing the beast, he decided to overload it with energy!

    This also kept the beast from teleporting and getting away, as it was forced to focus on the energy pouring into it.

    Lin Wu mped onto the body of the unknown beast with its mouth while continued to fly. The two had reached the height limit of the Ming Dao World, after which they would not be able to go any higher. But this merely changed their path, as Lin Wu now moved in a curve around the world.

    And as they continued to speed up, this soon turned into an orbit!

    The residents of the Ming Dao world looked up at the sky today and saw a scene they would never forget in their lives. Aet was making circles around the entire world at a great speed. At first, it took the Comet several minutes to make a circle, butter on it only took it a couple of minutes.

    The stronger experts of the Ming Dao World had better senses and saw who it actually was.

    They saw Lin Wu draped in a fountain of pure energy, while an abomination of a monster was trapped in his jaws.

    They couldn''t fully make out the form of the monster, but its long tail made them think of a monster that had been wreaking havoc on the Ming Dao world.

    "It''s King Lin Wu! He''s fighting the Cmity Fiend!" The allies of Lin Wu quickly proimed.

    Others also realized this and word soon spread across the world.

    It would be hard not to, with how big of a phenomenon Lin Wu was causing.

    This was a day that would be continued to be remembered as a legend.

    No one knew how many circles the rainbowet had made across the Ming Dao world, but it had done so for an hour before it crashed into the Long Continent.

    ~KABOOM~

    ~RUMBLE~

    A massive quake urred upon its crash.

    Thankfully the ce that it crashed was already barren and deemed as a forbidden area.

    This was the same area where the meteor and the unknown beast hadnded in the past. The forbidden area next to the Millennium Forest!

    After crashing, the tremors continued for quite a while but no one dared to approach the area. Not just that, but the sheer amount of energy inundating the area was also terrifying.

    Even though the beasts of the forest were over a hundred kilometers away from it, they still felt pure terror from the energy. They felt like they would explode by merely approaching it.

    This was quite urate, as the energy was a mixture of immortal Qi and radiation that had reached a new level.

    "I''ll have to seal this areaterбн" Lin Wu said in a tired tone.

    Hey in a giant crater while remnants of the unknown beast were left next to him. The beast had long since died, and only the central part of its body that was in Lin Wu''s jaws had managed to survive.

    And even this was due to Lin Wu''s intentions. As that was the part that contained the Dantian of the unknown beast!

    "After all these yearsбн finally." Lin Wu smiled and took a bite.

    ~GULP~

    He swallowed the entirety of the corpse in one go, letting his body do the rest.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    QUEST COMPLETED: Hunt and consume the unknown beast!

    REWARD OBTAINED: System Upgrade!

    бкбк

 Chapter 1094 12 years of Upgrade

    Chapter 1094 12 years of Upgrade

    After consuming the corpse of the Unknown beast, Lin Wu felt incredibly sleepy.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: Initiating System Upgrade!

    NOTIFICATION: Initiating Host''s Recovery!

    бкбк

    Lin Wu barely saw the notification before his consciousness faded.

    He fell into a deep sleep, while his body underwent changes.

    The Helix Of Assimtion Dao Embryo did its work and absorbed all that was to be absorbed from the unknown beast''s corpse.

    It didn''t just absorb the energy, but it also absorbed the unknown beast''s Dao Embryo and Dao Shell!

    This was the first time it had happened, but Lin Wu was not awake to witness it.

    But this was merely the start, as Lin Wu''s body also started to heal and grow further.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    NOTIFICATION: The Host has obtained the Great Bulwark Beast Bloodline!

    NOTIFICATION: Unknown Bloodline (+5) has been reced by Great Bulwark Beast Bloodline!

    .

    .

    .

    Dao Embryo Obtained: Void Key Dao Embryo!

    Innate Skill Obtained: Realm Gate!

    бкбк

    Within Lin Wu''s Dantian, a new Dao Embryo appeared. It was in the shape of a key that had a flickering form.

    But that wasn''t all as the Three Nascent soul''s within Lin Wu''s body also underwent changes.

    Two of the Nascent souls were in the form of a human, while the third was in the form of a worm.

    The three Nascent souls started to fuse and turned into a new kind of Nascent soul.

    It still had a humanoid body, but new appendages started to grow. Tens of tentacles sprouted from its back, while two pairs of arms grew out from its shoulder.

    At the same time, its head started to split and turned into three heads!

    The middle head looked fully like a human, but had a crown of emerald crystals on its head.

    lightsжнж╧vel The head on the left was a bit less like a human and had tusks and sharp fangs in its mouth, along with bony horns.

    Then finally, the head on the right looked like a mix of several insects and a human. It had yellow pupil less eyes, along with hundreds of sharp teeth that belonged to a worm. Glowing red and green patterns appeared on its face that went down its neck.

    It was safe to say that the third head was the creepiest.

    The Nascent soul extended its hands toward the three Dao Embryos within the Dantian and pulled it towards him.

    The Dao Embryos all shrank along with their Dao Embryos and were firmly grasped within their hands.

    One pair of hands held the Upheaval Dao Totem, the other heads the Helix Of Assimtion Dao Embryo and the third pair held the Void Key Dao Embryo.

    ~SHUA~

    Then the pattern of Taiji appeared on its chest and glowed for a bit before stabilizing.

    The eyes of all three heads closed and the Nascent souls entered a period of rest as well.

    Silence filled the crater and time continued to pass.

    Several dayster, the sound of notifications echoed in the crater once more.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    SYSTEM UPGRADE: Completed!

    CORE STATUES: All cores active!

    DATA BANKS: All data banks updated!

    .

    .

    .

    CONDITIONS SATISFIED: Encrypted ck box data shall be decrypted.

    DECRYPTING: Please wait patientlyбн.

    .

    .

    .

    DECRYPTION COMPLETED: System history data is now avable.

    бкбк

    Despite the notifications appearing, Lin Wu was not awake. He was still deep in sleep and was adapting to his new body and abilities.

    Days turned into months, after which more notifications sounded in the caterer.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    OPTIMIZATION: Initiated!

    OPTIMIZING: Host Data.

    .

    .

    .

    HOST DATA: Optimized

    1. Cultivation Technique: Optimized

    2. Innate Skills: Optimized

    3. Energy Storage: Optimized

    бкбк

    Lin Wu continued to slumber while the system worked in the background. The Ming Dao World reached a time of delicate peace in this time.

    Everyone had seen Lin Wu''s battle and his absences after that were a bit unsettling. But thankfully the Servants and subordinates of Lin Wu were quite Capable and handled it well.

    They assured that Lin Wu was fine and that he was merely resting. They knew this for sure since they had their souls linked to Lin Wu.

    But this didn''t stop several well wishers toe check up on him. Unfortunately, even Lin Wu''s subordinates were unable to get near the ''resting site'' of Lin Wu.

    As such, almost everyone had to turn back.

    However there were a few like Shirong and the Ghost Of Tian who chose to stay at the Millennium Forest kingdom.

    Some new arrivals also caused some uproar in the kingdom and the nearby areas. This was none other than Zhu Tianying, who had arrived along with Tim.

    She ended up being the only one who managed to get a deeper look at Lin Wu and informed the others that Lin Wu was fine and was no longer injured. But he did seem to be undergoing a breakthrough.

    Hearing that, the Millennium Forest kingdom was in a mood of Celebration.

    But what they didn''t know was that Lin Wu''s slumber would not end any time soon.

    Months turned into years, and years turned into a decade.

    ~YAWN~

    Twelve years after Lin Wu had the legendary battle against the unknown beast, he finally woke up.

    "Now thatбн was an amazing sleep session." Lin Wu said as he stretched his new body.

    His size had almost tripled from before and his crystals had also changed in color.

    "Huhбн this makeover isбн a bit too much." Lin Wu muttered as he gazed at his body which was a mix of organic and crystalline.

    His crystalline parts were a mix of red, green, blue, purple, yellow and white.

    "It''s better if I''m fully in the crystalline form for others." Lin Wu reckoned and easily managed to transform himself.

    The process was effortless and was even faster than before. Though his crystalline body was still multicolored.

    "I guess I''ll just have to get used to it." Lin Wu muttered to himself. "How long has it been, though?" he wondered.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    ANSWER: It has been 12 years, 1 month, and eighteen days since the Host wasst awake.

    Note: The host has 341 pending notifications.

    бкбк

    "What in theбн" Finally, the surprises in the notifications started to fill Lin Wu with shock.

 Chapter 1095 The Great Bulwark Beast And New Abilities

    Chapter 1095 The Great Bulwark Beast And New Abilities

    ~Huu~

    Lin Wu took a deep breath, as he finally finished reading through all the notifications.

    "Manбн that was a lotбн" It was safe to say that they were kinda overwhelming for Lin Wu.

    He had not expected for these many changes to happen in the time he had been sleeping.

    "Not only did the system upgrade, itpletely overhauled my entire body and being." Lin Wu said to himself, as he gazed at the floating window in front of him.

    ~DING~

    бкбк

    AGE: 34 years, 3 months, 19 days

    LIFESPAN: 20,000 years

    HOST SPECIES: Radiant Chimeric Bulwark Worm

    HOST CULTIVATION: Immortal Ascension Realm

    NASCENT SOUL: Radiant Chimeric Bulwark Worm (Hybrid Soul)

    BLOODLINE: Radiant Chimeric Bulwark Worm Bloodline (System Manufactured)

    CULTIVATION TECHNIQUE: 1. Taiji Dual Unity Scripture

    2. Radiant Elemental Arts [new]

    3. Myriad Chimeric Mysteries art [new]

    DAO EMBRYOS: 1. Upheaval Totem Dao Embryo (Upheaval Dao)

    2. Helix Of Assimtion Dao Embryo(Assimtion Dao)

    2. Void Key Dao Embryo (Spatial Dao) [new]

    INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiant Elemental Mastery [new]

    2. Myriad Chimeric Maniption [new]

    3. Realm Gate [new]

    WEIGHT: 201,015,128.7 KilogramsHeight 1,314.1 meters long

    бкбк

    Lin Wu had seen the optimization notifications that were basically half of all the pending notifications.

    The system had basically refined most of his abilities and condensed them into singr abilities. And not just that, the system had also merged all his bloodlines and turned them into a new bloodline.

    "Guess it picked a name for me alreadyбн it does seem suitable though." Lin Wu muttered to himself.

    He also didn''t miss the fact that the unknown beast he had been hunting all this time was actually called as the Great Bulwark Beast.

    This was a creature that lived at the boundaries that separated the different realms in the Grand Void. They acted as gatekeepers and prevented unauthorized travel between the realms.

    For example, they wouldn''t easily let someone from the immortal realm go down into the mortal realm.

    Or at the very least they couldn''t do so through the natural gateways that existed between the realms.

    This was why they were named as the Great Bulwark Beasts, as they were the defenders of this natural gate. It was their inborn duty which they always followed. It also gave them a lot of power beyond most beasts and cultivators.

    At the same time though, their intelligent was limited. They had the same level of intelligence as any normal animal and would not be smarter now matter their cultivation base.

    As such they mostly relied on their natural instincts and followed their duties. It was also because of this that they had almost never caused trouble.

    Lin Wu also learned why the beast hade to the Ming Dao world.

    "So it was in the form of an egg wandering the spaceбн" Lin Wu read the data entry in the system.

    The Great Bulwark Beasts would put their eggs along with food which could be any kind of valuable material or resource and then send them wandering in the space.

    These eggs would eventually crashnd on some world, where the infant Great Bulwark Beast would consume the initial food and then hunt on its own. They could eat a variety of things, and had few restrictions.

    And when they reached a certain period, they would molt and continue to grow.

    This was also why Lin Wu had found a husk in the past.

    Eventually, when the beast was close to adulthood, it would burrow deep into the core of the and stay there, absorbing the Qi directly. After several years of nurturing, it would directly breakthrough to the Immortal Realm and use its innate Realm Gate skill to enter the void.

    The void was the natural home of the Great Bulwark Beasts and they would rarely be seen outside it.

    Having read all this, Lin Wu felt quite content as one of the questions bugging him had been resolved.

    Other than the bloodlines, most of Lin Wu''s innate skills and Qi skills had also been condensed and refined into just two innate skills.

    And a third additional innate skill was also obtained from the Great Bulwark Beast.

    "And the Dao Embryoбн I now have a Spatial Dao embryoбн" Lin Wu had never expected that he would be able to get a Dao Embryo from one of the three primordial elements.

    In fact, the innate skill Realm Gate hade from the Void Key Dao Embryo. Lin Wu automatically understood its abilities and use.

    The Void Key Dao Embryo was apparently the signature Dao Embryo of the Great Bulwark Beasts.

    This was how they managed to manipte space and teleport. At its full power, they could use Realm Gate and directly enter a different realm regardless of their cultivation base.

    "Thisбн Isn''t this the solution I had been looking for!?" Lin Wu smiled widely. "HAHAHA! LOOKS LIKE I CAN NOW EXPAND MUCH MORE!" hisughs echoed in the crater.

    After a few minutes ofughing, Lin Wu calmed down and checked out other things.

    "Man, my Nascent soul is even more messed up now." Lin Wu frowned. "And looks like the Avatar skill also got canceled upon my breakthrough. It was absorbed by the system in the upgrade." He noticed.

    He didn''t mind that though, as he didn''t have a need for an avatar at the current moment.

    Plus the skill was still there and if he wanted to Lin Wu could always create an avatar. At his cultivation base, creating a Dao Treading Realm avatar would merely take him a few minutes.

    "I also have plenty of timeбн 20,000 years will be more than enough." Lin Wu smiled and left the crater.

    He headed to the Millennium Forest Kingdom, where his subjects were eagerly waiting for him.

    A cacophony of cries were heard, as everyone cheered at his arrival. His majestic form inspiring great pride within their hearts.

    Lin Wu finally caught up with all that had happened in the Ming Dao world as well as took over the reins.

    After all, he had already established his control over the world in the background. All it was left was to consolidate it now.

 Chapter 1096 The Worm Sovereign!

    Chapter 1096 The Worm Sovereign!

    A month had passed since Lin Wu had returned to the limelight.

    In this time, all his subordinates and allies hade to visit him including those from the Top three guardian ns.

    The Hu n and Gui n ancestors and Patriarchs especially flew over. However the teleportation arrays that Lin Wu had set up definitely helped in cutting the time.

    Lin Wu also learned that Cang Ci had carried out his orders excellently and almost all the ns he had made in the past were being enacted. The power of the Long Continent was fully consolidated in the hands of the Millennium Forest kingdom, and the same was the case for the Hu Continent.

    Though themoners knew little about it, and even those who were in a higher position didn''t mind it. The influence of the Millennium Forest kingdom was simply too massive.

    They had strong allies in the three guardian ns, and held strong individuals within them.

    Tim and Zhu Tianying were the bastions of the Millennium Forest Kingdom with thetter having joined them which was a wee surprise.

    In a way, she was just returning to her home, and as such she didn''t find it strange. She also met with Lin Wu, who handed her what had been stolen from her.

    These were none other than the remnants of the Vermillion Bird.

    She had been searching for them since she had parted with Lin Wu in the past. Some of these had been consumed by the Great Bulwark beast and it was why she had been hunting it too.

    Of course, now that Lin Wu had upgraded greatly he had no use for the Vermillion Bird traces within his body. He easily got the system to eject them and handed them to Zhu Tianying, who grew even stronger.

    She also broke through to the Immortal Ascension realm, which further raised the power of the Millennium Forest Kingdom.

    Lin Wu also began working on fulfilling his promises, the first of which was made to Guardian Yun Bai.

    He had promised them that he would take them to the Immortal world and free them from the world''s shackles.

    With his new skill, Realm Gate it became simple and Lin Wu managed to open a path to a safe world after a few tries.

    His earlier tries led him to really dangerous worlds, but the system managed to warn him in advance. The energy consumption for each use was high, but thankfully as the richest and most powerful being in the Ming Dao world, he had plenty of resources to replenish that.

    lightsжнж╧vel Lin Wu finally fulfilled his promise and let the Frost Foxes enter a safe Immortal world that did not have any humans.

    He decided to consider it as his next base and decided to conquer it before expanding further.

    After all, there was no way Lin Wu would be satisfied by taking over just a single world.

    His conquest of the Ming Dao world had taught him that he liked doing thatбн a lot.

    Lin Wu''s ability to open a gate to an immortal world also allowed a flow of new and better resources from there to the Ming Dao world. This sent the entire Ming Dao world into an overdrive, with experts popping up like bamboos.

    In just two years, all of Lin Wu''s Subordinates, had reached the Immortal Ascension realm with the more important ones exceeding it.

    Lin Wu himself had reached the Immortal realm and was at the Third Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm.

    By the fifth year, Lin Wu had reached the Sixth Tribtion Stage of the Immortal realm.

    This level of strength was enough for him to take over the immortal world, which he named as Wu Dao World.

    He finally moved his base from the Ming Dao world to the Wu Dao world officially and began to spread it further.

    A couple more yearster, Lin Wu reached the Seventh Tribtion Stage of the Immortal Realm, after which progress became hard for him.

    Since he couldn''t progress further, he spent the time in conquering more Immortal worlds and spreading his influence.

    It was during this time that a visitor arrived at the Ming Dao World.

    Much to everyone''s surprise, it was an Azure Dragon!

    And it wasn''t just any Azure Dragon but an Immortal Azure Dragon. This caused chaos in the world at first, but they learned that he Azure Dragon hade here on a mission and did not intend to fight.

    In fact, the Azure Dragon was even more shocked than the residents of the Ming Dao world.

    He had been sent to the Ming Dao world to find out why the beacons of the Guardian beasts were not working. But then found out that all of that had been rectified and that all four guardian ns were now established again.

    Zhu Tianying had created a base for the Vermillion Bird, as the fourth Guardian and Lin Wu had helped her create an illusory avatar that could work the same as the n spirits.

    Of course, Lin Wu went to the Ming Dao world to meet the Azure Dragon too.

    The dragon was surprised to find out that Lin Wu was acting as a guardian of the world too. At first, he was suspicious, but then saw just how much the world had progressed. Comparing the past records they had, Ming Dao World was on apletely different level.

    Satisfied by this, the Azure Dragon took his leave and said that Lin Wu would be wee in the Immortal Court.

    Of course, Lin Wu had long since known about the Immortal Court but had intentionally kept his distance from them. But now that he had a legitimate reason and invitation, he did not hesitate to meet.

    And from there, Lin Wu''s influence simply snowballed and so did his cultivation base.

    More legends would be created by Lin Wu, and he would continue to rise. Eras after eras would pass and he would eventually be a Sovereign.

    The Worm Sovereign!

    бкбк

    Author''s Note:

    It has been three years since I started the book and finally, it ising to an end. I had to take breaks in between to figure out where I was going with the story, but today I''ve finally managed to end it.

    I hope you all enjoyed it and will continue to enjoy my other worlds.

    Also, don''t worry!

    Lin Wu will return in Walker of the Worlds.

    The legends of our wormy boy are quite wide spread.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!